Like the rest of Chekhov's full-length plays, 'The Seagull' relies upon an ensemble cast of diverse, fully developed characters. In opposition to much of the melodramatic theater of the nineteenth century, lurid actions (such as Treplev's suicide attempts) are kept offstage. Characters tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing them directly.

The play has a strong intertextual relationship with Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Arkadina and Treplev quote lines from it before the play-within-a-play in the first act. There are many allusions to Shakespearean plot details as well. For instance, Treplev seeks to win his mother back from the usurping older man Trigorin much as Hamlet tries to win Queen Gertrude back from Uncle Claudius.