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Konstantin treplev. "The Seagull", analysis of Chekhov's play, composition




Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

The action takes place in the estate of Peter Nikolaevich Sorin. His sister, Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina, is an actress; she is visiting his estate with her son, Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, and with Boris Alekseevich Trigorin, a rather famous fiction writer, although he is not yet forty. They speak of him as an intelligent, simple, somewhat melancholy and very decent person. As for him literary activity, then, according to Treplev, it is "nice, talented [...] but [...] after Tolstoy or Zola, you will not want to read Trigorin."

Konstantin Treplev himself is also trying to write. Considering modern theater prejudice, he seeks new forms of theatrical performance. Those gathered at the estate are preparing to watch the play, staged by the author among natural scenery. Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya, a young girl, the daughter of wealthy landowners, with whom Konstantin is in love, should play the only role in it. Nina's parents are categorically against her passion for the theater, and therefore she must come to the estate in secret.

Konstantin is sure that his mother is against the staging of the play and, having not yet seen it, fervently hates her, since the fiction writer whom she loves may like Nina Zarechnaya. It also seems to him that his mother does not love him, because by his age - and he is twenty-five years old - he reminds her of his own years. In addition, Konstantin is haunted by the fact that his mother - famous actress... He thinks that since he, like his father, is now deceased, a Kiev bourgeois, he is tolerated in the company of famous artists and writers only because of his mother. He also suffers from the fact that his mother openly lives with Trigorin and her name constantly appears on the pages of newspapers, that she is stingy, superstitious and jealous of others' success.

He tells his uncle about all this while waiting for Zarechnaya. Sorin himself is very fond of theater and writers and admits to Treplev that he himself once wanted to become a writer, but it did not work out. Instead, he served twenty-eight years in the judiciary.
Among those waiting for the performance is also Ilya Afanasyevich Shamraev, a retired lieutenant, Sorin's manager; his wife - Polina Andreevna and his daughter Masha; Evgeny Sergeevich Dorn, Doctor; Semyon Semenovich Medvedenko, teacher. Medvedenko is unrequitedly in love with Masha, but Masha does not reciprocate his feelings, not only because they different people and do not understand each other. Masha loves Konstantin Treplev.
Finally Zarechnaya arrives. She managed to escape from the house only for half an hour, and therefore everyone hastily began to gather in the garden. There are no decorations on the stage: only the curtain, the first curtain and the second curtain. But a magnificent view of the lake opens up. The full moon is above the horizon and is reflected in the water. Nina Zarechnaya, all in white, sitting on a large stone, reads a text in the spirit of decadent literature, which Arkadina immediately notes. During the entire reading, the audience constantly talks, despite Treplev's remarks. Soon he gets tired of it, and he, flushed, stops the performance and leaves. Masha hurries after him to find him and calm him down. Meanwhile, Arkadina introduces Trigorin to Nina, and after a short conversation, Nina leaves for home.

Nobody liked the play except Masha and Dorn. He wants to tell Treplev more pleasant things, which he does. Masha confesses to Dorn that she loves Treplev and asks for advice, but Dorn cannot advise her anything.

Several days pass. The action is transferred to the croquet court. Nina Zarechnaya's father and stepmother left for Tver for three days, and this gave her the opportunity to come to Sorin's estate, Arkadina and Polina Andreevna are going to the city, but Shamraev refuses to provide them with horses, arguing that all the horses in the field are harvesting rye. There is a small quarrel, Arkadina almost leaves for Moscow. On the way to the house, Polina Andreevna almost confesses her love to Dorn. Their meeting with Nina at the very house makes it clear to her that Dorn does not love her, but Zarechnaya.

Nina walks through the garden and is surprised that life famous actors and writers are exactly the same as life ordinary people, with their everyday quarrels, squabbles, tears and joys, with their troubles. Treplev brings her a killed seagull and compares this bird to himself. Nina tells him that she almost ceased to understand him, as he began to express his thoughts and feelings in symbols. Konstantin tries to explain himself, but when he sees Trigorin who appears, he quickly leaves.

Nina and Trigorin are left alone. Trigorin constantly writes something in his notebook. Nina admires the world in which, in her opinion, Trigorin and Arkadina live, admires with enthusiasm and believes that their life is filled with happiness and miracles. Trigorin, on the other hand, paints his life as a painful existence. Seeing the seagull killed by Treplev, Trigorin writes down a new plot for a little story about a young girl who looks like a seagull. "A man came by chance, saw and, out of nothing to do, ruined her."

A week passes. In the dining room of Sorin's house, Masha confesses to Trigorin that she loves Treplev and, in order to wrest this love from her heart, marries Medvedenko, although she does not love him. Trigorin is going to leave for Moscow with Arkadina. Irina Nikolaevna is leaving because of her son, who shot himself and is now going to challenge Trigorin to a duel. Nina Zarechnaya is also going to leave, as she dreams of becoming an actress. She comes to say goodbye (first of all to Trigorin). Nina gives him a medallion with lines from his book. Opening the book in the right place, he reads: "If you ever need my life, then come and take it." Trigorin wants to follow Nina, as it seems to him that this is the very feeling that he has been looking for all his life. Upon learning of this, Irina Arkadina begs on her knees not to leave her. However, having agreed in words, Trigorin negotiates with Nina about a secret meeting on the way to Moscow.
Two years pass. Sorin is already sixty-two years old, he is very sick, but also full of a thirst for life. Medvedenko and Masha are married, they have a child, but there is no happiness in their marriage. Masha is disgusting both her husband and the child, and Medvedenko himself suffers greatly from this.

Treplev tells Dorn, who is interested in Nina Zarechnaya, her fate. She ran away from home and became friends with Trigorin. They had a child, but soon died. Trigorin had already stopped loving her and again returned to Arkadina. On stage, everything seemed to be worse for Nina. She played a lot, but very "rough, tasteless, with howls." She wrote letters to Treplev, but never complained. In letters signed by Chaika. Her parents do not want to know her and do not let her even close to the house. She's in town now. And she promised to come. Treplev is sure that he will not come.

However, he is wrong. Nina appears out of the blue. Konstantin once again confesses his love and loyalty to her. He is ready to forgive her everything and devote his whole life to her. Nina does not accept his sacrifice. She still loves Trigorin, which she confesses to Treplev. She leaves for the provinces to play in the theater and invites Treplev to watch her play when she becomes a great actress.

After she leaves, Treplev tears up all her manuscripts and throws them under the table, then goes into the next room. In the room he abandoned, Arkadina, Trigorin, Dorn and others gather. They are going to play and sing. A shot rings out. Dorn, saying that it was evidently his test tube burst, goes off to the noise. Returning, he takes Trigorin aside and asks him to take Irina Nikolaevna somewhere, because her son, Konstantin Gavrilovich, shot himself.

The material is provided by the Internet portal briefly.ru, compiled by Yu.V. Polezhaeva.

"The Seagull", performance. Actions 1-2. Production by Oleg Efremov

"The Seagull", act 2 - briefly

Konstantin notices Nina's craving for Trigorin and begins to arrange scenes of jealousy for her. Once he puts at the feet of Zarechnaya a seagull that was accidentally killed in the hunt, saying that from her dislike he will soon kill himself as well.

After Treplev's departure, Nina meets Trigorin, who is coming from fishing, and for the first time starts a long conversation with him, expressing ardent admiration for the creative gift of writers. Trigorin, a writer, although more gifted than Konstantin, but far from being a genius, answers Zarechnaya skeptically. Writing for him is not an ecstasy, but a difficult craft. It turned into an obsessive habit of constantly noticing small life details around itself and developing themes for works from them. Noticing the killed seagull, abandoned by Treplev, Trigorin says that a good plot came to his mind: a young girl like Nina lives on the shore of the lake. She loves the lake like a seagull, happy and free like a seagull. But by chance a man comes and, seeing her, from nothing to do destroys - like this lying bird.

"The Seagull", act 3 - in brief

Having lost Nina's love, Konstantin Treplev makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt, and then is going to challenge Trigorin to a duel. Arkadina also notices Trigorin's rapprochement with Zarechnaya. She decides to quickly take her lover from the village to the city. Finally, a sharp quarrel occurs between her and her son: the excited Treplev accuses the mother and Trigorin of mediocrity, of a desire to stifle new forms of art and assures that he is more talented than them. The mother, in response, calls Constantine a haunted and raggy man, unable to write even a vaudeville.

Nina gives Trigorin a medallion engraved with the title of his book - "Days and Nights" - and the inscription: "page 121, lines 11 and 12". Looking at this page, Trigorin sees that these lines read: "If you ever need my life, then come and take it." Trigorin wants to stay at the estate, but Arkadina almost forcibly takes him away. Seizing a minute, the writer meets with Zarechnaya right before leaving. Nina is also going to Moscow to become an actress. Trigorin persuades her to meet there.

"The Seagull", film-play, 1974

"The Seagull", act 4 - in brief

Act 4 of the play takes place two years after Act 3. Over the past time, Nina in Moscow converged with Trigorin and gave birth to a child from him, but the writer soon abandoned her and returned to Arkadina. Zarechnaya's theatrical career did not work out at all. Her acting was exaggeratedly expressive and tasteless. Nina had to move from Moscow to the provinces, to participate in cheap troupes. The father, the owner of the estate, having learned that his daughter had gone to become an actress, abandoned her and left her to vegetate in poverty. Treplev, continuing to love Nina, tried to follow her, but she, out of shame, avoided meetings, although she wrote letters to Konstantin, where she signed “The Seagull”.

Act 4 opens on a dark windy evening in the same Sorin estate where the first three took place. Arkadina, together with Trigorin, comes to her brother, who is seriously ill. Konstantin Treplev lives in his uncle's estate, publishes his works in magazines, but without much success - they look like strange delirium, where there is not a single living face.

Arkadina, Trigorin, and the couple of estate managers sit down to play lotto. Konstantin goes into the next room and plays a melancholic waltz on the piano. Suddenly he hears a knock on the window and sees Nina Zarechnaya on the terrace.

Nina recently arrived in a nearby town. Before leaving for the whole winter for the second-rate Yelets theater, she nevertheless decided to see Treplev. Nina cries on Konstantin's chest and says: Trigorin treated her "like a seagull." Treplev persuades Nina to stay with him, but she runs away, impulsively embracing him at last.

A shot is heard in the room where Arkadina and her friends are playing bingo. It was Konstantin who committed suicide.

"Gull"- a play in four acts by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, written in 1895-1896 and first published in the magazine "Russian Thought", in No. 12 for 1896. The premiere took place on October 17, 1896 on the stage of the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater.


Characters

  • Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina, married to Trepleva, actress
  • Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, her son, a young man
  • Pyotr Nikolaevich Sorin, her brother
  • Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya, a young girl, daughter of a wealthy landowner
  • Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev, retired lieutenant, Sorin's manager
  • Polina Andreevna, his wife
  • Masha, his daughter
  • Boris Alekseevich Trigorin, fiction writer
  • Evgeny Sergeevich Dorn, doctor
  • Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko, teacher
  • Jacob, employee
  • Cook
  • Housemaid

Plot

Action one

  • - Alexandrinsky Theater. Production by E.P. Karpov. The roles were played by: Sorin- V. N. Davydov, Nina Zarechnaya- V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, Trigorin- N.F.Sazonov, Shamraev- K. A. Varlamov, Polina Andreevna- A. I. Abarinova. The premiere took place on 17 October.
  • 1896 - Theater of N. N. Solovtsov (Kiev).
  • 1896 - a troupe of dramatic artists (Yaroslavl; also in 1900).
  • - Moscow Public Art Theater, staged by K. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The roles were played by: Arkadina- O. L. Knipper-Chekhova, Treplev- V. E. Meyerhold, Sorin- V. V. Luzhsky, Nina- M. L. Roksanova, Shamraev- A.R. Artyom, Polina Andreevna- E. M. Raevskaya, Masha- M.P. Lilina, Trigorin- K. S. Stanislavsky, Mandrel- A. L. Vishnevsky, Medvedenko- I. A. Tikhomirov, Jacob- A.I. Andreev). The premiere took place on December 17 (). The performance was resumed in 1905 ( Nina- M.P. Lilina, Masha- M.G.Savitskaya).
  • - a drama troupe headed by V. F. Komissarzhevskaya and Dalmatov (Nina - Komissarzhevskaya).
  • - Alexandrinsky Theater
  • - Drama Theater of V.F. Komissarzhevskaya (Petersburg; Nina - Komissarzhevskaya, Trigorin - Bravich).
  • - Moscow Chamber Theater
  • - Theater. Mossovet
  • - Leningrad Theater. A.S. Pushkin. Director L.S.Vivienne
  • - Moscow Art Theater. Directed by V. Stanitsyn, I. Raevsky; artist Shifrin
  • - Theater. Lenin Komsomol (Moscow). Production by A. Efros; artists V. Lalevich, N. Sosunov
  • 1968 - Moscow Art Theater. Director B. N. Livanov; artist E. G. Stenberg. Cast: Arkadina- A. Stepanova, Trigorin- L. Gubanov, Treplev- O. Strizhenov, Nina Zarechnaya- S. Korkoshko, Masha- I. Miroshnichenko, Sorin- S. Kolchitsky, Mandrel- V. Davydov
  • - "Contemporary". Directed by O. N. Efremov.
  • - Moscow Art Theater. Production by O. N. Efremov; director N. Skorik; production designer V. Leventhal; musical arrangement Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko. Cast: Arkadina- T. Lavrova, Treplev- A. Myagkov, Nina Zarechnaya- A. Vertinskaya, Masha- E. Vasilieva, A. Voznesenskaya, Trigorin- A. Kalyagin, Mandrel- I. Smoktunovsky and E. A. Evstigneev, Sorin- A. Popov and V. Davydov, Polina Andreevna- I. Savvin and N. I. Gulyaev. Premiered on July 9

Performances abroad

  • - "Neue freye bune" (Berlin).
  • - "Hebbel Theater" (Berlin).
  • - "Dagmartheater" (Copenhagen); Munich theater.
  • - - Troupe of J. Pitoev (Switzerland; Theater des Champs-Elysees, France).
  • - Small Theater Tsukid-zi (Tokyo; under the title "Song of the White Bird").
  • - Little Tietr. Fast. and scenography. FF Komissarzhevsky.
  • - Theater des Mathurins. Dir. J. Pitoev.
  • - Theater "Phoenix" (New York); dir. Houghton. Theater "Eberto" (Paris); dir. Magito.
  • - Theater "Atelier" (France). Dir. Andre Barsak.
  • - "Old Vic" (London).
  • - Royal Drama Theater (Stockholm). Dir. Ingmar Bergman.
  • - Comedie de Caen. Dir. Gabrielle Monnet.
  • - Theater du Midi (France). Dir. Antoine Vitez.
  • - Theater de la Ville. Dir. Lucian Pintilie.
  • - Comedie Francaise. Dir. Otomar Kreich.
  • - Gaiety Theater, Dublin, Ireland. Dir. Michael West and Annie Ryan

Translations into foreign languages.

During Chekhov's lifetime, translations of The Seagull were made into Serbo-Croatian (M. Mareković in 1897 and I. Prijatelj in 1901), Czech (B. Prusík in 1899), Bulgarian (S. Brankomirov in 1903 and German (in 1902). The play was first translated into English in 1909 by George Calderon (eng. George calderon) for setting in Theater Royal Glasgow (premiered on November 2, 1909).

Screen adaptations

Year Country Name Director Cast Note
USSR USSR Gull Alexander Belinsky N. Olkhina ( Arkadina), Igor Ozerov ( Treplev), Yu. Tolubeev ( Sorin), Iya Savvina ( Nina Zarechnaya), V. Uskov ( Shamraev), L. Shelentsova ( Polina Andreevna), N. Urgant ( Masha), V. Medvedev ( Trigorin), V. Chestnokov ( Mandrel), teleplay of Leningrad TV
USA
United Kingdom United Kingdom 		Seagull ( The sea gull) Sydney Lumet James Mason ( Trigorin), Vanessa Redgrave ( Zarechnaya), Simone Signoret ( Arkadina), David Warner ( Treplev), Harry Andrews ( Sorin), Denholme Elliott ( Mandrel) film based on Lumet's production
USSR USSR Gull Julius Karasik Alla Demidova ( Arkadina), Vladimir Chetverikov ( Treplev), Nikolay Plotnikov ( Sorin), Lyudmila Savelyeva ( Zarechnaya), Yuri Yakovlev ( Trigorin), Armen Dzhigarkhanyan ( Shamraev), Efim Kopelyan ( Mandrel) Mosfilm
Italy Italy Gull (ital.)Russian (Il gabbiano) Marco Bellocchio Laura Betty ( Arkadina), Pamela Villoresi ( Zarechnaya), Remo Girone ( Treplev), Giulio Brogi ( Trigorin)
Russia, Russia Gull Margarita Terekhova Margarita Terekhova ( Arkadina), Alexander Terekhov ( Treplev), Yuri Solomin ( Sorin), Anna Terekhova ( Zarechnaya), Andrey Podoshyan ( Shamraev), Andrey Sokolov ( Trigorin)
  • 2003 (Germany; directed by Gilbert Beronneau)
  • 2003 (France-Canada; directed by Claude Miller)
  • 2007 "Nachmittag" (Germany; directed by Angela Chanelek)
  • 2010 (?) - planned film adaptation of Ian Rickson's production at Royal Court

Facts

  • "A plot for a short story" (1969) - Feature Film directed by Sergei Yutkevich on the creation of the play.
  • In Konstantin Khudyakov's film "Success" (with Leonid Filatov in the title role), the action unfolds around theatrical performance"Seagulls".
  • Boris Akunin created a detective sequel to Chekhov's "The Seagull", in which he gave several options for the ending of the play (see Seagull (Akunin)).

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Literature

  • A.P. Chekhov... - M .: Nauka, 1978 .-- T. 13. - S. 3-60, 356-387, 519-520.
  • Gaevsky V.M.// Our legacy. - 2006. - No. 79/80. - S. 222-235.
  • Karpov E. Vera Fedorovna Komissarzhevskaya on the stage of the Imperial Alexandria Theater // Collection in memory of V.F. SPb, 1911.
  • Efros N. Ye. “The Seagull” by A. P. Chekhov on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater // Yearbook of the Moscow Art Theater. 1944. vol. 1.M., 1946.
  • Yuriev Yu. Notes. L.-M., 1948.
  • E. Davydova. The first production of The Seagull in Ukraine // Theater. 1954. No. 7.
  • Stroeva M. Chekhov and Art theater... M., 1955.
  • Chitau M.M. // Chekhov in the memoirs of contemporaries. M .: Fiction, 1986.S. 350-355.
  • Volchkevich Maya. "Gull". A comedy of delusions. M., "Space-2000", 2010. - 128 p.
  • Efros Anatoly."Gull". Screenplay. Articles. Recordings of rehearsals. The documents. From diaries and books / Compiled by N. Snegina. - SPb. : "Baltic Seasons", 2010. - 528 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-903368-33-4.
  • Karpenko A.N.

Notes (edit)

Links

  • at the Internet Broadway Database.
  • at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (Lortel Archives).

An excerpt characterizing the Seagull (play)

- Eh, you fool! What are you lying awkwardly! That is a man, really, a man, - reproaches were heard from different sides to the joking soldier. Rambal was surrounded, two men were raised in their arms, intercepted by them, and carried into the hut. Rambal put his arms around the necks of the soldiers and, when they carried him, spoke plaintively:
- Oh, nies braves, oh, mes bons, mes bons amis! Voila des hommes! oh, mes braves, mes bons amis! [Oh well done! Oh my good ones, good friends! Here are the people! Oh my good friends!] - and, like a child, leaned his head on the shoulder of one soldier.
Meanwhile Morel sat on the best location surrounded by soldiers.
Morel, a small stocky Frenchman with sore, watery eyes, tied in a woman's handkerchief over his cap, was dressed in a woman's fur coat. He, apparently drunk, embracing the soldier who was sitting next to him, sang a French song in a hoarse, breaking voice. The soldiers were holding their sides, looking at him.
- Well, well, well, teach me how? I'll take it quickly. How? .. - said the joker songwriter, whom Morel hugged.
Vive Henri Quatre,
Vive ce roi vaillanti -
[Long live Henry the Fourth!
Long live this brave king!
etc. (French song)]
sang Morel, winking an eye.
Сe diable a quatre ...
- Vivarika! Beth Seruvaru! sittingblyak ... - repeated the soldier, waving his hand and really catching the melody.
- See, cleverly! Go go go go! .. - Rough, joyful laughter rose from different sides. Morel grimaced and laughed too.
- Well, go on more, more!
Qui eut le triple talent,
De boire, de battre,
Et d "etre un vert galant ...
[Who had triple talent,
drink, fight
and be nice ...]
- But it's also foldable. Well, well, Zaletaev! ..
- Kyu ... - with an effort uttered Zaletaev. - Kyu yu yu ... - he stretched out, diligently protruding his lips, - letriptala, de boo de ba and detravagala, - he sang.
- Ay, important! That's a guardian! oh ... go go go! - Well, you still want to eat?
- Give him some porridge; After all, it will not soon be full of hunger.
They gave him porridge again; and Morel, chuckling, set to work on the third bowler hat. Joyful smiles stood on all the faces of the young soldiers looking at Morel. The old soldiers, who considered it indecent to engage in such trifles, lay on the other side of the fire, but from time to time, propping themselves up on their elbows, glanced at Morel with a smile.
“People, too,” said one of them, dodging his overcoat. - And wormwood grows on its root.
- Oo! Lord, Lord! How stellar passion! By the frost ... - And everything was quiet.
The stars, as if knowing that now no one would see them, played out in the black sky. Either flashing, now extinguished, now shuddering, they were busy whispering about something joyful, but mysterious among themselves.

NS
The French troops gradually melted away in a mathematically correct progression. And that crossing over the Berezina, about which so much has been written, was only one of the intermediate stages of the destruction of the French army, and not at all a decisive episode of the campaign. If so much was written and written about Berezina, then on the part of the French it happened only because on the Berezinsky bridge that was broken through, the disasters that the French army had suffered evenly before, here suddenly grouped together in one moment and into one tragic spectacle, which everyone remembered. On the part of the Russians, they talked and wrote so much about the Berezina only because, far from the theater of war, in St. Petersburg, a plan was drawn up (by Pfulm) to capture Napoleon in a strategic trap on the Berezina River. Everyone was convinced that everything would be in fact exactly as in the plan, and therefore insisted that it was the Berezinskaya crossing that killed the French. In essence, the results of the Berezinskaya crossing were much less disastrous for the French in the loss of guns and prisoners than Krasnoye, as the figures show.
The only meaning of the Berezinsky crossing is that this crossing obviously and undoubtedly proved the falsity of all plans for cutting off and the validity of the only possible course of action required by Kutuzov and all the troops (mass) - only to follow the enemy. The crowd of Frenchmen fled with an ever-increasing force of speed, with all the energy aimed at achieving the goal. She ran like a wounded animal, and she could not stand on the road. This was proved not so much by the device of the crossing as by the movement on the bridges. When the bridges were broken, unarmed soldiers, Moscow residents, women with children who were in the French train - everything did not give up under the influence of inertia, but ran forward into boats, into the frozen water.
This aspiration was reasonable. The position of both the fleeing and the pursuing was equally bad. Remaining with his own people, each in distress hoped for the help of a comrade, for a certain place he occupied among his own. Having surrendered himself to the Russians, he was in the same position of disaster, but he was on a lower level in the section of satisfying the needs of life. The French did not need to have accurate information that half of the prisoners with whom they did not know what to do, despite all the Russians' desire to save them, were dying of cold and hunger; they felt it could not be otherwise. The most compassionate Russian chiefs and hunters before the French, the French in the Russian service could not do anything for the prisoners. The French were destroyed by the disaster in which the Russian army was located. It was impossible to take away bread and clothes from hungry, necessary soldiers, so that they could not be given to the harmful, not hated, not guilty, but simply unnecessary French. Some have done it; but that was just an exception.
Nazadi was certain death; there was hope ahead. The ships were burned; there was no other salvation than a joint flight, and all the forces of the French were directed towards this joint flight.
The farther the French fled, the pity their remnants were, especially after the Berezina, on which, as a result of the Petersburg plan, special hopes were pinned, the more the passions of the Russian leaders flared up, blaming each other and especially Kutuzov. Believing that the failure of the Berezinsky Petersburg plan would be attributed to him, dissatisfaction with him, contempt for him and teasing him were expressed more and more strongly. The teasing and contempt, of course, was expressed in a respectful form, in a form in which Kutuzov could not even ask what and for what he was accused. They did not speak to him seriously; reporting to him and asking for his permission, they pretended to perform a sad rite, and behind his back they winked and tried to deceive him at every step.
All these people, precisely because they could not understand him, recognized that there was nothing to talk to the old man; that he would never understand all the profundity of their plans; that he would answer his phrases (they thought they were just phrases) about the golden bridge, that it was impossible to come abroad with a crowd of vagabonds, and so on. They had already heard all this from him. And everything he said: for example, that you have to wait for food, that people without boots, it was all so simple, and everything they offered was so complicated and clever that it was obvious to them that he was stupid and old, but they were not imperious, brilliant commanders.
Especially after the joining of the armies of the brilliant admiral and the hero of Petersburg, Wittgenstein, this mood and gossip of the staff reached the highest limits. Kutuzov saw this and, sighing, shrugged his shoulders only. Only once, after Berezina, he became angry and wrote to Bennigsen, who reported to the sovereign separately, the following letter:
"Because of your painful seizures, if you please, your Excellency, from this receipt, go to Kaluga, where you expect further orders and appointments from his imperial majesty."
But after Bennigsen's exile, the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich came to the army, who made the beginning of the campaign and was removed from the army by Kutuzov. Now the Grand Duke, having arrived at the army, informed Kutuzov about the displeasure of the emperor for the weak successes of our troops and for the slowness of the movement. The Emperor himself the other day intended to come to the army.
An old man, as experienced in court affairs as in military affairs, that Kutuzov, who in August of the same year was elected commander-in-chief against the will of the sovereign, the one who removed the heir and the Grand Duke from the army, the one who, by his power, in opposition to At the will of the sovereign, ordered the abandonment of Moscow, this Kutuzov now immediately realized that his time was over, that his role had been played and that he no longer had this imaginary power. And not only in court relations, he understood this. On the one hand, he saw that military affairs, the one in which he played his role, was over, and felt that his calling was fulfilled. On the other hand, at the same time, he began to feel physical fatigue in his old body and the need for physical rest.
On November 29, Kutuzov drove into Vilna - to his good Vilna, as he said. Twice in his service, Kutuzov was governor in Vilna. In the rich surviving Vilna, in addition to the comforts of life, which he had been deprived of for so long, Kutuzov found old friends and memories. And he, suddenly turning away from all military and state concerns, plunged into an even, familiar life to the extent that he was given rest by the passions boiling around him, as if everything that was happening now and had to happen in historical world, did not concern him at all.
Chichagov, one of the most passionate cut-off and overturners, Chichagov, who first wanted to make a sabotage to Greece, and then to Warsaw, but did not want to go where he was ordered, Chichagov, known for his bold speech with the sovereign, Chichagov, who considered Kutuzov himself blessed, because when he was sent in the 11th year to conclude peace with Turkey in addition to Kutuzov, he, convinced that peace had already been concluded, admitted to the sovereign that the merit of concluding the peace belongs to Kutuzov; this then Chichagov first met Kutuzov in Vilna near the castle in which Kutuzov was supposed to stay. Chichagov in a naval uniform, with a dagger, holding his cap under his arm, handed Kutuzov a combat report and the keys to the city. That contemptuous respectful attitude of young people to the old man who had gone out of his mind was expressed to the highest degree in the entire appeal of Chichagov, who already knew the accusations against Kutuzov.
Talking with Chichagov, Kutuzov, among other things, told him that the crews with the dishes that had been recaptured from him in Borisov were intact and would be returned to him.
- C "est pour me dire que je n" ai pas sur quoi manger ... Je puis au contraire vous fournir de tout dans le cas meme ou vous voudriez donner des diners, [You want to tell me that I have nothing to eat. On the contrary, I can serve you all, even if you wanted to give dinners.] - flushed, Chichagov said, with every word he wanted to prove his innocence and therefore assumed that Kutuzov was also concerned about this. Kutuzov smiled his thin, penetrating smile and, shrugging his shoulders, answered: - Ce n "est que pour vous dire ce que je vous dis. [I want to say only what I am saying.]
In Vilna, Kutuzov, contrary to the will of the sovereign, stopped most of the troops. Kutuzov, as his associates said, unusually sank and physically weakened during this stay in Vilna. He reluctantly dealt with the affairs of the army, leaving everything to his generals and, while waiting for the sovereign, indulged in a scattered life.
Leaving with his retinue - Count Tolstoy, Prince Volkonsky, Arakcheev and others, on December 7th from St. Petersburg, the Tsar arrived in Vilna on December 11th and in a road sleigh drove directly to the castle. At the castle, despite the severe frost, there were about a hundred generals and staff officers in full dress uniform and the guard of honor of the Semenovsky regiment.
The courier, galloping up to the castle in a sweaty troika, in front of the sovereign, shouted: "He's coming!" Konovnitsyn rushed into the vestibule to report to Kutuzov, who was waiting in a small Swiss room.
A minute later, a fat big figure of an old man, in full dress uniform, with all the regalia covering his chest, and a belly tucked up in a scarf, pumping over, went out onto the porch. Kutuzov put on his hat at the front, picked up gloves and sideways, with difficulty stepping down the steps, got off them and took in his hand the report prepared for submission to the sovereign.
The running, the whisper, the troika still desperately flying by, and all eyes were fixed on the jumping sleigh, in which the figures of the sovereign and Volkonsky were already visible.
All this, out of a fifty-year-old habit, had a physically disturbing effect on the old general; he hastily felt himself anxiously, straightened his hat and at once, just as the emperor, getting out of the sleigh, raised his eyes to him, cheered up and stretched out, filed a report and began to speak in his measured, ingratiating voice.
The sovereign glanced round Kutuzov from head to foot, frowned for a moment, but immediately, overcoming himself, approached and, spreading his arms, embraced the old general. Again, according to the old, familiar impression and in relation to his soulful thought, this embrace, as usual, had an effect on Kutuzov: he sobbed.
The sovereign greeted the officers, with the Semyonovsky guard, and, once again shaking the old man's hand, went with him to the castle.
Left alone with the field marshal, the sovereign expressed his displeasure with him for the slowness of the pursuit, for the mistakes in Krasnoye and on the Berezina, and communicated his thoughts on the future campaign abroad. Kutuzov did not make any objections or comments. The same submissive and senseless expression with which he, seven years ago, listened to the sovereign's orders on the Austerlitz field, now settled on his face.
When Kutuzov left the office and with his heavy, diving gait, bowing his head, he walked across the hall, someone's voice stopped him.
“Your Grace,” someone said.
Kutuzov raised his head and looked for a long time into the eyes of Count Tolstoy, who, with some small thing on a silver platter, stood in front of him. Kutuzov, it seemed, did not understand what they wanted from him.
Suddenly he seemed to remember: a faintly perceptible smile flashed on his plump face, and he, bowing low, respectfully, took the object lying on the platter. It was George 1st degree.

The next day the field marshal had dinner and a ball, which the emperor honored with his presence. Kutuzov was awarded the 1st degree Georgy; the sovereign showed him the highest honors; but the sovereign's displeasure against the field marshal was known to everyone. Decency was observed, and the sovereign showed the first example of this; but everyone knew that the old man was to blame and good for nothing. When at the ball Kutuzov, according to the old Catherine's habit, at the entrance of the sovereign into the ballroom, ordered the taken banners to be thrown down at his feet, the sovereign frowned unpleasantly and uttered the words in which some had heard: "old comedian."
The sovereign's displeasure against Kutuzov intensified in Vilna, especially because Kutuzov obviously did not want or could not understand the significance of the upcoming campaign.
When the next morning the sovereign said to the officers who had gathered at his place: “You have saved more than one Russia; you saved Europe, "- everyone already then understood that the war was not over.
Kutuzov alone did not want to understand this and openly spoke of his opinion that a new war could not improve the situation and increase the glory of Russia, but could only worsen its position and reduce the highest degree of glory on which, in his opinion, Russia now stood. He tried to prove to the sovereign the impossibility of recruiting new troops; spoke about the plight of the population, about the possibility of failure, etc.
In such a mood, the field marshal, of course, seemed only to be a hindrance and a brake on the impending war.
To avoid clashes with the old man, a way out was found by itself, which consisted in, as in Austerlitz and as at the beginning of the campaign under Barclay, to remove the commander-in-chief from under him, without disturbing him, without announcing to him the ground of power on which he stood , and transfer it to the sovereign himself.
For this purpose, the headquarters was gradually reorganized, and the entire substantial force of Kutuzov's headquarters was destroyed and transferred to the sovereign. Tol, Konovnitsyn, Ermolov - received other appointments. Everyone was loudly saying that the field marshal had become very weak and upset with his health.
He had to be in poor health in order to transfer his place to the one who stood up for him. Indeed, his health was weak.
How natural, and simple, and gradually Kutuzov appeared from Turkey to the state chamber of Petersburg to collect the militia and then into the army, exactly when he was needed, just as naturally, gradually and simply now, when the role of Kutuzov was played, in his place a new, required figure appeared.
War of 1812, except for his dear to the Russian heart popular significance, should have had something else - European.
The movement of peoples from west to east was to be followed by a movement of peoples from east to west, and for this new war a new leader was needed, having different qualities and views than Kutuzov, and driven by other motives.
Alexander the First was as necessary for the movement of peoples from east to west and for the restoration of the borders of peoples as Kutuzov was needed for the salvation and glory of Russia.
Kutuzov did not understand what Europe, balance, Napoleon meant. He could not understand this. The representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed at the highest degree of its glory, the Russian person, like a Russian, had nothing more to do. Representative people's war there was nothing left but death. And he died.

Pierre, as for the most part happens, felt the full weight of the physical hardships and tensions experienced in captivity only when these tensions and hardships ended. After his release from captivity, he came to Oryol and on the third day of his arrival, while he was going to Kiev, fell ill and lay sick in Oryol for three months; he became, as the doctors said, a bilious fever. Despite the fact that doctors treated him, bled and gave him medicine, he still recovered.
Everything that was with Pierre from the time of his release to his illness left almost no impression on him. He remembered only the gray, gloomy, now rainy, now snowy weather, inner physical melancholy, pain in the legs, in the side; remembered the general impression of misfortune, suffering of people; he remembered the disturbing curiosity of the officers and generals who questioned him, his efforts to find a carriage and horses, and, most importantly, he remembered his inability to think and feel at that time. On the day of his release, he saw the body of Petya Rostov. On the same day, he learned that Prince Andrei had been alive for more than a month after the Battle of Borodino and had only recently died in Yaroslavl, in the Rostovs' house. And on the same day Denisov, who reported this news to Pierre, mentioned Helene's death between the conversation, suggesting that Pierre had known this for a long time. All this seemed to Pierre then only strange. He felt that he could not understand the meaning of all this news. Then he was in a hurry only as soon as possible, as soon as possible to leave these places where people were killing each other, to some quiet refuge and there to come to his senses, rest and think about all that strange and new that he had learned during this time. But as soon as he arrived in Oryol, he fell ill. Waking up from his illness, Pierre saw around him his two people who had arrived from Moscow - Terenty and Vaska, and the eldest princess, who, living in Yelets, on Pierre's estate, and having learned about his release and illness, came to him to walk behind him.
During his recovery, Pierre only gradually weaned himself from the impressions that had become familiar to him. last months and got used to the fact that no one would drive him anywhere tomorrow, that no one would take him away from his warm bed, and that he would probably have lunch, and tea, and supper. But in a dream he saw himself for a long time in the same conditions of captivity. In the same way, little by little, Pierre understood the news that he learned after his release from captivity: the death of Prince Andrew, the death of his wife, the destruction of the French.
The joyful feeling of freedom - that complete, inalienable freedom inherent in man, the consciousness of which he first experienced at the first halt, when leaving Moscow, filled Pierre's soul during his recovery. He was surprised that this internal freedom, independent of external circumstances, now seemed to be furnished with surplus, with luxury, and external freedom. He was alone in a strange city, without acquaintances. Nobody demanded anything from him; he was not sent anywhere. He had everything he wanted; The thought of his wife, which had always tormented him before, was no longer there, since she was no longer there.

Comedy in four acts

Characters
Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina, married to Treplev, an actress. Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, her son, a young man. Petr Nikolaevich Sorin, her brother. Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya, a young girl, the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev, retired lieutenant, Sorin's manager. Polina Andreevna, his wife. Masha, his daughter. Boris Alekseevich Trigorin, fiction writer. Evgeny Sergeevich Dorn, doctor. Semyon Semenovich Medvedenko, teacher. Jacob, employee. Cook . Housemaid .

The action takes place in Sorin's estate. - Two years pass between the third and fourth actions.

Action one

Part of the park in Sorin's estate. A wide alley leading in the direction from the audience into the depths of the park to the lake, is enclosed by a stage, hastily put together for home play, so the lake is not visible at all. To the left and to the right there are bushes near the stage. Several chairs, a table.

The sun has just set. On the stage behind the lowered curtain, Yakov and other workers; coughing and knocking are heard. Masha and Medvedenko walk to the left, returning from a walk.

Medvedenko. Why do you always wear black? Masha. This is mourning for my life. I am not happy. Medvedenko. From what? (Thoughtfully.) I don’t understand ... You are healthy, your father, although not rich, but with prosperity. Life is much harder for me than for you. I receive only 23 rubles a month, and they deduct me for emergence, and yet I do not wear mourning. (They sit down.) Masha. It's not about the money. And the poor man can be happy. Medvedenko. This is in theory, but in practice it turns out like this: me, my mother, and two sisters and a brother, and the salary is only 23 rubles. After all, you need to eat and drink? Do you need tea and sugar? Do you need tobacco? Here and turn around. Masha (looking back at the stage)... The play will begin soon. Medvedenko. Yes. Zarechnaya will play, and the play will be composed by Konstantin Gavrilovich. They are in love with each other, and today their souls will merge in an effort to give one and the same artistic image... And my soul and yours have no common points of contact. I love you, I cannot stay at home out of longing, every day I walk six miles here and six miles back, and I meet only indifference on your part. It's clear. I am without means, my family is big ... What kind of desire is there to go after a person who has nothing to eat himself? Masha. Trivia. (Sniffs tobacco.) Your love touches me, but I cannot reciprocate, that's all. (She hands him a snuffbox.) Lend yourself. Medvedenko. Do not want. Masha. It must be stuffy, there will be a thunderstorm at night. You are all philosophizing or talking about money. In your opinion, there is no greater misfortune than poverty, but in my opinion, it is a thousand times easier to walk in rags and beg than ... However, you will not understand this ...

Enter Sorin and Treplev from the right.

Sorin (leaning on a cane)... I, brother, in the village is somehow not that, and, understandable thing, I'll never get used to it. I went to bed yesterday at ten and this morning I woke up at nine with such a feeling as if my brain was stuck to my skull from a long sleep and all that. (Laughs.) And after lunch I accidentally fell asleep again, and now I am all broken, I am experiencing a nightmare, in the end ... Treplev. True, you need to live in the city. (Seeing Masha and Medvedenka.) Gentlemen, when it starts, they will call you, but now you can't be here. Please go away. Sorin (to Masha). Marya Ilyinichna, be so kind, ask your daddy to give orders to untie the dog, otherwise it howls. The sister did not sleep all night again. Masha. Talk to my father yourself, and I won't. Please dismiss. (To Medvedenka) Come on! Medvedenko (to Treplev). So before you start, send in to say. (Both leave.) Sorin. So the dog will howl all night again. Here is the story, I never lived in the village as I wanted. You used to take a 28-day vacation and come here to rest and that's all, but here you will be so bothered with all sorts of nonsense that from the first day you want to get out. (Laughs.) I always left here with pleasure ... Well, now I am retired, there is nowhere to go, in the end. Whether you want or not, live ... Jacob (to Treplev). We, Konstantin Gavrilych, will go swimming. Treplev. Okay, just be there in ten minutes. (Looks at his watch.) Coming soon. Jacob. I'm listening. (Leaves.) Treplev (looking around the stage)... So much for the theater. The curtain, then the first curtain, then the second and then empty space. No decorations. The view opens directly to the lake and to the horizon. Let's raise the curtain at exactly half past eight when the moon rises. Sorin. Fabulous. Treplev. If Zarechnaya is late, then, of course, all the effect. It's time for her to be. Her father and stepmother are guarding her, and it is as difficult for her to escape from the house as from prison. (He straightens his uncle's tie.) Your head and beard are disheveled. I ought to have a haircut, or something ... Sorin (combing his beard)... The tragedy of my life. Even in my youth I had such an appearance as if I was drinking heavily and that's it. Women have never loved me. (Sitting down.) Why is your sister out of sorts? Treplev. From what? Bored. (Sitting down next to him) Jealous. She is already against me, and against the performance, and against my play, because her fiction writer may like Zarechnaya. She doesn't know my play, but she already hates it. Sorin (laughs). You make it up, really ... Treplev. She is already annoyed that it is on this small stage that Zarechnaya will be successful, and not she. (Looking at his watch.) A psychological curiosity - my mother. Undoubtedly talented, smart, capable of sobbing over a book, grabbing you all of Nekrasov by heart, caring for the sick like an angel; but try to praise Duse in front of her! Wow! We need to praise only her alone, we need to write about her, shout, admire her extraordinary play in La dame aux camélias or in The Child of Life, but since here, in the village, there is no such intoxication, then she is bored and angry, and we are all her enemies, we are all to blame. Then, she is superstitious, afraid of three candles on the thirteenth. She's stingy. She has seventy thousand in the bank in Odessa - I know that for certain. And ask her for a loan, she will cry. Sorin. You have imagined that your mother does not like your play, and you are already worried and that is all. Calm down, your mother adores you. Treplev (tearing the petals off the flower)... Loves - dislikes, loves - dislikes, loves - dislikes. (Laughs.) You see, my mother doesn't love me. Still would! She wants to live, love, wear light blouses, and I am already twenty-five years old, and I constantly remind her that she is no longer young. When I’m gone, she’s only thirty-two, while I’m forty-three, and for that she hates me. She also knows that I do not recognize the theater. She loves theater, it seems to her that she serves humanity, holy art, but in my opinion, modern theater is a routine, a prejudice. When the curtain rises and in the evening light, in a room with three walls, these great talents, the priests of the holy art, depict how people eat, drink, love, walk, wear their jackets; when they try to extract morality from vulgar pictures and phrases, morality is small, understandable, useful in household use; when in a thousand variations they offer me everything the same, the same, the same, then I run and run like Maupassant ran from the Eiffel Tower, which was crushing his brain with its vulgarity. Sorin. You can't live without theater. Treplev. New forms are needed. New forms are needed, and if they are not there, then nothing is better. (Looks at his watch.) I love my mother, I love her very much; but she smokes, drinks, lives openly with this fiction writer, her name is constantly spoken about in the newspapers - and this tires me. Sometimes the egoism of an ordinary mortal simply speaks in me; it is a pity that my mother is a famous actress, and it seems if it were an ordinary woman, then I would be happier. Uncle, what could be more desperate and stupid than the situation: it used to be that all celebrities, artists and writers were sitting at her house, and between them there was only one me - nothing, and they tolerate me only because I was her son. Who am I? What am I? I left the third year of the university due to circumstances, as they say, beyond the control of the editorial board, no talents, not a penny, and according to my passport I am a Kiev bourgeoisie. After all, my father was a Kiev bourgeois, although he was also famous actor... So, when it happened in her living room all these artists and writers paid their gracious attention to me, it seemed to me that with their glances they were measuring my insignificance - I guessed their thoughts and suffered from humiliation ... Sorin. By the way, tell me, please, what kind of person is her fiction writer? You will not understand him. Everything is silent. Treplev. The man is smart, simple, a little, you know, melancholy. Very decent. He will not be forty years old soon, but he is already famous and well fed, fed up ... Now he drinks only beer and can only love the elderly. As for his writings, then ... how can I tell you? Nice, talented ... but ... after Tolstoy or Zola, you don't want to read Trigorin. Sorin. And I, brother, love writers. Once I passionately wanted two things: I wanted to get married and I wanted to become a writer, but neither one nor the other succeeded. Yes. And it's nice to be a little writer, after all. Treplev (listens)... I hear footsteps ... (Hugs my uncle.) I can't live without her ... Even the sound of her footsteps is beautiful ... I'm insanely happy. (He walks quickly towards Nina Zarechnaya, who enters.) Sorceress, my dream ... NINA (excitedly). I was not late ... Of course, I was not late ... Treplev (kissing her hands). No no no... Nina. All day I was worried, I was so scared! I was afraid that my father would not let me in ... But he just left with his stepmother. Red sky, the moon is already beginning to rise, and I drove the horse, drove. (Laughs) But I'm glad. (He shakes Sorin's hand tightly.) Sorin (laughs). Eyes, it seems, are bursting with tears ... Ge-ge! Not good! Nina. This is so ... You see how hard it is for me to breathe. I'll leave in half an hour, I must hurry. You can’t, you can’t, for God's sake do not hold back. Father does not know that I am here. Treplev. Indeed, it is high time to start. We must go call everyone. Sorin. I'll go and that's it. This very minute. (Goes to the right and sings.)“There are two grenadiers to France ...” (Looks around.) Once I started singing the same way, and one assistant prosecutor said to me: “And you, your Excellency, have a strong voice ...” Then he thought and added: “But. .. disgusting. " (Laughs and leaves.) Nina. Father and his wife won't let me in here. They say that here is bohemian ... they are afraid that I might become an actress ... And I am drawn here to the lake, like a seagull ... My heart is full of you. (Looks around.) Treplev. We are alone. Nina. It seems that someone is there ... Treplev. Nobody. Nina. What kind of tree is it? Treplev. Elm. Nina. Why is it so dark? Treplev. It's already evening, all objects are darkening. Don't leave early, I beg you. Nina. It is forbidden. Treplev. And if I go to you, Nina? I will stand all night in the garden and look at your window. Nina. You can't, the watchman will notice you. Trezor is not used to you yet and will bark. Treplev. I love you. Nina. Shh ... Treplev (hearing footsteps). Who's there? You, Jacob? Jacob (behind the stage). Exactly. Treplev. Get in places. It's time. Is the moon rising? Jacob. Exactly. Treplev. Do you have alcohol? Is there sulfur? When red eyes appear, you need to smell of sulfur. (To Nina) Go, everything is ready there. Are you worried?.. Nina. Yes very. Your mother is nothing, I'm not afraid of her, but you have Trigorin ... I am scared and ashamed to play with him ... Famous writer... Is he young? Treplev. Yes. Nina. What wonderful stories he has! Treplev (coldly). I don’t know, I haven’t read it. Nina. Your piece is difficult to play. There are no living faces in it. Treplev. Living faces! It is necessary to portray life not as it is, and not as it should be, but as it appears in dreams. Nina. There is little action in your play, just a reading. And in the play, in my opinion, there must certainly be love ...

Both go off the stage. Included Polina Andreevna and Dorn.

Polina Andreevna... It's getting damp. Come back, put on your galoshes. Dorn. I feel hot. Polina Andreevna... You are not saving yourself. This is stubbornness. You are a doctor and you know perfectly well that damp air is bad for you, but you want me to suffer; you deliberately sat on the terrace all evening yesterday ... Dorn (hums). "Do not say that youth has ruined." Polina Andreevna... You were so carried away by the conversation with Irina Nikolaevna ... you did not notice the cold. Admit it, you like her ... Dorn. I'm 55 years old. Polina Andreevna... Nothing, for a man this is not old age. You are perfectly preserved and women still like you. Dorn. So what do you want? Polina Andreevna... In front of the actress, you are all ready to prostrate yourself. Everything! Dorn (hums). "I am before you again ..." If the society loves artists and treats them differently than, for example, merchants, then this is in the order of things. This is idealism. Polina Andreevna... Women have always fallen in love with you and hung around your necks. Is that idealism too? DORN (shrugging his shoulders). Well? There were a lot of good things in women's relations with me. They loved me mainly as an excellent doctor. 10-15 years ago, you remember, in the whole province I was the only decent obstetrician. Then I was always an honest person. Polina Andreevna (grabs his hand)... My dear! Dorn. Quiet. They are coming.

Enter ARKADINA arm in arm with Sorin, Trigorin, Shamraev, Medvedenko and Masha.

Shamraev. In 1873, at the fair in Poltava, she played amazingly. One delight! Played wonderfully! Would you please also know where the comedian Chadin, Pavel Semyonitch, is now? In Rasplyuev he was inimitable, better than Sadovsky, I swear to you, dear. Where is he now? Arkadina. You keep asking about some antediluvian. How do I know! (Sits down.) Shamraev (sighing). Pashka Chadin! There are no such people now. The stage has fallen, Irina Nikolaevna! Before there were mighty oaks, but now we see only stumps. Dorn. Brilliant talents are now few, it is true, but the average actor has become much taller. Shamraev. I cannot agree with you. However, this is a matter of taste. De gustibus aut bene, aut nihil.

Treplev leaves the stage.

Arkadina (to her son). My dear son, when did it start? Treplev. In a minute. I beg your patience. Arkadina (reads from "Hamlet")... "My son! You turned my eyes into my soul, and I saw her in such bloody, such deadly ulcers - there is no salvation! " Treplev (from Hamlet). "And why did you succumb to vice, looked for love in the abyss of crime?"

They play a horn at the stage.

Gentlemen, the beginning! Attention please!

I start. (He knocks with a stick and speaks loudly.) Oh, you venerable old shadows that hover over this lake at night, put us to sleep, and let us dream of what will happen in two hundred thousand years!

 Sorin. In two hundred thousand years, there will be nothing. Treplev. So let them portray this to us nothing. Arkadina. Let be. We are sleeping.

The curtain rises; a view of the lake; the moon is above the horizon, its reflection in the water; on a large stone sits Nina Zarechnaya, all in white.

Nina. People, lions, eagles and partridges, horned deer, geese, spiders, silent fish that lived in the water, sea stars and those that could not be seen with the eye - in a word, all lives, all lives, all lives, having completed a sad circle, died out ... Already thousands of centuries, as the earth does not bear a single living creature, and this poor moon in vain lights its lantern. In the meadow, the cranes no longer wake up with a cry, and the May beetles are not heard in the linden groves. Cold, cold, cold. Empty, empty, empty. Scary, scary, scary.

The bodies of living beings disappeared into dust, and eternal matter turned them into stones, into water, into clouds, and their souls merged into one. The common world soul is me ... I ... I have the soul of Alexander the Great, Caesar, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and the last leech in me. In me, the consciousness of people merged with the instincts of animals, and I remember everything, everything, everything, and I relive every life in myself again.

Swamp lights are shown.

ARKADINA (quietly). This is something decadent. Treplev (pleadingly and reproachfully)... Mama! Nina. I'm alone. Once in a hundred years I open my mouth to speak, and my voice sounds dejected in this emptiness, and no one hears ... And you, pale lights, do not hear me ... In the morning a rotten swamp gives birth to you, and you wander to dawn, but without thought, without will, without the trembling of life. Fearing that life will not arise in you, the father of eternal matter, the devil, every moment in you, as in stones and in water, produces an exchange of atoms, and you change continuously. In the universe, only the spirit remains constant and unchanged.

Like a prisoner thrown into an empty deep well, I do not know where I am and what awaits me. It is not hidden from me only that in a stubborn, cruel struggle with the devil, the beginning of material forces, I am destined to win, and after that matter and spirit will merge in beautiful harmony and the kingdom of world will will come. But this will only be when, little by little, through a long, long row of millennia, the moon, and the light Sirius, and the earth will turn to dust ... Until then, horror, horror ...

Pause; two red dots are shown against the background of the lake.

Here comes my mighty adversary, the devil. I see his terrible crimson eyes ...

 Arkadina. It smells like gray. Is this so necessary? Treplev. Yes. Arkadina (laughs). Yes, this is the effect. Treplev. Mama! Nina. He misses a man ... Polina Andreevna(To Dorn.) You took off your hat. Put it on or you'll catch a cold. Arkadina. It was the doctor who took off his hat to the devil, the father of eternal matter. Treplev (flushed, loudly)... The play is over! Enough! A curtain! Arkadina. Why are you angry? Treplev. Enough! A curtain! Come on the curtain! (Stamping his foot.) Curtain!

The curtain falls.

I'm sorry! I lost sight of the fact that only a select few can write plays and perform on stage. I broke my monopoly! I ... I ... (He wants to say something else, but waves his hand and leaves to the left.)

 Arkadina. What about him? Sorin. Irina, you can't treat young pride like that, mother. Arkadina. What did I tell him? Sorin. You offended him. Arkadina. He himself warned that it was a joke, and I treated his play as a joke. Sorin. Still ... Arkadina. Now it turns out that he wrote a great work! Please tell me! Therefore, he staged this performance and perfumed it with sulfur, not for a joke, but for demonstration ... He wanted to teach us how to write and what to play. Finally, it gets boring. These constant forays against me and the hairpin, you will, will annoy anyone! A capricious, proud boy. Sorin. He wanted to please you. Arkadina. Yes? However, he did not choose any an ordinary play, but made us listen to this decadent nonsense. For the sake of a joke, I'm ready to listen to nonsense, but there are claims to new forms, to a new era in art. And, in my opinion, there are no new forms here, but just a bad character. Trigorin. Everyone writes the way they want and how they can. Arkadina. Let him write as he wants and as he can, only let him leave me alone. Dorn. Jupiter, are you angry ... Arkadina. I am not Jupiter, but a woman. (Lights up a cigarette) I'm not angry, I'm just annoyed that the young man is spending his time so bored. I didn't mean to offend him. Medvedenko. No one has any reason to separate spirit from matter, since, perhaps, spirit itself is an aggregate of material atoms. (Lively, to Trigorin.) But, you know, I would describe in a play and then play on stage how our brother, a teacher, lives. It’s hard, hard to live! Arkadina. This is true, but we will not talk about plays or atoms. Such a glorious evening! Do you hear, gentlemen, singing? (Listens.) How good! Polina Andreevna... It's on the other side. ARKADINA (to Trigorin). Sit next to me. About 10-15 years ago, here on the lake, music and singing were heard continuously almost every night. There are six on the shore landlord estates... I remember laughter, noise, shooting, and all the novels, novels ... Jeune premier "oh and the idol of all these six estates was then, I recommend (nods at Dorn), Doctor Evgeny Sergeich. And now he is charming, but then he was irresistible. However, my conscience begins to torment me. Why did I hurt my poor boy? I am restless. (Loudly.) Kostya! A son! Kostya! Masha. I'll go look for him. Arkadina. Please, honey. Masha (goes to the left). Hey! Konstantin Gavrilovich! .. Ay! (Leaves.) Nina (leaving the stage.) Obviously, there will be no continuation, I can exit. Hello! (Kisses Arkadina and Polina Andreevna.) Sorin. Bravo! Bravo! Arkadina. Bravo! Bravo! We admired. With such an appearance, with such a wonderful voice, it is impossible, it is sinful to sit in the country. You must have talent. Do you hear? You must go on stage! Nina. Oh, this is my dream! (Sighs) But it will never come true. Arkadina. Who knows? Let me introduce you to this: Trigorin, Boris Alekseevich. Nina. Ah, I'm so glad ... (Confused.) I always read you ... Arkadina (sitting her down beside)... Don't be embarrassed, honey. He is a celebrity, but he has a simple soul! You see, he was embarrassed himself. Dorn. I suppose you can raise the curtain now, but that's creepy. Shamraev (loudly). Jacob, raise the curtain, brother!

The curtain rises.

Nina (to Trigorin). A strange play, isn't it? Trigorin. I do not understand anything. However, I watched with pleasure. You played so sincerely. And the scenery was lovely.

There must be a lot of fish in this lake.

 Nina. Yes. Trigorin. I love to fish. For me there is no more pleasure than sitting on the beach in the evening and looking at the float. Nina. But, I think, whoever has experienced the pleasure of creativity, for that already all other pleasures do not exist. ARKADINA (laughing). Don't say that. When good words are spoken to him, he fails. Shamraev. I remember in Moscow in opera house once the famous Silva took the bottom up. Meanwhile, as if on purpose, a bass from our synodal singers was sitting in the gallery, and suddenly, you can imagine our extreme amazement, we hear from the gallery: "Bravo, Silva!" - a whole octave lower ... That way (in a low bass): bravo, Silva ... The theater froze. Dorn. The silent angel flew by. Nina. I have to go. Farewell. Arkadina. Where to? Where is it so early? We will not let you in. Nina. Dad is waiting for me. Arkadina. What is he, really ... (They kiss.) Well, what to do. Sorry, sorry to let you go. Nina. If you only knew how hard it is for me to leave! Arkadina. Someone would show you, my baby. NINA (scared). Oh no, no! Sorin (to her, pleadingly). Stay! Nina. I can't, Pyotr Nikolaevich. Sorin. Stay one hour and that's it. Well, really ... Nina (thinking through tears)... It is forbidden! (Shakes hands and leaves quickly.) Arkadina. An unhappy girl in essence. They say that her late mother bequeathed to her husband all her enormous fortune, every penny, and now this girl was left with nothing, since her father had already bequeathed everything to his second wife. It's outrageous. Dorn. Yes, her daddy is a decent brute, we must give him full justice. Sorin (rubbing cold hands)... Come on, gentlemen, and we, otherwise it’s getting damp. My legs hurt. Arkadina. They are like wooden ones, they barely walk. Well, let's go, wretched old man. (Takes his arm.) Shamraev (giving his hand to his wife)... Madam? Sorin. I hear the dog howling again. (To Shamraev.) Be kind, Ilya Afanasyevich, order to untie her. Shamraev. You can't, Pyotr Nikolaevich, I'm afraid thieves might get into the barn. There I have millet. (To Medvedenko walking beside him.) Yes, a whole octave lower: "Bravo, Silva!" But not a singer, a simple synodal choir. Medvedenko. And how much is the salary of a synodal choir?

Exit except Dorn.

Dorn (one). I don’t know, maybe I don’t understand anything or I’ve lost my mind, but I liked the play. There is something in her. When this girl talked about loneliness and then, when the devil's red eyes appeared, my hands trembled with excitement. Fresh, naive ... Here, it seems, he comes. I want to tell him more pleasant things. Treplev (enters). There is no one anymore. Dorn. I'm here. Treplev. Mashenka is looking for me all over the park. An obnoxious creature. Dorn. Konstantin Gavrilovich, I liked your play extremely. It’s some kind of strange, and I didn’t hear the end, and yet the impression is strong. You talented person, you have to continue.

Treplev tightly shakes his hand and embraces him impulsively.

Fui, what a nervous one. Tears in my eyes ... What do I want to say? You took the plot from the realm of abstract ideas. It should be so because work of fiction must certainly express some big thought... Only that which is beautiful is serious. How pale you are!

 Treplev. So you say to continue? Dorn. Yes ... But portray only the important and the eternal. You know, I have lived my life in a varied and tasteful way, I am satisfied, but if I had to experience the uplift of spirit, which is the case with artists during their work, then, it seems to me, I would despise my material shell and everything that is peculiar to this shell. , and would be carried away from the ground further into the height. Treplev. Where is Zarechnaya to blame? Dorn. And here's another thing. The work should be clear, definite thought... You must know what you are writing for, otherwise, if you go along this picturesque road without a specific goal, then you will get lost and your talent will ruin you. Treplev (impatiently). Where is Zarechnaya? Dorn. She went home. Treplev (in despair). What should I do? I want to see her ... I need to see her ... I will go ...

Masha enters.

Dorn (to Treplev). Take it easy, my friend. Treplev. But all the same, I will go. I have to go. Masha. Go, Konstantin Gavrilovich, into the house. Your mom is waiting for you. She is restless. Treplev. Tell her that I have left. And I ask you all, leave me alone! Leave! Don't follow me! Dorn. But, but, but, honey ... you can't do that ... Not good. Treplev (through tears). Goodbye doctor. Thank you ... (Leaves.) Dorn (sighing). Youth, youth! Masha. When there is nothing more to say, they say: youth, youth ... (Sniffs tobacco.) Mandrel (takes the snuffbox from her and throws it into the bushes)... This is disgusting!

They seem to be playing in the house. Need to go.

 Masha. Wait. Dorn. What? Masha. I want to tell you again. I want to talk ... (Excitedly) I do not love my father ... but my heart lies with you. For some reason, with all my soul I feel that you are close to me ... Help me. Help, otherwise I’ll do something stupid, I’ll laugh at my life, ruin it ... I can’t stay longer ... Dorn. What? How can I help you?

The work "The Seagull" was written in 1896 and belongs to the category of plays. In the same year it was staged at the Alexandrinsky Theater. The author talks about art and creativity, about relationships between people and about the cruelty of fate. As a topic, you can take a description of love experiences, how a person searches for his vocation, about unrequited feelings and, of course, art.

Read a summary of the play Chekhov Chaika

Reading time 3 minutes

The actions of the play take place in the estate of Sorin Petr Nikolaevich, his sister-actress, Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina, came to visit him, the fiction writer Boris Trigorin also came with her, the latter was not yet forty, but he was already quite famous. Arkadina's son, Konstantin Treplev, also lived in the estate, he envies his mother's fame, which forces him to start writing plays and staging them in an impromptu theater in the park. Konstantin was not particularly talented, but he wanted fame, so after the arrival of his mother, he puts on a performance according to his own script. On the main role he called Nina Zarechnaya, with whom he was in love. She, in turn, is not a fan of Treplev and understands that nothing good will come of it, but agrees to the role because she dreams of being an artist. In the end, the performance failed miserably, the mother began to make fun of her son, who, unable to bear the shame, runs away.

The second act tells us that the girl Nina, after communicating with Trigorin, falls in love with him. She avoids Constantine, he thinks that this is all because of his failure and tries to talk to her, but she does not even pay attention to him. Treplev killed the seagull and brought it to the girl with the words that he would soon kill himself. Trigorin, seeing a dead seagull, begins to invent a story about a young girl who looks like a seagull.

Masha talks to Trigorin and confesses that she is in love with Treplev and, in order to appease her love, she marries Medvedenko to her own ill will. Constantine because of not mutual love to Nina, tries to kill herself, but the attempt fails. He decides to go to a duel with Trigorin, but he and Arkadina are going to leave for Moscow. Nina thought for a long time that she also needed to go and look for her calling. She decides to leave, but first she goes to say goodbye to Trigorin, as a keepsake she gives a medallion in which the lines are from his book, they did not have time to finish, as the girl ran away. Trigorin tries to persuade Arkadina to stay in the estate for a short while, but she kneels and begs him to go today, as she understands that he wants to stay because of Nina. Boris agrees, and when they were about to leave, Trigorin makes a pitchfork, as if he had forgotten the thing, goes to Nina and tells her the place where they should meet when she arrives in Moscow.

The last action takes place two years later. Konstantin continues to write and achieves some success, his works begin to write. Masha still suffers in marriage with an unloved man, they have a child, but she is not particularly interested in this, she spends her time in the Treplevs' house. Nina, as she dreamed of, married Trigorin, but the happiness was not long. They had a child, but soon died. After this incident, the husband left the girl and went to Arkidina. Nina's life was going downhill, she could not become an actress because of her bad acting, her parents abandoned her and kicked her out of the house.

Arkadina and Trigorin return to visit the estate again, they sit and chat, play. Nina comes to Treplev, she looks shabby and tired, but Konstantin still loves her and is glad to see her. He again confesses his feelings to her and wants to leave with her, but she does not seem to hear him, but only insists that she still loves Trigorin. These words wound Konstantin and unable to bear the torment, he shot himself.