Summary
It is evening. The scene is Vanya’s room, which is also the estate office. There is a map of Africa, a small table for Astrov, and a cage with a starling. Telegin and Marina are sitting in the office, discussing how Serebryakov and Helen are going to live in Kharkov. They both think this is a good thing, especially after Vanya’s disgraceful behavior. Marina is looking forward to things going back to normal. Telegin sighs that he is looking forward to this.
Marina smiles at Telegin when the old man confesses he hid the pistol in the cellar.
Vanya and Astrov enter. Vanya is irritable, and orders Marina and Telegin out. They comply. Vanya tells Astrov to leave; Astrov says that he will, and with pleasure, but only when Vanya gives him back what is his. Vanya is confused, but Astrov stubbornly stands his ground.
Vanya rues the fact that he missed the professor twice, and Astrov asks why he didn’t just shoot himself if he had to shoot someone. Vanya shrugs. He wonders if they think he is mad, for he just tried to kill someone and he isn’t arrested or in jail. He sneers that people can dress themselves up as professors or marry old men, yet no one thinks they are mad. He looks at Astrov and tells him that he saw him kiss Helen.
Astrov admits this and thumbs his nose at Vanya. He calls Vanya an old clown and says he simply has no sense.
Vanya hangs his head and says that the feeling of shame he has is worse than pain. He wonders what he is to do. Astrov replies that he can do nothing. Vanya laments his age and how he is to live the rest of the years of his life. He wishes that he could wake up one day with a fresh start.
Astrov is annoyed with him and states that both of their lives are hopeless. Vanya points to his own chest and asks for something. Astrov shouts at him to shut up, but then more gently says that their only hope is to have pleasant visions once they’re in their graves. He and Vanya are the only civilized people in their district, but the parochial existence ruined them and “poisoned our blood and we’ve become as second-rate as the rest of them” (161).
After a moment, Astrov repeats his claim that Vanya took something from him: a bottle of morphia out of his medical case. If Vanya wants to do himself in, he might as well go into the woods and shoot himself, but Astrov can’t have people thinking he gave Vanya the bottle.
Sonya enters, and Astrov tells her she needs to tell her uncle to give him back the morphia. She looks at Vanya and asks if he took it, then moves toward him and tells him affectionately that he has to give it back. He cannot give into despair; he should be patient. She weeps and holds his hands; Vanya gives in and returns the bottle, saying he must get back to work.
Helen enters and tells Vanya that Serebryakov wants a word with him. Vanya and Sonya depart. Helen gives Astrov her hand and says goodbye. Astrov asks her once more about the forest reservation tomorrow; she tells him flatly that it is ended and they are leaving.
Astrov makes an impatient gesture and says she has nothing else to do, no object in life, and no occupations; thus, she ought to stay in this rather romantic place. Helen replies that he is absurd, but that she will remember him fondly because he is interesting and different from the others.
They shake hands and Astrov says that, yes, she had better leave. She and her husband riled up the place and infected them all with their idleness. Astrov jokes that they bring havoc wherever they go.
Helen picks up a pencil and says she will take it to remember him by. He is amused that they will never see each other again. Helen kisses him on the cheek, then impulsively kisses him on the lips and wishes him happiness.
Everyone else enters. Serebryakov wishes Vanya the best, and they formally kiss three times in parting. Everyone in the group exchanges farewells, and Serebryakov urges them to get down to work. Helen kisses Vanya on the head and leaves. Serebryakov follows, asking Telegin to get their carriage.
Vanya starts rifling through his papers, commenting that he is depressed and must get to work immediately. Outside bells sound, and Astrov comments that they are gone. Marina enters and sits down to knit a sock.
Sonya enters and tells her uncle they should get to work. She lights the lamp and sighs that she is sad that they’ve gone. She and Vanya start to work. Astrov comments that it is quiet and peaceful here, and Marina suggests that he should stay. He says he cannot, and at that moment a laborer comes in and says his carriage is ready. Sonya stands to say goodbye and asks when he will return. He replies that he won't return any earlier than next summer. Marina offers him some vodka; he takes it and then leaves.
Outside, harness bells are heard and Marina comments that Astrov is gone. Telegin strums quietly on his guitar while Sonya and Vanya write. Vanya tells his niece that he is so depressed. She looks at him with compassion and says that life will go on. It will be long, tiring, and they will never have peace; beyond the grave, though, they will know that although they wept, suffered, and their lot was bitter, God will pity them and they will have another life of beauty, light, and joy.
Sonya kneels before her uncle and tells him softly multiple times that they will have peace, they will see the angels, they will experience a flood of mercy, and they will have a calm, gentle, and sweet life. Vanya hasn’t had any happiness yet, but he will in the future. Sonya reaches up to wipe his tears away and tells him again that they will find peace.
Analysis
The fourth and final act of Uncle Vanya is, to say the least, anticlimactic (e.g., nothing happens to a character who tried to murder his own brother-in-law, and the encounter is merely described as a "row" and "a thorough disgrace" [158]). Helen stays faithful to Serebryakov, and both of them depart the estate. Serebryakov is just as shortsighted, pompous, and self-absorbed as he was prior to his departure, and Helen is just as bored and unhappy. Helen and Astrov kiss, but it is perfunctory and passionless. The unmarried Sonya returns to work, as do Marina and Telegin. Astrov leaves for the season, just as simultaneously hopeful and cynical as he was earlier.
As for Vanya, he has further revealed himself to be ridiculous. His complaints, his demonization of Serebryakov, his lack of personal insight, his attempt to seduce Helen, and the attempted murder “make him comically pathetic rather than tragically heroic,” as critic Geoffrey Borny writes. His exclamation that he could have been the inimitable Schopenhauer or Dostoevsky ultimately comes across as petulant and inane rather than as a legitimate woe.
Overall, no one seems to have learned any lessons or decided to alter their current state of existence. Critic Jane Anderson writes, “[the characters] must live without the illusions of their hopes. Each must once again take up the stifling trifles of daily life to distract themselves from their lives of quiet desperation.” Chekhov himself once wrote, “In spite of all my attempts at being serious, the result is noting; with me the serious always alternates with the trivial.” Critic John Weston lauds the confluence of serious and trivial, and he doesn’t lay the blame entirely at the characters’ feet. He writes, “it is not so much the personal defects of character that cause unhappiness as it is the pressures and tensions of everyday country life created by economic and social conditions of the time. It is the boring, stupefying, and vulgar life in the country which drags down intelligent people like Astrov and Uncle Vanya and Sonya and Serebryakov to the level of pettiness and selfishness.”
Finally, Sonya’s speech to Vanya merits analysis. She imitates the sentiments Marina conveyed to Astrov at the beginning of the play—that God will remember them. For Sonya, life is indeed hard work with little recognition, but it is the hope of an afterlife that sustains her. She tells her uncle, “In the world beyond the grave we shall say we have wept and suffered, that our lot was harsh and bitter, and God will have pity on us. And you and I, Uncle, shall behold a life which is bright and beautiful and splendid” (167). Sonya’s religious faith allows her to genuinely comfort her uncle, as well as to prop herself up after learning that Astrov does not love her.
Sadly, though, there is no evidence that Vanya shares his niece’s faith. He merely sobs while she tries to comfort him. Borny notes, “Sonya’s long speech of faith at the end of the play is undercut by the fact that she is preaching to the unconverted. Vanya appears to have little faith in the existence of Sonya’s God, and even though he has now resumed working, he no longer has faith in the value of work.” Vanya will most likely get back to a place where he finds value in work, but it may take a long time and will be liable to disruption again.
