The Cherry Orchard

“Oh, my orchard! After the dark, stormy autumn and the cold winter, you are young again and full of happiness…”

Act 1

The play opens at the estate of Lyubov Ranevskaya, a Russian aristocrat returning home after five years abroad. The cherry orchard is in full bloom, but the family faces financial ruin. Ranevskaya, her brother Gaev, and their household—including the idealistic daughter Anya, pragmatic adopted daughter Varya, and the merchant Lopakhin—discuss the impending auction of the estate. Lopakhin proposes cutting down the orchard to build summer cottages, but the family resists, clinging to nostalgia.

Act 2

Set in the countryside near the orchard, tensions rise as the auction date nears. Ranevskaya reminisces about her past extravagance, while Lopakhin grows frustrated by her inaction. The cynical governess Charlotta performs magic tricks, and the bumbling clerk Epikhodov courts the maid Dunyasha. The student Trofimov delivers impassioned speeches about progress, but his idealism clashes with Ranevskaya’s sentimentality.

Act 3

On the day of the auction, Ranevskaya hosts a desperate party, masking her anxiety with forced gaiety. Lopakhin returns triumphant—he has bought the orchard. His joy is tinged with guilt, while Ranevskaya collapses in tears. Varya, heartbroken over Lopakhin’s indifference to her, throws away her house keys in defeat.

Act 4

The family prepares to leave as workers chop down the orchard. Ranevskaya departs for Paris, Anya and Trofimov embrace an uncertain future, and Lopakhin remains behind, now the master of the estate. The sound of a breaking string—a symbol of irrevocable change—echoes as the play ends.

Key ideas

• The inevitability of social change and the decline of the aristocracy.
• The tension between progress and nostalgia.
• The futility of clinging to the past.
• Class conflict in a shifting society.
• The cherry orchard as a symbol of beauty and loss.