“To be” and “to seem”: The semantic dimension of life in the play Ivanov by A. P. Chekhov

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to consider the philosophical and social aspects of the early play by A. P. Chekhov Ivanov, to analyze the relationship between reality and illusion in the semantic dimension of the characters’ lives. We are talking about the “struggle against the struggle for existence”, mentioned by K. A. Timiryazev, about the loss of the key goal in the clash of the heroes’ hopes and the surrounding reality. The categories of “to be” and “to seem” under study play a significant role in the life of the characters. Seeming to be transcends the limits of the work. Thus, the characters talk a lot about money; however, the monetary dimension is not the leading one in the movement of the plot, it only seems to be so. Debts, promissory notes, bank accounts are talked about, but in reality the characters lack funds. In other words, money reigns, but does not rule, being only in an illusory dimension, but even there it performs an anti-Darwinian function in the moral and physical health of the characters. A special place is given to the analysis of the uncertainty of the situation and the absurdity of the behavior of the protagonist. Ivanov groans under the weight of domestic problems, but as soon as the difficulties can be eliminated, he is unable to continue living. The departure from the field of the uncertainty of existence becomes fatal for the hero. Analyzing the work, we come to the conclusion that Ivanov is not the only one rushing about being unable to find the meaning of his existence, other characters similarly do not understand what they should be and what they should appear or to be. Finding oneself turns out to be fatal for the protagonist, while all the other characters remain between being and seeming, between living for themselves and living for others. The last altruistic option is chosen by the key female characters of the play. A backward evolution, the collapse of hopes and illusions, has certain parallels with the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer, A. Camus, E. N. Trubetskoy.

Keywords

• categories “to be” and “to seem”
• selfishness
• altruism
• reality
• illusion
• semantic dimension