The Cherry Orchard

When I sat down to read Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, I expected a comedy similar to Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. I was very disappointed that I did not find the comedy that I was anticipating. Chekhov got my hopes up when he subtitled his play "A Comedy in Four Acts." Did Chekhov incorporate elements that are necessary to make up a good comedy? Yes, I believe he did. His characters all have very ironic personalities and in the end the young take control from the old, which every good comedy should have. The character Gayev was my favorite because of his ironic personality. Gayev is the uncle to Anya and Varya. I would expect him to act mature and have lots of wisdom and knowledge, but instead he acts like a teenage boy by bragging about a game of billiards and eating candy.

The end of the play is where I would say that most of the tragedy happens. I think that if this were to be a comedy, the family would have magically saved the orchard. Instead, Lopakhin wins the orchard in the auction and decides to chop all of the cherry trees down to make vacation homes. Now this might just be the country girl in me, but cutting down beautiful cherry trees to build summer vacation homes is a horrible tragedy! However, I think it is good that the family is accepting loosing the orchard and moving on with their lives. Chekhov ends his play on a sad note, which also helped contribute to the tragic feeling of the play. They leave Firs, their old butler, behind in the locked house to die. Having this be the final image of this play did not leave me in giggles like a comedy would. Rather, it left me horrified and sad.