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Ivan Romanych Chebutykin
Solyony is an army captain and frequent Prozorov guest. Shy in company, he has a tendency to talk nonsense, make crude comments, and pick quarrels. He loves Irina, but she feels uncomfortable around him and rejects him. At the end of the play, after a quarrel about Irina, Solyony challenges Tuzenbakh to a duel and kills him.
Solyony Quotes in The Three Sisters
The The Three Sisters quotes below are all either spoken by Solyony or refer to Solyony. 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:
).
Act Four Quotes
IRINA: […] Nikolay, why are you so distracted today?
[A pause.]
What happened yesterday by the theatre?
TUZENBAKH [making an impatient movement]: I’ll be back in an hour and be with you again. [Kissing her hands.] My beloved… [Looking into her face.] It’s already five years since I came to love you and I still can’t get accustomed to it, and you seem to me more and more beautiful. […] Tomorrow I will take you away, we will work, we’ll be rich, my dreams will come true. You will be happy. There’s just one thing, only one—you don’t love me!
IRINA: It’s not in my power! I will be your wife, true and obedient, but love—no, what can I do! [Weeps.] I’ve never loved once in my life. Oh, how I dreamed of love, for a long time how I dreamed, day and night, but my soul was like an expensive piano, shut and its key lost.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Solyony Character Timeline in The Three Sisters
The timeline below shows where the character Solyony appears in The Three Sisters. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act One
Three men—Baron Tuzenbakh, Chebutykin, and Solyony—appear in the reception hall beyond. Olga continues to reminisce about the family’s departure from their...
(full context)
...his 40s, talkative, and married—his wife is “sort of crazy […] and often attempts suicide.” Solyony and Chebutykin enter. Irina greets Chebutykin joyously, telling him that she knows the way she...
(full context)
...hand, perhaps people will look back and admire modern-day ethical advances (“no tortures, no executions”). Solyony just says, “Cluck, cluck, cluck” in mockery of their philosophical talk.
(full context)
Act Two
Solyony reenters and finds Irina alone. He tearfully confesses his love for her, but Irina rejects...
(full context)
Act Four
...to press him for details about something that happened in town yesterday—rumor has it that Solyony lost his temper with Tuzenbakh. Kulygin says it’s rumored that Solyony loves Irina, which one...
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Andrey asks about the incident in the town yesterday. Chebutykin says it was nothing, just “nonsense”—Solyony challenged the Baron to a duel after an angry exchange. In fact, it’s about time...
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...Chebutykin tells Andrey that he’s leaving town tomorrow and advises him to do the same. Solyony walks by, on his way to the duel, and Chebutykin goes with him. Andrey walks...
(full context)
