The Absurd

The reader cannot be completely certain of the Cherry Orchard being funny, but it can state that its definitely absurd. And, well, absurd is funny to a certain extent. Pishchick is an interesting character to analyze in this III act, considering his childish and easy-going persona is comical, despite seeming somewhat stingy. Charlotta reveals his naive being, turning him into a child, making him look foolish.

These sociological relationships continue throughout the whole act; Lyubov and Trofimov, Varya and Lopakhin. All seem illogical, absurd. However, the act itself is not, since the sudden frenzy of the situation builds up a well structured plot, growing in a crescendo when Lopakhin confesses he bought the orchard. Tension predominates and again the juxtaposition of the ball room and Lyubovs state do not homogenize, turning it again, into absurd. On a personal basis, I perceived the storyline as deeply dramatic, since this discordance is cruel in many aspects, is realistically satiric.  Nicholas Martin comes up with a strong theory regarding the play, stating that the time period in which the play gestates is gruesome, the beginning of the 20th century is characterized by deep, sardonic plays such as Awake and Sing! Which Chekhov despised. The characters in the Cherry orchard are to be aware of the "inherit comedy of life itself, which marks the aphoristic development of the play.