The sea-gull
TREPLIEFF. Yes, you have grown thinner, and your eyes are larger than
they were. Nina, it seems so strange to see you! Why didn’t you let me
go to you? Why didn’t you come sooner to me? You have been here nearly a
week, I know. I have been several times each day to where you live, and
have stood like a beggar beneath your window.
NINA. I was afraid you might hate me. I dream every night that you look
at me without recognising me. I have been wandering about on the shores
of the lake ever since I came back. I have often been near your house,
but I have never had the courage to come in. Let us sit down. [They sit
down] Let us sit down and talk our hearts out. It is so quiet and warm
in here. Do you hear the wind whistling outside? As Turgenieff says,
“Happy is he who can sit at night under the roof of his home, who has a
warm corner in which to take refuge.” I am a sea-gull--and yet--no.
[She passes her hand across her forehead] What was I saying? Oh, yes,
Turgenieff. He says, “and God help all houseless wanderers.” [She sobs.]
TREPLIEFF. Nina! You are crying again, Nina!
NINA. It is all right. I shall feel better after this. I have not cried
for two years. I went into the garden last night to see if our old
theatre were still standing. I see it is. I wept there for the first
time in two years, and my heart grew lighter, and my soul saw more
clearly again. See, I am not crying now. [She takes his hand in hers]
So you are an author now, and I am an actress. We have both been sucked
into the whirlpool. My life used to be as happy as a child’s; I used to
wake singing in the morning; I loved you and dreamt of fame, and what is
the reality? To-morrow morning early I must start for Eltz by train in
a third-class carriage, with a lot of peasants, and at Eltz the educated
trades-people will pursue me with compliments. It is a rough life.
TREPLIEFF. Why are you going to Eltz?
NINA. I have accepted an engagement there for the winter. It is time for
me to go.
TREPLIEFF. Nina, I have cursed you, and hated you, and torn up your
photograph, and yet I have known every minute of my life that my heart
and soul were yours for ever. To cease from loving you is beyond my
power. I have suffered continually from the time I lost you and began
to write, and my life has been almost unendurable. My youth was suddenly
plucked from me then, and I seem now to have lived in this world for
ninety years. I have called out to you, I have kissed the ground you
walked on, wherever I looked I have seen your face before my eyes, and
the smile that had illumined for me the best years of my life.
NINA. [Despairingly] Why, why does he talk to me like this?
TREPLIEFF. I am quite alone, unwarmed by any attachment. I am as cold
as if I were living in a cave. Whatever I write is dry and gloomy and
harsh. Stay here, Nina, I beseech you, or else let me go away with you.
NINA quickly puts on her coat and hat.
TREPLIEFF. Nina, why do you do that? For God’s sake, Nina! [He watches
her as she dresses. A pause.]
NINA. My carriage is at the gate. Do not come out to see me off. I shall
find the way alone. [Weeping] Let me have some water.
TREPLIEFF hands her a glass of water.
TREPLIEFF. Where are you going?
NINA. Back to the village. Is your mother here?
TREPLIEFF. Yes, my uncle fell ill on Thursday, and we telegraphed for
her to come.
NINA. Why do you say that you have kissed the ground I walked on? You
should kill me rather. [She bends over the table] I am so tired. If I
could only rest--rest. [She raises her head] I am a sea-gull--no--no,
I am an actress. [She hears ARKADINA and TRIGORIN laughing in the
distance, runs to the door on the left and looks through the keyhole] He
is there too. [She goes back to TREPLIEFF] Ah, well--no matter. He
does not believe in the theatre; he used to laugh at my dreams, so that
little by little I became down-hearted and ceased to believe in it too.
Then came all the cares of love, the continual anxiety about my little
one, so that I soon grew trivial and spiritless, and played my parts
without meaning. I never knew what to do with my hands, and I could not
walk properly or control my voice. You cannot imagine the state of mind
of one who knows as he goes through a play how terribly badly he is
acting. I am a sea-gull--no--no, that is not what I meant to say. Do you
remember how you shot a seagull once? A man chanced to pass that way and
destroyed it out of idleness. That is an idea for a short story, but it
is not what I meant to say. [She passes her hand across her forehead]
What was I saying? Oh, yes, the stage. I have changed now. Now I am a
real actress. I act with joy, with exaltation, I am intoxicated by it,
and feel that I am superb. I have been walking and walking, and thinking
and thinking, ever since I have been here, and I feel the strength of
my spirit growing in me every day. I know now, I understand at last,
Constantine, that for us, whether we write or act, it is not the honour
and glory of which I have dreamt that is important, it is the strength
to endure. One must know how to bear one’s cross, and one must have
faith. I believe, and so do not suffer so much, and when I think of my
calling I do not fear life.
TREPLIEFF. [Sadly] You have found your way, you know where you are
going, but I am still groping in a chaos of phantoms and dreams, not
knowing whom and what end I am serving by it all. I do not believe in
anything, and I do not know what my calling is.
NINA. [Listening] Hush! I must go. Good-bye. When I have become a
famous actress you must come and see me. Will you promise to come? But
now--[She takes his hand] it is late. I can hardly stand. I am fainting.
I am hungry.
TREPLIEFF. Stay, and let me bring you some supper.
NINA. No, no--and don’t come out, I can find the way alone. My carriage
is not far away. So she brought him back with her? However, what
difference can that make to me? Don’t tell Trigorin anything when you
see him. I love him--I love him even more than I used to. It is an idea
for a short story. I love him--I love him passionately--I love him to
despair. Have you forgotten, Constantine, how pleasant the old times
were? What a gay, bright, gentle, pure life we led? How a feeling as
sweet and tender as a flower blossomed in our hearts? Do you remember,
[She recites] “All men and beasts, lions, eagles, and quails, horned
stags, geese, spiders, silent fish that inhabit the waves, starfish from
the sea, and creatures invisible to the eye--in one word, life--all, all
life, completing the dreary round set before it, has died out at last.
A thousand years have passed since the earth last bore a living creature
on its breast, and the unhappy moon now lights her lamp in vain. No
longer are the cries of storks heard in the meadows, or the drone of
beetles in the groves of limes----”
She embraces TREPLIEFF impetuously and runs out onto the terrace.
TREPLIEFF. [After a pause] It would be a pity if she were seen in the
garden. My mother would be distressed.
He stands for several minutes tearing up his manuscripts and throwing
them under the table, then unlocks the door on the right and goes out.
DORN. [Trying to force open the door on the left] Odd! This door seems
to be locked. [He comes in and puts the chair back in its former place]
This is like a hurdle race.
ARKADINA and PAULINA come in, followed by JACOB carrying some bottles;
then come MASHA, SHAMRAEFF, and TRIGORIN.
ARKADINA. Put the claret and the beer here, on the table, so that we can
drink while we are playing. Sit down, friends.
PAULINA. And bring the tea at once.
She lights the candles and takes her seat at the card-table. SHAMRAEFF
leads TRIGORIN to the cupboard.
SHAMRAEFF. Here is the stuffed sea-gull I was telling you about. [He
takes the sea-gull out of the cupboard] You told me to have it done.
TRIGORIN. [looking at the bird] I don’t remember a thing about it, not a
thing. [A shot is heard. Every one jumps.]
ARKADINA. [Frightened] What was that?
DORN. Nothing at all; probably one of my medicine bottles has blown up.
Don’t worry. [He goes out through the door on the right, and comes back
in a few moments] It is as I thought, a flask of ether has exploded. [He
sings]
“Spellbound once more I stand before thee.”
ARKADINA. [Sitting down at the table] Heavens! I was really frightened.
That noise reminded me of--[She covers her face with her hands]
Everything is black before my eyes.
DORN. [Looking through the pages of a magazine, to TRIGORIN] There was
an article from America in this magazine about two months ago that I
wanted to ask you about, among other things. [He leads TRIGORIN to the
front of the stage] I am very much interested in this question. [He
lowers his voice and whispers] You must take Madame Arkadina away from
here; what I wanted to say was, that Constantine has shot himself.
The curtain falls.