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+**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Uncle Vanya, by Anton Checkov**
+#5 in our series by Anton Checkhov    [Chekov, Tchekhov, Tchekoff]
+
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+Uncle Vanya
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+by Anton Checkov
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+May, 1999  [Etext #1756]
+[Date last updated: January 31, 2004]
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+
+
+
+Uncle Vanya
+
+by Anton Checkov
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE VANYA
+
+SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE
+
+IN FOUR ACTS
+
+CHARACTERS
+
+ALEXANDER SEREBRAKOFF, a retired professor
+
+HELENA, his wife, twenty-seven years old
+
+SONIA, his daughter by a former marriage
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA, widow of a privy councilor, and mother of
+Serebrakoff's first wife
+
+IVAN (VANYA) VOITSKI, her son
+
+MICHAEL ASTROFF, a doctor
+
+ILIA (WAFFLES) TELEGIN, an impoverished landowner
+
+MARINA, an old nurse
+
+A WORKMAN
+
+The scene is laid on SEREBRAKOFF'S country place
+
+UNCLE VANYA
+
+ACT I
+
+A country house on a terrace. In front of it a garden. In an
+avenue of trees, under an old poplar, stands a table set for tea,
+with a samovar, etc. Some benches and chairs stand near the
+table. On one of them is lying a guitar. A hammock is swung near
+the table. It is three o'clock in the afternoon of a cloudy day.
+
+MARINA, a quiet, grey-haired, little old woman, is sitting at the
+table knitting a stocking.
+
+ASTROFF is walking up and down near her.
+
+MARINA. [Pouring some tea into a glass] Take a little tea, my
+son.
+
+ASTROFF. [Takes the glass from her unwillingly] Somehow, I don't
+seem to want any.
+
+MARINA. Then will you have a little vodka instead?
+
+ASTROFF. No, I don't drink vodka every day, and besides, it is
+too hot now. [A pause] Tell me, nurse, how long have we known
+each other?
+
+MARINA. [Thoughtfully] Let me see, how long is it? Lord--help me
+to remember. You first came here, into our parts--let me
+think--when was it? Sonia's mother was still alive--it was two
+winters before she died; that was eleven years
+ago--[thoughtfully] perhaps more.
+
+ASTROFF. Have I changed much since then?
+
+MARINA. Oh, yes. You were handsome and young then, and now you
+are an old man and not handsome any more. You drink, too.
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, ten years have made me another man. And why?
+Because I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn till
+dusk. I know no rest; at night I tremble under my blankets for
+fear of being dragged out to visit some one who is sick; I have
+toiled without repose or a day's freedom since I have known you;
+could I help growing old? And then, existence is tedious, anyway;
+it is a senseless, dirty business, this life, and goes heavily.
+Every one about here is silly, and after living with them for two
+or three years one grows silly oneself. It is inevitable.
+[Twisting his moustache] See what a long moustache I have grown.
+A foolish, long moustache. Yes, I am as silly as the rest, nurse,
+but not as stupid; no, I have not grown stupid. Thank God, my
+brain is not addled yet, though my feelings have grown numb. I
+ask nothing, I need nothing, I love no one, unless it is yourself
+alone. [He kisses her head] I had a nurse just like you when I
+was a child.
+
+MARINA. Don't you want a bite of something to eat?
+
+ASTROFF. No. During the third week of Lent I went to the epidemic
+at Malitskoi. It was eruptive typhoid. The peasants were all
+lying side by side in their huts, and the calves and pigs were
+running about the floor among the sick. Such dirt there was, and
+smoke! Unspeakable! I slaved among those people all day, not a
+crumb passed my lips, but when I got home there was still no rest
+for me; a switchman was carried in from the railroad; I laid him
+on the operating table and he went and died in my arms under
+chloroform, and then my feelings that should have been deadened
+awoke again, my conscience tortured me as if I had killed the
+man. I sat down and closed my eyes--like this--and thought: will
+our descendants two hundred years from now, for whom we are
+breaking the road, remember to give us a kind word? No, nurse,
+they will forget.
+
+MARINA. Man is forgetful, but God remembers.
+
+ASTROFF. Thank you for that. You have spoken the truth.
+
+Enter VOITSKI from the house. He has been asleep after dinner and
+looks rather dishevelled. He sits down on the bench and
+straightens his collar.
+
+VOITSKI. H'm. Yes. [A pause] Yes.
+
+ASTROFF. Have you been asleep?
+
+VOITSKI. Yes, very much so. [He yawns] Ever since the Professor
+and his wife have come, our daily life seems to have jumped the
+track. I sleep at the wrong time, drink wine, and eat all sorts
+of messes for luncheon and dinner. It isn't wholesome. Sonia and
+I used to work together and never had an idle moment, but now
+Sonia works alone and I only eat and drink and sleep. Something
+is wrong.
+
+MARINA. [Shaking her head] Such a confusion in the house! The
+Professor gets up at twelve, the samovar is kept boiling all the
+morning, and everything has to wait for him. Before they came we
+used to have dinner at one o'clock, like everybody else, but now
+we have it at seven. The Professor sits up all night writing and
+reading, and suddenly, at two o'clock, there goes the bell!
+Heavens, what is that? The Professor wants some tea! Wake the
+servants, light the samovar! Lord, what disorder!
+
+ASTROFF. Will they be here long?
+
+VOITSKI. A hundred years! The Professor has decided to make his
+home here.
+
+MARINA. Look at this now! The samovar has been on the table for
+two hours, and they are all out walking!
+
+VOITSKI. All right, don't get excited; here they come.
+
+Voices are heard approaching. SEREBRAKOFF, HELENA, SONIA, and
+TELEGIN come in from the depths of the garden, returning from
+their walk.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Superb! Superb! What beautiful views!
+
+TELEGIN. They are wonderful, your Excellency.
+
+SONIA. To-morrow we shall go into the woods, shall we, papa?
+
+VOITSKI. Ladies and gentlemen, tea is ready.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Won't you please be good enough to send my tea into
+the library? I still have some work to finish.
+
+SONIA. I am sure you will love the woods.
+
+HELENA, SEREBRAKOFF, and SONIA go into the house. TELEGIN sits
+down at the table beside MARINA.
+
+VOITSKI. There goes our learned scholar on a hot, sultry day like
+this, in his overcoat and goloshes and carrying an umbrella!
+
+ASTROFF. He is trying to take good care of his health.
+
+VOITSKI. How lovely she is! How lovely! I have never in my life
+seen a more beautiful woman.
+
+TELEGIN. Do you know, Marina, that as I walk in the fields or in
+the shady garden, as I look at this table here, my heart swells
+with unbounded happiness. The weather is enchanting, the birds
+are singing, we are all living in peace and contentment--what
+more could the soul desire? [Takes a glass of tea.]
+
+VOITSKI. [Dreaming] Such eyes--a glorious woman!
+
+ASTROFF. Come, Ivan, tell us something.
+
+VOITSKI. [Indolently] What shall I tell you?
+
+ASTROFF. Haven't you any news for us?
+
+VOITSKI. No, it is all stale. I am just the same as usual, or
+perhaps worse, because I have become lazy. I don't do anything
+now but croak like an old raven. My mother, the old magpie, is
+still chattering about the emancipation of woman, with one eye on
+her grave and the other on her learned books, in which she is
+always looking for the dawn of a new life.
+
+ASTROFF. And the Professor?
+
+VOITSKI. The Professor sits in his library from morning till
+night, as usual--
+
+   "Straining the mind, wrinkling the brow,
+    We write, write, write,
+    Without respite
+    Or hope of praise in the future or now."
+
+Poor paper! He ought to write his autobiography; he would make a
+really splendid subject for a book! Imagine it, the life of a
+retired professor, as stale as a piece of hardtack, tortured by
+gout, headaches, and rheumatism, his liver bursting with jealousy
+and envy, living on the estate of his first wife, although he
+hates it, because he can't afford to live in town. He is
+everlastingly whining about his hard lot, though, as a matter of
+fact, he is extraordinarily lucky. He is the son of a common
+deacon and has attained the professor's chair, become the
+son-in-law of a senator, is called "your Excellency," and so on.
+But I'll tell you something; the man has been writing on art for
+twenty-five years, and he doesn't know the very first thing about
+it. For twenty-five years he has been chewing on other men's
+thoughts about realism, naturalism, and all such foolishness; for
+twenty-five years he has been reading and writing things that
+clever men have long known and stupid ones are not interested in;
+for twenty-five years he has been making his imaginary mountains
+out of molehills. And just think of the man's self-conceit and
+presumption all this time! For twenty-five years he has been
+masquerading in false clothes and has now retired absolutely
+unknown to any living soul; and yet see him! stalking across the
+earth like a demi-god!
+
+ASTROFF. I believe you envy him.
+
+VOITSKI. Yes, I do. Look at the success he has had with women!
+Don Juan himself was not more favoured. His first wife, who was
+my sister, was a beautiful, gentle being, as pure as the blue
+heaven there above us, noble, great-hearted, with more admirers
+than he has pupils, and she loved him as only beings of angelic
+purity can love those who are as pure and beautiful as
+themselves. His mother-in-law, my mother, adores him to this day,
+and he still inspires a sort of worshipful awe in her. His second
+wife is, as you see, a brilliant beauty; she married him in his
+old age and has surrendered all the glory of her beauty and
+freedom to him. Why? What for?
+
+ASTROFF. Is she faithful to him?
+
+VOITSKI. Yes, unfortunately she is.
+
+ASTROFF. Why unfortunately?
+
+VOITSKI. Because such fidelity is false and unnatural, root and
+branch. It sounds well, but there is no logic in it. It is
+thought immoral for a woman to deceive an old husband whom she
+hates, but quite moral for her to strangle her poor youth in her
+breast and banish every vital desire from her heart.
+
+TELEGIN. [In a tearful voice] Vanya, I don't like to hear you
+talk so. Listen, Vanya; every one who betrays husband or wife is
+faithless, and could also betray his country.
+
+VOITSKI. [Crossly] Turn off the tap, Waffles.
+
+TELEGIN. No, allow me, Vanya. My wife ran away with a lover on
+the day after our wedding, because my exterior was
+unprepossessing. I have never failed in my duty since then. I
+love her and am true to her to this day. I help her all I can and
+have given my fortune to educate the daughter of herself and her
+lover. I have forfeited my happiness, but I have kept my pride.
+And she? Her youth has fled, her beauty has faded according to
+the laws of nature, and her lover is dead. What has she kept?
+
+HELENA and SONIA come in; after them comes MME. VOITSKAYA
+carrying a book. She sits down and begins to read. Some one hands
+her a glass of tea which she drinks without looking up.
+
+SONIA. [Hurriedly, to the nurse] There are some peasants waiting
+out there. Go and see what they want. I shall pour the tea.
+[Pours out some glasses of tea.]
+
+MARINA goes out. HELENA takes a glass and sits drinking in the
+hammock.
+
+ASTROFF. I have come to see your husband. You wrote me that he
+had rheumatism and I know not what else, and that he was very
+ill, but he appears to be as lively as a cricket.
+
+HELENA. He had a fit of the blues yesterday evening and
+complained of pains in his legs, but he seems all right again
+to-day.
+
+ASTROFF. And I galloped over here twenty miles at break-neck
+speed! No matter, though, it is not the first time. Once here,
+however, I am going to stay until to-morrow, and at any rate
+sleep _quantum satis._
+
+SONIA. Oh, splendid! You so seldom spend the night with us. Have
+you had dinner yet?
+
+ASTROFF. No.
+
+SONIA. Good. So you will have it with us. We dine at seven now.
+[Drinks her tea] This tea is cold!
+
+TELEGIN. Yes, the samovar has grown cold.
+
+HELENA. Don't mind, Monsieur Ivan, we will drink cold tea, then.
+
+TELEGIN. I beg your pardon, my name is not Ivan, but Ilia,
+ma'am--Ilia Telegin, or Waffles, as I am sometimes called on
+account of my pock-marked face. I am Sonia's godfather, and his
+Excellency, your husband, knows me very well. I now live with
+you, ma'am, on this estate, and perhaps you will be so good as to
+notice that I dine with you every day.
+
+SONIA. He is our great help, our right-hand man. [Tenderly] Dear
+godfather, let me pour you some tea.
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. Oh! Oh!
+
+SONIA. What is it, grandmother?
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. I forgot to tell Alexander--I have lost my
+memory--I received a letter to-day from Paul Alexevitch in
+Kharkoff. He has sent me a new pamphlet.
+
+ASTROFF. Is it interesting?
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. Yes, but strange. He refutes the very theories
+which he defended seven years ago. It is appalling!
+
+VOITSKI. There is nothing appalling about it. Drink your tea,
+mamma.
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. It seems you never want to listen to what I have
+to say. Pardon me, Jean, but you have changed so in the last year
+that I hardly know you. You used to be a man of settled
+convictions and had an illuminating personality---
+
+VOITSKI. Oh, yes. I had an illuminating personality, which
+illuminated no one. [A pause] I had an illuminating personality!
+You couldn't say anything more biting. I am forty-seven years
+old. Until last year I endeavoured, as you do now, to blind my
+eyes by your pedantry to the truths of life. But now--Oh, if you
+only knew! If you knew how I lie awake at night, heartsick and
+angry, to think how stupidly I have wasted my time when I might
+have been winning from life everything which my old age now
+forbids.
+
+SONIA. Uncle Vanya, how dreary!
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. [To her son] You speak as if your former
+convictions were somehow to blame, but you yourself, not they,
+were at fault. You have forgotten that a conviction, in itself,
+is nothing but a dead letter. You should have done something.
+
+VOITSKI. Done something! Not every man is capable of being a
+writer _perpetuum mobile_ like your Herr Professor.
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. What do you mean by that?
+
+SONIA. [Imploringly] Mother! Uncle Vanya! I entreat you!
+
+VOITSKI. I am silent. I apologise and am silent. [A pause.]
+
+HELENA. What a fine day! Not too hot. [A pause.]
+
+VOITSKI. A fine day to hang oneself.
+
+TELEGIN tunes the guitar. MARINA appears near the house, calling
+the chickens.
+
+MARINA. Chick, chick, chick!
+
+SONIA. What did the peasants want, nurse?
+
+MARINA. The same old thing, the same old nonsense. Chick, chick,
+chick!
+
+SONIA. Why are you calling the chickens?
+
+MARINA. The speckled hen has disappeared with her chicks. I am
+afraid the crows have got her.
+
+TELEGIN plays a polka. All listen in silence. Enter WORKMAN.
+
+WORKMAN. Is the doctor here? [To ASTROFF] Excuse me, sir, but I
+have been sent to fetch you.
+
+ASTROFF. Where are you from?
+
+WORKMAN. The factory.
+
+ASTROFF. [Annoyed] Thank you. There is nothing for it, then, but
+to go. [Looking around him for his cap] Damn it, this is
+annoying!
+
+SONIA. Yes, it is too bad, really. You must come back to dinner
+from the factory.
+
+ASTROFF. No, I won't be able to do that. It will be too late. Now
+where, where-- [To the WORKMAN] Look here, my man, get me a glass
+of vodka, will you? [The WORKMAN goes out] Where--where-- [Finds
+his cap] One of the characters in Ostroff's plays is a man with a
+long moustache and short wits, like me. However, let me bid you
+good-bye, ladies and gentlemen. [To HELENA] I should be really
+delighted if you would come to see me some day with Miss Sonia.
+My estate is small, but if you are interested in such things I
+should like to show you a nursery and seed-bed whose like you
+will not find within a thousand miles of here. My place is
+surrounded by government forests. The forester is old and always
+ailing, so I superintend almost all the work myself.
+
+HELENA. I have always heard that you were very fond of the woods.
+Of course one can do a great deal of good by helping to preserve
+them, but does not that work interfere with your real calling?
+
+ASTROFF. God alone knows what a man's real calling is.
+
+HELENA. And do you find it interesting?
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, very.
+
+VOITSKI. [Sarcastically] Oh, extremely!
+
+HELENA. You are still young, not over thirty-six or seven, I
+should say, and I suspect that the woods do not interest you as
+much as you say they do. I should think you would find them
+monotonous.
+
+SONIA. No, the work is thrilling. Dr. Astroff watches over the
+old woods and sets out new plantations every year, and he has
+already received a diploma and a bronze medal. If you will listen
+to what he can tell you, you will agree with him entirely. He
+says that forests are the ornaments of the earth, that they teach
+mankind to understand beauty and attune his mind to lofty
+sentiments. Forests temper a stern climate, and in countries
+where the climate is milder, less strength is wasted in the
+battle with nature, and the people are kind and gentle. The
+inhabitants of such countries are handsome, tractable, sensitive,
+graceful in speech and gesture. Their philosophy is joyous, art
+and science blossom among them, their treatment of women is full
+of exquisite nobility---
+
+VOITSKI. [Laughing] Bravo! Bravo! All that is very pretty, but it
+is also unconvincing. So, my friend [To ASTROFF] you must let me
+go on burning firewood in my stoves and building my sheds of
+planks.
+
+ASTROFF. You can burn peat in your stoves and build your sheds of
+stone. Oh, I don't object, of course, to cutting wood from
+necessity, but why destroy the forests? The woods of Russia are
+trembling under the blows of the axe. Millions of trees have
+perished. The homes of the wild animals and birds have been
+desolated; the rivers are shrinking, and many beautiful
+landscapes are gone forever. And why? Because men are too lazy
+and stupid to stoop down and pick up their fuel from the ground.
+[To HELENA] Am I not right, Madame? Who but a stupid barbarian
+could burn so much beauty in his stove and destroy that which he
+cannot make? Man is endowed with reason and the power to create,
+so that he may increase that which has been given him, but until
+now he has not created, but demolished. The forests are
+disappearing, the rivers are running dry, the game
+ is exterminated, the climate is spoiled, and the earth becomes
+poorer and uglier every day. [To VOITSKI] I read irony in your
+eye; you do not take what I am saying seriously, and--and--after
+all, it may very well be nonsense. But when I pass
+peasant-forests that I have preserved from the axe, or hear the
+rustling of the young plantations set out with my own hands, I
+feel as if I had had some small share in improving the climate,
+and that if mankind is happy a thousand years from now I will
+have been a little bit responsible for their happiness. When I
+plant a little birch tree and then see it budding into young
+green and swaying in the wind, my heart swells with pride and
+I--[Sees the WORKMAN, who is bringing him a glass of vodka on a
+tray] however--[He drinks] I must be off. Probably it is all
+nonsense, anyway. Good-bye.
+
+He goes toward the house. SONIA takes his arm and goes with him.
+
+SONIA. When are you coming to see us again?
+
+ASTROFF. I can't say.
+
+SONIA. In a month?
+
+ASTROFF and SONIA go into the house. HELENA and VOITSKI walk over
+to the terrace.
+
+HELENA. You have behaved shockingly again. Ivan, what sense was
+there in teasing your mother and talking about _perpetuum
+mobile?_ And at breakfast you quarreled with Alexander again.
+Really, your behaviour is too petty.
+
+VOITSKI. But if I hate him?
+
+HELENA. You hate Alexander without reason; he is like every one
+else, and no worse than you are.
+
+VOITSKI. If you could only see your face, your gestures! Oh, how
+tedious your life must be.
+
+HELENA. It is tedious, yes, and dreary! You all abuse my husband
+and look on me with compassion; you think, "Poor woman, she is
+married to an old man." How well I understand your compassion! As
+Astroff said just now, see how you thoughtlessly destroy the
+forests, so that there will soon be none left. So you also
+destroy mankind, and soon fidelity and purity and self-sacrifice
+will have vanished with the woods. Why cannot you look calmly at
+a woman unless she is yours? Because, the doctor was right, you
+are all possessed by a devil of destruction; you have no mercy on
+the woods or the birds or on women or on one another.
+
+VOITSKI. I don't like your philosophy.
+
+HELENA. That doctor has a sensitive, weary face--an interesting
+face. Sonia evidently likes him, and she is in love with him, and
+I can understand it. This is the third time he has been here
+since I have come, and I have not had a real talk with him yet or
+made much of him. He thinks I am disagreeable. Do you know, Ivan,
+the reason you and I are such friends? I think it is because we
+are both lonely and unfortunate. Yes, unfortunate. Don't look at
+me in that way, I don't like it.
+
+VOITSKI. How can I look at you otherwise when I love you? You are
+my joy, my life, and my youth. I know that my chances of being
+loved in return are infinitely small, do not exist, but I ask
+nothing of you. Only let me look at you, listen to your voice--
+
+HELENA. Hush, some one will overhear you.
+
+[They go toward the house.]
+
+VOITSKI. [Following her] Let me speak to you of my love, do not
+drive me away, and this alone will be my greatest happiness!
+
+HELENA. Ah! This is agony!
+
+TELEGIN strikes the strings of his guitar and plays a polka. MME.
+VOITSKAYA writes something on the leaves of her pamphlet.
+
+The curtain falls.
+
+ACT II
+
+The dining-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. It is night. The tapping
+of the WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden. SEREBRAKOFF is
+dozing in an arm-chair by an open window and HELENA is sitting
+beside him, also half asleep.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Rousing himself] Who is here? Is it you, Sonia?
+
+HELENA. It is I.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Oh, it is you, Nelly. This pain is intolerable.
+
+HELENA. Your shawl has slipped down. [She wraps up his legs in
+the shawl] Let me shut the window.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. No, leave it open; I am suffocating. I dreamt just
+now that my left leg belonged to some one else, and it hurt so
+that I woke. I don't believe this is gout, it is more like
+rheumatism. What time is it?
+
+HELENA. Half past twelve. [A pause.]
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I want you to look for Batushka's works in the
+library to-morrow. I think we have him.
+
+HELENA. What is that?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Look for Batushka to-morrow morning; we used to have
+him, I remember. Why do I find it so hard to breathe?
+
+HELENA. You are tired; this is the second night you have had no
+sleep.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. They say that Turgenieff got angina of the heart
+from gout. I am afraid I am getting angina too. Oh, damn this
+horrible, accursed old age! Ever since I have been old I have
+been hateful to myself, and I am sure, hateful to you all as
+well.
+
+HELENA. You speak as if we were to blame for your being old.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I am more hateful to you than to any one.
+
+HELENA gets up and walks away from him, sitting down at a
+distance.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. You are quite right, of course. I am not an idiot; I
+can understand you. You are young and healthy and beautiful, and
+longing for life, and I am an old dotard, almost a dead man
+already. Don't I know it? Of course I see that it is foolish for
+me to live so long, but wait! I shall soon set you all free. My
+life cannot drag on much longer.
+
+HELENA. You are overtaxing my powers of endurance. Be quiet, for
+God's sake!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. It appears that, thanks to me, everybody's power of
+endurance is being overtaxed; everybody is miserable, only I am
+blissfully triumphant. Oh, yes, of course!
+
+HELENA. Be quiet! You are torturing me.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I torture everybody. Of course.
+
+HELENA. [Weeping] This is unbearable! Tell me, what is it you
+want me to do?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Nothing.
+
+HELENA. Then be quiet, please.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. It is funny that everybody listens to Ivan and his
+old idiot of a mother, but the moment I open my lips you all
+begin to feel ill-treated. You can't even stand the sound of my
+voice. Even if I am hateful, even if I am a selfish tyrant,
+haven't I the right to be one at my age? Haven't I deserved it?
+Haven't I, I ask you, the right to be respected, now that I am
+old?
+
+HELENA. No one is disputing your rights. [The window slams in the
+wind] The wind is rising, I must shut the window. [She shuts it]
+We shall have rain in a moment. Your rights have never been
+questioned by anybody.
+
+The WATCHMAN in the garden sounds his rattle.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I have spent my life working in the interests of
+learning. I am used to my library and the lecture hall and to the
+esteem and admiration of my colleagues. Now I suddenly find
+myself plunged in this wilderness, condemned to see the same
+stupid people from morning till night and listen to their futile
+conversation. I want to live; I long for success and fame and the
+stir of the world, and here I am in exile! Oh, it is dreadful to
+spend every moment grieving for the lost past, to see the success
+of others and sit here with nothing to do but to fear death. I
+cannot stand it! It is more than I can bear. And you will not
+even forgive me for being old!
+
+HELENA. Wait, have patience; I shall he old myself in four or
+five years.
+
+SONIA comes in.
+
+SONIA. Father, you sent for Dr. Astroff, and now when he comes
+you refuse to see him. It is not nice to give a man so much
+trouble for nothing.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. What do I care about your Astroff? He understands
+medicine about as well as I understand astronomy.
+
+SONIA. We can't send for the whole medical faculty, can we, to
+treat your gout?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I won't talk to that madman!
+
+SONIA. Do as you please. It's all the same to me. [She sits
+down.]
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. What time is it?
+
+HELENA. One o'clock.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. It is stifling in here. Sonia, hand me that bottle
+on the table.
+
+SONIA. Here it is. [She hands him a bottle of medicine.]
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Crossly] No, not that one! Can't you understand me?
+Can't I ask you to do a thing?
+
+SONIA. Please don't be captious with me. Some people may like it,
+but you must spare me, if you please, because I don't. Besides, I
+haven't the time; we are cutting the hay to-morrow and I must get
+up early.
+
+VOITSKI comes in dressed in a long gown and carrying a candle.
+
+VOITSKI. A thunderstorm is coming up. [The lightning flashes]
+There it is! Go to bed, Helena and Sonia. I have come to take
+your place.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Frightened] No, n o, no! Don't leave me alone with
+him! Oh, don't. He will begin to lecture me.
+
+VOITSKI. But you must give them a little rest. They have not
+slept for two nights.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Then let them go to bed, but you go away too! Thank
+you. I implore you to go. For the sake of our former friendship
+do not protest against going. We will talk some other time---
+
+VOITSKI. Our former friendship! Our former---
+
+SONIA. Hush, Uncle Vanya!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [To his wife] My darling, don't leave me alone with
+him. He will begin to lecture me.
+
+VOITSKI. This is ridiculous.
+
+MARINA comes in carrying a candle.
+
+SONIA. You must go to bed, nurse, it is late.
+
+MARINA. I haven't cleared away the tea things. Can't go to bed
+yet.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. No one can go to bed. They are all worn out, only I
+enjoy perfect happiness.
+
+MARINA. [Goes up to SEREBRAKOFF and speaks tenderly] What's the
+matter, master? Does it hurt? My own legs are aching too, oh, so
+badly. [Arranges his shawl about his legs] You have had this
+illness such a long time. Sonia's dead mother used to stay awake
+with you too, and wear herself out for you. She loved you dearly.
+[A pause] Old people want to be pitied as much as young ones, but
+nobody cares about them somehow. [She kisses SEREBRAKOFF'S
+shoulder] Come, master, let me give you some linden-tea and warm
+your poor feet for you. I shall pray to God for you.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Touched] Let us go, Marina.
+
+MARINA. My own feet are aching so badly, oh, so badly! [She and
+SONIA lead SEREBRAKOFF out] Sonia's mother used to wear herself
+out with sorrow and weeping. You were still little and foolish
+then, Sonia. Come, come, master.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF, SONIA and MARINA go out.
+
+HELENA. I am absolutely exhausted by him, and can hardly stand.
+
+VOITSKI. You are exhausted by him, and I am exhausted by my own
+self. I have not slept for three nights.
+
+HELENA. Something is wrong in this house. Your mother hates
+everything but her pamphlets and the professor; the professor is
+vexed, he won't trust me, and fears you; Sonia is angry with her
+father, and with me, and hasn't spoken to me for two weeks; I am
+at the end of my strength, and have come near bursting into tears
+at least twenty times to-day. Something is wrong in this house.
+
+VOITSKI. Leave speculating alone.
+
+HELENA. You are cultured and intelligent, Ivan, and you surely
+understand that the world is not destroyed by villains and
+conflagrations, but by hate and malice and all this spiteful
+tattling. It is your duty to make peace, and not to growl at
+everything.
+
+VOITSKI. Help me first to make peace with myself. My darling!
+[Seizes her hand.]
+
+HELENA. Let go! [She drags her hand away] Go away!
+
+VOITSKI. Soon the rain will be over, and all nature will sigh and
+awake refreshed. Only I am not refreshed by the storm. Day and
+night the thought haunts me like a fiend, that my life is lost
+for ever. My past does not count, because I frittered it away on
+trifles, and the present has so terribly miscarried! What shall I
+do with my life and my love? What is to become of them? This
+wonderful feeling of mine will be wasted and lost as a ray of
+sunlight is lost that falls into a dark chasm, and my life will
+go with it.
+
+HELENA. I am as it were benumbed when you speak to me of your
+love, and I don't know how to answer you. Forgive me, I have
+nothing to say to you. [She tries to go out] Good-night!
+
+VOITSKI. [Barring the way] If you only knew how I am tortured by
+the thought that beside me in this house is another life that is
+being lost forever--it is yours! What are you waiting for? What
+accursed philosophy stands in your way? Oh, understand,
+understand---
+
+HELENA. [Looking at him intently] Ivan, you are drunk!
+
+VOITSKI. Perhaps. Perhaps.
+
+HELENA. Where is the doctor?
+
+VOITSKI. In there, spending the night with me. Perhaps I am
+drunk, perhaps I am; nothing is impossible.
+
+HELENA. Have you just been drinking together? Why do you do that?
+
+VOITSKI. Because in that way I get a taste of life. Let me do it,
+Helena!
+
+HELENA. You never used to drink, and you never used to talk so
+much. Go to bed, I am tired of you.
+
+VOITSKI. [Falling on his knees before her] My sweetheart, my
+beautiful one---
+
+HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! Really, this has become too
+disagreeable.
+
+HELENA goes out. A pause.
+
+VOITSKI [Alone] She is gone! I met her first ten years ago, at
+her sister's house, when she was seventeen and I was
+thirty-seven. Why did I not fall in love with her then and
+propose to her? It would have been so easy! And now she would
+have been my wife. Yes, we would both have been waked to-night by
+the thunderstorm, and she would have been frightened, but I would
+have held her in my arms and whispered: "Don't be afraid! I am
+here." Oh, enchanting dream, so sweet that I laugh to think of
+it. [He laughs] But my God! My head reels! Why am I so old? Why
+won't she understand me? I hate all that rhetoric of hers, that
+morality of indolence, that absurd talk about the destruction of
+the world--- [A pause] Oh, how I have been deceived! For years I
+have worshipped that miserable gout-ridden professor. Sonia and I
+have squeezed this estate dry for his sake. We have bartered our
+butter and curds and peas like misers, and have never kept a
+morsel for ourselves, so that we could scrape enough pennies
+together to send to him. I was proud of him and of his learning;
+I received all his words and writings as inspired, and now? Now
+he has retired, and what is the total of his life? A blank! He is
+absolutely unknown, and his fame has burst like a soap-bubble. I
+have been deceived; I see that now, basely deceived.
+
+ASTROFF comes in. He has his coat on, but is without his
+waistcoat or collar, and is slightly drunk. TELEGIN follows him,
+carrying a guitar.
+
+ASTROFF. Play!
+
+TELEGIN. But every one is asleep.
+
+ASTROFF. Play!
+
+TELEGIN begins to play softly.
+
+ASTROFF. Are you alone here? No women about? [Sings with his arms
+akimbo.]
+
+   "The hut is cold, the fire is dead;
+    Where shall the master lay his head?"
+
+The thunderstorm woke me. It was a heavy shower. What time is it?
+
+VOITSKI. The devil only knows.
+
+ ASTROFF. I thought I heard Helena's voice.
+
+ VOITSKI. She was here a moment ago.
+
+ ASTROFF. What a beautiful woman! [Looking at the medicine
+bottles on the table] Medicine, is it? What a variety we have;
+prescriptions from Moscow, from Kharkoff, from Tula! Why, he has
+been pestering all the towns of Russia with his gout! Is he ill,
+or simply shamming?
+
+ VOITSKI. He is really ill.
+
+ASTROFF. What is the matter with you to-night? You seem sad. Is
+it because you are sorry for the professor?
+
+ VOITSKI. Leave me alone.
+
+ ASTROFF. Or in love with the professor's wife?
+
+ VOITSKI. She is my friend.
+
+ ASTROFF. Already?
+
+ VOITSKI. What do you mean by "already"?
+
+ASTROFF. A woman can only become a man's friend after having
+first been his acquaintance and then his beloved--then she
+becomes his friend.
+
+VOITSKI. What vulgar philosophy!
+
+ASTROFF. What do you mean? Yes, I must confess I am getting
+vulgar, but then, you see, I am drunk. I usually only drink like
+this once a month. At such times my audacity and temerity know no
+bounds. I feel capable of anything. I attempt the most difficult
+operations and do them magnificently. The most brilliant plans
+for the future take shape in my head. I am no longer a poor fool
+of a doctor, but mankind's greatest benefactor. I evolve my own
+system of philosophy and all of you seem to crawl at my feet like
+so many insects or microbes. [To TELEGIN] Play, Waffles!
+
+TELEGIN. My dear boy, I would with all my heart, but do listen to
+reason; everybody in the house is asleep.
+
+ASTROFF. Play!
+
+TELEGIN plays softly.
+
+ASTROFF. I want a drink. Come, we still have some brandy left.
+And then, as soon as it is day, you will come home with me. [He
+sees SONIA, who comes in at that moment.]
+
+ASTROFF. I beg your pardon, I have no collar on.
+
+[He goes out quickly, followed by TELEGIN.
+
+SONIA. Uncle Vanya, you and the doctor have been drinking! The
+good fellows have been getting together! It is all very well for
+him, he has always done it, but why do you follow his example? It
+looks dreadfully at your age.
+
+VOITSKI. Age has nothing to do with it. When real life is
+ wanting one must create an illusion. It is better than nothing.
+
+SONIA. Our hay is all cut and rotting in these daily rains, and
+here you are busy creating illusions! You have given up the farm
+altogether. I have done all the work alone until I am at the end
+of my strength--[Frightened] Uncle! Your eyes are full of tears!
+
+VOITSKI. Tears? Nonsense, there are no tears in my eyes. You
+looked at me then just as your dead mother used to, my
+darling--[He eagerly kisses her face and hands] My sister, my
+dearest sister, where are you now? Ah, if you only knew, if you
+only knew!
+
+SONIA. If she only knew what, Uncle?
+
+VOITSKI. My heart is bursting. It is awful. No matter, though. I
+must go. [He goes out.]
+
+SONIA. [Knocks at the door] Dr. Astroff! Are you awake? Please
+come here for a minute.
+
+ASTROFF. [Behind the door] In a moment.
+
+He appears in a few seconds. He has put on his collar and
+waistcoat.
+
+ASTROFF. What do you want?
+
+SONIA. Drink as much as you please yourself if you don't find it
+revolting, but I implore you not to let my uncle do it. It is bad
+for him.
+
+ASTROFF. Very well; we won't drink any more. I am going home at
+once. That is settled. It will be dawn by the time the horses are
+harnessed.
+
+SONIA. It is still raining; wait till morning.
+
+ASTROFF. The storm is blowing over. This is only the edge of it.
+I must go. And please don't ask me to come and see your father
+any more. I tell him he has gout, and he says it is rheumatism. I
+tell him to lie down, and he sits up. To-day he refused to see me
+at all.
+
+SONIA. He has been spoilt. [She looks in the sideboard] Won't you
+have a bite to eat?
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, please. I believe I will.
+
+SONIA. I love to eat at night. I am sure we shall find something
+in here. They say that he has made a great many conquests in his
+life, and that the women have spoiled him. Here is some cheese
+for you.
+
+[They stand eating by the sideboard.]
+
+ASTROFF. I haven't eaten anything to-day. Your father has a very
+difficult nature. [He takes a bottle out of the sideboard] May I?
+[He pours himself a glass of vodka] We are alone here, and I can
+speak frankly. Do you know, I could not stand living in this
+house for even a month? This atmosphere would stifle me. There is
+your father, entirely absorbed in his books, and his gout; there
+is your Uncle Vanya with his hypochondria, your grandmother, and
+finally, your step-mother--
+
+SONIA. What about her?
+
+ASTROFF. A human being should be entirely beautiful: the face,
+the clothes, the mind, the thoughts. Your step-mother is, of
+course, beautiful to look at, but don't you see? She does nothing
+but sleep and eat and walk and bewitch us, and that is all. She
+has no responsibilities, everything is done for her--am I not
+right? And an idle life can never be a pure one. [A pause]
+However, I may be judging her too severely. Like your Uncle
+Vanya, I am discontented, and so we are both grumblers.
+
+SONIA. Aren't you satisfied with life?
+
+ASTROFF. I like life as life, but I hate and despise it in a
+little Russian country village, and as far as my own personal
+life goes, by heaven! there is absolutely no redeeming feature
+about it. Haven't you noticed if you are riding through a dark
+wood at night and see a little light shining ahead, how you
+forget your fatigue and the darkness and the sharp twigs that
+whip your face? I work, that you know--as no one else in the
+country works. Fate beats me on without rest; at times I suffer
+unendurably and I see no light ahead. I have no hope; I do not
+like people. It is long since I have loved any one.
+
+SONIA. You love no one?
+
+ASTROFF. Not a soul. I only feel a sort of tenderness for your
+old nurse for old-times' sake. The peasants are all alike; they
+are stupid and live in dirt, and the educated people are hard to
+get along with. One gets tired of them. All our good friends are
+petty and shallow and see no farther than their own noses; in one
+word, they are dull. Those that have brains are hysterical,
+devoured with a mania for self-analysis. They whine, they hate,
+they pick faults everywhere with unhealthy sharpness. They sneak
+up to me sideways, look at me out of a corner of the eye, and
+say: "That man is a lunatic," "That man is a wind-bag." Or, if
+they don't know what else to label me with, they say I am
+strange. I like the woods; that is strange. I don't eat meat;
+that is strange, too. Simple, natural relations between man and
+man or man and nature do not exist. [He tries to go out; SONIA
+prevents him.]
+
+SONIA. I beg you, I implore you, not to drink any more!
+
+ASTROFF. Why not?
+
+SONIA. It is so unworthy of you. You are well-bred, your voice is
+sweet, you are even--more than any one I know--handsome. Why do
+you want to resemble the common people that drink and play cards?
+Oh, don't, I beg you! You always say that people do not create
+anything, but only destroy what heaven has given them. Why, oh,
+why, do you destroy yourself? Oh, don't, I implore you not to! I
+entreat you!
+
+ASTROFF. [Gives her his hand] I won't drink any more.
+
+SONIA. Promise me.
+
+ASTROFF. I give you my word of honour.
+
+SONIA. [Squeezing his hand] Thank you.
+
+ASTROFF. I have done with it. You see, I am perfectly sober
+again, and so I shall stay till the end of my life. [He looks his
+watch] But, as I was saying, life holds nothing for me; my race
+is run. I am old, I am tired, I am trivial; my sensibilities are
+dead. I could never attach myself to any one again. I love no
+one, and never shall! Beauty alone has the power to touch me
+still. I am deeply moved by it. Helena could turn my head in a
+day if she wanted to, but that is not love, that is not
+affection--
+
+[He shudders and covers his face with his hands.]
+
+SONIA. What is it?
+
+ASTROFF. Nothing. During Lent one of my patients died under
+chloroform.
+
+SONIA. It is time to forget that. [A pause] Tell me, doctor, if I
+had a friend or a younger sister, and if you knew that she,
+well--loved you, what would you do?
+
+ASTROFF. [Shrugging his shoulders] I don't know. I don't think I
+should do anything. I should make her understand that I could not
+return her love--however, my mind is not bothered about those
+things now. I must start at once if I am ever to get off.
+Good-bye, my dear girl. At this rate we shall stand here talking
+till morning. [He shakes hands with her] I shall go out through
+the sitting-room, because I am afraid your uncle might detain me.
+[He goes out.]
+
+SONIA. [Alone] Not a word! His heart and soul are still locked
+from me, and yet for some reason I am strangely happy. I wonder
+why? [She laughs with pleasure] I told him that he was well-bred
+and handsome and that his voice was sweet. Was that a mistake? I
+can still feel his voice vibrating in the air; it caresses me.
+[Wringing her hands] Oh! how terrible it is to be plain! I am
+plain, I know it. As I came out of church last Sunday I overheard
+a woman say, "She is a dear, noble girl, but what a pity she is
+so ugly!" So ugly!
+
+HELENA comes in and throws open the window.
+
+HELENA. The storm is over. What delicious air! [A pause] Where is
+the doctor?
+
+SONIA. He has gone. [A pause.]
+
+HELENA. Sonia!
+
+SONIA. Yes?
+
+HELENA. How much longer are you going to sulk at me? We have not
+hurt each other. Why not be friends? We have had enough of this.
+
+SONIA. I myself--[She embraces HELENA] Let us make peace.
+
+HELENA. With all my heart. [They are both moved.]
+
+SONIA. Has papa gone to bed?
+
+HELENA. No, he is sitting up in the drawing-room. Heaven knows
+what reason you and I had for not speaking to each other for
+weeks. [Sees the open sideboard] Who left the sideboard open?
+
+SONIA. Dr. Astroff has just had supper.
+
+HELENA. There is some wine. Let us seal our friendship.
+
+SONIA. Yes, let us.
+
+HELENA. Out of one glass. [She fills a wine-glass] So, we are
+friends, are we?
+
+SONIA. Yes. [They drink and kiss each other] I have long wanted
+to make friends, but somehow, I was ashamed to. [She weeps.]
+
+HELENA. Why are you crying?
+
+SONIA. I don't know. It is nothing.
+
+HELENA. There, there, don't cry. [She weeps] Silly! Now I am
+crying too. [A pause] You are angry with me because I seem to
+have married your father for his money, but don't believe the
+gossip you hear. I swear to you I married him for
+ love. I was fascinated by his fame and learning. I know now that
+it was not real love, but it seemed real at the time. I am
+innocent, and yet your clever, suspicious eyes have been
+punishing me for an imaginary crime ever since my marriage.
+
+SONIA. Peace, peace! Let us forget the past.
+
+HELENA. You must not look so at people. It is not becoming to
+you. You must trust people, or life becomes impossible.
+
+SONIA. Tell me truly, as a friend, are you happy?
+
+HELENA. Truly, no.
+
+SONIA. I knew it. One more question: do you wish your husband
+were young?
+
+HELENA. What a child you are! Of course I do. Go on, ask
+something else.
+
+SONIA. Do you like the doctor?
+
+HELENA. Yes, very much indeed.
+
+SONIA. [Laughing] I have a stupid face, haven't I? He has just
+gone out, and his voice is still in my ears; I hear his step; I
+see his face in the dark window. Let me say all I have in my
+heart! But no, I cannot speak of it so loudly. I am ashamed. Come
+to my room and let me tell you there. I seem foolish to you,
+don't I? Talk to me of him.
+
+HELENA. What can I say?
+
+SONIA. He is clever. He can do everything. He can cure the sick,
+and plant woods.
+
+HELENA. It is not a question of medicine and woods, my dear, he
+is a man of genius. Do you know what that means? It means he is
+brave, profound, and of clear insight. He plants a tree and his
+mind travels a thousand years into the future, and he sees
+visions of the happiness of the human race. People like him are
+rare and should be loved. What if he does drink and act roughly
+at times? A man of genius cannot be a saint in Russia. There he
+lives, cut off from the world by cold and storm and endless roads
+of bottomless mud, surrounded by a rough people who are crushed
+by poverty and disease, his life one continuous struggle, with
+never a day's respite; how can a man live like that for forty
+years and keep himself sober and unspotted? [Kissing SONIA] I
+wish you happiness with all my heart; you deserve it. [She gets
+up] As for me, I am a worthless, futile woman. I have always been
+futile; in music, in love, in my husband's house--in a word, in
+everything. When you come to think of it, Sonia, I am really
+very, very unhappy. [Walks excitedly up and down] Happiness can
+never exist for me in this world. Never. Why do you laugh?
+
+SONIA. [Laughing and covering her face with her hands] I am so
+happy, so happy!
+
+HELENA. I want to hear music. I might play a little.
+
+SONIA. Oh, do, do! [She embraces her] I could not possibly go to
+sleep now. Do play!
+
+HELENA. Yes, I will. Your father is still awake. Music irritates
+him when he is ill, but if he says I may, then I shall play a
+little. Go, Sonia, and ask him.
+
+SONIA. Very well.
+
+[She goes out. The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden.]
+
+HELENA. It is long since I have heard music. And now, I shall sit
+and play, and weep like a fool. [Speaking out of the window] Is
+that you rattling out there, Ephim?
+
+VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. It is I.
+
+HELENA. Don't make such a noise. Your master is ill.
+
+VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. I am going away this minute. [Whistles a
+tune.]
+
+SONIA. [Comes back] He says, no.
+
+The curtain falls.
+
+ACT III
+
+The drawing-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. There are three doors:
+one to the right, one to the left, and one in the centre of the
+room. VOITSKI and SONIA are sitting down. HELENA is walking up
+and down, absorbed in thought.
+
+VOITSKI. We were asked by the professor to be here at one
+o'clock. [Looks at his watch] It is now a quarter to one. It
+seems he has some communication to make to the world.
+
+HELENA. Probably a matter of business.
+
+VOITSKI. He never had any business. He writes twaddle, grumbles,
+and eats his heart out with jealousy; that's all he does.
+
+SONIA. [Reproachfully] Uncle!
+
+VOITSKI. All right. I beg your pardon. [He points to HELENA] Look
+at her. Wandering up and down from sheer idleness. A sweet
+picture, really.
+
+HELENA. I wonder you are not bored, droning on in the same key
+from morning till night. [Despairingly] I am dying of this
+tedium. What shall I do?
+
+SONIA. [Shrugging her shoulders] There is plenty to do if you
+would.
+
+HELENA. For instance?
+
+SONIA. You could help run this place, teach the children, care
+for the sick--isn't that enough? Before you and papa came, Uncle
+Vanya and I used to go to market ourselves to deal in flour.
+
+HELENA. I don't know anything about such things, and besides,
+they don't interest me. It is only in novels that women go out
+and teach and heal the peasants; how can I suddenly begin to do
+it?
+
+SONIA. How can you live here and not do it? Wait awhile, you will
+get used to it all. [Embraces her] Don't be sad, dearest.
+[Laughing] You feel miserable and restless, and can't seem to fit
+into this life, and your restlessness is catching. Look at Uncle
+Vanya, he does nothing now but haunt you like a shadow, and I
+have left my work to-day to come here and talk with you. I am
+getting lazy, and don't want to go on with it. Dr. Astroff hardly
+ever used to come here; it was all we could do to persuade him to
+visit us once a month, and now he has abandoned his forestry and
+his practice, and comes every day. You must be a witch.
+
+VOITSKI. Why should you languish here? Come, my dearest, my
+beauty, be sensible! The blood of a Nixey runs in your veins. Oh,
+won't you let yourself be one? Give your nature the reins for
+once in your life; fall head over ears in love with some other
+water sprite and plunge down head first into a deep pool, so that
+the Herr Professor and all of us may have our hands free again.
+
+HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! How cruel you are! [She tries
+to go out.]
+
+VOITSKI. [Preventing her] There, there, my beauty, I apologise.
+[He kisses her hand] Forgive me.
+
+HELENA. Confess that you would try the patience of an angel.
+
+VOITSKI. As a peace offering I am going to fetch some flowers
+which I picked for you this morning: some autumn roses,
+beautiful, sorrowful roses. [He goes out.]
+
+SONIA. Autumn roses, beautiful, sorrowful roses!
+
+[She and HELENA stand looking out of the window.]
+
+HELENA. September already! How shall we live through the long
+winter here? [A pause] Where is the doctor?
+
+SONIA. He is writing in Uncle Vanya's room. I am glad Uncle Vanya
+has gone out, I want to talk to you about something.
+
+HELENA. About what?
+
+SONIA. About what?
+
+[She lays her head on HELENA'S breast.]
+
+HELENA. [Stroking her hair] There, there, that will do. Don't,
+Sonia.
+
+SONIA. I am ugly!
+
+HELENA. You have lovely hair.
+
+SONIA. Don't say that! [She turns to look at herself in the
+glass] No, when a woman is ugly they always say she has beautiful
+hair or eyes. I have loved him now for six years, I have loved
+him more than one loves one's mother. I seem to hear him beside
+me every moment of the day. I feel the pressure of his hand on
+mine. If I look up, I seem to see him coming, and as you see, I
+run to you to talk of him. He is here every day now, but he never
+looks at me, he does not notice my presence. It is agony. I have
+absolutely no hope, no, no hope. Oh, my God! Give me strength to
+endure. I prayed all last night. I often go up to him and speak
+to him and look into his eyes. My pride is gone. I am not
+mistress of myself. Yesterday I told Uncle Vanya I couldn't
+control myself, and all the servants know it. Every one knows
+that I love him.
+
+HELENA. Does he?
+
+SONIA. No, he never notices me.
+
+HELENA. [Thoughtfully] He is a strange man. Listen, Sonia, will
+you allow me to speak to him? I shall be careful, only hint. [A
+pause] Really, to be in uncertainty all these years! Let me do
+it!
+
+SONIA nods an affirmative.
+
+HELENA. Splendid! It will be easy to find out whether he loves
+you or not. Don't be ashamed, sweetheart, don't worry. I shall be
+careful; he will not notice a thing. We only want to find out
+whether it is yes or no, don't we? [A pause] And if it is no,
+then he must keep away from here, is that so?
+
+SONIA nods.
+
+HELENA. It will be easier not to see him any more. We won't put
+off the examination an instant. He said he had a sketch to show
+me. Go and tell him at once that I want to see him.
+
+SONIA. [In great excitement] Will you tell me the whole truth?
+
+HELENA. Of course I will. I am sure that no matter what it is, it
+will be easier for you to bear than this uncertainty. Trust to
+me, dearest.
+
+SONIA. Yes, yes. I shall say that you want to see his sketch.
+[She starts out, but stops near the door and looks back] No, it
+is better not to know--and yet--there may be hope.
+
+HELENA. What do you say?
+
+SONIA. Nothing. [She goes out.]
+
+HELENA. [Alone] There is no greater sorrow than to know another's
+secret when you cannot help them. [In deep thought] He is
+obviously not in love with her, but why shouldn't he marry her?
+She is not pretty, but she is so clever and pure and good, she
+would make a splendid wife for a country doctor of his years. [A
+pause] I can understand how the poor child feels. She lives here
+in this desperate loneliness with no one around her except these
+colourless shadows that go mooning about talking nonsense and
+knowing nothing except that they eat, drink, and sleep. Among
+them appears from time to time this Dr. Astroff, so different, so
+handsome, so interesting, so charming. It is like seeing the moon
+rise on a dark night. Oh, to surrender oneself to his embrace! To
+lose oneself in his arms! I am a little in love with him myself!
+Yes, I am lonely without him, and when I think of him I smile.
+That Uncle Vanya says I have the blood of a Nixey in my veins:
+"Give rein to your nature for once in your life!" Perhaps it is
+right that I should. Oh, to be free as a bird, to fly away from
+all your sleepy faces and your talk and forget that you have
+existed at all! But I am a coward, I am afraid; my conscience
+torments me. He comes here every day now. I can guess why, and
+feel guilty already; I should like to fall on my knees at Sonia's
+feet and beg her forgiveness, and weep.
+
+ASTROFF comes in carrying a portfolio.
+
+ASTROFF. How do you do? [Shakes hands with her] Do you want to
+see my sketch?
+
+HELENA. Yes, you promised to show me what you had been doing.
+Have you time now?
+
+ASTROFF. Of course I have!
+
+He lays the portfolio on the table, takes out the sketch and
+fastens it to the table with thumb-tacks.
+
+ASTROFF. Where were you born?
+
+HELENA. [Helping him] In St. Petersburg.
+
+ASTROFF. And educated?
+
+HELENA. At the Conservatory there.
+
+ASTROFF. You don't find this life very interesting, I dare say?
+
+HELENA. Oh, why not? It is true I don't know the country very
+well, but I have read a great deal about it.
+
+ASTROFF. I have my own desk there in Ivan's room. When I am
+absolutely too exhausted to go on I drop everything and rush over
+here to forget myself in this work for an hour or two. Ivan and
+Miss Sonia sit rattling at their counting-boards, the cricket
+chirps, and I sit beside them and paint, feeling warm and
+peaceful. But I don't permit myself this luxury very often, only
+once a month. [Pointing to the picture] Look there! That is a map
+of our country as it was fifty years ago. The green tints, both
+dark and light, represent forests. Half the map, as you see, is
+covered with it. Where the green is striped with red the forests
+were inhabited by elk and wild goats. Here on this lake, lived
+great flocks of swans and geese and ducks; as the old men say,
+there was a power of birds of every kind. Now they have vanished
+like a cloud. Beside the hamlets and villages, you see, I have
+dotted down here and there the various settlements, farms,
+hermit's caves, and water-mills. This country carried a great
+many cattle and horses, as you can see by the quantity of blue
+paint. For instance, see how thickly it lies in this part; there
+were great herds of them here, an average of three horses to
+every house. [A pause] Now, look lower down. This is the country
+as it was twenty-five years ago. Only a third of the map is green
+now with forests. There are no goats left and no elk. The blue
+paint is lighter, and so on, and so on. Now we come to the third
+part; our country as it appears to-day. We still see spots of
+green, but not much. The elk, the swans, the black-cock have
+disappeared. It is, on the whole, the picture of a regular and
+slow decline which it will evidently only take about ten or
+fifteen more years to complete. You may perhaps object that it is
+the march of progress, that the old order must give place to the
+new, and you might be right if roads had been run through these
+ruined woods, or if factories and schools had taken their place.
+The people then would have become better educated and healthier
+and richer, but as it is, we have nothing of the sort. We have
+the same swamps and mosquitoes; the same disease and want; the
+typhoid, the diphtheria, the burning villages. We are confronted
+by the degradation of our country, brought on by the fierce
+struggle for existence of the human race. It is the consequence
+of the ignorance and unconsciousness of starving, shivering, sick
+humanity that, to save its children, instinctively snatches at
+everything that can warm it and still its hunger. So it destroys
+everything it can lay its hands on, without a thought for the
+morrow. And almost everything has gone, and nothing has been
+created to take its place. [Coldly] But I see by your face that I
+am not interesting you.
+
+HELENA. I know so little about such things!
+
+ASTROFF. There is nothing to know. It simply isn't interesting,
+that's all.
+
+HELENA. Frankly, my thoughts were elsewhere. Forgive me! I want
+to submit you to a little examination, but I am embarrassed and
+don't know how to begin.
+
+ASTROFF. An examination?
+
+HELENA. Yes, but quite an innocent one. Sit down. [They sit down]
+It is about a certain young girl I know. Let us discuss it like
+honest people, like friends, and then forget what has passed
+between us, shall we?
+
+ASTROFF. Very well.
+
+HELENA. It is about my step-daughter, Sonia. Do you like her?
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, I respect her.
+
+HELENA. Do you like her--as a woman?
+
+ASTROFF. [Slowly] No.
+
+HELENA. One more word, and that will be the last. You have not
+noticed anything?
+
+ASTROFF. No, nothing.
+
+HELENA. [Taking his hand] You do not love her. I see that in your
+eyes. She is suffering. You must realise that, and not come here
+any more.
+
+ASTROFF. My sun has set, yes, and then I haven't the time.
+[Shrugging his shoulders] Where shall I find time for such
+things? [He is embarrassed.
+
+HELENA. Bah! What an unpleasant conversation! I am as out of
+breath as if I had been running three miles uphill. Thank heaven,
+that is over! Now let us forget everything as if nothing had been
+said. You are sensible. You understand. [A pause] I am actually
+blushing.
+
+ASTROFF. If you had spoken a month ago I might perhaps have
+considered it, but now--[He shrugs his shoulders] Of course, if
+she is suffering--but I cannot understand why you had to put me
+through this examination. [He searches her face with his eyes,
+and shakes his finger at her] Oho, you are wily!
+
+HELENA. What does this mean?
+
+ASTROFF. [Laughing] You are a wily one! I admit that Sonia is
+suffering, but what does this examination of yours mean? [He
+prevents her from retorting, and goes on quickly] Please don't
+put on such a look of surprise; you know perfectly well why I
+come here every day. Yes, you know perfectly why and for whose
+sake I come! Oh, my sweet tigress! don't look at me in that way;
+I am an old bird!
+
+HELENA. [Perplexed] A tigress? I don't understand you.
+
+ASTROFF. Beautiful, sleek tigress, you must have your victims!
+For a whole month I have done nothing but seek you eagerly. I
+have thrown over everything for you, and you love to see it. Now
+then, I am sure you knew all this without putting me through your
+examination. [Crossing his arms and bowing his head] I surrender.
+Here you have me--now, eat me.
+
+HELENA. You have gone mad!
+
+ASTROFF. You are afraid!
+
+HELENA. I am a better and stronger woman than you think me.
+Good-bye. [She tries to leave the room.]
+
+ASTROFF. Why good-bye? Don't say good-bye, don't waste words. Oh,
+how lovely you are--what hands! [He kisses her hands.]
+
+HELENA. Enough of this! [She frees her hands] Leave the room! You
+have forgotten yourself.
+
+ASTROFF. Tell me, tell me, where can we meet to-morrow? [He puts
+his arm around her] Don't you see that we must meet, that it is
+inevitable?
+
+He kisses her. VOITSKI comes in carrying a bunch of roses, and
+stops in the doorway.
+
+HELENA. [Without seeing VOITSKI] Have
+ pity! Leave me, [lays her head on ASTROFF'S shoulder] Don't!
+[She tries to break away from him.]
+
+ASTROFF. [Holding her by the waist] Be in the forest tomorrow at
+two o'clock. Will you? Will you?
+
+HELENA. [Sees VOITSKI] Let me go! [Goes to the window deeply
+embarrassed] This is appalling!
+
+VOITSKI. [Throws the flowers on a chair, and speaks in great
+excitement, wiping his face with his handkerchief] Nothing--yes,
+yes, nothing.
+
+ASTROFF. The weather is fine to-day, my dear Ivan; the morning
+was overcast and looked like rain, but now the sun is shining
+again. Honestly, we have had a very fine autumn, and the wheat is
+looking fairly well. [Puts his map back into the portfolio] But
+the days are growing short.
+
+HELENA. [Goes quickly up to VOITSKI] You must do your best; you
+must use all your power to get my husband and myself away from
+here to-day! Do you hear? I say, this very day!
+
+VOITSKI. [Wiping his face] Oh! Ah! Oh! All right! I--Helena, I
+saw everything!
+
+HELENA. [In great agitation] Do you hear me? I must leave here
+this very day!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF, SONIA, MARINA, and TELEGIN come in.
+
+TELEGIN. I am not very well myself, your Excellency. I have been
+limping for two days, and my head--
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Where are the others? I hate this house. It is a
+regular labyrinth. Every one is always scattered through the
+twenty-six enormous rooms; one never can find a soul. [Rings] Ask
+my wife and Madame Voitskaya to come here!
+
+HELENA. I am here already.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Please, all of you, sit down.
+
+SONIA. [Goes up to HELENA and asks anxiously] What did he say?
+
+HELENA. I'll tell you later.
+
+SONIA. You are moved. [looking quickly and inquiringly into her
+face] I understand; he said he would not come here any more. [A
+pause] Tell me, did he?
+
+HELENA nods.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [To TELEGIN] One can, after all, become reconciled
+to being an invalid, but not to this country life. The ways of it
+stick in my throat and I feel exactly as if I had been whirled
+off the earth and landed on a strange planet. Please be seated,
+ladies and gentlemen. Sonia! [SONIA does not hear. She is
+standing with her head bowed sadly forward on her breast] Sonia!
+[A pause] She does not hear me. [To MARINA] Sit down too, nurse.
+[MARINA sits down and begins to knit her stocking] I crave your
+indulgence, ladies and gentlemen; hang your ears, if I may say
+so, on the peg of attention. [He laughs.]
+
+VOITSKI. [Agitated] Perhaps you do not need me--may I be excused?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. No, you are needed now more than any one.
+
+VOITSKI. What is it you want of me?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. You--but what are you angry about? If it is anything
+I have done, I ask you to forgive me.
+
+VOITSKI. Oh, drop that and come to business; what do you want?
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA comes in.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Here is mother. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall begin.
+I have asked you to assemble here, my friends, in order to
+discuss a very important matter. I want to ask you for your
+assistance and advice, and knowing your unfailing amiability I
+think I can count on both. I am a book-worm and a scholar, and am
+unfamiliar with practical affairs. I cannot, I find, dispense
+with the help of well-informed people such as you, Ivan, and you,
+Telegin, and you, mother. The truth is, _manet omnes una nox,_
+that is to say, our lives are in the hands of God, and as I am
+old and ill, I realise that the time has come for me to dispose
+of my property in regard to the interests of my family. My life
+is nearly over, and I am not thinking of myself, but I have a
+young wife and daughter. [A pause] I cannot continue to live in
+the country; we were not made for country life, and yet we cannot
+afford to live in town on the income derived from this estate. We
+might sell the woods, but that would be an expedient we could not
+resort to every year. We must find some means of guaranteeing to
+ourselves a certain more or less fixed yearly income. With this
+object in view, a plan has occurred to me which I now have the
+honour of presenting to you for your consideration. I shall only
+give you a rough outline, avoiding all details. Our estate does
+not pay on an average more than two per cent on the money
+invested in it. I propose to sell it. If we then invest our
+capital in bonds, it will earn us four to five per cent, and we
+should probably have a surplus over of several thousand roubles,
+with which we could buy a summer cottage in Finland--
+
+VOITSKI. Hold on! Repeat what you just said; I don't think I
+heard you quite right.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I said we would invest the money in bonds and buy a
+cottage in Finland with the surplus.
+
+VOITSKI. No, not Finland--you said something else.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I propose to sell this place.
+
+VOITSKI. Aha! That was it! So you are going to sell the place?
+Splendid. The idea is a rich one. And what do you propose to do
+with my old mother and me and with Sonia here?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. That will be decided in due time. We can't do
+everything at once.
+
+VOITSKI. Wait! It is clear that until this moment I have never
+had a grain of sense in my head. I have always been stupid enough
+to think that the estate belonged to Sonia. My father bought it
+as a wedding present for my sister, and I foolishly imagined that
+as our laws were made for Russians and not Turks, my sister's
+estate would come down to her child.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Of course it is Sonia's. Has any one denied it? I
+don't want to sell it without Sonia's consent; on the contrary,
+what I am doing is for Sonia's good.
+
+VOITSKI. This is absolutely incomprehensible. Either I have gone
+mad or--or--
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. Jean, don't contradict Alexander. Trust to him;
+he knows better than we do what is right and what is wrong.
+
+VOITSKI. I shan't. Give me some water. [He drinks] Go ahead! Say
+anything you please--anything!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I can't imagine why you are so upset. I don't
+pretend that my scheme is an ideal one, and if you all object to
+it I shall not insist. [A pause.]
+
+TELEGIN. [With embarrassment] I not only nourish feelings of
+respect toward learning, your Excellency, but I am also drawn to
+it by family ties. My brother Gregory's wife's brother, whom you
+may know; his name is Constantine Lakedemonoff, and he used to be
+a magistrate--
+
+VOITSKI. Stop, Waffles. This is business; wait a bit, we will
+talk of that later. [To SEREBRAKOFF] There now, ask him what he
+thinks; this estate was bought from his uncle.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Ah! Why should I ask questions? What good would it
+do?
+
+VOITSKI. The price was ninety-five thousand roubles. My father
+paid seventy and left a debt of twenty-five. Now listen! This
+place could never have been bought had I not renounced my
+inheritance in favour of my sister, whom I deeply loved--and what
+is more, I worked for ten years like an ox, and paid off the
+debt.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I regret ever having started this conversation.
+
+VOITSKI. Thanks entirely to my own personal efforts, the place is
+entirely clear of debts, and now, when I have grown old, you want
+to throw me out, neck and crop!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. I can't imagine what you are driving at.
+
+VOITSKI. For twenty-five years I have managed this place, and
+have sent you the returns from it like the most honest of
+servants, and you have never given me one single word of thanks
+for my work, not one--neither in my youth nor now. You allowed me
+a meagre salary of five hundred roubles a year, a beggar's
+pittance, and have never even thought of adding a rouble to it.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. What did I know about such things, Ivan? I am not a
+practical man and don't understand them. You might have helped
+yourself to all you wanted.
+
+VOITSKI. Yes, why did I not steal? Don't you all despise me for
+not stealing, when it would have been only justice? And I should
+not now have been a beggar!
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. [Sternly] Jean!
+
+TELEGIN. [Agitated] Vanya, old man, don't talk in that way. Why
+spoil such pleasant relations? [He embraces him] Do stop!
+
+VOITSKI. For twenty-five years I have been sitting here with my
+mother like a mole in a burrow. Our every thought and hope was
+yours and yours only. By day we talked with pride of you and your
+work, and spoke your name with veneration; our nights we wasted
+reading the books and papers which my soul now loathes.
+
+TELEGIN. Don't, Vanya, don't. I can't stand it.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Wrathfully] What under heaven do you want, anyway?
+
+VOITSKI. We used to think of you as almost superhuman, but now
+the scales have fallen from my eyes and I see you as you are! You
+write on art without knowing anything about it. Those books of
+yours which I used to admire are not worth one copper kopeck. You
+are a hoax!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Can't any one make him stop? I am going!
+
+HELENA. Ivan, I command you to stop this instant! Do you hear me?
+
+VOITSKI. I refuse! [SEREBRAKOFF tries to get out of the room, but
+VOITSKI bars the door] Wait! I have not done yet! You have
+wrecked my life. I have never lived. My best years have gone for
+nothing, have been ruined, thanks to you. You are my most bitter
+enemy!
+
+TELEGIN. I can't stand it; I can't stand it. I am going. [He goes
+out in great excitement.]
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. But what do you want? What earthly right have you to
+use such language to me? Ruination! If this estate is yours, then
+take it, and let me be ruined!
+
+HELENA. I am going away out of this hell this minute. [Shrieks]
+This is too much!
+
+VOITSKI. My life has been a failure. I am clever and brave and
+strong. If I had lived a normal life I might have become another
+Schopenhauer or Dostoieffski. I am losing my head! I am going
+crazy! Mother, I am in despair! Oh, mother!
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. [Sternly] Listen, Alexander!
+
+SONIA falls on her knees beside the nurse and nestles against
+her.
+
+SONIA. Oh, nurse, nurse!
+
+VOITSKI. Mother! What shall I do? But no, don't speak! I know
+what to do. [To SEREBRAKOFF] And you will understand me!
+
+He goes out through the door in the centre of the room and MME.
+VOITSKAYA follows him.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Tell me, what on earth is the matter? Take this
+lunatic out of my sight! I cannot possibly live under the same
+roof with him. His room [He points to the centre door] is almost
+next door to mine. Let him take himself off into the village or
+into the wing of the house, or I shall leave here at once. I
+cannot stay in the same house with him.
+
+HELENA. [To her husband] We are leaving to-day; we must get ready
+at once for our departure.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. What a perfectly dreadful man!
+
+SONIA. [On her knees beside the nurse and turning to her father.
+She speaks with emotion] You must be kind to us, papa. Uncle
+Vanya and I are so unhappy! [Controlling her despair] Have pity
+on us. Remember how Uncle Vanya and Granny used to copy and
+translate your books for you every night--every, every night.
+Uncle Vanya has toiled without rest; he would never spend a penny
+on us, we sent it all to you. We have not eaten the bread of
+idleness. I am not saying this as I should like to, but you must
+understand us, papa, you must be merciful to us.
+
+HELENA. [Very excited, to her husband] For heaven's sake,
+Alexander, go and have a talk with him--explain!
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. Very well, I shall have a talk with him, but I won't
+apologise for a thing. I am not angry with him, but you must
+confess that his behaviour has been strange, to say the least.
+Excuse me, I shall go to him.
+
+[He goes out through the centre door.]
+
+HELENA. Be gentle with him; try to quiet him. [She follows him
+out.]
+
+SONIA. [Nestling nearer to MARINA] Nurse, oh, nurse!
+
+MARINA. It's all right, my baby. When the geese have cackled they
+will be still again. First they cackle and then they stop.
+
+SONIA. Nurse!
+
+MARINA. You are trembling all over, as if you were freezing.
+There, there, little orphan baby, God is merciful. A little
+linden-tea, and it will all pass away. Don't cry, my sweetest.
+[Looking angrily at the door in the centre of the room] See, the
+geese have all gone now. The devil take them!
+
+A shot is heard. HELENA screams behind the scenes. SONIA
+shudders.
+
+MARINA. Bang! What's that?
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Comes in reeling with terror] Hold him! hold him!
+He has gone mad!
+
+HELENA and VOITSKI are seen struggling in the doorway.
+
+HELENA. [Trying to wrest the revolver from him] Give it to me;
+give it to me, I tell you!
+
+VOITSKI. Let me go, Helena, let me go! [He frees himself and
+rushes in, looking everywhere for SEREBRAKOFF] Where is he? Ah,
+there he is! [He shoots at him. A pause] I didn't get him? I
+missed again? [Furiously] Damnation! Damnation! To hell with him!
+
+He flings the revolver on the floor, and drops helpless into a
+chair. SEREBRAKOFF stands as if stupefied. HELENA leans against
+the wall, almost fainting.
+
+HELENA. Take me away! Take me away! I can't stay here--I can't!
+
+VOITSKI. [In despair] Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?
+
+SONIA. [Softly] Oh, nurse, nurse!
+
+The curtain falls.
+
+ACT IV
+
+VOITSKI'S bedroom, which is also his office. A table stands near
+the window; on it are ledgers, letter scales, and papers of every
+description. Near by stands a smaller table belonging to ASTROFF,
+with his paints and drawing materials. On the wall hangs a cage
+containing a starling. There is also a map of Africa on the wall,
+obviously of no use to anybody. There is a large sofa covered
+with buckram. A door to the left leads into an inner room; one to
+the right leads into the front hall, and before this door lies a
+mat for the peasants with their muddy boots to stand on. It is an
+autumn evening. The silence is profound. TELEGIN and MARINA are
+sitting facing one another, winding wool.
+
+TELEGIN. Be quick, Marina, or we shall be called away to say
+good-bye before you have finished. The carriage has already been
+ordered.
+
+MARINA. [Trying to wind more quickly] I am a little tired.
+
+TELEGIN. They are going to Kharkoff to live.
+
+MARINA. They do well to go.
+
+TELEGIN. They have been frightened. The professor's wife won't
+stay here an hour longer. "If we are going at all, let's be off,"
+says she, "we shall go to Kharkoff and look about us, and then we
+can send for our things." They are travelling light. It seems,
+Marina, that fate has decreed for them not to live here.
+
+MARINA. And quite rightly. What a storm they have just raised! It
+was shameful!
+
+TELEGIN. It was indeed. The scene was worthy of the brush of
+Aibazofski.
+
+MARINA. I wish I'd never laid eyes on them. [A pause] Now we
+shall have things as they were again: tea at eight, dinner at
+one, and supper in the evening; everything in order as decent
+folks, as Christians like to have it. [Sighs] It is a long time
+since I have eaten noodles.
+
+TELEGIN. Yes, we haven't had noodles for ages. [A pause] Not for
+ages. As I was going through the village this morning, Marina,
+one of the shop-keepers called after me, "Hi! you hanger-on!" I
+felt it bitterly.
+
+MARINA. Don't pay the least attention to them, master; we are all
+dependents on God. You and Sonia and all of us. Every one must
+work, no one can sit idle. Where is Sonia?
+
+TELEGIN. In the garden with the doctor, looking for Ivan. They
+fear he may lay violent hands on himself.
+
+MARINA. Where is his pistol?
+
+TELEGIN. [Whispers] I hid it in the cellar.
+
+VOITSKI and ASTROFF come in.
+
+VOITSKI. Leave me alone! [To MARINA and TELEGIN] Go away! Go away
+and leave me to myself, if but for an hour. I won't have you
+watching me like this!
+
+TELEGIN. Yes, yes, Vanya. [He goes out on tiptoe.]
+
+MARINA. The gander cackles; ho! ho! ho!
+
+[She gathers up her wool and goes out.]
+
+VOITSKI. Leave me by myself!
+
+ASTROFF. I would, with the greatest pleasure. I ought to have
+gone long ago, but I shan't leave you until you have returned
+what you took from me.
+
+VOITSKI. I took nothing from you.
+
+ASTROFF. I am not jesting, don't detain me, I really must go.
+
+VOITSKI. I took nothing of yours.
+
+ASTROFF. You didn't? Very well, I shall have to wait a little
+longer, and then you will have to forgive me if I resort to
+force. We shall have to bind you and search you. I mean what I
+say.
+
+VOITSKI. Do as you please. [A pause] Oh, to make such a fool of
+myself! To shoot twice and miss him both times! I shall never
+forgive myself.
+
+ASTROFF. When the impulse came to shoot, it would have been as
+well had you put a bullet through your own head.
+
+VOITSKI. [Shrugging his shoulders] Strange! I attempted murder,
+and am not going to be arrested or brought to trial. That means
+they think me mad. [With a bitter laugh] Me! I am mad, and those
+who hide their worthlessness, their dullness, their crying 
+heartlessness behind a professor's mask, are sane! Those who marry
+old men and then deceive them under the noses of all, are sane! I
+saw you kiss her; I saw you in each other's arms!
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, sir, I did kiss her; so there. [He puts his thumb
+to his nose.]
+
+VOITSKI. [His eyes on the door] No, it is the earth that is mad,
+because she still bears us on her breast.
+
+ASTROFF. That is nonsense.
+
+VOITSKI. Well? Am I not a madman, and therefore irresponsible?
+Haven't I the right to talk nonsense?
+
+ASTROFF. This is a farce! You are not mad; you are simply a
+ridiculous fool. I used to think every fool was out of his
+senses, but now I see that lack of sense is a man's normal state,
+and you are perfectly normal.
+
+VOITSKI. [Covers his face with his hands] Oh! If you knew how
+ashamed I am! These piercing pangs of shame are like nothing on
+earth. [In an agonised voice] I can't endure them! [He leans
+against the table] What can I do? What can I do?
+
+ASTROFF. Nothing.
+
+VOITSKI. You must tell me something! Oh, my God! I am forty-seven
+years old. I may live to sixty; I still have thirteen years
+before me; an eternity! How shall I be able to endure life for
+thirteen years? What shall I do? How can I fill them? Oh, don't
+you see? [He presses ASTROFF'S hand convulsively] Don't you see,
+if only I could live the rest of my life in some new way! If I
+could only wake some still, bright morning and feel that life had
+begun again; that the past was forgotten and had vanished like
+smoke. [He weeps] Oh, to begin life anew! Tell me, tell me how to
+begin.
+
+ASTROFF. [Crossly] What nonsense! What sort of a new life can you
+and I look forward to? We can have no hope.
+
+VOITSKI. None?
+
+ASTROFF. None. Of that I am convinced.
+
+VOITSKI. Tell me what to do. [He puts his hand to his heart] I
+feel such a burning pain here.
+
+ASTROFF. [Shouts angrily] Stop! [Then, more gently] It may be
+that posterity, which will despise us for our blind and stupid
+lives, will find some road to happiness; but we--you and I--have
+but one hope, the hope that we may be visited by visions, perhaps
+by pleasant ones, as we lie resting in our graves. [Sighing] Yes,
+brother, there were only two respectable, intelligent men in this
+county, you and I. Ten years or so of this life of ours, this
+miserable life, have sucked us under, and we have become as
+contemptible and petty as the rest. But don't try to talk me out
+of my purpose! Give me what you took from me, will you?
+
+VOITSKI. I took nothing from you.
+
+ASTROFF. You took a little bottle of morphine out of my
+medicine-case. [A pause] Listen! If you are positively determined
+to make an end to yourself, go into the woods and shoot yourself
+there. Give up the morphine, or there will be a lot of talk and
+guesswork; people will think I gave it to you. I don't fancy
+having to perform a post-mortem on you. Do you think I should
+find it interesting?
+
+SONIA comes in.
+
+VOITSKI. Leave me alone.
+
+ASTROFF. [To SONIA] Sonia, your uncle has stolen a bottle of
+morphine out of my medicine-case and won't give it up. Tell him
+that his behaviour is--well, unwise. I haven't time, I must be
+going.
+
+SONIA. Uncle Vanya, did you take the morphine?
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, he took it. [A pause] I am absolutely sure.
+
+SONIA. Give it up! Why do you want to frighten us? [Tenderly]
+Give it up, Uncle Vanya! My misfortune is perhaps even greater
+than yours, but I am not plunged in despair. I endure my sorrow,
+and shall endure it until my life comes to a natural end. You
+must endure yours, too. [A pause] Give it up! Dear, darling Uncle
+Vanya. Give it up! [She weeps] You are so good, I am sure you
+will have pity on us and give it up. You must endure your sorrow,
+Uncle Vanya; you must endure it.
+
+VOITSKI takes a bottle from the drawer of the table and hands it
+to ASTROFF.
+
+VOITSKI. There it is! [To SONIA] And now, we must get to work at
+once; we must do something, or else I shall not be able to endure
+it.
+
+SONIA. Yes, yes, to work! As soon as we have seen them off we
+shall go to work. [She nervously straightens out the papers on
+the table] Everything is in a muddle!
+
+ASTROFF. [Putting the bottle in his case, which he straps
+together] Now I can be off.
+
+HELENA comes in.
+
+HELENA. Are you here, Ivan? We are starting in a moment. Go to
+Alexander, he wants to speak to you.
+
+SONIA. Go, Uncle Vanya. [She takes VOITSKI 'S arm] Come, you and
+papa must make peace; that is absolutely necessary.
+
+SONIA and VOITSKI go out.
+
+HELENA. I am going away. [She gives ASTROFF her hand] Good-bye.
+
+ASTROFF. So soon?
+
+HELENA. The carriage is waiting.
+
+ASTROFF. Good-bye.
+
+HELENA. You promised me you would go away yourself to-day.
+
+ASTROFF. I have not forgotten. I am going at once. [A pause] Were
+you frightened? Was it so terrible?
+
+HELENA. Yes.
+
+ASTROFF. Couldn't you stay? Couldn't you? To-morrow--in the
+forest--
+
+HELENA. No. It is all settled, and that is why I can look you so
+bravely in the face. Our departure is fixed. One thing I must ask
+of you: don't think too badly of me; I should like you to respect
+me.
+
+ASTROFF. Ah! [With an impatient gesture] Stay, I implore you!
+Confess that there is nothing for you to do in this world. You
+have no object in life; there is nothing to occupy your
+attention, and sooner or later your feelings must master you. It
+is inevitable. It would be better if it happened not in Kharkoff
+or in Kursk, but here, in nature's lap. It would then at least be
+poetical, even beautiful. Here you have the forests, the houses
+half in ruins that Turgenieff writes of.
+
+HELENA. How comical you are! I am angry with you and yet I shall
+always remember you with pleasure. You are interesting and
+original. You and I will never meet again, and so I shall tell
+you--why should I conceal it?--that I am just a little in love
+with you. Come, one more last pressure of our hands, and then let
+us part good friends. Let us not bear each other any ill will.
+
+ASTROFF. [Pressing her hand] Yes, go. [Thoughtfully] You seem to
+be sincere and good, and yet there is something strangely
+disquieting about all your personality. No sooner did you arrive
+here with your husband than every one whom you found busy and
+actively creating something was forced to drop his work and give
+himself up for the whole summer to your husband's gout and
+yourself. You and he have infected us with your idleness. I have
+been swept off my feet; I have not put my hand to a thing for
+weeks, during which sickness has been running its course
+unchecked among the people, and the peasants have been pasturing
+their cattle in my woods and young plantations. Go where you
+will, you and your husband will always carry destruction in your
+train. I am joking of course, and yet I am strangely sure that
+had you stayed here we should have been overtaken by the most
+immense desolation. I would have gone to my ruin, and you--you
+would not have prospered. So go! E finita la comedia!
+
+HELENA. [Snatching a pencil off ASTROFF'S table, and hiding it
+with a quick movement] I shall take this pencil for memory!
+
+ASTROFF. How strange it is. We meet, and then suddenly it seems
+that we must part forever. That is the way in this world. As long
+as we are alone, before Uncle Vanya comes in with a
+bouquet--allow me--to kiss you good-bye--may I? [He kisses her on
+the cheek] So! Splendid!
+
+HELENA. I wish you every happiness. [She glances about her] For
+once in my life, I shall! and scorn the consequences! [She kisses
+him impetuously, and they quickly part] I must go.
+
+ASTROFF. Yes, go. If the carriage is there, then start at once.
+[They stand listening.]
+
+ASTROFF. E finita!
+
+VOITSKI, SEREBRAKOFF, MME. VOITSKAYA with her book, TELEGIN, and
+SONIA come in.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [To VOITSKI] Shame on him who bears malice for the
+past. I have gone through so much in the last few hours that I
+feel capable of writing a whole treatise on the conduct of life
+for the instruction of posterity. I gladly accept your apology,
+and myself ask your forgiveness. [He kisses VOITSKI three times.]
+
+HELENA embraces SONIA.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Kissing MME. VOITSKAYA'S hand] Mother!
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. [Kissing him] Have your picture taken, Alexander,
+and send me one. You know how dear you are to me.
+
+TELEGIN. Good-bye, your Excellency. Don't forget us.
+
+SEREBRAKOFF. [Kissing his daughter] Good-bye, good-bye all.
+[Shaking hands with ASTROFF] Many thanks for your pleasant
+company. I have a deep regard for your opinions and your
+enthusiasm, but let me, as an old man, give one word of advice at
+parting: do something, my friend! Work! Do something! [They all
+bow] Good luck to you all. [He goes out followed by MME.
+VOITSKAYA and SONIA.]
+
+VOITSKI [Kissing HELENA'S hand fervently] Good-bye--forgive me. I
+shall never see you again!
+
+HELENA. [Touched] Good-bye, dear boy.
+
+She lightly kisses his head as he bends over her hand, and goes
+out.
+
+ASTROFF. Tell them to bring my carriage around too, Waffles.
+
+TELEGIN. All right, old man.
+
+ASTROFF and VOITSKI are left behind alone. ASTROFF collects his
+paints and drawing materials on the table and packs them away in
+a box.
+
+ASTROFF. Why don't you go to see them off?
+
+VOITSKI. Let them go! I--I can't go out there. I feel too sad. I
+must go to work on something at once. To work! To work!
+
+He rummages through his papers on the table. A pause. The
+tinkling of bells is heard as the horses trot away.
+
+ASTROFF. They have gone! The professor, I suppose, is glad to go.
+He couldn't be tempted back now by a fortune.
+
+MARINA comes in.
+
+MARINA. They have gone. [She sits down in an arm-chair and knits
+her stocking.]
+
+SONIA comes in wiping her eyes.
+
+SONIA. They have gone. God be with them. [To her uncle] And now,
+Uncle Vanya, let us do something!
+
+VOITSKI. To work! To work!
+
+SONIA. It is long, long, since you and I have sat together at
+this table. [She lights a lamp on the table] No ink! [She takes
+the inkstand to the cupboard and fills it from an ink-bottle] How
+sad it is to see them go!
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA comes slowly in.
+
+MME. VOITSKAYA. They have gone.
+
+She sits down and at once becomes absorbed in her book. SONIA
+sits down at the table and looks through an account book.
+
+SONIA. First, Uncle Vanya, let us write up the accounts. They are
+in a dreadful state. Come, begin. You take one and I will take
+the other.
+
+VOITSKI. In account with [They sit silently writing.]
+
+MARINA. [Yawning] The sand-man has come.
+
+ASTROFF. How still it is. Their pens scratch, the cricket sings;
+it is so warm and comfortable. I hate to go. [The tinkling of
+bells is heard.]
+
+ASTROFF. My carriage has come. There now remains but to say
+good-bye to you, my friends, and to my table here, and
+then--away! [He puts the map into the portfolio.]
+
+MARINA. Don't hurry away; sit a little longer with us.
+
+ASTROFF. Impossible.
+
+VOITSKI. [Writing] And carry forward from the old debt two
+seventy-five--
+
+WORKMAN comes in.
+
+WORKMAN. Your carriage is waiting, sir.
+
+ASTROFF. All right. [He hands the WORKMAN his medicine-case,
+portfolio, and box] Look out, don't crush the portfolio!
+
+WORKMAN. Very well, sir.
+
+SONIA. When shall we see you again?
+
+ASTROFF. Hardly before next summer. Probably not this winter,
+though, of course, if anything should happen you will let me
+know. [He shakes hands with them] Thank you for your kindness,
+for your hospitality, for everything! [He goes up to MARINA and
+kisses her head] Good-bye, old nurse!
+
+MARINA. Are you going without your tea?
+
+ASTROFF. I don't want any, nurse.
+
+MARINA. Won't you have a drop of vodka?
+
+ASTROFF. [Hesitatingly] Yes, I might.
+
+MARINA goes out.
+
+ASTROFF. [After a pause] My off-wheeler has gone lame for some
+reason. I noticed it yesterday when Peter was taking him to
+water.
+
+VOITSKI. You should have him re-shod.
+
+ASTROFF. I shall have to go around by the blacksmith's on my way
+home. It can't be avoided. [He stands looking up at the map of
+Africa hanging on the wall] I suppose it is roasting hot in
+Africa now.
+
+VOITSKI. Yes, I suppose it is.
+
+MARINA comes back carrying a tray on which are a glass of vodka
+and a piece of bread.
+
+MARINA. Help yourself.
+
+ASTROFF drinks
+
+MARINA. To your good health! [She bows deeply] Eat your bread
+with it.
+
+ASTROFF. No, I like it so. And now, good-bye. [To MARINA] You
+needn't come out to see me off, nurse.
+
+He goes out. SONIA follows him with a candle to light him to the
+carriage. MARINA sits down in her armchair.
+
+VOITSKI. [Writing] On the 2d of February, twenty pounds of
+butter; on the 16th, twenty pounds of butter again. Buckwheat
+flour--[A pause. Bells are heard tinkling.]
+
+MARINA. He has gone. [A pause.]
+
+SONIA comes in and sets the candle stick on the table.
+
+SONIA. He has gone.
+
+VOITSKI. [Adding and writing] Total, fifteen--twenty-five--
+
+SONIA sits down and begins to write.
+
+[Yawning] Oh, ho! The Lord have mercy.
+
+TELEGIN comes in on tiptoe, sits down near the door, and begins
+to tune his guitar.
+
+VOITSKI. [To SONIA, stroking her hair] Oh, my child, I am
+miserable; if you only knew how miserable I am!
+
+SONIA. What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we
+shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long
+procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we
+shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall
+work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and
+when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there,
+beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept,
+that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then
+dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright and beautiful life; we
+shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender
+smile--and--we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent,
+passionate faith. [SONIA kneels down before her uncle and lays
+her head on his hands. She speaks in a weary voice] We shall
+rest. [TELEGIN plays softly on the guitar] We shall rest. We
+shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel.
+We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great
+compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as
+peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have
+faith. [She wipes away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you
+are crying! [Weeping] You have never known what happiness was,
+but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. [She embraces him] We
+shall rest. [The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden;
+TELEGIN plays softly; MME. VOITSKAYA writes something on the
+margin of her pamphlet; MARINA knits her stocking] We shall rest.
+
+The curtain slowly falls.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Uncle Vanya, by Anton Checkov
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov
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+Title: Uncle Vanya
+
+Author: Anton Chekhov
+
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, UNCLE VANYA ***
+
+
+
+
+</PRE>
+<h1>Uncle Vanya
+<br>by Anton Checkov</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2 align="center"> UNCLE VANYA</h2>
+<h3 align="center">SCENES FROM COUNTRY LIFE</h3>
+<h4 align="center">IN FOUR ACTS</h4>
+<h4 align="center">&nbsp;</h4>
+<h3>CHARACTERS</h3>
+<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
+<p>ALEXANDER SEREBRAKOFF, a retired professor</p>
+<p>HELENA, his wife, twenty-seven years old</p>
+<p>SONIA, his daughter by a former marriage</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA, widow of a privy councilor, and mother of
+  Serebrakoff's first wife</p>
+<p>IVAN (VANYA) VOITSKI, her son</p>
+<p>MICHAEL ASTROFF, a doctor</p>
+<p>ILIA (WAFFLES) TELEGIN, an impoverished landowner</p>
+<p>MARINA, an old nurse</p>
+<p>A WORKMAN</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>The scene is laid on SEREBRAKOFF'S country place</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2 align="center">UNCLE VANYA</h2>
+<h3 align="center">ACT I</h3>
+<p>A country house on a terrace. In front of it a garden. In an
+  avenue of trees, under an old poplar, stands a table set for tea,
+  with a samovar, etc. Some benches and chairs stand near the
+  table. On one of them is lying a guitar. A hammock is swung near
+  the table. It is three o'clock in the afternoon of a cloudy day.</p>
+<p>MARINA, a quiet, grey-haired, little old woman, is sitting at the table knitting 
+  a stocking.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF is walking up and down near her.</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Pouring some tea into a glass] Take a little tea, my
+  son.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Takes the glass from her unwillingly] Somehow, I don't
+  seem to want any.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Then will you have a little vodka instead?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No, I don't drink vodka every day, and besides, it is
+  too hot now. [A pause] Tell me, nurse, how long have we known
+  each other?</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Thoughtfully] Let me see, how long is it? Lord--help me
+  to remember. You first came here, into our parts--let me
+  think--when was it? Sonia's mother was still alive--it was two
+  winters before she died; that was eleven years
+  ago--[thoughtfully] perhaps more.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Have I changed much since then?</p>
+<p>MARINA. Oh, yes. You were handsome and young then, and now you
+  are an old man and not handsome any more. You drink, too.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, ten years have made me another man. And why?
+  Because I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn till
+  dusk. I know no rest; at night I tremble under my blankets for
+  fear of being dragged out to visit some one who is sick; I have
+  toiled without repose or a day's freedom since I have known you;
+  could I help growing old? And then, existence is tedious, anyway;
+  it is a senseless, dirty business, this life, and goes heavily.
+  Every one about here is silly, and after living with them for two
+  or three years one grows silly oneself. It is inevitable.
+  [Twisting his moustache] See what a long moustache I have grown.
+  A foolish, long moustache. Yes, I am as silly as the rest, nurse,
+  but not as stupid; no, I have not grown stupid. Thank God, my
+  brain is not addled yet, though my feelings have grown numb. I
+  ask nothing, I need nothing, I love no one, unless it is yourself
+  alone. [He kisses her head] I had a nurse just like you when I
+  was a child.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Don't you want a bite of something to eat?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No. During the third week of Lent I went to the epidemic at Malitskoi. 
+  It was eruptive typhoid. The peasants were all lying side by side in their huts, 
+  and the calves and pigs were running about the floor among the sick. Such dirt 
+  there was, and smoke! Unspeakable! I slaved among those people all day, not 
+  a crumb passed my lips, but when I got home there was still no rest for me; 
+  a switchman was carried in from the railroad; I laid him on the operating table 
+  and he went and died in my arms under chloroform, and then my feelings that 
+  should have been deadened awoke again, my conscience tortured me as if I had 
+  killed the man. I sat down and closed my eyes--like this--and thought: will 
+  our descendants two hundred years from now, for whom we are breaking the road, 
+  remember to give us a kind word? No, nurse, they will forget.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Man is forgetful, but God remembers.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Thank you for that. You have spoken the truth.</p>
+<p>Enter VOITSKI from the house. He has been asleep after dinner and
+  looks rather dishevelled. He sits down on the bench and
+  straightens his collar.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. H'm. Yes. [A pause] Yes.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Have you been asleep?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Yes, very much so. [He yawns] Ever since the Professor
+  and his wife have come, our daily life seems to have jumped the
+  track. I sleep at the wrong time, drink wine, and eat all sorts
+  of messes for luncheon and dinner. It isn't wholesome. Sonia and
+  I used to work together and never had an idle moment, but now
+  Sonia works alone and I only eat and drink and sleep. Something
+  is wrong.</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Shaking her head] Such a confusion in the house! The
+  Professor gets up at twelve, the samovar is kept boiling all the
+  morning, and everything has to wait for him. Before they came we
+  used to have dinner at one o'clock, like everybody else, but now
+  we have it at seven. The Professor sits up all night writing and
+  reading, and suddenly, at two o'clock, there goes the bell!
+  Heavens, what is that? The Professor wants some tea! Wake the
+  servants, light the samovar! Lord, what disorder!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Will they be here long?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. A hundred years! The Professor has decided to make his
+  home here.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Look at this now! The samovar has been on the table for
+  two hours, and they are all out walking!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. All right, don't get excited; here they come.</p>
+<p>Voices are heard approaching. SEREBRAKOFF, HELENA, SONIA, and
+  TELEGIN come in from the depths of the garden, returning from
+  their walk.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Superb! Superb! What beautiful views!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. They are wonderful, your Excellency.</p>
+<p>SONIA. To-morrow we shall go into the woods, shall we, papa?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Ladies and gentlemen, tea is ready.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Won't you please be good enough to send my tea into
+  the library? I still have some work to finish.</p>
+<p>SONIA. I am sure you will love the woods.</p>
+<p>HELENA, SEREBRAKOFF, and SONIA go into the house. TELEGIN sits
+  down at the table beside MARINA.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. There goes our learned scholar on a hot, sultry day like
+  this, in his overcoat and goloshes and carrying an umbrella!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. He is trying to take good care of his health.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. How lovely she is! How lovely! I have never in my life
+  seen a more beautiful woman.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Do you know, Marina, that as I walk in the fields or in
+  the shady garden, as I look at this table here, my heart swells
+  with unbounded happiness. The weather is enchanting, the birds
+  are singing, we are all living in peace and contentment--what
+  more could the soul desire? [Takes a glass of tea.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Dreaming] Such eyes--a glorious woman!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Come, Ivan, tell us something.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Indolently] What shall I tell you?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Haven't you any news for us?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. No, it is all stale. I am just the same as usual, or
+  perhaps worse, because I have become lazy. I don't do anything
+  now but croak like an old raven. My mother, the old magpie, is
+  still chattering about the emancipation of woman, with one eye on
+  her grave and the other on her learned books, in which she is
+  always looking for the dawn of a new life.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. And the Professor?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. The Professor sits in his library from morning till night, as usual-- 
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+  <p> &quot;Straining the mind, wrinkling the brow, </p>
+  <p>We write, write, write, </p>
+  <p>Without respite </p>
+  <p>Or hope of praise in the future or now.&quot;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Poor paper! He ought to write his autobiography; he would make a
+  really splendid subject for a book! Imagine it, the life of a
+  retired professor, as stale as a piece of hardtack, tortured by
+  gout, headaches, and rheumatism, his liver bursting with jealousy
+  and envy, living on the estate of his first wife, although he
+  hates it, because he can't afford to live in town. He is
+  everlastingly whining about his hard lot, though, as a matter of
+  fact, he is extraordinarily lucky. He is the son of a common
+  deacon and has attained the professor's chair, become the
+  son-in-law of a senator, is called &quot;your Excellency,&quot; and so on.
+  But I'll tell you something; the man has been writing on art for
+  twenty-five years, and he doesn't know the very first thing about
+  it. For twenty-five years he has been chewing on other men's
+  thoughts about realism, naturalism, and all such foolishness; for
+  twenty-five years he has been reading and writing things that
+  clever men have long known and stupid ones are not interested in;
+  for twenty-five years he has been making his imaginary mountains
+  out of molehills. And just think of the man's self-conceit and
+  presumption all this time! For twenty-five years he has been
+  masquerading in false clothes and has now retired absolutely
+  unknown to any living soul; and yet see him! stalking across the
+  earth like a demi-god!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I believe you envy him.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Yes, I do. Look at the success he has had with women!
+  Don Juan himself was not more favoured. His first wife, who was
+  my sister, was a beautiful, gentle being, as pure as the blue
+  heaven there above us, noble, great-hearted, with more admirers
+  than he has pupils, and she loved him as only beings of angelic
+  purity can love those who are as pure and beautiful as
+  themselves. His mother-in-law, my mother, adores him to this day,
+  and he still inspires a sort of worshipful awe in her. His second
+  wife is, as you see, a brilliant beauty; she married him in his
+  old age and has surrendered all the glory of her beauty and
+  freedom to him. Why? What for?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Is she faithful to him?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Yes, unfortunately she is.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Why unfortunately?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Because such fidelity is false and unnatural, root and
+  branch. It sounds well, but there is no logic in it. It is
+  thought immoral for a woman to deceive an old husband whom she
+  hates, but quite moral for her to strangle her poor youth in her
+  breast and banish every vital desire from her heart.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. [In a tearful voice] Vanya, I don't like to hear you
+  talk so. Listen, Vanya; every one who betrays husband or wife is
+  faithless, and could also betray his country.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Crossly] Turn off the tap, Waffles.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. No, allow me, Vanya. My wife ran away with a lover on
+  the day after our wedding, because my exterior was
+  unprepossessing. I have never failed in my duty since then. I
+  love her and am true to her to this day. I help her all I can and
+  have given my fortune to educate the daughter of herself and her
+  lover. I have forfeited my happiness, but I have kept my pride.
+  And she? Her youth has fled, her beauty has faded according to
+  the laws of nature, and her lover is dead. What has she kept?</p>
+<p>HELENA and SONIA come in; after them comes MME. VOITSKAYA
+  carrying a book. She sits down and begins to read. Some one hands
+  her a glass of tea which she drinks without looking up.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Hurriedly, to the nurse] There are some peasants waiting
+  out there. Go and see what they want. I shall pour the tea.
+  [Pours out some glasses of tea.]</p>
+<p>MARINA goes out. HELENA takes a glass and sits drinking in the
+  hammock.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I have come to see your husband. You wrote me that he
+  had rheumatism and I know not what else, and that he was very
+  ill, but he appears to be as lively as a cricket.</p>
+<p>HELENA. He had a fit of the blues yesterday evening and
+  complained of pains in his legs, but he seems all right again
+  to-day.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. And I galloped over here twenty miles at break-neck
+  speed! No matter, though, it is not the first time. Once here,
+  however, I am going to stay until to-morrow, and at any rate
+  sleep _quantum satis._</p>
+<p>SONIA. Oh, splendid! You so seldom spend the night with us. Have
+  you had dinner yet?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Good. So you will have it with us. We dine at seven now.
+  [Drinks her tea] This tea is cold!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Yes, the samovar has grown cold.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Don't mind, Monsieur Ivan, we will drink cold tea, then.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. I beg your pardon, my name is not Ivan, but Ilia,
+  ma'am--Ilia Telegin, or Waffles, as I am sometimes called on
+  account of my pock-marked face. I am Sonia's godfather, and his
+  Excellency, your husband, knows me very well. I now live with
+  you, ma'am, on this estate, and perhaps you will be so good as to
+  notice that I dine with you every day.</p>
+<p>SONIA. He is our great help, our right-hand man. [Tenderly] Dear
+  godfather, let me pour you some tea.</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. Oh! Oh!</p>
+<p>SONIA. What is it, grandmother?</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. I forgot to tell Alexander--I have lost my
+  memory--I received a letter to-day from Paul Alexevitch in
+  Kharkoff. He has sent me a new pamphlet.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Is it interesting?</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. Yes, but strange. He refutes the very theories
+  which he defended seven years ago. It is appalling!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. There is nothing appalling about it. Drink your tea,
+  mamma.</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. It seems you never want to listen to what I have
+  to say. Pardon me, Jean, but you have changed so in the last year
+  that I hardly know you. You used to be a man of settled
+  convictions and had an illuminating personality---</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Oh, yes. I had an illuminating personality, which
+  illuminated no one. [A pause] I had an illuminating personality!
+  You couldn't say anything more biting. I am forty-seven years
+  old. Until last year I endeavoured, as you do now, to blind my
+  eyes by your pedantry to the truths of life. But now--Oh, if you
+  only knew! If you knew how I lie awake at night, heartsick and
+  angry, to think how stupidly I have wasted my time when I might
+  have been winning from life everything which my old age now
+  forbids.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Uncle Vanya, how dreary!</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. [To her son] You speak as if your former
+  convictions were somehow to blame, but you yourself, not they,
+  were at fault. You have forgotten that a conviction, in itself,
+  is nothing but a dead letter. You should have done something.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Done something! Not every man is capable of being a
+  writer _perpetuum mobile_ like your Herr Professor.</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. What do you mean by that?</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Imploringly] Mother! Uncle Vanya! I entreat you!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I am silent. I apologise and am silent. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. What a fine day! Not too hot. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. A fine day to hang oneself.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN tunes the guitar. MARINA appears near the house, calling
+  the chickens.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Chick, chick, chick!</p>
+<p>SONIA. What did the peasants want, nurse?</p>
+<p>MARINA. The same old thing, the same old nonsense. Chick, chick,
+  chick!</p>
+<p>SONIA. Why are you calling the chickens?</p>
+<p>MARINA. The speckled hen has disappeared with her chicks. I am
+  afraid the crows have got her.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN plays a polka. All listen in silence. Enter WORKMAN.</p>
+<p>WORKMAN. Is the doctor here? [To ASTROFF] Excuse me, sir, but I
+  have been sent to fetch you.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Where are you from?</p>
+<p>WORKMAN. The factory.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Annoyed] Thank you. There is nothing for it, then, but
+  to go. [Looking around him for his cap] Damn it, this is
+  annoying!</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes, it is too bad, really. You must come back to dinner
+  from the factory.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No, I won't be able to do that. It will be too late. Now
+  where, where-- [To the WORKMAN] Look here, my man, get me a glass
+  of vodka, will you? [The WORKMAN goes out] Where--where-- [Finds
+  his cap] One of the characters in Ostroff's plays is a man with a
+  long moustache and short wits, like me. However, let me bid you
+  good-bye, ladies and gentlemen. [To HELENA] I should be really
+  delighted if you would come to see me some day with Miss Sonia.
+  My estate is small, but if you are interested in such things I
+  should like to show you a nursery and seed-bed whose like you
+  will not find within a thousand miles of here. My place is
+  surrounded by government forests. The forester is old and always
+  ailing, so I superintend almost all the work myself.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I have always heard that you were very fond of the woods.
+  Of course one can do a great deal of good by helping to preserve
+  them, but does not that work interfere with your real calling?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. God alone knows what a man's real calling is.</p>
+<p>HELENA. And do you find it interesting?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, very.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Sarcastically] Oh, extremely!</p>
+<p>HELENA. You are still young, not over thirty-six or seven, I
+  should say, and I suspect that the woods do not interest you as
+  much as you say they do. I should think you would find them
+  monotonous.</p>
+<p>SONIA. No, the work is thrilling. Dr. Astroff watches over the
+  old woods and sets out new plantations every year, and he has
+  already received a diploma and a bronze medal. If you will listen
+  to what he can tell you, you will agree with him entirely. He
+  says that forests are the ornaments of the earth, that they teach
+  mankind to understand beauty and attune his mind to lofty
+  sentiments. Forests temper a stern climate, and in countries
+  where the climate is milder, less strength is wasted in the
+  battle with nature, and the people are kind and gentle. The
+  inhabitants of such countries are handsome, tractable, sensitive,
+  graceful in speech and gesture. Their philosophy is joyous, art
+  and science blossom among them, their treatment of women is full
+  of exquisite nobility---</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Laughing] Bravo! Bravo! All that is very pretty, but it
+  is also unconvincing. So, my friend [To ASTROFF] you must let me
+  go on burning firewood in my stoves and building my sheds of
+  planks.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. You can burn peat in your stoves and build your sheds of stone. Oh, 
+  I don't object, of course, to cutting wood from necessity, but why destroy the 
+  forests? The woods of Russia are trembling under the blows of the axe. Millions 
+  of trees have perished. The homes of the wild animals and birds have been desolated; 
+  the rivers are shrinking, and many beautiful landscapes are gone forever. And 
+  why? Because men are too lazy and stupid to stoop down and pick up their fuel 
+  from the ground. [To HELENA] Am I not right, Madame? Who but a stupid barbarian 
+  could burn so much beauty in his stove and destroy that which he cannot make? 
+  Man is endowed with reason and the power to create, so that he may increase 
+  that which has been given him, but until now he has not created, but demolished. 
+  The forests are disappearing, the rivers are running dry, the game is exterminated, 
+  the climate is spoiled, and the earth becomes poorer and uglier every day. [To 
+  VOITSKI] I read irony in your eye; you do not take what I am saying seriously, 
+  and--and--after all, it may very well be nonsense. But when I pass peasant-forests 
+  that I have preserved from the axe, or hear the rustling of the young plantations 
+  set out with my own hands, I feel as if I had had some small share in improving 
+  the climate, and that if mankind is happy a thousand years from now I will have 
+  been a little bit responsible for their happiness. When I plant a little birch 
+  tree and then see it budding into young green and swaying in the wind, my heart 
+  swells with pride and I--[Sees the WORKMAN, who is bringing him a glass of vodka 
+  on a tray] however--[He drinks] I must be off. Probably it is all nonsense, 
+  anyway. Good-bye.</p>
+<p>He goes toward the house. SONIA takes his arm and goes with him.</p>
+<p>SONIA. When are you coming to see us again?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I can't say.</p>
+<p>SONIA. In a month?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF and SONIA go into the house. HELENA and VOITSKI walk over
+  to the terrace.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You have behaved shockingly again. Ivan, what sense was
+  there in teasing your mother and talking about _perpetuum
+  mobile?_ And at breakfast you quarreled with Alexander again.
+  Really, your behaviour is too petty.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. But if I hate him?</p>
+<p>HELENA. You hate Alexander without reason; he is like every one
+  else, and no worse than you are.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. If you could only see your face, your gestures! Oh, how
+  tedious your life must be.</p>
+<p>HELENA. It is tedious, yes, and dreary! You all abuse my husband
+  and look on me with compassion; you think, &quot;Poor woman, she is
+  married to an old man.&quot; How well I understand your compassion! As
+  Astroff said just now, see how you thoughtlessly destroy the
+  forests, so that there will soon be none left. So you also
+  destroy mankind, and soon fidelity and purity and self-sacrifice
+  will have vanished with the woods. Why cannot you look calmly at
+  a woman unless she is yours? Because, the doctor was right, you
+  are all possessed by a devil of destruction; you have no mercy on
+  the woods or the birds or on women or on one another.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I don't like your philosophy.</p>
+<p>HELENA. That doctor has a sensitive, weary face--an interesting
+  face. Sonia evidently likes him, and she is in love with him, and
+  I can understand it. This is the third time he has been here
+  since I have come, and I have not had a real talk with him yet or
+  made much of him. He thinks I am disagreeable. Do you know, Ivan,
+  the reason you and I are such friends? I think it is because we
+  are both lonely and unfortunate. Yes, unfortunate. Don't look at
+  me in that way, I don't like it.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. How can I look at you otherwise when I love you? You are
+  my joy, my life, and my youth. I know that my chances of being
+  loved in return are infinitely small, do not exist, but I ask
+  nothing of you. Only let me look at you, listen to your voice--</p>
+<p>HELENA. Hush, some one will overhear you.</p>
+<p>[They go toward the house.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Following her] Let me speak to you of my love, do not
+  drive me away, and this alone will be my greatest happiness!</p>
+<p>HELENA. Ah! This is agony!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN strikes the strings of his guitar and plays a polka. MME.
+  VOITSKAYA writes something on the leaves of her pamphlet.</p>
+<p>The curtain falls.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 align="center">ACT II</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>The dining-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. It is night. The tapping
+  of the WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden. SEREBRAKOFF is
+  dozing in an arm-chair by an open window and HELENA is sitting
+  beside him, also half asleep.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Rousing himself] Who is here? Is it you, Sonia?</p>
+<p>HELENA. It is I.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Oh, it is you, Nelly. This pain is intolerable.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Your shawl has slipped down. [She wraps up his legs in the shawl] Let 
+  me shut the window. </p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. No, leave it open; I am suffocating. I dreamt just
+  now that my left leg belonged to some one else, and it hurt so
+  that I woke. I don't believe this is gout, it is more like
+  rheumatism. What time is it?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Half past twelve. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I want you to look for Batushka's works in the
+  library to-morrow. I think we have him.</p>
+<p>HELENA. What is that?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Look for Batushka to-morrow morning; we used to have
+  him, I remember. Why do I find it so hard to breathe?</p>
+<p>HELENA. You are tired; this is the second night you have had no
+  sleep.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. They say that Turgenieff got angina of the heart
+  from gout. I am afraid I am getting angina too. Oh, damn this
+  horrible, accursed old age! Ever since I have been old I have
+  been hateful to myself, and I am sure, hateful to you all as
+  well.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You speak as if we were to blame for your being old.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I am more hateful to you than to any one.</p>
+<p>HELENA gets up and walks away from him, sitting down at a
+  distance.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. You are quite right, of course. I am not an idiot; I
+  can understand you. You are young and healthy and beautiful, and
+  longing for life, and I am an old dotard, almost a dead man
+  already. Don't I know it? Of course I see that it is foolish for
+  me to live so long, but wait! I shall soon set you all free. My
+  life cannot drag on much longer.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You are overtaxing my powers of endurance. Be quiet, for
+  God's sake!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. It appears that, thanks to me, everybody's power of
+  endurance is being overtaxed; everybody is miserable, only I am
+  blissfully triumphant. Oh, yes, of course!</p>
+<p>HELENA. Be quiet! You are torturing me.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I torture everybody. Of course.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Weeping] This is unbearable! Tell me, what is it you
+  want me to do?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Nothing.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Then be quiet, please.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. It is funny that everybody listens to Ivan and his
+  old idiot of a mother, but the moment I open my lips you all
+  begin to feel ill-treated. You can't even stand the sound of my
+  voice. Even if I am hateful, even if I am a selfish tyrant,
+  haven't I the right to be one at my age? Haven't I deserved it?
+  Haven't I, I ask you, the right to be respected, now that I am
+  old?</p>
+<p>HELENA. No one is disputing your rights. [The window slams in the
+  wind] The wind is rising, I must shut the window. [She shuts it]
+  We shall have rain in a moment. Your rights have never been
+  questioned by anybody.</p>
+<p>The WATCHMAN in the garden sounds his rattle.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I have spent my life working in the interests of
+  learning. I am used to my library and the lecture hall and to the
+  esteem and admiration of my colleagues. Now I suddenly find
+  myself plunged in this wilderness, condemned to see the same
+  stupid people from morning till night and listen to their futile
+  conversation. I want to live; I long for success and fame and the
+  stir of the world, and here I am in exile! Oh, it is dreadful to
+  spend every moment grieving for the lost past, to see the success
+  of others and sit here with nothing to do but to fear death. I
+  cannot stand it! It is more than I can bear. And you will not
+  even forgive me for being old!</p>
+<p>HELENA. Wait, have patience; I shall he old myself in four or
+  five years.</p>
+<p>SONIA comes in.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Father, you sent for Dr. Astroff, and now when he comes
+  you refuse to see him. It is not nice to give a man so much
+  trouble for nothing.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. What do I care about your Astroff? He understands
+  medicine about as well as I understand astronomy.</p>
+<p>SONIA. We can't send for the whole medical faculty, can we, to
+  treat your gout?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I won't talk to that madman!</p>
+<p>SONIA. Do as you please. It's all the same to me. [She sits
+  down.]</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. What time is it?</p>
+<p>HELENA. One o'clock.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. It is stifling in here. Sonia, hand me that bottle
+  on the table.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Here it is. [She hands him a bottle of medicine.]</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Crossly] No, not that one! Can't you understand me?
+  Can't I ask you to do a thing?</p>
+<p>SONIA. Please don't be captious with me. Some people may like it,
+  but you must spare me, if you please, because I don't. Besides, I
+  haven't the time; we are cutting the hay to-morrow and I must get
+  up early.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI comes in dressed in a long gown and carrying a candle.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. A thunderstorm is coming up. [The lightning flashes]
+  There it is! Go to bed, Helena and Sonia. I have come to take
+  your place.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Frightened] No, n o, no! Don't leave me alone with
+  him! Oh, don't. He will begin to lecture me.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. But you must give them a little rest. They have not
+  slept for two nights.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Then let them go to bed, but you go away too! Thank
+  you. I implore you to go. For the sake of our former friendship
+  do not protest against going. We will talk some other time---</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Our former friendship! Our former---</p>
+<p>SONIA. Hush, Uncle Vanya!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [To his wife] My darling, don't leave me alone with
+  him. He will begin to lecture me.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. This is ridiculous.</p>
+<p>MARINA comes in carrying a candle.</p>
+<p>SONIA. You must go to bed, nurse, it is late.</p>
+<p>MARINA. I haven't cleared away the tea things. Can't go to bed
+  yet.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. No one can go to bed. They are all worn out, only I
+  enjoy perfect happiness.</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Goes up to SEREBRAKOFF and speaks tenderly] What's the
+  matter, master? Does it hurt? My own legs are aching too, oh, so
+  badly. [Arranges his shawl about his legs] You have had this
+  illness such a long time. Sonia's dead mother used to stay awake
+  with you too, and wear herself out for you. She loved you dearly.
+  [A pause] Old people want to be pitied as much as young ones, but
+  nobody cares about them somehow. [She kisses SEREBRAKOFF'S
+  shoulder] Come, master, let me give you some linden-tea and warm
+  your poor feet for you. I shall pray to God for you.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Touched] Let us go, Marina.</p>
+<p>MARINA. My own feet are aching so badly, oh, so badly! [She and
+  SONIA lead SEREBRAKOFF out] Sonia's mother used to wear herself
+  out with sorrow and weeping. You were still little and foolish
+  then, Sonia. Come, come, master.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF, SONIA and MARINA go out.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am absolutely exhausted by him, and can hardly stand.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. You are exhausted by him, and I am exhausted by my own
+  self. I have not slept for three nights.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Something is wrong in this house. Your mother hates
+  everything but her pamphlets and the professor; the professor is
+  vexed, he won't trust me, and fears you; Sonia is angry with her
+  father, and with me, and hasn't spoken to me for two weeks; I am
+  at the end of my strength, and have come near bursting into tears
+  at least twenty times to-day. Something is wrong in this house.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Leave speculating alone.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You are cultured and intelligent, Ivan, and you surely
+  understand that the world is not destroyed by villains and
+  conflagrations, but by hate and malice and all this spiteful
+  tattling. It is your duty to make peace, and not to growl at
+  everything.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Help me first to make peace with myself. My darling!
+  [Seizes her hand.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. Let go! [She drags her hand away] Go away!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Soon the rain will be over, and all nature will sigh and
+  awake refreshed. Only I am not refreshed by the storm. Day and
+  night the thought haunts me like a fiend, that my life is lost
+  for ever. My past does not count, because I frittered it away on
+  trifles, and the present has so terribly miscarried! What shall I
+  do with my life and my love? What is to become of them? This
+  wonderful feeling of mine will be wasted and lost as a ray of
+  sunlight is lost that falls into a dark chasm, and my life will
+  go with it.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am as it were benumbed when you speak to me of your
+  love, and I don't know how to answer you. Forgive me, I have
+  nothing to say to you. [She tries to go out] Good-night!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Barring the way] If you only knew how I am tortured by
+  the thought that beside me in this house is another life that is
+  being lost forever--it is yours! What are you waiting for? What
+  accursed philosophy stands in your way? Oh, understand,
+  understand---</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Looking at him intently] Ivan, you are drunk!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Perhaps. Perhaps.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Where is the doctor?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. In there, spending the night with me. Perhaps I am
+  drunk, perhaps I am; nothing is impossible.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Have you just been drinking together? Why do you do that?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Because in that way I get a taste of life. Let me do it,
+  Helena!</p>
+<p>HELENA. You never used to drink, and you never used to talk so
+  much. Go to bed, I am tired of you.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Falling on his knees before her] My sweetheart, my
+  beautiful one---</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! Really, this has become too
+  disagreeable.</p>
+<p>HELENA goes out. A pause.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI [Alone] She is gone! I met her first ten years ago, at
+  her sister's house, when she was seventeen and I was
+  thirty-seven. Why did I not fall in love with her then and
+  propose to her? It would have been so easy! And now she would
+  have been my wife. Yes, we would both have been waked to-night by
+  the thunderstorm, and she would have been frightened, but I would
+  have held her in my arms and whispered: &quot;Don't be afraid! I am
+  here.&quot; Oh, enchanting dream, so sweet that I laugh to think of
+  it. [He laughs] But my God! My head reels! Why am I so old? Why
+  won't she understand me? I hate all that rhetoric of hers, that
+  morality of indolence, that absurd talk about the destruction of
+  the world--- [A pause] Oh, how I have been deceived! For years I
+  have worshipped that miserable gout-ridden professor. Sonia and I
+  have squeezed this estate dry for his sake. We have bartered our
+  butter and curds and peas like misers, and have never kept a
+  morsel for ourselves, so that we could scrape enough pennies
+  together to send to him. I was proud of him and of his learning;
+  I received all his words and writings as inspired, and now? Now
+  he has retired, and what is the total of his life? A blank! He is
+  absolutely unknown, and his fame has burst like a soap-bubble. I
+  have been deceived; I see that now, basely deceived.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF comes in. He has his coat on, but is without his
+  waistcoat or collar, and is slightly drunk. TELEGIN follows him,
+  carrying a guitar.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Play!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. But every one is asleep.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Play!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN begins to play softly.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Are you alone here? No women about? [Sings with his arms akimbo.]</p>
+<blockquote>
+  <p> &quot;The hut is cold, the fire is dead; </p>
+  <p>Where shall the master lay his head?&quot; </p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The thunderstorm woke me. It was a heavy shower. What time is it?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. The devil only knows.</p>
+<p> ASTROFF. I thought I heard Helena's voice.</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. She was here a moment ago.</p>
+<p> ASTROFF. What a beautiful woman! [Looking at the medicine
+  bottles on the table] Medicine, is it? What a variety we have;
+  prescriptions from Moscow, from Kharkoff, from Tula! Why, he has
+  been pestering all the towns of Russia with his gout! Is he ill,
+  or simply shamming?</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. He is really ill.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. What is the matter with you to-night? You seem sad. Is
+  it because you are sorry for the professor?</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. Leave me alone.</p>
+<p> ASTROFF. Or in love with the professor's wife?</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. She is my friend.</p>
+<p> ASTROFF. Already?</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. What do you mean by &quot;already&quot;?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. A woman can only become a man's friend after having
+  first been his acquaintance and then his beloved--then she
+  becomes his friend.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. What vulgar philosophy!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. What do you mean? Yes, I must confess I am getting
+  vulgar, but then, you see, I am drunk. I usually only drink like
+  this once a month. At such times my audacity and temerity know no
+  bounds. I feel capable of anything. I attempt the most difficult
+  operations and do them magnificently. The most brilliant plans
+  for the future take shape in my head. I am no longer a poor fool
+  of a doctor, but mankind's greatest benefactor. I evolve my own
+  system of philosophy and all of you seem to crawl at my feet like
+  so many insects or microbes. [To TELEGIN] Play, Waffles!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. My dear boy, I would with all my heart, but do listen to
+  reason; everybody in the house is asleep.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Play!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN plays softly.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I want a drink. Come, we still have some brandy left.
+  And then, as soon as it is day, you will come home with me. [He
+  sees SONIA, who comes in at that moment.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I beg your pardon, I have no collar on.</p>
+<p>[He goes out quickly, followed by TELEGIN.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Uncle Vanya, you and the doctor have been drinking! The
+  good fellows have been getting together! It is all very well for
+  him, he has always done it, but why do you follow his example? It
+  looks dreadfully at your age.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Age has nothing to do with it. When real life is
+  wanting one must create an illusion. It is better than nothing.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Our hay is all cut and rotting in these daily rains, and
+  here you are busy creating illusions! You have given up the farm
+  altogether. I have done all the work alone until I am at the end
+  of my strength--[Frightened] Uncle! Your eyes are full of tears!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Tears? Nonsense, there are no tears in my eyes. You
+  looked at me then just as your dead mother used to, my
+  darling--[He eagerly kisses her face and hands] My sister, my
+  dearest sister, where are you now? Ah, if you only knew, if you
+  only knew!</p>
+<p>SONIA. If she only knew what, Uncle?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. My heart is bursting. It is awful. No matter, though. I
+  must go. [He goes out.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Knocks at the door] Dr. Astroff! Are you awake? Please
+  come here for a minute.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Behind the door] In a moment.</p>
+<p>He appears in a few seconds. He has put on his collar and
+  waistcoat.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. What do you want?</p>
+<p>SONIA. Drink as much as you please yourself if you don't find it
+  revolting, but I implore you not to let my uncle do it. It is bad
+  for him.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Very well; we won't drink any more. I am going home at
+  once. That is settled. It will be dawn by the time the horses are
+  harnessed.</p>
+<p>SONIA. It is still raining; wait till morning.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. The storm is blowing over. This is only the edge of it.
+  I must go. And please don't ask me to come and see your father
+  any more. I tell him he has gout, and he says it is rheumatism. I
+  tell him to lie down, and he sits up. To-day he refused to see me
+  at all.</p>
+<p>SONIA. He has been spoilt. [She looks in the sideboard] Won't you
+  have a bite to eat?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, please. I believe I will.</p>
+<p>SONIA. I love to eat at night. I am sure we shall find something
+  in here. They say that he has made a great many conquests in his
+  life, and that the women have spoiled him. Here is some cheese
+  for you.</p>
+<p>[They stand eating by the sideboard.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I haven't eaten anything to-day. Your father has a very
+  difficult nature. [He takes a bottle out of the sideboard] May I?
+  [He pours himself a glass of vodka] We are alone here, and I can
+  speak frankly. Do you know, I could not stand living in this
+  house for even a month? This atmosphere would stifle me. There is
+  your father, entirely absorbed in his books, and his gout; there
+  is your Uncle Vanya with his hypochondria, your grandmother, and
+  finally, your step-mother--</p>
+<p>SONIA. What about her?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. A human being should be entirely beautiful: the face,
+  the clothes, the mind, the thoughts. Your step-mother is, of
+  course, beautiful to look at, but don't you see? She does nothing
+  but sleep and eat and walk and bewitch us, and that is all. She
+  has no responsibilities, everything is done for her--am I not
+  right? And an idle life can never be a pure one. [A pause]
+  However, I may be judging her too severely. Like your Uncle
+  Vanya, I am discontented, and so we are both grumblers.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Aren't you satisfied with life?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I like life as life, but I hate and despise it in a
+  little Russian country village, and as far as my own personal
+  life goes, by heaven! there is absolutely no redeeming feature
+  about it. Haven't you noticed if you are riding through a dark
+  wood at night and see a little light shining ahead, how you
+  forget your fatigue and the darkness and the sharp twigs that
+  whip your face? I work, that you know--as no one else in the
+  country works. Fate beats me on without rest; at times I suffer
+  unendurably and I see no light ahead. I have no hope; I do not
+  like people. It is long since I have loved any one.</p>
+<p>SONIA. You love no one?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Not a soul. I only feel a sort of tenderness for your
+  old nurse for old-times' sake. The peasants are all alike; they
+  are stupid and live in dirt, and the educated people are hard to
+  get along with. One gets tired of them. All our good friends are
+  petty and shallow and see no farther than their own noses; in one
+  word, they are dull. Those that have brains are hysterical,
+  devoured with a mania for self-analysis. They whine, they hate,
+  they pick faults everywhere with unhealthy sharpness. They sneak
+  up to me sideways, look at me out of a corner of the eye, and
+  say: &quot;That man is a lunatic,&quot; &quot;That man is a wind-bag.&quot; 
+  Or, if
+  they don't know what else to label me with, they say I am
+  strange. I like the woods; that is strange. I don't eat meat;
+  that is strange, too. Simple, natural relations between man and
+  man or man and nature do not exist. [He tries to go out; SONIA
+  prevents him.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. I beg you, I implore you, not to drink any more!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Why not?</p>
+<p>SONIA. It is so unworthy of you. You are well-bred, your voice is
+  sweet, you are even--more than any one I know--handsome. Why do
+  you want to resemble the common people that drink and play cards?
+  Oh, don't, I beg you! You always say that people do not create
+  anything, but only destroy what heaven has given them. Why, oh,
+  why, do you destroy yourself? Oh, don't, I implore you not to! I
+  entreat you!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Gives her his hand] I won't drink any more.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Promise me.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I give you my word of honour.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Squeezing his hand] Thank you.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I have done with it. You see, I am perfectly sober
+  again, and so I shall stay till the end of my life. [He looks his
+  watch] But, as I was saying, life holds nothing for me; my race
+  is run. I am old, I am tired, I am trivial; my sensibilities are
+  dead. I could never attach myself to any one again. I love no
+  one, and never shall! Beauty alone has the power to touch me
+  still. I am deeply moved by it. Helena could turn my head in a
+  day if she wanted to, but that is not love, that is not
+  affection--</p>
+<p>[He shudders and covers his face with his hands.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. What is it?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Nothing. During Lent one of my patients died under
+  chloroform.</p>
+<p>SONIA. It is time to forget that. [A pause] Tell me, doctor, if I
+  had a friend or a younger sister, and if you knew that she,
+  well--loved you, what would you do?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Shrugging his shoulders] I don't know. I don't think I
+  should do anything. I should make her understand that I could not
+  return her love--however, my mind is not bothered about those
+  things now. I must start at once if I am ever to get off.
+  Good-bye, my dear girl. At this rate we shall stand here talking
+  till morning. [He shakes hands with her] I shall go out through
+  the sitting-room, because I am afraid your uncle might detain me.
+  [He goes out.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Alone] Not a word! His heart and soul are still locked
+  from me, and yet for some reason I am strangely happy. I wonder
+  why? [She laughs with pleasure] I told him that he was well-bred
+  and handsome and that his voice was sweet. Was that a mistake? I
+  can still feel his voice vibrating in the air; it caresses me.
+  [Wringing her hands] Oh! how terrible it is to be plain! I am
+  plain, I know it. As I came out of church last Sunday I overheard
+  a woman say, &quot;She is a dear, noble girl, but what a pity she is
+  so ugly!&quot; So ugly!</p>
+<p>HELENA comes in and throws open the window.</p>
+<p>HELENA. The storm is over. What delicious air! [A pause] Where is
+  the doctor?</p>
+<p>SONIA. He has gone. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. Sonia!</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes?</p>
+<p>HELENA. How much longer are you going to sulk at me? We have not
+  hurt each other. Why not be friends? We have had enough of this.</p>
+<p>SONIA. I myself--[She embraces HELENA] Let us make peace.</p>
+<p>HELENA. With all my heart. [They are both moved.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. Has papa gone to bed?</p>
+<p>HELENA. No, he is sitting up in the drawing-room. Heaven knows
+  what reason you and I had for not speaking to each other for
+  weeks. [Sees the open sideboard] Who left the sideboard open?</p>
+<p>SONIA. Dr. Astroff has just had supper.</p>
+<p>HELENA. There is some wine. Let us seal our friendship.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes, let us.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Out of one glass. [She fills a wine-glass] So, we are
+  friends, are we?</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes. [They drink and kiss each other] I have long wanted
+  to make friends, but somehow, I was ashamed to. [She weeps.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. Why are you crying?</p>
+<p>SONIA. I don't know. It is nothing.</p>
+<p>HELENA. There, there, don't cry. [She weeps] Silly! Now I am
+  crying too. [A pause] You are angry with me because I seem to
+  have married your father for his money, but don't believe the
+  gossip you hear. I swear to you I married him for
+  love. I was fascinated by his fame and learning. I know now that
+  it was not real love, but it seemed real at the time. I am
+  innocent, and yet your clever, suspicious eyes have been
+  punishing me for an imaginary crime ever since my marriage.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Peace, peace! Let us forget the past.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You must not look so at people. It is not becoming to
+  you. You must trust people, or life becomes impossible.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Tell me truly, as a friend, are you happy?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Truly, no.</p>
+<p>SONIA. I knew it. One more question: do you wish your husband
+  were young?</p>
+<p>HELENA. What a child you are! Of course I do. Go on, ask
+  something else.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Do you like the doctor?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Yes, very much indeed.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Laughing] I have a stupid face, haven't I? He has just
+  gone out, and his voice is still in my ears; I hear his step; I
+  see his face in the dark window. Let me say all I have in my
+  heart! But no, I cannot speak of it so loudly. I am ashamed. Come
+  to my room and let me tell you there. I seem foolish to you,
+  don't I? Talk to me of him.</p>
+<p>HELENA. What can I say?</p>
+<p>SONIA. He is clever. He can do everything. He can cure the sick,
+  and plant woods.</p>
+<p>HELENA. It is not a question of medicine and woods, my dear, he
+  is a man of genius. Do you know what that means? It means he is
+  brave, profound, and of clear insight. He plants a tree and his
+  mind travels a thousand years into the future, and he sees
+  visions of the happiness of the human race. People like him are
+  rare and should be loved. What if he does drink and act roughly
+  at times? A man of genius cannot be a saint in Russia. There he
+  lives, cut off from the world by cold and storm and endless roads
+  of bottomless mud, surrounded by a rough people who are crushed
+  by poverty and disease, his life one continuous struggle, with
+  never a day's respite; how can a man live like that for forty
+  years and keep himself sober and unspotted? [Kissing SONIA] I
+  wish you happiness with all my heart; you deserve it. [She gets
+  up] As for me, I am a worthless, futile woman. I have always been
+  futile; in music, in love, in my husband's house--in a word, in
+  everything. When you come to think of it, Sonia, I am really
+  very, very unhappy. [Walks excitedly up and down] Happiness can
+  never exist for me in this world. Never. Why do you laugh?</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Laughing and covering her face with her hands] I am so
+  happy, so happy!</p>
+<p>HELENA. I want to hear music. I might play a little.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Oh, do, do! [She embraces her] I could not possibly go to
+  sleep now. Do play!</p>
+<p>HELENA. Yes, I will. Your father is still awake. Music irritates
+  him when he is ill, but if he says I may, then I shall play a
+  little. Go, Sonia, and ask him.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Very well.</p>
+<p>[She goes out. The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. It is long since I have heard music. And now, I shall sit
+  and play, and weep like a fool. [Speaking out of the window] Is
+  that you rattling out there, Ephim?</p>
+<p>VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. It is I.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Don't make such a noise. Your master is ill.</p>
+<p>VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. I am going away this minute. [Whistles a
+  tune.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Comes back] He says, no.</p>
+<p>The curtain falls.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 align="center">ACT III</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>The drawing-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. There are three doors:
+  one to the right, one to the left, and one in the centre of the
+  room. VOITSKI and SONIA are sitting down. HELENA is walking up
+  and down, absorbed in thought.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. We were asked by the professor to be here at one o'clock. [Looks at 
+  his watch] It is now a quarter to one. It seems he has some communication to 
+  make to the world.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Probably a matter of business.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. He never had any business. He writes twaddle, grumbles,
+  and eats his heart out with jealousy; that's all he does.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Reproachfully] Uncle!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. All right. I beg your pardon. [He points to HELENA] Look
+  at her. Wandering up and down from sheer idleness. A sweet
+  picture, really.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I wonder you are not bored, droning on in the same key
+  from morning till night. [Despairingly] I am dying of this
+  tedium. What shall I do?</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Shrugging her shoulders] There is plenty to do if you
+  would.</p>
+<p>HELENA. For instance?</p>
+<p>SONIA. You could help run this place, teach the children, care
+  for the sick--isn't that enough? Before you and papa came, Uncle
+  Vanya and I used to go to market ourselves to deal in flour.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I don't know anything about such things, and besides,
+  they don't interest me. It is only in novels that women go out
+  and teach and heal the peasants; how can I suddenly begin to do
+  it?</p>
+<p>SONIA. How can you live here and not do it? Wait awhile, you will
+  get used to it all. [Embraces her] Don't be sad, dearest.
+  [Laughing] You feel miserable and restless, and can't seem to fit
+  into this life, and your restlessness is catching. Look at Uncle
+  Vanya, he does nothing now but haunt you like a shadow, and I
+  have left my work to-day to come here and talk with you. I am
+  getting lazy, and don't want to go on with it. Dr. Astroff hardly
+  ever used to come here; it was all we could do to persuade him to
+  visit us once a month, and now he has abandoned his forestry and
+  his practice, and comes every day. You must be a witch.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Why should you languish here? Come, my dearest, my
+  beauty, be sensible! The blood of a Nixey runs in your veins. Oh,
+  won't you let yourself be one? Give your nature the reins for
+  once in your life; fall head over ears in love with some other
+  water sprite and plunge down head first into a deep pool, so that
+  the Herr Professor and all of us may have our hands free again.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! How cruel you are! [She tries
+  to go out.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Preventing her] There, there, my beauty, I apologise.
+  [He kisses her hand] Forgive me.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Confess that you would try the patience of an angel.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. As a peace offering I am going to fetch some flowers
+  which I picked for you this morning: some autumn roses,
+  beautiful, sorrowful roses. [He goes out.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. Autumn roses, beautiful, sorrowful roses!</p>
+<p>[She and HELENA stand looking out of the window.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. September already! How shall we live through the long
+  winter here? [A pause] Where is the doctor?</p>
+<p>SONIA. He is writing in Uncle Vanya's room. I am glad Uncle Vanya
+  has gone out, I want to talk to you about something.</p>
+<p>HELENA. About what?</p>
+<p>SONIA. About what?</p>
+<p>[She lays her head on HELENA'S breast.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Stroking her hair] There, there, that will do. Don't,
+  Sonia.</p>
+<p>SONIA. I am ugly!</p>
+<p>HELENA. You have lovely hair.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Don't say that! [She turns to look at herself in the
+  glass] No, when a woman is ugly they always say she has beautiful
+  hair or eyes. I have loved him now for six years, I have loved
+  him more than one loves one's mother. I seem to hear him beside
+  me every moment of the day. I feel the pressure of his hand on
+  mine. If I look up, I seem to see him coming, and as you see, I
+  run to you to talk of him. He is here every day now, but he never
+  looks at me, he does not notice my presence. It is agony. I have
+  absolutely no hope, no, no hope. Oh, my God! Give me strength to
+  endure. I prayed all last night. I often go up to him and speak
+  to him and look into his eyes. My pride is gone. I am not
+  mistress of myself. Yesterday I told Uncle Vanya I couldn't
+  control myself, and all the servants know it. Every one knows
+  that I love him.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Does he?</p>
+<p>SONIA. No, he never notices me.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Thoughtfully] He is a strange man. Listen, Sonia, will
+  you allow me to speak to him? I shall be careful, only hint. [A
+  pause] Really, to be in uncertainty all these years! Let me do
+  it!</p>
+<p>SONIA nods an affirmative.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Splendid! It will be easy to find out whether he loves
+  you or not. Don't be ashamed, sweetheart, don't worry. I shall be
+  careful; he will not notice a thing. We only want to find out
+  whether it is yes or no, don't we? [A pause] And if it is no,
+  then he must keep away from here, is that so?</p>
+<p>SONIA nods.</p>
+<p>HELENA. It will be easier not to see him any more. We won't put
+  off the examination an instant. He said he had a sketch to show
+  me. Go and tell him at once that I want to see him.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [In great excitement] Will you tell me the whole truth?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Of course I will. I am sure that no matter what it is, it
+  will be easier for you to bear than this uncertainty. Trust to
+  me, dearest.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes, yes. I shall say that you want to see his sketch.
+  [She starts out, but stops near the door and looks back] No, it
+  is better not to know--and yet--there may be hope.</p>
+<p>HELENA. What do you say?</p>
+<p>SONIA. Nothing. [She goes out.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Alone] There is no greater sorrow than to know another's
+  secret when you cannot help them. [In deep thought] He is
+  obviously not in love with her, but why shouldn't he marry her?
+  She is not pretty, but she is so clever and pure and good, she
+  would make a splendid wife for a country doctor of his years. [A
+  pause] I can understand how the poor child feels. She lives here
+  in this desperate loneliness with no one around her except these
+  colourless shadows that go mooning about talking nonsense and
+  knowing nothing except that they eat, drink, and sleep. Among
+  them appears from time to time this Dr. Astroff, so different, so
+  handsome, so interesting, so charming. It is like seeing the moon
+  rise on a dark night. Oh, to surrender oneself to his embrace! To
+  lose oneself in his arms! I am a little in love with him myself!
+  Yes, I am lonely without him, and when I think of him I smile.
+  That Uncle Vanya says I have the blood of a Nixey in my veins:
+  &quot;Give rein to your nature for once in your life!&quot; Perhaps it is
+  right that I should. Oh, to be free as a bird, to fly away from
+  all your sleepy faces and your talk and forget that you have
+  existed at all! But I am a coward, I am afraid; my conscience
+  torments me. He comes here every day now. I can guess why, and
+  feel guilty already; I should like to fall on my knees at Sonia's
+  feet and beg her forgiveness, and weep.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF comes in carrying a portfolio.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. How do you do? [Shakes hands with her] Do you want to
+  see my sketch?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Yes, you promised to show me what you had been doing.
+  Have you time now?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Of course I have!</p>
+<p>He lays the portfolio on the table, takes out the sketch and
+  fastens it to the table with thumb-tacks.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Where were you born?</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Helping him] In St. Petersburg.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. And educated?</p>
+<p>HELENA. At the Conservatory there.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. You don't find this life very interesting, I dare say?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Oh, why not? It is true I don't know the country very
+  well, but I have read a great deal about it.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I have my own desk there in Ivan's room. When I am
+  absolutely too exhausted to go on I drop everything and rush over
+  here to forget myself in this work for an hour or two. Ivan and
+  Miss Sonia sit rattling at their counting-boards, the cricket
+  chirps, and I sit beside them and paint, feeling warm and
+  peaceful. But I don't permit myself this luxury very often, only
+  once a month. [Pointing to the picture] Look there! That is a map
+  of our country as it was fifty years ago. The green tints, both
+  dark and light, represent forests. Half the map, as you see, is
+  covered with it. Where the green is striped with red the forests
+  were inhabited by elk and wild goats. Here on this lake, lived
+  great flocks of swans and geese and ducks; as the old men say,
+  there was a power of birds of every kind. Now they have vanished
+  like a cloud. Beside the hamlets and villages, you see, I have
+  dotted down here and there the various settlements, farms,
+  hermit's caves, and water-mills. This country carried a great
+  many cattle and horses, as you can see by the quantity of blue
+  paint. For instance, see how thickly it lies in this part; there
+  were great herds of them here, an average of three horses to
+  every house. [A pause] Now, look lower down. This is the country
+  as it was twenty-five years ago. Only a third of the map is green
+  now with forests. There are no goats left and no elk. The blue
+  paint is lighter, and so on, and so on. Now we come to the third
+  part; our country as it appears to-day. We still see spots of
+  green, but not much. The elk, the swans, the black-cock have
+  disappeared. It is, on the whole, the picture of a regular and
+  slow decline which it will evidently only take about ten or
+  fifteen more years to complete. You may perhaps object that it is
+  the march of progress, that the old order must give place to the
+  new, and you might be right if roads had been run through these
+  ruined woods, or if factories and schools had taken their place.
+  The people then would have become better educated and healthier
+  and richer, but as it is, we have nothing of the sort. We have
+  the same swamps and mosquitoes; the same disease and want; the
+  typhoid, the diphtheria, the burning villages. We are confronted
+  by the degradation of our country, brought on by the fierce
+  struggle for existence of the human race. It is the consequence
+  of the ignorance and unconsciousness of starving, shivering, sick
+  humanity that, to save its children, instinctively snatches at
+  everything that can warm it and still its hunger. So it destroys
+  everything it can lay its hands on, without a thought for the
+  morrow. And almost everything has gone, and nothing has been
+  created to take its place. [Coldly] But I see by your face that I
+  am not interesting you.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I know so little about such things!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. There is nothing to know. It simply isn't interesting,
+  that's all.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Frankly, my thoughts were elsewhere. Forgive me! I want
+  to submit you to a little examination, but I am embarrassed and
+  don't know how to begin.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. An examination?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Yes, but quite an innocent one. Sit down. [They sit down]
+  It is about a certain young girl I know. Let us discuss it like
+  honest people, like friends, and then forget what has passed
+  between us, shall we?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Very well.</p>
+<p>HELENA. It is about my step-daughter, Sonia. Do you like her?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, I respect her.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Do you like her--as a woman?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Slowly] No.</p>
+<p>HELENA. One more word, and that will be the last. You have not
+  noticed anything?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No, nothing.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Taking his hand] You do not love her. I see that in your
+  eyes. She is suffering. You must realise that, and not come here
+  any more.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. My sun has set, yes, and then I haven't the time.
+  [Shrugging his shoulders] Where shall I find time for such
+  things? [He is embarrassed.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Bah! What an unpleasant conversation! I am as out of
+  breath as if I had been running three miles uphill. Thank heaven,
+  that is over! Now let us forget everything as if nothing had been
+  said. You are sensible. You understand. [A pause] I am actually
+  blushing.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. If you had spoken a month ago I might perhaps have
+  considered it, but now--[He shrugs his shoulders] Of course, if
+  she is suffering--but I cannot understand why you had to put me
+  through this examination. [He searches her face with his eyes,
+  and shakes his finger at her] Oho, you are wily!</p>
+<p>HELENA. What does this mean?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Laughing] You are a wily one! I admit that Sonia is
+  suffering, but what does this examination of yours mean? [He
+  prevents her from retorting, and goes on quickly] Please don't
+  put on such a look of surprise; you know perfectly well why I
+  come here every day. Yes, you know perfectly why and for whose
+  sake I come! Oh, my sweet tigress! don't look at me in that way;
+  I am an old bird!</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Perplexed] A tigress? I don't understand you.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Beautiful, sleek tigress, you must have your victims!
+  For a whole month I have done nothing but seek you eagerly. I
+  have thrown over everything for you, and you love to see it. Now
+  then, I am sure you knew all this without putting me through your
+  examination. [Crossing his arms and bowing his head] I surrender.
+  Here you have me--now, eat me.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You have gone mad!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. You are afraid!</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am a better and stronger woman than you think me.
+  Good-bye. [She tries to leave the room.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Why good-bye? Don't say good-bye, don't waste words. Oh,
+  how lovely you are--what hands! [He kisses her hands.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. Enough of this! [She frees her hands] Leave the room! You
+  have forgotten yourself.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Tell me, tell me, where can we meet to-morrow? [He puts
+  his arm around her] Don't you see that we must meet, that it is
+  inevitable?</p>
+<p>He kisses her. VOITSKI comes in carrying a bunch of roses, and
+  stops in the doorway.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Without seeing VOITSKI] Have
+  pity! Leave me, [lays her head on ASTROFF'S shoulder] Don't!
+  [She tries to break away from him.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Holding her by the waist] Be in the forest tomorrow at
+  two o'clock. Will you? Will you?</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Sees VOITSKI] Let me go! [Goes to the window deeply
+  embarrassed] This is appalling!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Throws the flowers on a chair, and speaks in great
+  excitement, wiping his face with his handkerchief] Nothing--yes,
+  yes, nothing.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. The weather is fine to-day, my dear Ivan; the morning
+  was overcast and looked like rain, but now the sun is shining
+  again. Honestly, we have had a very fine autumn, and the wheat is
+  looking fairly well. [Puts his map back into the portfolio] But
+  the days are growing short.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Goes quickly up to VOITSKI] You must do your best; you
+  must use all your power to get my husband and myself away from
+  here to-day! Do you hear? I say, this very day!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Wiping his face] Oh! Ah! Oh! All right! I--Helena, I
+  saw everything!</p>
+<p>HELENA. [In great agitation] Do you hear me? I must leave here
+  this very day!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF, SONIA, MARINA, and TELEGIN come in.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. I am not very well myself, your Excellency. I have been
+  limping for two days, and my head--</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Where are the others? I hate this house. It is a
+  regular labyrinth. Every one is always scattered through the
+  twenty-six enormous rooms; one never can find a soul. [Rings] Ask
+  my wife and Madame Voitskaya to come here!</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am here already.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Please, all of you, sit down.</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Goes up to HELENA and asks anxiously] What did he say?</p>
+<p>HELENA. I'll tell you later.</p>
+<p>SONIA. You are moved. [looking quickly and inquiringly into her
+  face] I understand; he said he would not come here any more. [A
+  pause] Tell me, did he?</p>
+<p>HELENA nods.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [To TELEGIN] One can, after all, become reconciled
+  to being an invalid, but not to this country life. The ways of it
+  stick in my throat and I feel exactly as if I had been whirled
+  off the earth and landed on a strange planet. Please be seated,
+  ladies and gentlemen. Sonia! [SONIA does not hear. She is
+  standing with her head bowed sadly forward on her breast] Sonia!
+  [A pause] She does not hear me. [To MARINA] Sit down too, nurse.
+  [MARINA sits down and begins to knit her stocking] I crave your
+  indulgence, ladies and gentlemen; hang your ears, if I may say
+  so, on the peg of attention. [He laughs.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Agitated] Perhaps you do not need me--may I be excused?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. No, you are needed now more than any one.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. What is it you want of me?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. You--but what are you angry about? If it is anything
+  I have done, I ask you to forgive me.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Oh, drop that and come to business; what do you want?</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA comes in.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Here is mother. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall begin.
+  I have asked you to assemble here, my friends, in order to
+  discuss a very important matter. I want to ask you for your
+  assistance and advice, and knowing your unfailing amiability I
+  think I can count on both. I am a book-worm and a scholar, and am
+  unfamiliar with practical affairs. I cannot, I find, dispense
+  with the help of well-informed people such as you, Ivan, and you,
+  Telegin, and you, mother. The truth is, _manet omnes una nox,_
+  that is to say, our lives are in the hands of God, and as I am
+  old and ill, I realise that the time has come for me to dispose
+  of my property in regard to the interests of my family. My life
+  is nearly over, and I am not thinking of myself, but I have a
+  young wife and daughter. [A pause] I cannot continue to live in
+  the country; we were not made for country life, and yet we cannot
+  afford to live in town on the income derived from this estate. We
+  might sell the woods, but that would be an expedient we could not
+  resort to every year. We must find some means of guaranteeing to
+  ourselves a certain more or less fixed yearly income. With this
+  object in view, a plan has occurred to me which I now have the
+  honour of presenting to you for your consideration. I shall only
+  give you a rough outline, avoiding all details. Our estate does
+  not pay on an average more than two per cent on the money
+  invested in it. I propose to sell it. If we then invest our
+  capital in bonds, it will earn us four to five per cent, and we
+  should probably have a surplus over of several thousand roubles,
+  with which we could buy a summer cottage in Finland--</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Hold on! Repeat what you just said; I don't think I
+  heard you quite right.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I said we would invest the money in bonds and buy a
+  cottage in Finland with the surplus.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. No, not Finland--you said something else.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I propose to sell this place.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Aha! That was it! So you are going to sell the place?
+  Splendid. The idea is a rich one. And what do you propose to do
+  with my old mother and me and with Sonia here?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. That will be decided in due time. We can't do
+  everything at once.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Wait! It is clear that until this moment I have never
+  had a grain of sense in my head. I have always been stupid enough
+  to think that the estate belonged to Sonia. My father bought it
+  as a wedding present for my sister, and I foolishly imagined that
+  as our laws were made for Russians and not Turks, my sister's
+  estate would come down to her child.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Of course it is Sonia's. Has any one denied it? I
+  don't want to sell it without Sonia's consent; on the contrary,
+  what I am doing is for Sonia's good.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. This is absolutely incomprehensible. Either I have gone
+  mad or--or--</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. Jean, don't contradict Alexander. Trust to him;
+  he knows better than we do what is right and what is wrong.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I shan't. Give me some water. [He drinks] Go ahead! Say
+  anything you please--anything!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I can't imagine why you are so upset. I don't
+  pretend that my scheme is an ideal one, and if you all object to
+  it I shall not insist. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. [With embarrassment] I not only nourish feelings of
+  respect toward learning, your Excellency, but I am also drawn to
+  it by family ties. My brother Gregory's wife's brother, whom you
+  may know; his name is Constantine Lakedemonoff, and he used to be
+  a magistrate--</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Stop, Waffles. This is business; wait a bit, we will
+  talk of that later. [To SEREBRAKOFF] There now, ask him what he
+  thinks; this estate was bought from his uncle.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Ah! Why should I ask questions? What good would it
+  do?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. The price was ninety-five thousand roubles. My father
+  paid seventy and left a debt of twenty-five. Now listen! This
+  place could never have been bought had I not renounced my
+  inheritance in favour of my sister, whom I deeply loved--and what
+  is more, I worked for ten years like an ox, and paid off the
+  debt.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I regret ever having started this conversation.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Thanks entirely to my own personal efforts, the place is
+  entirely clear of debts, and now, when I have grown old, you want
+  to throw me out, neck and crop!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. I can't imagine what you are driving at.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. For twenty-five years I have managed this place, and
+  have sent you the returns from it like the most honest of
+  servants, and you have never given me one single word of thanks
+  for my work, not one--neither in my youth nor now. You allowed me
+  a meagre salary of five hundred roubles a year, a beggar's
+  pittance, and have never even thought of adding a rouble to it.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. What did I know about such things, Ivan? I am not a
+  practical man and don't understand them. You might have helped
+  yourself to all you wanted.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Yes, why did I not steal? Don't you all despise me for
+  not stealing, when it would have been only justice? And I should
+  not now have been a beggar!</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. [Sternly] Jean!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. [Agitated] Vanya, old man, don't talk in that way. Why
+  spoil such pleasant relations? [He embraces him] Do stop!</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. For twenty-five years I have been sitting here with my
+  mother like a mole in a burrow. Our every thought and hope was
+  yours and yours only. By day we talked with pride of you and your
+  work, and spoke your name with veneration; our nights we wasted
+  reading the books and papers which my soul now loathes.</p>
+<p> TELEGIN. Don't, Vanya, don't. I can't stand it.</p>
+<p> SEREBRAKOFF. [Wrathfully] What under heaven do you want, anyway?</p>
+<p> VOITSKI. We used to think of you as almost superhuman, but now
+  the scales have fallen from my eyes and I see you as you are! You
+  write on art without knowing anything about it. Those books of
+  yours which I used to admire are not worth one copper kopeck. You
+  are a hoax!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Can't any one make him stop? I am going!</p>
+<p>HELENA. Ivan, I command you to stop this instant! Do you hear me?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I refuse! [SEREBRAKOFF tries to get out of the room, but
+  VOITSKI bars the door] Wait! I have not done yet! You have
+  wrecked my life. I have never lived. My best years have gone for
+  nothing, have been ruined, thanks to you. You are my most bitter
+  enemy!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. I can't stand it; I can't stand it. I am going. [He goes
+  out in great excitement.]</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. But what do you want? What earthly right have you to
+  use such language to me? Ruination! If this estate is yours, then
+  take it, and let me be ruined!</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am going away out of this hell this minute. [Shrieks]
+  This is too much!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. My life has been a failure. I am clever and brave and
+  strong. If I had lived a normal life I might have become another
+  Schopenhauer or Dostoieffski. I am losing my head! I am going
+  crazy! Mother, I am in despair! Oh, mother!</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. [Sternly] Listen, Alexander!</p>
+<p>SONIA falls on her knees beside the nurse and nestles against
+  her.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Oh, nurse, nurse!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Mother! What shall I do? But no, don't speak! I know
+  what to do. [To SEREBRAKOFF] And you will understand me!</p>
+<p>He goes out through the door in the centre of the room and MME.
+  VOITSKAYA follows him.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Tell me, what on earth is the matter? Take this lunatic out of 
+  my sight! I cannot possibly live under the same roof with him. His room [He 
+  points to the centre door] is almost next door to mine. Let him take himself 
+  off into the village or into the wing of the house, or I shall leave here at 
+  once. I cannot stay in the same house with him.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [To her husband] We are leaving to-day; we must get ready
+  at once for our departure.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. What a perfectly dreadful man!</p>
+<p>SONIA. [On her knees beside the nurse and turning to her father.
+  She speaks with emotion] You must be kind to us, papa. Uncle
+  Vanya and I are so unhappy! [Controlling her despair] Have pity
+  on us. Remember how Uncle Vanya and Granny used to copy and
+  translate your books for you every night--every, every night.
+  Uncle Vanya has toiled without rest; he would never spend a penny
+  on us, we sent it all to you. We have not eaten the bread of
+  idleness. I am not saying this as I should like to, but you must
+  understand us, papa, you must be merciful to us.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Very excited, to her husband] For heaven's sake,
+  Alexander, go and have a talk with him--explain!</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. Very well, I shall have a talk with him, but I won't
+  apologise for a thing. I am not angry with him, but you must
+  confess that his behaviour has been strange, to say the least.
+  Excuse me, I shall go to him.</p>
+<p>[He goes out through the centre door.]</p>
+<p>HELENA. Be gentle with him; try to quiet him. [She follows him
+  out.]</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Nestling nearer to MARINA] Nurse, oh, nurse!</p>
+<p>MARINA. It's all right, my baby. When the geese have cackled they
+  will be still again. First they cackle and then they stop.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Nurse!</p>
+<p>MARINA. You are trembling all over, as if you were freezing.
+  There, there, little orphan baby, God is merciful. A little
+  linden-tea, and it will all pass away. Don't cry, my sweetest.
+  [Looking angrily at the door in the centre of the room] See, the
+  geese have all gone now. The devil take them!</p>
+<p>A shot is heard. HELENA screams behind the scenes. SONIA
+  shudders.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Bang! What's that?</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Comes in reeling with terror] Hold him! hold him!
+  He has gone mad!</p>
+<p>HELENA and VOITSKI are seen struggling in the doorway.</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Trying to wrest the revolver from him] Give it to me;
+  give it to me, I tell you!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Let me go, Helena, let me go! [He frees himself and
+  rushes in, looking everywhere for SEREBRAKOFF] Where is he? Ah,
+  there he is! [He shoots at him. A pause] I didn't get him? I
+  missed again? [Furiously] Damnation! Damnation! To hell with him!</p>
+<p>He flings the revolver on the floor, and drops helpless into a
+  chair. SEREBRAKOFF stands as if stupefied. HELENA leans against
+  the wall, almost fainting.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Take me away! Take me away! I can't stay here--I can't!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [In despair] Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?</p>
+<p>SONIA. [Softly] Oh, nurse, nurse!</p>
+<p>The curtain falls.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 align="center">ACT IV</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>VOITSKI'S bedroom, which is also his office. A table stands near the window; 
+  on it are ledgers, letter scales, and papers of every description. Near by stands 
+  a smaller table belonging to ASTROFF, with his paints and drawing materials. 
+  On the wall hangs a cage containing a starling. There is also a map of Africa 
+  on the wall, obviously of no use to anybody. There is a large sofa covered with 
+  buckram. A door to the left leads into an inner room; one to the right leads 
+  into the front hall, and before this door lies a mat for the peasants with their 
+  muddy boots to stand on. It is an autumn evening. The silence is profound. TELEGIN 
+  and MARINA are sitting facing one another, winding wool. </p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Be quick, Marina, or we shall be called away to say
+  good-bye before you have finished. The carriage has already been
+  ordered.</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Trying to wind more quickly] I am a little tired.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. They are going to Kharkoff to live.</p>
+<p>MARINA. They do well to go.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. They have been frightened. The professor's wife won't
+  stay here an hour longer. &quot;If we are going at all, let's be off,&quot;
+  says she, &quot;we shall go to Kharkoff and look about us, and then we
+  can send for our things.&quot; They are travelling light. It seems,
+  Marina, that fate has decreed for them not to live here.</p>
+<p>MARINA. And quite rightly. What a storm they have just raised! It
+  was shameful!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. It was indeed. The scene was worthy of the brush of
+  Aibazofski.</p>
+<p>MARINA. I wish I'd never laid eyes on them. [A pause] Now we
+  shall have things as they were again: tea at eight, dinner at
+  one, and supper in the evening; everything in order as decent
+  folks, as Christians like to have it. [Sighs] It is a long time
+  since I have eaten noodles.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Yes, we haven't had noodles for ages. [A pause] Not for
+  ages. As I was going through the village this morning, Marina,
+  one of the shop-keepers called after me, &quot;Hi! you hanger-on!&quot; I
+  felt it bitterly.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Don't pay the least attention to them, master; we are all
+  dependents on God. You and Sonia and all of us. Every one must
+  work, no one can sit idle. Where is Sonia?</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. In the garden with the doctor, looking for Ivan. They
+  fear he may lay violent hands on himself.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Where is his pistol?</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. [Whispers] I hid it in the cellar.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI and ASTROFF come in.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Leave me alone! [To MARINA and TELEGIN] Go away! Go away
+  and leave me to myself, if but for an hour. I won't have you
+  watching me like this!</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Yes, yes, Vanya. [He goes out on tiptoe.]</p>
+<p>MARINA. The gander cackles; ho! ho! ho!</p>
+<p>[She gathers up her wool and goes out.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Leave me by myself!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I would, with the greatest pleasure. I ought to have
+  gone long ago, but I shan't leave you until you have returned
+  what you took from me.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I took nothing from you.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I am not jesting, don't detain me, I really must go.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I took nothing of yours.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. You didn't? Very well, I shall have to wait a little
+  longer, and then you will have to forgive me if I resort to
+  force. We shall have to bind you and search you. I mean what I
+  say.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Do as you please. [A pause] Oh, to make such a fool of
+  myself! To shoot twice and miss him both times! I shall never
+  forgive myself.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. When the impulse came to shoot, it would have been as
+  well had you put a bullet through your own head.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Shrugging his shoulders] Strange! I attempted murder,
+  and am not going to be arrested or brought to trial. That means
+  they think me mad. [With a bitter laugh] Me! I am mad, and those
+  who hide their worthlessness, their dullness, their crying 
+  heartlessness behind a professor's mask, are sane! Those who marry
+  old men and then deceive them under the noses of all, are sane! I
+  saw you kiss her; I saw you in each other's arms!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, sir, I did kiss her; so there. [He puts his thumb
+  to his nose.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [His eyes on the door] No, it is the earth that is mad,
+  because she still bears us on her breast.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. That is nonsense.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Well? Am I not a madman, and therefore irresponsible?
+  Haven't I the right to talk nonsense?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. This is a farce! You are not mad; you are simply a
+  ridiculous fool. I used to think every fool was out of his
+  senses, but now I see that lack of sense is a man's normal state,
+  and you are perfectly normal.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Covers his face with his hands] Oh! If you knew how
+  ashamed I am! These piercing pangs of shame are like nothing on
+  earth. [In an agonised voice] I can't endure them! [He leans
+  against the table] What can I do? What can I do?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Nothing.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. You must tell me something! Oh, my God! I am forty-seven
+  years old. I may live to sixty; I still have thirteen years
+  before me; an eternity! How shall I be able to endure life for
+  thirteen years? What shall I do? How can I fill them? Oh, don't
+  you see? [He presses ASTROFF'S hand convulsively] Don't you see,
+  if only I could live the rest of my life in some new way! If I
+  could only wake some still, bright morning and feel that life had
+  begun again; that the past was forgotten and had vanished like
+  smoke. [He weeps] Oh, to begin life anew! Tell me, tell me how to
+  begin.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Crossly] What nonsense! What sort of a new life can you
+  and I look forward to? We can have no hope.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. None?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. None. Of that I am convinced.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Tell me what to do. [He puts his hand to his heart] I
+  feel such a burning pain here.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Shouts angrily] Stop! [Then, more gently] It may be
+  that posterity, which will despise us for our blind and stupid
+  lives, will find some road to happiness; but we--you and I--have
+  but one hope, the hope that we may be visited by visions, perhaps
+  by pleasant ones, as we lie resting in our graves. [Sighing] Yes,
+  brother, there were only two respectable, intelligent men in this
+  county, you and I. Ten years or so of this life of ours, this
+  miserable life, have sucked us under, and we have become as
+  contemptible and petty as the rest. But don't try to talk me out
+  of my purpose! Give me what you took from me, will you?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. I took nothing from you.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. You took a little bottle of morphine out of my
+  medicine-case. [A pause] Listen! If you are positively determined
+  to make an end to yourself, go into the woods and shoot yourself
+  there. Give up the morphine, or there will be a lot of talk and
+  guesswork; people will think I gave it to you. I don't fancy
+  having to perform a post-mortem on you. Do you think I should
+  find it interesting?</p>
+<p>SONIA comes in.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Leave me alone.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [To SONIA] Sonia, your uncle has stolen a bottle of
+  morphine out of my medicine-case and won't give it up. Tell him
+  that his behaviour is--well, unwise. I haven't time, I must be
+  going.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Uncle Vanya, did you take the morphine?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, he took it. [A pause] I am absolutely sure.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Give it up! Why do you want to frighten us? [Tenderly]
+  Give it up, Uncle Vanya! My misfortune is perhaps even greater
+  than yours, but I am not plunged in despair. I endure my sorrow,
+  and shall endure it until my life comes to a natural end. You
+  must endure yours, too. [A pause] Give it up! Dear, darling Uncle
+  Vanya. Give it up! [She weeps] You are so good, I am sure you
+  will have pity on us and give it up. You must endure your sorrow,
+  Uncle Vanya; you must endure it.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI takes a bottle from the drawer of the table and hands it
+  to ASTROFF.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. There it is! [To SONIA] And now, we must get to work at
+  once; we must do something, or else I shall not be able to endure
+  it.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Yes, yes, to work! As soon as we have seen them off we
+  shall go to work. [She nervously straightens out the papers on
+  the table] Everything is in a muddle!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Putting the bottle in his case, which he straps
+  together] Now I can be off.</p>
+<p>HELENA comes in.</p>
+<p>HELENA. Are you here, Ivan? We are starting in a moment. Go to
+  Alexander, he wants to speak to you.</p>
+<p>SONIA. Go, Uncle Vanya. [She takes VOITSKI 'S arm] Come, you and
+  papa must make peace; that is absolutely necessary.</p>
+<p>SONIA and VOITSKI go out.</p>
+<p>HELENA. I am going away. [She gives ASTROFF her hand] Good-bye.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. So soon?</p>
+<p>HELENA. The carriage is waiting.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Good-bye.</p>
+<p>HELENA. You promised me you would go away yourself to-day.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I have not forgotten. I am going at once. [A pause] Were
+  you frightened? Was it so terrible?</p>
+<p>HELENA. Yes.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Couldn't you stay? Couldn't you? To-morrow--in the
+  forest--</p>
+<p>HELENA. No. It is all settled, and that is why I can look you so
+  bravely in the face. Our departure is fixed. One thing I must ask
+  of you: don't think too badly of me; I should like you to respect
+  me.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Ah! [With an impatient gesture] Stay, I implore you!
+  Confess that there is nothing for you to do in this world. You
+  have no object in life; there is nothing to occupy your
+  attention, and sooner or later your feelings must master you. It
+  is inevitable. It would be better if it happened not in Kharkoff
+  or in Kursk, but here, in nature's lap. It would then at least be
+  poetical, even beautiful. Here you have the forests, the houses
+  half in ruins that Turgenieff writes of.</p>
+<p>HELENA. How comical you are! I am angry with you and yet I shall
+  always remember you with pleasure. You are interesting and
+  original. You and I will never meet again, and so I shall tell
+  you--why should I conceal it?--that I am just a little in love
+  with you. Come, one more last pressure of our hands, and then let
+  us part good friends. Let us not bear each other any ill will.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Pressing her hand] Yes, go. [Thoughtfully] You seem to
+  be sincere and good, and yet there is something strangely
+  disquieting about all your personality. No sooner did you arrive
+  here with your husband than every one whom you found busy and
+  actively creating something was forced to drop his work and give
+  himself up for the whole summer to your husband's gout and
+  yourself. You and he have infected us with your idleness. I have
+  been swept off my feet; I have not put my hand to a thing for
+  weeks, during which sickness has been running its course
+  unchecked among the people, and the peasants have been pasturing
+  their cattle in my woods and young plantations. Go where you
+  will, you and your husband will always carry destruction in your
+  train. I am joking of course, and yet I am strangely sure that
+  had you stayed here we should have been overtaken by the most
+  immense desolation. I would have gone to my ruin, and you--you
+  would not have prospered. So go! E finita la comedia!</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Snatching a pencil off ASTROFF'S table, and hiding it
+  with a quick movement] I shall take this pencil for memory!</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. How strange it is. We meet, and then suddenly it seems
+  that we must part forever. That is the way in this world. As long
+  as we are alone, before Uncle Vanya comes in with a
+  bouquet--allow me--to kiss you good-bye--may I? [He kisses her on
+  the cheek] So! Splendid!</p>
+<p>HELENA. I wish you every happiness. [She glances about her] For
+  once in my life, I shall! and scorn the consequences! [She kisses
+  him impetuously, and they quickly part] I must go.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Yes, go. If the carriage is there, then start at once.
+  [They stand listening.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. E finita!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI, SEREBRAKOFF, MME. VOITSKAYA with her book, TELEGIN, and
+  SONIA come in.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [To VOITSKI] Shame on him who bears malice for the
+  past. I have gone through so much in the last few hours that I
+  feel capable of writing a whole treatise on the conduct of life
+  for the instruction of posterity. I gladly accept your apology,
+  and myself ask your forgiveness. [He kisses VOITSKI three times.]</p>
+<p>HELENA embraces SONIA.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Kissing MME. VOITSKAYA'S hand] Mother!</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. [Kissing him] Have your picture taken, Alexander,
+  and send me one. You know how dear you are to me.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. Good-bye, your Excellency. Don't forget us.</p>
+<p>SEREBRAKOFF. [Kissing his daughter] Good-bye, good-bye all.
+  [Shaking hands with ASTROFF] Many thanks for your pleasant
+  company. I have a deep regard for your opinions and your
+  enthusiasm, but let me, as an old man, give one word of advice at
+  parting: do something, my friend! Work! Do something! [They all
+  bow] Good luck to you all. [He goes out followed by MME.
+  VOITSKAYA and SONIA.]</p>
+<p>VOITSKI [Kissing HELENA'S hand fervently] Good-bye--forgive me. I
+  shall never see you again!</p>
+<p>HELENA. [Touched] Good-bye, dear boy.</p>
+<p>She lightly kisses his head as he bends over her hand, and goes
+  out.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Tell them to bring my carriage around too, Waffles.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN. All right, old man.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF and VOITSKI are left behind alone. ASTROFF collects his
+  paints and drawing materials on the table and packs them away in
+  a box.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Why don't you go to see them off?</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Let them go! I--I can't go out there. I feel too sad. I
+  must go to work on something at once. To work! To work!</p>
+<p>He rummages through his papers on the table. A pause. The
+  tinkling of bells is heard as the horses trot away.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. They have gone! The professor, I suppose, is glad to go.
+  He couldn't be tempted back now by a fortune.</p>
+<p>MARINA comes in.</p>
+<p>MARINA. They have gone. [She sits down in an arm-chair and knits
+  her stocking.]</p>
+<p>SONIA comes in wiping her eyes.</p>
+<p>SONIA. They have gone. God be with them. [To her uncle] And now,
+  Uncle Vanya, let us do something!</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. To work! To work!</p>
+<p>SONIA. It is long, long, since you and I have sat together at
+  this table. [She lights a lamp on the table] No ink! [She takes
+  the inkstand to the cupboard and fills it from an ink-bottle] How
+  sad it is to see them go!</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA comes slowly in.</p>
+<p>MME. VOITSKAYA. They have gone.</p>
+<p>She sits down and at once becomes absorbed in her book. SONIA
+  sits down at the table and looks through an account book.</p>
+<p>SONIA. First, Uncle Vanya, let us write up the accounts. They are
+  in a dreadful state. Come, begin. You take one and I will take
+  the other.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. In account with [They sit silently writing.]</p>
+<p>MARINA. [Yawning] The sand-man has come.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. How still it is. Their pens scratch, the cricket sings;
+  it is so warm and comfortable. I hate to go. [The tinkling of
+  bells is heard.]</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. My carriage has come. There now remains but to say
+  good-bye to you, my friends, and to my table here, and
+  then--away! [He puts the map into the portfolio.]</p>
+<p>MARINA. Don't hurry away; sit a little longer with us.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Impossible.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Writing] And carry forward from the old debt two
+  seventy-five--</p>
+<p>WORKMAN comes in.</p>
+<p>WORKMAN. Your carriage is waiting, sir.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. All right. [He hands the WORKMAN his medicine-case,
+  portfolio, and box] Look out, don't crush the portfolio!</p>
+<p>WORKMAN. Very well, sir.</p>
+<p>SONIA. When shall we see you again?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. Hardly before next summer. Probably not this winter,
+  though, of course, if anything should happen you will let me
+  know. [He shakes hands with them] Thank you for your kindness,
+  for your hospitality, for everything! [He goes up to MARINA and
+  kisses her head] Good-bye, old nurse!</p>
+<p>MARINA. Are you going without your tea?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I don't want any, nurse.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Won't you have a drop of vodka?</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [Hesitatingly] Yes, I might.</p>
+<p>MARINA goes out.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. [After a pause] My off-wheeler has gone lame for some
+  reason. I noticed it yesterday when Peter was taking him to
+  water.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. You should have him re-shod.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. I shall have to go around by the blacksmith's on my way
+  home. It can't be avoided. [He stands looking up at the map of
+  Africa hanging on the wall] I suppose it is roasting hot in
+  Africa now.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. Yes, I suppose it is.</p>
+<p>MARINA comes back carrying a tray on which are a glass of vodka
+  and a piece of bread.</p>
+<p>MARINA. Help yourself.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF drinks</p>
+<p>MARINA. To your good health! [She bows deeply] Eat your bread
+  with it.</p>
+<p>ASTROFF. No, I like it so. And now, good-bye. [To MARINA] You
+  needn't come out to see me off, nurse.</p>
+<p>He goes out. SONIA follows him with a candle to light him to the
+  carriage. MARINA sits down in her armchair.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Writing] On the 2d of February, twenty pounds of
+  butter; on the 16th, twenty pounds of butter again. Buckwheat
+  flour--[A pause. Bells are heard tinkling.]</p>
+<p>MARINA. He has gone. [A pause.]</p>
+<p>SONIA comes in and sets the candle stick on the table.</p>
+<p>SONIA. He has gone.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [Adding and writing] Total, fifteen--twenty-five--</p>
+<p>SONIA sits down and begins to write.</p>
+<p>[Yawning] Oh, ho! The Lord have mercy.</p>
+<p>TELEGIN comes in on tiptoe, sits down near the door, and begins
+  to tune his guitar.</p>
+<p>VOITSKI. [To SONIA, stroking her hair] Oh, my child, I am
+  miserable; if you only knew how miserable I am!</p>
+<p>SONIA. What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we
+  shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long
+  procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we
+  shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall
+  work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and
+  when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there,
+  beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept,
+  that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then
+  dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright and beautiful life; we
+  shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender
+  smile--and--we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent,
+  passionate faith. [SONIA kneels down before her uncle and lays
+  her head on his hands. She speaks in a weary voice] We shall
+  rest. [TELEGIN plays softly on the guitar] We shall rest. We
+  shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel.
+  We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great
+  compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as
+  peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have
+  faith. [She wipes away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you
+  are crying! [Weeping] You have never known what happiness was,
+  but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. [She embraces him] We
+  shall rest. [The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden;
+  TELEGIN plays softly; MME. VOITSKAYA writes something on the
+  margin of her pamphlet; MARINA knits her stocking] We shall rest.</p>
+<p>The curtain slowly falls.</p>
+<BR>
+<BR>
+<BR>
+<BR>
+<PRE>
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, UNCLE VANYA ***
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