Realistic Theatre- Anton Chekov
By 1850 a tendency towards realism in art was growing. It developed first in France. Then the playwrights discussed some more principles regarding writing of plays. They argued that the playwright should portray the real world. Since the playwright can understand the real world only through observations he should focus his writing on the society around him. Furthermore he should be objective to reveal the truth. The influence of realism was felt throughout the world. But the credit of using realism to the maximum goes to Ibson who lived in Norway. It is believed that the modern dramatic art begun in 1875 when Ibson began to write keeping to the principles of realism.
Works of another dramatist in Russia influenced people in the 19th century. It is Anton Chekov (1860-1904). While Ibsen’s works were mainly connected to his predecessors in France, Anton Chekov’s works were mainly concerned to the Russian society. Due to many characteristics of Chekov’s dramas they fall into category of the Realistic – Naturalistic. He shows how his themes and subjects drawn from the contemporary Russian society are connected to the ordinary people and how they destroy their individuality and morality. His characters wish to spend a perfect and useful life aiming at happiness. But their wish is destroyed by social problems they face with and they became disappointed and frustrated.
Chekov’s realism is explicit even his structure. On the surface level one sees absence of objectives. This is compared to the absence of objectives in their characters. There is no suddenness or hurry in the development of action. There are no dramatic magic or gimmicks in his dramas.
Anton Pavlovich Chekov belongs to the realistic school of drama. He died before the Russian revolution, which took place in 18th October 1917. The Russian Revolution changed the life patterns of the entire world. It inspired a new thinking, a new life, a new society. It set new ideals to life. Chekov never dreamt of Revolution, but he gave the audience a realistic picture of the Russian society, its weaknesses. His writing is considered as the cradle of the Russian Revolution. Chekov was a contemporary of Tolstoy and Martin Luther King. Chekov was considered the most unrevolutionary of the Russian writers. Chekov, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky never dreamt of a revolution. They showed the people the realistic Russian Society. But Chekov gave some hope, some expectations about the Revolution in Chekov’s dramas. There is some possibility. He is futuristic who may have inspired the Revolution because people were given the idea that they could have a better future.
The society in which he wrote is a feudal society which has started to decay. That society was undergoing the labor pains of giving birth to a new commercial capitalistic society. So the central conflict in his dramas is between the society that was dying and the emerging commercial society. He looks at all characters as human beings. He has no hero or heroine in his plays. A person is both good and bad. Chekov does not support either of the two societies. He merely looks at them with a penetrating eye. He gives the reader a very realistic picture. James Joyce says that Chekov holds a mirror to the society.