Three Sisters Dramaturgy Page
Play by Anton Chekhov
Characters
A brief biography of characters within the play.
Here is a helpful video on youtube for Russian pronunciations of names and additional words.
Here is a second useful link to help with pronunciation and Russian name understanding.
OLGA/OLYA: Oldest of the three sisters, and the family matriarch. She is 28 years old at the beginning of the play. She identifies as a spinster. She teaches high school, and later is promoted to head mistress against her stated wishes.
MASHA/MARIA: Masha is 21 years old at the beginning of the play. She married Kulygin at age 18, but begins an affair with Vershinin. Also plays piano.
IRINA: Irina is the youngest sister at age 20 at the start of the play. She believes she will find her true love in Moscow, and desperately longs to go there. Instead, she decides to marry Baron Tuzenbach, whom she admires but openly does not love. Also a teacher, she moves on after her fiance is shot in a duel to a life of work and service.
ANDREI/ANDREY: Brother to the three sisters. In Act 1, he is on track to be a professor in Moscow. In Act 2, he is halted after marrying Natasha and having a baby. He works a secretary job. In Act 3, he is 35,000 in debt. Finally, in Act 4, he is a shell of his former self.
NATALIA/NATASHA: Natasha is Andrei's wife. After marrying Andrei, she uses their relationship to manipulate his three sisters. She gains their house through her husband. Her character could be interpreted as a political statement.
TUZENBACH: Tuzenbach is an ex-army lieutenant who tends to philosophize. He has loved Irina for five years to works to impress her. Solyony repeatedly taunts him through Acts III and IV, so he declares a duel. Solyony kills him in the duel.
FYODAR KULYGIN: Kulygin is Masha's husband, and also a Latin teacher at the same school as Olga. He admits that he could have lived happily married to Olga, but honestly loves his wife through the end.
VERSHININ: He is a Lieutenant-Colonel, as well as a philosopher. His nickname from a time before was "lovesick major", and he begins an affair with Masha. He is married to a suicidal wife and two daughters whom we never see on stage.
SOLYONY: Solyony is the staff captain, anti-hero misfit, who is in love with Irina. Irina, however, finds him unapealing. Because of this, Solyony taunts her fiance, the Baron, and challenges him to a duel in which he kills him. Uses large amount of perfume on his hands.
VAN CHEBUTYKIN: He is a 60 year old army doctor, as well as a family friend. He breaks his sobriety and reveals Natasha's affair.
RODE: Rode is another sub-lieutenant.
FEDOTIK: Fedotik is a sub-lieutenant, and also loves Irina. He is an amature photographer.
ANFISA: Anfisa in the sisters' 81 year old house nurse.
FERAPONT: Ferapont is an old man with a partial hearing loss. Works for the Prozorov family.
PROTOPOPOV: Unseen character, head of the local Council. Has an affair with Natasha.