Uncle Vanya

Grown-up literature is kind of strange and sad, don't you think?
Most characters within children's literature, from Tom Sawyer to Harry Potter, struggle against adversity, and ultimately find a sense of meaning and satisfaction in their lives.
Most characters in "grown up" books and plays struggle against adversity, which is usually rooted in some psychologically complex inner conflict, and ultimately find that life has no meaning and no guarantee of satisfaction. At least, this seems to be the case with the stories and dramas in my big, thick Literature textbook. And it certainly seems to be the case when that Literature (with a capital L) is penned by a Russian.
Such is the case with Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. The play is filled with downtrodden fools, some ignorant, some self-aware; all are miserable because they have pursued the wrong goals.
The Setting:
Uncle Vanya takes place in a large estate tucked away in the Russian countryside. Possibly, the location was inspired by Chekhov's country home at the time the play was written. In the 1890s, hoping to improve his health and his connections with his fellow man, Chekhov moved his family to a small rural settlement called Melikhovo, located about forty miles south of Moscow.
Much of the play finds its characters in conflict with their surroundings. The characters from the city find country life to be unbearably unsatisfying. The country-bred characters find that their city-bred counterparts are infectiously idle, and that order, productivity, and peace cannot be attained in the presence of the urban residence.
Before the Play Begins:
Uncle Vanya and his niece Sonia have spent most of their adult lives tending to the country estate of Sonia's father, Alexander Serebrakoff. Vanya and Sonia once believed that Serebrakoff would attain greatness and fame as a scholar and art critic. All of their energies and endeavors have been dedicated to Serebrakoff. However, greatness, fame and wealth never came to pass, and Vanya now spends his days embittered, lamenting his wasted youth.
Sonia's mother (Vanya's sister) passed away about eleven years ago. Serebrakoff has since remarried an enchanting woman named Helena. The couple have recently moved into their rural estate, not because they want to live in the country but because Serebrakoff's health and finances have deteriorated; they can no longer afford to live in the city.
Characters and Plot:
Like other tragicomedies by Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya is a play filled with characters who want things that they can't have.
Uncle Vanya (also known as Ivan Voitski) wants the youth he wasted. He also wants revenge against Serebrakoff, whom he blames for all his woes. Finally, and perhaps most passionately, he wants to win the heart of Helena (partly because he finds her beautiful, partly because it would punish Serebrakoff). In the play's climax Vanya becomes enraged. He wants to shoot the old man, but he misses - twice! Vanya is left feeling more ashamed and useless than ever.
Sonia wants the local country doctor, Michael Astroff, to fall in love with her. However, she fears that she is too plain for him to notice her, let alone love her in return. Unfortunately, she is right. For years she holds onto the hope that the doctor might be secretly attracted to her. She wants to find out the truth, but she also wants to hold onto to the uncertainty, the mystery. When her step-mother finds out the truth, that Doctor Astroff has no romantic feelings toward Sonia, the young woman finds herself without hopes or dreams; she turns toward the monotonous task of running the estate and waiting for death to give her rest.
Michael Astroff wants to return to a life of helping patients and living practically. However, he is secretly in love with Helena, and his attraction has driven him into idleness. He drinks, mopes, and paints - all activities he seldom did before Helena arrived. He also wants people to respect the forests of Russia. his character represents an early advocacy for environmental conservation and forestry. In the face of society's hunger for industry, he wants nature to be spared. Most of the characters think his views are foolish. Note: You can read Astroff's eloquent defense of the forests in his Act One monologue.
Alexander Serebrakoff wants respect, but all he senses from others is their contempt and loathing. He also wants to overcome his ailments. he suffers terribly, or so he says, from gout. Yet, he will often refuse to see the doctor when he stops in for a visit. Basically, he is a whiner. He knows he is a failure, and he knows he is old and at the end of his disappointing life. He is miserable, and wants everyone around him to be miserable too.
Helena: Although she is Serebrakoff's wife, she does not seem to love her husband very much anymore. She admits that she was entranced by his potential for greatness, and now she remains tied to a failed old professor. She stays mainly out of duty and social expectation. When combating the advances of both Vanya and Astroff, she seems most interested in the doctor - though she still rejects him. With Vanya, she sometimes appears friendly, sometimes pitying, and sometimes vehemently annoyed. At the end of the play she is one of the few characters who attains her desire. She wants to tell the doctor that she is "a little bit in love with him" and, acting on an impulse, she kisses him before leaving forever.

A Happy Ending or a Sad Ending?

As discussed in my analysis of Chekhov's dry, darkly humorous play, The Seagull, many readers and audiences are not sure whether we should laugh or cry by the end of the play. The playwright thought of his work as amusing, and yet the play ends with its characters in a heart-wrenching state of limbo, waiting for their lives to be over without any hope of personal fulfillment.As depressing as that may seem, if we compare this play to The Wood Demon, an earlier work of Chekhov's, we will find that the playwright explores much of the same plotlines and characters. However, in The Wood Demon (considered by many scholars as a rough first draft of Uncle Vanya) the play concludes with a suicide instead of a botched attempt at murdering the pathetic professor.Therefore, even though the desires of the characters will remain unattainable, they have at least agreed to go on living, finding if not a sense of purpose then at least a sense of duty and habit.