Analysis of Act I in Chekhov's The Seagull: Theme of Suffering
Have you ever wished for something and didn't get it? This kind of wishfulness is prevalent throughout Act I of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull. Through his use of dialogue, relationships between characters, and setting, Chekhov creates a theme of suffering and self-imprisonment within many of his characters as they long for the unattainable.
The way Chekhov chooses his speech between characters is an important method in relaying the message of internal suffering. Many of the characters give up trying to convince another of an idea, therefore showing no end or resolvement to their torment. For example, Masha begins to explain to
Medvedenko why she feels the ways she does saying "All you ever do is philosophize or talk about money. The way you think, there's nothing worse than being poor, but I think it's a thousand times easier to wear rags and beg in the streets than...." when she abruptly stops her explanation by saying
"Oh well, you wouldn't understand" (Chekhov 137). Telling Medvedenko he wouldn't understand is in fact ironic since he actually has the same problem of unrequited love that she does, but her willingness to give up the explanation further shows their internal struggle.
Similar to Masha's and Medvedenko's unresolved problem, Act I is full of many other unresolved problems and avoided private conversations. Sorin eventually gives up trying to convince
Treplyov that his mother does not hate him by suddenly changing the subject to talk about Trigorin, and

then about his own unresolved problems of never marrying or becoming an author. Treplyov, in turn, never gives him any comfort due to hearing Nina's approaching footsteps (Chekhov 140-141). Treplyov also completely gives up on trying to continue his play. After getting on to his mother for ruining it,
Treplyov "wants to say something more, but waves his hand dismissively and exits left" (Chekhov
145). Even though these characters never finish their thoughts, it further sends a message to the reader just how tormented the characters are that their problems do not get resolved, and most likely never will. One literary critic, Patrice Pavel, explains Chekhov's use of dialogue well stating "The strangeness and teasing power of Chekhov's text originates in a sort of sadism which consists in never explaining, never giving the key to the quotations or to the characters, replacing any reference to the world by an infinite series of recurrences and allusions" (Pavel 541).
Chekhov also introduces how all of his characters suffer in Act I through their triangular relationships with one another. Many of these relationships involve some kind of unrequited love between one or more persons. Treplyov loves Nina, but Nina has affections towards Trigorin. Although
Nina has affections for Trigorin, he is with Arkadina. Arkadina wants Trigorin to stay with her, but he has affections towards Nina. Treplyov struggles to win his mother's affections over Trigorin's. Masha desperately wishes for Treplyov's affections while Medvedenko hopes that Masha will return his own.
Polina is married to Shamraev, but is in love with Dorn. Even Masha turns to Dorn as a father-like figure, but he doesn't know how to help her (Chekhov 136-150). This complicated entanglement of unresolved relationships all in the first Act of the play sufficiently reveals the imprisonment each character feels by showing that they cannot have what they desire.
Finally, the setting of Act I plays an exceptionally defined role in conveying the theme of suffering among Chekhov's characters. In the very beginning, we learn that "a wide pathway leading

from the audience upstage into the park and towards a lake is blocked by a platform, hurriedly slapped together for an amateur theatrical, so that the lake is completely obscured" (Chekhov 136). If viewing all the characters in the play as gulls, it could be said that the stage blocking the lake represents art blocking the characters from true freedom. Their obsession with theater and becoming famous is what restricts them from viewing the lake, and ultimately from being happy. The setting also involves a stage within a stage type of scenario where the characters in the play are also the viewers becoming more aware of the illusion of theater. This provides a possible explanation as to why Arkadina loses her composure over her son's performance, and why none of the characters seem comfortable in that setting. All within the first Act of the play, Chekhov does a wonderful job of conveying to his readers that his characters are trapped in their own miseries that will most likely never be resolved. He uses pessimistic dialogue between the characters that abruptly comes to an end before it's finished, and displays a complicated web of relationships where affections are never returned. Even the setting, from the very beginning of the play, which blocks the lake and displays a play within a play sends a message of imprisonment and suffering to it's readers.

Works Cited
Chekhov, Anton. "The Seagull." Anton Chekhov's Selected Plays. Ed. Laurence Selenick. W.W.
Notron. 135-85. Print.
Pavis, Patrice, and Laurence Senelick. "The Originality of The Seagull and Its Context." Anton
Chekhov's Selected Plays. New York: Norton, 2005. 537-45. Print.