In the play of interest to us, A.P. The Chekhov system of images is represented by three main groups. Let us briefly consider each of them, after which we will dwell in detail on the image of Lopakhin Yermolay Alekseevich. This hero of "The Cherry Orchard" can be called the brightest protagonist of the play.
Below is a photo of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, the great Russian playwright, creator of the work of interest to us. The years of his life are 1860-1904. For more than a hundred years, his various plays, especially The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and The Seagull, have been staged in many theaters around the world.
People of the noble era
The first group of characters are people of the noble era, a thing of the past. This is Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna and Gaev Leonid Andreevich, her brother. These people own a cherry orchard. By age they are not at all old. Gaev is only 51 years old, and his sister is probably 10 years younger than him. It can also be assumed that the image of Vari belongs to this group. This is the adopted daughter of Ranevskaya. The image of Firs, an old footman, who is, as it were, a part of the house and the entire outgoing life, also adjoins this. This is, in general terms, the first group of characters. Of course, this is just a brief description of the characters. "The Cherry Orchard" is a work in which each of these characters plays a role, and each of them is interesting in its own way.
The most active person
Very different from these heroes is Lopakhin Ermolay Alekseevich, the new owner of the cherry orchard and the entire estate. He can be called the most protagonist in the work: he is energetic, active, moving steadily towards the intended goal, which is to buy a garden.
Younger generation
The third group is represented by the young generation in the person of Ani, daughter of Lyubov Andreevna, and Petya Trofimov, who is a former teacher of Ranevskaya’s son, who recently died. Without mentioning them, the characterization of the heroes would be incomplete. Cherry Orchard is a play in which these characters are in love. However, in addition to loving feelings, they are united by their aspiration away from dilapidated values and the whole old life to a beautiful future that is drawn in the speeches of Trofimov ethereal, though radiant.
The relationship between the three groups of characters
In the play, these three groups are not opposed to each other, although they have different concepts and values. The protagonists of the play Cherry Orchard, with all the differences in worldview, love each other, show sympathy, regret the failures of others, and are even ready to help. The main feature that separates them and determines the future life is the attitude to the cherry orchard. In this case, it is not just a part of the estate. This is a kind of value, almost animate face. Throughout the main part of the action, the question of his fate is being decided. Therefore, we can say that there is another hero of "The Cherry Orchard", suffering and the most positive. This is the cherry garden itself.
The role of secondary characters in the play "The Cherry Orchard"
The main characters were outlined. Let us say a few words about other participants in the action taking place in the play. They are not just secondary persons that are needed in the plot. These are satellite images of the main characters of the work. Each of them carries a certain feature of the protagonist, but only in an exaggerated form.
Sophisticated characters
A different degree of character development in the Cherry Orchard is striking. The main characters: Leonid Gaev, and in particular Lyubov Ranevskaya, are given to us in the complexity of their experiences, the combination of sins and spiritual virtues, frivolity and kindness. Petya Trofimov and Anya are more outlined than depicted.
Lopakhin - the brightest hero of "The Cherry Orchard"
Let us dwell in more detail on the brightest character of the play, which stands apart. This hero of the Cherry Orchard is Yermolay Alekseevich Lopakhin. According to Chekhov’s description, he is a merchant. The author in letters to Stanislavsky and Knipper explains that Lopakhin has a central role. He notes that this character is a gentle person, decent in every sense. He must be kept intelligently, decently, not finely, without any tricks.
Why did the author consider that the role of Lopakhin in the work is central? Chekhov emphasized that he did not look like a typical merchant. We will find out what are the motives for the actions of this character, who can be called the killer of the cherry orchard. After all, it was he who knocked it out.
Peasant past
Yermolai Lopakhin does not forget that he is a man. One phrase engraved in his memory. She was uttered by Ranevskaya, comforting him, while still a boy, after her father beat Lopakhin. Lyubov Andreevna said: "Don’t cry, man, he will heal before the wedding." Lopakhin cannot forget these words.
The hero of interest to us is tormented, on the one hand, by the realization of his past, but on the other, he is proud that he managed to break out into people. For the former owners, in addition, he is a man who can become a benefactor, help them unravel the tangle of insoluble problems.
Attitude of Lopakhin to Ranevskaya and Gaev
Every now and then Lopakhin offers Gaev and Ranevskaya various plans for salvation. He talks about the possibility of giving their land to land for summer cottages, and cutting down the garden, because it is completely useless. Lopakhin is sincerely upset when he realizes that these characters of the play “The Cherry Orchard” do not perceive his reasonable words. He does not fit in his head how one can be so careless at the edge of his own death. Lopakhin bluntly says that he did not meet such frivolous, strange, non-business people as Gaev and Ranevskaya (the heroes of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard"). In his desire to help them there is not a shadow of deceit. Lopakhin is extremely sincere. Why does he want to help his former owners?
Perhaps because he remembers what Ranevskaya did for him. He tells her that he loves her as a native. Unfortunately, beyond the play remains the beneficence of this heroine. However, one can guess that due to the nobility and gentle nature, Ranevskaya respected Lopakhin and felt sorry for him. In a word, she behaved like a real aristocrat - noble, cultured, kind, generous. Perhaps it is the realization of such an ideal of humanity, its inaccessibility that makes this hero commit such contradictory acts.
Ranevskaya and Lopakhin are two centers in the work "Cherry Orchard". The images of the heroes described by the author are very interesting. The plot develops in such a way that interpersonal relations between them are still not the most important. What comes to first place is what Lopakhin does, as it were, involuntarily, wondering at himself.
How is the personality of Lopakhin revealed in the finale of the work?
In nervous tension, a third action takes place. Everyone expects that Gaev will come from the auction soon and bring the news about the fate of the garden. The owners of the estate cannot hope for the best, it remains only to hope for a miracle ...
Finally, fatal news reported: the garden is sold! Ranevskaya, as if in a thunder, is struck by the answer to a completely meaningless and helpless question: "Who bought it?" Lopakhin exhales: "I bought!" With this action, Yermolai Alekseevich decides the future of the heroes of the Cherry Orchard. It seems that Raevskaya did not expect such a villainy from him. But it turns out that the estate and the garden are the dream of Yermolai Alekseevich's whole life. Lopakhin could not do otherwise. In it, the merchant avenged the man and defeated the intellectual. Lopakhin seems to be in hysteria. He does not believe in his own happiness, does not notice Ranevskaya, heartbroken.
Everything happens according to his longing, but against his will, because after a minute, noticing the unfortunate Ranevskaya, the merchant unexpectedly utters words that contradict his enthusiasm a minute earlier: "My poor, good, you will not return now ..." But the very next moment a former peasant and a merchant in Lopakhin raise their heads and shout: "Music, play distinctly!"
Attitude of Petya Trofimov to Lopakhin
Petya Trofimov says about Lopakhin that he is needed "in the sense of metabolism," like a predatory beast eating what comes in its way. But suddenly Trofimov, who dreams of a fair society and plays the role of an exploiter, to Yermolai Alekseevich, says in the fourth act that he loves him for his "thin, gentle soul." The characteristic of Lopakhin is a combination of the grasp of a predator with a tender soul.
The inconsistency of the character of Yermolai Alekseevich
He passionately longs for purity, beauty, and is drawn to culture. In the work, Lopakhin is the only character to appear with a book in his hand. Although, reading it, this hero falls asleep, other characters throughout the play do not hold books in their hands. However, merchant’s calculation, common sense, and earthly principles are stronger in it. Realizing that the garden is beautiful, experiencing pride in possessing it, Lopakhin is in a hurry to cut it down and arrange everything according to his own understanding of happiness.
Ermolay Alekseevich argues that the summer resident will multiply in 20 years to an extraordinary degree. While he only drinks tea on the balcony. But one day it may happen that he takes care of his tithing. Then the cherry garden of Ranevskaya and Gaev will become luxurious, rich, happy. But Lopakhin is mistaken in this. A summer resident is not a person who will begin to store and multiply the beauty that he has got. His mentality is purely practical, predatory. He excludes from the value system all impractical things, including culture. Therefore, Lopakhin decides to cut down the garden. This merchant, possessing a "subtle soul", does not realize the main thing: you cannot cut the roots of culture, memory, beauty.
The value of the play A.P. Chekhov "Cherry Orchard"
The intelligentsia from a serf, submissive, slaughtered slave created a talented, free, creatively active person. However, she herself was dying, and her creation was with her, since without roots a person cannot exist. "The Cherry Orchard" is a drama about the loss of spiritual roots. This ensures its relevance at any time.
The play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov shows the attitude of people to events taking place at the turn of the epoch. This was the time when the capitalization of society and the death of Russian feudalism took place. Such transitions from one socio-economic formation to another are always accompanied by the death of the weak, the intensified struggle of various groups for survival. Lopakhin in the play is a representative of a new type of people. Gaev and Ranevskaya are characters of the obsolete era who are no longer able to correspond to the ongoing changes, to fit into them. Therefore, they are doomed to defeat.