Vershinin three sisters. List of actors and system of characters in Chekhov's drama

Composition

TUZENBACH - central character drama by A.P. Chekhov "Three Sisters" (1900). Baron T., a Russified German, born in St. Petersburg, "cold and idle", is the happiest person in the play. He keenly feels the “turning point”, the “turning point” of the present time, and with all his being is directed towards the impending “huge”, “healthy, strong storm”, which “will blow away laziness, indifference, prejudice to work, rotten boredom from our society”. In T.'s ardent conviction of the need for work, consistent, obligatory work for each person (“In some twenty-five to thirty years, every person will work. Everyone!”) Is reflected in his “German” healthy love to "order", to a rational arrangement of life, his faith in meaningful, creative work that transforms society and man. Here, closeness to the image of Stolz (Oblomov by I.A. Goncharov) is revealed. T. is devoid of skepticism and is not inclined to look at the current state of life as hopeless. He believes that in the future "life will remain the same, life is difficult, full of secrets and happy." Him in the highest degree inherent in the "gift of penetration into life", the gift of love for life, the gift of being happy even in an unrequited feeling for Irina. Her “longing for work” is understandable and close to him. And he does not get tired with his cheerful belief in life to support mental strength Irina. T. not only dreams of a “new life”, but also prepares for it: he retires, chooses a job as an engineer at a brick factory and is going to marry Irina and go there: “I will take you away tomorrow, we will work, we will be rich, your dreams will come to life. You will be happy." But a ridiculous, ordinary, "always" skirmish with Solyony led to a duel. T.'s farewell to Irina is absolutely devoid of "pre-duel fever" (cf .: "Duel" by Chekhov, "Duel" by Kuprin). On the contrary, the usually gentle, always conciliatory-minded T. reveals courage and an enormous “concentration of calm and pain” (P.A. Markov). As if seeing beauty for the first time surrounding nature feeling the thrill autumn leaves, T. pronounces the words that have become the result of his life faith: “What beautiful trees and in essence, what a beautiful life should be around them!” The first performer of the role of T. - V.E. Meyerhold (1901). Other performers include V.I.Kachalov (1901), N.P.Khmelev (1940), S.Yu.Yursky (1965).

Other writings on this work

Heroes - "klutzes" in the plays of A. P. Chekhov ("Three Sisters") What do the heroines of A.P. Chekhov's play “Three Sisters” strive for and what are they disappointed in? The main images of the play by A. P. Chekhov "Three Sisters" Features of the conflict in the play by A. P. Chekhov "Three Sisters" Why did the sisters' dreams of Moscow remain just dreams? (based on the play by A.P. Chekhov "Three Sisters") Why can't the sisters return to Moscow, even though they talk about it all the time? What's stopping them? (based on the play by A.P. Chekhov "Three Sisters")

Characters

Prozorov Andrey Sergeevich.
Natalya Ivanovna, his fiancee, then his wife.
Olga
Masha his sisters
Irina
Kulygin Fyodor Ilyich, gymnasium teacher, Masha's husband.
Vershinin Alexander Ignatievich, lieutenant colonel, battery commander.
Tuzenbakh Nikolai Lvovich, baron, lieutenant.
Solyony Vasily Vasilievich, staff captain.
Chebutykin Ivan Romanovich, military doctor.
Fedotik Alexey Petrovich, second lieutenant.
Rode Vladimir Karlovich, second lieutenant.
Ferapont, watchman from the zemstvo council, an old man.
Anfisa, nanny, old woman, 80 years old" (13, 118).

List Formalization Trend actors, outlined in "The Seagull" and explicated in "Uncle Vanya", is also embodied in this play by Chekhov. The social status of the character opening the list is for the first time not defined at all by the author. The signs of the military hierarchy, noted in it, turn out to be actually not in demand in the course of the plot action, or, at least, are not conceptual for the play. They are more important as age markers. So, lieutenants Fedotik and Rode in the system of characters in the drama "Three Sisters" are, first of all, young people, still enthusiastic, fascinated by life, not thinking about its meaning and eternal contradictions:
“Fedotik (dancing). Burnt, burned! All clean!" (13, 164);
“Rode (looks around the garden). Goodbye trees! (Screams). Hop-hop! Pause. Farewell, echo! (13, 173).
And, finally, unlike the previous plays, social masks, implemented in the list of characters, are replaced in the course of the plot action by literary masks. With this points of view, the drama "Three Sisters", perhaps the most literary play Chekhov - her quotation background is so great and diverse. “Almost all the characters in Chekhov’s play are the heroes of some already written novels and dramas, often several at once, which literary parallels and reminiscences are revealed and emphasized”, - this characterization of Chekhov's first play “Fatherlessness”, given by I. N. Sukhikh, can also be attributed to the drama “Three Sisters”. Undoubtedly, there are elements of the quotation game in all Chekhov's plays. So, the exchange of remarks between Treplev and Arkadina before the start of the performance (the first act of the comedy The Seagull) is marked by an accompanying remark and quotation marks accompanying the quote:
Arkadina (reads from Hamlet). "My son! You turned my eyes into my soul, and I saw it in such bloody, in such deadly ulcers - there is no salvation!
Treplev (from "Hamlet"). “And why did you succumb to vice, search for love in the abyss of crime?” (13, 12)".
IN this case the relationship between mother and son is considered by the characters themselves through the prism of Shakespeare's tragedy. Here - this is a game of Shakespeare, familiar - professional - for Arkadina and serious for Treplev. In the third act of the comedy, the situation will be duplicated and this time realized by Treplev, no longer in the lines from Hamlet projected onto his life, but in this life itself.
The heroes of the play "Uncle Vanya" also have literary masks. So, Voinitsky suddenly feels like the main character in A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm", and, moreover, in the ideological, social-democratic halo of the interpretation of N.A. Dobrolyubova: “My feeling is dying in vain, like a ray of sun falling into a hole” (13, 79), then Poprishchin from Gogol’s Notes of a Madman: “I reported! I'm going crazy... Mother, I'm in despair! Mother!" (13, 102). The scene of Dr. Astrov's parting with Elena Andreevna in the fourth act of the play is largely built on the model final explanation between Onegin and Tatyana (in the same logic of the final victory of necessity over feeling):
"Astrov. And they would have stayed! A? Tomorrow in the forestry...
Elena Andreevna. No... It's already been decided... And that's why I look at you so bravely that your departure has already been decided... I ask you one thing: think better of me. I want you to respect me” (13, 110).
The quotation background of the play "Three Sisters" is systemic. It allows with an equal degree of confidence and provability to read it according to Shakespeare, according to L. Tolstoy, according to Griboyedov. The structure of the drama makes it possible to reconstruct both its mythological and ancient Russian primary sources. However, important for interpretation Chekhov's drama seems, in our opinion, not so much the search for the most accurate source of citation as the explication and explanation of the artistic principle(essentially endless) literary (cultural) game; actualization of the semantic function of citation.
Let's try to explain it on the material of the Pushkin subtext present in the play "Three Sisters", and - more specifically - the Onegin subtext, which is the most important for its semantics. After all, it is the Onegin code that gradually unfolds as the dominant one in the course of the plot action of the drama. In addition, in the systemic aspect, it seems that the researchers of the Chekhov theater have not yet written about him. Four times (!) during the plot action of the drama, from its first to the last action, Masha repeats: “At Lukomorye there is a green oak, a golden chain on that oak” (13; 125, 137, 185). This quote from the introduction to the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" can be called accurate. "Don't be angry, Aleko. Forget, forget your dreams,” Solyony says twice (13; 150, 151) and mystifies the reader / viewer, because, as you know, there are no such lines in Pushkin’s poem “Gypsies”. However, both genuine and imaginary quotations are quite definite signs, which, entering into complex relations with Pushkin's context, produce the most important semantic facets of Chekhov's play.
So, the image of Aleko in Chekhov's play is undoubtedly a symbolic image. He becomes one of the many masks, in this case, a disappointed Byronic hero, which Solyony tries on: “But I should not have happy rivals ... I swear to you by all the saints, I will kill my opponent” (13, 154). This remark briefly and accurately formulates the egocentric philosophy of Pushkin's character:

I am not like that. No, I'm not arguing
I won't give up my rights!
Or at least enjoy revenge.

The imaginary quotation itself points to a very definite plot situation of the poem, predicted by the dialogue between Aleko and Zemfira, which concludes and sums up the consolation of the Old Man that follows it. It is to this tragic scenario that Solyony hints, extrapolating the plot of Pushkin's poem to his own life and to the lives of others, including people close to him:
"Aleko
I dreamed about you.
I saw that between us ... ..
I saw terrible dreams!
Zemfira
Don't believe in wicked dreams<…>
Old man
Who will say to the heart of a young maiden:
Love one thing, don't change? »

Thus, Solyony's quotation introduces into the play the motive of "love-deceit", which is not so much connected with the image of Solyony himself, as it can be attributed to Tuzenbakh, whose love for Irina remains unrequited; by the way, it is to Tuzenbakh that Solyony addresses: “Don’t be angry, Aleko…”. This motif connects the image of Tuzenbach not so much with the image of Aleko as with the image of Lensky, especially since both in Pushkin's novel and in Chekhov's play, the motif finds its plot conclusion in a duel and the tragic, untimely death of a dreamer character. He is dying, trying to bring order to the disturbed, from his point of view, balance, to restore harmony. So, Lensky must punish the “insidious tempter” Onegin, Tuzenbach - make Irina happy: “I will take you away tomorrow, we will work, we will be rich, my dreams will come to life. You will be happy” (13, 180). Indirect confirmation of the "genealogical" relationship of images is their German origin- metaphorical in Pushkin (“He is from Germany a vague gain of learning fruits ...”) and factual in Chekhov: “I have a triple surname. My name is Baron Tuzenbach-Krone-Altschauer, but I am Russian, Orthodox, just like you” (13, 144). The image of Solyony acquires comic features in this context, since it is based on a discrepancy between the character’s ideas about himself, the mask that he considers his face, and his actual essence, which, in addition to Tuzenbach’s presumed assessment: “I think he is shy” (13, 135), the author's assessment also indicates. It is realized in the choice of a household, absolutely not poetic and even emphatically anti-romantic surname; in doubling the name, indicating a lack of originality and, together with the surname, sounding like a nickname. In the above quote, the author's assessment can also be found in the stylistic oxymoron included in the character's speech: "I swear to all saints" - "I will kill."
The most important for the semantic conception of Chekhov's drama is, I repeat, "Onegin's" semantics. Its actualization is carried out in the play constantly. “Still, it’s a pity that youth has passed,” says Vershinin (13, 147). “I didn’t have time to get married, because life flashed like lightning,” Chebutykin echoes him (13, 153). And these variations of the motif of youth gone in vain repeat in their own way Pushkin's lines from the eighth chapter of the novel "Eugene Onegin", aphoristically embodied this traditional elegiac motif:

But it's sad to think that in vain
We were given youth
What cheated on her all the time,
That she deceived us.

Indirect (unmarked) replicas-quotes of characters, similar to the replicas given above, in combination with their direct statements, explicating the original source, for example, with Verkhinsky: "All ages are submissive to love, its impulses are beneficial" (13, 163), set the "Onegin" the key to understanding the nature of Chekhov's characters. So, disappointed ("tired" of life) Vershinin suddenly falls in love with Masha, who is familiar to him, but not recognized by him in his former life in Moscow:
"Vershinin. (to Masha) I remember your face a little, I think.
Masha. But I don’t have you” (13, 126).
In this situation of the play, the plot model is guessed (and simultaneously predicted). Pushkin's novel: almost formal acquaintance of Onegin and Tatyana at the beginning of the novel - recognition and a real meeting / parting at the end. In turn, Chebutykin, throughout the entire plot of the play, speaks of his "crazy" love for the mother of three sisters, "who was married", thereby varying the "Onegin theme" set by Vershinin. The image of Lensky also receives a “double” continuation in the play. In addition to Tuzenbach, the image of Andrei Prozorov, who gives great promise in the first act of the play, turns out to be closely connected with him:
"Irina. He is our scientist. He must be a professor" (13, 129).
However, these hopes are not destined to come true: the prosaic finale of the life of the romantic Lensky, concisely outlined by Pushkin (and, by the way, preferred by him to all other “draft” scenarios), is fully realized in the fate of Chekhov’s character:
He would have changed a lot.
I would part with the muses, get married,
Happy and horned in the village
Would wear a quilted robe<…>
I drank, I ate, I got bored, I got fat, I got sick ...

Natasha's “romance” with Protopopov, dreams of Moscow almost forgotten by the character and playing the violin, “boring”, monotonously calm family life: “Andrei. You don't need to marry. It’s not necessary, because it’s boring” (13, 153), and even the persistently accentuated fullness of the character: “Natasha. For dinner, I ordered curdled milk. The doctor says you need to eat only curdled milk, otherwise you won’t lose weight” (13, 140) – all these are milestones consistently implemented by Chekhov and signs of the gradual vulgarization of the once romantically inclined hero, outlined in Pushkin’s lyrical digression.
The most important opposition of the system of characters in the drama is the three sisters - Natasha. It is explicated in separate lines and dialogues already in the first act of the play, for example, in the following:
"Olga. (In an undertone, frightened) You have a green belt on! Honey, this is not good!
Natasha. Is there an omen?
Olga. No, it just doesn’t work… and somehow strange…” (13, 136).
This dialogue reproduces Pushkin's opposition female images, named in the eighth chapter of the novel: du comme il faut - vulgar and explicated by the author earlier in the pair Tatyana - Olga. It is noteworthy that Onegin, in a dialogue with Lensky, draws attention to Olga's external characteristics, devoid, from his point of view, of spiritual fulfillment, that is, of life:

She is round, red-faced,
Like that stupid moon
In this stupid sky.

It is about the appearance of Natalya Ivanovna, replacing her inner world, or rather, marking his absence, says Chekhov and Masha in the play: “Some kind of strange, bright, yellowish skirt with a sort of vulgar fringe and a red blouse. And the cheeks are so washed, washed!” (13, 129). The genetic connection between the images of the three sisters and Tatyana Larina can be traced quite easily in the tragic confrontation between the sublime heroines of the play and the ordinary, everyday world (it is explicated by the author in the first act of the drama):
"Irina. With us, the three sisters, life was not yet beautiful, it choked us like weeds” (13, 135).
Longing for some other - beautiful - life, the disastrous inconsistency of the subtle soul of the beloved Pushkin (and Chekhov) heroine to the world of the Buyanovs and Petushkovs explicates Tatyana's letter to Onegin:
Imagine I'm here alone
Nobody understands me,
My mind is failing
And I must die silently.

The closest to Tatiana of the first chapters of the novel is in the play Masha. At the same time, we are talking, of course, not about her external features, not about her style or manner of behavior (here there will be much more different than similar), but about a deep internal similarity - a “starting point” in the relationship of the heroine with the world, self-awareness in it . The only purpose and meaning of Masha's life, like Tatyana's in the first chapters of Pushkin's novel, is love. It seems that for the first time this feature of the Pushkin heroine was pointed out by V.G. Belinsky. If there is love, both of them are happy, if there is no love or it is unhappy, life loses its meaning. Masha's black dress is not so much mourning for her father who died a year ago, but mourning for own life, in which there is no love, but there is a legal connection with a good, smart, but unloved person:
Masha. I was married off when I was eighteen years old, and I was afraid of my husband, because he was a teacher, and then I had barely finished the course. He seemed to me then terribly learned, intelligent and important. And now it’s not the same, unfortunately” (13, 142).
At the same time, it is Masha, the only one of the three sisters, who is given to experience a state of happiness. Noteworthy in this regard is the twice-repeated remark from the second act: “Masha laughs softly” (13, 146). She twice interrupts the dispute about the happiness of Tuzenbakh and Vershinin, casting doubt on their consistently logical, but speculative constructions, since Masha this moment(right now) really happy; happy from the presence of a loved one, because she loves and is loved:
Vershinin (thinking).<…>After two hundred or three hundred, finally, a thousand years - it's not a matter of time - a new one will come, happy life. We will not participate in this life, of course, but we now live for it, work, well, suffer, we create it - and this alone is the purpose of our existence and, if you like, our happiness.
Masha laughs softly.
Tuzenbach. What do you?
Masha. Don't know. Today I have been laughing since morning all day” (13, 146).
Vershinin's departure from the city means complete destruction, the end of the heroine's life; it is no coincidence that in the rough drafts of the play, Chekhov tries to introduce the situation of a suicide attempt and even Masha's suicide.
The internal evolution of Tatyana's worldview, its main stages, the path from the desire for happiness to peace can be projected onto the spiritual quest of the three sisters, which determine the plot logic of the play. In moving along this path, Olga, Masha and Irina are an inseparable whole, a single image. “Three sisters are so similar to each other that they seem to be one soul, only taking three forms,” I. Annensky wrote in this regard in the Book of Reflections. The subjective-volitional construction characteristic of the beginning of the play: “To Moscow! To Moscow!”, embodies the desire of the characters to change their lives at any cost, according to their ideas about it. At the end of the play, it transforms into an impersonal “must” (“We must live.<…>We have to work”), into the acceptance of the course of things that does not depend on the human will. The same logic is set in Tatyana Onegin’s answer: “I love you (why dissemble?)” - the former desire for happiness is clearly expressed here - the former triumph of the ego - “but I am given to another (an impersonal obligation), I will be faithful to him for a century” (acceptance of fate as the result of "passive" life experience).
Repeatability literary images makes them literary-mythological. And from this point of view, "Eugene Onegin" is not only an encyclopedia, but also the mythology of Russian life, which largely predetermined the characterology of Russian literature; she transforms those who repeat into personified quotations – masks of actors playing roles that have long been fixed in the text of world culture.
These masks can vary endlessly, replacing each other. So, Solyony appears before the audience in the image of Chatsky, then Aleko, then Lermontov. Masks can be combined in strange ways. So, Natasha is Natasha Rostova, and Olga Larina, and her mother, and Lady Macbeth with a candle in her hand. The same mask can be put on by different characters and played by them in different - and even opposite - roles (I remind you that the role of Onegin in the play is played either by the “serious” Vershinin or the “comical” Chebutykin). Thus, human life in Chekhov's play turns into a carnival of literary (more broadly, cultural) masks, and in the logic of this carnival, all his characters are again united into clearly marked groups. The first is represented by actors who play on the stage of life without fixing their own role (the so-called vulgar or simply not thinking about the meaning of their lives): Natasha, Fedotik, Rode, Ferapont.
The second group is formed by characters who play their roles seriously, forgetting or not knowing that their life is a performance (characters suffering): Andrey, the Prozorov sisters, Chebutykin, and partly Vershinin and Tuzenbakh. Moreover, if Andrei and his sisters really constantly suffer from the discord of their next dream and life, if Tuzenbakh calmly states this discord, realizes its cause and tries to overcome it, then Chebutykin deliberately and defiantly distances himself from life-suffering, putting on another mask - cynical and even, perhaps, existential indifference, in order not to suffer himself: “Baron good man, but one baron more, one less - is it all the same? (13, 178).
A special place in this system of characters is occupied by Solyony and Kulygin. Formally, Kulygin cultivates the image of a Roman in the model of his life and behavior. It is no coincidence that his speech is built by the author as a continuous quotation, the source of which is well-known Latin maxims. However, these classical quotations are almost always accompanied in the speech of the character by another level of quotation, referring to the word of his immediate superior, the director of the gymnasium: “The Romans were healthy, because they knew how to work, they knew how to relax, they had mens sana in corpore sano. Their life flowed according to certain forms. Our director says: the main thing in any life is its form” (13, 133). Obviously, the cultural mask only hides the dependence of the character on someone else's opinion, his lack of independence (failure) as a person. Solyony, on the other hand, becomes the personification of the concept of a person as a consciously selected system of cultural masks, once removing which he may suddenly not reveal himself. In this regard, Chekhov's phrase is noteworthy, subtly and accurately outlining the difference between the type created, realized in life, and the essence of a person: “Indeed, Solyony thinks that he looks like Lermontov; but, of course, he doesn't look alike - it's ridiculous even to think about it. He must make up Lermontov. The resemblance to Lermontov is enormous, but in the opinion of Solyony alone” (P 9, 181). Lermontov, thus, turns here into one of the masks, into a model of behavior/appearance cultivated by the character, which does not at all correspond to his real "I".
Confirms the intended concept of a person as the realization of his own ideas about himself - his masks - and one of Chebutykin's “philosophical” remarks: “It only seems ... There is nothing in the world, we do not exist, we do not exist, but it only seems that we exist ... And does it matter!” (13, 178).
Hence the meaning of the spectacle of human life, its only possible "logic", captured in the play, is the absence of meaning, or, if we use the drama formula, "renix". “An introduction to the drama of subtexts,” notes L.L. Gorelik, - not only demonstrates the possibility of ambiguous life assessments, a plurality of points of view, but also introduces the theme of mutual misunderstanding and disunity of people, the theme of the absurdity or, in any case, the tragic complexity of life, making the viewer in some way an accomplice to the conflict driving the play ".
At the same time, it turns out to be absolutely unimportant how the person himself relates to this fact. He may suffer from a lack visible meaning own life:
Masha. It seems to me that a person must be a believer or must seek faith, otherwise his life is empty, empty.<…>To live and not know why the cranes fly, why children will be born, why the stars in the sky ... Or to know why you live, or it’s all trifles, tryn-grass ”(13, 147).
He can accept this absence as an unchanging given:
"Tuzenbach. Not only in two hundred or three hundred, but even in a million years, life will remain the same as it was; it does not change, it remains constant, following its own laws, which you do not care about, or at least which you will never know” (13, 147). The situation set in the play remains unchanged.
Alogism as a principle of relationships between people was perhaps the first to be identified with slight irony in his novel by Pushkin, who stated the regularity of human life in the sad story of failed happiness created for each other and loving friend friend of Onegin and Tatyana. Chekhov turns alogism into the dominant principle of human existence, especially obvious, as was shown in the first chapter, against the backdrop of the eternal tranquility of nature.

The play "Three Sisters", written in 1900, immediately after being staged and first published, caused a lot of conflicting responses and assessments. Perhaps this is the only play that gave rise to so many interpretations, disputes that do not stop to this day.

"Three Sisters" is a play about happiness, unattainable, far away, about the expectation of happiness that the characters live in. About fruitless dreams, illusions in which all life passes, about a future that never comes, but instead the present continues, bleak and devoid of hope.

And therefore, this is the only play that is difficult to analyze, since analysis implies objectivity, a certain distance between the researcher and the object of research. And in the case of the Three Sisters, it is quite difficult to establish a distance. The play excites, returns to one's own innermost thoughts, makes one participate in what is happening, coloring the study in subjective tones.

The viewer of the play focuses on the three Prozorov sisters: Olga, Masha and Irina. Three heroines with different characters, habits, but they are all equally brought up, educated. Their life is an expectation of change, a single dream: “To Moscow!” But nothing changes. The sisters stay provincial city. In place of a dream comes regret about the lost youth, the ability to dream and hope, and the realization that nothing will change. Some critics called the play "Three Sisters" the apogee of Chekhov's pessimism. “If in “Uncle Vanya” it was still felt that there is such a corner of human existence where happiness is possible, that happiness can be found in work, “Three Sisters” deprive us of this last illusion” . But the problems of the play are not limited to one question about happiness. It is on a superficial ideological level. The idea of ​​the play is incomparably more significant and deeper, and it can be revealed, in addition to considering the system of images, the main oppositions in the structure of the play, by analyzing its speech characters.

The central characters, based on the title and plot, are the sisters. In the poster, the emphasis is on Andrei Sergeevich Prozorov. His name comes first in the list of characters, and all the characteristics of female characters are given in connection with him: Natalya Ivanovna is his bride, then his wife, Olga, Maria and Irina are his sisters. Since the poster is a strong position of the text, we can conclude that Prozorov is the bearer of the semantic accent, the main character of the play. It is also important that in the list of characters between Prozorov and his sisters is the name of Natalya Ivanovna. This must be taken into account when analyzing the system of images and identifying the main semantic oppositions in the structure of the play.

Andrei Sergeevich is a smart, educated person, on whom great hopes are placed, “will be a professor”, who “still will not live here”, that is, in a provincial city (13, 120). But he does nothing, lives in idleness, over time, contrary to his initial statements, becomes a member of the zemstvo council. The future is fading away. The past remains, the memory of the time when he was young and full of hope. The first alienation from the sisters occurred after marriage, the final one - after numerous debts, losses in cards, acceptance of a position under the supervision of Protopopov, his wife's lover. Therefore, in the list of actors, Andrei and the sisters share the name of Natalya Ivanovna. Not only his personal fate depended on Andrei, but also the fate of the sisters, as they linked their future with his success. The themes of an educated, intelligent man with a high cultural level, but weak and weak-willed, and his fall, moral anguish, breakage, are pervasive in Chekhov's work. Let's remember Ivanov ("Ivanov"), Voinitsky ("Uncle Vanya"). The inability to act is a hallmark of these heroes, and Andrey Prozorov continues this series.

Old men also appear in the play: the nanny Anfisa, an old woman of eighty years old (an image somewhat similar to the nanny Marina from Uncle Vanya) and Ferapont, the watchman (the predecessor of Firs from the play " The Cherry Orchard»).

The main opposition at the superficial, ideological level is Moscow - provinces(the opposition of the province and the center, which is end-to-end for Chekhov’s creativity), where the center is perceived, on the one hand, as a source of culture, education (“Three Sisters”, “The Seagull”), and on the other, as a source of idleness, laziness, idleness, unaccustomed to work , inability to act ("Uncle Vanya", "The Cherry Orchard"). Vershinin at the end of the play, speaking of the possibility of achieving happiness, remarks: “If, you know, education is added to industriousness, and diligence is added to education ...” (13, 184).

This is the way out the only way into the future, which Vershinin notes. Perhaps this is to some extent Chekhov's view of the problem.

Vershinin himself, seeing this path and understanding the need for change, does not make any efforts to improve at least his own, separately taken privacy. At the end of the play, he leaves, but the author does not give even the slightest hint that at least something will change in the life of this hero.

Another opposition is also stated in the poster: military - civilian. Officers are perceived as educated, interesting, decent people; without them, life in the city will become gray and lethargic. This is how military sisters perceive it. It is also important that they themselves are the daughters of General Prozorov, brought up in the best traditions of that time. No wonder it is in their house that officers who live in the city gather.

By the end of the play, the opposition disappears. Moscow becomes an illusion, a myth, the officers leave. Andrei takes his place next to Kulygin and Protopopov, the sisters remain in the city, already realizing that they will never end up in Moscow.

The characters of the Prozorov sisters can be considered as a single image, since they occupy the same place in the system of characters and are equally opposed to the rest of the characters. It is impossible to lose sight of the different attitude of Masha and Olga to the gymnasium and to Kulygin - a vivid personification of the gymnasium with its inertness, vulgarity. But the features that the sisters differ in can be perceived as variant manifestations of the same image.

The play begins with a monologue by Olga, the eldest of the sisters, in which she recalls the death of her father, her departure from Moscow. The sisters' dream “To Moscow!” sounds for the first time from the lips of Olga. So already in the first act of the first act, key events in the life of the Prozorov family that influenced her present (departure, loss of her father) are revealed. From the first act, we also learn that their mother died when they were still children, and even her face they remember vaguely. They only remember that she was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. It is also interesting that only Olga speaks about the death of her father, and all three sisters remember the death of their mother, but only in a conversation with Vershinin, as soon as it comes to Moscow. Moreover, the emphasis is not on the death itself, but on the fact that the mother is buried in Moscow:

“Irina. Mom was buried in Moscow.

Olga. In Novo-Devichy ...

Masha. Imagine, I'm already beginning to forget her face…” (13, 128).

It must be said that the theme of orphanhood, the loss of parents is a cross-cutting one in Chekhov's work and quite significant for the analysis of Chekhov's dramatic characters. Let's remember Sonya from "Uncle Vanya", who has no mother, and nanny Marina and Uncle Vanya are closer and dearer than their father, Serebryakov. Although Nina from The Seagull did not lose her father, she severed her family ties by leaving him and faced the impossibility of returning home, isolation from home, and loneliness. Treplev, betrayed by his mother, experiences an equally deep sense of loneliness. This is “spiritual” orphanhood. Varya in The Cherry Orchard was raised by her foster mother, Ranevskaya. All these characters were the main characters of the plays, key figures, bearers of the author's ideological and aesthetic experience. The theme of orphanhood is closely related to the themes of loneliness, bitterness, hard fate, early growing up, responsibility for one's own and others' lives, independence, spiritual stamina. Perhaps, because of their orphanhood, these heroines especially acutely feel the need and importance of family ties, unity, family, and order. It is no coincidence that Chebutykin gives the sisters a samovar, which is a key image in the artistic system of Chekhov's works - a symbol of home, order, unity.

From Olga’s remarks, not only key events emerge, but also images and motives important for revealing her character: the image of time and the motive of changes associated with it, the motive of departure, images of the present and dreams. An important opposition emerges: dreams(future), memory(past), reality(the present). All these key images and motifs are manifested in the characters of all three heroines.

In the first act, the theme of labor appears, work as a necessity, as a condition for achieving happiness, which is also a cross-cutting theme in Chekhov's works. Of the sisters, only Olga and Irina are connected with this topic. In Masha's speech, the topic “labor” is absent, but its very absence is significant.

For Olga, work is everyday life, a difficult present: “Because I go to the gymnasium every day and then give lessons until the evening, my head constantly hurts and I have such thoughts as if I had already grown old. And in fact, during these four years, while serving in the gymnasium, I feel how strength and youth come out of me every day, drop by drop. And only one dream grows and gets stronger...” (13, 120). The motive of labor in her speech is presented mainly with a negative connotation.

For Irina, at the beginning, in the first act, work is a wonderful future, it is the only way to live, it is the path to happiness:

“A person must work, work hard, no matter who he is, and in this alone lies the meaning and purpose of his life, his happiness, his delights. How good it is to be a worker who gets up at dawn and breaks stones in the street, or a shepherd, or a teacher who teaches children, or a train driver ... My God, not like a man, it’s better to be an ox, it’s better to be a simple horse, just to work, than a young woman who gets up at twelve o'clock in the afternoon, then drinks coffee in bed, then dresses for two hours ... ”(13, 123).

By the third act, everything changes: “ (Holding back.) Oh, I'm unhappy... I can't work, I won't work. Pretty, pretty! I used to be a telegraph operator, now I serve in the city government and I hate, despise everything that they only give me to do ... I’m already twenty-four years old, I’ve been working for a long time, and my brain has dried up, I’ve lost weight, I’ve grown ugly, I’ve grown old, and nothing, nothing, no satisfaction, and time goes by, and everything seems to be moving away from the real wonderful life, you go further and further, into some kind of abyss. I'm desperate, I'm desperate! And how I'm alive, how I haven't killed myself until now, I don't understand...” (13, 166).

Irina wanted to work, dreamed of a job, but in real life she was unable to do a small job, she gave up, refused. Olga believes that marriage is the way out: “... If I got married and stayed at home all day, it would be better” (13, 122). But she continues to work, becomes the head of the gymnasium. Irina does not give up either, the death of Tuzenbakh ruined her plans to move to a new place and start working at school there, and none of the sisters have a real change, so it can be assumed that Irina will remain working on the telegraph.

Of the three sisters, Masha is alien to this topic. She is married to Kulygin and “sits at home all day”, but this does not make her life happier and more fulfilling.

The themes of love, marriage, and family are also important for revealing the characters of the sisters. They appear differently. For Olga, marriage and family are more likely to be connected not with love, but with duty: “After all, people get married not out of love, but only in order to fulfill their duty. At least I think so, and I would go out without love. Whoever proposed, would still go, if only a decent person. I would even go for an old man ... ”For Irina, love and marriage are concepts from the realm of dreams, the future. In the present, Irina has no love: “I kept waiting, we’ll move to Moscow, there I’ll meet my real one, I dreamed about him, loved ... But it turned out, everything is nonsense, everything is nonsense ...” Only in Masha’s speech is the theme of love reveals itself from the positive side: “I love - this, then, is my fate. So, my share is like this... And he loves me... It's all scary. Yes? Isn't it good? (Pulls Irina by the hand, draws her to him.) Oh, my dear ... Somehow we will live our life, what will become of us ... When you read some kind of novel, it seems that everything is old, and everything is so clear, but when you fall in love, you can see you that no one knows anything and everyone must decide for himself. Masha, the only one of the sisters, speaks about faith: “... A person must be a believer or must seek faith, otherwise his life is empty, empty ...” (13, 147). The theme of faith was a key one in the character of Sonya from the play "Uncle Vanya", Varya from "The Cherry Orchard". Life with faith is a life with meaning, with an understanding of one's place in the world. Olga and Irina are not alien to a religious outlook on life, but for them it is rather a submissiveness to what is happening:

“Irina. Everything is in God's will, it's true” (13, 176).

“Olga. Everything is good, everything is from God” (13, 121).

In the play, the image/motif of time and the changes associated with it is important, which is the key and through in Chekhov's dramaturgy. The motive of memory and oblivion is closely connected with the image of time. Many researchers have noted the specificity of the perception of time Chekhov's heroes. “Their direct judgments of time are always negative. Life changes come down to loss, aging<...>it seems to them that they have “behind the train”, that they have been “passed around”, that they have missed the time. All the words associated with the motive of “change in time” in the speech of the heroines relate to assessments of their own lives, the collapse of hopes, illusions and carry a negative connotation: grow old, strength and youth go out, grow stout, grow old, lose weight, grow ugly, pass and many others.

The problem of oblivion and memory worried Astrov from the play Uncle Vanya, for whom all changes are aging and fatigue. For him, the problem of the meaning of life was inextricably linked with the problem of oblivion. And as the nanny answered him: “People will not remember, but God will remember” (13, 64), - sending the hero to the future; just as Sonya in the final monologue talks about the sky in diamonds, far and beautiful, about life, when everyone has a rest, but for now you have to work, work hard, you have to live, so the sisters in the finale of the play come to the conclusion:

“Masha.... One must live ... One must live ...

Irina.... Now it's autumn, winter will come soon, it will be covered with snow, and I will work, I will work ...

Olga.... Time will pass, and we will leave forever, they will forget us, forget our faces, voices and how many of us there were, but our suffering will turn into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will come on earth, and they will remember with a kind word and bless those who live now” (13, 187–188).

In the interpretation of the meaning of life, these heroines are close to Astrov, the nanny and Sonya from the play "Uncle Vanya", later such a vision of the problem will be a hallmark of Varya's character from the play "The Cherry Orchard", but will appear in a more veiled, hidden form, mostly at the subtext level.

In the speech of the heroines there are also so-called key words, word-symbols, through Chekhov's work: tea, vodka (wine), drink (drink), bird, garden, tree.

Keyword bird appears in the play only in three speech situations. In the first act in Irina's dialogue with Chebutykin:

“Irina. Tell me why am I so happy today? It’s as if I’m on sails, above me is a wide blue sky and big white birds are flying. Why is this? From what?

Chebutykin. My bird is white...” (13, 122–123).

In this context bird associated with hope, with purity, striving forward.

The second time the image of birds occurs in the second act in a dialogue about the meaning of life of Tuzenbach and Masha:

“Tuzenbach.... Migratory birds, cranes, for example, fly and fly, and no matter what thoughts, high or small, wander in their heads, they will still fly and not know why and where. They fly and will fly, no matter what philosophers are wound up among them; and let them philosophize as they like, as long as they fly...<…>

Masha. To live and not know why the cranes fly, why children are born, why the stars are in the sky...” (13, 147).

Additional semantic nuances are already appearing here, the image of the bird is gradually becoming more complex. In this context, the flight of birds is associated with the course of life itself, which is not subject to any changes, human interventions, with the inexorable passage of time, which cannot be stopped, changed or understood.

In the fourth act in Masha's monologue, the same interpretation of this image is observed: “... And migratory birds are already flying ... (Looks up.) Swans, or geese... My dear, my happy...” (13, 178).

Here, migratory birds are still associated with the departing officers, extinguished hopes, the realization of the unfulfillment of a dream. And Irina, the youngest of the sisters, full of hope in the first act, with an open and joyful outlook on life, a “white bird,” as Chebutykin calls her, already tired by the fourth act, having lost her dream, resigned herself to the present. But this is hardly a tragic end to her life. As in "The Seagull" Nina Zarechnaya, having gone through trials, difficulties, loss of loved ones, loved ones, failures, realizing that life is work, hard work, renunciation of oneself, constant dedication and service, sacrifice, at the end of the play is associated with a seagull, gaining height, not giving up, strong and proud bird, so Irina in the play "Three Sisters" makes a long spiritual journey from illusions, groundless dreams to harsh reality, to work, to sacrifice and becomes a "white bird", ready to fly and a new serious life: “... And suddenly, as if wings grew in my soul, I cheered up, it became easy for me and again I wanted to work, work ...” (13, 176).

The same important images-symbols in the work of Chekhov are the images of the garden, trees, alleys.

Trees in the context of the play take on a symbolic meaning. It is something permanent, a link between past and present, present and future. Olga's remark in the first act: “It's warm today<...>and the birch trees have not yet blossomed...” (13, 119) is associated with memories of Moscow, a happy and bright past. Trees remind us of the inextricable link between times and generations.

The image of trees also appears in Tuzenbach’s conversation with Irina: “For the first time in my life I see these firs, maples, birches, and everything looks at me with curiosity and waits. What beautiful trees and, in fact, what a beautiful life should be around them!” (13, 181).

Here, the image of trees, in addition to the meanings already noted, appears with one more semantic shade. Trees “wait” for something from a person, remind of his destiny, make you think about life and your place in it.

And it is no coincidence that Masha recalls the same phrase of Pushkin. She cannot remember anything from the past, she feels that ties are being broken, oblivion of the past is setting in, the meaninglessness of the present is being revealed, the future is not visible ... And it is no coincidence that Natasha, Andrei Prozorov's wife, wants to cut down a spruce alley, a maple tree and plant flowers everywhere. She, a person of a different level of upbringing, education, does not understand what the sisters value. For her, there are no connections between the past and the present, or rather, they are alien to her, they frighten her. And on the ruins of the past, on the site of broken ties, the lost roots of an educated talented family, vulgarity and philistinism will flourish.

There is also a motif associated with keywords in the speech of the sisters. tea, vodka (wine).

“Masha(To Chebutykin strictly). Just watch: don't drink anything today. Do you hear? It is harmful for you to drink” (13, 134).

“Masha. I'll drink a glass of wine!" (13, 136).

“Masha. The baron is drunk, the baron is drunk, the baron is drunk” (13, 152).

“Olga. The doctor, as if on purpose, is drunk, terribly drunk, and no one is allowed to see him” (13, 158).

“Olga. I didn’t drink for two years, and then suddenly I took it and got drunk...” (13, 160).

Word tea appears only once in Masha's remark: “Sit here with cards. Drink tea” (13, 149).

Word tea, etymologically related to the words hope, hope, it is not by chance that it appears only in Masha's speech. The hope for changes, for the realization of a dream in this heroine is weak, therefore, for her, words that are antonymous to the keyword are more significant. tea - wine, drink, - associated with the lack of hope, resignation to reality, refusal to act. This functional field is absent only in Irina's speech. The last dialogue of the sisters in a compressed form contains all the most important themes and motifs of the play: the motif of time, which manifests itself in the form of private motifs “changes in time”, “memory”, “future”, themes of work, the meaning of life, happiness:

“Irina. The time will come, everyone will know why all this, what all this suffering is for, there will be no secrets, but for now you have to live ... you have to work, just work!<...>

Olga. Oh my God! Time will pass, and we will leave forever, they will forget us, forget our faces, voices and how many of us there were, but our suffering will turn into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will come on earth, and they will remember with a kind word and bless those who lives now. Oh, dear sisters, our life is not over yet. Will live!<...>it seems a little more, and we will find out why we live, why we suffer ... If only we knew, if only we knew!” (13, 187-188).

The same themes and motifs were an integral part of Sonya's final monologue in the play Uncle Vanya.

"Need to live!" - the conclusion that both the heroes of "Three Sisters" and the heroes of "Uncle Vanya" make. But if in Sonya's monologue there is only an affirmation of the idea that someday everything will change and we will rest, but for now - service, suffering, then in the dialogue of the sisters there is a motive why these sufferings are needed, why such a life is needed: “If you only knew if you only knew” (C, 13, 188) - this phrase by Olga introduces an element of uncertainty, doubts in their conclusions. If in the play "Uncle Vanya" there is a statement that happiness will come, then in the play "Three Sisters" this conclusion is very unsteady, illusory, and Olga's final phrase "If only you knew" completes this picture.

As already mentioned, the main character of the play "Three Sisters" is Andrei Prozorov, a character who carries the main semantic load. This is an educated, intelligent, educated, with good taste and a heightened aesthetic sense of a person. On his image, Chekhov solves the same problem as on the images of Voinitsky ("Uncle Vanya"), Gaev ("The Cherry Orchard"), Ivanov ("Ivanov") - the problem of wasted life, unrealized forces, missed opportunities.

From the first act, we learn that “the brother will probably be a professor, he will not live here anyway” (13, 120). “He is our scientist. He must be a professor” (13, 129), “... he has a taste” (13, 129). Before he enters the stage, the viewer hears the sound of a violin playing. “He is a scientist with us, and he plays the violin,” says one of the sisters (13, 130). Andrey appears in the first act twice and on a short time. For the first time - in the scene of acquaintance with Vershinin, and after a few laconic phrases, he quietly leaves. Even the sisters say: “He always has a way of leaving” (13, 130).

From his remarks, we learn that he translates from English, reads a lot, thinks, knows two languages. Reticence is its hallmark. (Recall that Chekhov considered taciturnity a sign of upbringing.) The second time Andrei appears at the festive table, and after that - in the scene of a declaration of love with Natalya.

In the second act, other features of Andrei Prozorov are revealed: indecision, dependence on his wife, inability to make a decision. He cannot refuse his wife and accept the mummers, although this is an important event for the guests and sisters. He is not talkative with his wife. And when old Ferapont appears from the council, he utters a monologue (it is difficult to call it a dialogue, since Ferapont is deaf and there is no communication), in which he admits that life has deceived him, that his hopes have not come true: “My God, I am the secretary of the Zemstvo council, that council, where Protopopov presides, I am the secretary, and the most that I can hope for is to be a member of the zemstvo council! I am to be a member of the local zemstvo council, to me, who dreams every night that I am a professor at Moscow University, a famous scientist who is proud of the Russian land!” (13, 141).

Andrei admits that he is lonely (perhaps he feels that he has moved away from his sisters, and they have ceased to understand him), that he is a stranger to everyone. His indecision and weakness logically lead to the fact that he and his sisters remain in the city, that their life enters an established and unchanging course, that the wife takes the house into her own hands, and the sisters leave him one by one: Masha is married, Olga lives in a state-owned apartment , Irina is also ready to leave.

The finale of the play, where Andrei is driving a stroller with Bobik and the fading music of officers leaving the city, is the apotheosis of inaction, inertia of thinking, passivity, laziness and mental lethargy. But this is the hero of the play, and the hero is dramatic. He cannot be called a tragic hero, since according to the laws of the tragic there is only one necessary element: the death of the hero, even if it is spiritual death, but the second element - the struggle aimed at changing, improving the existing order - is not in the play.

A distinctive feature of Andrey is laconicism. He rarely appears on stage and speaks short phrases. He is more fully revealed in the dialogue with Ferapont (which is, in fact, a monologue), the dialogue with Vershinin in the first act, the scene of the declaration of love with Natalya (the only conversation with his wife in which he shows his personality), the conversation with the sisters in the third act , where he finally confesses his defeat, and a dialogue with Chebutykin in the fourth act, when Andrei complains about a failed life and asks for advice and gets it: “You know, put on your hat, pick up a stick and go away ... go away and go, go carelessly. And the farther you go, the better” (13, 179).

By the end of the play, anger and irritation appear: “You bored me” (13, 182); "Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I beg you!” (13, 179).

In the character of Andrei, as in the characters of his sisters, opposition is important reality(the present) - dreams, illusions(future). From the realm of the real, the present, one can distinguish the topics of health, work in the zemstvo council, relations with his wife, and loneliness.

The theme of health appears already in the first act, when it comes to the father: “After his death, I began to gain weight and now I grew fat in one year, as if my body had been freed from oppression” (13, 131).

And later Andrei says: “He is not well ... What should I do, Ivan Romanych, from shortness of breath?” (13, 131).

Chebutykin's answer is interesting: “What to ask? I don't remember, honey. I don't know" (13, 153).

Chebutykin, on the one hand, really cannot help as a doctor, because he is slowly degrading both as a professional and as a person, but he feels that the matter is not in his physical condition, but in his mental state. Which is much more serious. And the only way he will give later is to leave as soon as possible, away from such a life.

The theme of work in the character of Andrei Prozorov is revealed in two ways: “I should be a member of the local zemstvo council, I, who dreams every night that I am a professor at Moscow University, a famous scientist who is proud of the Russian land!” (13, 141).

logical emphasis on to me shows the discrepancy, from the point of view of Andrei, of his capabilities, his strength to his present position. The emphasis is on the word local, which indicates opposition Moscow - provinces. In a conversation with the sisters, he deliberately changes the emotional coloring of this topic and shows everything in a more encouraging way, but with his remark “do not believe it” returns the original dull background.

The second plan is connected, rather, with the desire to wishful thinking: “... I serve in the zemstvo, I am a member of the zemstvo council, and I consider this service to be as holy and lofty as the service to science. I am a member of the zemstvo council and I am proud of it, if you want to know...” (13, 179).

For Andrei, the theme of loneliness and misunderstanding, closely related to the motive of boredom, is also key: “My wife does not understand me, I am afraid of my sisters for some reason, I am afraid that they will make fun of me, shame me ...” (13, 141); “...and here you know everyone, and everyone knows you, but a stranger, a stranger... A stranger and lonely” (13, 141).

Words stranger And lonely are key to this character.

The monologue in the fourth act (again in the presence of the deaf Ferapont) vividly reveals the problem of the present: boredom, monotony as a result of idleness, lack of freedom from laziness, vulgarity and the extinction of a person, spiritual old age and passivity, inability to have strong feelings as a result of the monotony and similarity of people to each other , inability for real actions, dying of a person in time:

“Why do we, having barely begun to live, become boring, gray, uninteresting, lazy, indifferent, useless, unhappy ... Our city has existed for two hundred years, it has a hundred thousand inhabitants, and not one who would not be like the others, not a single ascetic either in the past or in the present, not a single scientist, not a single artist, not even the slightest noticeable person who would arouse envy or a passionate desire to imitate him. Only eat, drink, sleep<…>and, in order not to become dull from boredom, they diversify their lives with nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation, and wives deceive their husbands, and husbands lie, pretend that they see nothing, hear nothing, and an irresistibly vulgar influence oppresses children, and a spark God's message is extinguished in them, and they become just as pitiful, alike dead men as their fathers and mothers...” (13, 181–182).

All this is opposed by the realm of illusions, hopes, dreams. This is both Moscow and the career of a scientist. Moscow is an alternative to both loneliness and idleness, inertia. But Moscow is just an illusion, a dream.

The future remains only in hopes and dreams. The present does not change.

Another character who carries an important semantic load is Chebutykin, a doctor. The image of a doctor is already found in "Lesh", "Uncle Vanya", in "The Seagull", where they were the bearers of the author's thought, the author's worldview. Chebutykin continues this series, introducing some new features compared to previous heroes.

Chebutykin appears on stage, reading a newspaper as he walks. At first glance, an unremarkable hero, his place in the system of characters is unclear, and only a more detailed analysis reveals his role in the play and the semantic load.

This is a hero close to the Prozorov family. This is evidenced by Irina's remark: "Ivan Romanych, dear Ivan Romanych!" (13, 122) - and his answer: “What, my girl, my joy?<...>My white bird...” (13, 122).

A tender attitude towards the sisters, partly paternal, is manifested not only in tender appeals and remarks, but also in the fact that he gives Irina a samovar (an important key image in Chekhov's work - a symbol of home, family, communication, mutual understanding).

The reaction of the sisters to the gift is interesting:

“- Samovar! It's horrible!

Ivan Romanych, you simply have no shame!” (13, 125).

He himself says about Chebutykin's closeness and tender feelings to the Prozorov family: “My dear, my good ones, you are the only ones for me, you are the most precious thing in the world for me. I am soon sixty, I am an old man, a lonely, insignificant old man ... There is nothing good in me, except for this love for you, and if not for you, then I would not have lived in the world for a long time<...>I loved my dead mother...” (13, 125–126).

The image of a doctor close to the family, who knew the deceased parents, who has paternal feelings for their children, is a through image in Chekhov's dramaturgy.

At the beginning of the first act, when it comes to work and education, Chebutykin says that after university he did nothing and did not read anything except newspapers. The same opposition appears work - idleness, but one cannot call Chebutykin an idler.

There is no pathos in Chebutykin's speech. He does not like long philosophical arguments, on the contrary, he tries to reduce them, to bring them to the ridiculous: “You just said, baron, our life will be called high; but people are still small... (Rises.) Look how short I am. It is for my consolation that I must say that my life is a lofty, understandable thing” (13, 129).

The game of meanings helps to carry out this transfer from the pretentious level to the comic one.

From the very first act, the reader learns that Chebutykin likes to drink. With this image, an important key motif of intoxication is introduced into the play. Let us recall Dr. Astrov from "Uncle Vanya", who at the very beginning says to the nurse: "I don't drink vodka every day" (12, 63). Their dialogue is also important:

“Have I changed a lot since then?

Strongly. Then you were young, beautiful, and now you are old. And the beauty is not the same. To say the same - and you drink vodka ”(12, 63).

From the words of the nanny, we understand that Astrov began to drink after some event, from which the countdown began, after which he changed, grew old. Aging is the only change that Chekhov's heroes constantly notice. And changes for the worse and aging are inextricably linked with the motive of intoxication, leaving in an illusion. Like Astrov, Chebutykin drinks. Although he does not say that he has worked hard, that he is tired, that he has grown old, that he has become stupid, but the only phrase that he is a “lonely, insignificant old man” and a mention of binges (“Eva! It’s already been over for me. did not have. (Impatiently.) Hey, mother, is it all the same!” (13, 134)). This motif suggests hidden thoughts in Chebutykin about fatigue, aging and the meaninglessness of life. Nevertheless, Chebutykin often laughs throughout the play and causes laughter from those around him. His often repeated phrase: “For love alone, nature brought us into the world” (13, 131, 136) is accompanied by laughter. He reduces the pathos of dialogues about the meaning of life, making remarks on completely abstract topics:

“Masha. Still makes sense?

Tuzenbach. Meaning... It's snowing. What is the point?

Vershinin. Still, it's a pity that youth has passed ...

Masha. Gogol says: it's boring to live in this world, gentlemen!

Chebutykin (reading the newspaper). Balzac got married in Berdichev” (13, 147).

He doesn't even seem to be listening to their clever philosophical conversation, much less taking part in it. His excerpts from newspaper articles, woven into the fabric of dialogues, bring to absurdity the principle of broken communication or the conversation of the deaf - Chekhov's favorite device. The characters do not hear each other, and in front of the reader, in fact, interrupted monologues, each on its own topic:

“Masha. Yes. Tired of winter...

Irina. Solitaire will come out, I see.

Chebutykin (reading newspaper). Qiqihar. Smallpox is rampant here.

Anfisa. Masha, eat tea, mother” (13, 148).

Chebutykin is completely immersed in the newspaper article and does not try to participate in the conversation, but his remarks help to see the lack of communication between the rest of the characters.

The peak of misunderstanding - the dialogue between Solyony and Chebutykin - the dispute about chekhartma and wild garlic:

“Salty. Ramson is not meat at all, but a plant like our onion.

Chebutykin. No, my angel. Chekhartma is not an onion, but a lamb roast.

Salty. And I tell you, wild garlic is an onion.

Chebutykin. And I tell you, chekhartma is lamb” (13, 151).

Balaganism, clowning as a way of characterizing a character first appear in this play by Chekhov. Later, in The Cherry Orchard, they will be most voluminously embodied in the image of Charlotte, the only character that, according to Chekhov, he succeeded.

Hidden dissatisfaction with life, thoughts that time flew by in vain, that he wasted his strength for nothing, are read only in the subtext. At the surface level, there are only hints, key words, motives that direct perception deep into this character.

Andrey Chebutykin speaks directly about his failed life:

"I didn't get married...

That’s how it is, yes, loneliness” (13, 153).

The motive of loneliness appears in Chebutykin's speech twice: in a conversation with the sisters and in a dialogue with Andrei. And even the advice to Andrei to leave, to go away from here, is a reflection of a deep understanding of his own tragedy.

But the distinguishing feature of Chebutykin is that even this tragic motif is clothed in a simple and ordinary linguistic form. Simple colloquial constructions, interrupted sentences and the final remark - “it's all the same!” (13, 153) - do not raise Chebutykin's arguments about loneliness to the level of tragedy, do not give a hint of pathos. A similar lack of emotional reasoning about a really serious, sore point is also observed in Dr. Astrov from the play "Uncle Vanya". He mentions a tragic case from his practice: “Last Wednesday I treated a woman on Zasyp - she died, and it’s my fault that she died” (13, 160).

Astrov from "Uncle Vanya" also speaks about the patient's death. The very fact of the patient's death in the hands of a doctor was obviously significant for Chekhov. The inability of a doctor, a professional who took the Hippocratic oath, to save a person's life (even if it is beyond the power of medicine) means failure for Chekhov's heroes. However, Astrov does not believe that he himself, as a doctor, is not capable of anything. IN " Three sisters Chekhov deepens this type, and Chebutykin already says that he has forgotten everything: “They think I’m a doctor, I can cure all sorts of diseases, but I don’t know absolutely anything, I forgot everything that I knew, I don’t remember anything, absolutely nothing” (13, 160 ).

Chebutykin, like Astrov, like the sisters, feels that what is happening is a big delusion, a mistake, that everything should be different. That existence is tragic, as it passes among illusions, myths created by man for himself. This is partly the answer to the question of why the sisters were never able to leave. Illusory obstacles, illusory connections with reality, the inability to see and accept the real, the real - the reason why Andrei is unable to change his life, and the sisters remain in a provincial town. Everything goes round and round without change. It is Chebutykin who says that “no one knows anything” (13, 162), expresses an idea close to Chekhov himself. But he says this in a state of intoxication, and no one listens to him. And the play "Three Sisters", therefore, turns out not to be a philosophical play, not a tragedy, but simply a "drama in four acts", as indicated in the subtitle.

In the character of Chebutykin, as in the characters of other characters, the opposition is clearly represented. reality(the present) - dreams(future). The reality is boring and bleak, but he also imagines the future not much different from the present: “In a year they will give me a resignation, I will come here again and will live out my life next to you. I have only one year left until retirement... I will come here to you and change my life radically. I will become so quiet, benevolent ... pleasing, decent ... ”(13, 173). Although Chebutykin doubts whether this future will come: “I don’t know. Maybe I'll be back in a year. Although the devil knows... it doesn't matter...” (13, 177).

Passivity and lethargy, characteristic of Andrei Prozorov, are also observed in the image of Chebutykin. His constant "it doesn't matter" and the phrase "Tarara bumbia..." suggest that Chebutykin will do nothing to change his life and influence the future.

Inertia and apathy - distinctive features all the characters in the play. And that is why the play "Three Sisters" is called Chekhov's most hopeless play when the last hope for change is taken away.

The image of Chebutykin is also associated with the motive of forgetting time, which is important for understanding the idea of ​​the play. Chebutykin forgets not only practice, medical practice, but also more important things. When asked by Masha whether her mother loved Chebutykin, he replies: “I don’t remember that anymore.” The words “forget” and “not remember” are often pronounced by Chebutykin, and it is they who construct the key motive for this image of time.

It is no coincidence that the image-symbol of a broken watch is also associated with it.

The phrase “it doesn't matter”, which became more frequent towards the end of the play, already openly testifies to the mental fatigue of the hero, leading to indifference and alienation. Calm talk about the duel and the possible death of the baron (“... One baron more, one less - doesn’t it matter? Let it! It doesn’t matter!” - 13, 178), a calm meeting with the news of the duel and the murder of Tuzenbakh (“Yes .. such a story... I'm tired, worn out, I don't want to talk anymore... However, it doesn't matter!" - 13, 187), and a distant look at the sisters' tears ("Let<...>Isn't it all the same!").

Duality speech character, a combination of serious views on life and comedy, a playful beginning, buffoonery, a combination of the ability to understand another person, to be sincerely attached to someone and emphasized indifference, detachment - a technique first used by Chekhov in The Three Sisters, later vividly embodied when creating images "Cherry Orchard".

Vershinin in the character system is a member of the opposition Moscow - provinces representing Moscow. He finds himself in opposition to the characters - the inhabitants of the county town.

Vershinin has a lot to do with the Prozorov family. He knew both his mother and father well, who was Vershinin's battery commander. He remembers the Prozorov sisters as children when they lived in Moscow: “I remember - three girls<...>Your late father was a battery commander there, and I was an officer in the same brigade” (13, 126); “I knew your mother” (13, 128).

Therefore, Vershinin and the Prozorovs in the system of characters are united on the basis of their relationship to Moscow, they are not opposed. At the end of the play, when Moscow turns out to be an unattainable dream, an illusory future, the opposition is removed. In addition, Vershinin leaves for another city, not for Moscow, which becomes for him the same past as for the sisters.

For the Prozorov sisters, Moscow is a dream, happiness, a wonderful future. They idolize everything connected with it, recall with delight the names of Moscow streets: “Our hometown, we were born there... On Staraya Basmannaya Street...” (13, 127).

For Vershinin, Moscow is nothing special, he treats it the same way as he treats other cities, and he speaks more than once about his love for the provinces, for the quiet district life. Expressing his attitude towards Moscow, he, unlike the sisters, contrasts the peace of a small town with the bustle of the capital, and not vigorous activity:

“...From Nemetskaya Street I went to the Red Barracks. There is a gloomy bridge along the way, under the bridge the water is noisy. Lonely becomes sad at heart. (Pause.) And here what a wide, what a rich river! Wonderful river!” (13, 128).

“...Here is such a healthy, good, Slavic climate. Forest, river... and birches here too. Dear, modest birches, I love them more than all trees. It is good to live here” (13, 128).

Thus, a contradictory attitude of the characters towards the center and the provinces arises, in which the views of the author himself on this problem are also traced. The center, the capital is spiritual, Cultural Center. This is an opportunity for activity, the realization of one's creative potential. And this understanding of the center is opposed by boredom, routine, dullness of provincial life. For the sisters, Moscow, obviously, is seen precisely from the standpoint of such an opposition.

Such opposition can be found in many of Chekhov's works, not only in plays. Heroes languish from boredom and monotony of life and strive to big cities, to the center, to the capital. For Vershinin, Moscow is vanity, problems. He does not speak of Moscow as a spiritual, cultural center. He is closer to the spirit of the province, peace, balance, silence, birches, nature.

Such a view has already been met in the play "Uncle Vanya", where the Serebryakov family, personifying the "capital", brought with them the spirit of idleness, idleness, laziness to the village. The province in "Uncle Vanya", represented by Sonya, Astrov, Voynitsky, is work, constant self-denial, sacrifice, fatigue, responsibility. A similar dual view of the province and the center was characteristic of the author. He did not like the city and strove for it, he spoke negatively about the provincial Taganrog - but strove for Melehovo.

Vershinin pronounces bombastic monologues about the future, about the need to work, about how to achieve happiness. Although the pathos of these monologues is removed in the play by the last remarks of the heroes, which does not allow this hero to turn into a reasoner, a conductor of author's ideas, and the play - into a didactic drama. Vershinin's statements reveal the opposition reality - future, dream.

“Vershinin.... In two hundred, three hundred years, life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, amazing. A person needs such a life, and if it does not exist yet, then he must anticipate it, wait, dream, prepare for it, he must see and know more for this than his grandfather and father saw and knew ...

Irina. Really, all this should have been written down...” (13, 131–132).

“Vershinin.... We do not and do not have happiness, we only wish for it.

Tuzenbach. Where are the sweets? (13, 149).

These traits would later become part of the character of Petya Trofimov (“The Cherry Orchard”), an eternal student, a person who spends his life talking about the future, but doing nothing to achieve it, a comic figure who can be treated condescendingly, ironically, but by no means seriously. . Vershinin is a more tragic character, because in addition to pathos and dreams, he has other features: responsibility for the family, for Masha, awareness of his own shortcomings, dissatisfaction with reality.

But Vershinin cannot be called the main character either. This is an auxiliary character, serving to reveal the essence of some of the central themes and motives.

In the play, an important character, although episodic, is the nanny Anfis. Threads to this image stretch from the nanny Marina from the play "Uncle Vanya". It is associated with such traits as kindness, mercy, meekness, the ability to understand, listen, care for others, support for traditions. The nanny acts as the guardian of the house, the family. In the Prozorov family, the nanny is the same keeper of the house, as in Uncle Vanya. She raised more than one generation of Prozorovs, raised her sisters as her own children. They are her only family. But the family falls apart at the moment when Natasha appears in the house, treating the nanny like a servant, while for the sisters she is a full member of the family. The fact that the sisters cannot defend their rights in the house, that the nanny leaves the house, and the sisters cannot change anything, speaks of the inevitability of the collapse of the family and the inability of the characters to influence the course of events.

The image of the nanny Anfisa largely intersects with the character of Marina ("Uncle Vanya"). But this character is illuminated in the "Three Sisters" in a new way. In Anfisa's speech, we observe appeals: my father, father Ferapont Spiridonich, dear, baby, Arinushka, mother, Olushka. Anfisa rarely appears on stage, laconicism is her hallmark. In her speech, there are also key words for Chekhov's work - symbols tea, cake: “Here, my father<...>From the zemstvo council, from Protopopov, Mikhail Ivanovich ... Pie” (13, 129); “Masha, eat tea, mother” (13, 148).

Opposition past - future there is in the character of Anfisa. But if for everyone the present is worse than the past, and the future is dreams, hopes for the best, for changing reality, then Anfisa is satisfied with the present, and the future is frightening. She is the only character who doesn't need a change. And she is the only one who is satisfied with the changes that have taken place in her life: “And-and, baby, here I live! Here I live! In the gymnasium in a state-owned apartment, golden, together with Olushka - the Lord determined in old age. When I was born, a sinner, I didn’t live like that<...>I wake up at night and - oh Lord, Mother of God, there is no person happier than me! (13, 183).

In her speech, for the first time, the opposition appears work, work - peace as a reward for work. In "Uncle Vanya" this opposition was, but in the character of Sonya (the final monologue on the topic "we will rest"). In the play "Three Sisters" for Anfisa, "the sky in diamonds" became a reality.

In Uncle Vanya, Sonya dreams of peace. In The Three Sisters, Chekhov realized this dream in the form of an eighty-two-year-old old woman who worked all her life, lived not for herself, raised more than one generation and waited for her happiness, that is, peace.

Perhaps this heroine, to some extent, is the answer to all the questions posed in the play.

Life is a movement towards peace, through everyday work, renunciation of oneself, constant sacrifice, overcoming fatigue, work for the future, which is approaching with small deeds, but its distant descendants will see. The only reward for suffering can only be peace.

Duality and inconsistency of assessments, many oppositions, disclosure of characters through key topics, images and motifs - these are the main features of the artistic method of Chekhov the playwright, which are only outlined in "Uncle Vanya", appear especially brightly in "The Three Sisters", and in "The Cherry Orchard" - Chekhov's pinnacle play - will reach their final formation.

Notes

Chekhov A.P. Complete Works and Letters: In 30 volumes. Works // Notes. T. 13. S. 443. (In what follows, when quoting, the volume and page number will be indicated.)

Mireille Boris. Chekhov and the Generation of the 1880s. Cit. according to the book: Literary heritage // Chekhov and world literature. T. 100. Part 1. S. 58.

Vershinin Alexander Ignatievich in the play "Three Sisters" - lieutenant colonel, battery commander. He studied in Moscow and began his service there, served as an officer in the same brigade as the father of the Prozorov sisters. At that time he visited the Prozorovs and was teased as a "major in love". Appearing again, Vershinin immediately captures everyone's attention, uttering sublime pathetic monologues, through most of which the motive of a brighter future runs through. He calls it "philosophizing." Expressing dissatisfaction with his real life, the hero says that if he could start over, he would live differently. One of his main themes is his wife, who from time to time tries to commit suicide, and two daughters, whom he is afraid to entrust to her. In the second act, he is in love with Masha Prozorova, who reciprocates his feelings. At the end of the play "Three Sisters", the hero leaves with the regiment.

Irina (Prozorova Irina Sergeevna) Andrey Prozorov's sister. In the first act, her name day is celebrated: she is twenty years old, she feels happy, full of hope and enthusiasm. She thinks she knows how to live. She delivers an impassioned, inspirational monologue about the need for work. She is tormented by longing for work.

In the second act, she is already serving as a telegraph operator, returning home tired and dissatisfied. Then Irina serves in the city government and, according to her, hates, despises everything that they let her do. Four years have passed since her name day in the first act, life does not bring her satisfaction, she worries that she is getting old and is moving further and further away from the “real wonderful life”, and the dream of Moscow does not come true. Despite the fact that she does not love Tuzenbakh, Irina Sergeevna agrees to marry him, after the wedding they should immediately go with him to the brick factory, where he got a job and where she, having passed the exam for a teacher, is going to work at school. These plans are not destined to come true, since Tuzenbakh, on the eve of the wedding, dies in a duel with Solyony, who is also in love with Irina.

Kulygin Fedor Ilyich - Gymnasium teacher, husband of Masha Prozorova, whom she loves very much. He is the author of a book where he describes the history of the local gymnasium for fifty years. Kulygin gives it to Irina Prozorova for her name day, forgetting that he has already done it once. If Irina and Tuzenbakh constantly dream of work, then this hero of Chekhov's play Three Sisters, as it were, personifies this idea of ​​socially useful labor ("I worked yesterday from morning to eleven o'clock in the evening, I'm tired and today I feel happy"). However, at the same time, he gives the impression of a contented, narrow-minded and uninteresting person.

Masha (Prozorova) - Prozorov's sister, wife of Fyodor Ilyich Kulygin. She got married when she was eighteen years old, then she was afraid of her husband, because he was a teacher and seemed to her "terribly learned, smart and important", but now she is disappointed in him, weighed down by the company of teachers, her husband's comrades, who seem to her rude and uninteresting. She says words that are important for Chekhov, that "a person must be a believer or must seek faith, otherwise his life is empty, empty ...". Masha falls in love with Vershinin.

She goes through the whole play “Three Sisters” with verses from Pushkin’s “Ruslan and Lyudmila”: “At Lukomorye there is a green oak; a golden chain on that oak .. A golden chain on that oak .. "- which become the leitmotif of her image. This quote speaks of the inner concentration of the heroine, the constant desire to understand herself, to understand how to live, to rise above everyday life. At the same time, the textbook essay, from which the quote is taken, exactly appeals to the gymnasium environment, where her husband rotates and to which Masha Prozorova is forced to be closest.

Natalya Ivanovna - the bride of Andrei Prozorov, then his wife. A tasteless, vulgar and selfish lady, in conversations fixated on her children, harsh and rude to the servants (the nanny Anfisa, who has been living with the Prozorovs for thirty years, wants to be sent to the village, because she can no longer work). She has an affair with Protopopov, the chairman of the zemstvo council. Masha Prozorova calls her a "philistine". The type of predator, Natalya Ivanovna, not only completely subjugates her husband, making him an obedient executor of her unbending will, but also methodically expands the space occupied by her family - first for Bobik, as she calls her first child, and then for Sofochka, the second child (it is possible that from Protopopov), displacing other inhabitants of the house - first from the rooms, then from the floor . In the end, due to huge debts made in cards, Andrei mortgages the house, although it belongs not only to him, but also to his sisters, and Natalya Ivanovna takes the money.

Olga (Prozorova Olga Sergeevna) - Sister Prozorov, daughter of a general, teacher. She is 28 years old. At the beginning of the play, she remembers Moscow, where their family left eleven years ago. The heroine feels tired, the gymnasium and lessons in the evenings, according to her, take away her strength and youth, and only one dream warms her - "rather to Moscow." In the second and third acts, she acts as the head of the gymnasium, constantly complains of fatigue and dreams of a different life. In the last act, Olga is the head of the gymnasium.

Prozorov Andrey Sergeevich - son of a general, secretary of the zemstvo council. As the sisters say about him, “he is both a scientist and plays the violin, and cuts out various things, in a word, a jack of all trades.” In the first act he is in love with a local young lady Natalya Ivanovna, in the second he is her husband. Prozorov is dissatisfied with his service, he, according to him, dreams that he is "a professor at Moscow University, a famous scientist who is proud of the Russian land!" The hero admits that his wife does not understand him, and he is afraid of his sisters, afraid that they will laugh at him, shame him. He feels like a stranger and alone in his own home.

IN family life this hero of the play "Three Sisters" by Chekhov is disappointed, he plays cards and loses rather big sums. Then it becomes known that he mortgaged the house, which belongs not only to him, but also to his sisters, and his wife took the money. In the end, he no longer dreams of a university, but is proud that he became a member of the zemstvo council, the chairman of which Protopopov is his wife's lover, which the whole city knows about and which he alone does not want to see (or pretends to). The hero himself feels his worthlessness and sets himself in a way that is characteristic of Chekhov's artistic world with the question “Why do we, having barely begun to live, become boring, gray, uninteresting, lazy, indifferent, useless, unhappy? ..” He again dreams of a future in which he sees freedom - “from idleness, from a goose with cabbage, from sleep after lunch, from vile parasitism ... ". However, it is clear that dreams, given his spinelessness, will remain dreams. In the last act, he, having grown fat, carries a carriage with his daughter Sofochka.

Solyony Vasily Vasilievich - staff captain. He often takes a bottle of perfume out of his pocket and sprays his chest, his hands - this is his most characteristic gesture, with which he wants to show that his hands are stained with blood ("They smell like a corpse to me," Solyony says). He is shy, but wants to appear as a romantic, demonic figure, when in fact he is ridiculous in his vulgar theatricality. He says about himself that he has the character of Lermontov, he wants to be like him. He constantly teases Tuzenbach, saying in a thin voice "chick, chick, chick ...". Tuzenbach calls him a strange person: when Solyony is left alone with him, he is smart and affectionate, but in society he is rude and builds a bullshit out of himself. Solyony is in love with Irina Prozorova and in the second act declares his love for her. She responds to her coldness with a threat: he should not have happy rivals. On the eve of Irina's wedding with Tuzenbakh, the hero finds fault with the baron and, having challenged him to a duel, kills him.

Tuzenbakh Nikolay Lvovich - Baron, lieutenant. In the first act of the play "Three Sisters" he is under thirty. He is passionate about Irina Prozorova and shares her longing for "work." Recalling Petersburg childhood and youth, when he knew no worries, and his boots were pulled off by a footman, Tuzenbach condemns idleness. He constantly explains, as if justifying himself, that he is Russian and Orthodox, and there is very little German left in him. Tuzenbach leaves military service to work. Olga Prozorova says that when he first came to them in a jacket, he seemed so ugly that she even cried. The hero gets a job at a brick factory, where he intends to go, having married Irina, but dies in a duel with Solyony

Chebutykin Ivan Romanovich - military doctor. He is 60 years old. He says about himself that after the university he did nothing, he didn’t even read a single book, but only read newspapers. He writes out various useful information from newspapers. According to him, the Prozorov sisters are the most precious thing in the world for him. He was in love with their mother, who was already married, and therefore did not marry himself. In the third act, out of dissatisfaction with himself and life in general, he starts drinking heavily, one of the reasons for which is that he blames himself for the death of his patient. He passes through the play with the proverb “Ta-ra-ra-bumbia ... I am sitting on the pedestal”, expressing the boredom of life that his soul languishes.

The action takes place in a provincial town, in the house of the Prozorovs.

Irina, the youngest of the three Prozorov sisters, is twenty years old. “It is sunny and cheerful outside,” and a table is set in the hall, guests are waiting - officers of the artillery battery stationed in the city and its new commander, Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin. Everyone is full of joyful expectations and hopes. Irina: “I don’t know why my soul is so light ... It’s like I’m on sails, there is a wide blue sky above me and big white birds are flying around.” The Prozorovs are scheduled to move to Moscow in the fall. The sisters have no doubt that their brother Andrei will go to university and eventually become a professor. Kulygin, the teacher of the gymnasium, the husband of one of the sisters, Masha, is benevolent. Chebutykin, a military doctor who once madly loved the late mother of the Prozorovs, lends himself to the general joyful mood. “My bird is white,” he kisses Irina touched. Lieutenant Baron Tuzenbach enthusiastically speaks about the future: “The time has come […] a healthy, strong storm is being prepared, which […] will blow away laziness, indifference, prejudice to work, rotten boredom from our society.” Vershinin is just as optimistic. With his appearance, Masha passes her "merehlyundia". The atmosphere of unconstrained cheerfulness is not disturbed by the appearance of Natasha, although she herself is terribly embarrassed by a large society. Andrei proposes to her: “Oh youth, wonderful, beautiful youth! […] I feel so good, my soul is full of love, delight… My dear, good, pure, be my wife!”

But already in the second act, major notes are replaced by minor ones. Andrey does not find a place for himself out of boredom. He, who dreamed of a professorship in Moscow, is not at all attracted by the position of secretary of the zemstvo council, and in the city he feels "alien and lonely." Masha is finally disappointed in her husband, who once seemed to her "terribly learned, smart and important", and among his fellow teachers she simply suffers. Irina is not satisfied with her work on the telegraph: “What I wanted so much, what I dreamed about, that’s not what she has. Work without poetry, without thoughts…” Olga returns from the gymnasium tired and with a headache. Not in the spirit of Vershinin. He still continues to assure that “everything on earth must change little by little”, but then he adds: “And how I would like to prove to you that there is no happiness, should not be and will not be for us ... We must only work and work ... "In Chebutykin's puns, with which he amuses those around him, hidden pain breaks through:" No matter how you philosophize, loneliness is a terrible thing ... "

Natasha, gradually taking over the whole house, escorts the guests who were waiting for the mummers. "Philistine!" - Masha says to Irina in her hearts.

Three years have passed. If the first act was played out at noon, and it was “sunny, cheerful” in the yard, then the stage directions for the third act “warn” about completely different - gloomy, sad - events: “Behind the scenes, they sound the alarm on the occasion of a fire that started a long time ago. IN open door you can see the window, red from the glow. The Prozorovs' house is full of people fleeing the fire.

Irina sobs: “Where to? Where did it all go? […] and life is leaving and will never return, never, never will we leave for Moscow… I am in despair, I am in despair!” Masha thinks in alarm: “Somehow we will live our life, what will become of us?” Andrey cries: “When I got married, I thought that we would be happy ... everyone is happy ... But my God ...” Tuzenbakh, perhaps even more disappointed: “What a happy one then (three years ago. - V. B.) life! Where is she?" In a drinking bout Chebutykin: “The head is empty, the soul is cold. Maybe I'm not a person, but only pretend that I have arms and legs ... and a head; perhaps I do not exist at all, but it only seems to me that I am walking, eating, sleeping. (Weeping.)". And the more persistently Kulygin repeats: “I am satisfied, I am satisfied, I am satisfied,” the more obvious it becomes that everyone is broken, unhappy.

And finally, the last action. Autumn is coming. Masha, walking along the alley, looks up: “And they are already flying migratory birds... "The artillery brigade leaves the city: it is transferred to another place, either to Poland, or to Chita. The officers come to say goodbye to the Prozorovs. Fedotik, taking a photo for memory, remarks: "... silence and calm will come in the city." Tuzenbach adds: "And terrible boredom." Andrei speaks even more categorically: “The city will become empty. It’s like they’ll cover him with a cap.”

Masha breaks up with Vershinin, whom she fell in love with so passionately: “Unsuccessful life ... I don’t need anything now ...” Olga, having become the head of the gymnasium, understands: “It means not to be in Moscow.” Irina decided - “if I am not destined to be in Moscow, then so be it” - to accept the proposal of Tuzenbach, who retired: “The baron and I are getting married tomorrow, tomorrow we are leaving for a brick one, and the day after tomorrow I am already at school, it starts new life. […] And all of a sudden, it was like wings grew in my soul, I cheered up, it became much easier and again I wanted to work, work ... "Chebutykin in tenderness:" Fly, my dears, fly with God!

He also blesses Andrey for the “flight” in his own way: “You know, put on a hat, pick up a stick and go away ... go away and go, go without looking back. And the further you go, the better."

But even the most modest hopes of the heroes of the play are not destined to come true. Solyony, in love with Irina, provokes a quarrel with the baron and kills him in a duel. The broken Andrei does not have enough strength to follow Chebutykin's advice and pick up the "staff": "Why do we, having barely begun to live, become boring, gray, uninteresting, lazy, indifferent, useless, unhappy ..."

The battery leaves the city. Sounds like a military march. Olga: “Music plays so cheerfully, cheerfully, and I want to live! […] and, it seems, a little more, and we will find out why we live, why we suffer ... If only we knew! (Music plays quieter and quieter.) If only I knew, if only I knew!” (A curtain.)

The heroes of the play are not free migratory birds, they are imprisoned in a strong social “cage”, and the personal destinies of everyone who has fallen into it are subject to the laws by which the whole country lives, which is experiencing general trouble. Not "who", but "what?" dominates man. This main culprit of misfortunes and failures in the play has several names - “vulgarity”, “baseness”, “sinful life” ... The face of this “vulgarity” looks especially visible and unsightly in Andrey’s thoughts: “Our city has existed for two hundred years, it has a hundred thousand inhabitants, and not a single one who would not be like the others ... […] They only eat, drink, sleep, then die ... others will be born, and they also eat, drink, sleep and, in order not to become stupefied with boredom, diversify their lives with nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation…”

retold