According to The Evolution of Divorce Publications National Affairs “marriage rates have fallen and cohabitation rates have surged in the wake of the divorce revolution, as men and women's faith in marriage has been shaken. From 1960 to 2007, the percentage of American women who were married fell from 66% to 51%, and the percentage of men who were married fell from 69% to 55%. Yet at the same time, the number of cohabiting couples increased fourteen-fold — from 439,000 to more than 6.4 million”. Marriage seems to be a fading practice and people are content with just being in a relationship. In The Lady with the Pet Dog both Anna and Gurov disrespect the sacracy of their marriage, and are more happy and content being with each other despite what they are doing to their …show more content…
Many people have an excuse that people believe justifies those actions. As stated in the survey above men and women often cheated because they were emotionally invested in another. Dmitry’s unhappiness, which leads to him cheating, is justified in the sense that his wife has drove him away, which he describes “She read a great deal, used simplified spelling in her letters, called her husband, not Dmitry, but Dimitry, while he privately considered her of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home” (Chekhov 235). Not only did Chekhov justify Dmitry’s reasons for cheating, but he also gives Anna reason to cheat as she describes her husband in a boring manner. As the audience we then feel bad for Anna and Gurov and see it as something good, since they are happy together, although it is still very