The problem in the cherry orchard and their disclosure. Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard": problems, the movement of historical time, the question of the genre

What is happiness

The problem of happiness in Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" has become one of the most important in the whole work. And this is not surprising, because there are no happy characters in it, although they talk and remember a lot about him. If you look in the dictionary, then happiness means a feeling and a state of complete, supreme satisfaction. And whether the state of the heroes corresponds to this definition needs to be sorted out. The problem of human happiness in many writers occupies the main place, because without being happy, a person cannot fully enjoy life, and his absence pushes people in search of it, thereby becoming the root cause of various conflicts. For someone, happiness is to achieve recognition, success, love, justice, wealth, the health of loved ones, peace, and you never know what else a person needs to feel complete satisfaction. Happiness can also lie in the possession of something material. For the heroes of the play, spiritual happiness is inextricably linked with the cherry orchard, which has become a symbol of an unattainable or lost dream. And the garden itself is considered in relation to it from two sides - one side is purely material, intended only for profit, the other is aesthetic, the ability to admire it and appreciate its beauty. So what is happiness for the characters, and why did the problem of happiness take center stage in The Cherry Orchard?

To answer this question, it is necessary to analyze the actions of the characters.

The search for happiness by the heroes of the play "The Cherry Orchard"

Every rational being has its own definition of happiness. But, as a rule, this concept is approximately the same for close people, but Chekhov's characters in The Cherry Orchard do not have a common opinion on this matter. People cannot always be absolutely happy, because then they will simply have nothing to strive for, nothing to compare their lived years, experienced emotions with. The search for happiness formed the basis of the problems of the play "The Cherry Orchard"

Ranevskaya returns to her estate. She was tired of foreign life, love relationships exhausted her. Lyubov Andreevna is glad to see the house and garden unchanged, the way she left them, and this gives her the feeling that everything will be fine, but she still does not find peace. What is happiness for her? But it remained in the past, in her childhood and youth, when she did not think, first of all, about the everyday component of life. Ranevskaya enjoyed it. As a child, she played in the cherry orchard, then she fell in love under the shade of these cherry trees with a man not of her circle, but as frivolous as she was. Obviously, it was at these moments that Lyubov Andreevna was happy. Having squandered his fortune, her husband died from drunkenness. But he was replaced by a destructive passion, literally burning Ranevskaya, for an unworthy person. After the death of her son Grisha, blaming herself for this tragedy, she runs. She runs away from herself, from the place where her child died, from her lover, whose feelings for her overshadowed everything around her. But even in distant Paris, she could not be happy. Beloved found her, and, having robbed, abandoned her. What is stopping her from being happy?

The point, probably, is that she is looking for happiness in other people, in objects. She needs affection for someone or something. In the past, she was happy in her house, and the cherry orchard is a living reminder of it, which is why the thought of its destruction is so hard for her, because without it there will not even be a memory of happiness. “The misfortune seems to me so incredible that I don’t even know what to think, I’m lost,” says Ranevskaya.

Gaev is very similar to his sister. For him, happiness is also a thing of the past. But he is less demanding fortunately. Leonid Andreevich would have more lollipops, but a billiard table at hand, and a couple of listeners for his beautiful speeches. Only the state of the lollipops has already been eaten away, there is no one to play with especially. And when he wants to show off his eloquence, everyone laughs at him and asks him to shut up. Even the lackey Yashka allows sarcastic remarks in his direction.

Ranevskaya and Gaev are well aware that they will not be able to become happy again, believing that this is their fate and retribution for sins, completely unaware that their happiness depends only on themselves, on whether they can start a new life.

Can Lopakhin be happy? The garden for him is a reminder of his roots, because his ancestors were serfs, and this garden was planted by their hands. He rejoices, becoming his master. That would seem to be true happiness, to become a master where grandfather and father bent their backs. But, for some reason, happiness does not come ... Lopakhin is bitter from the realization that it is from his hands that the garden will perish, even if he gets a new life, in which he will become "happy, rich, luxurious." After all, perhaps only he understands all the true beauty of the old cherry orchard. And the tears of Lyubov Andreevna, whom he adores, make him say that all this incomprehensible time will end faster. In love, happiness is also not possible for Lopakhin. Ranevskaya absolutely does not notice his feelings, trying to woo him his adopted daughter. Varya is not a bad girl, but she is too limited by everyday life. For her, it would be happiness to go to a monastery, but she doesn’t have the means for this. Can she attract Lopakhin, a merchant with a "subtle and tender soul"? Unlikely. And his indifference to her is quite noticeable.

Most of all, Petya Trofimov speaks about happiness, thereby emphasizing the philosophical problems of the play The Cherry Orchard. Only he reflects on the happiness of the future and happiness for all mankind: "... mankind is moving .. to the highest happiness that is possible on earth, and I am in the forefront ...". Petya did not see him in the past, did not find him in the present. He does not know what it is, but he still waits for it and anticipates it. Calling to cut ties with the past, believing that as long as a person clings to it, there is no place for a new awareness of happiness. Perhaps there is truth in his words, but it only raises doubts that a person so indifferent to everything around him will be able to feel a sense of complete satisfaction.

The problematics of the work "The Cherry Orchard" affected all the characters without exception. Most likely, young Anya will find her happiness. After all, only she, with burning eyes, is waiting for the departure from the old house. Only she is sure that it will turn out "to plant a garden even more beautiful than this." And she is the only one who is ready to take real steps for the sake of her dream. Perhaps it is youthful maximalism that speaks in it, but only those who take risks can become truly happy. She has all the makings for this. She adopted the best that could be taken from the past - a pure, open soul, able to see beauty.

Contradictions in the search for happiness by the heroes of The Cherry Orchard

So is it possible for the characters in the play to become happy? Perhaps this question is the main problem of The Cherry Orchard. The concept of happiness is so contradictory for all the heroes that it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer. Do they deserve to be happy? Undoubtedly, yes, although Chekhov treated with disdain many of the heroes of his last play. It should also be taken into account that the play touches upon the contradictions of the past, present and future and the author's reflections on this matter. Do not forget that happiness is very often instantaneous, whether the characters can see it and keep in many respects the philosophical reflections of the viewer and reader.

The problem of happiness is a frequent theme of Russian classics, the disclosure of the problem of happiness for the heroes of The Cherry Orchard will be useful for students in grade 10 when analyzing material for an essay on the topic “The problem of happiness in the play The Cherry Orchard”.

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Themes, problems, idea of the play by A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard"

Main topics

Several main themes of A.P. Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" can be identified. Main theme: the death of "noble nests", the destruction of the old way of life; the change of the noble world with its dilapidated values; the growth of revolutionary ideas about the global reorganization of life.

The most relevant topic is the death of beauty in people's lives, the destruction of culture, symbolically depicted in the form of a cherry orchard.

The problems of the play

The central image of the play is the cherry orchard, which unites all the characters. The Cherry Orchard is both a specific garden, common for estates, and an image-symbol - a symbol of the beauty of Russian nature, Russia. The whole play is permeated with a sad feeling from the death of a beautiful cherry orchard.

In the play, we do not see a bright conflict. The heroes of the play behave calmly, there are no open quarrels and clashes between them. And yet, the existence of a conflict is felt, but hidden, internal.

The main conflict of the play is misunderstanding between generations. It seems as if three times intersected in the play: past, present and future.

The older generation is Ranevskaya, Gaev, half-ruined nobles, personifying the past. Present day. Today, the middle generation, is represented by Lopakhin. The youngest generation, whose fate is in the future, is represented by Anya, the daughter of Ranevskaya, and Petya Trofimov, a commoner, a teacher of Ranevskaya's son.

The external conflict in the play is replaced by the drama of the characters' experiences.

The main idea of the play.

The expectation of change is the main leitmotif of the play. All heroes are oppressed by the temporality of everything that exists. In their lives, the old has been destroyed, and the new has not yet been built, and it is not known what this new will be like. Hence the feeling of loneliness in this world, the awkwardness of being. All the characters are so absorbed in their problems that they do not hear, do not notice others. Uncertainty and anxiety about the future still gives rise to hope for something better in their hearts. But what is the best future? Chekhov leaves this question open.

The title of the play carries deep ideological content. The garden is a symbol of the passing of life. The end of the garden is the end of the outgoing generation - the nobles. But in the play the image of a new garden grows, more luxurious than this. "The whole of Russia is our garden." And this new blooming garden is to be cultivated by the younger generation.

Literature

Makeev A.V. History of domestic literature. – M.: MGSU, 2002.
Khalizev V.E. Theory of Literature. - M .: Higher. school, 2004.
Chekhov A.P. The Cherry Orchard: a play. - M .: Children's literature, 1980.

Answer from Qwe qwe[newbie]
Chekhov is the creator of the so-called "new drama", characterized by the novelty of the conflict, the rejection of external intrigue, the combination of dramatic, comic and lyrical principles, the great role of subtext created by the author's remarks, pauses, pictures of nature - "undercurrent". Although the writer himself, obviously, sought to achieve maximum realism in his plays (“Let everything be the same on stage ... as in life”), there is an opinion that it was through Chekhov that Meyerhold came to his conditional theater.
As you know, “The Cherry Orchard” is the result of Chekhov’s creative path, his last word addressed to the reader, a word about how imperceptibly for anyone the inner drama of a person who is unable to “fit in” in life is being accomplished. The main problem raised in The Cherry Orchard is the problem of duty, responsibility, the question of the fate of the Motherland.
The characters in Chekhov's plays are not just heroes, but heroes in time and space.
The cherry orchard, which is both the background of the action, and the character, and a comprehensive symbol, can be viewed in three main aspects: the garden is an image and character, the garden is time and the garden is symbolic spaces.
Animated and spiritualized (poeticized by Chekhov and idealized by the characters associated with him), the garden, no doubt, is one of the characters in the play. It takes its place in the system of images.
The garden is given simultaneously as an accusation (emphasizes irresponsibility, unkindness) and justification (a sense of beauty, keeping traditions, memory) of all other heroes.
The garden plays a passive role. Let us recall Chekhov's judgment: "It is better to be a victim than an executioner." Obviously, the victim garden is the only positive character in the play.
The garden sets the upper moral plane (what is the norm for Chekhov, but for his heroes, due to the distortion of the world order and their own inferiority, becomes the ideal), just as Yasha, a complete boor, sets the lower one. There is no vertical line that should connect them. Therefore, all other actors are between, in the middle (“average” people), as if frozen in free fall, not touching any of the planes (they deviated from the norm, but did not sink completely), but reflecting them and being reflected in them - hence the ambiguity , versatility of images.
Gaev is inextricably linked with the garden. But the nature of this connection cannot be unequivocally interpreted. On the one hand, Gaev is one of the most irresponsible heroes of the play, he “ate all his fortune on candies”, and to a greater extent, the blame for the death of the garden lies with him. On the other hand, to the last, in a quixotic naivete and to no avail, he tries to save the garden.
Ranevskaya is connected with the garden by a kind of “multiple mutual belonging effect”: Ranevskaya is the protagonist of Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard, that is, she belongs to The Cherry Orchard; the cherry orchard is located on the estate of Ranevskaya, therefore, belongs to her; Ranevskaya is in captivity at the image of the garden she created and thus belongs to him; the garden, as an image and symbol of the “sweet past”, exists in the imagination of Ranevskaya, which means it belongs to her ...
You can interpret Ranevskaya as the soul of the garden. This idea is suggested, in particular, by observations of temperature in its direct and figurative-artistic meaning - before the arrival of Ranevskaya, the theme of cold is repeated many times (in Chekhov's remarks and replicas of the heroes): “it's cold in the garden”, “it's a matinee now, frost is three degrees ”, “everything went cold” and so on; with the arrival of Ranevskaya, the cherry orchard and the house warm up, and after the sale of the garden it gets cold again: “just now it’s cold”, again “three degrees below zero”. In addition, the motif of the “broken thermometer” appears (a sign of the lack of a sense of proportion and the impossibility of returning to the old life).
For Lopakhin, the garden is a double symbol. This is an attribute of the nobility, where he, the peasant, “with a pig's snout”, is blocked from going (the social subtext is far from being the main one in the play, but it is important), and the spiritual elite, where he is just as hopelessly striving (“read a book and fell asleep”).
SO NOT EVERYTHING WAS FIT

1. Problems of the play by A.P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard".

2. Features of the genre of the play.

3. The main conflict of the play and its characters:

a) the embodiment of the past - Ranevskaya, Gaev;

b) the spokesman for the ideas of the present - Lopakhin;

c) the heroes of the future - Anya and Petya.

4. Tragedy of the era - breaking the connection of times.

1. The play "The Cherry Orchard" was completed by A.P. Chekhov in 1903. And although it reflects the real social phenomena of those years, the play turned out to be in tune with the moods of subsequent generations - primarily because it touches upon eternal problems: this is dissatisfaction with life and the desire to change it, the destruction of harmony between people, their mutual alienation, loneliness, weakening of kindred connections and loss of spiritual roots.

2. Chekhov himself believed that his play was a comedy. It can be attributed to a lyrical comedy, where the funny is intertwined with the sad, the comic with the tragic, just like in real life.

3. The central image of the play is the cherry orchard, which unites all the characters. The Cherry Orchard is both a specific garden, common for estates, and an image-symbol - a symbol of the beauty of Russian nature, Russia. The whole play is permeated with a sad feeling from the death of a beautiful cherry orchard.

In the play, we do not see a bright conflict, everything, it would seem, goes on as usual. The heroes of the play behave calmly, there are no open quarrels and clashes between them. And yet, the existence of a conflict is felt, but hidden, internal. Behind the usual conversations, behind the calm attitude towards each other, the heroes of the play hide their misunderstanding of each other. The main conflict of the play "The Cherry Orchard" is a misunderstanding between generations. It seems as if three times intersected in the play: past, present and future.

The older generation is Ranevskaya, Gaev, half-ruined nobles, personifying the past. Today, the middle generation, is represented by Lopakhin. The youngest generation, whose fate is in the future, is represented by Anya, the daughter of Ranevskaya, and Petya Trofimov, a commoner, a teacher of Ranevskaya's son.

a) The owners of the cherry orchard seem to us graceful, refined people, full of love for others, able to feel the beauty and charm of nature. They carefully keep the memory of the past, love their home: “I slept in this nursery, looked at the garden from here, happiness woke up with me every morning ...” - recalls Lyubov Andreevna. Once upon a time, Lyubov Andreevna, then still a young girl, consoled Yermolai Lopakhin, a fifteen-year-old "peasant", whom his father, a shopkeeper, hit in the face with his fist. Lopakhin cannot forget the kindness of Lyubov Andreevna, loves her, "like his own ... more than his own." She is affectionate with everyone: she calls the old servant Firs “my old man”, rejoices at meeting him, and when leaving, she asks several times if he has been sent to the hospital. She is generous not only to the person she loves, who deceived her and robbed her, but also to a random passerby, to whom she gives the last piece of gold. Without a penny in her pocket, she asks to lend money to Semyonov-Pishchik. Relations between family members are imbued with sympathy for each other and delicacy. No one reproaches Ranevskaya, who actually led to the collapse of her estate, Gaev, who "ate a fortune on candy". The nobility of Ranevskaya is that she does not blame anyone but herself for the misfortune that befell her - this is a punishment for the fact that "we have sinned a lot ...". Ranevskaya lives only with memories of the past, she is not satisfied with the present, and she does not want to think about the future. Chekhov considers Ranevskaya and Gaev to be the culprits of their tragedy. They behave like small children who close their eyes in fear when they are in danger. Therefore, both Gaev and Ranevskaya so diligently avoid talking about the real plan of salvation put forward by Lopakhin, hoping for a miracle: if Anya married a rich man, if the Yaroslavl aunt sent money ... But neither Ranevskaya nor Gaev try anything change. Speaking of the “beautiful” old life, they seem to have resigned themselves to their misfortune, let everything take its course, give in without a fight.

b) Lopakhin is a representative of the bourgeoisie, a man of the present. On the one hand, this is a person with a subtle and tender soul, able to appreciate beauty, loyal and noble; He is a hard worker, working from morning to night. But on the other hand, the world of money has already subjugated him. The businessman Lopakhin conquered his "subtle and tender soul": he cannot read books, he is unable to love. His efficiency has eroded spirituality in him, and he himself understands this. Lopakhin feels himself the master of life. "The new owner of the cherry orchard is coming!" "Let everything as I wish!" he says. Lopakhin did not forget his past, and now the moment of his triumph has come: “beaten, illiterate Yermolai” bought “an estate, more beautiful than which there is nothing in the world”, an estate “where father and grandfather were slaves”.

But Yermolai Lopakhin remained a “peasant”, despite the fact that he went “to the people”. He is unable to understand one thing: the cherry orchard is not only a symbol of beauty, it is a kind of thread that connects the past with the present. You can't cut your own roots. And the fact that Lopakhin does not understand this is his main mistake.

At the end of the play, he says: “It would rather change ... our awkward, unhappy life!” But how to do it, he knows only in words. But in fact, he cuts down the garden in order to build summer cottages there, thereby destroying the old one, which was replaced by his time. The old has been destroyed, “the thread connecting the days has broken”, and the new has not yet been created, and it is not known whether it will ever be created. The author does not rush to conclusions.

c) Petya and Anya, coming to replace Lopakhin, represent the future. Petya is an "eternal student", always hungry, sick, groomed, but a proud person; lives by labor alone, educated, intelligent. His judgments are deep. Denying the past, he predicts the short duration of Lopakhin's stay, as he sees his predatory essence. He is full of faith in a new life: “Humanity is moving towards the highest truth, towards the highest happiness that is possible on earth, and I am in the forefront!” Petya managed to inspire Anya with a desire to work, to live at her own expense. She no longer feels sorry for the garden, because ahead of her is a life full of joyful work for the common good: “We will plant a new garden, more luxurious than this ...” Will her dreams come true? Unknown. After all, she still does not know life to change it. And Petya looks at everything too superficially: not knowing true life, he tries to rebuild it on the basis of ideas alone. Yes, and in the whole appearance of this hero, some kind of insufficiency, shallowness, lack of a healthy vitality shows through. The author cannot trust him. the beautiful future he talks about. Petya does not even try to save the garden, he does not care about the problem that worries the author himself.

4. There is no time connection in the play, the gap between generations is heard in the sound of a broken string. The author does not yet see a hero in Russian life who could become the real owner of the "cherry orchard", the keeper of its beauty.