Anton Chekhov in "the Lady with the Dog," brilliantly displays the quest of one man to find happiness. Through his main character, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov, Chekhov is able to show how a man can be held back from the very freedoms in life by society and its laws and institutions. In order for Gurov to be free and find his ultimate happiness, he must free himself by the very restraints society has inflicted upon him.
Society and its regulations and ideals have confined Gurov to an inescapable doom of self-pity. He is a man who is incapable of exercising his freedom to find happiness. Early in his life he was held back by society and its institution of marriage. He said that "he was talked into marrying in his second year at college," an example of his inability to act as he wishes (Chekhov 1286). Also he was made to spend his life with a woman who he considers to be "shallow, narrow minded, and dowdy" (Chekhov 1286). The depression of being with a person who you neither love nor care about took a great toll on Gurov. The marriage put Gurov in a cage where he was unable to live his life as he wanted, therefore restricting him from living at all. The marriage underlied many difficulties in his life, it even created a further restriction on Gurov due to the fact that he had children with his wife. Having children is a symbol for a unity and bond between a family, something that Gurov was adamant in not having with his family. Gurov was stuck in a never ending cycle of restriction and unhappiness. .
The restrictions imposed upon Gurov by his wife and the institution of marriage made him rebel by having extra-marital relationships with unknown women. Through his relationships with women he thought he would have a chance at attaining this happiness. The happiness that he did receive was that of the relationships he had with "careless, good-natured women, who loved cheerfully and were grateful to him for the happiness he gave them" (Chekhov 1286).
