In the short story, "The Lady with the Dog", Anton Chekhov writes about a secret love affair between a married man and a married woman. While visiting Yalta to escape her sad and regretful marriage, a woman meets a man and they spend many days and nights together. Initially, the couple's relationship is merely a casual encounter until emotions begin to increase and confusion and guilt set in. After her affair ends with the man, she returns home to her husband and resumes her married life. Her lover in Yalta, however, can not dismiss the memory of their affair and travels to find her and declare his love. Shocked by his visit, the woman's paranoia forces him to return to Moscow where she would soon meet him again. Alas, together again, the secret of their affair continues, however the woman does not want to live in secrecy anymore. They console each other to make a plan where they can love each other freely. Lust and temptation of adulterous relations can often interfere with priorities and morals while dismissing social boundaries. .
Chekhov introduces one of the main characters, Dimitri Gurov, as an unhappily married man; an experienced seducer whose multiple affairs ended badly and left him cynical and bitter. The author emphasizes Gurov's manipulation, his hatred for women and his lack of morals. Dimitri " almost always spoke ill of woman" and thought of them as the " lower race- (217). Because of the way Chekhov portrays Dimitri, the reader gets no hint that the character will undergo any transformation. Initially, Dimitri was not interested in an emotional, loving relationship. He thought of his affair with Anna as "another episode or adventure in his life" (222). He expects to forget her by going on with his life in Moscow. .
Dimitri struggles with the absence of anyone he can talk to meaningfully about the private realities of his life. He expresses the vulgar male world he inhabits, " frenzied gambling, fluttony, drunkenness, continual talk always about the same thing" (223).
