In Act II of Anton Chekhov’s play, The Cherry Orchard, Lyubov Andreyevna displays remorse for the sins she has committed. She goes on explaining to Gayev and Lopakhin that she was once married to a man who had later died from alcohol abuse. However, while her husband is still alive, Andreyevna falls in love again – but with another man. An affair develops between Andreyevna and this man. She commits adultery. Andreyevna revisits the memory of her son’s tragic death. She blames herself for her son’s death saying, “…that was my first punishment… my little boy was drowned… here in the river” (Chekhov 342). After her son drowned in the river, she moves to France, and her lover follows her there.
For three years Andreyevna and her lover live together. He soon takes ill, forcing Andreyevna to take care of him. While still in France, they sell their villa in a town near Mentone and move to Paris. There, her lover robs her of all her belongings and leaves Andreyevna for another woman. She states, “I tried to poison myself,” (Chekhov 342) telling the audience she had attempted suicide, because of the emotional pain her lover had left her with. Eventually, Andreyevna moves back to her homeland of Russia.
Despite everything that occurs, I do not know if I should feel pity towards Andreyevna. I do not respect her for having the affair. In my opinion, cheating on a loved one is cowardly. Losing a child, however, I imagine takes a terribly long time to recover from; for this, I do express sympathy for her.
“This came today from Paris… He asks my forgiveness, begs me to return…” (Chekhov 342) are the last lines Andreyevna says regarding her love affair in France. The periods following her final words make me think Andreyevna is considering going back to rekindle the relationship with her ex-lover regardless of all the suffering he has put her through.
I agree with you, Dana. I did not sympathize for Andreyevna because she committed adultery. She did the same to her first husband and she now knows how it feels to be cheated on. I thought she deserved what she got, yet I found myself feeling sorrow for Lyubov throughout her breakdown because of her son. Losing a child is possibly the worst feeling a parent has to go through. I think she tried to find love and ran away as an escape from all the pain. Lyubov says, “…And I went abroad, went away for good, never to return, never to see this river…I closed my eyes and ran” (Chekhov 342). I do think she tried to make herself a better person after that incident. Having a man by her side was helping her cope with her loss.
ReplyDeleteAlthough what she did earlier in her life was wrong, I do not think a person should be reminded of their mistakes. She may have thought it was her fault and that is why I feel sorry for her.