Chekhov's Depiction of Family in Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard - Essay Sample

Introduction

In his three plays: Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard, Antov Chekhov integrates the idea of a family as the social unit with the characters who are related to each other. In the three plays, a central plot revolves around family members. This paper discusses the role of a family in the three plays by looking at how characters vary in the importance they accord to the concept and what critics about the subject in these plays.

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Three Sisters

Most people revere family as a respectable institution of members of the same blood relation, initiated by marriage. In all Antov Chekhov’s plays, the playwright institutionalizes family and presents a formation of actors who work and live together to better their lives and those around them. As such, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov contain the themes of family love, betrayal, jealousy, selfishness, and self-centeredness. Beginning with the Three Sisters, the following discussion details the role of the family as depicted by theatrical critics to Chekhov’s plays.

In the sixth chapter of Geoffrey Borny’s book, Interpreting Chekhov, the author considers the aspect of a family as a pillar of hope and optimism for a better future. At the beginning of Act I, Olga is talking to Irina, and she proffers that just as the sun was bright and beautiful that early spring morning, she as well hopes the future to be bright. She is optimistic that her brother Andrei will become a professor and that they will relocate to Moscow (Chekhov 3). These thoughts form the basis of the play as far as Olga is concerned, and to some extent, this wishful thinking brushes off to the other female members of the Prozorovs’ family, such as Natasha, who later comes in as Andrei’s wife.

In his writing, Wyman (186) accurately critiques the role of family, especially the part played by Nata, as the home keeper. The family is the dependable ground people fall back to when the outside world becomes unbearable. Olga says, “Still, I have a day off today, I’m home, my headache’s gone, and I feel younger than I did yesterday. … I’d have done better if I’d got married and stayed home all day” (Chekov 4). The different disposition for the role of the family as an anchor of support to society is evident in Lewis’s criticism of Chekhov’s works. The author presents that the playwright sidelines Masha from the Moscow dream (Lewis 262). This observation by Lewis showcases disjoint in the family. Even though Andrei, the brother, is enthusiastic about returning to Moscow, her sister accords Masha the Summer visit every year.

However, as the play transitions from household duels and little controversies to more significant troubles, such as dealing with Andrei’s gambling addiction and the sale of their home, the characters in the play are forced to take sides. The dysfunctional aspect of the family comes to light. Andrei vents his frustration to his sisters’ mistreatment and distrust of his wife, Natasha. Natasha had come to the household and taken over house management duties, and she, therefore, asserted command over the three sisters. By so doing, this act pushed back the sisters, and they had to rescind her temperaments.

Of all the family members, Olga passes across as the one with the most persuasive ideas concerning the family. All she desires is to get a respectable husband and settle down with him, love not being of significant concern. Masha, being in an unhappy marriage to the boring schoolmaster, on the other hand, yearns for an exciting, romantic relationship. Irina, too, has a longing for love, yet, only their brother gets a taste of it, albeit at great displeasure to the other members of the Prozotovs’ sisters. The mindset of the characters concerning the family and the value of importance they place on the family structure only gets stronger. Towards the end of the play, Masha, though unhappy with bidding farewell to Vershinin, intones that all else will pass, everyone is leaving, but they (the family) must live. She is determined to live like the birds until God reveals His mysteries to the world.

“Uncle Vanya”

In Uncle Vanya, as in almost all his other plays, Chekhov presents the same reverence to family. The family is presented in this play as a unit of protection. Gale (216) comments on Vanya’s duties as the protector of Serebryakov’s estate while the master was away. This analysis shows that the family unit is a custodian of the members’ properties to preserve the family heritage and lineage (Ibid). Besides, there is respect for the association and self-importance of a household member to cater to other persons’ belongings.

There is excellent interconnectedness in this play by Chekhov. This interconnectedness protects the family unit. Tait (46) attributes this structure to the protection of the family estate Uncle Vanya portrays to his late sister’s estate. However, technically, the estate belongs to Serebryakov as the head of the household. The author brings about the interconnection of pride and livelihood. This critique is an accurate accord of the play as Uncle Vanya is worried about losing his source of livelihood by taking care of the estate and his pride as an essential individual to an outsider (Borny 173). However, the contrasting element arises to the family unit as the relationship between Serebryakov and Uncle Vanya deteriorates.

Vanya is jealous of Serebryakov and lustrous to Serebyakov’s young wife, Yelena. Disturbance in the family norm is introduced by Tait (47) as a subset of familial interruptions and accommodation of new members to the household. Just as Natasha disrupted the living order in “Three Sisters,” Yelena and her elderly professor’s comeback to the estate disrupted the social norm of the day.

The importance of family is criticized in contrast to the two prominent roles that characterize Uncle Vanya in the play. He is a protector in one account, and in the other accord, Vanya is depicted by the playwright as insecure and jealous. The role of the family as a protector to the interests of the family members is highly cherished amongst most people. On the other hand, though a vice, jealousy in the play facilitates retention of the estate and leads to Astrov’s liking for Yelena instead of Sonya, who was already in love with him.

The characters in Uncle Vanya have an almost similar disposition towards the importance of family in society. They conform that the family is the fabric of society. The family holds the community together and brings a sense of normalcy to social order. On the contrary, the interconnectedness of family ties to social and economic activities brings about competition. This aspect then breeds jealousy, a dysfunctional element of the family that, in turn, produces a disjointed family structure.

Vanya places great importance on the family structure, and this attitude informs his character in the play. The protective tendency he displays towards Serebryakov’s estate is informative of his protective nature to his late sister’s estate as well as her love for Yelena, whom he finds unsuitably loving to Serebryakov. The master, Serebryakov, holds the family in high regard, and his values only get stronger throughout the play. The character who portrays a significant change in ideas concerning family values is Astrov. He is hardworking and idealistic and feels incapable of loving, up until the time he sets eyes on Yelena. The encounter ignites his passion for love. However, his passion is misguided as it would have been better had he fallen in love with Sonya rather than Yelena, for being in love breaks the sovereignty of her marriage to Serebryakov.

The Cherry Orchard

Like in the first two plays discussed above, Chekhov also presents the significance of family in The Cherry Orchard. While many critics of the play consider this piece of art to carry the historical relevance of the transitional period when capitalism replaced aristocracy, Chekhov tried to demonstrate that a family is one of the essential things in life. In this play, Chekhov presents a story of a family forced to leave their home because of unpaid debts. According to the critique by the New World Encyclopedia, Chekhov shows the role that family values play in shaping personal traits.

Ranevskaya, an estate owner, is forced by circumstances to sell her cherry orchard to repay her debts. Lopakhin, on the other hand, is a merchant who is interested in buying Ravevskaya’s orchard because he knows he can cut it down and use the wood to make numerous summer homes. Lopakhin represents the merchant class, whereas Ranevskaya represents the aristocrats (“Anton Chekhov - New World Encyclopedia”). The two characters do not conflict in a protagonist versus antagonist manner, but in the family values of the different classes and generations in which they belong. Because these two characters lived in estates with different social classes, they seem to have inherited varying values.

Lopakhin belongs to a lower social class, which made him hold high value for material goods as a merchant. On the other hand, Ravevskaya holds a high value for a family. To Ranevskaya, her father’s house means a lot more than its monetary value. The house embodies Ranevskaya’s family values that passed among the descendants of her generations. Therefore, she desperately tries to retain it because of the family attachments. Lopakhin cannot comprehend the desperation of Ranevskaya of trying to keep the estate because he does not belong to the same family with her. Only the family members of Ranevskaya can understand the intensity of such a feeling.

While Lopakhin suggests that Ranekkaya rents the land, the latter prefers to lose it entirely rather than see its value crumble. Consequently, Lopakhin is happy when he buys the house, but Ranevskaya and her two daughters are sorrowful for losing the house. While Ranevskaya’s family is sad for losing their ancestral estate, Lopakhin shows no sign of remorse for them because he is not part of that family. This critique in the New World Encyclopedia is correct as it depicts the reality that family members usually stand together in all situations. Furthermore, the contrasts that exist between Ranevskaya and Lopakhin depict that every family has specific values that they pass from one generation to another.

In the seventh chapter of his book, Geoffrey Borny analyzes the concept of family in the play. A family is made up of individuals who not only share a problem but also ready to find a solution to it. In Act I, Lopakhin intrudes on a conversation between two sisters, Anya and Varya, who are daughters to Ranevskaya. The sisters converse about the shortage of financial resources to repay the family debts. Members of the same family usually have the same interests in matters of protecting the survival of the family. Lopakhin makes a bit fun of their conversation because the issue does not concern him (Borny 238). Borny also discusses Lyónya, a brother to Ranevskaya. Borny describes Lyónya as someone who often talks out of place (p.254). However, despite Lyónya’s behavior, his family is protective of him by reminding him to keep quiet so that he does not get into trouble. Borny’s analysis is accurate as it shows that Ranevskaya and her daughters are the ones concerned about the family estate, whereas her brother is only good at talking ill of other people.

Works Cited

“Anton Chekhov - New World Encyclopedia.” Newworldencyclopedia.Org, 2016, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Anton_Chekhov. Accessed 1 June 2020.

Borny, Geoffrey. Interpreting Chekhov. ANU E Press, 2008.

Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. Theatre Communications Group, 2015.

Chekhov, Anton. Three Sisters. Nick Hern Books, 1901.

Chekhov, Anton. Uncle Vanya. 1896....