Joyce Carol Oates’ “The Lady with the Pet Dog” strives to portray a modern woman fairly and realistically, with insight and depth. However, through the use of a modern setting, a close examination of the main character reveals a series of unfair, albeit unintentional, stereotypes. This can most effectively be understood when one considers the author’s intentions and goals, as a female writer, in portraying the modern woman and whether or not these goals are achieved, as well as assessing the roles inherent to the female protagonist in the story.
We know that, in this text, we are constantly given glimpses into the mind of Anna, the story’s main character. We also know that this story was written as a sort of response to the Anton Chekhov piece of a similar name, where we were only ever invited into the mind of the male protagonist. Therefore, it is fair to say that Joyce Carol Oates intends that we get a fair perspective of the modern woman through the character of Anna. With this in mind, it may also be fair to say that Oates wishes to denounce the typical stereotypes that have plagued literature for so long – namely, those of Eve, the sinful seductress, or Mary, the angelic saint. However, Oates does not successfully stray too far from either one.
It is Anna who passionately longs “to fly outward, to meet with another person” (69) when she is on her apparent vacation, and though it is the stranger that first approaches her on the beach, it is Anna who invites him into her cottage and, subsequently, into her bed. She even goes as far as to ask him if his wife is with him that first day on the beach, insinuating that she has plotted this moral deviation from day one. This is a clear execution of the Eve stereotype.
On the other hand, Oates’ attempt at portraying a realistic, modern woman inadvertently goes so far as to elevate the main character to the role of sainthood. Anna is a woman who goes against the restrictive yet time-honored standards of how women ought to behave, which she interprets as “behaving correctly; out of instinct” (76). She is a true, enlightened, liberated individual – a savior to womankind. Can this be considered a realistic portrayal of the everyday modern woman? In this sense, she is placed upon a pedestal, illustrating a form of the stereotype of the glorified, saintly Mary, equally as unrealistic as the sinful Eve.
Along with these female stereotypes, Oates also applies other stereotypical characteristics to Anna. Through much of the story, the main character is plagued by feelings of guilt and shame, as any good, socially cohesive woman should be after being engaged in such a sinful act. She is also a victim of her emotions, repeatedly considering suicide. Her continual vacillation between loving and hating her lover, along with the fact that she spends the majority of the story in a state of confusion, inadequately portrays women as creatures of whimsy and indecisiveness.
So what does any of this have to do with the story being set in modern times? Perhaps a good place to begin would again be to assess Anna’s character. At the end of the story, we are left with a calm, content, almost delirious main character. One wonders, as her lover does, why she is so happy and content in the midst of such a difficult situation. Is it because she has had a revelation about herself and who she is? Is it because she has fallen in love, truly, deeply? Or is it because she knows that her and her lover can make their illicit relationship work with no more difficulty than the average unmarried couple because they have the luxury of divorce at their fingertips? Previous generations in various social atmospheres would have never had such an option. If this is true, perhaps we can trace this back to why Anna got involved in the first place. Perhaps she was aware all along, even when she made plans to leave her husband for a few days, that she wanted more than her husband was giving her, and that she was deliberately seeking someone else. This implies that if extinguishing a marriage requires little more than a couple of signatures, then why shouldn’t a woman leave when she becomes dissatisfied? Is this a fair assessment of the attitude that accompanies women’s liberation? Does the liberation of women (a modern phenomena) rely on the existence of a means of escape from stagnant situations or does it merely include divorce as an option of last resort? Here we find an implication that this sort of marital carelessness is inherent in all modern women, or at least those who wish to be liberated from the archaic notions of how a woman ought to behave.
Of course, it could be said that the modern setting of Oates’ “The Lady with the Pet Dog” is irrelevant in relation to Anna’s decision to carry out this affair. After all, marital infidelity has existed almost as long as the institution itself. However, can we be sure that the modern possibility of divorce is not resting in the back of Anna’s mind throughout the duration of the story? And even if it is not, can we be sure that she has not adopted this notion by the end of the story as a direct result of the social and legal climate of her day? It seems that, through careful analysis of stereotypes and author’s intentions, the implications of the modern setting are revealed.
