Yarmolinsky's The Lady With The Pet Dog

"The Lady with the Pet Dog" is a love story about two married persons. Regardless of the fact that they were both married, the characters found each other and then fell in love. Starting out as strangers, the lovers nurtured their relationship in secrecy as they were both married. The story conveys a true reality about loveless marriages. Using characterization the author depicted the feelings of people who were trapped in their unhappy marriages.
Readers can easily recognize how characterization was used to describe Anna Sergeyevna. She appeared to be a newcomer in town. First, the author used Anna's appearance to reveal part of her character. People noticed her through her white dog. This tells us something about this woman's background
because a working class person would not afford a white Pomeranian. Then, description was used to verify this assumption. She was an upper class "Her expression, her gait, her dress, and the way she did her hair told him that she belonged to the upper class,"( Yarmolinsky, 777). Through her attitude of talking to Gurov, it is plain that Anna's marriage was not happy.
She called her husband " good, honest man" and yet "flunkey". It is not so hard for the readers to realize that she more likely respected her husband rather than loved him. Even though the character did not state this fact, it could be guessed easily. That was how the author used dialogue in which the facts about characters are revealed by studying the way they talk. The same technique was used to depict Anna's feeling toward her marriage. "I don't know what he does, what his work is,…"( Yarmolinsky, 779). She felt isolated and lonely. Yet, Anna knew that she was a wife and that she should be responsible for that title. She felt guilty for her relationship with Gurov. She was afraid that what she had done might degrade her status. This is again described through her conversation with Gurov "… now I have become a vulgar, vile woman whom anyone despise"( Yarmolinsky, 779). As she received a letter from her husband, Anna "made no haste to go" "( Yarmolinsky, 779). Studying the way the characters react to their circumstance the readers can go further inside the characters' consciousness. Those details were showing details in which
the ideas were suggested to the readers in a subtle way. It is likely that she knew what she was doing is wrong; however she was not strong enough to stay away from her personal desire. Not until there was a motivation for her to do so. Receiving her husband's letter, Anna found herself an allegation to either leave Gurov or restrain herself from doing wrongly. The author used Anna as a static character as she did not changed much through out the story. This will be contrasted to the dynamic character of Dmitry Dmitrich Gurov whose change was the essential point in this story.
Again, characterization was used to describe Dmitry Dmitrich Gurov, a married man with three children again finding his happiness outside marriage.
The author used description to reveal a general picture about Gurov. Referring women as "the inferior race" but "he could not have lived without "the inferior rate"" (Yarmolinsky, 776) either. Women are essential to his life but it is wonder that he has ever loved any of them. These details suggest that he might not be a suitable man for marriage. As mentioned, Gurov was a dynamic character; indeed, his change was a major fact for the story. Gurov's feeling toward Anna changed before and after she left. Although not many descriptions depicted how he felt about the relationship, a very important detail reveals his thinking. " Gurov cut himself a slice and began eating it without haste" while Anna was so anxious. In this, the characters' gesture or attitude enabled the readers to learn about them. Gurov was so "cold" and neglectful toward Anna and thus to him she was not different from the other women he had met. However, his feeling started changing when he got back to Moscow. Using description and dialogue the author reveal the change in Gurov. "And only from time to time he would dream of her with her touching smile as he dreamed of others" (Yarmolinsky, 782). The way the author described Gurov show the readers how deep he was fascinated about Anna; "Already he was tormented by a strong desire to share his memories with
someone." "( Yarmolinsky, 782). Gurov was also a contrasting character to Anna. He was a dynamic character while she was static. Moreover, Gurov was more active in his decision than Anna was. He admitted his change and went for his desired rather than waited for allegations like Anna did.
Using characterization the author of "The Lady and the Pet Dog" describes the inner life of people who committed reluctant marriages. The story also expose the how different men and women react in order to extricate themselves from torment of unhappy marriages.