The image of Russia and the play "The Cherry Orchard". Essay on the topic: Love for home in the play The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov Love for home

01.07.2020

“All Russia is our garden” (the image of Russia in the play by A.P. Chekhov) Cherry Orchard")

The play "The Cherry Orchard" is a kind of poem about the past, present and future of Russia. The theme of the Motherland is the internal cross-cutting theme of this, by the author’s definition, comedy. We can say that this work is one of the most complex in the dramatic heritage of A.P. Chekhov. In this play, elements of parody, drama and even tragedy are intertwined and organically merged. The author needed all this in order to recreate the image of Russia as completely as possible. The heroes of The Cherry Orchard embody a certain hypostasis of this image. Ranevskaya, Gaev are the past, Lopakhin is one of the most controversial characters - both the past and, to a certain extent, the present, Anya is the future.

The owners of the cherry orchard see neither the beauty of the past nor the beauty of the future. Lopakhin and people like him are also far from this beauty. Chekhov believed that new people would come who would plant new, immeasurably more beautiful gardens and turn the entire earth into a magical garden.

There is also a constant Chekhovian sadness in the play, sadness about beauty dying in vain. We can say that it contains variations on A.P.’s favorite theme. Chekhov. This is the motive of beauty that contradicts itself, beauty in which there is a lie, hidden ugliness. It seems to me that in this play the author to a certain extent develops the thought of L. Tolstoy that “there is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” For A.P. For Chekhov, it is important that beauty must merge with truth, only then will it be true. And that magical garden that Anya talks about is a symbol of beauty merging with truth. The author is convinced of the inevitability of this, which is why the sadness in “The Cherry Orchard” is light. Many critics believe that the play is permeated with a feeling of farewell to a passing life, with everything good and disgusting that was in it, but also a joyful greeting to the new, young.

Ranevskaya and Gaev, the owners of a beautiful cherry orchard, do not know how to preserve it or take care of it. For the author, the garden is a symbol of Russia, a beautiful and tragic country. Both Lyubov Andreevna and her brother are kind, sweet in their own way, absolutely impractical people. They feel the beauty, the magical charm of the cherry orchard, but they, according to the author, are empty people, people without a homeland. All their reasoning that the estate needs to be saved, that they cannot live without the cherry orchard, the house with which so many joyful and tragic memories are associated, lead nowhere. It seems that they have already internally become accustomed to the loss of their property. Ranevskaya is thinking about the possibility of returning to Paris, Gaev seems to be trying on the position of a bank employee.

They even experience some relief when a “catastrophe” occurs; they no longer have to worry, no longer “fuss.” Gaev’s words are indicative: “Indeed, now everything is fine. Before the sale of the cherry orchard, we were all worried, suffering, and then, when copying was prohibited, the issue was resolved finally, irrevocably, everyone calmed down, even became cheerful.” Lyubov Andreevna confirms this: “My nerves are better, it’s true,” although when the first news of the sale of the cherry orchard arrives, she declares: “I’m going to die.” In our opinion, Chekhov's remark is extremely important. Hearing Yasha’s laughter in response to her words, Ranevskaya asks him with slight annoyance: “Well, why are you laughing? What are you happy about?” But, it would seem, the footman’s laughter should have shaken her just as laughter over a grave would have shaken her. loved one, because she is “going to die.” But there is no horror, no shock, there is only “mild annoyance.” The author emphasizes that neither Gaev nor Ranevskaya are capable of not only serious actions, but even deep feelings. The new owner of the cherry orchard, Lopakhin, is too closely connected with the past to personify the future. But, it seems to me, he by no means fully represents the present of Russia in the play. Lopakhin is a complex and contradictory nature. He is not only “a beast of prey that eats everything that gets in his way,” as Petya Trofimov says about him. He tries to improve life in his own way, thinks about the future, Lopakhin proposes his own program. As an intelligent and observant person, he strives to benefit from them not only for himself. So, for example, this hero believes that “until now there were only gentlemen and peasants in the village, and now there are also summer residents, it may happen that on his one tithe he will start farming, and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious ...".

Chekhov wrote about him this way: “Lopakhin, it’s true, is a merchant, but a decent person in every sense.” Of course, Lopakhin is by no means an attractive character; with his passion for work, it would be necessary to do a real and great job, he has truly creative scope. It is this character who says: “...Lord, you gave us huge forests, vast fields, the deepest horizons, and living here, we ourselves should truly be giants...”. And Lopakhin has to do not at all beautiful things, for example, buy a cherry orchard from bankrupt owners. However, this character is not devoid of an understanding of beauty, he is able to understand that he has acquired “an estate, the most beautiful of which there is nothing in the world,” to realize what his action means for others. He experiences simultaneously delight, drunken prowess, and sadness.

Seeing Ranevskaya’s tears, Lopakhin says with anguish: “Oh, if only all this would go away, if only our awkwardness would somehow change, unhappy life"If he were a “beast of prey,” something “necessary for metabolism,” would he be able to utter such words, experience such feelings. The image of Lopakhin, therefore, contains a certain duality. He simultaneously experiences sadness about the past, trying to change the present, thinking about the future of Russia.

In our opinion, the present is also reflected in the play by the image of Petya Trofimov, although he seems to be directed to the future. Yes, there is a certain feeling behind this hero social movement, it is clearly felt that he is not at all alone. But his role, apparently, is to show others the ugliness of life, to help others realize the need for change, to say “goodbye, old life!” It is no coincidence that it is not Petya Trofimov, but Anya who says: “Hello, new life!” It seems that there is only one image in the play that could harmoniously merge with the beauty of the cherry orchard. Namely, Anya is the personification of spring, the future. This heroine was able to understand the essence of all Petya’s speeches, to realize that, as Chekhov wrote, everything has long since become old, outdated, and everything is just waiting for either the end or the beginning of something young, fresh." She goes forward to change her life, turn all of Russia into a blooming garden.

A.P. Chekhov dreamed of the rapid prosperity of Russia, and reflected this dream in the play “The Cherry Orchard.” However, in this work, in our opinion, there is no clear ending. On the one hand, there is the joyful music of the affirmation of a new life, on the other, the tragic sound of a broken string, “fading and sad,” and then, “silence sets in, and you can only hear how far away in the garden an ax is knocking on a tree.”

In this work A.P. Chekhov contains both subtle lyricism and sharp satire. "The Cherry Orchard" - both cheerful and sad, eternal play about the author’s passionately beloved homeland, about its future flourishing. That is why more and more generations of readers will turn to it.

Job Description

The image of Russia is embodied in the very title of the play, “The Cherry Orchard.” “All of Russia is our garden,” says Chekhov through the lips of his hero. And, indeed, the cherry orchard for Ranevskaya and her brother Gaev is a family nest, a symbol of youth, prosperity and a former graceful life. The owners of the garden love it, although they do not know how to preserve or save it. Ranevskaya speaks with tears and tenderness about her estate: “.. 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...”. But for Ranevskaya and Gaev, the cherry orchard is a symbol of the past.

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The play "The Cherry Orchard" was written by Chekhov in 1904 - on last year writer's life. It was perceived by the reader as the creative testament of a talented satirist and

Damaturg. One of the main themes of this play is the theme of the future of Russia, connected in

with the images of Petya Trofimov and Anya, Ranevskaya’s daughter.

Another hero, the active Lopakhin, looks at the garden only from the practical side. He sees in it an opportunity to get a big income, and he does not stand on ceremony with his methods. Ermolai Lopakhin, a new merchant-industrialist, symbolizing the present of Russia, its transition to capitalist development. Lopakhin feels like the master of life. “The new owner of the cherry orchard is coming!” “Let everything be as I wish!” he says. Lopakhin has not forgotten his past, and now the moment of his triumph has come: “the beaten, illiterate Ermolai” bought “an estate, the most beautiful of which there is nothing in the world,” an estate “where his father and grandfather were slaves.”

But Ermolai Lopakhin remained a “peasant”, despite the fact that he went “into the public eye.” He is not able to understand one thing: the cherry orchard is not only a symbol of beauty, it is a kind of thread connecting the past with the present. You can't cut down your own roots. And the fact that Lopakhin does not understand this is his main mistake.

In the play, Chekhov pays tribute to the good and valuable things that remained in the life of the Russian nobility at that time. We, observing the extreme impracticality of Gaev and Lyubov Andreevna, see their doom - they have a poetic, in their own way, sublime past, which is in the childhood memories of Gaev and Ranevskaya associated with the garden. The present, as Anton Pavlovich showed, is very, very sad, but the reader does not see the future at all... there is no such future... these types must inevitably be replaced by others. History has shown that Chekhov's thought was prophetic.

Present: real life It proceeds absurdly and awkwardly, it brings no joy or happiness to anyone. For all the heroes without exception, this life is unhappy, we remember: Charlotte is lonely and useless to anyone with her tricks, Epikhodov, with his constant failures, Simeonov-Pishchik, with his eternal need for money... The drama of the play lies precisely in the tragic situation of the present, in the discord its most essential, root foundations. This was again conveyed to us through a detail - all the heroes have a sense of the temporary nature of their stay in this world. More specifically, Lopakhin’s phrase: “Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change.” Did you notice?

I think to understand the key meaning of this work, you should also consider the image of the cherry orchard itself. According to Trofimov, all of Russia is a cherry orchard. And this was not a random remark. It is precisely here, in this detail, that the author’s attitude towards the future of Russia is found. Follow the thoughts: Russia is a cherry orchard. Cutting it down for Gaev and Ranevskaya is the end of everything. After all, the garden is the last thing they have left, which connects them with the past. For Lopakhin, this is a way to increase capital. Petya and Anya agreed to cut it down. So? So. On condition - they will imprison new garden, which will be “more luxurious than this”! It is in this detail that Chekhov conveys to us his idea of the future. The garden will be cut down, but people will come and plant an even better garden. It can be deciphered this way: shocks await Russia, but after them they will restore it, make it free and prosperous. But who is destined to become the creator of new life? Who will plant a new garden? It’s as if there is a character – Petya Trofimov. Yes, he talks about the unsettledness of the old life and calls for a new life. Characteristic feature revolutionary, right? But maybe you noticed that there is no personal power in his rantings; sometimes you even feel the empty loudness in his speeches. In addition, I remind you: he is an “eternal student” and a “shabby gentleman.” Such people do not master life.

Anya is full of hope, vitality, but there is still so much inexperience and childhood in her. In terms of character, she is in many ways close to her mother: she has a love for beautiful word, to sensitive intonations. At the beginning of the play, Anya is carefree, quickly moving from concern to animation. She is practically helpless, she is used to living carefree, not thinking about her daily bread, about tomorrow. But all this does not prevent Anya from breaking with her usual views and way of life. Its evolution is taking place before our eyes. Anya’s new views are still naive, but she says goodbye to the old home and the old world forever.

It is unknown whether she will have enough spiritual strength, perseverance and courage to complete the path of suffering, labor and hardship. Will she be able to maintain that ardent faith in the best, which makes her say goodbye to her old life without regret? Chekhov does not answer these questions. And this is natural. After all, we can only talk about the future speculatively.

Russia, according to Chekhov, at the turn of two centuries had not yet developed a real ideal of man. Therefore, the author shows us that in the present there is no answer to this vital question. In the play, time runs out for all the characters. Chekhov saw in the future not only terrorists and money-grubbers, but also people of broad views who would transform his homeland and make it free and prosperous. By showing Petya, the author makes it clear that he is being born new person, not similar to the previous ones. Between the lines we feel hope that such figures will appear soon. And Petya is only a prototype of these people. The future in the play belongs to those who will replace them all because all the images reflect the present in the play.

Such ardent movements of the soul and noble impulses bring Petya and Anya closer together. They symbolize hope for a better future. It is with their lives that Chekhov connects the future of Russia; it is in their mouths that he puts his own thoughts. Despite the fact that the estate has been sold, and axes are already knocking in the garden, the author believes “that new people will come and plant new gardens, “more beautiful than which there is nothing in the world.”

At the end of the play, according to Chekhov's idea, we got the feeling that the present is ending for all the heroes of the play without exception. With this, Chekhov once again demonstrated to us that in the present there are no people ready to create a “new garden” - people who will create a developing, free Russia. He considered the young generation of Russia to be the creators of a new, happy life.

"The Cherry Orchard" is the great creation of Chekhov, who put comedy on a par with drama and

tragedy that raised her to unattainable heights.

The Cherry Orchard as an image of the Motherland in the play

Yours last piece A.P. Chekhov wrote at the very beginning of the twentieth century, when a sense of impending change hung over the country. Many literary figures tried to comprehend what was happening, analyze what remains in the past and predict the future. Anton Pavlovich was no exception, and the result of these thoughts about the fate of the Motherland and the Russian people was a phrase from the play “The Cherry Orchard” - “All of Russia is our garden,” put into the mouth of one of the characters.

On initial stage While working on a new play, Chekhov spoke about its title. He placed particular emphasis on the use of the letter “е” in the word “cherry.” After all, a “cherry” orchard is a garden intended for making a profit, and a “cherry” orchard is the embodiment of home comfort, a familiar, measured life, intended for aesthetic pleasure, thereby indicating its symbolism in the play. The playwright showed not the old cherry orchard itself in its everyday purpose, but the attitude of the characters towards it. He correlated them with feelings towards native land, thereby personifying Russia to them. Thus, the theme of the past, present and future of Russia in the play “The Cherry Orchard” took one of the main places, and the characters became prominent representatives of their time.

Heroes and their cherry orchard

All the characters in the play are divided into three groups that characterize the historical development of Russia.

The first group is Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs. They are shown as the past. Before the abolition of serfdom, the entire society was divided into aristocrats and peasants. The nobles lived off the labor of their serf owners, everyday concerns were relegated to the very last place, because for centuries the established order ensured a well-fed life for the gentlemen. And they, in turn, were engaged in self-development, knowledge of the world and obtaining pleasure. The nobles knew how to enjoy life and see beauty around them. For them, the garden is a delight to the eye. And thinking about making a profit and money for this class is vulgar. Is it possible to put spirituality and finance on the same line? By painting portraits of Ranevskaya and Gaev, Chekhov wanted to show that the nobility was becoming a thing of the past, taking with it its priceless culture, which has no place in the present and future. But he leaves due to the inability to adapt to new realities due to his weak character, inability to make decisions and unwillingness to seek a compromise in order to preserve his garden, his Russia.

The figure of Firs is also noteworthy. All his life he served the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev. At the time of the play he is 87 years old. Serfdom was canceled when he was about 50 years old, he could have started new life, but didn’t want to; otherwise, he had a chance to get married at a younger age, but again, he chose to serve as a footman. Why?

The worldview of the peasants was so ingrained that affection for the owners was inherited. Again, for centuries they did the same job, and there was no need to make decisions. After all, for many peasants, the freedom they received became a difficult ordeal, and not everyone dreamed of it. However, 40 years later, at the time the play was created, new generations of both peasants and aristocrats had already appeared, who perceived social differences differently.

Simeonov-Pishchik is also a representative of the bygone class of landowners, but he was able to adapt to the new life. He welcomed the construction railway, since the plot that passed through his land brought him a profit, then he rented out his land, again receiving money.

A new era gives birth to new characters, and this is how Lopakhin became. A merchant, but he is no longer the merchant who lives by selling goods. He is moderately educated, he knows how to think and reason, he knows how to appreciate the beauty and culture of the passing time. And, perhaps, he is the only one who sincerely admires the old garden. For him, a garden is not only a mass of trees, but also the earth. Thus, even the destruction of a garden is an opportunity to give new life to it. Petya also understands this, having become a representative of the future, for whom the garden is a symbol of slavery, and he even calls for its destruction. But if Lopakhin still feels sorry for the garden, then Trofimov has not the slightest regret about this, although it was he who coined the philosophical phrase “All of Russia is our garden”

Reflection of Russian history on the pages of The Cherry Orchard

If we consider all the heroes from the point of view historical processes, then it becomes clear social change in the country. After the abolition of serfdom, the whole society was divided into two groups: supporters and opponents, and they were in all layers of society. And there weren’t that many social strata. Nobles, some poorer, some richer, as a rule, they were engaged in mental work, and all high positions were occupied by this particular class. Before the abolition of serfdom, peasants were divided into serfs and freemen. They became free by ransoming themselves, or their owners freed them of their own free will. Free peasants, as a rule, were very hardworking, and thanks to this quality they could become intelligentsia. Lopkhin is from such a family. Nobles who were not engaged in government or other service, after the abolition of serfdom, very quickly went bankrupt, which is what happened to Ranevskaya and Gaev. And the ways of survival were different, which, among other things, is shown in the play, and their children had to choose their own path, which Anya demonstrated. All these changes and relationships between social strata very clearly shown, making you think about them.

The sale of the garden and the subsequent departure of its inhabitants in different directions is very symbolic. It was at the beginning of the twentieth century that the destruction of the “noble nests” began, the destruction of family ties, which led to a long civil war in 15-16 years. Perhaps Anton Pavlovich foresaw this by creating heroes who were unable to hear each other.

The future of Russia in Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” is shown very foggy and uncertain. And the most optimistic phrase becomes: “We will plant a new garden.” But, according to the author himself, there are no characters in the play who are capable of this.

The reflection of Russia in Chekhov’s play and a description of its role may be useful for 10th graders when preparing materials for an essay on the topic “All Russia is our garden!”

Work test

>Essays on the work The Cherry Orchard

Love for home

In the work of the great Russian classic A.P. Chekhov “The Cherry Orchard” the central place is given to the theme of home and motherland. Similar cherry orchard, who fell at the hands of an ax, his former homeland slowly dies. Or, if you look from the other side, it does not die, but is reborn: the old generation is replaced by a new, young generation, full of faith in a happy future. Is this really so, it was later shown October Revolution, but the author no longer witnessed these events. Chekhov died in 1904, and managed to finish writing the play “The Cherry Orchard” in 1903.

The comparison mentioned in the play, “all of Russia is our garden,” turned out to be very symbolic. Anton Pavlovich was a great citizen of his country and raised the theme of his homeland in many of his works. It is not surprising that his main characters are filled with patriotism and love of home. Love for home in the play manifests itself in everyone in their own way. So, for example, for Ranevskaya and Gaev this is a blind attachment to the family estate, and with it to the garden in which more than one generation has grown up. But for Petya Trofimov and Anya, love for home is something more. They find themselves above the love of the garden. They are interested in the future of the country, changes and innovations.

The sale of the garden is what lies on the surface when we read the play. In fact, the roots of the problem raised by the author are much deeper. The sale of the garden symbolizes the decline of the nobility by the beginning of the twentieth century, the destruction of the social structure formed over centuries, the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs and the preconditions for the brewing revolution. For new merchants, people who come from the people, neither the cherry orchard nor the family estate have of great importance. Here is a field of poppy, which would bring much more profit, according to Ermolai Lopakhin, more useful than cherries. And it would be even better if you divide this garden into plots and rent it out to summer residents.

Such a proposal greatly upsets Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, who is so tenderly attached to her beloved, native cherry orchard. Even the superficial Gaev worries about the fate of the garden and estate. It would seem that here she is true love to the house. But is the merchant Lopakhin or Petya Trofimov such a bad person who says that the nobility must atone for their guilt before Russia through labor? Ranevskaya’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Anya, also takes the side of Petya, which means a new generation of patriots. She scolds mother when she wastes money, she reproaches her when she suffers due to the loss of the garden.

Trofimov, in turn, although he does not like Lopakhin, calling him “ a beast of prey“, but in her heart she considers him a man of gentle and subtle structure. Therefore, it is not logical to consider that someone is right and someone is wrong in this play. Each character has their own love for home. Even the old and faithful Firs remains to guard the estate of Ranevskaya and Gaev until the last, when it has already been sold at auction to Ermolai Lopakhin. He hears an ax being knocked on the trees and worries that Gaev rode in a coat, and not a fur coat. One thing remains unchanged - the fate of a seemingly ordinary garden decides the fate of ordinary people.