Olga Podolskaya. "Three Sisters": how modern directors interpret the play Written by 3 sisters

"Three sisters"- a play in four acts by A.P. Chekhov, written in 1900.

"Three Sisters" Chekhov summary of actions

Action 1

Three sisters - Olga, Masha and Irina - and their brother Andrei, intelligent, well-educated people, live in a provincial town, where, as Andrei will say later, people only "eat, drink, sleep and, in order not to become stupefied with boredom, diversify life his nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation. The eldest of the sisters, Olga, is a teacher of a women's gymnasium, but the work does not bring her joy: “For these four years, while I have been serving in the gymnasium, I feel both strength and youth come out of me every day, drop by drop.” Masha, at the age of 18, was married to Kulygin, a gymnasium teacher, and, although her husband devotedly loves her, she is unhappy in her family life. The youngest, twenty-year-old Irina, dreams of a fulfilling life, but does not find any use for herself, just as she does not find a person whom she could love. Eleven years ago, their father, a general, having received an appointment, took his daughters to this city from Moscow; but a year ago the general died - with his death, a secure and carefree life ended for the Prozorovs. The action of the play begins on the day of the end of mourning for the father, which coincided with Irina's name day: it is time to think about the future life, and, weighed down by the lack of spirituality and vulgarity of provincial life, the Prozorovs dream of returning to Moscow.

On Irina's name day, guests gather in the Prozorovs' house, including officers Solyony and Tuzenbakh, who are in love with Irina; after them comes their new battery commander - Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin. He is also a Muscovite and once upon a time visited the Moscow house of the Prozorovs. Between him and Masha, from the very first meeting, a mutual attraction is born; like Masha, Vershinin is unhappy in marriage, but he has two young daughters.

Andrey's beloved Natasha also comes; a provincial young lady, shocking Olga with her tasteless toilets, while she feels uncomfortable in this society ...

Action 2

Time passed, Andrei married Natasha, they had a son. Andrei, who once showed great promise, saw himself as a professor at Moscow University, abandoned science; now he is the secretary of the zemstvo council, and the most he can hope for is to become a member of the zemstvo council. In anguish, he is addicted to cards and loses large sums.

Irina serves as a telegraph operator, but the work that she once dreamed of does not bring her satisfaction; she still aspires to Moscow. Natasha was quite comfortable in the Prozorovs' house and subjugated Andrei. For her child, she "for a while" looked after Irina's room, which, according to Natasha, can live in the same room with Olga ...

To the staff captain Solyony, Irina seems to be the only person who is able to understand him; he declares to the girl in love; but with his rude manners, Irina Solyony inspires only fear and hostility. The rejected officer declares that he should not have happy rivals: “I swear to you by all that is holy, I will kill my rival ...”

Action 3

Olga and Irina live in the same room. Natasha is mastering the role of a hostess; now she is surviving from the house the old nanny of the Prozorovs - Anfisa, who at 82 can no longer work: "there should not be superfluous in the house." Olga, in her sympathy for the nanny, cannot shout to Natalya. Deep in debt, Andrey, without the knowledge of the sisters, mortgaged their common house in the bank, Natalya appropriated all the money.

Masha and Vershinin love each other and meet secretly - Masha's husband, Kulygin, tries to pretend not to notice anything. Tuzenbach meanwhile left military service; he wants to start a new life in another city, at a brick factory, and calls Irina with him.

Irina, who is now in her twenty-fourth year, serves in the city council and, by her own admission, hates and despises everything that she is allowed to do. “I’ve been working for a long time,” she complains to Olga, “and my brain has dried up, I’ve lost weight, I’ve grown ugly, I’ve grown old, and nothing, nothing, no satisfaction, but time goes by, and everything seems like you are leaving a real wonderful life, moving further and further, into an abyss." Olga advises her sister to marry Tuzenbach and leave with him.

Action 4

Five years have passed since the Prozorovs marked the end of mourning with Irina's name day. Olga became the head of the gymnasium and is rarely at home - she lives in the gymnasium. Natalya gave birth to a daughter to Andrei and wants to put her in the very room that Irina occupies. “There is… something about her that reduces her to a small, blind, sort of rough animal. In any case, she is not a person, ”says Andrei about his wife, without showing her, however, any resistance.

Irina eventually accepted Tuzenbach's offer; she is deeply sympathetic to the baron, but there is no love, and yet she “seemed to have grown wings in her soul”: she passed the exams for a teacher, tomorrow she and the baron will get married and leave this city, this house that has become a stranger, a new, meaningful life will begin . All the more happy is Natalya: with the departure of Irina, she will remain in the house “alone” and will be able to realize her plans - what to cut down and what to plant in the garden of the Prozorovs, she has long decided.

The rejected Solyony provokes a quarrel and challenges Tuzenbach to a duel. On the one hand, the old friend of the Prozorov family, to the indifferent doctor Chebutykin, on the one hand, feels sorry for the baron, he is a good person, but on the other, “one more baron, one less - is it all the same?”

The brigade in which Vershinin and Solyony serve is transferred to Poland. The regiment, battery after battery, leaves the city; Vershinin leaves, hard saying goodbye to Masha, Solyony is also preparing to leave, but first he must punish his lucky opponent. “I didn’t drink coffee today. Tell them to cook for me ”- with these words addressed to Irina, Tuzenbakh goes to a duel.

Doctor Chebutykin informs the sisters that the baron was killed in a duel. Under the bravura military marches, the regiment leaves the city - the sisters are left alone. The play ends with Olga's words: “The music plays so cheerfully, so joyfully, and it seems that a little more, and we will find out why we live, why we suffer ... If only we knew, if only we knew!”

"Three Sisters" main characters

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

Full version 1 hour (≈40 A4 pages), summary 3 minutes.

Heroes

Prozorov Andrey Sergeevich

Natalia Ivanovna (bride to Prozorov, then his wife)

Olga, Masha, Irina (sisters to Prozorova)

Kulygin Fedor Ilyich (gymnasium teacher, Masha's husband)

Vershinin Alexander Ignatievich (lieutenant colonel, battery commander)

Tuzenbakh Nikolay Lvovich (baron and lieutenant)

Solyony Vasily Vasilievich (headquarters captain)

Chebutykin Ivan Romanovich (military doctor)

Fedotik Alexey Petrovich (second lieutenant)

Rode Vladimir Karpovich (second lieutenant)

Ferapont (watchman from the zemstvo council, old man)

Anfisa (nanny, old woman eighty years old)

The action takes place in the house of the Prozorovs.

First action

Irina is the youngest of the sisters and she is twenty years old. The sun was shining outside and it was fun. And in the house they set the table and waited for the guests. The guests were officers of the artillery battery stationed in the city and its new commander, Vershinin. Everyone has many expectations and hopes. In the fall, the Prozorov family was going to move to Moscow. The sisters had no doubt that their brother would become a university student, and in the future he would receive the title of professor. Kulygin, Masha's husband, was sympathetic. Chebutykin was infected by the general joyful mood, who at one time loved the Prozorovs' mother to madness, now deceased. he kissed Irina. Tuzenbach thought enthusiastically about the future. He believed that laziness, rotten boredom, indifference and prejudice to work would disappear in the future society. Full of optimism and Vershinin. When he appeared, Masha's "merehlundia" passed. The relaxed atmosphere was not changed by the appearance of Natalia. However, the girl herself was embarrassed by a large society. Andrew proposed to her.

Second act

Andrew was bored. He dreamed of becoming a professor in Moscow. Therefore, he was not attracted by the position of secretary in the Zemstvo council. In the city, he felt alone and a stranger. Masha was absolutely disappointed in her wife. Previously, he seemed to his wife very educated, important and smart. Masha suffered in the company of her husband's friends, who were teachers. Irina was not satisfied with her work on the telegraph. Tired Olga returned from the gymnasium. Vershinin is not in the mood. Either he spoke about changes in the future, or he argued that there would be no happiness for his generation. Chebutykin's puns are filled with hidden pain. He called loneliness a terrible thing.

Natasha slowly tidied up the house to her hands. Then she escorted the guests who were waiting for the mummers. Masha in her hearts called Irina a bourgeois.

Third act

The action begins three years later. The tocsin sounded, announcing a fire that had started a long time ago. There are many people in the Prozorovs' house who were fleeing the fire.

Irina sobbed and claimed that they would never move to Moscow. Masha thought about life and the future of her family. Andrew was crying. His hopes for happiness were not justified. Strong disappointment haunted Tuzenbach. He waited and did not wait for a happy life. Chebutykin went on a drinking binge. He did not see the meaning of his own life. And he wondered if he was really alive, or if he only thought so. Kulygin stubbornly insisted that he was satisfied.

Fourth act

Autumn will come soon. Masha walked along the alley and looked up, seeing migratory birds. The artillery brigade left the city. She was transferred either to Poland or to Chita. The officers came to say goodbye to the Prozorovs. Fedotik, photographing for memory, noticed that the city had become quiet and calm. Tuzenbach added that it had become very boring. Andrei expressed himself even more sharply. He said that the city would become empty, as if it would be under a cap.

Masha broke up with Vershinin, whom she once loved with great passion. Olga became the director of the gymnasium and realized that she would not be in Moscow. Irina accepted a marriage proposal from Tuzenbach, who retired. She thought she was starting a new life. She was happy and wanted to work.

Chebutykin blessed them. He also told Andrei to leave without looking back. And the further, the better.

But even the most modest hopes of the heroes of this play did not come true. Solyony was in love with Irina and provoked a quarrel with the baron. Solyony killed the baron during a duel. Andrey was broken, and he lacked the strength to carry out Chebutykin's advice.

The battalion left the city. Played a military march. Olga said that she wanted to live under such music. And you can find out what life is for.

The play "Three Sisters" was written by order of the Moscow Art Theater in 1900 and first appeared on the stage in 1901. The work is so popular that it has not ceased to be staged by theaters around the world for more than 100 years.

The play consists of four acts. The whole life of the heroes takes place in a small provincial town, the main entertainment of the inhabitants of which is gossip, drinking and gambling.

The main characters are sisters: Masha, Irina and Olga, disappointed in life, they cause involuntary sympathy of the reader. Olga is dissatisfied with the results of her work, as she feels that the gymnasium is drawing vitality and youth out of her drop by drop.

Life seems to Irina without the slightest gap, so she cannot meet a person whom she could love. The middle sister Masha, having a husband who loves her completely, is nevertheless unhappy in family life. With the death of their father, the life of the Prozorov sisters ceased to be carefree and made them think about the future.

First action

The beginning of the play takes place with the end of mourning for General Prozorov and coincides with Irina's name day. It is at Irina's birthday party that all the characters in the work gather. Officers Tuzenbakh and Solyony come to the house, they are both in love with Irina. Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin appears. He and Masha love each other. Andrey, the brother of the sisters, and his beloved Natasha, a young lady, who dresses in tasteless outfits, thereby shocking Olga, meet here.

Second act

Time passed and much has changed in the Prozorovs' house. Olga married Andrei, gave birth to his son and completely settled down, completely subjugating her husband. Andrei, instead of scientific activity, became an ordinary secretary in the council. Officer Solyony is terribly jealous of Irina, threatening to kill the one she loves.

Third act

After the fire that broke out in the city, many find shelter in the still hospitable house of the Prozorovs. Natalya completely runs all the affairs in the house, she forced Olga to make room for her son, and now Olga and Irina live together. An old nanny, Anfisa, who has become completely helpless, survives from the house. Kulygin does not notice the meetings of his wife Masha with Vershinin. Tausenbach, who left the service, appears, he calls Irina to leave for another city.

Fourth act

Five years have passed since mourning for my father passed. A lot has changed. Natalya had a daughter and she wants to put her in Irina's room, who answers Tauzenbaz with her consent, and the next day they are ready to get married. The unthinkable happens. Solyony provokes the baron into a quarrel, challenges him to a duel and kills him. The regiment in which Vershinin and Solyony serve is transferred to Poland. The sisters are alone.

The main themes of the work

• The main theme in the work is the theme of labor. Work should please, and the heroines are completely disappointed in what they do.
• The theme of inaction permeates the play, and no matter how hard the characters try to do something, they fail, the dream remains unattainable.
• The third theme is the criterion for comprehending the beauty of the world, the attitude towards nature is a measure of the moral perception of the world, humanity and decency.
• The theme of comprehension of beauty in the modern model of the world is relevant at all times, and that is why the production of a play is always desirable on any stage in our time.

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

Vershinin himself, seeing this path and realizing the need for change, does not make any efforts to improve at least his own, separately taken private life. 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 connected with the themes of loneliness, bitter, hard fate, early maturation, responsibility for one's own and others' lives, independence, and 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 it seems that you are leaving a real wonderful life, you are leaving farther and farther, 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 by 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 coming, 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 goodness! 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 like 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 person with good taste and a heightened aesthetic sense. 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 for 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 carriage 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).

The words stranger and lonely are key to this character.

The monologue in the fourth act (again in the presence of the deaf Ferapont) clearly 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 uniformity 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 a single 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 gentle appeals and remarks, but also in the fact that he gives Irina a samovar for her birthday (an important key image in Chekhov's work is a symbol of home, family, communication, mutual understanding).

The reaction of the sisters to the gift is interesting:

“- Samovar! This is terrible!

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... (Stands up.) 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, is tired, that he has grown old, has become stupid, but the only phrase that he is a “lonely, insignificant old man” and a mention of drinking binges (“Eva! 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's 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 The 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 by your side. 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 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.

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!").

The duality of the speech character, the combination of serious views on life and comedy, the playful beginning, the buffoonery, the 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 of The 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 a 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 are languishing from boredom and monotony of life and tend to large 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 also 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.

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, which are only outlined in "Uncle Vanya", in "Three Sisters" they manifest themselves especially clearly in "The Cherry Orchard" - the pinnacle of Chekhov's play - will reach its final development.

The works of A.P. Chekhov, with the exception of the earliest ones, leave a painful impression. They tell about the vain search for the meaning of one's own existence, about a life absorbed by vulgarity, about longing and agonizing expectation of some future turning point. The writer accurately reflected the search of the Russian intelligentsia at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The drama "Three Sisters" was no exception in its vitality, in its relevance to the era and, at the same time, in the eternity of the issues raised.

First action. It all starts with major notes, the characters are full of hope in anticipation of wonderful prospects: the sisters Olga, Masha and Irina hope that their brother Andrei will soon enter Moscow, they will move to the capital and their life will change miraculously. At this time, an artillery battery arrives in their city, the sisters get acquainted with the military men Vershinin and Tuzenbakh, who are also very optimistic. Masha enjoys family life, her husband Kulygin glows with complacency. Andrei proposes to his modest and bashful lover Natasha. Family friend Chebutykin entertains others with jokes. Even the weather is cheerful and sunny.

In the second act there is a gradual decrease in joyful mood. It seems that Irina began to work and bring concrete benefits, as she wanted, but the telegraph service for her is “labor without poetry, without thoughts.” It seems that Andrei married his beloved, but before the modest girl took all the power in the house into her hands, and he himself became bored with working as a secretary in the Zemstvo council, but it is becoming more and more difficult to decisively change something, life is addictive. It seems that Vershinin is still talking about imminent changes, but for himself he does not see a light and happiness, his destiny is only to work. He and Masha have mutual sympathy, but they cannot break everything and be together, even though she is disappointed in her husband.

The climax of the play is concluded in the third act, the atmosphere and mood of it completely contradict the first:

Behind the scenes, they sound the alarm on the occasion of a fire that began a long time ago. Through the open door you can see the window, red from the glow.

We are shown events three years later, and they are absolutely not encouraging. And the heroes came to an extremely hopeless state: Irina cries about the happy days that have gone forever; Masha is worried about what lies ahead for them; Chebutykin no longer jokes, but only drinks and cries:

My head is empty, my heart is cold<…>maybe I do not exist at all, but only it seems to me ....

And only Kulygin remains calm and content with life, this once again emphasizes his petty-bourgeois nature, and also shows once again how dreary everything really is.

Final action takes place in autumn, at that time of the year when everything dies and goes away, and all hopes and dreams are postponed until next spring. But spring in the life of the heroes is most likely not going to happen. They are satisfied with what they have. The artillery battery is transferred from the city, which after that will be as if under the cap of everyday life. Masha and Vershinin part, losing their last happiness in life and feeling it is over. Olga comes to terms with the fact that the desired move to Moscow is impossible, she is already the head of the gymnasium. Irina accepts Tuzenbach's proposal, is ready to marry him and start a different life. Chebutykin blesses her: “Fly, my dears, fly with God!”. He advises to “fly away”, as long as possible, to Andrey. But the modest plans of the characters are also ruined: Tuzenbakh is killed in a duel, and Andrei cannot gather his strength for change.

Conflict and problems in the play

The heroes are trying to live somehow in a new way, abstracting from the petty-bourgeois customs of their city, Andrei reports about him:

Our city has existed for two hundred years, it has a hundred thousand inhabitants, and not a single one that would not be like the others ...<…>They only eat, drink, sleep, then they die… others will be born, and they will also eat, drink, sleep, and, in order not to become stupefied with boredom, diversify their life with nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigiousness.

But they don’t succeed, life gets stuck, they don’t have enough strength for changes, only regrets about the lost opportunities remain. What to do? How to live without regret? A.P. Chekhov does not give an answer to this question, everyone finds it for himself. Or chooses philistinism and everyday life.

The problems posed in the play "Three Sisters" concern the individual and her freedom. According to Chekhov, a person enslaves himself, sets himself limits in the form of social conventions. The sisters could have gone to Moscow, that is, changed their lives for the better, but they shifted the responsibility for it onto their brother, their husband, their father—everyone, but not themselves. Andrey, too, independently took on hard labor chains, marrying the impudent and vulgar Natalya, in order to shift, again, shift the responsibility onto her for everything that could not be done. It turns out that the heroes accumulated a slave in themselves, drop by drop, contrary to the well-known testament of the author. This happened not only from their infantilism and passivity, they are dominated by age-old prejudices, as well as the suffocating bourgeois atmosphere of a provincial town. Thus, society puts a lot of pressure on the individual, depriving him of the very possibility of happiness, since it is impossible without inner freedom. This is what Meaning of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" .

"Three Sisters": the innovation of Chekhov the playwright

Anton Pavlovich is rightfully considered one of the first playwrights who began to move in line with modernist theater - the theater of the absurd, which will completely capture the stage in the 20th century and become a real revolution in drama - anti-drama. It was no coincidence that the play "Three Sisters" was not understood by contemporaries, because it already contained elements of a new direction. These include dialogues turned to nowhere (it feels like the characters do not hear each other and speak to themselves), strange, irrelevant replicas-refrains (to Moscow), passivity of action, existential problems (hopelessness, despair, unbelief, loneliness in the crowd, a revolt against philistinism, ending in petty concessions and, finally, complete disappointment in the struggle). The heroes of the play are also not typical of Russian drama: they are inactive, although they talk about action, they are devoid of those bright, unambiguous characteristics that Griboedov and Ostrovsky endowed their heroes with. They are ordinary people, their behavior is deliberately devoid of theatricality: we all say the same, but do not do it, we want to, but do not dare, we understand what is wrong, but we are not afraid to change. These are such obvious truths that they are not often spoken of on stage. They liked to show spectacular conflicts, love conflicts, comic effects, but in the new theater this philistine entertainment was no longer there. The playwrights spoke and dared to criticize, to ridicule those realities, the absurdity and vulgarity of which were not disclosed by mutual tacit agreement, because almost all people live this way, which means that this is the norm. Chekhov defeated these prejudices in himself and began to show life without embellishment on stage.