Laughter+(Or+Lack+Thereof)

This is really a two-pronged question. Both heads, however, tie into the idea of laughter in Chekhov's plays. The first is the concept of comedy. There is already a forum posted questioning how comical __The Cherry Orchard__ actually is. For the purposes of this post, we can assume that there is at least dark humor to be found in the play. What confuses me is that this same dark humor is characteristic of __Uncle Vanya__. Yet research suggests that Vanya was one of Chekhov's dramas, not a fellow comedy. So what makes __The Cherry Orchard__ a comedy if __Uncle Vanya__ is not? Brother Tom suggested that the opportunity available to the characters at the conclusion of the play was key. How does this play a role?

My second question concerns the random bursts of laughter during __Uncle Vanya__. The characters, especially Yelena, seemed to laugh at the oddest moments, particularly when it seemed the most inappropriate. "Tell me honestly, do you wish you had married a younger man?" "Yes" [laughter, almost boisterous]. I did not notice so much laughter in the Orchard, so is this a director's addition? Is this, as we say, laughing to keep from crying? What else is there to this inappropriate hilarity? 1205199556

I saw the laughter as somehting that many of the characters did to hide their true feelings. For example, Vanya often laughed in places that he was obviously extremely depressed. I think that this is something that Yelena does as well. When she is asked about how she feels about marrying such an old man, she responds by laughing. I she regrets what she did and is realizing that she would have been much happier with many other people. She almost ignores the question and before she can even fully process the extent of her mistake, she begins to laugh. I think that perhaps this is a product of the director rather than Checkhov because Checkhov did not do this in The Cherry Orchard. I think that after analyzing the play, the director chose to portray the characters in this way.1205456497

I noticed a lot of laughter in Uncle Vanya. And it did seem that most of it was coming from Yelena. Personally, I think Yelena's character just had terrible mood swings. These mood swings could be caused by the stress and the love "square" she was caught in (the doctor, vanya, and the professor). One second she was talking sweetly to Uncle Vanya, the next "you disgust me!" I think that "laughing to keep from crying" theory is accurate. I know that when I am hurt I decide to joke around and smile to stop myself from crying, even though it may not always help. Yelena's life was full of stress. At times she seemed unhappy and it seemed as if all she could do was laugh at the situation. Isn't laughter the best medicine? Perhaps at those moments that was the only way she could deal with the situation. 1205200630

I personally thought that The Cherry Orchard was a comedy because it is close up comical portrait of the Russian aristrocracy. Although it is not overly harsh, it still possesses elements of satire because Chekhov portrays the entire family as an absurd, almost insane motley of people. And it is in this that one can find humor within the play. Much of the humor can also be found with abuse of Trophimof, Firs, and Gayef; all of whom are constantly told to shut up or how deformed they are. It isn't the nicest kind of humor, but it is funny nonetheless. - **MSu-c** 2 minutes ago

I also don't really see what makes //The Cherry Orchard // a comedy while //Uncle Vanya // is supposed to be a drama. I don't think the amount of laughter really determines this nor has much to do with it. I don't think that how much the character's laugh determines how funny a play is to the audience. I think that more often plays or entertainment in which the characters don't laugh at themselves or at what is going on tend to be more comedic. In response to TRu, I think that the end of the play does have a slight role in this. I felt like //Uncle Vanya // had a much more closed ending where the characters' opportunities in their lives seemed very limited. The end wasn't a movement of moving forward. The end of the //The Cherry Orchard // appeared much more open. The characters seemed to be moving on with their lives. Firs' ending of course added to the "dark humor.1205202264

Most of Yelena's laughter was painstakingly dramatic. It was the kind of thing where someone laughs at the points nobody would expect them to, almost as if she found humor in the things most people would envision as very harmful or emotionally trying. I think that most of the laughter was probably in the actual play, since I found Chekhov's stage directions to be pretty detailed to convey what he wanted to say. I actually think that Uncle Vanya is more comical than the Cherry Orchard, though laughter has nothing to do with it. I think that I can connect more with the scenarios presented in Uncle Vanya than I can with the Cherry Orchard, which makes it more humorous. Also, I think most of the comedy was ironic, or subtle things that someone watching the play could pick up on easier than simply reading it. user:PSp-c

I don't think that the laughter was exactly in the stage directions, so it would be kind of difficult to make an interpretation of the play based solely on laughter. I'm pretty sure that it was either the actor's or director's idea to put the laughing in at those exact places. Although it may seem like an odd time to laugh, I can understand why she did. She's looking at her position in life and she thinks that it is so bad that it is humorous to her. It's almost as if she is saying, "How did I get myself into this mess?" It makes sense to me that she would laugh because she is looking at her life through an objective lens and seeing the ironic humor in it. It may be dark or cynical, but I think it's understandable. It adds a little humor into the mundane, depressing life that she is leading. 1205203803

I also noticed Yelena's laughter at the strangest moments, and I have to agree with the possibilities that others have put forward. I also think that Yelena, being the beautiful, young trophy wife, came off as a priveledged character, in the way that you would image a popular girl in school. Perhaps she is unused to leading such a dull, depressing and twisted life, and therefore, she refuses to acknowledge her reality, instead she just laughs and laughs to convince herself that her life isn't so terrible. Whenever she laughed, I got the sense that she was laughing TO someone--she was reaching out, almost desperately, hoping to find someone who could sympathize with her, who would laugh with her and make everything better. Almost as though if she isn't laughing alone, if others are laughing with her, then life must not be as bleak as it seems.

The drama vs. comedy question is really interesting, and I just want to mention what Br. Tom told us in class: Chekhov's comedies are characterized by hope and options at the end, whereas his dramas end with everyone running out of options. At first, I thought the Cherry Orchard ought to be a drama, because they don't get what they want in the end. But really, but having the orchard forced away, Chekhov allows his characters new hope to move into the future. In Uncle Vanya, Vanya's life returns to normal, which he lamented as being useless. However, while I understand this distinction, I didn't notice much more obvious humor in the comedy. Which brings me to my question: Must humor be a defining quality of a comedy, or is this just something that we, as part of a sitcom culture, have come to expect? 1205271558

I also noticed that her laughter was never sincere--it seemed forced. Like Isi said, she was lauging to make her bad situation better. I think that she laughed at normal moments to trick herself into thinking that she and life were alright, when in reality, and like she told Sophie, she was not happy. This moment in the play is one of the few that show us the true side of Yelana. When Sophie is asking her all those questions, just because she can, Sophie asks her if she would prefer a younger husband. Yelana says yes and then Sophie asks her if she is happy, and Yelana says no. But, she answers both those serious, usually seen as what would be very sensitive subjects, with an uneasy laughter. Then, when Sophie leaves the room to go as her father, the Proffesor, if Yelana can play her instrument, Yelana immediately breaks down into painful tears. I believe that her tears were painful because they weren't freely released, but rather, Yelana held them, restricting her emotion, and then after crying, she quickly regained her composure. Anyone else find this scene to be significant? 1205281246

Concerning the comparison between The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya and Brother Tom's hint at examining the opportunities available to the characters, I think I can see why one is a comedy and the other is a drama. First, both are not entirely comedic or dramatic: Uncle Vanya has comedic elements, just as The Cherry Orchard has numerous dramatic elements. Throughout the plots of each of the plays, the level of humor remains pretty similar; however, in the last few acts of each play is where they drastically differ. In The Cherry Orchard, the tragedy of loosing the orchard is, while still sad, bearable, and the ending shows the Ranevskys heading out into the world with all of them heading forward with optimism that life will improve, with the exception of Madame Ranevsky, who is going back to her abusive lover. In Uncle Vanya, however, the opposite is true: after the rejected love and arguements, the ending of the plays shows the majority of the characters resigned to a fate of misery and suffering for the rest of their lives. This is why one is a tragedy and the other is a comedy: one has hope, and the other snuffs it out entirely. 1205290406

While I think that Uncle Vanya seemed to have about as much comedy as the Cherry Orchard in the play the ending does seem to be the important difference. In the The Cherry Orchard we can see some of the characters moving on, and there is a sense of optimism about the future for many of the characters. Even the seeminly depressing death of Firs seems to point towards a new beginning for everyone else in the play. On the other hand in Uncle Vanya, I can't seem to think of a single character that comes out better in the end than in the beginning. Vanya, the Doctor, and Sophie can all never be with the person that they truely love. And Yelana is too dedicated to preserving her honor to leave the old husband that she doesn't really care for. Everyone seems to be willing to accept that their lives will never amount to what they had hoped they would. So while I would never think to call The Cherry Orchard a comedy if I was looking at it alone, I think by that comparison it certainly is one. 1205292695

I'm really glad you brought this up, TRu, because I simply can't see the difference between the two. I mean, the similarities are uncanny, really. In Uncle Vanya, almost all of the characters are struggling with serious, life-changing problems such as disease, unhappy marriages, and even the possibility of losing an estate, just like in The Cherry Orchard. I see the same level of sorrow in both plays, and there are even random bursts of comedy in both. I simply can't bring myself to see the major difference between the two plays that would classify The Cherry Orchard as a comedy and Uncle Vanya as a drama. And as to DSu's comment, I'm not sure that the possibility of hope at the ending of The Cherry Orchard could constitute it as a comedy. Just because there's hope doesn't mean that it's automatically a comedy, it just means that it's not exactly a tragedy. It could still easily be a drama, in my opinion. And in response to JKo, I think I may have interpreted the ending of the play differently. I certainly see how there could be hope for some of the characters, but I couldn't decide whether Firs' death and the destruction of the cherry orchard itself were omens of the times changing, or omens that the futures of the characters aren't going to be as bright as they hoped. I don't know, I just can't see The Cherry Orchard as a comedy. 1205369987

Vanya's a little more dreary, the characters are sorta all a little morbid, and the doctor's off to his grave, and the world around them is dark and bleak (their residence) So it's definitely a little less happy. And at the end of CO, the characters are sorta uplifted and all, hoping for the future as the past around them crumbles, just a little different from Vanya there. And the laughter's something really hardto describe, but a whole lot easier to see on screen, when the characters reveal something so personal that they burst out laughing either from how innappropriate, how personal, or how hopeless something is. I'm not sure they do it to stop from crying, although I can see what you mean and replacing the laughter with crying would make some sense, but the laughter's a slightly different release, sorta making humour out of situations that aren't funny, and uplifting them that way, rather than just avoiding tears. 1205386642

Yes, the movie was depressing. I wanted to shout out "There's nothing new under the sun." (sorry Fr. Bob's class reference) It was gloomy and depressing and down right sad, but I laughed. I remember the time I laughed the most was when Vanya's niece mentioned that she had been in love with the Doctor for 6 years. 6 YEARS!!! I laughed not at her pain, but the irony of her situation that she cannot see that this man has not loved her back for 6 years, and its not like school crushes that may last a while for she is in her prime marrying years and sort of needs to man to support her. The randomness of the characters and the absurdity of events brought laughter to our class. I know that Sonya laughed too much, but I think she was laughing at the life of "love" she had chosen. You can't cry forever, so you must laugh! 1205410269

Speaking of laughing at inappropriate times, I felt like that made the situation awkward. And when we viewed the film, I felt that Uncle Vanya seriously made things awkward. Maybe Yelena was laughing to try and lighten the mood. If not lighten it, then try to escape having to deal with the situation. Sometimes if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, you laugh out of nervousness. You don't hear someone confess their love to you when you feel absolutely nothing in return, and want to continue the conversation. You want to get out of it as soon as possible with as little damage to the other person's pride as possible. If she makes the time less serious, there won't be as serious of consequences. 1205444308