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Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Mikhail Astrov is a doctor who often visits the country estate of Professor Serebryakov. Astrov’s most recent visits have concerned the professor himself, who suspects he has rheumatism or gout. However, another motive for Astrov’s visits is Yelena, the professor’s wife. Astrov is attracted to Yelena and often visits to see her, though he usually remains emotionally distant, as he hardly believes he’s capable of real love anymore. In his middle age, he’s affected by a growing sense of emptiness and haunted by guilt over the patients who died under his care. But despite his depression, Astrov stands out from the other unhappy main characters. This is because, unlike the others, Astrov has a worthwhile pursuit that he still actively believes in: protecting the environment. Astrov finds purpose in planting trees and feeling concern for future generations, which sets him apart from other characters, who stay wrapped up in their own misery. While Astrov wishes he could receive more recognition and praise for his conservation efforts, fame isn’t the purpose of his work. Instead, he focuses on the people who will live after he’s long gone. Astrov is still a flawed character who struggles to find life’s meaning, but he’s one flicker of hope in a play full of despair. By looking beyond his own problems and caring about the wellbeing of others, Astrov demonstrates the only possible escape from the misery that confines the other characters.
Astrov Quotes in Uncle Vanya
The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Astrov or refer to Astrov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
I sat down, closed my eyes — like this — and thought: will those who will be living a hundred, two hundred years from now, those for whom we are now laying down the road to the future, will they remember us in their prayers? Nyanya, they won’t!
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Explanation and Analysis:
…And perhaps this really is just craziness, but when I go past the peasant’s woods, which I saved from destruction, or when I hear the hum of my young trees, which I planted with my own hands, I know the climate is a little in my control and that if in a thousand years man is happy, the responsibility for that will in a small way be mine. When I plant a birch and then watch it come into leaf and sway in the wind, my spirit fills with pride…
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Act 2
Quotes
She is beautiful, no question about that, but… she just eats, sleeps, walks, enchants us all with her beauty — and that’s all. She has no responsibilities, others work for her… It’s true, isn’t it? And an idle life can’t be a virtuous one.
His voice trembles, caresses… I can feel it in the air. But when I talked to him about a younger sister, he didn’t understand. Oh how I hate being plain! It’s dreadful! And I know I’m plain, I know it, I know it… Last Sunday when we were leaving church, I heard people talking about me, and one woman said, ‘She’s kind and generous, but it’s a pity that she’s so plain.’ Plain…
Act 3
Quotes
You’re bored, you can’t find a role for yourself, and boredom and inactivity are infectious. Look: Uncle Vanya does nothing and just follows you round like a shadow, I’ve left my work and come running to you to talk. I’ve got lazy, I can’t do it! Doctor Mikhail Lvovich used to visit us very seldom, once a month, it was difficult to persuade him, but now he drives over here every day, he’s left his woods and his practice. You must be a sorceress.
No, uncertainty is better… There’s still hope…
We have here a decline which is the consequence of an impossible struggle for existence; a degeneration arising from stagnation, ignorance, a total lack of self-awareness, when a frozen, hungry, sick man, in order to preserve the remnants of life, to protect his children, instinctively, unconsciously grasps at anything to relieve his hunger and get warm, and destroys everything around without a thought for tomorrow. Now almost everything is destroyed, but nothing has yet been created to take its place.
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Act 4
Quotes
Those who will live after us in a hundred or two hundred years’ time and who will despise us for living our lives so foolishly and with such a lack of taste — they may find a way of being happy, but we… You and I have only one hope. The hope that when we lie in our coffins we’ll be visited by visions, perhaps even agreeable ones.
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Explanation and Analysis:
I think you are a good, sincere person but there’s also something strange in your whole being. You came here with your husband and everyone who was busily working here and creating something had to drop what they were doing and devote the whole summer to looking after your husband’s gout and you yourself. Both of you — he and you — infected all of us with your idleness… I’m joking of course, but still… it’s strange, and I’m convinced that if you had stayed, the devastation would have been enormous.
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Astrov Quotes in Uncle Vanya
The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Astrov or refer to Astrov. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
I sat down, closed my eyes — like this — and thought: will those who will be living a hundred, two hundred years from now, those for whom we are now laying down the road to the future, will they remember us in their prayers? Nyanya, they won’t!
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
…And perhaps this really is just craziness, but when I go past the peasant’s woods, which I saved from destruction, or when I hear the hum of my young trees, which I planted with my own hands, I know the climate is a little in my control and that if in a thousand years man is happy, the responsibility for that will in a small way be mine. When I plant a birch and then watch it come into leaf and sway in the wind, my spirit fills with pride…
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2
Quotes
She is beautiful, no question about that, but… she just eats, sleeps, walks, enchants us all with her beauty — and that’s all. She has no responsibilities, others work for her… It’s true, isn’t it? And an idle life can’t be a virtuous one.
His voice trembles, caresses… I can feel it in the air. But when I talked to him about a younger sister, he didn’t understand. Oh how I hate being plain! It’s dreadful! And I know I’m plain, I know it, I know it… Last Sunday when we were leaving church, I heard people talking about me, and one woman said, ‘She’s kind and generous, but it’s a pity that she’s so plain.’ Plain…
Act 3
Quotes
You’re bored, you can’t find a role for yourself, and boredom and inactivity are infectious. Look: Uncle Vanya does nothing and just follows you round like a shadow, I’ve left my work and come running to you to talk. I’ve got lazy, I can’t do it! Doctor Mikhail Lvovich used to visit us very seldom, once a month, it was difficult to persuade him, but now he drives over here every day, he’s left his woods and his practice. You must be a sorceress.
No, uncertainty is better… There’s still hope…
We have here a decline which is the consequence of an impossible struggle for existence; a degeneration arising from stagnation, ignorance, a total lack of self-awareness, when a frozen, hungry, sick man, in order to preserve the remnants of life, to protect his children, instinctively, unconsciously grasps at anything to relieve his hunger and get warm, and destroys everything around without a thought for tomorrow. Now almost everything is destroyed, but nothing has yet been created to take its place.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4
Quotes
Those who will live after us in a hundred or two hundred years’ time and who will despise us for living our lives so foolishly and with such a lack of taste — they may find a way of being happy, but we… You and I have only one hope. The hope that when we lie in our coffins we’ll be visited by visions, perhaps even agreeable ones.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I think you are a good, sincere person but there’s also something strange in your whole being. You came here with your husband and everyone who was busily working here and creating something had to drop what they were doing and devote the whole summer to looking after your husband’s gout and you yourself. Both of you — he and you — infected all of us with your idleness… I’m joking of course, but still… it’s strange, and I’m convinced that if you had stayed, the devastation would have been enormous.
