Irina
Irina is the youngest of the three Prosozov sisters. She is a kind and benevolent person and believes that if one wants to satisfy the requirements of a good life, one should work day and night. She has a consciousness of her family's privilege and sees that the only way out of the malaise of her existential crisis is to keep herself occupied. Throughout the play, she longs for a happy life, but often finds herself contending with the disappointments of adulthood and aging. She agrees to marry the baron, Tusenbach, even though she does not love him, because she knows he will be a devoted and loving husband.
Masha
Masha is the middle sister. She is smart and introspective, but also capricious and sometimes ruthless with the people around her. She feels that her life is tedious and dull, and she is most disappointed with her provincial and simple-minded husband, the schoolteacher Kulygin. She always wears black, a color choice which matches her rather dour attitude. When Vershinin comes to town, she falls in love with him almost instantly, and they begin an affair. His departure at the end of the play causes Masha's heart to break.
Fyodor Kuligin
Fyodor Kuligin is a schoolteacher and Masha’s husband. Though he loves his wife deeply, she is unhappy in the marriage. Kulygin is good-natured and even-keeled, often telling people how happy he is and spouting Latin verse, but his cheery attitude can sometimes cause him to overlook and repress what he is truly feeling, and he rarely goes very deep in his acquaintances, which is what so repels Masha.
Olga
Olga is the eldest sister in this family. Employed as a schoolteacher, she is the most responsible Prozorov sister, taking care of her sisters and overseeing the household. Olga is very sober-minded and pragmatic, more so than her more romantic and emotional sisters, but she too has her own disappointments in life. As the oldest of the sisters, she regrets never getting married, and worries that life has passed her by.
Andrei
Andrei is the Prozorov son, the beloved brother of Olga, Masha, and Irina. Scholarly and moody, Andrei loves nothing more than to read his books and play his violin, but like his sisters, he feels under-stimulated in the provinces, and must compromise his dreams of becoming a scholar in favor of joining the District Council.
Natasha
Natasha is Andrei’s wife. When she first begins her relationship with Andrei, she is intimidated by the sophisticated Prozorov sisters, who belittle her clothing choices and her provincial attitudes. When Andrei marries her and she has his child and moves into the Prozorov home, she becomes a dictatorial and coarse head of household, taking up a lot of space and treating the servants disrespectfully. She also begins an affair with a local man from the District Council right under Andrei's nose. She is the closest thing that the play has to an antagonist.
Anfisa
Anfisa is the girls’ nurse. She is 80 years old and not actually very helpful around the house, but Olga is protective of her, eventually securing her a government-funded apartment in town.
Vershinin
Vershinin is an officer of the army and an old friend of the Prozorov sisters' father. He is a highly philosophical person and likes to discuss life, a quality that draws Masha to him. His wife often attempts suicide in order to gain Vershinin's attention, and he feels trapped in his marriage. He often likes to talk about the hypothetical future, and imagine that life will be better for people then.
Tusenbach
Tusenbach is an affable baron, who comes from privilege, just like the Prozorov sisters. Like Irina, he believes in the value of work, and leaves the army to become a civilian and propose to Irina. While he is very kind-hearted and good-natured, he is described as plain and Irina cannot find it in her heart to love him. He is devoted to Irina, and eventually dies in a duel with Solyony.
Chebutykin
Chebutykin is an older doctor who lives with the Prozorovs. He is eccentric and charming, often making jokes and trying to please the Prozorov sisters. He has a dark side, however, and has been known to drink to excess. In his older age, he has begun to forget his medical training, and he feels great remorse when a woman dies in his care.
