A short essay-reasoning on the topic: The past, present and future of Russia in the play " The Cherry Orchard". Three generations in the comedy "The Cherry Orchard". The fate of the Cherry Orchard
In the play "The Cherry Orchard" Chekhov portrayed several generations of people at once, each of which represents the past, present or future of Russia. The author does not idealize any of them: each era has its own advantages and disadvantages. For this we value Chekhov's work: he is extremely objective in relation to reality. The writer is not trying to convince us that the future is cloudless or the past is worthy of worship, and he is even more strict about the present.
The past in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is presented in the images of Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs. All of them cannot adapt to the new realities of life in any way. In some places, their position seems ridiculous to us, because their actions are absurd. To save the estate, the owners only need to rent it profitably, but they are too scrupulous and arrogant, they are embarrassed by the vulgarity of summer residents who will desecrate their cherry orchards. Instead, they brought the matter up to the fact that Lopakhin buys the estate and completely cuts down the heavenly bushes. This example suggests that the nobles cannot even take care of themselves, let alone Russia. Their behavior is not rational, and their character is capricious, because they are used to living carelessly by someone else's labor. Obviously, they did not justify the privileges of their class, therefore the harsh reality left them in the past: they could not keep up with her, they all dreamed that she had to adapt to them. However, Chekhov does not set himself the task of denigrating the past. We see that these people are not devoid of spiritual subtlety, tact and other genuine virtues. They are well-mannered, educated and kind. For example, the loyalty of the old servant Firs makes us sympathize with him and recognize the moral superiority of the older generation over modern people like Lopakhin.
The future in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is the younger generation: Trofimov and Anya. They are dreamers divorced from reality, maximalists. They are romantic and uplifting, but at the same time independent and intelligent, being able to find mistakes of the past and present and try to correct them. Student Trofimov says: “We have fallen behind, by at least, about two hundred years old, we still have absolutely nothing, there is no definite attitude to the past, we only philosophize, complain about melancholy or drink vodka, "- it is obvious that the young man looks at things soberly. But at the same time, the hero demonstrates indifference towards the cherry orchard: “We are above love,” he declares, relieving himself of any responsibility for the fate of the garden, and, therefore, for the whole of Russia. He and Anya, of course, want to change something, but are losing their roots. This is what worries the author.
The play "The Cherry Orchard", the last dramatic work Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, can be considered a kind of testament of the writer, which reflects the cherished thoughts of Chekhov, his thoughts about the past, present and future of Russia.
The plot of the play is based on the history of a noble estate. As a result of the changes taking place in Russian society, the former owners of the estate are forced to give way to new ones. This plot outline is very symbolic; it reflects important stages in the socio-historical development of Russia. The fate of Chekhov's characters turns out to be connected with the cherry orchard, in the image of which the past, present and future intersect. The heroes recall the past of the estate, of those times when the cherry orchard cultivated by serfs was still profitable. This period coincided with the childhood and youth of Ranevskaya and Gaev, and they remember these happy, carefree years with involuntary nostalgia. But serfdom canceled long ago, the estate is gradually declining, the cherry orchard is no longer profitable. The time is coming for telegraphs and railways, the era of business people and entrepreneurs.
The representative of this new formation appears in Chekhov's play Lopakhin, descending from the family of former serfs of Ranevskaya. His memories of the past are of a completely different nature, his ancestors were slaves in the very estate, of which he is now becoming the owner.
Conversations, memories, disputes, conflicts - all the external action of Chekhov's play is centered around the fate of the estate and the cherry orchard. Immediately after Ranevskaya's arrival, conversations begin about how to save the pledged and re-pledged estate from trading. As the play progresses, this problem will become more and more acute.
But, as it often happens with Chekhov, there is no real struggle, a real clash of the former and future owners of the cherry orchard in the play. Just the opposite. Lopakhin is doing everything possible to help Ranevskaya save the estate from sale, but the complete lack of business skills prevents the hapless owners of the estate from taking useful advice; they are only enough for complaining and empty ranting. It is not at all the struggle between the nascent bourgeoisie and the nobility giving way to it that interests Chekhov, much more important for him is the fate of specific people, the fate of all of Russia.
Ranevskaya and Gaev are doomed to lose the estate, which is so dear to them and with which they are connected
so many memories, and the reason for this lies not only in their inability to heed Lopakhin's practical advice. The time has come to pay the old bills, and the debt of their ancestors, the debt of their family, the historical guilt of their entire estate has not yet been redeemed. The present stems from the past, their connection is obvious, it is not for nothing that Lyubov Andreevna dreams of a late mother in a white dress in a blooming garden. It reminds of itself the past itself. It is very symbolic that Ranevskaya and Gayev, whose fathers and grandfathers did not let those on whose account they fed and lived, even into the kitchen, are now completely dependent on Lopakhin, who has become rich. In this Chekhov sees retribution and shows that the lordly way of life, although it is covered with a poetic haze of beauty, corrupts people, destroys the souls of those who are involved in it. Such is Firs, for example. For him, the abolition of serfdom is a terrible misfortune, as a result of which he, useless and forgotten by everyone, will be left alone in an empty house ... Yasha, the lackey, was also engendered by this lordly way of life. In him there is no longer the devotion to the masters that distinguishes old Firs, but without a twinge of conscience he uses all the benefits and conveniences that he can derive from his life under the wing of the kindest Ranevskaya.
Lopakhin, on the other hand, is a man of a different warehouse and of a different formation. He is businesslike, has a strong grip and knows exactly what and how to do today. It is he who gives specific advice on how to save the estate. However, being a businesslike and practical person and comparing favorably with this from Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin is completely devoid of spirituality, the ability to perceive the beautiful. The magnificent cherry orchard is interesting to him only as an investment, it is remarkable only because it is "very large"; and for purely practical reasons, Lopakhin proposes to cut it down in order to lease the land for summer cottages - this is more profitable. Disregarding the feelings of Ranevskaya and Gaev (not out of malice, no, but simply because of the lack of spiritual subtlety), he orders to start cutting down the garden, without waiting for the departure of the former owners.
It is noteworthy that in Chekhov's play there is not a single happy person... Ranevskaya, who came from Paris to repent of her sins and find peace in the family estate, is forced to come back with old sins and problems, since the estate is sold under the hammer, and the garden is cut down. Faithful servant Firs is buried alive in a boarded-up house, where he served all his life. Charlotte's future is unknown; years pass without bringing joy, and dreams of love and motherhood never come true. Varya, who did not wait for Lopakhin's offer, is hired by some Ragulin. Perhaps the fate of Gaev is a little better - he gets a place in the bank, but it is unlikely that he will turn out to be a successful financier.
With the cherry orchard, in which the past and the present have so fancifully crossed, reflections on the future are also associated.
Tomorrow, which, according to Chekhov, should be better than the day today, are personified in the play by Anya and Petya Trofimov. True, Petya, this thirty-year-old "eternal student" is hardly capable of real deeds and actions; he only knows how to speak a lot and beautifully. Anya is another matter. Realizing the beauty of the cherry orchard, she at the same time realizes that the garden is doomed, just as the past slave life is doomed, as the present is doomed, full of spiritual practicality. But in the future, Anya is sure, the triumph of justice and beauty should come. In her words: "We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this", not only the desire to console the mother, but also an attempt to present a new one, future life... Inheriting from Ranevskaya her emotional sensitivity and sensitivity to beauty, Anya is at the same time full of a sincere desire to change, remake her life. She is directed to the future, ready to work and even sacrifice in its name; she dreams of the time when the whole way of life will change, when she turns into a blooming garden giving people joy and happiness.
How to arrange such a life? Chekhov does not give any recipes for this. Yes, they can not be, because it is important that each person, having experienced dissatisfaction with what is, fired up with a dream of beauty, so that he himself would look for a way to a new life.
“All Russia is our garden” - these significant words are repeated in the play, turning the story of the ruin of the estate and the death of the garden into a capacious symbol. The play is full of thoughts about life, its values, real and imaginary, about the responsibility of each person for the world in which he lives and in which his descendants will live.
Features of Chekhov's drama
Before Anton Chekhov, the Russian theater experienced a crisis, it was he who made an invaluable contribution to its development, breathing into it new life... The playwright snatched small sketches from Everyday life their heroes, bringing drama closer to reality. His plays made the viewer think, although there were no intrigues, open conflicts in them, but they reflected the inner anxiety of a turning point in 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 about what would happen to them after. This is how the past, the present, and the future have been mixed in such an amazing way in the play "The Cherry Orchard", by connecting people not so much from different generations as from 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 the past, present and future meet in the pages of the play "The Cherry Orchard"? Chekhov, as it were, divided all the characters into these three categories, depicting them very vividly.
The past in the play "The Cherry Orchard" is presented by Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs - the oldest character in the whole action. They are the ones who most of all talk about what happened, for them the past is a time in which everything was easy and beautiful. There were gentlemen and servants, each had its own place and purpose. For Firs, the abolition of serfdom was the greatest grief, he did not want the will, remaining on the estate. He sincerely loved the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev, remaining faithful to them until the very end. For the aristocrats Lyubov Andreevna and her brother, the past is the time when they did not have 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 hard for them to adapt to the new order, in which high moral values are replaced by material values. For them, it is humiliating to talk about money, about ways of earning it, and Lopakhin's real offer to lease land occupied by an essentially useless 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 through it. Ranevskaya with her aunt's money, sent for Anya, leaves for Paris, and Gaev goes to serve in the bank. The death of Firs at the end of the play is very symbolic, as if saying that the aristocracy as a social class has outlived its usefulness, 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 who knows how to make money using his mind and flair. 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 act otherwise. His ancestors were serfs, his father owned a shop, and he became a "white vest," having amassed a considerable fortune. Chekhov put special emphasis on the character of Lopakhin, because he was not a typical merchant, whom many treated with disdain. 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 related himself to Lopakhin, because their genealogies are similar.
Anya and Petya Trofimov represent the future. They are young, full of strength and energy. And most importantly, they have a 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 doesn't 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 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 educated Ani and Petit, there is also Yasha and Dunyasha, and they, too, are the future. Moreover, if Dunyasha is just a silly peasant girl, then Yasha is a completely different type. The Gayevs and Ranevsky are replaced by the Lopakhins, but the Lopakhins will also have to be replaced by someone. If you recall the history, then 13 years later, after writing this play, it was just such Yash 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, but they are not united by an inner desire to be together and share their dreams, desires, and experiences. The old garden and house keeps them, and as soon as they disappear, the connection between the characters and the time they reflect is severed.
Link of times today
Only the greatest creations are capable of reflecting reality even many years after their creation. So it 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 memory of the past, in inaction in the present, and without faith in the future. One generation is replaced by another, some build, others destroy. This was the case in the days of Chekhov, and so it is now. The playwright was right when he said that “All 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 roots.
The author's reasoning about the past, present and future in comedy, about people and generations, about Russia makes us think in our days. These thoughts will be useful for 10 grades when writing an essay on the topic "Past, present, future in the play" The Cherry Orchard ".
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Past, present and future in the play by A. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard".
"The Cherry Orchard" by A. 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 outdated nobility is replaced by merchants and entrepreneurship. Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, Leonid Andreevich Gaev, old lackey Firs are representatives of the past.
They often think back to the old days when there was no need to worry about anything, especially about money. These people value something more sublime than material. Cherry orchard for Ranevskaya - memories and her whole life, she will not allow the thought of selling it, cutting it down, destroying it. For Gayev, even such things as a hundred-year-old wardrobe are important, to which he turns with tears in his eyes: “Dear, dear wardrobe!”. And what about old footman Firs? He did not need to abolish serfdom, because he devoted his whole life and all of himself to the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev, whom he sincerely loved. “The peasants are with the gentlemen, the gentlemen are with the peasants, and now everything is in disarray, you will not understand anything,” Firs said about the state of affairs after the liquidation of serfdom in Russia. He, like all representatives of the old time, was satisfied with the previously existing order.
The nobility and antiquity are being replaced by something new - the merchants, 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 is precisely the ingenuity and craving for material goods that were inherent in the generation of the present time.
But sooner or later, the present must also be replaced by something. Any future is changeable and vague, this is exactly how A.P. Chekhov shows it. The future generation is rather motley, including 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 are completely different. They are full of new ideas, strength and energy. However, among them there are those who are capable only 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 of melancholy and drink vodka,” he says to Anya, while doing nothing to make life become better, and still remain an “eternal student”. Although Anya is fascinated by Petya's ideas, she goes her own way, intending to get settled in life. “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this,” she says, ready to change the future in better side... But there is also another type of youth, to which the young footman Yasha belongs. Completely unprincipled, empty, capable of only grins and not attached to anything. What will happen if the future will be built by people like Yasha?
“All Russia is our garden,” notes Trofimov. Indeed, the cherry orchard embodies 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.
One of the most unique and interesting creations of Anton Pavlovich, in which he combined three periods of his life, is the play "The Cherry Orchard". In this work, the author has combined the past, present and future. The actions of the work show how the merchants come to replace the nobility. Characters such as Ranevskaya, Gaev and Firs represent the past. Very often, their memories relate to old times, when there were no worries and they did not worry about money. For them, something more sublime was more important than money and material wealth.
Ranevskaya could not even imagine that she would have to cut down the entire garden or sell it, for her it was unacceptable. After all, it was the cherry orchard that was the memories of the past and her life.
Gaev, no less worried, every little thing was important to him. The author focuses on how Gaev treats the old wardrobe with tears. Firs, in turn, did not need the abolition of serfdom. He was very fond of the family of Raevskaya and Gaev, whom he served and treated with respect. He was satisfied with the orders that existed earlier, like other representatives of that time.
Lopakhin is one of those representatives for whom money is important, they were of great importance to him. He was born and grew up in a simple family. His father was a simple shopkeeper. But this did not prevent him from achieving great success and, by his own efforts, he made himself a huge fortune. Like many others, the Cherry Orchard was just a source of material gain and nothing more.
To get rid of Ranevskaya, he helps her deplorable state Yermolai. Thanks to his intelligence and resourcefulness, he was able to create a huge project. For this generation, material gain was important. But this is not a reason to avoid the present that was overtaking them.
A.P. Chekhov, shows how changeable and vague the future can be. The author includes such characters as Anna, Varya, Peter, Dunya the maid and Yashka a lackey to this generation. But despite the fact that the representatives of the past generation were in many ways similar, the coming generation was completely different. All these heroes were full of vitality and ideas. But many of them were only capable of eloquent words, which in fact could not change the present. One of these characters was Petya. In fact, he does nothing to change the future. Although he tells Anya that they are two hundred years behind in development. Of course, Anna was fascinated by Petya's words and ideas, but this does not stop her from going her own way and arranging her own life.
It was in this unique work "The Cherry Orchard" that all 3 generations of the past, present and future were united.
Option 2
Chekhov's dramaturgy is deep and full of figurative personifications. Due to them, the author tried in his work to show in comparison the past, present and future. For this, all the heroes of the work are conditionally divided by him into three corresponding camps.
The first to appear before the reader are the heroes of the past: Ranevskaya, Gaev, servant Firs. Their conversations are full of nostalgia for the past, they speak with tenderness and joy about the past. For each of them, old things play an important role, household items that are silent witnesses of days gone by. At the very beginning of the play, the reader learns about the room called "Children's", the centenary cabinet and, of course, the cherry orchard - the main character of the play.
Gaev and Ranevskaya - typical representatives Russian aristocracy. This is evident in their speech, mannerisms and lifestyle. They are accustomed to living on a grand scale, not counting their own expenses, receiving numerous guests on the estate, arranging holidays and festivities. Even in not better times their money spending is unchanged, especially since you can always write a letter to a rich relative and ask for more money for current expenses. It is unbearable for Ranevskaya to hear about the need to cut a cherry orchard and lease out land plots for summer cottages. In her opinion, it is impossible to remain without a garden, not because there is some benefit from it, but because every tree in it reminds her of a happy time from the distant past.
Firs is a hereditary servant of the family, deeply old man... For him, the meaning of life is to serve the masters. His care and love for them is boundless, he takes care of Ranevskaya and Gaev like little helpless children. But in fact they are not at all adapted to practical life, they do not want to acknowledge the coming changes. Firs's troublesome looks like eccentricity, but he himself is convinced that his life purpose lies only in taking care of the gentlemen.
The heroes of the present time in the work are represented by Lopakhin. According to the author, these are the people who should "create" the present. They are active, purposeful, intelligent. They do not create the illusion that problems in life should be solved by themselves. Lopakhin's fate is an example of how a person achieves everything in his life without relying on his father's inheritance.
The future in the finale of the work is very vague. Who will be his heroes? The author shows Petya and Anya as people of modern times. However, the young man is also not well adapted to life, he is more occupied with endless reflections on changes, dreams of a bright future. Anya is carried away by Petya's ideas, she is ready to act - to plant a new cherry orchard “even more beautiful than before”.
Composition 3
When a writer creates his own work, he relies on the present situation or previous experience, and can also look out into the future. In general, a rather banal phrase, however, this fact should be noted.
What the author will focus his attention on depends on his creative and ideological orientation. For example, a contemporary of Chekhov Bryusov, as you know, instructed his followers-poets "not to live in the present," because "only the future is the domain of the poet." There were also those who were guided by the lofty ideals of antiquity or other previous eras.
In my opinion, Chekhov did not make separate accents and in fact wrote about the eternal and timeless. This fact is easily confirmed when you read his play. I was simply amazed at how accurately some dialogues and phrases describe the current state of not only affairs, but also human souls, in particular those who found their bodies on the territory of Russia.
Of course, in this sense Chekhov, so to speak, is not new. He does his job, just does it with high quality and it is easy to remember the same Saltykov-Shchedrin with his "drink and steal", a slightly lengthy forecast, but accurate, as well as about "fools and roads", which in the current situation are surprisingly bright and speak here even though it is global and generalized, it is not necessary to speak about the spaciousness of the forecast.
Chinese wisdom considers the era of change to be a rather negative situation. For Russia, the previous one and a half hundred years for the most part seems to be an era of change, which is diluted with apathetic periods of stagnation. Here Chekhov found himself in a period that could be more than interesting for a writer.
Regardless of the reforms of the past and no matter how rich the history might seem, through the prism of the Cherry Orchard we see quite obvious temporary layers, which appear as: a long and stable patriarchal past, stable and large-scale; a shaky present with outdated landowners and nobles; a tragic and sad future that will change the country, lead to crushing and vulgarity.
Triumph little man, which Chekhov sees through the transformation of gardens into summer cottages, has really taken place. Moreover, the author quite rightly pointed out the absence, in general, of meaning in this transformation. Whether the person who settled the summer cottages in the garden where he could only come to work before has changed is a rhetorical question, and, in fact, he also works in this garden, only now fruit trees do not always grow there, but more often it just smells like manure and chanson sounds mixed with empty chatter and abuse.
Undoubtedly, Anton Pavlovich, being like any reasonable creative person, as if over the situation, saw where Russia was heading. Of course, not all the nobles whom he so criticizes in the face of the weak-willed Ranevskaya and Gaev will be helpless, someone will become part of the white movement and not only in words, but also in deeds will prove their intention to fight for ideals and, in fact, the safety of the homeland. the safety of something valuable. Nevertheless, many of these people will not understand, even lopakhs, just as in the end they do not even understand themselves.
The author in the work shows us the difficult time of the Don Cossacks at the turn of 2 eras. Families were being destroyed, men were dying, but especially all these trials fell on the shoulders of women. The novel clearly shows the Cossack women
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