Resumo de The Cherry Orchard

Described by Chekhov as ?Scenes of Country Life,? The Cherry Orchard describes the dying society of country estate Russian aristocracy at the turn of the twentieth century. The play opens in the spring while the cherry orchards are in bloom. However, soon we discover that though the trees are beautiful, they do not harvest and are not useful or productive. The family and friends of the estate await the return of Madame Ranevsky, the lady of the house, and her daughter Anya. Madame Ranevsky left the estate several years before after the tragic death of her husband and young son. She is returning deeply in debt, after living abroad in France with her lover who robbed and abandoned her.

Anya, returning from her first trip abroad, remains confident and hopeful of the future. She finds herself in love with Trophimof, the tutor and revolutionary. They spend hours speaking of how they are above love, and that life is about work and progress as opposed to paltry human emotions. Her sister Barbara is also interested in marrying the wealthy Lopakhin, the son of a former serf.

Madame Ranevsky and her brother Gayef are hopelessly in debt. They can?t pay off the mortgage on the estate, and unless some money comes from elsewhere, the estate will be auctioned off in August. There is nothing they can do to pay off the debts they have to their neighbour Pishtchik. The new class politics begin to show the inefficiency of the former aristocracy and how a new and ruthless class will take over society.

The hopes of an alliance between Barbara and the rich Lopakhin lead nowhere, and Madame Ranevsky gets a letter from her lover asking for her back. She takes loans out through Pishtchik and gets more and more in debt. Gayef considers going to work at a bank to carve a new future for himself. Work is something that they?re class has never even considered before, and this is a radical change for Gayef and the family.

The night before the house goes up for auction, Madame Ranevsky decides to hold a ball. Despite her huge debts, Madame Ranevsky continues to be more and more extravagant and appears to have learned nothing from her experience. Lopakhin makes his entrance at the party to inform everyone that he has bought the Cherry Orchard. He is triumphant, for this is a symbol of how he has victory over the past. The land where his family lived for generations as serfs has finally become his.

The last act shows everyone leaving the estate. The sound of trees being chopped down is heard in the distance. Lopakhin has decided to tear down the Cherry Orchard as it is not profitable. As Madame Ranevsky goes back to France and her lover, the other characters scatter to the ends of the earth. Poor Firs, the elderly family retainer, is left alone and forgotten inside the locked estate. As the sound of chopping continues to grow louder, Firs falls asleep and apparently dies. The old order is finally over.

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