-INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE DIPLOMA

SESSION MAY 2016

ENGLISH A: LITERATURE

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT
STANDARD LEVEL
TOPIC:
How does the character's attitudes represent their social class?

Candidate Name: Mukund Narasimhan

Candidate Number :
Number of Words :1400
Number of Pages: 8
Date of Submission:6/7/2015

Name: Mukund Narasimhan

Candidate No.:
Session: May 2016
English A: Literature
Standard Level
Written Assignment
Reflective Statement

Work: The Cherry Orchard

Q. How were the considerations of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the

interactive oral?

My understanding of the cultural and contextual importance of the work was deepened by the interactive oral

that discussed the importance of social conditions present in Chekhovs life. It was discussed that the play was

written after the abolishment of serfdom and before the revolution, when the industries were developing and the

new capitalist class was growing at the expense of the aristocrats. The change was significant and even

Chekhov belonged to the newly liberated class. The inability of the aristocrats to work, the obsession of the

capitalists with money and the intellectualism of the intelligentsia has been poignantly portrayed by actions and

attitudes of the characters representing specific components of the Russian society.

We discussed how Anton Chekhov has used playwright technique of indirect action in the play. The actions

and the climaxes happen offstage and are being narrated by those on stage. This means that the stage is

relatively quiet and melancholia that is consistent with the theme of a quiet yet a powerful revolution. This also

allows Chekhov to emphasise the complex plethora of events that has led to the action. The setting of the play,

that of a quiet old mansion sets the tone and mood in the play. This allows Chekhov to describe vividly the

rural Russia , and at the same time, complement his playwright technique. Hence, he is able to show that the

revolution that Russia was undergoing was happening in the villages, not in the battle feild.

We then talked about how Chekhov has portrayed the changing relations between the classes. It was noticed

that aristocrats looked at the former serf with disdain, while the latter reciprocated the feeling with contempt

due to the inability of the aristocracy to work. Students pointed out that Madam Ranevskys entry is grand and

contrasts with that of Lopakhin. The change in power is noticed when Lopakhin starts laughing and smiling,

while Madam Ranevsky starts swooning after he buys the Cherry Orchard. The play ends in a tragic manner,

and the fact that stage is empty is used to highlight the transformation of society.

Through the discussion of the changing social conditions that Chekhov had to witness, I was able to understand

the rationale behind the plot and the sequence of the play. Through the discussion of his style, I was able to

understand how he has complemented the plot to highlight the mood and atmosphere in the play.
Words- 349
Name: Mukund Narasimhan

Candidate No.:

Session: May 2016

English A: Literature

Standard Level

Written Assignment

Work: The Cherry Orchard

Topic: How does the character's attitude represent their social class in the work Cherry Orchard?

Anton Chekhov's The Cherry orchard is a play that was written during pre-revolutionary Russia when society

was going through a paradigm shift. The main protagonist is an aristocrat called Madam Ranevsky who looses

her Cherry Orchard in an auction to pay off her debts. In this play, Madam Ranevsky represents the falling

aristocratic class, Lopakhin the rising bourgeoisie class and Trophimof the future looking intellectual class. The

characters have distinguishing attitude towards work, time and interclass relations that represent the fabric of

society that they belong to. The play alludes to a historical time in the past, after the abolishment of serfdom by

Tsar Alexander II and before the onset of industrial revolution in Russia. The current situation described in the

play refers to the actual point of power change and dynamics between the communities.

Madam Ranevsky is the tragic heroine in the play . After the death of her son, she departed Russia with her

second daughter Anya to France. After squandering her wealth in France, she returns to Russia to save her

Cherry Orchard from auction. Madam Ranevsky represents the Russian aristocrats who have been rendered

helpless due to their inability to work. This primarily stems from the fact that the aristocrats depended on land

for their survival and end of serfdom meant that noone was willing to work in their estates. Thus the loss of

livelihood, combined with a lack of alternate profession to rehabilate themselves, meant that the aristocrats

were unable to work, The central theme of this play is the loss of her loved Cherry Orchard due to her

spendthrift attitude and this becomes symbolic of the loss of livelihood of all Russian aristocrats. Her daughter

Anya , repeats that she has 'nothing' with despair notes her desperate financial condition. (Chekhov, 5 ). Finally,

Madam Ranevsky's line ' I had a lot of money yesterday but there is hardly any left now' (Chekhov, 19)

becomes a representative of the financial ruin faced by the aristocrats. Anyas criticism of her giving too much
tip to the waiters provides an early evidence of her frivolousness. Later on, her actions such as giving money to

Pishtick, a neighbour, and others, in spite of her desperate financial condition provide tangible evidence of her

spendthrift attitude ,which is vociferously criticized by her brother when he scolds her for giving her purse to

the villagers, in spite of her being bankrupt, at the end of the play. These actions represent the unrealistic

attitude of the aristocrats who seek to showcase their wealth, in spite of not having any. This is further

demonstrated by her sightless act of calling the band despite her not having any money and her Cherry Orchard

being sold in auction to pay off her debts. Her act of dropping the purse and her servant picking it up becomes

allegorical of the general situation in Russia where the money goes out of the hands of aristocrats and into the

hands of former serfs like Lopakhin. The escapist tendencies of Madam Ranevsky and fellow aristocrats is

highly visible when she tries to get her eldest daughter Barbara married to a rich man, with the hopes of settling

her debts. The attitude towards time expressed by Madam Ranevsky is symbolic of the gentry in Russia. We

see them looking favorably to the past with reverance, looking to the present with despair and looking to the

future with a mix of suspicion and hope. This idea is exemplified by Madam Ranevskys act of venerating any

possesions that remind her of the golden age including her table and her cupboard. The loss of her past

represents a tragedy which is first brought to the attention of the readers by the shock she expresses when

Lopakhin tells her to cut the Cherry Orchard which is the last symbol of her great aristocratic past. Her line

"My life has no meaning without the Cherry Orchard" (Chekhov, 32) substantiates her longing for the past.

Paradoxically, the recent past also weighs heavily upon her, making her exclaim hysterically " I have seem to

lost the power of vision" (Chekhov, 32) to Tophimof ( another character) when he asks her to look at things

more realistically. The past is also associated with events that constitute a personal tragedy as it reminds her of

her frivolousness and the loss her son. The obsession of aristocrats , including Ranevskys obsession with the

past blind them to the realities of the present and make them take disastrous decision. Examples of this

obsessions are when she labels the villa owners as vulgur and advises her brother to not take up job in a

bank.The selling of Cherry Orchard to pay off her debts at the end of the play represents a symbolic break of

the venerable past. However, her lines ' I sleep well now' (Chekhov, 44) and her bidding 'farewell'

(Chekhov,48) makes the audience hopeful that the selling of the Cherry Orchard might force her to leave the

past and look to the future. Her pathetic financial conditions represent that of aristocrats in Russia, who have

become misfits due to their inability to work and adapt to the present. However, it could be argued that Chekov
has expressed playwright sympathy for them, which can be inferred due to the stage being empty at the end of

the play signifying an unpleasant social revolution.

Lopakhin, on the contrary, represents the capitalist class that has witnessed progress due to the industrial

revolution and has displaced the aristocrats. Lopakhin is a rich tycoon, whose father was a serf to Madam

Ranevsky. However, he holds special reverence for Madam Ranevsky, whom he believes was instrumental in

educating him. The capitalist class had seen a rise in fortune when Tsar Alexander II spearheaded a change

from the feudal economy of the middle ages to the industrialized economy of the 19 th Century. Towards the

end of the play, Lopakhin buys the Cherry Orchard, and completes the power transformation from the feudal

dominated society to a capitalist dominated one. The new capitalist class sees wealth as a tool for redemption

from the past, as a symbol of power and ar way of asserting its dominance. These characteristics can be seen

through Lopakhins actions when contrasts his silk purse with his peasant father ( Chekhov,1)and mocks

Trophimof by offering and then immediately withdrawing the offer of monetary help towards the end of the

play. The capitalist class is rational and is not bound by emotions, unlike the feudal class. Lopakhin exhibits

these attitudes when he advises Madam Ranevsky to build villas and tells her that the cutting of the Cherry

Orchard is the only viable option to repay back the debts. He and other capitalist entrepreneurs extol the value

of work and show contempt for those unable to work. This prompts him to to call Gayef "lazy"(Chekov,42)

towards the end of the play and boast about working from morning to night (Chekov,41) The capitalist

outlook towards time is very different from that of other social groups. Lopakhin detests the past and expresses

joy at the buying of the Cherry Orchard by exclaiming Oh, that all this were the past and over ( Chekhov,38)

and gives order to cut it quickly .The capitalists look to the future with positive optimism and Lopakhin says,

our grandsons and great grandsons shall see a new life here( Chekhov,38)

Trophimof is the former tutor of Madam Ranevsky's deceased son. It is shown that he is in love with Anya,

Madam Ranevsky's second daughter. He is currently studying, but is contemptuously called as the "perpetual

student" (Chekhov,23) as he is always studying. Trophimof is a representative of the intellectuals and the

critiques in the Russian society who are thoroughly dissatisfied with the inequalities and the laziness in the

Russian society and look forward to the future to establish a utopian society. This is first revealed to the

viewers when he criticizes the inequalities in the system. He believes that only ' dirt, vulgarity and Asiatic

conversations exists' (Chekhov,24) . He feels discontented that few men have wealth while others ' live like
savages' (Chekhov, 24). Many prominent men in the then contemporary Russian society exhibited such views,

such as Maxim Gorky and Leo Tolstoy. Trophimof's thoughts manifest into action when he calls Lopakhin "

beast of a prey " (Chekhov,23) and advises him to "Get out the habit of flapping " (Chekhov,41). He, and other

intellectuals resent the capitalist class, portrayed by Lopakhin . They were thoroughly disgusted with the

obsession of the bourgeoisie class with money, saw it as an obstacle to achieve the utopia. He looks to the past

with disdain because he associates that time with oppression and barbarism. This is why he reacts coldly to the

selling of the Cherry Orchard with the lines ' the path is overgrown' (Chekhov,32). The intellectuals look to

serfdom with disgust, associating it with inequality and believing that the time for the doom of the gentry was

long overdue .His thoughts about the past are revealed when he talks about the " painful and oppressive dreams'

(Chekhov,27) to Anya. Trophimof understands that the inequalities in the system has put Russia behind her

peers. He hopes to see the ' approach of happiness' (Chekhov,27) and strenuously believes that " mankind

marches forward to the highest truth" (Chekhov,24). At the same time, he is practical and advises Pishtick to

stop " looking for money to pay the interest" (Chekhov,29) . He empathizes with Madam Ranevsky's loss and

asks Lopakhin- " Haven't you got tact enough for that" (Chekhov,44) when Lopakhin orders the cherry orchard

to be cut in front of Madam Ranevsky's eyes.Trophimof believes in socialist economics. He believes that men"

must work" (Chekhov,24) and that should be shared with mankind. His lines " All Russia is our garden"

(Chekhov,26) symbolizes his attitude towards life and thus explains his refusal to take money from Lopakhin.

Through the characters and plot, Chekhov has immortalized a time period. The characters not only show how

the aristocracy was affected by the industrial revolution, but has shown to us what leads to a class taking power

over the other. The complex relations between the different social groups is also a theme of the play.

Word count - 1710

 Works Cited
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich. The Cherry Orchard. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Print.