Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov: Plays

Let's look at some of Chekhov's most well-known works:

The Seagull (1895)

The Seagull is a four-act play by Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1895 and it premiered on October 17th 1896 at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

The Seagull follows a group of artists who meet at a country estate. The play explores the relationships between the characters and their broken dreams.

Uncle Vanya (1897)

Uncle Vanya is a four-act play by Anton Chekhov. Chekhov wrote the original version of the play, titled The Wood Demon, between 1889 and 1890. It was subsequently shortened and published in 1897. Its first production was in 1899 at the Moscow Art Theatre.

The play is about Ivan Voynitski, known as Uncle Vanya, and the group of characters who reside at the country estate that he manages. The characters' struggle is with finding purpose and hope in a futile life. Additionally, Uncle Vanya is considered to be one of the first plays to raise questions on the topic of environmental issues.

Three Sisters (1901)

Three Sisters is a four-act play by Anton Chekhov written in 1900 and premiered in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre.

The drama follows the sisters Olga, Maria and Irina, as they are forced to live in the countryside when they long for the liveliness of the city. Three Sisters explores the nature of unfulfilled potential.

The Cherry Orchard (1904)

The Cherry Orchard (1904) is Anton Chekhov's last play, written in 1903.The four-act play premiered on January 17th 1904 at the Moscow Art Theatre.

The Cherry Orchard is about the decline of an aristocratic family, who lose their beloved Cherry Orchard estate to the son of their former servant. The play deals with some of the social changes in Russian society at the turn of the 20th century – after the abolishment of serfdom, the aristocracy was overshadowed by the bourgeoisie.

Anton Chekhov Short stories

Chekhov was a master of the short story genre. Let's look at some of his most well-known short stories:

• Kashtanka (1887)
• Ward No.6 (1892)
• The Two Volodyas (1893)
• The Black Monk (1894)
• The Student (1894)
• Ariadne (1895)
• The Lady With the Dog (1899)
• The Bride (1903)

Chekhov's favourite of his short stories was The Student (1894), which follows a day in the life of a clerical student.

Anton Chekhov's Main Themes

Chekhov dealt with some recurring themes, including:

Suffering

Considering that, while writing most of his works, Chekhov was suffering from tuberculosis, it is not surprising that his condition influenced his writing. In his short stories, suffering often comes in the form of disease – characters are ill and death is a tangible presence. The illness is sometimes metaphorical – it points to weaknesses that plague society as a whole. Moreover, in Chekhov's plays the characters suffer because they lead a life that they feel is unfulfilled – whether because they feel stuck, or because they long for something or someone they cannot attain. The way Chekhov describes suffering is as something fundamentally human, something which affects us all in different ways. As readers or audience, we can relate to Chekhov's characters because their pain reflects ours; what the characters go through is what human beings have always gone through.

Unfulfilled potential

In many of Chekhov's works, the characters feel as though they haven't lived their lives to their full potential. They have dreams that are shattered by reality, and they often find it difficult to keep up when times, situations and people in their lives change. Indeed, the climax in most of Chekhov's narratives occurs when the main characters have to look back on their lives, and to redefine their ideals and the ways in which they chose to live until that moment. Some of them find new meanings and learn how to keep on living and hoping for a better future. Others, however, are unable to do so and their existence becomes empty. Chekhov's short stories that feature the latter scenario are anti-climactic.

The theme of unfulfilled potential and the ways in which different people deal with it is very true to real life. Most people reminisce about what they could have done differently.

Loneliness

The theme of loneliness in Chekhov's works encapsulates the human condition. Each one of Chekhov's characters is specific and memorable but they all have loneliness in common. In some cases, loneliness is examined as a state of individuality – a character feels utterly alone in their unique perception of the world that none of the other characters understands. In other cases, loneliness is the impossibility to be with the person you love, or to even find someone to love.

Anton Chekhov Importance

Anton Chekhov was a key figure in the movement of literary realism.

Chekhov believed that, as a writer, his job was to describe real life and the people in it as a witness, without imposing any judgement on them. His short stories have been translated into many languages and, although he only wrote a few plays, Chekhov is the most staged dramatist after Shakespeare. His works - whether you read them or see them in the theatre - are still relevant today, because they depict the struggles of ordinary people in an extraordinary way.

¹ Realism, Oxford English Dictionary: oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/realism