How does one reconcile Gurov’s apparent misogyny with his newfound of love of Anna Sergeyevna?
In the beginning of the story “The Lady with the Dog,” Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov’s character is the embodiment of a misogynist. He is a married man with 3 children but still proceed to seek affairs. He labels women as “the lower race” and always “spoke ill of women” (1). His mindset denounces women and brand women as objects that he could use to his disposal. It is also described that Gurov has a way with women, which makes it easier for him to use women for pleasure and discard them afterwards. However, the affair with Anna Sergeyevna seem to change Gurov. He, himself, believed that his affair with Sergeyevna is like the other affairs that he had before, but it was not. Gurov believes that his memories of Sergeyevna will soon dissipate and that he can continue his everyday routine, but it was the complete opposite. Soon after their affair ended, he begins to reminisce about their time together. As the days pass, his memories and desire for Sergeyevna “glowed more and more vividly” (6). As a result, Gurov travels to Sergeyevna and confesses to her. Towards the end of the story, when Gurov meets Sergeyevna again, there’s this epiphany moment where Gurov “understood clearly that for him there was in the whole world no creature so near, so precious, and so important to him; she, this little woman, in no way remarkable, lost in a provincial crowd, with a vulgar lorgnette in her hand, filled his whole life now, was his sorrow and his joy” (7). Despite how ordinary Sergeyevna is, she’s still the apple to his eyes and he loves her nonetheless. This is a huge change from the beginning of the story from his negative and judgmental view of women to describing Sergeyevna as precious and important. Gurov started off the story seeking pleasures from women to keep his boredom at bay to trying to find a solution to be with Sergeyevna permanently.