Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard

There is no one in the hall and living room except Lyubov Andreevna, who is sitting, cowering all over and crying bitterly. Music plays quietly. Anya and Trofimov quickly enter. Anya approaches her mother and kneels in front of her. Trofimov remains at the entrance to the hall.

“Promenade in couples!”... “Big circle, balance!”... “Gentlemen, kneel down and thank the ladies” (French). Good man, but bad musician (German).

This work has entered the public domain. The work was written by an author who died more than seventy years ago, and was published during his lifetime or posthumously, but more than seventy years have also passed since publication. It may be freely used by anyone without anyone's consent or permission and without payment of royalties.

Comedy in four acts

CHARACTERS:
Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna, landowner.
Anya, her daughter, 17 years old.
Varya, her adopted daughter, 24 years old.
Gaev Leonid Andreevich, brother of Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich, merchant.
Trofimov Petr Sergeevich, student.
Simeonov-Pishchik Boris Borisovich, landowner.
Charlotte Ivanovna, governess.
Epikhodov Semyon Panteleevich, clerk.
Dunyasha, maid.
Firs, footman, old man 87 years old.
Yasha, a young footman.
Passerby.
Station manager.
Postal official.
Guests, servants.

The action takes place on the estate of L.A. Ranevskaya.

ACT THREE

Living room separated by an arch from the hall. The chandelier is on. You can hear the Jewish orchestra playing in the hallway, the same one mentioned in the second act. Evening. Grand-rond dancers are dancing in the hall. Voice of Simeonov-Pishchik: “Promenade à une paire!” They go out into the living room: in the first couple there is Pishchik and Charlotte Ivanovna, in the second - Trofimov and Lyubov Andreevna, in the third - Anya with a postal official, in the fourth - Varya with the station manager, etc. Varya is quietly crying, dancing, wiping away her tears. In the last pair is Dunyasha. They walk through the living room, Pishchik shouts: “Grand-rond balancez!” and “Les cavaliers à genoux et remerciez vos dames!” Firs in a tailcoat brings seltzer water on a tray. Pischik and Trofimov enter the living room.

I'm full-blooded, I've already been hit twice, it's hard to dance, but, as they say, I'm in the pack, don't bark, just wag your tail. My health is that of a horse. My late parent, a joker, the kingdom of heaven, spoke about our origin as if our ancient family of Simeonov-Pishchikov descended from the very horse that Caligula planted in the Senate... (Sits down.) But here’s the problem: there is no money! A hungry dog ​​believes only in meat... (Snores and immediately wakes up.) So I... I can only talk about money...

T rofimov. And there really is something horse-like about your figure.

P and P and K. Well... the horse is a good animal... the horse can be sold...

You can hear billiards being played in the next room. Varya appears in the hall under the arch.

Trofimov (teases). Madame Lopakhina! Madame Lopakhina!..

Varya (angrily). Shabby gentleman!

T rofimov. Yes, I’m a shabby gentleman and I’m proud of it!

Varya (in bitter thought). They hired musicians, but how do they pay? (Leaves.)

Trofimov (Pishchik). If the energy you spent all your life looking for money to pay interest on was spent on something else, you might end up moving the earth.

Sharlotta. Now shuffle the deck. Very good. Give it here, oh my dear Mr. Pishchik. Ein, zwei, drei! Now look, it's in your side pocket...

P i sh i k (takes out a card from his side pocket). Eight of spades, absolutely right! (Surprised.) Just think!

CHARLOTTE (holds a deck of cards in the palm of her hand, Trofimova). Tell me quickly, which card is on top?

T rofimov. Well? Well, queen of spades.

Sharlotta. Eat! (To the squeaker.) Well, which card is on top?

P and P and K. Ace of hearts.

Sharlotta. Eat! (He hits his palm, the deck of cards disappears.) And what good weather today!

The head of the station (applauds). Madam Ventriloquist, bravo!

The most charming Charlotte Ivanovna... I'm just in love...

Charlotte. In love? (Shrugs.) Can you love? Guter Mensch, aber schlechter Musikant.

Trofimov (pats Pishchik on the shoulder). You are such a horse...

Sharlotta. Please pay attention, one more trick. (Takes a blanket from the chair.) Here is a very good blanket, I want to sell... (Shakes it.) Does anyone want to buy?

P i sh i k (surprised). Just think!

Sharlotta. Ein, zwei, drei! (Quickly picks up the lowered blanket.)

Anya is standing behind the blanket; she curtsies, runs to her mother, hugs her and runs back into the hall with general delight.

Lyubov Andreevna (applauds). Bravo, bravo!..

Sharlotta. Now more! Ein, zwei, drei! (Raises the blanket.)

Varya stands behind the blanket and bows.

P i sh i k (surprised). Just think!

Sharlotta. End! (Throws the blanket on Pishchik, curtsies and runs into the hall.)

P i sh i k (hurries after her). The villain... what? What? (Leaves.)

Lyubov Andreevna. But Leonid is still missing. I don’t understand what he’s been doing in the city for so long! After all, everything is already over there, the estate has been sold or the auction did not take place, why keep it in the dark for so long!

Varya (trying to console her). Uncle bought it, I'm sure of it.

Trofimov (mockingly). Yes.

Varya. The grandmother sent him a power of attorney so that he could buy in her name with the transfer of the debt. This is her for Anya. And I’m sure God will help, my uncle will buy it.

Lyubov Andreevna. The Yaroslavl grandmother sent fifteen thousand to buy an estate in her name - she doesn’t believe us - and this money would not even be enough to pay the interest. (He covers his face with his hands.) Today my fate is being decided, my fate...

Trofimov (teasing Varya). Madame Lopakhina!

Varya (angrily). Eternal student! I have already been fired from the university twice.

Lyubov Andreevna. Why are you angry, Varya? He teases you about Lopakhin, so what? If you want, marry Lopakhin, he is a good, interesting person. If you don't want to, don't go out; no one is forcing you, darling...

Varya. I look at this matter seriously, Mommy, we must speak directly. He's a good person, I like him.

Lyubov Andreevna. And come out. What to expect, I don’t understand!

Varya. Mommy, I can’t propose to him myself. For two years now, everyone has been telling me about him, everyone is talking, but he is either silent or joking. I understand. He is getting rich, busy with business, he has no time for me. If I had money, even a little, even a hundred rubles, I would have given up everything and gone away. I would go to a monastery.

T rofimov. Splendor!

Varya (to Trofimov). A student needs to be smart! (In a soft tone, with tears.) How ugly you have become, Petya, how old you have become! (To Lyubov Andreevna, no longer crying.) But I can’t do nothing, mommy. I need to do something every minute...

Yasha enters.

I sha (barely restraining myself from laughing). Epikhodov broke his billiard cue!.. (Exits.)

Varya. Why is Epikhodov here? Who allowed him to play billiards? I don’t understand these people... (Leaves.)

Lyubov Andreevna. Don’t tease her, Petya, you see, she’s already in trouble.

T rofimov. She is very diligent, she meddles in things that don’t belong to her. All summer she haunted neither me nor Anya, she was afraid that our romance would not work out. What does she care? And besides, I didn’t show it, I’m so far from vulgarity. We are above love!

Lyubov Andreevna. But I must be below love. (In great anxiety.) Why is Leonid not there? Just to know: was the estate sold or not? The misfortune seems so incredible to me that I somehow don’t even know what to think, I’m at a loss... I could scream now... I could do something stupid. Save me, Petya. Say something, say something...

T rofimov. Whether the estate is sold or not sold today - does it matter? It has long been finished, there is no turning back, the path is overgrown. Calm down, darling. There is no need to deceive yourself, you need to look the truth straight in the eyes at least once in your life.

Lyubov Andreevna. Which truth? You see where the truth is and where the untruth is, but I’ve definitely lost my sight, I don’t see anything. You boldly resolve all important issues, but tell me, my dear, is it because you are young, that you have not had time to suffer through any of your questions? You boldly look forward, and is it because you don’t see or expect anything terrible, since life is still hidden from your young eyes? You are bolder, more honest, deeper than us, but think about it, be generous even to the tip of your finger, spare me. After all, I was born here, my father and mother, my grandfather lived here, I love this house, without the cherry orchard I don’t understand my life, and if you really need to sell, then sell me along with the orchard... (Hugs Trofimova, kisses him on the forehead.) After all, my son drowned here... (Cries.) Have pity on me, good, kind man.

T rofimov. You know, I sympathize with all my heart.

Lyubov Andreevna. But we have to say it differently, otherwise... (Takes out a handkerchief, a telegram falls to the floor.) My soul is heavy today, you can’t imagine. It’s noisy here, my soul trembles from every sound, I’m trembling all over, but I can’t go to my room, I’m scared alone in the silence. Don't judge me, Petya... I love you like my own. I would gladly give Anya for you, I swear to you, but, my dear, I have to study, I have to finish the course. You do nothing, only fate throws you from place to place, it’s so strange... Isn’t it? Yes? And we need to do something with the beard so that it grows somehow... (Laughs.) You are funny!

Trofimov (raises the telegram). I don't want to be handsome.

Lyubov Andreevna. This is a telegram from Paris. I receive it every day. Both yesterday and today. This wild man is sick again, things are not good with him again... He asks for forgiveness, begs to come, and I really should go to Paris, stay near him. You, Petya, have a stern face, but what can I do, my dear, what can I do, he is sick, he is lonely, unhappy, and who will look after him, who will keep him from making mistakes, who will give him medicine on time? And what is there to hide or remain silent about, I love him, that’s clear. I love, I love... This is a stone on my neck, I am going to the bottom with it, but I love this stone and cannot live without it. (Shakes Trofimov’s hand.) Don’t think badly, Petya, don’t tell me anything, don’t say...

Trofimov (through tears). Forgive me for my frankness, for God’s sake: he robbed you!

Lyubov Andreevna. No, no, no, don't say that... (Closes ears.)

T rofimov. After all, he is a scoundrel, only you don’t know it! He is a petty scoundrel, a nonentity.

Lyubov Andreevna (angry, but restrained). You are twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and you are still a second-grade high school student!

T rofimov. Let be!

Lyubov Andreevna. You have to be a man, at your age you have to understand those who love. And you have to love yourself... you have to fall in love! (Angrily.) Yes, yes! And you have no cleanliness, and you are just a clean person, a funny eccentric, a freak...

Trofimov (in horror). What does she say!

Lyubov Andreevna. “I am above love”! You are not above love, but simply, as our Firs says, you are a klutz. At your age, not to have a mistress!..

Trofimov (in horror). It's horrible! What does she say?! (He walks quickly into the hall, grabbing his head.) This is terrible... I can’t, I’ll leave... (He leaves, but immediately returns.) It’s all over between us! (He goes into the hall.)

Lyubov Andreevna (shouts after him). Petya, wait! Funny man, I was joking! Peter!

You can hear someone in the hall walking quickly up the stairs and suddenly falling down with a roar. Anya and Varya scream, but laughter is immediately heard.

What is there?

Anya runs in.

And I (laughing). Petya fell down the stairs! (Runs away.)

Lyubov Andreevna. What an eccentric this Petya is...

The station chief stops in the middle of the hall and reads “The Sinner” by A. Tolstoy. They listen to him, but as soon as he has read a few lines, the sounds of a waltz are heard from the hall, and the reading is interrupted. Everyone is dancing. Trofimov, Anya, Varya and Lyubov Andreevna pass from the front hall.

Well, Petya... well, pure soul... I ask for forgiveness... Let's go dance... (Dances with Petya.)

Anya and Varya are dancing.

Firs enters and places his stick near the side door. Yasha also came in from the living room and watched the dancing.

I sh a. What, grandpa?

F and r s. Not feeling well. Previously, generals, barons, and admirals danced at our balls, but now we send for the postal official and the station master, and even they are not willing to go. I've somehow weakened. The late master, grandfather, used sealing wax for everyone, for all diseases. I have been taking sealing wax every day for twenty years, or even more; maybe I'm alive because of it.

I sh a. I'm tired of you, grandpa. (Yawns.) I wish you would die soon.

F and r s. Eh...you klutz! (Mumbling.)

Trofimov and Lyubov Andreevna dance in the hall, then in the living room.

Lyubov Andreevna. Merci. I'll sit... (Sits down.) I'm tired.

Anya enters.

And I (excitedly). And now in the kitchen some man was saying that the cherry orchard had already been sold today.

Lyubov Andreevna. Sold to whom?

And I. Didn't say to whom. Gone. (Dances with Trofimov.)

Both go into the hall.

I sh a. It was some old man there chatting. Stranger.

F and r s. But Leonid Andreich is not there yet, he hasn’t arrived. The coat he’s wearing is light, it’s mid-season, and just in case he catches a cold. Eh, young and green!

Lyubov Andreevna. I'll die now! Come, Yasha, find out who it was sold to.

I sh a. Yes, he left a long time ago, old man. (Laughs.)

Lyubov Andreevna (with slight annoyance). Well, why are you laughing? What are you happy about?

I sh a. Epikhodov is very funny. Empty man. Twenty-two misfortunes.

Lyubov Andreevna. Firs, if the estate is sold, where will you go?

F and r s. Wherever you order, I will go there.

Lyubov Andreevna. Why is your face like that? Are you unwell? You should go to bed, you know...

F and r s. Yes... (With a grin.) I’ll go to bed, but without me, who will give it, who will give orders? One for the whole house.

Yasha (to Lyubov Andreevna). Lyubov Andreevna! Let me ask you a request, be so kind! If you go to Paris again, then take me with you, do me a favor. It’s absolutely impossible for me to stay here. (Looking around, in a low voice.) What can I say, you see for yourself, the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, and, moreover, boredom, the food in the kitchen is ugly, and here is this Firs walking around, muttering various inappropriate words. Take me with you, be so kind!

Pishchik enters.

P and p and k. Let me ask you... for a waltz, the most beautiful... (Lyubov Andreevna goes with him.) Charming, after all, I’ll take a hundred and eighty rubles from you... I’ll take... (Dances.) One hundred and eighty rubles...

In the hall, a figure in a gray top hat and checkered trousers waves his arms and jumps; shouts: “Bravo, Charlotte Ivanovna!”

Dunyasha (stopping to powder herself). The young lady tells me to dance - there are many gentlemen, but few ladies - and my head is spinning from dancing, my heart is beating. Firs Nikolaevich, and now the official from the post office told me something that took my breath away.

The music stops.

F and r s. What did he tell you?

Dunyasha. You, he says, are like a flower.

Yasha (yawns). Ignorance... (Leaves.)

Dunyasha. Like a flower... I'm such a delicate girl, I really love tender words.

F and r s. You'll get spun.

Epikhodov enters.

E p i h o d o v. You, Avdotya Fedorovna, don’t want to see me... as if I were some kind of insect. (Sighs.) Oh, life!

Dunyasha. What do you want?

E p i h o d o v. Sure, you may be right. (Sighs.) But, of course, if you look at it from the point of view, then you, if I may put it this way, excuse the frankness, have completely brought me into a state of mind. I know my fortune, every day some misfortune happens to me, and I have long been accustomed to this, so I look at my fate with a smile. You gave me your word, and although I...

Dunyasha. Please, we'll talk later, but now leave me alone. Now I'm dreaming. (Plays with a fan.)

E p i h o d o v. I have misfortune every day, and I, if I may put it this way, only smile, even laugh.

Varya enters from the hall.

Varya. Are you still there, Semyon? What a disrespectful person you really are. (To Dunyasha.) Get out of here, Dunyasha. (To Epikhodov.) Either you’re playing billiards and your cue is broken, or you’re walking around the living room like a guest.

E p i h o d o v. Let me express it to you, you cannot exact it from me.

Varya. I'm not demanding from you, but I'm telling you. All you know is that you are walking from place to place, but not doing anything. We keep a clerk, but we don’t know why.

E p i h o d o v (offended). Whether I work, walk, eat, play billiards, only people who understand and are older can talk about that.

Varya. You dare tell me this! (Flashing out.) Do you dare? So I don't understand anything? Get out of here! This minute!

E p i h o d o v (cowardly). I ask you to express yourself in a sensitive way.

Varya (losing my temper). Get out of here this minute! Out!

He goes to the door, she follows him.

Twenty-two misfortunes! So that your spirit is not here! So that my eyes don’t see you!

Oh, are you going back? (Grabs a stick placed near the door by Firs.) Go... Go... Go, I'll show you... Oh, are you coming? Are you coming? So here you go... (He raises his hand.)

At this time Lopakhin enters.

L o pakhin. Thank you most humbly.

Varya (angrily and mockingly). Guilty!

L o pakhin. Nothing, sir. I humbly thank you for the pleasant treat.

Varya. Do not mention it. (He walks away, then looks around and asks softly.) Did I hurt you?

L o pakhin. There is nothing. The lump, however, will jump up.

P and p and k. You can see it, you can hear it... (Kisses Lopakhin.) You smell of cognac, my dear, my soul. And we're having fun here too.

Lyubov Andreevna enters.

Lyubov Andreevna. Is it you, Ermolai Alekseich? Why so long? Where is Leonid?

L o pakhin. Leonid Andreich came with me, he’s coming...

Lyubov Andreevna (worried). Well? Was there any bidding? Speak up!

Lopakhin (confused, afraid to reveal his joy). The auction ended at four o'clock... We were late for the train and had to wait until half past nine. (Sighing heavily.) Phew! I'm feeling a little dizzy...

Gaev enters; He has his purchases in his right hand, and with his left he wipes away tears.

Lyubov Andreevna. Lenya, what? Lenya, well? (Impatiently, with tears.) Hurry, for God’s sake...

G aev (doesn’t answer her, just waves his hand; Firs, crying). Here you go... There are anchovies, Kerch herrings... I haven't eaten anything today... I've suffered so much!

The door to the billiard room is open; the sound of balls and Yasha’s voice are heard: “Seven and eighteen!” Gaev’s expression changes, he no longer cries.

I'm terribly tired. Let me, Firs, change my clothes. (He goes home through the hall, followed by Firs.)

P i sh i k. What's up for auction? Tell me!

Lyubov Andreevna. Is the cherry orchard sold?

L o pakhin. Sold.

Lyubov Andreevna. Who bought it?

L o pakhin. I bought.

Lyubov Andreevna is depressed; she would have fallen if she had not been standing near the chair and table. Varya takes the keys from her belt, throws them on the floor in the middle of the living room, and leaves.

I bought! Wait, gentlemen, do me a favor, my head is clouded, I can’t speak... (Laughs.) We came to the auction, Deriganov was already there. Leonid Andreich had only fifteen thousand, and Deriganov immediately gave thirty thousand on top of the debt. I see this is the case, I tackled him and gave him forty. He's forty-five. I'm fifty-five. That means he adds five, I add ten... Well, it’s over. I gave ninety over and above my debt; that was left to me. The cherry orchard is now mine! My! (Laughs.) My God, Lord, my cherry orchard! Tell me that I’m drunk, out of my mind, that I’m imagining all this... (Stamps his feet.) Don’t laugh at me! If only my father and grandfather would get out of their graves and look at the whole incident, like their Ermolai, the beaten, illiterate Ermolai, who ran barefoot in the winter, how this same Ermolai bought an estate, the most beautiful of which there is nothing in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. I’m dreaming, I’m only imagining this, it just seems... This is a figment of your imagination, covered in the darkness of the unknown... (Raises the keys, smiling affectionately.) She threw the keys, wants to show that she is no longer the mistress here... (Rings keys.) Well, it doesn’t matter.

You can hear the orchestra tuning up.

Hey musicians, play, I want to listen to you! Come and watch how Ermolai Lopakhin takes an ax to the cherry orchard and how the trees fall to the ground! We will set up dachas, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see a new life here... Music, play!

Music is playing. Lyubov Andreevna sank into a chair and cried bitterly.

(Reproachfully.) Why, why didn’t you listen to me? My poor, good one, you won’t get it back now. (With tears.) Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change.

L o pakhin. What is it? Music, play clearly! Let everything be as I wish! (With irony.) A new landowner is coming, the owner of a cherry orchard! (I accidentally pushed the table and almost knocked over the candelabra.) I can pay for everything! (Leaves with Pishchik.)

There is no one in the hall and living room except Lyubov Andreevna, who is sitting, cowering all over and crying bitterly. Music plays quietly. Anya and Trofimov quickly enter. Anya approaches her mother and kneels in front of her. Trofimov remains at the entrance to the hall.

And I. Mom!.. Mom, are you crying? My dear, kind, good mother, my beautiful, I love you... I bless you. The cherry orchard has been sold, it’s no longer there, it’s true, it’s true, but don’t cry, mom, you still have a life ahead of you, your good, pure soul remains... Come with me, let’s go, dear, from here, let’s go!.. We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this, you will see it, you will understand it, and joy, quiet, deep joy will descend on your soul, like the sun in the evening hour, and you will smile, mom! Let's go, honey! Let's go to!..

A curtain

Lyubov Andreevna (animated). Wonderful. We'll go out... Yasha, allez! I'll call her... (At the door.) Varya, leave everything, come here. Go! (Leaves with Yasha.)

Lopakhin (looking at his watch). Yes...

Pause.
There is restrained laughter and whispers behind the door, and Varya finally enters.

Varya (examines things for a long time). Strange, I can't find it...

L o pakhin. What are you looking for?

Varya. I laid it myself and don’t remember.

Pause.

L o pakhin. Where are you going now, Varvara Mikhailovna?

Varya. I? To the Ragulins... I agreed to look after the housekeeping for them... as housekeepers, or something.

L o pakhin. Is this in Yashnevo? It will be seventy versts.

So life in this house ended...

Varya (looking at things). Where is this... Or maybe I put it in a chest... Yes, life in this house is over... there will be no more...

L o pakhin. And I’m leaving for Kharkov now... with this train. There's a lot to do. And here I leave Epikhodov in the yard... I hired him.

Varya. Well!

L o pakhin. Last year it was already snowing at this time, if you remember, but now it’s quiet and sunny. Only it’s cold... Three degrees below zero.

Varya. I didn't look.

And our thermometer is broken...

Lopakhin (as if he had been waiting for this call for a long time). This minute! (Quickly leaves.)

Varya, sitting on the floor, resting her head on the bundle with her dress, quietly sobs. The door opens and Lyubov Andreevna carefully enters.

Lyubov Andreevna. What?

Must go.

V a r I (no longer crying, wiped her eyes). Yes, it's time, mommy. I’ll get to the Ragulins today, just so I don’t miss the train...

Lyubov Andreevna (at the door). Anya, get dressed!

Anya enters, then Gaev, Charlotte Ivanovna. Gaev is wearing a warm coat with a hood. Servants and cab drivers arrive. Epikhodov is busy with things.

Now you can go on the road.

And I (joyfully). On the road!

G aev. My friends, my dear, my dear friends! Leaving this house forever, can I remain silent, can I resist, so as not to say goodbye to those feelings that now fill my whole being...

And I (pleadingly). Uncle!

Varya. Uncle, no need!

G aev (sadly). A doublet of yellow in the middle... I’m silent...

Trofimov enters, then Lopakhin.

T rofimov. Well, gentlemen, it's time to go!

L o pakhin. Epikhodov, my coat!

Lyubov Andreevna. I'll sit one more minute. It’s as if I’ve never seen before what kind of walls, what kind of ceilings there are in this house, and now I look at them with greed, with such tender love...

G aev. I remember when I was six years old, on Trinity Day, I sat on this window and watched my father go to church...

Lyubov Andreevna. Have you taken all your things?

L o pakhin. It seems that's it. (To Epikhodov, putting on his coat.) You, Epikhodov, make sure everything is in order.

E p i h o d o v. Now I drank water and swallowed something.

Yasha (with contempt). Ignorance...

Lyubov Andreevna. We'll leave and there won't be a soul left here...

L o pakhin. Until spring.

Varya (pulls out an umbrella from the corner, it looks like she swung it; Lopakhin pretends to be scared). What are you, what are you... I didn’t even think.

T rofimov. Gentlemen, let's go get into the carriages... It's time! Now the train is coming!

Varya. Petya, here they are, your galoshes, next to the suitcase. (With tears.) And how dirty and old they are...

Trofimov (putting on galoshes). Let's go, gentlemen!..

G aev (very embarrassed, afraid to cry). Train... station... Croise in the middle, white doublet in the corner...

Lyubov Andreevna. Let's go!

L o pakhin. All here? Is there anyone there? (Locks the side door to the left.) Things are stacked here, they need to be locked. Let's go!..

And I. Goodbye home! Goodbye old life!

T rofimov. Hello, new life!.. (Leaves with Anya.)

Varya glances around the room and slowly leaves. Yasha and Charlotte leave with the dog.

L o pakhin. So, until spring. Come out, gentlemen... Goodbye!.. (Leaves.)

Lyubov Andreevna and Gaev were left alone. They were definitely waiting for this, they throw themselves on each other’s necks and sob restrainedly, quietly, afraid that they will not be heard.

G aev (in despair). My sister, my sister...

Lyubov Andreevna. Oh my dear, my tender, beautiful garden!.. My life, my youth, my happiness, goodbye!.. Farewell!..

Lyubov Andreevna. Take a last look at the walls, at the windows... The late mother loved to walk around this room...

G aev. My sister, my sister!..

Lyubov Andreevna. We are going!..

They leave.

The stage is empty. You can hear all the doors being locked and then the carriages driving away. It gets quiet. In the midst of the silence, the dull knock of an ax on wood is heard, sounding lonely and sad. Footsteps are heard. Firs appears from the door on the right. He is dressed, as always, in a jacket and white vest, with shoes on his feet. He is sick.

F and r s (comes to the door, touches the handle). Locked. We left... (Sits on the sofa.) They forgot about me... It’s okay... I’ll sit here... But Leonid Andreich probably didn’t put on a fur coat, he went in a coat... (Sighs with concern.) I didn’t look ... Young and green! (He mutters something that cannot be understood.) Life has passed as if he had never lived. (Lies down.) I’ll lie down... You don’t have strength, there’s nothing left, nothing... Eh, you... klutz!.. (Lies motionless.)

A distant sound is heard, as if from the sky, the sound of a broken string, fading, sad. Silence sets in, and you can only hear an ax being knocked on a tree far away in the garden.

“The eternal student” is exactly what one of the heroes of the play “The Cherry Orchard,” the pharmacist’s son Petya Trofimov, calls himself. His image was initially conceived as positive, he is not attached to anything and is not burdened with worries about the estate. It is its author who gives the unique opportunity to look at all events from the outside and have an unbiased point of view on everything.

Petya is about thirty years old, but he cannot graduate from Moscow University, from which he finds himself expelled for his activities directed against the government. Chekhov portrays this hero as a truthful, selfless person, not striving for any profit, who refuses to accept the lifestyle of wealthy nobles. Petya considers himself a free person, based on this theory, he refuses the money offered to him by Lopakhin and also refuses love, “we are above love.” He believes that all this can only have power over people with old concepts.

For Petya, the cherry orchard bears the imprint of slavery, in which each individual growing tree reminds him of a tormented human being. The wealthy part of the population, according to Trofimov, is obliged to atone for their servants only through exhausting labor. Petya condemns the views of the enterprising businessman Lopakhin for his consumerist attitude towards natural resources.

Trofimov is concerned about the future fate of the intelligentsia, since the part with which he is familiar, in his opinion, does not try to search and is not adapted to anything. Petya wants to go in the first row of those who are looking for the highest truth. His role is to awaken the consciousness of the younger generation, such as Anya, who absorbs all Petit’s ideas. However, despite all the purity and depth of his thoughts, the author now and then interrupts Petya, either with the sounds of Epikhodov’s guitar or with the knock of an ax, thereby showing that such judgments are still far from being realized.

Still, such a positive hero also has the negative trait of seeing only dirt in everything. Even the businessman Lopakhin admires the vastness of the fields of Russia and its horizons, while Petya speaks only about impurity, including moral, and while dreaming about the future, does not notice the present.

Trofimov, as the hero of the play, plays a rather comic role. Although he strives to achieve the highest happiness, he understands that he is not created for it. However, it is on Petya that the author pins his hopes on showing others the path to this very happiness, and this makes such a hero irreplaceable - both in the work and in life.

Essay 2

The image of Petya Trofimov is one of the main ones in the play “The Cherry Orchard”. He is the son of a pharmacist, who is not burdened with any worries and is not attached to anything - a bird of free flight.

But unlike other characters, such as Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, Petya is able to look at what is happening from the outside, and soberly, impartially assess the situation. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov initially conceived Trofimov as a positive character, but far from unique.

Petya, a former teacher of Ranevskaya’s son, a commoner of twenty-six years old. Many in the play call him the “Eternal Student”, since he has been studying for a long time, but still does not complete a single course. He has a rather interesting appearance and demeanor. He wears glasses and has a habit of philosophizing and teaching everyone around him about life. I firmly believe that the nobles were very lazy and now the time has come for the youth to take everything into their own hands. He considers himself to be part of the “new” working generation.

As for his life, he wanders a lot. Doesn't stay in one place. In the action of the play, he lives on Ranevskaya’s estate, namely in the bathhouse, so as not to disturb anyone. Ranevskaya doesn’t like him, saying that at his age it’s time to stop studying and it’s time to get married. Ranevskaya’s daughter Anna, madly in love with Petya, also lives on the estate. He believes every word he says, and he loves to say things without doing anything.

It is difficult not to notice the ironic attitude of the author and the characters of the play themselves towards Trofimov. Whatever they call him: “Klutz”, “funny freak”, “neat”, “shabby gentleman”. Petya is ugly, unkempt and awkward. He has sparse hair and is absent-minded. His image contrasts greatly with the opinion about him after his romantic speeches. Although even they have little to do with reality, and speak of an absolute lack of understanding of the life situation.

But nevertheless, it is he who is entrusted with an important role! He is able to show others how to reach their goal. This makes him a unique, irreplaceable character. Although he himself understands that he is not created for happiness and will never achieve it.

At the end of the play, he is looking for his forgotten galoshes, betraying the absolute worthlessness of his life, which is only decorated with beautiful words coming from his own lips.

Essay by Petya Trofimov

Those who have read Chekhov’s work “The Cherry Orchard” should probably remember that one of the characters called himself an “eternal student.” And this main character was Petya. It refers to a positive image of a hero. In addition, he never thinks about thinking or caring about anything and always lives only for his own pleasure. He looks at everything that happens in the world from the outside and has his own point of view and opinion on everything.

Although the main character is only thirty years old, he is still studying at Moscow University and cannot graduate. And all because he once went against the authorities and now they do not give him peace. He is constantly plotting something against the authorities and does not allow them to finish their business. Many times he was offered money, but not a single person had yet managed to bribe him. He also believes that if he lives by the old concepts, he will be able to cope with the government. In addition, not a single problem or misfortune passes him by, and he always finds himself in different situations.

Many describe him as a poor man who has only one piece of clothing, which he wears all the time, and he simply does not have another and cannot buy new ones. It’s just that he doesn’t have any complexes about it at all, but considers it a completely normal thing. It often happens that the hero blames other people for his mistakes, but at the same time he does not feel guilty of anything.

All he can do is translate different texts from different languages. And for this he has to travel from one city to another or even to another country.

The cherry orchard means nothing to him, and he would be very glad to get rid of it as soon as possible. After all, it reminds him of slavery.

It’s just his attitude towards his beloved girl that makes him a negative hero. After all, he loves no one else but himself. He has a huge number of ideas that he could bring to life, but he cannot for various reasons, and most often these reasons are simply his reluctance to change something in his life. But, despite this, he believes that everything will soon pass and better times will come. But no one knows when they will come.

1. footman Yashu

3. Trofimova

Whose words are these: “To get around those small and illusory things that prevent you from being free and happy - this is the goal and meaning of our life. Forward! We are moving uncontrollably towards a bright star that is burning there in the distance. Forward! Don't lag behind, friends!

2. Trofimova

Whose lineage does his spokesman say is descended from the horse that Caligula introduced into the Senate?

1. Simeonova-Pishchika

2. Lopakhina

Who has the gift of ventriloquism?

1. Simeonov-Pishchik

2. Charlotte Ivanovna

Who says about whom: “Just as in the sense of metabolism a predatory beast is needed that eats everything that gets in its way, so you are needed”?

1. Trofimov about Lopakhin

2. Lopakhin about Trofimov

3. Firs about Gaev

Who owns the words: “Before the disaster it was the same: the owl was screaming, and the samovar was humming incessantly”?

1. Lopakhin

Whose words are these: “Oh, my dear, my tender, beautiful garden!.. My life, my youth, my happiness, goodbye!.. Farewell!..”?

2. Ranevskaya

Who owns the words: “My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he just beat me when he was drunk... In essence, I’m the same idiot and idiot. I haven’t studied anything, my handwriting is bad, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of me, like a pig”? 1. Lopakhin

2. Simeonov-Pishchik

1. Ranevskaya

3. Charlotte Ivanovna

Who owns the words: “I have become anxious, I keep worrying. I was taken to the masters as a girl, I was now unaccustomed to simple life, and now my hands are white, white, like a young lady’s. She has become tender, so delicate, noble, I’m afraid of everything... It’s so scary. And if you, Yasha, deceive me, then I don’t know what will happen to my nerves”?

1. Charlotte Ivanovna

Which character in the play owns the words: “And when dad and mom died, a German lady took me in and began to teach me. Fine. I grew up, then became a governess. And where I come from and who I am, I don’t know... I’m all alone, alone, I have no one and... and who I am, why I am, it’s unknown...”?

1. Charlotte Ivanovna

Who owns the words about the cherry orchard: “Oh my garden! After the dark, hateful autumn and cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not left you... If only I could take the heavy stone off my chest and shoulders, if I could forget my past?

3. Ranevskoy

Which of the characters in “The Cherry Orchard” wrote the words: “Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change”? 1. Ranevskoy

2. Lopakhin

3. Epikhodov

Who says to whom: “You have to be a man, at your age you have to understand those who love. And you have to love yourself... “I am above love!” You are not above love, but simply, as our Firs says, you are a klutz”?

1. Ranevskaya to Trofimov

2. Varya Epikhodova

3. Charlotte Yashe

Analysis of the poem by I.A. Bunin or the answer to a problematic question based on the story by I.A. Bunin "Mr. from San Francisco".

I.A. Bunin

No birds are visible. Wasting away obediently

The forest, empty and sick.

The mushrooms are gone, but it smells strong

In the ravines there is mushroom dampness.

The wilderness became lower and lighter,

There was grass in the bushes,

And, in the autumn rain, smoldering,

Dark foliage turns black.

And there is wind in the field. Cold day

Moody and fresh - all day long

I wander in the free steppe,

Far from villages and villages.

And, lulled by a horse's step,

With joyful sadness I listen,

Like the wind with a monotonous ringing,

He hums and sings into the gun barrels.

I.A. Bunin

LONELINESS

And the wind, and the rain, and the darkness

Above the cold desert of water.

Here life died until spring,

The gardens were empty until spring.

I'm alone at the dacha. I'm dark

Behind the easel, and blowing out the window.

Yesterday you were with me

But you are already sad with me.

In the evening of a stormy day

You began to seem like a wife to me...

Well, goodbye! Someday until spring

I can live alone - without a wife...

Today they go on and on

The same clouds - ridge after ridge.

Your footprint in the rain by the porch

It blurred and filled with water.

And it hurts me to look alone

Into the late afternoon gray darkness.

I wanted to shout after:

“Come back, I have become close to you!”

But for a woman there is no past:

She fell out of love and became a stranger to her.

Well! I'll light the fireplace and drink...

It would be nice to buy a dog.

I.A. Bunin

You're a stranger, but you love me

You only love me.

You won't forget me

Until the last day.

You are obedient and modest

She followed him from the crown.

But you bowed your face -

He didn't see the face.

You became a woman with him,

But aren't you a girl?

How much in each movement

Simplicity, beauty!

There will be betrayals again...

But just one time

Shines so shyly

The tenderness of loving eyes.

You don't even know how to hide

That you are alien to him...

You won't forget me

Never ever!

I.A. Bunin

THE LAST BUMBLE

Black velvet bumblebee, golden mantle,

Mournfully humming with a melodious string,

Why are you flying into human habitation?

And it’s like you’re pining for me?

Outside the window there is light and heat, the window sills are bright,

The last days are serene and hot,

Fly, sound your horn - and in a dried-up Tatar,

On a red pillow, fall asleep.

It is not given to you to know human thoughts,

That the fields have long been empty,

That soon a gloomy wind will blow into the weeds

Golden dry bumblebee!

Appendix to independent work No. 15 “ Preparing for a quiz on the creativity of A.I. Kuprin and I.A. Bunin."

Introduction

Pyotr Sergeevich Trofimov, or, as everyone calls him, Petya, appears for the first time in the play in a “worn student uniform and glasses.” And already from the hero’s first appearance on stage, two main features become visible in Trofimov’s characterization from The Cherry Orchard. The first is student life, because Petya is a so-called eternal student who has already been expelled from the university several times. And the second feature is his amazing ability to enter inopportunely and get into trouble: everyone rejoices at Petya’s arrival, fearing, however, that the sight of him might awaken painful memories in Ranevskaya. Trofimov was once the teacher of her little son, who soon drowned. Since then, Petya has settled down on the estate.

Hero-commoner

The image of Petya Trofimov in the play “The Cherry Orchard” was conceived as the image of a positive hero. A commoner, the son of a pharmacist, he is not bound by concerns about the estate or his business and is not attached to anything. Unlike the impractical Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, who is always busy with business, Petya has a unique chance to look at all events from the outside, assessing them impartially. According to Chekhov's original plan, it was Petya and Anya, inspired by his ideas, who should have indicated the resolution of the conflict of the play. Redemption of the past (in particular, the sin of owning living souls, which Trofimov condemns especially harshly) through “extraordinary, continuous labor” and faith in a bright future, in which all of Russia will turn into a blooming cherry orchard. This is Trofimov’s life credo. But Chekhov would not have been Chekhov if he had allowed himself to introduce such an unambiguously “correct” character into the narrative. No, life is much more complicated than any template, and the image of Trofimov in the play “The Cherry Orchard” once again testifies to this.

“Klutz”: the comic image of Petya Trofimov

It is difficult not to notice the somewhat ironic attitude towards Trofimov, both on the part of the author and on the part of the characters in the play. “Klutz” is what Ranevskaya, who is usually condescending towards people, calls Petya, and Lopakhin mockingly adds: “Passion, how smart!” Other definitions applied to this hero further aggravate the picture: “funny freak”, “clean”, “shabby gentleman”... Petya is awkward, ugly (and, according to his own statement, does not want to appear so at all), he has “thin hair ", in addition, he is absent-minded. This description contrasts sharply with the romantic image that arises after reading his speeches. But these speeches, upon careful analysis, begin to confuse with their categoricalness, moralizing and at the same time - an absolute misunderstanding of the current life situation.

Let us pay attention to the fact that Trofimov’s pathetic speeches are constantly interrupted throughout the play. Either they will bang with an ax, then Epikhodov will play the guitar, then he will call out to Anya Varya, who has listened (this, by the way, will cause genuine indignation in Petya: “This Varya again!

")... So little by little Chekhov conveys his attitude towards what Petya says: these are unviable things that are afraid of the manifestations of ordinary life.

Another unpleasant feature in Trofimov is his ability to see “only dirt, vulgarity, Asianness” in everything. Surprisingly, admiration for Russia, its “immense fields and deepest horizons” comes from the lips of the seemingly limited merchant Lopakhin. But Petya talks about “moral impurity”, about bedbugs and only dreams of a bright future, not wanting to see the present. The beauty of the main image-symbol in the play also leaves him indifferent. Trofimov doesn’t like the cherry orchard. Moreover, he does not allow young Anya, whose soul still responds very reverently to beauty, to love him. But for Petya, the garden is exclusively the embodiment of serfdom, which should be gotten rid of as soon as possible. It doesn’t even occur to him that Anya spent her childhood in this garden, that it might hurt her to lose him - no, Petya is completely captivated by his ideas and, as often happens with this kind of dreamer, he doesn’t see the living people behind them.

And what about Petya’s contemptuous statement that he is “above love.” This phrase, with which he wanted to show his superiority, perfectly reveals the opposite - the moral, spiritual underdevelopment of the hero. If he had been an internally holistic, formed personality, he would have been forgiven for his awkwardness and awkwardness, just as illiteracy is forgiven for Lopakhin with a “broad soul.” But Petya’s dryness betrays his moral inconsistency. “You are not above love, but simply, as our Firs says, you are a klutz,” Ranevskaya tells him, who, due to her sensitivity, immediately figured out Petya. It is curious that Petya, who protests against the old way of life and any forms of ownership, nevertheless does not hesitate to live at Ranevskaya’s estate and partly at her expense. He will leave the estate only with its sale, although at the beginning of the play he suggests to Anya to throw the keys to the farm into the well and leave. It turns out that even with his own example, Trofimov is not yet ready to confirm his ideas.

“I will show others the way”...

Of course, Pete also has some nice traits. He himself speaks bitterly about himself: “I’m not yet thirty, I’m young, I’m still a student, but I’ve already endured so much! And yet... I have a presentiment of happiness, Anya, I already see it...” And at this moment, through the mask of a builder of a bright future, a real person looks through, wanting a better life, who knows how to believe and dream. His undoubted diligence also deserves respect: Petya works, receives money for translations and consistently refuses the favor offered by Lopakhin: “I am a free man! And everything that you all value so highly and dearly, rich and poor, does not have the slightest power over me, it’s like fluff that floats through the air.” However, the pathetic nature of this statement is somewhat disturbed by the galoshes Varya threw onto the stage: Trofimov lost them and was quite worried about them... The characterization of Petya from “The Cherry Orchard” is essentially all concentrated in these galoshes - all the pettiness and absurdity of the hero is clearly manifested here.

Trofimov is more of a comic character. He himself understands that he is not created for happiness and it will not reach him. But it is he who is entrusted with the important role of showing others “how to get there,” and this makes him indispensable - both in the play and in life.

Work test