Uncle Vanya

by Anton Chekhov

Uncle Vanya: Foil 1 key example

Act 3
Explanation and Analysis—Grey Blobs, Bright Moon:

After Sonya tells Yelena that she's in love with Astrov, Yelena discusses the situation in a soliloquy. Playing with juxtaposition, she uses a metaphor to compare the people who live and work on the estate to "grey blobs" and uses a simile to compare Astrov to a "bright moon." Yelena's description accentuates the differences between Astrov and Voynitsky, who serve as foils for one another.

In the midst of this desperate boredom, where some kind of grey blobs wander about instead of human beings, where you only hear vulgarity and where people do nothing but eat, drink and sleep, sometimes there comes this man, a man unlike others, handsome, interesting, attractive, like a bright moon rising in the darkness…