603-101-04 63 Prof. Faigelman

“ It is paradoxical that love could be born so contrarily to the intents of the personalities involved.” -R.V. Cassill

It would be quite impossible to give a precise definition of exactly what the word love means. One can love a family member, a friend, a spouse or even a certain type of food and although all these cases can be called love, they are all completely different dimensions of love.

The two short stories- Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog” and Lawrence’s “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” are trying to show us that love cannot be something that is planned. It can pop up in the strangest places and at the strangest times.

In Chekhov’s short story, “The Lady with the Dog”, the main character- Gurov lives a very unsettled life. He is constantly unfaithful to his wife and doesn’t know what he wants. Gurov likes to play games with women’s minds and sees them as the “lower race”. He had a sort of special force that drew women to him; he enjoyed this power he knew he had over them.

Love cannot be forced. It will show up when we least expect and it will conquer our mind and bodies. Love can be extremely powerful and can leave us feeling helpless, just like the two couples in the stories who had fallen helplessly in love and could not fight or hide their feelings even though they weren’t exactly in the best position to fall in love. They knew that they had to let love take over and work it’s magic because once it begins it becomes an extremely arduous task to try and reverse love’s spell.

Some topics in this essay:
Mabel Pervin, Gurov Anna, Pervin Mabel, Anna Sergeyevna, Lady Dog”, Prof Faigelman, Dealer’s Daughter”, Moscow Gurov, Anna Gurov, Doctor Fergusson, horse dealer’s, horse dealer’s daughter”, dealer’s daughter”, “the lady dog”, love love, mabel pervin, “the horse dealer’s, “the horse, “the lady, lady dog”, house brothers, gurov anna, fall love,