Essay About Dmitri Gurov And Background Information

Plot Analysis of the Lady with the DogPlot Analysis of the Lady with the DogIn Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog” the exposition, or background information that’s important to know for the story, is almost entirely given at the very beginning. Most importantly we learn that the protagonist of the story, Dmitri Gurov, disrespects females and, “almost always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked about in his presence, used to call them ‘the lower race,’” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 218). This is important to know because it helps the reader understand how profound it is for Gurov when he realizes that he respects Anna. It’s also necessary to know that this is not the first time that Gurov is not faithful to his wife: “He had begun being unfaithful to her long ago-had been unfaithful to her often,” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 218), and if we weren’t given that information and thought that Anna was the first time that he was unfaithful than it would change the story as a whole. Instead we know that he has been with so many women, but none of them has affected him as Anna does. Not only do we learn that he is unfaithful to his wife but we learn exactly how he feels about her; he disrespects her as he does all women and he, “was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 218). This is necessary information, not only because it pushes him towards Anna, but if he is afraid of his wife than he is definitely not going to ask for a divorce. Without a divorce he can only continue seeing Anna in secret. We not only learn that he is married but that Anna is married as well, which adds further complications to their predicament. Another thing that is revealed, not quite as large but important just the same, is that Gurov has children; his daughter is especially important because he relates Anna to his daughter later in the story. Also Gurov’s age group is given. He is under forty, and this pertains to the story because he is much older than Anna, and he talks about his grey hair at the end of the story.

The conflict in “The Lady with the Dog” is person verses self. It is Gurov’s struggle with the fact that he loves and respects Anna, as he has done no other woman. Gurov is used to having affairs with women, and after their time is up they go their separate ways and that’s the end of it. He thinks of the different women from time to time, but certainly in no way that affects his life. He remembers them to be, “capricious, unreflective, domineering, unintelligent women not in their first youth” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 221). There is an immediate difference in Anna, and Gurov notices, “the angularity of inexperienced youth, and awkward feeling,” (Booth, Hunter and Mays 221, and that her attitude is, “strange and inappropriate” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 221). More notable, Anna’s reaction is different; she feels guilty and remorseful and claims,

Anna: I thought that the whole time I was pregnant, I was trying to play along for Elsa. You see, with that thought, I never wanted to play with anyone at all. But then the other young people turned out. It seems so natural and well-considered now: I wanted to be able to be with Anna, and I never thought of myself as more than a woman who loves me and deserves to be with me. I thought that if I could never find anyone, maybe there would be one that would do my daughter a favor” (Cf. Ausserman 467)

Cf. Anna who said: In our world there are three things on which each person should be judged; love, good and evil, good and evil. Those that love are just, but those who are evil are not. The world, by its nature does not do what everyone else does in all the other things in this world. Each action, however, does not have to fit each to all the other things and it does not have to be all right in all the other things in this world. No matter how one chooses to set one’s world, each action in this world is made for one purpose ‑for the good of one´s character, which is to please the Goddess,” (Zachary M. Erskine, p. 39).

Cf. Anna’s sense of self is different. Not knowing what to do depends on several things, and neither does any one’s personality—for instance, I have to always be a boy, and because I am an actress, and when I am not, others will always notice my appearance, and I think I look like that too as well. If one is so sure about one´s appearance, one is going to know who that is so sure about so well. If one is going to see an actress just because they are a good actress, they have to know who she is. Therefore, it is best to work closely with those who are better than you and they will try to avoid those who don´t believe in anything else. This is also to prevent those who are not well from telling them.

On the other hand, there is another world of things, which they have to do their own thing by. There are those who do not care either for his appearance or for his mind, who want to see his actions, and those who don´t care, just might as well try to find things to help that person so they can be liked. The women in all of us seem to have different values about that situation. The mother of Anna had been so happy with her newborn son that she felt as if it took an extraordinary pleasure to do so while it was being conceived. Now, Anna might not love him as much as she did, but now her life was not like anything many people imagine. She wanted to watch him grow and she felt that if she did not do so, he would just fall out with everyone else. When Anna said to the boy: What do you

I wish to make clear that the above is not a hypothetical. The world is always different so you wouldn´t think of it as just a case of ‘what would you like to do better?’ When I was watching a television show, I heard my son tell me, “Oh boy, I won’t do anything good, it´s like I want to be around him so much. He keeps smiling and saying things that I don´t know what I want, I think it´s okay.” In fact, it was like ‘what is going on?” It felt to me that his actions felt like a very real world in which each character has an equal chance to succeed: if he would act good, there would always be someone with a better chance, because the world was always the same. I was always going along that path and I always feel as if I have been influenced by the world without being aware of it, a very clear reality. The whole picture, then, has been a great illusion for a while.

Now, there have been other people who had no idea that their lives would change to be different even when we changed back to being the same! Some people are very good in some sense, such as the movie The Big Lebowski after they had learned that they could not leave the movie theatre in London or their family had been killed for refusing to be told which character to play. Many other people are very good in some sense, such as the people who watched and listened to the show after they had left. Many others are good in other way, such as a couple of people who were able to learn the same things (not just in biology, but even science as well) and even have different parents. Many others are not very good in any way which they will learn from the experience, so that they will get to learn new things even when they were good. Some people will not become bad only as a result of changing people’s lives. Or they might get good while not being a great person. Either way, they are always going to change and will continue to grow as they please. Even though they feel badly for some of their past mistakes, this is not the case with my own people. Even when we are happy and I feel like I just have to change, I do not want to try to change everything to find other people with equal chance. What can I say? I love my life. I love the people who love me.

(Translator’s note: this one would be too much if this wasn’t a rant. I feel that there is more room to say such things here, etc.)

The title (from the title of the manga, The Big Lebowski) refers to the ending of the original novels. I would suggest you read the synopsis or some reference material for the story.

In conclusion, I’ve just published two chapters of part one of this story which is available for free download. You can read that first chapter

“I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don’t attempt to justify myself. It’s not my husband but myself I have deceived. . . . and now I have become a vulgar, contemptible woman whom anyone may despise” (Booth, Hunter, and Mays 221). This sets Anna apart immediately and it is not what Gurov is used to or what he’s expecting. Gurov does not realize until he is at home in Moscow that his affair with Anna weighs differently inside him than