The Cherry Orchard Essay, Research Paper

From the Anton Chekhov play, The Cherry Orchard, performed at the O’Reilly Theater, the character Varya is quite unique. Varya embodies Chekhov’s idea of comedy, she is waiting for events to happen, but in reality they will never happen.

Varya is probably motivated by her quest for happiness, and what she really wants. She wants to marry Lopakhin, or does she? She probably doesn’t truly love him but is motivated to marry him because she knows that she will have a less glamorous future without him. Until the auction, she is hopeful that the Cherry Orchard and their estate will be saved, but it is doomed from the beginning.

Varya is a great example of Chekhov’s subtextual style. She has an immense inner conflict, and the actress who portrayed her, Lisa Levy, did an adequate job of relating that message. Varya speaks in a highly emotional, sometimes sullen voice throughout most of the play, and cries often. She consistently wears black clothing, as if attending a funeral. This is probably to emphasize her outlook on her life and future in Russia. She is 27 years old, and yet to be married, a rarity in those times, and Lopakhin has yet to propose to her and she doesn’t know why.

As for the play’s impact on my intellect and emotions, I’ll be honest, it wasn’t much. This is difficult to say, knowing that Chekhov is considered one of the great playwrights of our time. I don’t know if this means that the play was over my head, or the actors weren’t that good (which I doubt).

To me, The Cherry Orchard seemed like a play of its time, and many of us don’t know the attitudes and emotional state of mind in Russia in the turn of the last century. I think, what Chekhov and his contemporaries and maybe play scholars might find humorous, I found sad, even tragic, and that was not Chekhov’s intentions for the play.