New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object. In simple words, new criticism says, “If the poem is good, if the book is well written, it'll say everything.” We will be looking at Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s most celebrated play, “The Seagull”, he was a Russian playwright and short story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in the history of literature.
The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingénue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Tréplov, also spelled as ‘Treplev.’
By applying new criticism on Chekhov’s The Seagull, we will be focusing on a set of symbols, themes and images. The play holds a lot of symbols being known as one of the writer’s traits in his playwrights.
Every character in the play identifies with the seagull in some way or the other. Seagull for Treplov signifies Nina’s cold and harsh treatment towards him; he tries to explain how and why he symbolizes himself with the Seagull while she tries to explain she doesn’t understand it. It foreshadows the end of the play by showing how Treplov will actually commit suicide.
For Nina, it shows how she will always be in the future, when Trigorin discovers the gull he says: “A young girl… loves the lake the way a seagull does, and she's happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and ruins her life because he has nothing better to do. Destroys her like this seagull here.” It represents how she will be forgotten about in the future by him and how her life is ruined by the man she loved. Towards the end of the play she is completely forgotten about like the gull Trigorin asked to stuff.
The lake at the beginning of the play is obscured to show the uncertainty towards everything that is going to happen in the play. It shows un certainty towards both Nina’s and Treplov’s careers, for Akradina its seen as a constant reminder of her youth and how she wishes to keep holding on to it. Trigorin sees it purely as a materialistic material meant to satisfy his needs for a “muse” as well as his need to fish and conquer.
Weather and changes in ambience:
The constant changes in the weather are used subtly to show the passion of discomfort between the characters in the play. The constant change helps us to understand the psyche of the characters and their subconscious feelings.
Moving ahead with the themes, some of the general ones from the play are unrequited love; success, failure and fame; youth; jealousy; wealth and dissatisfaction. Beginning with the most discussed theme of the play, “unrequited love”, "The Seagull" is full of love and lovers; Masha is in love with Treplov who loves Nina. Nina is completely star struck by Trigorin's fame and is besotted by him. Trigorin is loved by Arkadina and it is implied that herself and Polina have previously had an affair with Dorn, the town player. Furthermore, Treplov's successful suicide attempt could be justified by Nina's eventual rejection for his love and his failures as a writer.
The success, the failure and the fame in the play just can’t be neglected, speaking of which,
Trigorin, though a famous writer, hasn't found his own voice yet and he himself believes that he is not as good as Turgenev or Tolstoy. Arkadina too is famous in her own right but she is incredibly insecure and feels threatened by her son's longing to find new theatrical forms. Nina on the other hand, seems to be uncaring of her art form and only concerned about fame from success. Success is represented in a very superficial manner in this play. Chekhov shows the importance of fame in the human psyche. Some characters want to be famous and aren’t concerned with their development as an artist; Arkadina is very proud of her fame but seems to be playing in mediocre, old-fashioned plays. Nina too is seemingly a bad actress but desires to be in the same social groups as Arkadina and Trigorin. On the other hand, Trigorin is famous but would much rather be successful and have some form of development as an artist. Furthermore, Treplov, who is neither famous nor successful, although is looking to discover new forms of drama and theatre, seems more focused on becoming a famous writer.
The youth does hold a crucial role in the making of this play, we will be speaking on a few relevant characters that fall under this theme, and likewise Arkadina's transparent obsession with youth is evident from her relationship with Trigorin, a man considerably younger than her. Moreover, she cannot stand to be in the presence of Treplov since he reminds her, and possibly everybody else, of her true age. Trigorin also wants to relive his youth by having an affair with Nina.
The characters and the tragedies in their life fall them into a feeling of displeasure, a feeling that leads to jealousy, the characters in seagull are unanimous in their feeling of jealousy. They not only envy their romantic rivals but also their professional counterparts. Treplov is jealous and disapproving of Trigorin because of his fame as a writer and his ability to impress the women he cares about and effortlessly get the attention he longs. Arkadina is jealous of Nina's youth and charm that attracts both Treplov and Trigorin. Masha too is envious of Nina's ability to hold Treplov's unwavering attention.
Not all characters are too caught up with the notion of money in this play. Speaking of wealth as another theme specifically, the ones, who are wealthy, however, cannot seem to part from it. There is a sense of not letting go of their money on display if one reds between the lines. Arkadina for instance, gets too defensive when Treplov or Sorin ask her for money even though she is quite well off. Medvedenko then, isn't considered to be in the same social realm as everybody else due to his job as a teacher and is often seen gossiping about everyone else's salary.
With so much so happening around in the play, the characters are ought to swim in dissatisfaction, there is a certain kind of pessimism in the air in Chekhov's "the seagull". Although everyone seems to have a brave and proud facade on, no one is truly satisfied with their position or role in society. They drink, they smoke and occasionally try to kill themselves. They seem to want what others have and completely disregard their true self-worth.
Chekhov is known for using symbols in his writing style, he uses them on a larger scale in this play to make the audience connect better to the characters. Each symbol represents some characteristics of the characters making them more complex and realistic.
Firstly, The Seagull; the title of the play itself, Chekhov uses the seagull as an important symbol in the play. The meaning of the symbol changes over the course of the play. In the first act, Nina compares herself to a seagull who is drawn to the lake. It reminds her of her childhood and how she felt free and secure just like a seagull does when it is near a lake. In act two, Treplov presents a dead seagull to Nina. He says he will die in Nina’s honour just like he killed a seagull in her honour. The dead gull not only symbolizes death but also the relationship between Trigorin and Nina. Trigorin’s dialogue about a man destroying a young girl just like the seagull, foreshadows what he does to her.
The seagull also represents Nina as she is very gullible.
The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingénue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Tréplov, also spelled as ‘Treplev.’
By applying new criticism on Chekhov’s The Seagull, we will be focusing on a set of symbols, themes and images. The play holds a lot of symbols being known as one of the writer’s traits in his playwrights.
Every character in the play identifies with the seagull in some way or the other. Seagull for Treplov signifies Nina’s cold and harsh treatment towards him; he tries to explain how and why he symbolizes himself with the Seagull while she tries to explain she doesn’t understand it. It foreshadows the end of the play by showing how Treplov will actually commit suicide.
For Nina, it shows how she will always be in the future, when Trigorin discovers the gull he says: “A young girl… loves the lake the way a seagull does, and she's happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and ruins her life because he has nothing better to do. Destroys her like this seagull here.” It represents how she will be forgotten about in the future by him and how her life is ruined by the man she loved. Towards the end of the play she is completely forgotten about like the gull Trigorin asked to stuff.
The lake at the beginning of the play is obscured to show the uncertainty towards everything that is going to happen in the play. It shows un certainty towards both Nina’s and Treplov’s careers, for Akradina its seen as a constant reminder of her youth and how she wishes to keep holding on to it. Trigorin sees it purely as a materialistic material meant to satisfy his needs for a “muse” as well as his need to fish and conquer.
Weather and changes in ambience:
The constant changes in the weather are used subtly to show the passion of discomfort between the characters in the play. The constant change helps us to understand the psyche of the characters and their subconscious feelings.
Moving ahead with the themes, some of the general ones from the play are unrequited love; success, failure and fame; youth; jealousy; wealth and dissatisfaction. Beginning with the most discussed theme of the play, “unrequited love”, "The Seagull" is full of love and lovers; Masha is in love with Treplov who loves Nina. Nina is completely star struck by Trigorin's fame and is besotted by him. Trigorin is loved by Arkadina and it is implied that herself and Polina have previously had an affair with Dorn, the town player. Furthermore, Treplov's successful suicide attempt could be justified by Nina's eventual rejection for his love and his failures as a writer.
The success, the failure and the fame in the play just can’t be neglected, speaking of which,
Trigorin, though a famous writer, hasn't found his own voice yet and he himself believes that he is not as good as Turgenev or Tolstoy. Arkadina too is famous in her own right but she is incredibly insecure and feels threatened by her son's longing to find new theatrical forms. Nina on the other hand, seems to be uncaring of her art form and only concerned about fame from success. Success is represented in a very superficial manner in this play. Chekhov shows the importance of fame in the human psyche. Some characters want to be famous and aren’t concerned with their development as an artist; Arkadina is very proud of her fame but seems to be playing in mediocre, old-fashioned plays. Nina too is seemingly a bad actress but desires to be in the same social groups as Arkadina and Trigorin. On the other hand, Trigorin is famous but would much rather be successful and have some form of development as an artist. Furthermore, Treplov, who is neither famous nor successful, although is looking to discover new forms of drama and theatre, seems more focused on becoming a famous writer.
The youth does hold a crucial role in the making of this play, we will be speaking on a few relevant characters that fall under this theme, and likewise Arkadina's transparent obsession with youth is evident from her relationship with Trigorin, a man considerably younger than her. Moreover, she cannot stand to be in the presence of Treplov since he reminds her, and possibly everybody else, of her true age. Trigorin also wants to relive his youth by having an affair with Nina.
The characters and the tragedies in their life fall them into a feeling of displeasure, a feeling that leads to jealousy, the characters in seagull are unanimous in their feeling of jealousy. They not only envy their romantic rivals but also their professional counterparts. Treplov is jealous and disapproving of Trigorin because of his fame as a writer and his ability to impress the women he cares about and effortlessly get the attention he longs. Arkadina is jealous of Nina's youth and charm that attracts both Treplov and Trigorin. Masha too is envious of Nina's ability to hold Treplov's unwavering attention.
Not all characters are too caught up with the notion of money in this play. Speaking of wealth as another theme specifically, the ones, who are wealthy, however, cannot seem to part from it. There is a sense of not letting go of their money on display if one reds between the lines. Arkadina for instance, gets too defensive when Treplov or Sorin ask her for money even though she is quite well off. Medvedenko then, isn't considered to be in the same social realm as everybody else due to his job as a teacher and is often seen gossiping about everyone else's salary.
With so much so happening around in the play, the characters are ought to swim in dissatisfaction, there is a certain kind of pessimism in the air in Chekhov's "the seagull". Although everyone seems to have a brave and proud facade on, no one is truly satisfied with their position or role in society. They drink, they smoke and occasionally try to kill themselves. They seem to want what others have and completely disregard their true self-worth.
Chekhov is known for using symbols in his writing style, he uses them on a larger scale in this play to make the audience connect better to the characters. Each symbol represents some characteristics of the characters making them more complex and realistic.
Firstly, The Seagull; the title of the play itself, Chekhov uses the seagull as an important symbol in the play. The meaning of the symbol changes over the course of the play. In the first act, Nina compares herself to a seagull who is drawn to the lake. It reminds her of her childhood and how she felt free and secure just like a seagull does when it is near a lake. In act two, Treplov presents a dead seagull to Nina. He says he will die in Nina’s honour just like he killed a seagull in her honour. The dead gull not only symbolizes death but also the relationship between Trigorin and Nina. Trigorin’s dialogue about a man destroying a young girl just like the seagull, foreshadows what he does to her.
The seagull also represents Nina as she is very gullible.
- An assignment by Shweta Verhani & group (TYBA-LIT)
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