Monologue

Astroff Monologue from Uncle Vanya

From Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov

male · contemplative · 1:29 min

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Not a soul. 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, and 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 mania for self-analysis. They whine, they hate, they pick faults everywhere with unhealthy sharpness. They sneak up to me sideways, look at me out of a corner of the eye, and say: "That man is a lunatic," "That man is a wind-bag." 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; SONIA prevents him.)

About this piece

Astroff reflects on his disillusionment with both the peasants and the educated class, expressing a deep sense of loneliness and frustration with societal norms.

30s · melancholy · isolation · identity · madness · nature

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