The Lady with the Dog

Chekhov introduces the character of Dimitry in a very offputting way. He degrades women by referring to them as a "lower race," but then goes on to say that "he could have not existed a single day" without them. It becomes clear that Dimitry has been engaging in illicit love affairs for some time now. Although he calls this "fresh intimacy" with various women a "charming, light adventure," he goes on to say that it develops into a problem that leads to an "irksome situation." My first impressions of Dimitry's character is that he is unhappy in is marriage, that he resorts to sex with other women as an escape from his own dreary life, and that although Chekhov sets him up to appear insensitive, that his character has more depth. Perhaps this void is rooted from his past, which has not yet been made apparent to the readers.