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Why does Uncle Vanya try to shoot Serebryakov?
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Anton Chekhov
Russian author Anton Chekhov, 1902.
In the play Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, Ivan Voynitsky (Uncle Vanya) attempts to shoot his former brother-in-law, Serebryakov, out of deep resentment and bitterness.
Vanya realizes that he has sacrificed and wasted his life managing the country estate and business affairs for Serebryakov, only to discover that the man is a pedantic, second-rate academic. This realization of a life spent in service to someone he now views as unworthy drives Vanya to his violent, though ultimately unsuccessful, act of desperation.1