The Three Sisters is about the three Prozorov sisters. Notice Chekhov doesn't call the play Irina or Masha or Olga or even The Prozorov Sisters. He's purposely created multiple protagonists; he's interested in comparing and contrasting the way they each deal with the challenges of life. Think about it: Harry Potter wouldn't be as sweet a wizard without his pals Hermione and Ron, right? Well, it's basically the same here. Just with less butterbeer and more vodka.
So here's a preview: Olga, the eldest, lives in the past, filled with regret; Masha lives in the present and makes impulsive decisions that hurt others. And Irina, the youngest, is always looking to the future, dreaming up some new plan that's going to fix everything—think moving to Moscow, finding work, teaching. Yeah, it sounds depressing already. But Chekhov paints a pretty powerful picture of three ladies at the turn of the twentieth century, and there's even some humor in there, if you know where to find it (and trust us, we Shmoopers always know). Anyway, there’s a lot of lore surrounding the origin of The Three Sisters. It’s been said that Chekhov was inspired by the lives of the Brontë sisters—Anne, Emily, and Charlotte, the nineteenth-century authors of Agnes Grey, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. The three lived in solitude and published under male pseudonyms. The Brontës also had a talented brother, Branwell, who, like Andrey in Three Sisters, lived a life of disappointment. So like that, but the Russian version. Trust us.