English literature and linguistics with ASMA SHEIKH

The Cherry Orchard Reference to the context

(a) I beg you .......... [weeps with joy].

I beg you pardon? [Joyfully]. The mistress is home again. I've lived to see her! Don't care if I die now ... [Weeps with joy].

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Cherry Orchard

(ii) Dramatist: Anton Chekhov

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 1

(ii) Content:

Madam Ranvesky returns from Paris, along with her daughter Anya to her family estate in Russia. Varya, Ranevsky's adopted daughter, reveals that the family's estate, a cherry orchard, is to be sold at auction in order to pay their debts. Lopakhin, a businessman, proposes solutions to save the estate. Auction day arrives, however, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the sale of the estate to Lopakhin. The family leaves to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down.

EXPLANATION

In these lines Fiers expresses his intense joy at the arrival of Madame Ranevsky to her family estate, the Cherry Orchard. "Beg you pardon" is used for saying "sorry" when someone has committed a mistake or done something wrong. In fact, Fiers was murmuring "Oh, you burglar ..... Back from Paris ..... the master went to Paris once ..... In a carriage ......". Varya listens Fiers' murmuring and he thinks she has disliked his murmuration. Thus he apologizes for his babbling. He explains that he is in a mood of happiness. The reason of his happiness is the return of his mistress' home coming. His mistress, Madame Ranvesky, after spending five years in Paris, is at last arriving home. Fiers is 87 years old and was born a serf on Madame Ranevsky's estate. He is relieved that he has lived to see the return of his mistress. He does not care if he dies now. His joy is so intense that he begins to weep for joy. In short, these lines show Fiers' attachment, faithfulness and loyalty with his mistress, Madame Ranevsky.

(b) But suppose I'm dreaming! ......... I cried so much.

But suppose I'm dreaming! God knows I love my own country, I love it deeply; I couldn't look out of the railway carriage, I cried so much.

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Cherry Orchard

(ii) Dramatist: Anton Chekhov

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 1

(ii) Content:

Madam Ranvesky returns from Paris, along with her daughter Anya to her family estate in Russia. Varya, Ranevsky's adopted daughter, reveals that the family's estate, a cherry orchard, is to be sold at auction in order to pay their debts. Lopakhin, a businessman, proposes solutions to save the estate. Auction day arrives, however, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the sale of the estate to Lopakhin. The family leaves to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down.

EXPLANATION

In these lines Madame Ranevsky expresses her deep love for her homeland, Russia. After the deaths of her husband and young son, Ranevsky had fled to France. After spending five years in Paris, she returns her motherland. She is so excited that she could no believe she has really arrived her ancestral home. She says, "Is it really I who am sitting here?" She thinks it might be a dream. Either it be a dream or reality, one thing is sure; she loves her country very much because she was born in it. In these lines there are two manifestations of her love for her native land. Firstly, when she was returning from Paris in a train, "she couldn't look out of the railway carriage". It was because she was feeling embarrassment and guilty of her country. She was hesitant to face the reality. Secondly, she wept bitterly in the train for her country. He lowdown on tears is an obvious sign of her love for her country. In short, these lines show her sense of patriotism, her nostalgic nature, and her relief to be home again.

(c) Oh, my childhood .......... nothing has changed.

Oh, my childhood, days of my innocence! In this nursery I used to sleep; I used to look out from here into the Orchard. Happiness used to wake with me every morning, and then it was just as it is now; nothing has changed.

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Cherry Orchard

(ii) Dramatist: Anton Chekhov

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 1

(ii) Content:

Madam Ranvesky returns from Paris, along with her daughter Anya to her family estate in Russia. Varya, Ranevsky's adopted daughter, reveals that the family's estate, a cherry orchard, is to be sold at auction in order to pay their debts. Lopakhin, a businessman, proposes solutions to save the estate. Auction day arrives, however, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the sale of the estate to Lopakhin. The family leaves to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down.

EXPLANATION

In these lines Madame Ranevsky reminisces about her innocent childhood and the joys she experienced in the cherry orchard. Ranevsky has just returned to her estate after five years in self-imposed exile in France, and she and her family and friends are all congregated together in the "nursery". While looking out the window, Ranevsky remembers that this is the room where she used to sleep in her childhood. This is the room from where she used to look out her beloved cherry orchard every morning. Her childhood was a period of bliss and felicity. In that period she did not have any materialistic worries and various responsibilities. Thus happiness used to wake with her every morning. She thinks that the nursery, the cherry orchard and her looking out the cherry orchard from the window are just the same as those were in her childhood. She assumes that nothing has changed. However, "nothing has changed" is a very ironical statement. Because everything has changed; serfs have been freed, the trees don't yield fruit, the state is about to be sold. In short, Ranevsky is an escapist. In order to avoid the stark realities of life, she wants to flee into her innocent and cheery past.