The Seagull

“For a sufficiently detached observer, who views human life under the aspect of eternity, the absurd, self destructive behavior of neurotics appears essentially comic. Why are people such fools?” (McLean). The Seagull is a play that can portray two different viewpoints. One, the view expressed above, that the play is so overly dramatic it is comedic. On the flip side, a reader may choose to merely believe that the play portrays the sad miserable lives of a few, and the fact that the play classifies as a comedy necessitates change. View two invalidates itself however, because Chekhov intended for the poem to be a comedy. From there the reader can assess how Chekhov treats his characters and their desires through the sardonic superior view Chekhov portrays. Chekhov intended for all of the characters to have miserable lives. Chekhov “treats even his most awful characters with affection but is ruthless when the moment comes to consign them to their miserable fates," (Allen). The basic plot line exemplifies the basis of the human fallacy and the misery that accompanies it. The quadruple love triangles show the idea of unrequited love, but more importantly broadcast the idea of a choice that accompanies all wrong actions. Whether it be the attempt at a failed love affair, or the perpetual ignorance of the affection, the issue still remains the same. The individual persists in not realizing the problem at hand and continues to make conscious choices to commit unjustifiable acts without considering the ramifications. In the play The Seagull, Anton Chekhov conveys that the search for identity never fulfilled and the search to find the individual often characterized by loneliness and loss of love. This can be because the individual does not...

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...e can see she isn’t happy though she tells everyone she is. Constantine mentions from her letters that “I can tell she is profoundly unhappy; not a line but speaks to me of an aching, breaking nerve” (Chekhov Act IV) Nina’s reality is that she is a semi successful actress and who does not love Constantine. Through this reality Nina continues to search for her fame and love but because she does not accept the reality that she is destitute, scorned the only person who loved her, and a failed actress. Because of this fake search she will never be loved by anyone and will remain poor. Doctor Dorn faces a similar predicament. The Doctors believes that he is a distinguished and well-liked figure who cannot participate in any form of unscrupulous behavior. He says to Paulina “It is too late now me to change my ways of living” (Chekhov Act III) as a response to her amorous