Act II

Dining-room in Serebryakov’s house. Night. A watchman can be heard tapping in the garden.

Serebryakov, sitting in an armchair before an open window, dozing, and Yelena Andreyevna sitting beside him, dozing too.
Serebryakov Waking. Who is it? Sonya, is it you?
Yelena It’s me.
Serebryakov You, Lenotchka!⁠ ⁠… I am in unbearable pain.
Yelena Your rug has fallen on the floor wrapping it round his legs. I’ll shut the window, Alexandr.
Serebryakov No, I feel suffocated.⁠ ⁠… I just dropped asleep and I dreamed that my left leg did not belong to me. I was awakened by the agonising pain. No, it’s not gout; it’s more like rheumatism. What time is it now?
Yelena Twenty minutes past twelve a pause.
Serebryakov Look for Batyushkov in the library in the morning. I believe we have his works.
Yelena What?
Serebryakov Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I remember we did have him. But why is it so difficult for me to breathe?
Yelena You are tired. This is the second night you have not slept.
Serebryakov I have been told that Turgenev got angina pectoris from gout. I am afraid I may have it. Hateful, detestable old age. Damnation take it! Since I have grown old I have grown hateful to myself. And you must all hate the sight of me.
Yelena You talk of your age as though we were all responsible for it.
Serebryakov I am most of all hateful to you.
Yelena Andreyevna gets up and sits down farther away.
Serebryakov Of course, you are right. I am not a fool, and I understand. You are young and strong and good-looking. You want life and I am an old man, almost a corpse. Do you suppose I don’t understand? And, of course, it is stupid of me to go on living. But wait a little, I shall soon set you all free. I shan’t have to linger on much longer.
Yelena I am worn out⁠ ⁠… for God’s sake be quiet!
Serebryakov It seems that, thanks to me, everyone is worn out, depressed, wasting their youth, and I am the only one enjoying life and satisfied. Oh yes, of course!
Yelena Be quiet! You make me miserable!
Serebryakov I make everyone miserable. Of course.
Yelena Through tears. It’s insufferable! Say, what is it you want of me?
Serebryakov Nothing.
Yelena Well, be quiet then. I implore you!
Serebryakov It’s a strange thing, Ivan Petrovitch may speak and that old idiot, Marya Vassilyevna, and there is nothing against it, everyone listens⁠—but if I say a word everyone begins to feel miserable. They dislike the very sound of my voice. Well, suppose I am disagreeable, egoistic and tyrannical⁠—haven’t I a right, even in my old age, to think of myself? Haven’t I earned it? Haven’t I the right, I ask you, to be quiet in my old age, to be cared for by other people?
Yelena No one is disputing your rights. The window bangs in the wind. The wind has got up; I’ll shut the window shuts the window. There will be rain directly. No one disputes your rights.
A pause; the watchman in the garden taps and sings.
Serebryakov After devoting all one’s life to learning, after growing used to one’s study, to one’s lecture-room, to the society of honourable colleagues⁠—all of a sudden to find oneself here in this vault, every day to see stupid people, to hear foolish conversation. I want life, I like success, I like fame, I like distinction, renown, and here⁠—it’s like being an exile. Every moment to be grieving for the past, watching the successes of others, dreading death. I can’t bear it! It’s too much for me! And then they won’t forgive me my age!
Yelena Wait a little, have patience: in five or six years I shall be old too.
Enter Sonya.
Sonya Father, you told us to send for Doctor Astrov yourself, and now that he has come you won’t see him. It isn’t nice. You’ve troubled him for nothing.
Serebryakov What good is your Astrov to me? He knows as much about medicine as I do about astronomy.
Sonya We can’t send for all the great medical authorities here for your gout.
Serebryakov I am not going to talk to that crazy crank.
Sonya That’s as you please sits down. It doesn’t matter to me.
Serebryakov What’s the time?
Yelena Nearly one o’clock.
Serebryakov I feel stifled.⁠ ⁠… Sonya, fetch me my drops from the table.
Sonya In a minute gives him the drops.
Serebryakov Irritably. Oh, not those! It’s no use asking for anything!
Sonya Please don’t be peevish. Some people may like it, but please spare me! I don’t like it. And I haven’t the time. I have to get up early in the morning, we are haymaking tomorrow.
Enter Voynitsky in a dressing-gown with a candle in his hand.
Voynitsky There’s a storm coming on. A flash of lightning. There, look! Hélène and Sonya, go to bed. I have come to take your place.
Serebryakov Frightened. No, no! Don’t leave me with him! No! He will be the death of me with his talking!
Voynitsky But you must let them have some rest! This is the second night they have had no sleep.
Serebryakov Let them go to bed, but you go too. Thank you. I entreat you to go. For the sake of our past friendship, don’t make any objections! We’ll talk some other time.
Voynitsky Mockingly. Our past friendship.⁠ ⁠… Past.⁠ ⁠…
Sonya Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.
Serebryakov To his wife. My love, don’t leave me alone with him! He will be the death of me with his talking!
Voynitsky This is really getting laughable.
Enter Marina with a candle.
Sonya You ought to be in bed, nurse darling! It’s late.
Marina The samovar has not been cleared. One can’t very well go to bed.
Serebryakov Everyone is kept up, everyone is worn out. I am the only one enjoying myself.
Marina Going up to Serebryakov tenderly. Well, master dear, is the pain so bad? I have a grumbling pain in my legs too, such a pain tucks the rug in. You’ve had this trouble for years. Vera Petrovna, Sonetchka’s mother, used to be up night after night with you, wearing herself out. How fond she was of you! A pause. The old are like little children, they like someone to be sorry for them; but no one feels for the old kisses Serebryakov on the shoulder. Come to bed, dear⁠ ⁠… come, my honey.⁠ ⁠… I’ll give you some lime-flower tea and warm your legs⁠ ⁠… and say a prayer for you.⁠ ⁠…
Serebryakov Moved. Let us go, Marina.
Marina I have such a grumbling pain in my legs myself, such a pain together with Sonya leads him off. Vera Petrovna used to be crying, and breaking her heart over you.⁠ ⁠… You were only a mite then, Sonetchka, and had no sense.⁠ ⁠… Come along, come along, sir⁠ ⁠…
Serebryakov, Sonya and Marina go out.
Yelena I am quite worn out with him. I can hardly stand on my feet.
Voynitsky You with him, and I with myself. This is the third night I have had no sleep.
Yelena It’s dreadful in this house. Your mother hates everything except her pamphlets and the Professor; the Professor is irritated, he does not trust me, and is afraid of you; Sonya is angry with her father, angry with me and has not spoken to me for a fortnight; you hate my husband and show open contempt for your mother; I am overwrought and have been nearly crying twenty times today.⁠ ⁠… It’s dreadful in this house.
Voynitsky Let us drop this moralising.
Yelena You are a well-educated and intelligent man, Ivan Petrovitch, and I should have thought you ought to understand that the world is not being destroyed through fire or robbery, but through hatred, enmity and all this petty wrangling.⁠ ⁠… It ought to be your work to reconcile everyone, and not to grumble.
Voynitsky Reconcile me to myself first! My precious⁠ ⁠… bends down and kisses her hand.
Yelena Don’t! Draws away her hand. Go away!
Voynitsky The rain will be over directly and everything in nature will be refreshed and sigh with relief. But the storm has brought no relief to me. Day and night the thought that my life has been hopelessly wasted weighs on me like a nightmare. I have no past, it has been stupidly wasted on trifles, and the present is awful in its senselessness. Here you have my life and my love! What use to make of them? What am I to do with them? My passion is wasted in vain like a ray of sunshine that has fallen into a pit, and I am utterly lost, too.
Yelena When you talk to me about your love, I feel stupid and don’t know what to say. Forgive me, there is nothing I can say to you is about to go out. Good night.
Voynitsky Barring her way. And if you knew how wretched I am at the thought that by my side, in this same house, another life is being wasted, too⁠—yours! What are you waiting for? What cursed theory holds you back? Understand, do understand⁠ ⁠…
Yelena Looks at him intently. Ivan Petrovitch, you are drunk!
Voynitsky I may be, I may be⁠ ⁠…
Yelena Where is the doctor?
Voynitsky He is in there⁠ ⁠… he is staying the night with me. It may be, it may be⁠ ⁠… anything may be!
Yelena You have been drinking again today. What’s that for?
Voynitsky There’s a semblance of life in it, anyway.⁠ ⁠… Don’t prevent me, Hélène!
Yelena You never used to drink, and you did not talk so much.⁠ ⁠… Go to bed! You bore me.
Voynitsky Kisses her hand. My precious⁠ ⁠… marvellous one!
Yelena With vexation. Don’t. This is really hateful goes out.
Voynitsky Alone. She is gone a pause. Ten years ago I used to meet her at my sister’s. Then she was seventeen and I was thirty-seven. Why didn’t I fall in love with her then and make her an offer? It might easily have happened then! And now she would have been my wife.⁠ ⁠… Yes.⁠ ⁠… Now we should both have been awakened by the storm; she would have been frightened by the thunder, I should have held her in my arms and whispered, “Don’t be frightened, I am here.” Oh, wonderful thoughts, what happiness; it makes me laugh with delight⁠—but, my God, my thoughts are in a tangle. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? Her fine phrases, her lazy morality, her nonsensical lazy theories about the ruin of the world⁠—all that is absolutely hateful to me a pause. Oh, how I have been cheated! I adored that Professor, that pitiful gouty invalid, and worked for him like an ox. Sonya and I squeezed every farthing out of the estate; we haggled over linseed oil, peas, curds, like greedy peasants; we grudged ourselves every morsel to save up halfpence and farthings and send him thousands of roubles. I was proud of him and his learning; he was my life, the breath of my being. All his writings and utterances seemed to me inspired by genius.⁠ ⁠… My God, and now! Here he is retired, and now one can see the sum total of his life. He leaves not one page of work behind him, he is utterly unknown, he is nothing⁠—a soap bubble! And I have been cheated.⁠ ⁠… I see it⁠—stupidly cheated.⁠ ⁠…
Enter Astrov in his coat, but without waistcoat or tie; he is a little drunk; he is followed by Telyegin with the guitar.
Astrov Play something!
Telyegin Everyone is asleep!
Astrov Play!
Telyegin begins playing softly.
Astrov To Voynitsky. Are you alone? No ladies here? Putting his arms akimbo sings. “Dance my hut and dance my stove, the master has no bed to lie on.” The storm woke me. Jolly good rain. What time is it?
Voynitsky Goodness knows.
Astrov I thought I heard Yelena Andreyevna’s voice.
Voynitsky She was here a minute ago.
Astrov A fine woman. Examines the medicine bottles on the table. Medicines! What a lot of prescriptions! From Harkov, from Moscow, from Tula. He has bored every town with his gout. Is he really ill or shamming?
Voynitsky He is ill a pause.
Astrov Why are you so melancholy today? Are you sorry for the Professor, or what?
Voynitsky Let me alone.
Astrov Or perhaps you are in love with the Professor’s lady?
Voynitsky She is my friend!
Astrov Already?
Voynitsky What do you mean by “already”?
Astrov A woman can become a man’s friend only in the following sequence: first agreeable acquaintance, then mistress, then friend.
Voynitsky A vulgar theory.
Astrov What? Yes⁠ ⁠… I must own I am growing vulgar. You see, I am drunk too. As a rule I get drunk like this once a month. When I am in this condition I become coarse and insolent in the extreme. I don’t stick at anything then! I undertake the most difficult operations and do them capitally. I make the most extensive plans for the future; I don’t think of myself as a crank at such times, but believe that I am being of immense service to humanity⁠—immense! And I have my own philosophy of life at such times, and all you, my good friends, seem to me such insects⁠ ⁠… microbes! To Telyegin. Waffles, play!
Telyegin My dear soul, I’d be delighted to do anything for you, but do realise⁠—everyone is asleep!
Astrov Play!
Telyegin begins playing softly.
Astrov We must have a drink. Come along, I fancy we have still some brandy left. And as soon as it is daylight, we will go to my place. Right? I have an assistant who never says “right,” but “roight.” He is an awful scoundrel. So we will go, shall we? Sees Sonya entering. Excuse me, I have no tie on goes out hurriedly, Telyegin following him.
Sonya Uncle Vanya, you have been drinking with the doctor again. You are a nice pair! He has always been like that, but why do you do it? It’s so unsuitable at your age.
Voynitsky Age makes no difference. When one has no real life, one has to live on illusions. It’s better than nothing, anyway.
Sonya The hay is all cut, it rains every day, it’s all rotting, and you are living in illusions. You have quite given up looking after things.⁠ ⁠… I have to work alone, and am quite done up.⁠ ⁠… Alarmed. Uncle, you have tears in your eyes!
Voynitsky Tears? Not a bit of it⁠ ⁠… nonsense.⁠ ⁠… You looked at me just now so like your dear mother. My darling⁠ ⁠… eagerly kisses her hands and face. My sister⁠ ⁠… my dear sister⁠ ⁠… where is she now? If she knew! Ah, if she knew!
Sonya What, uncle? Knew what?
Voynitsky It’s painful, useless.⁠ ⁠… Never mind.⁠ ⁠… Afterwards⁠ ⁠… it’s nothing⁠ ⁠… I am going goes out.
Sonya Knocks at the door. Mihail Lvovitch, you are not asleep, are you? One minute!
Astrov Through the door. I am coming! A minute later he comes out with his waistcoat and tie on. What can I do for you?
Sonya Drink yourself, if it does not disgust you, but I implore you, don’t let my uncle drink! It’s bad for him.
Astrov Very good. We won’t drink any more a pause. I am just going home. That’s settled and signed. It will be daylight by the time they have put the horses in.
Sonya It is raining. Wait till morning.
Astrov The storm is passing over, we shall only come in for the end of it. I’m going. And please don’t send for me again to see your father. I tell him it’s gout and he tells me it’s rheumatism; I ask him to stay in bed and he sits in a chair. And today he wouldn’t speak to me at all.
Sonya He is spoiled. Looks into the sideboard. Won’t you have something to eat?
Astrov Well, perhaps.
Sonya I like eating at night. I believe there is something in the sideboard. They say he’s been a great favourite with the ladies, and women have spoiled him. Here, have some cheese. Both stand at the sideboard and eat.
Astrov I have had nothing to eat all day, only drink. Your father has a difficult temper. Takes a bottle from the sideboard. May I? Drinks a glass. There is no one here and one may speak frankly. Do you know, it seems to me that I could not exist in your house for a month, I should be choked by the atmosphere.⁠ ⁠… Your father, who is entirely absorbed in his gout and his books, Uncle Vanya with his melancholy, your grandmother, and your stepmother too.⁠ ⁠…
Sonya What about my stepmother?
Astrov Everything ought to be beautiful in a human being: face, and dress, and soul, and ideas. She is beautiful, there is no denying that, but⁠ ⁠… You know she does nothing but eat, sleep, walk about, fascinate us all by her beauty⁠—nothing more. She has no duties, other people work for her.⁠ ⁠… That’s true, isn’t it? And an idle life cannot be pure a pause. But perhaps I am too severe. I am dissatisfied with life like your Uncle Vanya, and we are both growing peevish.
Sonya You are dissatisfied with life, then?
Astrov I love life as such, but our life, our everyday provincial life in Russia, I can’t endure. I despise it with every fibre of my being. And as for my own personal life, there is absolutely nothing nice in it, I can assure you. You know when you walk through a forest on a dark night, and a light gleams in the distance, you do not notice your weariness, nor the darkness, nor the sharp twigs that lash you in the face.⁠ ⁠… I work⁠—as you know⁠—harder than anyone in the district, fate is forever lashing at me; at times I am unbearably miserable, but I have no light in the distance. I expect nothing for myself; I am not fond of my fellow creatures.⁠ ⁠… It’s years since I cared for anyone.
Sonya You care for no one at all?
Astrov No one. I feel a certain affection for your nurse⁠—for the sake of old times. The peasants are too much alike, undeveloped, living in dirt, and it is difficult to get on with the educated people. They are all wearisome. Our good friends are small in their ideas, small in their feelings, and don’t see beyond their noses⁠—or, to put it plainly, they are stupid. And those who are bigger and more intelligent are hysterical, morbidly absorbed in introspection and analysis.⁠ ⁠… They are forever whining; they are insanely given to hatred and slander; they steal up to a man sideways, and look at him askance and decide “Oh, he is a neurotic!” or “he is posing.” And when they don’t know what label to stick on my forehead, they say “he is a queer fellow, very queer!” I am fond of forestry⁠—that’s queer; I don’t eat meat⁠—that’s queer too. There is no direct, genuine, free attitude to people and to nature left among them.⁠ ⁠… None, none! Is about to drink.
Sonya Prevents him. No, please, I beg you, don’t drink any more!
Astrov Why not?
Sonya It’s so out of keeping with you! You are so refined, you have such a soft voice.⁠ ⁠… More than that even, you are unlike everyone else I know⁠—you are beautiful. Why, then, do you want to be like ordinary people who drink and play cards? Oh, don’t do it, I entreat you! You always say that people don’t create but only destroy what heaven gives them. Then why do you destroy yourself, why? You mustn’t, you mustn’t, I beseech you, I implore you!
Astrov Holds out his hand to her. I won’t drink any more!
Sonya Give me your word.
Astrov My word of honour.
Sonya Presses his hand warmly. Thank you!
Astrov Enough! I have come to my senses. You see, I am quite sober now and I will be so to the end of my days looks at his watch. And so, as I was saying, my time is over, it’s too late for me.⁠ ⁠… I have grown old, I have worked too hard, I have grown vulgar, all my feelings are blunted, and I believe I am not capable of being fond of anyone. I don’t love anyone⁠ ⁠… and I don’t believe I ever shall. What still affects me is beauty. That does stir me. I fancy if Yelena Andreyevna, for example, wanted to, she could turn my head in one day.⁠ ⁠… But that’s not love, that’s not affection⁠ ⁠… covers his face with his hands and shudders.
Sonya What is it?
Astrov Nothing.⁠ ⁠… In Lent one of my patients died under chloroform.
Sonya You ought to forget that by now a pause. Tell me, Mihail Lvovitch⁠ ⁠… if I had a friend or a younger sister, and if you found out that she⁠ ⁠… well, suppose that she loved you, how would you take that?
Astrov Shrugging his shoulders. I don’t know. Nohow, I expect. I should give her to understand that I could not care for her⁠ ⁠… and my mind is taken up with other things. Anyway, if I am going, it is time to start. Goodbye, my dear girl, or we shall not finish till morning presses her hand. I’ll go through the drawing-room if I may, or I am afraid your uncle may detain me goes out.
Sonya Alone. He has said nothing to me.⁠ ⁠… His soul and his heart are still shut away from me, but why do I feel so happy? Laughs with happiness. I said to him, you are refined, noble, you have such a soft voice.⁠ ⁠… Was it inappropriate? His voice trembles and caresses one⁠ ⁠… I still feel it vibrating in the air. And when I spoke to him of a younger sister, he did not understand.⁠ ⁠… Wringing her hands. Oh, how awful it is that I am not beautiful! How awful it is! And I know I am not, I know it, I know it!⁠ ⁠… Last Sunday, as people were coming out of church, I heard them talking about me, and one woman said: “She is a sweet generous nature, but what a pity she is so plain.⁠ ⁠…” Plain.⁠ ⁠…
Enter Yelena Andreyevna.
Yelena Opens the window. The storm is over. What delicious air! A pause. Where is the doctor?
Sonya He is gone a pause.
Yelena Sophie!
Sonya What is it?
Yelena How long are you going to be sulky with me? We have done each other no harm. Why should we be enemies? Let us make it up.⁠ ⁠…
Sonya I wanted to myself⁠ ⁠… embraces her. Don’t let us be cross any more.
Yelena That’s right. Both are agitated.
Sonya Has father gone to bed?
Yelena No, he is sitting in the drawing-room.⁠ ⁠… We don’t speak to each other for weeks, and goodness knows why.⁠ ⁠… Seeing that the sideboard is open. How is this?
Sonya Mihail Lvovitch has been having some supper.
Yelena And there is wine too.⁠ ⁠… Let us drink to our friendship.
Sonya Yes, let us.
Yelena Out of the same glass⁠ ⁠… fills it. It’s better so. So now we are friends?
Sonya Friends. They drink and kiss each other. I have been wanting to make it up for ever so long, but somehow I felt ashamed⁠ ⁠… cries.
Yelena Why are you crying?
Sonya It’s nothing.
Yelena Come, there, there⁠ ⁠… weeps. I am a queer creature, I am crying too⁠ ⁠… a pause. You are angry with me because you think I married your father from interested motives.⁠ ⁠… If that will make you believe me, I will swear it⁠—I married him for love. I was attracted by him as a learned, celebrated man. It was not real love, it was all made up; but I fancied at the time that it was real. It’s not my fault. And ever since our marriage you have been punishing me with your clever, suspicious eyes.
Sonya Come, peace! peace! Let us forget.
Yelena You mustn’t look like that⁠—it doesn’t suit you. You must believe in everyone⁠—there is no living if you don’t a pause.
Sonya Tell me honestly, as a friend⁠ ⁠… are you happy?
Yelena No.
Sonya I knew that. One more question. Tell me frankly, wouldn’t you have liked your husband to be young?
Yelena What a child you are still! Of course I should! Laughs. Well, ask something else, ask away.⁠ ⁠…
Sonya Do you like the doctor?
Yelena Yes, very much.
Sonya Laughs. Do I look silly⁠ ⁠… yes? He has gone away, but I still hear his voice and his footsteps, and when I look at the dark window I can see his face. Do let me tell you.⁠ ⁠… But I can’t speak so loud; I feel ashamed. Come into my room, we can talk there. You must think me silly? Own up.⁠ ⁠… Tell me something about him.
Yelena What am I to tell you?
Sonya He is clever.⁠ ⁠… He understands everything, he can do anything.⁠ ⁠… He doctors people, and plants forests too.⁠ ⁠…
Yelena It is not a question of forests and medicine.⁠ ⁠… My dear, you must understand he has a spark of genius! And you know what that means? Boldness, freedom of mind, width of outlook.⁠ ⁠… He plants a tree and is already seeing what will follow from it in a thousand years, already he has visions of the happiness of humanity. Such people are rare, one must love them.⁠ ⁠… He drinks, he is sometimes a little coarse⁠—but what does that matter? A talented man cannot keep spotless in Russia. Only think what sort of life that doctor has! Impassable mud on the roads, frosts, snowstorms, the immense distances, the coarse savage peasants, poverty and disease all around him⁠—it is hard for one who is working and struggling day after day in such surroundings to keep spotless and sober till he is forty kisses her. I wish you happiness with all my heart; you deserve it⁠ ⁠… gets up. But I am a tiresome, secondary character.⁠ ⁠… In music and in my husband’s house, and in all the love affairs, everywhere in fact, I have always played a secondary part. As a matter of fact, if you come to think of it, Sonya, I am very, very unhappy! Walks up and down the stage in agitation. There is no happiness in this world for me, none! Why do you laugh?
Sonya Laughs, hiding her face. I am so happy⁠ ⁠… so happy!
Yelena I have a longing for music. I should like to play something.
Sonya Do play something! Embraces her. I can’t sleep.⁠ ⁠… Play something!
Yelena In a minute. Your father is not asleep. Music irritates him when he is ill. Go and ask his leave. If he doesn’t object, I’ll play. Go!
Sonya Very well goes out.
Watchman taps in the garden.
Yelena It’s a long time since I have played the piano. I shall play and cry, cry like an idiot. In the window. Is that you tapping, Yefim?
Watchman’s Voice Yes.
Yelena Don’t tap, the master is unwell.
Watchman’s Voice I am just going whistles. Hey there, good dog! Come, lad! Good dog! A pause.
Sonya Returning. We mustn’t!
Curtain.