Social Relationships In Anton Chekhov's The Lady With The Dog

Anton Chekhov’s short story The Lady with the Dog focuses on a temporary affair between two married lovers. This short story illustrates the abnormal things that normal people will do when they get put in certain environments. This short story was written in the late 1890’s, but demonstrates deep insight into how people behave and react when they are exposed to different social dynamics and different social environments. The field of social psychology didn’t formally start until the 1950’s, but Anton Chekhov clearly understood how social anonymity emboldens and empowers people to do rash or unexpected things. The psychology of anonymity involves a loss of self-awareness of the social group, which often contributes to socially deviant behaviors like disregarding society’s strict moral standards and interpersonal rules. While Anton Chekhov’s short story doesn’t delve into this deindividuation process, it does reveal more about the

First, the characters understand that their relationship is based on future aspirations and second, they have historical relationship disappointments. This third insight into the psychology of love supports the fact that many relationships and marriages often fail because of unrealistic expectations. Psychology research SHOWS that individual expectations for relationships actually sows the seeds of discontent. People are expected to provide not only provide safety, security and support, but also facilitate personal growth and freedom. Even though they come from an older period in history, Anna and Dmitri are stereotypical people who have unhappy pasts and hopeful futures. They are thrown into an intense relationship with limited mutual understanding. Chekhov’s limited dialogue and straightforward narrative leaves plenty of cognitive room for readers to ruminate about their own experiences and how they relate to the