What Humor?

Humor rarely appears inside this four-act play, specially considering the grim setting and flawed characters. These, instead of inspiring any kind of sympathy, earn the public's hate through their irrational or unacceptable actions. Ranevskaya exemplifies this. She not only refuses to accept her dire financial situation, but also worsens it through her lavish spending. Still, there other characters' behaviors demonstrate their unavoidable flaws in a more humorous fashion.

Anyhow, Trofimov shows a playful and humorous side during the start of the third act. Here, he mocks Varya for her supposed marriage with Lopakhin: "Madame Lopakhina! Madame Lopakhina!"(353). Although his offense is small, he clearly shows insensitivity to the family's situation in a humorous fashion. He makes a remark on Varya's marriage with the trader Lopakhin. The merchant had a peasant's upbringing and with the freedom his family earned, he escaped poverty and became even wealthier than his previous owners. Meanwhile, Varya had a noble childhood with serfs and wealth. This marriage would lower her status and self-esteem. In fact, she sunk even lower because she needed Lopakhin to marry her in order to save some of her family's property. She also acknowledged the possibility that he would not propose to her which would lower her status even more. Her unfortunate situation shattered her view of herself and her family.

At any rate, Trofimov mocks this dire situation with a sharp comment that helped make this progress of degradation even more painful. His attitude shows that in reality, this family's tragedy hurts very few of the people surrounding them. They do not matter. Even after loosing the last symbol of their nobility, the Cherry Orchard, they will continue to live and work even if they remain aimlessly on the past.

Right now, I do not understand the humor in this play (if any exists) because my culture differs radically from the one Chekhov grew in. I can only make suppositions, like this one, about the true humor in his works. If the author's intent was really to portray life as accurately as possible, then avoiding extremely humorous moments should be necessary since there are only very few occasions where these appear consistently in life.