The Cherry Orchard is lyrical work Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, written in 1903, a year before his death. The play consists of four acts. Chekhov put the whole meaning of the work in its title, in the emphasis on the penultimate syllable, on the letter e. After all, it is she who says that the garden is intended to give pleasure to its appearance, by its presence, and not by commercial possession. He does not bring monetary gain, but demonstrates the charm of his unusual blooming whiteness and past refined noble life. The garden is capable of living only to satisfy the whims of spoiled aesthetes, and not to make money, which is why it must be destroyed, as this is required by economic development and vital necessity.
Act one
Everything happens in the estate, whose owner is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. The magnificent garden surrounding the house faces the fate of being sold for debts that the owner incurred while living abroad, for several years, after a series of misfortunes befell her. Lyubov Andreevna, who arrived with her daughter Anya, is met at the station by Ranevskaya’s brother Leonid Andreevich Gaev and Varya, her adopted daughter.
At the estate Lyubov Andreevna is still expected characters- this is the merchant Lopakhin - an old friend and good acquaintance, Dunyasha - the maid, a little later the clerk Epikhodov arrives, everyone calls him “thirty-three misfortunes” for his ability to get into various troubles. The hospitable house is gradually filled with arriving guests, joyful excitement reigns all around, everyone is animatedly talking about their problems, arguing, interrupting each other.
Lopakhin reminded Lyubov Andreevna that the estate would soon be sold at auction, and to avoid this, it was necessary to divide all the land into several plots and offer it for rent to summer residents. Ranevskaya learns with bitterness that the once “dear student” Petya Trofimov, who once taught her drowned son, unfortunately the metamorphosis that happened to him is not pleasing; he has turned into an “eternal student.” Gaev, together with Varya, come up with projects on where to get money to pay off debts. Finally, the servant Firs accompanies Gaev to rest. Ranevskaya’s own daughter Anya was inspired by the fact that Leonid Andreevich would be able to help out the estate.
Act two
Lopakhin, who arrived the next day, again continues to persuade Ranevskaya to divide the land. But the frivolous Ranevskaya and Gaev again ignore Lopakhin’s proposal and talk about something completely insignificant; the amazed Lopakhin makes an attempt to leave them, but remains at Ranevskaya’s insistence. Anya, Trofimov and Varya appear, everyone philosophizes together, Petya scolds the intelligentsia. Everyone interrupts each other, from the outside the conversation resembles a useless hubbub. Looking at this conversation, it is easy to understand that those present are completely unable and unwilling to listen to the other person. Finally, everyone has left and Anya and Trofimov can talk freely with each other.
Act three
The bidding began, on this day, completely inappropriately, Ranevskaya planned a ball, Lyubov Andreevna anxiously awaits Gaev’s return with the money that her aunt gave in Yaroslavl. But this money is only 15,000, and it is not enough to pay off debts. Petya tries to reassure Ranevskaya, convincing her that the garden is all over, and to face the truth, it is not really needed. But Lyubov Andreevna does not see the meaning of life without a garden.
Every day she receives news from Paris and now she no longer tears it up as before. Having left her without funds, her lover calls her again. Ranevskaya and Trofimov quarrel, then make up. Lopakhin and Gaev arrived. Lopakhin is at his best, the former son of a serf became the owner of the garden, paying a lot of money for it. And now the garden will be cut down, Ermolai Lopakhin will “take an ax to the cherry orchard.” Anya unsuccessfully consoles her mother, saying that another garden will appear, even better, and “quiet and deep joy” awaits them ahead.
Act four
The house is empty. Lopakhin wants to go to Kharkov, Petya Trofimov plans to go to Moscow, both of them are sarcastic about each other. Lopakhin wants to help Trofimov with money, but his damned pride does not allow Petya to take it. Ranevskaya and Gaev suddenly became cheerful. With the sale of the cherry orchard, worries and worries went away. Lyubov Andreevna had already planned how she would live in Paris with the money she received from her aunt. Anya is happy that she will finally be able to finish her studies at the gymnasium. Suddenly Simeonov-Pishchik arrives, he is in a hurry to pay off his debts, since white clay was found on his land, and brilliant prospects are open for him.
Everyone decide on your future life. Gaev identified himself as a bank official. Lopakhin must find a place for Charlotte. Epidokhova hires Lopakhin to manage her land. Varvara will serve as the Ragulins' housekeeper, although Varya likes Lopakhin, she expects the first actions from him, and he runs away under some plausible pretext. The sick Firs must be sent to the hospital for treatment. Finally, everything calmed down and everyone left. And only the old servant remains in the house, they simply forgot about him. He lies down and dies. Behind the stage you can hear the sound of a guitar string breaking, and then the blows of axes.
Relevance of the work
The Cherry Orchard is a special work; it still evokes a strong surge of feelings, analogies and new understanding. historical processes in Russian history. The last, most historical work of Chekhov and truly prophetic, describing a certain moment in Russian life. The work is relevant at all times.
Brief summary of the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" for preparation for the final essay, for the reader's diary. Comedy in 4 acts.
Characters:
Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna is a landowner.
Anya is her daughter, 17 years old.
Varya is her adopted daughter, 24 years old.
Gaev Leonid Andreevich - brother of Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich - merchant.
Trofimov Petr Sergeevich - student.
Simeonov-Pishchik Boris Borisovich - landowner.
Charlotte Ivanovna - governess,
Epikhodov Semyon Panteleevich - clerk.
Dunyasha is a maid.
Firs is a footman, an old man, 87 years old.
Yasha is a young footman.
Action 1
A room that is still called the nursery. Lopakhin and Dunyasha are waiting for Ranevskaya and everyone who went to meet her to arrive from the station. Lopakhin remembers how Ranevskaya pitied him in childhood (Lopakhin is the son of Ranevskaya's serf). Lopakhin reproaches Dunyasha for behaving like a young lady. Epikhodov appears. Upon entering, he drops the bouquet. Epikhodov complains to Lopakhin that some misfortune happens to him every day. Epikhodov leaves. Dunyasha reports that Epikhodov proposed to her. Two carriages drive up to the house. Ranevskaya, Anya, Charlotte, Varya, Gaev, Simeonov-Pishchik appear. Ranevskaya admires the nursery and says that she feels like a child here. Left alone with Varya, Anya tells her about her trip to Paris: “Mom lives on the fifth floor, I come to her, she has some French ladies, an old priest with a book, and it’s smoky, uncomfortable... My dacha near Menton she has already sold, she has nothing left, nothing. I also didn’t have a penny left, we barely got there. And mom doesn't understand! We sit down at the station for lunch, and she demands the most expensive thing and gives the footmen a ruble each as a tip. Charlotte too. Yasha also demands a portion for himself...” Anya wonders if Lopakhin proposed to Varya. She shakes her head negatively, says that nothing will work out for them, tells her sister that they will sell the estate in August, and she herself would like to go to holy places. Dunyasha flirts with Yasha, who tries to seem like a foreign dandy. Ranevskaya, Gaev and Simeonov-Pishchik appear. Gaev makes movements with his arms and body, as if playing billiards (“From the ball to the right to the corner”, “From two sides to the middle”). Ranevskaya is glad that Firs is still alive and recognizes the situation: “My dear closet! (kisses the wardrobe).” Before leaving, Lopakhin reminds the owners that their estate is being sold for debts, and offers a way out: to divide the land into summer cottages and rent them out.
However, to do this you will need to cut down the old The Cherry Orchard. Gaev and Ranevskaya do not understand the meaning of Lopakhin’s project and refuse to follow his reasonable advice under the pretext that their garden is mentioned in “ Encyclopedic Dictionary" Varya brings Ranevskaya two telegrams from Paris, she tears them up without reading them. Gaev makes a pompous speech addressed to the cabinet: “Dear, dear cabinet! I greet your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice; your silent call to fruitful work“has not weakened for a hundred years, maintaining vigor in generations of our family, faith in a better future and nurturing in us the ideals of goodness and social self-awareness.” There is an awkward pause. Pischik takes a handful of pills intended for Ranevskaya. He either tries to borrow 240 rubles from the owners, then falls asleep, then wakes up, then mutters that his daughter Dashenka will win 200 thousand on a ticket. Petya Trofimov appears - former teacher Grisha, Ranevskaya's son, who drowned several years ago. He is called a “shabby gentleman” and an “eternal student.” Varya asks Yasha to see his mother, who has been waiting for him in the common room since yesterday. Yasha: “It’s very necessary.” Gaev states that there are many ways to get money to pay off debts. “It would be nice to receive an inheritance from someone, it would be nice to marry our Anya to a very rich man, it would be nice to go to Yaroslavl and try my luck with the aunt countess.” The aunt is very rich, but she does not like her nephews: Ranevskaya did not marry a nobleman and did not behave virtuously. Gaev says about himself that he is a man of the eighties, he got it in life for his beliefs, but he knows men and they love him. Varya shares her problems with her sister: she manages the entire household, diligently maintains order and saves on everything. Anya, tired from the road, falls asleep.
Act 2
Field, old chapel, old bench. Charlotte talks about herself: she doesn’t have a passport, she doesn’t know her age, her parents were circus performers, after the death of her parents, a German woman trained her to be a governess. Epikhodov hums romances with a guitar and shows off in front of Dunyasha. She tries to please Yasha. Ranevskaya, Gaev and Lopakhin enter, who still convinces Ranevskaya to give the land for dachas. Neither Ranevskaya nor Gaev hear his words. Ranevskaya regrets that she spends a lot and senselessly: she goes to a crappy restaurant for breakfast, eats and drinks a lot, and tips a lot. Yasha declares that he cannot hear Gaev’s voices without laughing. Lopakhin tries to shout to Ranevskaya, reminding her about the auction. However, the brother and sister claim that “dachas and summer residents are so vulgar.” Ranevskaya herself feels uncomfortable (“I’m still waiting for something, as if the house was about to collapse above us”). Ranevskaya’s husband died “from champagne.” She got along with someone else, went abroad with him, and cared for the object of her passion for three years when he fell ill. In the end, he left her, robbed her and got along with someone else. Ranevskaya returned to Russia to her daughter. In response to Lopakhin's reasonable proposals, she tries to persuade him to talk about marrying Varya. Firs appears with Gaev's coat. Firs considers the liberation of the peasants a misfortune (“The men are with the gentlemen, the gentlemen are with the peasants, and now everything is in pieces, you won’t understand anything”). Trofimov enters and resumes yesterday’s conversation with Gaev and Ranevskaya about the “proud man”: “We must stop admiring ourselves. All you have to do is work... Very few people work here in Russia. The vast majority of the intelligentsia that I know does not seek anything, does nothing and is not yet capable of work... Everyone is serious, everyone has stern faces, everyone talks only about important things, philosophizes... all our good conversations are for this purpose only to avert the eyes of oneself and others.” Lopakhin objects to him that he himself works from morning to evening. He agrees that there are few honest, decent people in the world (“I think: “Lord, you gave us huge forests, vast forests, deepest horizons, and living here, we ourselves should really be giants”). Gaev pompously recites a monologue addressed to Mother Nature. He is asked to be silent. All those gathered constantly utter fragmentary phrases that are in no way connected with each other. A passerby asks for alms, and Ranevskaya gives him a gold one. Varya tries to leave in despair. Ranevskaya wants to keep her, saying that she has betrothed her to Lopakhin. Anya is left alone with Trofimov. He joyfully assures her that they are above love and calls the girl forward. “All of Russia is our garden. The earth is great and beautiful, there are many wonderful places on it. Think, Anya: your grandfather, great-grandfather and all your ancestors were serf owners who owned living souls, and don’t human beings look at you from every cherry tree in the garden, from every leaf, from every trunk, don’t you really hear voices... Own living souls - after all, this has reborn all of you, who lived before and are now living, so that your mother, you, and uncle no longer notice that you are living in debt, at someone else’s expense, at the expense of those people whom you do not allow further than the front hall. .. We fell behind at least, for two hundred years, we still have absolutely nothing, no certain attitude to the past, we only philosophize, complain about melancholy or drink vodka. It’s so clear, in order to begin to live in the present, we must first redeem our past, put an end to it, and we can redeem it only through suffering, only through extraordinary, continuous labor.” Petya calls on Anya to throw the keys to the farm into the well and be free like the wind.
Act 3
Ball at Ranevskaya's house. Charlotte shows card tricks. Pischik is looking for someone to borrow money from. Ranevskaya says that the ball was started at the wrong time. Gaev went to the auction to buy the estate under his aunt’s power of attorney in her name. Ranevskaya persistently demands that Varya marry Lopakhin. Varya replies that she cannot propose to him herself, but he either remains silent or jokes, and keeps getting richer. Yasha cheerfully reports that Epikhodov broke the billiard cue. Ranevskaya encourages Trofimov to finish his studies, shares with him her doubts about leaving for Paris: her lover bombards her with telegrams. She has already forgotten that he robbed her, and does not want to be reminded of it. In response to Trofimov’s reproaches for inconsistency, she advises him to take a mistress. Varya kicks Epikhodov out. Gaev returns, cries, complains that he has not eaten anything all day and has suffered greatly. It turns out that the estate was sold and Lopakhin bought it. Lopakhin is proud that he bought an estate, “there is nothing more beautiful in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves... Come everyone and watch Ermolai Lopakhin take an ax to the cherry orchard! We will set up dachas, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see here new life! Anya consoles the crying Ranevskaya, convinces her that there is a whole life ahead: “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this, you will see it, you will understand, and joy, quiet, deep joy will descend on your soul.”
Act 4
Those leaving are collecting their things. Saying goodbye to the men, Ranevskaya gives them her wallet. Lopakhin is going to Kharkov (“I kept hanging around with you, I was tired of doing nothing”). Lopakhin tries to lend Trofimov, but he refuses: “Humanity is moving towards the highest truth, towards the highest happiness that is possible on earth, and I am in the forefront!” Lopakhin reports that Gaev accepted a position as an employee at the bank, but doubts that he will stay long in his new place. Ranevskaya is worried whether the sick Firs was sent to the hospital, and arranges for Varya and Lopakhin to explain in private. Varya informs Lopakhin that she has hired herself as a housekeeper. Lopakhin never makes an offer. Saying goodbye to Anya, Ranevskaya says that she is leaving for Paris, where she will live on money sent by her Yaroslavl aunt. Anya plans to pass the exam at the gymnasium, then work, help her mother and read books with her. Charlotte asks Lopakhin to find her a new place. Gaev: “Everyone is abandoning us. Varya leaves... Suddenly we are no longer needed.” Suddenly Pishchik appears and distributes debts to those present. The British discovered white clay on his land, and he leased the land to them. Left alone, Gaev and Ranevskaya say goodbye to the house and garden. From afar their names are Anya and Trofimov. The owners leave and lock the doors. Firs appears, forgotten in the house. He is sick. “A distant sound is heard, as if from the sky, the sound of a broken string, fading, sad. There is silence, and you can only hear how far away in the garden an ax is being knocked on a tree.”
1978. - T. 13. Plays. 1895-1904. - pp. 197-214.
Act one
A room that is still called a nursery. One of the doors leads to Anya's room. Dawn, the sun will rise soon. It’s already May, the cherry trees are blooming, but it’s cold in the garden, it’s morning. The windows in the room are closed.
Dunyasha enters with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand.
Lopakhin. The train arrived, thank God. What time is it now?
Dunyasha. Soon it's two. (Puts out the candle.) It's already light.
Lopakhin. How late was the train? For at least two hours. (Yawns and stretches.) I'm good, what a fool I've been! I came here on purpose to meet him at the station, and suddenly overslept... I fell asleep while sitting. Annoyance... If only you could wake me up.
Dunyasha. I thought you left. (Listens.) Looks like they're already on their way.
Lopakhin (listens). No... Get your luggage, this and that...
Lyubov Andreevna lived abroad for five years, I don’t know what she’s like now... She’s a good person. An easy, simple person. I remember when I was a boy of about fifteen, my late father - he was selling in a shop here in the village back then - hit me in the face with his fist, blood came out of my nose... Then we came together to the yard for some reason, and he was drunk. Lyubov Andreevna, as I remember now, still young, so thin, led me to the washstand, in this very room, in the nursery. “Don’t cry, he says, little man, he’ll heal before the wedding...”
A peasant... My father, it’s true, was a peasant, but here I am in a white vest and yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a Kalash row... Just now he's rich, a lot of money, but if you think about it and figure it out, then the man is a man... (Flips through the book.) I read the book and didn’t understand anything. I read and fell asleep.
Dunyasha. And the dogs didn’t sleep all night, they sense that their owners are coming.
Lopakhin. What are you, Dunyasha, like...
Dunyasha. Hands are shaking. I'll faint.
Lopakhin. You are very gentle, Dunyasha. And you dress like a young lady, and so does your hairstyle. You can not do it this way. We must remember ourselves.
Epikhodov enters with a bouquet; he is wearing a jacket and brightly polished boots that squeak loudly; upon entering, he drops the bouquet.
Epikhodov (raises the bouquet). The gardener sent it, he says, to put it in the dining room. (Gives Dunyasha a bouquet.)
Lopakhin. And bring me some kvass.
Dunyasha. I'm listening. (Leaves.)
Epikhodov. It's morning, the frost is three degrees, and the cherry trees are all in bloom. I cannot approve of our climate. (Sighs.) I can not. Our climate may not be conducive just right. Here, Ermolai Alekseich, let me add to you, I bought myself boots the day before, and they, I dare to assure you, squeak so much that there is no way. What should I lubricate it with?
Lopakhin. Leave me alone. Tired of it.
Epikhodov. Every day some misfortune happens to me. And I don’t complain, I’m used to it and even smile.
Dunyasha comes in and gives Lopakhin kvass.
I will go. (Bumps into a chair, which falls.) Here… (As if triumphant.) You see, excuse the expression, what a circumstance, by the way... This is simply wonderful! (Leaves.)
Dunyasha. And to me, Ermolai Alekseich, I must admit, Epikhodov made an offer.
Lopakhin. A!
Dunyasha. I don’t know how... He’s a quiet man, but sometimes when he starts talking, you won’t understand anything. It’s both good and sensitive, just incomprehensible. I kind of like him. He loves me madly. He is an unhappy person, something happens every day. They tease him like that: twenty-two misfortunes...
Lopakhin (listens). Looks like they're coming...
Dunyasha. They're coming! What's wrong with me... I'm completely cold.
Lopakhin. They really are going. Let's go meet. Will she recognize me? We haven't seen each other for five years.
Dunyasha (excited). I'm going to fall... Oh, I'm going to fall!
You can hear two carriages approaching the house. Lopakhin and Dunyasha quickly leave. The stage is empty. There is noise in the neighboring rooms. Firs, who had gone to meet Lyubov Andreevna, hurriedly passes across the stage, leaning on a stick; he is in an old livery and a tall hat; He says something to himself, but not a single word can be heard. The noise behind the stage is getting louder and louder. Voice: “Let’s go here...” Lyubov Andreevna, Anya and Charlotte Ivanovna with a dog on a chain, dressed for travel. Varya in a coat and scarf, Gaev, Simeonov-Pishchik, Lopakhin, Dunyasha with a bundle and an umbrella, a servant with things - everyone is walking across the room.
Anya. Let's go here. Do you, mom, remember which room this is?
Lyubov Andreevna (joyfully, through tears). Children's!
Varya . It's so cold, my hands are numb. (To Lyubov Andreevna.) Your rooms, white and purple, remain the same, mommy.
Lyubov Andreevna. Children's room, my dear, beautiful room... I slept here when I was little... (Cries.) And now I'm like little... (Kisses his brother, Varya, then his brother again.) But Varya is still the same, she looks like a nun. And I recognized Dunyasha... (Kisses Dunyasha.)
Gaev. The train was two hours late. What's it like? What are the procedures?
Charlotte (To Pishchik). My dog also eats nuts.
Pischik (surprised). Just think!
Everyone leaves except Anya and Dunyasha.
Dunyasha. We're tired of waiting... (Takes off Anya’s coat and hat.)
Anya. I didn’t sleep on the road for four nights... now I’m very cold.
Dunyasha. You left during Lent, then there was snow, there was frost, but now? My darling! (Laughs, kisses her.) I’ve been waiting for you, my joy, little light... I’ll tell you now, I can’t stand it for one minute...
Anya (sluggishly). Something again...
Dunyasha. The clerk Epikhodov proposed to me after the Saint.
Anya. You are all about one thing... (Straightens her hair.) I lost all my pins... (She is very tired, even staggering.)
Dunyasha. I don't know what to think. He loves me, he loves me so much!
Anya (looks at his door, tenderly). My room, my windows, as if I never left. I'm home! Tomorrow morning I’ll get up and run to the garden... Oh, if only I could sleep! I didn’t sleep the whole way, I was tormented by anxiety.
Dunyasha. On the third day Pyotr Sergeich arrived.
Anya (joyfully). Peter!
Dunyasha. They sleep in the bathhouse and live there. I'm afraid, they say, to embarrass me. (Looking at his pocket watch.) We should have woken them up, but Varvara Mikhailovna didn’t order it. You, he says, don’t wake him up.
Varya enters, she has a bunch of keys on her belt.
Varya . Dunyasha, coffee quickly... Mommy asks for coffee.
Dunyasha. Just a minute. (Leaves.)
Varya . Well, thank God, we've arrived. You're home again. (Caresing.) My darling has arrived! The beauty has arrived!
Anya. I've suffered enough.
Varya . I'm imagining!
Anya. I went to Holy Week, it was cold then. Charlotte talks the whole way, performing tricks. And why did you force Charlotte on me...
Varya . You can’t go alone, darling. At seventeen!
Anya. We arrive in Paris, it’s cold and snowy. I speak French badly. Mom lives on the fifth floor, I come to her, she has some French ladies, an old priest with a book, and it’s smoky, uncomfortable. I suddenly felt sorry for my mother, so sorry, I hugged her head, squeezed her with my hands and couldn’t let go. Mom then kept caressing and crying...
Varya (through tears). Don't talk, don't talk...
Anya. She had already sold her dacha near Menton, she had nothing left, nothing. I also didn’t have a penny left, we barely got there. And mom doesn't understand! We sit down at the station for lunch, and she demands the most expensive thing and gives the footmen a ruble each as a tip. Charlotte too. Yasha also demands a portion for himself, it’s just terrible. After all, mom has a footman, Yasha, we brought him here...
Varya . I saw a scoundrel.
Anya. Well, how? Did you pay interest?
Varya . Where exactly.
Anya. My God, my God...
Varya . The estate will be sold in August...
Anya. My God…
Lopakhin (looks through the door and hums). Me-e-e... (Leaves.)
Varya (through tears). That's how I would give it to him... (Shakes his fist.)
Anya (hugs Varya, quietly). Varya, did he propose? (Varya shakes her head negatively.) After all, he loves you... Why don’t you explain what you’re waiting for?
Varya . I don't think anything will work out for us. He has a lot to do, he has no time for me... and he doesn’t pay attention. God bless him, it’s hard for me to see him... Everyone talks about our wedding, everyone congratulates, but in reality there is nothing, everything is like a dream... (In a different tone.) Your brooch looks like a bee.
Anya (sadly). Mom bought this. (He goes to his room, speaks cheerfully, like a child.) And in Paris I'm on hot-air balloon flew!
Varya . My darling has arrived! The beauty has arrived!
Dunyasha has already returned with a coffee pot and is making coffee.
(Stands near the door.) I, my dear, spend the whole day doing housework and still dreaming. I would marry you off to a rich man, and then I would be at peace, I would go to the desert, then to Kyiv... to Moscow, and so on I would go to holy places... I would go and go. Splendor!..
Anya. Birds sing in the garden. What time is it now?
Varya . It must be the third one. It's time for you to sleep, darling. (Entering Anya’s room.) Splendor!
Yasha comes in with a blanket and a travel bag.
Yasha (walks across the stage, delicately). Can I go here, sir?
Dunyasha. And you won’t recognize you, Yasha. What have you become abroad?
Yasha. Hm...Who are you?
Dunyasha. When you left here, I was like... (Points from the floor.) Dunyasha, Fedora Kozoedov's daughter. You do not remember!
Yasha. Hm... Cucumber! (Looks around and hugs her; she screams and drops the saucer. Yasha quickly leaves.)
Varya (at the door, in a dissatisfied voice). What else is there?
Dunyasha (through tears). I broke the saucer...
Varya . This is good.
Anya (leaving his room). I should warn my mother: Petya is here...
Varya . I ordered him not to wake him.
Anya (thoughtfully.). Six years ago my father died, a month later my brother Grisha, a handsome seven-year-old boy, drowned in the river. Mom couldn’t bear it, she left, left without looking back... (Shudders.) How I understand her, if only she knew!
And Petya Trofimov was Grisha’s teacher, he can remind you...
Firs enters; he is wearing a jacket and a white vest.
Firs (goes to the coffee pot, worried). The lady will eat here... (Puts on white gloves.) Is your coffee ready? (Strictly to Dunyasha.) You! What about cream?
Dunyasha. Oh my god… (Quickly leaves.)
Firs (busts around the coffee pot). Eh, you klutz... (Mumbling to himself.) We came from Paris... And the master once went to Paris... on horseback... (Laughs.)
Varya . Firs, what are you talking about?
Firs. What do you want? (Joyfully.) My lady has arrived! Waited for it! Now at least die... (Cries with joy.)
Enter Lyubov Andreevna, Gaev, Lopakhin and Simeonov-Pishchik; Simeonov-Pishchik in a thin cloth undershirt and trousers. Gaev, entering, makes movements with his arms and body, as if playing billiards.
Lyubov Andreevna. Like this? Let me remember... Yellow in the corner! Doublet in the middle!
Gaev. I'm cutting into the corner! Once upon a time, you and I, sister, slept in this very room, and now I’m already fifty-one years old, oddly enough...
Lopakhin. Yes, time is ticking.
Gaev. Whom?
Lopakhin. Time, I say, is ticking.
Gaev. And here it smells like patchouli.
Anya. I'll go to bed. Good night, Mother. (Kisses mother.)
Lyubov Andreevna. My beloved child. (Kisses her hands.) Are you glad you're home? I won't come to my senses.
Anya. Goodbye, uncle.
Gaev (kisses her face, hands). The Lord is with you. How similar you are to your mother! (To my sister.) You, Lyuba, were exactly like that at her age.
Anya shakes hands with Lopakhin and Pishchik, leaves and closes the door behind her.
Lyubov Andreevna. She was very tired.
Pischik. The road is probably long.
Varya (Lopakhin and Pishchik). Well, gentlemen? It's the third hour, it's time to know the honor.
Lyubov Andreevna (laughs). You are still the same, Varya. (Draws her to him and kisses her.) I'll have some coffee, then we'll all leave.
Firs puts a pillow under her feet.
Thank you dear. I'm used to coffee. I drink it day and night. Thank you, my old man. (Kisses Firs.)
Varya . See if all the things have been brought... (Leaves.)
Lyubov Andreevna. Is it really me sitting? (Laughs.) I want to jump and wave my arms. (Covers his face with his hands.) What if I'm dreaming! God knows, I love my homeland, I love it dearly, I couldn’t watch from the carriage, I kept crying. (Through tears.) However, you need to drink coffee. Thank you, Firs, thank you, my old man. I'm so glad you're still alive.
Firs. Day before yesterday.
Gaev. He doesn't hear well.
Lopakhin. Now, at five o'clock in the morning, I have to go to Kharkov. Such a shame! I wanted to look at you, talk... You are still just as gorgeous.
Pischik (breathes heavily). Even prettier... Dressed like a Parisian... my cart is lost, all four wheels...
Lopakhin. Your brother, Leonid Andreich, says about me that I’m a boor, I’m a kulak, but that doesn’t really matter to me. Let him talk. I only wish that you would still believe me, that your amazing, touching eyes would look at me as before. Merciful God! My father was a serf to your grandfather and father, but you, in fact, you once did so much for me that I forgot everything and love you like my own... more than my own.
Lyubov Andreevna. I can't sit, I can't... (Jumps up and walks around in great excitement.) I won’t survive this joy... Laugh at me, I’m stupid... The closet is my dear... (Kisses the closet.) The table is mine.
Gaev. And without you, the nanny died here.
Lyubov Andreevna (sits down and drinks coffee). Yes, the kingdom of heaven. They wrote to me.
Gaev. And Anastasius died. Parsley Kosoy left me and now lives in the city with the bailiff. (Takes a box of lollipops out of his pocket and sucks.)
Pischik. My daughter, Dashenka... she bows to you...
Lopakhin. I want to tell you something very pleasant and funny. (Looking at his watch.) I’m leaving now, I don’t have time to talk... well, I’ll say it in two or three words. You already know that your cherry orchard is being sold for debts, an auction is scheduled for August twenty-second, but don’t worry, my dear, sleep well, there is a way out... Here is my project. Attention please! Your estate is located only twenty miles from the city, near the Railway, and if the cherry orchard and the land along the river are divided into dacha plots and then rented out as dachas, then you will have at least twenty-five thousand a year in income.
Gaev. Sorry, what nonsense!
Lyubov Andreevna. I don’t quite understand you, Ermolai Alekseich.
Lopakhin. You will take the smallest amount from the summer residents, twenty-five rubles a year for a tithe, and if you announce it now, then I guarantee anything, you won’t have a single free scrap left until the fall, everything will be taken away. In a word, congratulations, you are saved. The location is wonderful, the river is deep. Only, of course, we need to clean it up, clean it up... for example, say, demolish all the old buildings, this house, which is no longer good for anything, cut down the old cherry orchard...
Lyubov Andreevna. Cut it down? My dear, forgive me, you don’t understand anything. If there is anything interesting, even wonderful, in the entire province, it is only our cherry orchard.
Lopakhin. The only remarkable thing about this garden is that it is very large. Cherries are born once every two years, and there’s nowhere to put them, no one buys them.
Gaev. And the Encyclopedic Dictionary mentions this garden.
Lopakhin (looking at his watch). If we don’t come up with anything and come to nothing, then on August 22 both the cherry orchard and the entire estate will be sold at auction. Make up your mind! There is no other way, I swear to you. No and no.
Firs. In the old days, about forty to fifty years ago, cherries were dried, soaked, pickled, jam was made, and it used to be...
Gaev. Shut up, Firs.
Firs. And it used to be that dried cherries were sent by cartload to Moscow and Kharkov. There was money! And dried cherries then were soft, juicy, sweet, fragrant... They knew the method then...
Lyubov Andreevna. Where is this method now?
Firs. Forgot. Nobody remembers.
Pischik (To Lyubov Andreevna). What's in Paris? How? Did you eat frogs?
Lyubov Andreevna. Ate crocodiles.
Pischik. Just think...
Lopakhin. Until now, there were only gentlemen and peasants in the village, but now there are also summer residents. All cities, even the smallest ones, are now surrounded by dachas. And we can say that in twenty years the summer resident will multiply to an extraordinary extent. Now he only drinks tea on the balcony, but it may happen that on his one tithe he will start farming, and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious...
Gaev (indignant). What nonsense!
Varya and Yasha enter.
Varya . Here, mommy, there are two telegrams for you. (He selects a key and unlocks the antique cabinet with a jingle.) Here they are.
Lyubov Andreevna. This is from Paris. (Tears up telegrams without reading.) It's over with Paris...
Gaev. Do you know, Lyuba, how old this cabinet is? A week ago I pulled out the bottom drawer and looked and there were numbers burned into it. The cabinet was made exactly one hundred years ago. What's it like? A? We could celebrate the anniversary. An inanimate object, but still, after all, a bookcase.
Pischik (surprised). A hundred years... Just think!..
Gaev. Yes... This is a thing... (Having felt the closet.) Dear, dear closet! I greet your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice; your silent call to fruitful work has not weakened for a hundred years, supporting (through tears) in generations of our kind, vigor, faith in a better future and nurturing in us the ideals of goodness and social self-awareness.
Lopakhin. Yes…
Lyubov Andreevna. You are still the same, Lenya.
Gaev (a little confused). From the ball to the right into the corner! I'm cutting it to medium!
Lopakhin (looking at his watch). Well, I have to go.
Yasha (gives Lyubov Andreevna medicine). Maybe you should take some pills now...
Pischik. There is no need to take medications, my dear... they do no harm or good... Give it here... dear. (Takes the pills, pours them into his palm, blows on them, puts them in his mouth and washes them down with kvass.) Here!
Lyubov Andreevna (scared). You're crazy!
Pischik. I took all the pills.
Lopakhin. What a mess.
Everyone laughs.
Firs. They were with us on Holy Day, they ate half a bucket of cucumbers... (Mumbling.)
Lyubov Andreevna. What is he talking about?
Varya . He's been mumbling like this for three years now. We're used to it.
Yasha. Advanced age.
Charlotte Ivanovna in a white dress, very thin, tight-fitting, with a lorgnette on her belt, she walks across the stage.
Lopakhin. Sorry, Charlotte Ivanovna, I haven’t had time to say hello to you yet. (Wants to kiss her hand.)
Charlotte (removing his hand). If I let you kiss my hand, you will then wish on the elbow, then on the shoulder...
Lopakhin. I'm having no luck today.
Everyone laughs.
Charlotte Ivanovna, show me the trick!
Lyubov Andreevna. Charlotte, show me a trick!
Charlotte. No need. I want to sleep. (Leaves.)
Lopakhin. See you in three weeks. (Kisses Lyubov Andreevna’s hand.) Goodbye for now. It's time. (To Gaev.) Goodbye. (Kisses Pishchik.) Goodbye. (Gives his hand to Varya, then to Firs and Yasha.) I don't want to leave. (To Lyubov Andreevna.) If you think about dachas and decide, then let me know, I’ll get you a loan of fifty thousand. Seriously think about it.
Varya (angrily). Yes, finally leave!
Lopakhin. I'm leaving, I'm leaving... (Leaves.)
Gaev. Ham. However, sorry... Varya is marrying him, this is Varya’s groom.
Varya . Don't say too much, uncle.
Lyubov Andreevna. Well, Varya, I will be very glad. He is a good man.
Pischik. Man, we must tell the truth... the most worthy... And my Dashenka... also says that... different words speaks. (Snores, but wakes up immediately.) But still, dear lady, lend me... a loan of two hundred and forty rubles... pay interest on the mortgage tomorrow...
Varya (scared). No, no!
Lyubov Andreevna. I really have nothing.
Pischik. There will be some. (Laughs.) I never lose hope. Now, I think, everything is gone, I’m dead, and lo and behold, the railroad passed through my land, and... they paid me. And then, look, something else will happen not today or tomorrow... Dashenka will win two hundred thousand... she has a ticket.
Lyubov Andreevna. The coffee is drunk, you can rest.
Firs (cleans Gaeva with a brush, instructively). They put on the wrong pants again. And what should I do with you!
Varya (quiet). Anya is sleeping. (Quietly opens the window.) The sun has already risen, it’s not cold. Look, mommy: what wonderful trees! My God, the air! The starlings are singing!
Gaev (opens another window). The garden is all white. Have you forgotten, Lyuba? This long alley goes straight, straight, like a stretched belt, it shines in moonlit nights. Do you remember? Have you forgotten?
Lyubov Andreevna (looks out the window at the garden). Oh, my childhood, my purity! I slept in this nursery, looked at the garden from here, happiness woke up with me every morning, and then he was exactly the same, nothing has changed. (Laughs with joy.) All, all white! Oh my garden! After a dark, stormy autumn and cold winter again you are young, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not abandoned you... If only I could take the heavy stone off my chest and shoulders, if only I could forget my past!
Gaev. Yes, and the garden will be sold for debts, oddly enough...
Lyubov Andreevna. Look, the deceased mother is walking through the garden... in a white dress! (Laughs with joy.) That's her.
Gaev. Where?
Varya . The Lord is with you, mommy.
Lyubov Andreevna. There is no one, it seemed to me. To the right, at the turn towards the gazebo, a white tree bent over, looking like a woman...
Trofimov enters, wearing a worn student uniform and glasses.
What an amazing garden! White masses of flowers, blue sky...
Trofimov. Lyubov Andreevna!
She looked back at him.
I will just bow to you and leave immediately. (Kisses his hand warmly.) I was ordered to wait until the morning, but I didn’t have enough patience...
Lyubov Andreevna looks in bewilderment.
Varya (through tears). This is Petya Trofimov...
Trofimov. Petya Trofimov, your Grisha’s former teacher... Have I really changed that much?
Lyubov Andreevna hugs him and quietly cries.
Gaev (embarrassed). Full, full, Lyuba.
Varya (crying). I told you, Petya, to wait until tomorrow.
Lyubov Andreevna. Grisha is my... my boy... Grisha... son...
Varya . What should I do, mommy? God's will.
Trofimov (softly, through tears). It will be, it will be...
Lyubov Andreevna (cries quietly). The boy died, drowned... Why? For what, my friend? (Quiet.) Anya is sleeping there, and I’m talking loudly... making noise... What, Petya? Why are you so stupid? Why have you aged?
Trofimov. One woman in the carriage called me this: shabby gentleman.
Lyubov Andreevna. You were just a boy then, a cute student, but now you don’t have thick hair and glasses. Are you still a student? (Goes to the door.)
Trofimov. I must be a perpetual student.
Lyubov Andreevna (kisses his brother, then Varya). Well, go to sleep... You too have aged, Leonid.
Pischik (follows her). So, now to sleep... Oh, my gout. I’ll stay with you... I would like, Lyubov Andreevna, my soul, tomorrow morning... two hundred and forty rubles...
Gaev. And this one is all his own.
Pischik. Two hundred and forty rubles... to pay interest on the mortgage.
Lyubov Andreevna. I have no money, my dear.
Pischik. I'll give it back, honey... The amount is trivial...
Lyubov Andreevna. Well, okay, Leonid will give... You give it, Leonid.
Gaev. I'll give it to him, keep your pocket.
Lyubov Andreevna. What to do, give it... He needs... He will give it.
Lyubov Andreevna, Trofimov, Pischik and Firs leave. Gaev, Varya and Yasha remain.
Gaev. My sister has not yet gotten over the habit of wasting money. (Yasha.) Move away, my dear, you smell like chicken.
Yasha (with a grin). And you, Leonid Andreich, are still the same as you were.
Gaev. Whom? (Vara.) What did he say?
Varya (Yasha). Your mother came from the village, has been sitting in the common room since yesterday, wants to see you...
Yasha. God bless her!
Varya . Ah, shameless!
Yasha. Very necessary. I could come tomorrow. (Leaves.)
Varya . Mommy is the same as she was, hasn’t changed at all. If she had her way, she would give everything away.
Gaev. Yes…
If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease, this means that the disease is incurable. I think, I’m racking my brains, I have a lot of money, a lot, and that means, in essence, none. It would be nice to receive an inheritance from someone, it would be nice to marry our Anya to a very rich man, it would be nice to go to Yaroslavl and try his luck with the aunt countess. My aunt is very, very rich.
Varya (crying). If only God would help.
Gaev. Do not Cry. My aunt is very rich, but she doesn’t love us. My sister, firstly, married a lawyer, not a nobleman...
Anya appears at the door.
She married a non-nobleman and behaved in a manner that cannot be said to be very virtuous. She is good, kind, nice, I love her very much, but no matter how you come up with mitigating circumstances, I still have to admit that she is vicious. This is felt in her slightest movement.
Varya (whisper). Anya is standing at the door.
Gaev. Whom?
Surprisingly, something got into my right eye... I couldn’t see well. And on Thursday, when I was in district court...
Anya enters.
Varya . Why aren't you sleeping, Anya?
Anya. Can't sleep. I can not.
Gaev. My baby. (Kisses Anya’s face and hands.) My child... (Through tears.) You are not my niece, you are my angel, you are everything to me. Believe me, believe...
Anya. I believe you, uncle. Everyone loves and respects you... but, dear uncle, you need to be silent, just silent. What did you just say about my mother, about your sister? Why did you say this?
Gaev. Yes Yes… (She covers her face with her hand.) Indeed, this is terrible! My God! God save me! And today I gave a speech in front of the closet... so stupid! And only when I finished did I realize that it was stupid.
Varya . Really, uncle, you should be silent. Keep quiet, that's all.
Anya. If you remain silent, then you yourself will be calmer.
Gaev. I'm silent. (Kisses Anya and Varya’s hands.) I'm silent. Just about the matter. On Thursday I was in the district court, well, the company got together, a conversation began about this and that, fifth and tenth, and it seems that it will be possible to arrange a loan against bills to pay interest to the bank.
Varya . If only God would help!
Gaev. I'll go on Tuesday and talk again. (Vara.) Do not Cry. (But not.) Your mother will talk to Lopakhin; he, of course, will not refuse her... And when you have rested, you will go to Yaroslavl to see the countess, your grandmother. This is how we will act from three ends - and our job is in the bag. We will pay the interest, I am convinced... (Puts a lollipop in his mouth.) On my honor, I swear whatever you want, the estate will not be sold! (Excitedly.) I swear on my happiness! Here's my hand to you, then call me a crappy, dishonest person if I allow it to the auction! I swear with all my being!
Anya (the calm mood has returned to her, she is happy). How good you are, uncle, how smart! (Hugs uncle.) I'm at peace now! I'm at peace! I'm happy!
Firs enters.
Firs (reproachfully). Leonid Andreich, you are not afraid of God! When should you sleep?
Gaev. Now. You go away, Firs. So be it, I’ll undress myself. Well, kids, bye-bye... Details tomorrow, now go to bed. (Kisses Anya and Varya.) I am a man of the eighties... They don’t praise this time, but I can still say that I got a lot in my life for my beliefs. No wonder the man loves me. You need to know the guy! You need to know which...
Anya. You again, uncle!
Varya . You, uncle, remain silent.
Firs (angrily). Leonid Andreich!
Gaev. I'm coming, I'm coming... Lie down. From two sides to the middle! I put clean... (He leaves, followed by Firs.)
Anya. I'm at peace now. I don’t want to go to Yaroslavl, I don’t like my grandmother, but I’m still at peace. Thanks uncle. (Sits down.)
Varya . Need sleep. I'll go. And here without you there was displeasure. In the old servants' quarters, as you know, only old servants live: Efimyushka, Polya, Evstigney, and Karp. They began to let some rogues spend the night with them - I remained silent. Only now, I hear, they spread a rumor that I ordered them to be fed only peas. From stinginess, you see... And this is all Evstigney... Okay, I think. If so, I think, then wait. I call Evstigney... (Yawns.) He comes... How are you, I say, Evstigney... you are such a fool... (Looking at Anya.) Anya!..
I fell asleep!.. (Takes Anya by the arm.) Let's go to bed... Let's go!.. (He leads her.) My darling fell asleep! Let's go to…
Far beyond the garden, a shepherd plays the pipe.
Trofimov walks across the stage and, seeing Varya and Anya, stops.
Shhh... She's sleeping... sleeping... Let's go, dear.
Anya (quietly, half asleep). I’m so tired... all the bells... Uncle... dear... and mom and uncle...
Varya . Let's go, dear, let's go... (They go to Anya’s room.)
Trofimov (in emotion). My sun! My spring!
The action takes place on the estate of Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya.
Act one
Early May morning. Cherry trees are blooming.
The merchant Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin deliberately came to Ranevskaya’s estate to meet the train on which she and her daughter were arriving from abroad, where they had lived for five years. I arrived and fell asleep sitting up. The train was two hours late. Lopakhin speaks with tenderness about Ranevskaya: “She is a good person. An easy, simple person." Lopakhin's father was a simple, rude man, but about himself he says that he was a man - and remains a man. Just got rich.
The clerk Epikhodov wanders around the house and complains: “Every day some kind of trouble happens to me...”
The maid Dunyasha (dressed and combed like a young lady) casually informs the merchant that Epikhodov proposed to her. “He’s a meek person, but only sometimes he starts talking - you won’t understand anything... He’s an unhappy person... They tease him about us: he’s unlucky - they tease him like that: “twenty-two misfortunes,” sighs Dunyasha.
Ranevskaya and her seventeen-year-old daughter Anya with their governess Charlotte Ivanovna arrive from the station. Those who met them also enter with them: Lyubov Andreevna’s brother Gaev, her adopted daughter Varya, twenty-four years old, and the neighbor-landowner Simeonov-Pishchik.
From the conversation between Anya and Varya, it turns out that Anya did not live with her mother in Paris for all five years. Varya sent her, accompanied by Charlotte (you can’t go alone at seventeen!) to her mother in Paris.
Anya: Mom lives on the fifth floor, I come to her, she has some French ladies, an old priest with a book, and it’s smoky, uncomfortable. I suddenly felt so sorry for my mother, so sorry, I hugged her head, squeezed her with my hands and couldn’t let go. Mom then kept caressing and crying...
She sold her dacha near Menton a long time ago; she had nothing left.
Ranevskaya does not want to understand that she is not a rich woman, that she needs to save money. In station restaurants he orders the most expensive things and tips the footmen a ruble each. Her impudent lackey Yasha also demands a portion for himself.
Varya’s affairs are bad, the interest on Ranevskaya’s huge debt was unable to be paid - and the estate will be sold in August.
Anya hopes that Lopakhin will propose to Varya, but her hopes are in vain. Varya spends the whole day doing housework and keeps dreaming of marrying her sister to a rich man, while she herself wants to go to a monastery.
It is noticeable that the sisters love each other very much.
Student Petya Trofimov, a former tutor of Ranevskaya’s son Grisha, who drowned at the age of seven, spends the night in the bathhouse.
The decrepit footman Firs takes care of the coffee for the hostess. Ranevskaya is moved: “I want to jump and wave my arms. What if I'm dreaming! God knows, I love my homeland, I love dearly, I couldn’t look from the carriage, I kept crying... My dear closet... (Kisses the closet.) My table...”
Gaev. And without you, the nanny died here.
Lyubov Andreevna (sits down and drinks coffee). Yes, the kingdom of heaven. They wrote to me.
Lopakhin says that Ranevskaya did him a lot of good, he loves her “like his own, more than his own,” and he wants to do something good for her.
He puts forward his project to save the estate from debt: he needs to divide the garden into summer cottages and rent them out. This will provide Ranevskaya with at least twenty-five thousand annual income. True, the old buildings will have to be demolished, including the dilapidated house itself, and the cherry orchard will have to be cut down.
Lyubov Andreevna objected passionately. Her brother is also against it: this garden is also mentioned in the Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Lopakhin says that the garden has degenerated, that summer residents can work on the plots agriculture, “and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious...”
But neither Ranevskaya nor her brother (he constantly and senselessly sprinkles his speech with billiard terms: “From the ball to the right to the corner! Yellow to the middle!”) do not want to listen to the reasonable speeches of the merchant.
Gaev gives a speech dedicated to the centenary of the bookcase standing in the room:
“Dear, dear closet! I greet your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice; your silent call to fruitful work has not weakened for a hundred years...
Ranevskaya looks out the window at the garden:
“Oh my childhood, my purity! I slept in this nursery, looked at the garden from here, happiness woke up with me... Oh my garden! After a dark stormy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not abandoned you... If only the heavy stone could be removed from my chest and shoulders, if only I could forget my past!”
She is about to go to sleep from the road, but Petya Trofimov comes in - as he says, just to say hello.
As Varya foresaw, who asked Petya to wait until tomorrow, the mother, seeing the student, remembers her drowned son and quietly cries. Afterwards she reproaches Petya: “Why have you turned so ugly? Why have you aged?
Trofimov. “One woman in the carriage called me this: shabby gentleman.”
Varya tells the footman Yasha that his mother, who came from the village, has been sitting in the servants’ room for two days. Wants to see his son. Yasha waves it off: “It’s very necessary! I could come tomorrow..."
Pishchik asks Ranevskaya for a loan, she tells her brother to give the person asking money.
Gaev. My sister has not yet gotten out of the habit of wasting money... It would be nice... to try my luck with Aunt Countess. My aunt is very, very rich... she doesn’t love us. The sister, firstly, did not marry a nobleman and did not behave very virtuously. She is good, kind, nice, I love her very much, but no matter how you come up with mitigating circumstances, I still have to admit that she is vicious. This is felt in her slightest movement.
Anya, having accidentally heard these words, asks her uncle to better remain silent.
Confused, Gaev promises to find all means to ensure that the estate is not sold: borrow money against bills, go to Yaroslavl to see his grandmother-countess... “I swear with all my being!”
Anya believes her uncle, peace returns to her.
Act two
A field near the house. Evening. The sun is setting. Charlotte, Yasha and Dunyasha are sitting on a bench. Epikhodov is standing, playing the guitar.
Charlotte. I don’t have a real passport, I don’t know how old I am, and it still seems to me that I’m young. When I was a little girl, my father and mother went to fairs and gave performances, very good ones. And I jumped somersaults and various things... I grew up, then became a governess. But where I come from and who I am, I don’t know. Who are my parents, maybe they didn’t get married... I don’t know. (He takes a cucumber out of his pocket and eats it.) I really want to talk, but not with anyone... I don’t have anyone.
Epikhodov also complains that he doesn’t know “whether he should live or shoot himself,” and even shows a revolver. He is gnawed by melancholy - Dunyasha did not agree to his proposal. She, by her own admission, “passionately fell in love” with the footman Yasha.
He yawns: “In my opinion, it’s like this: if a girl loves someone, then she is immoral...”
The previous group is replaced by Ranevskaya with her brother and Lopakhin. Lyubov Andreevna looks into the wallet. He is surprised that there is so little money left - and it is unclear where it went. He immediately scatters the remaining gold...
Lopakhin again convinces her that she urgently needs to rent out the garden; Otherwise, the estate will be sold at auction for debts! No Yaroslavl aunt can save Ranevskaya - she still won’t give her as much money as she needs.
Ranevskaya sluggishly objects that “dachas and summer residents are so vulgar.”
Lopakhin. “I have never met such frivolous people, such unbusinesslike, strange people. They tell you... but you definitely don’t understand...”
Lyubov Andreevna is not ready to decide to take action; she prefers to go through her sins:
I always wasted money like crazy, and I married a man who only made debts. My husband died from champagne - he drank terribly, and, unfortunately, I fell in love with someone else...
Son Grisha drowned, and Ranevskaya went abroad, leaving her daughter, “so as never to see this river.”
Lyubov Andreevna bought a dacha in France, her lover came there and fell ill. She looked after him for three years, the patient was rude and capricious, he completely tormented her - “my soul dried up.”
The dacha was sold for debts, and I had to move to Paris to a poor apartment. Ranevskaya's lover left him, went to someone else, she tried to poison herself...
And so she returned to Russia, to her girl...
Now I received a telegram from Paris: he asks for forgiveness, begs to return.
Just then Varya, Anya and Trofimov approach the bench. Lopakhin makes fun of Trofimov: “He will soon be fifty years old, but he is still a student.”
In fact, Trofimov is about thirty. He philosophizes about a proud man, about the need to work, about the purpose of the intelligentsia, which only calls itself that... But in fact, the “intellectuals” don’t read anything serious, they say “you” to the peasants, “they only talk about science, they understand little about art ...".
Lopakhin contrasts his view with the lamentations of the eternal student - the merchant gets up at five in the morning and works until the evening. He sees how many dishonest people there are around, especially if it smells of money. He thinks: “Lord, you gave us huge forests, vast fields, the deepest horizons, and living here, we ourselves should truly be giants...”
The caring Firs brings Gaev a coat - it becomes cool.
Everyone leaves except Trofimov and Anya.
The student laughs at Varya - the older sister “is afraid, what if we fall in love with each other... She, with her narrow head, cannot understand that we are above love... We are moving uncontrollably towards that bright star that burns there in the distance! Forward! Don't lag behind, friends!
Trofimov says that the nobility must work hard to atone for the sins of past serfdom. Don't philosophize, don't drink vodka, but work!
He persuades Anya to leave the house and leave so that she can be free like the wind!
The naive young girl is delighted with these calls.
Anya! Anya!
Act three
Evening in Ranevskaya's living room. A Jewish orchestra is playing. They dance. Charlotte shows tricks. Date: August twenty-second - trading day.
They are waiting for Gaev with news. The Yaroslavl grandmother sent fifteen thousand to buy the estate in her name, but this money is not even enough to pay interest. However, Ranevskaya hopes for some kind of miracle.
In nervous anticipation, she starts a conversation with Petya Trofimov. Petya now declares to her that he is “above love.” He notices that Ranevskaya is again thinking about going to Paris, to see that terrible man who robbed her. Ranevskaya is offended and angry:
You have to be a man, at your age you have to understand those who love! And you have to love yourself... You have to fall in love! And you have no cleanliness, and you are just a clean person, a funny eccentric, a freak... You are a klutz! Don't have a mistress at your age!
Petya declares: “It’s all over between us!” He runs away and falls down the stairs.
Ranevskaya.
What an eccentric this Petya is...
She asks for forgiveness: “Well, pure soul... Let's go dance!”
And Trofimov and Ranevskaya are dancing.
Firs complains to Yasha about being unwell, Yasha indifferently replies:
I'm tired of you, grandpa. I wish you would die soon.
Yasha asks Lyubov Andreevna, if she goes to Paris again, to take him with her. It’s impossible for him to stay here: “the people are uneducated” and the food in the kitchen is poor, “and here’s this Firs walking around muttering various inappropriate words...”
Gaev appears with tears: “The estate has been sold!” Who bought it?
I bought. The cherry orchard is now mine! My!
He is overwhelmed with joy: he, Ermolai, who ran barefoot in the snow as a boy, bought an estate where his father and grandfather were not even allowed into the kitchen... Music, play!
Having come to his senses, the merchant expresses his sympathy for Ranevskaya and wishes that her “awkward, unhappy life” would somehow change. Anya tries to console her crying mother:
The cherry orchard has been sold, it’s no longer there, it’s true, it’s true, but don’t cry, mom, you still have your good, pure soul... We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this, you will see it, you will understand, and there will be joy, quiet, deep joy will fall on your soul like the sun in the evening, and you will smile, mom!
Act four
The setting is the same as in the first act. Only the curtains are removed, there are no paintings. Suitcases and travel items are stacked at the back of the stage. Yasha holds a tray with glasses filled with champagne.
The men come to say goodbye. Lyubov Andreevna gives them her wallet. You can hear Gaev’s reproaches: “You can’t do that, Lyuba! You can not do it this way!"
Lopakhin offers to drink champagne. There is an awkward pause. Only Yasha drinks.
It's time to go to the station.
Lopakhin is going to Kharkov - with the Ranevskaya family he is “tortured with nothing to do.” Trofimov goes to Moscow, late as always for the start of classes. Lopakhin first makes fun of the “eternal student,” according to his long-standing habit, and then offers him money for the trip. The student proudly refuses:
Give me at least two hundred thousand, I won’t take it. Im free person. And everything that you all value so highly and dearly, rich and poor, does not have the slightest power over me... Humanity is moving towards the highest truth, towards the highest happiness that is possible on earth, and I am in the forefront!
Lopakhin. Will you get there?
Trofimov. I'll get there. I’ll get there or show others how to get there.
You can hear an ax knocking on a tree in the distance.
Ranevskaya asks that the garden not be cut down until she leaves.
It was decided to send Firs to the hospital. Anya asks Yasha if it’s done. Yasha waves it off - it must be done. The arrogant footman refuses to say goodbye to his mother and recommends her to the crying one. Dunyasha behaves decently - then she won’t have to cry. Yasha’s thoughts are already all in Paris - he’s seen enough of ignorance, that’s enough!
Ranevskaya is going to live in France with the money that her Yaroslavl grandmother sent. Of course, the money won't last long. Anya is going to pass the exam at the gymnasium, start working and help her mother. Charlotte is left without a livelihood. However, Lopakhin promises to find her a place. Lyubov Andreevna tries for the last time to marry Varya to Lopakhin, but nothing comes of their conversation. Varya hired herself as a housekeeper on a rich estate. She's used to working.
Lyubov Andreevna. Oh my dear, my tender, beautiful garden! My life, my youth, my happiness, goodbye! Goodbye!..
You can hear all the doors being locked. The crews are leaving.
In the locked house, the forgotten, decrepit, sick Firs remains - no one sent him to the hospital. Out of habit, he worries that the owner did not put on a fur coat - he went in a coat. The exhausted old man lies down and lies motionless.
You can hear an ax hitting wood.
The central line of the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" is about the conflict between the nobility and the bourgeoisie, and the first must give way to the second. At the same time, another conflict is developing - social-romantic. The author is trying to say that Russia is a beautiful garden that should be preserved for posterity.
The landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, who owns an estate and a cherry orchard, has been bankrupt for a long time, but she is accustomed to leading an idle, wasteful lifestyle and therefore cannot change her habits. She is not able to understand that in modern times it is necessary to make efforts in order to survive and not die of hunger, this is exactly how ours describes her summary. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" is only able to reveal all of Ranevskaya's experiences when read in full.
Ranevskaya constantly thinks about the past, her confusion and resignation to fate are combined with expressiveness. A woman prefers not to think about the present because she is mortally afraid of it. However, she can be understood, since she was seriously spoiled by the habit of going through life without thinking about anything. Its complete opposite is Gaev, his own brother, whose eyes have been eclipsed and he is incapable of committing any meaningful actions. To understand that Gaev is a typical parasite, it is enough to read the summary of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”
The conflict between the old owners and the new ones is resolved in favor of Lopakhin, who in the work is the complete opposite of the old owners, purposeful and knows perfectly well what he wants from life. He is a descendant who worked for several generations for the Ranevsky landowners. Detailed description Lopakhin's family, for objective reasons, cannot enter into Chekhov's life; it fully reveals the conflict that arose between the characters.
The author uses the example of Lopakhin to demonstrate the true nature of capital. The ability to acquire anything can cripple any person and become his second self. Despite the fact that Lopakhin has a subtle and sensitive soul, it will harden over time, since the merchant in him will win. It is impossible to combine finances and emotions into a single whole, and “The Cherry Orchard” repeatedly emphasizes this.
Despite the fact that Ranevskaya’s tears hurt Lopakhin, and he knows very well that not everything is bought and sold, practicality takes over. However, is it possible to build a completely new life on the remains of a cherry orchard? Land plot, given over for the construction of dachas, was destroyed. The beauty and life that once burned in the cherry orchard with a bright flame has disappeared; to understand this, just read it; it is a clear exponent of the spirit of a bygone era, and this is what makes the play interesting.
The author managed to show the total degeneration of the nobility in all its layers, and then its destruction as a social class. At the same time, Chekhov shows that capitalism is not eternal, since it inevitably leads to destruction. Petya believes that Lopakhin should not hope too much that summer residents will be able to become excellent owners.
The heroes of the work look into the future in completely different ways. According to Ranevskaya, her life has come to an end, and Anya and Trofimov, on the contrary, are to some extent glad that the garden will be sold, since now they can start living in a new way. The cherry orchard in the work acts as a symbol of a past era, and it must go away along with Ranevskaya and Firs. “The Cherry Orchard” shows Russia at the crossroads of times, which cannot decide where to move next, this can be understood by reading its summary. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" allows the reader not only to get acquainted with the reality of past years, but also to find a reflection of those principles of life in the modern world.
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