The Lady with the Dog- By Anton Chekhov
The significance of the two lovers meeting at Yalta, a resort town, is to show that they are both running away from their situation in their hometowns. Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov is running away from his problems at home in Moscow. He’s not close to his wife and views women as inferior human beings. He doesn’t love his wife nor the experiences he has with Moscow people. He thinks the society of men is boring so he would much rather spend his time with women. He feels at ease and more like his real self whenever he is with a woman because they’re interesting and they amuse him. Similarly, Anna Sergeyevna hates her current life with her husband. They both went to Yalta in order to seek temporary relief from their situations at home and to seek comfort in another person’s arms.
Gurov had been with many women before, “from the past he preserved memories of careless, good-natured women, who loved cheerfully and were grateful to him for the happiness he gave them, however brief it might be.” This shows that Gurov enjoys flirting and being with another woman to make them feel special as a form of entertainment for himself, and it is what he lives for. Gurov’s intentions are clear from the very beginning, he approaches Anna because of her mysteriousness. He sees her as just another woman to fulfill his interests and lust. Anna, who is married, knows that Gurov is pursuing her because this is the first time where she is alone and being followed, looked at, and spoken to from strangers because they don’t know her identity here nor do they know that she is married. It is implied that if you come to this resort town then you are seeking a companion. Even though Anna waited for her husband to come pick her up, she eventually gives up and allows Gurov to get close with her even though she knows it’s wrong. It seems as though Yalta, a resort town, is where people come to commit adultery and to forget their miserable lives back home.
I couldn’t agree more with the significance being that it feels like an escape. A major theme in this short story is their search for freedom, an escape even if its in secrecy because they are shackled down but other things at home. Anna even specifically states, “I wanted to live!” and “I could not be restrained”. On vacation they can’t help but feel alive, able to explore, breath, move in whichever way they desire without the usual obligations that “restrain” them at home. And this also emphasizes the statement, “every man had his real, most interesting life under the cover of secrecy”. As being truly free was seemingly impossible at the time going home meant Anna and Dmitri could not see each-other or indulge in themselves but in Yalta, a place full of resorts, of new people always coming or going they could escape even if it was only in “secrecy”.