Erosion of Ecological Harmony: Pastoral Ideals and the Commodification of Nature in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard

Abstract

This research deploys the lens of Leo Marx's pastoralism to conduct an ecocritical evaluation of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Pastoralism by Leo Marx serves as a prism to examine the cultural tensions and contradictions inherent in the idealization of harmonious cohabitation between people and the natural environment in the circumstances of a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing civilization. Through this perspective, The Cherry Orchard emerges as a poignant portrayal of the nostalgia for a bygone era in the face of industrial progress--- a motif that mirrors Marx's pastoral tension. The Cherry Orchard casts a shadow over the pastoral dream, as the characters, Lopakhin and Lyubov contend with the conflict between industrial encroachment and the maintenance of an idealized retreat. The protagonist of the play, Lopakhin, exhibits a capitalistic mindset, tearing down the orchard to build summer cottages for financial gain. His perspective on life depicts the conflict between tradition and modernity in late nineteenth-century Russia. The pastoral ideal in The Cherry Orchard seems to originate in a recoil from the pain and responsibility of life in a civilization--- the familiar impulse to withdraw from city, locus of power, and politics into nature. Lyubov prefers the tranquil spontaneity of nature, especially among her cherry trees, and avoids the frenetic pace of capitalism. By placing the machine in opposition to the tranquility and order located in the landscape, Chekhov creates an emblem of the artificial, of the unfeeling utilitarian spirit, and of the fragmented, industrial style of life that allegedly follows from the premises of the empirical philosophy.