"The Cherry Orchard" Character profile of Leonid Gaev by Jack Collins.
This is a profile detailing the character of Leonid Gaev from from the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov. He is the character that I'm playing in our level 3 production of the aforementioned play.
Who am I?
My name is Leonid Gaev. I am a man who throughout his life has been raised and lived in wealth with serfs (servants) and have recently had to lose my serfs due to them gaining the rights to leave or that they have to be paid to be kept so I'm going to have to get used to doing my best to look after myself and have had to get a job due to the debt my family is in and I'm trying to help save my family estate.
I see myself as automatically superior to people that are not within the realms of my social class. This means people such as serfs and the villagers that don't have the same wealth or background as me I see as below me but I don't treat them too differently although I do like to put them in there place occasionally and I always speak to people like Yasha and Firs in a demanding way to make sure they remember who is in charge. I will out right tell Firs to be quiet but I won't aggressively enforce what I ask of them because I think that would be too cruel but I still like to show power to show them who calls the shots. I see myself as quite understanding of the people around me, especially my sister Lyuba who I do love and try to keep out of trouble or try and reminisce on old times. I'm much more polite to the people within my class although I'll still judge them or at least be somewhat critical of them because I feel that people need to hear their mistakes or faults so that they don't repeat them. I consider my self somewhere between an optimist and a realist because I like to be as happy or as optimistic as possible but there are times when I need to look at things realistically and approach them the best way I can.I wear glasses. My eyesight has gotten worse due to my age. I wear black trousers, white shirt, bow-tie, black shoes and a tweed jacket. This is my usual option for clothing because it's simply what I think suits me. I do like to wear other things but this is my usual style and I like it.
What are my circumstances?
The year is 1902 and between the months of May and October. The weather outside is quote cold yet is very beautiful. We're in Russia, in our family estate and childhood home and we're welcoming home my sister who is returning from France. The other people with me are my relatives, family friend and the serfs that work for the family. The area outside the house is fields and trees and which isn't too far from the village. We go between the nursery, the living room and my bedroom (which isn't on stage) and I have an obsession with billiards and even have my own table which I use.
My sister has just come back from Paris after being robbed by someone she trusts there and we're welcoming her home and I know that she will be distressed due to these events and other things I'm sure are to happen. My plan is no matter what to try and keep her happy or at least prevent her from being as sad as she could be.
What are my relationships?
I am Lyuba's brother and I feel a duty to help her whenever I can so that's why I'm doing what I must even if it may stress me out I do want to protect her
These are the people I know/associate with and my relationships with them:
Lyuba: Is my sister and I love her dearly, I'm always trying to be supportive of her and try to help her as much as I can.
Anya: She is my biological niece and I think she is a lovely young woman and I can see Lyuba's influence on her but thankfully more positive traits. She also of course cares for her mother which I can respect.
Varya: She is my adopted niece and I have a lot of respect for her, I think she is a nice young woman although she can be a bit angry sometimes but she sees the same faults in Lyuba that she wants to get rid of so she can also make her mother happy which I completely respect.
Yasha: He is also a serf here and I'm not too sure if I like him because he seems to be very arrogant and disrespectful and since he is a serf and not in my class I find it more unacceptable
Firs: He has been a serf at our house my whole life and while I do respect firs and do see him somewhat as a friend I still see him as below me because he's a serf and not with in my class. So although I still respect him I still put him in his place every now and then.
Alexander: I don't fully trust him because I have a vague feeling he has an alternate motive to wanting to be so nice to Lyuba. I can't tell but there's something about him that I don't like.
What do I want?
My objective throughout the play is to try and help my sister Lyuba with what ever problems she has. She has problems with debt due to someone robbing her in Paris and she has some very uncontrollable spending habits that have not helped her. I want to try my best to try and make her see what she's doing wrong so she can correct it and also just make her as happy as possible considering the situation. I will tell her that she shouldn't give away her money if she's in debt and it's a habit she needs to get out of. I will remind her of old times when we were growing up just so she knows that we have had great times here and that it's not all lost even though we are losing the estate we still have the memories of it so it's not all bad. I would like Lyuba to look on the bright side. I will not cry in front of her because that will just worry her more and I think she's had enough stress and worrying so I don't want to add to it. I will distract her when Paris is brought up so she doesn't think about it, I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it. I really do want to see her happy and I try my best but her current situation isn't helping.
What is my obstacle?
There are a few things that get in the way of Lyuba being happy. One thing is her horrible spending habits, she will just give money away to anyone that asks for it even when she knows she mustn't because it's something she has done most of her life because she has been able to do so but now she can't and it's not a good habit to have at this time. Another thing is peter coming along because he is just bringing back memories of her son and my nephew Grisha who drowned when he was young. This she understandably never gotten over and I feel that seeing peter (who taught and looks like Grisha) will just remind her of it all again. She is also reminded of the incident in Paris quite a lot even just by things such as letter from there or people mentioning that she has returned but that means she is just reminded of what happened there. This in turn reminds her that she is in a lot of debt since her money was stolen and she can't pay the mortgage on the estate so she has a very big chance of losing her home and her beloved orchard. This is all she has left and to lose it would destroy her emotionally. One last thing is Alexander buying the estate just so he can build some cottages and he's betrayed her trust which I know has had an effect on her. These things really get in the way of me simply wanting her to be happy, she's my sister and I do love her and to see these things happen to her isn't exactly nice and I'm trying my best despite these things to help her be as happy as possible.
What do I do to get what I want?
Since I've mentioned quite a few times now that I wan to keep Lyuba happy you can probably tell that is one of my priorities. I do what I can to make her feel better. For example I reminisce about old times to Lyuba because it makes her feel young again even though it may make her think of the fact she's losing it, it does seem to help her be happy for at least a few brief moments when remembering her good time in life. I tell her that she should not be giving her money away when she knows not to but feels she must because that will only make things worse. I tell her when she's done something wrong because I feel she must learn from it. I even change the subject when Paris is mentioned or she's got letter from there. I literally start talking about a bookcase to get her mind off of it and try to stay cheerful so she doesn't get up set. Overall I just try and divert her from hearing about her troubles so she doesn't get too upset but I know she'll have to face them at some point which upsets me.
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