State budgetary professional educational institution

"Kizelovsky Polytechnic College"

METHODOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

open lesson by academic discipline

russian language and literature

Symbols in comedy

A.P. Chekhov. " The Cherry Orchard»

Developer:

Zueva N.A.

teacher

russian language and literature

Feb 2016

Content:

	Section methodological development	Page numbers
	Explanatory note
	Routing lesson
	Applications

Explanatory note.

This lesson is a study on the topic “Symbols in the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" should be carried out at the final stage of the study of the play by A. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard".

Classic literature is, at first glance, the most studied branch of literary criticism. However, a number of works, including "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov, remain unsolved and relevant to this day. Despite the many literary works that reveal different points of view on this play, unresolved issues remain, in particular, there is no clear classification of the symbols of the "Cherry Orchard". Therefore, the advantage of the presented lesson is the meticulous selection of dominant groups of symbols by students, their classification and a table compiled at the end of the lesson, which gives a clear interpretation of each symbol found in the work.

In this lesson, students are actively involved in research activities, which makes it possible to most effectively and consistently make a turn from the traditional approach in teaching to a new one aimed at developing such universal educational actions as:

The ability for self-development;

Development of orientation skills in information flows;

Developing the ability to pose and solve problems.

This allows you to develop the intellectual potential of the individual: from the accumulation of knowledge and skills to self-expression in creativity and science.

Technological lesson map

Theme... Characters in the comedy by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard"

Section. Russian literature second half of XIX century

Discipline... Russian language and literature.

Group.CCI-16

Course... First

Educational: get to know the concept of a symbol, comedy; to compose a table of symbols for the play "The Cherry Orchard"

Developing: improving the skills of analysis and interpretation of a literary work;

Educational: create conditions for the research activities of students.

Predicted result.

Formed universal training activities:

Personal: readiness and ability for education, including self-education, throughout life; a conscious attitude to lifelong education as a condition for successful professional and social activities;

Metasubject: possession of the skills of cognitive, educational and research activities, the ability and readiness to independently search for methods of solving practical problems, the use of various methods of cognition.

Subject:

development of skills different types analysis of literary works;

possession of the ability to analyze the text from the point of view of the presence of explicit and hidden, basic and secondary information in it;

the ability to identify images, themes and problems in literary texts and express one's attitude towards them in detailed, reasoned oral and written statements;

proficiency in analysis skills works of art taking into account their genre and generic specifics.

Lesson type: combined.

Organization methods learning activities: informational, research.

Forms of organizing educational activities: frontal, pair, individual.

Methodical teaching aids:the text of the play, video lecture by Dmitry Bykov, an excerpt from the TV show "The Cherry Orchard" 1976, presentation, dictionaries, student worksheet.

Interdisciplinary connections: history, social science.

Internet resources:

TV show "The Cherry Orchard". ( https://www.youtube.com/watch ? v \u003d WsigUjw68CA)

One hundred lectures with Dmitry Bykov. The Cherry Orchard ( https://www.youtube.com/watch ? v \u003d ZJ4YQg71txk)

During the classes

№ n \\ n	Stage name	Time	Teacher activities	Student activities
	Organizing time		Introductory word. Positive attitude to the lesson. Introduces the topic of the lesson.	Perception of information
	Goal setting		Suggests, using the topic of the lesson and auxiliary words, to formulate the goals of the lesson	Students discuss and draw conclusions. Educational: to get acquainted with the concept of a symbol, make a table of symbols based on the play "The Cherry Orchard" Developing:improving the skills of analysis and interpretation of a literary work.
	Updating students' knowledge		Carrying out the game. Distribution of roles with the task of identifying characters by dialogue.	Acting on roles. Define heroes
	Learning new material		Offers to work with dictionaries. Find and write out the definition of a symbol. Suggests to find symbols by category in the text of the play	Working with dictionaries. Find symbols by explaining their meaning.
	Analysis of work results		Suggests to draw conclusions from the lesson	Viewing an excerpt from a video lecture. Conclude on the topic of the lesson.
	Homework		Explains homework.	Write down homework. Asking questions about homework.
	Reflection		Offers to analyze your work in the lesson using auxiliary words	Introspection of activities in the lesson. Self-esteem.

Appendix 1.

Cards with text:

Your role: VARYA EntersVarya Varya. Well, thank God, we've arrived. You're home again.(Caressing.) Anya... I have had enough. Varya. Imagine! Anya... I left during Holy Week, it was cold then. Charlotte speaks all the way, presents tricks. And why did you impose on me Charlotte ... Varya. You can't go alone, darling. At seventeen!

Your role: ANYA EntersVarya, she has a knitting of keys on her belt. Varya... Well, thank God, we've arrived. You're home again.(Caressing.) My darling has arrived! The beauty has arrived! Anya. I have had enough. Varya... Imagine! Anya. I left during Holy Week, it was cold then. Charlotte speaks all the way, presents tricks. And why did you impose Charlotte on me ... Varya... You can't go alone, darling. At seventeen!

Gaev. Yes ... this thing ...(Feeling the closet.)Dear, dear wardrobe! I greet your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice; your silent call for fruitful work has not abated for a hundred years, supporting(through tears)in the generations of our clan vigor, faith in a better future and instilling in us the ideals of goodness and social self-awareness.

YOUR ROLE IS DUNYASHA Dunyasha. Yasha (kisses her). Dunyasha.

YOUR ROLE IS YASHA Dunyasha. I became anxious, all worried. They took me to the gentlemen as a little girl, now I’ve lost the habit of a simple life, and now my hands are white and white, like a young lady's. I've become tender, so delicate, noble, I'm afraid of everything ... It's so terrible. And if you, Yasha, deceive me, then I do not know; what will happen to my nerves. Yasha (kisses her). Cucumber! Of course, every girl should remember herself, and most of all I do not like if a girl of bad behavior. Dunyasha. I love you passionately, you are educated, you can talk about everything.

YOUR ROLE IS TROFIMOV Trofimov. (Lopakhin takes out his wallet.) Lopakhin. Will you get there? Trofimov ... I'll get there. (Pause.) Lopakhin.

YOUR ROLE IS LOPAKHIN Trofimov. Your father was a man, mine was a pharmacist, and absolutely nothing follows from this. (Lopakhin takes out his wallet.) Leave it, leave it ... Give me two hundred thousand, I won't take it. Im free person. And everything that you all, rich and poor, value so highly and dearly, does not have the slightest power over me, like the fluff that flies through the air. I can do without you, I can pass you by, I am strong and proud. Humanity is moving towards the highest truth, the highest happiness that is possible on earth, and I am in the forefront! Lopakhin. Will you get there? Trofimov ... I'll get there. (Pause.) I'll get there, or I'll show others the way to get there. Lopakhin. Well, goodbye, dear. It's time to go. We are sniffing in front of each other, but know life goes by. When I work for a long time, tirelessly, then thoughts are easier, and it seems that I also know what I exist for. And how many people in Russia, brother, who exist for an unknown reason. Well, anyway, this is not the point of circulation. Leonid Andreevich, they say, has taken a job, will be in the bank, six thousand a year ... But he won't sit still, he is very lazy ...

Appendix 2.

Student worksheet

The symbol is ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Real symbols.
Sound symbols
Color Symbols
Conclusion:	The cherry orchard is

Comedy is ___________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table

Real symbols.	Keys - the symbol of the mistress of the house. “Varya enters, she has a bunch of keys on her belt” (acts I and II), “Trofimov. If you have the keys ... drop and go ... "(act III). Purse - the symbol of the owner of the house. "... looks in a purse ..." (act II), “Gaev. You gave your wallet…. You can not do it this way! Lyubov Andreevna. I could not! I couldn't ”(act IV),“ Lopakhin (takes out a purse) ”(act IV). Bouquet of flowers - a symbol of unity with nature. "Epikhodov. … Here the gardener sent, he says, to put it in the dining room ”(act I).
Word symbols	Hum - anticipates the future behavior of Lopakhin. "Me-e-e" (act I). "It's over with Parge ..." - speaks of a break with the past nomadic life (act II). "Yes…" - surprise at childishness and contemptuous condemnation of frivolity (act II). “Yes, the moon is rising. (Pause) This is happiness ... " - belief in the triumph of truth, although the moon is a symbol of deception (act II). "All Russia is our garden" - personifies love for the homeland (act II). "We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this" - symbolizes the creation of a new life on a new basis (act III). "On the road! ... Goodbye, old life!" - shows the true attitude of Ranevskaya to her homeland, to the estate, in particular, to Charlotte and Firs. Played and Thrown (Act III),
Sound symbols	Owl cry - carries a real threat. "Firs. It was so before the misfortune; and the owl screamed, and the samovar hummed without stopping ”(act II). The sound of the pipe - background design tender feelingsexperienced by the character. “Far beyond the garden, a shepherd plays the pipe. ... Trofimov (in emotion) My sun! Spring is mine! (act I). The sound of a broken string - the embodiment of impending disaster and the inevitability of death. “Suddenly ..., the sound of a broken string, dying away, sad ”(act II). Ax sound - symbolizes the death of noble estates, the death of old Russia. "One can hear the knocking of an ax on a tree in the distance" (act IV).
Color Symbols	White color - a symbol of purity, light, wisdom. “Gaev (opens another window). The garden is all white ”(act I), “Lyubov Andreevna. All, all white! Oh my garden! " (action I), Color spots - details of the characters' costume. “Lopakhin. True, my father was a peasant, but here I am in a white vest "(act I), "Charlotte Ivanovna in a white dress ... passage through the stage" (Act II), “Lyubov Andreevna. Look ... in a white dress! " (action I), "Firs. Puts on white gloves ”(act I).
Title symbols	The Cherry Orchard - a business commercial garden that generates income. The Cherry Orchard - does not bring income, keeps the poetry of the lordly life in its blossoming whiteness. Blooms for a whim, for the eyes of spoiled aesthetes. All elements of the plot are concentrated on the image - the symbol of the garden: tie - ".. your cherry orchard is sold for debts, on the twenty-second auctions are scheduled for August ... ". climax - Lopakhin's message about the sale of a cherry orchard. denouement - “Oh, my dear, my tender, beautiful garden! ... My life, my youth, my happiness, goodbye! ... " The symbol is constantly expanding its semantics. For Ranevskaya and Gaev garden - this is their past, a symbol of youth, prosperity and former graceful life. “Lyubov Andreevna (looking out the window at the garden). Oh, my childhood, my purity! … (Laughs with joy). ... Oh, my garden! After a dark, stormy autumn and cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not left you ... ”. For Lopakhin's garden - source of profit. "Your estate is located only twenty miles from the city, a railway passed near, and if the cherry orchard and land are divided into summer cottages and then leased out to summer cottages, then you will have at least twenty thousand a year of income." For Petit Trofimov garden - a symbol of Russia, the Motherland. "All Russia. Our garden. The earth is great and beautiful, there are many wonderful places on it ... " Blooming garden - a symbol of a pure, immaculate life. Cutting down the garden - leaving and end of life.

Appendix 3.

A symbol in a work of art.

A symbol is a polysemantic allegorical image based on the similarity, similarity or commonality of objects and phenomena of life. A symbol can express a system of correspondences between different aspects of reality (the natural world and human life, society and personality, real and surreal, earthly and heavenly, external and internal). In a symbol, the identity or similarity with another object or phenomenon is not obvious, is not fixed verbally or syntactically.

The image-symbol is polysemantic. He admits that the reader may have a wide variety of associations. In addition, the meaning of the symbol most often does not coincide with the meaning of the word - metaphor. Understanding and interpreting a symbol is always broader than the assimilations or metaphorical allegories from which it is composed.

Correct interpretation of symbols contributes to a deep and correct reading of literary texts. Symbols always expand the semantic perspective of the work, allow the reader, based on the author's hints, to build a chain of associations linking various phenomena of life. Writers use symbolization in order to destroy the illusion of lifelikeness that often arises among readers, to emphasize the polysemy, the great semantic depth of the images they create.

In addition, the symbols in the work create more accurate, concise characteristics and descriptions; make the text deeper and more multifaceted; allow you to raise important issues without advertising it; evoke individual associations in each reader.

The role of a symbol in a literary text can hardly be overestimated.

ME

1 group. Real symbols .

Household details are real symbols, which, being repeated several times, acquire the character of symbols.

In the play "The Cherry Orchard" it is a symbol of keys. So, in the first act, the author points to a seemingly insignificant detail in the image of Varya: "Varya enters, she has a bunch of keys on her belt." In the above remark, Chekhov emphasizes the role of the housekeeper, housekeeper, mistress of the house, chosen by Varya. She feels accountable for everything that happens on the estate.

It is no coincidence that Petya Trofimov, urging Anya to action, tells her to throw away the keys: “If you have the keys to the farm, then throw them into the well and leave. Be free as the wind ”(second act).

Chekhov skillfully uses the symbolism of keys in the third act, when Varya, upon hearing about the sale of the estate, throws the keys on the floor. Lopakhin explains this gesture: “She threw the keys, wants to show that she is no longer the mistress here ...” According to TG Ivleva, Lopakhin, who bought the estate, took it away from the housekeeper.

There is one more material symbol of the owner in The Cherry Orchard. Throughout the play, the author mentions Ranevskaya's purse, for example, “Looks in a purse” (second act). Seeing that there is not enough money left, she accidentally drops it and scatters the gold. In the last act, Ranevskaya gives her wallet to the peasants: “Gaev. You gave them your wallet, Lyuba! You can not do it this way! Lyubov Andreevna. I could not! I could not!" In the same action, the wallet appears in Lopakhin's hands, although the reader knows from the very beginning of the play that he does not need money.

IN art world In Chekhov's drama, a number of symbolic images can be distinguished that are inextricably linked with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe house, these symbols begin to perform not the function of unification, but separation, disintegration, break with the family, with the house.

Real symbols.

In the play "The Cherry Orchard", real symbolism is also widely used to increase the ideological and semantic significance, artistic persuasiveness and emotional and psychological tension. It is hidden both in the title and in the setting. The blooming garden of the first act is not only the poetry of noble nests, but also the beauty of all life. In the second act, a chapel, surrounded by large stones, once apparently tombstones, and the distant outlines of a large city, which “visible only in very good, clear weather "symbolize respectively the past and the future. The ball on the day of the auction (third act) indicates the frivolity and impracticality of the owners of the garden. The circumstances of departure, the devastation of the house, the remains of furniture that was “folded into one corner, as if for sale,” the suitcases and bundles of the former owners characterize the liquidation of the noble nest, the final death of the outdated noble-serf system.

Group 2. Verbal symbols.

Revealing the socio-psychological essence actors, showing their internal relations, Chekhov often turns to the means of the indirect meaning of the word, to its meaningfulness, multiple meanings. While honing his deeply realistic images to symbols, the writer often uses methods of verbal symbolism.

For example, in the first act, Anya and Varya talk about the sale of the estate, and at this time Lopakhin looks at the door, hums("Me-e-e")and right theregoes away. This appearance of Lopakhin and his playful, mocking mocking moo is clearly significant. It, in fact, anticipates Lopakhin's entire future behavior: after all, it was he who bought the cherry orchard, became its sovereign owner and rudely refused Varya, who was patiently waiting for his offer. A little later, Ranevskaya, taking Varya's telegrams from Paris, tears them up without reading them, and says: "Paris is over ..." With these words, Lyubov Andreevna says that she decided to end her nomadic life outside her native land, and that she irrevocably broke with his "keeper". These words are a kind of result of Ani's story about her mother's bohemian lifestyle in Paris. They demonstrate the joy with which Ranevskaya returns home. The same Lopakhin, after Gaev's speech, addressed to the closet, only says "Yes ..." But in this word there is both surprise at Gaev's naive childishness and contemptuous condemnation of his frivolity and stupidity.

In the second act, Anya and her mother thoughtfully repeat one phrase: "Epikhodov is going," but each puts into it a completely different, meaningful meaning associated with their understanding of life and thinking about it. Trofimov's words are clearly meaningful, really symbolic: “Yes, the moon is rising.(Pausesa.) Here it is, happiness, here it is, coming closer and closer, I can already hear his steps. Trofimov means here not his own personal happiness, but the approaching happiness of the whole people, he expresses faith in the imminent triumph of truth. But the appearance of the changeable moon, which has always been a symbol of deception, leads him to the idea of \u200b\u200bnational well-being. This is how the unrealizable hopes of the student are shown. Words such as "bright star", "duty" also have a real-symbolic meaning in his mouth. Trofimov puts a particularly deep meaning in his statement: "All Russia is our garden" (second act). These words revealed his ardent love for the Motherland, his admiration for everything that is great and beautiful in it, the desire to change it for the better and devotion to it.

Anya's words in the third act clearly echo Trofimov's statement: "We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this." With these words, the heroine speaks about creating life on a completely new basis, where there will be no selfish struggle for her personal, where all people will be equal and happy, enjoying a common garden, blooming and fruitful for the joy of every person.

Sound symbols.

In the works of A.P. Chekhov, symbolic overtones are acquired not only by things, objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, but also by audio and visual series. Due to sound and color symbols, the writer achieves the most complete understanding of his works by the reader.

So, the cry of an owl in the second act is a real threat. An illustration of this is the words of the old lackey Firs: "Before the misfortune there was also: the owl screamed, and the samovar hummed without stopping."

Sounds of music occupy an important place in Chekhov's drama. Such, for example, is the sound that completes the first action: “Far beyond the garden, a shepherd plays the pipe. Trofimov walks across the stage and, seeing Varya and Anya, stops.<…> Trofimov (in emotion). Sweetheart! Spring is mine! " The high, clear and gentle sound of the pipe is here, first of all, the background design of the tender feelings experienced by the character.

TG Ivleva notes that "the semantic significance of the sound remark in the last comedy of Chekhov becomes, perhaps, the highest." The drama is filled with sounds. A pipe, a guitar, a Jewish orchestra, the sound of an ax, the sound of a broken string accompany almost every significant event or character image.

In the second act, the characters are alarmed by an unexpected sound - "as if from the sky, the sound of a broken string." Each of the heroes tries to determine its source in its own way. Lopakhin believes that a bucket fell off far in the mines. Gaev thinks it is

the cry of a heron, Trofimov - an owl. Ranevskaya felt unpleasant, but this sound reminded Firs of the times "before the misfortune."

But the strange sound is mentioned for the second time in the final remark to the play. It obscures the sound of the ax, symbolizing the death of old Russia.

Thus, the sound of a broken string and the sound of an ax are the embodiment of impending disaster and inevitability of death and play an important role in Chekhov's play. With the help of sounds, those facets of the stage action that cannot be conveyed verbally are revealed.

Group 3. Color symbols.

Of all the variety of colors in The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov uses only one - white, using it in different ways throughout the first act.

“Gaev (opens another window). The garden is all white. "

At the same time, the garden in the play has only just been named, it is shown only outside the windows, as the potential possibility of its death is outlined, but not specified. White is a presentiment of a visual image. The heroes of the work repeatedly speak about him: “Lyubov Andreevna. All, all white! Oh my garden! To the right, at the turn to the pavilion, the white tree bent down like a woman ... What an amazing garden! White masses of flowers. "

Despite the fact that the garden itself is practically hidden from us, its white color manifests itself throughout the entire first act in the form of color spots - details of the characters' costumes, which are directly related to him and whose fate depends entirely on the fate of the garden: “Lopakhin. My father, it is true, was a peasant, and here I am in a white waistcoat ”; Firs enters; he is in a jacket and white waistcoat ”; "Firs puts on white gloves"; "Charlotte Ivanovna in a white dress, very thin, pulled up, with a lorgnette on her belt, passes through the stage."

T.G. Ivlev, referring to the letters of the writer K.S. Stanislavsky, comes to the conclusion that "This feature of the stage realization of the image of a garden - a color play - was probably assumed by Chekhov himself." Through color spots, the heroes' unity with the garden and dependence on it are shown.

Title symbolism.

The title of the work itself is symbolic. Initially, Chekhov wanted to name the play "Inand shnevy garden ”, but then rearranged the stress. KS Stanislavsky, recalling this episode, told how Chekhov, announcing the change of the title to him, relished it, “pressing on the delicate sound of e in the word“ cherry, ”as if trying with his help to caress the old beautiful, but now unnecessary life, which he tearfully destroyed in his play. This time I understood the subtlety: “Band shnevy garden ”is a business, commercial garden that generates income. Such a garden is needed now. But "The Cherry Orchard" does not bring any income, it keeps in itself and in its blossoming whiteness the poetry of the past lordly life. Such a garden grows and blooms for a whim, for the eyes of spoiled aesthetes. "

But why is the symbol of the outgoing, obsolete - the cherry orchard - the personification of poetry and beauty? Why is the new generation called upon to destroy and not exploit the beauty of the past? Why is this beauty associated with the "idiots" - Ranevskaya, Gaev, Simeonov-Pischik? The title "The Cherry Orchard" denotes the useless beauty of the obsolete, as well as the narrowly proprietary, selfish aspirations of its owners. The garden, which previously brought in a huge income, has degenerated. Anya overcomes this egoism in herself: “I no longer love cherry orchard, like before". But the future also takes on the image of a garden, only more luxurious, capable of bringing joy to all people, and not just a select few. The title contains both specific and generalized poetic content. The cherry orchard is not only a characteristic feature of a noble estate, but also the personification of the Motherland, Russia, its wealth, beauty, poetry. The motive of the death of the garden is the leitmotif of the play: "Your cherry orchard is sold for debts" (first act), "The cherry orchard will be on sale on August 22" (second act), "The cherry orchard is sold", "Come everybody to see how Ermolai Lopakhin has enough cherry orchard ”(third act). The garden is always in the spotlight, through the attitude towards it most of the images in the play are revealed. For old Firs, it symbolizes lordly expanse, wealth. In his fragmentary recollections of the time when the cherry orchard gave income ("There was money") (the first act), when they knew ways to pickle, dry, boil cherries, there is a slavish regret about the loss of the master's well-being. For Ranevskaya and Gaev, the garden is also the personification of the past, as well as a subject of noble pride (and the “encyclopedic dictionary mentions this garden”) (first act), contemplative admiration, a reminder of the departed youth, lost carefree happiness. For Lopakhin in the garden, it is “wonderful ... only that it is very large,” “in skillful hands,” it will be able to generate huge income. The Cherry Orchard also evokes memories of the past in this hero: here his grandfather and father were slaves. But Lopakhin's plans for the future are also connected with him: to divide the garden into plots, lease it out for summer cottages. The garden is now becoming for Lopakhin, as before for the nobles, an object of pride, the personification of his strength, his domination. The nobility is being ousted by the bourgeoisie, it is being replaced by democrats (Anya and Trofimov), this is the movement of life. For a student, the cherry orchard is a symbol of the serf lifestyle. The hero does not allow himself to admire the beauty of the garden, leaves it without regret and instills the same feelings in young Anya. His words "All Russia is our garden" (second act) speaks of the hero's concern about the fate of his country, about Trofimov's attitude to its history. The cherry orchard is to some extent symbolic for each of the heroes, and this is an important point of the characteristic.

One of the secrets ... "The Cherry Orchard"
was that it was necessary to look at what was happening
through the eyes ... of the garden itself.
L. V. Karasev

In dramatic works written "before Chekhov," as a rule, there was a center - an event or character around which the action developed. There is no such center in Chekhov's play. In its place is the central image-symbol - the cherry orchard. In this image, both the concrete and the eternal, the absolute are combined - this is a garden, "there is nothing more beautiful in the world"; it is beauty, past culture, all of Russia.

The three scenic hours in The Cherry Orchard take five months (May - October) of the heroes' lives and almost a whole century: from the pre-reform period to the end of the 19th century. The name "The Cherry Orchard" is associated with the destinies of several generations of heroes - past, present and future. The fate of the characters is correlated with the fate of the country.

According to the memoirs of KS Stanislavsky, Chekhov once told him that he had found a wonderful title for the play - "The Cherry Orchard": "From this I understood only that it was about something beautiful, dearly loved: the charm of the title was not conveyed in words , but in the very intonation of Anton Pavlovich's voice. " A few days later Chekhov announced to Stanislavsky: "Listen, not the Cherry, but the Cherry Orchard." “Anton Pavlovich continued to savor the title of the play, emphasizing the gentle sound“ ё ”in the word Vishnevy, as if trying with its help to caress the old beautiful, but now unnecessary life, which he destroyed with tears in his play. This time, I realized the subtlety: The Cherry Orchard is a business, commercial garden that generates income. Such a garden is needed now. But "The Cherry Orchard" does not bring any income, it keeps in itself and in its blossoming whiteness the poetry of the past lordly life. Such a garden grows and blooms for a whim, for the eyes of spoiled aesthetes. It is a pity to destroy it, but it is necessary, since the process of the country's economic development requires this. "

At the same time, the garden in Chekhov's work is significant not only as a symbol, but also as an independent natural, extremely poetic, image. I. Sukhikh rightly asserts: Chekhov's nature is not only a “landscape”, or a psychological parallel to the experiences of the characters, but also the initial harmony of the “unspoiled” man of J.J. Rousseau (“back to nature”). “For Chekhov, nature is a kind of independent element, existing according to its own special laws of beauty, harmony, freedom ... It ... is ultimately fair, contains the stamp of regularity, the highest expediency, naturalness and simplicity, which is often absent in human relations. It is necessary not to “return” to it, but to rise, to join, comprehending its laws ”. This statement is consistent with the words of the playwright himself from his letters: "Looking at spring, I terribly want there to be heaven in the next world."

It is the garden that is the ontological basis of the plot of Chekhov's play: “the history of the garden as a living being is the first link ... of the chain of transformations” of the play. “This is a kind of subsoil of the text, the foundation from which the whole world of its ideology and stylistics grows ... The garden is doomed not because its enemies - merchants, industrialists, summer residents are strong, but because it really is time for it to die ".

The play is dominated by the motives of "break", break, separation. So, the billiard cue broken by Epikhodov in the third act remains “unclaimed” at the plot level, which Yasha tells about with a laugh.

This motif continues in the final remark of the play: “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 how far away in the garden they are knocking on a tree with an ax. " The clarification "just from the sky" indicates that the main conflict of the play is found outside the stage framework, at a certain force from the outside, before which the characters of the play are powerless and weak-willed. The sound of a broken string and an ax remains that sound impression that Chekhov spoke about the need for any piece of music (I remind you that he believed: literary work "Should give not only a thought, but also a sound, a certain sound impression"). “What does a broken string have to do with the destruction of a garden? The fact that both events coincide, or in any case overlap in their “form”: a rupture is almost the same as a cut. It is no accident that in the finale of the piece the sound of a broken string merges with the blows of an ax. "

The finale of The Cherry Orchard leaves a truly ambiguous, vague impression: both sadness, but also a certain bright, albeit vague, hope. “The resolution of the conflict is in accordance with all the specifics of its content. The finale is colored by a double sound: it is both sad and light ... The arrival of the best depends not on the elimination of particular obstacles, but on the change in all forms of existence. And while there is no such change, each individually is powerless before the common destiny. " In Russia, according to Chekhov, a premonition of a coup was ripening, but vague and vague. The writer recorded the state of Russian society when there was only one step left from general disunity, listening only to oneself to general enmity.

In accordance with the literary tradition, Chekhov's work belongs to the literature of the 19th century, although his life and creative way writer in the twentieth century. Him literary heritage became, in the full sense of the word, a link between the literary classics of the 19th century and the literature of the 20th century. Chekhov was the last great writer of the outgoing century, he did what, for various reasons, was not done by his brilliant predecessors: gave new life story genre; he discovered a new hero - a salaried official, an engineer, a teacher, a doctor; created the new kind dramas - Chekhov Theater.

It is very symbolic. The characters in the play "The Cherry Orchard" are both main characters and minor persons. For example, they symbolize the old carefree landlord life. Their childhood and adolescence were measured and carefree. Their parents did not teach their children to be thrift and work. Therefore, the characters become outdated and irrelevant. They are replaced by the symbol of a responsible, purposeful and successful person. In the play, this is the image of Lopakhin.

Ermolai Lopakhin comes from a simple family. He grew up in front of Lyubov's eyes, which is also symbolic. Thanks to his perseverance, diligence and constant work, the man became rich. Although the image of a merchant is quite contradictory, it still symbolizes the endless possibilities of people.

He was from an ordinary poor family who had been in "slavery" all their lives. After the abolition of serfdom, Ermolai, having an "entrepreneurial" streak, began to work hard. His labors were not in vain. Soon the man "made" a decent fortune.

Chekhov immediately introduced this character to readers. Lopakhin, expecting the return of Lyubov Ranevskaya, falls asleep in an armchair in one of the rooms. It shows that a physically tired person will fall asleep in almost any position.

Ermolai is also a symbol of innovation. He immediately offers a solution to the problem, but neither Gaev nor Ranevskaya is satisfied with this option.

The cherry orchard itself is symbolic. He is associated with the Russia of that time, which is in decline. Reforms and changes are needed to improve the lives of citizens by an order of magnitude. Everyone needs to get rid of the cherry orchard, both Gaev and Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, and with Trofimov. However, simply knocking it down won't be enough. In its place, there should be something capable of replacing the former beauty and bringing financial well-being.

Ranevskaya's reluctance in the play to part with the estate means only that the heroine has difficulty getting used to the new, fearing the unknown. No one wants to change their native way of life, but in this case it will need to be done in the name of a new life and the well-being of future generations.

As for Peter, he is a symbol of inconsistency. On the one hand, the man advises to "get rid of the old" by throwing the keys into the well. In fact, he, not having his own home, is therefore forced to, is in the estate, which means that he is completely dependent on the same keys. The man claims that he does not cling to anything in this life. That all worldly problems are alien to the man, but he himself is worried about his old lost ears and is very happy when Varya finds them and gives them away. A man's behavior only exposes his petty soul. He tries to appear different in the eyes of other people, not like the others. talks about another life, blossoming and serene, which he himself has never seen. Only Anya responds to his "sermons". The girl personifies youth, naivety, purity and new opportunities.

Chekhov specially selected controversial characters. None of them can be said to be a positive or negative character. Perhaps because of this, the author was able to "fit" so many different symbols in one work.

The cherry orchard is a complex and ambiguous image. This is not only a specific garden, which is part of the Gayev and Ranevskaya estate, but also a symbolic image. It symbolizes not only the beauty of Russian nature, but, most importantly, the beauty of the life of the people who grew this garden and admired it, the life that perishes with the death of the garden.

The image of the cherry orchard unites all the characters in the play. At first glance, it seems that these are only relatives and old acquaintances who, by chance, gathered in the estate to solve their everyday problems. But this is not the case. The writer connects characters of different ages and social groups, and they will have to somehow decide the fate of the garden, and therefore their own fate.

The owners of the estate are Russian landowners Gaev and Ranevskaya. Both brother and sister are educated, intelligent, sensitive people. They know how to appreciate beauty, feel it subtly, but due to inertia, they cannot do anything to save it. For all their development and spiritual wealth, Gaev and Ranevskaya are deprived of a sense of reality, practicality and responsibility, and therefore are not able to take care of themselves or their loved ones. They cannot follow Lopakhin's advice and lease the land, despite the fact that it would bring them a solid income: "Dachas and summer residents - it’s so common, sorry." They are prevented from taking this measure by special feelings that connect them with the estate. They treat the garden as a living person, with whom they are very much connected. The cherry orchard for them is the personification of a past life, a departed youth. Looking out the window at the garden, Ranevskaya exclaims: “Oh my childhood, my purity! In this nursery, I slept, looked from here at the garden, happiness woke up with me every morning, and then he was exactly the same, nothing changed. " And further: “O my garden! After a dark, rainy autumn and cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not left you ... ”Ranevskaya speaks not only about the garden, but also about herself. She seems to be comparing her life with "dark rainy autumn" and "cold winter". Returning to her native estate, she again felt young and happy.

Lopakhin does not share the feelings of Gaev and Ranevskaya. Their behavior seems strange and illogical to him. He wonders why they are not affected by the arguments so obvious to him for a prudent way out of a difficult situation. Lopakhin knows how to appreciate beauty: he is fascinated by the garden, "there is nothing more beautiful in the world." But he is an active and practical person. He cannot just admire the garden and regret it without trying to do something to save it. He sincerely tries to help Gaev and Ranevskaya, constantly convincing them: “Both the cherry orchard and the land must be leased out for summer residences, do it now, as soon as possible - the auction is on the nose! Understand! " But they don't want to listen to him. Gaev is only capable of empty vows: “By my honor, whatever you want, I swear the estate will not be sold! I swear by my happiness! ... then call me a trashy, dishonest person, if I admit it to the auction! I swear with my whole being! "

However, the auction took place, and Lopakhin bought the estate. For him, this event has a special meaning: “I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. I am asleep, it only seems to me, it only seems to me ... ”Thus, for Lopakhin, the purchase of the estate becomes a kind of symbol of his success, a reward for many years of work.

He would like his father and grandfather to rise from the grave and rejoice at how their son and grandson succeeded in life. For Lopakhin, a cherry orchard is just land that can be sold, mortgaged or bought. In his joy, he does not even consider it necessary to show an elementary sense of tact in relation to the former owners of the estate. He begins to cut down the garden without even waiting for their departure. In some ways, he is akin to the soulless lackey Yasha, who completely lacks such feelings as kindness, love for his mother, attachment to the place where he was born and raised. In this he is the direct opposite of Firs, in whom these qualities are unusually developed. Firs is the oldest person in the house. For many years he has served his masters with faith and truth, sincerely loves them and, like a father, is ready to protect them from all troubles. Perhaps Firs is the only character in the play endowed with this quality - devotion. Firs is a very whole person, and this wholeness is fully manifested in his attitude to the garden. The garden for the old lackey is a family nest, which he seeks to protect in the same way as his masters. Petya Trofimov is a representative of the new generation. He doesn't care about the fate of the cherry orchard at all. “We are above love,” he declares, thereby admitting his inability to feel serious. Petya looks at everything too superficially: not knowing the real life, he tries to reorganize it on the basis of far-fetched ideas. Outwardly, Petya and Anya are happy. They want to go to a new life, decisively breaking with the past. The garden for them is “all Russia”, and not just this cherry orchard. But is it possible, not loving your home, to love the whole world? Both heroes rush to new horizons, but lose their roots. Mutual understanding between Ranevskaya and Trofimov is impossible. If there is no past and memories for Petya, then Ranevskaya deeply grieves: "After all, I was born here, my father and mother lived here, my grandfather, I love this house, without a cherry orchard I do not understand my life ..."

The cherry orchard is a symbol of beauty. But who will save beauty if people who are able to appreciate it are not able to fight for it, and energetic and active people look at it only as a source of profit and profit?

The Cherry Orchard is a symbol of the past dear to the heart and home. But is it possible to go forward when the sound of an ax is heard behind your back, destroying everything that was previously sacred? The cherry orchard is a symbol of goodness, and therefore expressions such as “chopping down the roots”, “trampling a flower” or “hitting a tree with an ax” sound blasphemous and inhuman.

Chekhov gave his last play a subtitle - a comedy. But in the first production of the Moscow Art academic theater even during the life of the author, the play appeared as a heavy drama, even a tragedy. Who is right? It must be borne in mind that a drama is a literary work designed for stage life. Only on stage will the drama acquire a full-fledged existence, reveal all the meaning inherent in it, including genre definiteness, therefore the last word in the answer to the question posed will belong to the theater, directors and actors. At the same time, it is known that the innovative principles of Chekhov the playwright were perceived and assimilated by theaters with difficulty, not immediately.

Although the Moscow Art Theater, consecrated by the authority of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, the traditional interpretation of The Cherry Orchard as a dramatic elegy was entrenched in the practice of Russian theaters, Chekhov managed to express his dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction with their interpretation of his swan song to “his” theater. "The Cherry Orchard" depicts the farewell of the owners, now former, with their ancestral noble nest. This topic was repeatedly covered in Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century and before Chekhov, both dramatically and comically. What are the features of Chekhov's solution to this problem?

In many respects, it is determined by Chekhov's attitude to the nobility that is leaving social oblivion and capital coming to replace it, which he expressed in the images of Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, respectively. In both estates and their interaction, Chekhov saw the continuity of the carriers of national culture. Noble Nest for

The final chord of the outgoing era

The symbol of the garden in the play "The Cherry Orchard" occupies one of the central places. This work drew a line under all the work of A.P. Chekhov. It is with the garden that the author compares Russia, putting this comparison in the mouth of Petya Trofimov: "All Russia is our garden." But why is it a cherry orchard, and not an apple one, for example? It is noteworthy that Chekhov made a special emphasis on the pronunciation of the name of the garden precisely through the letter "E", and for Stanislavsky, with whom this play was discussed, the difference between "cherry" and "cherry" orchards did not immediately become clear. And the difference, he said, was that the cherry is a garden that can make a profit, and it is always needed, and the cherry is the keeper of the departing noble life, blooming and growing to delight the aesthetic tastes of its owners.

Chekhov's dramaturgy tends to involve in action not only the heroes, but also their surroundings: he believed that only through the description of daily life and routine affairs it is possible to fully reveal the characters' characters. It was in Chekhov's plays that "undercurrents" appeared, giving movement to everything that happened. Another feature of Chekhov's plays was the use of symbols. Moreover, these symbols had two directions - one side was real, and had a very substantive outline, and the other side was elusive, it can only be felt at the subconscious level. This happened in the "Cherry Orchard".

The symbolism of the play is contained in the garden, and in the sounds heard behind the stage, and even in the billiard cue broken by Epikhodov, and in the fall of Petya Trofimov from the stairs. But symbols of nature, which include manifestations of the surrounding world, are of particular importance in Chekhov's drama.

The semantics of the play and the attitude of the characters to the garden

The meaning of the symbol of the cherry orchard in the play is by no means accidental. For many peoples, flowering cherry trees symbolize purity and youth. For example, in China, spring flowering, in addition to the listed values, is associated with courage and female beauty, and the tree itself is a symbol of good luck and spring. In Japan, the cherry blossom is the emblem of the country and the samurai, and means prosperity and wealth. And for Ukraine, cherry is the second symbol after viburnum, denoting the feminine principle. Cherry is associated with a beautiful young girl, and the cherry orchard in songwriting is a favorite place for walking. The symbolism of the cherry orchard near the house in Ukraine is huge, it is he who drives away the evil force from the house, playing the role of a talisman. There was even a belief: if there is no garden near the hut, then devils gather around it. When moving, the garden remained untouched, as a reminder of the origins of its kind. For Ukraine, cherry is a divine tree. But at the end of the play, a beautiful cherry orchard goes under the ax. Is this not a warning that not only the heroes, but the entire Russian Empire will face great trials ahead?

It is not for nothing that Russia is compared to this garden.

For each character, the symbol of the garden in the comedy "The Cherry Orchard" has its own meaning. The play begins in May, when the cherry orchard, whose fate is to be decided by the owners, blooms, and ends in late autumn, when all nature freezes. Flowering reminds Ranevskaya and Gaeva of their childhood and youth, this garden has been next to them all their lives, and they simply have no idea how it could not become. They love him, they admire and are proud of him, saying that their garden is listed in the book of local attractions. They understand that they are capable of losing their estate, but they cannot find out how it is possible to cut down a beautiful garden and set up some summer cottages in its place. And Lopakhin sees the profit that he can bring, but this is only a superficial attitude to the garden. After buying it for a lot of money, without leaving the competitors at the auction the slightest chance to take possession of it, he admits that this cherry orchard is the best he has ever seen. The celebration of the purchase is connected, first of all, with his pride, because the illiterate peasant, which Lopakhin considered himself to be, became the master where his grandfather and father “were slaves”.

Petya Trofimov is the most indifferent to the garden. He admits that the garden is beautiful, he delights the eye, gives some importance to the lives of its owners, but every twig and leaf tells him about hundreds of serfs who worked to make the garden flourish and that this garden is a relic of serfdom, which must be done away with. ... He also tries to convey this to Ani, who loves the garden, but not as much as her parent, ready to hold on to it to the last. And Anya understands that it is impossible to start a new life by preserving this garden. It is she who calls on the mother to leave in order to lay a new garden, implying that it is necessary to start another life, which will allow one to fit into the realities of the time.

Firs, who served in it all his life, is closely connected with the fate of the estate and the garden. He's too old to start over, and he had such an opportunity when serfdom canceled and wanted to marry him, but getting freedom for him would be a misfortune, and he speaks directly about it. He is deeply attached to the garden, to the house, to the owners. He is not even offended when he finds that he has been forgotten in an empty house, either because he no longer has the strength and does not care, or because he understands: the old existence is over, and in the future there is nothing for him. And how symbolic the death of Firs looks to the sounds of a garden being cut down, this is due to the fact that in the final scene the role of symbols is intertwined - the sound of a broken string drowns in the sounds of the blows of axes, showing that the past is irrevocably gone.

The future of Russia: the view of a contemporary

Throughout the play, it can be seen that the heroes are associated with the cherry orchard, some more, some less, but it is through their attitude towards him that the author tried to reveal their meaning in the temporal space of the past, present and future. The symbol of the cherry orchard in Chekhov's play is a symbol of Russia, which is at the crossroads of its development, when ideologies, social strata mix and many people simply have no idea what will happen next. But this is shown so unobtrusively in the play that even M. Gorky, who did not appreciate the production, admitted that it awakened in him a deep and inexplicable melancholy.

The analysis of the symbolism, the description of the role and meaning of the main symbol of the play, which were performed in this article, will help the 10th grade pupils when writing an essay on the topic "The symbol of the garden in the comedy" The Cherry Orchard "".

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