The Seagull, A Play by Anton Chekhov

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The Seagull, A Play by Anton Chekhov

Written by Anton Chekhov and first premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre on the 17^th of October 1896, The Seagull stands out as one of the most well-coordinated attempts at romantic comedy at the time. Notably, this play combines romance and conflict, presenting all episodes in a hilarious and humorous way. Being mainly Russian in context, The Seagull stages the events and struggles between four main outstanding major characters. These include Boris Trigolin Alexeyevich who happens to be in a love affair with Arkadina, Irina Arkadina Nikolayevna herself, who is an accomplished and famous actress of melodrama. She forms the protagonist lead. The next is Nina Zarechnaya Mikhailovna who is equally a protagonist. The last is Konstantin Tréplev who is Arkadina’s son, a protagonist in the play and a writer of plays who struggles with symbolic drama. Contextually set in the country estate of Sorin, Chekhov’s play emerges as an achievement in expressing romanticism and accompanying conflict in the society.

Majorly, the setting of this play places itself in the Sorin’s country estate. In its plot, Chekhov established four major acts with Act I occurring within the estate belonging to Sorin. In the establishment of the play, Sorin the owner of the estate is Arkadina’s brother and is described to have ill health. It is in this act that the stage for romantic struggles and conflicts are established. While Medvedenko happens to fall in love with Masha, she on the contrary falls for someone else; Konstantin. Contrarily, Konstantin has his eyes elsewhere on a lady called Nina, who has no attraction to him and is less concerned about him. All these give a wonderful provision to set the stage for romantic outbursts and conflict (Chekhov and Max 9-28).

Although set outside the estate, Act II begins to drop conflicts as it opens with one between Arkadina and the steward. It .............