Refelctive Cherry Orchard
How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?
The play The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov shows the changing times in Russia, particularly the rise of the serfs and the communist ideology. During the discussion, various topics were brought up, including social class, time, characterisation, and the significance of the cherry orchard.
The cherry orchard in general represents the wealth of the aristocrats and the old social order and its destruction symbolises change. However, for Madam Ranevsky, the cherry orchard is a symbol of her past. For Barbara, the orchard is a symbol of power and ownership. For Lopakhin, it is a symbol of his oppression, his life as a serf and so the buying of the orchard is a vengeful act. The household of the Lyubovs stands for Russia and tells us that the serfs are rising throughout the country.
The changes in social class are portrayed through the characters. Young characters like Dunyasha and Yasha are actually serfs however, they are pretentious and want a society where they are the high class. Older characters such as Madam Ranevsky and Gayef live in an illusion of the past. Firs, being a serf for his entire life, has a sense of loyalty towards his masters and therefore is emotionally and physically distressed when the serfs try to rise above their status. Trophimof is an idealist who wants to create a new society. These conflicting ideas help in creating the setting. I now understand that this play took place during social class changes in Russia after Czar Alexander II issued the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861, which called for the freedom of all serfs.
We also discussed about the ignorance of the aristocrats. For example, Madam Ranevsky does nothing to solve the problem of her bankruptcy. In fact, she continues to give money away even though she knows that she is in debt. This helpless nature of hers stands for all the aristocrats. Their class is slowly
The play The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov shows the changing times in Russia, particularly the rise of the serfs and the communist ideology. During the discussion, various topics were brought up, including social class, time, characterisation, and the significance of the cherry orchard.
The cherry orchard in general represents the wealth of the aristocrats and the old social order and its destruction symbolises change. However, for Madam Ranevsky, the cherry orchard is a symbol of her past. For Barbara, the orchard is a symbol of power and ownership. For Lopakhin, it is a symbol of his oppression, his life as a serf and so the buying of the orchard is a vengeful act. The household of the Lyubovs stands for Russia and tells us that the serfs are rising throughout the country.
The changes in social class are portrayed through the characters. Young characters like Dunyasha and Yasha are actually serfs however, they are pretentious and want a society where they are the high class. Older characters such as Madam Ranevsky and Gayef live in an illusion of the past. Firs, being a serf for his entire life, has a sense of loyalty towards his masters and therefore is emotionally and physically distressed when the serfs try to rise above their status. Trophimof is an idealist who wants to create a new society. These conflicting ideas help in creating the setting. I now understand that this play took place during social class changes in Russia after Czar Alexander II issued the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861, which called for the freedom of all serfs.
We also discussed about the ignorance of the aristocrats. For example, Madam Ranevsky does nothing to solve the problem of her bankruptcy. In fact, she continues to give money away even though she knows that she is in debt. This helpless nature of hers stands for all the aristocrats. Their class is slowly