Chekhovs The Cherry Orchard Conrads The Heart of Darkness and James The American
In Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the main characters include MadameRanevsky, owner of the cherry orchard; Yermolai Lopakhin, her neighbor;Leonid Gayef, her brother, Ranevsky's two daughters Barbara and Anya; andPeter Trophimof. The play unfolds against the backdrop of the liberationof the serfs. Madame Ranevsky returns home to her cherry orchard estate.She is returning from France where her abusive lover stole from her andleft her. She has enormous debts and is threatened with losing the cherryorchard. Lopakhin is a former serf who has become successful and wealthy.Gayef is Ranevsky's brother who refuses to accept the dire situation theyare in, living off of his family's fortune. While Anya is an innocentchild, her older sister Barbara is used as a lure for Lopakhin's wealth buthe never asks for her hand in marriage. Trophimof represents ration andintellectualism, but he remains helpless to assist Ranevsky. His loftyworld of ideals is not one Lopakhin can relate to as a former serf, "Youknow, I get up at five o'clock in the morning, and I work from morning tonight; and I've money, my own and other people's, always passing through myhands, and I see what people are made of all around me.
The battle betweenlight and dark is an ongoing struggle, one Russian cannot understandbecause he has little idea or conception of what he is doing in Africa. LikeLopakhin remains obsessed with business to the point where he undermineshis own humanity, Madame Ranevsky's refusal to adapt to change and modifyher behavior makes her sacrifice all that is valuable to her. I looked athim as you peered down at a man who is lying at the bottom of a precipicewhere the sun never shines, (Conrad 1928, 149). All men who experience absolute power are faced with the temptationof being virtuous or of using it to self-indulgently allow themselves to dowhatever they feel like with no regard for the consequences, similar toMadame Ranevsky. To the Bellegardes, Christopher is just one more example of thevulgar American who comes from the wealthy class or nouveau riche. Her background and her family's nameand wealth have enabled her to get away with such behavior without havingto pay any consequences for it. Madame Ranevsky's need for money makes her unable to prevent theselling of the cherry orchard. The Narrator who listens toMarlow's story appears to represent us, the readers. Because of her heritage and past highlifestyle, Madame Ranevsky is emotionally-based and proceeds to do or sayjust about anything she chooses to. Conclusion Despite the different characters, themes, cultures, and erasdepicted in The Cherry Orchard, The Heart of Darkness, and The American,they all share an overriding conflict in common. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his variouslusts, that there was something wanting in him-some small matter which,when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificenteloquence," (Conrad 1928, 131). Marlow sails a steamboat butdiscovers a great deal about the hidden continent of Africa. She is not in the situation any longer,but she cannot come to terms with the fact that a serf such as Lopakhinshould be so successful while she is now threatened with losing her estate. He desired to have kings meet him at railway-stations on his return from some ghastly nowhere, where he intended toaccomplish great things.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
