How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #4
SEREBRYAKOV: [...] I'm not stupid and I understand. You are young, healthy, beautiful, you want to live, and I am an old man, almost a corpse. Well? Do you think I don't understand? And of course it's absurd that I'm still alive. But wait a little and I'll soon set all of you free. I won't hold out much longer. (2.31-35)
Serebryakov is accused of living off of his daughter, Sonya's, and Vanya's sacrifices, which he seems completely unaware of. However, he is explicitly asking his wife to sacrifice her youth and just wait around for him to die. The blindness on the one hand and the awareness here are a strange contrast, though it's also true that Serebryakov is giving Yelena a Class A guilt trip. It makes you wonder a little bit whether Yelena really is just waiting around for the old guy to drop. It might explain a few things, right?
Quote #5
VOYNITSKY: [...] How deceived I was! I worshiped the Professor, that pathetic victim of gout, worked for him like an ox! Sonya and I squeezed the last juice out of this estate; we traded like kulaks in vegetable oil and dried peas and curd cheese, we ourselves hardly had enough to eat in order to make the pennies and kopecks into thousands and send them to him. (2.194-99)
Ivan's big problem is the disappointment he has experienced. He used to think that by sacrificing all of his own desires and doing what the Professor asked he would be repaid. He compares himself to an ox, a strong work animal, and to kulaks, who were the rich peasants in pre-Revolutionary Russia, to show the difference between how hard he worked and what his rewards were.
Quote #6
ASTROV: She has no responsibilities, others work for her… It's true, isn't it? (2.304-05)
The Doctor is talking about Yelena here, and sort of thinking aloud about her character. He hits the nail on the head about one thing that several people point out over the course of the play. It's that Yelena doesn't work, but everyone seems to be breaking their backs to try to please her. Between her and Serebryakov, it's a massacre of sacrifices. It's also not too different from the situation in Russia in general, with huge masses of people working day and night for the benefit of a very small number of rich people.