Ivanoff(伊凡诺夫)

VIP免费

2024-12-26 1 0 244.62KB 65 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

Ivanoff

Anton Checkov

Ivanoff

ACT I

The garden of IVANOFF'S country place. On the left is a terrace and

the facade of the house. One window is open. Below the terrace is a broad

semicircular lawn, from which paths lead to right and left into a garden.

On the right are several garden benches and tables. A lamp is burning on

one of the tables. It is evening. As the curtain rises sounds of the piano and

violoncello are heard.

IVANOFF is sitting at a table reading.

BORKIN, in top-boots and carrying a gun, comes in from the rear of

the garden. He is a little tipsy. As he sees IVANOFF he comes toward him

on tiptoe, and when he comes opposite him he stops and points the gun at

his face.

IVANOFF. [Catches sight of BORKIN. Shudders and jumps to his feet]

Misha! What are you doing? You frightened me! I can't stand your stupid

jokes when I am so nervous as this. And having frightened me, you laugh!

[He sits down.]

BORKIN. [Laughing loudly] There, I am sorry, really. I won't do it

again. Indeed I won't. [Take off his cap] How hot it is! Just think, my dear

boy, I have covered twelve miles in the last three hours. I am worn out.

Just feel how my heart is beating.

IVANOFF. [Goes on reading] Oh, very well. I shall feel it later!

BORKIN. No, feel it now. [He takes IVANOFF'S hand and presses it

against his breast] Can you feel it thumping? That means that it is weak

and that I may die suddenly at any moment. Would you be sorry if I died?

IVANOFF. I am reading now. I shall attend to you later.

BORKIN. No, seriously, would you be sorry if I died? Nicholas,

would you be sorry if I died?

IVANOFF. Leave me alone!

BORKIN. Come, tell me if you would be sorry or not.

IVANOFF. I am sorry that you smell so of vodka, Misha, it is

disgusting.

BORKIN. Do I smell of vodka? How strange! And yet, it is not so

strange after all. I met the magistrate on the road, and I must admit that we

Ivanoff

did drink about eight glasses together. Strictly speaking, of course,

drinking is very harmful. Listen, it is harmful, isn't it? Is it? Is it?

IVANOFF. This is unendurable! Let me warn you, Misha, that you are

going too far.

BORKIN. Well, well, excuse me. Sit here by yourself then, for

heaven's sake, if it amuses you. [Gets up and goes away] What

extraordinary people one meets in the world. They won't even allow

themselves to be spoken to. [He comes back] Oh, yes, I nearly forgot.

Please let me have eighty-two roubles.

IVANOFF. Why do you want eighty-two roubles?

BORKIN. To pay the workmen to-morrow.

IVANOFF. I haven't the money.

BORKIN. Many thanks. [Angrily] So you haven't the money! And yet

the workmen must be paid, mustn't they?

IVANOFF. I don't know. Wait till my salary comes in on the first of the

month.

BORKIN. How is it possible to discuss anything with a man like you?

Can't you understand that the workmen are coming to-morrow morning

and not on the first of the month?

IVANOFF. How can I help it? I'll be hanged if I can do anything about

it now. And what do you mean by this irritating way you have of pestering

me whenever I am trying to read or write or---

BORKIN. Must the workmen be paid or not, I ask you? But, good

gracious! What is the use of talking to you! [Waves his hand] Do you

think because you own an estate you can command the whole world? With

your two thousand acres and your empty pockets you are like a man who

has a cellar full of wine and no corkscrew. I have sold the oats as they

stand in the field. Yes, sir! And to-morrow I shall sell the rye and the

carriage horses. [He stamps up and down] Do you think I am going to

stand upon ceremony with you? Certainly not! I am not that kind of a

man!

ANNA appears at the open window.

ANNA. Whose voice did I hear just now? Was it yours, Misha? Why

are you stamping up and down?

Ivanoff

BORKIN. Anybody who had anything to do with your Nicholas would

stamp up and down.

ANNA. Listen, Misha! Please have some hay carried onto the croquet

lawn.

BORKIN. [Waves his hand] Leave me alone, please!

ANNA. Oh, what manners! They are not becoming to you at all. If you

want to be liked by women you must never let them see you when you are

angry or obstinate. [To her husband] Nicholas, let us go and play on the

lawn in the hay!

IVANOFF. Don't you know it is bad for you to stand at the open

window, Annie? [Calls] Shut the window, Uncle!

[The window is shut from the inside.]

BORKIN. Don't forget that the interest on the money you owe

Lebedieff must be paid in two days.

IVANOFF. I haven't forgotten it. I am going over to see Lebedieff

today and shall ask him to wait

[He looks at his watch.]

BORKIN. When are you going?

IVANOFF. At once.

BORKIN. Wait! Wait! Isn't this Sasha's birthday? So it is! The idea of

my forgetting it. What a memory I have. [Jumps about] I shall go with you!

[Sings] I shall go, I shall go! Nicholas, old man, you are the joy of my life.

If you were not always so nervous and cross and gloomy, you and I could

do great things together. I would do anything for you. Shall I marry

Martha Babakina and give you half her fortune? That is, not half, either,

but all--take it all!

IVANOFF. Enough of this nonsense!

BORKIN. No, seriously, shan't I marry Martha and halve the money

with you? But no, why should I propose it? How can you understand?

[Angrily] You say to me: "Stop talking nonsense!" You are a good man

and a clever one, but you haven't any red blood in your veins or any--well,

enthusiasm. Why, if you wanted to, you and I could cut a dash together

that would shame the devil himself. If you were a normal man instead of a

morbid hypochondriac we would have a million in a year. For instance, if I

Ivanoff

had twenty-three hundred roubles now I could make twenty thousand in

two weeks. You don't believe me? You think it is all nonsense? No, it isn't

nonsense. Give me twenty-three hundred roubles and let me try. Ofsianoff

is selling a strip of land across the river for that price. If we buy this, both

banks will be ours, and we shall have the right to build a dam across the

river. Isn't that so? We can say that we intend to build a mill, and when the

people on the river below us hear that we mean to dam the river they will,

of course, object violently and we shall say: If you don't want a dam here

you will have to pay to get us away. Do you see the result? The factory

would give us five thousand roubles, Korolkoff three thousand, the

monastery five thousand more--

IVANOFF. All that is simply idiotic, Misha. If you don't want me to

lose my temper you must keep your schemes to yourself.

BORKIN. [Sits down at the table] Of course! I knew how it would be!

You never will act for yourself, and you tie my hands so that I am helpless.

Enter SHABELSKI and LVOFF.

SHABELSKI. The only difference between lawyers and doctors is that

lawyers simply rob you, whereas doctors both rob you and kill you. I am

not referring to any one present. [Sits down on the bench] They are all

frauds and swindlers. Perhaps in Arcadia you might find an exception to

the general rule and yet--I have treated thousands of sick people myself in

my life, and I have never met a doctor who did not seem to me to be an

unmistakable scoundrel.

BORKIN. [To IVANOFF] Yes, you tie my hands and never do

anything for yourself, and that is why you have no money.

SHABELSKI. As I said before, I am not referring to any one here at

present; there may be exceptions though, after all-- [He yawns.]

IVANOFF. [Shuts his book] What have you to tell me, doctor?

LVOFF. [Looks toward the window] Exactly what I said this morning:

she must go to the Crimea at once. [Walks up and down.]

SHABELSKI. [Bursts out laughing] To the Crimea! Why don't you

and I set up as doctors, Misha? Then, if some Madame Angot or Ophelia

finds the world tiresome and begins to cough and be consumptive, all we

shall have to do will be to write out a prescription according to the laws of

Ivanoff

medicine: that is, first, we shall order her a young doctor, and then a

journey to the Crimea. There some fascinating young Tartar---

IVANOFF. [Interrupting] Oh, don't be coarse! [To LVOFF] It takes

money to go to the Crimea, and even if I could afford it, you know she has

refused to go.

LVOFF. Yes, she has. [A pause.]

BORKIN. Look here, doctor, is Anna really so ill that she absolutely

must go to the Crimea?

LVOFF. [Looking toward the window] Yes, she has consumption.

BORKIN. Whew! How sad! I have seen in her face for some time that

she could not last much longer.

LVOFF. Can't you speak quietly? She can hear everything you say. [A

pause.]

BORKIN. [Sighing] The life of man is like a flower, blooming so gaily

in a field. Then, along comes a goat, he eats it, and the flower is gone!

SHABELSKI. Oh, nonsense, nonsense. [Yawning] Everything is a

fraud and a swindle. [A pause.]

BORKIN. Gentlemen, I have been trying to tell Nicholas how he can

make some money, and have submitted a brilliant plan to him, but my seed,

as usual, has fallen on barren soil. Look what a sight he is now: dull, cross,

bored, peevish---

SHABELSKI. [Gets up and stretches himself] You are always

inventing schemes for everybody, you clever fellow, and telling them how

to live; can't you tell me something? Give me some good advice, you

ingenious young man. Show me a good move to make.

BORKIN. [Getting up] I am going to have a swim. Goodbye,

gentlemen. [To Shabelski] There are at least twenty good moves you could

make. If I were you I should have twenty thousand roubles in a week.

[He goes out; SHABELSKI follows him.]

SHABELSKI. How would you do it? Come, explain.

BORKIN. There is nothing to explain, it is so simple. [Coming back]

Nicholas, give me a rouble.

IVANOFF silently hands him the money

BORKIN. Thanks. Shabelski, you still hold some trump cards.

Ivanoff

SHABELSKI follows him out.

SHABELSKI. Well, what are they?

BORKIN. If I were you I should have thirty thousand roubles and

more in a week. [They go out together.]

IVANOFF. [After a pause] Useless people, useless talk, and the

necessity of answering stupid questions, have wearied me so, doctor, that I

am ill. I have become so irritable and bitter that I don't know myself. My

head aches for days at a time. I hear a ringing in my ears, I can't sleep, and

yet there is no escape from it all, absolutely none.

LVOFF. Ivanoff, I have something serious to speak to you about.

IVANOFF. What is it ?

LVOFF. It is about your wife. She refuses to go to the Crimea alone,

but she would go with you.

IVANOFF. [Thoughtfully] It would cost a great deal for us both to go,

and besides, I could not get leave to be away for so long. I have had one

holiday already this year.

LVOFF. Very well, let us admit that. Now to proceed. The best cure for

consumption is absolute peace of mind, and your wife has none whatever.

She is forever excited by your behaviour to her. Forgive me, I am excited

and am going to speak frankly. Your treatment of her is killing her. [A

pause] Ivanoff, let me believe better things of you.

IVANOFF. What you say is true, true. I must be terribly guilty, but my

mind is confused. My will seems to be paralysed by a kind of stupor; I

can't understand myself or any one else. [Looks toward the window]

Come, let us take a walk, we might be overheard here. [They get up] My

dear friend, you should hear the whole story from the beginning if it were

not so long and complicated that to tell it would take all night. [They walk

up and down] Anna is a splendid, an exceptional woman. She has left her

faith, her parents and her fortune for my sake. If I should demand a

hundred other sacrifices, she would consent to every one without the

quiver of an eyelid. Well, I am not a remarkable man in any way, and have

sacrificed nothing. However, the story is a long one. In short, the whole

point is, my dear doctor-- [Confused] that I married her for love and

promised to love her forever, and now after five years she loves me still

Ivanoff

and I-- [He waves his hand] Now, when you tell me she is dying, I feel

neither love nor pity, only a sort of loneliness and weariness. To all

appearances this must seem horrible, and I cannot understand myself what

is happening to me. [They go out.]

SHABELSKI comes in.

SHABELSKI. [Laughing] Upon my word, that man is no scoundrel,

but a great thinker, a master-mind. He deserves a memorial. He is the

essence of modern ingenuity, and combines in himself alone the genius of

the lawyer, the doctor, and the financier. [He sits down on the lowest step

of the terrace] And yet he has never finished a course of studies in any

college; that is so surprising. What an ideal scoundrel he would have made

if he had acquired a little culture and mastered the sciences! "You could

make twenty thousand roubles in a week," he said. "You still hold the ace

of trumps: it is your title." [Laughing] He said I might get a rich girl to

marry me for it! [ANNA opens the window and looks down] "Let me

make a match between you and Martha," says he. Who is this Martha? It

must be that Balabalkina--Babakalkina woman, the one that looks like a

laundress.

ANNA. Is that you, Count?

SHABELSKI. What do you want?

ANNA laughs.

SHABELSKI. [With a Jewish accent] Vy do you laugh?

ANNA. I was thinking of something you said at dinner, do you

remember? How was it--a forgiven thief, a doctored horse.

SHABELSKI. A forgiven thief, a doctored horse, and a Christianised

Jew are all worth the same price.

ANNA. [Laughing] You can't even repeat the simplest saying without

ill-nature. You are a most malicious old man. [Seriously] Seriously, Count

you are extremely disagreeable, and very tiresome and painful to live with.

You are always grumbling and growling, and everybody to you is a

blackguard and a scoundrel. Tell me honestly, Count, have you ever

spoken well of any one?

SHABELSKI. Is this an inquisition?

ANNA. We have lived under this same roof now for five years, and I

Ivanoff

have never heard you speak kindly of people, or without bitterness and

derision. What harm has the world done to you? Is it possible that you

consider yourself better than any one else?

SHABELSKI. Not at all. I think we are all of us scoundrels and

hypocrites. I myself am a degraded old man, and as useless as a cast-off

shoe. I abuse myself as much as any one else. I was rich once, and free,

and happy at times, but now I am a dependent, an object of charity, a joke

to the world. When I am at last exasperated and defy them, they answer

me with a laugh. When I laugh, they shake their heads sadly and say, "The

old man has gone mad." But oftenest of all I am unheard and unnoticed by

every one.

ANNA. [Quietly] Screaming again.

SHABELSKI. Who is screaming?

ANNA. The owl. It screams every evening.

SHABELSKI. Let it scream. Things are as bad as they can be already.

[Stretches himself] Alas, my dear Sarah! If I could only win a thousand or

two roubles, I should soon show you what I could do. I wish you could see

me! I should get away out of this hole, and leave the bread of charity, and

should not show my nose here again until the last judgment day.

ANNA. What would you do if you were to win so much money?

SHABELSKI. [Thoughtfully] First I would go to Moscow to hear the

Gipsies play, and then--then I should fly to Paris and take an apartment

and go to the Russian Church.

ANNA. And what else?

SHABELSKI. I would go and sit on my wife's grave for days and days

and think. I would sit there until I died. My wife is buried in Paris. [A

pause.]

ANNA. How terribly dull this is! Shall we play a duet?

SHABELSKI. As you like. Go and get the music ready. [ANNA goes

out.]

IVANOFF and LVOFF appear in one of the paths.

IVANOFF. My dear friend, you left college last year, and you are still

young and brave. Being thirty-five years old I have the right to advise you.

Don't marry a Jewess or a bluestocking or a woman who is queer in any

Ivanoff

way. Choose some nice, common-place girl without any strange and

startling points in her character. Plan your life for quiet; the greyer and

more monotonous you can make the background, the better. My dear boy,

do not try to fight alone against thousands; do not tilt with windmills; do

not dash yourself against the rocks. And, above all, may you be spared the

so-called rational life, all wild theories and impassioned talk. Everything is

in the hands of God, so shut yourself up in your shell and do your best.

That is the pleasant, honest, healthy way to live. But the life I have chosen

has been so tiring, oh, so tiring! So full of mistakes, of injustice and

stupidity! [Catches sight of SHABELSKI, and speaks angrily] There you

are again, Uncle, always under foot, never letting one have a moment's

quiet talk!

SHABELSKI. [In a tearful voice] Is there no refuge anywhere for a

poor old devil like me? [He jumps up and runs into the house.]

IVANOFF. Now I have offended him! Yes, my nerves have certainly

gone to pieces. I must do something about it, I must---

LVOFF. [Excitedly] Ivanoff, I have heard all you have to say and--

and--I am going to speak frankly. You have shown me in your voice and

manner, as well as in your words, the most heartless egotism and pitiless

cruelty. Your nearest friend is dying simply because she is near you, her

days are numbered, and you can feel such indifference that you go about

giving advice and analysing your feelings. I cannot say all I should like to;

I have not the gift of words, but--but I can at least say that you are deeply

antipathetic to me. IVANOFF. I suppose I am. As an onlooker, of course

you see me more clearly than I see myself, and your judgment of me is

probably right. No doubt I am terribly guilty. [Listens] I think I hear the

carriage coming. I must get ready to go. [He goes toward the house and

then stops] You dislike me, doctor, and you don't conceal it. Your sincerity

does you credit. [He goes into the house.]

LVOFF. [Alone] What a confoundedly disagreeable character! I have

let another opportunity slip without speaking to him as I meant to, but I

simply cannot talk calmly to that man. The moment I open my mouth to

speak I feel such a commotion and suffocation here [He puts his hand on

his breast] that my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Oh, I loathe that

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

Ivanoff1IvanoffAntonCheckovIvanoff2ACTIThegardenofIVANOFF'Scountryplace.Ontheleftisaterraceandthefacadeofthehouse.Onewindowisopen.Belowtheterraceisabroadsemicircularlawn,fromwhichpathsleadtorightandleftintoagarden.Ontherightareseveralgardenbenchesandtables.Alampisburningononeofthetables.Itisevening....

展开>> 收起<<

Ivanoff(伊凡诺夫).pdf

共65页,预览13页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Ivanoff(伊凡诺夫)

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: