The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov and the Lady with the Pet Dog by Joyce Carol Oates

The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov and the Lady with the Pet Dog by Joyce Carol Oates

Though “The Lady with the Pet Dog” is the same story, Anton Chekov and Joyce Carol Oates write the story from different points of view. Chekov and Oates have different views on the inner workings of the affair. The male and female perspective of feelings differs greatly yet some aspects are the same. Chekov's character Dmitry and Oates' character Anna have different views on the opposite sex and the affair, however, their perspectives of love are seem to be the same.

Chekov begins his tale of the affair between Dmitry and Anna from the beginning. The reader is able to see that Dmitry's perspective of women is not favorable at the beginning. He tends to view women as inferior and Anna as a game. Dmitry “always spoke ill of women, and when they were talked of in his presence used to call them the “inferior race””. (Chekov 2009 205) In contrast, Oates begins her version of the tale midway through the relationship. Anna does not seem to have such a negative perspective of men, rather she is just distrustful. Anna's thoughts of me are “What did it mean to enter into a bond with another person?” “No she did not really trust him; she did not really trust men”. From the beginning of each of the stories, both Anna and Dmitry's distinctively different points of view of members of the opposite sex are apparent. However, through the life of the affair each of their perspectives of the opposite sex softens. (Oates 2009 219)

Affairs were commonplace to Dmitry. In Chekov's version of the tale, Dmitry has had ...