The Cherry Orchard

Content Warning: The source text and this section of the guide mention death by suicide.

The play opens on a chilly May morning in a room that is “still called the nursery” though it hasn’t been used as one in years (2). It is not quite sunrise, and Lopakhin, a merchant, and Dunyasha, a housemaid, await the arrival of the estate’s owner, Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky. The train is late, and Lopakhin laments that he overslept and missed going to meet it at the station. Lubov has been living in France for five years, ever since her young son drowned. Lopakhin wonders if she will recognize him after all this time. He recalls that Lubov was always kind to him. Once, when he was a little boy, his father, who was a shopkeeper, hit him and made his nose bleed; Lubov cleaned him up and comforted him. Lopakhin remarks that while his father was a peasant, Lopakhin is now rich. However, he claims that he is still a peasant in “the marrow of [his] bones” (3), remarking that he remains uneducated.

Just then, Dunyasha says that she feels faint. Lopakhin tells her that she is too dressed up for a chambermaid; she “should know [her] place” (4). At that moment, the clerk, Epikhodov, interrupts them. He gives Dunyasha some flowers—which she takes offstage—and he then complains to Lopakhin about his new boots, which are squeaky. After Epikhodov leaves the room, Dunyasha returns. She confesses that Epikhodov has proposed to her. She likes the man but worries that he is unlucky. Just then, they hear the sound of carriages, and Lopakhin announces that Lubov is arriving. Dunyasha cries out that she will faint in excitement, and they hurry to meet the new arrivals.

Lubov enters with her daughter Anya and Anya’s governess Charlotta, who is walking a small dog. They are followed by Lubov’s brother, Gaev, her adopted daughter, Varya, another landowner called Boris Borisovitch Simeonov-Pischin, Lopakhin, and Dunyasha. Lubov cries “joyfully” when she recognizes the nursery where she slept as a baby. Talking loudly, everyone exits the room except for Anya and Dunyasha.

Anya complains that she couldn’t sleep at all during their journey from France and says she is so tired she can’t walk straight. However, Dunyasha bursts out with the news of Epikhodov’s proposal. Anya pays her no attention and looks around her room, glad to be home. Dunyasha tells Anya that her friend Peter Sergeyevitch Trofimov has come to stay, but she doesn’t want to wake him yet. Anya is glad for the news of her friend, and just then, Varya enters, asking Dunyasha to make coffee for Lubov. Varya, who has been managing the estate in Lubov’s absence, hugs Anya, telling her she is glad her “darling” has come home. Anya tells Varya how terrible her trip was and explains how she found her mother living in an uncomfortable apartment and felt very sorry for her. She tells Varya that though Lubov has no money left, she doesn’t realize it; she still lives as if she were wealthy, buying expensive meals and tipping generously.

Anya asks Varya if the interest on the estate has been paid; Varya says it hasn’t. The place will be auctioned off in August. At that moment, Lopakhin looks through the door; Varya shakes her fist at him, and he leaves. Anya asks if he has proposed yet. Varya says he hasn’t; she thinks he might never propose since he is too busy with his business matters and pays no attention to her. Dunyasha reappears with the coffee pot as chirping birds announce the coming dawn. Yasha, Lubov’s young valet, enters with the luggage. Dunyasha greets him, but he doesn’t recognize her because she has grown up since he’s been gone. He hugs her when she reminds him of her name, causing her to break a saucer.

Anya tells Varya that they must tell Lubov that Peter is visiting. Fiers, an old servant, enters and begins fussing with the coffee, pleased that he has lived to see his mistress return. Lubov, Gaev, Lopakhin, and Simeonov-Pischin reenter. Anya bids everyone goodnight and leaves, and Varya suggests that it is time for Lopakhin and Simeonov-Pischin to leave. Lubov insists that they have coffee first. Varya leaves to check that all the luggage has made it inside. In her absence, Lubov remarks again how glad she is to be home. Lopakhin apologizes that he has to leave soon to catch a train and laments that he cannot stay longer. He reminds Lubov that his father was her grandfather’s serf and tells her she has done so much for him that he thinks of her as family.

Lubov, however, isn’t listening; she is overcome with happiness at being back in her home. Lopakhin announces he has “something very pleasant, very delightful” to tell her (16). He reminds her that the cherry orchard must be sold to pay off her debts but tells her he has an alternate plan. He proposes that she divide the estate into lots for villas, claiming she can make a profit of 25,000 rubles a year. Gaev scoffs that the idea is “absurd.” Lopakhin tells Lubov that she’ll have to “put things straight, and clean up” by tearing down the house and cutting down the cherry orchard (17).

Lubov is shocked that Lopakhin would suggest cutting down the orchard, claiming it is the province’s only “interesting or remarkable” thing (17). Lopakhin counters that the orchard is useless; it doesn’t even bear fruit every year, and when it does, no one wants to buy it. Fiers mutters about what they did with the cherries “in the old days” (17), but no one pays him any attention. Lopakhin explains that villages are no longer occupied by only “the gentry and the laborers” (18); now, villas surround every village.

Varya interrupts with two telegrams from Paris for Lubov, but she rips them up without reading them. Lopakhin takes his leave, telling Lubov to think about his offer. With Lopakhin gone, Simeonov-Pischin asks Lubov for 240 rubles to pay the interest on his mortgage. Lubov and Varya both tell him there is no money. By now, the sun has risen, and Varya opens the window, looking out at the beautiful orchard. Lubov remembers looking at the orchard in her childhood and the happiness she felt waking up to it. She says that “nothing has changed” and wishes she could “forget [her] past” (23).

Lubov is surprised by Peter Trofimov’s entrance; he tells her he couldn’t wait until morning to see her. She can’t identify him at first but starts to cry when she recognizes her son’s former tutor. She weeps, asking why her son had to drown, and she then asks Trofimov why he looks so old. He confirms that he is still a student and will probably always be one.

After Lubov goes to bed, Gaev remarks that his sister “hasn’t lost the habit of throwing money about” (26). Varya laments that her mother would “give away everything, if the idea only entered her head” (27). Gaev says that this “illness” is “incurable” and wishes they could inherit a fortune or find Anya a rich husband. He thinks he could ask his aunt, the countess, for help, but she believes that Lubov “behaved herself in a way which cannot be described as proper” (27). He says that he is “very fond” of his sister but has to “admit that she’s wicked” (27).

Anya appears in the doorway, upset by Gaev’s words about her mother. He consoles her, then tells the two girls he can arrange a loan to pay the interest and save the estate. Lubov will need to speak with Lopakhin again, and Anya must talk to the countess; then, they will “have three irons in the fire” (29), and the estate will surely be saved. Anya is relieved to hear this.

After Gaev takes his leave, Varya and Anya decide it is time for them to go to bed. Varya tells Anya there has been some “unpleasantness” while she was gone: Some older servants let some “vagrants” stay in the servants’ quarters. However, Anya falls asleep before Varya can finish. She leads Anya to bed, and Trofimov watches them go, calling after Anya: “My sun! My spring!” (31).