''A Marriage Proposal'' (sometimes translated as simply ''The Proposal'', russian: Предложение, translit=Predlozheniye, italic=yes) is a

one-act A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, written in 1888–1889 and first performed in 1890. It is a fast-paced play of dialogue-based action and situational humour. A young man Lomov comes to propose his neighbour Natalya but they both keep on fighting on various topics. Through this play, Chekhov exposes the fakeness of the world and tries to show how superficial people are of these days. Rather than emotional bonding in relationships, people simply connect with wealth and money. In this story, Chobukov and Lomov know each other closely.

Plot synopsis

''Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov'', a long-time neighbour of ''Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov'', has come to propose marriage to Chubukov's 25-year-old daughter, ''Natalya Stepanovna''. After he has asked and received joyful permission to marry Natalya, she is invited into the room, and he tries to convey to her the proposal. Lomov is a

hypochondriac Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...

, and, while trying to make clear his reasons for being there, he gets into an argument with Natalia about The Oxen Meadows, a disputed piece of land between their respective properties, which results in him having "

palpitations Palpitations are perceived abnormalities of the heartbeat characterized by awareness of cardiac muscle contractions in the chest, which is further characterized by the hard, fast and/or irregular beatings of the heart. Symptoms include a rapi ...

" and numbness in his leg. After her father notices they are arguing, he joins in, and then sends Ivan out of the house. While Stepan rants about Lomov, he expresses his shock that "this fool dares to make you (Natalya) a proposal of marriage!" Natalya then realizes that Lomov wanted to marry her and immediately starts into hysterics, begging for her father to bring him back. He does, and Natalia and Ivan get into a second big argument, this time about the superiority of their respective hunting dogs, Guess and Squeezer. Ivan collapses from his exhaustion over arguing, and father and daughter fear he's dead, sending them into another round of hysterics. However, after a few minutes he regains consciousness, and Chubukov all but forces him and his daughter to accept the proposal with a kiss. Immediately following the kiss, the couple gets into another argument over their dogs while Chubukov tries to calm them and offers Champagne.

Performance history

''The Proposal'' was successful in its first runs in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and quickly became popular in small towns across Russia.

Tsar Alexander III Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

liked the play when he had it performed for him.Meister (1988, 184). Chekhov himself thought farces were not really worth much as literature; before its success, he called ''The Proposal'' a "wretched, boring, vulgar little skit".Meister (1988, 185). He advised its

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

, Leontiev, to "roll cigarettes out of it for all I care". When

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

staged ''The Proposal'' in the 1920s, they performed it three times in one evening, each with a very different staging: "as

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

, and

constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

". In the second version, played closer to tragedy, the actors were masked, and in the third the actors were all dressed in work suits in a playground, tossing a ball between them. In 1935 in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the seminal Russian

theatre practitioner A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs his or her practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these tr ...

Vsevolod Meyerhold Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...

combined ''The Proposal'' with Chekhov's other short plays '' The Bear'' and ''The Anniversary'' to form a three-act play called ''33 Swoons'' that demonstrated the weakness of the pre-revolutionary

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

.Senelick (214). In late June and early July, 2016, three performances of the play were performed at St. Werburgh's Church Parish Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England. It was adapted for Australian TV in 1957. In 1976, Indonesian movie director/ writer making an adaptation with a title PINANGAN. Cast by a comedian actor, Benyamin Sueb and beautiful young actress Rima Melati.

References

* Meister, Charles W. 1988. "The Proposal." In ''Chekhov Criticism: 1880 Through 1986''. Jefferson NC: McFarland. 184–85. * Senelick, Laurence. 1985. "Chekhov on Stage." In ''A Chekhov Companion''. Ed. Toby W. Clyman. Westport CT: Greenwood. 209–32.

External links

Project Gutenberg eText
an English-language compilation of some of Chekov's shorter plays, including ''The Proposal'' * *
The Proposal class 10
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriage Proposal, A 1890 plays Plays by Anton Chekhov One-act plays