Chekhov's gun
{{Short description|Dramatic principle}}
File:Bagnères-de-Bigorre - Musée arts populaires 08.jpg
Chekhov's gun (or Chekhov's rifle; {{langx|ru|Чеховское ружьё}}) is a narrative principle emphasizing that every element in a story be necessary, while irrelevant elements should be removed. For example, if a gun features in a story, there must be a reason for it, such as being fired at some later point. The principle that all elements must eventually come into play over the course of the story is recorded, with some variation, in several letters by Anton Chekhov, as advice for young playwrights.{{cite book |author=Bitsilli, Petr Mikhailovich |year=1983 |title=Chekhov's Art: A stylistic analysis |publisher=Ardis |page={{mvar|x}} }}{{cite book |author=Daniel S. Burt |year=2008 |title=The literature 100: A ranking of the most influential novelists, playwrights, and poets of all time |publisher=Infobase Publishing}}{{cite book |author=Bill, Valentine T. |year=1987 |title=Chekhov: The silent voice of freedom |publisher=Philosophical Library}}{{Cite journal |last=Delaney |first=Brian M. |year=1990 |title=Chekhov's gun and Nietzsche's hammer: The biotechnological revolution and the sociology of knowledge |journal=Berkeley Journal of Sociology |volume=35 |pages=167–174 |jstor=41035505 |issn=0067-5830 }}
In recent years, the term has also taken on the meaning of a plot element that is introduced early in a story, whose significance to the plot does not become clear until later.{{cite book |last1=Foley |first1=John Miles |title=A Companion to Ancient Epic |date=16 September 2005 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-0524-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGkH8j3GKg8C |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Updike |first1=John |title=Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism |date=30 December 2008 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-55580-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQiJ50EhhUEC |language=en}} This plot twist meaning is separate from Chekhov's original intent of narrative conservation and necessity.
Examples
The principle is carried out in many of the James Bond films, in which the spy is presented with new gadgets at the beginning of a mission – such as a concealed, wrist-activated dart gun in Moonraker{{cite web |first=Ryan |last=Britt |date=8 November 2012 |title=Pay attention 007! 7 Bond gadgets which defy reason and practicality |website=Tor.com |url=https://www.tor.com/2012/11/08/pay-attention-007-7-bond-gadgets-which-defy-reason-and-practicality/}} – and typically each device serves a vital role in the story.{{cite magazine |first=Leon |last=Hurley |date=1 February 2017 |title=Chekhov's Gun is the movie trope that'll ruin everything once you know about it |magazine=Games Radar |series=Feature |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/chekhovs-gun-the-movie-trope-thatll-ruin-everything-once-you-know-about-it/}} The principle dictates that only the devices utilized later in the story may be presented.
Variations
Ernest J. Simmons, (1903–1972)
- {{cite news |title=Dr. Ernest Simmons Dies at 68; Backed Wider Russian Studies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/05/archives/dr-ernest-simmons-dies-at-68-backed-wider-russian-studies.html |access-date=29 January 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=5 May 1972}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Mathewson |first1=Rufus W. |title=Ernest J. Simmons, 1903-1972 |journal=The Russian Review |date=1972 |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=437–439 |jstor=127970 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/127970 |access-date=29 January 2023 |issn=0036-0341}}
- {{cite news |title=author: Ernest J. Simmons |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ernest-j-simmons/ |access-date=29 January 2023 |work=The Atlantic}}
- {{cite web |title=Simmons, Ernest Joseph 1903-1972 |url=https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50027354/ |website=worldcat.org |access-date=29 January 2023}}
- {{cite web |title=Simmons, Ernest J. (Ernest Joseph), 1903-1972 |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Simmons%2c%20Ernest%20J%2e%20%28Ernest%20Joseph%29%2c%201903%2d1972 |website=The Online Books Page |publisher=upenn.edu |access-date=29 January 2023}}
writes that Chekhov repeated the same point, which may account for there being several variations.
- {{cite book |first=Ernest Joseph |last=Simmons |year=1962 |title=Chekhov: A biography |place=Chicago, IL |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-75805-2 |page=190}}
- {{cite book |last1=Simmons |first1=Ernest Joseph |title=Chekhov: A Biography |date=1962 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-7581-9751-1 |language=en}}
- "One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep."{{cite letter |author=Chekhov, A.P. |author-link=Anton Chekhov |recipient=Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev (pseudonym of A.S. Gruzinsky) |date=1 November 1889 |title=[no title cited]}}
- cited by {{cite web |title=Quotations cited by Isaiah Berlin |quote=One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it. |website=Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library, Wolfson College, Oxford, University of Oxford |url=http://berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk/lists/quotations/quotations_by_ib.html}}{{cite book |author=Чехов, А.П. |date=1 November 1889 |section=Чехов — Лазареву (Грузинскому) А. С. |title=Чехов А. П. Полное собрание сочинений и писем |publisher=АН СССР. Ин-т мировой лит. |url=http://chehov.niv.ru/chehov/letters/1888-1889/letter-707.htm}}{{cite book |author=Goldberg, Leah |title=Russian Literature in the Nineteenth Century: Essays |publisher=Magnes Press, Hebrew University |year=1976 |page=163 |author-link=Leah Goldberg}}
{{small|(Here the "gun" refers to a monologue that Chekhov deemed superfluous and unrelated to the rest of the play.)}} - "Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." — Sergius Shchukin (1911) Memoirs.{{cite journal |author=Щукин, С.Н. [Shchukin, Sergius] |year=1911 |title=Из воспоминаний об А.П. Чехове |trans-title=Memoirs |journal=Русская Мысль [Russian Thought] |page=44}}
- "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there."{{cite journal |last=Gurliand |first=Ilia |date=11 July 1904 |title=Reminiscences of A.P. Chekhov |journal=Театр и искусство (Teatr i iskusstvo - Theater and art) |issue=28 |page=521}}
Criticism
Ernest Hemingway mocked the principle in his essay "The art of the short story",[https://www.theparisreview.org/letters-essays/3267/the-art-of-the-short-story-ernest-hemingway The Art of the Short Story] Ernest Hemingway. giving the example of two characters that are introduced and then never mentioned again in his short story "Fifty Grand". Hemingway valued inconsequential details, but conceded that readers will inevitably seek symbolism and significance in them.{{cite thesis |author=Hunter, Adrian C. |date=April 1999 |title=Complete with Missing Parts: Modernist short fiction as interrogative text |pages=126–127, 201–203 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=University of Glasgow |series=Department of English Literature |place=Glasgow, UK |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9656160.pdf |access-date=2019-05-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209144910/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9656160.pdf |archive-date=2017-12-09}} Writer Andrea Phillips noted that assigning a single role for every detail makes a story predictable and leaves it "colorless".{{cite web |author=Phillips, Andrea |date=2010-10-06 |title=The case against Chekhov's gun |website=Andrea Phillips |via=deusexmachinatio.com |type=blog |language=en-US |url=http://www.deusexmachinatio.com/blog/2010/10/6/the-case-against-chekhovs-gun.html |access-date=2021-09-24}}
Writing in 1999, Donald Rayfield noted that in Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard, contrary to Chekhov's own advice, there are two loaded firearms that are not fired. The unfired rifles tie into the play's theme of lacking or incomplete action.{{cite book |author=Rayfield, Donald |author-link=Donald Rayfield |year=2000 |title=Anton Chekhov: A Life |page=580 |publisher=Northwestern University Press}}{{cite book |author=Rayfield, Donald |author-link=Donald Rayfield |year=1999 |title=Understanding Chekhov: A critical study of Chekhov's prose and drama |page=251 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press}}
See also
- Concision – the principle of brevity in writing
- Foreshadowing – a plot device where what is to come is hinted at, to arouse interest or to guard against disappointment
- MacGuffin – a plot motivator that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself
- Occam's razor – the idea that explanatory mechanisms should not be posited without being necessary.
- Red herring – drawing attention to a certain element to mislead
- Shaggy dog story – a long-winded anecdote designed to lure the audience into a false sense of expectation, only to disappoint them with an anticlimactic ending or punchline.
- Deus ex machina – a plot element introduced unexpectedly to resolve an otherwise unsolvable situation