Anton Chekhov( 안톤 체홉 , 1860-1904)

• Russian playwright • Four-act realistic plays

• The Cherry Orchard (1904) 『벚꽃 동산』

• Three Sisters 『세자매』

• Uncle Vanya 『반야삼촌』

• The Seagull 『갈매기』

Chekhovian drama

• Chekhov uses the drama neither as a vehicle for individualistic self-realization (Ibsen) nor as a means of exorcistic self-expression (Strindberg) but rather as a form for depicting that fluid world beyond the self, with the author functioning only as an impartial witness.

• His plays reflect both his sympathy for human suffering and his outrage at human absurdity, alternating between moods of wistful pathos and flashes of ironic humor which disqualify them from being mere slices of life.

2

Life and works

3

3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKKYtByZlx8

Plays"The Swan Song” 1889"The Proposal" 1889"Ivanoff" 1889"The Boor" 1890"The Sea-Gull (film clip) 1896"The Tragedian in Spite of Himself” 1899"The Three Sisters" (film clip) 1901"Uncle Vanya" 1902"The Cherry Orchard" 1904

4

Chekhovian drama (continued)

• For if Chekhov is a detached realist, permitting life to proceed according to its own rules, he is also an engaged moralist, arranging reality in a particular way in order to evoke some comment on it.

• . . . his conviction that ‘life as it is’ is life as it should not be. (Brustein, 1991: 138, 139)

5

Chekhovian drama (continued)

• Chekhov will introduce political, social, and philosophical discussions into his work, because these are threads in the fabric of reality. But he is careful neither to take sides nor to hint at solutions.

• “It is the duty of the judge to put the questions to the jury correctly,” he observes, employing his favorite courtroom metaphor, “and it is for members of the jury to make up their minds, each according to his taste.” (Brustein, 1991: 145)

6

Chekhovian drama (continued)

• Chekhov’s impersonality is a surface characteristic; and beneath this surface is a satiric, admonitory moralist . . .

• Chekhov the realist pretends to have no other aim than the faithful representation of reality; but Chekhov the moralist is always conscious of a higher purpose than mere imitation. (Brustein, 1991: 147)

7

Chekhovian drama (continued)

• Chekhov’s revolt is directed against the quality of contemporary Russian life. (Brustein, 1991: 148)

• The conflict between the cultured upper classes and their stupefying environment – between the forces of light and the forces of darkness – provides the basic structure of most of Chekhov’s plays (Brustein, 1991: 149-150)

8

The Cherry Orchard (1904)

• Premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Constantin Stanislavski

• Chekhov intended this play as a comedy; however, Stanislavski directed it as a tragedy → the dual nature of the play

• Has become a classic work of dramatic literature

• The play’s influence on many dramatists including Eugene O’Neill, Bernard Shaw, and Arthur Miller

9

The Cherry Orchard (1904) – synopsis

• The play concerns an aristocratic Russian woman (Madame Ranevskaya) and her family (including her 17-year old daughter Anya) as they return to the family’s estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage.

• While presented with options to save the estate, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the estate being sold to the son of a former serf (Yermolai Lopakhin), and the family leaving to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down.

10

The Cherry Orchard (1904)

• Act One opens in May, when the cherry trees in the Ranevskaya orchard are blooming.

• Trofimov – a young student who acted as tutor to Ranevskaya’s son, Grisha, who drowned five years prior to the beginning of the play.

11

The Cherry Orchard (1904) – themes

• The effect social change has on people, the theme of identity, the themes of cultural futility – both the futility of the aristocracy to maintain its status and the futility of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its newfound materialism.

• In reflecting the socio-economic forces at work in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century (1861) and the sinking of the aristocracy, the play reflects forces at work around the globe in that period.

12

The Cherry Orchard (BBC Television 1980)

13

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJjtQugPW-0