Topic:

Themes of The Cherry Orchard

Name:
Shahid Iqbal
Roll No:
2113
Class:
BS English
Semester:
6th Evening
Course Title:
Russian Literature
Submitted To:
Sir Riaz Qadri

Govt. Graduate College Samanabad

Faisalabad

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The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

About Author:

Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright, a writer of short stories, and one of the

most prominent dramatists in theater history. He was born in Taganrog, a bustling

port in southern Russia. The third of six children, his family were once serfs, but his

grandfather managed to purchase their freedom. Only a year after Chekhov's birth,

Russian peasants were emancipated and the feudal system was abolished. Still,

Chekhov was weighed down by the class status of his family. His father was a

merchant and was often physically abusive to his family. Eventually, his father went

bankrupt, and Anton became financially responsible for his family. He wrote

vignettes about Russian street life to support himself while also pursuing a medical

degree. At the time, Russia was so socially stratified that there were no successful

writers of his class; Chekhov became the only great Russian writer of the 19th

century from the peasant class.

In 1887, Chekhov was commissioned to write a play, Ivanov. In 1895, he wrote The

Seagull, which was a failure: after it ended, the audience booed, and Chekhov

renounced theater. In 1898, however, the play was revived by Stanislavski's

Moscow Art Theatre, to great critical acclaim. This launched Chekhov's career as a

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playwright, and Stanislavski would go on to produce Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Three

Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard.

In 1901, Chekhov married Russian actress Olga Knipper, who had acted in many of

his plays in Moscow. Their marriage lasted only three years: Chekhov died of

tuberculosis in 1904. That same year, his final play, The Cherry Orchard, premiered

to great acclaim. Posthumously, Chekhov became a Russian literary celebrity on par

with Tolstoy, who was a friend and admirer. Gradually, Chekhov became popular

elsewhere. In the United States, his popularity is linked to the trend of Stanislavski's

school of method acting becoming more popular in the 20th century. There,

Chekhov's approach to psychology and drama greatly influenced the work of many

theater practitioners, including Clifford Odets, Lee Strasberg, and actors like

Marlon Brando. He also influenced non-dramatic writers, such as Raymond Carver

and William Boyd.

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 Themes of The Cherry Orchard

Spiritlessness and Inactivity:

It is among the most highlighted themes of “The Cherry Orchard”. It is not wrong

to say that from start of the play to its end, this theme blows soul in the plot. We

can remember dialogue of Mrs. Ranevsky when she addresses:

“If only this heavy load could be lifted from my heart; if only I could forget my

past!”.

Meaning thereby that she is expecting a miracle, through which problems of her

life should be solved but that never happens. She herself and her daughter along

with her brother want to do nothing to change their condition and eventually their

condition which becomes miserable with the passage of every single second.

Attitude of Mrs. Ranevsky’s offspring, Leonid Gayev and even her stepdaughter’s

attitude towards life and work is full of passivity as well as indolence. It has become

a routine life for them to do nothing. It is because they have never done anything

in their lives neither when they were teenagers nor when they become young and

grew old.

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The most prominent lady of the play, on whom the attitude of other characters is

dependent, has intended not to do anything and to stop “The Cherry Orchard” from

being auctioned. In this way, the play ends before climax because of the

spiritlessness of Mr. Ranevsky.

Traditional Behavior of Mrs. Ranvesky:

Although we feel from her behavior that she is not doing anything to change her

fate yet there is something which she is doing; she willfully and happily goes for

classy dinners, gifts expensive things to her near and dear ones and even lends

money to her neighbors knowingly that she herself is in debt. There is something

further that she does very perfectly; she creates her own imaginary happiness,

spending money on irrelevant things. She does not take precautionary measures

even when her estate is going to collapse. It is another reason due to which she

eventually falls from prosperity to adversity, which gives the play “The Cherry

Orchard” an important theme, which must be added at first in the list of themes of

“The Cherry Orchard”.

Resistance to Change:

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It has been said since long that change is the law of nature. Time has proved that

things do not remain consistent yet this fact does not effect on Ranevsky’s family.

In Russia, people are finding new ways of earning but this stubborn family creates

resistance in change. Lopakhin gives the best idea, through which auction

proceedings might be stopped, however, everyone rejects his idea of cutting The

Cherry Orchard and splitting the land into small plots. Suggestion of this new

business man was ignored which shows that “Resistance to Change” and not to go

with the flow are the most important themes of “The Cherry Orchard”.

It is not the case that Mrs. Ranevsky expresses strong opinion when she rejects the

very idea of Lopakhin. She just considers “The Cherry Orchard” as the most

beautiful thing in Russia, however, at the end neither she could save her estate nor

the orchard. Audience can clearly listen trees cutting noise at the end of play when

Mrs. Ranevsky along with her family leaves her estate. Besides Mrs. Ranevsky

family, many other landowners of Russia could not save their estates and went in

debt while fighting with revolution.

Difference between appearance and reality

Mrs. Ranevsky and her forefathers were living in the estate of The Cherry Orchard

since long. Apparently it seems to us that they are wealthy as they are still living

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luxurious lives but it is not true at all, hence, it is one of the major themes of “The

Cherry Orchard” i.e. the appearance and reality. We can see only apparent wealth

of Mrs. Ranevsky but Lopakhin is the one who is the wealthiest person among all

of them. He is no more a serf like his forefathers. Revolution is not only a blessing

but a miracle for him.

Apparent wealthy family, on the other hand, is going to destitute. They are just

existing in that class, which is not further theirs. Maintaining social status in the

vicinity does not give them any benefit. In the dynamic societal conditions of Russia,

in which the “Cherry Orchard” takes place, we found appearance and reality as two

other themes of this play. Wealth is apparent for Ranevsky family whereas in reality

Lopakhin is the real wealthy person.

Freewill and results:

If it is not enough then Freewill and result are two other themes of “The Cherry

Orchard”. Everyone in the play, including Lopakhin, was free to decide what to do.

If estate of Mrs. Ranevsky has been auctioned it is none else but her own fault.

Lopakhin worked hard and becomes at the end wealthy businessman of Russia.

Anton Chekhov though marked this play a pure comedy yet it is more than that. He

has given everyone a message; if one wants success, he must do something to get

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it. Nothing is free. It is on a person weather he spends his whole life blaming nature

and fate or he does something to change his condition.

Lopakhin had the option of buying “The Cherry Orchard” and he does so with his

freewill. Mrs. Ranevsky had the freewill to waste her time and money and she also

keep doing so. Both of them though were opposite to each other but they had

freewill and their choices decided their fates.

Classes Conflicts and Socialism

Anton Chekhov has portrayed two major classes in this play. One is the elite class

and second is the lower class. Critics are of the view that middle class has also been

portrayed but its depiction is very rare. Mrs. Ranevsky belongs to wealthy class of

landlords and Lopakhin belongs to the lowest class of serfs. However, one major

character in the play is Yasha, and second to his opposite is Firs. Mindsets of both

these persons are conflicting. First wants back old days of his life. He wants life

before revolution, nonetheless Yasha accepts revolution. Similarly, Lopakhin is

more stable then Ranevsky family but still the family does not admit him equal.

That was the indifferent attitude of wealthy class towards serfs as a result serfs

wanted independence which they got at the end.

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In addition, some other prominent themes of The Cherry Orchard are disclosed

when Mr. Ranevsky feels that there is no way to get rid of this problem and her

family could not be able to find any path to survive in changing atmosphere of

Russia. New emerging social class of Russia such like Lopakhin finds new ways of

earning profit and always searches for inner satisfaction even from those who once

ordered people like Lopakhin to work.

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