The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard Summary | Act 2 Summary

Charlotta, Yasha and Dunyasha are talking in a field and it's nearing sundown. Yepikhodov is nearby playing a guitar. Charlotta is bemoaning the fact that she has had a miserable childhood, and Yasha wants to leave and go abroad. Yepikhodov is brooding that he doesn't know whether to live or die so he carries a revolver with him at all times. Yasha asks to speak to Kunyasha alone and she tells him that she is in love with him. She moves to embrace him and he pushes her away, as he doesn't want the others to think that he is meeting her. She leaves before the others arrive.

Lopakhim, Lyubov and Gaev enter. Lyubov is lamenting her financial situation even though they have just returned from a restaurant. Lopakhim implores her one more time to consider the cottage option to save the estate. It must be done now or the land will be auctioned. If she would only say yes, she would have all the money she would like. He's frustrated and starts to leave, but she asks him not to; when he is around is the only time when she doesn't feel a terrible weight over her head. She has squandered her fortune on deadbeat, alcoholic husbands and she has lost everything to pay their debts.

Trofimov, Anya and Varya enter. Lopakhin goads Trofimov as being almost fifty but still a student - a student of women, it would seem. He comes back at him and calls Lopakhim a predator. Varya interrupts the fight and asks that they change the subject. Trofimov launches into a monologue of the disparity between the intelligentsia and the working class. Lopakhin takes offense, as he works long hours every day and doesn't see much nobility in it.

A stranger approaches asking directions and if they might have any money. Lyubov gives him a gold coin and Varya is outraged. They have nothing left to eat, yet her stepmother is giving away gold. Lopakhin again reminds them all of the impending auction. They all leave except Anya and Tofimov, and she is concerned with losing their orchard and their garden, but he tells her that all of Russia is their garden. The country is vast and contains many things. Every leaf on every tree represents someone who has worked the land and when the leaves blow it is human beings speaking, saying that they toiled in order to create the idyll her family now enjoys. In order to live in the world, they must atone by suffering, by work...continual hard labor. She understands what he is saying and tells her to throw the keys to her house down the well and walk away. He passionately tells her that he has seen much, endured much, but he also feels the throb of happiness coming. A happier time is coming, and they may not live to see it, but others will.