Ze Fabel of "THE SEAGULL"
Once upon a time there was a lake house by…you guessed it a lake. This house is owned by an older gentleman named Sorin in Russia. Being the Summer, he has invited a few guests over to spend some time there. The play starts out with Sorin talking alone with a man named Treplev. Treplev is a writer who had not had a lot of success and is the son of the famous actress Irina. The two talk about how their lives are going at the moment and Treplev mostly speaks of how irritated he is with his mother and how she wanted to have the lead role in his most recent play that he has written, but how he gave it to the woman he is in love with: Nina. They are talking to cover the time before the play actually starts (it’s taking place in the lake house)/when Nina arrives (her parents won’t allow her to leave the house at night so she sneaks out while they’re gone so she can perform.) Eventually all of the guests show up. These include Irina: Treplev’s mother, Illya: a retired lieutenant, Polla: his wife, Dorn: a doctor, Trigorin: a famous writer, Menvendenko: a schoolmaster who has an unrequited love for Masha, Masha: a woman who has an unrequited love for Treplev, and a few others. Soon after the play begins and Nina starts her monologue alone on stage. During her monologue some of the audience members, including Irina, start laughing at it. In a rage, Treplev stops the show, lowers the curtain and says the show’s over right after it just begun. Irina said because Treplev said it was a “joke” that she took as such and didn’t really mean to hurt his feelings. After the play is over Sorin and Trigorin have a conversation with Irina until Nina shows up out of costume guessing that the show isn’t going to go on and that it’s late and she should probably go home… but not before meeting the famous writer Trigorin whom she’s “read every single one of his works” and falls in love with him therefore creating a love triangle among the guests. Trigorin, although showing affection for Nina doesn’t really “love her.” Irina begs for Nina not to go, creating a motherly friendship among the two actresses, but she leaves anyway, fearing her parents wrath.
The next day comes and Nina goes back to the lake. After some delightful conversation with Irina, Nina runs into Treplev. He shot a seagull and brought it’s dead corpse to her as a gift. Repulsed by it, she refuses and Treplev leaves in rejection claiming that he’ll end up just like the seagull. Trigorin shows up right as he leaves and charms Nina with his talk about the seagull. He says it’s influenced him to write a story about a girl who was like a seagull where a man comes along and ruins her just for the fun of it. Later it’s revealed that Treplev has attempted to kill himself with a gunshot to the head. Unfortunately for him, it only grazed his skull and left him wounded, wearing a bandage around his head.
Later on, Nina continues to show her affection for Trigorin. Trigorin informs her that he’s packing up to leave. Upset, Trigorin and Treplev have an argument causing Treplev to leave in tears. Nina ends up running away from her parents with Trigorin until Trigorin leaves her. She then tours with a second-rate theatre company making her feel like a failure in terms of being an actress. Masha, whom still is secretly in love with Treplev, has married Menvendenko because he proposed and they had a child. Sorin began to grow ill as he aged. Treplev has grown to become a recluse and stays in his study.
Sorin, Irina and others are playing cards at this point while Treplev is in his study finishing a “masterpiece of his.” Nina comes back and visits Treplev and vents her problems and sorrows to him. He is excited because he feels he’s finally going to be with his Nina… until she leaves again. Shocked and distraught, Treplev rips up his masterpiece and commits suicide offstage. Sorin asks Irina to leave the room and tells the others what have happened.
Plot Summary from Wikipedia
Act I
The play takes place on a country estate owned by Sorin, a former government employee with failing health. He is the brother of the famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate with her lover, Trigorin, for a brief vacation. In Act I, the people staying at Sorin's estate gather to see an unconventional play that Arkadina's son Konstantin has written and directed. The play-within-a-play stars Nina, a young girl who lives on a neighboring estate, as the "soul of the world." The play is his latest attempt at creating a new theatrical form, and resembles a dense symbolist work. Arkadina laughs at the play, finding it ridiculous and incomprehensible, while Konstantin storms off in disgrace. Act I also sets up the play's many romantic triangles. The schoolteacher Medvedenko loves Masha, the daughter of the estate's steward. Masha, in turn, is in love with Konstantin, who is in love with Nina. When Masha tells the kindly old doctor Dorn about her longing, he helplessly blames the moon and the lake for making everybody feel romantic.
Act II
Act II takes place in the afternoon outside of the estate, a few days later. After reminiscing about happier times, Arkadina engages the house steward Shamrayev in a heated argument and decides to leave immediately. Nina lingers behind after the group leaves, and Konstantin shows up to give her a seagull that he has shot. Nina is confused and horrified at the gift. Konstantin sees Trigorin approaching, and leaves in a jealous fit. Nina asks Trigorin to tell her about the writer's life. He replies that it is not an easy one. Nina says that she knows the life of an actress is not easy either, but she wants more than anything to be one. Trigorin sees the seagull that Konstantin has shot and muses on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: "A young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a seagull, and she's happy and free, like a seagull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this seagull." Arkadina calls for Trigorin and he leaves as she tells him that she has changed her mind, and they will not be leaving immediately. Nina lingers behind, enthralled with Trigorin's celebrity and modesty, and she gushes, "My dream!"
Act III
Act III takes place inside the estate, on the day when Arkadina and Trigorin have decided to depart. Between acts Konstantin attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but the bullet only grazed his skull. He spends the majority of Act III with his scalp heavily bandaged. Nina finds Trigorin eating breakfast and presents him with a medallion that proclaims her devotion to him using a line from one of Trigorin's own books: "If you ever need my life, come and take it." She retreats after begging for one last chance to see Trigorin before he leaves. Arkadina appears, followed by Sorin, whose health has continued to deteriorate. Trigorin leaves to continue packing. There is a brief argument between Arkadina and Sorin, after which Sorin collapses in grief. He is helped off by Medvedenko. Konstantin enters and asks his mother to change his bandage. As she is doing this, Konstantin disparages Trigorin and there is another argument. When Trigorin reenters, Konstantin leaves in tears. Trigorin asks Arkadina if they can stay at the estate. She flatters and cajoles him until he agrees to return to Moscow. After she has left, Nina comes to say her final goodbye to Trigorin and to inform him that she is running away to become an actress, against her parents' wishes. They kiss passionately and make plans to meet again in Moscow.
Act IV
Act IV takes place during the winter two years later, in the drawing room that has been converted to Konstantin's study. Masha has finally accepted Medvedenko's marriage proposal, and they have a child together, though Masha still nurses an unrequited love for Konstantin. Various characters discuss what has happened in the two years that have passed: Nina and Trigorin lived together in Moscow for a time until he abandoned her and went back to Arkadina. Nina never achieved any real success as an actress, and is currently on a tour of the provinces with a small theatre group. Konstantin has had some short stories published, but is increasingly depressed. Sorin's health is failing, and the people at the estate have telegraphed for Arkadina to come for his final days. Most of the play's characters go to the drawing room to play a game of bingo. Konstantin does not join them, and spends this time working on a manuscript at his desk. After the group leaves to eat dinner, Konstantin hears someone at the back door. He is surprised to find Nina, whom he invites inside. Nina tells Konstantin about her life over the last two years. She starts to compare herself to the seagull that Konstantin killed in Act II, then rejects that and says "I am an actress." She tells him that she was forced to tour with a second-rate theatre company after the death of the child she had with Trigorin, but she seems to have a newfound confidence. Konstantin pleads with her to stay, but she is in such disarray that his pleading means nothing. She embraces Konstantin, and leaves. Despondent, Konstantin spends two minutes silently tearing up his manuscripts before leaving the study. The group reenters and returns to the bingo game. There is a sudden gunshot from off-stage, and Dorn goes to investigate. He returns and takes Trigorin aside. Dorn tells Trigorin to somehow get Arkadina away, for Konstantin has just killed himself
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