Home > The Cherry Orchard

The play tells of a woman, Lyubov Ranevskaya, who returns to her Russian country house, only to be forced to auction off its beloved cherry orchard to pay off debts. Eventually, the orchard will be cut down and the land used to build summer homes for the new Russian middle class. The story is widely seen as charting the changes in Russian society that came with the end of serfdom and the aristocracy's loss of power.

Although the play is viewed by most as a tragicomedy, Chekhov called it a comedy and even claimed that it had many farcical elements.

Essay on women's conflicts:

Checkov’s creation of Mrs. Ranevsky’s mirrors Mrs. Alving as an opposite as she has the freedom to travel and has been to Paris, where as Mrs. Alving lives such freedom through Oswald. Madame Ranevsky is someone who is not able to control her spending, and who does not seem to understand their financial instability: “Take this; here you are [Fumbling in her purse.] I haven’t any silver…Never mind, take this sovereign.” (The Cherry Orchard, pg 25.) Here, you can see that Madame Ranevsky is not thinking about the real situation at hand and that is that they are poor, she has spent all their money. “Varvara. [frightened]. I’m going! I’m going! Oh, mamma, there’s nothing for the servants at home, and you’ve gone and given this man a sovereign.” (The Cherry Orchard. Pg 26.) On contrast Varvara, her adopted daughter is able to recognise her faults, and her being so frightened because she can see that the mother is depreciating their wealth, and what is left of it; the fear she feels is about what could happen if they have no money left at all. The role reversal is significant because the frameworks of Madame Ranevsky’s control of money has slipped so far from her perspective that I think she may even need to get married again, just so she has some sort of income coming in. Critics, such as Vladimar Korolenko, also supposed friend to Checkov, have whitewashed Madame Ravensky’s character to be far too sentimental to Checkov: “Aristocratic slut, no one to anyone, who departs with impunity to join her Paris gigolo.” Korolenko also adds: “Checkov whitewashed her with a sort of sentimental halo.” (Checkov’s plays - an opening into eternity. pg 205.) Kladimar find her charactersation to be wantonly, then how a woman in her status should act. Her Parisian lover may have spent all her money, but in the contempary sense there would not be such ridicule, or talk of woman character’s relationships. Checkov’s fascination with his character has heightened Madame Ranevsky’s invidualism further, he may not be as insightful into the workings of a women as Ibsen, but he has still been able to character, that challenges what she has, by giving all away for love: “That savage is ill again; he’s in a bad way...He asks me to forgive him, he begs me to come, and I really ought to go to Paris and be with him. You look at me sternly; but what am I to do, Peter? What am I to do? He’s ill, he’s lonely, he’s unhappy. Who is to look after him? Who is to keep him from doing stupid things?” (The Cherry Orchard. pg. 32.) Madame Ranevsky’s dialogue is significant because she is not just talking about her Parisian lover and how she needs to be there for him, but also about herself. She is “ill”, “ill” from not being able to be devoted to her love, she wants to forgive him, she wants him to beg for her, but she cannot say that, it may be because she has realized that all else fails, she may still go back to him. The money was only secondary to her, and which has not been recognised previously, the dialogue is very personal, it is as if she is asking Peter questions that she asks herself. The play have naturalistic elements all throughout, this conversation includes the audience/reader, as we are compelled to answer her questions, impatient ready for her to confess her true emotions. She may have misjudged the man she loves, for he is a swindler, but Checkov heightens, and explores the emotions, and mentality of a woman.

Excerpt of an Essay by mezza789@yahoo.co.uk