(no subject)
I don't like when people fancy me. They start behaving weird and unnatural. I don't like it. I liked you more before.
It puts a creepiness in the air and makes me feel very strange.
Enter Masha and Medvedenko, returning from a walk.
MEDVEDENKO
Why do you always wear black?
MASHA
I'm in mourning for my life. I am unhappy.
MEDVEDENKO
Why? (reflectively) I don't understand. ... You're healthy. Your father isn't rich, but he's comfortable. My life is much harder than yours. My paycheck comes to twenty-three rubles a month, and they take out money for the pension fund. But still I don't wear mourning.
MASHA
It's not about money. Even a poor man can be happy.
MEDVEDENKO
That's true in theory. But in point of fact, there's me and my mother, two sisters, and my little brother, and my salary's only twenty-three rubles a month. You have to eat and drink, don't you? You need tea and sugar; you need tobacco. That's a fact. ...
MASHA
(looking round at the stage) The play will begin soon.
MEDVEDENKO
Yes. Nina Zarechnaya is going to act in a play by Constantine Treplev. They are in love with each other and today their souls will be joined in a common artistic union. But my soul and your soul have no common ground. I love you. I can't sit home I long for you so much. Every day I walk four miles here and four miles back and meet only with indifference from you. I understand. I have no money. I come from a big family. Who would want to marry a man who can't even feed himself?
MASHA
That's silly. (taking snuff) I am touched by your affection but I can't return it, that's all. (offering him the snuff box) Help yourself.
MEDVEDENKO
No, thanks. (a pause)
MASHA
The air is very close tonight. There'll probably be a storm. You know, you're always philosophizing or talking about money. You think there's nothing worse than poverty, but I think it's a thousand times easier to wear rags and beg than ... oh, you wouldn't understand.
It puts a creepiness in the air and makes me feel very strange.
Enter Masha and Medvedenko, returning from a walk.
MEDVEDENKO
Why do you always wear black?
MASHA
I'm in mourning for my life. I am unhappy.
MEDVEDENKO
Why? (reflectively) I don't understand. ... You're healthy. Your father isn't rich, but he's comfortable. My life is much harder than yours. My paycheck comes to twenty-three rubles a month, and they take out money for the pension fund. But still I don't wear mourning.
MASHA
It's not about money. Even a poor man can be happy.
MEDVEDENKO
That's true in theory. But in point of fact, there's me and my mother, two sisters, and my little brother, and my salary's only twenty-three rubles a month. You have to eat and drink, don't you? You need tea and sugar; you need tobacco. That's a fact. ...
MASHA
(looking round at the stage) The play will begin soon.
MEDVEDENKO
Yes. Nina Zarechnaya is going to act in a play by Constantine Treplev. They are in love with each other and today their souls will be joined in a common artistic union. But my soul and your soul have no common ground. I love you. I can't sit home I long for you so much. Every day I walk four miles here and four miles back and meet only with indifference from you. I understand. I have no money. I come from a big family. Who would want to marry a man who can't even feed himself?
MASHA
That's silly. (taking snuff) I am touched by your affection but I can't return it, that's all. (offering him the snuff box) Help yourself.
MEDVEDENKO
No, thanks. (a pause)
MASHA
The air is very close tonight. There'll probably be a storm. You know, you're always philosophizing or talking about money. You think there's nothing worse than poverty, but I think it's a thousand times easier to wear rags and beg than ... oh, you wouldn't understand.