Voyage Act I: A Romantic Voyage

Voyage, the beginning play of the trilogy The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard is based on philosophical principles and revolutionary ideas from the Romanticism of the nineteenth century. Each character carries on a different element used by the author to recreate love in a family of four daughters awaiting a time to marry. In this particular work of literature, the characters are part of a Russian family where the quick and interchanged dialogue is continuously established. With this revolutionary style of dialogue, a successful picture of a casual family reunion can be described. Being this point the prominent characteristic of the Voyage.
Anyhow it is not only the dialogue that takes part of the essence of this piece for the expressionism of the ideas is clear and dynamic. The pragmatic thought behind the theatre containing the space for these works to take action, has opened the possibility for the freedom of expression. A freedom developed in every line said by each character based on philosophy, but a philosophy based on the strongest emotion, love. In between followers attached to each of the four sisters, match-making initiatives are the base of the context in this first part of the trilogy. For instance, “Stankevich: The philosopher of love Liubov: Yes, she says love is the highest good. Stankevich: Perhaps in France. Kant says, the only good actions are those performed out of a sense of duty, not from emotion . . . like passion or desire. . . Liubov: So to act out of love can never be good? Stankevich: Kant says you cannot take moral credit from it. Because you are really pleasing yourself. Liubov: Even if it gives happiness to another?”(Stoppard 26). In this example of courtship taking place with a philosophical basis. Even though they talk about George Sand, the romantic novelist of the time, it is a good method to bring up a conversation. The female part in this dialogue results being intense and constantly attacking the young teacher with deceiving questions. Theories are based on other thinkers, reflecting the dependent personality of Stankevich to support his own answers. Is it just an element to support his grandiosity? Or does he intend to hide his insecurity with many facts?
Life is a voyage, containing passionate adventures and treasures to desire. This play is based on this idea, searching for the perfect match. The game of love is a main topic in this act, replacing the complicated political opinions that will appear in the next play, Shipwreck.

Meaningless

Act II is the beginning of the end for the troubles of Voinistky, the protagonist of Chekhov´s play Uncle Vanya. It is Helena, the woman, the cause of men´s problems who drives him crazy. Unlike the mythical Pandora´s box, this woman only opens the heart of a poor farmer who only seeks to finish his life in peace. Certainly finish a boring life, but in mortal peace. However, life cannot keep up this slow pace. It is here, in the middle of his empty life where this female character turns his world around. Exasperation reins this second act, filling it with meaningless, fast dialogues that in the end make no difference. Not even the shot makes a difference. Men have no power to change things, only destiny. And destiny has no will of changing them, causing the same emptiness as in the beginning. Humans will always live to die, and life, in the end(if there is an end), is an eternal return. We will always finish where we started.

Troubles of a Russian Guy

Love, desire, emptiness; words that describe the life of a Russian guy that lives to die. The main character of Chekhov’s masterpiece, Uncle Vanya speaks to the deepness of the soul. This play narrates the empty life of Voinistky, a lonely man deprived from love and the actual sense of life. The character revolves around lethargy: his whole life has been spent nurturing a farm that will soon be taken away from him. As most of the other characters, he seems to have lost all hope, to be floating aimlessly in an endless sea of despair and futility. Voinistky is the most obvious demonstration of this hopeless desolation. Moreover, it becomes the structure of the whole play. The character´s emotion can be tracked without any difficulty, getting to analyze the simplicity of the situation. In other words, love denied equals to a harmed heart which will probably drive Voinistky to the climax of emotions. These are the final words of a guy that will live to die in surrendered peace.