However, they only complain, long for the past, and unrealistically see the arrival of the dashing young officers as salvation. In The Three Sisters, Masha, Olga, and Irina constantly complain about their menial jobs, the cultural vacuum in the provinces, and the lack of the energy, vitality, and excitement they found in Moscow. The serfs have been freed and are crowding the cities to provide labor for new industry, the wealthy have been displaced from their once-secure, traditional, aristocratic neighborhoods the military has been universalized, no longer aristocratic and even the peasantry is stirring. The Russian Revolution is only a few years away, and the Tsar has already radically altered the socio-cultural and economic landscape. Unfortunately for the characters in Chekhov’s plays, change is indeed coming. They are isolated by class, inhibited by tradition and upbringing and unable to adapt to change. They are trapped in routine and in the mores and habits of the times. Chekhov observed that few people have the courage or ability to act either in their own interests or for the sake of anyone else. Characters go about their lives discussing issues, telling others how bored they are, how impossibly dull life is in the provinces, how ignorant and backward everyone is and yet they never do anything about it. Anton Chekhov’s plays have often been criticized as frustrating if not slow and difficult.

Chekhov play uncle