The Lady with the Dog (Chekhov)
Short summary
Yalta, late 19th century. While vacationing at a seaside resort, Dmitri Gurov noticed a young woman walking with a white Pomeranian dog. Bored and seeking diversion, he initiated a conversation with her.
They began meeting daily. Anna was visiting Yalta alone while her husband remained in their hometown. Their friendship quickly evolved into an affair. After their first intimate encounter, Anna felt remorseful, but they continued seeing each other until she received a letter from her husband and had to return home.
Back in Moscow, Gurov expected to forget Anna quickly, but found himself increasingly preoccupied with memories of her. Unable to confide in anyone about his feelings, he grew dissatisfied with his superficial Moscow life. Eventually, he traveled to Anna's provincial town and surprised her at the theater.
And only now when his head was grey he had fallen properly, really in love—for the first time in his life... it seemed to them that fate itself had meant them for one another.
They began meeting secretly in Moscow, where Anna visited under the pretense of medical consultations. Both recognized the complexity of their situation - trapped in a double life with no clear solution. They continued their affair, understanding that the most difficult part of their journey together was just beginning.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter subtitles are editorial.
Chapter 1. First meetings in Yalta
A new visitor appeared on the seafront of Yalta - a lady walking with a little white Pomeranian dog. Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov, who had been in Yalta for two weeks, noticed her. He repeatedly saw her walking alone in the public gardens and town square, always wearing the same beret and accompanied by her dog. No one knew who she was, so everyone simply called her "the lady with the dog."
Gurov, who had a history of casual affairs with women, decided to make her acquaintance. One evening in the gardens, he used her dog to start a conversation. The lady told him she had been in Yalta for five days and found it dull. They began talking and continued their conversation after dinner, walking together and discussing the strange light on the sea and the warm weather.
Chapter 2. The affair develops
A week after their first meeting, Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna had formed a connection. On a hot, windy day, they went to the harbor to watch a steamer arrive. As the crowd dispersed in the darkness, Gurov suddenly embraced Anna and kissed her. She did not resist, and they went to her hotel room.
Her expression, her gait, her dress, and the way she did her hair told him that she was a lady, that she was married, that she was in Yalta for the first time and alone, and that she was dull there.
In her room, Anna was distressed by what had happened. She called herself a "bad, low woman" and said she had deceived herself. She explained that she had married young, at twenty, and had been "tormented by curiosity" for something better in life. She had told her husband she was ill and came to Yalta alone.
I have been tormented by curiosity; I wanted something better. 'There must be a different sort of life,' I said to myself. I wanted to live! To live, to live!... I was fired by curiosity... I could not control myself.
Gurov found her remorse irritating but comforted her. They left the hotel and went to Oreanda, where they sat near the church looking at the sea. In the peaceful surroundings, Gurov reflected on the beauty of the world and the higher aims of human existence.
And in this constancy, in this complete indifference to the life and death of each of us, there lies hid, perhaps, a pledge of our eternal salvation, of the unceasing movement of life upon earth.
After that night, they met daily at noon on the seafront. They lunched, dined, and took walks together, admiring the sea. Anna worried that Gurov did not respect her, while he became increasingly passionate. They drove to Oreanda or the waterfall in the evenings, finding the scenery beautiful and their time together meaningful.
Chapter 3. Separation and reconnection
Their idyll was interrupted when Anna received a letter from her husband saying he had eye trouble and asking her to return home. She prepared to leave immediately, telling Gurov it was "the finger of destiny." He accompanied her to the train station, where they said a sad farewell. Anna believed they were parting forever and should never have met.
Left alone on the platform, Gurov felt sad and slightly remorseful. He realized he had unintentionally deceived Anna by appearing different from what he really was. He thought it was time to return north to Moscow.
Back in Moscow, Gurov resumed his routine life. He read newspapers, went to restaurants and clubs, and played cards at the doctors' club. At first, he expected memories of Anna to fade within a month, but instead, they grew more vivid. He found himself thinking of her constantly, seeing her in his imagination, and feeling her presence everywhere.
Gurov longed to share his feelings with someone but couldn't talk about his love at home or with acquaintances. When he mentioned meeting a fascinating woman in Yalta to an official after a card game, the man responded with a crude comment about food, which disgusted Gurov.
What savage manners, what people! What senseless nights, what uninteresting, uneventful days! The rage for card-playing, the gluttony, the drunkenness... Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things.
Unable to forget Anna, Gurov decided to visit her hometown of S—. He told his wife he was going to Petersburg on behalf of a young friend and set off. In S—, he took a room at a hotel and learned from the porter that Von Diderits lived in a house on Old Gontcharny Street.
Gurov walked up and down outside the house, hoping for a glimpse of Anna. Eventually, he saw her white Pomeranian leave the house with an old woman. That evening, he went to the theater for the first performance of "The Geisha," thinking Anna might attend.
Chapter 4. Secret meetings in Moscow
At the theater, Gurov spotted Anna sitting in the third row with her husband. When her husband left during the first interval, Gurov approached her. Anna was shocked and frightened to see him. They moved to a quiet staircase where she begged him to leave, fearing discovery. Despite her distress, she promised to visit him in Moscow.
Anna began traveling to Moscow every two or three months, telling her husband she was consulting a doctor. She stayed at the Slaviansky Bazaar hotel and sent a messenger to Gurov. Their relationship deepened into genuine love.
He had two lives: one, open, seen and known by all who cared to know... and another life running its course in secret. And through some strange, perhaps accidental, conjunction of circumstances...
One winter morning, Gurov was taking his daughter to school on his way to meet Anna. He reflected on his double life - the public one known to everyone and the secret one that contained everything meaningful to him.
When he arrived at Anna's hotel room, she was crying. Their situation seemed hopeless - they could only meet in secret, hiding like thieves. Gurov realized that their love would not end soon and that he had fallen truly in love for the first time in his life.
They forgave each other for what they were ashamed of in their past, they forgave everything in the present, and felt that this love of theirs had changed them both.
Together, they discussed how to free themselves from their deception and separation. They wanted to begin a new life together, but the solution seemed elusive. They recognized that the most difficult part of their journey was just beginning.
It was clear to both of them that they had still a long, long road before them, and that the most complicated and difficult part of it was only just beginning.