(482 words) “The Cherry Orchard” is the last play by A.P. Chekhov. It was written by him in 1903, shortly before the 1905 revolution. The country then stood at a crossroads, and in the work the author skillfully conveyed the atmosphere of that time through events, characters, their characters and actions. The Cherry Orchard is the embodiment of pre-revolutionary Russia, and heroes of different ages are the personification of the past, present and future of the country.
Ranevskaya and Gaev represent earlier times. They live in memories and do not want to solve the problems of the present at all. Their house is under threat, but instead of making any attempts to save it, they in every possible way avoid conversations with Lopakhin on this topic. Lyubov Andreevna constantly wastes money that could be used to buy out a house. In the second act, she first complains: “Oh, my sins... I’ve always wasted money without restraint, like crazy...” - and literally a minute later, having heard the Jewish orchestra, she suggests “inviting him somehow, having an evening.” There is a feeling that before us are not adult, experienced, educated heroes, but foolish children who are unable to exist independently. They hope that their problem will be solved miraculously, but they themselves do not take any action, leaving everything to the mercy of fate. In the end, they are deprived of the entire past that they treasured so much.
The present time is personified by the merchant Ermolai Lopakhin. He is a representative of the growing class in Russia - the bourgeoisie. Unlike Ranevskaya and Gaev, he is not childish, but very hardworking and enterprising. It is these qualities that help him eventually buy the estate. He grew up in a family of serfs who used to serve the Gaevs, so he is very proud of himself: “... beaten, illiterate Ermolai... bought an estate where his grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen.” For Ermolai, the garden is not a memory of past years; for him, the plot is only a means for making money. Without any doubt, he cuts it down, thereby destroying the old, but at the same time, without creating anything new.
Anya and Petya Trofimov are heroes of the future. They both talk about the future as something absolutely bright and beautiful. But in reality, for the two of them it is quite vague. Petya talks a lot, but does little. At 26, he still hasn't graduated from university, earning him the nickname "the eternal student." He criticizes the nobility and supports the bourgeoisie, calling people to work, but he himself is not capable of anything. Of all the characters in the play, only Anya supports him. She is still a 17-year-old girl who represents the personification of youth, inexhaustible strength and the desire to do good. Her future is also unknown, but it is she who reassures her mother: “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this.” She has no doubt that the loss of an estate is not the worst tragedy and that a new garden can be planted, just as a new life can be started. Although the author does not claim anything, perhaps Anya is the true future of Russia.
A.P. Chekhov showed readers heroes of different generations, classes and views on life of that time, but was never able to give a definite answer as to who the future of the country lay behind. But still, he sincerely believed that Russia’s future would certainly be bright and beautiful, like a blooming cherry orchard.
The play “The Cherry Orchard,” the last dramatic work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, can be considered a kind of testament of the writer, which reflected Chekhov’s cherished thoughts, his thoughts about the past, present and future of Russia.
The plot of the play is based on the history of a noble estate. As a result of the changes taking place in Russian society, the former owners of the estate are forced to give way to new ones. This plot outline is very symbolic; it reflects important stages in the socio-historical development of Russia. The destinies of Chekhov's characters turn out to be connected with the cherry orchard, in the image of which the past, present and future intersect. The characters remember the past of the estate, about those times when the cherry orchard, cultivated by serfs, still generated income. This period coincided with the childhood and youth of Ranevskaya and Gaev, and they remember these happy, carefree years with involuntary nostalgia. But serfdom was abolished long ago, the estate is gradually falling into disrepair, and the cherry orchard is no longer profitable. The time of telegraphs and railways is coming, the era of business people and entrepreneurs.
The representative of this new formation in Chekhov's play is Lopakhin, who comes from the Ranevskaya family of former serfs. His memories of the past are of a completely different nature; his ancestors were slaves on the very estate of which he now becomes the owner.
Conversations, memories, disputes, conflicts - all the external action of Chekhov's play is centered around the fate of the estate and the cherry orchard. Immediately after Ranevskaya’s arrival, conversations begin about how the mortgaged and remortgaged estate can be saved from auction. As the play progresses, this problem will become increasingly acute.
But, as is most often the case with Chekhov, there is no real struggle, no real clash between the former and future owners of the cherry orchard in the play. Just the opposite. Lopakhin does everything possible to help Ranevskaya save the estate from sale, but a complete lack of business skills prevents the hapless owners of the estate from taking advantage of useful advice; they are enough only for complaints and empty rantings. It is not the struggle between the emerging bourgeoisie and the nobility that is giving way to it that interests Chekhov; the fate of specific people, the fate of all of Russia, is much more important to him.
Ranevskaya and Gaev are doomed to lose the estate that is so dear to them and with which it is connected
so many memories, and the reason for this lies not only in their inability to heed Lopakhin’s practical advice. The time is coming to pay old bills, but the debt of their ancestors, the debt of their family, the historical guilt of their entire class has not yet been atoned for. The present stems from the past, their connection is obvious, it’s not for nothing that Lyubov Andreevna dreams of her late mother in a white dress in a blooming garden. This reminds us of the past itself. It is very symbolic that Ranevskaya and Gaev, whose fathers and grandfathers did not allow those at whose expense they fed and lived, even into the kitchen, are now entirely dependent on Lopakhin, who has become rich. In this Chekhov sees retribution and shows that the lordly way of life, although it is covered in a poetic haze of beauty, corrupts people, destroys the souls of those who are involved in it. This is, for example, Firs. For him, the abolition of serfdom is a terrible misfortune, as a result of which he, useless and forgotten by everyone, will be left alone in an empty house... The same lordly way of life gave birth to the footman Yasha. He no longer has the devotion to masters that distinguishes old man Firs, but without a twinge of conscience he enjoys all the benefits and conveniences that he can derive from his life under the wing of the kindest Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin is a man of a different type and a different formation. He is businesslike, has a strong grip and firmly knows what and how to do today. It is he who gives specific advice on how to save the estate. However, being a businesslike and practical person, and differing favorably from Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin is completely devoid of spirituality and the ability to perceive beauty. The magnificent cherry orchard is interesting to him only as an investment, it is remarkable only because it is “very large”; and based on purely practical considerations, Lopakhin proposes to cut it down in order to rent out the land for summer cottages - this is more profitable. Disregarding the feelings of Ranevskaya and Gaev (not out of malice, no, but simply because of a lack of spiritual subtlety), he orders the garden to begin to be cut down, without waiting for the former owners to leave.
It is noteworthy that there is not a single happy person in Chekhov's play. Ranevskaya, who came from Paris to repent of her sins and find peace in the family estate, is forced to return back with old sins and problems, since the estate is being auctioned off and the garden is being cut down. The faithful servant Firs is buried alive in a boarded-up house, where he served all his life. Charlotte's future is unknown; years pass without bringing joy, and dreams of love and motherhood are never realized. Varya, who did not wait for Lopakhin’s offer, is hired by some Ragulins. Perhaps Gaev's fate turns out a little better - he gets a place in the bank, but it is unlikely that he will become a successful financier.
The cherry orchard, in which past and present intersect so intricately, is also associated with thoughts about the future.
Tomorrow, which, according to Chekhov, should be better than today, is personified in the play by Anya and Petya Trofimov. True, Petya, this thirty-year-old “eternal student”, is hardly capable of real deeds and actions; he only knows how to talk a lot and beautifully. Another thing is Anya. Realizing the beauty of the cherry orchard, she at the same time understands that the garden is doomed, just as her past slave life is doomed, just as the present, full of unspiritual practicality, is doomed. But in the future, Anya is sure, there must be a triumph of justice and beauty. In her words: “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this,” there is not only a desire to console her mother, but also an attempt to imagine a new, future life. Inheriting Ranevskaya’s spiritual sensitivity and sensitivity to beauty, Anya is at the same time full of a sincere desire to change and remake life. She is focused on the future, ready to work and even sacrifice in its name; she dreams of a time when the whole way of life will change, when it will turn into a blooming garden, giving people joy and happiness.
How to arrange such a life? Chekhov does not give recipes for this. Yes, they cannot exist, because it is important that every person, having experienced dissatisfaction with what is, is fired up with a dream of beauty, so that he himself seeks the path to a new life.
“All of Russia is our garden” - these significant words are heard repeatedly in the play, turning the story of the ruin of the estate and the death of the garden into a capacious symbol. The play is full of thoughts about life, its values, real and imaginary, about the responsibility of each person for the world in which he lives and in which his descendants will live.
The play “The Cherry Orchard,” the last dramatic work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, can be considered a kind of testament of the writer, which reflected Chekhov’s cherished thoughts, his thoughts about the past, present and future of Russia.
The plot of the play is based on the history of a noble estate. As a result of the changes taking place in Russian society, the former owners of the estate are forced to give way to new ones. This plot outline is very symbolic; it reflects important stages in the socio-historical development of Russia. The destinies of Chekhov's characters turn out to be connected with the cherry orchard, in the image of which the past, present and future intersect. The characters remember the past of the estate, about those times when the cherry orchard, cultivated by serfs, still generated income. This period coincided with the childhood and youth of Ranevskaya and Gaev, and they remember these happy, carefree years with involuntary nostalgia. But serfdom was abolished long ago, the estate is gradually falling into disrepair, and the cherry orchard is no longer profitable. The time of telegraphs and railways is coming, the era of business people and entrepreneurs.
The representative of this new formation in Chekhov's play is Lopakhin, who comes from the Ranevskaya family of former serfs. His memories of the past are of a completely different nature; his ancestors were slaves on the very estate of which he now becomes the owner.
Conversations, memories, disputes, conflicts - all the external action of Chekhov's play is centered around the fate of the estate and the cherry orchard. Immediately after Ranevskaya’s arrival, conversations begin about how the mortgaged and remortgaged estate can be saved from auction. As the play progresses, this problem will become increasingly acute.
But, as is most often the case with Chekhov, there is no real struggle, no real clash between the former and future owners of the cherry orchard in the play. Just the opposite. Lopakhin does everything possible to help Ranevskaya save the estate from sale, but a complete lack of business skills prevents the hapless owners of the estate from taking advantage of useful advice; they are enough only for complaints and empty rantings. It is not the struggle between the emerging bourgeoisie and the nobility that is giving way to it that interests Chekhov; the fate of specific people, the fate of all of Russia, is much more important to him.
Ranevskaya and Gaev are doomed to lose the estate that is so dear to them and with which it is connected
so many memories, and the reason for this lies not only in their inability to heed Lopakhin’s practical advice. The time is coming to pay old bills, but the debt of their ancestors, the debt of their family, the historical guilt of their entire class has not yet been atoned for. The present stems from the past, their connection is obvious, it’s not for nothing that Lyubov Andreevna dreams of her late mother in a white dress in a blooming garden. This reminds us of the past itself. It is very symbolic that Ranevskaya and Gaev, whose fathers and grandfathers did not allow those at whose expense they fed and lived, even into the kitchen, are now entirely dependent on Lopakhin, who has become rich. In this Chekhov sees retribution and shows that the lordly way of life, although it is covered in a poetic haze of beauty, corrupts people, destroys the souls of those who are involved in it. This is, for example, Firs. For him, the abolition of serfdom is a terrible misfortune, as a result of which he, useless and forgotten by everyone, will be left alone in an empty house... The same lordly way of life gave birth to the footman Yasha. He no longer has the devotion to masters that distinguishes old man Firs, but without a twinge of conscience he enjoys all the benefits and conveniences that he can derive from his life under the wing of the kindest Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin is a man of a different type and a different formation. He is businesslike, has a strong grip and firmly knows what and how to do today. It is he who gives specific advice on how to save the estate. However, being a businesslike and practical person, and differing favorably from Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin is completely devoid of spirituality and the ability to perceive beauty. The magnificent cherry orchard is interesting to him only as an investment, it is remarkable only because it is “very large”; and based on purely practical considerations, Lopakhin proposes to cut it down in order to rent out the land for summer cottages - this is more profitable. Disregarding the feelings of Ranevskaya and Gaev (not out of malice, no, but simply because of a lack of spiritual subtlety), he orders the garden to begin to be cut down, without waiting for the former owners to leave.
It is noteworthy that there is not a single happy person in Chekhov's play. Ranevskaya, who came from Paris to repent of her sins and find peace in the family estate, is forced to return back with old sins and problems, since the estate is being auctioned off and the garden is being cut down. The faithful servant Firs is buried alive in a boarded-up house, where he served all his life. Charlotte's future is unknown; years pass without bringing joy, and dreams of love and motherhood are never realized. Varya, who did not wait for Lopakhin’s offer, is hired by some Ragulins. Perhaps Gaev's fate turns out a little better - he gets a place in the bank, but it is unlikely that he will become a successful financier.
The cherry orchard, in which past and present intersect so intricately, is also associated with thoughts about the future.
Tomorrow, which, according to Chekhov, should be better than today, is personified in the play by Anya and Petya Trofimov. True, Petya, this thirty-year-old “eternal student”, is hardly capable of real deeds and actions; he only knows how to talk a lot and beautifully. Another thing is Anya. Realizing the beauty of the cherry orchard, she at the same time understands that the garden is doomed, just as her past slave life is doomed, just as the present, full of unspiritual practicality, is doomed. But in the future, Anya is sure, there must be a triumph of justice and beauty. In her words: “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this,” there is not only a desire to console her mother, but also an attempt to imagine a new, future life. Inheriting Ranevskaya’s spiritual sensitivity and sensitivity to beauty, Anya is at the same time full of a sincere desire to change and remake life. She is focused on the future, ready to work and even sacrifice in its name; she dreams of a time when the whole way of life will change, when it will turn into a blooming garden, giving people joy and happiness.
How to arrange such a life? Chekhov does not give recipes for this. Yes, they cannot exist, because it is important that every person, having experienced dissatisfaction with what is, is fired up with a dream of beauty, so that he himself seeks the path to a new life.
“All of Russia is our garden” - these significant words are heard repeatedly in the play, turning the story of the ruin of the estate and the death of the garden into a capacious symbol. The play is full of thoughts about life, its values, real and imaginary, about the responsibility of each person for the world in which he lives and in which his descendants will live.
One of the most unique and interesting creations of Anton Pavlovich, in which he combined three periods of his life, is the play “The Cherry Orchard”. In this work, the author connected the past, present and future. The actions of the work show how the merchants are replacing the nobility. The past is represented by such characters as Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs. Very often their memories are of old times, when there were no worries and they did not worry about money. For them, something more sublime than money and material wealth was more important.
Ranevskaya could not even imagine that she would have to cut down the entire garden or sell it; for her this was unacceptable. After all, it was the cherry orchard that was memories of the past and her life.
Gaev was no less worried, every little thing was important to him. The author focuses on how Gaev turns to the old closet with tears. Firs, in turn, did not need the abolition of serfdom. He loved the family of Raevskaya and Gaev very much, whom he served and treated with respect. He was satisfied with the order that existed earlier, like other representatives of that time.
Lopakhin is one of those representatives for whom money is important, it was of great importance to him. He was born and raised in a simple family. His father was a simple shopkeeper. But this did not stop him from achieving great success and through his own efforts he amassed a huge fortune for himself. Like many others, the Cherry Orchard was just a source of material gain and nothing more.
Ermolai helps Ranevskaya get rid of her deplorable condition. Thanks to his intelligence and resourcefulness, he was able to create a huge project. For this generation, material gain was important. But this is not a reason to avoid the present that was overtaking them.
A.P. Chekhov shows how changeable and vague the future can be. The author attributes to this generation such characters as Anna, Varya, Peter, Dunya the maid and Yashka the footman. But despite the fact that the representatives of the past generation were similar in many ways, the coming generation was completely different. All these heroes were full of vital energy and ideas. But many of them were only capable of eloquent words, which in fact could not change the present. One of these characters was Petya. In fact, he does nothing to change the future. Although he tells Anya that they are two hundred years behind in development. Of course, Anna was fascinated by Petya’s words and ideas, but this does not stop her from going her own way and arranging her own life.
It was in this unique work “The Cherry Orchard” that all 3 generations of the past, present and future were united.
Option 2
Chekhov's dramaturgy is deep and full of figurative personifications. Due to them, the author tried to show in his work the past, present and future in comparison. To do this, he conditionally divided all the heroes of the work into three corresponding camps.
The heroes of the past tense appear first before the reader: Ranevskaya, Gaev, servant Firs. Their conversations are full of nostalgia for the past; they speak with tenderness and joy about past times. For each of them, old things and household items, which are silent witnesses of bygone days, play an important role. At the very beginning of the play, the reader learns about a room called the “Children’s Room”, a hundred-year-old closet and, of course, the cherry orchard - the main character of the play.
Gaev and Ranevskaya are typical representatives of the Russian aristocracy. This shows in their speech, mannerisms and lifestyle. They are used to living large, not counting their own expenses, receiving numerous guests on the estate, organizing holidays and celebrations. Even in bad times, their spending money is constant, especially since you can always write a letter to a rich relative and ask for more money for current expenses. Ranevskaya can’t bear to hear about the need to cut down the cherry orchard and rent out plots of land for dachas. In her opinion, it is impossible to remain without a garden, not because there is any benefit from it, but because every tree in it reminds her of a happy time from the distant past.
Firs is a hereditary servant of the family, a very elderly man. For him, the meaning of life lies in serving the masters. His care and love for them is boundless, he takes care of Ranevskaya and Gaev like small helpless children. But in fact, they are completely unsuited to practical life; they do not want to acknowledge the coming changes. Firs's busywork looks like an eccentricity, but he himself is convinced that his life's purpose lies only in caring for the masters.
The heroes of the present time in the work are represented by Lopakhin. According to the author, it is precisely such people who should “create” the present. They are active, purposeful, intelligent. They have no illusions that problems in life should be solved on their own. Lopakhin's fate is an example of how a man himself achieves everything in his life, without relying on his father's inheritance.
The future in the finale of the work is indicated very vaguely. Who will be his heroes? The author shows Petya and Anya as people of new times. However, the young man is also not well adapted to life; he is more occupied with endless thoughts about changes, dreams of a bright future. Anya is captivated by Petya’s ideas, she is ready to take action - to plant a new cherry orchard “even more beautiful than the previous one.”
Essay 3
When a writer creates his own work, he draws on the current situation or past experience, and can also extend his gaze to the future. In general, a rather banal phrase, however, this fact should be noted.
What the author will concentrate his attention on depends on his creative and ideological orientation. For example, Chekhov’s contemporary Bryusov, as is known, instructed his poet followers “not to live in the present,” because “only the future is the domain of the poet.” There were also those who were guided by the high ideals of antiquity or other previous eras.
In my opinion, Chekhov did not make separate accents and in fact wrote about the eternal and timeless. This fact is easily confirmed when you read his play. I was simply amazed how accurately some dialogues and phrases describe the current state of not only affairs, but also human souls, in particular those who found their bodies on Russian territory.
Of course, in this sense, Chekhov, so to speak, is not new. He does his job, he simply does it efficiently and it’s easy to remember the same Saltykov-Shchedrin with his “drink and steal”, a bit of a lengthy forecast, but accurate, just like about “fools and roads”, which in the current situation are manifested surprisingly clearly and talk here there is no need to talk about the extensiveness of the forecast even with its globality and generalization.
Chinese wisdom considers the era of change to be a rather negative situation. For Russia, the previous one and a half hundred years for the most part seem to be an era of change, which is diluted by apathetic periods of stagnation. Here Chekhov found himself in a period that could be more than interesting for a writer.
No matter how the reforms of previous times were and how rich the history may seem, through the prism of the Cherry Orchard we see quite obvious time layers that appear as: a long and stable patriarchal past, stable and large-scale; a shaky present with outdated landowners and nobles; the tragic and sad future that will change the country will lead to shredding and vulgarity.
The triumph of the little man, which Chekhov sees through the transformation of gardens into summer cottages, really took place. Moreover, the author quite rightly pointed out the overall lack of meaning in this transformation. Has the person who settled the dacha plots in that garden, where previously he could only come to work, changed? It’s a rhetorical question, and, in fact, he also works in this garden, only now fruit trees don’t always grow there, but more often it just smells like manure and a chanson sounds mixed with empty chatter and swearing.
Of course, Anton Pavlovich, being like any reasonable creative person, as if above the situation, saw what Russia was heading towards. Of course, not all the nobles whom he so criticizes in the person of the weak-willed Ranevskaya and Gaev will turn out to be helpless, someone will become part of the white movement and not only in words, but also in deeds will prove their intention to fight for the ideals and, in fact, the preservation of the homeland, the safety of something valuable. Nevertheless, many of these people will not understand, even the Lopakhins, just as in the end they do not even understand themselves.
The author in the work shows us the difficult time of the Don Cossacks at the turn of two eras. Families were being destroyed, men were dying, but especially all these trials fell on the shoulders of women. The novel clearly shows Cossack women
A. S. Pushkin began writing the now well-known poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” during his years of study at the Lyceum in 1817. As a child, Arina Rodionovna often read Russian folk tales to little Pushkin.
One of the main characters of the story “Scarlet Sails” by Alexander Green. He is the father of the main character Assol. He and his family lived in the small village of Kaperna.
“The Cherry Orchard” is the last work of A.P. Chekhov. The writer was terminally ill when he wrote this play. He realized that he would soon pass away, and this is probably why the whole play is filled with some kind of quiet sadness and tenderness. This is the great writer’s farewell to everything that was dear to him: to the people, to Russia, whose fate worried him until the last minute. Probably, at such a moment, a person thinks about everything: about the past - he remembers all the most important things and takes stock - as well as about the present and future of those whom he leaves on this earth. In the play “The Cherry Orchard” it is as if a meeting of the past, present and future took place. It seems that the heroes of the play belong to three different eras: some live in yesterday and are absorbed in memories of times long past, others are busy with momentary affairs and strive to benefit from everything that they have at the moment, and others turn their gaze far ahead, not accepting take real events into account.
Thus, the past, present and future do not merge into one whole: they exist according to piecework and sort out their relationships with each other.
Prominent representatives of the past are Gaev and Ranevskaya. Chekhov pays tribute to the education and sophistication of the Russian nobility. Both Gaev and Ranevskaya know how to appreciate beauty. They find the most poetic words to express their feelings towards everything that surrounds them - be it an old house, a favorite garden, in a word, everything that is dear to them
since childhood. They even address the closet as if they were an old friend: “Dear, dear closet! I greet your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice...” Ranevskaya, finding herself at home after a five-year separation, is ready to kiss every thing that reminds her of her childhood and youth. For her, home is a living person, a witness to all her joys and sorrows. Ranevskaya has a very special attitude towards the garden - it seems to personify all the best and brightest things that happened in her life, it is part of her soul. Looking at the garden through the window, she exclaims: “Oh my childhood, my purity! I slept in this nursery, looked at the garden from here, happiness woke up with me every morning, and then he was exactly the same, nothing has changed.” Ranevskaya's life was not easy: she lost her husband early, and soon after that her seven-year-old son died. The man with whom she tried to connect her life turned out to be unworthy - he cheated on her and squandered her money. But returning home for her is like falling into a life-giving spring: she feels young and happy again. All the pain boiling in her soul and the joy of the meeting are expressed in her address to the garden: “Oh my garden! After a dark, stormy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the angels have not abandoned you...” For Ranevskaya, the garden is closely connected with the image of her late mother - she directly sees her mother in a white dress walking through the garden.
Neither Gaev nor Ranevskaya can allow their estate to be rented out to summer residents. They consider this very idea vulgar, but at the same time they do not want to face reality: the day of the auction is approaching, and the estate will be sold under the hammer. Gaev shows complete immaturity in this matter (the remark “Puts a lollipop in his mouth” seems to confirm this): “We will pay the interest, I am convinced...” Where does he get such conviction from? Who is he counting on? Obviously not on myself. Without any reason, he swears to Varya: “I swear on my honor, whatever you want, I swear, the estate will not be sold! ... I swear on my happiness! Here's my hand to you, then call me a crappy, dishonest person if I allow it to the auction! I swear with all my being!” Beautiful but empty words. Lopakhin is a different matter. This man does not waste words. He sincerely tries to explain to Ranevskaya and Gaeva that there is a real way out of this situation: “Every day I say the same thing. Both the cherry orchard and the land must be rented out for dachas, this must be done now, as quickly as possible - the auction is just around the corner! Understand! Once you finally decide to have dachas, they will give you as much money as you want, and then you are saved.” With such a call, the “present” turns to the “past,” but the “past” does not heed. “Finally deciding” is an impossible task for people of this type. It is easier for them to stay in the world of illusions. But Lopakhin does not waste time. He simply buys this estate and rejoices in the presence of the unfortunate and destitute Ranevskaya. The purchase of an estate has a special meaning for him: “I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen.” This is the pride of a plebeian who has “rubbed his nose” with the aristocrats. He is only sorry that his father and grandfather do not see his triumph. Knowing what the cherry orchard meant in Ranevskaya’s life, he literally dances on her bones: “Hey, musicians, play, I want to listen to you! Come everyone and watch how Ermolai Lopakhin takes an ax to the cherry orchard and how the trees fall to the ground!” And he immediately sympathizes with the sobbing Ranevskaya: “Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change.” But this is a momentary weakness, because he is experiencing his finest hour. Lopakhin is a man of the present, the master of life, but is he the future?
Maybe the man of the future is Petya Trofimov? He is a truth-teller (“You don’t have to deceive yourself, you have to look the truth straight in the eyes at least once in your life”). He is not interested in his own appearance (“I don’t want to be handsome”). He apparently considers love a relic of the past (“We are above love”). Everything material does not attract him either. He is ready to destroy both the past and the present “to the ground, and then...” And then what? Is it possible to grow a garden without knowing how to appreciate beauty? Petya gives the impression of a frivolous and superficial person. Chekhov, apparently, is not at all happy about the prospect of such a future for Russia.
The rest of the characters in the play are also representatives of three different eras. For example, the old servant Firs is all from the past. All his ideals are associated with distant times. He considers the reform of 1861 to be the beginning of all troubles. He does not need “will”, since his whole life is devoted to the masters. Firs is a very integral person; he is the only hero of the play endowed with such a quality as devotion.
Lackey Yasha is akin to Lopakhin - no less enterprising, but even more soulless. Who knows, maybe he will soon become the master of life?
The last page of the play has been read, but there is no answer to the question: “So with whom does the writer pin his hopes for a new life?” There is a feeling of some confusion and anxiety: who will decide the fate of Russia? Who can save beauty?
Now, close to the new turn of the century, in the modern turmoil of the end of an era, the destruction of the old and convulsive attempts to create the new, “The Cherry Orchard” sounds to us completely differently than it sounded ten years ago. It turned out that the time of Chekhov's comedy is not only the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. It is written about timelessness in general, about that vague pre-dawn hour that came to our lives and determined our destinies.
3). The estate of landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. Spring, cherry trees are blooming. But the beautiful garden will soon have to be sold for debts. For the last five years, Ranevskaya and her seventeen-year-old daughter Anya have lived abroad. Ranevskaya’s brother Leonid Andreevich Gaev and her adopted daughter, twenty-four-year-old Varya, remained on the estate. Things are bad for Ranevskaya, there are almost no funds left. Lyubov Andreevna always squandered money. Six years ago, her husband died from drunkenness. Ranevskaya fell in love with another person and got along with him. But soon her little son Grisha died tragically, drowning in the river. Lyubov Andreevna, unable to bear the grief, fled abroad. The lover followed her. When he fell ill, Ranevskaya had to settle him at her dacha near Menton and look after him for three years. And then, when he had to sell his dacha for debts and move to Paris, he robbed and abandoned Ranevskaya.
Gaev and Varya meet Lyubov Andreevna and Anya at the station. The maid Dunyasha and the merchant Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin are waiting for them at home. Lopakhin's father was a serf of the Ranevskys, he himself became rich, but says of himself that he remained a “man a man.” The clerk Epikhodov comes, a man with whom something constantly happens and who is nicknamed “thirty-three misfortunes.”
Finally the carriages arrive. The house is filled with people, everyone is in pleasant excitement. Everyone talks about their own things. Lyubov Andreevna looks at the rooms and through tears of joy remembers the past. The maid Dunyasha can’t wait to tell the young lady that Epikhodov proposed to her. Anya herself advises Varya to marry Lopakhin, and Varya dreams of marrying Anya to a rich man. The governess Charlotte Ivanovna, a strange and eccentric person, boasts about her amazing dog; the neighbor, the landowner Simeonov-Pishik, asks for a loan of money. The old faithful servant Firs hears almost nothing and mutters something all the time.
Lopakhin reminds Ranevskaya that the estate should soon be sold at auction, the only way out is to divide the land into plots and rent them out to summer residents. Ranevskaya is surprised by Lopakhin’s proposal: how can her beloved wonderful cherry orchard be cut down! Lopakhin wants to stay longer with Ranevskaya, whom he loves “more than his own,” but it’s time for him to leave. Gaev makes a welcoming speech to the hundred-year-old “respected” cabinet, but then, embarrassed, he again begins to meaninglessly utter his favorite billiard words.
Ranevskaya does not immediately recognize Petya Trofimov: so he has changed, turned ugly, the “dear student” has turned into an “eternal student.” Lyubov Andreevna cries, remembering her little drowned son Grisha, whose teacher was Trofimov.
Gaev, left alone with Varya, tries to talk about business. There is a rich aunt in Yaroslavl, who, however, does not love them: after all, Lyubov Andreevna did not marry a nobleman, and she did not behave “very virtuously.” Gaev loves his sister, but still calls her “vicious,” which displeases Anya. Gaev continues to build projects: his sister will ask Lopakhin for money, Anya will go to Yaroslavl - in a word, they will not allow the estate to be sold, Gaev even swears by it. The grumpy Firs finally takes the master, like a child, to bed. Anya is calm and happy: her uncle will arrange everything.
Lopakhin never ceases to persuade Ranevskaya and Gaev to accept his plan. The three of them had breakfast in the city and, on their way back, stopped in a field near the chapel. Just now, here, on the same bench, Epikhodov tried to explain himself to Dunyasha, but she had already preferred the young cynical lackey Yasha to him. Ranevskaya and Gaev don’t seem to hear Lopakhin and are talking about completely different things. Without convincing the “frivolous, unbusinesslike, strange” people of anything, Lopakhin wants to leave. Ranevskaya asks him to stay: “it’s still more fun” with him.
Anya, Varya and Petya Trofimov arrive. Ranevskaya starts a conversation about a “proud man.” According to Trofimov, there is no point in pride: a rude, unhappy person should not admire himself, but work. Petya condemns the intelligentsia, who are incapable of work, those people who philosophize importantly, and treat men like animals. Lopakhin enters the conversation: he works “from morning to evening,” dealing with large capitals, but he is becoming more and more convinced how few decent people there are around. Lopakhin doesn’t finish speaking, Ranevskaya interrupts him. In general, everyone here does not want and does not know how to listen to each other. There is silence, in which the distant sad sound of a broken string can be heard.
Soon everyone disperses. Left alone, Anya and Trofimov are glad to have the opportunity to talk together, without Varya. Trofimov convinces Anya that one must be “above love”, that the main thing is freedom: “all of Russia is our garden,” but in order to live in the present, one must first atone for the past through suffering and labor. Happiness is close: if not they, then others will definitely see it.
The twenty-second of August arrives, trading day. It was on this evening, completely inopportunely, that a ball was being held at the estate, and a Jewish orchestra was invited. Once upon a time, generals and barons danced here, but now, as Firs complains, both the postal official and the station master “don’t like to go.” Charlotte Ivanovna entertains guests with her tricks. Ranevskaya anxiously awaits her brother's return. The Yaroslavl aunt nevertheless sent fifteen thousand, but it was not enough to redeem the estate.
Petya Trofimov “calms” Ranevskaya: it’s not about the garden, it’s over long ago, we need to face the truth. Lyubov Andreevna asks not to judge her, to have pity: after all, without the cherry orchard, her life loses its meaning. Every day Ranevskaya receives telegrams from Paris. At first she tore them right away, then - after reading them first, now she no longer tears them. “This wild man,” whom she still loves, begs her to come. Petya condemns Ranevskaya for her love for “a petty scoundrel, a nonentity.” Angry Ranevskaya, unable to restrain herself, takes revenge on Trofimov, calling him a “funny eccentric”, “freak”, “clean”: “You have to love yourself... you have to fall in love!” Petya tries to leave in horror, but then stays and dances with Ranevskaya, who asked him for forgiveness.
Finally, a confused, joyful Lopakhin and a tired Gaev appear, who, without saying anything, immediately goes home. The cherry orchard was sold, and Lopakhin bought it. The “new landowner” is happy: he managed to outbid the rich man Deriganov at the auction, giving ninety thousand on top of his debt. Lopakhin picks up the keys thrown on the floor by the proud Varya. Let the music play, let everyone see how Ermolai Lopakhin “takes an ax to the cherry orchard”!
Anya consoles her crying mother: the garden has been sold, but there is a whole life ahead. There will be a new garden, more luxurious than this, “quiet, deep joy” awaits them...
The house is empty. Its inhabitants, having said goodbye to each other, leave. Lopakhin is going to Kharkov for the winter, Trofimov is returning to Moscow, to the university. Lopakhin and Petya exchange barbs. Although Trofimov calls Lopakhin a “beast of prey,” necessary “in the sense of metabolism,” he still loves his “tender, subtle soul.” Lopakhin offers Trofimov money for the trip. He refuses: no one should have power over the “free man”, “in the forefront of moving” to the “highest happiness”.
Ranevskaya and Gaev even became happier after selling the cherry orchard. Previously they were worried and suffered, but now they have calmed down. Ranevskaya is going to live in Paris for now with money sent by her aunt. Anya is inspired: a new life is beginning - she will graduate from high school, work, read books, and a “new wonderful world” will open up before her. Suddenly, out of breath, Simeonov-Pishchik appears and instead of asking for money, on the contrary, he gives away debts. It turned out that the British found white clay on his land.
Everyone settled down differently. Gaev says that now he is a bank employee. Lopakhin promises to find a new place for Charlotte, Varya got a job as a housekeeper for the Ragulins, Epikhodov, hired by Lopakhin, remains on the estate, Firs should be sent to the hospital. But still Gaev sadly says: “Everyone is abandoning us... we suddenly became unnecessary.”
There must finally be an explanation between Varya and Lopakhin. Varya has been teased as “Madame Lopakhina” for a long time. Varya likes Ermolai Alekseevich, but she herself cannot propose. Lopakhin, who also speaks highly of Varya, agrees to “end this matter right away.” But when Ranevskaya arranges their meeting, Lopakhin, having never made up his mind, leaves Varya, taking advantage of the first pretext.
“It's time to go! On the road! - with these words they leave the house, locking all the doors. All that remains is old Firs, whom everyone seemed to care about, but whom they forgot to send to the hospital. Firs, sighing that Leonid Andreevich went in a coat and not a fur coat, lies down to rest and lies motionless. The same sound of a broken string is heard. “Silence falls, and you can only hear how far away in the garden an ax is knocking on a tree.”
