Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (novels for beginners TXT) 📕

Three Sisters

By Anton Chekhov.

Translated by Julius West.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Dramatis Personae Three Sisters Act I Act II Act III Act IV Endnotes Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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Dramatis Personae

Andrey Sergeyevitch Prosorov

Natalia Ivanova (Natasha), his fiancée, later his wife (28)

Olga (28),
Masha (23),
Irina (20), his sisters

Feodor Ilitch Kuligin, high school teacher, married to Masha

Alexander Ignateyevitch Vershinin, lieutenant-colonel in charge of a battery (42)

Nicolai Lvovitch Tuzenbach, baron, lieutenant in the army (30)

Vassili Vassilevitch Soleni, captain

Ivan Romanovitch Chebutikin, army doctor (60)

Alexey Petrovitch Fedotik, sublieutenant

Vladimir Carlovitch Rode, sublieutenant

Ferapont, doorkeeper at local council offices, an old man

Anfisa, nurse (80)

The action takes place in a provincial town.

(Ages are stated in parentheses.)

Three Sisters Act I

In Prosorov’s house. A sitting-room with pillars; behind is seen a large dining-room. It is midday, the sun is shining brightly outside. In the dining-room the table is being laid for lunch.

Olga, in the regulation blue dress of a teacher at a girl’s high school, is walking about correcting exercise books; Masha, in a black dress, with a hat on her knees, sits and reads a book; Irina, in white, stands about, with a thoughtful expression. Olga It’s just a year since father died last May the fifth, on your name day, Irina. It was very cold then, and snowing. I thought I would never survive it, and you were in a dead faint. And now a year has gone by and we are already thinking about it without pain, and you are wearing a white dress and your face is happy. Clock strikes twelve. And the clock struck just the same way then. Pause. I remember that there was music at the funeral, and they fired a volley in the cemetery. He was a general in command of a brigade but there were few people present. Of course, it was raining then, raining hard, and snowing. Irina Why think about it! Baron Tuzenbach, Chebutikin and Soleni appear by the table in the dining-room, behind the pillars. Olga It’s so warm today that we can keep the windows open, though the birches are not yet in flower. Father was put in command of a brigade, and he rode out of Moscow with us eleven years ago. I remember perfectly that it was early in May and that everything in Moscow was flowering then. It was warm too, everything was bathed in sunshine. Eleven years have gone, and I remember everything as if we rode out only yesterday. Oh, God! When I awoke this morning and saw all the light and the spring, joy entered my heart, and I longed passionately to go home. Chebutikin Will you take a bet on it? Tuzenbach Oh, nonsense. Masha, lost in a reverie over her book, whistles softly. Olga Don’t whistle, Masha. How can you! Pause. I’m always having headaches from having to go to the high school every day and then teach till evening. Strange thoughts come to me, as if I were already an old woman. And really, during these four years that I have been working here, I have been feeling as if every day my strength and youth have been squeezed out of me, drop by drop. And only one desire grows and gains in strength⁠ ⁠… Irina To go away to Moscow. To sell the house, drop everything here, and go to Moscow⁠ ⁠… Olga Yes! To Moscow, and as soon as possible. Chebutikin and Tuzenbach laugh. Irina I expect Andrey will become a professor, but still, he won’t want to live here. Only poor Masha must go on living here. Olga Masha can come to Moscow every year, for the whole summer. Masha is whistling gently. Irina Everything will be arranged, please God. Looks out of the window. It’s nice out today. I don’t know why I’m so happy: I remembered this morning that it was my name day, and I suddenly felt glad and remembered my childhood, when mother was still with us. What beautiful thoughts I had, what thoughts! Olga You’re all radiance today, I’ve never seen you look so lovely. And Masha is pretty, too. Andrey wouldn’t be bad-looking, if he wasn’t so stout; it does spoil his appearance. But I’ve grown old and very thin, I suppose it’s because I get angry with the girls at school. Today I’m free. I’m at home. I haven’t got a headache, and I feel younger than I was yesterday. I’m only twenty-eight.⁠ ⁠… All’s well, God is everywhere, but it seems to me that if only I were married and could stay at home all day, it would be even better. Pause. I should love my husband. Tuzenbach To Soleni. I’m tired of listening to the rot you talk. Entering the sitting-room. I forgot to say that Vershinin, our new lieutenant-colonel of artillery, is coming to see us today. Sits down to the piano. Olga That’s good. I’m glad. Irina Is he old?