Dicuss the play The Cherry Orchard as a tragedy and a comedy. , Part II
The role of Lopakhin is very important in highlighting the ludicrous attitude of Lyubov . He is a practical person and flourishing businessman. He belongs to the lower strata of Russian society that gained affluence after the emancipation of serfs. His "father was a serf". He himself had served the aristocratic family of Lubov once. He advises her to "divide up the orchard...rent them out". It would earn her an income of a "twenty thousand roubles a year" as well as she will be able to save her a vast portion of the orchard. But she is concerned more for the symbol of her aristocratic name i.e. Cherry Orchard. This is really silly, laughable and ironical. But this holds deep pathos too. "Cut it down?" is her reaction to the advice of Lopakhin. Ironically, though she does not want to cut even a single tree of the orchard, yet not cutting a portion of the orchard would mean auction of the entire orchard. And the worst thing is...the serf buys the orchard in auction.
Gayev is the brother of Lyubov. If she is silly and painfully callous regarding the safety of her family and estate, then he is equally responsible for being non-serious about life. He appears to be conscious of the changing state of affairs in the country. He shows his utmost sincerity but he does nothing except looking out for the lost pride of his family. Both, he and Lyubov, seem to live in the past. They are stuck to it and cannot get rid of it. While supporting his sister, all for not cutting of the trees, he says: "The cherry orchard is mentioned in the Encyclopaedia". The family is disintegrated into fragments uncollectible. This creates pathos and a tragic element. The internal conflicts lead the family to ruin. However, the clumsy and impractical behavior on the part of the family is sometimes laughable, sometimes tearful.
The author has created light comedy with the one sided love stories in the play. There is an expectation that Varya is to be married to Lopakhin while Anya is in deep and emotional love of Trofimov, the intellectual. But the humor and irony lie in the fact that both of the male characters show no intelligence of practicality in understanding them and the prospects at all. Lopakhin remains busy in his professional responsibilities while Trofimov deems" love" a "petty illusion". He complains to Anya about Varya: "can't she understand that we're above all that? We must be free of the small, the pointless...". With the departure of Lopakhin,"it's all over" for Varya . Anya utters "GoodyBye! Old life". A change has been thrust upon the characters of the play. None of the relationships appear successful. Even the most intelligent philosophic Trofimov and the most practical Lopakhin leave their love. This is stupid but pathetic.
