The play " The Cherry Orchard"became A.P.'s swan song. Chekhov, taking on long years the stage of world theaters. 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 quantities in Monte Carlo.
Chekhov carefully worked out each female image: 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 true 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. Getting to know 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 shining example 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 real way 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 on this moment The garden is in a neglected state, and does not bring any benefit or benefit 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.”
To understand Chekhov’s perception of the nobility, it is necessary to consider the characterization of Gaev in the play “The Cherry Orchard,” the brother of the main character, practically Ranevskaya’s double, but less significant. Therefore on the list characters he is designated "Ranevskaya's brother", although he is older than her and has as many rights to the estate as his sister.
Gaev Leonid Andreevich is a landowner, “who spent his fortune on candy,” leading an idle lifestyle, but it is strange to him that the garden is being sold for debts. He is already 51 years old, but he has neither a wife nor children. He lives in an old estate, which is being destroyed before his eyes, under the tutelage of the old lackey Firs. However, it is Gaev who is always trying to borrow money from someone in order to cover at least the interest on his and his sister’s debts. And his options for repaying all the loans are more like pipe dreams: “It would be nice to receive an inheritance from someone, it would be nice to marry our Anya to a very rich man, it would be nice to go to Yaroslavl and try his luck with the aunt countess...”
The image of Gaev in the play “The Cherry Orchard” became a caricature of the nobility as a whole. All negative sides Ranevskaya found an uglier attitude in her brother, thereby further emphasizing the comedy of what was happening. Unlike Ranevskaya, Gaev's description is mainly in stage directions, which reveal his character through actions, while the characters say very little about him.
Very little is said about Gaev's past. But it is clear that he is an educated man who knows how to express his thoughts in beautiful but empty speeches. He lived all his life on his estate, a regular at men's clubs, where he indulged in his favorite pastime, playing billiards. He brought all the news from there and there he received an offer to become a bank employee, with an annual salary of six thousand. However, for those around him it was very surprising, the sister says: “Where are you!” Sit already...” Lopakhin also expresses doubts: “But he won’t sit still, he’s very lazy...”. The only person who believes him is his niece Anya “I believe you uncle!”. What caused such distrust and, in some ways, even disdainful attitude on the part of others? After all, even the lackey Yasha shows his disrespect for him.
As has already been said, Gaev is an empty talker; at the most inopportune moments he can launch into a rant, so that everyone around him is simply lost and asks him to remain silent. Leonid Andreevich himself understands this, but it is part of his nature. He is also very infantile, unable to defend his point of view, and cannot really formulate it. He so often has nothing substantive to say that he constantly sounds favorite word“Whom” and completely inappropriate billiard terms appear. Firs still follows his master like a little child, either shaking the dust off his trousers, or bringing him a warm coat, and for a fifty-year-old man there is nothing shameful in such care, he even goes to bed under the sensitive gaze of his lackey. Firs is sincerely attached to the owner, but even Gaev in the finale of the play “The Cherry Orchard” forgets about his devoted servant. He loves his nieces and his sister. But he was never able to become the head of a family in which he was the only man left, and he cannot help anyone, since it doesn’t even occur to him. All this shows how shallow the feelings of this hero are.
For Gaev, the cherry orchard means as much as it does for Ranevskaya, but, like her, she is not ready to accept Lopakhin’s offer. After all, dividing the estate into plots and renting them out is “off”, largely because it will bring them closer to such businessmen as Lopakhin, but for Leonid Andreevich this is unacceptable, since he considers himself a true aristocrat, looking down on such merchants. Having returned in a depressed state from the auction at which the estate was sold, Gaev has only tears in his eyes, and as soon as he hears the blows of the cue on the balls, they dry up, once again proving that deep emotions are simply not characteristic of him.
Gaev closed the chain consisting of images of nobles created by Chekhov throughout his creative life. He created “heroes of his time,” aristocrats with an excellent education, unable to defend their ideals, and it was this weakness that allowed people like Lopakhin to occupy a dominant position. In order to show how small the nobles had become, Anton Pavlovich understated the image of Gaev as much as possible, bringing him to the point of caricature. Many representatives of the aristocracy were very critical of this depiction of their class, accusing the author of ignorance of their circle. But Chekhov didn’t even want to create a comedy, but a farce, and he succeeded.
The fate of Lopakhin, Ermolai Alekseevich from the very beginning is closely intertwined with the fate of the Ranevskaya family. His father was a serf to Ranevskaya’s father, and traded “in a shop in the village.” One day, Lopakhin recalls in the first act, his father drank and broke his face. Then young Ranevskaya took him to her place, washed him and consoled him: “Don’t cry, little man, he’ll heal before the wedding.” Lopakhin still remembers these words, and they resonate in him in two ways. On the one hand, he is pleased by Ranevskaya’s affection, on the other, the word “peasant” hurts his pride. It was his father who was a man, Lopakhin protests, and he himself “made it into the people” and became a merchant. He has a lot of money, “a white vest and yellow shoes” - and he achieved all this himself. His parents didn’t teach him anything, his father only beat him when he was drunk. Remembering this, the hero admits that, in essence, he remained a peasant: his handwriting is bad, and he doesn’t understand anything about books - “he read a book and fell asleep.”
Lopakhin's energy and hard work deserves undoubted respect. From five o'clock he is already on his feet, works from morning to evening and cannot imagine his life without work. An interesting detail is that because of his activities, he always lacks time; some business trips he goes on are constantly mentioned. This character in the play looks at his watch more often than others. In contrast to the amazingly impractical Ranevskaya family, he knows the score of both time and money.
At the same time, Lopakhin cannot be called a money-grubber or an unprincipled “grabber merchant”, like those merchants whose images Ostrovsky loved to paint. This can be evidenced at least by the ease with which he parted with his money. During the course of the play, Lopakhin will give or offer to lend money more than once (remember the dialogue with Petya Trofimov and eternal debtor Simeonov-Pishchik). And most importantly, Lopakhin is sincerely worried about the fate of Ranevskaya and her estate. The merchants from Ostrovsky's plays would never do what comes to Lopakhin's mind - he himself offers Ranevskaya a way out of the situation. But the profit that can be made by renting out a cherry orchard for summer cottages is not small at all (Lopakhin calculates it himself). And it would be much more profitable to wait until the day of the auction and secretly buy a profitable estate. But no, the hero is not like that, he will more than once invite Ranevskaya to think about her fate. Lopakhin is not trying to buy a cherry orchard. “I teach you every day,” he says to Ranevskaya in despair shortly before the auction. And it’s not his fault that in response he will hear the following: dachas are “so vulgar”, Ranevskaya will never agree to this. But let him, Lopakhin, not leave, it’s “still more fun” with him...
Characteristics of Lopakhin through the eyes of other characters
So, before us appears an extraordinary character, in which business acumen and a practical mind are combined with sincere affection for the Ranevsky family, and this attachment, in turn, contradicts his desire to profit from their estate. To get a more accurate idea of the image of Lopakhin in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” let’s look at how the other characters speak about him. The range of these reviews will be wide - from “the enormous mind of a person” (Simeonov-Pishchik) to “a predatory beast that eats everything in its path” (Petya).
A striking negative description belongs to Ranevskaya’s brother, Gaev: “boorish, fist.” Lopakhin is somewhat beautified in Gaev’s eyes by the fact that he is “Varin’s fiancé,” and yet this does not prevent Gaev from considering the merchant a limited person. However, let's see from whose lips such a description of Lopakhin sounds in the play? Lopakhin himself repeats it, and repeats it without malice: “Let him speak.” For him, in his own words, only one thing is important - that Ranevskaya’s “amazing, touching eyes” look at him “as before.”
Ranevskaya herself treats Lopakhin with warmth. For her, he is “a good, interesting person.” And yet, from every phrase of Ranevskaya it is clear that she and Lopakhin are people of different circles. Lopakhin sees in Ranevskaya something more than just an old acquaintance...
Test of love
Throughout the play, every now and then there is a conversation about the marriage of Lopakhin and Varya, this is spoken of as a matter already decided. In response to Ranevskaya’s direct proposal to take Varya as his wife, the hero replies: “I’m not averse... She good girl" And yet the wedding never takes place. But why?
Of course, this can be explained by the practicality of Lopakhin the merchant, who does not want to take a dowry for himself. In addition, Varya has certain rights to the cherry orchard, and her soul cares for it. Cutting down the garden comes between them. Varya explains her failure in love even more simply: in her opinion, Lopakhin simply does not have time for feelings, he is a businessman incapable of love. On the other hand, Varya herself does not suit Lopakhin. Her world is limited by housework, she is dry and “looks like a nun.” Lopakhin more than once demonstrates the breadth of his soul (let us remember his statement about the giants who are so lacking in Rus'). From Varya’s incoherent dialogues with Lopakhin, it becomes clear: they absolutely do not understand each other. And Lopakhin, deciding for himself Hamlet’s question “To be or not to be?”, acts honestly. Realizing that he will not find happiness with Varya, he, like the district Hamlet, says: “Okhmelia, go to the monastery”...
The point, however, is not only the incompatibility of Lopakhin and Varya, but the fact that the hero has another, unexpressed love. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, whom he loves “more than his own.” Throughout the entire play, Lopakhin’s bright, reverent attitude towards Ranevskaya runs as the leitmotif. He decides to propose to Varya after a request from Ranevskaya, but here he cannot overcome himself.
Lopakhin’s tragedy lies in the fact that for Ranevskaya he remained the same little man whom she once carefully washed. And at that moment when he finally understands that the “dear” that he kept in his soul will not be understood, a turning point occurs. All the heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” lose something of their own, cherished - Lopakhin is no exception. Only in the image of Lopakhin does his feeling for Ranevskaya appear as a cherry orchard.
Lopakhin's celebration
And then it happened - Lopakhin acquired Ranevskaya’s estate at auction. Lopakhin is the new owner of the cherry orchard! Now a predatory element really emerges in his character: “I can pay for anything!” The understanding that he bought an estate where he once, “poor and illiterate,” did not dare to go beyond the kitchen, intoxicates him. But in his voice one can hear irony, self-mockery. Apparently, Lopakhin already understands that his triumph will not last long - he can buy a cherry orchard, “there is nothing more beautiful in the world,” but buying a dream is not in his power, it will vanish like smoke. Ranevskaya can still be consoled, because she is, after all, leaving for Paris. And Lopakhin remains alone, understanding this very well. “Goodbye” - that’s all he can say to Ranevskaya, and this absurd word raises Lopakhin to the level of a tragic hero.
Characteristics of Anya and Petya Trofimov
In Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard, Anya and Petya are not the main characters. They are not directly connected with the garden, like other characters, for them it does not play such a significant role, which is why they, in some way, fall out of the general system of characters. However, in the work of a playwright of Chekhov's stature there is no room for accidents; therefore, it is no coincidence that Petya and Anya are isolated. Let's take a closer look at these two heroes.
Among critics, there is a widespread interpretation of the images of Anya and Petya depicted in the play “The Cherry Orchard” as a symbol younger generation Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century; generation, which is replacing the long-outdated “Ranevskys” and “Gayevs”, as well as the “Lopakhins”, creatures of a turning point. In Soviet criticism, this statement was considered undeniable, since the play itself was usually viewed in a strictly defined manner - based on the year of writing (1903), critics associated its creation with social changes and the brewing revolution of 1905. Accordingly, the understanding of the cherry orchard as a symbol of the “old” was affirmed. pre-revolutionary Russia, Ranevskaya and Gaev as images of the “dying away” noble class, Lopakhin - the emerging bourgeoisie, Trofimov - the common intelligentsia. From this point of view, the play was seen as a work about the search for a “savior” for Russia, in which inevitable changes are brewing. Lopakhin, as the bourgeois master of the country, should be replaced by the commoner Petya, full of transformative ideas and aimed at a bright future; the bourgeoisie must be replaced by the intelligentsia, which, in turn, will carry out a social revolution. Anya here symbolizes the “repentant” nobility, which takes an active part in these transformations.
Such a “class approach,” inherited from ancient times, reveals its inconsistency in the fact that many characters do not fit into this scheme: Varya, Charlotte, Epikhodov. We do not find any “class” subtext in their images. In addition, Chekhov was never known as a propagandist, and most likely would not have written such a clearly decipherable play. We should not forget that the author himself defined the genre of “The Cherry Orchard” as a comedy and even a farce - not the most successful form for demonstrating high ideals...
Based on all of the above, it is impossible to consider Anya and Petya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” solely as an image of the younger generation. Such an interpretation would be too superficial. Who are they for the author? What role do they play in his plan?
It can be assumed that the author deliberately brought out two characters not directly related to the main conflict as “outside observers.” They have no vested interest in the auction and the garden, and there is no clear symbolism associated with it. For Anya and Petya Trofimov, the cherry orchard is not a painful attachment. It is the lack of attachment that helps them survive in the general atmosphere of devastation, emptiness and meaninglessness, so subtly conveyed in the play.
The general characterization of Anya and Petya in The Cherry Orchard inevitably includes a love line between the two heroes. The author outlined it implicitly, half-hintly, and it is difficult to say for what purposes he needed this move. Perhaps this is a way to show a collision in the same situation of two qualitatively different characters We see young, naive, enthusiastic Anya, who has not yet seen life and at the same time full of strength and readiness for any transformation. And we see Petya, full of bold, revolutionary ideas, an inspired speaker, a sincere and enthusiastic person, moreover, absolutely inactive, full of internal contradictions, which is why he is absurd and sometimes funny. We can say that the love line brings two extremes together: Anya is a force without a vector, and Petya is a vector without force. Anya's energy and determination are useless without a guide; Petya's passion and ideological spirit inner strength dead.
In conclusion, it can be noted that the images of these two heroes in the play today, unfortunately, are still viewed in a traditional “Soviet” way. There is reason to believe that a fundamentally different approach to the system of characters and Chekhov’s play as a whole will allow us to see many more shades of meaning and will reveal a lot interesting moments. In the meantime, the images of Anya and Petya are waiting for their unbiased critic.
Characteristics of the image of Petya Trofimov
Pyotr Sergeevich Trofimov, or, as everyone calls him, Petya, appears for the first time in the play in a “worn student uniform and glasses.” And already from the hero’s first appearance on stage, two main features become visible in Trofimov’s characterization from The Cherry Orchard. The first is student life, because Petya is a so-called eternal student who has already been expelled from the university several times. And the second feature is his amazing ability to enter inopportunely and get into trouble: everyone rejoices at Petya’s arrival, fearing, however, that the sight of him might awaken painful memories in Ranevskaya. Trofimov was once the teacher of her little son, who soon drowned. Since then, Petya has settled down on the estate.
Hero-commoner
The image of Petya Trofimov in the play “The Cherry Orchard” was conceived as an image positive hero. A commoner, the son of a pharmacist, he is not bound by concerns about the estate or his business and is not attached to anything. Unlike the impractical Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, who is always busy with business, Petya has a unique chance to look at all events from the outside, assessing them impartially. According to Chekhov's original plan, it was Petya and Anya, inspired by his ideas, who should have indicated the resolution of the conflict of the play. Redemption of the past (in particular, the sin of owning living souls, which Trofimov condemns especially harshly) through “extraordinary, continuous labor” and faith in a bright future, in which all of Russia will turn into a blooming cherry orchard. That's how it is life credo Trofimova. But Chekhov would not have been Chekhov if he had allowed himself to introduce such an unambiguously “correct” character into the narrative. No, life is much more complicated than any template, and the image of Trofimov in the play “The Cherry Orchard” once again testifies to this.
“Klutz”: the comic image of Petya Trofimov
It is difficult not to notice the somewhat ironic attitude towards Trofimov, both on the part of the author and on the part of the characters in the play. “Klutz” is what Ranevskaya, who is usually condescending to people, calls Petya, and Lopakhin mockingly adds: “Passion, how smart!” Other definitions applied to this hero further aggravate the picture: “funny freak”, “clean”, “shabby gentleman”... Petya is awkward, ugly (and, according to his own statement, does not want to appear so at all), he has “thin hair ", in addition, he is absent-minded. This description stands in stark contrast to the in a romantic way, which arises after reading his speeches. But these speeches, upon careful analysis, begin to confuse with their categoricalness, moralizing and at the same time - an absolute misunderstanding of the current life situation.
Let us pay attention to the fact that Trofimov’s pathetic speeches are constantly interrupted throughout the play. Either they will knock with an ax, then Epikhodov will play the guitar, then he will call out to Anya Varya, who has listened (this, by the way, will cause genuine indignation in Petya: “This Varya again!”) ... So Chekhov gradually conveys his attitude towards what Petya says: these are not viable things afraid of the manifestations of ordinary life.
Another unpleasant feature in Trofimov is his ability to see “only dirt, vulgarity, Asianness” in everything. Surprisingly, admiration for Russia, its “immense fields and deepest horizons” comes from the lips of the seemingly limited merchant Lopakhin. But Petya talks about “moral impurity”, about bedbugs and only dreams of a bright future, not wanting to see the present. The beauty of the main image-symbol in the play also leaves him indifferent. Trofimov doesn’t like the cherry orchard. Moreover, he does not allow young Anya, whose soul still responds very reverently to beauty, to love him. But for Petya, the garden is exclusively the embodiment of serfdom, which should be gotten rid of as soon as possible. It doesn’t even occur to him that Anya spent her childhood in this garden, that it might hurt her to lose him - no, Petya is completely captivated by his ideas and, as often happens with this kind of dreamer, he doesn’t see the living people behind them.
And what about Petya’s contemptuous statement that he is “above love.” This phrase, with which he wanted to show his superiority, perfectly reveals the opposite - the moral, spiritual underdevelopment of the hero. If he had been an internally holistic, formed personality, he would have been forgiven for his awkwardness and awkwardness, just as illiteracy is forgiven for Lopakhin with a “broad soul.” But Petya’s dryness betrays his moral inconsistency. “You are not above love, but simply, as our Firs says, you are a klutz,” Ranevskaya tells him, who, due to her sensitivity, immediately figured out Petya. It is curious that Petya, who protests against the old way of life and any forms of ownership, nevertheless does not hesitate to live at Ranevskaya’s estate and partly at her expense. He will leave the estate only with its sale, although at the beginning of the play he suggests to Anya to throw the keys to the farm into the well and leave. It turns out that even with his own example, Trofimov is not yet ready to confirm his ideas.
“I will show others the way”...
Of course, Pete also has some nice traits. He himself speaks bitterly about himself: “I’m not yet thirty, I’m young, I’m still a student, but I’ve already endured so much!<…>And yet... I have a presentiment of happiness, Anya, I already see it...” And at this moment, through the mask of the builder of a bright future, real man, willing better life who knows how to believe and dream. His undoubted diligence also deserves respect: Petya works, receives money for translations and consistently refuses the favor offered by Lopakhin: “I am a free man! And everything that you all value so highly and dearly, rich and poor, does not have the slightest power over me, it’s like fluff that floats through the air.” However, the pathetic nature of this statement is somewhat disturbed by the galoshes Varya threw onto the stage: Trofimov lost them and was quite worried about them... The characterization of Petya from “The Cherry Orchard” is essentially all concentrated in these galoshes - all the pettiness and absurdity of the hero is clearly manifested here.
Trofimov is a rather comic character. He himself understands that he is not created for happiness and it will not reach him. But it is he who is entrusted with the important role of showing others “how to get there,” and this makes him indispensable - both in the play and in life.
Characteristics of Vari
In the three-part system of characters in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” Varya is one of the figures symbolizing the present time. Unlike Ranevskaya, her adoptive mother, who cannot break with her past, and her half-sister Anya, who lives in the distant future, Varya is a person completely adequate to the times. This allows her to assess the current situation quite sensibly. Strict and rational, Varya strongly contrasts with most heroes, who are to one degree or another divorced from reality.
As is in principle characteristic of Chekhov’s dramaturgy, the image of Varya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is revealed in her speech. The heroine speaks simply, artlessly - unlike Ranevskaya, who often overloads her speech with complex phrases and metaphors; This is how the author emphasizes Varya’s rationality and pragmatism. An abundance of emotional exclamations and diminutives speak of sensitivity and naivety. But at the same time, Varya does not disdain colloquial and abusive expressions - and here we see folk rudeness, narrow-mindedness and some primitiveness, which reveals in her much more a peasant woman than a noble pupil... “Peasant” practicality, combined with intellectual limitations, can be called Varya’s leading characteristic from “The Cherry Orchard” by Chekhov.
However, she cannot be denied the ability to experience strong feelings. Varya is religious (her cherished dream- go “to the desert”, to become a nun); she is sincerely attached to Ranevskaya and Anya, and the way she experiences her failure with Lopakhin clearly shows that she is not indifferent to her relationship with him. Behind the dramatic image we see a living and original personality. Varya’s description in the play “The Cherry Orchard” cannot be reduced to a short set of epithets - like everyone else Chekhov's characters, even minor ones, it represents a complex and integral image.
Characteristics of Simeonov-Pishchik
At first glance, it seems that the characterization of Simeonov-Pishchik in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” is quite unambiguous: “a klutz,” a comic character through and through. His money troubles, fussiness, and almost peasant simplicity allow us to see in him Lopakhin’s “reduced double.” The buffoonish nature of the image of Simeonov-Pishchik is also confirmed by the fact that he often appears at a tense, dramatic moment, and his ridiculous phrase or trick immediately takes the edge off the situation (see the scene of swallowing all of Ranevskaya’s pills at once and Firs’ subsequent phrase: “They were at we ate half a bucket of cucumbers...", emphasizing the comedy of the situation).
However, it is easy to notice another characteristic feature of this hero: his mobility. He is always on the move, in the literal (travels around friends, borrowing money) and figurative (undertakes various adventures in order to get money) senses. This movement is largely chaotic and irrational, and the hero’s optimism in his situation seems surprising: “I never lose hope. Now, I think, everything is lost, I’m dead, and lo and behold, - Railway passed through my land, and... they paid me. And then, look, something else will happen today or tomorrow.” We can say that the fussy and purposeful Simeonov-Pishchik in The Cherry Orchard is needed precisely for movement, to enliven the scenes played out by the motionless and deeply confused protagonists.
Characteristics of Dunyasha
The characterization of Dunyasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard” can be defined as a mirror image of Ranevskaya, a “reduced double” of the main character - a naive, rustic maid, yesterday’s peasant, while speaking, dressing and behaving “like a young lady”, with a pretense of sophistication. “She became tender, so delicate, noble,” she says about herself. With her behavior and remarks she creates comic effect, based on the inconsistency of her actions with the prescribed role (“I’m going to fall... Oh, I’m going to fall!”). And although this point is also important, the image of Dunyasha in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” is not reduced solely to the comic component.
In the three-part system of characters in the work, Dunyasha refers to the heroes who are in a speculative future. However, her future is not determined as specifically as that of Anya or Trofimov; this is not the chronotope of the “new garden”, the monastery or Paris. Dunyasha’s “future” lies in her dreams; like many young ladies, among whom she counts herself, these are love dreams. Dunyasha lives in anticipation of the “prince,” and this expectation becomes almost an end in itself. When Epikhodov proposes to her, Dunyasha, despite the fact that she “seems to like him,” is in no hurry to agree. Much more important to her is the speculative space of “ideal,” fairy-tale love, a distant hint of which she finds in her “relationship” with the lackey Yasha. Attempts to realize these dreams will lead to their simplification, vulgarization, and will tear Dunyasha out of the sphere of dreams, in which she is most comfortable to be. Like almost all the characters in the play, she not only does not live in the present, but also desperately wants nothing to do with it - and in this she is also a “mirror” of Ranevskaya. By depicting the image of Dunyasha in “The Cherry Orchard,” the author even more clearly emphasized the typical painful gap between the worldview of the play’s heroes and the reality in which they are forced to act.
Characteristics of Charlotte Ivanovna
"This best role, I don’t like the rest” - this is the characterization of Charlotte in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” by the author in his letter. Why was this episodic heroine so important for Chekhov? It's not hard to say.
According to the text of the play, Charlotte does not have any social markers: neither her age, nor her nationality, nor her origin are known either to the viewer or to herself: “I don’t have a real passport, I don’t know how old I am...”; “Who are my parents, maybe they didn’t get married... I don’t know.” It is practically not included in the system of social connections, as well as in the situation that determines main conflict- sale of the estate. In the same way, she is not included in any speculative chronotope of the play - the past in the estate, the present in the dachas, the future in the “beautiful new garden.” She is outside the space of the play and at the same time parallel to it. The position of an outsider also determines two fundamentally important features of Charlotte Ivanovna in The Cherry Orchard. - firstly, absolute loneliness (“I really want to talk, but there’s no one to talk to... I don’t have anyone”), and secondly, absolute freedom. Taking a closer look, you can see that Charlotte’s actions are not subject to any external conditions, but only to her own internal impulses:
“Lopakhin.<…>Charlotte Ivanovna, show me the trick!
Lyubov Andreevna. Charlotte, show me a trick!
Charlotte. No need. I want to sleep. (Leaves).”
The importance of the image of Charlotte in the play “The Cherry Orchard” lies, firstly, in her role as a free outside observer with the right to impartial judgment (Charlotte’s sudden and illogical remarks at first glance, not related to the immediate context) and disobedience to conventions. Secondly, in the depiction of a person whose behavior is not determined by the environment - the “essence” of human essence. And from this point of view, we cannot underestimate this, at first glance, episodic image in the play.
Characteristics of Yasha
In the play “The Cherry Orchard,” Chekhov depicts the traditional life of a noble estate. Along with the landowners, servants were also introduced there - a governess, a maid, a valet and a footman. Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups. Firs and Charlotte are more connected to the estate and are truly devoted to their owners. The meaning of their life is lost when the cherry orchard is cut down. But Dunyasha and Yasha represent the younger generation, whose life is just beginning. The thirst for new life emerges especially clearly in the image of Yasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard.”
Yasha is a young footman brought by Ranevskaya from Paris. His time abroad changed him. Now he dresses differently, knows how to speak “delicately” and present himself as a person who has seen a lot. “You are educated, you can talk about everything,” this is how Dunyasha, who fell in love with him, speaks enthusiastically about Yasha.
But behind the external gloss in the footman Yasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard” there are many vices hidden. Already from the first pages, his ignorance and blind admiration for everything foreign are noticeable (for example, he asks Ranevskaya to take him to Paris again, citing the fact that it is impossible to stay in Russia - “the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, and, moreover, boredom”).
There is one more, much more unpleasant trait in Yasha - spiritual callousness. He does not miss the opportunity to offend a person - he mocks Gaev, declares to Firs: “I'm tired of you, grandfather. I wish you would die soon,” and when his mother comes from the village, he does not want to go to her. Yasha does not hesitate to steal money from his mistress and drink champagne at her expense, although he knows very well that the estate is ruined. Yasha even uses Dunyasha’s love in his own interests, and in response to the girl’s sincere confession he tells her: “If a girl loves someone, then she is immoral.”
“Immoral, ignorant” - this is Yashino’s favorite saying, which he applies to everyone. And these words can serve as the most accurate description of Yasha from Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”
Characteristics of Epikhodov
A clerk who is “offended by fate” is the main characteristic of Epikhodov in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard.” Most often in the work he is defined as an awkward, unlucky person, “twenty-two misfortunes.” Already in his first appearance, he shows this notorious clumsiness: “Epikhodov enters with a bouquet; ... upon entering, he drops the bouquet.”
At the same time, Epikhodov considers himself a “developed” person who reads “various wonderful books.” But he still finds it difficult to express his thoughts. Even the maid Dunyasha notices this: “... sometimes when you start talking, you won’t understand anything.” The solution is simple - trying to express himself “in a bookish way,” Epikhodov builds his statements from “clever” introductory words: “Of course, if you look from your point of view, then you, if I may put it this way, excuse my frankness, have completely brought me into a state of feeling.” .
The image of Epikhodov in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is comical. But the comedy does not lie in the fact that ridiculous incidents happen to Epikhodov all the time. The main problem of the hero is that he constantly complains about fate, sincerely believing himself to be a loser and a victim. So, he envies even Firs, despite the fact that it is “time for him to go to his forefathers.” He came to terms with the order of things, bringing under this Buckle's philosophy of the predestination of life. And anything in Once again breaking, he sighs: “Well, of course,” justifying himself. It turns out that Epikhodov in The Cherry Orchard, like all the other characters, does nothing to change his life. So in the play, with the help of grotesque and symbolism, the main plot line is emphasized.
Characteristics of Firs
The characterization of Firs in Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard is not at all as clear as it might seem. According to the three-part scheme, he undoubtedly belongs to the heroes of the “past”, both in age (Firs is the oldest among the characters, he is eighty-seven years old), and in his views and worldview - he is a staunch supporter of serfdom, and this situation is in fact In fact, it is not as paradoxical as it seems at first glance. Serfdom with his close connection between a peasant and a gentleman, for Firs he embodies an ideal, harmonious system of society, sealed by mutual obligations and responsibility. Firs sees in her the embodiment of reliability and stability. Therefore, the abolition of serfdom becomes a “misfortune” for him: everything that held “his” world together, made it harmonious and integral, is destroyed, and Firs himself, having fallen out of this system, becomes an “extra” element in the new world, a living anachronism. “...everything is fragmented, you won’t understand anything” - with these words he describes the chaos and meaninglessness of what is happening around him that he feels.
Closely connected with this is also the peculiar role of Firs in “The Cherry Orchard” - at the same time the “spirit of the estate”, the keeper of traditions that have not been observed by anyone for a long time, the business manager and “nanny” for the “lordly children” who never grew up - Ranevskaya and Gaev. Thriftiness and “maturity” are emphasized by the very speech of the old servant: “Without me, who will serve here, who will give orders?” - he says with full awareness of the importance of his place in the house. “They put on the wrong trousers again,” he addresses the fifty-year-old “child” Gaev. For all its distance from real life With cultural and social circumstances having long ago changed, Fiers nevertheless comes across as one of the few characters in the play who is capable of rational thought.
The servant heroes in the image system of the play “The Cherry Orchard,” in addition to their own characteristic functions, are also “mirrors” of the masters. However, Firs in this case, rather, an “anti-mirror”: if in the image of Dunyasha one can see an indirect parallel with Ranevskaya, and Yasha is a reflection of the nobility as a whole as a class, then in the image of Firs in the play “The Cherry Orchard” the author emphasizes those features that Gaev and Ranevskaya are deprived of : thoroughness, thriftiness, emotional “adulthood”. Firs appears in the play as the personification of these qualities, which are lacking to varying degrees in almost all the characters.
Everyone in the play is in one way or another connected with the main object around which the conflict unfolds - the cherry orchard. What is the cherry orchard for Firs? For him, this is the same imaginary chronotope as for everyone else, but for the old servant it personifies the “old” life, the “old order” - synonyms of stability, orderliness, a “correctly” functioning world. As an integral part of this world, Firs continues to live there in his memory; with the destruction of the previous system, the death of the old order, he himself, the “spirit of the estate,” dies along with it.
The image of a devoted servant in the play “The Cherry Orchard” differs from similar ones in other works of Russian classics. We can see similar characters, for example, in Pushkin - this is Savelich, a simple-minded, kind and devoted “uncle”, or in Nekrasov - Ipat, a “sensitive serf”. However, the hero of Chekhov's play is more symbolic and multifaceted, and therefore cannot be characterized solely as a “servant” happy with his position. In the play, he is a symbol of time, the keeper of a passing era with all its shortcomings, but also its virtues. As the “spirit of the estate”, he occupies a very important place in the work, which should not be underestimated.
Sources
http://all-biography.ru/books/chehov/vishnyovyj-sad
In the play we are interested in by A.P. Chekhov's system of images is represented by three main groups. Let us briefly consider each of them, after which we will dwell in detail on the image of Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin. This hero of "The Cherry Orchard" can be called the most striking character in the play.
Below is a photo of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, the great Russian playwright, creator of the work that interests us. The years of his life are 1860-1904. For more than a hundred years, various of his plays, especially The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and The Seagull, have been staged in many theaters around the world.
People of the noble era
The first group of characters consists of people from the noble era, which is a thing of the past. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya and Leonid Andreevich Gaev, her brother. These people own a cherry orchard. They are not old at all in age. Gaev is only 51 years old, and his sister is probably 10 years younger than him. It can also be assumed that the image of Varya also belongs to this group. This stepdaughter Ranevskaya. This also includes the image of Firs, the old footman, who is, as it were, part of the house and all the passing life. This is, in general terms, the first group of characters. Of course, this is just a brief description of heroes. "The Cherry Orchard" is a work in which each of these characters plays a role, and each of them is interesting in its own way.
The most active person
Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich, the new owner of the cherry orchard and the entire estate, is very different from these heroes. He can be called the most active person in the work: he is energetic, active, moving steadily towards his intended goal, which is to buy a garden.
Younger generation
The third group is represented by Anya, daughter of Lyubov Andreevna, and Petya Trofimov, who is former teacher Ranevskaya's son, who recently died. Without mentioning them, the characterization of the heroes would be incomplete. "The Cherry Orchard" is a play in which these characters are lovers. However, in addition to the feeling of love, they are also united by their aspiration away from dilapidated values and all old life towards a wonderful future, which in Trofimov’s speeches is depicted as ethereal, although shining.
Relationships between the three groups of characters
In the play, these three groups are not opposed to each other, although they have different concepts, values. The main characters of the play “The Cherry Orchard,” despite all their differences in worldview, love each other, show sympathy, regret the failures of others, and are even ready to help. The main feature that separates them and determines their future life is their attitude towards the cherry orchard. In this case, it is not just part of the estate. This is a certain value, almost an animated face. During the main part of the action, the question of his fate is decided. Therefore, we can say that there is another hero of “The Cherry Orchard”, the suffering one and the most positive one. This is the cherry orchard itself.
The role of minor characters in the play "The Cherry Orchard"
The main characters were introduced in general terms. Let's say a few words about the other participants in the action taking place in the play. They are not just minor characters needed by the plot. These are companion images of the main characters of the work. Each of them carries a certain trait of the main character, but only in an exaggerated form.
Elaboration of characters
The different degrees of character development in the work “The Cherry Orchard” are striking. The main characters: Leonid Gaev, and especially Lyubov Ranevskaya - are given to us in the complexity of their experiences, the combination of sins and spiritual virtues, frivolity and kindness. Petya Trofimov and Anya in to a greater extent intended than depicted.
Lopakhin - the brightest hero of "The Cherry Orchard"
Let us dwell in more detail on the most striking character in the play, who stands apart. This hero of The Cherry Orchard is Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin. According to Chekhov's description, he is a merchant. The author, in letters to Stanislavsky and Knipper, explains that Lopakhin is assigned a central role. He notes that this character is a gentle person, decent in every sense. He must behave intelligently, decently, not petty, without any tricks.
Why did the author believe that Lopakhin’s role in the work was central? Chekhov emphasized that he did not look like a typical merchant. Let's find out what are the motives for the actions of this character, who can be called the killer of the cherry orchard. After all, he was the one who knocked him out.
Peasant past
Ermolai Lopakhin does not forget that he is a man. One phrase was etched in his memory. It was uttered by Ranevskaya, consoling him, then still a boy, after Lopakhin was beaten by his father. Lyubov Andreevna said: “Don’t cry, little man, he’ll heal before the wedding.” Lopakhin cannot forget these words.
The hero we are interested in is tormented, on the one hand, by the awareness of his past, but on the other hand, he is proud that he managed to become one of the people. For the former owners, he is also a person who can become a benefactor and help them unravel a tangle of insoluble problems.
Lopakhin's attitude towards Ranevskaya and Gaev
Every now and then Lopakhin offers Gaev and Ranevskaya various rescue plans. He talks about the possibility of giving the land they own to plots for summer cottages, and cutting down the garden, since it is completely useless. Lopakhin is sincerely upset when he realizes that these heroes of the play “The Cherry Orchard” do not perceive his reasonable words. He cannot comprehend how one can be so careless on the verge of one’s own death. Lopakhin directly says that he has never met such frivolous, strange, unbusinesslike people as Gaev and Ranevskaya (heroes of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard). There is not a shadow of deceit in his desire to help them. Lopakhin is extremely sincere. Why does he want to help his former masters?
Perhaps because he remembers what Ranevskaya did for him. He tells her that he loves her like his own. Unfortunately, the good deed of this heroine remains outside the play. However, one can guess that due to her nobility and gentle character, Ranevskaya respected Lopakhin and pitied him. In a word, she behaved like a real aristocrat - noble, cultured, kind, generous. Perhaps it is precisely the awareness of such an ideal of humanity, its inaccessibility, that forces this hero to commit such contradictory actions.
Ranevskaya and Lopakhin are the two centers in the work "The Cherry Orchard". The images of the heroes described by the author are very interesting. The plot develops in such a way that the interpersonal relationships between them are not the most important thing. What comes first is what Lopakhin does as if involuntarily, surprising himself.
How is Lopakhin's personality revealed at the end of the work?
The third action takes place in nervous tension. Everyone expects that Gaev will soon arrive from the auction and bring news about the further fate of the garden. The owners of the estate cannot hope for the best; they can only hope for a miracle...
Finally, the fateful news was announced: the garden was sold! Ranevskaya is struck as if by thunder by the answer to a completely meaningless and helpless question: “Who bought it?” Lopakhin exhales: “I bought it!” This action of Ermolai Alekseevich decides the future of the heroes of The Cherry Orchard. It seems that Raevskaya did not expect this from him. But it turns out that the estate and garden are Ermolai Alekseevich’s lifelong dream. Lopakhin could not do otherwise. In it, the merchant avenged the peasant and defeated the intellectual. Lopakhin seems to be in hysterics. He doesn’t believe in his own happiness and doesn’t notice Ranevskaya, who is heartbroken.
Everything happens according to his passionate desire, but against his will, because a minute later, noticing the unfortunate Ranevskaya, the merchant unexpectedly utters words that contradict his delight a minute earlier: “My poor, good one, you won’t bring me back now...” But the very next moment the former peasant and merchant in Lopakhino raise their heads and shout: “Music, play clearly!”
Petya Trofimov’s attitude towards Lopakhin
Petya Trofimov says about Lopakhin that he is needed “in the sense of metabolism,” like a predatory beast that eats what comes in its way. But suddenly Trofimov, who dreams of a just structure of society and assigns the role of exploiter to Yermolay Alekseevich, says in the fourth act that he loves him for his “subtle, gentle soul". - this is a combination of predatory skills with a gentle soul.
The inconsistency of the character of Ermolai Alekseevich
He passionately craves purity, beauty, and is drawn to culture. In the work, Lopakhin is the only character appearing with a book in his hand. Although this hero falls asleep while reading it, other characters throughout the play do not hold books in their hands at all. However, the merchant's calculation, common sense, and earthly principles turn out to be stronger in him. Realizing that he is proud of his possession, Lopakhin is in a hurry to knock him out and arrange everything according to his own understanding of happiness.
Ermolai Alekseevich argues that the summer resident will multiply to an extraordinary extent in 20 years. For now he is just drinking tea on the balcony. But one day it may happen that he will start farming on his tithe. Then the cherry orchard of Ranevskaya and Gaev will become luxurious, rich, and happy. But Lopakhin is wrong about this. A summer resident is not the person who will preserve and multiply the beauty that he has inherited. Its purely practical, predatory. It excludes all impractical things, including culture. Therefore, Lopakhin decides to cut down the garden. This merchant, who has a “subtle soul,” does not realize the main thing: you cannot cut the roots of culture, memory, and beauty.
The meaning of the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard"
The intelligentsia from a serf, obedient, downtrodden slave created a talented, free, creative active person. However, she herself was dying, and her creation was dying along with her, since without roots a person cannot exist. "The Cherry Orchard" is a drama about the loss of spiritual roots. This ensures it is up to date at all times.
The play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov shows the attitude of people to the events taking place at the turn of the era. This was the time when the capitalization of society and the death of Russian feudalism took place. Such transitions from one socio-economic formation to another are always accompanied by the death of the weak and intensified struggle various groups for survival. Lopakhin in the play is a representative of a new type of people. Gaev and Ranevskaya are characters of a dying era, who are no longer able to correspond to the changes taking place, to fit into them. Therefore they are doomed to failure.
The position of the governess in society is described in more detail in literature than in historical sources. Governesses are a difficult status. This is a person with education and a special culture. The image and characterization of Charlotte Ivanovna in the play “The Cherry Orchard” prove how a profession can change a person’s lifestyle and habits.
Appearance
Charlotte is a "very thin" figure woman. The author chose such an epithet to emphasize not the stateliness of the woman, her slimness and grace, but rather her thinness, comparable to soreness. Charlotte's figure is also wrapped in clothes and accessories. For what? Unclear. Here we can assume that the classic wants to emphasize the circus roots: an acrobat. Another option is poor nutrition. Owners with limited funds are unlikely to think about food for their servants.
Interesting selection of clothes for the heroine:
- Lornet on the belt;
- Old cap;
- Belt with buckle;
- Gray cylinder;
- Checkered trousers.
The social status of the woman is not clear, there is no precise statement about her nationality. Maybe that's why the author leaves her faceless. An actress with a sense of humor can play a character on stage - this is the main instruction of the classic.
Character
Comedy the character takes place against the backdrop of a deep tragedy of the image. Only an attentive reader can understand the meaning of the character. Charlotte is single and free. She did not experience love either in childhood, or in adolescence, or in adulthood. This is how the “weed flower” grew. Freedom does not bring happiness to the character. She does not obey her owners, lives by some of her own norms and rules, but there is no sparkle in her eyes, no peace in her soul. Freedom within did not change her life: she remained a servant, a person who amused those around her.Lonely and unhappy the woman is always calm. Humor allows her to survive and not lose faith in the future. There is no end to her life, and there is no resolution to the situation with the garden, around which so many destinies revolve.
The woman seems like an extra character, but once you exclude her from the play, you understand that without her the whole meaning is lost. The governess constantly observes and analyzes, her judgments help to understand the essence of the problem, its roots and causes.
Biography
The name Charlotte distinguishes the woman from other characters in the play. In origin it may have come from German, English or Catholic. In The Cherry Orchard, Charlotte does not know her exact origins, but her knowledge of German suggests that she is German. The woman knows nothing about herself. Time has erased the exact data in memory. Charlotte remembers that there were parents, but does not know whether it was a family or two single people. She remembers going to magic fairs with her parents. Charlotte enjoys performing magic tricks, but sometimes she simply goes away from the audience to sleep. The girl knew how to do somersaults and other acrobatic tricks. After the death of her parents, the governess ended up in the family of a German lady. The woman does not know what and how happened in her life. The whole point of the heroine is that no one taught her to live, and she herself could not find herself. You cannot live in society and be outside of it.The governess has no home, no homeland. She lives with Ranevskaya no longer as a governess, but as a hanger-on.
A.P. Chekhov said that Charlotte is “an important role.” Collective image shows the problem of a changed Rus'. A rootless servant who has lost touch with loved ones is a whole class. Impoverished parents placed their children with rich ones, hoping that they had provided them with a comfortable existence and relieved themselves of responsibility for their future. Morality, connection between generations, value are lost family traditions. The essence of family, the importance of love, and the obligation to procreate are going nowhere. An example of Charlotte's life is another cherry orchard that was cut down and put up for sale.
“This is the best role, I don’t like the rest” - this is how the author described Charlotte in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” in his letter. Why was this episodic heroine so important for Chekhov? It's not hard to say.
According to the text of the play, Charlotte does not have any social markers: neither her age, nor her nationality, nor her origin are known either to the viewer or to herself: “I don’t have a real passport, I don’t know how old I am...”; “Who are my parents, maybe they didn’t get married... I don’t know.” She is practically not included in the system of social connections, as well as in the situation that causes the main conflict - the sale of the estate. In the same way, she is not included in any speculative chronotope of the play - the past in the estate, the present in the dachas, the future in the “beautiful new garden.” She is outside the space of the play and at the same time parallel to it. The position of an outsider also determines two fundamentally important features of Charlotte Ivanovna in The Cherry Orchard. - firstly, absolute loneliness (“I really want to talk, but there’s no one to talk to... I don’t have anyone”), and secondly, absolute freedom. Taking a closer look, you can see that Charlotte’s actions are not subject to any external conditions, but only to her own internal impulses:
“Lopakhin. Charlotte Ivanovna, show me the trick!
Lyubov Andreevna. Charlotte, show me a trick!
Charlotte. No need. I want to sleep. (Leaves).”
The importance of the image of Charlotte in the play “The Cherry Orchard” lies, firstly, in her role as a free outside observer with the right to impartial judgment (Charlotte’s sudden and illogical remarks at first glance, not related to the immediate context) and disobedience to conventions. Secondly, in the depiction of a person whose behavior is not determined by the environment - the “essence” of human essence. And from this point of view, we cannot underestimate this, at first glance, episodic image in the play.
Social statuses of the characters in the play - as one of the characteristics
IN final piece A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" there is no division into main and secondary characters. They are all major, even seemingly episodic roles, and are of great importance for revealing the main idea of the entire work. The characterization of the heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” begins with their social representation. After all, in people's heads social status is already leaving its mark, and not only on stage. Thus, Lopakhin, a merchant, is already associated in advance with a loud and tactless merchant, incapable of any subtle feelings and experiences, but Chekhov warned that his merchant is different from a typical representative of this class. Ranevskaya and Simeonov-Pishchik, designated as landowners, look very strange. After all, after the abolition of serfdom social statuses landowners were a thing of the past, since they no longer corresponded to the new social order. Gaev is also a landowner, but in the minds of the characters he is “Ranevskaya’s brother,” which suggests some kind of lack of independence of this character. With Ranevskaya’s daughters, everything is more or less clear. Anya and Varya have their ages indicated, showing that they are the youngest characters in The Cherry Orchard. The age of the oldest character, Firs, is also indicated. Trofimov Petr Sergeevich is a student, and there is some kind of contradiction in this, because if he is a student, then he is young and it seems too early to assign a middle name, but meanwhile it is indicated.
Throughout the entire action of the play “The Cherry Orchard,” the characters are fully revealed, and their characters are outlined in a form typical for this type of literature - in speech characteristics given by themselves or other participants.
Brief characteristics of the main characters
Although the main characters of the play are not highlighted by Chekhov as a separate line, they are easy to identify. These are Ranevskaya, Lopakhin and Trofimov. It is their vision of their time that becomes the fundamental motive of the entire work. And this time is shown through the relationship to the old cherry orchard.
Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna – main character“The Cherry Orchard” is a former rich aristocrat, accustomed to living according to the dictates of her heart. Her husband died quite early, leaving a lot of debts. While she was indulging in new feelings, she died tragically little son. Considering herself guilty of this tragedy, she runs away from home, from her lover abroad, who also followed her and literally robbed her there. But her hopes of finding peace were not realized. She loves her garden and her estate, but cannot save it. It is unthinkable for her to accept Lopakhin’s offer, because then the centuries-old order in which the title of “landowner” is passed down from generation to generation will be violated, carrying with it the cultural and historical heritage, inviolability and confidence in the worldview.
Lyubov Andreevna and her brother Gaev are characterized by all the best traits of the nobility: responsiveness, generosity, education, a sense of beauty, the ability to sympathize. However, in modern times, all their positive qualities are not needed and are turned in the opposite direction. Generosity becomes irrepressible spending, responsiveness and the ability to sympathize turn into slobbering, education turns into idle talk.
According to Chekhov, these two heroes do not deserve sympathy and their experiences are not as deep as they might seem.
In the play “The Cherry Orchard” the main characters talk more than they do, and the only person is the action. Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich, the central character, according to the author. Chekhov was sure that if his image failed, then the whole play would fail. Lopakhin is designated a merchant, but the modern word “businessman” would be more suitable for him. The son and grandson of serfs became a millionaire thanks to his instincts, determination and intelligence, because if he were stupid and uneducated, how could he have achieved such success in his business? And it is no coincidence that Petya Trofimov talks about his subtle soul. After all, only Ermolai Alekseevich realizes the value of the old garden and its true beauty. But his commercial spirit goes too far, and he is forced to destroy the garden.
Trofimov Petya- an eternal student and a “shabby gentleman.” Apparently he also belongs to noble family, but became, in fact, a homeless tramp, dreaming of the common good and happiness. He talks a lot, but does nothing for the speedy onset of a bright future. He also lacks deep feelings for the people around him and attachment to a place. He lives only in dreams. However, he managed to captivate Anya with his ideas.
Anya, daughter of Ranevskaya. Her mother left her in the care of her brother at age 12. That is, in adolescence, which is so important for the formation of personality, Anya was left to her own devices. She inherited the best qualities that are characteristic of the aristocracy. She is youthfully naive, which is perhaps why she was so easily carried away by Petya’s ideas.
Brief characteristics of minor characters
The characters in the play “The Cherry Orchard” are divided into main and secondary only according to the time of their participation in the actions. So Varya, Simeonov-Pishchik Dunyasha, Charlotte Ivanovna and the lackeys practically do not talk about the estate, and their worldview is not revealed through the garden; they seem to be cut off from it.
Varya- adopted daughter of Ranevskaya. But essentially she is the housekeeper of the estate, whose responsibilities include taking care of the owners and servants. She thinks on an everyday level, and her desire to devote herself to serving God is not taken seriously by anyone. Instead, they are trying to marry her off to Lopakhin, who is indifferent to her.
Simeonov-Pishchik- the same landowner as Ranevskaya. Constantly in debt. But his positive attitude helps overcome it difficult situation. So, he doesn’t hesitate a bit when he receives an offer to rent out his lands. Thus, solving your financial difficulties. He is able to adapt to a new life, unlike the owners of the cherry orchard.
Yasha- young footman. Having been abroad, he is no longer attracted by his homeland, and even his mother, who is trying to meet him, is no longer needed by him. His arrogance main feature. He does not respect his owners, he has no attachment to anyone.
Dunyasha– a young, flighty girl who lives one day at a time and dreams of love.
Epikhodov- a clerk, he is a chronic loser, which he knows very well. In essence, his life is empty and aimless.
Firs- the oldest character for whom the abolition of serfdom became the greatest tragedy. He is sincerely attached to his owners. And his death in an empty house to the sound of the garden being cut down is very symbolic.
Charlotte Ivanovna- governess and circus performer rolled into one. The main reflection of the declared genre of the play.
The images of the heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” are combined into a system. They complement each other, thereby helping to reveal main topic works.
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