Unhappiness In Anton Chekhov's The Lady With The Dog

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An issue found in Anton Chekhov’s The Lady With the Dog, is common unhappiness in Anna and Dmitri. My view is that the keyword ‘despise,’ contributes to an understanding of the story and the theme of unhappiness. Anna and Dmitri have no joy in their lives. Both are married to people they do not love, people that they despise. And they are both unfaithful to their spouses. One day while dining in a garden with her white Pomeranian while on vacation in Yalta, Russia, she meets Dmitri. Immediately Dmitri is enthralled by her and they begin an affair. On the night the affair began Anna feels guilty for being unfaithful to her husband and says to Dmitri, “ I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don’t attempt to justify myself”(66). Anna goes on to say that she has not only deceived her husband, but also …show more content…

It shows her remorse and guilt for being unfaithful to her husband by not only kissing Dmitri, but by having feelings for him and wishing to spend her time with him. Anna is deceiving her husband by spending time with another man after telling him she needed to come to Russia because she was ill.
I don’t think Anna lied to her husband with plans to be unfaithful; she lied because she wanted to be freer, without him. She just happened to land in another man’s arms. She deceived herself by not admitting to herself that this vacation had to do with her curiosity and wanting to see if there was anyone better than her husband. Subconsciously she wanted to find a new, good man on her vacation. Anna goes on to say, “here I have been walking about as though I were dazed, like a mad creature;...and now I have become a vulgar contemptible woman whom any one may despise”(66). Anna feels guilty for walking around Russia happily and freely so easily, without feeling guilt until now. She believes she is a hateful woman and that she deserves to be despised by others as