ABSTRACT
The incongruity between reality as it is and as it is imagined to be, between fact and wishful thinking, which lies at the very heart of every comedy, is best illustrated in the climactic third act of The Cherry Orchard. On her first appearance in the third act Lyubov shows no signs of worrying about the auction. She is humming a popular dance tune, telling Varya to offer the dance-band tea, gaily applauding Charlotta’s conjuring tricks. The set of the third act is almost identical with the set of the first and second acts of The Three Sisters. The Jewish band, mentioned in the second act, is playing off stage. Lyubov tried to avoid the rather dangerous subject of the reason for Trofimov’s expulsion, by asking her why she shouldn’t marry ‘a nice, interesting’ man like Lopakhin. Varya admitted that she liked Lopakhin, but she could not very well propose to him.
