privy councilor: a high rank in the Russian civil service ACT I
Nanny, nurse: nyanka, a pet name for a female nurse or nanny
Sonya's mother: lit. Sonechka, a pet name for Sonya; her mother's name was Vera Petrovna, but modern English adaptations of the play don't need to use the name and patronymic as in Russian.
typhoid: Fell uses "eruptive typhoid", while some other translators have "typhus" here. They are two different diseases, but both epidemic. It makes no difference to the play which it really was.
Straining the mind...: From the poem "Other People's Views" (1794) by I. I. Dmitriyev (1760-1837)
I've come to see your husband. It was very impolite of the family to ignore the doctor's presence for so long, a point not lost on a Russian audience.
quantum satis: As much as needed (prescription terminology); still used today but more likely abbreviated as "q.s." or replaced by the similar Latin "p.r.n."
Pardon me, Jean...: "Jean" is the French version of "Ivan." The Russian upper class spoke French among themselves extensively in the early 19th century, but by the time of this play (1896) using French was considered pretentious.
perpetuum mobile: non-stop
Ostrovsky's plays: A. N. Ostrovsky (1823-1886) is considered by many to be the greatest Russian dramatist between Gogol and Chekhov
nursery and seed bed: At the time this play was adapted from the one-act play "The Wood-Demon," Chekhov, a physician, was living in the Crimea and loved nothing so much as spending his time working in his garden, where he planted many fruit trees. However, the note of pomposity and dandyism that Astrov displays here should not be overlooked. ACT II
Watchman's rattle: Russian estates often had night watchmen. They tapped both to warn possible trespassers and to let their employer know they were awake. Typically, the tapping consisted of two strokes in two seconds, a five second pause, and then the sequence was repeated.
Nelly: lit., Lenochka, a pet name for Yelena (Helena)
Batyushkov's works: K. N. Batyushkov (1787-1855), Russian poet
Turgenev: I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883), famous Russian novelist
lime-flower tea: a Russian folk remedy
I can't think or feeclass="underline" modern audiences, with a modern view of adultery, may consider Helena insincere here and thus disregard what she is saying, but it is more complex than that. Although she is falling in love, she cannot say it openly, since she is married to another. That is not to say that adultery was less common then, but it was not openly approved.
Barring the way: The doctor's crude persistence might not seem in character to modern audiences, but evidently this is exactly how Russian men behaved. ACT III
at the Conservatory: Helena must have been a very good musician to study at the world-famous St. Petersburg Conservatory
forget myself: This is a difficult speech, as Astrov is unconsciously making love to Helena, while Helena's feelings must obviously be in great conflict. At the same time, the whole speech is ironical with its pretensions to art and nature and painting of Russian history.
an inspector general is coming: Russian audiences would immediately recognize the joking reference to Gogol's satirical play "The Inspector General"
manet omnes una nox: "Night awaits us all," from Horace, Odes, I, 28, 15
summer cottage in Finland: a dacha, a vacation home (at the time of the play Finland was part of Russia)
and not Turks: In the 19th century, Turkish law allowed a husband to retain the dowry even if his wife died
Schopenhauer or Dostoyevsky: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was a German philosopher and F. M. Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was a great Russian novelist. (A bit of comic irony here, because each was a great pessimist about success in this world.)
Oh, Nanny, Nanny!: Oh, Nyanechka, Nyanechka, another pet name for a nanny
Mama! What should I do?: The word translated as Mama is Matushka, an old-fashioned word for mother ACT IV
brush of Ayvazovsky: I. K. Ayvazovsky (1817-1900) painted stormy seas and naval battles, Chekhov visited his estate in 1888 and described him as an old man married to a young and very beautiful woman
You're full of beans: lit., "you're a clown full of peas"
Finita la comedia!: The comedy is over (Italian)
for your hospitality: lit., "for your bread and salt"
trace horse: In the Russian troika, or cart with three horses, the two outside horses are called trace horses
* * *
The Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov, 1901
Based on the copy-text Plays by Anton Tchekov, translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett, New York, Macmillan, 1916, also available in early Modern Library editions. Scanned by A. S. Man. Translation revised and notes added 1998 by James Rusk and A. S. Man. Some obsolete spelling and idioms have been changed.
The action takes place in a provincial town. Act I
In the house of the PROZOROVS. A drawing-room with columns beyond which a large room is visible. Mid-day; it is bright and sunny. The table in the farther room is being laid for lunch.
OLGA, in the dark blue uniform of a high-school teacher, is correcting exercise books, at times standing still and then walking up and down; MASHA, in a black dress, with her hat on her knee, is reading a book; IRINA, in a white dress, is standing plunged in thought.
OLGA. Father died just a year ago, on this very day -- the fifth of May, your name-day, Irina. It was very cold, snow was falling. I felt as though I should not live through it; you lay fainting as though you were dead. But now a year has passed and we can think of it calmly; you are already in a white dress, your face is radiant. [The clock strikes twelve.] The clock was striking then too [a pause]. I remember the band playing and the firing at the cemetery as they carried the coffin. Though he was a general in command of a brigade, yet there weren't many people there. It was raining, though. Heavy rain and snow.
IRINA. Why recall it!
[BARON TUZENBAKH, CHEBUTYKIN and SOLYONY appear near the table in the dining-room, beyond the columns.]
OLGA. It is warm today, we can have the windows open, but the birches are not in leaf yet. Father was given his brigade and came here with us from Moscow eleven years ago and I remember distinctly that in Moscow at this time, at the beginning of May, everything was already in flower; it was warm, and everything was bathed in sunshine. It's eleven years ago, and yet I remember it all as though we had left it yesterday. Oh, dear! I woke up this morning, I saw a blaze of sunshine. I saw the spring, and joy stirred in my heart. I had a passionate longing to be back at home again!
CHEBUTYKIN. The devil it is!
TUZENBAKH. Of course, it's nonsense.
[MASHA, brooding over a book, softly whistles a song.]
OLGA. Don't whistle, Masha. How can you! [a pause] Being all day in school and then at my lessons till the evening gives me a perpetual headache and thoughts as gloomy as though I were old. And really these four years that I have been at the high-school I have felt my strength and my youth oozing away from me every day. And only one yearning grows stronger and stronger. . . .
IRINA. To go back to Moscow. To sell the house, to make an end of everything here, and off to Moscow. . . .