Lopakhin Ermolay Alekseevich, as they say at the beginning of the play in the author’s remark, is a merchant. His father was a serf of his grandfather and father Ranevskaya, traded in a village in a shop. Now Lopakhin got rich. His characteristic is given by Chekhov, including in the first person. However, he speaks of himself with irony that he remained a "peasant man." Talking about his childhood, the hero notes that his dad was a man who did not understand anything. He did not teach his son, but only beat drunk. Lopakhin admits that he, in essence, is "an idiot and an idiot." This hero did not learn anything, he has a bad handwriting.
Lopakhin's business acumen
Of course, Lopakhin, whose characteristics we are interested in, has enterprise, business acumen and intelligence. The scope of its activities is much wider than that of the previous owners. He is energetic. Moreover, the main part of the fortune of this hero was earned by his own labor. The path to wealth was not an easy one for him. Separate remarks and remarks indicate that this merchant has some kind of big "business". He is completely absorbed in them. At the same time, Lopakhin easily parted with his money, lending it to Simeonov-Pishchik and Ranevskaya, aggressively offering Pete Trofimov. This hero always does not have enough time: he either goes on business trips, or returns. By his own admission, he gets up at five in the morning, working from morning to evening. Ermolay Alekseevich says that he cannot work without work. More often than others in the work, it is Lopakhin who watches the watch. Its characteristic is supplemented by this essential detail already at the beginning of the work. His first remark in the play: "What time is it?" This merchant constantly remembers the time.
The perception of Lopakhin by the characters in the play
The characters of the play perceive this hero differently. Their reviews about him are very controversial. This is a "good, interesting person" for Ranevskaya, a "fist" and a "boor" for Gaev, a "huge mind man" for Simeonov-Pishchik. Petya Trofimov gives him a humorous characterization, saying that he is a predatory beast that eats everything that comes in its way, and this is necessary "in the sense of metabolism."
The moment of the highest triumph of Lopakhin
Lopakhin seeks to help Ranevskaya. He offers her to divide the garden into plots and rent them out. This hero feels his enormous power, requiring an exit and application. In the end, he buys the Lopakhin cherry orchard. Its characteristic is supplemented in this important scene by some essential features. For him, the episode when he announces the purchase to the former owners of the garden is a moment of supreme triumph. Now Lopakhin is the owner of the estate, in which his grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. He begins to “swing his arms” more and more - he is intoxicated with the consciousness of his own luck and strength. Compassion for Ranevskaya and triumph in him are opposed in this episode.
Dealer with the soul of an artist
Chekhov said that the role of Lopakhin in the work is central, that the whole play will fail if it fails. He wrote that Ermolay Alekseevich is a merchant, but a decent man in every sense; he must keep himself decently, "without tricks," intelligently. At the same time, Chekhov warned against a shallow, simplified understanding of the image of Lopakhin. This is a successful businessman, but he has the soul of an artist. His reasoning about Russia sounds like a declaration of love. Lopakhin’s words remind Gogol’s lyrical digressions in Dead Souls. It is to this hero that the most soulful words said about the cherry orchard belong in the play: "an estate more beautiful than that in the world."
Chekhov introduced features characteristic of some Russian entrepreneurs of the early 20th century into the image of Lopakhin, a merchant, but at the same time an artist in his soul. We are talking about such names that left their mark on Russian culture, such as Savva Morozov, Schukin, Tretyakov, and publisher Sytin.
The final assessment, which gives his seemingly antagonist Petya Trofimov, is very significant. The characterization of the image of Lopakhin given by this character is dual. As we already said, he compared him to a predatory beast. But at the same time, Petya Trofimov tells Lopakhin that he still loves him: he, as an artist, has delicate thin fingers and a vulnerable soul.
The illusory nature of victory
Far from wanting to destroy Lopakhin's cherry orchard. His characterization would be incorrect if we thought so. He only offers to rebuild it, having divided it into plots for summer residences, to make it "democratic", generally available for a moderate fee. However, at the end of the play it was not shown at all as a triumphant winner who achieved success Lopakhin ("The Cherry Orchard"). His characterization in the finale is very contradictory. And the old garden owners are not only depicted as defeated. Intuitively, Lopakhin feels the relativity and illusory nature of his own victory. He says that he wants this unhappy awkward life to change soon. His fate is reinforced by these words: Ermolay Alekseevich alone is able to appreciate the significance of the cherry orchard, but he destroys it with his own hands.
The characterization of Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchard is marked as follows: good intentions, personal good qualities of this hero for some reason differ from reality. Neither those around him nor he is able to understand the reasons for this.
Lopakhin was not given personal happiness either. In incomprehensible to others, his actions result in a relationship with Varya. He still does not dare to make this girl an offer. Lopakhin, moreover, has a special feeling for Lyubov Andreyevna. He awaits Ranevskaya’s arrival with particular hope and wonders if she will recognize him after five years of separation.
Relations with Varya
In the last action, in the famous scene, when the failed explanation between Varya and Lopakhin is described, the characters talk about a broken thermometer, about the weather - and not a word about what is most important to them at this moment. What is the matter, why the explanation did not take place, this love did not work out? Marriage Varya throughout the play is discussed almost as a settled matter, and yet ...
What separates Lopakhin and Varia?
Apparently, the point is not that the groom is a businessman incapable of displaying love feelings. It is in this spirit that Varia explains to herself their relationship. She believes that he simply is not up to her, because Lopakhin has a lot to do. Probably Varya, nevertheless, is not a match for this hero: he is a broad nature, an entrepreneur, a man of great scope and at the same time an artist in his soul. Varin, on the other hand, is limited by economy, economy, and keys on the belt. This girl, moreover, is a damsel who does not even have the right to a ruined estate now. Lopakhin, for all the subtleties of his soul, lacks tact and humanity in order to bring clarity to their relationship.
The dialogue of the characters described in the second action does not clarify anything at the text level in the relationship between Vari and Lopakhin. But it becomes clear at the subtext level that these people are infinitely distant. The characterization of the hero Lopakhin allows us to judge that with Varya he would hardly have found his happiness. Ermolay Alekseevich already decided that he should not be with this girl. Here Lopakhin acts as a provincial Hamlet, who decides for himself the famous question: "To be or not to be?" And he decides: "Ohmelia, go to the monastery ..."
What separates Varya and Lopakhin? Perhaps the relationship of these heroes is largely determined by the fate of the cherry orchard, their relationship to it? Varya, like Firs, worries about the fate of the estate, the garden. And Lopakhin "sentenced" him to cutting down. Thus, between the heroes stands the death of the cherry orchard.
But, probably, there is one more reason that is not formulated in the play (like many other things, sometimes the most important thing for Anton Pavlovich) and lies in the realm of the subconscious. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin and Ranevskaya
The characterization of Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchard would be incomplete without an analysis of the relationship of these two characters. The fact is that Ranevskaya, when Lopakhin was still a “little boy” with a nose bloodied from his father’s fist, led him to the washstand and said: “He will heal before the wedding.” Ranevskaya’s sympathy in contrast to her father’s fist was perceived by Lopakhin as a manifestation of femininity and tenderness. Lyubov Andreevna, in fact, did what her mother was supposed to do. Perhaps it was she who was involved in the fact that this merchant has such a "delicate tender soul." But it is precisely this characteristic of Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" that makes the image of the merchant we are interested in controversial. Ermolay Alekseevich kept this love-appreciation in his soul , this beautiful vision. So, in the first act, he tells Lyubov Andreyevna that she once did so much for him, and that he loves her "more than her own." Such is the characteristic of Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, their relationship.
The words of Lopakhin in the first act are “recognition” of the first, long-standing love, filial gratitude, Yermolai Alekseevich’s bright love for a beautiful vision that does not require anything in return and does not oblige him to anything.
Farewell to the past
However, the experience once irreversible. It was not understood, it was heard "expensive" for Lopakhin. Probably, for him, this moment was a turning point in psychological terms. For Lopakhin, he became a settlement with the past, parting with him. And a new life began for him. But now this hero has become more sober.
This is the characteristic of Yermolai Lopakhin, the central hero of the play, according to Chekhov.