Story
Act I
The play takes place on a country estate owned by Sorin, a former government employee with failing health. He is the brother of the famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate with her lover, Trigorin, for a brief vacation. In Act I, the people staying at Sorin's estate gather to see a play that Arkadina's son Konstantin Treplyov has written and directed. The play-within-a-play stars Nina, a young girl who lives on a neighboring estate, as the "soul of the world." The play is his latest attempt at creating a new theatrical form, and resembles a dense symbolist work. Arkadina laughs at the play, finding it ridiculous and incomprehensible, and Konstantin storms off in disgrace. Act I also sets up the play's many romantic triangles. The schoolteacher Medviedenko loves Masha, the daughter of the estate's steward. Masha, in turn, has an unrequited crush on Konstantin, who is courting Nina. When Masha tells the kindly old Doctor Dorn about her longing, he helplessly blames the moon and the lake for making everybody feel romantic.
Act II
Act II takes place in the afternoon outside of the estate, a few days later. After reminiscing about happier times, Arkadina engages the house steward Shamrayef in a heated argument, and decides to leave immediately. Nina lingers behind after the group leaves, and Konstantin shows up to give her a seagull that he has shot. Nina is confused and horrified at the gift. Konstantin sees Trigorin approaching, and he leaves in a jealous fit. Trigorin, a famous writer, enters. Nina asks him to tell her about the writer's life. He replies that it is not an easy one. Nina says that she knows the life of an actress is not easy either, but she wants more than anything to be one. Trigorin sees the seagull that Konstantin has shot and muses on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: "A young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a seagull, and she's happy and free, like a seagull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this seagull." Arkadina calls for Trigorin, and he leaves as she tells him that she has changed her mind, and they will not be leaving immediately. Nina lingers behind, enthralled with Trigorin's celebrity and modesty, and she gushes, "My dream!"..
