The Lady With The Pet Dog Quotes

Since the dawn of civilized society affairs have been seen as something that is immoral and wrong. When The Lady with the Pet Dog was written in 1899, cheating was wrong then and now, and is one of the lowest things you can do. Although many claim cheating is wrong, these awful practices are becoming something more common and somewhat acceptable. Many times it seems as though it is the man who cheats, yet when the role is switched the man is still blamed for the woman cheating. Cheating becomes acceptable because people tend to justify their actions, and in doing so it leads people to believe it was an “okay” thing to do. The Lady with the Pet Dog uses the relationship created between Anna and Gurov to create happiness and make us feel
bad, but happy for them, so how can society continue to look down upon cheating, and still allow to be something that is acceptable? Cheating is one of the lowest things that could be done, since the earliest times of civilized society is has been frowned upon, yet it is a widely continued option in many relationships.
According to The Evolution of Divorce Publications National Affairs “marriage rates have fallen and cohabitation rates have surged in the wake of the divorce revolution, as men and women's faith in marriage has been shaken. From 1960 to 2007, the percentage of American women who were married fell from 66% to 51%, and the percentage of men who were married fell from 69% to 55%. Yet at the same time, the number of cohabiting couples increased fourteen-fold — from 439,000 to more than 6.4 million”. Marriage seems to be a fading practice and people are content with just being in a relationship. In The Lady with the Pet Dog both Anna and Gurov disrespect the sacracy of their marriage, and are more happy and content being with each other despite what they are doing to their
partners. When reading works about cheating it seems as though the man is to blame, but both parties are guilty, so why does it seem as though cheating is more acceptable in women? In a survey conducted by Truth About Deception studies showed that 92.9% of women had emotional affairs with their spouse, 54.4% had a one night stand and 75.4% said it was because of problems within their relationship, while 81.1% of the men who surveyed had emotional affairs, 49.3% cheated because of relationship problems, and 76% had a one night stand. Based on the survey women are more accepted for the affair because they were unhappy and emotionally out of sync with their partner, yet a man may have just cheated for the sex. Although the story ends with Anna and Gurov sticking together and trying to build something, it doesn’t stray from the fact that these stereotypes may hold some truth. Often times, like any other situation, the person will try to justify cheating, and it is because of this reason that cheating still occurs.
Many people have an excuse that people believe justifies those actions. As stated in the survey above men and women often cheated because they were emotionally invested in another. Dmitry’s unhappiness, which leads to him cheating, is justified in the sense that his wife has drove him away, which he describes “She read a great deal, used simplified spelling in her letters, called her husband, not Dmitry, but Dimitry, while he privately considered her of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home” (Chekhov 235). Not only did Chekhov justify Dmitry’s reasons for cheating, but he also gives Anna reason to cheat as she describes her husband in a boring manner. As the audience we then feel bad for Anna and Gurov and see it as something good, since they are happy together, although it is still very
wrong. Sadly it seems as though cheating is something that is becoming socially acceptable, but people should not start justifying those types of actions. As I stated above The Lady with the Pet Dog tried to use Gurov’s home life and personal situations to justify his cheating, while using Anna’s emotional boredom in her relationship. This story holds so much power in showing the audience what not to do. Our generation cannot begin to think that marriage is just another relationship, because it is not, and this is why this reading work makes me so passionate. There isn’t anything that is justifiable about cheating because regardless of your situation you can always just leave. Society can’t continue to not address a situation as serious as cheating, but continue to look down upon it or else just like most things people will forget about it and start accepting those actions.