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Uncle Vanya

Yes, ten years have made me another man....

Overview

Character
Gender
Male
Playing Age
Adult
Style
Dramatic
Act/Scene
Act One, Scene One
Time & Place
A country estate in late 19th-century provincial Russia during the late afternoon.
Length
Long
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)

Context

Text

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 blanket 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 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.

For full extended monologue, please refer to the script edition cited here: Chekhov, Anton. Uncle Vanya, Dover Publications, 1998, pp, 2-3.

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