The Lady With The Dog

Consistent with the literary symbolism of fruit, the “water-melon” that Gurov consumes in Anna’s hotel room in Yalta symbolizes sexuality. In the story’s context, its juicy red pulp points to female sexuality, while the act of eating the fruit parallels the savoring of the pleasure that female sexuality may offer. The archetype of fruit-eating recalls the eating of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden by Adam and Eve—a sin of pleasure that starts with Eve, who entices her husband into eating with her. In this context, Gurov’s “water-melon” eating draws on these connotations of sins of the flesh, temptation, and adultery. Gurov’s silent eating while Anna feels overcome with guilt over their sexual intimacy reveals him as a crass consumer of the pleasure women can give. Poignantly indicting the patriarchal worldview in this scene, Chekhov suggests that at this point Gurov sees women only as sexual objects intended for his consumption—he enjoys them only briefly and forgets them easily.

In addition to moving the plot forward and mirroring the characters’ inner world, the motif of time and seasonal changes maps the protagonists’ larger evolution through the seasons of their lives and relationship. As Anna leaves Yalta, the cool autumnal air permeating the parting scene signals an end of the characters’ naiveté, their wishful thinking about each other, and the relative ease of their relationship. Autumn and winter usher in for Gurov a season of crisis: As he feels increasingly discontent with his family and social life, his love for Anna grows. Along with the dying and fading of the natural world in autumn and winter, Anna and Gurov’s visible life diminishes in significance while their secret love revitalizes and sustains them in this dead season. When Gurov observes himself in the mirror in the final hotel scene, he feels overcome with a sense of the frailty and transience of their life. He notices that they both display signs of aging, entering the inexorable autumn and winter of their lives. In this context, time and seasonal changes loom over Anna and Gurov as an ever-present memento mori. Consistently following the characters’ lives and relationship throughout the story, times and seasons increasingly spur Gurov and Anna to pursue their relationship as a more lasting monument against impermanence.