46 pages • 1 hour read
Anton ChekhovThe Cherry Orchard
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1904A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IVChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act IV Summary
Act IV opens back in the nursery. However, this time, the room is nearly empty. The curtains have been taken down, and all the remaining furniture is piled in a corner. Yasha holds a tray of champagne glasses, and Lopakhin waits beside him. Voices of some peasants saying goodbye can be heard offstage. Gaev enters with Lubov, who is pale and trembling. As they walk out again, he scolds his sister for giving the peasants money. Lopakhin calls after them, offering a farewell glass of champagne. When they don’t respond, Lopakhin tells Yasha to have a glass, and he drinks to “those departing” and “those who stay behind” (72). Lopakhin remarks that the weather is perfect for building and calls out a reminder that they must leave for the train in 20 minutes.
Trofimov comes in looking for his galoshes. Lopakhin tells him that he is going to Kharkov for the winter. He says he has spent too much time with “you people” and feels “rusty” after so long without any work. Trofimov assures him they will be gone soon so he can get busy. Lopakhin teases him about returning to the university, and Trofimov tells him the joke is “old and flat” (75). However, they hug one another goodbye with genuine affection. Lopakhin offers Trofimov money for his journey, but the other man declines, saying he is a “free man” and not influenced by the things that the “rich and poor value so highly and so dearly” (75).
In the distance, the sound of trees falling can be heard. Anya sticks her head in, asking Lopakhin to wait until they leave to cut the orchard down. Then she asks Yasha if Fiers has gone to the hospital. Yasha thinks that he has, but Anya urges Epikhodov to double-check. Epikhodov argues that Fiers isn’t worth fixing and leaves the room. Varya calls from the next room that Yasha’s mother wants to say goodbye, but he doesn’t want to see her.
The packing and goodbyes continue. Dunyasha and Yasha are left alone for a moment, and she hugs him and cries that he is leaving her to go to Paris. He tells her to behave herself, and she asks for a letter, telling him she loves him very much. Yasha, however, has seen enough of the “uncivilized world” and is anxious to leave. Lubov, Gaev, Anya, and Charlotta enter. Gaev announces it is time to leave, but Lubov insists they have 10 more minutes. She kisses Anya, telling her she looks “radiant.” Anya replies that she is happy to start her new life, and Gaev chimes in that they have all “calmed down” since the orchard was sold and are no longer suffering. He is looking forward to starting his new job at the bank, and Lubov agrees that she feels calmer as well.
Lubov is returning to Paris, where she plans to live off money from the countess, “though it won’t last long” (79). Anya is going to finish her school exams and find work. She looks forward to her mother’s return so they can read books together. Charlotta is holding a bundle shaped like a baby and singing to herself. She throws the bundle away, telling Lubov she has nowhere to go and that they must find her a new place to work.
Simeonov-Pischin rushes in, out of breath. To everyone’s surprise, he gives Lubov and Lopakhin money that he owes them, announcing that he has leased some of his land to Englishmen who found white clay there. He has to rush off, anxious to repay more debts, and promises to return soon. Lubov reminds him she is leaving for Paris, and he says a hasty goodbye.
With Simeonov-Pischin gone, Lubov asks about Fiers. Anya assures her mother that he has already been sent to the hospital. Lubov then asks about Varya. She worries that the woman is becoming unwell now that she has no work to do. Turning to Lopakhin, she asks if he intends to marry Varya, saying she doesn’t understand why they haven’t gotten engaged yet. Lopakhin replies that he isn’t sure, either, and offers to “get it over, once and for all” (82). Delighted, Lubov goes looking for Varya and sends her in.
Varya enters, looking for something. Lopakhin asks her where she is moving to, and they make awkward conversation until Lopakhin is called away. Varya sits down on the ground and cries. Lubov comes in, telling her it is time to go. The group gathers, and the luggage is moved outside. Anya is joyful, and Gaev begins to make a farewell speech before Anya and Varya stop him. Everyone goes out to the carriages except for Lubov and Gaev. Alone, they hug one another and begin to cry quietly. Called from outside, they take one last look at the house and exit.
The stage is empty as the door is locked, and carriages are heard pulling away. There is a moment of silence before the sound of trees being felled resumes. Footsteps are heard, and Fiers appears, looking ill. He tries the door and finds it locked. He remarks that everyone has left and forgotten him. Mumbling about life going on without him, Fiers lies down and goes still. From offstage, the faint sound of a breaking string is heard. Then, in the silence, the sound of the axe resumes.
Act IV Analysis
Act IV opens in the same room as Act I; however, the word “nursery” is no longer used in the stage directions, suggesting that the family’s connection to the estate has already been broken. Previously, the characters surrendered to The Role of the Past in Shaping the Present; but now, this link has snapped. Instead of being a comfortable place full of memories, the room is bare, filled only with signs of packing and an “emptiness [that] is felt” (71).
Initially, however, it seems as if little else has changed despite their break from the past. Gaev remarks that while they all “suffered” before the cherry orchard was sold, “when the question was solved once and for all, [they] all calmed down, and even became cheerful” (79). With the estate sold, the characters all seem to be in better spirits. Anya, especially, is joyful at the thought of her new life. The thing they feared so much, letting go of the past, has happened, and life is more or less the same. This reflects the aftermath of many important historical moments, like the emancipation of the serfs. Although the Emancipation Reform seemed like an overnight change, it took many years for the former serfs’ lives to improve. Meaningful social change, the play suggests, takes generations to develop fully. While the family’s traditions have been broken, and they are scattering to begin their new lives, they continue to fall into old habits and patterns.
Lubov, especially, continues her pattern of Coping with Loss Through Escape and Denial. When the peasants come to say goodbye, Lubov still can’t “help [her]self” and gives them all her money, to Gaev’s annoyance. She plans to return to Paris, using the money that the countess gave them to buy the estate; she will reunite with the man who took advantage of her before. All this suggests that Lubov maintains her innocence and naiveté. She has yet to accept her changing reality. However, because of her more privileged social position, she has the ability to prolong her delusion for at least a little longer.
Lopakhin also seems relatively unchanged. He still claims to be “a simple peasant” despite his economic success. Throughout the play, his poor upbringing shows in his lack of tact and refinement, which continues in the final act as he urges the other characters to celebrate with champagne and begins cutting down the orchard before the family has left. Furthermore, Lopakhin still seems to feel some obligation to Lubov, suggesting that he still sees her as his superior. For example, he tells Lubov that he will propose to Varya even though he clearly has no interest in marrying her. Rather, he still cannot stand up to Lubov, which brings up the theme of Social Change as a Powerful but Destabilizing Force that affects parties on both sides of the equation.
While individual characters may be slow to assimilate to the changing world, the sale of the estate and the destruction of the orchard is nevertheless a definitive step away from the past. As the characters scatter, only Fiers is left behind, forgotten in the changing world. Throughout the play, the aging servant represents the old world. For centuries, serfs were bound to a specific piece of land, and Fiers’s declining health as the fate of the estate becomes more precarious is symbolic of this relationship. Ultimately, he is forgotten and abandoned by the family he spent his life serving; however, his loyalty never wavers, and he spends his last moments worrying that Gaev will forget to take his warm coat. He is the character most attached to the past, and his death suggests the death of the old order. As Fiers lies down in the nursery, the play closes with the snap of a string breaking and with the sound of an axe felling the cherry trees, representing the ties to the past finally being cut.
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By Anton Chekhov
