Uncle Vanya Themes

Anxiety about growing old or about being old is a consistent concern for many of the play’s characters. But ultimately, it seems that it’s this anxiety rather than old age itself that keeps these characters trapped in a cycle of regret. The opening scene almost immediately focuses on Astrov’s loss of youth, setting the tone for more age-related conversations that occur later in the play. Uncle Vanya himself feels as though he’s wasted his youth…

The conflict between industry and idleness—a central focus of the play—begins when Professor Serebryakov and Yelena arrive and disrupt Voynitsky’s hardworking household—but it’s the couple’s inaction, not anything they do, that seems to throw the house into chaos. Serebryakov is retired and Yelena doesn’t work, which leaves the two of them to live idly in the house and unintentionally cause problems through their lack of focus or direction. After the couple's idleness “infects” the…

Almost every character in Uncle Vanya has something to say about the legacy that they will (or won’t) leave behind when they’re gone. Broadly, the characters present two different ways of looking at their legacy: one way that’s helpful, and another that’s decidedly unhelpful. Characters like Voynitsky and Professor Serebryakov embody this latter, unhelpful point of view. Both men are obsessed with the legacy they leave behind, but only as it relates to their own…