The Proposal · Class 10 English · First Flight: 60 flashcards

Anton Chekhov, the Russian short-story writer and dramatist; it is a one-act farce, written in 1888–89 and originally titled 'A Marriage Proposal'.

Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov, who owns land; his daughter Natalya Stepanovna, aged twenty-five; and Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov, his neighbour — a big, robust landowner who mistrusts everything.

In a dress-jacket and white gloves. Chubukov asks why he is so formal, 'as if you're paying a New Year's Eve visit', and Natalya later asks whether he is going to a ball.

To borrow money. He says aside, 'the man has come for a loan, and he shall not have one' — and then aloud, 'What is it, my beauty?'

Joyfully — 'By Jove! he wants it said again, since he did not catch all of it' He embraces and kisses Lomov, sheds a tear, says he has always loved him as his own son, and goes to call Natalya.

That she will certainly agree — the girl is in love, he says, “like a lovesick cat”.

Because if he gives himself time to think, to waver, to discuss it, to hold out for an ideal or for love as it ought to be, then he will never get married.

That she is an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking, and well-educated — 'What more do I want?'

Thirty-five — 'a critical age, so to speak' — and he feels it is impossible for him not to marry.

Palpitations, excitability, trembling lips, a twitch in his right eyebrow, and a pulling in his left side that wakes him as many as twenty times a night.

'Go; there's a merchant come for his goods.'

Shelling peas for drying; she apologises for her apron and neglige.

'his Oxen Meadows, he says, come right up against her birchwoods' — and Natalya at once asks, 'You say, my Oxen Meadows. But are they yours?'

That he has documents, and that his aunt's grandmother gave the free use of the Meadows in perpetuity to the peasants of Natalya's father's grandfather in return for their making bricks; they used them for forty years and began to regard them as their own.

That both her grandfather and great-grandfather reckoned their land extended to Burnt Marsh, and that her family has had the land for nearly three hundred years.

They come to only five dessiatins and are worth perhaps 300 roubles — 'but I can't stand unfairness.'

That last year they lent him their threshing-machine, although on that account they had to put off their own threshing till November.

Natalya says she will send her mowers out to the Meadows that very day; Lomov says he will give it to them in the neck, and later that he will take the matter to court.

Pettifogger; a grandfather tried for embezzlement; lunacy in the Lomov family; a drunkard grandfather; an aunt who ran away with an architect; a hump-backed mother; a guzzling gambler father; a backbiting aunt; an intriguer.

Lomov, clutching at his heart and saying he thinks he is dying, staggers out; Chubukov shouts after him never to set foot in the house again, and Natalya calls, 'Take it to court! We'll see!'

Chubukov lets it slip while still abusing him: 'that blind hen, that turnip-ghost of a man had the nerve to come proposing'.

She falls into an easy-chair, wails, and cries, 'Bring him back! Back! … Quick, quick! I'm ill! Fetch him!' — hysterics.

That he is the unhappiest of men, who will shoot himself, hang himself, and has ruined his daughter’s life — and, a little later, that being the father of a grown-up daughter is a burden he can hardly bear.

Each other: 'it's all you… you!' — 'No, it was you!'

Natalya simply gives in: 'She asks him to forgive them, says they were all rather heated, and now remembers that the Oxen Meadows are his… We were wrong.'

He keeps arguing — 'I did it on principle… The more so as I have evidence' — and Natalya has to head him off with 'Yes, yes, let that pass.'

'I wish I knew how to get him started' — and then asks aloud whether he is going shooting soon.

He had gone lame — perhaps a twisted leg, or bitten by another dog.

Lomov gave Mironov 125 roubles for Guess; Chubukov gave 85 roubles for Squeezer.

That he is overshot — his lower jaw is shorter than the upper — and an overshot dog is always a bad hunter; he says he has measured.

That he is a thoroughbred, the son of Harness and Chisels, while there is no getting at Guess's pedigree at all; Guess is old and 'as ugly as a broken-down cab horse'.

That dogs as good as Squeezer may be found under every bush almost, and twenty-five roubles would be a handsome price for him.

'There is some demon of contradiction in him today: first the Meadows were his, and now his dog is the better one.'

That Squeezer, overshot or not, is the best dog in the district; and that Guess is purebred, firm on his feet and has well-sprung ribs, but has two defects — he is old and short in the muzzle.

Lomov says Guess kept level with the Count's dog while Squeezer trailed a whole verst behind; Chubukov says Squeezer was hit by the Count's whipper-in; Lomov says that was because Squeezer left the fox to worry a sheep.

Boy, pup, old rat, Jesuit, milksop, fool and intriguer — with the charges that Chubukov's late wife used to beat him and that Lomov is under the slipper of his housekeeper.

He falls into an armchair calling for a doctor; Natalya screams that he is dead, and Chubukov agrees that he must be dead because he will not drink.

When Lomov stirs, Chubukov says 'Hurry up and get married… She's willing!', puts Lomov's hand into his daughter's, gives his blessing, and tells them to kiss — 'Only leave me in peace!'

'Eh? What? To whom?' and then 'Eh? Kiss whom?' — and only after the kiss, 'Oh, now I understand… I'm happy… My foot's gone to sleep.'

Natalya says he must admit Guess is worse than Squeezer; Lomov says 'Better!'; she answers 'Worse! Worse! Worse!'; and Chubukov shouts them down with 'Champagne! Champagne!'

A comedy built on exaggerated situations, improbable behaviour and rapid reversals, played at speed.

Anton Chekhov, the Russian short-story writer and dramatist, in 1888–89; the original title was 'A Marriage Proposal'.

The habit among rich families looking for ties with other rich families, and encouraging the marriages that enlarge an estate.

That economic good sense ensures the proposal is made after all — 'although the quarrelling perhaps continues!'

As Chubukov’s neighbour — a big, hearty man, and a deeply suspicious one.

Formal (evening dress and gloves for a morning call); hypochondriac (palpitations, numb foot, twitching eyebrow, a collapse); and unable to let an argument go (he keeps proving the Meadows are his after Natalya has conceded them).

Quarrelsome (she interrupts the proposal and shouts 'ours, ours, ours'); practical (she concedes the Meadows the moment she learns of the proposal); and unable to yield (she reopens the dog quarrel seconds after the engagement).

Effusive (a stream of endearments), insincere (he suspects Lomov of begging while calling him 'my beauty', and later calls him a turnip-ghost), and self-interested (he arranges the marriage saying 'Only leave me in peace!').

Any six of: landgrabber, grabber, pettifogger, intriguer, old rat, Jesuit, boy, pup, milksop, fool, rascal, villain, scarecrow, monster, blind hen, turnip-ghost, stuffed sausage, wizen-faced frump.

My darling, my angel, my treasure, my precious, my beauty — also 'my dear fellow', 'dear one' and 'my beloved'.

Vagueness — 'and so on', 'and all that' — even in the middle of his most emotional speeches.

Any four of: [aside], [Drinks], [Clutches at his heart], [Yells], [weeps], [Hysterics], [Falls into an armchair], [Lomov moves], [They kiss], [trying to shout her down].

Chubukov's 'the man has come for a loan, and he shall not have one' and Natalya's 'I wish I knew how to get him started.' Both let the audience know more than the other characters do.

Three times, and never truly: Lomov says he has no time to look for real love; Chubukov says he has always loved Lomov as a son, minutes before abusing him; and he calls Natalya 'like a lovesick cat' when she does not know Lomov has come.

Whose meadows, whose threshing-machine, whose dog, whose grandfather — with prices for everything, and even the marriage described as 'a merchant come for his goods'.

He must climb several flights to reach the bride, and at each landing answer a question or riddle set by her friends; if he guesses wrong he must pay cash to move ahead.

The bride is 'stolen' — usually by the groom's friends — and he must pay a fee to find her; her own friends steal her shoe, and he must pay for that too.

Two days, and some weddings as long as a week.

Teasing games between the two parties, a fee paid before the groom may proceed, a procession, a reception, and speeches or toasts in honour of the couple.

The one thing everybody wants is the one thing nobody mentions: Chubukov accepts a proposal never made to his daughter, Natalya rejects a suitor she does not know she has, and Lomov is married while asking 'Kiss whom?'