The main mood of the play is largely melancholic as Lyobov struggles unsuccessfully to save the cherry orchard. When she winds up losing her childhood home to a former slave at the orchard, she has a great sense of loss.

Anton Chekhov, in full Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, (born January 29 [January 17, Old Style], 1860, Taganrog, Russia—died July 14/15 [July 1/2], 1904, Badenweiler, Germany), Russian playwright and master of the modern short story. Chekhov’s best plays and short stories lack complex plots and neat solutions.

The standard literary/dramatic definition of mood is that it is a dramatic element that gives the viewer (or reader) a feeling derived from the emotional and psychological aspects of the play. Perhaps the play may be existentially depressed and depressing. Perhaps it may be overwhelmingly tragic and sorrowful.

A provincial estate in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century. In February of 1861, Alexander II emancipated serfs in Russia.

We don’t have to believe the stationmaster is intentionally referring to Ranevsky to see the connection between her and the archetypal Sinful Woman of literature; Ranevsky has cheated on her husband, lived an extravagant life, and is now on the brink of disaster.

Through the first read, one may consider The Cherry Orchard to be a tragedy, but when the characters and their values are thoroughly considered it seems to be more of a comedy. Since the hero of the play had his happy ending, The Cherry Orchard is a comedy. …

The orchard is very beautiful because each tree represents the soul of a serf. Cherry orchard is a symbol of something that belongs to the past. It means it is the symbol of mobility, feudal society, aesthetic sensibility, sublime beauty, but is tragically ends with the change in the society.

The cherry orchard also symbolizes the aristocratic class to which their family belongs. In many cases it is the older characters rather than the younger characters who tend to view the orchard most positively. Yet the cherry orchard also represents the historical oppression caused by the aristocratic ruling class.

When Ranevskaya asks who bought the estate, Lopakhin reveals that he himself is the purchaser and intends to chop down the orchard with his axe. Ranevskaya, distraught, clings to Anya, who tries to calm her and reassure her that the future will be better now that the cherry orchard has been sold.

The Cherry Orchard is on one level, a naturalistic play because it focuses on scientific, objective, details. It thus is like realism, in that it attempts to portray life “as it really is”.

Anya reveals that Ranevsky’s departure for Paris was caused by her grief over two deaths: that of her husband six years before and that of her son, Grisha, who drowned a month thereafter.

In response to a question by Ranevsky, Lopakhin lets everyone know that he bought the orchard at auction. Furthermore, he plans to go through with his plans for cutting down the cherry orchard and building cottages in its place.

He’s attached to it because he grew up there, the son of a serf (a peasant working on the land). He was the tutor to Lubov’s deceased young son, and the sight of his face makes her cry for her dead child.

Lyuba Ranevsky

four acts

Chekhov insisted that his last play, THE CHERRY ORCHARD was a comedy. He wrote the play to be “a picture of the Russian landowning class in decline, portraying characters that remain comic despite their very poignancy.” THE CHERRY ORCHARD was first performed in Moscow on January 17, 1904.

What according to Trofimov, is the main problem with Russian intellectuals? They talk about ideas, but never act on them.

The role of Lopakhin is very important in highlighting the ludicrous attitude of Lyubov . He is a practical person and flourishing businessman.

DUNYASHA: A maid. (Pronounced Doon-YAH-shah.) FIRS: An old servant, aged 87. (Pronounced FEERS.)

The disconcerting sound of a string breaking is again heard. The play ends with another sound: that of an axe striking a tree in the orchard.

Varya confesses that she does, but she feels that Lopakhin will never propose because he is too preoccupied with business. And Varya feels that it is improper to propose herself. She expresses again the desire to go to a convent, saying that if she had a few rubles she would. Trofimov mocks her.

Trofimov is the “eternal student”, as Lopakhin calls him, and he provides most of the explicit ideological discussion in the play. Trofimov makes the play’s social allegory explicit. His idealism and intellectualism make him a foil for the practical, materialistic Lopakhin, but he also serves as a foil for Ranevsky.

Ranevsky, who is returning home from a self-imposed, five-year exile with her daughter, Anya, and her governess, Charlotte Ivanovna. Lopakhin speaks of his peasant background and his admiration for Mrs. Ranevsky; then the pair are briefly joined by the bumbling clerk, Yepikhodov, nicknamed “Twenty-two Calamities.”

Lopakhin is the other lead character in The Cherry Orchard. He is a neighbor of Madame Ranevsky, perhaps in his thirties, unmarried. Although he was born into a family of serfs, Lopakhin has managed to use the Liberation of the serfs to his full advantage and is now a wealthy landowner and a shrewd businessman.

It is the sound of breaking string, an auditory symbol of forgetting. It first is heard in the play after Gayev gives a soliloquoy on the eternity of nature; Firs tells us it was heard before, around the time the serfs were freed (a seminal event in Russian history).

The Cherry Orchard ends with the 87-year-old servant Fiers shuffling out to find that the family has departed without him. In leaving the orchard, the family finally cuts ties with the past. It will disappear from their memories, just as they’ve forgotten Fiers in their preparations to leave.

Play “The Cherry Orchard” focuses on the importance of socialism and change due to which it is regarded as one of the most discussed political and social plays. It was written at the time of downfall of aristocracy and rise of middle class in Russia.

Trofimov is the “eternal student”, as Lopakhin calls him, and he provides most of the explicit ideological discussion in the play. Trofimov makes the play’s social allegory explicit.

Through The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov dramatizes the concerns of several social strata, showing how the emergence of a middle class in Russia disrupted and negatively impacted the lives not only of the aristocrats their “new money” threatened, but also those of the servants and workers unable to thrive in the new order …

Ans. “The Cherry Orchard” is a naturalistic play because it focuses on scientific, objective details. It this is like realism, in that it attempts to portray life “as it really is”. The characters are realistic and complex as human beings are.