Sorin: All the same ...
Arkadina: Now it appears he has written a masterpiece! A masterpiece, if you please! So he arranged this play, and made a smell of sulphur, not as a joke, but as a manifesto! He wished to teach us how to write and how to act. One gets tired of this in the long-run,—these insinuations against me, these everlasting pin-pricks, they are enough to tire any one. He is a capricious and conceited boy!
Sorin: He wished to give you pleasure.
Arkadina: Really? Then why did he not choose some ordinary play, and why did he force us to listen to this decadent rubbish? If it is a joke I do not mind listening to rubbish, but he has the pretension to invent new forms, and tries to inaugurate a new era in art; and I do not think the form is new, it is simply bad.
Presently Ina appears; they compliment her on her performance. Arkadina tells her she ought to go on to the stage, to which she answers that that is her dream. She is introduced to Trigorin the author: this makes her shy. She has read his works, she is overcome at seeing the celebrity face to face. “Wasn’t it an odd play?” she asks Trigorin. “I did not understand it,” he answers, “but I looked on with pleasure—your acting was so sincere, and the scenery was beautiful.” Ina says she must go home, and they all go into the house except the doctor. Constantine appears again, and the doctor tells him that he liked the play, and congratulates him. The young man is deeply touched. He is in a state of great nervous excitement. As soon as he learns that Ina has gone he says he must go after her at once. The doctor is left alone. Masha, the daughter of the agent, enters and makes him a confession: “I don’t love my father,” she says, “but I have confidence in you. Help me.” “What is the matter?” he asks. “I am suffering,” she answers, “and nobody knows my suffering. I love Constantine.” “How nervous these people are,” says the doctor, “nerves, all nerves! and what a quantity of love. Oh, enchanted lake! But what can I do for you, my child, what, what?” and the curtain comes down.
The second act is in the garden of the same estate. It is a hot noon. Arkadina has decided to travel to Moscow. The agent comes and tells her that all the workmen are busy harvesting, and that there are no horses to take her to the station. She tells him to hire horses in the village, or else she will walk. “In that case,” the agent replies, “I give notice, and you can get a new agent.” She goes out in a passion. Presently Constantine appears bearing a dead sea-gull; he lays it at Ina’s feet.
Ina: What does this mean?
Constantine: I shot this sea-gull to-day to my shame. I throw it at your feet.
Ina: What is the matter with you?
Constantine: I shall soon shoot myself in the same way.