Love and Morality in the “the Lady with the Lapdog” by Anton Chekhov
1656 Words7 Pages
Name:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
Love and Morality in the “The Lady with the Lapdog” by Anton Chekhov
Introduction
The “Lady with the Lapdog,” is a story by a Russian author Anton Chekhov. It is a story that raises eyebrows and entices the mind as one reads through to understand the actions of the two main characters, Anna and Gurov. Their actions are looked down and unspeakable according to the Russian society. Chekhov has successfully managed to show how self-pleasure rise above everything in his short story. The short story revolves around love and morality as the two characters fall for one another because of their unhappy married lives.
Discussion
The “Lady with the Lapdog,” talks about Dmitri Gurov, a man aged forty years who is…show more content… Chekhov has succeeded in bringing out love and morality as two main themes in his story. Bringing two people who are already married together and giving them the atmosphere and opportunity to love each other shows some ambiguity in his literary work. Dmitri having married his wife at a young age while still in the university didn’t give him the opportunity to experience life. He loathes his wife and as a result he has many love affairs “… he considered her narrow and unintelligent.” After meeting Anna and falling in love with her, he does many things out of the ordinary just to be with her. He lies to his wife that he was taking his daughter to school just to get chance to be with Anna in a hotel room. “…Gurov went to the Slaviansky Bazaar after dropping her daughter in school.” He lies a second time to his wife on Christmas day that he is scheduled to attend a business trip at Saint Petersburg (Chekhov 15). He goes to see Anna and confesses his love to her. Chekhov has thus portrayed Dmitri to lack morals just because they are in love; he does things against the ways society just because of love. Anna also plays an important role in developing the themes of love and morality. She truly loves Dmitri and enjoys the quality time they spend together. Her unhappy marriage with the lackey prompts her to fall in love with Dmitri who is also unhappy in his marriage.