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Three Sisters

Three Sisters. Anton Chekhov, 1901 Themes. Three Sisters. Three Sisters, by Anton Chekhov, has been described as an exploration of life as a constant struggle between hope and despair. Alienation and Loneliness . T he Prozorov sisters feel lonely in the town where they live

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Three Sisters

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  1. Three Sisters Anton Chekhov, 1901 Themes

  2. Three Sisters Three Sisters, by Anton Chekhov, has been described as an exploration of life as a constant struggle between hope and despair.

  3. Alienation and Loneliness • The Prozorov sisters feel lonely in the town where they live • They are better educated than the people around them, which isolates them intellectually • Their friends in town are from the military, who are posted there temporarily and are, inevitably, going to move on

  4. Alienation and Loneliness • Andrei shuts himself in his room with his violin • Olga removes herself from company, due to headaches • Their hope that life in Moscow would make much difference is cast into doubt by Vershinin, who has just come from Moscow and recalls being lonely there

  5. Love and Passion • This play is a net of interwoven romances • Each character gives readers a different view of love • Andrei's love is that of the hopelessly exploited

  6. Love and Passion • Masha and Vershinin are sincerely happy with each other, escaping confining marriages • Kulygin displays a pure and selfless love by comforting his wife when she is upset over losing her lover

  7. Love and Passion • Irina has an open and jocular relationship with Chebutykin • Chebutykinkeeps alive his memory and love of their mother

  8. Love and Passion • Tuzenbach is content with his own love for Irina, even though he knows that she does not love him • Solyony, who is perhaps incapable of love, believes he loves Irina

  9. Meaning of Life • There is a lack of meaning in their lives and this is felt at the core of the misery of these three sisters • Olga spends her time trying to recapture the past through memory

  10. Meaning of Life • Masha has fallen into despair and believes that there is no point to being cultured in a provincial town • Irina is full of hope for the future, but the future she is looking forward to is vague, so she can hardly do anything to make it become real

  11. Meaning of Life • The people who come to the Prozorov house toss around ideas about what gives life meaning, discussing the mysteries of existence as if they were involved in a game • Vershinin supports the idea that work gives life meaning

  12. Meaning of Life • Chebutykin echoes this idea of meaninglessness when he drops the clock that belonged to the woman he loved and argues that what seems to be reality might not be

  13. Meaning of Life • Solyony represents an absurdist view that discussion is just meaningless chatter, which he mocks with the purposely meaningless comments he utters • Tuzenbachalso believes that work gives life meaning and he learns to appreciate the world around him only when he is faced with death in a dual

  14. The Human Condition • Chekhov's primary concern in The Three Sisters is to examine the human condition in the face of rural poverty and hardship • Chekhov suggests that what drives us in life is based in our emotions, rather than our behaviour

  15. The Human Condition • The development of the characters' emotional states - the sisters coming to terms with the idea of working and the complications of love, Vershinin's outlook on the glorious lives of future generations, Andrey's attempt to defend his professional mediocrity - all point to the real, emotional side of life.

  16. Moscow • The city of Moscow represents to the Prosorov sisters the life they do not have • Moscow is a “dream” which becomes more remote and intense with each act • Moscow remains a beacon of light amidst the daily drudgery of life in rural Russia

  17. Moscow • The sisters, particularly Irina, yearn to abandon their house, poverty and work in their small town and move back to Moscow where they used to live with their father in the better days when they did not have to work and simply focused on their educations

  18. Work • The theme of work is related to the future of mankind • A character's outlook on the condition of future life greatly affects his attitude towards working in his present life. That is, if there is hope, one will work. Irina is the character most opposed to work. She dreams of escaping to Moscow so that she does not have to work. She despairs for the future of mankind.

  19. Music • Music, including "meaningful noises, the sounds of birds and bells, or the strains of song and music heard from a distance" often reflects upon a character's state of mind

  20. Music • In The Three Sisters, musical motifs are manifested in several ways, contributing to the overall musical undertones of the play: Chebutykin's repetition of the phrase "Tararabumbiia, sizhiunatumbeya" which translates into "tararaboombeyaye, let's have a tune today";

  21. Music • Andrey's violin playing, Fedotik and Rodes' guitar playing; and the "wordless love duet" between Masha and Vershinin(Vershinin: "tam-tam," Masha: "Tra-ra-ra," Verhsinin: "tra-ta-ta")reflects these characters’ state of mind

  22. The End

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