The+Seagull+by+Anton+Chekhov

//The Seagull// a play by Anton Chekhov


 * Authorial Background:** Anton Chekhov was a 19th century Russian author and playwright. He was born in the port town of Tagenrog, Ukraine in 1860. Chekhov spent his youth under the strict fanaticism of his religious father and working long hours in the family store. He attended school and stayed behind in his hometown when the rest of his family moved to Moscow due to financial trouble. Anton provided for himself by tutoring other students until he finished his last three years of education. Eventually he enrolled in medical school and became a doctor. His experience with medicine can be seen in many of his works - especially in the seagull whose many characters may reflect the different sides of Anton himself esp. Dorn the doctor. By 1886 he gained fame as a writer for the comic short stories he posted in the paper to help pay his way through medical school and his family. Anton also published two full length novels around this time. While practicing medicine his writing was seen as dispassionate and non-judgmental - with little social criticism which was common for writers at the time. He was awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1888 and the next year took time off from writing to practice medicine some more. By the 1890's he became a full-time writer, though, and published the bulk of his most renowned short-stories. Chekhov married an actress in 1901 but unfortunately died three years later. He was internationally unknown for quite some time until his works were translated in English in the 1920's specifically with The Seagull.


 * Literary Period/Country**: Anton Chekhov was among many of the Russian writers of the 19th Century. During that time it was common in authors works to include social criticism, realism, and tragedy. Anton's play the Seagull displays much tragedy and realism - but he also includes some elements of romanticism which was looked down upon somewhat at the time as well as left out social criticisms.


 * Setting:** The Seagull takes place in a Ukrainian Country-side near Odessa, at the residents of Peter Sorin. Sorin's house overlooks a large lake.


 * Themes:** Included themes are: Life's beauty, failure, death, jealousy, and the human search for fulfillment.


 * Cast:**

IRINA ARKADINA: An actress. Mother to Constantine and sister to Sorin. She is critical of her son and does not take him seriously. She is believed to be stuck up and rich but is actually quite loving and financially poor. CONSTANTINE TREPLIEFF: Her son and writer. He is in love with Nina and jealous of Trigorin whom has caught Nina's interest and is more successful than Constantine. He is depressive, and insecure with himself. Because of this he is looked down upon with confusion and sympathy from his peers.

PETER SORIN: Her brother and statesmen. He has a strong relationship with Constantine and is an elder statesmen. He is good humored and self-deprecating but is old and on the verge of dying. He is very remorseful for not pursuing his dreams as a writer. NINA ZARIETCHNAYA: A young girl, the daughter of a rich landowner, and aspiring actress. She falls in love with Trigorin and Arkadina and their lifestyles as noted artists. She goes against her parents wishes to pursue these dreams even though she realizes the lifestyle she admired is not at all what she imagined. Despite this she continues to pursue her dreams - without Constantine who loves her. ILIA SHAMRAEFF: The manager of Sorin's estate, who is miserly and disliked by Arkadina and Sorin. He sort of put's the residents in their place by knocking them off their high horse (namely Arkadina) however he generally acts this way to everyone - refusing to give up his horses. PAULINA: His wife. MASHA: Their daughter who is in love with Constantine despite his love for Nina. She wears black and is depressed because of her unrequited love. She believes she can curb her heart-ache by marrying the schoolmaster that has a crush on her - even though she has no feelings for him whatsoever. She turns out even more miserable and tired than before. BORIS TRIGORIN: An author and friend of Arkadina. While visiting Sorin's estate he meets Nina and falls for her - despite her relationship with Constantine. He is revealed to be a fan of fishing and does not hold himself in high esteem despite the perceptions of everyone else around him. He takes Nina into his world but abandons her. EUGENE DORN: A doctor and friend of Sorin and Arkadina. He is level-headed and enjoys life having accomplished all he has set out for. He sees life's beauty and is content with it. Dorn is in some ways a foil to Sorin and the other characters of the play who feel mostly unfulfilled. SIMON MEDVIEDENKO: A poor schoolteacher, who is madly in love with Masha. He wishes to marry her despite her attraction to Constantine. Even when she marries him she does not return his love and her family thinks of him as a simpleton. He is an outcast.


 * Plot Summary:**

The play is divided into four act. The first act starts off with Constantine who is a young aspiring writer on the opening night of a play he's written. The play is novel in that the only role is played by Nina his love. But the play is not finished because of Constantine's cruel mother and actress Arkadina who does not take her sons work seriously. Constantine stops the play because of this and runs away crying like a little girl because he's a sensitive artistic type. Sorin and co. chide Arkadina for this but she remains a stuck up b****. Constantine is convinced his mother is rich even though she claims she is always out of money. Nina has an encounter with Trigorin who Constantine is jealous of and believes to be a charleton. None-the-less Nina and Trigorin are introduced by Arkadina and Nina shows a certain fascination for him. The second act has the characters lounging around the estate. Nina's step-parents are revealed to be strict and un-approving of her aspirations to be an actress. Arkadina is contrasted with Masha who is filled with despair and constantly treads the future and is full of regrets, while Arkadina emphasizes how she does not let these things trifle her and takes life as it comes. Much of what happens is character driven. Sorin is revealed to be full of regret in his life which he feels he has never experienced fully to Dorn who is a doctor who travels often and enjoys his life. We find that Masha is in love with Constantine but is too subdued to pursue him since he loves Nina, and decides to settle for Medviedenko a simple school teacher that is infatuated with her, even though she dislikes him. Constantine shoots a seagull and lays it at Nina's feet. He tells her he is depressed because she does not love him and that he will kill himself. She complains that she does not understand any of this and Constantine goes off. Nina has a conversation with Trigorin where she finds the life a writer and artist to be much less glamorous than what she expected. Regardless she falls in love with Trigorin. Constantine attempts suicide but fails he also challenges Trigorin to a duel. Trigorin must leave and before he goes Nina gives him a medallion with a page number from one of his books and Arkadina confesses she loves him as well. The line he finds reads: “If at any time you should have need of my life, come and take it.” This intrigues him and makes him decide to pursue Nina instead of Arkadina. Nina as well decides to go against her parent's wishes and move to Moscow to become an actress where she begins a life with Trigorin that fails. She is not that great an actress and her child dies. Trigorin leaves her, presumably for Arkadina. 2 years later they all return to the same estate. Nina and Constantine have one last conversation where she reveals that she does not care about the past and that it no longer bothers her. She wants to move on and has faith she will succeed even through her failures. Constantine meanwhile has became somewhat renowned but his work lacks spirit and motivation and he does not have faith. He sees Nina still loves Trigorin and after she leaves he shoots himself. Arkadina fears it was Constantine killing himself - Dorn checks and says it was just one of his tinctures exploding - but he takes Trigorin aside and tells him Constantine has indeed killed himself.


 * Quotes and Devices:**

"I dress in black to match my life. I am unhappy." MASHA -colors play a significance, Masha is privileged and has a good life going for her but she focuses on her unmet desires.

"I feel that they only endure me because I am her son. Personally I am nothing, nobody. I pulled through my third year at college by the skin of my teeth, as they say. I have neither money nor brains," CONSTANTINE -Constantine like Masha, believes himself to be a sham of sorts, yet ironically he underplays Trigorin as not so good a writer as himself even though he is obviously more successful. He believes himself to be a failure because he'll never be good enough.

"I cannot live without her; even the sound of her footsteps is music to me. I am madly happy." CONSTANTINE -Nina is Constantine's only source of pleasure. Writing only gives him anxiety and he sees his future as uncertain - but Nina is the one tangible thing he can hold onto. That he cannot live without her is a foreshadowing of things to come.

"My father and his wife never will let me come here; they call this place Bohemia and are afraid I shall become an actress. But this lake attracts me as it does the gulls. My heart is full of you." NINA -Nina is the Seagull. This is the first correlation we see between her and them. She, as with the seagull, represent human spirits drawn to their desires and ready to tackle them no matter the obstacles that lay before them.

"I have never read any of (Trigorin’s works), so I can’t say." CONSTANTINE -An Ironic statement - as early Constantine had related to Sorin that his works were pleasant but no where near as great as Tolstoy and the such. Suddenly he does not have an opinion. It is because of his jealousy.

"I never admit the thought of old age or death, and just accept what comes to me." ARKADINA -Arkadina although may sometimes come off as a pompous a-hole to her son - is optimistic and represents the view of a person who is completely content with whatever comes their way - in contrast to the other characters such as Sorin, Constantine, and Masha who yearn for things they may never have or had.

"I feel as if I had been in the world a thousand years, and I trail my life behind me like an endless scarf. Often I have no desire to live at all." MASHA -Masha is much younger than Arkadina yet she has the disposition of an aged woman. She is a foil to Arkadina and Dorn who are both content with life's hidden pleasures. She only sees that which she cannot have and is not content with what she does have.

"Wine and tobacco destroy the individuality. After a cigar or a glass of vodka you are no longer Peter Sorin, but Peter Sorin plus somebody else. Your ego breaks in two: you begin to think of yourself in the third person." DORN -Interesting quote from Dorn. He does not tout drugs physical detriments but their mental ones. Since depressed people are more prone to drinking and drugs as a source of comfort - they may feel sorry for themselves and lead them further into depression.

"What the deuce did he mean by his impudence? I want all the horses brought here at once!" SORIN - Hehe! He said "deuce"!

"What is it like to be famous? What sensations does it give you?" NINA -The Seagull is character driven and almost all dialogue is used to further the character. In Nina's conversation with Trigorin we see her to be a naive, hopeful actress, who is dazzled by the supposed romantic world of an artist.

"Either you exaggerate my fame, or else, if it exists, all I can say is that one simply doesn’t feel fame in any way." TRIGORIN -Trigorin is surprisingly humble - yet also unwittingly crushes Nina's dreams. He partly symbolizes the gun that shoots down the struggling seagull.

"No sooner does a book leave the press than it becomes odious to me...I am provoked and discouraged. Then the public reads it and says: “Yes, it is clever and pretty, but not nearly as good as Tolstoi,” or “It is a lovely thing, but not as good as Turgenieff’s ‘Fathers and Sons,’ “ and so it will always be." TRIGORIN -This quote is funny because in the first act Constantine says almost the same thing about Trigorin's works, and also because it references Ivan Turganev's Fathers and Sons which I have also read!! =D

"What success have I had? I have never pleased myself; as a writer, I do not like myself at all...I love this lake, these trees, the blue heaven; nature’s voice speaks to me and wakes a feeling of passion in my heart, and I am overcome by an uncontrollable desire to write." TRIGRORIN -Trigorin differs vastly from Constantine's prejudiced perception of him - he is really quite humble - yet at the same time provides a very realist point of view on the life of a writer. One that is damaging to Nina's optimism and idealism and that also is consistent with the writings of many other Russian authors of the time.

"An idea for a short story. A young girl grows up on the shores of a lake, as you have. She loves the lake as the gulls do, and is as happy and free as they. But a man sees her who chances to come that way, and he destroys her out of idleness, as this gull here has been destroyed." TRIGORIN -This is a perfect and blatant metaphor for the entire play. Nina representing the seagull and Trigorin and Constantin as the man who shoots her down. One could say it is Trigorin because of the way he sort of breaks down her idealism and shows her the reality of the world, and on the other hand Constantin who wants her to be with him and love him instead of Trigorin and this life she wants to lead. Ironically it is exactly the same as the type of life Constantin leads - which shows his selfishness.

"I have decided to tear this love of mine out of my heart by the roots." MASHA -personification. Masha believes she can tear out the love she has for Constantin by marrying Medviedenko however this only intensifies her woes.

"Do you know this riddle? On four legs in the morning; on two legs at noon; and on three legs in the evening? Yes, exactly, and on one’s back at night. Thank you, I can walk alone." MEDVIEDENKO/SORIN -reference to the riddle of the sphinx in Oedipus Rex. At night a man is dead, and this scene takes place in the evening where Sorin lies down on the couch. He is old and dying and is full of regret for never given the chance to pursue his dreams. Many interesting references occur to Oedipus such as Constantins jealous and hatred to Trigorin whom his mother loves and adores as well as Nina who in a way looks up to Arkadina and sort of symbolizes Constantins mother.

"He is probably in the garden laughing at us at this very moment, or else enlightening Nina’s mind and trying to persuade her into thinking him a man of genius." CONSTANTINE about TRIGORIN -once again more irony is presented here in Constantine's comments about Trigorin who so far has only presented himself as a madman to Nina. This also goes to show people's skewed perceptions of others by their own desires and motives.

"You envy him. There is nothing left for people with no talent and mighty pretensions to do but to criticise those who are really gifted. I hope you enjoy the consolation it brings." ARKADINA -Arkadina chastises Constantin when he confronts her about how he feels about Trigorin. Of course Constantin does not find consolation in it and his mother's words strike his very heart - so much so that it inches him closer to killing himself.

“If at any time you should have need of my life, come and take it.” TRIGORIN (from his book pg 121) -A reference to the symbolism that Nina is the seagull and Trigorin is the man who casually shoots her down.

"This is a wild night. We have had this storm for two days." MEDVIEDENKO - the storm is a symbol and foreshadow of the turmoil to come and Constantin's suicide.

"When I was young, I wished to become an author; I failed. I wished to be an orator; I speak abominably, with my eternal “and all, and all,” dragging each sentence on and on until I sometimes break out into a sweat all over. I wished to marry, and I didn’t; I wished to live in the city, and here I am ending my days in the country, and all." SORIN -Sorin ruminates over all his regrets and the knowledge he will die sad and alone because he did not pursue his dreams. It is made especially pitiful by his speech impediment because he such a good-humored and shy old man.

"When you leave the hotel in the evening, and throw yourself into the heart of that throng, and move with it without aim or object, swept along, hither and thither, their life seems to be yours, their soul flows into you, and you begin to believe at last in a great world spirit." DORN -Dorn represents the view that the world is beautiful once you experience it and realize your dreams. Contrasts with Sorin who did not pursue his dreams and is will die miserable.

"He thinks in images; his stories are vivid and full of color, and always affect me deeply. It is only a pity that he has no definite object in view." DORN on CONSTANTINE -Constantin's only definite object is Nina who does not want him. Thus without her his work is incomplete and he has no spirit to possess him to make truly great work. He cannot live without her.

"I am a sea-gull—and yet—no." NINA -she says this many times whilst talking to Constantine about how she plans on persevering with her career despite all the misfortune's that have befallen her. She was the seagull but now Constantine has become the seagull because he has been shot down by Nina for good by her unwavering idealism.

"Do you remember how you shot a seagull once? A man chanced to pass that way and destroyed it out of idleness. That is an idea for a short story, but it is not what I meant to say." NINA -sort of a reiteration of what I said above.

"One must know how to bear one’s cross, and one must have faith. I believe, and so do not suffer so much, and when I think of my calling I do not fear life." NINA -Constantin is very doubtful and does not possess the strength and determination Nina has which probably leads to his death. He fears life without Nina, because he believe she is the only way his work can truly be great.


 * Personal Review:** I did enjoy the play The Seagull. It was very tragic and I could relate very well to the emotions and ideas expressed in the play. Chekhov does well at expressing very human emotions and desires. His characters are very good foils and complements to each other and you can genuinely feel sympathy and hatred for them, which is good because the play was revolutionary for it's time in being very character driven and characters are continually noted to have importance in writers works in the play. However some of the relationships seem sort of stilted. For instance we never get a sense of why Constantine really loves Nina or any other character for a matter of a fact especially when they constantly neglect them and make them feel worthless. We are sort supposed to accept their relationships. But I love the dialogue and interaction regardless and I thought it was a great little tragedy. I'd definitely recommend it because it's themes are easy to identify and because of it's rather brief length. Also because it has a pretty powerful story.