In Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the main characters include Madame
             Ranevsky, owner of the cherry orchard; Yermolai Lopakhin, her neighbor;
             Leonid Gayef, her brother, Ranevsky's two daughters Barbara and Anya; and
             Peter Trophimof. The play unfolds against the backdrop of the liberation
             of the serfs. Madame Ranevsky returns home to her cherry orchard estate.
             She is returning from France where her abusive lover stole from her and
             left her. She has enormous debts and is threatened with losing the cherry
             orchard. Lopakhin is a former serf who has become successful and wealthy.
             Gayef is Ranevsky's brother who refuses to accept the dire situation they
             are in, living off of his family's fortune. While Anya is an innocent
             child, her older sister Barbara is used as a lure for Lopakhin's wealth but
             he never asks for her hand in marriage. Trophimof represents ration and
             intellectualism, but he remains helpless to assist Ranevsky. His lofty
             world of ideals is not one Lopakhin can relate to as a former serf, "You
             know, I get up at five o'clock in the morning, and I work from morning to
             night; and I've money, my own and other people's, always passing through my
             hands, and I see what people are made of all around me. One has only to
             begin to do anything to see how few honest, decent people there are,"
             Madame Ranevsky's need for money makes her unable to prevent the
             selling of the cherry orchard. Because of her heritage and past high
             lifestyle, Madame Ranevsky is emotionally-based and proceeds to do or say
             just about anything she chooses to. Her background and her family's name
             and wealth have enabled her to get away with such behavior without having
             to pay any consequences for it. She is not in the situation any longer,
             but she cannot come to terms with the fact that a serf such as Lopakhin
             should be so successful while she is now threatened with losing her estate.
             Like many...