Student Question
Is "The Seagull" considered a political play?
Quick answer:
"The Seagull" can be considered a political play as it was written during a period of political change in Russia. Chekhov, familiar with the issues of political systems from personal experience, might have embedded political themes and messages within the play. The desire for change, a central theme, can be interpreted as reflecting on political systems, which are often responsible for enacting large-scale changes.
One could certainly consider the play "The Seagull" a political play. The fact that a reader, or watcher, brings specific lenses through which they read texts, one could easily ascertain that a text is about anything which the reader deems important--or sometimes hidden.
The fact that Chekhov wrote "The Seagull" during a change in power in Russia, one could easily justify that he was alluding to political themes and underlying messages.
Having fled Moscow with his parents earlier in life, Chekhov was no stranger to political systems and the problems they produced. Therefore, a play, or text, about the desire for change speaks heavily to political systems given they, typically, are responsible for making changes on a larger and more prominent scale.
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