The Lady With The Toy Dog - Essay Example

The Lady With the Toy Dog Anton Chekov’s “The Lady With the Toy Dog” is about the endless circle and mystery of love, points that are made when the short story ends abruptly and without a resolution. Gomov, a man who is unfaithful to his wife, visits Yalta in the hopes of finding a new love affair. Much to his pleasure, he comes upon Anna, a pretty woman with a small dog. Their affair is subtle at forming, but the two become inseparable, quite unlike the women that Gomov had been with in the past.

Gomov realizes that he has fallen in love with Anna, something that he did not expect. The story ends with the two of them preparing to take on the beginning of their mysterious relationship. The relationship that Gomov was trying to create with Anna was similar to the relationship he had built up with his wife. He had loved his wife, but found himself waning in his attraction to her. This was something that he did not see coming. Gomov was looking for something new, but the ending of the story, which is no ending at all, reveals that his new relationship with Anna is as uncertain as his relationship had been with his wife.

The lack of a proper ending suggests that what happens to Gomov and Anna is as unexpected as what took place between Gomov and his wife. The relationship was perfect at first, but then Gomov started to stray. By not ending the short story, Chekov carries on the concept that anything could have happened to the new couple, just as anything happened to the previous couple. The majority of the relationship between Gomov and Anna was based on silence, another aspect of mystery and uncertainty. Their togetherness and love was built on silence, as was the growth of their relationship.

Chekov strengthened this silence by continuing to remain silent as to Gomov and Anna’s future, playing on the mystery that their relationship was already shrouded in. This same mystery covers every relationship, fictional or real. There is no definite outcome for any relationship, but there will always be something more, though it will remain a mystery until it happens.