Old owners of the garden: Ranevskaya and Gaev. Description of the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard”

Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" combines several key ideas and thoughts - the conflict of generations, the end of the Russian nobility, attachment to home and family. At the center of the story is a cherry orchard belonging to landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. Heavy financial situation forces her to go to sell the garden, to which Ranevskaya herself is strongly attached in soul. For her, this place is the personification of family, comfort, and a calm, measured life without change.

Chekhov paid great attention to female images in his works. The character of Ranevskaya in the productions of “The Cherry Orchard” is one of the brightest Chekhov images, around which critics are constantly arguing. Despite the external complexity of this heroine, there are no contradictions in her, she is true to her thoughts and principles.

Lyubov Andreevna was married to a “sworn attorney” of non-noble origin. The husband had huge debts, drank a lot, from which he died soon. Not experiencing happiness in marriage, but worried about the loss of her husband, Ranevskaya starts an affair with someone else. However, the woman has to experience new grief - tragic death little son, after which Ranevskaya tries to escape from her grief to Paris. The lover goes with her, but instead of support and sincere sympathy Lyubov Andreevna only gets a waste of her fortune, after which she is left alone. Then the landowner returns home.

The characteristics of this heroine are twofold: on the one hand, Lyubov Andreevna is well educated, has an excellent upbringing, she is true to her beliefs, kind to others and generous. On the other hand, Ranevskaya’s depravity and inability to think rationally are clearly visible. A woman loves to live for her own pleasure, without denying herself anything, which ultimately leads to sad end: the need to sell the garden.

Ranevskaya herself speaks about her inability to manage money and her habit of wasting it. Despite this recklessness and even depravity, those around her love this woman and are drawn to her. In the situation with the garden, the duality of Lyubov Andreevna’s character is also observed: she is very attached to this place, therefore she is very worried about the need to sell it, but she tries to mask her feelings with ease of behavior. Ranevskaya hums melodies and throws a ball at the estate before the auction. And in these actions is the whole essence of Ranevskaya.

Reluctance to sell the cherry orchard, fear of change is not a reason to take any action for Lyubov Andreevna. Lopakhin offers several real ways to save the site, but Ranevskaya prefers to only verbally express her suffering, without putting the merchant’s ideas into practice. The landowner is somewhat detached from real world, she lives in her fantasies, and this isolation more than once leads to a sad ending. Cultured, educated, sensitive Ranevskaya is a bright representative of the disappearing aristocratic society, literally before our eyes, crowded out by people of a new formation - active and down-to-earth.

The play "The Cherry Orchard" became the pearl of A.P. Chekhov's work. Literary scholars continue to argue about what the cherry orchard symbolized. And the created characters cause controversial opinions, but they will not leave readers indifferent. Below we will present a description of Ranevskaya from The Cherry Orchard.

Heroine's story

You need to start characterizing Ranevskaya from “The Cherry Orchard” by getting acquainted with the history of her life. This will allow you to better understand the character of the heroine. And in the play itself, the reader learns about the events of her life from Lyubov Andreevna herself. At the very beginning it is said that Ranevskaya is returning from Paris with her youngest daughter Anya. Lyubov Andreevna spent five years in this city, and she did not return out of longing for Russia.

She had to return because their family estate with a cherry orchard could be sold for debts. Ranevskaya married some attorney at law who was not a nobleman. The husband did only one thing - drank a lot, and died from alcohol abuse (namely champagne). The reader understands that marriage to such a person hardly made the heroine happy.

She has a fleeting romance. Her son, being small, drowns, and, feeling guilty, Lyubov Andreevna goes abroad. But her lover leaves after her, and after several years of a passionate romance, he leaves her without regret. At the same time, he robs her, leaving her without a livelihood. After his betrayal, Lyubov Andreevna tried to poison herself, but, fortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful.

Her daughter Anna goes after her. And no matter how strange it may seem, this vulnerable and impressionable girl understands and feels sorry for her mother. Lyubov Andreevna lived in Russia for only 5 months, and after the sale of the estate she returned to Paris to her lover. This is sad story Ranevskaya from The Cherry Orchard.

The inner world of the heroine

When characterizing Ranevskaya from The Cherry Orchard, you need to try to reveal the contradictory character of the heroine. Lyubov Andreevna is attractive, kind, has a sense of humor, but at the same time she cannot be called an intelligent and sensible woman. After all, she does not seek to change the situation in which she finds herself. A reasonable decision that would allow not only to save the family estate, but also to improve financial position, she rejects.

Of course, this was short-sighted on her part, but it showed her as a sentimental woman who could not agree to sell the house and cut down the cherry orchard because of the memories associated with it. Lyubov Andreevna is a very frivolous woman, because she does not think about the future, what will happen to her daughters, for her there is love, because of which she returns to Paris. And this can be considered not only as frivolity and stupidity on her part, but also as a hope that she too will have happiness. That is why the image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” turned out to be so controversial.

Relationships with other characters

In characterizing Ranevskaya from The Cherry Orchard, one should give short description her relationships with other characters. She has the closest relationship with her youngest daughter, who, due to her age, is an impressionable nature and understands and pities her mother. She has a close relationship with her brother, Gaev, because they are connected by common memories and kinship. Lopakhin is the complete opposite of Lyubov Andreevna, he is guided by reason, and she is guided by emotions. Despite the difference in characters, everyone sympathizes with Ranevskaya and tries to help her save the estate.

Relationship to the estate

In the characterization of Ranevskaya from “The Cherry Orchard,” one should also talk about how she relates to the orchard itself. For Lyubov Andreevna, he is connected with herself happy times in life - her childhood, youth. Walking along it, Ranevskaya saw herself as a little girl enjoying life. Therefore, she could not agree to sell it; perhaps this was the only thing that connected Lyubov Andreevna with Russia. Ranevskaya is one of the main characters of the play with contradictory nature, so she is one of Chekhov’s brightest heroines.

Ranevskaya in the system of images of Chekhov's heroines

The play “The Cherry Orchard” became A.P.’s swan song. Chekhov, taking on long years the stage of world theaters. The success of this work was due not only to its themes, which are controversial to this day, but also to the images that Chekhov created. For him, the presence of women in his works was very important: “Without a woman, a story is like a car without steam,” he wrote to one of his friends. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the role of women in society began to change. The image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” became a vivid caricature of Anton Pavlovich’s emancipated contemporaries, whom he observed in large quantities in Monte Carlo.

Chekhov carefully worked out each female image: facial expressions, gestures, manners, speech, because through them he conveyed an idea of ​​the character and feelings possessing the heroines. Appearance and the name also contributed to this.

The image of Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna has become one of the most controversial, and this was largely due to the actresses playing this role. Chekhov himself wrote that: “It’s not difficult to play Ranevskaya, you just need to take the right tone from the very beginning...”. Her image is complex, but there are no contradictions in it, since she is faithful to her internal logic of behavior.

Ranevskaya's life story

The description and characterization of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” is given through her story about herself, from the words of other characters and the author’s remarks. Getting to know the central female character begins literally from the first lines, and Ranevskaya’s life story is revealed in the very first act. Lyubov Andreevna returned from Paris, where she lived for five years, and this return was caused by urgent need resolving the issue of the fate of the estate put up for auction for debts.

Lyubov Andreevna married “a lawyer at law, a non-nobleman...”, “who only made debts,” and also “drank terribly” and “died from champagne.” Was she happy in this marriage? Unlikely. After the death of her husband, Ranevskaya “unfortunately” fell in love with another. But her passionate romance did not last long. Her young son died tragically, and feeling guilty, Lyubov Andreevna leaves abroad forever. However, her lover followed her “ruthlessly, rudely,” and after several years of painful passions, “he robbed... abandoned, got in touch with someone else,” and she, in turn, tries to poison herself. Seventeen-year-old daughter Anya comes to Paris to pick up her mother. Oddly enough, this young girl partially understands her mother and feels sorry for her. Throughout the play, the daughter's sincere love and affection is visible. Having stayed in Russia for only five months, Ranevskaya, immediately after selling the estate, taking the money intended for Anya, returns to Paris to her lover.

Characteristics of Ranevskaya

On the one hand, Ranevskaya is beautiful woman, educated, with a subtle sense of beauty, kind and generous, who is loved by those around her, but her shortcomings border on vice and therefore are so noticeable. “She's a good person. Easy, simple,” says Lopakhin. He sincerely loves her, but his love is so unobtrusive that no one knows about it. Her brother says almost the same thing: “She is good, kind, nice...” but she is “vicious. You can feel it in her slightest movement.”

Absolutely everyone is talking about her inability to manage money. characters, and she herself understands this perfectly: “I have always wasted money without restraint, like crazy...”; “...she has nothing left. And mom doesn’t understand!” says Anya. “My sister is still used to wasting money,” Gaev echoes her. Ranevskaya is used to living without denying herself pleasures, and if her family is trying to reduce their expenses, then Lyubov Andreevna simply cannot do it, she is ready to give her last money to a random passer-by, although Varya has nothing to feed her household.

At first glance, Ranevskaya’s experiences are very deep, but if you pay attention to the author’s remarks, it becomes clear that this is only an appearance. For example, while excitedly waiting for her brother to return from the auction, she hums a lezginka song. And this shining example her entire being. She seems to distance herself from unpleasant moments, trying to fill them with actions that can bring positive emotions. The phrase characterizing Ranevskaya from “The Cherry Orchard”: “You don’t have to deceive yourself, you have to look the truth straight in the eye at least once in your life,” suggests that Lyubov Andreevna is divorced from reality, stuck in her own world.

“Oh, my garden! After a dark, stormy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the heavenly angels have not abandoned you...” - with these words Ranevskaya greets the garden after a long separation, a garden without which she “does not understand her life,” with which she is inextricably her childhood and youth are connected. And it seems that Lyubov Andreevna loves her estate and cannot live without it, but she does not try to make any attempts to save it, thereby betraying him. Most In the play, Ranevskaya hopes that the issue with the estate will be resolved by itself, without her participation, although it is her decision that is the main one. Although Lopakhin's proposal is the most real way save him. The merchant has a presentiment of the future, saying that it is quite possible that “the summer resident ... will take up farming, and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious,” because on this moment The garden is in a neglected state, and does not bring any benefit or benefit to its owners.

For Ranevskaya, the cherry orchard meant her inextricable connection with the past and her ancestral attachment to the Motherland. She is a part of him, just as he is a part of her. She realizes that selling the garden is an inevitable payment for past life, and this can be seen in her monologue about sins, in which she realizes them and takes them upon herself, asking the Lord not to send great trials, and the sale of the estate becomes their kind of atonement: “My nerves are better... I sleep well.”

Ranevskaya is an echo of a cultural past that is thinning literally before our eyes and disappearing from the present. Well aware of the destructiveness of her passion, realizing that this love is pulling her to the bottom, she returns to Paris, knowing that “this money will not last long.”

Against this background, love for daughters looks very strange. Stepdaughter, who dreams of joining a monastery, gets a job as a housekeeper for her neighbors, since she does not have at least a hundred rubles to donate, and her mother simply does not attach any importance to this. Her own daughter Anya, left at the age of twelve in the care of a careless uncle, is very worried about her mother’s future on the old estate and is saddened by the imminent separation. “...I will work, help you...” says a young girl who is not yet familiar with life.

The further fate of Ranevskaya is very unclear, although Chekhov himself said that: “Only death can calm such a woman.”

Characteristics of the image and description of the life of the heroine of the play will be useful to 10th grade students when preparing an essay on the topic “The Image of Ranevskaya in the play “The Cherry Orchard” by Chekhov.”

Work test

“The Cherry Orchard” is one of his best works. The action of the play takes place on the estate of the landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, on an estate with a cherry orchard surrounded by poplars, with a long alley that “goes straight, like a stretched belt” and “glitters in moonlit nights" This garden is going to be sold due to the numerous debts of L.A. Ranevskaya. She does not want to agree that the garden should be sold for dachas.

Ranevskaya, devastated by love, returns to her estate in the spring. In the cherry orchard, doomed to auction, there are “white masses of flowers,” starlings sing, and there is a blue sky above the garden. Nature is preparing for renewal - and hopes for a new one awaken in Ranevskaya’s soul, clean life: “All, all white! O my garden! After a dark stormy autumn and cold winter again you are young, full of happiness, the angels of heaven will not leave you... If only the heavy stone could be removed from my chest and shoulders, if only I could forget my past!” And for the merchant Lopakhin, the cherry orchard means something more than the object of a profitable commercial deal. Having become the owner of a garden and an estate, he experiences an ecstatic state... He bought an estate, the most beautiful of which is nothing in the world!”

Ranevskaya is impractical, selfish, she is petty and gone in her love interest, but she is also kind, sympathetic, and her sense of beauty does not fade. Lopakhin sincerely wants to help Ranevskaya, expresses genuine sympathy for her, and shares her passion for the beauty of the cherry orchard. Lopakhin's role is central - he is a gentle person by nature.

Ranevskaya was not able to save the orchard from destruction, and not because she was unable to turn the cherry orchard into a commercial, profitable one, as it was 40-50 years ago: “...It used to be that dried cherries were carried by carts and sent to Moscow and Kharkov . There was money!”

When they only talk about the possibility of a sale, Ranevskaya “tears up the telegram without reading it,” when the buyer is already named, Ranevskaya, before tearing up the telegram, reads it, and when the auction took place, Ranevskaya does not tear up the telegrams and, having accidentally dropped one of them, confesses her decision to go to Paris to the man who robbed and abandoned her, confesses her love for this man. In Paris, she is going to live on the money that Anya’s grandmother sent to buy the estate. Ranevskaya turned out to be inferior to the idea of ​​the cherry orchard, she betrays it.

The comedy “The Cherry Orchard” is considered Chekhov’s pinnacle work. The play reflects such a socio-historical phenomenon of the country as degradation " noble nest", the moral impoverishment of the nobility, the development of feudal relations into capitalist ones, and behind this - the emergence of a new, ruling class of the bourgeoisie. The theme of the play is the fate of the homeland, its future. “All of Russia is our garden.” The past, present and future of Russia seem to emerge from the pages of the play “The Cherry Orchard”. The representative of the present in Chekhov's comedy is Lopakhin, the past - Ranevskaya and Gaev, the future - Trofimov and Anya.

Starting from the first act of the play, the rot and worthlessness of the owners of the estate - Ranevskaya and Gaev - are exposed. Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, in my opinion, is a rather empty woman. She sees nothing around her except love interests, strives to live beautifully, carefree. She is simple, charming, kind. But her kindness turns out to be purely external. The essence of her nature is selfishness and frivolity: Ranevskaya gives out gold, while poor Varya, out of “savings, feeds everyone milk soup, in the kitchen the old people are given one pea”; throws an unnecessary ball when there is nothing to pay off debts with. He remembers his deceased son, talks about maternal feelings and love. And she leaves her daughter in the care of a careless uncle, without worrying about her daughters’ future. She resolutely tears up telegrams from Paris, at first without even reading them, and then goes to Paris. She is saddened by the sale of the estate, but rejoices at the opportunity to go abroad. And when he talks about love for his homeland, he interrupts himself with the remark: “However, you need to drink coffee.” For all her weakness and lack of will, she has the ability for self-criticism, for disinterested kindness, for sincere, ardent feeling.

Gaev, Ranevskaya’s brother, is also helpless and lethargic. In his own eyes, he is an aristocrat of the highest circle; “coarse” smells bother him. He doesn’t seem to notice Lopakhin and tries to put “this boor” in his place. In Gaev’s language, colloquialism is combined with lofty words: after all, he loves liberal rantings. His favorite word is “whom”; he is partial to billiard terms.

The present of Russia in Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” is represented by Lopakhin. In general, his image is complex and contradictory. He is decisive and compliant, calculating and poetic, truly kind and unconsciously cruel. These are the many facets of his nature and character. Throughout the entire play, the hero constantly repeats about his origin, saying that he is a man: “My father, it’s true, was a man, but here I am in a white vest and yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a Kalash row... Just now he's rich, there's a lot of money, but if you think about it and figure it out, then he's a man..." Although, it seems to me, he still exaggerates his common people, because he already came from the family of a village kulak-shopkeeper. Lopakhin himself says: “...my late father - he was trading in a shop here in the village back then...” And he himself is currently a very successful businessman. According to him, one can judge that things are going very well for him and there is no need to complain to him about life and his fate in relation to money.

In his image one can see all the features of an entrepreneur, a businessman who personifies the real state of Russia and its structure. Lopakhin is a man of his time, who saw the real chain of development of the country, its structure and became involved in the life of society. He lives for today.

Chekhov notes the merchant's kindness and his desire to become a better person. Ermolai Alekseevich remembers how Ranevskaya stood up for him when his father offended him as a child. Lopakhin recalls this with a smile: “Don’t cry, he says, little man, he’ll live until the wedding... (Pause.) Little man...” He sincerely loves her, willingly lends Lyubov Andreevna money, not expecting to ever receive it. For her sake, he tolerates Gaev, who despises and ignores him. The merchant strives to improve his education and learn something new. At the beginning of the play, he is shown with a book in front of the readers. Regarding this, Ermolai Alekseevich says: “I read the book and didn’t understand anything. I read and fell asleep."

Ermolai Lopakhin, the only one in the play who is busy with business, leaves for his merchant needs. In one of the conversations about this you can hear: “I have to go to Kharkov now, at five o’clock in the morning.” He differs from others in his vitality, hard work, optimism, assertiveness, and practicality. He alone offers a real plan to save the estate.

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Homework on the topic: Description of the image of Ranevskaya in the play “ The Cherry Orchard» .

/ / / The image of Ranevskaya in Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard”

Ranevskaya appears before the reader as a woman no longer young, but who has managed to maintain a rather attractive appearance. Having buried her son many years ago, she was left with own daughter and adopted Varya.

The woman leaves for Paris in order to escape from the grief that hangs over her like a stigma. However, Love does not find happiness in another country either. Her chosen one first becomes very ill, and later ruins Ranevskaya and finds himself a “new” love. This forces her to return to her native estate, which has already been put up for auction for a large debt.

Chekhov also shows Ranevskaya’s character. The woman is kind, generous, sublime, very educated. There is real affection between her and her daughter Anna. All the characters in the play speak positively about her.

However, a woman also has a number of positive negative qualities. She is wasteful and inattentive to money. Her “lightness and airiness” is just the outer shell of spinelessness, stupidity and affectation. The woman is used to spending all her time for her own pleasure. She is not worried about what her children eat, how she will pay for the musicians, and in general how to help the family in hard times. Passive participation in deciding the fate of the cherry orchard entails corresponding consequences. But she doesn't even think about it. The woman firmly believes in miracles, and does not understand the seriousness of the situation.

All her thoughts are directed to memories of the past. She flutters around the rooms like a butterfly, hugs old furniture and admires the cherry blossoms.

Ranevskaya is absolutely empty inside. Accustomed to always having a lot of money, living in luxury, wearing expensive jewelry, giving balls, a woman is absolutely not adapted to real life. Perhaps because of this, she subconsciously selects men who just as carefree “exist” at her expense.

Several times Love catches herself thinking that she is saving on everything and denying herself everything. And that now is not the time when you can “waste” money, but this is only temporary enlightenment. She feels a little sorry for her daughter, but she is not going to change her life. After all, Ranevskaya does not know how hard it is to get “chervonets”.

Many people are used to using Ranevskaya’s wallet, even her devoted lackey Yasha. She doesn’t think that such a life leads her to poverty, where no one will help her, not even.

In the meantime, there is money sent by her aunt to buy out the estate, but which was sorely lacking, there is the lackey Yasha, there is Paris, again opening its arms... Ahead is a comfortable life abroad, a repentant lover, what else can Ranevskaya dream of?! What about the daughters? Well, God be with them, the adults will somehow live on their own...

Love is so discouraged by the loss of the cherry orchard that she lets Varya’s matchmaking take its course. She again believes that without her this “problem” will somehow be solved by itself. But in the end, Lopakhin still does not dare to propose marriage to the girl. Varya leaves to work for “strange” people as a housekeeper, and this does not bother the carefree Ranevskaya at all. The main thing is that she is doing well.