Act 2, Part 2 Summary

Vershinin suggests that he, Tusenbach and Masha imagine what life will be like in two hundred years. Tusenbach suggests that in spite of there being great technological advances, human beings will be exactly the same, complaining about how empty life is and being afraid to die. Vershinin says, as he did in Act 1, Part 2, that life will be very different in two hundred years and that work must begin now to prepare. He adds that there can be no true happiness in the present but there will be in the future, "for the descendants of [his] descendants." Fedotik and Rode join Irina and Chebutykin in the dining room as Tusenbach asks what Vershinin would say if Tusenbach claimed to be already happy. Vershinin says he can't be. As Masha laughs quietly, Tusenbach says again life will never change. Birds will migrate...