This document provides an overview of a university lecture on Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard. The course is an introduction to literature offered at the 5th level for 3 credit hours. The lecture will analyze the play, reflecting on its social and cultural themes. It will discuss the plot, setting, symbolism, and themes of the play. The learning outcomes are to analyze The Cherry Orchard and reflect on its social and cultural themes.

1. Course Title: Introduction to Literature
Course Code & NO.: LANE 341
Course Credit Hrs.: 3 per week
Level: 5th Level
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
Dec., 11th , 2013
8-9: 20 AM
Instructor: Dr. Noora Al-Malki
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2. Session Content
- Unit Learning Outcomes
- Introduction to the play
- Plot
- Setting & Symbolism
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3. Unit Objective:
In this lecture, we are going to read The Cherry Orchard by the Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov.
We are going to reflect on the social and cultural changes that are discussed in the play. Themes,
conflicts, and style will be discussed as well.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
-Analyze The Cherry Orchard by the Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov
-Reflect on the social and cultural and social themes that inform the play.
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4. Introduction
-Written during the last years of Chekhov’s life 1904
- 4- act play
- Comedy vs. tragedy
“not a drama but a comedy, in places almost a farce.”
- Russia’s decaying upper class
- the social climate of Russia at the beginning of the 20th
century upheaval
- inability to adapt
Q: Discuss the major theme of The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov
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5. Plot
-The Cherry Orchard presents a dilemma: The Ranevskaya family, which includes
landowner Lyuboff (Lyuba) Andreena Ranevskaya, her brother Gayev, daughter
Anya, and adopted daughter Varya, faces two alternatives that it finds equally
unacceptable: either to lose the estate on the auction block because of its unpaid
mortgage, or to destroy its uniqueness by chopping down its cherry trees and
razing the residence to replace it with summer cottages. The second option, which
will be exercised by the businessman who buys the orchard at auction, Yermolay
Alexeevich Lopahin, offers what the gentry considers a vulgar economic solution at
the expense of its cherished values of beauty and inspiration. In this situation,
Mme Ranevskaya chooses not to act, thereby forfeiting the property.
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6. Setting
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7. Setting
Madame Ranevsky’s estate is located somewhere in the provinces of central Russia. Three acts of the play take
place in her large house. Act 1 is set in what was once the nursery, a large, high-ceilinged room which has
become an informal meeting place. The second act is set in a field not far from the house, near an old chapel. The
third act reveals the true opulence of the house: Its drawing room with a chandelier is in the foreground, and
dancing couples can be seen in the ballroom through arches at the rear. Act 4 returns to the nursery, now stripped
of its decorations and ready to be vacated by Madame Ranevsky and her family. Madame Ranevsky’s world is
doomed by economic and social forces usually identified with offstage places. A station is nearby, from which
characters go to Russian cities like Kharkov and Moscow. Madame Ranevsky’s problems are made acute by her
irresponsibilities with both men and money, both of which are associated with Paris.
The Cherry orchard
It is the most important part of the setting of three of these acts is the visible symbol of the fragile and doomed beauty of
Madame Ranevsky’s world, the cherry orchard itself. It is revealed in all its blooming spring beauty through the large, tall
windows in act 1. In the next act, it is visible at the edge of the field. It can be seen again in the desolation of act 4, denuded
now of its blossoms because it is October.
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8. Have a super day….
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