Features of Chekhov's dramaturgy

Before Anton Chekhov, the Russian theater was in crisis, it was he who made an invaluable contribution to its development, breathing new life into it. The playwright snatched small sketches from the everyday life of his characters, bringing the dramaturgy closer to reality. His plays made the viewer think, although there were no intrigues or open conflicts in them, but they reflected the internal anxiety of a critical historical time, when society froze in anticipation of imminent changes, and all social strata became heroes. The apparent simplicity of the plot introduced the stories of the characters before the events described, making it possible to speculate what will happen to them after. So the past, present, future in the play "The Cherry Orchard" miraculously mixed up by connecting people not so much of different generations as of different eras. And one of the "undercurrents" characteristic of Chekhov's plays was the author's reflection on the fate of Russia, and the theme of the future took center stage in The Cherry Orchard.

Past, present and future on the pages of the play "The Cherry Orchard"

So how did past, present and future meet on the pages of The Cherry Orchard? Chekhov, as it were, divided all the heroes into these three categories, portraying them very vividly.

The past in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is represented by Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs - the oldest character in the whole action. It is they who speak most of all about what was, for them the past is a time in which everything was easy and beautiful. There were masters and servants, each had its own place and purpose. For Firs, the abolition of serfdom was the greatest grief, he did not want freedom, remaining on the estate. He sincerely loved the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev, remaining devoted to them until the very end. For the aristocrats Lyubov Andreevna and her brother, the past is the time when they did not need to think about such base things as money. They enjoyed life, doing what brings pleasure, being able to appreciate the beauty of intangible things - it is difficult for them to adapt to the new order, in which material values ​​replace high moral values. It is humiliating for them to talk about money, about ways to earn it, and Lopakhin's real proposal to rent out the land occupied, in fact, by a worthless garden, is perceived as vulgarity. Unable to make decisions about the future of the cherry orchard, they succumb to the flow of life and simply float along it. Ranevskaya, with her aunt's money sent for Anya, leaves for Paris, and Gaev goes to serve in a bank. The death of Firs at the end of the play is very symbolic, as if to say that the aristocracy as a social class has outlived itself, and there is no place for it, in the form in which it was before the abolition of serfdom.

Lopakhin became the representative of the present in the play The Cherry Orchard. “A man is a man”, as he says about himself, thinking in a new way, able to earn money using his mind and instinct. Petya Trofimov even compares him with a predator, but with a predator with a subtle artistic nature. And this brings Lopakhin a lot of emotional experiences. He is well aware of all the beauty of the old cherry orchard, which will be cut down at his will, but he cannot do otherwise. His ancestors were serfs, his father owned a shop, and he became a "white-summer", having made a considerable fortune. Chekhov placed special emphasis on the character of Lopakhin, because he was not a typical merchant, who was treated with disdain by many. He made himself, paving the way with his work and desire to be better than his ancestors, not only in terms of financial independence, but also in education. In many ways, Chekhov identified himself with Lopakhin, because their pedigrees are similar.

Anya and Petya Trofimov personify the future. They are young, full of strength and energy. And most importantly, they have the desire to change their lives. But, that's just, Petya is a master of talking and reasoning about a wonderful and just future, but he does not know how to expose his speeches into action. This is what prevents him from graduating from university or at least somehow arranging his life. Petya denies all attachments - be it a place or another person. He captivates the naive Anya with his ideas, but she already has a plan for how to arrange her life. She is inspired and ready to "plant a new garden, even more beautiful than the previous one." However, the future in Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" is very uncertain and vague. In addition to the educated Anya and Petya, there is also Yasha and Dunyasha, and they, too, are the future. Moreover, if Dunyasha is just a stupid peasant girl, then Yasha is already a completely different type. Gaev and Ranevsky are being replaced by the Lopakhins, but the Lopakhins will also have to be replaced by someone. If you recall the story, then 13 years after the writing of this play, it was precisely such Yashas who came to power - unprincipled, empty and cruel, not attached to anyone or anything.

In the play "The Cherry Orchard" the heroes of the past, present and future were gathered in one place, only they were united not by an inner desire to be together and exchange their dreams, desires, experiences. The old garden and house holds them, and as soon as they disappear, the connection between the characters and the time they reflect is broken.

Connection of times today

Only the greatest creations are able to reflect reality even many years after their creation. This happened with the play "The Cherry Orchard". History is cyclical, society develops and changes, moral and ethical norms are also subject to rethinking. Human life is not possible without the memory of the past, inaction in the present, and without faith in the future. One generation is replaced by another, some build, others destroy. So it was in Chekhov's time, so it is now. The playwright was right when he said that “All of Russia is our garden”, and it depends only on us whether it will bloom and bear fruit, or whether it will be cut down to the very root.

The author's reasoning about the past, present and future in comedy, about people and generations, about Russia makes us think even today. These thoughts will be useful for grade 10 when writing an essay on the topic "Past, present, future in the play" The Cherry Orchard "".

Artwork test

The play "The Cherry Orchard" was published at the very beginning of the 20th century and is a kind of final work by A.P. Chekhov. In this work, he most vividly expressed his thoughts on the past, present and future of Russia. He was able to masterfully show the real situation in society on the eve of the first revolution and the changes that had taken place in the country. As one famous critic said, the main character of the play, in fact, is time. Almost everything depends on it. Throughout the work, the author focuses on the transience and ruthlessness of time.

The action of the play "The Cherry Orchard" is developed in the family estate of the former nobles Ranevskaya and Gaev. The plot of the comedy is connected with the sale of this estate for the debts of the owners. And with it, a blooming marvelous garden will go under the hammer, which is the personification of beauty and the desire for a better life. The play intertwines the lives of the past and the present generation. The main characters, the owners of the estate, belong to the old time. They could not get used to a new life after the abolition of serfdom. Ranevskaya and Gaev live one day. For them, time has stopped. They do not understand that if they do not act, they will lose everything.

Ranevskaya also loves to squander money, despite the fact that she has almost no money left. And to the proposal of the merchant Lopakhin to make summer cottages out of the garden and make money on it, so as not to lose the estate, both Ranevska and Gaev respond in the negative. As a result, they lose both the garden and the estate. In this act, you can see the carelessness, impracticality and unwillingness of the owners to make any effort. However, their heightened sense of beauty was another driving force. They simply could not cut down a garden in which every leaf was a reminder of a happy childhood.

The new time is represented by young characters. First of all, this is the businesslike merchant Lopakhin, who himself grew up under the tutelage of Ranevskaya. His ancestors wore "muzhiks" with the owners of the estate. And now he's got rich and bought the estate himself. In the person of Yermolai Lopakhin, the author portrayed the emerging bourgeoisie, which replaced the nobility. With his diligence, practicality, ingenuity and enterprise, he managed to firmly establish himself in modern society.

In addition to Lopakhin, the new generation is represented by Petya Trofimov and Anya - people who want to work for the good of society in order to atone for the sins of inactive ancestors. Petya Trofimov is twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and he is still studying. He was nicknamed "the eternal student". This character demonstrates a heightened sense of justice, philosophizes a lot about how things should be, but does little to act. He scolds the nobility for idleness and sees the future for the bourgeoisie. Petya encourages Anya to follow him, as he is sure of a happy future. Although he calls for work, he himself is not capable of creation.

The future of Russia remains uncertain in Chekhov's play. He does not give a specific answer for who this future is and what will happen next. It is only clear that the writer sincerely hoped that the coming century would be fruitful, and that people would finally appear who would be able to grow a new cherry orchard, as a symbol of the eternal renewal of life.

Past, present and future in the play by A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard".

"The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov is a unique work where all three periods of life are connected: past, present and future.

The action takes place at a time when the obsolete nobility is being replaced by merchants and entrepreneurship. Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, Leonid Andreevich Gaev, the old lackey Firs are representatives of the past.

They often reminisce about the old days when there was no need to worry about anything, especially money. These people value something higher than the material. The cherry orchard for Ranevskaya is memories and her whole life, she will not allow the thought of selling it, cutting it down, destroying it. For Gaev, even such things as a hundred-year-old cupboard matter, to which he addresses with tears in his eyes: “Dear, respected cupboard!”. And what about old footman Firs? He did not need the abolition of serfdom, because he devoted his whole life and himself to the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev, whom he sincerely loved. “The peasants are with the masters, the gentlemen are with the peasants, and now everything is scattered, you won’t understand anything,” Firs spoke of the state of affairs after the liquidation of serfdom in Russia. He, like all representatives of the old time, was satisfied with the pre-existing orders.

To replace the nobility and antiquity, something new comes - the merchant class, the personification of the present. The representative of this generation is Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin. He comes from a simple family, his father traded in the village in a shop, but thanks to his own efforts, Lopakhin was able to achieve a lot and make a fortune. Money mattered to him, in the cherry orchard he saw only a source of profit. Yermolai's mind was enough to develop a whole project and help Ranevskaya in her deplorable situation. It was the ingenuity and craving for material goods that were inherent in the generation of the present.

But after all, sooner or later, the present must also be replaced by something. Any future is changeable and vague, and this is exactly how A.P. Chekhov shows it. The future generation is rather motley, it includes Anya and Varya, student Petya Trofimov, maid Dunyasha and young footman Yasha. If the representatives of antiquity are similar in almost everything, then the young ones are completely different. They are full of new ideas, strength and energy. However, among them there are those who are only capable of beautiful speeches, but do not really change anything. This is Petya Trofimov. “We are at least two hundred years behind, we have absolutely nothing, we have no definite attitude to the past, we only philosophize, complain about longing and drink vodka,” he says to Anya, while doing nothing to make life become better, and remaining a “eternal student“. Anya, although fascinated by Petya's ideas, goes her own way, intending to settle down in life. “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this,” she says, ready to change the future for the better. But there is another type of youth, to which the young footman Yasha belongs. A completely unprincipled, empty, capable of nothing but sneers and a person not attached to anything. What will happen if the future will be built by people like Yasha?

“The whole of Russia is our garden,” Trofimov notes. So it is, the cherry orchard personifies the whole of Russia, where there is a connection between times and generations. It was the garden that connected all the representatives of the past, present and future into one whole, just as Russia unites all generations.

Essay on literature.

Here it is - an open secret, the secret of poetry, life, love!
I. S. Turgenev.

The play "The Cherry Orchard", written in 1903, is the last work of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, completing his creative biography. In it, the author raises a number of problems characteristic of Russian literature: the problems of fathers and children, love and suffering. All this is united in the theme of the past, present and future of Russia.

The Cherry Orchard is the central image that unites the characters in time and space. For the landowner Ranevskaya and her brother Gaev, the garden is a family nest, an integral part of their memories. They seem to have grown together with this garden, without it they "do not understand their life." To save the estate, decisive action is needed, a change in lifestyle - otherwise the magnificent garden will go under the hammer. But Ranevskaya and Gaev are unaccustomed to any activity, impractical to the point of stupidity, unable to even seriously think about the impending threat. They betray the idea of ​​a cherry orchard. For landlords, he is a symbol of the past. Firs, an old servant of Ranevskaya, also remains in the past. He considers the abolition of serfdom a misfortune, and he is attached to his former masters as to his own children. But those to whom he devotedly served all his life leave him to the mercy of fate. Forgotten and abandoned, Firs remains a monument of the past in a boarded up house.

The present time is represented by Ermolai Lopakhin. His father and grandfather were serfs of Ranevskaya, he himself became a successful merchant. Lopakhin looks at the garden from the point of view of the "circulation of the case." He sympathizes with Ranevskaya, while the cherry orchard itself is doomed to death in the plans of a practical entrepreneur. It is Lopakhin who brings the agony of the garden to its logical conclusion. The estate is divided into profitable summer cottages, and "you can only hear how far in the garden they knock on wood with an ax."

The future is personified by the younger generation: Petya Trofimov and Anya, Ranevskaya's daughter. Trofimov is a student who makes his way through life with difficulty. His life is not easy. When winter comes, he is "hungry, sick, anxious, poor." Petya is smart and honest, understands the difficult situation people live in, believes in a brighter future. “All Russia is our garden!” he exclaims.

Chekhov puts Petya in ridiculous situations, reducing his image to the extremely unheroic. Trofimov is a “shabby gentleman”, an “eternal student”, whom Lopakhin stops all the time with ironic remarks. But the student's thoughts and dreams are close to the author's. The writer, as it were, separates the word from its "carrier": the significance of what is said does not always coincide with the social significance of the "carrier".

Anna is seventeen years old. Youth for Chekhov is not only a sign of age. He wrote: "... that youth can be recognized as healthy, which does not put up with the old order and ... fights against them." Anya received the usual upbringing for nobles. Trofimov had a great influence on the formation of her views. In the character of the girl there is sincerity of feelings and mood, immediacy. Anya is ready to start a new life: to pass the exams for the gymnasium course and break ties with the past.

In the images of Anya Ranevskaya and Petya Trofimov, the author embodied all the best features inherent in the new generation. It is with their lives that Chekhov connects the future of Russia. They express the ideas and thoughts of the author himself. An ax is heard in the cherry orchard, but young people believe that the next generations will plant new orchards, more beautiful than the previous ones. The presence of these heroes enhances and strengthens the notes of vivacity sounding in the play, the motives of the future beautiful life. And it seems - not Trofimov, no, it was Chekhov who entered the stage. “Here it is, happiness, here it comes, coming closer and closer ... And if we don’t see it, don’t know it, then what’s the trouble? Others will see it!"

The play "The Cherry Orchard", written by Chekhov in 1904, can rightfully be considered the creative testament of the writer. In it, the author raises a number of problems characteristic of Russian literature: the problem of the figure, fathers and children, love, suffering, and others. All these problems are united in the theme of the past, present and future of Russia.

In Chekhov's last play, there is one central image that determines the whole life of the characters. This is a cherry orchard. Ranevskaya has memories of his whole life associated with him: both bright and tragic. For her and her brother Gaev, this is a family nest. Or rather, even to say that she is not the owner of the garden, but he is its owner. “After all, I was born here,” she says, “my father and mother lived here, my grandfather, I love this house, I don’t understand my life without a cherry orchard, and if you really need to sell it, then sell me along with the garden ... "But for Ranevskaya and Gaev, the cherry orchard is a symbol of the past.

Another hero, Yermolai Lopakhin, looks at the garden from the point of view of the "circulation of business." He busily offers Ranevskaya and Gaev to break the estate into summer cottages, and cut down the garden. We can say that Ranevskaya is a garden in the past, Lopakhin is a garden in the present.

The garden in the future personifies the younger generation of the play: Petya Trofimov and Anya, Ranevskaya's daughter. Petya Trofimov is the son of a pharmacist. Now he is a raznochinets student, honestly working his way through life. He lives hard. He himself says that if it is winter, then he is hungry, anxious, poor. Varya calls Trofimov an eternal student, who has already been fired from the university twice. Like many progressive people of Russia, Petya is smart, proud, and honest. He knows the plight of the people. Trofimov thinks that this situation can be corrected only by continuous work. He lives by faith in the bright future of the Motherland. With delight, Trofimov exclaims: "Forward! We are moving irresistibly towards the bright star that burns there in the distance! Forward! Keep up, friends!" His speech is oratory, especially where he talks about the bright future of Russia. "All Russia is our garden!" he exclaims.

Anya is a seventeen-year-old girl, the daughter of Ranevskaya. Anya received the usual noble education. Trofimov had a great influence on the formation of Ani's worldview. Ani's spiritual appearance is characterized by spontaneity, sincerity and beauty of feelings and moods. There is a lot of semi-childish spontaneity in Anya's character, she says with childish joy: "And I flew in a balloon in Paris!" Trofimov arouses in Anya's soul a beautiful dream of a new beautiful life. The girl breaks ties with the past.

The girl breaks ties with the past. Anya decides to pass the exams for the gymnasium course and start living in a new way. Anya's speech is tender, sincere, filled with faith in the future.

The images of Anya and Trofimov evoke my sympathy. I really like spontaneity, sincerity, beauty of feelings and moods, faith in the bright future of my Motherland.

It is with their lives that Chekhov connects the future of Russia, it is in their mouths that he puts words of hope, his own thoughts. Therefore, these heroes can also be perceived as reasoners - spokesmen for the ideas and thoughts of the author himself.

So, Anya says goodbye to the garden, that is, to her past life, easily, joyfully. She is sure that, despite the fact that the ax is heard, that the estate will be sold for summer cottages, despite this, new people will come and plant new gardens that will be more beautiful than the previous ones. Together with her, Chekhov himself believes in this.