At first glance, Anton Chekhov's two short stories — The Student and The Lady with the Dog — do not seem to share some significant similarity. One is about a young student who talks with two widows and realizes hope; the other is about an affair between a married man and a separately married woman. While there are easily spotted differences between these two stories, there also exists a prominent similarity in the way they are illustrated: a notable shift of attitude in the main characters. In The Student, Ivan Velikopolsky does not tell the anecdote of Peter to the widows by mere chance. Although his act of spontaneously bringing up the biblical matter just after exchanging greetings could seem only like another element of realism, it plays a critical role in the plot that later sparks an epiphany. After watching the widows' emotional reaction to the story of Peter, Ivan's attitude towards the world changes from gloom and misery to fervent hope. The sharply contrasting