Analysis Of The Seagull By Anton Chekhov

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Recommended: Essays on a work of art by anton Chekhov

When Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on October 17, 1896, critics condemned it as disastrous. However, a production mounted by the Moscow Art Theatre two years later, led to the acclaimed revival of The Seagull as well as the establishment of Chekhov as an accomplished playwright (Bristow, 1977). It is the goal of this essay to discuss the different techniques that Chekhov used in The Seagull, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the play; specifically focussing on the structure of the play and lastly, the representation of characters and their actions. According to Styan (1971) Chekhov uses the setting of The Seagull purposely to turn away from the traditional focus on physical action, focusing on the realistic lives and personalities of his characters instead. Chekhov is quoted to have said that [in real life] people do not spend every moment in shooting one another, hanging themselves, or making declarations of love, [rather] occupying themselves with eating, drinking [and] stupidities (Hellman, 1984). Chekhov therefore sought to present life as it truly is, whether pleasant or not. In order to portray life in this true light, Chekhov sets The Seagull on Pyotr Sorin’s country estate, isolating the scenery from urban …show more content…

In The Seagull there are no definitive heroic or villainous characters. Instead, each character possesses traits which are admirable and others which are not. Noticeably, The Seagull reflects the relative equality of the various characters within the play- offering a cast of many characters with equal weight, personal ambitions and disappointments. Styan (1971) notes that Chekhov “abandons the concentration on a single star part,” differing from dramatic piece of the

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