The Proposal · Class 10 English · First Flight: 135 MCQs with answers

A one-act farce by Anton Chekhov, written in 1888–89

Its original title was 'A Marriage Proposal'.

To borrow money

'the man has come for a loan, and he shall not have one' — said aside.

That she is in love and 'like a lovesick cat'

Nothing that follows supports the claim.

Shelling peas for drying

She apologises for her apron and neglige.

Send her mowers out to them that very day

Lomov replies that he will give it to them in the neck.

Lomov staggers out clutching his heart, ordered never to return

Natalya's parting shot is 'Take it to court! We'll see!'

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Hysterics, and a demand that he be fetched back at once

'Bring him back! Back! … Quick, quick! I'm ill! Fetch him!'

Eighty-five roubles, which Natalya says was money far better spent

'And Squeezer is heaps better than Guess!'

He falls into an armchair calling for a doctor and is thought to be dead

Chubukov concludes he is dead because he will not drink the water offered to him.

Whether Guess is a worse dog than Squeezer, shouted to the curtain

'Better!' — 'Worse! Worse! Worse!'

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A one-act farce written by Anton Chekhov in 1888–89

Its original title was 'A Marriage Proposal'.

A comedy of exaggerated situations and improbable behaviour, played at speed

Nothing in this play is impossible; everything is too much, too fast.

A large and hearty, but very suspicious, landowner

The word 'suspicious' explains much of what follows.

Ask Lomov for time to consider the matter

He accepts on the spot and rushes off to fetch Natalya.

Because if he waits to hold out for an ideal or for love as it ought to be he will never marry

The soliloquy is a piece of plain calculation, and it contains no affection at all.

An excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking, well-educated

'What more do I want?' he asks — and the list is the answer to the question of why he is there.

The pulling in his left side that wakes him twenty times a night

He jumps up 'like a lunatic', walks about, lies down, and it begins again.

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

It is a joke about the marriage market, and she does not understand it.

She asks whether he is going to a ball, and adds that he looks better

It is a backhanded compliment, and the second joke about the same clothes.

'My Oxen Meadows touch your birchwoods'

Natalya seizes on the word 'my', and the proposal is never mentioned again.

Wedged in between Natalya's birchwoods and the Burnt Marsh

The position is exactly why both families can claim them.

Her grandfather and great-grandfather reckoned their land extended to Burnt Marsh

She also says her family has had the land for nearly three hundred years.

Five dessiatins, worth perhaps three hundred roubles

'These Meadows aren't worth much to me… but I can't stand unfairness.'

The threshing-machine they lent him last year

They had to put off their own threshing till November on that account.

His daughter's — 'Darling, the Meadows are ours!'

He also says he would sooner give the Meadows to the peasants than to Lomov.

1 and 2 only

No document is ever produced, and nothing at all is settled.

He proposes only to her father; with Natalya he gets no further than the Meadows

The word 'marriage' is never spoken in her hearing until much later in the play.

In perpetuity — for ever

Dessiatins are a measure of land, a pettifogger is someone who quibbles over trifles in law, and a neglige is informal indoor dress.

Lomov arrives to propose marriage and leaves having discussed nothing but a field worth three hundred roubles

A good opening states the irony that the whole section depends on.

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include at least six of: the evening dress and Chubukov's endearments; the aside about borrowing money; the proposal and Chubukov's joy, tears and embrace; the 'lovesick cat' assurance; Lomov's soliloquy and his reasons; his ailments; Natalya's entrance from shellin…

Chubukov lets it slip while still abusing him

The man he has been calling a turnip-ghost had come, it turns out, to propose.

Each other, and neither of them will accept any share of it

'It's all you… you!' — 'No, it was you!'

Natalya simply concedes that the Meadows are Lomov's

'I remember now: Oxen Meadows… really are yours… We were wrong.'

'I wish I knew how to get him started'

She then asks whether he is going shooting soon — and opens the subject of dogs.

Guess has gone lame, from a twisted leg or the bite of another dog

'My very best dog, to say nothing of the expense.'

A hundred and twenty-five roubles, paid to a man named Mironov

Natalya says at once that it was too much.

The dog's lower jaw is shorter than the upper

He adds that an overshot dog always means a bad hunter, and that he has measured.

He is a thoroughbred, the son of Harness and Chisels

While, she says, there is no getting at the pedigree of Guess at all.

Some demon of contradiction, since he denies whatever she says

First the Meadows were his, she says, and now his dog is the better one.

Purebred, firm on his feet, well-sprung ribs — but old and short in the muzzle

A verdict designed to restart the argument rather than end it.

Guess ran level with the Count's dog while Squeezer was a verst behind

Chubukov's excuse is the whipper-in's whip; Lomov's reply is the worried sheep.

That he should stay at home with his palpitations and catch black beetles

'You're not a hunter at all, anyway!'

That she used to beat him

Chubukov replies that Lomov is under the slipper of his housekeeper.

He puts Lomov's hand into his daughter's and tells them to kiss

He declares the girl willing, gives his blessing, and asks only to be left in peace.

'Eh? What? To whom?' and 'Eh? Kiss whom?'

He understands what has happened only after the kiss.

That this is a fine way to begin married life — and sends for champagne

He then tries to shout them down: 'Champagne! Champagne!'

1 and 2 only

The curtain falls with 'Worse! Worse! Worse!' still being shouted.

She concedes everything only after learning that he came to propose

Her hysterics begin at the word 'proposal', not at any change of feeling.

Natalya learns what she has lost, gets him back, and quarrels with him again within a page

A good opening names the reversal and the repetition, which are what the section is built on.

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include at least six of: the abuse after his exit; Chubukov's slip about the proposal; Natalya's hysterics and demand that he be fetched; Chubukov's self-pity and the mutual blame; Lomov's return and the surrender of the Meadows; Lomov continuing to argue; Natalya's…

They let the audience know more than the other characters do

'He's come to borrow money' and 'I wish I knew how to get him started' are the two.

A large and hearty, but very suspicious, landowner

The word 'suspicious' explains most of what he does.

That it is a practical arrangement to be made before it is too late

A good housekeeper, not bad-looking, well-educated — and no time left to look for love.

She is as quarrelsome as either of the men

She shouts 'ours, ours, ours', threatens her mowers, and reopens the dog quarrel while newly engaged.

Self-interested

His warmth always follows his advantage, and he ends by asking only to be left in peace.

Turncoat

The others are all used, along with blind hen, stuffed sausage and wizen-faced frump.

Wealthy families seeking ties with wealthy families to increase their estates

And it adds that the proposal survives because of economic good sense.

Two days, and sometimes as long as a week

The occasion becomes something to remember for years.

Answer a question at each landing, or pay cash to go further

He may be shown photographs of baby girls and asked which is his bride.

The bride, by the groom's friends, and her shoe, by her own

The groom must pay a fee in both cases, and the guests enjoy the tussles.

1 and 2 only

There is no narrator at all; everything comes from dialogue and stage directions.

Aside — 'the man has come for a loan, and he shall not have one'

The others are ordinary dialogue, and the Meadows line is spoken to another character.

The play exposes all three equally and passes judgement on none of them

Chekhov's method is to let the characters reveal themselves and to withhold comment.

The couple resume the dog argument within seconds of being engaged

'Better!' — 'Worse! Worse! Worse!' — and the curtain falls on it.

Chekhov takes a proposal, a boundary and a dog, and lets three people destroy an afternoon with them

A good opening names both the ordinariness of the material and the extravagance of the treatment.

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should define a farce and then evidence at least five devices: disproportionate reactions with examples; the repeated structure of the two quarrels; physical comedy; the asides; the rapid reversals; and the ending. Other relevant points acceptable.

It shows how little his warm words are worth

'Shan't give him any!' is followed at once by 'What is it, my beauty?'

Only about the match — ten minutes later he calls him a villain and a scarecrow

The warmth is real while it lasts; it simply has nothing to do with Lomov himself.

Natalya does not even know Lomov has come to propose

She quarrels with him within minutes of sitting down.

He feels that if he does not marry now he never will

He adds that what he needs now is a settled, orderly sort of life, which is another practical reason.

So that every later collapse is both expected and funny

The heart, the foot and the eyebrow all return at the height of each quarrel.

His aunt's grandmother gave them free use in perpetuity in return for bricks

They used them for forty years and got into the habit of regarding them as their own.

That it is about pride and principle rather than property

Lomov says the same thing: 'I don't want the Meadows, but I am acting on principle.'

Pettifogger

'Landgrabber' is Lomov's word for himself as Natalya describes him, and the others come later in the play.

That there has been lunacy in the family and his grandfather was a drunkard

The embezzlement, the bribery and the hump-backed mother are the charges Lomov makes against theirs.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

By the end nobody has mentioned Oxen Meadows for a page.

A man comes to propose and is thrown out without mentioning marriage once

Chubukov has already accepted on her behalf, and she never learns of it until he has gone.

The quarrel becomes purely comic, since nothing real is at stake

Both parties say plainly that they do not want the Meadows and are acting on principle.

That it joins two wealthy neighbouring estates, and everyone knows it

The introduction says the play is about wealthy families seeking ties with other wealthy families.

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: Natalya's valuation of five dessiatins and three hundred roubles; her statement that the Meadows are not worth much to her; Lomov's 'acting on principle' and offer to give them away; her counter-offer; the argument that pride, not property, is at stake; the…

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should identify preparations with evidence: the evening dress queried twice; the catalogue of ailments that will recur; Chubukov's endearments set against later insults; the aside about money as a warning; the soliloquy establishing the loveless motive; and a closing judge…

That the marriage is a matter of value rather than of feeling

Nothing about Lomov has changed in two minutes; only what she knows about him.

That being the father of a grown-up daughter is more than he can bear

Panic, self-pity and blame, all in one sentence.

He begins producing evidence for a case he has already won

'The more so as I have evidence. My aunt's grandmother…' — and Natalya has to stop him.

Dogs as good as him may be found under every bush; twenty-five roubles would be a handsome price

He also says he would not take five Squeezers for Guess.

She is contradicting him just as flatly at that moment

Chekhov lets a character diagnose exactly the play she is in.

'And suppose he is? He's the best dog in the district for all that'

He concedes the fact and denies its importance, which settles nothing.

Because Squeezer left the fox and started worrying a sheep

It is the one piece of real evidence in the play, and it changes nobody's mind.

'Old rat! Jesuit!' and 'Boy! Pup!'

The others belong to the Meadows quarrel or to the abuse after Lomov is thrown out.

'My foot's gone to sleep'

The romantic line and the hypochondriac's complaint are in the same breath.

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Both are true. What the dog cost is not what makes the second quarrel repeat the shape of the first.

That the quarrelling will simply continue inside it

The introduction to the play says as much: the proposal is made, 'although the quarrelling perhaps continues!'

It shows the marriage is arranged around him rather than by him

He is unconscious, then dazed, throughout the negotiation.

He asks 'Eh? What? To whom?' while his hand is being placed in hers

He understands what has happened only after the kiss, and then says his foot has gone to sleep.

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should draw the parallel with evidence: the triviality of both subjects, with figures; flat contradiction in both; ancestry in both; Chubukov called in and settling nothing in both; the slide into personal abuse in both; the abandonment of the Meadows claim as proof; Natal…

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should treat all three characters with evidence: Chubukov's exhaustion, the joined hands, the blessing 'and so on' and 'leave me in peace'; Natalya's reversal, her hysterics at the word proposal, her surrender of the Meadows and her 'I'm willing'; Lomov's 'Kiss whom?', his…

Chubukov threatening to shoot, hang and cut his own throat within a page

The reaction is enormously out of proportion to the event that provokes it.

To show that these people do not quarrel about things but simply quarrel

Meadows and dogs take exactly the same course, down to the appeal to Chubukov.

[trying to shout her down]

Chubukov is calling for champagne over a quarrel about the dogs.

He goes on proving the Meadows are his after Natalya has conceded them

'The more so as I have evidence' — after he has already won.

That her positions change with her interests, not with the evidence

Nothing new is produced; she simply now wants him to stay.

'My beauty' and 'turnip-ghost', used of the same man within an hour

Put his endearments and his insults side by side and no word can be trusted.

It makes even his most emotional speeches trail off into vagueness

He blesses the marriage 'and so on', which tells us how much thought lies behind it.

The proposal is made after all, 'although the quarrelling perhaps continues!'

Which is exactly what the final exchange about the dogs dramatises.

Three times, and never truthfully

Lomov's 'real love', which he has no time to seek; Chubukov's 'as though he were a son of his own'; and the 'lovesick cat'.

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

Chubukov says it as a joke, and Chekhov lets it stand as a description.

The one thing everybody wants is the one thing nobody mentions

Lomov is married while asking 'Kiss whom?'

Teasing games and fees demanded before the groom may proceed

Ritual teasing and negotiation between the two parties are common to both traditions.

A is true, but R is false

No such speech exists; he calls for champagne while the quarrel runs on. The assertion stands, the reason does not.

Every combination of two against one can be tried in turn

Father and daughter against Lomov, then daughter and Lomov against each other, then all three at once.

Physical comedy at the exact moment the plot needs an interruption

He is pronounced dead, revived, and married inside a minute.

That these characters want it more than they want anything they are right about

Both parties offer to give the Meadows away and neither will yield the argument.

Because the marriage is settled and nothing else is — which is the joke

The last stage direction is [trying to shout her down].

It comes from watching small people take small things enormously seriously

There are no servants in the play, and nobody in it is trying to be funny.

By noting that the quarrel is not an obstacle to the marriage but a preview of it

The introduction hints at it too: the proposal is made, 'although the quarrelling perhaps continues!'

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the textbook's statement of the theme; Lomov's soliloquy as a checklist with no affection; Chubukov's instant acceptance and the 'merchant come for his goods' line; Natalya's reversal on learning of the proposal and her surrender of the Meadows; the vocabul…

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should treat all three with evidence: Lomov's honesty, illness, suspicion and inability to stop; Natalya's quickness, practicality and combativeness, with her aside and the 'demon of contradiction'; Chubukov's unreliable language, his self-interest and his judgement of the…