Symbolism in Anton Chekov

The Seagull: Nina and Treplev’s parallel struggle to overcome the frustrations of reality and to establish a real artisic identity is symbolized by the central image of the seagull.

Nina’s identification with a seagull is mentioned when she first arrives at the Treplevs’ in Act One. Although her family has forbidden her to visit there, she longs “for this lake, as if I were a seagull” p130

Later at the end of Act Two, the writer Trigorin interprets the dead seagll as a premonition of Nina’s own fate in love: “A young girl like you has lived in a house on the shore of a like since she was a little girl; she loves the lake like a seafull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and having nothing better to do, destroys her like this seafull here” p150-151. When Nina’s unhappy romance with Trigorin, as described in Act Four, becomes an actualization of this “Fiction,” Nina associates her identity entirely with a wounded seagull and even signs her letters to Treplev “the seagull.” Nina at this point in the play is a wounded seagull and has returned home to the lake to heal. Nina’s dedication to her art ultimately reverses her fate and she, like the sea

The Flowers: Flowers are also used as a symbol of the beauty and tender fragility of dreams. Polina jealously destroys the flowers that Nina presents to Dorn p145. which parallels Arkadina’s attitude toward Treplev and Trigorin’s attitude toward Nina. Trigorin speaks of his wasted dreams as bein g like “flowers, torn from their roots” p148, and at the end of the play Nina reminds Treplev of their yourth, when feelings were “like tender, exquisite flower” p175. In The Seagull it seems that flowers like yourthful dreams are destined to be trampled on or destroyed by time and indifference.

The Lake: The lake on Arkadina’s estate represents a promise of fulfillment: to Treplev it is associated with his play and with his love for Nina. To Trigorin it offers the solace of fishing. P168. And to Nina it is the lure that she will become a great actress. At the end of Act 1 Dorn speaks to Masha of “sorcerer’s lake, “ remarking on its power to evoke dreams. In the last act the lakes’ glassy surface is ruffled by chaotic, stormy winds, just as the dreams of each of the characters have been thrashed about by the forces of reality.

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