The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov | Act 4, Firs Is Left Behind

Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Act 4, Firs Is Left Behind from Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard.


Set in early 1900s Russia, The Cherry Orchard tells the story of Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya and her family as they fall from the upper class.

Lyubov Andreyevna has been abroad. While away, her ancestral estate has become financially unsound.

Lopakhin, a family friend, suggests cutting down the cherry orchard that gives the play its name and replacing it with summer cottages in order to subsidize its continued existence. Lyubov Andreyevna dismisses the idea and catches up with her friends and family.

Amid various romantic and social entanglements, the direness of the situation becomes clear. Still Lyubov Andreyevna prefers to ignore the looming catastrophe.

Ultimately, Lopakhin purchases the estate himself, leaving its original owners to scatter and make their own, new lives.

The play chronicles a changing class structure in which the feudalism of the past has given way to a new, more democratic future where money is more important than class.

Beloved Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard was first performed in 1904. Chekhov was a doctor and successful writer of comic short stories in addition to being a playwright. His last play, The Cherry Orchard, which he considered a comedy because of its humorous elements and ridiculous actions, was first performed just six months before he died.

The tragedy The Cherry Orchard contains many enduring themes, including the old world versus the new, as Lyubov and Gayev watch helplessly as former servants become rulers in a modern world; the past, as Lyubov and her family yearn for the comforts of the past, while others view the past as brutal and oppressive; and talk versus action, as the upper class, defined by empty talk, struggles against doers and workers like Lopakhin. Important symbols include the cherry orchard, firs, and snapped string.


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