A character analysis of Uncle Vanya in Anton Chekhov’s play of the same name.
The drama of Anton Chekhov is heavy on character and character development, and memorable characters abound in his plays. This paper shows that Uncle Vanya, in the play of the same name, is such a character. The nature of his life and his attitudes shape the drama and serve to represent both a social class in Russia at the time and the way of viewing the world that went along with that social class.
The play has lost no resonance for today’s audiences, for those in America as well can understand the frustrations of working and even overworking and yet not reaping the rewards of a good house, a well-provided for family, and security for one’s old age. Uncle Vanya is a portrait of man who basically lives a moral life of hard work, yet who wakes up one day to wonder why and, worse, to rue not waking up ten years earlier when perhaps he could have altered his fate.