Uncle Vanya

“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.”

The play opens with a description of its setting, which is a rural estate. This provides a fitting backdrop to Anton Chekhov’s exploration of themes such as Despair Versus Work and Faith, given the declining status of the Russian landed gentry during the Late Imperial Period. The language in this description of the scene provides clear and concise staging directions for a theatrical production.

“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.”

Astroff’s description of conditions during a typhoid epidemic is drawn from Chekhov’s own experience working as a physician among the impoverished peasantry. The vivid imagery creates a sense of horror and pathos for the patients and the doctors who treat them, and it also highlights the poverty of the peasants who often served as bonded laborers for the Russian aristocracy. The one-word exclamation “Unspeakable!” emphasizes the impact of the experience on Astroff.

“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.”

Voitski uses a simile to compare his manner of speaking to the croak of a raven. This shows his self-awareness in realizing the senselessness and repetition of his complaining. He is similarly dismissive of his mother’s conversation, declaring her a “magpie.