Setting – Sorin’s rural estate besides a lake
Characters
Trepliov
1.
Trepliov is Arkadina's only son
2.
He struggles as a writer in the
shadow of mother and her lover, the writer Trigorin
3.
He attempts to create new forms
of drama like Chekhov, himself
4.
Trepliov is a dreamer and a
compassionate soul
5.
He is also impatient, self-
defeating and childish
6.
He kills a seagull and offers
it to Nina
7.
His relationship with Nina
mirrors his search for his mother’s love
8.
He fills the void of affection
in his life with self-doubt
9.
In the end, he shoots himself –
not clear whether he is dead
Arkadina - ‘arke’ in Greek means ‘old’
1.
Arkadina is a renowned actress
who stars in melodramatic plays
2.
Her arrival at Sorin's country
estate is the highlight of the year
3.
She loves attention and is not
afraid to ask for it
4.
She selfishly discourages
Treplev's creative spirit
5.
She refuses to give Trepliov
some money when Sorin suggests it
6.
Arkedina quotes Gertrud’s line
from Shakespeare’s Hamlet to which Trepliov responds with Hamlet’s lines
7.
There is a parallel between
Gertrud- Hamlet – Claudius relationship and Arkadina – Trepliov – Trigorin
realtionship
8.
She is kind to Nina and
encourages her to be an actress and fond of her brother Sorin
Nina
1.
Nina is a nineteen-year-old
neighbor of Sorin's estate
2.
Nina's mother died when she was
young and left her fortune to Nina's father
3.
Her father remarried and put
all of the money in her stepmother's name
4.
The play characters talk about
how cruel Nina's father is to her
5.
Nina is a hopeless romantic who
longs for a stage career
6.
Her pursuit of Trigorin reveals
her ambitious side.
Trigorin
1.
Trigorin is an esteemed Russian
writer of fiction stories and novels
2.
He begins as a dutiful lover to
Arkadina but becomes tempted by the youthful Nina
3.
Trigorin feels that he lost out
on his youth because of his writing career
4.
He uses this as an excuse for
having the affair with Nina
5.
Trigorin is not directly
competitive with Treplev, but does not encourage him either
Sorin
1.
Sorin is the sixty-year-old
landowner of the estate where the play takes place
2.
He spent his life working for a
government office and retired to his country farm
3.
Sorin is a compassionate
admirer of both his nephew and sister's talents
4.
He once wished to find love and
be a successful writer
5.
Sorin sees himself in Treplev
and asks Arkadina to be easier on Treplev
Dorn
1.
Dorn is a local doctor who was
once a popular and handsome ladies' man
2.
He has known Arkadina, Sorin,
and the rest for many years
3.
Dorn provides an outsider's
perspective to the play
4.
Dorn has affections for Paulina
but does not seem to be in love with her
5.
Like Sorin, Dorn is a
compassionate presence who respects Treplev's talent
Masha
1.
Masha is the daughter of
Paulina and Shamrayev, the managers of Sorin's farm
2.
She wears all black all of the
time because she is depressed and hates her life
3.
A heavy drinker and snuff
addict, Masha is in love with Treplev
4.
Masha is critical and
unsympathetic to her admirer, Medvedenko
5.
She marries Medvedenko but
keeps her love for Treplev is still strong
Shamrayev
1.
Shamrayev adores Arkadina's
fame and fortune and close ties to Russian artists
2.
He is cruel and unsympathetic
to his daughter's admirer and later, husband, Medvedenko, and inattentive and
embarrassing to his wife, Paulina.
Medvedenko
1.
Medvedenko is the poor local
schoolteacher
2.
He is a boring because he
spends most of his time complaining about his poverty
3.
Medvedenko pursues Masha,
eventually winning her hand in marriage
Paulina
1.
Unhappy in her loveless
marriage, she is often embarrassed by Shamrayev's arguments with the Arkadina, their
employer's famous sister
2.
She loves Dorn but is jealous
and unsatisfied by his aloof affection for her
3.
Paulina sees her own misery reflected
in Masha's unrequited love for Treplev and her marriage to Medvedenko
Themes
·
The role of art in love and life
o
Trepliov on Russian theatre: “In my opinion the
theatre of today is in a rut”
o
For Arkadina art is a means to stay in the
limelight
o
Nina wants to be an actress for fame and fortune
o
Trigorin is s mediocre writer who is obsessive
about his writing
·
Love:
o
Medvadinko - Masha - Trepliov – Nina
o
Shamrayev - Paulina – Dorn
o
Trepliov - Arkedina – Trigorin
·
Meaningless of life
o
Sorin’s struggle to find meaning in his life
o
Masha: “I’m mourning for my life”
o
For Trigorin: “When I’m writing I enjoy it”
·
Nature
·
Success, failure, and fame
·
Youth and Age
Techniques
·
Symbols
o
The seagull
§
At the beginning Nina says that she is drawn to
the lake like a seagull
§
In the 2nd act Trepliov shoots a
seagull and presents it to Nina, but she does not understand what if symbolized
§
Later Trigorin writes a story about a girl happy
as a seagull who was destroyed by a man
§
After her affair with Trigorin has ended, Nina
writes a letter to Trepliov signed “Seagull”
§
When she finally meets Trepliov, she refers to
herself as “seagull”
§
The seagull moves from being a symbol of freedom
to a symbol of a woman ruined by a man in the course of the play
o
The lake
§
A place of relaxation and escape for almost all
the characters
§
It provides a natural background for Trepliov’s
Symbolist play
§
After losing Nina, Trepliov feels that the lake
had dried up
o
Weather
§
Stormy weather – difficulties in Nina’s life
§
Bad weather also points to Trepliov’s mental
turmoil
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