An analysis on Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters

Learning a literacy work is interesting and pleasing because literary work can give the students many human issues that are very essential to learn as a guidance to the better value of life. For example, observing and learning human beings' problems and the solution will deepen the insight of the students or the observers. Based on the reasons above, the writer is interested in studying a literary work, that is drama. Drama, as one of the literary writing forms, has a quality in describing human characters through dialogues which other literary writing forms do not have. In addition, the reader can see the interaction of the characters which are clearly shown in the dialogues. Therewith, drama is not too long for the reader to read; it can be read again and again without taking too much time. There are certain features that can be studied in drama; they are the characters, the plot, the setting and the theme. In this thesis the writer studies the characters, the plot and the setting of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. First, she studies the characters. She focuses on the major characters whose names are Olga, Masha, Irena and Prozorov. Second, she studies the elements of the plot: exposition, conflict, suspense, climax and resolution. Third, she studies the setting. Those three things that she studies are formulated as the following questions: what is the basic characteristics of Olga, Masha, Irena and Prozorov; what is the plot of the play; what is the setting of the play? In analyzing this play the writer uses Marshal and Rossman's content analysis technique and to answer those questions above the writer uses Little's points in studying a play. First, the physical qualities of the major characters are: Olga is a woman in her twenties whose appearance as a teacher is her special characteristics; Masha is charming and her face looks cool and a little bit rude; Irena, the youngest is cheerful and attractive and has a beautiful baby face; Prozorov is good looking and stout-built. Second, the mental qualities are as follows: Olga is a woman who feels tired and strengthless because of her teaching activity, and she also feels depressed because her hope to go back to Moscow fails; Masha is unhappy because of her marriage which causes her to feel lonely; besides, she also feels depressed because she has already known that her wish to go back to Moscow will not come true and she cannot accept this reality; Irena does not like her job very much and she also cannot concentrate on her present life because she is always thinking about Moscow, while Moscow is only a dream which will never come true; therefore, she feels depressed and in despair; Prozorov is mentally depressed and disappointed because he has made a wrong decision which completely influences his life. Third, the relationships among them and with the society are as follows. The three sisters have a good relationship with one another while they do not have a good relationship with their brother. Either the three sisters or their brother does not have a hannonious relationship with the society. Concerning the plot, the plot of this play has developed from an interesting conflict that creates the readers' suspense to an absorbing climax, and finally the resolution. There are also three settings in this play. They are Prozorov's house, a county town where the three sisters live, and Moscow. In the analysis of those three features of drama the theme emerges. The theme is about the depression of the three sisters and their brother in struggling to go back to Moscow