Summary
The play begins in the Prozorov house, midday, the sun shining outside. Olga, the oldest of the Prozorov sisters, enters in a schoolteacher's uniform and corrects tests at a table. Masha, the middle sister, is dressed all in black and reading a book, and Irina, the youngest, is in a white dress, daydreaming.
Olga speaks first, noting that it has been a year since their father died, on May 5th. A whole year has gone by and they have moved on; she mentions Irina's white dress and radiant face. She recalls that their father was a general, and that it was rainy and snowy on the day he died. Irina does not want to think about the past, as Tusenbach, Chebutykin and Solyony, all appear in the adjoining ballroom.
Olga remembers that they left Moscow 11 years ago because their father was brought to the country by the military. She longs to return to Moscow, and Masha begins to whistle a little, but Olga tells her to stop. Olga then says, "...through these four years at the school I've felt my energy and youth draining out of me, day by day, drop by drop." Irina echoes Olga's dream to go back to Moscow.
Irina says that their brother, Andrei, will become a professor, and that this will take him to Moscow, before suggesting that Masha will not come with them. Irina says she is in a surprisingly good mood, as Olga notes how lovely she and Masha look. Olga then comments on the fact that their brother Andrei has put on weight and it doesn't suit him, before complaining that she feels old and thin, and that she is short-tempered with her students. "All's well in God's world, of course, but I do have the feeling that if I'd married and could have stayed at home all day things would have been better," she says.
Tusenbach, getting exasperated with Solyony, comes into the drawing room, and tells the sisters that Vershinin, the army's new battery commander, is coming to the house that day. He tells them that Vershinin is 44, married for a second time to a woman who is a little insane and tries to commit suicide to get his attention. Solyony, another soldier enters talking about weightlifting, accompanied by Chebutykin, an older doctor, who is reading about a hair loss remedy in the paper.
As Chebutykin enters, Irina rushes to him and tells him that she is feeling particularly well. She philosophizes about the importance of work, saying, "Good Lord, I'd rather be an ox or a common everyday horse—anything that works—than a young woman who awakes at noon, takes coffee in bed, and then spends two hours dressing."
After Irina finishes talking about the virtues of work, Olga tells the men that Irina spends all morning in bed thinking. Irina insists that Olga refuses to see her as serious, even though she is 20 years old. Tusenbach chimes in, agreeing with Irina, and saying that he too has been cushioned by privilege, but that he would like to work. He also suggests that in 25 or 30 years, everyone will work.
Solyony mutters under his breath that he will kill Tusenbach before 25 years have passed. When they hear a knock downstairs, Chebutykin goes to answer it. Irina suspects he has a present for her, which she doesn't like. Suddenly, Masha speaks for the first time, reciting what she's read. When Masha puts on her hat and says she's going home, everyone notes that she is being a little rude. She reminisces about the fact that they used to have more soldiers around on name days, when father was alive, but now they just have "a man and a half."
Solyony says something sexist and rude, to which Masha replies, "What do you mean by that, you horrible, awful man!" Suddenly, Anfisa and Ferapont, the two elderly servants, comes in with a cake, sent from Mikhail Protopopov.
Chebutykin enters with a silver samovar, or tea set, which displeases the sisters. He thanks them for being so kind to him, but Irina is worried about the fact that he's brought such expensive gifts.
Vershinin enters and greets the sisters, remembering them from long ago. When Tusenbach informs the sisters that Vershinin is from Moscow, Irina is delighted, and Vershinin tells them that he served under their father. When he looks at Masha, he tells her he recognizes her, but she says she doesn't recognize him. Vershinin tells the sisters that he used to visit them in Moscow. The sisters are excited to meet someone from Moscow, and suddenly Masha remembers him and his nickname from back then: "The lovesick major."
Vershinin and the sisters reminisce about Moscow, about the birch trees in the woods there. The group talks about the state of the world, whether life is improving, whether there is a purpose to existence. Tusenbach suggests that "the suffering we see around us nowadays—and there's plenty of it—is a sign that society has reached a certain level of moral development..."
Andrei, the Prozorov brother, begins playing violin in the next room. "He's the scholar of the family," Irina says, "He's going to be a professor we think. Father was a military man, his son has chosen a scholarly career." The sisters discuss the fact that Andrei is in love with a woman from town and Masha insults the woman's sense of fashion, and the fact that it's "pitiful," before suggesting that she ought to marry Protopopov, the chairman of the District Council.
Masha calls Andrei in and he meets Vershinin. Irina points out that Andrei has made several of the frames in the house, and he becomes embarrassed. They tease him for being in love, and Chebutykin chimes in: "Nature put us on earth for love and love alone."
Andrei discusses his scholarly frustrations, revealing that he reads in English, German, and French, and telling Vershinin that Irina knows Italian. "Knowing three languages in a town like this is an expendable luxury...We've got a lot of useless knowledge," says Masha.
Vershinin launches into a monologue about the importance of education and how it is good that people like them live in the provinces, imagining a future in which the world is beautiful and ideal, in which people are educated. This intrigues Masha, who agrees to stay for lunch.
Andrei has left the room and Tusenbach tells Vershinin that he thinks people should work. Vershinin ignores Tusenbach and comments on the beautiful flowers on a table, before imagining if life were just a rough-draft and people got to live their lives over again.
Suddenly, Kulygin, Masha's husband, comes in and wishes Irina a happy name day, effusively. He reveals that he is a teacher at the local school, and kisses Masha. When he gives Irina a book, she tells him he already gave it to her for Easter. Vershinin excuses himself, embarrassed that he didn't know it was Irina's birthday, but they invite him to stay for lunch. Kulygin launches into a monologue about the coming summer, quoting Latin phrases all the while. He tells Masha they have to go to a picnic for the teachers at his school later. Masha says she doesn't want to go, but then changes her mind, impatiently.
Analysis
The very first image of the play is a striking one: three very different sisters, each isolated in their own world yet together in the family home. Olga is the eldest, a pragmatic and responsible woman. Masha is more intellectual, dressed in black and reading. Irina, the youngest, is impressionable and pure, dressed in white and daydreaming about the future. Chekhov sets up a tableau of the titular sisters from the very first moment of the play, and even before a line has been uttered, the tableau gives us a sense of the sisters' relationship and their role in the family.
It is also not long before we begin to understand what the Prozorov sisters long for more than anything in the world. While they live in a beautiful house in the country, the only thing that would improve their lives—so they say—is returning to Moscow. Having relocated to the country after their father was placed there by the military, the Prozorov sisters have become bored by the simple life, and Moscow promises an escape from the provinces.
The delicate and feminine world of the Prozorov sisters is contrasted by the presence of soldiers and men who populate their world. The men philosophize and fight and explain things, each of them vying for the attentions of the beautiful sisters. They also serve as a contrast to the sisters in that they have the military to give them a sense of purpose, where the Prozorov sisters struggle to understand their place in society.
Each of the sisters is haunted by a specific existential hang-up. Irina, the youngest and most eligible, is most worried about getting back to Moscow, and yet also has a fascination with the idea of working. In an impassioned monologue to Chebutykin, she extols the virtues of working and having a purpose, and as Olga informs us, Irina often spends two hours in bed every morning, just thinking. It is this purposelessness, this aimless thinking, that haunts Irina, and drives her to believe that her existence will be enriched by working. The play depicts three very privileged sisters who do not know how to find purpose and meaning in their lives.
An emotional motif and a philosophical question that the characters return to often is the question of significance and existential importance. Each of them grapples with their own questions about whether their lives have meaning, if they will be forgotten, and whether life has improved. In her first conversation with Vershinin, Masha says, "We'll all be forgotten," which prompts Vershinin to meditate on the fact that things that seem important now will one day seem unimportant. Each of the characters struggles to have a sense of purpose and derive meaning from their lives, and the way they make peace with existence is through talking to one another about it.
