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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 + |