No other plays sink as deeply into the soul as the works of A.P. Chekhov. His dramaturgy is truly unique and hardly has analogues in Russian literature. Chekhov's dramas, along with social problems, touch on the secrets of the human soul and the meaning of life. The play “The Cherry Orchard” is one of Chekhov’s most recognizable creations. This book became an important stage in his work, glorifying the writer throughout Russia.

Chekhov began creating the play in 1901. The idea of ​​the play “The Cherry Orchard” was suggested to Chekhov by the reality around him. In those days, the sale of noble estates for debts was a common occurrence. The writer’s personal experiences also contributed. Once upon a time, his family themselves were forced to sell their house due to debts and urgently move. So Chekhov knew firsthand how his characters felt.

Work on the play was very difficult. Chekhov was greatly hampered by illness. As with his other creations, he sought to reveal as accurately as possible the characters of his characters and the idea of ​​the work, for which he wrote a huge number of letters to actors and directors.

The creative history of the play “The Cherry Orchard” began with the intention of creating a fun work. After writing Three Sisters, the author wanted to change the direction of his drama:

“The next play I write will certainly be funny, very funny, at least in concept.” (from a letter to O. Knipper)

Despite feeling unwell, he still came to the premiere of the play and was rewarded with thunderous applause: the assembled spectators fully appreciated the play.

Genre and direction: comedy or drama?

“The Cherry Orchard” can be safely attributed to the literary movement of realism. The author strives to create as authentic an atmosphere as possible. His characters are naturalistic and natural, the environment is presented in a down-to-earth and everyday manner. The events described are typical and realistic. However, certain features indicate that the play was written during the modernist era. She belonged to a new phenomenon in the theater of that time - the theater of the absurd. That is why the characters do not speak to each other, there is almost no dialogue in the drama, and what appears to be dialogue is more like abrupt remarks thrown into the void. Many characters talk to themselves, and this technique shows the vulgarity and futility of their lives. They are locked in themselves and so lonely that they don’t even hear each other. The existential meaning of many monologues also points to Chekhov's innovation.

The genre originality of the play “The Cherry Orchard” also indicates its modernist nature. The author's definition of the genre diverges from the generally accepted one. Chekhov himself defined his creation as a comedy. However, Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky, who read the work, did not find anything comic in the play, and even, on the contrary, classified it as a tragedy. Today, “The Cherry Orchard” is usually characterized as a tragicomedy. The narrative is based on a tense moment in life, generating conflict and revealing the character of the characters through their actions, but the play is characterized by a combination of tragic and comic elements.

The comic and tragic principles are revealed in the details. So, along with the tragic heroine Ranevskaya there is Yasha, a comedic character. This is a footman who, after several years of service in Paris, became arrogant and began to be considered a foreign master. He denounces Russia and the “ignorance” of the people to which he himself belongs. His remarks are always inappropriate. The play also has its antipode - a sad clown office worker who always slips and ends up in ridiculous situations.

Meaning of the name

The symbolic title of the play “The Cherry Orchard” carries a special meaning. The Cherry Orchard in the play symbolizes the passing era of the landowner nobility. The title chosen by the author allows, through the language of symbols, to express the main idea of ​​the entire play in an original and non-obvious way. The garden is Russia, which falls into the hands of the new ruling class - the merchants. The infantile and pathetic nobility are losing their country and living out their lives abroad. Thus, the title reflects the author’s concern for the future of the country. The bourgeoisie does not take into account the nostalgia of the nobility and cuts down the old foundations at the root, but what can it offer in return?

It is characteristic that Chekhov thought for a long time about stress. At first he called the play “The Cherry Orchard” with an emphasis on the letter “i”, but then he changed the name to “The Cherry Orchard”. The writer associated the word “cherry” with agriculture, while the word “cherry,” in his opinion, better reflected the poetry of the former lordly life.

Composition and Conflict

The main conflict in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is the confrontation between the past, present and future. This is a war of eras, classes, worldviews, in which there is no victory and defeat, but there are inexorable laws: yesterday gives way to the present day, but its life is also short.

The peculiarities of the conflict in the play “The Cherry Orchard” lie in its ambiguity. The writer does not seek to take anyone’s side; the characters’ conversations are devoid of expression and pretentiousness. Gradually, the personal conflict between the characters turns into their confrontation not with each other, but with time itself and the changing world. The internal conflict of each of them prevails over the external one. Thus, Lopakhin’s joy is darkened by his limitations and psychological slavery: he cannot propose to Varya and literally runs away to Kharkov. Class barriers fell around him, but not within him. This is the uniqueness of the conflict in the play “The Cherry Orchard”.

1. The first act is devoted to exposition, in which the main characters are introduced to us.
2. In the second act, the beginning occurs - the main conflict is formed.
3. The third act ends with a climax.
4. The fourth act is the finale, which concludes all storylines.

The main feature of the composition of “The Cherry Orchard” can be considered the absence of bright scenes and violent action. Even the most important events are presented relatively calmly and casually.

The essence

A noble noblewoman, Lyubov Ranevskaya returns to her native estate after a long stay in France. Upon returning home, she learns that the estate with the cherry orchard, dear to her, will soon be sold for debts.

A young entrepreneur, Lopakhin, offers Ranevskaya a plan to save the estate (rent out summer cottages), but she does not take what is happening seriously and is waiting for a miracle. Meanwhile, her brother is trying in vain to accumulate debts in order to buy the estate at auction. Varya, Ranevskaya's adopted daughter, saves on everything and gradually turns into a hired worker in her own house. Anna, her own daughter, listens to the lofty speeches of Petya Trofimov and does not want to save the garden. Life in the house goes on as usual. Lopakhin is still ignored, Ranevskaya’s brother Gaev promises to save the estate, but does nothing.

In the end, the house goes under the hammer and Lopakhin buys it. He plans to cut down the cherry orchard and demolish the estate. Gaev gets a job in a bank, Ranevskaya goes back to France, Anya enters the gymnasium, Varya becomes a housekeeper for her neighbors, and only the old footman Firs, forgotten by everyone, remains in the abandoned estate.

The main characters and their characteristics

The system of images in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is divided into three types of heroes: people of the past, present and future. The Many-wise Litrekon wrote more about dividing characters into three generations in order not to overload the analysis. The images of the heroes are described in the table:

The images of the heroes in the play “The Cherry Orchard” are symbolic, that is, each of them designates and broadcasts its era and its class.

Themes

The theme of the play "The Cherry Orchard" is unique, because usually realistic plays do not use so many symbols. But modernism has done its job, and now in drama everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

1. Happiness– Almost all the characters in the play strive to find happiness and harmony. However, in the end, none of them achieve their goal. They all remain unhappy suffering people. To some extent, the cherry orchard is to blame for this, because all the emotional connections of the heroes with it become inflamed like nerves: Gaev and Ranevskaya are sobbing from its loss, Lopakhin is tormented by its acquisition, being separated from Varya forever, Anya and Petya are only anticipating happiness, but for now even in their illusions it looks like a new cherry orchard.
2. Theme of time– The characters fight not against each other, but against time itself. Ranevskaya and Gaev are trying to resist the future, and Lopakhin wants to defeat the past. They all fail in the end. Ranevskaya and Gaev lose their estate, and Lopakhin cannot get rid of the burden of centuries-old slavery.
3. Past– In the eyes of most of the characters, the past is like a beautiful, distant dream, where everything was beautiful and people lived in love and harmony. Even Lopakhin cannot resist the feeling of nostalgia for the past.
4. The present– By the time the story begins, almost all the characters have become disillusioned with life. The reality around them weighs them down, and the future seems unclear and scary. This also applies to the current owner of life - Lopakhin, who is just as unhappy as everyone else.
5. Future- the young heroes hope for happiness in the future, they have a presentiment of it, and this presentiment expresses the author’s faith in a better time that has not yet come.
6. Love– Chekhov’s love brings only troubles. Ranevskaya married for love, but was cruelly mistaken, ruining her life and losing her son. Having fallen in love for the second time, she fell under the influence of a scoundrel and completely derailed her life.
7. The role of the cherry orchard– The Cherry Orchard acts as a reminder of a bygone era of the landowner nobility. For Ranevskaya, this is a symbol of a happy, carefree childhood, and for Lopakhin, it is a reminder of the slave status of his ancestors.
8. Nobility– In the play, Chekhov portrayed representatives of the dying class of nobility with all their advantages and disadvantages. They are educated, spiritually rich and sensitive, tactful and delicate, but their immaturity, irresponsibility and laziness amaze even them. They are not used to working, but they are tormented by the habit of unjustified luxury. The depravity and selfishness of these people are also consequences of their noble habits. A life of idleness cannot be moral.
9. Family– Relations between relatives can hardly be called healthy. Lyubov Andreeva is sweet and courteous, but at the same time absolutely indifferent to the financial well-being of her loved ones. No one in the house takes Gaev seriously; he is constantly asked to remain silent. Behind the external warmth and benevolence there is only emptiness and indifference.

Problems

The problematics of the play “The Cherry Orchard” are acute social and philosophical issues that have worried and concern every thinking person.

1. The future of Russia– The landed nobility is finally fading into the background. Now life belongs to entrepreneurs from the common people. However, Chekhov apparently doubted that yesterday's serfs would be able to build a new, just world. They are compared to predators who destroy but do not build. The future of the cherry orchard proves this: Lopakhin cuts it down.
2. Generation Conflict– Ranevskaya and Lopakhin belong to completely different eras, but the classic conflict of “fathers and sons” does not occur in the play. Chekhov shows that in real life both the old and new generations are equally unhappy.
3. The destruction of the noble nest- the estate and garden were the value and pride of the entire province, and the Ranevsky and Gaev family always owned them. But time is merciless, and the reader involuntarily empathizes not even with the former owners of the garden, but with the estate itself, because this beauty is destined to perish irrevocably.

The many-wise Litrekon knows many more problems from this play and can describe them if you need it. Write in the comments what this section lacked, and it will be added.

Symbolism

What does the cherry orchard symbolize? For the characters, it is a reminder of the past, but the perception of the past varies greatly. Ranevskaya and Gaev remember their carefree lordly life, and Lopakhin remembers the injustice of serfdom. At the same time, the image-symbol of the cherry orchard in the mouth of Petya Trofimov takes on a different meaning - all of Russia. Therefore, young people want to plant a new garden - that is, change the country for the better.

The symbolism of sound also plays a large role in the work. Thus, the sound of a breaking string in the finale symbolizes the final death of the old world. After it, all the heroes become sad, the conversation stops. This is mourning for the old world.

Other details in the play “The Cherry Orchard” also say more than the lines. Varya indignantly throws the keys to the house on the floor, and Lopakhin, without hesitation, picks them up and even notices the meaning of this gesture. This is exactly how Russia passed from hand to hand: proud and mannered nobles threw away their fortune, and merchants simply did not disdain to pick it up from the ground. Excessive delicacy did not prevent them from working and making money.

When Lopakhin and Gaev returned from the auction, the latter brought with him anchovies and other delicacies. Even in grief from the loss of the garden, he could not change his habits, namely, wasting money.

Meaning

What is the main idea of ​​the play? “The Cherry Orchard” depicted the final collapse of the remnants of feudalism in Russia and the advent of capitalist society. However, the viewer is unlikely to feel glee. Chekhov always stood above social issues. He shows us that the era of Lopakhin, which follows the era of Ranevskaya, for the most part will be just as sad and meaningless.

However, the main idea of ​​the play “The Cherry Orchard” is not the hopelessness of life. It lies in the fact that there is still hope for a better future, and it will certainly come if people take the situation into their own hands. The problem of the nobles is that they did not increase, but plundered the property of their ancestors. The problem with the merchants is that they only made money, accumulated their fortune, but did not think about anything else. But the people of the future understand that they will need to plant the garden again, but only with their own labor, and not with the labor of others.

“After summer there must be winter, after youth there must be old age, after happiness there must be unhappiness and vice versa; a person cannot be healthy and cheerful all his life, losses are always expected of him, he cannot protect himself from death, even if he was Alexander the Great - and one must be prepared for everything and treat everything as inevitably necessary, no matter how sad it is. You just need to fulfill your duty to the best of your ability - and nothing more.”

What does it teach?

“The Cherry Orchard” shows us what happens when a person turns away from life, immerses himself in himself, begins to ignore the present, fear the future and dream about the past. The moral of the play is that one must not only speak beautifully, but act beautifully. Chekhov glorifies honest work, which gives meaning to human life.

The play tells us about the ambiguity of life, teaches us not to divide the world only into black and white. Chekhov's conclusion is the need for creation and humanity for all classes. He doesn't have bad classes or people, he has unhappy people who simply don't have enough joy in life.

Criticism

The play was generally enthusiastically received by contemporaries, but there is still no consensus on what Chekhov wanted to say, which is very typical for the writer’s work.

Russian playwright Vladimir Tikhonov, on the contrary, looked at the play more philosophically, noting the ambiguity of the new era that Lopakhin brings to Russia.

IN AND. Nemirovich-Danchenko generally called the plot of the play secondary and found in it a “background” or “undercurrent.” Chekhov's characters did not say what they felt, and the painful reticence acts and escalates the situation for them. We learn about their emotions not directly, but accidentally and in passing. This is the artistic originality of the play “The Cherry Orchard”.

The innovation of the play is emphasized by its indefinable genre, because many literary scholars are still arguing about whether The Cherry Orchard is a drama or a comedy?

A.I. Revyakin writes: “To recognize The Cherry Orchard as a drama means to recognize the experiences of the owners of the cherry orchard, the Gaevs and Ranevskys, as truly dramatic, capable of evoking deep sympathy and compassion of people looking not back, but forward, into the future. But this could not and did not happen in the play... The play “The Cherry Orchard” cannot be recognized as a tragicomedy. For this, it lacks neither tragicomic heroes nor tragicomic situations.”

“This is not a comedy, this is a tragedy... I cried like a woman...” (K.S. Stanislavsky).

The significance of the play “The Cherry Orchard” is difficult to overestimate. Despite the complexity of the drama, it immediately became a national treasure:

“I was recently on Volkhov in a neglected old nobleman’s nest. The owners are going bankrupt and making fun of themselves: “We have the Cherry Orchard!”…” (A. I. Kuprin to A. P. Chekhov, May 1904)

“Your play is doubly interesting for me, since I, who have moved and moved a lot in this environment, have to see the decline of the landowner’s life, going crescendo for better or worse in the “village” - that’s still a big question...” (V. A. Tikhonov (reader from Ryazan, doctor) - A.P. Chekhov, January 24, 1904)

The peculiarities of the play “The Cherry Orchard” consist in an ambiguous and complete description of each character. They are all people, and each has advantages and disadvantages, even beyond the boundaries of class:

Yu. I. Aikhenvald: “Only Chekhov could show in Ermolai Lopakhin not a simple fist, as other authors showed in him; only Chekhov could give him the same ennobling features of reflection and moral anxiety...”

Thus, Chekhov's last play became a beautiful, but tragic reflection of life, which did not leave anyone indifferent. Every reader saw himself in this mirror.

"The Cherry Orchard" is one of the most striking and famous dramatic works of the twentieth century. Immediately after it was written by Anton Pavlovich, which we will present to you, it was staged at the Moscow Art Theater. To this day, this play has not left Russian stages.

The plot of the play is based on the fact that Lyubov Ranevskaya, together with her daughter Anna, returns from Paris to sell the family estate. Moreover, the heroine and her brother, Gaev, grew up in this place and do not want to believe in the need to part with him.

Their friend, the merchant Lopakhin, is trying to offer a profitable enterprise to cut down the garden and rent out the area for summer cottages, which Ranevskaya and Gaev do not want to hear about. Lyubov Andreevna harbors illusory hopes that the estate can still be saved. While she has been wasting money all her life, the cherry orchard seems to her to be of higher value. But it is impossible to save him, since there is nothing to pay off his debts. Ranevskaya is broke, and Gaev “ate his estate on candy.” Therefore, at the auction, Lopakhin buys a cherry orchard and, intoxicated by his possibilities, shouts about it at the family ball. But he feels sorry for Ranevskaya, who is brought to tears by the news of the sale of the estate.

After this, the cutting down of the cherry orchard begins and the heroes say goodbye to each other and to their old life.

We have given here the main plot line and the main conflict of this play: the “old” generation, which does not want to say goodbye to the cherry orchard, but at the same time cannot give it anything, and the “new” generation, full of radical ideas. Moreover, the estate itself personifies Russia here, and it was to depict the contemporary country that Chekhov wrote “The Cherry Orchard.” The summary of this work should show that the time of landowner power is passing, and nothing can be done about it. But there is a replacement for it. A “new time” is coming - and it is unknown whether it will be better or worse than the previous one. The author leaves the ending open, and we do not know what fate awaits the estate.

The work also uses the author's moves to better understand the atmosphere of Russia at that time, as Chekhov saw it. which gives an idea of ​​the main problems of the play, at first it is a pure comedy, but towards the end elements of tragedy appear in it.

Also in the play there is an atmosphere of “universal deafness”, which is even emphasized by the physical deafness of Gaev and Firs. The characters speak for themselves and for themselves, without listening to others. Therefore, remarks can often sound not like an answer to a question posed, but like a character thinking out loud, which most fully demonstrates the qualities that Chekhov endowed him with. “The Cherry Orchard,” the analysis of which has been undertaken several times, is also deeply symbolic, and each hero is not a specific person, but a generalized characteristic type of representatives of the era.

To understand this work, it is important to look at it deeper than just the sequence of actions. This is the only way to hear what Chekhov wanted to say. “The Cherry Orchard”, its summary, plot and symbolism wonderfully illustrate the author’s view of the changes in Russia at that time.

Analysis of the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard"

The play “The Cherry Orchard” (1903) is the last work of A.P. Chekhov, completing his creative biography.

The action of the play, as the author reports with the very first remark, takes place on the estate of the landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, on an estate with a cherry orchard, surrounded by poplars, with a long alley that “goes straight, like a stretched belt” and “glitters on moonlit nights.”

Ranevskaya and her brother Leonid Andreevich Gaev are the owners of the estate. But they brought him, with their frivolity and complete lack of understanding of real life, to a pitiful state: he was about to be sold at auction. The rich peasant son, merchant Lopakhin, a friend of the family, warns the owners about the impending disaster, offers them his rescue projects, encourages them to think about the impending disaster. But Ranevskaya and Gaev live with illusory ideas. Gaev is rushing around with fantastic projects. Both of them shed many tears over the loss of their cherry orchard, without which, as it seems to them, they cannot live. But things go on as usual, auctions take place, and Lopakhin himself buys the estate. When the disaster is over, it turns out that no special drama seems to be happening for Ranevskaya and Gaev. Lyubov Andreevna returns to Paris, to her absurd “love”, to which she would have returned anyway, despite all her words that she cannot live without her homeland. Leonid Andreevich also comes to terms with what happened. The “terrible drama” does not turn out to be so difficult for its heroes for the simple reason that they cannot have anything serious, nothing dramatic at all. This is the comedic, satirical basis of the play. The way in which Chekhov emphasized the illusory, frivolous nature of the world of the Gaev-Ranevskys is interesting. He surrounds these central heroes of the comedy with characters who reflect the comic worthlessness of the main figures. The figures of Charlotte, the clerk Epikhodov, the footman Yasha, and the maid Dunyasha are caricatures of “gentlemen.”

In the lonely, absurd, unnecessary fate of the hanger-on Charlotte Ivanovna, there is a similarity with the absurd, unnecessary fate of Ranevskaya. Both of them regard themselves as something incomprehensibly unnecessary, strange, and both of them see life as foggy, unclear, somehow illusory. Like Charlotte, Ranevskaya also “everyone thinks she’s young,” and Ranevskaya lives like a hanger-on during her lifetime, not understanding anything about her.

The buffoonish figure of Epikhodov is remarkable. With his “twenty-two misfortunes”, he also represents a caricature - of Gaev, and of the landowner Simeonov-Pishchik, and even of Petya Trofimov. Epikhodov is a “klutz,” using old man Firs’ favorite saying. One of Chekhov’s contemporary critics correctly pointed out that “The Cherry Orchard” is “a play by klutzes.” Epikhodov focuses on this theme of the play. He is the soul of all “incompetence.” After all, both Gaev and Simeonov-Pishchik also have constant “twenty-two misfortunes”; like Epikhodov, nothing comes of all their intentions; comic failures haunt them at every step.

Simeonov-Pishchik, constantly on the verge of complete bankruptcy and, out of breath, running around to all his acquaintances asking for a loan of money, also represents “twenty-two misfortunes.” Boris Borisovich is a man “living on debt,” as Petya Trofimov says about Gaev and Ranevskaya; these people live at someone else's expense - at the expense of the people.

Petya Trofimov is not one of the advanced, skillful, strong fighters for future happiness. In his entire appearance one can feel the contradiction between the strength, scope of the dream and the weakness of the dreamer, characteristic of some of Chekhov's heroes. “The eternal student,” “the shabby gentleman,” Petya Trofimov is pure, sweet, but eccentric and not strong enough for the great struggle. He has the traits of “klutziness” that are characteristic of almost all the characters in this play. But everything that he says to Anya is dear and close to Chekhov.

Anya is only seventeen years old. And youth for Chekhov is not only a biographical and age sign. He wrote: “... That youth can be accepted as healthy, which does not put up with the old orders and fights against them stupidly or intelligently - that’s what nature wants and progress is based on this.”

Chekhov does not have “villains” and “angels”; he does not even differentiate heroes into positive and negative. In his works there are often “good bad” heroes. Such principles of typology, unusual for previous dramaturgy, lead to the appearance in the play of characters that combine contradictory, and moreover, mutually exclusive traits and properties.

Ranevskaya is impractical, selfish, she is petty and gone in her love interest, but she is also kind, sympathetic, and her sense of beauty does not fade. Lopakhin sincerely wants to help Ranevskaya, expresses genuine sympathy for her, and shares her passion for the beauty of the cherry orchard. Chekhov emphasized in letters related to the production of “The Cherry Orchard”: “Lopakhin’s role is central... After all, this is not a merchant in the vulgar sense of the word... He is a gentle man... a decent person in every sense, he should behave quite decently, intelligently , not petty, without tricks.” But this gentle man is a predator. Petya Trofimov explains to Lopakhin his purpose in life: “Just as in the sense of metabolism a predatory beast is needed that eats everything that gets in its way, so you are needed.” And this gentle, decent, intelligent man “eats” the cherry orchard...

The Cherry Orchard appears in the play as both the personification of a wonderful creative life and the “judge” of the characters. Their attitude towards the garden as the highest beauty and determination are the author’s measure of the moral dignity of this or that hero.

Ranevskaya was not able to save the garden from destruction, and not because she was unable to turn the cherry orchard into a commercial, profitable one, as it was 40-50 years ago... Her mental strength and energy were absorbed by love passion, drowning out her natural responsiveness on the joys and misfortunes of those around her, making her indifferent to the ultimate fate of the cherry orchard and to the fate of loved ones. Ranevskaya turned out to be lower than the idea of ​​the Cherry Orchard, she betrays it.

This is precisely the meaning of her recognition that she cannot live without the man who abandoned her in Paris: not the garden, not the estate is the focus of her innermost thoughts, hopes and aspirations. Lopakhin also does not rise to the idea of ​​the Cherry Orchard. He sympathizes and worries, but he is only concerned about the fate of the owner of the orchard; in the entrepreneur’s plans, the cherry orchard itself is doomed to destruction. It is Lopakhin who brings to its logical conclusion the action that develops in its climactic inconsistency: “Silence sets in, and you can only hear how far in the garden an ax is knocking on a tree.”

I.A. Bunin blamed Chekhov for his “The Cherry Orchard,” since nowhere in Russia there were all cherry orchards, but rather mixed ones. But Chekhov's garden is not a concrete reality, but a symbol of fleeting and at the same time eternal life. His garden is one of the most complex symbols of Russian literature. The modest radiance of cherry blossoms is a symbol of youth and beauty; Describing a bride in a wedding dress in one of his stories, Chekhov compared her to a cherry tree in blossom. The cherry tree is a symbol of beauty, kindness, humanity, confidence in the future; this symbol contains only positive meaning and does not have any negative meanings.

Chekhov's characters transformed the ancient genre of comedy; it had to be staged, played and watched completely differently from the way the comedies of Shakespeare, Moliere or Fonvizin were staged.

The cherry orchard in this play is least of all a setting against which the characters philosophize, dream, and quarrel. The garden is the personification of the value and meaning of life on earth, where each new day branches off from the past, like young shoots coming from old trunks and roots.

The original play “The Cherry Orchard” by the famous writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was written in a mixture of two styles. Anton Pavlovich wrote the play, more inclined to the comedy genre, trying to reveal the theme of family estates, resort to such a valued concept as “estate,” and develop the idea of ​​​​the future of the population of his country. However, literary critics note that this work belongs to tragedy and drama. Thanks to such differences in the genre, every reader can observe how drama flows into tragicomedy.

The plot of “The Cherry Orchard” contains various stories of people who at that time found themselves in a crisis of their own finances and lost their own family estates.

The central image of the play is actually the cherry orchard. The owner of such a property is Lyubov Ranevskaya, whom one of the heroes persuades to sell the family estate. The cherry orchard itself is the leitmotif of all scenes, combining various time plans. For Ranevskaya, the garden is something so reverent from a bright childhood that gives warm memories, it is a place where the soul is nourished by positive energy. The plot of the play is built around the fate of the family estate. In the first act, a plan is built to save the mortgaged estate from auction, in the third, the estate is sold, and the fourth act reveals to the reader a lyrical note of parting with the past.

A characteristic feature of this work is that Chekhov does not divide heroes into good or bad and main and secondary. He divides them into three groups, distinguishing them according to time frames. The first group includes representatives of the past generation - this is Lyubov Ranevskaya herself, Gaev, the lackey Firs. The second group includes people of the present time; in the plot of the play this is the only hero in the person of the enterprising merchant Lopakhin. And finally, the third group brings together the progressive youth of that time, Pyotr Trofimov and Ani.

The plot centers on the fate of the cherry orchard, the sale of the family estate, in which the confrontation between the new and old eras unfolds. The climax of the storyline is hidden in the third act of the play, where the family estate is sold and the final outcome is revealed in the final fourth scene. The old, familiar nobility of Russia is being replaced by young people and aspiring entrepreneurs. The main reason for the emergence of conflict is not social confrontation, but the struggle of the characters themselves with the conditions surrounding them. Such a conflict in time is revealed only through knowledge of future changes in the life of the people.

In his work “The Cherry Orchard,” Chekhov wanted to encourage his reader to think philosophically about the upcoming future, about a new era that is being reborn around him, resorting to introspection.

Option 2

The work is a lyrical comedy, the key theme of which is the author's reflections on the future of the country and its population. The play is based on the story of the forced auction sale of a family estate by an impoverished noble family.

The originality of the work is its genre presentation, which from the point of view of the writer appears to be a comedy, and from the point of view of the literary society and theatergoers it demonstrates dramatic elements. Thus, alternating dramatic and comic scenes, the writer achieves the artistic reality of the play.

A distinctive feature of the work is recognized as the author's innovation, expressed in the absence of division of the heroes of the play as either negative or positive characters, dividing them into only three categories, the first of which represents people of the past generation in the person of noble aristocrats Ranevskaya, Gaev and lackey Firs, to the second the group includes people of the present, in the vivid representation of the enterprising merchant Lopakhin, and in the third category the author includes people of the future in the person of the progressive youth of that period, Pyotr Trofimov and Anya.

The structural composition of the play consists of four acts, which are not divided into independent scenes, while the time period of the work is about six months, starting in spring and ending in mid-autumn. In the first act, the mise-en-scène of the plot line is presented, which increases with tension in the second act, the third act is characterized by the culmination of the plot in the form of the sale of the family name, and the fourth comes the final denouement. The artistic content of the play develops an emotional and psychological background, which consists in describing the internal experiences of the characters.

The work is also distinguished by the complete absence of pronounced external conflicts, as well as dynamism and unpredictable plot twists, which are emphasized by the author’s remarks, monologues, pauses, which create the impression of special understatement and give the work a unique, exquisite lyricism.

Analysis 3

The famous writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov managed to write not only stories, but also original plays. His play, known today, is “The Cherry Orchard,” which was written from 1903 to 1904. By diligently working on his creation, Chekhov clearly showed the change in social structures.

Getting acquainted with the work, it becomes clear that the Cherry Orchard itself is at the center of the play. Its owner is Lyubov Ranevskaya, whom Lopakhin persuades to sell the beautiful beauty in order to rent it out and receive a decent amount of income. But what's the problem? The misfortune lies in the fact that for Ranevskaya, the garden is, first of all, childhood, these are bright memories that are filled with the mere idea of ​​the wonderful expanses of their native place. This is joy, this is happiness, this is her soul mate. She can't imagine her own life without him! For the heroine, as well as for her brother, the Cherry Orchard is neither real estate nor a means of livelihood, as Lopakhin thinks. No, that's not true. A garden is a home where their heart is, a home where you feel at ease, a home where you are free, your soul receives aesthetic pleasure!

Anton Pavlovich not only analyzed the state of Russian society and its behavior, but also reflected in his characters an analysis of Russia’s past and reflections on its future. Any of Chekhov's characters is connected with the theme of the past, or the theme of the present, or the future.

The old owners who run the garden are responsible for personifying the past of our country. This is Lyubov Ranevskaya and, accordingly, her brother Leonid Gaev. The main thing that gives them away is their inability to work.

It is worth understanding that the fate of the characters depends on the fate of the Cherry Orchard. But Ranevskaya’s decision leaves much to be desired, because she is selling the garden, which was a spiritual asset, the best cure for adversity. Along with it, the thousand-year-old culture of the nobility goes away. Those who own the Cherry Orchard are indecisive, weak-willed in difficult situations. And because of their cowardice, these people fail, because their time has passed... It turns out that the place of the heroine Ranevskaya is taken by Lopakhin, this new generation, greedy, looking for benefit in everything for themselves. And this is tragic, since replenishing the world with such behavioral people has a negative impact on the lives of those around them.

While reading Chekhov's book, one feels loneliness, the end is blowing, a precipice into darkness from where there is no way out. This shows that the decision that Ranevskaya makes about the garden is wrong, because along with the Cherry Orchard her childhood and soul are being sold...

That is why Anton Pavlovich’s work is so amazing in its content and unusual. The play poses many problems that Chekhov saw in his time; he took every detail seriously. He thereby depicted what worried and worried him: submission, the cowardice of a person before a serious decision. You should never give away what belongs to you, what brings happiness and incredible joy. Don't say goodbye to this easily! It is important to stand up for yourself to the end! You need to be strong and courageous, have a strong character, persistent willpower, so as not to break down under the next problem. This is what makes Chekhov so amazing: he writes so soulfully that after reading his stories his thoughts do not leave him alone! That's how it should be!

The Cherry Orchard - analysis for grade 10

The plot of the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" is based on numerous stories related to the sale of family estates by nobles. At that time, many of them lost their property, suffered serious financial difficulties, and were often forced to auction off their family nests. It is interesting that a similar situation happened with the author himself, when his father had to sell his shop and house due to debts. All this greatly influenced Chekhov’s life and his future writing. In the play “The Cherry Orchard,” Chekhov examines a similar problem, analyzes the psychological state of people who were destined to lose their own home.

The classic approach to analyzing Chekhov's play is as follows. The heroes of the work are divided into three groups according to time criteria. The first of them includes the aristocrats Gaev, Ranevskaya and the lackey Firs - representatives of the old era. The second category of present time is represented by a single character - the merchant Lopakhin. The third group is people of the future, which include Petya Trofimov and Anya. At the same time, in the play there is no division of heroes into “good” and “bad”, main and secondary. This presentation of the plot became a characteristic feature of Chekhov’s author’s style, which was later seen in his future plays.

The plot centers on the story of the sale of a family estate with a cherry orchard, but there is no open conflict in the play. If there is some kind of opposition here, then it is expressed in a kind of contradiction between two different eras - the new and the old. The ruined nobles categorically do not want to part with their property, while they are also not ready to rent out a plot of land and receive commercial profit for it. For them it is too new and incomprehensible. The temporal conflict in the play is revealed through the awareness of future changes in the life of society, so clearly felt by the author himself. With his work, Chekhov wanted to show this situation from the outside in order to make the reader think about his place and role in this life.

The author's position here is ambiguous. Despite the tragedy of what is happening, the characters in the play do not evoke pity or sympathy. Chekhov portrayed them as narrow-minded people, incapable of introspection and deep experiences. The work rather represents the author’s philosophical reasoning about the future, about the new era into which Russian society will soon enter.

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For the first time A.P. Chekhov announced the start of work on a new play in 1901 in a letter to his wife O.L. Knipper-Chekhov. Work on the play progressed very difficultly, this was caused by Anton Pavlovich’s serious illness. In 1903, it was completed and presented to the leaders of the Moscow Art Theater. The play premiered in 1904. And from that moment on, the play “The Cherry Orchard” has been analyzed and criticized for a hundred years.

The play “The Cherry Orchard” became A.P.’s swan song. Chekhov. It contains reflections on the future of Russia and its people, which have accumulated in his thoughts for years. And the very artistic originality of the play became the pinnacle of Chekhov’s playwright’s work, once again showing why he is considered an innovator, who breathed new life into the entire Russian theater.

Theme of the play

The theme of the play “The Cherry Orchard” was the sale of the family nest of impoverished nobles at auction. By the beginning of the twentieth century, such stories were not uncommon. A similar tragedy occurred in Chekhov’s life; their house, along with his father’s shop, was sold for debts back in the 80s of the 19th century, and this left an indelible mark on his memory. And already, being an accomplished writer, Anton Pavlovich tried to understand the psychological state of people who lost their home.

Characters

When analyzing the play “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov's heroes are traditionally divided into three groups, based on their temporal affiliation. The first group, representing the past, includes the aristocrats Ranevskaya, Gaev and their old lackey Firs. The second group represented by the merchant Lopakhin, who became a representative of the present time. Well, the third group is Petya Trofimov and Anya, they are the future.
The playwright does not have a clear division of characters into main and secondary ones, as well as into strictly negative or positive ones. It is this presentation of characters that is one of the innovations and features of Chekhov’s plays.

Conflict and development of the play's plot

There is no open conflict in the play, and this is another feature of A.P.’s dramaturgy. Chekhov. And on the surface there is a sale of an estate with a huge cherry orchard. And against the background of this event, one can discern the opposition of a bygone era to new phenomena in society. The ruined nobles stubbornly hold on to their property, unable to take real steps to save it, and the proposal to receive commercial profit by renting out land to summer residents is unacceptable for Ranevskaya and Gaev. Analyzing the work “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov can talk about a temporary conflict in which the past collides with the present, and the present with the future. The conflict of generations itself is by no means new for Russian literature, but never before has it been revealed at the level of a subconscious premonition of changes in historical time, so clearly felt by Anton Pavlovich. He wanted to make the viewer or reader think about his place and role in this life.

It is very difficult to divide Chekhov's plays into phases of development of dramatic action, because he tried to bring the unfolding action closer to reality, showing the everyday life of his heroes, of which most of life consists.

The exposition can be called the conversation between Lopakhin and Dunyasha, awaiting the arrival of Ranevskaya, and almost immediately the plot of the play stands out, which consists in pronouncing the visible conflict of the play - the sale of the estate at auction for debts. The twists and turns of the play consist of attempts to convince the owners to rent out the land. The climax is the news of the purchase of the estate by Lopakhin, and the denouement is the departure of all the heroes from the empty house.

Composition of the play

The play “The Cherry Orchard” consists of four acts.

In the first act, all the characters in the play are introduced. Analyzing the first act of “The Cherry Orchard,” it is worth noting that the inner content of the characters is conveyed through their attitude to the old cherry orchard. And here begins one of the conflicts of the entire play - the confrontation between the past and the present. The past is represented by brother and sister Gaev and Ranevskaya. For them, the garden and the old house are a reminder and living symbol of their former carefree life, in which they were rich aristocrats owning a huge estate. For Lopakhin, who is opposed to them, owning a garden is, first of all, an opportunity to make a profit. Lopakhin makes Ranevskaya an offer, by accepting which she can save the estate, and asks the impoverished landowners to think about it.

Analyzing the second act of “The Cherry Orchard”, it is necessary to note that the owners and servants are not walking through a beautiful garden, but in a field. From this we can conclude that the garden is in an absolutely neglected state, and it is simply impossible to walk through it. This action perfectly reveals Petya Trofimov’s idea of ​​what the future should be like.

The climax of the play occurs in the third act. The estate is sold, and Lopakhin becomes the new owner. Despite his satisfaction with the deal, Lopakhin is saddened by the fact that he must decide the fate of the garden. This means the garden will be destroyed.

Act four: the family nest is empty, the once united family is falling apart. And just as a garden is cut down at the roots, so this surname remains without roots, without shelter.

Author's position in the play

Despite the apparent tragedy of what was happening, the characters did not evoke any sympathy from the author himself. He considered them narrow-minded people, incapable of deep experiences. This play became more of a philosophical reflection by the playwright about what awaits Russia in the near future.

The genre of the play is very unique. Chekhov called The Cherry Orchard a comedy. The first directors saw drama in it. And many critics agreed that “The Cherry Orchard” is a lyrical comedy.

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