 Act one of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Uncle Vanya, Scenes from Country Life, in four acts, by Anton Chekhov. Characters Alexander Serebrakov A retired professor Read by Andy Minter Helena His wife, 27 years old Read by Karen Savage Sonia His daughter by a former marriage Read by Elizabeth Klatt Madame Voitskaya Widow of a private counsellor and mother of Serebrakov's first wife Read by Ruth Golding Ivan Vanya Voitsky Her son Read by M.B. Astroff A doctor Read by Bruce Peary Ilya Waffles Telyakin An impoverished land owner By Bologna Times Marina An old nurse Read by Ariel Libshaw Workman and Watchman, read by Miles Espayet Narrated by Avayee The scene is laid on Serebrakov's country place. Act 1 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 on 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 Pouring some tea into a glass Take a little tea, my son Takes the glass from her unwillingly Somehow I don't seem to want any Then will you have a little vodka instead? No, I don't drink vodka every day And besides, it is too hot now Tell me, nurse, how long have we known each other? 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 Perhaps more Have I changed much since then? Oh yes, you were handsome and young then And now you are an old man and not handsome anymore You drink, too 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 someone 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 Everyone 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 Don't you want a bite of something to eat? No During the third week of Lent I went to the epidemic at Malitskoy 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 past my lips But when I got home there was still no rest for me A switch man 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 Man is forgetful, but God remembers Thank you for that You have spoken the truth Enter Wojcicki from the house He has been asleep after dinner and looks rather disheveled He sits down on the bench and straightens his collar Hmm, yes Yes Have you been asleep? Yes, very much so Ugh 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 lunch and end dinner It isn't wholesome Sonya and I used to work together and never had an idle moment But now Sonya works alone and I only eat and drink and sleep Something is wrong 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 Will they be here long? A hundred years The professor has decided to make his home here Look at this now The samovar has been on the table for two hours And they are all out walking Alright, don't get excited Here they come Voices are heard approaching Serebrakov, Helena, Sonya and Telegin Coming from the depths of the garden Returning from the walk Superb, superb What beautiful views They are wonderful, Your Excellency Tomorrow we shall go into the woods Shall we, Papa? Ladies and gentlemen, tea is ready Won't you please be good enough to send my tea into the library? I still have some work to finish I am sure you will love the woods Helena, Serebrakov and Sonya go into the house Telegin sits down at the table beside Marina There goes our learned scholar on a hot, sultry day like this It is overcoating gloshes and carrying an umbrella He is trying to take good care of his health How lovely she is How lovely I have never in my life seen a more beautiful woman 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? Take a glass of tea Such eyes A glorious woman Come, Yvonne, tell us something What shall I tell you? Haven't you any news for us? 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 And the professor? 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 hard tack 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 wiling 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 25 years And he doesn't know the very first thing about it For 25 years he's been chewing on other men's thoughts About realism, naturalism and all such foolishness For 25 years he's been reading and writing things That clever men have long known And stupid ones are not interested in For 25 years he's been making his imaginary mountains Out of molehills And just think of the man's self-conceit And presumption all this time For 25 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 demigod I believe you envy him Yes, I do Look at the success he's had with women Don Juan himself was not more favored 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? Is she faithful to him? Yes, unfortunately she is Why, unfortunately? 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 Vanya, I don't like to hear you talk so Listen, Vanya, everyone who betrays husband or wife Is faithless and could also betray his country Turn off the tap waffles 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 Sonja come in After them comes Madame Wojcaya carrying a book She sits down and begins to read Someone hands her a glass of tea Which she drinks without looking up Sonja, hurriedly to the nurse There are some peasants waiting out there Go and see what they want The tea Pours out some glasses of tea Marina goes out Helena takes a glass and sits drinking in the hammock 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 He had a fit of the blues yesterday evening And complained of pains in his legs But he seems all right again today And I galloped over here Twenty miles at breakneck speed No matter though, it's not the first time Once here, however, I am going to stay until tomorrow And at any rate, sleep, quantum status Oh, splendid! You so seldom spend the night with us Have you had dinner yet? No Good, so you will have it with us We dine at seven now Drinks her tea This tea is cold Yes, the samovar has grown cold Don't mind, Monsieur Yvonne We will drink cold tea then I beg your pardon, my name is not Yvonne But Ilya, ma'am Ilya Tellegen Or waffles, as I am sometimes called On account of my pockmarked 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 He is our great help, our right-hand man Dear godfather, let me pour you some tea Oh, oh! What is it, grandmother? I forgot to tell Alexander I've lost my memory I received a letter today from Paula Lechsevich in Karkov He has sent me a new pamphlet Is it interesting? That's but strange He refutes the very theories Which he defended seven years ago It is appalling There is nothing appalling about it Drink your tea, mama 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 Yes, I had an illuminating personality Which illuminated no one I had an illuminating personality You couldn't say anything more biting I'm 47 years old Until last year I endeavored 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 Heart-sick and angry to think how stupidly I've wasted my time When I might have been winning from life Everything which my old age now forbids Uncle Vanya, how dreary 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 Done something? Not every man is capable of being a writer Perpetual mobility like your hair professor What do you mean by that? Mother, Uncle Vanya, I entreat you I am silent I apologize and am silent What a fine day Not too hot Fine day to hang oneself Telekin tunes the guitar Marina appears near the house Calling the chickens Chick, chick, chick What did the peasants want, nurse? The same old thing, the same old nonsense Chick, chick, chick Why are you calling the chickens? The speckled hen has disappeared with her chicks I'm afraid the crows have got her Telekin plays a polka Listen in silence Enter workmen Is the doctor here? To Astrof Excuse me, sir, but I've been sent to fetch you Where are you from? The factory Thank you, there is nothing for it then but to go Looking around him for his cap Damn it, this is annoying Yes, it is too bad, really You must come back to dinner from the factory No, I won't be able to do that Too late Now, where, where? To the workmen 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 Astrof's plays Is a man with a long mustache 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 Sonja 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 super intend almost all the work myself 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 into fear with your real calling? God alone knows what a man's real calling is And do you find it interesting? Yes, very Oh, extremely! 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 No, the work is thrilling Dr. Ostroff watches over the old woods and sets out new plantations every year And he has already received a diploma in 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 Bravo! Bravo! Oh, that is very pretty, but it is also unconvincing To Ostroff? So, my friend, you must let me go on burning firewood in my stoves And building my sheds of planks 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, madam? 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 Wojcicki? I read irony in your eye You do not take what I am saying seriously 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 plantation 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 Goodbye He goes toward the house Sonja takes his arm and goes with him When are you coming to see us again? I can't say In a month? Astrof and Sonja go into the house Helena and Wojcicki walk over to the terrace You have behaved shockingly again Ivan, what sense was there in teasing your mother and talking about Perpetua mobile And at breakfast you quarreled with Alexander again Really, your behaviour is too petty But if I hate him... You hate Alexander without reason He is like everyone else and no worse than you are If only you could see your face, your gestures How tedious your life must be 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 Astrof 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 I don't like your philosophy 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 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 They do not exist But I ask nothing of you Only let me look at you, listen to your voice Hush, someone will overhear you We go toward the house Following her? Let me speak to you of my love, do not drive me away And this alone will be my greatest happiness This is agony Telekin strikes the strings of his guitar and plays a polka Madame Wojcaya writes something on the leaves of her pamphlet The curtain falls End of Act 1 Act 2 of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov Translated by Julius West This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Act 2 The dining room of Serebrakov's house It is night The tapping of the watchman's rattle is heard in the garden Serebrakov is dosing in an armchair by an open window And Helena is sitting beside him, also half asleep Rousing himself Who is here? Is it you, Sonia? It is I Oh, it's you, Nelly. Oh, this pain isn't tolerable Your shawl slipped down She wraps up his legs in the shawl Let me shut the window No, leave it open. I'm suffocating I dreamt just now that my left leg belonged to someone else It hurts so that I woke I don't believe this is gout It's more like rheumatism What time is it? Half past twelve I want you to look for Batushka's works in the library tomorrow I think we have him What is that? Look for Batushka tomorrow morning We used to have him, I remember Why do I find it so hard to breathe? You are tired This is the second night you have had no sleep They say there's so again you've got angina of the heart from gout I'm afraid I'm getting angina too Oh, damn this horrible, cursed old age Ever since I've been old I've been hateful to myself I'm sure hateful to you all as well You speak as if we were to blame for your being old I'm more hateful to you than to anyone Helena gets up and walks away from him, sitting down at a distance You're quite right, of course, I'm not an idiot I can understand you You're young and healthy and beautiful and longing for life You're an old dotart, almost a dead man already Don't I know it? Of course I see that it's foolish for me to live so long But wait, I shall soon set you all free My life cannot drag on much longer You are overtaxing my powers of endurance Be quiet for God's sake It appears that thanks to me everybody's power of endurance is being overtaxed Everybody's miserable and I am blissfully triumphant Oh, yes, of course Be quiet, you are torturing me I torture everybody, of course Weeping, this is unbearable Tell me what is it you want me to do Nothing Then be quiet, please It is funny that everybody listens to Ivan He's old idiot of a mother 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 dad And 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'm old 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 I have spent my life working in the interest of learning I'm 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 to night And listen to their futile conversation I want to live a 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's more than I can bear And you will not even forgive me for being old Wait, have patience I shall be old myself in four or five years Sonja comes in Father, you sent for Dr. Ostrov And now when he comes he refused to see him It is not nice to give a man so much trouble for nothing What do I care about your astroph? He understands medicine, about as well as I understand astronomy We can't send for the whole medical faculty can way to treat your gout I won't talk to that madman Do as you please, it's all the same to me She sits down What time is it? One o'clock Oh, it's stifling in here Sonja, hand me that bottle on the table Here it is She hands him a bottle of medicine No, not that one Can't you understand me? Can't I ask you to do a thing? 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 tomorrow and I must get up early Wojcicki comes in, dressed in a long gown and carrying a candle A thunderstorm is coming up The lightning flashes There it is Go to bed, Helena and Sonja I've come to take your place No, no, no, don't leave me alone with him Don't, he'll begin to lecture me But you must give them a little rest They have not slept for two nights 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 Our former friendship Our former... Hush, Uncle Vanya To his wife My darling, don't leave me alone with him He will begin to lecture me This is ridiculous Marina comes in, carrying a candle Oh, you must go to bed, nurse, it is late I haven't cleared away the tea things Can't go to bed yet Oh, no one can go to bed, they're all born out Only I enjoy perfect happiness Goes up to Zerebrakov 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 Old people want to be pitied as much as young ones But nobody cares about them somehow She kisses Zerebrakov'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 Let us go, Marina My own feet are aching so badly Oh, so badly She and Sonia lead Zerebrakov out Sonia's mother used to wear herself out with sorrow and weeping You were still little and foolish then, Sonia Come, come, master Zerebrakov, Sonia and Marina go out I am absolutely exhausted by him and can hardly stand You're exhausted by him and I am exhausted by my own self I have not slept for three nights 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 today Something is wrong in this house Leave speculating alone You are cultured and intelligent, Yvonne 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 Help me first to make peace with myself My darling Ceases her hand Let go She drags her hand away Go away 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 forever 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 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 Barring the way If you only knew how I am tortured by the thought But 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! Looking at him intently Ivan, you are drunk Perhaps Perhaps Where is the doctor? In there, spending the night with me Perhaps I am drunk Perhaps I am Nothing is impossible Have you just been drinking together? Why do you do that? Because in that way I get a taste of life Let me do it, Helena You never used to drink And you never used to talk so much Go to bed, I am tired of you Falling on his knees before her My sweetheart, my beautiful one Leave me alone! Really, this has become too disagreeable Helena goes out Alone She's 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 tonight 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'm here Oh enchanting dream So sweet that I laughed to think of it 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 Oh, how I have been deceived For years I have worshipped that miserable gout-ridden professor So yet 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's absolutely unknown and his fame is burst like a soap bubble I have been deceived, I see that now Basically deceived Astrof comes in He has his coat on but is without his waistcoat or collar and is slightly drunk Telegin follows him carrying a guitar Play But everyone is asleep Play Telegin begins to play softly Are you alone here, no women about? Sings with his arms a kimball 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? The devil only knows I thought I heard Helena's voice She was here a moment ago What a beautiful woman Looking at the medicine bottles on the table Medicine is it, what a variety we have Prescriptions from Moscow, from Karkov, from Tula He has been pestering all the towns of Russia with his gout Is he ill or simply shamming? He's really ill What is the matter with you tonight, you seem sad Is it because you are sorry for the professor? Leave me alone Or in love with the professor's wife She's my friend Already What do you mean by already? A woman can only become a man's friend after having first Being his acquaintance and then his beloved Then she becomes his friend What vulgar philosophy 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 My dear boy, I would with all my heart but do listen to reason Everybody in the house is asleep Play Telegin plays softly 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 Sonja who comes in at that moment I beg your pardon, I have no collar on He goes out quickly followed by Telegin Uncle Vanya, you and the doctor have been drinking The good fellows have been getting together It's all very well for him, he's always done it But why do you follow his example? It looks dreadfully at your age Age has nothing to do with it When real life is wanting, one must create an illusion It's better than nothing Our hay is all cut and rotting in these daily rains And here you are busy creating illusions You've given up the farm altogether I have done all the work alone till I am at the end of my strength Uncle, your eyes are full of tears Tears, nonsense Tears in my eyes You looked at me then Just as your dead mother used to do, my darling He eagerly kisses her face and hands My sister, my dearest sister, where are you now? Oh, if you only knew If you only knew If she only knew what, uncle? Oh, my heart's bursting, it is awful No matter though I must go He goes out Knocks at the door Dr. Ostrov, are you awake? Please come here for a minute Behind the door In a moment He appears in a few seconds He has put on his collar and waistcoat What do you want? 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 Very well, we won't drink any more I'm going home at once, that is settled It will be done by the time the horses are harnessed It is still raining, wait till morning 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 Today he refused to see me at all He has been spoiled She looks in the sideboard Won't you have a bite to eat? Yes, please, I believe I will 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 I haven't eaten anything today 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 stepmother What about her? A human being should be entirely beautiful The face, the clothes, the mind, the thoughts Your stepmother 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 However, I may be judging her too severely Like your uncle Vanya, I am discontented And so we are both grumblers Aren't you satisfied with life? I like life as life But I hate and despise it in a little Russian country village As far as my own personal life goes, by heaven There's 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, let you know, as no one else in the country works Fate beats me on without rest At times I suffer uninsurably And I see no light ahead I have no hope I do not like people It is long since I have loved anyone You love no one? Not at all 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 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 menia for self-analysis They whine, they hate, they pick faults everywhere With unhealthy sharpness They sneak up to me sideways They get me out of the corner of the eye and say That man is a lunatic That man is a windbag 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, Sonya prevents him I beg you, I implore you not to drink any more Why not? It is so unworthy of you You are well bred, your voice is sweet You are even, more than anyone 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 Gives her his hand I won't drink any more Promise me I give you my word of honour Squeezing his hand Thank you 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 anyone 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 What is it? Nothing During Lent one of my patients died under chloroform It is time to forget that 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? 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 it once if I am ever to get off Goodbye, 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 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 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 Ringing her hands 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 The storm is over What delicious air Where is the doctor? He is gone Sonya? Yes 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 I myself She embraces Helena Let us make peace With all my heart They are both moved Has Papa gone to bed? 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? Dr. Ostrov has just had supper There is some wine Let us seal our friendship Yes, let us Out of one glass She feels a wine glass So, we are friends are we? Yes They drink and kiss each other I have long wanted to make friends but Somehow I was ashamed too Why are you crying? I don't know It is nothing There, there, don't cry Silly, now I am crying too 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 Peace, peace, let us forget the past You must not look so at people It is not becoming to you You must trust people or life becomes impossible Tell me truly As a friend Are you happy? Truly, no I knew it One more question Do you wish your husband were young? What a child you are Of course I do Go on, ask something else Do you like the doctor? Yes, very much indeed 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 What can I say? He is clever He can do everything He can cure the sick and plant woods 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 his 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 Sonja 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, Sonja 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? Laughing and covering her face with her hands I am so happy I want to hear music I might play a little Oh, do, do She embraces her I could not possibly go to sleep now Do play 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 Ghost Sonja and ask him Very well She goes out The watchman's rattle is heard in the garden 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 battling out there, Afim? It is I Don't make such a noise, your master is ill I am going away this minute Sonja comes back He says No The curtain falls End of Act 2 Act 3 of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov Translated by Julius West This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Act 3 The drawing room of Serebrakov's house There are three doors One to the right One to the left And one in the center of the room Wojcicki and Sonja are sitting down Helena is walking up and down Absorbed in thought 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 Probably a matter of business He never had any business He writes twaddle, grumbles And eats his heart out with jealousy That's all he does Uncle All right I beg your pardon He points to Helena Look at her Wandering up and down From sheer idleness A sweet picture, really I wonder you are not bored Drowning on in the same key From morning till night I am dying of this tedium Frogging her shoulders There is plenty to do if you would For instance 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 flower 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? How can you live here and not do it? Embraces her Wait a while You will get used to it all Don't be sad, dearest 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 today To come here and talk with you Because I am getting lazy And don't want to go on with it Dr. Ostrov 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 Why should you languish here? Come, my dearest My beauty be sensible The blood of a nixie 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 hair professor And all of us may have our hands free again Leave me alone How cruel you are She tries to go out Preventing her Oh, there, there, my beauty Apologize? He kisses her hand Forgive me Confess that you would try the patience of an angel As a peace offering I'm going to fetch some flowers Which I picked for you this morning Some autumn roses Beautiful, sorrowful roses He goes out Autumn roses Beautiful, sorrowful roses She and Helena What a beautiful window September already How shall we live through the long winter here? Where is the doctor? He is writing in Uncle Vanya's room I'm glad Uncle Vanya has gone out I want to talk to you about something About what? About what? She lays her head on Helena's wrist Stroking her hair There, there, that will do Don't, Sonia I am ugly You have lovely hair 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 Everyone knows that I love him Does he? No He never notices me He is a strange man Listen, Sonia I shall be careful, only a hint Really, to be an uncertainty all these years Let me do it Sonia nods an affirmative 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? And if it is no Then he must keep away from here, is that so? Sonia nods It will be easier not to see him any more We won't put off the examination in an instant He said he had a sketch to show me Go and tell him at once that I want to see him Will you tell me the whole truth? 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 me, dearest 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 What do you say? Nothing She goes out Alone? There is no greater sorrow than to know another's secret When you cannot help them 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 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. Astrof 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 nixie in my veins Give rain to your nature for once in your life Perhaps it is might 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 Sonya's feet And beg her forgiveness and weep Astrof comes in carrying a portfolio How do you do? Shakes hands with her Do you want to see my sketch? Yes, you promised to show me what you had been doing Have you time now? Of course I have He lays the portfolio on the table Takes out the sketch and fastens it to the table With thumbtacks Where were you born? Helping him In St. Petersburg And educated? At the conservatory there You don't find this life very interesting, I dare say Oh, why not? It is true I don't know the country very well But I have read a great deal about it 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 Sonya 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 the villages, you see I have dotted down here and there the various settlements Farms, hermits, 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 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 today 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 ditheria, 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 moral And almost everything has gone And nothing has been created to take its place But I see by your face that I am not interesting you I know so little about such things There's nothing to know. It simply isn't interesting, that's all 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 An examination? 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 is passed between us, shall we? Very well It is about my step-daughter Sonia Do you like her? Yes, I respect her Do you like her as a woman? No One more word and that will be the last You have not noticed anything? No, nothing Taking his hand You do not love her. I see that in your eyes She is suffering. You must realize that And not come here anymore My son has said yes, and then I haven't the time Shrugging his shoulders Where shall I find time for such things? He is embarrassed What an unpleasant conversation I am as out as 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 I am actually blushing 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 Oh, you are wily What does this mean? 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 Tigris, don't look at me in that way I am an old bird A Tigris? I don't understand you Beautiful, sleek Tigris, 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 You have gone mad You are afraid I am a better and stronger woman than you think me. Goodbye She tries to leave the room Goodbye. Don't say goodbye. Don't waste words Oh, how lovely you are. What hands? He kisses her hands Enough of this. She frees her hands Leave the room. You have forgotten yourself Tell me, tell me. Where can we meet tomorrow? He puts his arm around her Don't you see that we must meet? That it is inevitable He kisses her Wojcicki comes in carrying a bunch of roses and stops in the doorway Without seeing Wojcicki Have pity. Leave me Lays her head on Aztow's shoulder Don't She tries to break away from him Holding her by the waist Be in the forest tomorrow at two o'clock Will you? Will you? Sees Wojcicki Let me go Goes to the window deeply embarrassed This is appalling Wojcicki throws the flowers on a chair And speaks in great excitement Wiping his face with his handkerchief Nothing! Yes! Yes! Nothing! The weather is fine today, my dear Yvonne The morning was overcast and looked like rain But now the sun is shining again Honestly, we've 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 Goes quickly up to Wojcicki You must do your best You must use all your power to get my husband And myself away from here today Do you hear? I say this very day Wiping his face Oh! Ah! Oh! All right! I... Helena, I saw everything Do you hear me? I must leave here this very day Serebrakov, Sonja, Marina, Intelligent come in I'm not very well myself, Your Excellency I have been limping for two days in my head Where are the others? I hate this house It's a regular labyrinth Everyone is always scattered through the twenty-six Enormous rooms One can never find a soul Rings Also, my wife and Madam Boy Sky are to come here I am here already Please, all of you, sit down Sonja goes up to Helena and asks anxiously What did he say? I'll tell you later You are moved Looking quickly and inquiringly into her face I understand He said he would not come here any more Tell me, did he? Helena nods To Telegin One can, after all, become reconciled to being an invalid But not to this country life The ways of it sticking my throat And I feel exactly as if I had been world of the earth And landed on a strange planet Please be seated, ladies and gentlemen Sonja Sonja does not hear She is standing with her head bowed sadly forward on her breast Sonja She does not hear me To Marina Sit down, Tunis 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 Perhaps you do not need me May I be excused? No, you are needed now more than anyone What is it you want of me? But what are you angry about? If it's anything I have done, I ask you to forgive me Oh, drop that and come to business What do you want? Madame Wojcaja comes in 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 bookworm and a scholar And I am unfamiliar with practical affairs I cannot, I find, dispense with the help Of well-informed people such as you, Ivan And you, Telyagin And you, mother The truth is, many, omnis, all are knocks 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 interest of my family My life is nearly over And I am not thinking of myself But I have a young wife and daughter 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 2% on the money invested in it I propose to sell it If we then invest our capital In bonds it will earn us 4 to 5% And we should probably have a surplus Over of several thousand rubles With which we could buy a summer cottage in Finland Hold on, repeat what you just said I don't think I heard you quite right I said we would invest the money in bonds And buy a cottage in Finland with the surplus No, not Finland, you said something else I propose to sell this place Aha, that was it So you're 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 Sonya here? That will be decided in due time We can't do everything at once 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 Sonya 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 Of course it is Sonya's that anyone denied it I don't want to sell it without Sonya's consent On the contrary, what I am doing is for Sonya's good This is absolutely incomprehensible Either I have gone mad or... Jean, don't contradict Alexander Trust to him He knows better than we do what is right and what is wrong I shat Give me some water He drinks Go ahead Say anything you please, anything 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 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 Konstantin Lakdimanov And he used to be a magistrate Stop waffles, this is business Wait a bit, we will talk about that later To Serebrakov There now, ask him what he thinks This estate was bought from his uncle Why should I ask questions? What good would it do? The price was 95,000 rubles My father paid 70 and left a debt of 25 Now listen This place could never have been bought Had I not renounced my inheritance In the favor of my sister whom I deeply loved And what is more I worked for ten years like an ox And paid off the debt I regret having started this conversation Thanks entirely to my own personal efforts The place is entirely clear of debts And now, when I've grown old You want to throw me out, neck and crop? I can't imagine what you are driving at For five years I have managed this place And have sent you the returns from it Like the most honest of servants And you've never given me one single word of thanks For my work, not one Neither in my youth nor now You allowed me a meager salary Of 500 rubles a year A beggar's pitance And I've never even thought of adding a ruble to it What did I know of such things, Yvonne? I am not a practical man And don't understand them You might have helped yourself to what you wanted Yes, why did I not steal? Don't you all despise me for not stealing What it would have been only justice? And I should not now, I've been a beggar Yo Vanya, old man, don't talk in that way Why spoil such pleasant relations? He embraces him Do stop For 25 years I've 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 With my soul-bound lows Don't, Vanya, don't I can't stand it What in the heaven do you want anyway? 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 copac You are a hoax Oh, can't anyone make him stop? I'm going Ivan, I command you to stop this instant You hear me? I refuse Serebrakov tries to get out of the room But Voitsky bars the door Wait, I've not done yet You have wrecked my life I have never lived My best years of God for nothing Have been ruined thanks to you You are my most bitter enemy I can't stand it, I can't stand it I am going He goes out in great excitement But what do you want? What earthly right have you to use such language to me? Ruined nation, if this is stated yours I take it and let me be ruined I'm going a way out of this hell this minute Freaks, this is too much 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 Shopenhauer On Dostoyevsky I'm losing my hand, I'm going crazy Mother, I'm in despair Oh, mother Listen, Alexander Sonja falls on her knees beside the nurse And nestles against her Oh, nurse, nurse Mother, what shall I do? But no, don't speak, I know what to do To Serebrakov And you will understand me He goes out through the door in the center of the room And Madame Wojcaya follows him 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 center door He's almost next door to mine Let him take himself off into the village Or into the wing of the house Or I shall live here at once I cannot stay in the same house with him To her husband? We are leaving to-day We must get ready at once for our departure What a perfectly dreadful man On her knees beside the nurse And turning to her father You must be kind to us, Papa Uncle Vanya and I are so unhappy 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 Very excited to her husband For heaven's sake, Alexander Go and have a talk with him, explain Very well I shall have a talk with him But I won't apologise for a thing I'm 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 Be gentle with him Try to quiet him She follows him out Nestling Nira to Marina Nurse Oh, nurse It's all right, my baby If they are cackled, they will be still again First they cackle and then they stop Nurse 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 Bang! What's that? Hold him, hold him He's gone mad Give it to me, give it to me, I tell you Let me go, Halela, let me go Where is he? Ah, there he is He shoots at him I didn't get him I missed again Damnation Damnation to hell with him He flings the revolver on the floor And drops helpless into a chair Serebrakov stands as if stupefied Helena leans against the wall Almost fainting Take me away, take me away I can't stay here, I can't Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do? Oh, nurse, nurse The curtain falls End of Act 3 Act 4 of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov Translated by Julius West This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Act 4 Wojcicki's bedroom, which is also his office A table stands near the window On it are ledgers, letter scales and papers of every description Nearby stands a smaller table belonging to Astrof with his paints and drawing materials On the wall hangs a cage containing a styling 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 Telegyn and Marina are sitting facing one another, winding wool Be quick, Marina, or we shall be called away to say goodbye before you have finished The carriage has already been ordered Trying to wind more quickly I am a little tired They are going to Korkov to live They do well to go 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 Korkov 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 And quite rightly, what a storm they have just raised It was shameful It was indeed The scene was worthy of the brush of Ebezovsky I wish I had never laid eyes on them 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 It is a long time since I have eaten noodles Yes, we haven't had noodles for ages Not for ages As I was going through the village this morning, Marina One of the shopkeepers called after me Hi, you hang her on I felt it bitterly Don't pay the least attention to them, master We are all dependents on God You and Sonia and all of us Everyone must work, no one can sit idle Where is Sonia? In the garden with the doctor Looking for Yvonne They fear he may lay violent hands on himself Where is his pistol? I hid it in the cellar Wojtzki and Astrof come in Leave me alone To Marina and Tellegin Go away Go away and leave me to myself if but for an hour I would have you watching me like this Yes, yes, Vanya He goes out on tiptoe The gander cackles, ho, ho, ho She gathers up her wool and goes out Leave me by myself 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 I took nothing from you I am not jesting, don't detain me I really must go I took nothing of yours 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 Do as you please Oh, that makes such a fool of myself To shoot twice and miss him both times? I shall never forgive myself When the impulse came to shoot It would have been as well Had you put a bullet through your own head Trucking his shoulders Strange, I attempted murder And am not going to be arrested or brought to trial That means they think me mad Ha, 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 Yes, sir, I did kiss her, so there He puts his thumb to his nose His eyes on the door Nope, it is the earth that is mad Because she still bears us on her breast That is nonsense Well, am I not a madman And therefore irresponsible? Haven't I the right to talk nonsense? 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 Cover his face with his hands Oh, if you knew how ashamed I am These piercing pegs of shame are like nothing on earth I can't endure them He leans against the table What can I do? What can I do? Nothing You must tell me something Oh my God, I'm 47 years old I may live to 60, I still have 13 years before me An eternity, how shall I be able to endure life For 13 years? What shall I do? How can I feel them? Oh, don't you see? He presses Astroff's hand convulsively Don't you see, if I could only 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 Oh, to begin life anew Tell me, tell me how to begin What nonsense? What sort of a new life can you and I look forward to? We can have no hope None? None, of that I am convinced Tell me what to do He puts his hand to his heart Oh, I feel such a burning pain here Stop 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 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? I took nothing from you You took a little bottle of morphine out of my medicine case Listen, if you were 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? Sonja comes in Leave me alone! To Sonja Sonja, your uncle has stolen a bottle of morphine out of my medicine case And won't give it up Tell him that his behavior is, well, unwise I haven't time, I must be going Uncle Vanya, did you take the morphine? Yes, he took it I am absolutely sure Give it up! Why do you want to frighten us? 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 Give it up, dear darling Uncle Vanya Give it up! 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 Wojcicki takes a bottle from the drawer of the table And hands it to Astrof There it is To Sonja And now we must get to work at once We must do something Or else I shall not be able to endure it 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 Putting the bottle in his case, which he straps together Now I can be off Helena comes in Are you there, Ivan? We are starting in a moment Go to Alexander, he wants to speak to you Go, Uncle Vanya She takes Wojcicki's arm Come, you and Papa must make peace, that is absolutely necessary Sonja and Wojcicki go out I am going away She gives Astrof her hand Goodbye So soon The carriage is waiting Goodbye You promised me you would go away yourself today I have not forgotten, I am going at once Were you frightened? Was it so terrible? Yes Couldn't you stay? Couldn't you? Tomorrow in the forest? 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 Ah With an impatient gesture Stay, I implore you It is best 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 Karkov or in Kursk But here, in nature's lap It would then at least be poetical Even beautiful Here you have the forests This house is half in ruins that Turkenev writes of 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 bury each other any ill will Yes, go 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 everyone 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 pastoring 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 If you need to lack a media Snatching a pencil off Astrof's table And hiding it with a quick movement I shall take this pencil for memory How strange it is We meet and then suddenly 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 goodbye May I He kisses her on the cheek So splendid I wish you every happiness She glances about her For once in my life I shall And score on the consequences She kisses him impetuously And they quickly part Yes, go, if the carriage is there Then start at once They stand listening Efinita Wojcicki Serebrakow Madame Wojcicki with her book Telegyn and Sonja come in To Wojcicki 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 And the instruction of posterity I gladly accept your apology And myself ask your forgiveness He kisses Wojcicki three times Helena embraces Sonja Kissing Madame Wojcicki's hand Mother Kissing him Have your picture taken, Alexander And send me one You know how dear you are to me Goodbye, Your Excellency Don't forget us Kissing his daughter Goodbye, goodbye all Shaking hands with Astrof 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 Madame Wojcicki and Sonja Kissing Helena's hand fervently Goodbye, forgive me I shall never see you again Goodbye, dear boy She lightly kisses his head As he bends over her hand and goes out Tell them to bring my carriage around, too, Athos All right, old man Astrof and Wojcicki are left behind alone They collect his paints and drawing materials on the table And packs them away in a box Why don't you go to see them off? Let them go I can't go out there I feel too sad I must go to work on something 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 They have gone The professor, I suppose, is glad to go He couldn't be tempted back now by a fortune Marina comes in They have gone She sits down in an armchair and knits her stocking Sonja comes in, wiping her eyes They have gone God be with them To her uncle And now, Uncle Vanya, let us do something To work, to work 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 ink stand to the cupboard and fills it from an ink bottle How sad it is to see them go Madame Wojcicki comes slowly in They have gone She sits down and at once becomes absorbed in her book Sonja sits down at the table and looks through an account book 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 In account with... They sit silently writing Ah, the Sandman has come 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 My carriage has come There now remains but to say goodbye to you, my friends, and to my table here And then away He puts the map into the portfolio Don't hurry away, sit a little longer with us It's impossible Writing And carry forward from the old debt, 275 Workman comes in Your carriage is waiting, sir All right He hands the workman his medicine case, portfolio and box Look out, don't crush the portfolio Very well, sir When shall we see you again? 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 Goodbye, old nurse Are you going without your tea? I don't want any, nurse Won't you have a drop of vodka? Yes, I might Marina goes out My off-wheeler has gone lame for some reason He resisted yesterday when Peter was taking him to water You should have him reshorred I shall have to go around by the blacksmiths 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 Yes, I suppose it is Marina comes back, carrying a tray on which are a glass of vodka and a piece of bread Help yourself A straw of drinks To your good health She bows deeply Eat your bread with it No, I like it so And now, goodbye To Marina You needn't come out to see me off, nurse He goes out Sonja follows him with a candle to light him to the carriage Marina sits down in her armchair Writing On the second of February, twenty pounds of butter on the sixteenth Twenty pounds of butter again Buckwheat flour Bells are heard tinkling He has gone Sonja comes in and sets the candlestick on the table He has gone Adding and writing Total fifteen, twenty-five Sonja sits down and begins to write Oh, the Lord have mercy Telekin comes in on tiptoe, sits down near the door and begins to tune his guitar To Sonja stroking her hair Oh, my child, I am miserable If you only knew how miserable I am What can we do? We must live our lives 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 Oh, 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 Sonja kneels down before her Uncle And lays her head on his hands We shall rest Telekin 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 pains sink away In the great compassion that shall unfold 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 Oh, my poor, poor Uncle Vanya You are crying 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 Telekin plays softly Madame Wojcaya writes something on the margin of her pamphlet Marina needs her stocking We shall rest The curtain slowly falls End of Act IV End of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov Translated by Julius West