ABSTRACT
. . .The completeness of Chekhov's play does not lie merely in the logic of its story, though on a realistic level that is convincing, but in its having resolved, after modulating often into laughter, the frustrations of youth and refinement caught in the net of desperately mediocre surroundings, into a final resignation which is like, but is not quite, despair. In common with all genuine works of art ‘The Three Sisters’ is addressed to the comtemplative, not the practical mind. To the practical the spectacle of failure in any shape is merely depressing; not necessarily to the contemplative, who, whether religious or sceptical, have down the ages found wisdom and even a beauty in the lessons of frustration. . . . To the former, renunciation is a drug the poor-spirited or pampered administer to themselves; it is a poison to the individual; and since it does not spur men into changing their environment, also a drag on progress. To the latter it is a necessity forced on men by the nature of things, but which, if recognised as such, opens a perspective which, though it may not make life happier, disinfects it of triviality; and that no increase of health, wealth or pleasure by themselves can do. Resignation brings, too, another blessing in its train; relief from the burden of pretending things are better than they are, or soon must be. That can at times be heavy, and it is perpetually irksome to the artist to whom self-examination and candour are essential if he is to discover the sources of his joy. Theory won't lead him to them.
