The younger generation in the play by A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard. Three generations in Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard"

Three generations in A.P. Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” 1. “The Cherry Orchard” is Chekhov’s “swan song”.

"is called Chekhov's swan song. It was completed with this
creative path writer. In “The Cherry Orchard” the author expressed his beliefs, thoughts, and hopes. Chekhov believes that the future of Russia belongs to people like Trofimov and Anya. In one of his letters, Chekhov wrote: “Students and female students are good and honest people. This is our hope, this is the future of Russia.” It is they, according to Chekhov, who are the true owners of the cherry orchard, which the author identified with his homeland. “All of Russia is our garden,” says Petya Trofimov. The owners of the cherry orchard are the hereditary nobles Ranevskaya and Gaev. The estate and garden have been the property of their family for many years, but they can no longer manage here. They are the personification of Russia's past; there is no future for them. Why?
Of course, the heroine gives the impression of a person with an open soul, she is warm-hearted, emotional, and impressionable. But these qualities are combined with such traits of her character as carelessness, spoiledness, frivolity, bordering on callousness and indifference to others. We see that in fact Ranevskaya is indifferent towards people, even sometimes cruel. How else to explain the fact that she gives the last gold to a passerby, and the servants in the house are left to live from hand to mouth. She thanks Firs, inquires about his health, and... leaves the old, sick man in a boarded-up house, simply forgetting about him. This is monstrous to say the least!
Like Ranevskaya, Gaev has a sense of beauty. I would like to note that he gives the impression of a gentleman more than Ranevskaya. Although this character can be called exactly as inactive, careless and frivolous as his sister. As if Small child Gaev cannot give up the habit of sucking lollipops and even in small things he counts on Firs. His mood changes very quickly; he is a fickle, flighty person. Gaev is upset to the point of tears that the estates are being sold, but as soon as he heard the sound of balls in the billiard room, he immediately cheered up, like a child.
Of course, Gaev and Ranevskaya are the embodiment of a past passing life. Their habit of living “in debt, at someone else’s expense” speaks of the idleness of the existence of these heroes. They are definitely not the masters of life, since even their material well-being depends on some chance: either it will be an inheritance, or the Yaroslavl grandmother will send them money to pay off their debts, or Lopakhin will lend them money. People like Gaev and Ranevskaya are being replaced by a completely different type of people: strong, enterprising, dexterous. One of these people is another character in the play Lopakhin.
Lopakhin embodies the present of Russia. Lopakhin's parents were serfs, but after the abolition of serfdom, the fate of this man changed. He rose to prominence, became rich, and is now able to buy the estate of those who were once his masters. Lopakhin feels superior to Ranevskaya and Gaev, and even they treat him with respect, because they realize their dependence on this man. It is clear that Lopakhin and people like him will very soon oust the well-born nobles.
However, Lopakhin gives the impression of a person who is the “master of life” only for a given, short period of time. He is not the owner of the cherry orchard, but only its temporary owner. He plans to cut down the cherry orchard and sell the land. It seems that, having increased his capital from this profitable enterprise, he will still not occupy a dominant place in the life of the state in the future. In the image of this character, Chekhov masterfully managed to portray a bizarre and contradictory combination of features of the past and present. Lopakhin, although proud of his current position, does not forget for a second about his low origins; his resentment towards life, which, it seems to him, was unfair to him, is too strong. Very soon the reader and viewer understands that Lopakhin is just an intermediate step between the past and future generations.
In Chekh'bva's play we also see characters contrasted with the destructive activities of Lopakhin and the inaction of Ranevskaya and Gaev. This is Anya and Petya Trofimov. According to the author, the future of Russia lies with such people. Trofimov is an ardent seeker of truth who sincerely believes in the triumph of a just life in the near future. Student Petya Trofimov is poor, suffers hardships, but as an honest person he refuses to live at the expense of others. He talks a lot about the need to restructure society, but has not yet taken any real actions. But he is an excellent propagandist. This is one of those whom young people follow and believe in. Anya is carried away by Trofimov’s call to change her life, and at the end of the play we hear her words calling to “plant new garden" The author does not give us the opportunity to see the fruits of the activities of representatives of the new generation. He only leaves us with hope that the words of Petya Trofimov and Anya will not diverge from their deeds.
Chekhov portrayed three generations of people in his play “The Cherry Orchard,” and each character personifies the life of Russia: Ranevkaya and Gaev - the past, Lopakhin - the present, Trofimov and Anya - the future. Time has shown that Chekhov was absolutely right - in the near future, a revolution awaited the Russian people, and it was people like Trofimov who made history.

/ / / Three generations in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”

In Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" three generations are clearly distinguished. The first rightfully belongs to the footman. He loves the estate where he has worked his entire adult life. The old man’s soul still lives in “serfdom”, since he himself does not want to accept new “strange” laws. He was satisfied with certainty and order in everything. Now, although he feels like a kind of “authorized” person in the estate, he still worries about the future. He is tormented by the fact that there is only uncertainty ahead, from which he, due to his age, may suffer.

The second generation includes and. They inherited the worldview, character and landowner traditions from their parents. However, neither sister nor brother calculated their strength, and the estate is in decline. Their “debt hole” is growing as well as their “lordly” demands. Life teaches heroes practically nothing. Ranevskaya had already sold her dacha near Menton, and literally supported her lover with this money. The woman herself was not averse to living lavishly. Love, just wasted money. Even when she was forced to return to her homeland with virtually no funds, wastefulness did not leave her character.

Gaev is very dissatisfied with this behavior. The man literally reproaches his sister, but he himself leads a very “uneconomical” lifestyle. His habits have long included dinners in expensive restaurants, playing billiards in a club and other celebrations. Living on the Gaev estate, he constantly watches as Varya struggles with all her strength in order to somehow reduce expenses.

And they are the third and final generation. Lopakhin can also be included among them. He, like the girls, is “rooted” to the estate. Ermolai was the son of a simple serf "peasant". However, only he managed to literally rise from the bottom. His plans include a wedding with Varya, but the young couple still fail to explain themselves. They are both busy, both goal-oriented and their actions are very thoughtful. Will they create another generation together? Most likely no.

Despite mutual sympathy, Chekhov does not create a new “cell” of society. With Lopakhin’s indecisiveness, the author literally cuts the knot of emerging feelings and separates young people to different parties. The garden is cut down, and at the same time the history of this estate ends. Perhaps Lopakhin will get married someday, and a new generation will be born, without the old burdening memories of what he experienced. In the meantime, he is leaving " noble nest"Together with the servants, Gaev and his sister, Varya and Anna.

Anya leaves the estate with joy. She imagines her future in rainbow colors. The girl has studies ahead, new discoveries and communication with Peter. It was he who showed the representative of the third generation all the “cons” of the past idea of ​​​​life. Thanks to him, the girl is not afraid of the unknown future. She boldly steps forward, trying not to look back at the felled cherry trees in the garden...

Three generations, three different views on life and one garden, in which everyone was once able to find their little happiness...

The play "The Cherry Orchard" was written by Chekhov in 1903. This is a time when great social changes are brewing in Russia, and there is a premonition of a “healthy and strong storm.” Dissatisfaction with life, vague and indefinite, covers all classes. Writers express it differently in their work. Gorky creates images of rebels, strong and lonely, heroic and bright characters, in which he embodies the dream of proud man future. Symbolists, through unsteady, foggy images, convey the feeling of the end of the current world, the anxious mood of an impending catastrophe, which is terrible and desirable. Chekhov in his own way conveys these same moods in his dramatic works.

Chekhov's drama is a completely new phenomenon in Russian art. There are no acute social conflicts in it. In the play "The Cherry Orchard" all the characters are gripped by anxiety and a thirst for change. Although the action of this sad comedy revolves around the question of who will get the cherry orchard, the characters do not engage in a bitter struggle. There is no usual conflict between predator and prey or two predators (as, for example, in the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky), although in the end the garden goes to the merchant Ermolai Lopakhin, and he is completely devoid of a predatory grip. Chekhov creates a situation in which open hostility between heroes with different views on life and belonging to different classes is simply impossible. All of them are connected by loving, family relationships; for them, the estate where the events unfold is almost a home.

So, there are three main groups of characters in the play. Older generation- these are Ranevskaya and Gaev, half-ruined nobles who personify the past. Today, the middle generation, is represented by the merchant Lopakhin. And finally, the youngest heroes, whose fate is in the future, are Anya, Ranevskaya’s daughter, and Petya Trofimov, a commoner, teacher of Ranevskaya’s son.

They all have completely different attitudes to the problem related to the fate of the cherry orchard. For Ranevskaya and Gaev, the garden is their whole life. They spent their childhood and youth here, happy and tragic memories tie them to this place. In addition, this is their condition, that is, all that remains of it.

Ermolai Lopakhin looks at the cherry orchard with completely different eyes. For him, this is primarily a source of income, but not only. He dreams of purchasing a garden, since it is the embodiment of a way of life that is inaccessible to the son and grandson of serfs, the embodiment unattainable dream about something else wonderful world. However, it is Lopakhin who persistently offers Ranevskaya to save the estate from ruin. This is where the true conflict is revealed: differences arise not so much on economic, but on ideological grounds. Thus, we see that without taking advantage of Lopakhin’s offer, Ranevskaya loses her fortune not only because of her inability to do something, because of lack of will, but because the garden for her is a symbol of beauty. “My dear, forgive me, you don’t understand anything... If there is anything interesting, even wonderful, in the entire province, it is only our cherry orchard.” It represents both material and, more importantly, spiritual value for her.

The scene of Lopakhin's purchase of the garden is the climax of the play. Here highest point hero's celebrations; his wildest dreams came true. We hear the voice of a real merchant, partly reminiscent of Ostrovsky’s heroes (“Music, play clearly! Let everything be as I wish!.. I can pay for everything”), but also the voice of a deeply suffering person, not satisfied with life (“My poor, good, You won’t get it back now. (With tears.) Oh, if only it would all go away, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change."

The leitmotif of the play is the expectation of change. But do the heroes do anything for this? Lopakhin only knows how to make money. But this does not satisfy his "thin, gentle soul", feeling beauty, thirsting real life. He does not know how to find himself, his real path.

Well, what about the younger generation? Perhaps he has an answer to the question of how to live further? Petya Trofimov convinces Anya that the cherry orchard is a symbol of the past, which is scary and which needs to be rejected as quickly as possible: “Is it really possible that from every cherry in the garden, from every leaf... human beings do not look at you... Owning living souls - after all, this is has reborn you all... you live in debt, at someone else's expense..." Petya looks at life exclusively from a social point of view, through the eyes of a commoner, a democrat. There is a lot of truth in his speeches, but they do not have a concrete idea of ​​\u200b\u200bresolving eternal issues. For Chekhov, he is the same "klutz" as most of the characters, " shabby gentleman", who understands little in real life.

The image of Anya appears as the brightest and most unclouded in the play. She is full of hope and vitality, but in her Chekhov emphasizes inexperience and childishness.

“All of Russia is our garden,” says Petya Trofimov. Yes, in Chekhov's play central theme- this is the fate of not only the cherry orchard belonging to Ranevskaya. This dramatic work- a poetic reflection on the fate of the Motherland. The author does not yet see in Russian life a hero who could become a savior, a real owner of the “cherry orchard,” the guardian of its beauty and wealth. All the characters in this play (excluding Yasha) evoke sympathy, sympathy, but also the sad smile of the author. All of them are sad not only about their personal fate, but they feel a general unwellness that seems to be in the air itself. Chekhov's play does not resolve the issues, nor does it give us an idea of future fate heroes.

A tragic chord ends the drama - the old servant Firs, who has been forgotten, remains in the boarded-up house. This is a reproach to all the heroes, a symbol of indifference and disunity of people. However, the play also contains optimistic notes of hope, although uncertain, but always living in a person, because life is directed towards the future, because the old generation is always replaced by youth.

The title of the play is symbolic. “All of Russia is our garden,” Chekhov said. This last play was written by Chekhov at the cost of enormous effort. physical strength, and simply rewriting the play was an act of the greatest difficulty. Chekhov finished “The Cherry Orchard” on the eve of the first Russian revolution, in the year of his early death (1904).

Thinking about the death of the cherry orchard, about the fate of the inhabitants of the ruined estate, he mentally imagined all of Russia at the turn of the era.

On the eve of grandiose revolutions, as if feeling the steps of a formidable reality near him, Chekhov comprehended the present from the perspective of the past and the future. The far-reaching perspective imbued the play with the air of history and imparted a special extent to its time and space. In the play “The Cherry Orchard” there is no acute conflict, everything seems to be going as usual and there are no open quarrels or clashes between the characters in the play. And yet the conflict exists, but not openly, but internally, deeply hidden in the seemingly peaceful setting of the play. The conflict lies in the misunderstanding of a generation by a generation. It seems as if three times intersected in the play: past, present and future. And each of the three generations dreams of its own time.

The play begins with Ranevskaya’s arrival at her old family estate, with a return to the cherry orchard, which stands outside the windows all in bloom, to people and things familiar from childhood. Arises special atmosphere awakened poetry and humanity. As if in last time flashes brightly - like a memory - this living life on the verge of dying. Nature is preparing for renewal - and hopes for a new one awaken in Ranevskaya’s soul, clean life.

For the merchant Lopakhin, who is going to purchase the Ranevskaya estate, the cherry orchard also means something more than just the object of a commercial transaction.

In the play, representatives of three generations pass before us: the past - Gaev, Ranevskaya and Firs, the present - Lopakhin and representatives of the future generation - Petya Trofimov and Anya, Ranevskaya’s daughter. Chekhov not only created images of people whose lives occurred at a turning point, but captured Time itself in its movement. The heroes of “The Cherry Orchard” turn out to be victims not of private circumstances and their own lack of will, but of the global laws of history - the active and energetic Lopakhin is as much a hostage of time as the passive Gaev. The play is built on a unique situation that has become a favorite for 20th-century drama - the situation of the “threshold”. Nothing like this is happening yet, but there is a feeling of an edge, an abyss into which a person must fall.

Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya - a representative of the old nobility - is an impractical and selfish woman, naive in her love interest, but she is kind and sympathetic, and her sense of beauty does not fade, which Chekhov especially emphasizes. Ranevskaya constantly recalls her best young years spent in an old house, in a beautiful and luxurious cherry orchard. She lives with these memories of the past, she is not satisfied with the present, and she doesn’t even want to think about the future. Her immaturity seems funny. But it turns out that the entire old generation in this play thinks the same way. None of them are trying to change anything. They talk about beauty old life, but they themselves seem to resign themselves to the present, let everything take its course and give in without a fight.

Lopakhin is a representative of the bourgeoisie, a hero of the present time. This is how Chekhov himself defined his role in the play: “The role of Lo-akhin is central. After all, this is not a merchant in the vulgar sense of the word... this is a gentle person... honest man in every sense...” But this gentle man is a predator, he lives for today, so his ideas are smart and practical. Combination selfless love towards beauty and a merchant's spirit, peasant simplicity and a subtle artistic soul merged together in the image of Lopakhin. He has lively conversations about how to change life for the better, and seems to know what to do. But in fact he is not ideal hero plays. We feel his lack of self-confidence.

The play intertwines several storylines. A dying garden and failed, even unnoticed love - two end-to-end, internally related topics plays. The line of the failed romance between Lopakhin and Varya ends before anyone else. It is built on Chekhov’s favorite technique: they talk most and most willingly about what does not exist, discuss details, argue about the little things that do not exist, without noticing or deliberately hushing up what exists and is essential. Varya is waiting for a simple and logical course of life: since Lopakhin often visits a house where there is unmarried girls, of which only she is suitable for him. Varya, therefore, must get married. Varya doesn’t even have the thought to look at the situation differently, to think whether Lopakhin loves her, is she interesting to him? All Varina’s expectations are based on idle gossip that this marriage would be successful!

It would seem that Anya and Petya Trofimov are the author’s hope for the future. Groups around Petya Trofimov romantic plan plays. His monologues have much in common with the thoughts of Chekhov's best heroes. On the one hand, Chekhov does nothing but put Petya in ridiculous positions, constantly compromising him, reducing his image to the extremely unheroic - “eternal student” and “shabby gentleman”, whom Lopakhin constantly stops with his ironic remarks. On the other hand, Petya Trofimov’s thoughts and dreams are close to Chekhov’s own state of mind. Petya Trofimov does not know specific historical paths to a good life and his advice to Anya, who shares his dreams and premonitions, is naive to say the least. “If you have the keys to the farm, then throw them into the well and leave. Be free like the wind." But a radical change has ripened in life, which Chekhov foresees, and it is not the character of Petya, the degree of maturity of his worldview, but the doom of the old that determines the inevitability.

But can a person like Petya Trofimov change this life? After all, only smart, energetic, self-confident people, active people, can put forward new ideas, enter the future and lead others. And Petya, like the other heroes of the play, talks more than he acts, he generally behaves somehow ridiculously. Anya is still too young. She will never understand her mother’s drama, and Lyubov Andreevna herself will never understand her passion for Petya’s ideas. Anya still doesn’t know enough about life to change it. But Chekhov saw the strength of youth precisely in freedom from prejudice, from the narrowness of thoughts and feelings. Anya becomes like-minded with Petya, and this strengthens the motive of the future in the play. have a wonderful life.

On the day of the sale of the estate, Ranevskaya starts something completely inappropriate from the point of view common sense ball. Why does she need him? For the living Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, who is now fiddling with a wet handkerchief in her hands, waiting for her brother to return from the auction, this ridiculous ball is important in itself - as a challenge to everyday life. She snatches a holiday from everyday life, snatches from life that moment that can stretch a thread to eternity.

The property has been sold. "I bought!" - triumphant new owner, rattling the keys. Ermolai Lopakhin bought an estate where his grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen. He is ready to take an ax to the cherry orchard. But at the highest moment of triumph, this “intelligent merchant” suddenly feels the shame and bitterness of what has happened: “Oh, if only all this would pass, if only our awkward, unhappy life would somehow change.” And it becomes clear that for yesterday’s plebeian, a person with tender soul And thin fingers, the purchase of a cherry orchard is, in essence, an “unnecessary victory.”

Ultimately, Lopakhin is the only one who offers a real plan to save the cherry orchard. And this plan is realistic, first of all, because Lopakhin understands: the garden cannot be preserved in its previous form, its time has passed, and now the garden can be preserved only by rearranging it in accordance with the requirements new era. But a new life means, first of all, the death of the past, and the executioner turns out to be the one who sees the beauty of the dying world most clearly.

So, the main tragedy of the work lies not only in the external action of the play - the sale of the garden and estate, where many of characters spent their youth, with which their best memories are associated, but also in internal contradiction - the inability of the same people to change anything to improve their situation. The absurdity of the events taking place in the play is constantly felt. Ranevskaya and Gaev look ridiculous with their attachment to old objects, Epikhodov is ridiculous, and Charlotte Ivanovna herself is the personification of uselessness in this life.

The last act, as always with Chekhov, is the moment of parting, farewell to the past. Sad for the old owners of the “cherry orchard”, troublesome for the new businessman, joyful for young souls with their reckless Blok-like readiness to abandon everything - home, childhood, loved ones, and even poetry.” nightingale garden” - in order to shout with an open, free soul: “Hello, new life!” But if from the point of view of the social future “The Cherry Orchard” sounded like a comedy, then for its time it sounded like a tragedy. These two melodies, without merging, appeared simultaneously in the finale, giving birth to a complex tragicomic outcome of the work.

The young, cheerfully, calling to each other invitingly, run forward. Old people, like old things, huddled together, they stumble over them without noticing them. Suppressing tears, Ranevskaya and Gaev rush to each other. “Oh my dear, my tender, beautiful garden. My life, my youth, my happiness, goodbye!.. Farewell!..” But the music of farewell is drowned out by “the sound of an ax on wood, sounding lonely and sad.” The shutters and doors are closed. In the empty house, the sick Firs remains unnoticed in the bustle: “But they forgot the man...” The old man is alone in the locked house. “As if from the sky the sound of a broken string” is heard, and in the silence the ax dully knocks on the wood.

The symbolism of “The Cherry Orchard” spoke of the approach of grandiose social cataclysms and changes in the old world.

This work reflects the problems of the passing nobility, the bourgeoisie and the revolutionary future. At the same time, Chekhov depicted the main conflict of the work in a new way - the conflict of three generations.

­ Dispute between generations

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” is unusual and amazing. Unlike other works of the playwright, it places not a person, but a lyrical image beautiful cherry orchard. He is like the personification of the beauty of Russia of old times. Several generations are intertwined in the work and, accordingly, the problem of differences in thinking and perception of reality arises. Cherry Orchard plays a fundamental role. It becomes a meeting place for the past, present and future of a country that is on the verge of tremendous change.

This drama is a completely new phenomenon in Russian art. It doesn't have any spicy social conflicts, none of the main characters enter into an open argument and yet the conflict exists. What is it connected with? In my opinion, this is a dispute between generations who do not hear or do not want to hear each other. The past appears before us in the form of Ranevskaya and Gaev. These are inveterate nobles who are unable to change their habits even to save the estate that belonged to their parents and ancestors. Ranevskaya has long squandered her fortune and continues to waste money. Gaev hopes to receive an inheritance from a rich aunt living in Yaroslavl.

Will such people be able to keep their property? family estate and a luxurious cherry orchard? Judging by this characteristic, no. One of the most prudent characters in the play is the representative of the current generation Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin. This is the son and grandson of serfs, who suddenly became rich and became a wealthy merchant. This hero achieved everything himself, with his work and perseverance, and therefore deserves respect. Unfortunately, it cannot be attributed to happy people, since he himself is not happy about the opportunity to buy out Ranevskaya’s beloved cherry orchard. For this reason, at the very beginning of the play, he recommends that she divide it into plots and rent it out to summer residents, but the frivolous bourgeoisie do not want to hear about this.

The third generation, the so-called “future” of the country, is represented by the seventeen-year-old daughter Ranevskaya and former teacher her son. Anya and Petya are fighters for " new life“, and therefore they are little concerned about the fate of the cherry orchard. They believe that they can plant a new garden better than the old one. Trofimov is a talented student, but, alas, he talks more than he does, and therefore the future with such young people frightens the older generation. Anya appears to us as the brightest and most unclouded character. She took over best features among the nobility and continued to confidently keep up with the times towards change. The confidence in a positive outcome never left her. It is through her that the author expresses his hopes for a bright future.