Character Clues

Character Analysis

Names

Readers of Chekhov sometimes complain about the crazy Russian names in all his pieces. It's hard to keep up with how they change throughout the play. So here's how it works. Russians have three names:

A first name: e.g. Konstantin
A patronymic name identifying one's father: e.g. Gavrilovich
A last name: e.g. Treplev

What characters call each other tells us something about the closeness of their relationships and their social class. Yakov (the servant) calls Konstantin "Konstantin Gavrilovich," which is formal and respectful. Arkadina calls him "Kostya," an affectionate nickname. 

Occupation

This just wouldn't be the same play if Konstantin was a lawyer, Nina was a secretary, and Trigorin was a banker, now would it? As often as it happens in real life, the artistic profiles of these characters get all mixed up in their personal lives. The artists link their identities to their work, for better or for worse. This means that creative failure, especially for a sensitive person like Konstantin, is doubly disastrous. And creative success enables Arkadina's self-absorption to reach dragon lady proportions.

Habits

Like Trigorin, Chekhov people-watched and put his observations in his writing. His friends and neighbors were probably annoyed, but we're thankful, as these details about personal habits tell us a lot about the characters and make them seem all the more real.

Masha drinks and takes snuff as a way of dealing with her unhappiness. Dorn's habit of singing bits and pieces of songs (see "Shout Outs") identifies him as a man of the world, and one who knows a bit about art. Sorin's inarticulate way of speaking, his habitual abuse of "or something," helps underscore his image as kind of a wash-up.