Chekhov’s career got more serious in the mid-1880’s. He released a collection of stories and was becoming well known in St. Petersburg(Lyman 899). Chekhov continued releasing successful plays and short stories into the 1900’s. His last play, The Cherry Orchard, is one of his most well known and controversial works(Farrow 1235).

The Cherry Orchard is about a Russian family that passively watches as its estate an

The character’s actions, moreover, are the comical focus in the play. It seems as though Chekhov gives the characters an awareness of their faults, and their actions reinforce these faults, as though the characters had forgotten them. For example, Mrs. Ranevsky pities herself for her carelessness with money, then immediately bestows one of her last gold coins to a beggar. Another example of a character’s inability to suppress foolishness is Yepihodov’s role of the “unfortunate clod.” He continues to stumble over furniture in each of his appearances. He is immediately dubbed “Twenty-two Calamities.” Gayev’s actions also suggest comedy in The Cherry Orchard. He is addicted to fruit candy and spends every cent he has on feeding his addiction. Another of his actions that are humorous is his continual billiard shot calls. Sporatically in the conversation or in mid sentence he will call a shot as if he has a cue in his hand at a pool

The most interesting aspect of the tragedy/comedy argument is the fact that the tragic or comedic element is really relative to the point of view of the reader. If the reader is against the upper class, then the whole situation of a wealthy, aloof, family losing its estate is quite a funny predicament. However, the reader would be more sympathetic to the situation if they were more pro-aristocratic or could relate to the family more. This is a very interesting point to the play by Chekhov.

Yet another tragic element in the play is the inability of the characters to distinguish reality from appearances. The whole family, including its servants, seems to believe that everything is under control when in actuality, it is far out of control. Only Lopahin seems to have a grasp on the situation and is attempting to avoid the loss of the orchard. Mrs. Ranevsky is blinded by her passivity, which shows as she continues to lead the extravagant life she has led up to the current dilemma. The family is compelled to not show their despair possibly because they think if the problem isn’t evident, it is not

Yet through this dialogue, unpleasant truths spring forth. The mortgage has not been paid for some time due to Mrs. Ranevsky being broke. And while Mrs. Ranevsky was in Paris, Varya has not been paying the mortgage. All the while, however, parties are thrown and more money is spent to keep up the appearance of wealth. This is somewhat tragic because the estate is now going to be lost because of Mrs. Ranevsky and Varya not being able to pay off the estate’s debts. When Lopahin proposes his idea the family finds it impractical and Gayev even calls the idea “utter nonsense.” Pishchik also reveals that he too is going to be losing his estate due to an unpaid mortgage. Looking for a loan from Mrs. Ranevsky, he is denied. This

Some topics in this essay:
Cherry Orchard, Lopahin Lopahin, Ranevsky Varya, Anya Varya, Ranevsky Conflict, Orchard Russian, Gayev Ranevsky’s, Moscow Farrow, Taganrog January, Moscow Chekhov, cherry orchard, tragic element, ranevsky family, loss orchard, losing estate, tragic element play, tragedy comedy, characters themselves, passive auction, comedy cherry, play chekhov, play cherry orchard, comedy cherry orchard,