Compare and Contrast Analysis of Proposal by Anton Chekhov and Naomi in the Living Room by Christopher Durang
Anton Chekhov wrote his play in 1888 and Chistophers Durang’s Naomi in the Living Room saw the light in the second half of the twentieth century. Almost a century gap divides these plays, these playwrights let alone the different countries and epochs. However, they both depict conflicts inside families and both are focused on the hysteric and hypochondriac main characters.
The Proposal tells the story of a marriage proposal. Ivan Lomov, a landowner comes to Stepan Spenanovitch Chubukov, a 70-years old man, to
make an offer of marriage to Chubukov’s daughter, Nataya. He is very nervous. It takes him some time to open his heart to Stepan Stepanovitch but it takes him even more effort to ask the hand of Natalya when he speaks to her. Instead of making a proposal he starts arguing with his possible fiancé about Oxen Meadows – a piece of land neighbors always quarreled about. Lomov’s plans failed and he returns back home. But Chubukov tries to help his future son-in-law and asks him to come back. Natalya and Ivan begin a new quarrel. This time about their dogs, Guess and Squeezer. They argue which of them is better and more expensive and more superior during hunting. Lomov, who is actually not very healthy, faints and father and daughter think that they kill their neighbor. However, few minutes later, Ivan stands up and finally makes a proposal. Natalya agrees. It could be an end of the story but couple continues to argue about their dogs. Chekhov leaves the audience with an open final making every spectator to think him or herself of the future life of spouses.
Naomi in the Living Room is an absurd comedy by Christopher Durang, which begins when Naomi, a middle-aged woman, invites her son and her daughter-in-law to a Christmas dinner. John and Johanna were expecting a warm evening in the family circle but Naomi is not that woman, who makes her guests feel at home. She is constantly friendly and insulting. On the one hand she invites John and Johanna to sit in the living room and asks them about their life, whether they have children. She seems to be interested in their answers but obviously she is not. She immediately interrupts them after they start talking and cries. She is very emotional not to say hysteric. When John dresses like his girlfriend Johanna she barely notices differences. However, she starts crying asking why he is dressed like Johanna and not like his mother. Couple is going to leave and Naomi is happy about that. She throws them both out of the house and says that she can spend Christmas Eve without them and it would be even better. After they leave she thinks that it was a nice visit.
In both plays an unstable main character is seen. His or her thoughts are mess and both Ivan and Naomi cannot deal with their emotions. In Chekhov’s play a satire on the middle class is expressed and their behavior. Lomov is not educated enough to control his feelings on one side. On the other side, he is so concentrated on his superiority and money matter that it creates difficulties for him when it comes to a proposal. Durang reveals the tragedy of a woman, whose son is getting adult and she, probably, cannot admit it. She does not know how to deal with him being independent from her. On the other hand, it may be a story of a woman, who cannot treat her guests in a proper way because she is so concentrated on her own problems that she does not see anything beside her and her own world.
