Lie In Anton Chekhov's The Lady With The Dog

When you hear the word lie you automatically assign a negative connotation to it, but how often do you lie yourself? In Anton Chekhov's “The Lady with the Dog” he shows cheating and lying through the perspective of two married infidels in love. In Judith Viorst’s “The Truth About Lying” she analyzes the small white lies used by people in their daily lives. Although lying may be morally wrong, I believe small lies are necessary because they create a smoother functioning society in day to day life. Without them even even the simplest conversations could turn into rough patches we have to trek through. Daily small talk is built on the foundation of small white lies. In fact it would almost be weird to always tell the truth in chit chat situations. …show more content…
In Chekhov's “The Lady with the Dog” the two main characters stay in a life long affair while both of their spouses never know. Every time the mistress would come and visit in Moscow she would tell her husband, “that she was going to consult a doctor about an internal complaint – and her husband believed her” (4.41). Even though they were happiest together, instead of ending their marriage, they would meet behind their spouse’s backs.¶ They had the ability to call things off and live a happy wholesome life together but felt they were too deep in and felt that they needed to protect the feelings of their significant others. Although when looked upon more closely it is to make their own lives easier, not their spouse’s. In truth it is to protect their own emotions and the hardship and judgement they would face in their lives after being discovered for adultery. This may benefit the comfort of their lives, but it is not a necessary lie because it benefits no one but themselves. This is a lie opposite of what Viorist would categorize as a social lie because instead of their “credibility” being destroyed for telling the truth it would instead be destroyed if they were found out about what they were