ABSTRACT
The conflict of wills which is what we mean by drama, was not for Chekhov's art. . . . If you try to separate one of his characters from the rest you find that the filmy, shadowy fabric of the play is quite strong enough to defy you. . . . Probably the truth is that he did not see human beings as individuals at all. He could not separate one or another from the environment and the society which had made them. . . . Life itself or the mystery of life is the hero and the burden of the play is the sadness of life here and now. . . . They [the characters] have spoilt and are spoiling . . . the world which they found and they are making nothing to take its place. . . . They blunder on making the worst of everything. The atrophy of the will . . . has possessed them one and all. . . .
