A Walk into the Depth of the Garden (about One Metaphor in the Play ‘Uncle Vanya’ By A. Chekhov)

The metaphor «depth of the garden» introduced in the stage direction of the first act of «Uncle Vanya» is analyzed. It is proved that both entities of the genitive metaphor have a metaphoric meaning. The metaphoric meaning of the lexeme ‘garden’ is connected with units of legal semantics. The lexeme ‘depth’ is connected with water metaphors in the text. ‘The depth of the garden’ points to the degree of Serebryakov’s doomness in his search for God’s mercy, which is depicted through water images. The analysis of the metaphor with its complex relations, including phonetic ones, demonstrates Chekhov’s poetic style, that gives the word specific weight and lends the language a leading role in depicting the world. A fragment of the world – Serebryakov’s walk in the garden – looks like predestination of professor’s fate, made up of his missteps.