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Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”)
Sofia Serebryakova (usually called Sonya) is Voynitsky’s niece and Serebryakov’s daughter by his first marriage. Sonya and Voynitsky take care of Professor Serebryakov’s country estate while the professor normally lives elsewhere. Complications arise in Sonya’s life when the professor and his second wife Yelena move into the house to live there indefinitely. But Sonya’s biggest source of conflict is Astrov, a doctor who sometimes visits the house. Sonya is in love with Astrov and is happy to see him around more often, but she doesn’t know that the doctor is visiting the house to see Yelena, not Sonya. Like her uncle, Sonya’s impossible desires make her miserable. She desperately wants Astrov’s affection, even as she knows that she generally isn’t considered beautiful or desirable. But unlike Voynitsky, Sonya doesn’t let her depressing circumstances consume her. Astrov's lack of interest in her clearly hurts her, but she doesn’t take out her feelings on the people around her. Instead, she does her best to focus on getting back to work on the estate. Although this might simply be a distract from rather than a solution to her pain, Sonya insists that she and her uncle will enjoy wonderful rewards in the afterlife, as God will take pity on them. In this way, Sonya represents a healthier way of dealing with life’s disappointments, though it’s possible she might grow to become more like her uncle with age.
Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova Quotes in Uncle Vanya
The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova or refer to Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova. 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 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.
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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
We shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live out many, many days and long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials fate sends us; we shall labour for others both now and in our old age, knowing no rest, and when our time comes, we shall meekly die, and there beyond the grave we shall say that we suffered, that we wept, that we were sorrowful, and God will have pity on us, and you and I, dear Uncle, shall see a life that is bright and beautiful and full of grace, we shall rejoice and look back on our present woes with tenderness, with a smile — and we shall rest.
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Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova Quotes in Uncle Vanya
The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova or refer to Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova. 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 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.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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
We shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live out many, many days and long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials fate sends us; we shall labour for others both now and in our old age, knowing no rest, and when our time comes, we shall meekly die, and there beyond the grave we shall say that we suffered, that we wept, that we were sorrowful, and God will have pity on us, and you and I, dear Uncle, shall see a life that is bright and beautiful and full of grace, we shall rejoice and look back on our present woes with tenderness, with a smile — and we shall rest.
