7 h 55 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 55 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A marriage proposal dissolves into arguments about dogs; a beloved orchard stands threatened by debt.
Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series brings together eight plays where people struggle to make themselves heard. In The Proposal, property and dogs push courtship aside. The Wedding turns celebration into embarrassment, while On the High Road gathers strangers in a tavern under the pressure of poverty, drink, and suffering.
The Three Sisters follows Olga, Masha, and Irina as they long for Moscow and a more purposeful life. In The Cherry Orchard, Lyubov Ranevskaya clings to an estate threatened by debt, while Lopakhin urges practical change. Across these family dramas and short comedies, hope meets habit, wounded pride, and the demands of everyday life.
What you’ll discover
- Courtship pushed aside Watch a proposal lose its way as quarrels over property and dogs take over.
- A celebration gone wrong The Wedding brings vanity and social ambition into a marriage celebration full of embarrassment.
- Strangers under pressure Enter the tavern of On the High Road, where hardship presses troubled people together.
- Lives beyond their reach Meet three sisters whose longing for Moscow sharpens their search for purpose.
- An orchard at risk Feel the pull between Ranevskaya’s attachment to home and Lopakhin’s call for practical change.
Who will love it
This collection suits readers who enjoy sharp, funny dialogue, people who talk past one another, and stories about love, money and homesickness. It is a good match for theatre lovers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stormy night inn gathers lost souls
- A marriage offer dissolves into a quarrel over meadows
- A wedding supper needs a general and finds trouble
- A creditor and a widow trade insults and pistols
- Two one-acts turn small annoyances into chaos
- Three sisters long for Moscow on a name day
- Love, debt and fire wear down the Prosorov house
- Ranevsky comes home to an estate near auction
- Two answers to the future clash among the trees
- Chekhov hides sorrow inside ordinary talk
Who’s who
- Irina ProsorovThe youngest of the three sisters, she longs for meaningful work and for a return to Moscow, where she hopes to find true love.
- Olga ProsorovThe eldest sister, a tired high school teacher who keeps the family together and quietly wishes for a home of her own.
- Masha KuliginThe middle sister, restless in her marriage to a schoolteacher, she finds her feelings stirred by a visiting officer.
- VershininA lieutenant colonel from Moscow who loves to philosophize about a happier future and is trapped in an unhappy marriage.
- Lubov RanevskyA generous, scatterbrained landowner who returns from Paris to an estate she loves but cannot afford to keep.
- LopakhinA rich merchant, son of a serf, who wants to rescue the family with a practical plan, and who still loves the house.
- TrofimovA poor, idealistic student who preaches work and freedom, and who once tutored Lubov's drowned son.
- SmirnovA hot-tempered landowner who storms into a widow's house to collect a debt and unexpectedly falls in love with her.
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Pièces d’Anton Tchekhov, deuxième série
Three sisters dream of Moscow while a family clings to a cherry orchard that its debts are about to take.
Medium level5–10 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
A ruined landowner begs for one more glass of vodka in a roadside inn, and the room goes quiet when a woman in a travelling coat walks in. Who is she, and why does a tramp with an axe stare at her so hard?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stormy night inn gathers lost souls
The first play is set in Tihon's inn on a main road in southern Russia, late at night, in a thunderstorm. Pilgrims, labourers and passersby crowd the floor, and people who have lost their place in the world end up in the same room.
Semyon Bortsov, once a rich landowner, begs the innkeeper for vodka. He offers his cap, then his coat, and at last a gold medallion holding a lady's portrait. A driver named Kusma tells the room how Bortsov married a town woman who rode off to a lawyer on the night of the wedding.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 5 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich. Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-by-anton-chekhov-second-series.
Chekhov, A. P. (2026). Plays by Anton Chekhov, second series. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-by-anton-chekhov-second-series
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich. Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-by-anton-chekhov-second-series.
@book{chekhov2026plays,
author = {Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich},
title = {Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plays-by-anton-chekhov-second-series}
}
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What plays are in Chekhov's Plays, Second Series?
The book holds eight plays: On the High Road, The Proposal, The Wedding, The Bear, A Tragedian in Spite of Himself, The Anniversary, The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. Six are short one-act pieces, and two are full-length plays in four acts.
What is The Three Sisters about?
It follows Olga, Masha and Irina Prosorov, who live in a provincial town and long to return to Moscow. Their brother, their loves and the officers stationed nearby shape their days as they wait for a better life.
What does the cherry orchard stand for in The Cherry Orchard?
The orchard stands for a family's past, its childhood memories and its old way of life. Some characters see only beauty in it, and others see a chance for profit, so it becomes a symbol of changing Russia.
The author
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
1860–1904 · Russian playwright and story writer
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian writer and physician. He was born in Taganrog and lived in Moscow and later Yalta. He wrote short stories and plays, including The Seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1897), and The Cherry Orchard (1904). He died in Badenweiler, Germany.
More by Anton Pavlovitch Tchekhov
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