The Proposal

'The Proposal' as a farce

A one-act comedy by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, written in 1888-89 and originally titled 'A Marriage Proposal'. Its comedy comes from exaggeration: three people who agree on the outcome quarrel violently over things that do not matter.

What tendency among wealthy families does the play satirise?

Their habit of seeking ties with other wealthy families to enlarge their estates, encouraging marriages that make good economic sense. Love is never discussed; the proposal survives because it is financially sound, not because anyone is fond of anyone.

Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov

Chubukov's neighbour, a large and hearty but very suspicious landowner of thirty-five who comes to propose to Natalya. He is a hypochondriac, forever clutching at his heart, and cannot let a disputed point go however trivial it is.

Natalya Stepanovna

Chubukov's twenty-five-year-old daughter, a capable housekeeper found shelling peas in an apron. She is as combative as Lomov — she will concede a point instantly when marriage is at stake, and reopen the argument the moment it is secured.

Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov

The landowner whose daughter is being courted. He greets Lomov with extravagant endearments, turns abusive the moment land is mentioned, and swings back to blessings once the match is in danger — his affection tracks his interest exactly.

What does Chubukov first suspect Lomov has come for?

Money. Noting that Lomov has applied to him for help before and is now stammering an apologetic request, he remarks aside that the man has come to borrow and that he shall not give him any — while calling him 'my beauty' aloud.

Is Chubukov sincere when he says he has always loved Lomov as his own son?

No. He has just decided privately to refuse him a loan, and within minutes of the Oxen Meadows dispute he is calling him a grabber, a pettifogger and a blind hen. The affection appears only when a profitable marriage is in view.

Why does Lomov arrive in a dress-jacket and white gloves?

He regards a proposal as a formal occasion demanding formal clothes. Both Chubukov and Natalya remark on it — Chubukov asks whether he is paying a New Year's Eve visit — and the overdressing is the audience's first clue to why he has come.

On what grounds has Lomov decided to marry Natalya?

Entirely practical ones. She is an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking and well-educated; he is thirty-five, which he calls a critical age, and needs a quiet and regular life. He tells himself that if he waits for an ideal or for real love he will never marry at all.

Lomov's ailments

The complaints he recites throughout the play: palpitations, trembling lips, a twitch in the right eyebrow, a numb foot, and a pull in his left side that jerks him awake as many as twenty times a night. They flare up precisely when he is losing an argument.

Oxen Meadows

The strip of land wedged between Chubukov's birchwoods and the Burnt Marsh, claimed by both families. It runs to five dessiatins and is worth perhaps three hundred roubles — a trifle to either household, which is the point of the quarrel it causes.

On what does Lomov base his claim to Oxen Meadows?

On a grant: his aunt's grandmother gave the peasants of Natalya's father's grandfather the free use of the Meadows in return for making bricks for her. They used the land for forty years and fell into the habit of treating it as their own.

On what does Natalya base her family's claim to Oxen Meadows?

On long possession. Her grandfather and great-grandfather reckoned their land ran as far as Burnt Marsh, and the family has held it for nearly three hundred years. She refuses to follow Lomov's account of aunts and grandmothers at all.

What is the real cause of the quarrel between Lomov and Natalya over Oxen Meadows?

Not the land itself. She admits the Meadows are worth little to her but says she cannot stand unfairness; he offers to make her a present of them while insisting he is acting on principle. Neither wants the field — each refuses to be the one who yields.

How does the quarrel over Oxen Meadows end?

It stops being about land. Natalya threatens to send her mowers out that day, Chubukov joins in, and the three fall to abusing each other's families — drunkards, embezzlers, lunatics, gamblers — until Lomov staggers out clutching his heart, banned from the house.

Why does Natalya suddenly demand that Lomov be fetched back?

Because her father lets slip, after Lomov has gone, that he came to propose. She had no idea, and the news turns her instantly from triumph to hysterics — wailing that she is dying and ordering her father to bring him back at once.

Is Chubukov right that Natalya is in love, 'like a lovesick cat'?

The play gives no sign of it. She does not know a proposal is coming, greets Lomov casually in her apron and fights him to a standstill over a field. What overwhelms her is the news that she has lost a match, not the loss of a man.

What does Natalya concede when Lomov is brought back?

Everything she had fought for. She apologises, says they were all a little heated, and tells him twice over that Oxen Meadows really are his. Lomov, missing the point entirely, keeps producing his evidence for a claim nobody is now disputing.

Guess and Squeezer

The two hunting dogs that cause the second quarrel. Guess is Lomov's, bought from Mironov for 125 roubles and now gone lame; Squeezer is Chubukov's, bought for 85 roubles and, by Natalya's account, better on points and pedigree.

How does the quarrel about the dogs begin?

Natalya deliberately changes the subject to get Lomov talking, and asks about his shooting. He mentions that Guess has gone lame and what he paid for him; she says it was too much and that Squeezer is far better — and the argument is away.

What is Lomov's objection to Squeezer?

That the dog is overshot — its lower jaw is shorter than the upper, which he says he has measured. An overshot dog, he insists, always makes a bad hunter: it can follow well enough but cannot get hold of anything.

What verdict does Chubukov give when asked to judge between the dogs?

He allows that Guess has his good points — purebred, firm on his feet, well-sprung ribs — but pronounces two defects: the dog is old and short in the muzzle. On Squeezer being overshot, he simply asks what it matters.

What do they disagree about concerning the Marusinsky hunt?

Lomov says Guess kept level with the Count's dog the whole way while Squeezer trailed a full verst behind. Chubukov answers that Squeezer only fell back because the Count's whipper-in struck him — and Lomov replies that the dog deserved it for worrying a sheep mid-chase.

How does the proposal finally come about?

It is never actually made. Lomov collapses in an armchair and the other two take him for dead; when he stirs, Chubukov hurries to put his hand into Natalya's, declares she is willing and orders them to kiss. Lomov, still dazed, asks whom he is kissing.

Why does the play end with the couple still arguing?

Because nothing about them has changed. Seconds after the engagement Natalya reopens the question of Guess and Squeezer, and the two are shouting 'Better!' and 'Worse!' while Chubukov drowns them out by calling for champagne. The marriage will be more of the same.

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