Seagull play by anton chekhov - Research Paper Example

He helped his father who ran a small business of provisions that was quite unsuccessful. However, it was during these hard days at his father’s shop that he observed and listened to some interesting stories from those who visited. During the summers he went to stay with his grandfather who had become the manager of an estate near Taganrog. He loved spending his time with the peasants who worked on the estate and enjoyed fishing and roaming about in the countryside. When Chekhov was around fourteen years old, his father moved the family to Moscow and he was relieved from working in his father’s shop.

It was then that he began to make good progress in his studies and finally became a student of medicine. In his attempt to help his family, he led the dual life of student and author and it is with these experiences he emerged as a blazing genius of both wit and compassion. The characters in Chekhov’s story are most endearing as some of them long for love but do not get it and some of them experience love but do not fulfill it. The main characters in the play are Treplev, a playwright who is anxiously getting things ready to stage his first play that is both abstract and symbolic in meaning.

He loves and adores Nina, an actress who does not reciprocate his love till the end of the story. Nina on the other hand, is shown to pursue Trigorin, a creator, because she becomes in awe of him, but is left bereft of his love in the end. She goes to the extent of having an affair with him, becoming pregnant and even suffering the loss of her baby, but she does not win his love till the end. One of the other main characters in the story is Treplev’s mother Arkadina, who is a quite a celebrated actress and loves Trigorin.

On the other hand, Trigorin seems to be playing double shuffle between Arkadina and Nina, professing his love to each of them at different times. Arkadina is selfish and self-centered and shows her dislike for her son Treplev’s play. She rudely interrupts the play several times until Treplev is forced to bring the curtains down on the play. Though her son longs for her love and acceptance, she is too conceited to realize and reciprocate his love, neither does she show him any sympathy or encouragement.

Medvedenko, who is a poor school teacher, is madly in love with Masha who is the daughter of Shamraye, the manager of an estate. Masha tells Medvedenko in clear terms that though she knows that he loves her, she cannot love him in return. But finally we find that both of them come to terms with their feelings for each other and get married and settle down. The Seagull depicts a poignant love story that focuses its attention on the playwright’s tragic love quest for Nina, the beautiful actress who rejects his sincere love.

He craves to be loved and admired by Nina, who does not reciprocate his love in the least. When his play does not turn out successful he is ridiculed and scoffed at by his mother and all those around her. He yearns for solace from Nina but receives nothing from her. In quite a symbolic manner he brings a dead seagull and places it at her feet and tells her that she does not love him because his play was not a success. Chekhov uses the dying seagull to symbolize the pain of defeat and suffering and its acceptance through death.

All the other characters in the play support the theme of unrequited love by reflecting the pain and suffering of their own lives. While