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Similes
Act 1
Explanation and Analysis—Something Will Happen:
Despite his enduring financial distress, Pishtchik always seems to come by money when he needs it. In the first act, he foreshadows that all will go well with him at the end of the play when he says that "something will happen." Although the audience struggles to believe that he will find a way out of his latest debt, the fourth act gives rise to situational irony when Pishtchik makes money off of the discovery of a special kind of clay on his land.
PISHTCHIK. I’ll find it somewhere. [Laughing.] I never lose hope. Last time I thought: ‘Now I really am done for, I’m a ruined man,’ when behold, they ran a railway over my land and paid me compensation. And so it’ll be again; something will happen, if not today, then to-morrow.
On one level, Pishtchik's line reveals an outlook worthy of admiration. Despite his pecuniary woes, he trusts that things will somehow work out for him. This relaxed, optimistic view serves as an alternative to the at times delusional, at times distressed attitude of the Ranevsky family. He repeatedly asks Madame Ranevsky to lend him money throughout the play, but always remains cheerful, no matter what her response is.
On another level, Pishtchik's laughing hopefulness makes him seem naïve. Rather than coming up with a reliable, steady source of income, the old man instead waits for things to "happen" to him. Through the character, Chekhov appears to critique aristocratic landowners for their lazy helplessness. When they fall upon hard times, people with old money lack the knowledge, tools, and energy to improve their situations. The wealth of the old landowning class contrasts with the wealth of the newly rich Lopakhin. Despite having a father who was born into serfdom, he has improved his situation such that he is more comfortable than the Ranevskys.
In the fourth act, after the audience has learned about the various ways in which the Ranevsky family and its employees will adjust to their new circumstances after the sale of the estate, Pishtchik shows up and pays off some of his debt. The characters and audience are surprised when he explains where the money came from:
A most remarkable thing! Some Englishmen came and found some sort of white clay on my land.
In the first act, Pishtchik declares that things always work out for him. This seemed naïve in the moment, but it turns out that he was foreshadowing this outcome. Although the audience was inclined to doubt that he would find a way to passively squeeze more money out of his land after the precipitous railroad scheme, Pishtchik was ironically right to believe that something would happen tomorrow. The discovery of the clay gives rise to situational irony, which offers some comic relief to the fourth act's largely somber, earnest mood.
Related Themes:
Act 4
Explanation and Analysis—Something Will Happen:
Despite his enduring financial distress, Pishtchik always seems to come by money when he needs it. In the first act, he foreshadows that all will go well with him at the end of the play when he says that "something will happen." Although the audience struggles to believe that he will find a way out of his latest debt, the fourth act gives rise to situational irony when Pishtchik makes money off of the discovery of a special kind of clay on his land.
PISHTCHIK. I’ll find it somewhere. [Laughing.] I never lose hope. Last time I thought: ‘Now I really am done for, I’m a ruined man,’ when behold, they ran a railway over my land and paid me compensation. And so it’ll be again; something will happen, if not today, then to-morrow.
On one level, Pishtchik's line reveals an outlook worthy of admiration. Despite his pecuniary woes, he trusts that things will somehow work out for him. This relaxed, optimistic view serves as an alternative to the at times delusional, at times distressed attitude of the Ranevsky family. He repeatedly asks Madame Ranevsky to lend him money throughout the play, but always remains cheerful, no matter what her response is.
On another level, Pishtchik's laughing hopefulness makes him seem naïve. Rather than coming up with a reliable, steady source of income, the old man instead waits for things to "happen" to him. Through the character, Chekhov appears to critique aristocratic landowners for their lazy helplessness. When they fall upon hard times, people with old money lack the knowledge, tools, and energy to improve their situations. The wealth of the old landowning class contrasts with the wealth of the newly rich Lopakhin. Despite having a father who was born into serfdom, he has improved his situation such that he is more comfortable than the Ranevskys.
In the fourth act, after the audience has learned about the various ways in which the Ranevsky family and its employees will adjust to their new circumstances after the sale of the estate, Pishtchik shows up and pays off some of his debt. The characters and audience are surprised when he explains where the money came from:
A most remarkable thing! Some Englishmen came and found some sort of white clay on my land.
In the first act, Pishtchik declares that things always work out for him. This seemed naïve in the moment, but it turns out that he was foreshadowing this outcome. Although the audience was inclined to doubt that he would find a way to passively squeeze more money out of his land after the precipitous railroad scheme, Pishtchik was ironically right to believe that something would happen tomorrow. The discovery of the clay gives rise to situational irony, which offers some comic relief to the fourth act's largely somber, earnest mood.
Related Themes:
