Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev Character Analysis in The Seagull

The caretaker of Sorin’s estate. He approaches his work, far from artistry as it is, with the same obsessive need for control that Trigorin, Treplyov, and Arkadina all exhibit. Easily impressed by fame and tales of life in the theater, he’s often asking Arkadina to regale him with stories about her famous friends and her old days as a successful actress in Moscow.

Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev Quotes in The Seagull

The The Seagull quotes below are all either spoken by Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev or refer to Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the W. W. Norton & Company edition of The Seagull published in 2010.

SHAMRAEV: (To Trigorin.) Hey, Boris Alekseevich, that thing of yours is still here.

TRIGORIN: What thing?

SHAMRAEV: A while back Konstantin Gavrilovich shot a gull, and you asked me to have it stuffed.

TRIGORIN: Don’t remember. (Thinking about it.) Don’t remember!

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), ,

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 153-154

Explanation and Analysis:

Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev Character Timeline in The Seagull

The timeline below shows where the character Ilya Afanasevich Shamraev appears in The Seagull. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Polina Andreevna, the wife of Sorin’s estate overseer Shamraev, comes down to the lake with Dorn, a doctor and guest of Sorin—and her own... (full context)

Arkadina, Sorin, Trigorin, Shamraev, Medevenko, and Masha all arrive at the lake for the performance. Shamraev and Arkadina are... (full context)

Shamraev and Polina come down to the lawn. Arkadina suggests she and Polina go into town... (full context)

Polina tells Dorn that Shamraev’s “crudeness” and his penchant for squabbling with guests is making her feel “ill.” She begs... (full context)

...son money if she had it. Sorin says he doesn’t have any money to give either—Shamraev takes it all and spends it on the farm. Arkadina admits she does have some... (full context)

Shamraev enters and announces that the horses are ready to take them to the station. He... (full context)

Arkadina, Trigorin, and Shamraev all enter the drawing room, laughing and talking. Shamraev compliments Arkadina on her youthful appearance... (full context)

Mediocrity and Lost Potential Theme Icon

...table so that they can all play a lottery game similar to bingo. Masha asks Shamraev if Medvedenko can borrow a horse to ride home—Shamraev says they’re already in for the... (full context)

Arkadina, Dorn, Masha, Polina, and Shamraev all play at a card table and discuss Treplyov’s career. Polina and Shamraev say he... (full context)

Treplyov comes back into the room and goes to his desk. Shamraev tells Trigorin that a “thing” of his is still at the house. Trigorin asks what... (full context)

...sits down at the lotto table, seeming not to notice the disarray throughout the room. Shamraev goes over to a cupboard and pulls out the stuffed gull. He shows it to... (full context)