The Cherry Orchard – Second Level Inquiry (Logic Stage)

Following my first level inquiry of WEM Project, this is the second and last one I am working on for The Cherry Orchard. My personal final thoughts would follow soon…

John Turturro plays Lopakhin and Dianne Wiest portrays Ranevskaya 

in Classic Stage Company's production of Chekhov's classic [source]

By what the play is given unity?

It’s by idea; the characters’ attachment with their past, their fear of facing the reality, and their obsession to be released from it that betrays their consciences.

What does each character stand for?

Lubov stands for the conservatives who refuse to move on from the past or from their history. They could not accept the idea that the world is changing; they just do not want to change. The cherry orchard symbolizes old Russia; Lubov represents Russian who like to hide in the comfort of their past (old Russia) rather than facing the modernism.

Trofimov stands for the liberals who are open-minded; who treat the old Russia as a history, and embrace the modern Russia as brighter future; who can objectively see the weaknesses of the old Russia and have the courage to welcome changes.

Lopakhin stands for people who want to forget their sorrowful past and cut down his root completely from history, to embrace the new wave of materialism. In the process, they might lose their consciences, and fall into moral corruption.

Do any of the characters stand in opposition to each other?

I highlighted here the contras between Lubov and Trofomov:

How do the characters speak?

Lubov: sentimental, pessimistic, full of love expression when addressing others: ‘my treasure’, ‘my dear’, etc., and often lamenting.

“My dear, my gentle, beautiful orchard! My life, my youth, my happiness, good-bye! Good-bye!”

“I’m all at sea… I may scream… or do something silly. Save me, Peter. Say something, say something.”

Trofimov: optimistic, practical, self-confident, idealistic, bit arrogant.

“Welcome, new life!”

“Even if you gave me twenty thousand I should refuse. I‘m a free man. And everything that all you people, rich and poor, value so highly and so dearly hasn’t the least influence over me; it’s like a flock of down in the wind.”

“Yes, I am a decayed gentleman, and I’m proud of it!”

Does the playwright lead you into a satisfying resolution?

I think so. Each of the characters has different destination to reach, and each symbolizes the idea they represent, and the difference is just emphasizing the irony. But the most touching is the resolution of Fiers. I think Chekhov wanted to criticize how forgetful people could be in the turbulence of changes, or maybe he wanted to emphasize that the past/old Russia has no choices other than being locked up and dying… ?

What is the play’s theme?

In a way, it’s Modernism vs Old Russia. Chekhov criticized people who were still clutching at their satisfying pasts, and refused to think positively about the inevitable modernism. Besides that, this play also tells of how people tend to remember and forget. There are people who love to stick memories of the past to their heart, and try to forget the present (Lubov), and there are people like Trofimov who are ignorant of the past, because what’s most important is the future. Lopakhin actually shares Trofimov’s idea, but with different cause. Trofimov wants to forget the past because of his ideology, while Lopakhin because of bitterness. Whatever you choose, the past would soon be dead, and replaced by the modern. The change is inevitable, just like Fiers’ tragic ending.

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The Cherry Orchard – First Level Inquiry (Grammar Stage)

For WEM project, I will only work on the first and second level inquiries for this play. You can also check my Acts summaries to get a clearer picture of what it’s about. This post is the first level, the grammar stage.

[source]

What is the initial question or tension?

From the beginning of Act one the talks about the estate’s sale has been emerged, so I think it’s no longer whether it’s going to be sold, but rather: What will happen (to everyone) if the cherry orchard were sold in the auction?

Where is the point of greatest tension?

The greatest tension is in the party, when people are waiting for Gaev to get the confirmation of the auction’s outcome; of who finally gets the estate. There is a slight hope that Gaev—Lubov’s brother—might be able to buy it because an aunt has granted him the money. The tension is so intense here, because each of their faith will depend on the outcome.

Where does the play’s action reach its climax?

When Lopakhin is stating that it’s he who bought the estate. With this new fact, it is inevitable that Lubov and Gaev will be cut off from their root of history (representing by the cherry orchard), Varya’s life is ruined. She lost a job (she has been the estate’s manager), and probably lost chance to get a marriage proposal (I don’t think she would still want to marry Lopakhin—if he’d really propose—after he showed arrogance about buying the estate). On the other hand, Anya would be free to leave the cherry orchard which she did not love anymore, to marry Trofimov. So, everybody’s future is changed by this fact.

Where is the resolution?

In Act V, when the door is locked after everyone left the house (everyone except Fiers). Locking the door is like locking their previous life, and now they would emerge to a new future (still unknown to few people).

What holds the play’s action together?

Attachment with the past; how people used to irrationally let themselves bound to their past and refuse to let it go, to welcome a new era.

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The Cherry Orchard – Acts Summaries

The Cherry Orchard is one of Anton Chekhov’s most famous plays. I picked this play for Let’s Read Plays (other authors theme), and for my WEM Self-Project. This is the second play I read for WEM, and as usual, I’ll begin with the Acts summaries.

[source]

Act One

Act one is an introduction of each characters and their conflicts. Mrs. Ravensky (Lubov Andreyevna) is arriving at the family estate after five years leaving it for other country together with Anya, her daughter. Her husband and her only son had died, while her adopted daughter, Varya, has been staying and managing the estate during her absence. The Ravensky is falling into poverty, they could not pay their debts, and the estate—with the beautiful cherry orchard—is threatened to be sold in an auction.

I get the feeling somehow that Lopakhin (a peasant’s son who becomes a businessman) and Pischin (another landowner) are using Mrs. Ravensky. Lopakhin persuades Lubov to cut off the cherry orchard and build a summer villas to get money; while Pischin keeps asking for a loan to pay his mortgage. Lubov rejects Lopakhin’s idea because she loves the cherry orchard, while she asks Gaev—her brother—to give Pischin the money, despite of her near-bankruptcy.

Beyond that, there’re trivial conflicts of Varya—who is expecting to marry Lopakhin but the man hasn’t proposed to her yet; of Dunyasha—the maid servant who likes to dress like a lady, and is proposed by Epikhodov—the clumsy clerk. Dunyasha is annoyed by this, and seems to be more attracted to Yasha—a young footman whom she hasn’t met for five years as he served Mrs. Ravensky in Moskow. While Anya seems to jolt in joy at the news that Peter Trofimov (used to be her death brother’s teacher) is staying there at the moment.

Act Two

In second act we come to know everyone better. Charlotta—governess who likes to wear man’s hat and carry a riffle—is an orphan and feels lonely in this world where she can’t remember her mother and father. Dunyasha expresses her love to Yasha who reacts so disinterestedly; while Epikhodov carries revolver everywhere and implicitly ‘threatens’ to kill himself if Dunyasha doesn’t react to his courting.

Lopakhin still persuades Lubov of the villas idea, and Lubov still persists to reject, which annoys Lopakhin. In her poor condition, Lubov still can’t resist giving gold changes to a tramp.

Trofimov makes an interesting speech about how idle people are; even the intellectuals do nothing important and don’t know the real meaning of ‘working’. Anya and Trofimov discuss their closer relationship—which Trofimov thinks a ‘vulgarity’, and Anya expresses how her love to the cherry orchard has changed. Trofimov expresses how the cherry orchard bears mush of the history of Ravensky ancestors, and that the future lays onto real action (works). He persuades her to leave that place.

Act Three

The night of the auction, the Ravenskys have a party. Gaev is expected to buy the estate as Anya’s grandmother had granted him the money. He and Lopakhin didn’t appear until late at night, making the whole family in distress.

Meanwhile, Varya doubts that Lopakhin would ever propose to her because he is too pre-occupied with business. She also thinks that if she just possesses money, she would go to the convent if the estate is sold.

Act Four

Lubov, in her anxiety to hear the auction result, tells Trofimov about her lover who has been taking advantage of her. He is now severely ill in Paris and asks Lubov to come there. Trofimov says that the auction result hardly means anything and that Lubov should have thinking about the future instead. He also frankly tells Lubov that she better ignores her lover as the man has robbed her. Lubov is angry about this.

An old servant named Fiers remarks that as Ravensky has become poor, the guess at their party has greatly changed. No barons or counts are eager to come now; it’s even difficult to get a station master to come. Meanwhile, Varya cries because Trofimov keeps teasing her as Madame Lopakhin.

Finally Lopakhin and Gaev arrive at the party; the first looks happy while the latter tired. It appears that Lopakhin has bought the estate for himself, defeating Gaev. It means that the Ravenskys must leave the estate, and their dearest cherry orchard will be cut down to make space for the villas building. Lopakhin reflects how he had been succeeded to own the estate where his father and grandfather used to work on as slaves. Lubov weeps and Varya throws away her keys. Lopakhin reproaches Lubov for not listening to his suggestion; while he expresses his eagerness to axe the cherry trees, although not long before he says that the cherry orchard is ‘the most beautiful place in the world’.

Vacating the house is quite a scene. Lopakhin offers a loan to Trofimov, which the latter rejects because he is a man of free. Meanwhile, Anya, Varya and Lubov all concern about Fiers; whether he has been transported to the hospital, which Yasha confirms that he had given the order, and that ‘they’ must have done that. Dunyasha cries over her separation from Yasha, whom takes it very coldly. Varya is the most distressed soul among others because Lopakhin never proposes to her until the end amid Lubov’s personal request to him. Meanwhile, Anya and Trofimov seem to be the happiest couple of all; they look at the future as a brighter one than what they would leave behind. Anya even convinces her mother that they would plant cherries in a new orchard, and that it would be more beautiful than theirs.

*spoiler* Lubov and Gaev are the last to exit the house before Lopakhin locks every door as he will leave for a quite long time. For a moment silence fell on to the empty house. But, it soon appears that it’s not quite empty, because old Fiers is actually still in the locked house, undetected by others!! Oh my… what an ending!

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