- Essays
- On literature
- Chekhov
- Simeonov-Pishchik in the Cherry Orchard
Simeonov-Pishchik is a bright comic character, an impoverished landowner who has no money. The character is friends with Mrs. Ranevskaya and her brother. Pishchik loves to visit them.
The reader knows the hero’s appearance: he is dressed in a coat of fine cloth and trousers. One character notices that there is something horse-like about his figure. Simeonov is always chasing money, like a cat trying to catch an elusive thread. The reader finds the following fragment: the character’s financial situation is so poor that he jokingly considers using counterfeit bills. Three hundred and ten rubles need to be paid, but there are only one hundred and thirty in my pocket.
All efforts go into finding a person who could borrow money. Petya Trofimov thinks that Pischik is wasting his energy and time. If he had been busy with business instead, he could have “moved the earth.” Ranevskaya and Lopakhin help Simeonov out by giving him material resources. Besides them, he is indebted to some people.
But even in this situation, this person smiles at life. Unbreakable optimism. So, Pishchik says that sometimes everything goes down the drain, but suddenly money appears. And he believes in the best, which will definitely come someday. The reader can only envy such quality.
The hero suffers from gout. Fun fact: Pishchik can fall asleep during a conversation, but suddenly wakes up. Despite suffering strokes, Simeonov boasts of good health. Lopakhin calls it a miracle of nature. Perhaps because of the character.
The character can joke about himself. For example, calling yourself a horse, meaning, of course, your health. He says that when he goes to the next world, he shouldn’t think ill of this horse. The reader learns about the hero's daughter. During a conversation with Ranevskaya, Simeonov reports that Dashenka says hello to him.
Fortunately, at the end of the play, luck turns to face him: in his plot there is a treasure - clay deposits. The British buy land for rent for as long as 24 years. Money is pouring in on Simeonov. Thanks to this, he partially repays his debts, paying off with Lopakhin and Ranevskaya.
I am very glad that fate finally presented a gift to this man. He had suffered enough and deserved better. However, Trofimov correctly noted: it is better to get busy and gradually accumulate capital than to always beg for something from others. Nevertheless, the character cannot be called negative. He didn't do anything wrong, he just earned his living.
Image and characteristics of Simeonov-Pishchik
The entire play “The Cherry Orchard” is complemented by secondary characters. One of these minor characters is Simeonov-Pishchik. The unfortunate poor landowner, who lives nearby and is Ranevskaya’s neighbor, constantly borrows money from all the people and neighbors. His short description fully justifies his constant debts and very cheerful and perky character. The character is modestly dressed, even for his poor position in society.
The role of Boris Borisovich in the comedy is a little small, but it is also very understandable, and may make some people think about their lives and their actions. Boris Borisovich constantly lives in debt, but does not worry at all about how he will have to pay it off. He spends his enormous potential and his boundless life energy on completely meaningless things, he is very worried about how he can once again appease people in order to once again get the money he wants. It is this character who personifies the layer of society that is lazy to do something, while having enormous energy. They say about people like Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik: “With his energy you can turn the planet upside down, the main thing is to direct the energy in the right direction.” But no words make this person think about his life.
The essence of the comedy lies in the absurd phrases and constant cheerful mood of this character. His belief in a happy future without constant debt and borrowing money seems like a crazy idea. And his life is full of constant visits and new acquaintances. This is proven by the scene in the play when Simeonov-Pishchik came to the people who had just arrived and asked to borrow a huge sum of money.
Probably, people like Boris Borisovich live with their inner hope for a happy life. And most likely, at the end of the play the author decided to reward this character. The arriving British found white clay on his plot and rented his plot for mining for 24 years. Big money brings happiness and complete satisfaction from life. But Boris Borisovich is not ready to immediately and completely deal with all the debts; he gives less than half of the required amount to Khlestakov, and part of the borrowed amount to Ranevskaya.
Anton Chekhov in his work “The Cherry Orchard” was able to perfectly describe and convey the image of Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik. Chekhov not only made him a constant cheerful character, but also assigned him another, very necessary role - he constantly appears in very tense moments, and smooths out the situation with his positivity. Thus, people do not get hung up on the conflict. His usual way of life will remain the same, even if he does receive a huge amount of money.
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Characteristics of Simeonov-Pishchik
At first glance, it seems that the characterization of Simeonov-Pishchik in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” is quite unambiguous: “a klutz,” a comic character through and through. His money troubles, fussiness, and almost peasant simplicity allow us to see in him Lopakhin’s “reduced double.” The buffoonish nature of the image of Simeonov-Pishchik is also confirmed by the fact that he often appears at a tense, dramatic moment, and his ridiculous phrase or trick immediately takes the edge off the situation (see the scene of swallowing all of Ranevskaya’s pills at once and Firs’ subsequent phrase: “They were at we ate half a bucket of cucumbers...", emphasizing the comedy of the situation).
However, it is not difficult to notice another characteristic feature of this hero: his mobility. He is always on the move, in the literal (travels around friends, borrowing money) and figurative (undertakes various adventures in order to get money) senses. This movement is largely chaotic and irrational, and the hero’s optimism in his situation seems surprising: “I never lose hope. Now, I think, everything is lost, I’m dead, and lo and behold, the railroad passed through my land, and... they paid me. And then, look, something else will happen today or tomorrow.” We can say that the fussy and purposeful Simeonov-Pishchik in The Cherry Orchard is needed precisely for movement, to enliven the scenes played out by the motionless and deeply confused protagonists.
Characteristics of Dunyasha
The characterization of Dunyasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard” can be defined as a mirror image of Ranevskaya, a “reduced double” of the main character - a naive, rustic maid, yesterday’s peasant, while speaking, dressing and behaving “like a young lady”, with a pretense of sophistication. “She became tender, so delicate, noble,” she says about herself. With her behavior and remarks, she creates a comic effect based on the discrepancy between her actions and the prescribed role (“I’m going to fall... Oh, I’m going to fall!”). And although this point is also important, the image of Dunyasha in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” is not reduced solely to the comic component.
In the three-part system of characters in the work, Dunyasha refers to the heroes who are in a speculative future. However, her future is not determined as specifically as that of Anya or Trofimov; this is not the chronotope of the “new garden”, the monastery or Paris. Dunyasha’s “future” lies in her dreams; like many young ladies, among whom she counts herself, these are love dreams. Dunyasha lives in anticipation of the “prince,” and this expectation becomes almost an end in itself. When Epikhodov proposes to her, Dunyasha, despite the fact that she “seems to like him,” is in no hurry to agree. Much more important to her is the speculative space of “ideal,” fairy-tale love, a distant hint of which she finds in her “relationship” with the lackey Yasha. Attempts to realize these dreams will lead to their simplification, vulgarization, and will tear Dunyasha out of the sphere of dreams, in which she is most comfortable to be. Like almost all the characters in the play, she not only does not live in the present, but also desperately wants nothing to do with it - and in this she is also a “mirror” of Ranevskaya. By depicting the image of Dunyasha in “The Cherry Orchard,” the author even more clearly emphasized the typical painful gap between the worldview of the play’s heroes and the reality in which they are forced to act.
Characteristics of Charlotte Ivanovna
“This is the best role, I don’t like the rest” - this was the description of Charlotte in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” by the author in his letter. Why was this episodic heroine so important for Chekhov? It's not hard to say.
According to the text of the play, Charlotte does not have any social markers: neither her age, nor her nationality, nor her origin are known either to the viewer or to herself: “I don’t have a real passport, I don’t know how old I am...”; “Who are my parents, maybe they didn’t get married... I don’t know.” She is practically not included in the system of social connections, as well as in the situation that causes the main conflict - the sale of the estate. In the same way, she is not included in any speculative chronotope of the play - the past in the estate, the present in the dachas, the future in the “beautiful new garden.” She is outside the space of the play and at the same time parallel to it. The position of an outsider also determines two fundamentally important features of Charlotte Ivanovna in The Cherry Orchard. - firstly, absolute loneliness (“I really want to talk, but there’s no one to talk to... I don’t have anyone”), and secondly, absolute freedom. Taking a closer look, you can see that Charlotte’s actions are not subject to any external conditions, but only to her own internal impulses:
“Lopakhin. <…> Charlotte Ivanovna, show me the trick!
Lyubov Andreevna. Charlotte, show me a trick!
Charlotte. No need. I want to sleep. (Leaves).”
The importance of the image of Charlotte in the play “The Cherry Orchard” lies, firstly, in her role as a free outside observer with the right to impartial judgment (sudden and illogical at first glance, Charlotte’s remarks, not related to the immediate context) and disobedience to conventions. Secondly, in the depiction of a person whose behavior is not determined by the environment - the “essence” of human essence. And from this point of view, we cannot underestimate this, at first glance, episodic image in the play.
Characteristics of Yasha
In the play “The Cherry Orchard,” Chekhov depicts the traditional life of a noble estate. Along with the landowners, servants were also introduced there - a governess, a maid, a valet and a footman. Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups. Firs and Charlotte are more connected to the estate and are truly devoted to their owners. The meaning of their life is lost when the cherry orchard is cut down. But Dunyasha and Yasha represent the younger generation, whose life is just beginning. The thirst for new life emerges especially clearly in the image of Yasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard.”
Yasha is a young footman brought by Ranevskaya from Paris. His time abroad changed him. Now he dresses differently, knows how to speak “delicately” and present himself as a person who has seen a lot. “You are educated, you can talk about everything,” this is how Dunyasha, who fell in love with him, speaks enthusiastically about Yasha.
But behind the external gloss in the footman Yasha in the play “The Cherry Orchard” there are many vices hidden. Already from the first pages, his ignorance and blind admiration for everything foreign are noticeable (for example, he asks Ranevskaya to take him to Paris again, citing the fact that it is impossible to stay in Russia - “the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, and, moreover, boredom”).
There is one more, much more unpleasant trait in Yasha - spiritual callousness. He does not miss the opportunity to offend a person - he mocks Gaev, declares to Firs: “I'm tired of you, grandfather. I wish you would die soon,” and when his mother comes from the village, he does not want to go to her. Yasha does not hesitate to steal money from his mistress and drink champagne at her expense, although he knows very well that the estate is ruined. Yasha even uses Dunyasha’s love in his own interests, and in response to the girl’s sincere confession he tells her: “If a girl loves someone, then she is immoral.”
“Immoral, ignorant” - this is Yasha’s favorite saying, which he applies to everyone. And these words can serve as the most accurate description of Yasha from Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”
The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov
Act one The room, which is still called the 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.
Enter Dunyasha
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.)
It seems they are already on their way.
Lopakhin
(listens)
. No... Get your luggage, this and that...
Pause.
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 started coming out of my nose... We then 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...”
Pause.
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, there's a lot of money, but if you think about it and figure it out, he's a man... (He flips through the book.)
I read the book and didn’t understand anything. I read and fell asleep.
Pause.
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 a lot; 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’t. 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
enters 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 hurriedly walks across the stage, leaning on a stick.
, who went to meet Lyubov Andreevna;
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 walk here...” Lyubov Andreevna
,
Anya
and
Charlotte Ivanovna
with a dog on a chain, dressed in travel clothes.
Varya
in a coat and scarf,
Gaev
,
Simeonov-Pishchik, Lopakhin, Dunyasha
with a bundle and an umbrella,
the servants
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...
(Crying.)
And now I'm like a little...
(Kisses her brother, Varya, then her brother again.)
And 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.
Pishchik
(surprised)
. Just think!
Everyone leaves except Anya and Dunyasha.
