The Cherry Orchard: Similes 3 key examples

In this metaphor, Madame Ranevsky compares the past to a stone. She describes her relationship to her past in tactile terms—thinking about the past gives her physical pain, as though she were being choked.

While Chekhov leaves it ambiguous just what about the past she wishes to escape, the audience has already learned that she lost her husband and seven-year-old son within a month of each other six years earlier. This immense loss is what brought her to leave the estate and Russia. Madame Ranevsky refers to the metaphorical stone right after describing the cherry orchard in positive terms. Thus, it seems as though some of her ambivalence about the past results from her inability to reconcile her contrasting associations with the estate and the cherry orchard. On the one hand, she cherishes her home and delights in the childhood memories that come alive when she's there. On the other hand, being in this place reminds her of the loss and pain she has suffered.

In the third act, Madame Ranevsky again relies on a figurative stone to express her emotions. This time, she isn't describing her relationship to the past as much as her relationship to an actual person:

My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can’t live without it.

Cite this Quote

Once again, Madame Ranevsky compares an emotional aspect of her experience to a physical sensation. The figurative stone goes even further than a choking sensation here, making her feel like she's being dragged down to the bottom of a pit. 

The stone simile is sparked by a telegram from Paris that Trophimof picks up. Over the course of the play, the audience gradually receives information about Madame Ranevsky's lover in Paris, to whom she's given much of her money. She recognizes that her impulse to go back to Paris and care for him is "stupid," but isn't ashamed of admitting that she still loves him. She can't help but continuing to love the source of her pain.

In this scene, stepping into the nursery gives Madame Ranevsky flashbacks to her childhood, because it's the room she slept in as a little girl. Just after sharing this memory, she states that she is "like" a little girl still. Even though she knows that she's a grown woman, she still identifies with her younger self. The simile shows that returning to her childhood home makes her memories blend with the present.

It is worth underlining that Madame Ranevsky has been home and has lived at the estate since she was a young girl. Perhaps this deep flashback to a distant past is a coping mechanism which she uses to avoid thinking about the death of her son. By associating the estate and the nursery with her own childhood, which is much deeper in the past than her more traumatic memories, she is able to avoid thinking about the loss of her youngest child.

Shortly after the simile in which Madame Ranevsky compares herself to a little girl, she uses a new simile to compare Barbara to a nun. This simile is not based in a past situation, but nevertheless gives insight into Madame Ranevsky's impression that time is at a standstill. By likening her adopted daughter to a nun, she suggests that Barbara hasn't changed since she was last there. The unmarried Barbara has taken a metaphorical vow to the estate, the cherry orchard, and her family. Madame Ranevsky seems to imagine that Barbara hasn't done anything beyond the realm of these responsibilities since they saw each other last.

In many respects, Madame Ranevsky—the head of the estate—and Barbara—effectively the estate's steward—have more combined control over the estate than any of the male characters in the novel. However, Madame Ranevsky doesn't seem to want this responsibility. By longingly comparing herself to a little girl and comparing Barbara to a nun, she implicitly removes her own agency, overlooks Barbara's active involvement, and semantically puts the men in charge. Throughout the play, Madame Ranevsky repeatedly attempts to escape her agency in both word and action. One might argue that her unwillingness to face the economic reality the estate is in and inability to make a decision about its future are ways for her to skirt—and ultimately reduce—her responsibilities.

In this metaphor, Madame Ranevsky compares the past to a stone. She describes her relationship to her past in tactile terms—thinking about the past gives her physical pain, as though she were being choked.

While Chekhov leaves it ambiguous just what about the past she wishes to escape, the audience has already learned that she lost her husband and seven-year-old son within a month of each other six years earlier. This immense loss is what brought her to leave the estate and Russia. Madame Ranevsky refers to the metaphorical stone right after describing the cherry orchard in positive terms. Thus, it seems as though some of her ambivalence about the past results from her inability to reconcile her contrasting associations with the estate and the cherry orchard. On the one hand, she cherishes her home and delights in the childhood memories that come alive when she's there. On the other hand, being in this place reminds her of the loss and pain she has suffered.

In the third act, Madame Ranevsky again relies on a figurative stone to express her emotions. This time, she isn't describing her relationship to the past as much as her relationship to an actual person:

My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can’t live without it.

Cite this Quote

Once again, Madame Ranevsky compares an emotional aspect of her experience to a physical sensation. The figurative stone goes even further than a choking sensation here, making her feel like she's being dragged down to the bottom of a pit. 

The stone simile is sparked by a telegram from Paris that Trophimof picks up. Over the course of the play, the audience gradually receives information about Madame Ranevsky's lover in Paris, to whom she's given much of her money. She recognizes that her impulse to go back to Paris and care for him is "stupid," but isn't ashamed of admitting that she still loves him. She can't help but continuing to love the source of her pain.

The cliched opening simile—"as strong as a horse"—reinforces Pishtchik's comical characterization. So far in the play, he has far from embodied power or sturdiness. Instead, the audience has come to see him as a silly elderly aristocrat who is unwilling and unable to improve upon his circumstances. He contributes a good atmosphere, but he is nothing like a horse.

However, it should be noted that Pishtchik seems aware of the discrepancy between his words and reality. Once he brings in the allusion to Caligula's horse, it becomes evident that he uttered the simile in jest. Caligula was the emperor of Rome from 37 to 41 C.E. Legend has it that he was so fond of his horse Incitatus that he wanted to make it a consul. Pishtchik acknowledges that his father made the claim that their family descends from the horse as a joke. 

Thus, the simile that initially seems to reveal Pishtchik's immense lack of self-awareness becomes a signal to the audience that he sees himself quite clearly. Rather than communicating his actual self-image, the simile is aimed at mocking his own and his father's witty, inflated claims about who they are and where they come from. Anyone familiar with the legend about Caligula's horse knows that it was little more than a legend. And, besides, descending from a horse—no matter how strong or regal it may be—would not be something for a human to genuinely boast about.

After Pishtchik's little monologue ends, Trophimof simply responds "Yes, it’s quite true, there is something horselike about your build." Pishtchik replies that " a horse is a jolly creature ... you can sell a horse." This conversation captures the playful ambience that exists throughout the play. Despite the melancholy mood that underlies the play, it contains many conversations and social interactions that are silly and humorous. The banter between the two men serves as a reminder that Chekhov considered the play to be more of a comedy than a tragedy. 

As the conversation proceeds, Trophimof and Pishtchik occasionally venture into more serious territories, but the overall lightheartedness remains. For example, Trophimof begins to lecture Pishtchik on his spending habits shortly after, turning the conversation serious. Not long after, however, he slaps Pishtchik on the shoulder and calls back to the start of their conversation, saying "You old horse!" The backgrounds and values of Trophimof and Pishtchik differ greatly, but this scene shows that the two men nevertheless keep up friendly, playful banter.