Even though he is now an accomplished businessman, he is easily reminded of this inferiority through Ms. Ranevskaya and the orchard. In the very first scene we are ironically presented with two major characters. One desperately wants to find refuge in and preserve the past, while the other one desperately wants to forget it.
From the end of Act I to the beginning of Act II there is a major transformation in the play's tone. Chekhov dramatically changes from the seriousness of the discussion about the auction of the cherry orchard to the almost comical scene of Charlotta, Yasha, Dunyasha, and Yepihodov sitting in front of an old abandoned chapel. Charlotta is dressed in boyish attire and carrying a shotgun, while she speaks of her days with a traveling show, her lack of memory about who she is or who her parents were. Yepihodov clumsily strums his "mandolin" and sings about his undying love for Dunyasha, who is in love with Yasha, and Yasha is an arrogant, cigar smoking character who is in love with himself.
Also in this scene, the topic of turning the orchard into summer cottages arises again. Ranevskaya feels that this idea is "frightfully vulgar," and Lopahin thinks that she is "scatter-brained" because she "can't understand" that she is about to lose the estate. Even though that the financial trouble is primarily Ranevskaya's fault, she is ignorant to reality, and she continues to spend money that she doesn't have, the reader feels sympathy for her character. Lopahin is genuinely trying to help her keep the estate in her possession with what appears to be the only solution, yet the reader briefly forms the opinion that he is trying to dictate her, and is demanding and arrogant. The mood quickly changes when Lopahin's peasant insecurities surface again. The tone of this scene fluctuates between comic and tragic.
During the climax of the play, the purchase of the cherry orchard by Lopahin, the reader expects there to be an intense feeling of tragedy.