Vanya On 42nd Street Page #9

because you have no soul.

You're a philistine, a fraud!

- A swine feeding on the leavings of your betters.

- I beg you, stop it!

- I'm leaving.

- You bilked us!

- I insist you stop -

- No, I won't stop! I won't!

Not finished! I have something else to say!

You ruined my life!

I lost the best years of my life for you,

you thief!

- You assassin, you ruined my life!

- I cannot - I-I'm going!

What is it you want?

And how can you speak to me that way?

What gives you the right?

- You're nothing. Nothing!

- Ah.

You want the estate...

it's yours.

Take it.

Take it! I've no need of it!

I can't bear this hell! Do you hear me?

I can't bear it any longer! I'm leaving!

I've ruined it all.

I had talent, intelligence, courage!

I could've been a Schopenhauer!

I could've been the new Dostoyevsky!

I could've designed a new philosophy!

What am I saying?

Am I losing my mind? Maman.

Maman. What is this pain, Maman?

Maman? Maman?

- Maman.

- Do as Alexandr says.

What am I going to do?

What am I going to do?

All right. All right, all right!

I know. I know!

So... do you think you'll forget me?

Jean, please!

Jean! Jean. Please.

Inform me. What is going on?

Take him away from me!

Am I to live under the same roof with that?

He lives right here!

I cannot live in the same house

with that man!

Take him away, or I shall have to leave,

and I tell you I will.

- We are leaving here today. Please.

- That nothing of a man!

May we start the arrangements, please?

Papa.

We are so unhappy, Uncle and I.

What about all the nights

that we worked for you? Do you remember?

We - We copied out your books for you.

We translated your texts for you.

We worked without rest, Papa!

We didn't spend a penny on ourselves!

We sent it all to you.

We earned our bread.

I know - I know it's wrong, Papa.

But please, Papa, just hear me

and try to understand us and be charitable.

Alexandr, have it all out with him.

Have it all out with him now, I beg you.

- I beg you.

- Very well.

- Thank you.

- I'll speak to him.

- Did I accuse him?

- No.

- What have I accused him of?

- Nothing.

I'm not angry with him, you understand.

His actions - Uh -

His actions towards me -

One has to say, charitably...

they are strange.

I -

For your sake...

I'll speak to him.

Alexandr, be gentle with him.

Be calm. Try to calm him.

Oh. Oh.

- Nanny!

- Oh, hush. Hush, my child.

Hush. The geese, they cackle.

The geese cackle, and then they stop.

They cackle, and then they stop.

- Nanny!

- Aw!

Poor little orphan girl. You're trembling.

Are you cold?

A little linden tea?

A little raspberries and tea, and it will pass.

You geese, stop it!

Stop it now!

Oh, God!

Stop him!

Stop him! He's gone mad!

Give it to me! Give me the gun!

Damn this. Damn this.

Take me away from here.

I can't stand it any longer.

Oh, what do I think I'm doing?

Oh!

If we're going to finish, we'd better hurry.

Oh, there's not much left.

- They'll be calling us soon.

- Mm-hmm.

- To say good-bye.

- Mm-hmm.

They've already sent for the horses.

There's not much left.

You know, they're going to go to Kharkov...

- to live.

- Mm-hmm.

- Much better so.

- Mmm, yes. They've had a bad trauma here.

- Well, we'll live again.

- Mmm.

I know we will, as we used to...

in the old ways.

Tea at 7:
00, dinner at 12:00.

And in the evening,

we'll sit down to supper as we used to do.

As Christians.

Ah, yes.

You know...

I haven't had simple noodles for the longest time.

Black with sin as I am.

Well, it's a - it's a long time

since they gave us noodles, that's true.

It's been... quite a while.

There I was coming through

the village this morning...

and that shopkeeper yells out...

"Oh, look, there's the deadbeat.

Hey, freeloader!"

Oh, don't pay him any mind, my darling.

- We're all freeloaders under God.

- Mmm.

Besides, you work.

Sonya works. Vanya works.

Even me. Busy all the time.

Where is Sonya?

Oh, she went out into the garden

with the doctor, looking for Vanya.

- Are they -

- Well, yes.

They're afraid he's going to

lay hands on himself next.

- Oh. Where's his pistol?

- I hid it. It's in the root cellar.

- Shh!

- Mercy.

- Would you leave me, please?

- Oh.

Certainly.

Would you please leave?

For my part, with the greatest joy.

Ought to have left a decent time ago.

As I said though, I will not do so

till you return what you took from me.

- I took nothing from you.

- Uh-huh.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Well, if you wish, I'll

sit here for a while.

And then, if you'll oblige me...

subdue you and bind

you and search you.

My word on it.

The worst of it, fool of the world...

is to have shot twice...

and twice missed him.

If the mood for shooting struck you,

why not shoot yourself?

Myself? Mmm.

I'll tell you an oddity.

A man, myself, attempts a murder.

Do they arrest him? No.

Now, why not?

Obviously, as I am regarded as insane.

- I am thought mad.

- Mmm.

But a man who cloaks his cruelty

and his heartlessness...

and his swinishness, if you will -

a man hides behind a veil

of false achievement -

this wizard, this genius,

this exploiter is not mad.

And a young woman

who marries this old man...

and in the sight

of the entire world betrays him.

I- I saw what you did.

That's right. I did.

And you can go to hell.

And you - you're not mad.

- It's the world that's mad to

put up with you. - Quite poetic.

Well, you see, I'm a madman,

so I'm not responsible.

- Uh-huh.

- I can say whatever I wish.

Well, you're not mad, you know.

You're a fool.

I used to think the

foolish, the deranged...

the irresponsible are sick.

They're not sick. They're normal.

- You're quite well.

- Oh, God.

- What am I going to do?

- Nothing.

I'm 47 years old.

If I live to be 60,

I would have to live through...

How could I do that?

How can I stand it?

I have nothing to do

with those years, you see.

Nothing.

I mean, if I could start anew, if I could live

the rest of my life out in some different way.

If that were possible,

as people do.

To wake - To awaken each day and say...

"This is a new day. "

If I could lose the past.

How could a person do that?

How could a person start anew

and begin a new life?

Oh, will you shut up?

To start anew.

We cannot start anew, you or I.

This or that that we're living,

you know, is our life.

- It is?

- Quite.

People who live after us in 100 or in

They'll despise us

for our stupid and insipid lives.

Perhaps they'll know how to be happy.

We, however - But for you and I there

is but one hope, and that hope is this:

That when we are dead, l

ying in our graves...

visions may visit us

and that they are of peace.

Oh, yes.

You know, my friend...

we've said - in this district

we find but two decent, cultivated men...

and we spoke of ourselves.

But this last decade has undone us.

Life has sucked us in -

this foul, philistine life -

and it's corrupted us.

What a shocking surprise.

We've turned out like the rest.

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