Characteristics of the main characters
Representatives of the older generation do not realize that all their problems are caused by stupidity and ignorance, and are not at all going to develop and change anything. They just go with the flow, hoping that things will change in the future. Young people indulge themselves with illusions. Of course, if they tried to translate their thoughts into reality, life in Russia would really become better.
Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya
She married a man who was excessively addicted to alcohol and subsequently died from alcohol abuse. In addition, this man did not know how to manage money and only created debts. After the death of her husband, Ranevskaya fell in love with another, but a few years later her lover robbed her and left her.
In the past, she was a rich noblewoman, but due to a lack of understanding of what was happening around her, she went bankrupt and had to sell her estate to pay off her debts. She never hid her inability to handle money, but she did nothing to change her habits and improve her life in general, trying to distance herself from unpleasant moments. For example, while waiting for her brother to return from the auction, she sang a lezginka song.
Varya - adopted daughter
Unlike other characters, she is able to adequately perceive what is happening. He says it simply. Her speech contains many emotional exclamations. Mentally limited, religious, sincerely attached to Ranevskaya and Anya. Wants to become a nun.
Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin
A very hardworking and energetic person, entrepreneur. He was sincerely worried about the fate of Ranevskaya and her estate. He proposed a way to solve the problem, according to which it is only necessary to destroy the garden, divide the territory into summer cottages and rent them out. He tried to convince her that this would help quickly solve financial problems, but Ranevskaya refused because she could not live without a garden.
An auction takes place, and Lopakhin himself acquires the estate, and Ranevskaya leaves for Paris, as if forgetting her previous words that she could not live outside her home. It turns out it can. She is incapable of strong feelings, her mood is very changeable.
Leonid Andreevich Gaev
Ranevskaya's brother . He is 51 years old, unmarried. An idle talker who expects that all problems will someday be solved without the participation of people. He hoped to find funds to pay off his debts by receiving an inheritance and giving Anya in marriage to a rich man. But these were just illusions that had nothing to do with reality.
He does not know how to defend his point of view, because he is unable to even formulate it. At the most inopportune moments, Gaev can start talking about something, and everyone asks him to shut up. Often during a conversation he has nothing significant to say, so he inserts completely inappropriate phrases. The thought of the need to help others does not even occur to him. This shows how insensitive he is.
He considers himself a true aristocrat and also does not want to destroy the garden and rent out plots, since this will bring him closer to the likes of Lopakhin, which is unacceptable. He swore that he would not sell the estate. But he is just a verbiage, unlike Lopakhin, who did not waste time.
Pyotr Sergeevich Trofimov
An eternal student who was expelled from the university several times. Once he was the teacher of Ranevskaya’s little son, who soon drowned. He is distinguished by his conviction in the triumph of democracy and in a fair social life in the future. He has no mercantile interests, is extremely honest, his thinking is not limited by patterns imposed by society.
Trofimov's speeches are constantly interrupted by other heroes. Either they will bang with an ax, or Epikhodov will play the guitar. Thus, Chekhov shows the uselessness of his reasoning , expresses doubts about Peter’s abilities for something other than beautiful speeches, since he has uncertainty, like representatives of the older generation. He is a dreamer, blind to reality.
Wanting to show his superiority with the phrase that he is above love, Trofimov actually showed his underdevelopment and inconsistency. Peter is two-faced, not ready to follow his ideas, the same idle talker as Gaev.
Anya, daughter of the owner of the estate
She tends to idealize everything , so she easily believes Trofimov’s empty speeches. She is unable to perceive them critically due to lack of life experience. She sees in him a person who can make her dreams come true. Faith in Trofimov shows how dedicated Anya is to her idea of making the world a better place. It is impossible to clearly express positive and negative traits in her character.
Anya is the only heroine whose attitude towards the garden changes over time. At first he embodies carelessness and security, but after Peter points out whose work the garden was created, a contradiction arises in Anya’s mind between personal perception and reality.
Dunyasha, maid
She behaves like a young lady . The “future” lies in her love illusions. Lives in anticipation of the “prince”. She enjoys the process itself, and she does not want it to stop. When Epikhodov makes an offer, Dunyasha does not agree, because attempts to make dreams come true will instantly lead to the destruction of illusions. She confesses her love to Yasha, but he rejects her.
Firs, servant
All from the past . A staunch supporter of serfdom, because under it the relationships between people were simple and understandable. He considers the reform of 1861 to be the beginning of all troubles; after it, all life turned into chaos. He is a slave who does not need freedom and does not see any other meaning in his life other than serving the people among whom he lives. Firs played the role of master and overseer for Ranevskaya and Gaev, who never grew up.
Despite his peculiar worldview, he remained one of the few heroes capable of thinking rationally . He has qualities that others lack - thriftiness, organization. Firs was the only one who clearly understood the meaning of his life, so he seemed to be a stranger in this environment. This is shown by the fact that at the end of the play they even forgot about him - they did not send him to the hospital and simply locked him in the house. But Firs was not offended and with a sense of accomplishment, he passed away into another world.
Yasha, footman
An ignoramus , blindly admires everything foreign, but knows how to present himself as an educated person. He mocks Gaev and wishes Firs a speedy death, because he is tired of him. He calmly steals money from his landlady and drinks alcohol at her expense, despite his financial problems. He accuses everyone of ignorance and immorality, although he himself is the personification of these qualities.
Semyon Panteleevich Epikhodov
Clumsy man . He reads “various wonderful books” and, based on this fact, considers himself a developed person. In an effort to look smart, expressing himself in various words characteristic of complex speech, which he learned about from books, Epikhodov builds his speech so confusingly that those around him cannot understand him. Constantly complains about fate, considering himself a victim of circumstances. Like all the other heroes, he does nothing to change his life.
Problems of the play “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov
Lyubov Ranevskaya, a landowner on the verge of impoverishment, decides to sell her estate. It is very dear to her because she has lived in it all her life. But since there is no other way out, she lets go of thoughts of attachment. Ranevskaya is absent-minded and does not know how to conduct business at all, but this does not prevent one from feeling sympathy for her. Both her affection and willingness to let go allow us to talk about her as a full-fledged person.
Ranevskaya's acquaintances gather at the estate. The serf's son Lopakhin appears first. He treated the mistress of the estate warmly, having known her since childhood. He was an enterprising man, and his background did not prevent him from succeeding in commerce. Lopakhin immediately proposes a scheme according to which Ranevskaya would not lose the estate - division into plots and rent for dachas. But for this plan it was necessary to cut down a large cherry orchard, which was of great importance to Ranevskaya. She would rather lose the estate and keep the garden than the other way around.
Anya is Ranevskaya’s only daughter. She adopted all the positive traits of her mother, avoiding the love of luxury and spending money. Anya saw her mother spend her last savings as if she were the richest person on earth.
Pyotr Trofimov is a young teacher. What connects him with his family is that he taught Ranevskaya’s seven-year-old son, who died by drowning in the lake. He came to see Lyubov after a long break, but the others did not want to bring them together, worried about Ranevskaya’s feelings.
Gaev, Ranevskaya’s brother, just like Lopakhin, does not want to sell the estate and is making plans, albeit not so well thought out. He has two options - either it is profitable to marry Anya off, or he can borrow a large sum from his aunt, with whom Lyubov does not speak.
Further events unfold exactly with the characters presented.
Lopakhin continues to convince Ranevskaya to carry out his plan. He is annoyed that she is so frivolously ready to lose everything. But Ranevskaya again refuses him, and what’s more, she gives a gold coin as alms to a homeless man. Lopakhin finally emerges as a business man. If before this he could be called an adventurer, now it is clear that he lives by his activities. He is ready to get out of the bottom again and again if he has to. And he frankly doesn’t understand why others don’t live the same way.
Gaev talks about how he will soon take a position at the bank, and it becomes clear to the reader that the heroes of the play also have a low opinion of this character. Even Ranevskaya believes that this position is not suitable for him. Gaev is a matured child, his abilities remain at the same childhood level.
Trofimov appears as a man whose life is determined by lofty ideas. But it is still difficult to understand whether he came to these ideas mentally, adjusting his life to them, or whether he clothed his failures in good-sounding ideas. He argues with Lopakhin and Ranevskaya, which, in general, lead nowhere.
But when he stays with Anya, he continues his speeches. He encourages her to give up love, saying that she is above it. At the same time, he himself is in love with her. In the end, he invites her to go away together and plant a new garden. All this calls into question his true motives. His speech is good, but he behaves as if he has the most ordinary thoughts and the most ordinary desires in his head. He left with Anya, with whom he was in love, and, most likely, will live the life that everyone else lives. His ideas are aimed at adding uniqueness to everyday life, since Trofimov does not know how to change life itself.
The auction will take place soon. Gaev managed to beg money from his aunt, but his bid was beaten by another person. Then Lopakhin offered a larger sum, who won the auction. He presented everything as if he did not want the estate to fall into the wrong hands. But it seems fake on his part. He was captivated by the idea, which he repeatedly proposed to Ranevskaya, who always refused and was waiting for something unknown.
The ending determines some of the comedy of the play.
Everyone got what they wanted - but not quite. Ranevskaya lost her estate, but goes to Paris, to her former lover. Trofimov leaves with Anya for Moscow, refusing to plant a new garden, striving for a “great goal” that he was never able to clearly formulate. Gaev decided to accept a position at the bank. And Lopakhin cut down the garden and divided the plot into dachas.
The characters remain the same as they were from the very beginning. The events of the play strongly indicated that they should change, but this did not happen.
