The Swan Song is generally the last performance, gesture or work done by the artist in their respective field before dying or getting retirement. And it is considered as the best performance done by that artist during his/her career.
The play was written by the famous Russian playwright and short-story writer, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The story/play speaks about various aspect of human condition and ironies of life. In short, the writer chekhov is showing the dark and hidden side of the artist/Influencer through protagonist Svietlovidoff.
The play compromises with two characters Vasili Svietlovidoff, a 68 year old theater artist and Nikita Ivanich, the theater’s prompter. The character Nikita Ivanich is an old man, with more age than the protagonist.
In play, the protagonist is wildly drunk and stuck inside the empty theatre. So he is narrating his reminiscence with Nikita, a prompter. He shares many sorrow, thores and suffering with the promoter that he faced during his old days. He moans about his past glories, his handsome age and about womens too. While talking he self praises how generous, passionate and dedicated he was with his work. He adds how people used to applaud and wahoo while acting during his young age.
Suddenly he feels low and spills out the unsuccessful love story of his life and gets sadden how his lady admirer or lover left him because of his artistic profession. He feeled more anxious when he knew that she was impressed with his comic/humour acting but while he approached her she asked to choose between his artistic career or she.
He compare himself with squeezed lemon and broken bottle. He thinks he is losing his acting ability and can’t live with truth that how he is getting forgotten in recent days. He is not getting enough shows too.
The actor tells how he is living under the gloomy clouds for many years without any friends and family members beside him. He moans and fears about his impending death.
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However, Nikita appreciate and cheer him with his kind words. He console Svietlovidoff that he is a great actor and has already left his legacy. He adds you wil be remembered in the future as a great actor and a kind soul. Nikita seems quite optimistic about life but the protagonist appears just opposite of it.
At last, while listening to Nikita, Svietlovidoff fills up with great energy and approach Nikita to help him while delivering famous dialogues of Shakespeare play. Finally he feels that he still has more passion and enthusiasm towards acting. Eventually he chose to life, with Shakespeare to guide him.
The last play that he performs discoursing dialogues of Shakespeare with only Nikita as a audience is his Swan Song.
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