The Cherry Orchard

Lopakhin is a merchant whose ancestors were serfs on Lubov’s estate. In the space of just a single generation, the possibility for social mobility has expanded to the point where Lopakhin’s life is unrecognizable from his father’s and grandfather’s, highlighting the theme of Social Change as a Powerful but Destabilizing Force. Thus, Lopakhin’s character becomes a symbol of Russia’s changing social and economic structure, including the fall of the aristocracy and the rise of the middle class. Depending on how the play is interpreted, Lopakhin can either be seen as the play’s antagonist who destroys the beautiful cherry orchard and Lubov’s ancestral family home, or as the hero championing reason, revolution, and social change.

In contrast to his father, who was a poor shopkeeper, Lopakhin is a rich and successful businessman. At the start of the play, he is waiting for Lubov to arrive, anxious to offer her his “very pleasant, very delightful” plan to save the estate (16). Initially, Lopakhin seems motivated by a genuine desire to help Lubov. He remembers the kindness she showed him when he was young, claiming that it made him forget his family’s poor treatment as serfs and “love [her] as if [she] belonged to [his] family” (16). He and Lubov share many memories of the past. However, the meaning of these memories and each character’s relationship with the past are very different. Instead of the idyllic childhood that Lubov remembers, Lopakhin associates his past on the estate with the oppression and exploitation of his family. Therefore, he is eager to do away with the reminder that the cherry orchard holds. 

Lopakhin often seems caught between an allegiance to Lubov and a desire to move on from the past and become his own man. In some ways, he is anxious for her approval. He is eager, for example, to show off the logic of his plan for the estate. He also repeatedly assures Lubov that he intends to propose to Varya even though he has little interest in marrying her, suggesting a hesitance to speak up against Lubov. However, his enthusiasm is often tone-deaf, appearing inappropriate in the face of the family’s obvious distress. When he finally purchases the estate, his joy is so overpowering as he “roars with laughter” while Lubov collapses into a chair (70). In this scene, Lopakhin’s lack of tact borders on cruelty. However, he points out that Lubov’s distress has been brought about by her own inability to adapt. He says that she should have taken his advice, suggesting that his success, and therefore the rise of the middle class, is a product of the ruling class’s resistance to accepting the changing social landscape.

Anya is Lubov’s 17-year-old daughter. She is beautiful and adored by everyone. As part of the aristocracy’s newest generation, Anya is the first to recognize and accept her family’s changing social position. At the start of the play, she is returning from Paris, where she went with Charlotta, her governess, to retrieve her mother. She is relieved to return home and happy to find her room just as she left it, suggesting the comfort she takes in the stability of the old ways. However, by Act II, the magic of the estate is starting to wear off as she begins to understand the reality of her family’s wealth and privilege. Under the influence of her romantic interest, Peter Trofimov, Anya realizes that she doesn’t “love the cherry orchard as [she] used to” (50). She is beginning to recognize the dark history that the orchard represents. 

When the family departs the estate in Act IV, Anya is the most joyous. She announces that “a new life is beginning” (78), illustrating her eagerness to let go of the past and move into the future.

Varya is Lubov’s 24-year-old adopted daughter. Her status is somewhere between servant and family. Varya has been managing Lubov’s estate in the woman’s absence. She is responsible and practical; however, she is no match for the chaos of the Ranevsky household. As Lubov “recklessly” spends money, sometimes there is nothing but peas and “milk soup” to feed the servants; so, Varya becomes the target of the household’s discontent. She often tries hard to reign in the chaos at the estate—for example, she scolds Epikhodov for “walk[ing] about the drawing-room as if [he] were a visitor” (67), and she chastises Lubov for her spending habits—but she is largely ignored. Varya often expresses her desire to run away to a nunnery and fantasizes about a proposal from Lopakhin that never materializes. 

Her task of managing the house means she is responsible for preserving the Ranevsky’s antiquated way of life. With all of her time tied up in managing the failing estate, Varya is perhaps even more affected than Lubov by the sale. Without her work, she is “like a fish out of water,” becoming “thin and pale” and crying frequently (82).

Gaev is Lubov’s brother. One of the more comic characters in the play, Gaev often makes elaborate speeches, to the annoyance of Anya and Varya. He is an avid billiards player who talks about making certain shots when confused or unsure about what to say. Throughout the play, he does his own scheming to secure the funds to buy the estate, sending Anya to borrow money from his aunt, a countess. Despite his cavalier and comic exterior, Gaev returns from the auction in tears, showing that the loss of the estate has a profound effect on him. 

At the end of the play, Gaev has secured a job at a bank, representing the aristocracy’s movement toward the middle class. Lopakhin calls him “very lazy” and doubts he can hold the job. However, Gaev feels a sense of optimistic relief while leaving the cherry orchard. He notes that they “all calmed down, and even became cheerful” after the initial shock of the sale wore off (79). His attitude and commitment to working suggest that Gaev has more capacity for change and adaptation than his sister.

Trofimov is the former tutor of Lubov’s deceased son. He is also Anya’s love interest. Teased for being an “eternal student” and a “decayed gentleman,” Trofimov offers the play’s philosophical commentary. His revolutionary ideas include disdain for the “intellectuals” who treat their servants “like animals,” talking “about important things” while they “do absolutely nothing” (45). He idealizes hard work, but, ironically, he himself is a perpetual student and is therefore unemployed. 

Although there is some romantic interest between him and Anya, Trofimov claims to be “above love,” arguing that his goal is to “escape all the petty and deceptive things which prevent our being happy and free” (49). He also aspires to “show others the way” (75), which he does with Anya, educating her about the importance of coming to terms with the past. At the end of the play, the two leave the house together, with Trofimov announcing, “Welcome, new life!” (87).

Fiers is an aging servant who represents the old world. He is 87 and always wears his “old-fashioned livery” (6). Fiers’s health declines throughout the play, illustrating the progressive loss of the old order. Much like Lubov, Fiers cannot face the changing world and lives in denial of the modernization occurring around him. He refers to the emancipation of the serfs as “the misfortune”; he says he “didn’t agree” with the proclamation and chose to “remain with [his] people” instead of taking advantage of his new freedom (42). He putters around after Gaev, reminding him to wear his coat and complaining about the other young servants. Despite his loyalty, Fiers is generally ignored and complained about throughout the play. In the end, the family thinks that Fiers has been sent to the hospital; however, he is still in the house, and they lock him in by mistake. In the final scene, he is visibly ill and lays down “without moving,” alone in the house. Fiers’s death is symbolic of the serfs’ relationship to the land. As the last servant who is loyal to the old system, Fiers cannot leave the estate. His death represents the severing of the last tie to the past, a reference echoed by the sound of a breaking string heard at the play’s closing.

Charlotta is Anya’s governess. She provides comic relief in the play but is also revealed to have depth and a complicated past. As a young girl, her parents were performers. However, they died, leaving Charlotta with a German woman who taught her to become a governess. Now, she often feels alone in the world and has no one to talk to. On the surface, however, Charlotta is a ridiculous character known primarily for her magic tricks. She is not a good governess, since she never cares for Anya, who complains that Charlotta “talked the whole way and would go on performing her tricks” on their trip to retrieve Lubov from Paris (9).

Known by the nickname “two-and-twenty troubles” because of his constant bad luck (33), Epikhodov is the estate’s clerk who is in love with Dunyasha. Like most of the household’s servants, he works very little and doesn’t pay attention to his employer’s instructions, even talking back to Varya when she scolds him for behaving like a guest during the party. While Epikhodov is primarily a comic character, he expresses his frustration “that fate has been as pitiless in her dealings with [him] as a storm is to a small ship”; he produces a revolver, announcing that he sometimes doesn’t know “whether to live or to shoot [him]self” (33). Thus, he is one of the characters in the play whose comic exterior hides deep-seated loneliness and sorrow.

Dunyasha is a maid in the household. She is self-absorbed and more interested in flirting and gossiping than in doing her work. She dresses “just like a lady,” and Lopakhin complains that she doesn’t “know [her] place” (4). Dunyasha is constantly drawing attention to herself. She talks loudly about how she feels faint with excitement before Lubov’s arrival and rushes to tell Anya about her proposal from Epikhodov even though the girl is visibly exhausted from her journey. When Yasha arrives, Dunyasha quickly forgets about Epikhodov and tries in vain to capture Yasha’s attention.