The Lives of Dmitri and Anna in The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov

In the story “The Lady with the Little Dog" written by Anton Chekhov, the two main characters, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, find themselves in a bit of a sticky situation. The two are in love, but they are both already married and Dmitri has a family. Dmitri is an aging man who has become dissatisfied with his life and he surprises himself by falling in love with Anna. Anna has also become dissatisfied with her life. The story ends without a resolution and the reader does not find out what happens to the lovers.

If the story were to continue the two lovers, Dmitri and Anna, would eventually leave their families and live together in peace because Dmitri can't seem to forget Anna like the other affairs he's had. Anna will leave her husband because she thinks he's a lackey and boring and she will not be able to handle the strain of being a mistress. Later on she realizes that she would sacrifice everything to be with Dmitri.

Over the years Dmitri has grown tired of his family in Moscow and he will end up leaving his family for Anna.

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He secretly considers his wife "none too bright, narrow-minded, graceless” and one, “who loved without sincerity, with superfluous talk, affectedly, with hysteria" (p. 361,365). He also says he dislikes being at home. These are the reasons Dmitri has become unfaithful to his wife. “But at every new meeting with an interesting woman, this experience somehow slipped from his memory" (p. 362).

One might ask, “Why is Anna different?" She is different because months after Dmitri has met her he can't seem to forget her. Chekov writes on page 369:

A month would pass and Anna Sergeevna, as it seemed to him, would be covered by mist in his memory and would only appear to him in dreams with a touching smile, as other women did. But more than a month passed, deep winter came, and yet everything was as clear in his memory as if he had parted with Anna Sergeevna only the day before. This is how Anna is different from all of his other mistresses. Although Dmitri thinks that she will just be forgotten like the others, he just can not seem to get her off his mind. Dmitri is living two lives, “one open, seen and known by all who cared to know” and another “running its course in secret” (p. 374). Dmitri would not put off leaving his family. He would just straight up leave without any sympathy because of his unfaithfulness towards them.

Like Dmitri, Anna will leave her husband over time because she would continue to feel the strain of living this lie and she would finally tell the truth to her husband. Anna also does not have many feelings for her husband. We know this because when Dmitri asks what her husband does "she was quite unable to explain where her husband served" (p. 363). The only reason she marries him is because she was, “tormented by curiosity, [she] wanted something better. [She] told [her] self there must be a different life. [She] wanted to live!” (p. 365) She continues to express very little feelings for her husband while she expresses feelings for Dmitri like when she goes to Moscow without her husband to see Dmitri. Then at the end of the story Dmitri and Anna "could not understand why he had a wife and she a husband" (p. 376). Anna, also feeling the stress of living this lie, realizes, “that their life had turned out so sadly; they only saw each other in secret, they hid from people like thieves!” (p.375)

She also shows this anxiousness at theatre when Dmitri comes to visit she says, “'How you have frightened me!' breathing heavily, still pale, stunned. 'Oh, how you frightened me! I'm barely alive. Why did you come? Why?'" (p. 373). After the lovers have left their families we would see a change for the better in both of them, but mostly in Dmitri. Although it is said that Dmitri has these types of affairs all the time this is the only one where Dmitri is truly in love. By the end of the story we can already see a small change in Dmitri when he criticizes himself for being an old man who used to seduce women by pretending to be someone he was not. We would see Dmitri having more respect for women if the story was to continue. All around he would become a better person. As for Anna she would become a happier person since the strain of living a lie would be off her back.

If the story “The Lady with the Little Dog” were to go past it's current ending, Dmitri and Anna would both end up leaving their families and living together happily ever after, because Dmitri just can not seem to get Anna off his mind and Anna has lost interest in her husband and can not handle the strain of living a lie. Dmitri will change in the sense that he will become more considerate and Anna will be happy with her new life. She will also be glad that she does not have to live a lie anymore. In the end all will turn out well for Dmitri and Anna.