Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

¶ … Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov is one of the most controversial plays from the dawn of the twentieth century. It emerged forty years after the emancipation of the Russian Serfs, in a time when society was still struggling to come to terms with the newly established order brought about by large-scale reform. Bereft of cheap labor, some landowners lost their wealth, whereas the former serfs and their descendants were presented with new horizons. Chekhov takes on a dual approach which reflects a "balance between "subjectively painful" and "objectively comedic" perspectives on life, and his ability to link the catastrophic with the trivial in a dramatic form, erasing the boundaries between comedy and tragedy." (Raw, 2000)

There are several areas of focus that the Cherry Orchard deals with. These include the meaning of land, the contradictive nature of the main characters, and the way they deal with change.

The blossoming white orchard holds a different meaning for each character. It depicts Madam Ranevskaya's attachment to her fading past and youth, her brother's superior sense of social status, Lopakhin's humble origin and future ambition. Ranevskaya actually emphasizes the importance that the orchard represents for her when she is given the chance to do so. "You look boldly ahead; isn't it only that you don't see or divine anything terrible in the future; because life is still hidden from your young eyes" (Checkhov 54). For Trofimov the orchard represents a symbol of injustice, because it reminded of the past treatment that the peasants endured from aristocrats before the abolishment of serfdom, and Anya easily renounces all sentimental attachment to it in favor of a new beginning.

An important aspect concerning land is the idea of parceling off. Brought into consideration from the first act, the motive reoccurs as the play unfolds. Whereas resilient Ranevskaya rejects the thought of fragmenting her inheritance in the name of a new but foreign life, Lopakhin is irresistibly drawn to invest energy into creating that possibility. Therefore, the space of the orchard could be interpreted as a dilemma between past and future, futility or progress. Lopakhin's success symbolizes the reversal of the medal, the defeat of a past where a few held everything, giving way to a future where more people can prosper on the same land.

The nature of the main characters is another issue to be addressed. Madam Lyubov Ranevskaya, and Lopakhin are two very complex personalities whose lives are interconnected.

Derived from the Slavic lyub meaning "love," the protagonist's name anticipates the main character traits of sentimentalism, irresponsibility and disconnectedness. (Hahn, 1977) a naturally caring and generous person, she is sometimes taken advantage of by other people, yet she remains oblivious to this. Her choice is to escape the present by means of nostalgia and frivolous conduct. The merchant Lopakhin is a kind, empathetic person, but a ruthless, money-driven businessman. This is especially visible in the way he organizes his time. "How much was the train late? Two hours at least. [Yawns and stretches himself] I have made a rotten mess out of it!" (Chekhov 11) His rising status comes from his money and he is struggling to cover up this awareness with wild ambition, to reconcile his blunt and uneducated past with the abundant and ever-blooming lifestyle that he lives in the present. Even with this, he cannot help but criticizing individuals whom he considers to be inexperienced in life in general. "I've never met such frivolous people as you before, or anybody so unbusinesslike and peculiar" (Chekhov 37).

Lopakhin and Ranevskaya could on the surface be perceived as representatives of the ascending capitalist middle class and the degrading aristocracy, but the characters are far more complex than it appears, overcoming the social class paradigm in favor of roundness and contradiction. We sympathize with noble Ranevskaya when she feels that the things she holds close to her heart should matter more than money, yet we also understand the endeavors of capitalist Lopakhin as he delights in uprooting the old ways by all means.

Change is the trial that all the characters of the Cherry Orchard undergo. Lopakhin and Ranevskaya overshadow each other's inner conflicts between past and present, having grown up together in the same space but on opposite conditions. When he talks about Ranevsky, he does so with undiluted affection, yet at some point a note of tension appears along with the memory of how, in childhood, she had condescendingly referred to him as a lesser man. Under these terms, Lopakhin's past is, for him, a source of embarrassment and constant frustration, and an obstacle demanding to be overcome. (Rayfield, 1994) He gets so immersed in the conquest of his past that he ignores the person that he admits to have feelings for, therefore mere conjugal happiness is losing ground as unstoppable cause and effect phenomena of change unfurl.