Throughout history human beings have witnessed dramatic changes within and between social classes. Each person is born into a particular social and cultural setting, but no one can maintain its ranking and supremacy forever. Over time, the movement between social classes has a direct effect on the transformation of the society. This social shift has caused old classes to disappear by yielding its place to the new emerging middle class. Setting in Russia at a time of political and social change, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchards portrays a historical event, the emancipation of the serfs in the form of comedy forty years after of the massive liberation. In the aftermath of the liberation, it’s clear to say that different characters address
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This liberation clearly has a direct effect on the transformation of the social order, in which former peasants like Lopakhin gain status, becoming as wealthy as the aristocrats that he once served for, while wealthy landowners like Liubov become impoverished, unable to deal and adapt to the new modes of living. Almost penniless, Liubov says, “Yesterday I had a lot of money, today it’s all gone,” then she confesses, “All my sins…I’ve always wasted money, just thrown it away like a madwoman” (866). It’s ironic to say that an old wealthy class member like Liubov starts to concern about her excessive use of money. The cause of this bankrupt doesn’t only come from her extravagant spending and her poor decisions in romance. In fact, the abolition of serfdom has greatly affected Liubov on both economic and social status as the result of her inability to manage her estate without cheap labor of slavery. Just as her expression of “Yesterday I had a lot of money” representing the pre-emancipation, and “today it’s all gone,” in which reflect her inability to adapt to the new Russian society. In sum, these reforms have caused a huge effect on the transformation of the society causing former peasants to gain status while undermining the power of the
This liberation clearly has a direct effect on the transformation of the social order, in which former peasants like Lopakhin gain status, becoming as wealthy as the aristocrats that he once served for, while wealthy landowners like Liubov become impoverished, unable to deal and adapt to the new modes of living. Almost penniless, Liubov says, “Yesterday I had a lot of money, today it’s all gone,” then she confesses, “All my sins…I’ve always wasted money, just thrown it away like a madwoman” (866). It’s ironic to say that an old wealthy class member like Liubov starts to concern about her excessive use of money. The cause of this bankrupt doesn’t only come from her extravagant spending and her poor decisions in romance. In fact, the abolition of serfdom has greatly affected Liubov on both economic and social status as the result of her inability to manage her estate without cheap labor of slavery. Just as her expression of “Yesterday I had a lot of money” representing the pre-emancipation, and “today it’s all gone,” in which reflect her inability to adapt to the new Russian society. In sum, these reforms have caused a huge effect on the transformation of the society causing former peasants to gain status while undermining the power of the