The Cherry Orchard is Chekhov's last and decisive contribution to Russian drama. This work was the final in his career, but it was developed completely new style techniques. The image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is central to the plot. Using the example of this heroine and other characters in a work that has been inspiring playwrights around the world for over a hundred years, one can analyze the author’s innovation.
Having begun work on the play in the spring of 1903, Chekhov completed it in the fall. The premiere took place on the stage of the Art Theater. The production resonated in the cultural circles of Moscow. What is unique about this play? And why the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” firmly entered the history of literature and became the subject of close study? In order to answer this question, the plot should be briefly described.
Scene
Events take place in the estate of one of the landowners. Her name is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. This lady abroad went broke and now, in order to get out of debt, she is forced to sell her family estate. The house gathered relatives of the landowner and close friends. The image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is not the most striking, but the main events take place around him.
Plot
The only thing that can save the heroine and her relatives from the final ruin is the sale of the estate. A family friend - the merchant Lopakhin - persuades Ranevskaya and her brother to use this chance. However, for this it will be necessary to cut down a huge cherry orchard, and its owners cannot take this step yet.
It should be said that in this house no one hears anyone. Lopakhin insists on selling the estate, Gaev incessantly expresses admiration for the picturesque garden, the adopted daughter laments the wastefulness of the landlady. Everyone talks about his own. Meanwhile, something needs to be decided.
In the end the estate is being sold. None other than Lopakhin becomes his new master - a kind, active person, but very uneducated. Having taken possession, he immediately orders to cut down the cherry trees. There is the sound of an ax ... This is all the content. But why did the critics of the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” arouse such interest?
Life before ruin
The author of the work himself told the theater directors that playing this heroine is not difficult. You just need to think of a way to laugh ... The image of Ranevskaya in the play "The Cherry Orchard" looms in the course of the play. It becomes clear that this woman was once deprived of worries. She was happy and inspired by the love and beauty that she could see around herself. But life circumstances somewhat crippled her: the little son died, the beloved deceived and ruined.
The mistress of the estate fled abroad from her grief. But life in France was difficult, uncomfortable. She still had a huge summer house, but her lover squandered. Based on these events, which the reader or the theater audience learns about during the course of the action, it can be concluded that the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” has such characteristic qualities as kindness, impracticality, frivolity, and daydreaming.
Daughter
From the conversation of the heroes, the reader will also learn the details of Parisian life, which once again confirm the characteristic given above. The image of Ani Ranevskaya in the play "The Cherry Orchard" somewhat sets off the main character, emphasizes her infantility. The daughter tells Vara that they barely got to Moscow - there was barely enough money. That in Paris Ranevskaya lived in terrible conditions, but with all this, on the way home in roadside restaurants, she ordered exceptionally expensive dishes.
May garden
The return of Ranevskaya is not only a forced trip to solve financial issues. It is also a return to my father’s home, to everything dearest in life. The action takes place in late spring, when the cherry blossom creates an atmosphere of magic in the garden. Not everyone can appreciate this beauty. But Ranevskaya and Gaev, unlike the enterprising Lopukhin, know how to see the beautiful. And therefore, it is precisely on these May days that the decision to sell the estate is so hard for them.
The image of Ranevskaya in Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” is a contrast to Lopukhin. The mistress of the estate is a lady, although impractical and not adapted for life, but very educated and sophisticated. The merchant, on the contrary, is a torment, active, but not able to comprehend either the meaning of a literary work, the depth of a theatrical production, or the beauty of a cherry garden.
Squandering
The work “The Image of Ranevskaya in the play“ The Cherry Orchard ”” is a fairly common task in literature. The famous Chekhov heroine is a lady extremely controversial. By analyzing her image, you will find something to think about.
Upon returning to the estate, she behaves strangely and irrationally. Instead of taking decisive action, she indulges in sentimental memories, philosophical considerations, and arranges a feverish day on the day of bidding. Thoughtlessness, wastefulness, weakness and lack of will - this is the true characteristic of the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard”. This woman is not able to maintain a garden, which is not just a territory planted with cherry trees. With this act, she betrays the memory and culture of her ancestors.
The heroine of Chekhov’s work is a collective image of representatives of a noble family who led a thoughtless, idle life at the turn of the century. The guilt of the Cherry Orchard heroine is also her misfortune. The loss of property is a retribution for the frivolous life that she led, as, indeed, the majority of the intelligentsia in the late XIX and early XX centuries.
In this play, as in others, Chekhov has no negative and positive characters. Each author is objective. After all, Lopukhin's enterprise is a trait that is completely unknown to Ranevskaya, in the image of the author is also unattractive. The image of the garden, which is so mercilessly destroyed by the new owner, is Russia itself. The country was launched by careless nobles, and active merchants took advantage of this. But there is also a third type - idealists, who may be able to rectify the situation. One of them is Petya Trofimov. However, as history shows, neither the first, nor the second, nor the third made the fate of Russia. Chekhov never found out about this, since he died that very year when Muscovites saw the premiere of The Cherry Orchard.