A+String+Breaking?

What exactly does a string breaking sound like? And what is the significance of the two points in the play in which this sound is heard? It is heard once in Act 2, and once at the end of the play when Firs dies.

I have a theory about the end, when Firs dies. Has anyone seen Hercules? In Greek mythology, the 3 Fates (witches in the Disney movie) have the "string" of your life. At the end of your life, they cut your string. So, does anyone else think that this "string breaking" is an allusion to Greek mythology?

And really... what does the breaking of a string sound like? Are we talking a rope type of string, or something like a guitar string? Does the sound echo or resound? What exactly is the __point__ of this random noise? 1204761155

Well Brother Tom told us in class that Chekhov meant for the string breaking to be a simple sound. Some productions of the play made into a big deal, but that wasn't Chekhov's intention. Throughout the play, there is rarely silence. People are always talking, many times trying to out speak someone else. But there are two moments of silence. In both these instances, we hear the string breaking the quietude. "They all sit pensively. Silence reigns, broken only by the mumbling of old Firs" (25). Then in the last few sentences of the play, "He lies motionless...Silence ensues, broken only by the stroke of the axe on the trees far away in the cherry orchard" (49). This particular sound is described as "distant" and "dying away, melancholy." It kills the silence. I think the string breaking might represent some sort of death. The death of the cherry orchard, the death of Firs, the near downfall of the Ranevsky family. I have to keep reminding myself that this play is supposed to be a comedy though. It's weird to seem to find such dark themes in a comedy. Perhaps the breaking string is not death, but the opposite: liberation? Freedom? 1204770807

Mmi, i'm going to give you another disney reference in order to know what a string breaking sounds like. In Sleeping Beauty, when the two kings are singing the song "Skumps" and the man playing the guitar is having too much fun with the wine, the guitar's string breaks. Here is a youtube clip of that scene. The string breaking is at time 1:24 and at 3:48. Now, it may sound cartoonish, but it is the closest I could find. http://youtube.com/watch?v=sxty2ND9Enk I agree with KGa. I believe that the string breaking symbolizes death. When a string breaks, there is an initial loud twang and then it echoes until it dies out. I think that this is similar to both the cherry orchard and Firs. The cherry orchard was a big and glorious prized possesion of Madame Renevsky. There was always such a big to-do when it came to the orchard. But now it has died out and will soon vanish. Firs was a feisty man. He always had a comment to make and continuously called people "job-lot." Then all of a sudden the feisty man was silenced. Both have a similar quality to a string breaking. Any other ideas? 1204778203

I agree. The string is very symbolic, and it is interesting to note that the break happens //twice// in the play. I had read a lot on what everyone thinks in regards to the string breaking at the end of the play and wanted to examine the //first// time it happened. I did not initially catch any significance from the string breaking when we were reading the play through; as a matter of fact, when bro tom brought it up in class as being greatly significant, I was quite confused as to why. But I'll try to make sense of it now: "ANYA: (//pensively//) There goes Ephikho'dof. GAYEF: The sun has set. TROPHIMOF: Yes. GAYEF: O Nature, . . . beautiful and indifferent, . . . uniting in yourself both life and death, you animate and you destroy . . . " [ //They all sit pensively. . . . the sound of a string breaking, dying away, melancholy// ]" (25). From what I can make of it, there is a note on the separation of social classes. The people sitting around are about to lose their old money and way of life and are in a contemplative state. It seems as if Nature plays a symbolic role here as well -- almost like fate. The sun shines, rises, and sets on everyone, "indifferent" to their social stature. It is the only constant thing, and some things are bond to die. In this way, I agree both with the people who see the string breaking as a new beginning and those who see it as an end. After all, Nature, how things work themselves out, " animates[s]" and "destroy[s]." It is almost like something that we are not supposed to completely understand, as none of the characters do. At the same time, I do find it ironic that Firs is the one who notices that the same thing happened before the Liberation. Though he is one disregarded, he may actually have more insight than the other characters give him credit.1204841966

I'll give my interpretation of the string-breaking. I agree with Sfa that Firs's interpretation of the sound may be the most important, or most correct one. He recognizes the sound as one happening right before the Liberation. Then we hear it again, when he is the only character remaining. This is right before his implied death. What is the connection? I think that the string breaking is symbolic then of a new type of liberation. Even after the freeing of the serfs in Russia, Firs still lived as a servant to the house. Even when the rest of the family leaves the house, Firs is left behind. He is tied to the land, just as serfs were. Perhaps his death is his liberation and the only way that he can truly be seperated from his slavery. KGa mentioned that the string might refer to death, or its opposite: liberation. However, in this case, I think the two are the same, not opposite. It is only in his death that Firs can find his true freedom. 1204842282

I took the string breaking to mean that the past was dying. I can understand how the history of the serfs works well with the string breaking, but I think that because Firs was present at the breaking of the string there is more to it. I believe that when Firs died in the end and the string and cherry orchard being chopped down were heard, that the past was dying. Firs held the key to the Renevsky's past. He knew everything that went on at the orchard. He helped the family reminisce about their past and remember their childhood. But now that the cherry orchard was sold and his being cut down, it has died, and Firs has died with it. I do believe the string breaking represents the past, but I believe it represents the family's past. 1205116246

I'm not so sure that it really matters what the string //means// in the second Act. I think the emphasis is placed on how each character interprets the sound. Lopakhin, the industrious one, automatically associates the sound with an industrial failure. Actually he would be the closest by suggesting the sound was a snapping cable. And I think he is right for one other reason, which I will come back to. Gayef, the imaginitive and garrulous character, suggests some sort of magnificent bird that whose splendor he could describe. Trophimof chooses the "wisest" possible answer, an owl. Mme Ranevsky is indecisive as always and only comments on how it makes her feel. Barbara stays silent, but it makes Anya cry. Firs, the other "right" one by my estimation, suggests that it is the same sound heard before the liberation.

So what does the sound mean? As I said, Lopakhin was closest. It seems to be one of the last threads holding up an immense weight, i.e. the Ranevsky family. What makes me say this? Immediately after this sound, Mme gives away more money to a poor tramp. A lifting tub hoists weights up, in this case higher on the social ladder. Her spending, however, gnaws away at the cable. One more fiber snapped. They are precariously close to falling. The string at the end of the play was Firs, a faithful servant, the last fiber that held them in their current position. Now they can begin the freefall down the ladder. Incidentally, I see Firs as right because the Liberation was in a way the breaking of another cable: the one that held the Russian aristocracy up. 1205195606

I was also thinking about what this mysterious string would sound like if it actually broke. In the play, the stage directions state that it was "a distant sound heard as if from the sky, dying away." When I first heard the sound in my mind, it was very guitar-ish, but not twangy. I suppose that if it were meant to be from the sky, I might go along with a harp string because that reminds me of angels. I thought of a more echo-y sound than a resounding one. Lopakhin even said that he thought it might be "a lifting-tub given way somewhere in a mine." That made it sound more like when someone strikes a wet, hallow pipe. As for the significance of the sound, I always pictured it around death and dying because of that last scene with Firs. Br. Tom said that by the time it sounds a second time, Firs is dead. This is where the three fates came into play for me. I agree that the cutting of a string might sound like that if it were cut by a heavenly body, but then again, wouldn't a string being cut sound a lot different than a snapping string? Any thoughts?1205196864

I for some reason see this as the sound of a guitar string breaking. If you've ever played guitar, you know the difference between the sound of an old set of strings and a new set of strings because the newer ones have more pop and twang to them while the older ones sound much more dull and flat. When a string breaks, it cannot simply be put back together and you have to buy not only one new string but a full set of new strings because a guitar sounds absolutely horrible if some strings are older than other strings. I'm saying all this because I think that Chekhov is using the string breaking as symbolizing the end of the classical Russian aristocracy. The whole setup that they had is breaking and crumbling, and it is slowly going to get replaced with something new as all the "old strings" are broken and discarded. What is interesting is that no one seems to hear the strings breaking thus implying that the people don't really notice what's happening right under their noses; they don't recognize the change that's coming from people such as Lopahkin rising up through the class structure. This is just a classic example of the old adage of out with the old and in with the new.1205205897

The string breaking is a very subtle sound. I think Br. Tom said that in the play, they wanted a louder sound, but Chekhov wanted it to be the string. I can see where you're coming, MMi, about the lines of life breaking, but I think it's more about change in general. The characters are the old strings to the guitar of the cherry orchard. They have played out there days there, and it is now time to get new strings--a new future for the cherry orchard as well as for them. But do the new strings play better? Cutting down the Orchard is tragic because it signifies the absolute end of it. It will now be different, for better or for worse. 1205369621

For me the sound of a string breaking is a pretty painful thing. I definatly thought of a guitar string breaking and immediatly thought of that first time you (or at least me) change your guitar strings without someone telling you what to do, and you accidently try to tune the D string to a G and manage to snap your shiny brand new strings (I don't know if this happens to all guitar players once, or if I'm just stupid), or when you're onstage (the only time guitar strings snap) and you play that one note that just pushes it over the edge and the string snaps at the worst possible time. Anyway its a pretty painful sound, with a really sharp twang of a note followed by the silence of a string that will never play again, which is why I really like the idea of some kind of death like in Hercules with the fates. This makes a lot of sense at the end when Firs dies and we get the idea of the old ideas dying out to make way for the new ones. 1205380129

I have commented many times on this topic because I think that this small thing is so important in the play. It has multiple meanings to the different characters, but the one I was most interested in was Firs, but only after i put the second time the sound was heard with the first. For Firs the sound was liberation. When it is heard again, the orchard is being liberated and in a way so was he because his work was ending. He did not like liberation and it made much sense to have him die when he became liberated and his life no longer had a purpose as it did before when he had work to do. His ending ended the tie to the past in Russia and the family was now starting to try and move on from their memories and past too. I liked the string a lot becuase we were told how the characters interpreted it and it was something so unique to the play.1205470704