The Lady with the dog by Anton Chekhov describes the social responsibility that marriage held in the turn of the century Russia. This emotional story brings to life the loveless marriages that many couples found themselves in as a result of arranged marriages. Two married people find themselves without their significant other, and they begin to fall in love. This wonderful story is about two people who find their soul mate. Marriage and love are the focal points of the story. Also, the ending is very emotional.
Society and its regulations and ideals have confined Gurov to an inescapable doom of self-pity and loveless marriage. He is a man who is incapable of exercising his freedom to find happiness. Early in his life he was held back by society and its institution of marriage. He said that he was talked into marrying in his second year at college, an example of his inability to act as he wishes. Also he was made to spend his life with a woman who he considers to be shallow, narrow minded and dowdy. The depression of being with a person who you neither love nor care about took a great toll on Gurov. The marriage put Gurov in a cage where he was unable to live his life as he wanted, therefore restricting him from living at all. While Gurov and Anna do indeed suffer from loveless marriages, their decision to commit adultery must be condemned because society's acceptance of adultery will take us down a perilous path of deceit, moral degradation and decadence. Every society adheres to the long-held view that marriage is and always will be a sacred institution. To go against this view - to commit adultery - is to suffer condemnation even to the point of alienation. Gurov and Anna know this. That is why at the end of the story they brace themselves for any eventuality.
By the way, we neglect to mention that this story was written in 1899, and both marriages in question were arranged for business...
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