The Seagull 275Shipman talk about church corruption, and “The
Miller’s Tale” contains allusions to monastic worship
(“And thus lith Alison and Nicholas / In bisynesse
of myrthe and of solas, / Til that the belle of laudes
gan to rynge, / And freres in the chauncel gonne
synge” [1.3,653–3,656) and to lay religious practice
(“[Absolon] pleyeth Herodes upon a scaffold hye”
[1.3,384). “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue,” too, is
replete with scriptural references, and the impact
of the church on everyday life is felt in various
well-observed details: Her life is structured around
“vigilies,” “processiouns,” “pleyes of myracles,” and
other religious rituals and observations (3.555–558).
In what has become known as Chaucer’s “Retrac-
tion,” Chaucer the poet seems to respond to the
Parson’s call for penitence. Referring to St Paul’s
second letter to Timothy (3:16)—“For oure book
seith, ‘Al that is writen is writen for oure doctrine,’
and that is myn entente” (10.1,082)—he ostenta-
tiously revokes and requests God’s forgiveness for
“the tales of Caunterbury, thilke that sownen into
synne,” along with other works of “worldly vani-
tees” (10.1,085–1,086), which he juxtaposes to his
“bookes of legendes of seintes, and omelies, and
moralitee, and devocioun” (10.1,088). Students of
The Canterbury Tales, however, are well advised not
to divide the tales easily into “good” religious tales
and “bad” worldly ones. Since religion was a fabric
of everyday life, it is tightly woven into the fabric of
Chaucer’s tales—including those that “sownen into
synne.”
Annette Kern-Stähler
CHEKHOV, ANTON The Seagull
(1895)
The Seagull, a play in four acts originally produced
in St. Petersburg in 1896, bears several hallmarks of
Anton Chekhov’s dramatic works. Set on a country
estate that is merely a shadow of its former self,
populated by a large ensemble of characters strug-
gling to adapt to the changes in Russian society, the
action centers on Konstantin Gavrilovich (Treplev),
a would-be writer and the son of a famous actress,
Irina Nikolayevna (Arkadina). Treplev’s beloved,
Nina, an aspiring actress, falls in love with Arka-
dina’s lover, the famous writer Boris Alekseyevich
(Trigorin), resulting in a short-lived affair that has
destructive consequences for both Nina and Treplev.
Filling out the cast are Arkadina’s brother, Sorin,
the owner of the estate; the charming doctor Dorn;
Sorin’s steward, Shamrayev, and his wife, Polina; and
their lovelorn daughter, Masha, who attempts to
suppress her unrequited desire for Treplev by mar-
rying the unassuming schoolmaster, Medvedenko.
Love and loss, avocation and labor, hope and
desperation mingle as years pass over the course of
the play, and the characters’ efforts to achieve their
dreams, both personal and professional, are fraught
with complication and disappointment. Even when
some achieve their goals—Nina becomes an actress,
Treplev a published writer—they do not find hap-
piness, making their “successes” somewhat hollow.
Subtitled “A Comedy in Four Acts,” The Seagull
challenges established notions of tragedy and com-
edy: Although it offers no promise of the new
beginnings traditionally celebrated at the end of
comedies, the stark ending, marked by Treplev’s
suicide, lacks the deep gravitas of tragedy.
Margaret SavilonisHOpe in The Seagull
The action of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull begins
with a conversation between Masha and her suitor
Medvedenko, who asks, “Why do you always wear
black?”; Masha’s response, “I am in mourning for my
life” (Act 1), serves as a microcosmic embodiment of
the human condition as Chekhov explores it in the
play. Dissatisfied with life, the characters invest their
energy in their hopes for a better future, resulting
in a paradox that is central to their struggles: Hope
enables people to forge ahead in the face of disap-
pointment, even when they realize that their hopes
will not come to fruition, but it simultaneously
keeps them trapped because they are so caught up
in dreaming about what might someday be that
they cannot enjoy what they actually have. Yet for all
the sorrow that unfulfilled desires create, the loss of
hope is far more debilitating.
For some, the longing for love that will never be
realized causes sorrow and frustration. At the root
of Masha’s unhappiness is her unrequited love for
Treplev, the aspiring writer whose own hopes are
shaped by his intense love for Nina. Early in the