The Cherry Orchard characters

Also known as Madame Ranevskaya

Appears from the start

The owner of a Russian estate famed for its cherry orchard. She returns from years in Paris still grieving the drowning of her young son and burdened by debt. Generous and emotionally impulsive, she remains deeply attached to the house even as its sale approaches.

Appears from the start

Ranevskaya's brother, a talkative landowner given to grand speeches, billiards language, and impractical schemes. He shares his sister's devotion to the estate and insists that some source of money will save it.

Appears from the start

Ranevskaya's seventeen-year-old daughter, who has traveled to Paris to bring her mother home. Affectionate and hopeful, she is troubled by the family's finances but eager to imagine a life beyond the threatened estate.

Also known as Varya

Appears from the start

Ranevskaya's adopted daughter and the estate's overworked household manager. Practical, devout, and anxious about money, she tries to impose order while the family waits for the sale. People expect her to marry Lopakhin, though no engagement exists.

Appears from the start

A wealthy merchant whose father and grandfather were serfs on Ranevskaya's estate. Energetic and conscious of his origins, he urges the family to divide the land into summer cottages as the only practical way to prevent foreclosure.

Also known as Petya

First appears in chapter 2

A former tutor to Ranevskaya's dead son and a perpetual university student. Idealistic and critical of the idle landowning class, he speaks of work, freedom, and the future, and forms a close bond with Anya.

Appears from the start

An elderly servant who remained with the family after emancipation and remembers the estate's former prosperity. Hard of hearing and devoted to old routines, he treats Gaev like a child and regards the end of serfdom as a disruption rather than a liberation.

Appears from the start

A young maid on the estate who imitates fashionable dress and behavior. Excitable and romantic, she is courted by Yepikhodov but becomes increasingly interested in Yasha after the household returns.

Appears from the start

A clerk on the estate known for constant small accidents and disappointed self-importance. He has proposed to Dunyasha and is painfully aware that she does not respond to him with equal seriousness.

Appears from the start

Ranevskaya's young valet, brought back from Paris. Polished, cynical, and contemptuous of provincial life, he wants to return abroad and readily accepts Dunyasha's admiration without sharing her vulnerability.

First appears in chapter 2

An employee of the household who works as a governess and entertainer. Independent but lonely, she knows little about her parents or origins and uses card tricks, ventriloquism, and comic performances to hold uncertainty at a distance.

Also known as Pishchik

First appears in chapter 2

A neighboring landowner who is perpetually in debt yet remains buoyantly confident that money will appear. He visits the Ranevskaya household seeking loans even though its members face a financial crisis much like his own.