A Machiavellic Individuality: Uncle Vanya, Act II

The play Uncle Vanya is characterized by a sense of pessimism and ill will towards life itself. Alexandr Vladimirovitch Serebrayakov, the professor, is a key element in both determining the form of the novel and in shaping the miserable lives of the characters in the play.
“Yelena: I am worn out… for God’s sake be quiet!
Serebrayakov: It seems that, thanks to me, everyone is worn out, depressed, wasting their youth, and I am the only one enjoying life and satisfied. Oh, yes, of course!” (Act II, p. 206).
The exclamation at the end of Serebrayakov’s passage permits the reader to understand the sarcasm of his entire comment. Due to him, everyone is living an unhappy existence; however, he is the most wretched individual of all. He does not understand that everyone, including his young wife Yelena, his tired daughter Sonya, and the restless doctor Astrov are permanently at his service, ready to aid him in whatever he needs. His presence in the house, and hence Yelena’s too, causes Voynitsky to abandon his work and adopt an attitude of utter despair that revolves around his love for Yelena. Even Marina, an old nurse, is forced to pray and take care of the professor, who is indifferent to Marina’s terrible leg pains. Apparently, Serebrayakov does not realize this and instead goes on making a victim of himself and sacrificing the happiness and tranquility of those around him.

The mood of the novel is dominated by this tension and unfriendliness. It is so common and quotidian that we do not realize the gravity of this issue until Yelena mentions the magnitude this type of behavior has in determining the peace and stability of the world. “… the world is not being destroyed through fire or robbery, but through hatred, enmity and all this petty wrangling… It ought to be your work to reconcile and not to grumble.” (Act II, p. 209). Uncle Vanya, to whom this comment is directed, does not heed the warnings Yelena gives him but instead goes on complaining and lamenting about his current situation. This type of attitude is reflected almost daily in our lives. A sense of rivalry towards the opposite individual, group, or nations shapes our desire to crush the opponent and achieve supremacy over others. Most of the world conflicts have been sparked forth by “petty wrangling” over insignificant issues that could easily be solved with a little of self-sacrifice from each nation. One such example is the Vietnam War, waged with the purpose of detaining the spread of communism. The armed conflict could have been avoided if the governments of the United States, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam had agreed on a boundary between these two nations. A little self sacrifice from the leaders at Washington D.C., Saigon, and Hanoi could have prevented the deaths of many innocent troops and civilians, as well as the staggering war costs and destruction undergone by the Vietnamese cities. This proves how greed and enmity dominates human relationships in both the play and the real world, often leading in the destruction of the world.

Many times in life, a goal or an ultimate destination is the necessary force to drive one’s actions and behavior. “You know when you walk through a forest on a dark night, and a light gleams in the distance, you do not notice your weariness, nor the darkness, nor the sharp twigs that lash you in the face.” (Act II, pgs. 213-214). This machiavellic view of life, where the end justifies the means, can be very useful in persuading oneself to achieve a certain objective; however, it can sometimes ruin the lives of many individuals for the sake of accomplishing one’s own selfish motives. This metaphorical passage, although machiavellic in a sense, does not comprise the well-being of other people and instead offers an alternative to that posed by the Italian philosopher in his book The Prince. The forest, like in Dante’s Inferno, represents one’s troubled and confused life. The light, or one’s target, drives a person to continue on with the struggle until finally one is able to exit the forest and reap the fruits of what one managed to achieve. Especially significant are the mishaps and difficulties one encounters during the journey: weariness, darkness, and pain. Darkness represents confusion and the “sharp twigs that lash you in the face” symbolize all the problems one is prone to encounter. If the reader notices carefully, all the troubles and inconveniences faced throughout the journey only harm the individual that is “walking through the forest,” and not everyone else that surrounds him/her. Chekhov is careful to make a distinction between the different magnitudes of machiavellic behavior through a redefinition and limitation of the standards posed in The Prince. The expression “the end justifies the means,” therefore, is only valid when oneself is the only individual who remains at stake for one’s own actions.