Three Sisters

Three Sisters Literary Elements

Genre

Drama, Tragedy

Language

Russian translated into English

Setting and Context

A small town in Russia in the late 1800s

Narrator and Point of View

No narrator.

Tone and Mood

Tragic, melancholy, at times lighthearted; Existential, Philosophical, Reflective

Protagonist and Antagonist

Irina, Masha, and Olga are the protagonists; Solyony and Natasha are the antagonists.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is more of an existential one that a plot one. The characters long to find meaning in their lives, but they are disappointed in life. Perhaps the most concrete conflict in the play is the sisters' desire to return to an urban life in Moscow, and their disappointment in not being able to do so.

Climax

The climax of the play occurs when the characters learn of Tusenbach's death, after the soldiers have finally taken their leave of the town.

Foreshadowing

Solyony says "I will have no successful rivals" in relation to his love for Irina, which foreshadows the fact that will eventually kill Tusenbach, his main romantic rival for Irina's affections.

Understatement

Allusions

Masha quotes Pushkin. Allusions are made to Gogol, the Lermontovs, and other works of literature.

Imagery

We get some descriptions of the house in the stage directions, and Chekhov also outlines the appearances and clothing of the sisters. For instance, Masha is almost always wearing black.

Paradox

The characters are stultified by their own feelings of powerlessness, caught in a paradoxical bind between their desire to influence the world around them and an inability to change their circumstance or go after what they want.

Parallelism

Personification

The trees are personified by Tusenbach before he goes off to the duel. He talks about how when he dies, he will still be part of the trees. In the next scene, Natasha talks about how she wants to cut the trees down, and the image of Tusenbach as being personified by the trees makes Natasha's impulse seem all the more vulgar.

Use of Dramatic Devices

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