The Lady With the Dog Art by Anton Chekhov and the Aspects of Adultery

The lady with the dog by Anton Chekhov is about a married man, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov, who committed adultery with a married woman, Anna Sergeyevna. During the course of the story, they both end up falling in love and secretly try to find a way to keep seeing each other. Throughout my essay, I will trace the development of the themes beginning with adultery, following with love, and finally with their overlapping. I will prove that the relationship between love and adultery is the desire to be with that person and the pleasure that is received from it.

The aspect of adultery starts right from the beginning as Dmitri was taking interest in new arrivals at the Yalta. He seizes one particular woman called Anna and thought she would be a perfect prey for an affair. Planning and chasing her around her schedule shows a desire of adultery. For example, he meets her at the gardens several times a day until one evening she sits down at the table next to him as he is dinning.

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He seizes this moment as an excellent opportunity to make her acquaintance. The desire took possession of him, he remembered these tales of easy conquest, of trips to the mountains, and the tempting thought of a swift, fleeting love affair, a romance with an unknown woman (Chekhov, 229) Then again, right before he sleeps with her, the situation was not good for Anna and had a dejected attitude like the woman who was a sinner. (Chekhov, 231) Yet, on Dmitris side, he was observing without haste, all in order to finally receive the pleasure of having her.

He completely dismisses Annas feelings of guilt and is only interested in his pleasure and desire. Chekhov here is illustrating that Dmitri starts simply with the amusement of having a love affair.

The aspect of love shows itself in a dozen of passages but I will mention two in particular. Dmitris actions begin to change by him listening, conversing with and being attentive to Anna. Dmitris love grew at this point. He begins to show a personal interest in Anna, not just for physical need but also as a person. He wants to know more about her and her surroundings. For instance, he asks: Is your husband a German? (Chekhov, 231) In addition to that, when she was obligated to go back home, Dmitri thought that the image of Anna would be lost in his memory in months time and it would come back once in a while in his dreams. However, more than a month passed, real winter had come, and everything was still clear in his memory as though he had parted with Anna Sergeyevna only the day before. His physical desire for her begins to develop into an emotional one as well. He was feeling her presence everywhere. He became so desperate in his need to see her that he decides to go to her town and meet her. When he finally does, it was clear for him how much he loved her, for him there was in the whole world no creature so near, so precious, and so important to him (Chekhov, 235) Here, Chekhov demonstrates how much Dmitris love for Anna grew and that Dmitri is taking it to heart.

The aspect of love and adultery overlap in several ways during the story. Dmitris quest to conquer Anna as another affair resulted in him meeting her every day to lunch and dine together. With love, they capture each other and with adultery they continue seeing one another secretly knowing they will have to deal with a double life. In both cases, the emotional thrill or desire is there. Such as in love, Dmitri left his wife, kids and work all behind just to be with Anna. And in adultery, he went off to the Yalta leaving as well his family and work behind to pursue his affair. Also, there are extreme emotions that are evident in both. In adultery, after sleeping together everything was beautiful: Gurov thought how in reality everything is beautiful in this world when one reflect: everything except what we think or do ourselves when

we forget our human dignity and the higher aims of our existence.(Chekhov, 232) In love, without Anna, everything was unbearableno escaping or getting away from itjust as though one were in madhouse or prison and again He was sick of his children, sick of the bank (Chekhov, 234) Chekhov shows that the overlap are truly related with desire.

In conclusion, the desire that you see in love and adultery is so similar that if one is unaware of the intention they will not see any difference. Chekhov illustrates that Dmitri starts simply with the amusement of having a love affair. It progresses into love, which possessed him and took Anna to heart. And finally, Chekhov shows that the overlap of themes are truly related with desire. I have proven that the two themes and their overlap are the desire and pleasure that is received in one another under any circumstances.