“Well, boredom can't be concealed.... Anything else may be, but not boredom”
Ratikin tells Natalya Petrovna about his visit to some of their common friends and he finds the stay there extremely boring. When a person is bored he is awkward, and awkwardness can hardly be concealed, as well as boredom. Ratikin is sure that anything can be disguised except for boredom, there is no human who is able to pretend to be joyful when he is bored. Very wise observation.
“The heart of another is a dark forest”
The most wisdom revealed in the play is said by Ratikin. He is a person who speaks little, but when he does, the words are always to the place and carry some deeper meaning. To Natalya Petrovna’s remarks concerning Beliayev, Ratikin answers in his soft and calm manner that “The heart of another is a dark forest”. All her assumptions concerning the teacher might be erroneous, as she does not know him as a personality and thus can’t judge of his individuality.
“I don't know what you feel but I desire no other happiness. Many women might envy me.”
Natalya Petrovna opens her heart to Ratikin; she says how deep her love is and that he is a person who makes her really happy. He has never made her cry; his love warms her and she knows that always can rely on him. But in her manner of speaking sadness in traced as it is not what she really wants. She yearns for feelings which would agitate her, disturb her peace. The desire is rather strange, but Natalya Petrovna has never experienced such emotions and when youth is already behind she starts pondering over. In the beginning of the play she says to Ratikin “Lace is a fine thing, but a drink of fresh water on a hot day is much better”, at first it is not clear what she means, but with the events developing her character is opening more and more. Natalya Petrovna is eager to have an affair which would make her suffer, she is suffocated with tenderness and peace.
“It's a queer thing! The Russian peasant is very intelligent, very quick of understanding, I've a respect for the Russian peasant ... and yet sometimes, you may talk to him, and explain away. . . . It's clear enough you'd think, but it's all no use at all. The Russian peasant hasn't that. . . that love for work . . . that's just it, he has no love for it.”
Arkady Islaev is busy with building a dam and spends a lot of time with workers. In his conversation with Ratikin, he shares his thoughts concerning Russian people. From the quote, it is obvious that Akrady puts a lot of efforts to make them work. The ironic opinion of Russian peasants helps the author to present a picture of Russian county in details.
