Reference To Nina As A Seagull example essay topic

What Does The Conversation Between Nina And Trigorin In Act Two Show Us About The Character Of Trio Trigorin is a difficult character to understand in Chekhov's play the Seagull, however, there is much to be learnt about him during his conversation with Nina. His comments give the reader a real sense of the two differing sides to his character that emerge in this scene. It is in this scene above any other in the play that the reader truly begins to appreciate the character of Trigorin. Trigorin feels driven to write. In the early part of his conversation with Nina, he refers to the fact that he feels compelled to write: Well, I have my own moon. Day and night Im obsessed with one compelling thought: I must write, I must It is in this frank admission to Nina that we see the vulnerable writer, who has seemed up until this point to be quiet but self-assured.

In this outburst, we see his dissatisfaction with his life and profession. Furthermore, Trigorin constantly feels inferior to great Russian writers such as Tolstoy and feels that he will be described as charming and clever but not as good as Tolstoy or Turginev. It is his failure to live up to these literary geniuses that frustrates him. At the same time, his writing is driven by an overwhelming desire to produce a work of genius that will surpass those of Turginev and Tolstoy, and establish him as a great writer. Unlike Nina, Trigorin no longer seeks fame; he seeks to be the best. As a younger writer, when he believes he was at his best, he confesses to his fear of audiences and literary circles, in his desire for fame.

It appears that Trigorin is longing for some of the inspiration that he had during his youth, combined with the experience he has now gained. He has a constant desire to produce a piece that will convince critics such as Kostya that he is a great writer. As Kostya says in Act one: As for his writing its charming, clever but after Tolstoy or Zola you wont feel like reading Trigorin. For this reason, Trigorin is constantly disappointed with the work he produces as he feels he can produce something better. Furthermore, each time he produces something he likes and has it printed, once it is printed he realises his mistakes and his hopes are dashed once more. Trigorins existence has become an eternal struggle to produce a piece of work, a tour de force that will put the name of Trigorin among the Great Russian writers.

Writing has become such an obsession that he can no longer relax or enjoy his life, as he is constantly wanting to write the perfect novel and thus his life revolves around his work. Even his relationships with other people, such as that with Arkadina are superficial, and one suspects that just as he later uses Nina, Arkadina is being used as a tool for his next novel. Trigorin does not consider his famous existence to be as wonderful as Nina portrays it as being in there conversation. His fame in short has reduced him into a state bordering on the insane. The obsession with success and striving for recognition that has brought him fame has not brought him happiness.

In this description of striving for fame, Chekhov attempts both to educate the reader to the fact that fame does not bring happiness and also indicates the path that Ninas future will take in her constant belief that it is fame that will make her happy. As well as seeing a side of Trigorin that is driven by success, we also get an indication as to the crueler side to his nature. Throughout his speeches, Trigorin indicates that uses observations in his writing, and through his final speech in the passage, it is clear to the reader that Trigorin referring to Ninas future. Trigorin intends to use Nina as an object to learn from to improve his writing techniques, he sees her not as a person but as a mechanism for improving his writing style. In this way he illustrates the mad obsession to which he has previously referred.

His intentions toward Nina are indicated far earlier in the scene when he says: I wouldnt mind changing places with you for an hour even, to see what goes on in your head, just generally what makes you tick. The final speech makes it explicitly clear that Nina has simply inspired him with an idea for a plot, and through exploiting her innocence; Trigorin intends to use her for his own purposes. He shows his devious plans when he says: Just making a note a plot for a short story. Its about a girl not unlike you, who has lived all her life beside a lake.

She loves the lake, the way a seagull does, and shes as happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, catches sight of her, and in an idle moment, destroys her just like that seagull of yours. This short speech shows us much about Trigorin. It is his obsession with writing that causes him to manipulate his relationship with Nina in order that a good plot can be gleaned from it. I do not believe that Trigorin is meant to be seen as an inherently evil character, but simply as misguided. His life has become so dependent upon his writing that anything else that might have brought him happiness pales into insignificance.

Furthermore, the fact that his actions towards Nina were all planned out in such a cruel manner shows that his writing is paramount in his life. He cares nothing for Nina, the hurt he will cause or the hopes he will dash and is concerned only with making his story as realistic as possible. The reference to Nina as a seagull is also important in demonstrating Trigorins cruel intentions, the comparison between the beautiful carefree seagull and Nina is apparent. The destruction of the seagull earlier by Kostya is intended to demonstrate the frailty of the seagull, and how, as Trigorin points out, it is a relatively easy task to obliterate the happy and carefree existence. In this objective Trigorin is less driven by his desire to write and more by his jealousy.

Trigorin talks throughout this passage of his desire to enjoy life without being driven entirely by writing, and his jealousy of Ninas ability to live life to the full frustrates him and leads him to want to destroy it. This scene shows us much about the character of Trigorin, and one can conclude that Trigorin is a character obsessed by his work. His desire not only to be famous but also to be the greatest drives him to strive to produce the work that will bring him widespread acclaim and happiness. As we discover, being famous has not made him happy, and instead has turned him into a character entirely driven by his desire to write.

He has begun to think of his relationships with others simply as writing tools, his desire to write has made him a cruel and perverse character that can no longer think in a rational manner or with any sort of morality. It also appears that he is jealous of Ninas youth and vigour and it is this that he sets out to destroy. We learn more than anything else in this scene, that Trigorin cares little for people and much about his next novel, and this explains many of his actions later in the play.