Uncle Vanya
The following are the daily journal of Helena that she wrote during the days before, during and after the scenes in the play start. It consists of her deepest thoughts, feelings, observations, memories and perceptions towards her life as well as others. Helena, being the extra beautiful women in the play, gets all the attention, physically and emotionally. She turns the heads of men, and they fell head over heels for her. However, Cherkhoff does not invite the readers to go deeper into her mind and soul. Her actions and feelings seem to contradict each other and the readers would find it difficult to understand her.
She symbolizes a peacock, a beauty, hard to be possessed, but just to be admired. To some it even hurts to gaze at. She is portrayed as a perfect woman of beauty and enchantment that is perceived just a like statue, standing in the crowd, with no obvious function in the society, other than a mere symbol of wealth of the owner. Readers might identify her as wastage of beauty as she is owned by an old, dying man, with no act of love or affection towards her. It was as if she was owned only for the sake of her beauty, to be admired by the old man's eyes, before they closed down and never see the world again. One might wonder, why she decided to marry the professor when she herself knows perfectly well that it is impossible to love him. With her youth, she could have easily chose another, well looking man with wealth even, and lead a happier life.
Unlike the play, the journal explores her memories, feelings, and perception and reveals her inner conflicts between her wants and necessities. This journal symbolizes her true unseen self, which is overshadowed by her actions and camouflaged into the surroundings. By the end of the journal, readers would have different perspectives on her actions and decisions. Either they feel that her decision was the best or she could have taken the other path, it all depends on the angle they look upon...
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