Mimesis

When reading act 1 of The Cherry Orchard, I realized this was a very realistic play. From the beginning, Chekhov establishes a consistent lack of themes and of idealized characters. I can deepen my understanding of this portrayal by describing the society he shows.

Moreover, this play has two main characteristics that define its style: incoherence between the character's conversations and social classes. These are not the play's themes but rather, elements of the reality on which the author based his story. Since he made clear that neither themes nor characters would drive the ideas behind his plays, then only these elements, part of the story's crude realism, remain.

Surely, social classes played a key role in Chekhov's life. During the time of Czars in Russia people had social classes engrained on them like we see here: "Lopakhin: You're much too delicate, Dunyasha. You dress like a lady and do you hair like one too. It's not right. You should know your place" (316). This occurs during the very first moments of the book when Lopakhin and Dunyasha wait for the other to arrive. The merchant warns the maid against her excessively refined ways. She does not agree or disagree with this statement but accepts it in silence. The development of the play's reality needs this because it shows, with few seconds of dialog, the strict social stratification in it. Although this character seems unaffected by this phrase, it clearly shows the importance social classes will have on the behavior of characters as read on.

Anyhow, the inability of characters to truly understand each other plays a key role in the play's reality. In very few moments does the dialogue flow between the characters. Instead, the people inform other of important events that go unnoticed. Here, Dunyasha talks to Anya about her marriage proposal and she blatantly ignored her: "Dunyasha: I really don't know what to think. He loves me- He loves me so! Anya: My room, my windows… it's just as though I'd never been away. I am home! Tomorrow morning I'll get up and run into the orchard… Oh if I could only sleep! I didn't sleep during the entire journey, I was so tormented by anxiety" (319). The fact they do not communicate at all, for what ever reason, matters to develop the ideas in the play. These are deeply flawed characters or so they seem to be. In this first Act we can only skim on their real essence. Still, this lack of communication will play a key role later in the play even if it only serves to maintain the status quo.

The author's unique style helps give the play its realism. Although this only talks about the first act, he already has a clear tone, probably close to gloominess than anything else, that the reader can only begin to understand on the first few pages. On the title page the categorization of the play as a comedy intrigues me considering its tone, defined partly, by the elements described above.