The Lady With The Lapdog Analysis

The pursuit of true happiness among individuals does not only depend on material things. True happiness also requires people to whom you are pleased to be with. Humans tend to take a shortcut to acquire what makes them happy. However, resorting to unethical actions just to achieve one’s desires may only give a short term delight and a long term dilemma. “The Lady with the Lapdog” by Anton Chekhov, shows that loneliness can influence immoral actions in order to experience one’s contentment in life. Committing adulterous acts to satisfy one’s loneliness can alter one’s own moral thinking, and how one deals with their society.

This story was about Dimitrich Gomov, who met a woman named Anna Sergeyevna. Both of them were lonely, bored, and unsatisfied

When Gomov met Anna for the first time, Anna never thought of having an affair with someone. She was on a vacation trying to find a solution to her own dissatisfaction. However, she wasn’t satisfied seeing the beautiful scenery of Talta. She said, "Time goes quickly, and it is amazingly boring here" (2). She needed someone to talk to, which happened to be Gomov. Because of Gomov’s company, Anna became comfortable being with him as they develop their relationship with each other. This is evident when the author said, “...when she turned to Gomov, her eyes shone. She talked much and her questions were abrupt.” (3). Anna began to realize that Gomov is the solution to her problem. Due to loneliness and a need for affection, she begins to fall for Gomov’s kindliness even if she knows it is not right. However, as they dive deeper into their relationship, Anna exposed how regretful she was with her actions. She hated herself after they slept together in a hotel. She told Gomov, “I am a bad, low woman; I despise myself and don 't attempt to justify myself” (4). Her mind was flooded with conscience and regret. She continued her rant to Gomov saying how she wanted to experience something better that she has never experienced in her life. Gomov didn’t understand what she was saying because Gomov’s mindset was already changed completely from his immoral actions in the past. In this time period of the

She maintained her self-respect and possessed qualities on how a woman should act in a society. Due to her loneliness, her loyalty towards her husband faded when Gomov came to comfort her. Anna changed completely by forgiving herself and by acknowledging her sins. The author said that “They had forgiven each other all the past of which they were ashamed; they forgave everything in the present, and they felt that their love had changed both of them” (11). Their wish to live a lovely life is being accomplished by doing immoral actions to the point that the couple have developed a way to keep their relationship separate from their real lives. Immoral actions, like adultery, can affect the person thinking permanently if they see that it is a solution to their problem. The person’s moral thinking can be altered negatively if they experience an adversity and do immoral actions to solve their problems. Those immoral actions can affect how they view society and themselves. Just like Anna and Gomov, who resorted to adultery to relieve their problems, their way of thinking has changed from having a normal life, to having another life hidden from society. That will stay until society accepts adultery, or if they chose to part and go back to their normal lives, or if Gomov becomes bored again and will start to find another woman who can give him satisfaction just like what he did in the