A Comparison of Illusion in The Cherry Orchard and A Doll's House

1991 Words4 Pages

Dangers of Illusion in The Cherry Orchard and A Doll's House

In the plays, The Cherry Orchard, by Anton Chekhov, A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, and Galileo, by Bertolt Brecht, the protagonists' beliefs are a combination of reality and illusion that shape the plot of the respective stories. The ability of the characters to reject or accept an illusion, along with the foolish pride that motivated their decision, leads to their personal downfall.

In The Cherry Orchard Gayev and Miss Ranevsky, along with the majority of their family, refuse to believe that their estate is close to bankruptcy. Instead of accepting the reality of their problem, they continue to live their lives under the illusion that they are doing well financially. The family continues with its frivolous ways until there is no money left (the final night they have in the house before it is auctioned, they throw an extravagant party, laughing in the face of impending financial ruin.) Even when Lopakhin attempts to rescue the family with ideas that could lead to some of the estate being retained, they dismiss his ideas under the illusion that the situation is not so desperate that they need to compromise any of their dignity.

Lopakhin: As you know, your cherry orchards are being sold to pay your

debts. The auction is on the twenty second of August. But there’s no need to worry, my dear. You can sleep soundly. There’s a way out. Here’s my plan. Listen carefully, please. Your estate is only about twelve miles from town, and the railway is not very far away. Now all you have to do is break up your cherry orchard and the land along the river into building plots and lease them out for country cottages. You¹ll then have an income ...

... middle of paper ...

...

2. You have a good thesis statement that introduces a complex discussion.

3. Your organization of the paper is also well developed. However, you seem to begin new paragraphs too frequently. For example, in your discussion of A Doll’s House, you used several paragraphs to discuss the faults of Nora and her husband and then another paragraph for her growth. All of the paragraphs discussing their faults could be condensed into one paragraph.

4. When citing a quote, you do not need to actually write the word “page” it is understood that the numbers are page numbers.

5. Also when quoting, the punctuation of the last sentence should come after the parentheses of the citation and not before.

6. Be careful with verb tenses. If you begin your sentence using the past tense the rest of your sentence should remain in the past tense.

Open Document