The attitude of the characters in the play to the cherry orchard. Was it possible to save the cherry orchard? What are the reasons for the general trouble in the play “The Cherry Orchard”? Portrait description of Ranevskaya from “The Cherry Orchard”

28.10.2020

“The Cherry Orchard” is the last work of A.P. Chekhov, which completed his creative biography, his ideological and artistic quest. This play embodied the new stylistic principles developed by the writer, new techniques for plotting and composition.

Having started work on the play in March 1903, Chekhov sent it to the Art Theater in October, on whose stage the first performance of “The Cherry Orchard” took place on January 17, 1904. The premiere of the play coincided with the writer’s stay in Moscow, his name day and birthday, and the theater actors staged a solemn celebration of their favorite playwright.

Let's consider one of the main images of the play - the image of Ranevskaya.

The action of the play, as the author reports in the very first remark, takes place on the estate of the landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. This is a real “noble nest”, with a cherry orchard surrounded by poplars, with a long alley that “goes straight, like a stretched belt” and “glitters on moonlit nights.”

The cherry orchard is a symbolic image in the play. It brings together very different characters, each of whom has their own idea of him. But the cherry garden will separate all the characters at the end of the play.

The Cherry Orchard as a wonderful home for Ranevskaya exists only in her wonderful past. The memory of childhood and youth is associated with it.

Ranevskaya appears in her house, where she has not been for five years. And this is her last, farewell visit to her homeland. The heroine comes from abroad, from a man who robbed her, but whom she still loves very much. At home, Ranevskaya thought to find peace. Nature itself in the play seems to remind her of the need for spiritual renewal, of beauty, of the happiness of human life.

Ranevskaya, devastated by love, returns to her estate in the spring. In the cherry orchard there are “white masses of flowers,” starlings are singing, and the blue sky is shining above the garden. Nature is preparing for renewal - and hopes for a new, clean, bright life awaken in Ranevskaya’s soul: “All, all white! O my garden! After a dark, unhappy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the angels of heaven have not abandoned you. If only I could take the heavy stone off my chest and shoulders, if only I could forget my past!”

But the past does not allow itself to be forgotten, since Ranevskaya herself lives with a sense of the past. She is the creation of a noble culture, which before our eyes disappears from the present, remaining only in memories. In its place is a new class, new people - the emerging bourgeois, businessmen, ready to do anything for money. Both Ranevskaya and the garden are defenseless against the threat of death and ruin. When Lopakhin offers her the only real way to save the house, Ranevskaya replies: “Dachas and summer residents - it’s so vulgar, I’m sorry.”

It turns out that, on the one hand, Ranevskaya does not want to cut down the garden, since it is a symbol of her happy youth, her aspirations and hopes. Yes, besides, the garden in the spring is simply magnificent in its bloom - it would be a pity to cut down such beauty because of some dachas. But, on the other hand, the author shows us Ranevskaya’s indifference to both the fate of the cherry orchard and the fate of loved ones. All her spiritual strength and energy were absorbed by love passion, which gradually enslaved the will of this woman and drowned out her natural responsiveness to the joys and troubles of the people around her.

Emphasizing Ranevskaya's feeling of indifference, Chekhov shows us the heroine's attitude towards telegrams from Paris. This attitude is directly dependent on the degree of threat hanging over the garden. In the first act, while they are only talking about the possibility of a sale, Ranevskaya “tears up the telegram without reading it.” In the second act, the buyer is already known - Ranevskaya reads and tears up the telegram. In the third act, an auction took place - she admits that she decided to go to Paris to the man who robbed her and abandoned her. In Paris, Ranevskaya is going to live on the money that her grandmother sent to buy the estate.

The heroine completely forgot all the insults caused to her by her former lover. In Russia, she leaves everyone to their fate. Varya, Ranevskaya's adopted daughter, is forced to become a housekeeper for the Ragulins. Lyubov Andreevna does not care at all about her fate, although she made an attempt to marry Varya to Lopakhin. But this attempt was unsuccessful.

Ranevskaya is impractical, selfish, careless. She forgets about Firs, the servant who worked for them all his life. She does not suit the life of her daughters - neither Anya nor Varya, forgetting about them in the heat of her passion. It is unknown on what whim Ranevskaya is throwing a ball while auctions are going on in the city, although she herself understands the inappropriateness of what is happening: “And the musicians came at the wrong time, and we started the ball at the wrong time... Well, nothing... (Sits down and quietly cries) "

But, at the same time, the heroine is kind, responsive, and her sense of beauty does not fade. She is ready to help everyone, ready to give her last money. So, Ranevskaya gives the last gold piece to the drunkard. But this also shows its impracticality. She knows that at home Varya feeds everyone with milk soup and the servants with peas. But this is the nature of this heroine.

The image of Ranevskaya is very contradictory; it is impossible to say whether she is good or bad. In the play, this image is not assessed unambiguously, since it is a living, complex and contradictory character.

Essay by Chekhov A.P. - The Cherry Orchard

Topic: - Funny and tragic in Ranevskaya

(based on A. P. Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”)

The play “The Cherry Orchard,” like all of Chekhov’s dramas in general, is permeated by an atmosphere of general trouble, loneliness and unhappiness. So Ranevskaya, like many other Chekhov heroes, is unlucky. The writer sympathizes with his heroine, because she is losing not just a garden - she is losing everything dear to her that was in her life. And the drama of Ranevskaya is not in her economic bankruptcy - at the very beginning of the play she has an excellent option for economic prosperity, proposed by Lopakhin: to rent out the garden for dachas, but she refuses this saving solution. And all because the main drama of her existence is deeper than elementary ruin. Money cannot improve her situation; her life, which is fading away, cannot be restored. Ranevskaya, like the other heroes of “The Cherry Orchard,” experiences subjective dissatisfaction with her own life, which passes awkwardly and awkwardly, bringing neither joy nor happiness. She feels the temporary nature of her stay in this world: old foundations are disintegrating both in the souls of people and outside, and new ones have not yet been born. That’s why Lopakhin’s words addressed to Ranevskaya sound so sad and despondent: “Why, why didn’t you listen to me? My poor, good one, you won’t get it back now.”

Indeed, in Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, Chekhov openly ridicules frivolity and emptiness of interests. Striving to live easily and beautifully, she sees nothing around her except love interests. Outwardly she is simple, charming, kind, but in essence she turns out to be a selfish person. Accustomed to wasting money, she orders Lopakhin to give her money. While the servants in her own house are starving, she gives out large alms to strangers or arranges a ball that no one needs, despite the fact that she has nothing to pay her debts with. She takes care of Firs, ordering him to be sent to the hospital, but he is forgotten in the boarded-up house. She is saddened by the sale of the estate, speaks of love for her homeland, easily interrupting her words with the remark: “However, you need to drink coffee.” In addition, she openly rejoices at the possibility of leaving for Paris. The heroine's sudden mood changes are unexpected: she moves from tears to fun. All this causes laughter, but laughter, indeed, through tears. Her disregard for maternal feelings also deserves reproach: her daughter remained in the care of a careless uncle for five years.

The contradictory nature of Ranevskaya is also reflected in her speech. Her language combines sensitivity, sincerity and mannerisms. Her speech is rich in poetic comparisons and metaphors. She likes to use words with diminutive suffixes: “dear student”, “little tree”, “darling”, “cabinet”, “my table”.

Showing that in Ranevskaya one can feel the echoes of the wonderful traditions of spiritual culture, A.P. Chekhov still strictly judges his heroine, ultimately placing the death of the cherry orchard on her conscience. Thus, the author conveys in his work the idea of a person’s personal responsibility for the choice of life position and, in general, for the fate of beauty in the world.

Ranevskaya in the system of images of Chekhov's heroines

The play “The Cherry Orchard” became A.P.’s swan song. Chekhov, occupying the stage of world theaters for many years. The success of this work was due not only to its themes, which are controversial to this day, but also to the images that Chekhov created. For him, the presence of women in his works was very important: “Without a woman, a story is like a car without steam,” he wrote to one of his friends. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the role of women in society began to change. The image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” became a vivid caricature of Anton Pavlovich’s emancipated contemporaries, whom he observed in large numbers in Monte Carlo.

Chekhov carefully worked out each female character: facial expressions, gestures, manners, speech, because through them he conveyed an idea of the character and feelings possessing the heroines. The appearance and name also contributed to this.

The image of Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna has become one of the most controversial, and this was largely due to the actresses playing this role. Chekhov himself wrote that: “It’s not difficult to play Ranevskaya, you just need to take the right tone from the very beginning...”.

Her image is complex, but there are no contradictions in it, since she is faithful to her internal logic of behavior.

Ranevskaya's life story

The description and characterization of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is given through her story about herself, from the words of other characters and the author’s remarks. Acquaintance with the central female character begins literally from the first lines, and Ranevskaya’s life story is revealed in the very first act. Lyubov Andreevna returned from Paris, where she lived for five years, and this return was caused by the urgent need to resolve the issue of the fate of the estate, which was put up for auction for debts.

Lyubov Andreevna married “a lawyer at law, a non-nobleman...”, “who only made debts,” and also “drank terribly” and “died from champagne.” Was she happy in this marriage? Unlikely. After the death of her husband, Ranevskaya “unfortunately” fell in love with another. But her passionate romance did not last long. Her young son died tragically, and feeling guilty, Lyubov Andreevna goes abroad forever. However, her lover followed her “ruthlessly, rudely,” and after several years of painful passions, “he robbed... abandoned, got in touch with someone else,” and she, in turn, tries to poison herself. Seventeen-year-old daughter Anya comes to Paris to pick up her mother. Oddly enough, this young girl partially understands her mother and feels sorry for her. Throughout the play, the daughter's sincere love and affection is visible. Having stayed in Russia for only five months, Ranevskaya, immediately after selling the estate, taking the money intended for Anya, returns to Paris to her lover.

Characteristics of Ranevskaya

On the one hand, Ranevskaya is a beautiful woman, educated, with a subtle sense of beauty, kind and generous, who is loved by those around her, but her shortcomings border on vice and therefore are so noticeable. “She's a good person. Easy, simple,” says Lopakhin. He sincerely loves her, but his love is so unobtrusive that no one knows about it. Her brother says almost the same thing: “She is good, kind, nice...” but she is “vicious. You can feel it in her slightest movement.” Absolutely all the characters speak about her inability to manage money, and she herself understands this very well: “I have always wasted money without restraint, like crazy...”; “...she has nothing left. And mom doesn’t understand!” says Anya, “My sister is not yet accustomed to wasting money,” Gaev echoes her. Ranevskaya is used to living without denying herself pleasures, and if her family is trying to reduce their expenses, then Lyubov Andreevna simply cannot do it, she is ready to give her last money to a random passer-by, although Varya has nothing to feed her household.

At first glance, Ranevskaya’s experiences are very deep, but if you pay attention to the author’s remarks, it becomes clear that this is only an appearance. For example, while excitedly waiting for her brother to return from the auction, she hums a lezginka song. And this is a vivid example of her entire being. She seems to distance herself from unpleasant moments, trying to fill them with actions that can bring positive emotions. The phrase characterizing Ranevskaya from “The Cherry Orchard”: “You shouldn’t deceive yourself, you need to look the truth straight in the eyes at least once in your life,” suggests that Lyubov Andreevna is divorced from reality, stuck in her own world.

“Oh, my garden! After a dark, stormy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not abandoned you...” - with these words Ranevskaya greets the garden after a long separation, a garden without which she “does not understand her life,” with which she is inextricably her childhood and youth are connected. And it seems that Lyubov Andreevna loves her estate and cannot live without it, but she does not try to make any attempts to save it, thereby betraying him. For most of the play, Ranevskaya hopes that the issue with the estate will be resolved by itself, without her participation, although it is her decision that is the main one. Although Lopakhin's proposal is the most realistic way to save him. The merchant has a presentiment of the future, saying that it is quite possible that “the summer resident ... will take up farming, and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious,” because at the moment the garden is in a neglected state, and does not bring any benefit or profit to its owners .

For Ranevskaya, the cherry orchard meant her inextricable connection with the past and her ancestral attachment to the Motherland. She is a part of him, just as he is a part of her. She realizes that the sale of the garden is an inevitable payment for her past life, and this is evident in her monologue about sins, in which she realizes them and takes them upon herself, asking the Lord not to send great trials, and the sale of the estate becomes their kind of atonement: “My nerves better... I sleep well.”

Ranevskaya is an echo of a cultural past that is thinning literally before our eyes and disappearing from the present. Well aware of the destructiveness of her passion, realizing that this love is pulling her to the bottom, she returns to Paris, knowing that “this money will not last long.”

Against this background, love for daughters looks very strange. An adopted daughter, who dreams of joining a monastery, gets a job as a housekeeper for her neighbors, since she does not have at least a hundred rubles to donate, and her mother simply does not attach any importance to this. Her own daughter Anya, left at the age of twelve in the care of a careless uncle, is very worried about her mother’s future on the old estate and is saddened by the imminent separation. “...I will work, help you...” says a young girl who is not yet familiar with life.

The further fate of Ranevskaya is very unclear, although Chekhov himself said that: “Only death can calm down such a woman.”

Characteristics of the image and description of the life of the heroine of the play will be useful to 10th grade students when preparing an essay on the topic “The Image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” by Chekhov.”

Work test

Ranevskaya in the system of images of Chekhov's heroines

Her image is complex, but there are no contradictions in it, since she is faithful to her internal logic of behavior.

Ranevskaya's life story

Characteristics of Ranevskaya

The further fate of Ranevskaya is very unclear, although Chekhov himself said that: “Only death can calm down such a woman.”

Work test

"is very multifaceted and ambiguous. The depth and imagery of the characters amaze with their uniqueness. No less surprising is the artistic burden placed on the landscape, thanks to which the play received its name. Chekhov's landscape is not only a background; the cherry orchard, in my opinion, represents one of the main characters.

The Cherry Orchard is a secluded, quiet corner, dear to the heart of everyone who grew up and lives here. He is handsome, handsome with that calm, sweet, cozy beauty that so attracts a person to his home. nature has always had an influence on the souls and hearts of people, if, of course, their soul is still alive and their heart has not hardened.

The heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” Ranevskaya, Gaev and everyone whose life was connected with the cherry orchard for a long time love it: the gentle, subtle beauty of flowering cherry trees left an indelible mark on their souls. The entire action of the play takes place against the backdrop of this garden. The Cherry Orchard is always invisibly present on the stage: they talk about its fate, they try to save it, they argue about it, they philosophize about it, they dream about it, they remember it.

“After all, I was born here,” says Ranevskaya, “my father and mother, my grandfather lived here, I love this house, without the cherry orchard I don’t understand my life, and if you really need to sell, then sell me along with the orchard. ..”

For Ranevskaya and Gaev, the cherry orchard is an integral part of the family nest, their small homeland, where they spent their childhood and youth, here their best dreams and hopes were born and died out, the cherry orchard became a part of them. The sale of the cherry orchard symbolizes the end of their aimlessly lived life, from which only bitter memories remain. These people, who have subtle spiritual qualities, are well developed and educated, cannot preserve their cherry orchard, the best part of their life,

Anya and Trofimov also grew up in the cherry orchard, but they are still very young, full of vitality and energy, so they leave the cherry orchard with ease and joy.

Another hero, Ermolai Lopakhin, looks at the garden from the point of view of “circulation of business.” He busily suggests that Ranevskaya and Gaev divide the estate into summer cottages and cut down the garden.

While reading the play, you begin to become imbued with the concerns of its characters and worry about the fate of the cherry orchard itself. The question inevitably arises: why is the cherry orchard dying? Was it really impossible to do at least something to save the garden, which is so dear to the characters in the work? Chekhov gives a direct answer to this: it is possible. The whole tragedy lies in the fact that the owners of the garden are not capable of this due to their character; they either live in the past, or are too frivolous and indifferent to the future.

Ranevskaya and Gaev worry not so much about the judge of the cherry orchard, but about their own unfulfilled dreams and aspirations. They talk much more about their experiences, but when the cherry orchard is resolved, they easily and quickly return to their usual way of life and their real concerns.

Anya and Trofimov are completely focused on the future, which seems bright and carefree to them. For them, the cherry orchard is an unwanted burden that must be gotten rid of in order to plant a new, progressive cherry orchard in the future.

Lopakhin perceives the cherry garden as an object of his business interests, an opportunity to make a profitable deal, the fate of the garden itself does not bother him. For all his penchant for poetry, business and benefit come first for him.

So who is to blame for the loss of the cherry orchard? The answer is simple and categorical - all the characters are to blame. The inaction of some, the frivolity and indifference of others - this is the reason for the death of the garden. From the very beginning, it is clear that in the image of a dying garden, Chekhov brings out the old noble Russia and asks the reader the same question: who is to blame for the fact that the old society, the old way of life is becoming a thing of the past under the pressure of new business people? The answer is still the same - indifference and inaction of society.