Literary Analysis Essay

As the vestiges of Romanticism were outshone by the ultra-real descriptions of Realism, the setting of a story lost its influence on characters, instead becoming a reflection of those characters. The mysticism and nostalgia of nature gave way to the scientific descriptions of authors that wished to present life as the world experienced it, not as how they thought it should be. Anton

Chekhov was no different, offering no heroes or melodrama, but instead wrote about normal people living normal lives. Dmitry Gurov is one such character written by Chekhov, and we are privy to many of Gurov’s thoughts throughout the The Lady with the Dog. Not all of his thoughts are made available from the narrator, however, and we must infer further about Gurov through other means; by the way Gurov describes his surroundings. We can come to truly understand what Gurov is thinking and feeling by analyzing how he describes his surroundings.

In the first section of The Lady with the Dog, Dmitry Gurov meets Anna Sergeyevna at the resort town of , where we quickly learn that Gurov refers to women “as the lower race”

(Puchner et al. 1569). His lust for Anna becomes quickly apparent, and we see him begin his machinations to have an affair with her. Gurov creates a connection with her at a restaurant by getting her Pomeranian to walk over to him and growl. After they finish their food they leave together, and the setting begins to reflect Gurov’s thoughts. “They strolled along, remarking on the strange light over the sea. The water was a warm, tender purple, the moonlight lay on its surface in a golden strip. They said how close it was, after the hot day” (Puchner et al. 1571). Here we see the seed of Gurov’s love for Anna planted, though he does not know it yet. Gurov has had affairs with many women, enough that picking up women has become routine. For any aspect of Gurov’s quest to appear strange indicates that Anna is going to be different, even if he does not realize it.

The imagery of a warm purple ocean with golden moonlight invokes a romantic setting, too romantic for a man simply looking for an affair, or a woman looking for a distraction. They both comment on how close this scene is presented before them, a romantic scene neither of them are looking for.

After the first time Gurov and Anna prove unfaithful to their spouses, Anna expresses great concern about her new status as a “wicked, fallen woman” (Puchner et al. 1573), to which “Gurov listened to her, bored to death” (Puchner et al. 1573). After calming her down, they find a carriage and make their way to nearby Oreanda, and look out at the sea. While they sat on their bench “not a leaf stirred, the grasshoppers chirruped, and the monotonous hollow roar of the sea came up to them, speaking of peace, of the eternal sleep lying in wait for us all. The sea had roared like this long before there was any Yalta or Oreanda, it was roaring now, and it would go on roaring, just as indifferently and hollowly, when we had passed away” (Puchner et al. 1573). Before Anna had entered Gurov’s life, he had affairs with many women, using them as they used him, and then continued his existence. Now, Gurov has had an affair with Anna and he expects his relationship with her to end exactly as all the others that came before. Undoubtedly, he believes Anna to be no different than the others, that they viewed each other as a means to an end. Afterwards they will go their separate ways, and Gurov will find another woman to sleep with, just as he always had.

And yet, “side by side with a young woman, who looked so exquisite in the early light, soothed and enchanted by the sight of all this magical beauty – sea, mountains, clouds and the vast expanse of the sky – Gurov told himself that, when you came to think of it, everything in the world is beautiful really, everything but our own thoughts and actions, when we lose sight of the higher aims of life and of our dignity as human beings” (Puchner et al. 1574). The presence and sight of

Anna after such dark contemplations of the ocean made Gurov admit to himself that everything is beautiful except our own thoughts and actions, which undoubtedly includes Gurov’s thoughts of women, and his actions against his wife. Anna has now changed him like no other has before her.

Throughout the remainder of her stay in Yalta, Gurov does not leave her side. “Almost every night they drove out of town, to Oreanda, the waterfall, or some other beauty-spot. And these excursions were invariably a success, each contributing fresh impressions of majestic beauty” (Puchner et al.

1574). The strange light of the romantic setting they saw together when they first met now becomes a nightly ritual, as they seek romantic and beautiful locales to associate each other with. Their feelings for each other continue to grow stronger during these excursions, as well. After Anna leaves to return , with Gurov standing on the platform after the train had departed, “there was an autumnal feeling in the air, and the evening was chilly” (Puchner et al. 1575). The summer of

Gurov’s life, filled with affairs, indifference, and hollow relationships, was over. He is now in love, and only Anna’s presence can keep him warm.

After returning home to , Gurov thought for certain that he would forget about

Anna, just like he had for every woman before her. “But the month was now well over and winter was in full swing,” (Puchner et al. 1575). Both time and season has changed at this point in the story, just as Gurov has had his attitude and heart changed. He cannot forget about Anna. He contemplates whether this means that he is in love, a feeling he is wholly unfamiliar with. Russian winters are known for their brutal cold, so it is fitting that winter in Moscow is contrasted with the frustration Gurov is having with his feelings. He knows he can’t confide with anyone he knows, so ultimately he does something he has never done for another woman; he goes to find her.

In Anna’s hometown, Gurov is able to find where she lives, but is unable to bring himself to knock on her door. He’s convinced himself that she has forgotten about him, and that he should move on as well. Before leaving, though, he decides to go to an opera, to give himself one last chance to find her. “The theatre was full. It was a typical provincial theatre, with a mist collecting over the chandeliers, and the crowd in the gallery fidgeting noisily. In the first row of the stalls the local dandies stood waiting for the curtain to go up, their hands clasped behind them. There, in the front seat of the governor’s box, sat the governor’s daughter, wearing a boa, the governor himself hiding modestly behind the drapes, so that only his hands were visible. The curtain stirred, the orchestra took a long time tuning up their instruments. Gurov’s eyes roamed eagerly over the audience as they filed in and occupied their seats” (Puchner et al. 1577). The tension Gurov feels is also felt by . After this performance, Gurov will leave and lose any chance at reconnecting with Anna. The attention to every detail is important because it prolongs the experience. The mist collecting over the chandeliers suggests that, even in a Russian winter, it is hot and stuffy in the theatre, with a fidgety gallery playing on Gurov’s nerves as he’s trying to find a particular person in a sea of people. The governor and his daughter are easy to find and easy to see, but they are not Anna. The curtain is stirring, and he is losing his chance to find her, but the orchestra is taking a long time to tune, so there is still time! The desire Gurov has to find Anna is palpable in this paragraph. Readers have already known by now that Gurov loves Anna, but he does not realize this himself until the next paragraph, when he finds her and “his heart seemed to stop, and he knew in a flash that the whole world contained no one nearer or dearer to him, no one more important to his ” (Puchner et al. 1577). He meets with her, and confesses this to her without specifically saying he loved her, and they agree to continue meeting in Moscow.

The most important reflection of setting is spoken by Gurov himself at the beginning of the fourth and final section as he is walking his daughter to school. “‘It is forty degrees,’ said

Gurov to his daughter, ‘and yet it is snowing. You see it is only above freezing close to the ground, the temperature in the upper layers of the atmosphere is quite different.’” (Puchner et al. 1579).

Chekhov had Gurov make this statement, so that we could compare him to the situation he is in. For Gurov to tell his daughter that the atmosphere has layers is very fitting; he hides his layers much like the atmosphere. Additionally, it is forty degrees, implying that spring is approaching, and a new season in Gurov’s life. Gurov’s affair with Anna are those upper layers of the atmosphere, unseen and unfelt by the people in their lives below. Eventually, their actions will condense and precipitate on everything, and blanket the surface of their lives with their love. But continuing their relationship will not go over well, and they know this. Their love compels them to stay together regardless.

As we can see throughout the examples provided, Chekhov has brilliantly hidden clues about Gurov’s feelings within the descriptions of the setting. The character Gurov himself is unaware of his true feelings, but they are revealed in the way he views his surroundings, such as the ocean when they first met, or of the view from Oreanda when he decides that everything is beautiful except for thoughts and actions. Gurov’s soul is reflected through the cold Russian winter, his tension is felt through the description of the theatre, and we feel his relief when he finds

Anna. Lastly, we understand the layers that Gurov hides behind as he answers his daughter’s questions.

References

Puchner, Martin, et al. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. New York: W.W. Norton

and Company, 2014.