Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov

Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov is a banker living in Moscow with his wife and three children. However, his comfortable life bores him, and he has grown dissatisfied with the trappings of middle-class mundanity. His wife, whom he views with disdain, does not fulfill him, so he turns to the company of other women, whose presence excites him and whose interest in him makes him feel desired and valuable. Dmitri’s affairs make him arrogant and callous and, in part, contribute to his violent misogyny toward the women he seduces, whom he views as a “lower race.” Despite his distaste for women, Dmitri is drawn to their presence, for he struggles to connect with men and only feels comfortable in the company of women. He allows his passions to drive him. Ultimately, this makes him feel more bitter and dissatisfied with the world. Indeed, Dmitri is a conflicted man who, at once, despises the women he is intimate with while demanding their attention. 

Dmitri’s affair with Anna Sergeyevna reveals several complex aspects of his personality. While the older man has a history of being a womanizer, secretly, he wishes to be loved. At first, he refers to Anna dismissively as “the lady with the little dog,” but his disillusionment soon dissolves and grows into something genuine. Initially, he sees her as little more than an object for sexual gratification, as he sees all women; over time, Dmitri grows to love her in a way he has never before known. Dmitri is an arrogant man motivated by little more than personal pleasure. However, his affair with Anna transforms him, molding him into a markedly different man than he once was. 

Anna Sergeyevna von Diderits 

Anna Sergeyevna, “the lady with the little dog,” is a young woman vacationing in Yalta and awaiting the arrival of her husband. She is a charming woman, presumably in her twenties, who married at a young age. She quickly falls into an affair with Dmitri, thinking it is the most exciting thing to happen in years. However, Anna is crippled by insecurity and worries about how Dmitri views her. Often, she seeks reassurance from him, which he provides without feeling; when she asks if he thinks less of her or sees her as ordinary, he assures her does not, even though he does not truthfully care for her. Anna is a conflicted woman. She is motivated by her desire to be virtuous and live the life set before her; however, she knows that this life and its loveless marriage do not satisfy her. When she seeks solace in Dmitri, she feels guilt and shame at her transgressions. Like Dmitri, mundane life does not excite her; unlike Dmitri, she appears to have something of a conscience. However, by the end of the story, her guilt seems to have abandoned her, for she regularly travels to Moscow to see her lover and be with him in secrecy and, perhaps one day, permanently. 

Dmitri’s Wife

A dignified woman who prides herself on her intelligence, Dmitri’s wife is an unnamed woman who only exists for Dmitri to betray. Despite giving her husband three children, Dmitri’s wife is too dignified and intense for him to love; she intimidates him, and he despises her for it. She is either unbothered by Dmitri’s affairs or has failed to notice them; despite his years of infidelity, she still stands by her husband’s side.