Short Story Writer In History

Anton Chekhov is the author of the comedy The Sea Gull. Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. Chekhov primarily practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career and was known to say: 'Medicine is my lawful wife. And literature is my mistress”. He is also known for his playwrights, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters. Categorized as a realistic writer and his drama scripts are realistic. The plots from his stories describe a short fragmentation of ordinary lives from ordinary people. Also, the visual description of the character’s personality and plot details are necessary for a realistic drama play.

In Chekhov’s play, it is hard to easily judge the character good or bad. And the plots are not developed with strong conflict as in traditional dramas. The Seagull, as a play representative of that period, has well applied to those symbolic concepts to nudge people toward a better life. In this essay, it will introduce the plot of Chekhov’s The Seagull briefly first. Next, it will discuss important symbolisms in the seagull and what the seagull symbolizes through concepts in Chekhov’s play analyzing its techniques, including dialogue and the progression of the plot The setting of The Seagull describes a story in a beautiful lakeside town. A girl named Nina Zarechny, the daughter of a wealthy landowner is seeking her performing stage, honor, love, and happiness.

A young writer from the same town, Constantine Treplev writes a script and tries to perform his play in the town. Nina plays a role called the soul of the world in this performance. Through the story, it is revealed that Constantine Treplev falls in love with her. Treplev’s mother, Irina Arkadina, is a famous actress. She brings home a famous writer one day named, Boris Trigorin, to stay at his brother, Peter Sorin’s estate. And then, Nina falls in love with Trigorin crazily and follows him to Moscow. Trigorin abandons Nina, who is pregnant after getting bored with her. Her child dies and so she finds a job acting that pulls her away from her hometown. Nina goes through a series of difficulties and constructs a way to see the value of life in the struggle. After she returns to see the Treplev in the estate, at last, Treplev feels hopeless because of the aimless life that he’s lived and knows Nina still loves Trigorin. After Nina leaves, he commits suicide.

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The love relationships were complicated in this play, Semyon Medvedenko loves Masha, but Masha loves Treplev, and Treplev loves Nina. And not all of the love stories develop into a happy ending. So, from this point of view, the theme of The Seagull is about love (messy love, but love). But in fact, through the symbolic concepts in this play, Nina’s destiny that she grows up from a weak girl to a strong woman means people should be brave and gritty while facing difficulties. The play was categorized as a comedy not a tragedy because she made it at last and achieved a better life than others who lost in their lives.

In The Seagull, Chekhov used several symbolism techniques in his story to enhance the emotions of the play. The title of the The Seagull can be considered as the first symbol presented to readers. It expresses the meaning that Nina owns the same spirit as a seagull, which is unyielding while facing all her difficulties. And the seagull that was killed by Treplev expresses the same destiny with him, his aimlessness life value made him receive the same ending with that seagull. The description of lake beside the town and the sky expresses Nina’s enjoyable life at beginning, which is beautiful, charming, full of imagination and free to chase dreams. Also, the role she played in Treplev’s play, the soul of the world, conveys that she will be the core character of this play.

Next, the time setting for each scene, morning in the first scene, noon for the second scene, evening for the third scene and the night for the last scene can be understood as full day in people’s lives. It communicates the idea that a hopeful tomorrow is coming soon. Treplev’s death symbols people will deeply struggle in life if they cannot find a clear life goal and live in hopelessness. But the progression of Nina who is fighting for and determining her life goals, the play is encouraging to the audience. That their goals will be achieved and there is joy in every hopeful tomorrow. The dialogue in The Seagull seem absurd and unconnected, or with meaningful ‘pause’, but the content can be seen to have a much deeper meaning. At the beginning, Medvedenko asks Masha “Why do you always wear black?” and Masha answers “I’m in mourning for my life.

I’m unhappy” (126). These two sentences have expressed the unfortunate life of Masha. It expresses her unhappiness with herself and sets up for the rest of the play, the dismal things keep happening in Masha’s life. When talking to Trigorin, Masha expresses her opinion on her marriage with Medvedenko. “Why love without hope, why wait for something for…when you can’t be sure of what it is you’re waiting for…Anyway, when I’m married there won’t be any time for love, new responsibilities will take the place of…anyhow, it’ll be a change, you know. Let’s have another” (151). These words conveying her despair of loving Treplev and the sympathy for marrying Medvedenko anyways. Through this symbol, it also appeals to the cruel reality of real life. When living long hopeless lives, people have no choice but compromise with it. Chekhov criticizes the people who compromised before they struggle and attempt to reach their dreams.

Trigorin tells Nina that he love’s fishing. What is the point? Many people have hobbies that are a part of their daily life, but why does Trigorin like fishing? Based on the rest of plot, it can be applied to how Trigorin treats Nina. Nina was like the fish free swimming in the water and never thought that a famous writer will ruin her life in the future. And Trigorin like a fisher that releases his catch after reeling it in, falls in love immediately and once he reels her in abandons Nina because he had no interest in her anymore. The simple and naïve girl will never consider the effects or future consequences of this famous playwright while she met him.

The title of Chekov’s The Sea Gull is a symbol itself. The story follows the progression of Nina and the symbol of the seagull progresses with the story. In the beginning the seagull signified freedom and a carefree security like Nina’s own spirit. The seagull and the lake represent a freedom from the boredom and accustomed expectations of daily life. In Act 1 Nina is drawn to the Sorin’s estate “like a seagull”. As the plays develops it becomes clear that her interest in the Sorin estate is the nonconformist life she imagines is lived by Arkadina and Trigorin.

The glamor is even more attractive to her because of her parents’ objections. In Act 2 Treplev kills a seagull as an attempt to convince Nina of the depth of his love for her. Treplev tells her that one day he will be dead in Nina’s honor just like the seagull he killed. It can be argued that the original symbol has evolved and that both Treplev and Nina share in part of the meaning. Both are under the control of others. Nina by her parent’s objection of her desire to act and Treplev who needs his mother’s money. And both attempt to break free, and partly succeed during the time between Act 3 & 4. However, both of their attempts are rushed and don’t have thorough plans. Treplev escapes the need for his mother’s money by wounding himself, becoming a mediocre writer. Nina becomes an ordinary actor and escapes her parents. The reality is that neither of the them succeed.

In Act 4 Nina returns to the estate and calls herself the seagull then corrects herself, describing herself as an actress. It seems absurd, but it is a symbol that Nina has already grown up from a naïve, imaginative seagull kind of girl to a tough, mature woman. And this makes the contrast of attitude and wording between the dialogue at the beginning and the ending. The seagull changes its meaning from freedom and lighthearted security to destruction at the hands of a loved one. It symbolizes freedom at first and then dependence. The seagull also serves as a foreshadowing device. Nina fulfills Trigorin’s prophesy of destroying her just like the seagull and Treplev kills himself in Nina's honor at the end of the play when she still does not love him.

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