The Lady with the Dog

Is Anna and Gurov’s relationship simply a case of bad timing?  What does “The Lady with the Dog” say about relationships?

            Although Anna and Gurov’s relationship may simply seem as if it was a case of bad timing, I do not believe this is true.  It appears as if it was bad timing because they were both married, but they both made the decision to marry someone that they were not happy with.  Gurov married “his second year at college” and viewed his wife as “shallow, narrow-minded, and dowdy,” and Anna often talked about how unhappy she was with her marriage and that she thought of her husband as a “flunky” (1524 and 1527).  Because of their decisions to marry someone they were not happy with and who they were not fond of, it seemed as if they were paying for it now.  They seemed to be suffering from the decisions that they had made because Gurov had fallen in love with Anna “properly,” but they were suffering because they could not see each other much and they were constantly trying to figure out how to overcome their struggles (1535).  Although they believed “fate had intended them for one another” they were struggling to figure out how they could make this happen because of their marriages (1535).  Therefore, their relationship was not simply a case of bad timing, but instead a case of bad decisions.

            The reader can infer from “The Lady with the Dog” that relationships are not something that should be pursued unless it is truly what you want.  The reader can infer that this story says this about relationships because both Anna and Gurov pursued a marriage that they were both not happy in, and because of this, they were suffering because they found true love with each other, rather than with their spouses.  This story could also say that corrupt relationships that include unhappiness could lead to deceitfulness and many hidden secrets.  In “The Lady with the Dog” both Anna and Gurov pursue an affair due to their unhappiness with their own marriage.  Although Gurov has many more affairs, it is all because of his unhappiness.  Ultimately, this story reveals that one should not pursue a relationship unless truly in love and happy because there is someone who will make you realize what true love and happiness is, but if you pursue a relationship without it, you may never have the chance to know because it will be too late.

What quest is Gurov on?  Is he successful?

            Because of Gurov’s unhappiness with his own marriage, he was on a quest to find true love and happiness in “The Lady with the Dog.”  It appears as if Gurov desired for happiness, but was satisfied with even a temporary happiness and passion because he began to deceive his wife by becoming unfaithful long before Anna came along because he was unhappy in his marriage (1524).  When he pursued an affair with Anna it seemed as if he was only looking to fulfill his desire for passion because he seemed to believe that he was not going to find happiness.  It seemed as if they knew their relationship was not going to last because when Anna left to return to her husband, Gurov simply just viewed their affair as “one more of the many adventures on his life” (1529).  However, it is when she was gone that Gurov realized that it was Anna who made him truly happy and that he was in love with her because the thought of her never left his mind (1530).  Gurov was successful in his quest because he went to reunite with Anna, where she promised him that she would come visit him.  Indeed, Anna kept to her promise and they both realized that they made each other truly happy and that “this love of theirs would not soon come to an end” (1535); they realized that what they had was real, realer than what they had in their own marriages and that they truly wanted to be with each other.  Although Gurov was successful in his quest, he and Anna were both faced with the constant struggle of being with each other.