A play in one-act
By Anton Chekhov
CHARACTERS
STEPAN
STEPANOVITCH CHUBUKOV, a landowner
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA, his daughter, twenty-five years old
IVAN VASSILEVITCH
LOMOV, a neighbour of Chubukov, a large and hearty, but very suspicious landowner
SETTING
Russia, late
nineteenth century, CHUBUKOV's country-house
[A drawing-room in
CHUBUKOV'S house.]
[LOMOV enters,
wearing a dress-jacket and white gloves. CHUBUKOV rises to meet him.]
CHUBUKOV: My dear
fellow, whom do I see! Ivan Vassilevitch! I am extremely glad!
[Shakes his
hand] Now this is a surprise, my dear ... How are you?
LOMOV: Thank you.
And how may you be getting on?
CHUBUKOV: We just
get along somehow, my angel, thank God!, and so on. Sit down, please do. ...
Now, you know, you shouldn't forget all about your neighbours, my darling. My
dear fellow, why are you dressed so formally? Evening dress, gloves, and so on.
Can you be going anywhere?
LOMOV: No, I've
come only to see you, honoured Stepan Stepanovitch.
CHUBUKOV: Then why
are you in evening dress? As if you're paying a New Year's Eve visit!
LOMOV: Well, you
see, it's like this. [Takes his arm] I've come to you, honoured Stepan
Stepanovitch, to trouble you with a request. Not once or twice have I already
had the privilege of applying to you for help, and you have always, so to speak
... I must ask your pardon, I am getting excited. I shall drink some water,
honoured Stepan Stepanovitch. [Drinks.]
CHUBUKOV: [Aside] He's come to borrow money! I will
not give him any! [Aloud] What is
it, my friend?
LOMOV: You see,
Honour Stepanitch ... I beg pardon, Stepan Honouritch ... I mean, I'm awfully
excited, as you will please notice. ... In short, you alone can help me, though
I don't deserve it, of course ... and haven't any right to count on your
assistance. ...
CHUBUKOV: Oh,
don't go round and round it! Spit it out!
Well?
LOMOV: One moment
... this very minute. The fact is, I've come to ask for the hand of your
daughter, Natalya Stepanovna, in marriage.
CHUBUKOV:
[Joyfully] My God! Ivan Vassilevitch! Say it again--I didn't hear it all!
LOMOV: I have the
honour to ask ...
CHUBUKOV:
[Interrupting] My dear fellow ... I'm so glad, and so on. ... Yes, indeed, and
all that sort of thing. [Embraces and kisses LOMOV] I've been hoping for it for
a long time. It's been my continual desire. [Sheds a tear] And I've always
loved you, my angel, as if you were my own son. May God give you both His help
and His love and so on, and I did so much hope ... What am I behaving in this
idiotic way for? I'm off my balance with joy, absolutely off my balance! Oh,
with all my soul ... I'll go and call Natasha, and all that.
LOMOV: [Greatly
moved] Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch, do you think I may count on her consent?
CHUBUKOV: Why, of
course, my darling, and ... as if she won't consent! She's in love; yes, she's
like a love-sick cat, and so on. ... I won’t be long! [Exit.]
LOMOV: It's cold
... I'm trembling all over, just as
if I'd got an examination before me. The great thing is, I must have my mind
made up. If I give myself time to think, to hesitate, to talk a lot, to look
for an ideal, or for real love, then I'll never get married. ... Brr! ... It's
cold! Natalya Stepanovna is an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking,
well-educated. ... What more do I want? But I'm getting a noise in my ears from
excitement. [Drinks] And it's impossible for me not to marry. ... In the first
place, I'm already 35--a critical age, so to speak. In the second place, I
ought to lead a quiet and regular life. ... I suffer from palpitations, I'm excitable and always getting awfully upset. ...
At this very moment my lips are trembling, and there's a twitch in my right eyebrow. ... But the very worst of all is the
way I sleep. I no sooner get into bed and begin to go off when suddenly something
in my left side gets tight, and I can feel it in my shoulder and head. ... I
jump up like a lunatic, walk about a
bit, and lie down again, but as soon as I begin to get off to sleep it’s tight
again! And this may happen twenty times. ...
[NATALYA
STEPANOVNA comes in.]
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Well, there! It's you, and papa said, "Go; there's a merchant
come for his goods." How do you do, Ivan Vassilevitch!
LOMOV: How do you
do, honoured Natalya Stepanovna?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: You must excuse my apron
and néligé ... we're shelling peas
for drying. Why haven't you been here for such a long time? Sit down. [They
seat themselves] Won't you have some lunch?
LOMOV: No, thank
you, I've had some already.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Then smoke. ... Here are the matches. ... The weather is splendid
now, but yesterday it was so wet that the workmen didn't do anything all day.
How much hay have you stacked? Just think, I felt greedy and had a whole field
cut, and now I'm not at all pleased about it because I'm afraid my hay may rot.
I ought to have waited a bit. But what's this? Why, you're in evening dress!
Well, I never! Are you going to a ball, or what?--though I must say you look
better. Tell me, why are you dressed like that?
LOMOV: [Excited]
You see, honoured Natalya Stepanovna ... the fact is, I've made up my mind to
ask you to hear me out. ... Of course you'll be surprised and perhaps even
angry, but a ... [Aside] It's awfully cold!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: What's the matter? [Pause] Well?
LOMOV: I shall try
to be brief. You must know, honoured Natalya Stepanovna, that I have long,
since my childhood, in fact, had the privilege of knowing your family. My late
aunt and her husband, from whom, as you know, I inherited my land, always had
the greatest respect for your father and your late mother. The Lomovs and the
Chubukovs have always had the most friendly, and I might almost say the most
affectionate, regard for each other. And, as you know, my land is a near
neighbour of yours. You will remember that my Oxen Meadows touch your birchwoods.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Excuse my interrupting you. You say, "my Oxen Meadows.
..." But are they yours?
LOMOV: Yes, mine.
NATALYA STEPANOVNA:
What are you talking about? Oxen Meadows are ours, not yours!
LOMOV: No, mine,
honoured Natalya Stepanovna.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Well, I never knew that before. How do you make that out?
LOMOV: How? I'm
speaking of those Oxen Meadows which are wedged in between your birchwoods and
the Burnt Marsh.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Yes, yes. ... They're ours.
LOMOV: No, you're
mistaken, honoured Natalya Stepanovna, they're mine.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Just think, Ivan Vassilevitch! How long have they been yours?
LOMOV: How long?
As long as I can remember.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Really, you won't get me to believe that!
LOMOV: But you can
see from the documents, honoured Natalya Stepanovna. Oxen Meadows, it's true,
were once the subject of dispute, but now everybody knows that they are mine.
There's nothing to argue about. You see, my aunt's grandmother gave the free
use of these Meadows in perpetuity
to the peasants of your father's grandfather, in return for which they were to
make bricks for her. The peasants belonging to your father's grandfather had
the free use of the Meadows for forty years, and had got into the habit of
regarding them as their own, when it happened that ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: No, it isn't at all like that! Both my grandfather and
great-grandfather thought that their land extended
to Burnt Marsh--which means that Oxen Meadows were ours. I don't see what there
is to argue about. It's simply silly!
LOMOV: I'll show
you the documents, Natalya Stepanovna!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: No, you're simply joking, or making fun of me. ... What a surprise!
We've had the land for nearly three hundred years, and then we're suddenly told
that it isn't ours! Ivan Vassilevitch, I can hardly believe my own ears. ...
These Meadows aren't worth much to me. They only come to 14 acres, and are
worth perhaps 300 rubles , but I
can't stand unfairness. Say what you will, but I can't stand unfairness.
LOMOV: Hear me
out, I implore you! The peasants of
your father's grandfather, as I have already had the honour of explaining to
you, used to bake bricks for my aunt's grandmother. Now my aunt's grandmother,
wishing to make them a pleasant ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I can't make head or tail
of all this about aunts and grandfathers and grandmothers! The Meadows are
ours, and that's all.
LOMOV: Mine
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Ours! You can go on proving it for two days on end, you can go and
put on fifteen dress-jackets, but I tell you they're ours, ours, ours! I don't
want anything of yours and I don't want to give up anything of mine. So there!
LOMOV: Natalya
Ivanovna, I don't want the Meadows, but I am acting on principle. If you like,
I'll make you a present of them.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I can make you a present of them myself, because they're mine! Your
behaviour, Ivan Vassilevitch, is strange, to say the least! Up to now we have
always thought of you as a good neighbour, a friend: last year we lent you our
threshing-machine, although on that account we had to put off our own threshing
till November, but you behave to us as if we were gypsies. Giving me my own land, indeed! No, really, that's not at
all neighbourly! In my opinion, it's even rude, if you want to know....
LOMOV: Then you
make out that I'm a land-grabber? Madam, never in my life have I grabbed
anybody else's land, and I shan't allow anybody to accuse me of having done so.
... [Quickly steps to the carafe and
drinks more water] Oxen Meadows are mine!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It's not true, they're ours!
LOMOV: Mine!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It's not true! I'll prove it! I'll send my mowers out to the
Meadows this very day!
LOMOV: What?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: My mowers will be there this very day!
LOMOV: I'll give
it to them in the neck!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: You dare!
LOMOV: [Clutches
at his heart] Oxen Meadows are mine! You understand? Mine!
NATALYA STEPANOVNA:
Please don't shout! You can shout yourself hoarse
in your own house, but here I must ask you to restrain yourself!
LOMOV: If it
wasn't, madam, for this awful, horrible palpitation, if my whole inside wasn't
upset, I'd talk to you in a different way! [Yells] Oxen Meadows are mine!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Ours!
LOMOV: Mine!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Ours!
LOMOV: Mine!
[Enter CHUBUKOV.]
CHUBUKOV: What's
the matter? What are you shouting at?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Papa, please tell to this gentleman who owns Oxen Meadows, we or
he?
CHUBUKOV: [To
LOMOV] My dear, the Meadows are ours!
LOMOV: But,
please, Stepan Stepanitch, how can they be yours? Do be a reasonable man! My
aunt's grandmother gave the Meadows for the temporary and free use of your
grandfather's peasants. The peasants used the land for forty years and got as
accustomed to it as if it was their own, when it happened that ...
CHUBUKOV: Excuse
me, my precious. ... You forget just this, that the peasants didn't pay your
grandmother, because the Meadows were in
dispute, and so on. And now everybody knows that they're ours. It means
that you haven't seen the plan.
LOMOV: I'll prove
to you that they're mine!
CHUBUKOV: You
won't prove it, my darling.
LOMOV: I shall!
CHUBUKOV: Dear
one, why yell like that? You won't prove anything just by yelling. I don't want
anything of yours, and don't intend to give up what I have. Why should I? And
you know, my beloved, that if you propose to go on arguing about it, I'd much
sooner give up the meadows to the peasants than to you. There!
LOMOV: I don't
understand! How have you the right to give away somebody else's property?
CHUBUKOV: You may
take it that I know whether I have the right or not. Because, young man, I'm
not used to being spoken to in that tone of voice, and so on: I, young man, am
twice your age, and ask you to speak to me without agitating yourself, and all that.
LOMOV: No, you
just think I'm a fool and want to trick me! You call my land yours, and then
you want me to talk to you calmly and politely! Good neighbours don't behave
like that, Stepan Stepanitch! You're not a neighbour, you're a grabber!
CHUBUKOV: What's
that? What did you say?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Papa, send the mowers out to the Meadows at once!
CHUBUKOV: What did
you say, sir?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Oxen Meadows are ours, and I won’t give them up, won't give them
up, won't give them up!
LOMOV: We'll see!
I'll have the matter taken to court, and then I'll show you!
CHUBUKOV: To
court? You can take it to court, and all that! You can! I know you; you're just
on the look-out for a chance to go to court, and all that. ... You swindler! All your people were like
that! All of them!
LOMOV: Never mind about my people! The Lomovs
have all been honourable people, and not one has ever been tried for embezzlement, like your grandfather!
CHUBUKOV: You
Lomovs have had lunacy in your
family, all of you!
NATALYA STEPANOVNA:
All, all, all!
CHUBUKOV: Your
grandfather was a drunkard, and your younger aunt, Nastasya Mihailovna, ran
away with an architect, and so on.
LOMOV: And your
mother was hump-backed. [Clutches at
his heart] Something pulling in my side. ... My head. ... Help! Water!
CHUBUKOV: Your
father was a gambler!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: And there haven't been many backbiters to equal your aunt!
LOMOV: My left
foot has gone to sleep. ... You're an schemer.
... Oh, my heart! ... And it's an open secret that before the last elections
you bribed ... I can see stars. ...
Where's my hat?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It's low! It's dishonest! It's mean!
CHUBUKOV: And
you're just a lying, double-faced schemer! Yes!
LOMOV: Here's my
hat. ... My heart! ... Which way? Where's the door? Oh! ... I think I'm dying.
... My foot's quite numb. ...
[Goes to the
door.]
CHUBUKOV:
[Following him] And don't set foot in my house again!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Take it to court! We'll see!
[LOMOV staggers
out.]
CHUBUKOV: Devil
take him! [Walks about in excitement.]
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: What a rascal! What
trust can one have in one's neighbours after that!
CHUBUKOV: The villain! The scarecrow!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: The monster! First he takes our land and then he has the impudence to abuse us.
CHUBUKOV: And that
blind-hen, yes, that fool has the confounded
cheek to make a proposal, and so on! What? A proposal!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: What proposal?
CHUBUKOV: Why, he
came here so as to propose to you.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: To propose? To me? Why didn't you tell me so before?
CHUBUKOV: So he
dresses up in evening clothes. The stuffed sausage! The old fool!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: To propose to me? Ah! [Falls into an easy-chair and wails] Bring him back! Back! Ah! Bring
him here.
CHUBUKOV: Bring
whom here?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Quick, quick! I'm ill! Fetch him! [Hysterics.]
CHUBUKOV: What's
that? What's the matter with you? [Clutches at his head] Oh, unhappy man that I
am! I'll shoot myself! I'll hang myself! We've done for her!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I'm dying! Fetch him!
CHUBUKOV: Oy! At
once. Don't yell!
[Runs out. A
pause. NATALYA STEPANOVNA wails.]
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA. What have they done to me! Fetch him back! Fetch him! [A pause.]
[CHUBUKOV runs
in.]
CHUBUKOV: He's
coming, and so on, devil take him! Ouf! Talk to him yourself; I don't want to.
...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: [Wails] Fetch him!
CHUBUKOV: [Yells]
He's coming, I tell you. Oh, what a burden,
Lord, to be the father of a grown-up daughter! I'll cut my throat! I will,
indeed! We cursed him, abused him,
drove him out, and it's all you ... you!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: No, it was you!
CHUBUKOV: I tell
you it's not my fault. [LOMOV
appears at the door] Now you talk to him yourself [Exit.]
[LOMOV enters,
exhausted.]
LOMOV: My heart's palpitating
awfully. ... My foot's gone to sleep. ... There's something that keeps pulling
in my side.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Forgive us, Ivan Vassilevitch, we were all a little heated. ... I
remember now: Oxen Meadows really are yours.
LOMOV: My heart's
beating awfully. ... My Meadows. ... My eyebrows are both twitching. ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: The Meadows are yours, yes, yours. ... Do sit down. ... [They sit]
We were wrong. ...
LOMOV: I did it on
principle. ... My land is worth little to me, but the principle ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Yes, the principle, just so. ... Now let's talk of something else.
LOMOV: The more so
as I have evidence. My aunt's grandmother gave the land to your father's
grandfather's peasants ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Yes, yes, let that pass. ... [Aside] I wish I knew how to get him
started. ... [Aloud] Are you going to start shooting soon?
LOMOV: I'm
thinking of having a go at the pheasant, honoured Natalya Stepanovna, after the
harvest. Oh, have you heard? Just think, what a misfortune I've had! My dog
Guess, whom you know, has gone lame.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: What a pity! Why?
LOMOV: I don't
know. ... Must have got twisted, or bitten by some other dog. ... [Sighs] My
very best dog, to say nothing of the expense. I gave Mironov 125 rubles for
him.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It was too much, Ivan Vassilevitch.
LOMOV: I think it
was very cheap. He's a first-rate dog.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Papa gave 85 rubles for his Squeezer, and Squeezer is much better
than Guess!
LOMOV: Squeezer
better than. Guess? What an idea! [Laughs] Squeezer better than Guess!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Of course he's better! Of course, Squeezer is young, he may develop
a bit, but on points and pedigree
he's better than anything that even Volchanetsky has got.
LOMOV. Excuse me,
Natalya Stepanovna, but you forget that he is overshot, and an overshot always
means the dog is a bad hunter!
NATALYA STEPANOVNA:
Overshot, is he? It’s the first time I hear it!
LOMOV: I assure
you that his lower jaw is shorter than the upper.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Have you measured?
LOMOV: Yes. He's
all right at following, of course, but if you want him to get hold of anything
...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: In the first place, our Squeezer is a thoroughbred animal, the son
of Harness and Chisels, while there's no getting at the pedigree of your dog at
all. ... He's old and as ugly as a worn-out cab-horse.
LOMOV: He is old,
but I wouldn't take five Squeezers for him. ... Why, how can you? ... Guess is
a dog; as for Squeezer, well, it's too funny to argue. ... Anybody you like has
a dog as good as Squeezer ... you may find them under every bush almost.
Twenty-five rubles would be an excellent price to pay for him.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: There's some demon of contradiction
in you today, Ivan Vassilevitch. First you pretend that the Meadows are yours;
now, that Guess is better than Squeezer. I don't like people who don't say what
they mean, because you know perfectly well that Squeezer is a hundred times
better than your silly Guess. Why do you want to say it isn't?
LOMOV: I see,
Natalya Stepanovna, that you consider me either blind or a fool. You must
realize that Squeezer is overshot!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It's not true.
LOMOV: He is!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: It's not true!
LOMOV: Why shout,
madam?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Why talk nonsense? It's awful! It's time your Guess was shot, and
you compare him with Squeezer!
LOMOV: Excuse me;
I cannot continue this discussion: my heart is palpitating.
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I've noticed that those hunters argue most who know least.
LOMOV: Madam,
please be silent. ... My heart is going to pieces. ... [Shouts] Shut up!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I won't shut up until you acknowledge that Squeezer is a hundred
times better than your Guess!
LOMOV: A hundred
times worse! Be hanged to your Squeezer! His head ... eyes ... shoulder ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: There's no need to hang your silly Guess; he's half-dead already!
LOMOV: [Weeps]
Shut up! My heart's bursting!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I won't shut up.
[Enter CHUBUKOV.]
CHUBUKOV: What's
the matter now?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Papa, tell us truly, which is the better dog, our Squeezer or his
Guess.
LOMOV: Stepan
Stepanovitch, I beg you to tell me just one thing: is your Squeezer overshot or
not? Yes or no?
CHUBUKOV: And
suppose he is? What does it matter? He's the best dog in the district for all
that, and so on.
LOMOV: But isn't
my Guess better? Really, now?
CHUBUKOV: Don't
excite yourself, my precious one. ... Allow me. ... Your Guess certainly has
his good points. ... He's pure-bred, firm on his feet, has well-sprung ribs,
and all that. But, my dear man, if you want to know the truth, that dog has two
defects: he's old and he's short in
the snout.
LOMOV: Excuse me,
my heart. ... Let's take the facts. ... You will remember that on the
Marusinsky hunt my Guess ran neck-and-neck with the Count's dog, while your Squeezer was left a whole kilometer behind.
CHUBUKOV: He got
left behind because the Count's whipper-in hit him with his whip.
LOMOV: And with
good reason. The dogs are running after a fox, when Squeezer goes and starts
worrying a sheep!
CHUBUKOV: It's not
true! ... My dear fellow, I'm very liable to lose my temper, and so, just
because of that, let's stop arguing. You started because everybody is always
jealous of everybody else's dogs. Yes, we're all like that! You too, sir,
aren't blameless! You no sooner notice that some dog is better than your Guess
than you begin with this, that ... and the other ... and all that. ... I
remember everything!
LOMOV: I remember
too!
CHUBUKOV: [Teasing
him] I remember, too. ... What do you remember?
LOMOV: My heart
... my foot's gone to sleep. ... I can't ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: [Teasing] My heart. ... What sort of a hunter are you? You ought to
go and lie on the kitchen oven and catch beetles,
not go after foxes! My heart!
CHUBUKOV: Yes
really, what sort of a hunter are you, anyway? You ought to sit at home with
your palpitations, and not go hunting animals. You could go hunting, but you
only go to argue with people and interfere with their dogs and so on. Let's
change the subject in case I lose my temper. You're not a hunter at all,
anyway!
LOMOV: And are you
a hunter? You only go hunting to get in with the Count and to intrigue. ... Oh, my heart! ... You're an intriguer!
CHUBUKOV: What? I
an intriguer? [Shouts] Shut up!
LOMOV: Intriguer!
CHUBUKOV: Boy!
Pup!
LOMOV: Old rat!
CHUBUKOV: Shut up
or I'll shoot you like a bird! You fool!
LOMOV: Everybody
knows that--oh my heart!--your late wife used to beat you. ... My feet ...
temples ... sparks. ... I fall, I fall!
CHUBUKOV: And
you're under the slipper of your housekeeper!
LOMOV: There,
there, there ... my heart's burst! My shoulder's come off. ... Where is my
shoulder? I die. [Falls into an armchair] A doctor! [Faints.]
CHUBUKOV: Boy! Fool! I'm sick! [Drinks water] Sick!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: What sort of a hunter are you? You can't even sit on a horse! [To
her father] Papa, what's the matter with him? Papa! Look, papa! [Screams] Ivan
Vassilevitch! He's dead!
CHUBUKOV: I'm
sick! ... I can't breathe! ... Air!
NATALYA STEPANOVNA:
He's dead. [Pulls LOMOV'S sleeve] Ivan Vassilevitch! Ivan Vassilevitch! What
have you done to me? He's dead. [Falls into an armchair] A doctor, a doctor!
[Hysterics.]
CHUBUKOV: Oh! ...
What is it? What's the matter?
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: [Wails] He's dead ... dead!
CHUBUKOV: Who's
dead? [Looks at LOMOV] So he is! My word! Water! A doctor! [Lifts a tumbler to
LOMOV'S mouth] Drink this! ... No, he doesn't drink. ... It means he's dead,
and all that. ... I'm the most unhappy of men! Why don't I put a bullet into my
brain? Why haven't I cut my throat yet? What am I waiting for? Give me a knife!
Give me a pistol!
[LOMOV moves] He seems to be coming round. ... Drink some water! That's right. ...
LOMOV: I see stars
... mist. ... Where am I?
CHUBUKOV: Hurry up
and get married and--well, to the devil with you! She's willing! [He puts
LOMOV'S hand into his daughter's] She's willing and all that. I give you my
blessing and so on. Only leave me in peace!
LOMOV: [Getting
up] Eh? What? To whom?
CHUBUKOV: She's
willing! Well? Kiss and be damned to you!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: [Wails] He's alive. . . Yes, yes, I'm willing. ...
CHUBUKOV: Kiss
each other!
LOMOV: Eh? Kiss
whom? [They kiss] Very nice, too. Excuse me, what's it all about? Oh, now I
understand ... my heart ... stars ... I'm happy. Natalya Stepanovna. ...
[Kisses her hand] My foot's gone to sleep. ...
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: I ... I'm happy too. ...
CHUBUKOV: What a
weight off my shoulders. ... Ouf!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: But ... still you will admit now that Guess is worse than Squeezer.
LOMOV: Better!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Worse!
CHUBUKOV: Well,
that's a way to start your family bliss! Have some champagne!
LOMOV: He's
better!
NATALYA
STEPANOVNA: Worse! worse! worse!
CHUBUKOV: [Trying
to shout her down] Champagne! Champagne!
CURTAIN
Vocabulary: Vocab probably unknown to intermediate speakers is provided to help with comprehension of the text. Vocab in bold is more useful for the intermediate to upper-intermediate level. Try to choose 8 to 10 new words to learn from the report (in general, most learners should try to study no more than 8-10 words per day for optimal learning).
Definitions are written with the help of Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary
Hearty: cheerful, energetic, or healthy.
To
get on: to do or deal with
something.
Aside: to or toward the side.
Aloud: in a voice that can be heard.
To
spit out: (slang) say something
clearly.
To
consent: to agree to do or allow something : to give
permission for something to happen or be done.
To
count on: to trust (someone) : to
rely or depend on (someone) to do something
To tremble: to
shake slightly because you are afraid, nervous, excited, etc.
Palpitation: to beat quickly and strongly and often in a way that is not
regular because of excitement, nervousness, etc.
To
twitch: to make a slight, sudden movement that is not
controlled or deliberate.
Lunatic: an insane person.
Apron: a piece of clothing that is worn on the front of the body over
clothes to keep them from getting dirty.
Nelige: a long piece of clothing made of a thin material (such as silk)
that is worn in bed by women.
Birchwood: a forest from birch trees, white, pale trees whose outer bark
can be pulled off easily.
Marsh: an area of soft, wet land that has many grasses and other plants.
Perpetuity: the state of continuing forever or for a very long time.
To
extend: to continue in a specified direction or over a
specified distance, space, or time.
Ruble: the basic unit of money of Russia.
Implore: to make a very serious or
emotional request to (someone): beg.
To
make head or tail: to not be able to
understand something.
Gypsy: a member of a nomadic group
of people who originally came from northern India and now live mostly in Asia,
Europe, and North America.
Crafe: a glass container that has
a wide mouth and that is used to serve drinks (such as water or wine) during a
meal.
Hoarse: having a harsh or rough sound or voice.
In
dispute: something about which there
is a disagreement or argument.
Agitate: to disturb, excite, or anger (someone).
Swindler: to take money or property from (someone) by using lies or tricks
: cheat.
Never
mind: used to tell someone not to
worry about something.
Embezzlement: to steal money that you have been trusted with.
Lunacy: extreme foolishness or mental illness.
Hump-backed: a back in which the spine is curved in an abnormal way.
Schemer: Someone who makes a clever
and often dishonest plan to do or get something.
Bribe:
something valuable (such as money) that is given
in order to get someone to do something, usually something illegal or
dishonest.
Numb: unable to feel anything in a particular part of your body because
of cold, injury, etc.
Villain: a character in a story, movie, etc., who does bad things.
Wail: to make a loud, long cry of
sadness or pain.
Hysterics: uncontrolled laughter,
crying, or extreme emotion : a fit of hysteria.
Burden: Something heavy that is carried or something difficult to accept
or deal with
Curse: to say offensive words to
(someone).
Lame: having an injured leg or
foot that makes walking difficult or painful
Contradiction: the act of saying something
that is opposite or very different in meaning to something else
Confounded: (old-fashioned) very bad or annoying.
Defect: a problem or fault that makes someone or something not perfect or
good enough condition: such as a physical problem.
Snout: the long nose of some
animals
Intrigue: 1. to make (someone) want to know more about something : to
cause (someone) to become interested; 2. To make secret plans.
Faint: to suddenly become unconscious.
To
come (a)round: to become conscious.
