The Seagull is Anton Chekhov's most well-known and best-loved play; the work exhibits all of the qualities that helped to cement the Russian playwright in the minds and hearts of theatre-goers around the world. Lost love and lost lives proliferate in a little lake-side residence in the Russian countryside, but The Seagull is probably best seen in a more whimsical light.
Chekhov, rather than wishing to build the high, classical tragedy of other dramatists, is content to take a snapshot of people's lives, and understands brilliantly both their smallness in relation to the wider world and the sadness within even the happiest of people.
Overview: The Seagull
The play is set over a number of years--the first scenes during one summer when a famous actress, Irina Abkadina, has come from Moscow into her country residence. Her son, Kostya, puts on a new play that he has written and the girl he loves, Nina, acts in it. The assorted friends and family find the highly symbolic (and highly pretentious) play comic, and Irina takes great delight in dismissing it as tripe. At the same time, a famous writer called Trigorin (with whom Irina is in a relationship), has come to stay, and Nina meets him and--swept off her feet by his charm and fame--falls in love with him. Kostya cannot understand why Nina is no longer interested in him, so he kills a seagull and brings it to her.
Overview: The Seagull
The play is set over a number of years--the first scenes during one summer when a famous actress, Irina Abkadina, has come from Moscow into her country residence. Her son, Kostya, puts on a new play that he has written and the girl he loves, Nina, acts in it. The assorted friends and family find the highly symbolic (and highly pretentious) play comic, and Irina takes great delight in dismissing it as tripe. At the same time, a famous writer called Trigorin (with whom Irina is in a relationship), has come to stay, and Nina meets him and--swept off her feet by his charm and fame--falls in love with him. Kostya cannot understand why Nina is no longer interested in him, so he kills a seagull and brings it to her.
In the rest of the play, various characters see the seagull as a symbol of the lives that they lead, though none quite pin down its meaning. Irina becomes bored with her summer house and she decides that she and Trigorin should return to Moscow (despite her ailing father). Nina decides that she too will go to the capital to seek her fame as an actress, and Trigorin (despite his better judgement), tells her to stay at a certain hotel--suggesting that they will start an affair.
The final act takes place two years later. The main characters are once again gathered together. Irina is back because her father fears he is on his deathbed. Nina was a moderate success in theatres outside London, but never became the great actress she wanted to be. Nina was pregnant with Trigorin's child, but lost the baby. Kostya is well-thought-of as a writer, but he still compares it to Trigorin's writing and finds it wanting. He speaks with Nina, and he tells her that he never stopped loving her. Nina seems older--a broken woman--but she admits that she still loves Trigorin. Kostya goes into a backroom and shoots himself.
The final act takes place two years later. The main characters are once again gathered together. Irina is back because her father fears he is on his deathbed. Nina was a moderate success in theatres outside London, but never became the great actress she wanted to be. Nina was pregnant with Trigorin's child, but lost the baby. Kostya is well-thought-of as a writer, but he still compares it to Trigorin's writing and finds it wanting. He speaks with Nina, and he tells her that he never stopped loving her. Nina seems older--a broken woman--but she admits that she still loves Trigorin. Kostya goes into a backroom and shoots himself.
Of Love, The Impossible Dream: The Seagull
The main plot and a number of the subplots explore the play's central theme: the near impossibility of love. There is so much unrequited love in the play that Chekhov seems to be saying the entire idea of requited love is a fabrication--that people must by necessity be unfulfilled. We also see a bit of Chekhov's true feelings about his chosen craft--writing--through the two writers: Kostya and Trigorin.
Trigorin is frustrated because writing gets in the way of his life. He says that he is constantly writing down things he sees, so he can use them as the material for a story. But, he missed out on young love because he was trying to become a famous writer.
Kostya, on the other hand, cannot make writing do what he wants it to do. He cannot capture his hopes or his dreams. He feels he can write nothing but clichés.
The main plot and a number of the subplots explore the play's central theme: the near impossibility of love. There is so much unrequited love in the play that Chekhov seems to be saying the entire idea of requited love is a fabrication--that people must by necessity be unfulfilled. We also see a bit of Chekhov's true feelings about his chosen craft--writing--through the two writers: Kostya and Trigorin.
Trigorin is frustrated because writing gets in the way of his life. He says that he is constantly writing down things he sees, so he can use them as the material for a story. But, he missed out on young love because he was trying to become a famous writer.
Kostya, on the other hand, cannot make writing do what he wants it to do. He cannot capture his hopes or his dreams. He feels he can write nothing but clichés.
Real-Life Tragedy: The Seagull
Despite the plethora of tragedies in the play, Chekhov does not come close to writing melodrama. Indeed, the central tragedy is that--despite how the events of the play affect the characters--life in general goes on.
Unrequited love exists, but those who are unfulfilled in love get on with the one with whom they find themselves. Dreams are shattered, but they still play Lotto. Even the final scene--in which Kostya commits suicide--does not have a full dramatic force. A minor character enters and whispers the news to Trigorin. And, they dispose of the body before Kostya's mother even sees it.
The Seagull is powerful, but controlled--utterly tragic, and yet understandable. Tragedy can only occur in the microcosm, and the world continues to roll along. The Seagull is a wonderful dramatic work--with a central core of truth. Not only that, but it is a wonderful play for a repertory. Numerous lives intertwined, but each is important and inconsequential at the same time. The Seagull well deserves it prominent place in the history of theatre.
Despite the plethora of tragedies in the play, Chekhov does not come close to writing melodrama. Indeed, the central tragedy is that--despite how the events of the play affect the characters--life in general goes on.
Unrequited love exists, but those who are unfulfilled in love get on with the one with whom they find themselves. Dreams are shattered, but they still play Lotto. Even the final scene--in which Kostya commits suicide--does not have a full dramatic force. A minor character enters and whispers the news to Trigorin. And, they dispose of the body before Kostya's mother even sees it.
The Seagull is powerful, but controlled--utterly tragic, and yet understandable. Tragedy can only occur in the microcosm, and the world continues to roll along. The Seagull is a wonderful dramatic work--with a central core of truth. Not only that, but it is a wonderful play for a repertory. Numerous lives intertwined, but each is important and inconsequential at the same time. The Seagull well deserves it prominent place in the history of theatre.
