/ / / The image of Lopakhin in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”
Lopakhin in Chekhov's play is presented as a “man” from the people who, through his labor, was able to earn a fortune. It was “donated” by the author, as last chance, get out of this situation.
Ermolai is very smart and calculating. But the scheme he came up with to use the cherry orchard as an object that can be rented out as dachas is not taken seriously. He cannot understand why his “business plan” was not heard, why all his impulses to help are cut short. In the Ranevsky family, and in society as a whole, he is not recognized as one of their own. He remains a “yard” peasant.
The arrogance and empty talk of the public irritates a man. He is decisive in his actions and demands the same from those around him. He equates delay with death, so Ranevskaya’s waiting kills him from the inside.
Ermolai really sincerely wants to help get out of the debt hole that the Ranevskys fell into. He does not share the awe for cherry trees, memories and other nonsense when it is practically at stake further fate families.
The man has warm feelings for Lyubov, tries to help her financially, but at some point he is internally disappointed in her, calling her “woman.” This is how he expresses his protest against the stupidity and hypocrisy that reign in the estate. He realizes that he has wasted his precious time...
Lopakhin is not educated, does not know how to express his feelings, and perhaps simply hides them. Being a generous person by nature, he was used to paying in full for everything. However, it is not his intention to pay for what a person does not hold on to.
Lopakhin's relationships are very complex. They sympathize with each other, but the man’s hesitation to propose marriage forces the girl to leave the estate. He feels that Varya is offended by him for “buying her whole life.” This is also evidenced by the fact that she hands him the keys, defiantly throwing them on the floor. The man is not filled with pride. He picks up the bundle with a grin, without judging the girl.
Being a simple man, Lopakhin still knows his worth. He wants others to appreciate his efforts and achievements. However, this does not happen and the man no longer cares what others think about him. He won, which means he is a winner. Despite everything, he was able to buy back this estate, in which his ancestors were enslaved. Ermolai is happy about this. He does not at all sympathize with the Ranevsky family. On the occasion of their departure, the merchant even buys champagne, which the footman ends up drinking.
Lopakhin, one of the few in the play, appears before the reader as reasonable, a little prim, but very a kind person. He was used to earning money, solving his problems on his own, and not holding any grudges or grudges against anyone. It has more of a business approach than an adventurous spirit.
Why is Lopakhin not accepted as one of their own, despite his condition? Simply because he is different. He doesn’t devote his speeches to “cabinets”, he loves practicality, and most importantly, he has no time to waste his life on nonsense. He is happy because he is rich, and he is rich because he works, and this is the whole meaning of his life.
The role of Lopakhin A.P. Chekhov considered the play “The Cherry Orchard” to be “central”. In one of his letters he said: “...if it fails, then the whole play will fail.” What is special about this Lopakhin and why exactly his A.P. Chekhov placed in the center figurative system of your work?
Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin - merchant. His father, a serf, became rich after the reform of 1861 and became a shopkeeper. Lopakhin recalls this in a conversation with Ranevskaya: “My father was a serf to your grandfather and father...”; “My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he just beat me when he was drunk and kept hitting him with a stick. In essence, I’m the same idiot and idiot. I didn’t learn anything, my handwriting is bad, I write in such a way that people are as ashamed as pigs."
But times change, and “the beaten, illiterate Ermolai, who ran barefoot in the winter,” broke away from his roots, “made his way into the people,” became rich, but never received an education: “My father, it’s true, was a man, but I’m a a white vest, yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a row... Only he's rich, he has a lot of money, and if you think about it and figure it out, he's a man..." But don't think that this remark reflects only the hero's modesty. Lopakhin likes to repeat that he is a man, but he is no longer a man, not a peasant, but a businessman, a businessman.
Individual remarks and remarks indicate that Lopakhin has some kind of big “business” in which he is completely absorbed. He always lacks time: he either returns or is going on business trips. “You know,” he says, “I get up at five o’clock in the morning, I work from morning to evening...”; “I can’t live without work, I don’t know what to do with my hands; they dangle somehow strangely, like they belong to someone else”; “I sowed a thousand dessiatines of poppy in the spring and now I have earned forty thousand net.” It is clear that not all of Lopakhin’s fortune was inherited; most of it was earned by his own labor, and the path to wealth was not easy for Lopakhin. But at the same time, he easily parted with the money, lending it to Ranevskaya and Simeonov-Pishchik, persistently offering it to Petya Trofimov.
Lopakhin, like every hero of “The Cherry Orchard,” is absorbed in “his own truth,” immersed in his experiences, does not notice much, does not feel much in those around him. But, despite the shortcomings of his upbringing, he is acutely aware of the imperfections of life. In a conversation with Firs, he sneers at the past: “It was very good before. At least they fought.” Lopakhin is worried about the present: “We must say frankly, our life is stupid...” He looks into the future: “Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change.” Lopakhin sees the reasons for this disorder in the imperfection of man, in the meaninglessness of his existence. “You just have to start doing something to understand how few honest, decent people there are. Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I think: “Lord, you gave us huge forests, vast fields, the deepest horizons, and living here, we they themselves should truly be giants..."; "When I work for a long time, tirelessly, then my thoughts are lighter, and it seems as if I also know why I exist. And how many people, brother, are there in Russia who exist for no one knows why.”
Lopakhin is truly the central figure of the work. Threads stretch from him to all the characters. He is the link between the past and the future. Of all the characters, Lopakhin clearly sympathizes with Ranevskaya. He keeps warm memories of her. For him, Lyubov Andreevna is “still the same magnificent” woman with “amazing”, “touching eyes”. He admits that he loves her “like his own... more than his own,” he sincerely wants to help her and finds, in his opinion, the most profitable “salvation” project. The location of the estate is “wonderful” - twenty miles away Railway, near the river. You just need to divide the territory into plots and rent them out to summer residents, while having a considerable income. According to Lopakhin, the issue can be resolved very quickly, the matter seems profitable to him, you just need to “clean up, clean up... for example,... demolish all the old buildings, like this one an old house, which is no longer any good, to cut down the old cherry orchard..." Lopakhin is trying to convince Ranevskaya and Gaev of the need to make this "only correct" decision, not realizing that with his reasoning he is deeply hurting them, calling everything that is unnecessary rubbish long years was their home, was dear to them and sincerely loved by them. He offers to help not only with advice, but also with money, but Ranevskaya rejects the proposal to lease out the land for dachas. “Dachas and summer residents are so vulgar, sorry,” she says.
Convinced of the futility of his attempts to persuade Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin himself becomes the owner of the cherry orchard. In the monologue “I bought,” he cheerfully tells how the auction went, rejoices at how he “grabbed” Deriganov and “beat” him. For Lopakhin, peasant son, the cherry orchard is part of an elite aristocratic culture; it has acquired something that was inaccessible twenty years ago. Genuine pride can be heard in his words: “If my father and grandfather stood up from their graves and looked at the whole incident, like their Ermolai... bought an estate, the most beautiful of which there is nothing in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they weren’t even allowed into the kitchen..." This feeling intoxicates him. Having become the owner of the Ranevskaya estate, the new owner dreams of a new life: “Hey, musicians, play, I want to listen to you! Come everyone and watch how Ermolai Lopakhin will hit the cherry orchard with an ax, how the trees will fall to the ground! We will set up dachas, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see a new life here... Music, play!.. There's a new one coming landowner, owner of the cherry orchard!..” And all this in the presence of the crying old mistress of the estate!
Lopakhin is also cruel towards Varya. For all the subtlety of his soul, he lacks humanity and tact to bring clarity to their relationship. Everyone around is talking about the wedding and congratulating. He himself talks about marriage: “Well? I’m not averse... She good girl..." And these are his sincere words. Lopakhin certainly likes Varya, but he avoids marriage, either from timidity, or from an unwillingness to give up freedom, the right to manage his own life. But, most likely, the reason in excessive practicality, which does not allow such a miscalculation: to marry a dowryless woman who has no rights even to a ruined estate.
The play “The Cherry Orchard” became the swan song, the pinnacle work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Premonition big changes in the life of the country made the writer think about historical path Russia, about its past, present and future. Chekhov had never set himself such a task before. However, in Russian literature the theme of impoverishment and decline of noble estates was not new. At one time, N.V. Gogol, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev and other Russians addressed this topic writers XIX century, but Chekhov approached the disclosure of this topic in a completely new way: in the connection of times, in showing the changes that he saw in Russia.
At the same time, in the play there is no acute clash of opposing ideas, moral principles, characters - its conflict is internal, psychological character.
The present in the play is personified, first of all, by the merchant Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin. The author attached special significance to this image: “...Lopakhin’s role is central. If it fails, then the whole play will fail.” Lopakhin replaces Ranevsky and Gaev, and in comparison with representatives of the past he is progressive; it is no coincidence that A.P. Chekhov placed him at the center of the figurative system of his work.
Ermolai Lopakhin's father was a serf, but after the reform of 1861 he became rich and became a shopkeeper. Lopakhin himself says this to Ranevskaya: “My father was a serf to your grandfather and father...”; “My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he just beat me when he was drunk and kept hitting me with a stick. In essence, I’m just as much of a blockhead and an idiot. I haven’t studied anything, my handwriting is bad, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of me, like a pig.” But times change, and “the beaten, illiterate Ermolai, who ran barefoot in the winter,” broke away from his roots, “made his way into the people,” became rich, but never received an education: “My father, it’s true, was a man, but I’m a white vest, yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a row... Only he's rich, he has a lot of money, but if you think about it and figure it out, he's a man... "But it would be a mistake to think that this remark reflects only the modesty of the hero. Lopakhin likes to repeat that he is a man, but he is no longer a man, not a peasant, but a businessman, a businessman.
Lopakhin undoubtedly has intelligence, business acumen and enterprise. He is energetic, and the scope of his activities is much wider than that of the previous masters of life. Moreover, most of Lopakhin’s fortune was earned by his own labor, and the path to wealth was not easy for him. “I sowed a thousand dessiatines of poppy in the spring and now I have earned forty thousand net,” he says. “And when my poppy bloomed, what a picture it was!” Individual remarks and remarks indicate that Lopakhin has some big “business” in which he is completely absorbed. But at the same time, he easily parted with the money, lending it to Ranevskaya, just as persistently offering it to Petya Trofimov: “So, I say, I earned forty thousand and, therefore, I’m offering you a loan because I can.” He always lacks time: he either returns or is going on business trips. “You know,” he says, “I get up at five o’clock in the morning, I work from morning until evening...”; “I can’t live without work, I don’t know what to do with my hands; hanging out somehow strangely, like strangers”; “And I’m leaving for Kharkov now... There’s a lot to do.”
Lopakhin looks at his watch more often than others; his first remark is: “What time is it?” He constantly remembers the time: “I have to go to Kharkov now, at five o’clock in the morning”; “It’s October, but it’s sunny and quiet like summer. Build well. (Looking at the clock, at the door.) Gentlemen, keep in mind, there are only forty-six minutes left before the train! That means we’ll be heading to the station in twenty minutes. Hurry up." The characters perceive Lopakhin differently. Their reviews of him are very contradictory: for Ranevskaya he is “good, interesting person", for Gaev - "boorish", "fist", for Simeonov-Pishchik - "a man of enormous intelligence." Petya Trofimov gives a playful description of Lopakhin:
“I, Ermolai Alekseevich, understand: you are a rich man, you will soon be a millionaire. Just as in terms of metabolism we need a predatory beast that eats everything that gets in its way, so we need you.” Parting with Lopakhin, he says seriously: “...After all, I still love you. You have tender fingers, like an artist, you have a subtle, unclear soul...” The contradiction inherent in these statements by Petya Trofimov reflects the position of the author.
He defines his hero as a “klutz.” This is manifested both in appearance (white vest, yellow shoes) and in actions: he likes Varya, who hopes that Ermolai Lopakhin will propose to her, but when the girl cries in response to Ranevskaya’s tactless remark that she has been matched, Lopakhin, as if mockingly says: “Okhmelia, oh nymph, remember me in your prayers” (he cannot marry a dowry). Or another clear example: Lopakhin came on purpose to meet Ranevskaya - and “suddenly overslept”, wanted to help her - and bought the estate himself. Chekhov, as a realist artist, sought to emphasize the contradictions between the good qualities of human nature of the “new masters” and the inhumanity generated by their thirst for profit and acquisition.
Lopakhin, like every hero of “The Cherry Orchard,” is absorbed in “his own truth,” immersed in his experiences, does not notice much, does not feel in those around him, and at the same time acutely senses the imperfection of life: “Oh, if only all this would pass, sooner If only our awkward, unhappy life would change somehow.” Lopakhin sees the reasons for this “awkward, unhappy” life in the imperfection of man, in the meaninglessness of his existence: “You just need to start doing something to understand how few honest, decent people there are...”, “...And how many, brother , in Russia, people who exist for no one knows why.”
Lopakhin is the central figure of the work. Threads stretch from him to all the characters. He is the link between the past and the future. Of all the characters, Lopakhin clearly sympathizes with Ranevskaya. He keeps warm memories of her. In a conversation with Dunyasha he says:
“I remember when I was a boy of about fifteen, my late father - he was selling in a shop here in the village back then - hit me in the face with his fist, blood started coming out of my nose... Lyubov Andreevna, as I remember now, was still young, so thin, let me down me to the washstand, in this very room, in the nursery. “Don’t cry, he says, little man, he’ll heal before the wedding...”
For him, Lyubov Andreevna is “still the same magnificent” woman with “amazing”, “touching eyes”. He admits that he loves her “like his own... more than his own,” he sincerely wants to help her and finds, in his opinion, the most profitable “salvation” project. The location of the estate is “wonderful” - there is a railroad twenty miles away and a river nearby. You just need to divide the territory into plots and rent them out to summer residents, while having a considerable income. According to Lopakhin, the issue can be resolved very quickly, the matter seems profitable to him, you just need to “clean up, clean up... for example, ... demolish all the old buildings, this old house, which is no longer good for anything, cut down the old cherry tree garden...". Lopakhin convinces Ranevskaya and Gaev that they need to make this “only correct” decision, not realizing that his reasoning will deeply hurt them.
Convinced of the futility of his attempts to persuade Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin himself becomes the owner of the “cherry orchard”. Genuine pride can be heard in his monologue: “If only my father and grandfather would get up from their graves and look at the whole incident like their Ermolai... bought an estate, the most beautiful of which there is nothing in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen...” This feeling intoxicates him. Having become the owner of the Ranevskaya estate, the new owner dreams of a new life: “Hey, musicians, play, I want to listen to you! Come and watch how Ermolai Lopakhin takes an ax to the cherry orchard and how the trees fall to the ground! We will set up our dachas, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see a new life... Music, play!”
« New owner"life, Lopakhin, personifies the new time. He is the only one who can come closer to understanding the essence of the era, but in his life there is no place for real beauty, sincerity, humanity, because Lopakhin is a symbol only of the present. The future belongs to other people
His father was a serf of Ranevskaya’s grandfather and father, and traded in a shop in the village. Now Lopakhin has become rich. His characterization is given by Chekhov, including in the first person. However, he speaks of himself with irony that he remained a “man and man.” Talking about his childhood, the hero notes that his dad was a man who did not understand anything. He did not teach his son, but only beat him when he was drunk. Lopakhin admits that he, too, is, in essence, “a blockhead and an idiot.” He didn’t learn anything, his handwriting is bad.
Lopakhin's business acumen
Of course, Lopakhin, whose characteristics interest us, has enterprise, business acumen and intelligence. The scale of its activities is much wider than that of its previous owners. He is energetic. Moreover, the bulk of this hero’s fortune was earned by his own labor. The path to wealth was not easy for him. Individual remarks and remarks indicate that this merchant has some kind of big “business”. He is completely absorbed in it. At the same time, Lopakhin easily parted with his money, lending it to Simeonov-Pishchik and Ranevskaya, persistently offering it to Petya Trofimov. This hero always lacks time: he either goes on business trips or returns. By his own admission, he gets up at five o'clock in the morning and works from morning to evening. Ermolai Alekseevich says that he cannot live without work. It is Lopakhin who looks at his watch more often than others in the work. His characterization is supplemented by this essential detail already at the beginning of the work. His first line in the play is: "What time is it?" This merchant is constantly mindful of time.
Perception of Lopakhin by the characters in the play
This hero is perceived differently characters plays. Their reviews of him are very contradictory. This is a “good, interesting person” for Ranevskaya, a “fist” and “boor” for Gaev, “a man of enormous intelligence” for Simeonov-Pishchik. Petya Trofimov gives him a humorous description, saying that he is a predatory beast, eating everything that comes in his way, and this requires metabolism."
Lopakhin's moment of supreme triumph
Lopakhin seeks to help Ranevskaya. He invites her to divide the garden into plots and rent them out. This hero feels his enormous strength, requiring exit and application. In the end, Lopakhin buys the cherry orchard. His characterization is supplemented in this important scene with some significant features. For him, the episode when he announces the purchase former owners garden, is a moment of supreme celebration. Now Lopakhin is the owner of the estate where his grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. He begins to “wave his arms” more and more - he is intoxicated by the consciousness of his own luck and strength. Compassion for Ranevskaya and triumph in him are in conflict in this episode.
A businessman with the soul of an artist
Chekhov said that Lopakhin's role in the work is central, that the whole play will fail if it fails. He wrote that Ermolai Alekseevich is a merchant, but a decent person in every sense; he must behave decently, “without tricks,” and intelligently. At the same time, Chekhov warned against a petty, simplified understanding of the image of Lopakhin. He is a successful businessman, but he has the soul of an artist. His reasoning about Russia sounds like Lopakhin’s words remind lyrical digressions Gogol in It is to this hero that the most heartfelt words spoken about the cherry orchard in the play belong: “an estate that is not more beautiful in the world.”
Chekhov introduced features characteristic of some Russian entrepreneurs of the early 20th century into the image of Lopakhin, a merchant, but at the same time an artist at heart. It's about about such names that left their mark on Russian culture as Savva Morozov, Shchukin, Tretyakov, and the publisher Sytin.
The final assessment that Petya Trofimov gives to his seemingly antagonist is very significant. The characterization of Lopakhin’s image given by this character is ambiguous. As we have already said, he compared it to a predatory beast. But at the same time, Petya Trofimov tells Lopakhin that he still loves him: like an artist, he has delicate, thin fingers and a vulnerable soul.
The illusory nature of victory
Lopakhin does not want to destroy the cherry orchard. His characterization would be incorrect if we thought so. He only proposes to reorganize it, dividing it into plots for dachas, making it “democratic” and accessible to the public for a reasonable fee. However, at the end of the play, Lopakhin ("The Cherry Orchard") is not shown as a triumphant winner who has achieved success. His characterization in the finale is very contradictory. And the old owners of the garden are depicted not only as defeated. Intuitively, Lopakhin feels the relativity and illusory nature of his own victory. He says that he wants this unhappy, awkward life to change as soon as possible. These words are supported by his fate: Ermolai Alekseevich alone is able to appreciate the significance of the cherry orchard, but he destroys it with his own hands.
The characterization of Lopakhin from “The Cherry Orchard” is noted as follows: good intentions, personal good qualities for some reason this hero is at odds with reality. Neither those around him nor he himself are able to understand the reasons for this.
Lopakhin was not given personal happiness either. His relationship with Varya results in his actions that are incomprehensible to others. He still does not dare to propose to this girl. Lopakhin, moreover, has a special feeling for Lyubov Andreevna. He awaits Ranevskaya’s arrival with special hope and wonders whether she will recognize him after five years of separation.
Relationship with Varya
In the last act, in famous stage, when the failed explanation between Varya and Lopakhin is described, the characters talk about a broken thermometer, about the weather - and not a word about what is most important to them at that moment. What’s the matter, why didn’t the explanation take place, why didn’t this love work out? Varya’s marriage is discussed throughout the entire play almost as a done deal, and yet...
What separates Lopakhin and Varya?
Apparently, the point is not that the groom is incapable of manifestation love feelings businessman It is in this spirit that Varya explains to herself their relationship. She believes that he simply has no time for her, since Lopakhin has a lot to do. Probably, Varya is not a match for this hero after all: he is a broad-minded person, an entrepreneur, a person of great scope and at the same time an artist at heart. Varin’s world is limited by economy, housekeeping, and keys on his belt. This girl, moreover, is homeless and has no rights even to the now ruined estate. Lopakhin, for all the subtlety of his soul, lacks tact and humanity in order to bring clarity to their relationship.
The dialogue of the characters described in the second act does not clarify anything at the textual level in the relationship between Varya and Lopakhin. But it becomes clear at the subtext level that these people are infinitely distant. The characterization of the hero Lopakhin allows us to judge that with Varya he would hardly have found his happiness. Ermolai Alekseevich had already decided that he should not be with this girl. Here Lopakhin plays the role of provincial Hamlet, who decides for himself the famous question: “To be or not to be?” And he decides: “Okhmelia, go to the monastery...”.
What separates Varya and Lopakhin? Perhaps the relationship of these heroes is determined largely by the motive of the fate of the cherry orchard, their attitude towards it? Varya, like Firs, worries about the fate of the estate and garden. And Lopakhin “sentenced” him to felling. Thus, the death of the cherry orchard comes between the heroes.
But, probably, there is another reason, which is not formulated in the play (like many other things, sometimes the most important thing in Anton Pavlovich) and lies in the sphere of the subconscious. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin and Ranevskaya
The characterization of Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchard would be incomplete without an analysis of the relationship between these two characters. The fact is that Ranevskaya, when Lopakhin was still a “boy” with his nose bloody from his father’s fist, took him to the washstand and said: “He’ll heal before the wedding.” Ranevskaya's sympathy, in contrast to her father's fist, was perceived by Lopakhin as a manifestation of femininity and tenderness. Lyubov Andreevna, in fact, did what a mother was supposed to do. Perhaps it is she who is involved in the fact that this merchant has such a “thin gentle soul"But it is precisely this characteristic of Lopakhin in the play “The Cherry Orchard” that makes the image of the merchant we are interested in contradictory. Ermolai Alekseevich kept a wonderful vision in his soul. So, in the first act, he tells Lyubov Andreevna that she once did this for him a lot, and that he loves her “more than his own.” This is a characteristic of Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, their relationship.
Lopakhin’s words in the first act are a “confession” of first, long-standing love, filial gratitude, Yermolai Alekseevich’s bright love for a beautiful vision that does not require anything in return and is not obligatory to anything.
Farewell to the past
However, what is once experienced is irrevocable. This “dear” for Lopakhin was not understood or heard. This moment probably became a turning point for him. psychologically. For Lopakhin it became a reckoning with the past, a farewell to it. And it began for him new life. But now this hero has become more sober.
This is the characteristic of Ermolai Lopakhin, central character plays, according to Chekhov.
Lopakhin is a self-made man: the son of a serf, he became a merchant, a rich, influential man. Enterprising, able to earn and save a penny, he is already offering help to Ranevskaya, the owner of the estate where his father recently worked.
“Predator,” that’s what Petya Trofimov calls him. But let's take a closer look at it. Lopakhin is looking forward to Ranevskaya's return; his first words in the play are: “The train has arrived, thank God!” On the first pages of Chekhov
twice introduces a remark relating to this hero: listens.”
Lopakhin came on purpose to meet Ranevskaya. He doesn’t listen to Dunyasha, he thinks about his own things. About my own - this is about the arrival of the mistress of the estate, about what she has become: “Will she recognize me? We haven’t seen each other for five years.” Dunyasha reports that Epikhodov proposed to her. Lopakhin reacts indifferently: “Ah!”, and then interrupts: “It seems they are coming...”
It is interesting to pay attention to the following passage:
“Lopakhin (listens). Here, he repents, they are going...
Dunyasha, They're coming! What's wrong with me, I'm completely cold.
L o pakh i n. They really are going. Let's go meet. Will she recognize me? We haven't seen each other for five years.
Dunyasha (excited). I’m going to fall... Oh, I’m going to fall!”
“Will she recognize me?” - Lopakhin reflects. And after a while Ranevskaya says: “And I recognized Dunyasha.” Maybe Dunyasha's words to a greater extent designed to convey what is happening now inside Lopakhin?
Outwardly he is calm. Yes, he’s clearly waiting for Ranevskaya, but he’s calm. What about inside? Maybe Dunyasha is a kind of double of Lopakhin? He inspires Dunyasha: “You are very gentle, Dunyasha. And you dress like a lady, and your hair too. You can not do it this way. We must remember ourselves." And almost the same about himself: “In a white vest, yellow shoes... and if you think about it and figure it out, then the man is a man...”
Lopakhin remembers Ranevskaya with great tenderness: “She is a good person. An easy, simple person." Then, in a conversation, he says very warm, touching words to her: “I have to go to Kharkov now, at five o’clock. Such a shame! I wanted to look at you, talk... You are still just as gorgeous.”
“Your brother, Leonid Andreevich, says about me that I’m a boor, I’m a kulak, but that doesn’t really matter to me. Let him talk. I only wish that you would still believe me, that your amazing, touching eyes would look at me as before. Merciful God! My father was a serf to your grandfather and father, but you, in fact, you once did so much for me that I forgot everything and love you like my own, more than my own.”
Everyone is waiting for him to propose to Varya, but he doesn’t. For two years now (!) everyone has been talking about this, but he is either silent or joking. Varya: “he has a lot to do, he has no time for me... and he doesn’t pay attention... Everyone talks about our wedding, everyone congratulates, but in reality there is nothing, everything is like a dream...”
When Lopakhin is told that he needs to get married, he answers calmly but indifferently: “Yes... So what? I wouldn’t mind... She’s a good girl.” But doesn’t Lopakhin’s words addressed to Ranevskaya contain the answer to the question of why he still doesn’t propose to Varya? Isn't this a confession?
I think he loves Ranevskaya, has loved him for a long time... But! Firstly, Ranevskaya doesn’t hear him: I can’t sit, I’m not able to... (Jumps up and walks around in great excitement.) I won’t survive this joy...” Ranevskaya is busy with her feelings. (In fairness, it must be said that in general all the heroes of Chekhov’s play are preoccupied exclusively with themselves.)
She cannot (or does not want?) understand Lopakhin’s feelings. It is no coincidence that in the second and fourth acts she will advise Lopakhin to propose to Varya. Although it’s not at all clear why everyone decided that Lopakhin was in love with Varya.
He openly mocks her:
Lopakhin (looks into the door and hums). Me-e-e... (Leaves).
Secondly, Lopakhin’s confession was probably belated. (Although how could he have confessed to her before?) It is no coincidence that he overslept today and did not meet the train.
“What a fool I was! I came here on purpose to meet him at the station, and suddenly overslept... I fell asleep while sitting. Annoyance...” A moment that, perhaps, once existed in Lopakhin’s life, which happens in every person’s life, was missed.
The motif of missed opportunities constantly appears in the play. Let us again pay attention to Lopakhin’s words: I have to go to Kharkov now, at five o’clock. Such a shame! I wanted to look at you, talk... You are still just as magnificent.”
Let’s just highlight something else in them: “I have to go to Kharkov now, at five o’clock. Such a shame! I wanted to look at you, talk ... "And one more thing: I want to tell you something pleasant, cheerful. (Looking at his watch.) I’m leaving now, there’s no time to talk...”
Lopakhin was waiting for Ranevskaya so much! He thought about what she had become, but now he had no time to talk to her. It’s like this all my life: there’s no time. And then it turns out that it’s too late.
Thirdly, we repeat again that Lopakhin’s father was a serf to Ranevskaya’s father and grandfather.
Then he traded in a shop in the village. And the differences in upbringing, education, and lifestyle of Ranevskaya and Lopakhin cannot be removed by anything, even if you put on a white vest and yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a row... Just now he's rich, there's a lot of money, but if you think about it and figure it out, then he's a man... (He flips through the book.) I read the book and didn't understand anything. I read and fell asleep.”
“My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he just beat me when he was drunk, and that was all with a stick. In essence, I’m just as much of a blockhead and an idiot. I haven’t studied anything, my handwriting is bad, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of me, like a pig.”
Let's pay attention to Lopakhin's condition in the third act after the purchase cherry orchard.
“I bought it!.. (Laughs.) The cherry orchard is now mine! My! (Laughs.) My God, Lord, my cherry orchard! Tell me that I’m drunk, out of my mind, that all this is imagining me... (Stamps his feet.) I’m dreaming, I’m only imagining this, it’s only seeming... This is a figment of your imagination, covered in the darkness of the unknown.”
Lopakhin's joy and laughter gave way to tears! He bought a cherry orchard, he will cut it down as he wanted, and rent out the land to summer residents (maybe). But this victory is illusory (“I’m dreaming, I’m only imagining this”).
Ranevskaya remained unattainable. Not everything is as Lopakhin wishes. Not everything in life can be paid for. “There’s just a lot of money, but the man was still a man.”
He ironically (!) says that a new owner of the cherry orchard is coming. And in general he becomes like Epikhodov: “I accidentally pushed the table and almost knocked over the candelabra.” (Epikhodov in the first act: I’ll go. (Bumps into a chair that falls)
The blow that was intended for Epikhodov falls on Lopakhin. Why am I comparing Lopakhin and Epikhodov? It’s just that everyone calls Epikhodov “twenty-two misfortunes”; they see that he is an unhappy person and sympathize with him.
And Lopakhin is usually perceived as a strong man, who has achieved a lot with his work, with his mind, as a predator who will take and buy the cherry orchard. (Petya Trofimov about him: “Just as in the sense of metabolism we need a predatory beast that eats everything that gets in its way, so you are needed.”)
Meanwhile, Lopakhin is an endlessly lonely man, long and unrequitedly in love with a woman who does not notice this love and will never reciprocate his feelings.
Dunyasha is a double of Ranevskaya herself, who similarly chooses an unworthy person. Lopakhin offers Ranevskaya to rent out the estate for dachas, but his words, taken separately, look like Ranevskaya’s proposal and a painful wait for an answer.
“L o pakhin. Do you agree to give up the land for dachas or not? Answer in one word: yes or no? Just one word!”
Ranevskaya does not react.
“L o pakhin. Just one word! (Pleadingly.) Give me the answer! There is no other way, I swear to you. No and no".
Offering Ranevskaya to rent out the garden of giving, Lopakhin says: “and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious.”
Why did Lopakhin need a cherry orchard? Why is he trying to knock him out as quickly as possible? I didn’t have time to buy it - the axes are knocking!
This garden stood between him and Ranevskaya. For Lopakhin, the Cherry Orchard is a symbol of his serf past, it is the cruelty of his father (“I remember when I was a boy, my deceased father... hit me in the face with his fist, blood came out of my nose... Then for some reason we came into the yard, and he I was drunk"), this is illiteracy and the inability to understand what is written in books...
They are too different. Maybe that’s why Lopakhin is so eager to cut down this garden? To become closer to Ranevskaya, to destroy these class differences between her and yourself?
Is it possible to get rid of the past forever? Is it possible to forget who you are and where you come from? Probably not. But the axes are knocking on the cherry trees, on the past. From grief, from Lopakhin’s suffering. (Even if he doesn’t chop it himself, it seems like he does it himself.) No love! Not at home! Life passed as if I had never lived at all!
At the end of the play, Lopakhin leaves with everyone else, and does not stay to enjoy the “victory.” And won’t he shoot himself, as Epikhodov spoke about this just recently?
Instead of a conclusion.
Why is the auction scheduled for August twenty-second in the play?
In the “Encyclopedia of Symbols” we read about the symbolism of the number two: “The day is divided into two parts: day and night. Time is for the past and the future, between which there is an almost elusive moment of the present.”
It is this “elusive moment of the present” that is our life. And it is precisely this moment that we often do not notice. We suffer about the past, we peer into the future. And life goes on.
It is this moment, it seems to me, that was depicted by A.P. Chekhov. The moment when you can see and hear a person who truly loves you; moment when you can remember true values life; when can you find
peace, get rid of loneliness; a moment when you can still create your own paradise. But he is not noticed by the heroes of the play.
Life moved on.
Paradise is lost.
Forever.
