NINA: What do you mean you kissed the ground I walked on? I don’t deserve to live. I’m so tired. If only I could rest – I need rest! I’m the seagull – but I’m not really. I’m an actress. Yes. (She hears Arkadina and Trigorin laughing.) So he’s here, too…well, it doesn’t matter. He never believed in theatre, he always laughed at me for my dreams of being famous, and bit by bit I stopped believing, too, and lost heart…there were all the other things to worry about – love, jealousy…and always the worry about the baby. I became trivial and commonplace. My work lost all meaning. On stage I didn’t know what to do with my hands or how to stand, I couldn’t control my voice…You can’t know what it’s like when you’re up there feeling you’re acting so badly. The seagull. No, that’s not me…you remember how you once shot that seagull? A man happened to come along and see her, and having nothing much to do, destroyed her. Idea for a short story… No, that’s not it … what was I saying? Oh yes, about acting… I’m not like that anymore. I’ve become a real actress. I love acting, when I’m on stage I feel drunk on the sheer joy of it, and I feel beautiful. While I’ve been back here I’ve spent a lot of time walking and thinking – and every day I’ve felt my spirit getting stronger. What I’ve realized, Kostya, is that, with us, whether we’re writers or actors, what really counts is not dreaming about fame and glory…but stamina: knowing how to keep going despite everything, and having faith in yourself – I’ve got faith in myself now and that’s helped the pain, and when I think to myself, "You’re on the stage!’ then I’m not afraid of anything life can to do to me.