A Change in Perspective - Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov: Act 3

The third act of the play is extremely exhilarating. Many things happen, everybody has there own beliefs, everything changes, and it is the climax of the book. Regarding the relationship between Sonya and Astrov, everything went wrong. Sonya finally accepted to tell the doctor what she felt, but didn't do it herself, Elena asked him for her.  She obtained an answer nobody wanted to hear. Not only did Astrov say he didn't like Sonya, but he said he liked Elena. When he expressed this love, he kissed her, and in that precise moment, Vanya came in. Everything turned out upside down, and everyone was dissatisfied. Vanya was sad because Astrov kissed the love of his life, Elena. Elena was disappointed in Astrov because of the way he acted. Sonya would never have the only thing she ever wanted in her whole life: Astrov's love. In conclusion, to add to everyone's hate of life, everything became worse for all of them. 

All these problems between relationships were not the only things that happened in the third act. Serebryakov called together a family meeting to say he wanted to sell the estate, and there was a whole discussion about who wanted what. Vanya made a big fuss about working his butt off and wasting his whole life only for him, and now at this age, he wouldn't leave. I believe this is a good reason to not sell the estate, however Vanya didn't approach it the way he should of. He acted like a crazy man and tried to kill the professor. This was a very tense moment for all the characters who each had their own discussion. In this scene we can clearly see the self-centered manner of acting by the characters while they don't listen to other people's points of view. Elena is desperate to leave, Vanya is mean and wants to stay, Serebryakov wants money, Maria wants to please Serebryakov, and Sonya is sad and depressed about the doctor.

In this act I also realized another topic of the play is laziness and boredom. The perfect description of this is Sonya's monologue on page 196 while she talks to Elena: "You're bored, you don't kow what to do with yourself, and boredom and idleness are catching. Look: Uncle Vanya does nothing, just follow you around like a shadow, and I left my work and came running in to have a chat with you. I've grown lazy, I can't help it!"

In general I was very impressed with this act and I feel it's very different from the first two. Things actually happen that interest the reader a little bit. I am anxious about knowing the end, but I feel it's not going to be as interesting at this act, but more along the lines of the first two. What will happen with Sonya? With the professor and his wife? With the doctor? With Uncle Vanya?