Yummm, Milk Soup

Some of Charlotta's lines at the beginning of Act II really struck me. Charlotta thinks, "Where I come from and who I am - I do not know...Who my parents were...I don't know" (337). The reason these lines stood out to me is that since Charlotta is a governess, I would expect her heritage to be very important to her given the time. I would expect most noble people to be proud of their family history and maybe even flaunt it sometimes, but Charlotta cannot even remember who her parents are.

Chekhov's language makes the play feel "real" to me, but sometimes I think he uses phrases that someone would probably only think and not actually say out loud. Yasha points out how it is "very pleasant smoking a cigar in the open air" after Dunyasha just told him she is "passionately in love with [him]" (339). By the way, it is very pleasant eating these potato chips while I write this blog entry. There are some things that we can keep to ourselves. When the characters say out loud what I would expect to be just a thought (and not a comment), it makes me feel like the characters are kind of in a daze, like they are not really tuned into reality. Maybe Yasha has something besides tobacco in that cigar.

The servants have to eat "milk soup" because of Lyubov's poor financial situation, but she is still willing to "squander money foolishly" (340). Lyubov is aware of her lack of money and even expresses guilt for the misery of her servants, so why does she still spend money so carelessly?