About the work
Platonov is an incompletely preserved, untitled early drama by Anton Chekhov, written around 1878 when he was about eighteen. Written for the actress Maria Yermolova, the play was rejected by her and remained unperformed during Chekhov's lifetime; the manuscript was rediscovered only after his death and first published in 1923. The title Platonov was given by later editors after the name of the main character.
Plot
The disillusioned village schoolteacher Platonov is at the centre of a web of relationships with several women drawn to him, including the widowed landowner Anna Petrovna and her stepdaughter Sofya. Unable to choose between the women and his own contradictory desires, he takes refuge in alcohol; in the end Sofya shoots him when she realises he cannot give her the new life she had hoped for.
Cultural significance
As Chekhov's first major stage work, Platonov is regarded as an immature early piece that nonetheless anticipates central themes and character constellations of his later dramas; today it is rarely staged, usually in adapted, abridged form.