Chekhov's Characters

Many of Chekhov’s plays and stories (including The Cherry Orchard) deal with characters who have become disillusioned with their middle class lives. Once great estates have crumbled they are often forced to sell off large amounts of land. Chekhov’s characters also often display a characteristic often said to be peculiar to Russians known as ‘Oblomovism,’ named after a character of incredible lethargy in Goncharov’s novel Oblomov. A general state of disinterestedness and resistance to change is certainly characteristic of the people in many of Chekhov’s plays, and is often coupled with an obsession with looking towards the past when the situation of the landowning classes would have been much more comfortable. A major challenge with Chekhov’s characters seems to be that they are seemingly incapable – or unwilling – to help themselves, and eventually become resigned to the tedium of their unfulfilling lives.