Fruitless, senseless life: Uncle Vanya Act I

Life is a constant search for meaning and happiness. Anton Chekov in this play explains the total opposite through the beliefs of most of his characters. Astrov for example is a doctor that travels around helping patients. He dislikes life and everybody that surrounds him. This is very ironical for he helps those that are sick not to lose a life that he thinks is totally fruitless. Astrov the doctor is the only one that doesn’t appreciate life, Uncle Vanya or Voinitsky is also tired of the life he has. He is bored and in love of an impossible woman.

Love has also started to build up interestingly in the play, not only the impossible love that Vanya built up towards Elena the professors wife but the vision of love that Chekhov shows us through characters such as Telyegin:

My wife ran away with the man she loved the day after our wedding, the reason being my unprepossessing appearance. (Pg 169)

There is no true love in the story, nobody is happy with the life thy have but don’t blame themselves. the relationships between characters are also very aggressive and the unhappiness is reflected when they talk to one another.

Voinitsky: "Oh yes! An enlightened personality who never enlightened anybody.... you couldn’t have made a ore venomous joke." (Pg 171)

There is a lot of tension between the characters and the pessimism towards life is present in most of their speeches. Many people find pleasure in work, pleasure in being busy but others find the pleasure in not doing anything, sitting around doing nothing. Uncle Vanya has not done anything since the arrival of the professor and is totally bored of this. His life feels senseless for he does nothing and he doesn’t have the woman he loves.

Chekov through the doctor also talks about a common problem for humans, deforestation, the doctor is a forest and nature lover and through him we can see a sense of awareness. The doctor relates the forests to life for he says that: "if you’re lost in a dark forest and see a light you will run for this light no matter what comes in your way." In life if you have real big problem and find a solution to it you will do anything you can to make this solution possible.