Uncle Vanya
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
The professor arrives
How has the arrival of Serebrakoff and Helena upset the life of the estate, and who in the house suffers most from it?
Keep the conversation going
- What does old Marina’s view of the new order of things add to the picture?
- Why do you think the professor has come to live in the country at all?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
How has the arrival of Serebrakoff and Helena upset the life of the estate, and who in the house suffers most from it?
Keep the conversation going
- What does old Marina’s view of the new order of things add to the picture?
- Why do you think the professor has come to live in the country at all?
Vanya says Serebrakoff has been writing on art for twenty-five years without knowing the first thing about it: is his bitterness fair?
Keep the conversation going
- Why did it take Vanya so long to stop believing in the man he worked for?
- Is Vanya angrier with the professor or with himself?
What do Astroff’s forests, and the map he shows Helena of how the district’s woods have dwindled over fifty years, mean to him?
Keep the conversation going
- How does his care for the land sit beside his drinking and his weariness with people?
- Did his speeches about the forests strike you as surprisingly modern?
Helena unsettles every man in the house without seeming to want to: how did you judge her?
Keep the conversation going
- Is she a victim of her marriage to Serebrakoff, or does she share responsibility for it?
- Why do you think she will not let herself go with Astroff?
Sonia believes that being plain is what stands between her and Astroff: what did you make of Helena offering to find out for her whether he cares?
Keep the conversation going
- How does Sonia bear the answer when it comes?
- Is Sonia the strongest person in the play, and if so, where does her strength come from?
In Act III the professor calmly proposes selling the estate and buying a summer cottage in Finland: why is this what finally drives Vanya over the edge?
Keep the conversation going
- What does Vanya’s outburst, gun in hand, show about him?
- Can the scene be played for laughs, and should it be?
What do Telegin and Marina, the quietest people in the house, add to the play?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of Telegin staying faithful to the wife who ran away from him?
- Do they show another way of bearing disappointment, and is it a better one?
What did you feel during Sonia’s last speech, as she and Vanya sit down again to the estate’s accounts?
Keep the conversation going
- Is her speech consolation, resignation or faith?
- Why do you think Chekhov ends the play with work taken up again rather than with any change?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.