SOURCE: "Dramatic Structure in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya," in Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 16, 1958, pp. 195-210.

In the essay below, Bordinat contends that Uncle Vanya has no single protagonist but that four characters collectively comprise "the individual," who fills the role. The critic maintains that the play is structured around a "series of bids by 'the individual,' whichever character it might be, for some kind of value or happiness in the provincial Russian 'wasteland' that Chekhov pictures for us."

Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya has often been criticized as being aimless, implying a lack of sound dramatic structure. Yet the play confounds these formalist critics by continuing to be successful on the stage. My view is that the play is built on a rigid structural framework and that the play does possess specific direction.

Chekhov was certainly conscious of the need for a basic framework for his plays...