"The Lady with a Dog"

In "The Lady with a Dog" Chekhov attempts to show the complicity of love through a story of temptation. Although this story was rather enjoyable, I believe it fell far short of accurately portraying the meaning of love. It seems as if Chekhov wants the readers to feel sympathy for Dmitry Dmitrich Gurov, in which I have none to offer him. In my mind the real lady of the story is Gurov's wife and Gurov himself is the dog. "Every fresh intimacy, while at first introducing such pleasant variety into everyday life, and offering itself as a charming, light adventure, inevitably developed, among decent people, into a problem of excessive complication leading to an intolerably irksome situation." Gurov is nothing more than a coward. At my age I might not know the most about love, but I do know that when things get tough and a complication arises in a relationship, you don't just move on to another one. It is crucial to fight for that relationship and maintain the love and admiration that was once there. Through this journey of fighting, the realization of true love becomes evident. I believe it is only a matter of time before Anna does something that Gurov doesn't like, and he leaves her too.

At the same time Gurovs inability to truly love isn't completely his fault. "Woman had always believed him indifferent from what he really was, had loved in him not himself but the man their imagination pictured him, a man they had sought for eagerly all their lives" The woman of Gurovs past had been looking for their fairy tale, and when they found out he wasn't the man for them he was crushed. A series of these relationships is what causes Gurov to become the monster he is. It made Gurov believe that he has to be something he is not in order for woman to love him. This is what I believe is what is wrong with most relationships today, the inability to face reality. Both men and woman have an unrealistic view of what their spouse should be. Because of this, it causes both sexes to act as someone their not. However after many years their real side will come out and once the other discovers it, the outcome is disastrous. Overall I feel that if everyone will be themselves and let someone love them for who they truly are, that they will find their eternal happiness.