This presentation provides an overview and analysis of Anton Chekhov's short story "The Lady with the Pet Dog." It begins with introducing Chekhov as a Russian writer known for his plays and short stories. The presentation then outlines the story, dividing it into four phases that describe the adulterous affair between the two main characters, Gurov and Anna. Key symbols like the dog, fence, and mirror are analyzed. The presentation concludes that Chekhov presents a nuanced portrayal of the characters' relationship and leaves their future ambiguous, highlighting themes of love, public versus private life, and dissatisfaction leading to change.

1. TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY
Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus
“THE LADY WITH THE PET DOG”
-Anton Chekhov
Presented by:
Sunil Manandhar
(076BME047)
Presented to:
Department of Applied Sciences and
Chemical Engineering

2. Objectives of the presentation
With the completion of this presentation, the audience will be able
to:
• Get a general idea about the author.
• Familiarize with the story “The Lady with The Pet Dog”.
• Get general references on the characters.
• Understand the theme of the story.

3. Outline for the presentation
Introduction to the author
01
Inception of the story
02
Story settings
03
Character description
04
Analysis & Themes
06
Story
05

4. Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
“If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.”
 Russian playwright and short-story writer.
 Also a physician.
 An artist of laconic precision.
 Probed below the surface of life, laying bare the
secret motives of his characters.
 More known for his plays.
 A master of cliffhangers.
Most famous work: The Cherry Orchards

5. Inception of the story
• An adulterous affair between an unhappily
married Moscow banker (Gurov) and a
young married woman (Anna).
• Published in 1899 in the journal “ Russian
idea”.
• Critics draw parallels to Chekhov and
Gurov.

6. Protagonists
Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov
• Under 40 years with 3 children.
• Well read, bank worker.
• Serial adulterer.
• Unhappy marriage.
• Holds women in contempt but requires their
attention.
Anna Sergeyevna Von Diderits
• Young, fair haired lady.
• Titular character.
• Unhappy marriage.
• A woman of god.
• Deeply regretful of her infidelity.

7. • One child still living with parents.
• Warm relationship with Gurov.
• Inquisitive.
Tertiary Characters
Gurov’s wife
• Unnamed in the story.
• Tall and erect, dignified.
• Considers herself intelligent.
Gurov’s daughter
Anna’s Husband
• Official in St. Petersburg.
• Rich.
• A flunky character.
• Tall and stooping.
Pomeranian Dog
• Anna’s dog.
• Titular, name not revealed.
• Small and white.

8. Story
For convenience of comprehension, I’ve decided to split the story
into four phases.

9. PHASE I
• Gurov is an unhappily married man in his 40s.
• He dislikes his wife, and he is scared of her.
• He often seeks out affairs with other women, but they are fleeting, as he bores
easily.
• While in Yalta, he meets and befriends a woman named Anna, who is knows to the
other people in Yalta as the lady with the dog.
• Anna is also unhappily married, but she is alone in Yalta.

10. PHASE II
1. Gurov and Anna go to watch a ship come in, and they kiss while there.
2. They then go back to Anna's hotel and sleep together.
3. Anna has a moment of guilt, but she soon moves past it, and the two begin to meet on a
regular basis.
4. Her husband writes for her to return home, and the lovers part.

11. —Anna
“ It’s a good thing I am going away…it’s fate
itself”

12. PHASE III
1. Gurov returns home to Moscow..
2. He finds he cannot stop thinking about Anna, which is unexpected because he has never
developed feelings for the women he has had affairs with.
3. Gurov decides to go to Anna's city, and he goes to her house, but does not go in.
4. He goes to the theater where he sees and confronts Anna..
5. He kisses her.
6. She tells him to leave and that she will come to him in Moscow.

13. PHASE IV
1. Anna starts going to Moscow.
2. One of the times, Anna is upset, and Gurov tries to get her to stop crying.
3. He sees himself in the mirror and has a moment of self-awareness.
4. The two lovers begin making plans, so they can be together.

14. Analysis
• Chekhov is economical with language and never says more than he needs.
• He conveys emotional complexity in just a few words, thus preserving the intensity of his characters'
feelings.
• For example, on first seeing Anna at the theater in her hometown, Chekhov expresses Dmitri's romantic
yearning with the passage:
"she, this little woman, in no way remarkable, lost in a provincial crowd, with a vulgar lornette in her
hand, filled his whole life now, was his sorrow and his joy … He thought and dreamed.“
he author writes as though he is painting a canvas, producing a work that is grand in scope yet intimate
in feel.

15. Symbolism in the story
Pomeranian Dog
• The white dog symbolism is important to this
short story.
• It symbolizes Anna's innocence and purity.
• Anna does not bring the dog to Moscow,
symbolizing the loss of her innocence and
purity, as she gives into the affair with Gurov.
Fence
• The fence is a symbol of a barrier and a trap.
• The grey fence is a symbolic barrier keeping Gurov
out.
• To Anna, the fence is a symbol of how she is
trapped in her marriage.

16. MIRROR
• The mirror is used as a symbol of Gurov's self-
awareness.
• When he sees Anna upset and crying and he
looks at himself in the mirror, he reflects on
how he is not a good man, but the women in his
life love him anyway.
COLORS
• The story uses two colors as symbols—white and
grey.
• As previously noted, Anna has a white dog, and the
it symbolizes her purity and innocence.
• The second color used, grey, is connected to
Gurov.
• The color grey is used to symbolize his uncertainty.
• He had never been a supporter of long-term
relationships, and he did not have respect for
women, but Anna, and his feelings for Anna,
change Gurov's outlook.

17. • Chekhov presents Yalta as a romantic oasis for Anna and Dmitri.
• A place of color, freedom, and intimacy that they cannot hope to recreate elsewhere.
• The lovers worry about what they mean to one another—
Anna frets that Dmitri thinks of her only as a "common woman,“. Dmitri thinks that Anna is beguiled by a
false impression of him as a "kind, exceptional, lofty" man.
• That because both recognize that their relationship is founded on past disappointments and future hopes, as
well as on present desires.
• Chekhov thus plays with our implicit belief that characters do not exist beyond their narrative framework:
clearly, Anna and Dmitri are people defined by the past and their dreams for the future.
• As the editor Donald Rayfield has noted, The Lady with the Dog talks more about beginnings than it does
endings.
• There is no straightforward linear progression in Chekhov's narrative.
• Readers are called to question what has happened outside of its bounds and to wonder at the lives its
characters will continue to lead i.e a cliffhanger.

18. Love
Public Vs Private life
Disillusionment
Themes
02
01
04
Breakdown of
aristocratic society
Dissatisfaction leads
to change in life
03
05

19. Any queries?
Thank you!