Heroes of the play "Three Sisters" by Chekhov: characteristics of the heroes. Sisters of Prozorov See what the "Sisters of Prozorov" are in other dictionaries

"Three Sisters" is the first play after the failure of "The Seagull". As in no other play, the plot here is based on the fact that it does not "build" in any way, does not add up. The main desire, the dream of the three sisters - to leave for Moscow - seems to be coming true, but each time it is postponed until, finally, it becomes clear: they will not go anywhere. A dream will remain a dream - life "follows its own laws." A characteristic feature: not only in the lives of heroes do dreams collapse, but in everyday life something does not work out all the time, it turns out to be “not the right one”. It is no coincidence that the word "not that" is so often repeated by the characters. In this general climate of the "wrong", unfulfilled, unrealizable, even such everyday details as the absence of mummers or the fact that Vershinin cannot wait for tea at the Prozorov sisters' house will not seem neutral. This example shows especially clearly how great the role of Chekhov's "microplots" is. These small worlds repeat a lot of what is happening "on the big earth" of the Chekhov story. Behind a series of major failures, failures, dramas, upheavals, there are, as it were, rows of small irregularities, unsatisfied expectations, going into the future. This is one of the important features of the structure of Chekhov's plot, and it is characteristic not only of the Three Sisters.

There are two plot lines in the play: languishing, longing for the future of good and actively acting evil. Still, the play's ending is not hopeless. The three sisters have lost many illusions, but have not lost faith in the future. "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. 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 remain in the provincial town. In place of a dream comes regret about the lost youth, the ability to dream and hope, and the realization that nothing will change. But the problems of the play are not limited to one question about happiness.

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.

Andrei Sergeevich is an intelligent, educated person, on whom great hopes are placed, “will be a professor”, who “still will not live here”, that is, in a provincial city. 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. 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.

The main opposition at the superficial, ideological level is Moscow - the province (the opposition of the province and the center, which is end-to-end for Chekhov's work), 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 was added to diligence, and diligence to education…”

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

Another opposition is also stated in the poster: the military are civilians. 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.

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 appears: dreams (future), memory (past), reality (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.

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 connected not with love, but with duty: For Irina, love and marriage are concepts from the realm of dreams, the future. In the present, Irina has no love. 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 ...” 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:

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.

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. 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.

In the character of Andrei, as in the characters of his sisters, the opposition between reality (the present) and dreams, illusions (the future) is important. 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.

For Andrei, the theme of loneliness and misunderstanding, closely related to the motive of boredom, is also key.

The words alien 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:

All this is opposed by the area 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 close to the family, who knew the deceased parents, who has paternal feelings for their children, is a through image in Chekhov's dramaturgy.

Chebutykin says that after university he did nothing and did not read anything except newspapers. The same opposition between work and idleness appears, but Chebutykin cannot be called an idler.

There is no pathos in Chebutykin's speech. He does not like long philosophical discussions.

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.

This motif suggests hidden thoughts in Chebutykin about fatigue, aging and the meaninglessness of life. 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.

Chebutykin, 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. In the character of Chebutykin, as well as in the characters of other characters, the opposition between reality (the present) and dreams (the future) is vividly represented. Reality is boring and bleak, but he imagines the future not much different from the present. 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 are the hallmarks of 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.

In the play, an important character, although episodic, is the nanny Anfis. 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. 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 opposition past - the future is also 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.

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.

The duality and inconsistency of assessments, many oppositions, the disclosure of characters through key themes, images and motives - these are the main features of the artistic method of Chekhov the playwright.

Composition

According to Chekhov, "It was terribly difficult to write Three Sisters." After all, there are three heroines, each should be on her own model, and all three are the general's daughters. Educated, young, graceful, beautiful women are “not three units, but three-thirds of three”, one soul that has taken “three forms” (I.F. Annensky). In the "trinity" of the heroines, there is a virtuoso difficulty in constructing a play.

The time of action - the time of the sisters' life - is shown by Chekhov in breaks: in "scraps", "excerpts", "accidents". Spring afternoon of the first act; the winter twilight of the second; a summer night, illuminated by the reflections of a fire raging in the city; and again the day, but already autumn, farewell - in the fourth act. From these fragments, fragments of destinies, an internal, continuous in the "undercurrent" of the play "cantilena of the life of Chekhov's heroines" (I.N. Solovieva) arises.

The sisters are given a keen sense of the fluidity of life, passing by and/or imaginary, lived "in rough outline". In addition to the will and desire of the sisters, it develops “not so”: “Everything is not done our way” (Olga); “This life is cursed, unbearable”, “unsuccessful life” (Masha); “Life goes away and will never return”, “You leave a real wonderful life, you go further and further into some kind of abyss” (Irina). The sisters perceive the course of life as a “huge inert river” (Nemirovich-Danchenko), carrying away faces, and dreams, and thoughts, and feelings into oblivion, into the past that disappears from memory: “They won’t remember us either. Forget it."

The scene of action is the house of the Prozorov sisters, the space of life ennobled by them, full of love, tenderness, spiritual intimacy, hopes, longing and nervous anxiety. The house appears in the play as a space of culture, the life of the spirit, as an oasis of humanity and "a mass of light" among the "spiritual darkness" (cf. the house of the Turbins in M.A. Bulgakov's "White Guard"). This space is fragile, permeable and defenseless under the pressure of provincial vulgarity triumphant in the face of Natasha.

The development of the action in the play is connected with the gradual impoverishment of the living joy of life among the Prozorov sisters, with the growing feeling of the annoying incompleteness of being and with the growing thirst for understanding the meaning of the life they live, a meaning without which happiness is impossible for them. Chekhov's thought about a person's right to happiness, about the need for happiness in human life, permeates the image of the life of the Prozorov sisters.

Olga, the eldest of the sisters, who serves as a teacher in a gymnasium, lives with a constant feeling of weariness from life: “I feel how strength and youth come out of me every day, drop by drop.” She is the spiritual backbone of the house. On the night of the fire, a "painful night" when O. seems to have "aged ten years", she takes upon herself the nervous breakdowns, confessions, revelations and explanations of her sisters and brother.

She hears, feels, perceives not only what they said, but also the unspoken inner pain - she supports, consoles, forgives. And in Irina’s advice to “marry a baron,” her unspoken thought about marriage also breaks through: “After all, they marry not for love, but only in order to fulfill their duty.” And in the last act, when the regiment leaves the city and the sisters are left alone, she, with words of encouragement and consolation, seems to part the darkness of the deepening spiritual emptiness: “The music plays so cheerfully, so joyfully, and, it seems, a little more, and we will find out why we we live, why we suffer ... ”Despite the triumphant, visual, creeping vulgarity (lisping Natasha, Andrey hunched over the stroller, always pleased Kulygin, Chebutykin’s “tare-pa bumbia”, who has long been“ all the same ”), O.’s voice sounds a yearning appeal:“ If I wish I knew, if I knew ... "Masha is the most silent of the sisters. At the age of 18, she married a gymnasium teacher, who seemed to her "terribly learned, intelligent and important." For her mistake (her husband turned out to be “the kindest, but not the smartest”), M. pays with the feeling of emptiness of life that haunts her. She carries the drama in herself, retaining her "isolation" and "separateness". Living in high nervous tension, M. more and more often succumbs to "merlehlyundiya", but does not "turn sour", but only "angry". M.'s love for Vershinin, expressed with courageous openness and passionate tenderness, made up for her painful incompleteness of being, made her look for the meaning of life, faith: "It seems to me that a person should be a believer or should seek faith, otherwise his life is empty, empty ...". M.'s lawless romance with a married man, the father of two girls, ends tragically. The regiment is transferred from the city, and Vershinin leaves forever. M.'s sobs are a premonition that life will again become "empty": meaningless and joyless. Overcoming the feeling of mental loneliness that gripped her, M. forces herself to believe in the need to continue life. Already life itself becomes a duty for her in relation to herself: "We will remain alone in order to start our life again." Her words “We must live, we must live” sound in unison with the Olgins “If you only knew, if you only knew ...”.

Irina is the youngest of the sisters. She bathes in waves of love and admiration. “As if on sails,” she is carried by hope: “Finish everything here and to Moscow!” Her thirst for life is fed by the dream of love, of the manifestation of her personality in work. After three years, Irina works at the telegraph, tired of a dull, joyless existence: "Work without poetry, without thoughts - this is not at all what I dreamed of." No love. And Moscow - "I dream every night", and I forget, "like in Italian a window or that's a ceiling."

In the last act, I. - grown up, serious - decides to “start living”: “to marry a baron”, to be a “faithful, obedient wife”, to work at a brick factory as a teacher. When the stupid, absurd death of Tuzenbach in a duel cuts off these hopes, I. no longer sobs, but “cries softly”: “I knew, I knew ...” and echoes the sisters: “We must live.”

Having lost their home and loved ones, having parted with illusions and hopes, the Prozorov sisters come to the idea of ​​the need to continue life as a fulfillment of a moral duty to her. The meaning of their life shines through all the losses - spiritual stamina and opposition to worldly vulgarity.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a famous Russian writer and playwright, part-time doctor. He devoted his whole life to writing works that were staged and staged in theaters with great success. To this day, one cannot find a person who would not have heard this famous surname. The article presents the play "Three Sisters" (summary).

Act one

The action begins in the house of Andrei Prozorov. The weather is warm and sunny. Everyone gathered to celebrate one of his sisters. But the mood in the house is by no means festive: they remember the death of their father. A year has passed since he died, but the Prozorovs remember this day to the smallest detail. The weather then was very cold, it snowed in May. Father was buried with all honors, since he was a general.

Eleven years ago, the whole family moved from Moscow to this provincial city and settled in it thoroughly. However, the sisters do not lose hope to go back to the capital, and all their thoughts are connected with this. After reading the summary of the book "Three Sisters", you will certainly want to familiarize yourself with the original.

sisters

In the meantime, the table is laid in the house, and everyone is waiting for the officers who were stationed in this city. All members of the family are in a completely different frame of mind. Irina feels like a white bird, her soul is good and calm. Masha hovers far away in her thoughts and quietly whistles some melody. And Olga, on the contrary, is overwhelmed with fatigue, she is haunted by a headache and dissatisfaction with work in the gymnasium, in addition, she is all absorbed in memories of her beloved father. One thing unites the sisters - an ardent desire to leave this provincial town and move to Moscow.

Guests

There are also three men in the house. Chebutykin is a doctor in a military unit, during his youth he passionately loved the now deceased mother of the Prozorovs. He is about sixty years old. Tuzenbach is a baron and lieutenant who has not worked a single day in his life. The man tells everyone that, although his last name is German, he is actually Russian, and he has the Orthodox faith. Solyony is a staff captain, a wayward person who is used to behaving rather rudely. What kind of person this is, you will find out by reading our summary.

Three sisters are completely different girls. Irina talks about how much she wants to work. She believes that work - In the understanding of Irina, it is better to be a horse than a girl who only does what she sleeps until noon and then drinks tea all day. Tuzenbach joins these reflections. He recalls his childhood, when servants did everything for him and protected him from anyone. The Baron says that the time is approaching when everyone will work. That this wave will wash away the plaque of laziness and boredom from society. Chebutykin, it turns out, never worked either. He didn't even read anything except newspapers. He himself says to himself that he knows, for example, the name of Dobrolyubov, but he has not heard who he is and how he distinguished himself. In other words, people who are taking part in the conversation have no idea what labor really is. What is the true meaning of these words, Chekhov A.P. will show you - a work filled with philosophical meaning.

Chebutykin leaves for a while and returns again with a silver samovar. He presents it to Irina as a birthday present. The sisters gasp and accuse the man of throwing money around. The characterization of Chebutykin cannot be disclosed in detail in the summary. "Three Sisters" Chekhov A.P. not in vain calls one of his best works. The reader should read it in more detail.

Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin appears, he is the commander of the arrived company of officers. As soon as he crosses the threshold of the Prozorovs' house, he immediately begins to tell that he has two daughters. The wife is out of her mind and from time to time tries to commit suicide in order to attract his attention.

Further, it turns out that Vershinin served in the same battery with the father of the Prozorovs. During the conversation, it becomes clear that the lieutenant colonel is from Moscow. Interest in him flares up with renewed vigor. The man admires this provincial city, its nature, and his sisters are indifferent to him. They need Moscow.

Brother

Violin sounds are heard behind the wall. This is played by Andrey, the brother of the girls. He is infinitely in love with Natasha, a young lady who does not know how to dress at all. Andrei does not really favor the guests and during a short conversation with Vershishin complains to him that his father oppressed them and their sisters. After his death, the man felt a certain freedom and gradually began to gain weight. It also turns out that the entire Prozorov family knows several foreign languages, which, however, have never been useful to them in life. Andrei complains that they know too much too much, and all this will never be useful in their small town. Prozorov dreams of becoming a professor in Moscow. What happened next? You will learn about this by reading the summary. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" is a play that makes you think about the meaning of life.

Kulygin appears, a teacher at the gymnasium where Masha works, concurrently his wife. He congratulates Irina and gives her a book about the institution where he works. It turns out that Kulygin had already given her this book before, so the gift safely passes into the hands of Vershinin. Kulygin loves his wife with all his heart, but she is indifferent to him. Masha got married early, and it seemed to her that her husband was the smartest person in the world. And now she was bored with him.

Tuzenbach, as it turns out, really likes Irina. He is still very young, he is not even thirty. Irina answers him with hidden reciprocity. The girl says that she has not yet seen real life, that her parents are people who despised real work. What did Chekhov mean by these words? "Three Sisters" (a summary of the works is presented in the article) will tell you about this.

Natasha

Natasha, Andrei's beloved, appears. She is dressed ridiculously: with a green belt. The sisters hint at bad taste to her, but she does not understand what is the matter. The lovers retire, and Andrei proposes to Natasha. On this romantic note, the first part (summary) ends. "Three Sisters" is a play consisting of four acts. And so we move on.

Second act

This part is distinguished by notes of slipping pessimism. Some time passes after the events described in the first act. Natasha and Andrey are already married, they have a son, Bobik. The woman gradually begins to take over the whole house.

Irina goes to work for the telegraph. He comes home from work tired and dissatisfied with his own life. Tuzenbach tries in every possible way to cheer her up, he meets her from work and escorts her home. Andrey is becoming more and more disillusioned with his work. He doesn't like being a zemstvo secretary. A man sees his destiny in scientific activity. Prozorov feels like a stranger, says that his wife does not understand him, and his sisters can laugh at him. Vershinin begins to pay attention to Masha, who enjoys all this. She complains about her husband, and Vershinin, in turn, complains to Masha about his wife. All the details of the play are not able to cover the summary. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" is a vivid example of classical literature worthy of reading in the original.

One evening, the conversation in the house turns on what will happen in a few hundred years, including the topic of happiness. It turns out that everyone puts their own meaning into this concept. Masha sees happiness in faith, believes that everything should have a meaning. Tuzenbach is happy as it is. Vershinin says that this concept does not exist, that one must constantly work. In his opinion, only the next generations will be happy. In order to understand the full meaning of this conversation, do not limit yourself to reading the work "Three Sisters" by Chekhov in a summary.

This evening a holiday is expected, they are waiting for the mummers. However, Natasha says that Bobik is sick, and everyone slowly disperses. Solyony meets Irina alone and confesses his feelings to her. However, the girl is cold and unapproachable. Salty leaves with nothing. Protopopov arrives and calls Natasha to ride a sleigh, she agrees. They start a romance.

Third act

A completely different mood reigns, and the situation is heating up. It all starts with a fire in the city. The sisters try to help everyone and accommodate the affected people in their homes. They also collect things for the fire victims. In a word, the Prozorov family does not remain indifferent to the grief of others. However, Natasha does not like all this. She oppresses the sisters in every possible way and covers it up with concern for children. By this time, they already have two children with Andrei, a daughter, Sofochka, is born. Natasha is unhappy that the house is full of strangers.

Fourth act (summary)

Three sisters find a way out of this situation. The final part begins with a farewell: the officers leave the city. Tuzenbakh invites Irina to get married, and she agrees, but this is not destined to come true. Solyony challenges the Baron to a duel and kills him. Vershinin says goodbye to Masha and also leaves with his battery. Olga now works as the head of the gymnasium and does not live in her parents' house. Irina is going to leave this city and work as a school teacher. Natasha remains the mistress of the house.

We have rewritten the summary. Three sisters leave their parental home in search of happiness.

(You can draw a parallel with Beckett and the theater of the absurd. They always say that they have to go, and they sit)

Chekhov wrote about "Three Sisters" that "a play as complicated as a novel" was released. This play most vividly expresses the traditions of Russian epic prose. The lyrical sound of Chekhov's theater here reaches a passionate, dramatic ideological tension. The heroes of the "Three Sisters" live as if "in the blueprint", as if hoping that there will still be an opportunity to live in full force. Their everyday life is colored by a painfully beautiful dream of Moscow and a better future. The time of their lives moves in one direction, and their dreams in another. One should not look for the nature of the comedy genre in the characters of the characters. Chekhov does not ridicule heroes and their vices, but life itself.

The development of the plot in "Three Sisters"

Three love stories: Masha - Kulygin - Vershinin; Irina - Tuzenbach - Salty; Andrey - Natasha - Protopopov, it would seem, should give the play dynamics and intriguing drama. However, this does not happen. The heroes do not seek to change anything in their lives, they do not act, they only suffer and constantly wait, and the life of the characters passes, as it were, in the subjunctive mood. The plot in the play is non-eventful, although in fact there are more than enough events: treason, name day, fire, duel. In the play "Three Sisters" the heroes are inactive, but life actively intervenes in the world of their devastated souls.

The invasion of everyday life is emphasized by micro-plots: stories, incidents that the characters tell about. This is how the space of the play expands, introducing the motif of the unpredictability of life into the conflict of the work. There are no main characters in Chekhov's plays, the flow of life itself is the main object of the author's attention. One of the most important features of Chekhov's poetics is the ability to find beauty in everyday life. A special light sadness illuminates his plays.

The meaning of the title of the play "Three Sisters"

In Russian classical literature, the titles of works are, as a rule, symbolic and very often express the author's attitude towards the depicted. Everything is more complicated in Chekhov's plays. He repeatedly argued that one should not look for special meaning, irony or deep symbolism in the titles of his works. Indeed, it seems strange that the play is called "Three Sisters", while in this drama the story of the Prozorov family is presented and Andrei, the brother of the sisters, is no less important. If we take into account the female images, then Natasha, Andrei's wife, is much more active than Irina, Masha and Olga, she achieves everything she dreamed of.

The dramatic theme of The Three Sisters is an insistent variation on the motif of wasted beauty. The images of the three sisters are the personification of spiritual beauty and sincerity. The author often uses the comparison of the female soul with a migratory bird, and this becomes one of the leitmotifs of the play.

The color symbolism, noted by the author in the remark to the first act, sets the reader and the viewer to the perception of the sisters as a single image. They become the personification of the past, present and future of national life. And this position is illustrated by coloristic symbols. Irina's white dress symbolizes youth and hope, Olga's blue uniform dress emphasizes her dependence on the sheath life. Masha's black dress is read as a symbol of ruined happiness. The whole drama of the situation presented by the author lies in the fact that the future is connected not with Irina, but with Masha. Her strange remark - "Day and night the scientist cat keeps walking around the chain ..." - a symbolic commentary on the heroines' dependence on their own impotence.

The theme of unfulfilled hopes

The images of birds play a special role in the development of the metaphorical subtext of the work. The motif of migratory birds is repeated several times in the play. Tuzenbach talks about them, talking about the meaning of life, Masha thinks sadly about birds when she says goodbye to the officers leaving the city.

The theme of wasted energy and unfulfilled hopes is emphasized by another motive that generally dominates all of Chekhov's work - the destruction of a house, estate, and family happiness. It was the struggle for the house that was the outer outline of the play's action. Although there is no struggle as such - the sisters do not resist, they resign themselves to what is happening, because they do not live in the present, they have a past - a family, a home in Moscow and, as it seems to them, a future - work and happiness in Moscow. The clash of hope, the scope of dreams with the weakness of dreamers - this is the main conflict of the play, which manifests itself not in action, but in the subtext of the work. This decision expressed the sad irony of the author over the "klutzes", over circumstances that cannot be overcome.

B. Zingerman in the book "Chekhov's Theater" completed the analysis of the plays of A.P. Chekhov by comparing all the plots of the great playwright with the events of the life of the creator of the plays: "... the lyricism of the Chekhov theater is not only confessional monologues of actors, not only bashful overtones and pauses full of sad mood: Chekhov plays the plots of his life in his plays ... Maybe that's why he began to write not novels, but plays, because it was in a dialogical form that it was easier for Chekhov, with his closed temperament, to express his personal theme “The more he jokes about the characters, the more we sympathize with them.” Chekhov dreamed all his life of a big family, of his own house, but he did not find either, although he was married and had two estates (in Yalta and Melikhovo). Already seriously ill, Chekhov still did not fall into despair, he sought to convey hope and joy to loved ones even when life persistently refuted the most modest reasons for optimism. Chekhov's play is not a desperate gesture of a man incapable of correcting reality, but a dream of happiness. Therefore, Chekhov's works should not be perceived as "sad songs about the outgoing harmony."

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

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’s sunny and fun outside,” and a table is laid 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, a 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” outside, then the remarks for the third act “warn” about completely different - gloomy, sad - events: “Behind the scenes, the alarm is sounded on the occasion of a fire that started a long time ago. Through the 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 stubbornly Kulagin 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 migratory birds are already flying ...” The artillery brigade leaves the city: it is being 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, a 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…”

The material was provided by the Internet portal briefly.ru, compiled by V. A. Bogdanov.