Uncle Vanya

by

Anton Chekhov

Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) Character Analysis

Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky is Sonya’s uncle: the titular “Uncle Vanya.” He’s the son of Mariya Vasilyevna, the mother of Professor Serebryakov’s late first wife. Voynitsky and Sonya have admired Serebryakov and managed his estate for years, but tensions have been running high ever since the professor and Yelena moved into the house themselves. More than anything, an intense envy is what defines Voynitsky as a character. Because of his regrets about his seemingly wasted life, he’s overwhelmed by bitterness and jealousy that he openly admits to feeling. He once respected professor Serebryakov, but those days are long gone; now, Voynitsky despises the professor, both for being married to Yelena (whom Voynitsky is attracted to), and for wasting years of Voynitsky’s life on seemingly pointless academic endeavors. Voynitsky constantly ruminates on what could have been and how successful he might have become if he hadn’t dedicated his life to helping the professor. Like many other characters in the play, Voynitsky leads a miserable life, but he’s perhaps the only one who makes the worst of his situation. By lashing out at others, desperately (and futilely) chasing Yelena’s affection, and ultimately attacking Serebryakov with a revolver, Voynitsky loses any last shred of the respect he craves. His horrible behavior and lack of character development shows just how dour a person can make their present and future if they believe that the best years of their life are behind them.

Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) Quotes in Uncle Vanya

The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) or refer to Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”). 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:
Old Age and Regret Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

I still love her and am faithful to her, I help with what I can and have given up my property for the education of the children she had by the man she loved. I lost my happiness but kept my pride. And what became of her? Her youth has now gone, by the laws of nature her beauty has faded, the man she loved has passed on… What has she left?

Related Characters: Telegin (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Page Number: 150
Explanation and Analysis:

I am now forty-seven. Till last year, like you, I deliberately tried to cloud my eyes with your learned talk, so as not to see real life — and I thought I was doing right. And now if you only knew! At nights I don’t sleep from vexation, from anger that I so foolishly lost the time when I could have had everything that my age now denies me!

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova, Mariya Vasilyevna
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

…And perhaps this really is just craziness, but when I go past the peasant’s woods, which I saved from destruction, or when I hear the hum of my young trees, which I planted with my own hands, I know the climate is a little in my control and that if in a thousand years man is happy, the responsibility for that will in a small way be mine. When I plant a birch and then watch it come into leaf and sway in the wind, my spirit fills with pride…

Related Characters: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov, Telegin
Related Symbols: Forestry
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

You have here my life and my love; where am I to put them, what am I to do with them? My feelings are going to waste, like a ray of sunshine falling into a chasm, and I myself am going to waste.

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Page Number: 162
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…

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Astrov
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova, Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova, Astrov
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

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: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Related Symbols: Forestry, Maps
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:

I will not be silent! Stay here, I haven’t finished! You have destroyed my life! I haven’t lived, I haven’t lived! Thanks to you I wasted, I destroyed the best years of my life! You are my worst enemy!

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Serebryakov
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4 Quotes

Those who will live after us in a hundred or two hundred years’ time and who will despise us for living our lives so foolishly and with such a lack of taste — they may find a way of being happy, but we… You and I have only one hope. The hope that when we lie in our coffins we’ll be visited by visions, perhaps even agreeable ones.

Related Characters: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov
Related Symbols: Forestry
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”)
Page Number: 200
Explanation and Analysis:
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Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) Quotes in Uncle Vanya

The Uncle Vanya quotes below are all either spoken by Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) or refer to Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”). 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:
Old Age and Regret Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

I still love her and am faithful to her, I help with what I can and have given up my property for the education of the children she had by the man she loved. I lost my happiness but kept my pride. And what became of her? Her youth has now gone, by the laws of nature her beauty has faded, the man she loved has passed on… What has she left?

Related Characters: Telegin (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Page Number: 150
Explanation and Analysis:

I am now forty-seven. Till last year, like you, I deliberately tried to cloud my eyes with your learned talk, so as not to see real life — and I thought I was doing right. And now if you only knew! At nights I don’t sleep from vexation, from anger that I so foolishly lost the time when I could have had everything that my age now denies me!

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova, Mariya Vasilyevna
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

…And perhaps this really is just craziness, but when I go past the peasant’s woods, which I saved from destruction, or when I hear the hum of my young trees, which I planted with my own hands, I know the climate is a little in my control and that if in a thousand years man is happy, the responsibility for that will in a small way be mine. When I plant a birch and then watch it come into leaf and sway in the wind, my spirit fills with pride…

Related Characters: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov, Telegin
Related Symbols: Forestry
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

You have here my life and my love; where am I to put them, what am I to do with them? My feelings are going to waste, like a ray of sunshine falling into a chasm, and I myself am going to waste.

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Page Number: 162
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…

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Astrov
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova, Serebryakov, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova, Astrov
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:

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: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova, Yelena/Helena Serebryakova
Related Symbols: Forestry, Maps
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:

I will not be silent! Stay here, I haven’t finished! You have destroyed my life! I haven’t lived, I haven’t lived! Thanks to you I wasted, I destroyed the best years of my life! You are my worst enemy!

Related Characters: Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”) (speaker), Serebryakov
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4 Quotes

Those who will live after us in a hundred or two hundred years’ time and who will despise us for living our lives so foolishly and with such a lack of taste — they may find a way of being happy, but we… You and I have only one hope. The hope that when we lie in our coffins we’ll be visited by visions, perhaps even agreeable ones.

Related Characters: Astrov (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”), Serebryakov
Related Symbols: Forestry
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Sonya/Sofia Serebryakova (speaker), Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”)
Page Number: 200
Explanation and Analysis: