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Second half of Act Four
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The Seagull

 Anton Chekhov
 

Important Quotations Explained

 
I'm the seagull. No, that's not it. I'm an actress. That's it.
 
 
 
I'm in mourning for my life.
 
 
 
Idea for a short story. The shore of a lake, a young girl who's spent her whole life beside it, a girl like you She loves the lake the way a seagull does, and she's happy and free as a seagull. Then a man comes along, sees her, and ruins her life because he has nothing better to do. Destroys her like this seagull here.
 
 
 
Here I am talking to you, I'm all worked up, and still I can't forget for a minute that I've got a story to finish. I see a cloud, like that one, shaped like a piano. I smell the heliotrope, I make a mental note: a sickly-sweet smell, a widow's color, use it to describe a summer's evening.
 
 
 
People's destinies are so different. Some people drag along, unnoticed and boring—they're all alike, and they're all unhappy. Then there are others, like for instance you—you're one in a million. You're happy—
 
 
 
You're sixty years old. Medicine won't help.
 
 
 
 
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