In the essay below, which was first published in 1992, Gilman asserts: "The Seagull is about art and love not so much in the sense that they are its topics but in the sense that the entire play quite literally surrounds them, providing those abstractions with the dramatic context or field in which they can come to life, working themselves out as motifs."

In the following essay, Gilman explores the twin themes of love and art in The Seagull.

In the following essay, Curtis highlights Chekhov's contribution to modernism as exemplified by The Seagull.

In the following essay, Rozik examines the use of the seagull as a symbol in Chekhov's play.

In the following essay, Senelick examines the influence of Chekhov's own experiences and relationships on The Seagull.

In the essay below, Curtis offers a psychoanalytic reading of The Seagull, in which he argues that the play "represents a successful working through of Chekhov's anxiety of influence" from Turgenev and Shakespeare.

In the following essay, Curtis reviews the literary predecessors of The Seagull and their influence upon Chekhov.

In the following essay, Reid discusses the nature of the symbolism Chekhov used in The Seagull and the influence of the mystic Vladimir Solovyov on the author.

In the following essay, Rayfield puts Chekhov into historical context to explain the importance of his plays, particularly The Seagull, to the evolution of the theater.

In the following essay, Katsell identifies the influence Guy de Maupassant had on Chekhov and draws parallels between The Seagull and Maupassant's travel sketch Sur l'eau.

In this essay, Strongin contends that The Seagull parodies "the artificial and melodramatic conventions of so much of the theater of its day. "

In the following essay, Strongin contends that Chekhov intended The Seagull to be ironic and included many parodies of contemporary theater within it.

The excerpt below is taken from a posthumous publication of Nabokov's notes for lectures delivered to literature classes. The year of Nabokov's death has been used to date the essay. Here, he provides scene-by-scene comments on Chekhov's art and stagecraft as demonstrated in The Seagull.

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1967, Jackson elucidates the theme of art versus reality in The Seagull.

In the following essay, Scott highlights Chekhov's theme of the artist's life as expounded in The Seagull.

In the following essay, Frayn provides an overview of The Seagull, focusing on its initial spectacular failure in St. Petersburg and its equally spectacular success in Moscow a month later.

In the following essay, Brown examines how The Seagull and Chekhov's other plays have been interpreted on the British stage.

In the following essay, Scolnicov delineates the influences that Hamlet had on Chekhov and the relationship between Hamlet and The Seagull.

In the following essay, from a work first published in England in 1968, Williams delineates the impact of The Seagull on the theater.

In the following essay, which was originally published in Russian in 1982, Paperny maintains that The Seagull comprises "a mosaic of disparate bits, " or microsubjects, in which "characters not only advance opinions, make confessions, argue, and act, they also offer each other various subjects for literary works, which express their understanding of life, their point of view, their basic 'idea. ' "

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1982, Paperny studies the lesser themes of The Seagull, which contribute to the play's complexity.

In the following essay, Winner explores parallels between The Seagull and Shakespeare's Hamlet.

In the following essay, Sagar considers how seriously the seagull symbol should be taken in The Seagull.

In the following essay, Chances views the seagull as a symbol that Chekhov ridicules; in fact, the critic asserts, "the entire play might, perhaps, be considered a parody of symbolism."

In the following essay, Chances discusses Chekhov's use of the seagull as a symbol in The Seagull.

In the following essay, Kendle analyzes Chekhov's use of references to horses in The Seagull.