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THETR 266:

The Seagull:

Homework Questions

Answer the following questions as thoughtfully and completely as you can in a couple of typed pages. Restate the questions at the beginning of your answers. Use one inch margins and double-space with 12 point font. Spell-check and proof-read your work. (Remember that titles of full-length plays are italicized.)


Papers may be printed on both sides. If more than one page is used, put your name on all sheets and staple the papers together in the upper left corner. (But try to keep it to two pages.)


Include a typical MLA header with the title of the assignment, the name of the class, your name, and the date at the upper left of the page.


Read the question carefully and be sure to answer all parts of a question completely. Support your assertions with quotes from the play, which may be cited in context, or other research, which should be cited in MLA style. Citatations in support of your answers should be from throughout the text, not just from the beginning. You're going to need to do a little research and support for these.


Questions:


1)     How do Masha and Nina differ in their approaches to their lives? Which of them grows to exemplify some of the characteristics of a more independent woman ("The New Woman") and why? Does this personal growth relate to characters in any of the other plays we have studied?


2)     What symbolic associations does Chekhov make with the actual seagull in the play? How are these expressed in the design and props in the play? Trace the development of that symbol.