A Marriage Proposal

Compare A Marriage Proposal to Chekhov’s major dramatic works, such as The Cherry Orchard or Three Sisters. What similarities in theme, technique, or worldview appear across these works, and how does the one-act farce format allow Chekhov to explore these concerns differently than his full-length dramas?

The play contains multiple layers of irony, including dramatic irony, situational irony, and verbal irony regarding property law. To what extent are the characters aware of these ironies? How does this awareness (or lack of it) develop the play’s critique?

The play presents marriage as primarily a practical social transaction rather than a romantic union. How does this framing interact with the play’s status as comedy, a genre that traditionally ends in marriage? What does marriage signify in conventional comedies, and how does its significance shift in A Marriage Proposal?

Examine Lomov’s hypochondria as both a motif and a symbol. What figurative associations do his particular symptoms carry? When specifically do they tend to manifest, and what purpose does this serve, whether narratively, thematically, or as an unconscious manifestation of Lomov’s motivations?

Consider the characters’ diction throughout their disputes. How does it contribute to the exploration of The Instability of Civility Under Emotional Strain?

Though largely focused on the Russian gentry, the play contains references to other classes—a middle-class architect whom Lomov’s aunt married, the serfs attached to the characters’ land holdings, etc. How do these references round out the play’s exploration of class anxiety?

Consider Lomov and Nataliya’s relationship to 19th-century norms of masculinity and femininity. How does their portrayal, both as individuals and as a couple, either uphold or critique those norms?

All three characters demonstrate an inability to subordinate their pride and ego to their self-interest. To what extent do the characters share the same concerns? Does their pride stem from similar sources?