Q: What are the different symbols that Chekhov has used in his play The Cherry Orchard?

Answer:

The play "The Cherry Orchard portrays a symbolic representation of the socio-political change that was
in process in Russia-the replacement of feudal supremacy by the business class. But the wheel of change
had not yet run its full circle. The establishment of the day was vigilantly watching the scene, and lost no
time in striking down any attempt for a change of the set up. Even writers and intellectuals were under
strict observation. In this situation Chekhov had no choice but to resort to symbolic expression of his
theme

(i) Cherry Orchard as Symbol

Apart from the symbolic representation of the theme, the estate cherry orchard itself is a symbol
covering a considerable range of meaning. The cherry orchard in the play is important for its aesthetic as
well as economic utility. Its beauty has won it a place in the Encyclopedia. There was a time when cherry
fruit from this orchard used to be sold as far and wide as the markets in Yaroslanvi and Moscow.
Members of the family have many sweet memories of those days to share with reference to the cherry
orchard. And now this superb source of aesthetic enjoyment is going to be wiped out for purely
materialistic interests. It is to be hewed down for building dachas. This sad transition reflects the
ongoing socio-political transition in Russia. Thus the cherry orchard is a symbol of this change from
spiritual and emotional to material and mercenary.

The cherry orchard represents both happiness and suffering; happiness derived from its aesthetic value
and suffering from its material value. But the irony lies in the fact that it is not its aesthetic value, but
material value that gets its owners out of their miserable financial distress. Does Chekhov want to
convey the moral that sacrifice of aesthetic values is necessary for happiness in the present day world?
Unfortunately that is exactly the case in the world as it goes today.

(ii) Characters' Association with the Cherry Orchard

For Lyubov the cherry orchard is a symbol of her childhood and the good old past. She imagines her
dead mother walking through the garden in Act I; for her the orchard is a personal relic of her idyllic
childhood. It is also a symbol of the 19th century gentry's culture which has lost its relevance and utility.
It must go down to make way for a more democratic age in which "every little bourgeois wants his dacha
and his own plot of land which their spokesman Lopakhin hopes, they will one day set about to
cultivate".

Trofimov, on the other hand, near the end of Act II sees in the orchard the faces of the serfs who lived
and died in slavery on Lyubov's estate. For him the orchard represents the memory of the suffering. For
Lopakhin, the orchard is intimately tied to his personal memories of a brutal childhood, as well as
presenting an obstacle to the prosperity of both himself and Lyubov.
Though each character has his own perspective, there is a rough division between the old and the
young. The young tend to view the orchard in a negative light and the old view it more positively. This
further reinforces the orchard's symbolic identification with the past. The one exception to it may be
Varya. But this exception proves the rule, for though Varya often talks about the estate, she never
mentions the orchard itself at all. For her, it is irrelevant and the estate is directly connected to her
livelihood.

Moreover the symbol of trees is a salient feature of Russian literature. From Turgenev and Tolstoy to
twentieth century writers like Pasternak and Leonon every writer has employed this symbol.

(iii) Sound of an Axe

Chekhov's work includes many 'sounds' effects also, which have intense symbolic significance in the
course of the play. Most of the sounds are of the distinctly unpleasant nature. He uses these sounds to
build an atmosphere or simply to give a suggestion of something impractical to stage. In the final
minutes of The Cherry Orchard, the conversation is suddenly interrupted by the single thud of an axe. As
soon as we hear the axe, we are immediately aware of the inevitable change, the irreversibility of the
events taking place.

(iv) Sound of the Breaking string Another instance worth mentioning is the totally unexpected sound of
a string snapping; as the characters calmly mill around onstage in the garden. No one knows what it is.
The sound of breaking string is an auditory symbol of forgetting. It is heard first in the play after Gayev
gives a soliloquy on the eternity of nature; Firs tells us it was heard before, around the time the serfs
were freed. It is last heard just as Firs, the old manservant who functions as the play's human connection
to the past, passes away, and is juxtaposed against the sound of an axe striking a cherry tree with its
simple image of breaking line, the sound serves to unify the play's social allegory with its examination of
memory, providing a more graphic counterpart to the Cherry Orchard's hovering, off-stage presence.

Many Other Symbols

There are many other symbols in the play. The keys at Varya's waist symbolize her practicality,
possession and authority. The moment she hears of the sale of the property, which consequently now
belongs to Lopakhin, she throws the bunch of keys down for Lopakhin to pick up who now owns it.
Gayev's imaginary billiards game symbolizes his desire to escape. The cherry orchard symbolizes the old
social order, the aristocratic home, and its destruction symbolizes change. Firs himself is a figure of time;
Anya is a figure of hope. The symbols in this play too numerous to count, but many of them hinge on the
idea of the changing social order or the specific circumstance of a given character.

Conclusion

The Cherry Orchard is on one level, a naturalistic play because it focuses on scientific, objective details. It
is thus like realism, in that it attempts to portray life "as it really is". Of course, these details are selected,
sketched and presented in a certain way, guided by the author's intent. It is not actually science we are
dealing with here. But through out his career, Chekhov frequently stated his goal as an artist to present
situations as they actually were, and not to prescribe solutions. And this is revealed in Chekhov's
selection and presentation of details.

According to Robert W. Corrigan, "Chekhov used symbols but in a fashion different from his
contemporaries. These symbols are effective. They grow out of the action and are not imposed upon it,
and are more important because they rest upon the less noticeable but more significant symbolic
underpinning of the whole play."