temes

1. The Cherry Orchard Themes

2. Presented by Mehak Imtiaz
& Ayesha Afzal
Presented to Sir Iqbal Butt

3. + The play “The cherry Orchard” is about the
growth of middle class in Russia and the fall of
the aristocracy. The play describes how an
aristocratic family has to sale its famous-
cherry orchard; and how a born serf, who had
been serving this family for generations,
purchases this orchard.

4. + The liberation of Russia’s serfs by Nicholas-ǁ
brought about a great social change in Russia.
Many aristocrats fell on hard times and many
hard working serfs rose high.
+ Mrs. Ranevsky has failed to manage her cherry
orchard. Her mortgage is due and she does
not have enough funds to cover the payment.

5. + Lopakhin, a former serf of the family, now a
sharp business man, makes himself able
enough to purchase her estate.
+ There are some characters too who question
at the utility of Liberation. They think that the
Liberation is not enough to constitute
progress.

6. + The Liberation freed millions of people who otherwise would
have lived out lives of servitude on Russian estates with no
opportunity for freedom.
+ Seemingly then it would seem that everyone in Russia, thirty
years after Liberation, would have become accustomed to
freedom or liberty with opportunities for mobility and social
advancement. Yet, many of Chekhov's characters seem to be
frozen or not free at all.
+ In regards to freedom, they fall into two groups: those who
are free and positively approach the future and those who are
imprisoned in the past.

7. + Mrs. Ranevsky, her daughter, Anya and her
brother Gayev are very passive. They find
themselves unable to change the course of
their worse circumstances.
+ Mrs. Ranevsky gives up efforts to save her
estate, rather she is wasting her remaining
money on useless things.

8. + Gayev, Anya and Varya also become passive
and continue to believe that everything will be
good.
+ Gayev and mrs. Ranevsky do nothing to avert
the auction but remain passive hoping for
some miracle to happen.

9. + The social gap between the upper and lower classes is
beginning to close in the new Russia.
+ However, the gap is still wide enough to create tension.
For example, when Lopakhin broaches the idea of
cutting down the cherry orchard to make room for
money-making villas, Ranevsky calls the plan a vulgar
concept.
+ Class differences surface again when a discussion is
under way about how to save the estate and Gayev
says, "My aunt's very rich, but she doesn't like us. My
sister, in the first place, married an advocate, not a
noble. She not only married a man who was not a
noble, but she behaved herself in a way which cannot
be described as proper" (Act 1).

10. + The main theme of the play is how changes in Russian social,
economic, and cultural life affect Madame Ranevsky and her
family & links on her estate. Madame Ranevsky refuses to accept
change, preferring instead to hold onto the past. She even
spends as she did when she had money, driving herself deeper
and deeper into debt.
+ Gayev shares his sister's fondness for the aristocratic past, but in
the end he yields to the reality of the present and takes a job at
a bank. His decision to accept a position that he believes is
below his social situation no doubt.

11. + Madame Ranevsky fails to grasp the
seriousness of her financial straits and the fact
that the age of nobility and privilege is dying.
It is as if she thinks a god will appear, to lead
her to a pot of gold and restore her to the
happy days of her youth.
+ When she imagines that she sees her mother
in the cherry orchard, she reveals her
tendency to dwell in the pleasant past and
ignore the unsettling reality of the present.