(i) What are the major themes in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. Society and Class, Memory and the Past, Social Changes and Progress,
Failure to Grasp Reality, The Struggle over Memory, Contrasting Regions, Class
Distinctions, Self-Destruction, love, time and wealth are the major themes in "The
Cherry Orchard".
(ii) What are the major symbols in ‘The Cherry Orchard?
Ans. Cherry Orchard, breaking string, dropped purse, Fiers' death, nursery,
telegraph poles and Varya's keys are the major symbols in "The Cherry Orchard".
(iii) What is the role of music in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. Music is only heard in Act III, during a party on the day of the auction of the
cherry orchard. Madam Ranevsky says, "And the musicians needn't have come,
and we needn't have got up this ball." She wants to hear music for the catharsis of
her pent-up emotions. When Lopakhin purchases the cherry orchard, he commands
the musicians to play to express his happiness.
(iv) What is naturalism?
Ans. Naturalism was a literary movement or tendency from the 1880s to 1930s that
used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment
had inescapable force in shaping human character. It was mainly unorganized
literary movement that sought to depict believable everyday reality, as opposed to
such movements as Romanticism or Surrealism.
(v) How is ‘The Cherry Orchard’ a naturalistic play?
Ans. "The Cherry Orchard" is a naturalistic play because it focuses on scientific,
objective details. It is like realism, in that it attempts to portray life "as it really is".
The characters are realistic and complex as human beings are. Like other
naturalistic plays, there is a use of symbolic elements as key devices to
communicate wider meanings.
(vi) What does ‘The Cherry Orchard’ signify?
Ans. The Cherry Orchard means different things to different people. It represents
Lyubov's heritage and her youth -- a disappearing paradise. For Gayev, it is a
symbol of status. For Lopakhin it is a financial opportunity. Trofimov sees the
orchard as a symbol of injustice. Anya gives up her sentimental attachment to it for
a new life.
(vii) Define tragicomedy.
Ans. Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspect of both tragic and comic
forms. Most often seen in dramatic literature, the term can variously describe either
a tragic play with contains enough comic elements to lighten the overall mood, or,
often, a serious play with a happy ending. "The Merchant of Venice" by
Shakespeare and "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov are examples of
tragicomedy.
(viii) Is ‘The Cherry Orchard’ a tragedy or comedy?
Ans. "The Cherry Orchard" might be said to belong to the same category as "The
Winter's Tale": it contains a tragedy but does not allow it to be fulfilled. Anton
Chekhov conceived of this play as a comedy. The play in fact, portrays an end of
an aristocratic era with both tragic and comic elements. Thus it best characterized
as a tragicomedy.
(ix) What is modernism?
Ans. Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and
changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western
society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that
shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the
rapid growth of cities, followed then by the horror of World War I.
(x) What is modern about ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. One thing which is modern about "The Cherry Orchard" is the emphasis on
realism. Moreover, money in the play is a modern element which dictates the
transformation of landscapes from pastoral to industrial. Thus the play is 'out with
the old and in with the new.'
(xi) What is the setting of ‘The Cherry Orchard?
Ans. The action takes place between May and October at a rural estate in Russian
three to four decades after Czar Alexander II freed the serf in 1861.
(xii) What is the central conflict in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. The central conflict of the play is the battle between the values of the old
Russia and the values of the new Russia.
(xiii) How is ‘The Cherry Orchard’ perceived by the servant class?
Ans. Firs is the representative of the servant class. To Firs, the cherry orchard is
something to be revered and remembered, and something that is intimately
connected with past times and a very different kind of life from the life that is
being experienced by the Ranevsky family now.
(xiv) What is the significance of the axe falling in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. The axe falling on the tress in Act IV represents the destruction of the orchard
and the old aristocratic way of life in Russia.
(xv) What is the ultimate fate of Firs at the end of ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. Firs is an old footman, faithful to the Ranevsky family for generations.
Concerned only with the well-being of his employers, he is inadvertently left to die
in the abandoned house, a symbol of the dying past.
