The Cherry Orchard – Anton Chekhov
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课程笔记
The play and its context
- ×The Cherry Orchard×(1904) is Anton Chekhov's last play, first staged by the Moscow Art Theatre under Konstantin Stanislavski; Chekhov died months later.
- Chekhov called it a comedy; Stanislavski staged it as a tragedy — the tension between comic and sad is central to the play.
- Context: the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 weakened the old landowning gentry; a new merchant class rose, often descended from serfs.
- The play is in four acts set on Madame Ranevskaya's estate, from May (blossom) to October (departure).
- It is set for 2026 and 2027; quotations below follow common translations, and wording varies between them.
Act 1: the return
- At dawn in May, in the room still called the nursery, the household waits for Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, returning from Paris after five years with her daughter Anya and governess Charlotta.
- The cherry trees are in blossom, but there is frost.
- The estate is heavily in debt and will be auctioned in August (on 22 August).
- The merchant Lopakhin, whose father was a serf on the estate, proposes a rescue: cut down the orchard and divide the land into plots for summer villas.
- Ranevskaya and her brother Gaev reject the plan; Gaev makes a sentimental speech to a hundred-year-old bookcase.
- We learn Ranevskaya's young son Grisha drowned in the river; the student Trofimov was his tutor.
Acts 2–4: the sale and the departure
- Act 2 (outdoors, near an old chapel and gravestones, with telegraph poles and a distant town): Lopakhin urges them again; they drift. A strange sound — a breaking string — dies away. Trofimov says "All Russia is our orchard" and speaks of the serfs whose lives built the estate.
- Act 3: on the day of the auction the family throws a party with a band they cannot afford. Lopakhin arrives: "I bought it." Varya throws down her keys; Lopakhin picks them up, triumphant and tearful: the land where his grandfather and father were slaves is his.
- Act 4 (October): the family leaves. Gaev will work in a bank; Varya will be a housekeeper for the Ragulins; Ranevskaya returns to Paris. Lopakhin fails to propose to Varya.
- The house is locked — and old Firs, ill, has been forgotten inside. He lies down; the breaking-string sound returns; then only the axe on the trees.
Key characters
- Ranevskaya — warm, generous, impractical; spends money she does not have; bound to the orchard by memory and grief; drawn back to a lover in Paris.
- Gaev — her brother; talks too much, retreats into imaginary billiard shots; sentimental and helpless.
- Lopakhin — self-made merchant, grandson of serfs; practical and energetic, yet genuinely fond of Ranevskaya; buys the estate.
- Trofimov — the "eternal student"; idealistic speeches about the future; claims to be "above love"; does little himself.
- Anya (17) — hopeful, inspired by Trofimov, looks forward to a new life.
- Varya — adopted daughter; anxious housekeeper; hopes Lopakhin will propose.
- Firs (87) — the old servant; calls the emancipation "the misfortune"; loyal to the old order, and left behind by it.
Minor characters and comedy
- Epikhodov the clerk — clumsy, always suffering a misfortune; squeaky boots, a broken cue.
- Dunyasha the maid — gives herself the airs of a lady.
- Yasha the young footman — contemptuous of Russia, desperate to return to Paris; cold to his own mother.
- Charlotta the governess — does conjuring tricks; has no real passport and does not know her own age: rootless.
- Pishchik — a landowner always borrowing money, saved when Englishmen find white clay on his land.
- These figures supply farce, but they mirror the main characters' dislocation and self-delusion.
Themes
- Change and class: the gentry's world ends; the serf's grandson buys the estate. Chekhov shows loss and progress together.
- Time, memory and the past: the nursery, the bookcase, the orchard hold childhood and the dead; characters cling to memory instead of acting.
- Inaction and self-deception: everyone knows the date of the sale; nobody acts.
- Loss and grief: the drowned son, the orchard, a way of life, the forgotten servant.
- Comedy and tragedy: pratfalls and tears sit side by side, so the audience laughs and grieves at once.
Symbols and dramatic methods
- The orchard: beauty, childhood and the past — but also, as Trofimov says, a property built on owning people.
- The breaking string: a mysterious, melancholy sound in Act 2 and at the very end — the snapping of an era.
- The axe: Lopakhin's promise to lay his axe to the orchard; the final sound of the play.
- Keys: Varya's keys mark authority in the household — she throws them down; Lopakhin picks them up.
- Pauses and cross-talk: characters talk past each other; silences carry feeling.
- Offstage events: the auction happens offstage; the audience waits with the family through Act 3's party, heightening tension.
Writing about the play
- Focus on how Chekhov makes the audience feel both ways — sympathy for Ranevskaya, respect for Lopakhin.
- Use stage directions as evidence: the breaking string, the axe, Varya throwing the keys, Firs lying down.
- Consider the ending's tone: comic neglect and tragic abandonment together.
- Useful essay foci: Lopakhin; Ranevskaya; the orchard as symbol; change; the ending; comedy and sadness.
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练习题
免费预览——45 题中的 8 题。注册即可查看全部。
1.Who wrote The Cherry Orchard?
Easy- AAnton Chekhov
- BHenrik Ibsen
- CLeo Tolstoy
- DBertolt Brecht
2.Where has Ranevskaya been living before Act 1?
Easy- AMoscow
- BLondon
- CYalta
- DParis
3.What does Lopakhin propose to save the family's fortunes?
Easy- AMarry Anya to a rich count
- BBorrow from the bank
- CCut down the orchard and let the land as plots for summer villas
- DSell the house but keep the orchard
4.Who buys the cherry orchard at the auction?
Easy- APishchik
- BLopakhin
- CGaev
- DDeriganov
5.Why is Lopakhin's purchase so significant to him?
Medium- AHis father and grandfather were serfs on the estate
- BHe was born in Paris
- CHe plans to live in the house
- DHe is Ranevskaya's son
6.What does Varya do when Lopakhin announces he has bought the estate?
Medium- AFaints
- BAccepts his proposal
- CTears up the deed
- DThrows her keys on the floor
7.What is the family doing while the auction takes place?
Medium- APacking to leave
- BPraying in the chapel
- CHolding a party with a band
- DTravelling to the auction
8.Who is forgotten and locked in the house at the end?
Medium- AEpikhodov
- BFirs
- CYasha
- DCharlotta
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