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Cherry Orchard Analysis

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The inability to take action in times when it is most crucial can be a tragic flaw, often because of ignorance, idleness, greed, or a deep connection to an object, place, or memory. In The Cherry Orchard, by Anton Chekov, Madame Ranevsky owns an estate with a cherry orchard. However, following the death of her son and husband, she fled to Paris and abandoned the orchard for over five years. Eventually, she found her way back to the estate, but with a major problem; she cannot afford the mortgage and is at great risk of losing the estate for good. She is racing against the clock to find a solution to keep the orchard. By having Lopakhin be a character foil to Madame, it is seen how Chekov is in support of rewarding those who are …show more content…

This plan is more doable that any other plan that the others come up with. Due to his logical and practical personality, Lopakhin is able to take action to make his situation better, finding himself compensated for his hard work at the end of the play. Unlike the upper class on the estate, he is the only one willing to come up with a practical solution. When auction day arrives, his method proves to be the most successful. Upon Madame asking the fate of the Orchard Lopakhin says, “I bought it… If only my father and grandfather could rise from their graves and see the whole affair, how their Yermolái, their flogged and ignorant Yermolái, who used to run barefooted in the winter, how this same Yermolái had bought a property that hasn’t its equal for beauty anywhere in the whole world!” (38). This shows how Lopakhin, the only one willing to come up with a feasible solution, was rewarded by being able to outbid the upper class and avenge his father’s and grandfather’s lives. Lopakhin further goes on to say, “I have bought the property where my father and grandfather were slaves, where they weren’t even allowed in the kitchen. (38). It is seen how Lopakhin inability to do nothing ultimately helped him changed his entire life. In his youth, he was just a serf, but now he is the owner of the estate that owns him. By taking action, he was able to prove that it does not matter how one’s life starts out of what situation they are in,

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