The play 'The Cherry Orchard' was written over a course of several years by the Russian player writer Anton Chekhov considering the many hardships he underwent including suffering from chronic tuberculosis. He completed the playwright by October 1903 and sent to Moscow Art Theatre where it was first aired on January 117 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. The play was written by Chekhov considering his own life experiences: while he was a child, his mother was conned by the contractors she had hired to construct him a small house ending up in debt and their house bought later on as a mortgage. The play is about a noble Russian woman who returns to her family home with her family estate which hard a large cherry orchard and apparently was already auctioned to pay the mortgage ( James 9). The play shows the options the woman has but in the end the estate ends up being sold to a man, who was a son to a former serf. The family leaves the estate to mercy of the buyer who cuts down the orchard. This play reflects the changing of the classes between individuals in the society showing that no one sticks or belong to a certain social class and anything can happen resulting to a change in class.
The main theme of the play can said to be the effect of social change of individuals in a society. The emancipation of the serfs in the 1860s allowed the serfs to acquire wealth and status while the nobles of the time were being downgraded down the social class as they were unable to maintain their estates without the cheap labour provided by slavery. This is shown in the play as the serf acquired the land belonging to Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya ( James 32).
Betrayal is also portrayed in the play as Madame Lyubov entrusted his estate to the creditor who later on sold his estate behind the noble Russian's back. This was widely seen in that era as people did all that it took to acquire wealth as slave trade was just abolished resulting in higher cost of living as there was no cheap labour availble.
Ranevskaya is seen to fight hard for his family well being, being publicly humiliated and reaped of her property resulting to the suffering of her whole family as she was the bread winner. This shows the plight of a woman of noble class during the 1800s and early 1900s.
Identity as theme has been shown clearly in this play, showing the three distinct parts that is the Gayev family, family friends and the servant class. Some of the characters such as Varya who is an adopted daughter can be seen as adopting the role of a house keeper in the play.
The failure of Ranevskaya's to provide to her family as before, before the changing of the Russian social system shows the lack of some of the people to adapt to the changing times (James 63). Her refusal to accept the truth her history in both love and life eventually lead to her downfall. She is a woman who dwells mostly on her past, always thinking of the memories of her son's death.
The use of Cherry trees in the play shows the strategy part of the play as the cherry trees are seen in Russia as a symbol of regret or sadness at the happening of an unfortunate situation.
Works Cited
Loehlin, James N. Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print
