This twice written masterpiece was first called The Wood Demon. This play, similar to all other Chekhov plays, has little
climax, dramatics, or romance. It is a study of life. Uncle Vanya is about wasting one's life. Alexander, a retired
professor, returns to his family. Sonya, his daughter, and Vanya, his brother-in-law, have been taking care of the family farm and sending him every extra dime. They are bitter because he turned out to be a hack. Not one word of the works he published while a professor were of his own creation. They were simply rewritings of previous ideas. Vanya takes a strong offense to this information. So much so, that he later attempts to kill Alexander. The doctor in the play, Astrov, comments not only on the wasting of one's life but also of wasting of the earth. He is deeply involved in planting trees and tending to his forest. He has wasted his life too, and then tries to make up for it by claiming to be in love with Alexander's wife, Yelena. In the end Alexander cannot take the country life. This is best for Sonya and Vanya, even though
things return to the exact state they were in at the beginning. That is to say that things pretty much will not change during your lifetime.