Chapter 11 : THE PROPOSAL
About the Author: (In N.B)
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904 was a Russian playwright and
short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in
history.
Theme (In N.B)
The Proposal is a one-act play that begins with a young man, Lomov presenting a marriage
proposal to his neighbour’s daughter. Before he could actually convey it to the girl, they enter
into an argument about Oxen Meadows. Chubukov, the lady’s father also joins the heated
discussion. After they end this, they enter into another argument about their dogs and which
one is better than the other. In the midst of all this, proposal gets forgotten until Lomov falls
off due to his palpitations and Chubukov instantly puts her daughter’s hands in Lomov’s. But
the argument is still on…
Characters (In N.B)
STEPAN STEPANOVITCH CHUBUKOV : a landowner
NATALYA STEPANOVNA : his daughter, twenty-five years old
IVAN VASSILEVITCH LOMOV : a neighbour of Chubukov, a large and hearty, but very
suspicious, landowner.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS: (In N.B)
Question [Link] a character sketch of Lomov.
Lomov was a funny man. Physically he was weak but financially he was sound. He was a rich
bachelor who wanted to marry Natalya. He was not really in love with Natalya but wanted to
marry her because he thought that she was a good-housekeeper and beautiful. He said if he
desired for an ideal or real love, he would never get married. He felt that he was 35, now he
must lead a quiet and regular life. When he went to propose her, he got diverted. Actually,
Natalya thought that he had come to claim oxen meadows as his own, quarrel took place
between them. One more time they quarrelled over petty issues. Before finally proposing to
her, he fainted and after that shouted a lot but finally succeeded to get acceptance.
Question [Link] type of person is Natalaya? Give two examples to show her quarrelsome
nature.
Natalaya is also rather hypocritical, and she is obstinate and argumentative. When Natalaya
first enters the room, she greets Lomov with warmth and is very gracious as she permits
him to smoke and compliments him upon his appearance. However, when Lomov speaks of
“my meadows,” she abruptly interrupts and contradicts him. An argument then ensures
over who own what [Link] when Lomov offers them to her as a gift, she continues to
insist upon her ownership of them in the first place, reigniting the argument until Lomov
leaves. When her father finally reveals to Natalaya that Lomov has actually come to propose
marriage; she is infuriated, blaming her father for causing the neighbour to depart.
Question 3. Anton Chekov has used humour and exaggeration in the play to comment on
courtship in his times. The principle ‘forgive and forget’ helps a lot is maintaining cordial
relations with our neighbours. Do you think Chubukov conveys this message in the play
“The Proposal’.
Lomov and Natalaya meet for a serious purpose , i.e., to talk about marriage that decides
the progress of one’s life as a member of the conventionally established society. But the
purpose of their meeting gets lost on two consecutive occasions because Lomov’s faith in
the values of his society disrupts his approach to the topic of marriage. He learns that the
girl and her father like him, but, instead of proposing to marry her and discussing how their
marriage should be organised, he goes on to talk about properties, relations, family
histories, and pets, draws them into an unnecessary argument, and antagonises both of
them.
Finally, Chubukov marries Lomov and Natasha by force before another problem crops up.
Thus the play ends in a comic note, just because the couple gets together with their father
to celebrate their marriage while the dispute over the pets is still continuing. For any
healthy relationship there should be mutual understanding and respect. Quarreling over
trivial issues like dog cannot guarantee longevity of a relationship.
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