The Sea Gull, by Anton Chekhov, is a comedy in four acts. The four main characters are: Irina Arkadina (Madame Trepleva), a successful actress; her son Konstantin (also called Kostya), a young man, who is an aspiring writer; Nina Zarechnaya, a young woman, who is an aspiring actress; and Boris Alekseyevich Trigorin, a well-known writer.

Other characters are: Pyotr Sorin, who is Madame Trepleva’s brother; Ilya Shamrayev, a retired lieutenant who is the steward or manager of Sorin’s country estate; Polina, who is Shamrayev’s wife; Masha, who is Shamrayev’s daughter; Yevgeny Dorn, a doctor; and Semyon Medvedenko, a schoolmaster.

The action of the play takes place on Sorin’s estate. Between the third and fourth acts, there is an interval of two years. The play is centered on Konstantin, his frustrated literary ambitions, and his frustrated love for Nina.

In Act I, Konstantin presents a play which he has written, and in which Nina is the only performer. The performance of the play brings critical comments from Irina, and Konstantin is angered by his mother’s sarcasm. He is scornful of the established theater that his mother has represented in her career as an actress. He speaks with contempt of the boring naturalism and banal moralizing of the contemporary theater.

When Nina comments that Kostya’s play has too little action and no love-interest, and that there are no real people or characters in it, Kostya describes his artistic notion that `Life must be portrayed not as it is, nor as it ought to be, but as it appears in our dreams.’

Konstantin is humiliated by the sarcasm with which his play is viewed by his mother, and he fears that Nina no longer loves him. He fears that Nina is in love with Trigorin, a well-known writer who is presently his mother’s lover.

In Act II, Konstantin has shot a seagull at the lake, and he places it at Nina’s feet, and predicts his own suicide. The seagull is a symbol of his broken dreams.

In Act III, it is revealed that Konstantin shoots himself in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Nina leaves to meet Trigorin in Moscow.

In Act IV, two years later, it is revealed that Nina has had an affair with Trigorin. She had a child, but the child died. Trigorin got tired of her, and has resumed his former relationship with Irina Arkadina.

Nina has been unsuccessful in her acting career, and her father and stepmother have disowned her. Konstantin has struggled to become a capable writer. He has published a story in a magazine, and his writing has attracted attention in Petersburg and Moscow, although his work is published under a pseudonym.

Nina returns, having been cast aside by Trigorin. She still loves Trigorin, and Konstantin’s despair is reawakened. Nina leaves, and Konstantin tears up his manuscript. Then he unlocks the door, and leaves. The other characters return, and a shot is heard offstage. Dorn exits, and returns to talk to Trigorin, telling him that Konstantin has killed himself.

A theme of the play is that of frustrated love. Chekhov portrays in Konstantin and Nina the lack of fulfillment which is caused by misplaced love. Konstantin loves Nina, but Nina falls in love with Trigorin. Masha loves Konstantin, but Konstantin loves Nina. Medvedenko loves Masha, but Masha loves Konstantin.

Another theme of the play is the nature of art. Konstantin thinks that he is creating a new form of art, but his concept of drama is a form of melodramatic posturing and exaggerated symbolism.

Another theme of The Sea Gull is the inability of the Russian upper classes to deal with the changes in contemporary society. Konstantin is a `petit bourgeois’ who is searching unsuccessfully for a vocation. Trigorin, on the other hand, is a successful and well-known writer, but his plight is that his lack of aim as a writer is a reflection of his lack of aim as a person.

Trigorin, as a writer, is so busy observing his life that he cannot experience life directly. Trigorin searches for something that he can believe in and that he can feel strongly about. He searches unsuccessfully for a sense of purpose and commitment in his writing.