LOPAKHIN AS A SYMBOL OF PRESENT RUSSIA. The role of A.P. Lopakhin Chekhov considered the play "The Cherry Orchard" to be "central." In one of the letters he said: "... if it fails, then the whole play will fail." What is special about this Lopakhin and why exactly his A.P. Chekhov placed at the center of the figurative system of his work?
Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin is a merchant. His father was a serf peasant, after the reform of 1861 he became rich and became a shopkeeper. Lopakhin recalls this in a conversation with Ranevskaya: "My father was a serf at your grandfather and father ..."; “My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he just beat me drunk and kept it all with a stick. In fact, I am the same fool and idiot. I haven’t learned anything, my handwriting is nasty, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of them, like a pig. ”
But times are changing, and “the beaten, illiterate Yermolai, who ran barefoot in winter”, broke away from his roots, “made it into the people,” got rich, but never received an education: “My father, it’s true, was a man, but I’m in white vest, yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a Kalashny row ... Only here is a rich man, there is a lot of money, and if you think about it and figure it out, then a man is a man ... ”But one shouldn't think that this remark is only reflected in the modesty of the hero. Lopakhin likes to repeat that he is a peasant, but he is no longer a peasant, not a peasant, but a businessman, a businessman.
Individual remarks and remarks indicate that Lopakhin has some kind of big "business" in which he is completely absorbed. He always does not have enough time: he is either returning or going on business trips. “You know,” he says, “I get up at five o'clock in the morning, I work from morning to evening ...”; “I can't live without work, I don't know what to do with my hands; they hang out in a strange way, like strangers "; "In the spring I sowed a thousand acres of poppy seeds and now I have earned forty thousand pure ones." It is clear that not all the fortune went to Lopakhin by inheritance, most of it was earned by his own labor, and the path to wealth was not easy for Lopakhin. But at the same time he easily part with the money, giving it to Ranevskaya and Simeonov-Pischik on loan, persistently offering it to Peta Trofimov.
Lopakhin, like every hero of The Cherry Orchard, is absorbed in “his own truth,” immersed in his experiences, does not notice much, does not feel in those around him. But, despite the shortcomings of his upbringing, he is acutely aware of the imperfection of life. In a conversation with Firs, he sneers at the past: “It was very good before. At least they did it. " Lopakhin is worried about the present: “We have to say frankly, our life is stupid ...” He looks into the future: “Oh, more likely all this would pass, more likely our awkward, unhappy life would change somehow”. Lopakhin sees the reasons for this disorder in the imperfection of man, in the senselessness of his existence. “You just need to start doing something to understand how few honest, decent people are. Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I think: "Lord, you gave us huge forests, vast fields, the deepest horizons, and, living here, we ourselves should really be giants ..."; “When I work for a long time, tirelessly, then thoughts are easier, and it seems that I also know why I exist. And how many people in Russia, brother, who exist for an unknown reason. "
Lopakhin is indeed the central figure of the work. From him, threads stretch to all the characters. He is the link between the past and the future. Of all the characters, Lopakhin clearly sympathizes with Ranevskaya. He keeps fond memories of her. For him, Lyubov Andreevna is "still the same gorgeous" woman with "amazing", "touching eyes." He confesses that he loves her "like a dear ... more than a dear", sincerely wants to help her and finds, in his opinion, the most profitable project of "salvation". The location of the estate is "wonderful" - a railway passed twenty versts, next to a river. It is only necessary to divide the territory into plots and hand it over to summer residents, while having a considerable income. According to Lopakhin, the issue can be resolved very quickly, the matter seems to him profitable, he just needs to "clean up, clean ... for example, ... demolish all the old buildings, this old house, which is no longer good for anything, cut down the old cherry orchard ...". Lopakhin is trying to convince Ranevskaya and Gayev of the need to make this "only correct" decision, not realizing that his reasoning deeply hurts them, calling as unnecessary trash everything that for many years was their home, was dear to them and sincerely loved by them. He offers to help not only with advice, but also with money, but Ranevskaya rejects the offer to lease land for summer cottages. “Dachas and summer residents - it's so vulgar, I'm sorry,” she says.
Convinced of the futility of his attempts to persuade Ranevskaya and Gaev, Lopakhin himself becomes the owner of the cherry orchard. In the monologue “I bought” he cheerfully tells how the auction went, rejoices at how he “grabbed” Deriganov and “beat him up”. For
Lopakhin, a peasant's son, the cherry orchard is part of an elite aristocratic culture, he acquired what was inaccessible twenty years ago. Genuine pride resounds in his words: “If my father and grandfather stood up from their graves and looked at the whole incident, how their Yermolai ... bought an estate, which is the most beautiful in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen ... ”This feeling intoxicates him. Having become the owner of the Ranevskaya estate, the new owner dreams of a new life: “Hey, musicians, play, I wish to listen to you! Come all to watch how Yermolai Lopakhin has enough ax in the cherry orchard, how the trees will fall to the ground! We will set up the dachas, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see a new life here ... Music, play! .. A new landowner, the owner of the cherry orchard! .. "And all this in the presence of the crying old mistress of the estate!
Lopakhin is also cruel towards Varya. For all the subtlety of his soul, he lacks humanity and tact to bring clarity to their relationship. Everyone around is talking about the wedding, congratulating. He himself speaks of marriage: “What then? I'm not averse to ... She's a good girl ... ”And these are his sincere words. Varya, of course, likes Lopakhin, but he shies away from marriage, either from timidity, or from unwillingness to give up freedom, from the right to control his own life. But, most likely, the reason is excessive practicality, which does not allow for such a miscalculation: to marry a homeless woman who has no rights even to a ruined estate.
Lopakhin is a merchant and represents the face of a new era, which is to fill Russia, to destroy the old estates. The landlords are replaced by capitalists, who in turn left the common people, but received substantial opportunities.
In fact, the story is not new and Chekhov did not mock the figure of the rich Lopakhin, who can communicate on an equal footing with people who actually owned his ancestors. Ermolai Alekseevich himself has a fairly high degree of accurate reflection and does not harbor illusions. He calls himself a simple peasant and this makes sense, just as his ancestors got up before dark and went to bed at night and worked, he also works incessantly, just the conditions have changed and now such people can make money.
In fact, Lapakhin is an illustration of how a more or less decent person who is allowed to reach certain possibilities will behave. He behaves in many respects mercilessly and does not possess the refinement of nature, lofty ideals and lofty mind. At the same time, it is he who describes the cherry orchard reverently.
Although for Lopakhin such a description is just beautiful words and a light movement of the soul, he really just does not feel deeply, he cannot understand the deep feelings that its owners have for the garden. Yes, Lopakhin likes the garden, but he likes money more, and he likes the opportunity to earn money and work in general. Therefore, he easily part with the garden and even more.
Chekhov skillfully represents some of the predatory, and, let's say, "gluttonous" nature of Lopakhin, who, having achieved his goal (buying a garden), can no longer control himself. He dances and even is engaged in cutting down the garden before the owners leave - probably just to demonstrate his own power, to offend Ranevskaya, but mostly Gaev.
Of course, Ermolai is not a negative character in the literal sense, but if you look from the side of the landowners, he does not have any special inner dignity. Lopakhin knows about this and is not at all sad, because he can buy a garden, which the landowners cannot, who do not fall asleep over books, but are not particularly awake for this harsh and simple new world that Chekhov foresaw.
Essay about Lopakhin
A man - a man - says Lopakhin about himself. This image is collective and represents, to some extent, the ruler of modern times.
Lopakhin is indeed the ruler of the coming era, he managed to earn money thanks to the new conditions. Such hardworking people become merchants and businessmen, amass capital. They enter high society, but do not pretend to high culture and high ideals, fall asleep over books, but work a lot.
For Lopakhin, the cherry orchard (which, by the way, personifies Russia) does not carry any symbolic ideal or shrine, it is only a profitable space in order to create summer cottages and receive money for rent. Quite a little time after Chekhov writes his play, men like Lopakhin will march across the whole country in bulk, divide plots for summer residents, and in general, as they say, “take it away and divide it up”. The Lopakhins do not really need the comfort and grace of high society, they are practical people.
Of course, this world needs people like Lopakhin, simple and active, but when they become the main driving force and replace the elite, then the country from a cherry orchard turns into vulgar plots for summer residents. Of course, Gaev's happiness is also vulgar, his philistinism is no good, however, Lopakhin's proletarian happiness does not look like a healthy alternative.
After all, what is happiness for Lopakhin? We see at the end of the play, when he loses control, begins to dance and does not even allow Ranevskaya and the others to leave the estate calmly, he begins to chop down the garden with the former owners, in order, as they say, to poke his nose. Previously, Lopakhin's ancestors worked in this garden for their masters, and now he is the king of the world, who achieved everything with his hump.
Yes, Lopakhin is hardworking, but, in fact, he achieves everything only by brute force. It was thanks to the landowners and the Ranevskaya family in particular that he received a more or less normal upbringing and some kind of moral foundations. By the way, with representatives of the upper class, he continues to behave courteously and restrains himself, although as soon as he gets what he is looking for, the old manners disappear and Lopakhin becomes a simple and rude predator who sees only the practical side of existence.
Of course, Chekhov does not see a negative figure in Lopakhin, perhaps he sees in him the natural course of the world, just as the seasons replace each other, so when the landowners become pampered Gaevs, the more practical and stern Lopakhins come to replace them. This is the change of eras, which Chekhov exactly saw and characterized in his own creation.
Option 3
In the center of the play A.P. Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" - sale of a neglected noble estate. The owners, in the past a wealthy noble family, are not businesslike people, not adapted to the new conditions of life. The representative of the new social force that replaces the nobility at the beginning of the 20th century - the bourgeoisie - is one of the heroes of the play - the merchant Lopakhin.
Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich is a grandson and son of serfs, an honest, hardworking, energetic person. The bulk of his fortune was earned by his own labor. He is illiterate, he has not studied anywhere. But he has a business acumen, a mind. Lopakhin is completely absorbed in some business, he always lacks time, he is constantly on the road. He cannot live without work. He is the only one among the characters in the play who constantly looks at his watch and is interested in the time. Lopakhin does not regret lending money to Ranevskaya and Simeonov-Pischik, and offers them to Petya Trofimov. He is a reasonable, but kind, decent person.
Lopakhin is not at all an enemy of the nobles Ranevskaya and Gaev. On the contrary, he has a feeling of sympathy for them, really wants to help. Lopakhin does not want to ruin the cherry orchard, but gives practical advice: to divide the garden into plots for summer cottages and rent it out for a reasonable fee. But for them, intellectuals of the nobility, it sounds like an insult. The cherry orchard for them is the personification of the noble past. Lopakhin cannot understand why all his impulses to help do not find a response. He is the last chance for them. He is annoyed by their procrastination. For him, a garden is an object of sale and purchase, a profitable investment of capital.
Lopakhin is not given personal happiness. His relationship with Varya is complicated. She wants to marry Lopakhin, seeing in him a suitable party. But he hesitates to propose to her, although he realizes that this is expected of him. He does not love her, he is bored with her. Lopakhin has warm feelings for Ranevskaya. He remembers how she was kind to him, protecting him from the beatings of his father as a child. Loans her with money, wants to help. But Lyubov Andreevna does not take Lopakhin's feelings seriously.
As a result, it is Lopakhin who turns out to be the owner of the garden. He is both happy and embarrassed at the same time. He is the owner of an estate in which his grandfather and father were serfs. The acquisition of an estate is evidence of his success in life, self-affirmation. He is shaken by Ranevskaya's tears. In the last desperate words of Lopakhin, which he addresses to her, one can feel the understanding of the impossibility of living the way one wants.
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Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich - a wealthy merchant, a native of ordinary peasants (his father was a serf). Lopakhin's father became free after the abolition of serfdom (1861). With a little money, he opened a shop and became rich. Yermolai energetically took up his father's business and significantly increased his wealth. Despite his condition, Lopakhin remained a simple man (he liked to emphasize this).
Lopakhin, has a calculating mind, business acumen and enterprise. He is energetic, and the scope of his activities is much wider than that of the previous masters of life.
From five o'clock he is already on his feet, working from morning till evening and cannot imagine his life without work. An interesting detail - because of his activities, he does not have enough time all the time, some business trips that he goes on are constantly mentioned. This hero in the play looks at his watch more often than others. In contrast to the strikingly impractical Ranevskaya family, he knows the count of both time and money.
Lopakhin loves Ranevskaya and keeps fond memories of her. In a conversation with Dunyasha, he says:
“I remember when I was a boy of fifteen, my deceased father - he was selling in a shop in the village at that time - hit me in the face with his fist, blood started to flow from my nose ... Lyubov Andreyevna, as I remember now, was still young, so thin, let down me to the washstand, in this very room, in the nursery. "Don't cry, the little man says, he will heal before the wedding ..."
Garden Rescue Plan
Upon learning of her trouble (the cherry orchard does not bring income and Ranevskaya is forced to put it up for sale in order to pay off the debts), Lopakhin proposes a rescue plan. As a true entrepreneur, he finds a way to make the garden profitable. To do this, you need to divide the garden into plots and lease it out for summer cottages. True, the cherry itself will have to be cut down.
Lopakhin, being a practical and a little down-to-earth nature, does not understand the nostalgic feelings that Ranevskaya has for the garden. When she does not agree to do this with the garden dear to them, Lopakhin is surprised at the frivolity and idleness of Ranevskaya and her brother. He himself gets up at 5 am and works until night.
Lopakhin's celebration
At the end of the play, it is Lopakhin who acquires the cherry orchard. This is the moment of his highest triumph: the peasant's son, "illiterate Yermolai", becomes the owner of a noble estate, where his "father and grandfather were slaves." He no longer thinks about the feelings of the former owners of the estate. Joy is bursting out of Lopakhin, he laughs and stomps his feet. His feelings will be expressed in a monologue:
“If my father and grandfather stood up from their graves and looked at the whole incident, how Yermolai bought their estate, which is the most beautiful in the world. I bought an estate where my grandfather and father were slaves, where they were not even allowed into the kitchen ... ".
Having become the owner of the Ranevskaya estate, the new owner dreams of a new life: “Hey, musicians, play, I wish to listen to you! Come all to watch how Yermolai Lopakhin has enough ax in the cherry orchard, how the trees will fall to the ground! We will set up summer cottages, and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see a new life ... Music, play! "
The "new master" of life, Lopakhin, personifies the new time. He is the only one who is given to come closer to understanding the essence of the era, but in his life there is no place for real beauty, soulfulness, humanity, because Lopakhin is a symbol of only the present. The future belongs to other people
Lopakhin's quotes
True, my father was a man, but here I am in a white waistcoat and yellow shoes.
Your brother, here is Leonid Andreevich, says about me that I am a boor, I am a fist, but this is absolutely all the same to me. Let him speak. I only wish that you would still believe me, that your amazing, touching eyes would look at me as before. Merciful God! My father was a serf with your grandfather and father, but you, in fact, did so much for me once that I forgot everything and love you like my own ... more than my own.
You are very gentle, Dunyasha. And you dress like a young lady, and your hair too. You can not do it this way. We must remember ourselves.
Yes, time is ticking.
I constantly have money of my own and others', and I see what kind of people are around. You just need to start doing something to understand how few honest, decent people are.
The only wonderful thing about this garden is that it is very large. Cherries are born every two years, and there is nowhere to go, no one buys.
In the spring I sowed a thousand acres of poppy seeds, and now I have earned forty thousand pure. And when my poppy was blooming, what a picture it was! So, I say, I earned forty thousand and, therefore, I offer you a loan, because I can. Why pull your nose? I'm a man ... just.
My dad was a man, an idiot, he did not understand anything, he did not teach me, but only beat me drunk, and all with a stick. In fact, I am the same fool and idiot. I haven't learned anything, my handwriting is bad, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of them, like a pig.
The Cherry Orchard is considered an example of a dramatic classic. Its creation accompanied a turning point in Russian theater and Russian literature. This is a lyrical comedy with a sad aftertaste typical of Chekhov's works.
History of creation
Literary critics believe that the play is autobiographical. The plot of the work is built around a ruined noble family, forced to sell the family estate. Chekhov happened to get into a similar situation, so he knew the experiences of his heroes firsthand. The state of mind of each character was familiar to the writer, as a person faced with the need to leave his home. The narrative is permeated with subtle psychologism.
The novelty of the play was that its characters were not subdivided into positive and negative characters, not into main and secondary characters. These were people of the past, present and future, whom the writer classified according to their worldview. Lopakhin was a representative of the present, although sometimes there is a feeling that he could apply for the position of a man of the future.
Work on the work was carried out from 1901 to 1903. Chekhov was seriously ill, but completed the play, and in 1904 the premiere of a theatrical production based on a new plot took place on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.
"The Cherry Orchard"
The biography and fate of Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin is closely connected with the life of the Ranevskaya family. The hero's father was a serf at Father Ranevskaya and was engaged in petty trade. The young lady showed sympathy for the young man, who every now and then flew in from his father, and he narrates this, recalling the history of life in serfdom. Ranevskaya's attitude excited the mind of Yermolai Lopakhin. He liked the caress of an attractive girl, but he understood that there was a gap between them, based on slavery. Even the meaning of the hero's surname and first name suggests that he is intended for a completely different society.
Lopakhin became rich by becoming a merchant and was able to turn his fate around. He made himself and, in the absence of proper education, got out into the people, which he is incredibly proud of. Although it is admitted that books are empty for him, and the handwriting has not acquired a noble appearance. The former serf achieved everything by hard work, his whole life is in work. Lopakhin is in a hurry all the time, looking at his watch, expecting a new meeting. He knows how to manage his own time and finances, unlike the Ranevskaya family.
Lopakhin repeatedly brings up a conversation about the cherry orchard, offering help. He easily part with the money, lending, but in the case of the estate being sold, something else is involved: Lopakhin loves Ranevskaya. He acts nobly, offering to buy out the garden and rent it out for summer cottages, although he could quietly buy it for his own use.
Lopakhin demonstrates business qualities that are surprising for a former serf. He is practical and calculating, but does not use his talents against those close to him. At the same time, some characters give an impartial characterization of the hero, believing that Lopakhin is pursuing the possibility of a lucrative deal.
Throughout the action, it is repeatedly said about Lopakhin's marriage to Vara. Yermolai does not marry a girl not because of a lack of dowry, but because of the question of cutting down the garden. Varya, however, sees in the groom only a businessman, to whom the wedding can be beneficial as a deal. The incoherent dialogues between the characters make it clear that there is no mutual understanding between them. The love for Ranevskaya, warm in Lopakhin's heart, does not allow him to think about other women. The hero proposes to Varya exclusively at the request of his beloved.
Illustration for the book "The Cherry Orchard" In the play, each character loses something along with The Cherry Orchard. Lopakhin loses faith in love, realizing that the image of a simple peasant is forever entrenched in Ranevskaya's perception. Having bought Ranevskaya's garden from the auction, he, the representative of the future, the owner of the estate, where his family was in service, falls into euphoria. But, having acquired the garden, he did not achieve the fulfillment of his dream, which remained unattainable. Ranevskaya leaves Russia, leaving for Paris, and Lopakhin is left alone with the estate where he spent his youth.
In the finale of the play, Ermolai Alekseevich speaks of an awkward life. It becomes obvious to him that everything that he aspired to turned out to be empty. He realizes how many people in his country exist aimlessly and do not understand why they live.
A scene from the movie "The Cherry Orchard" The author's attitude to Lopakhin is not as negative as that of other characters in the play. Chekhov considers Lopakhin a "fool" and justifies the hero by the lack of education and upbringing. Many of Lopakhin's actions indicate that, despite his business acumen, the man is not distinguished by simple foresight. He is late for the train to meet Ranevskaya. Wanting to help her out of trouble, he buys a garden. Decides to call Varya in marriage and immediately forgets about it.
Lopakhin's image has been incredibly relevant in recent decades. This is a "hero of our time", skillfully building a business, but callous in soul. A person who is incapable of perception and thinks exclusively about his own self-realization through material wealth. Ermolai Lopakhin presents his description of the anti-portrait of Chekhov. A finely feeling writer, whose works are full of philosophical meaning and tragedy, is the complete opposite of the son of serfs who has broken out into people.
Screen adaptations
The first film adaptation of the play by the Russian playwright Chekhov was made in Japan in 1936 by director Morato Makoto. The heroes have been modernized to match the actual Japanese images. In 1959, director Daniel Petri directed the film The Cherry Orchard, in which Martin Hirte played the role of Lopakhin. In the production of Jan Bull in 1973, the image of Lopakhin was absent, and in the Soviet film adaptation of 1976, Yuri Kayurov appeared as a merchant in the television play by Leonid Kheifets.
Vysotsky plays in the play "The Cherry Orchard" Richard Aid in 1981 starred Bill Paterson in the role of Lopakhin, and in the Soviet film of Igor Ilyinsky in 1983 he played Yermolai. Anna Chernakova, who shot the film "The Cherry Orchard" 10 years later, invited Lopakhin to the role. The image of the merchant in the television movie Sergei Ovcharov in 2008 went to. He became the most famous performer of this role on the theatrical stage.
Quotes
Lopakhin is colorful by the fact that he does not forget his place. Like any person who has not seen a prosperous life, he is proud of what he managed to achieve without patronage and help. For him, the main expression of success is material wealth:
"My father, it is true, was a man, and here I am in a white vest, yellow shoes."
Illustration for the play "The Cherry Orchard" The hero understands how valuable an education he did not receive in his current position would be. He also feels that he lacks the ability to understand the world he is so eager to get into, where he wants to be accepted as “his own”:
“My dad was a man, an idiot, he didn’t understand anything, he didn’t teach me, he only beat me drunk, and all with a stick. In fact, I am the same fool and idiot. I haven’t learned anything, my handwriting is nasty, I write in such a way that people are ashamed of them, like a pig. ”
Lopakhin's main achievement lies in the fact that he manages to understand: the life he aspires to is worthless. Money does not bring him pleasure. Owning a cherry orchard gives an understanding that his dreams turned out to be empty, the pleasure of their fulfillment is doubtful. Work becomes the main life credo for the hero:
“When I work for a long time, tirelessly, then thoughts are easier, and it seems that I also know why I exist. And how many people in Russia, brother, who exist for an unknown reason. "
Introduction
"... if it (the role) fails, then the whole play will fail." So in one of the letters Chekhov spoke about the role of Lopakhin from the play "The Cherry Orchard". Oddly enough, the author places the focus not on Ranevskaya, the owner of the cherry orchard, but on Lopakhin. A merchant, a rather limited person, himself honestly admitting that he is essentially a "fool and an idiot" - this is the characterization of Lopakhin from "The Cherry Orchard" that is remembered by readers in the first place. And yet it is his author who calls the "central" figure in the work! He is echoed by a number of critics who define this hero as a hero of the new time, a viable person of a “new formation”, with a sober and clear view of things. In order to better understand this contradictory image, let us analyze Lopakhin.
Lopakhin's life path
The fate of Lopakhin and Yermolai Alekseevich was closely intertwined with the fate of the Ranevskaya family from the very beginning. His father was a serf with Ranevskaya's father, he traded "in the village in a shop." Once, - recalls Lopakhin in the first act - his father drank and broke his face. Then the young Ranevskaya took him to her place, washed him and consoled him: "Don't cry, little man, he will heal before the wedding."
Lopakhin still remembers these words, and they echo in him in two ways. On the one hand, he is pleased with the caress of Ranevskaya, on the other, the word "little man" hurts his pride. It was his father who was a peasant, Lopakhin protests, and he himself "got into the world", became a merchant. He has a lot of money, "a white vest and yellow shoes" - and he achieved all this himself. His parents did not teach him anything, his father only beat him drunk. Remembering this, the hero admits that, in essence, he remained a peasant peasant: his handwriting is bad, but he does not understand anything in books - “he read a book and fell asleep.”
Lopakhin's energy and hard work deserves undoubted respect. From five o'clock he is already on his feet, working from morning till evening and cannot imagine his life without work. An interesting detail - because of his activities, he does not have enough time all the time, some business trips that he goes on are constantly mentioned. This hero in the play looks at his watch more often than others. In contrast to the strikingly impractical Ranevskaya family, he knows the count of both time and money.
At the same time, Lopakhin cannot be called a money-grubber or an unprincipled "merchant-grabber", like those merchants whose images Ostrovsky liked to draw so much. This can be evidenced by at least the ease with which he part with his money. In the course of the play, Lopakhin will repeatedly give or offer money on credit (recall the dialogue with Petya Trofimov and the eternal debtor Simeonov-Pishchik).
And most importantly, Lopakhin is sincerely worried about the fate of Ranevskaya and her estate. Merchants from Ostrovsky's plays would never do what comes to Lopakhin's mind - he himself offers Ranevskaya a way out of the situation. But the profit that can be obtained by renting a cherry orchard for summer cottages is not at all small (Lopakhin himself calculates it). And it would be much more profitable to wait for the trading day and quietly buy a profitable estate. But no, the hero is not like that, he will repeatedly invite Ranevskaya to think about his fate. Lopakhin does not want to buy a cherry orchard. “I teach you every day,” he says desperately to Ranevskaya shortly before the auction. And it is not his fault that in response he will hear the following: dachas are "so common", Ranevskaya will never agree to this. But he, Lopakhin, let him not go away, with him "still more fun" ...
Characteristics of Lopakhin through the eyes of other characters
So, we are faced with an extraordinary character in which business acumen and a practical mind are combined with a sincere affection for the Ranevsky family, and this affection, in turn, contradicts his desire to cash in on their estate. To get a more accurate idea of the image of Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov, let's look at how the other characters respond about him. The range of these responses will be wide - from "the enormous mind of man" (Simeonov-Pischik) to "a predatory beast that eats everything in its path" (Petya).
A vivid negative characteristic belongs to Ranevskaya's brother, Gaev: "boor, fist." Somewhat adorns Lopakhin in the eyes of Gayev is the fact that he is "Varin's fiance", and yet this does not prevent Gayev from considering the merchant a limited person. However, let's see from whose lips such a description of Lopakhin sounds in the play? Lopakhin himself repeats it, and he repeats without malice: "Let him speak." For him, in his own words, only one thing is important - that "amazing, touching eyes" of Ranevskaya looked at him "as before."
Ranevskaya herself refers to Lopakhin with warmth. For her, he is "a good, interesting person." And yet, from each phrase of Ranevskaya it is clear that he and Lopakhin are people of different circles. Lopakhin sees in Ranevskaya something more than just an old acquaintance ...
Love test
Throughout the play, every now and then comes the conversation about the marriage of Lopakhin and Varya, it is spoken of as a matter that has already been decided. In response to Ranevskaya's direct offer to take Varya as his wife, the hero replies: "I don't mind ... She's a good girl." And yet the wedding never took place. But why?
Of course, this can be explained by the practicality of Lopakhin the merchant, who does not want to take a dowry for himself. In addition, Varya has certain rights to the cherry orchard, and has a heart for it. The clearing of the garden stands between them. Varya explains her love failure even easier: in her opinion, Lopakhin simply does not have time for feelings, he is a businessman, unable to love. On the other hand, Varya herself does not suit Lopakhin. Her world is limited by household chores, she is dry and "looks like a nun." Lopakhin, on the other hand, has repeatedly shown the breadth of his soul (recall his statement about the giants, who are so lacking in Russia). From the incoherent dialogues between Varya and Lopakhin, it becomes clear: they absolutely do not understand each other. And Lopakhin, deciding for himself the Hamlet question "To be or not to be?", Is acting honestly. Realizing that he will not find happiness with Varya, he, like a district Hamlet, says: "Okhmelia, go to the monastery" ...
The point, however, is not only the incompatibility of Lopakhin and Varya, but that the hero has another, not expressed love. This is Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, whom he loves "more than his own." Throughout the play, the leitmotif is Lopakhin's light, reverent attitude to Ranevskaya. He decides to make an offer to Varya after a request from Ranevskaya, but here he cannot overpower himself.
Lopakhin's tragedy lies in the fact that he remained for Ranevskaya the peasant whom she once carefully washed. And the moment he finally understands that the “dear” that he kept in his soul will not be understood, a turning point occurs. All the heroes of The Cherry Orchard lose something of their own, and Lopakhin is no exception. Only in the image of Lopakhin does his feeling for Ranevskaya act as a cherry orchard.
Lopakhin's celebration
And now it happened - Lopakhin acquires the estate of Ranevskaya from the auction. Lopakhin is the new owner of the cherry orchard! Now in his character a predatory beginning really appears: "I can pay for everything!" The understanding that he bought an estate where once, "poor and illiterate", did not dare to go beyond the kitchen, intoxicates him. But in his voice one can hear irony, a mockery of himself. Apparently, Lopakhin already understands that his celebration will not last long - he can buy a cherry orchard, "which is not more beautiful in the world," but buy a dream is not in his power, it will scatter like smoke. Ranevskaya can still be comforted, because she, in the end, leaves for Paris. And Lopakhin is left alone, perfectly understanding this. "Goodbye" - that's all he can say to Ranevskaya, and this ridiculous word raises Lopakhin to the level of a tragic hero.
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