Chekov Industrial Revolution

Russia’s history is nearly as deep as the nation is wide. After centuries of autocratic rule and several abortive insurgencies, peasants and gentry alike found themselves irrepressibly disaffected with the state. Russia’s politics had been radicalized because of the Tsar, serfdom, lack of political representation, censorship, and oppression. This, paired with Bolshevik agitation in the factories necessitated change in Russia and, as a result of reactionary legislation, these groups seemed to garner an increasingly greater influence in the political realm. Russia was a country of great flux largely due to its government, for there was no enduring set of values, principles, and laws that unified its rulers, past and present. Without a constitution, the rise of each new tsar seemed to mark a different era, with some tsars with high aspirations, others were timid, and many were self-interested. 19th and early 20th century Russians so desperately wanted a constitution, but they never saw this goal to its fruition. A reigning …show more content…
Replete with a diverse character list, the play offers insight into how each sect of society took to the social and economic shifts. Lubov, the matriarch of an aristocratic family, returns to her estate after a retreat in Paris. She is confronted with the devastating news that, due to her inability to make payments, her estate will be sold at an auction. The estate is bought by Lopahin, the son of a former serf of Lubov’s family who is now a wealthy businessman. This inversion of the class hierarchy is jarring for the nobility, but vindicating for the peasants. Unlike in the days of serfdom, class mobility is possible for those marginalized groups. Lubov is dejected and sits inert at the proposition of surrendering her beloved cherry orchard, for it is the source of cherished memories of her pleasant past, a past in which she was not living on borrowed