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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Proposal, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marriage
Class and Greed
Human Nature and Communication
Summary
Analysis
Landowner Stepán Stepánich Chubukóv warmly welcomes a visitor to his farmhouse—his neighbor, Iván Vassílievich Lómov, who has arrived wearing a tailcoat and white gloves. After the two exchange pleasantries, Chubukóv asks the younger man why he is so dressed up. Lómov grasps Chubukóv’s arm and explains that he’s come to ask a favor, but he becomes so nervous and tongue-tied that he stops for a drink of water. In an aside, Chubukóv predicts that Lómov is going to ask him for money, which Chubukóv says he won’t give.
The audience can guess from Lómov’s formal dress and anxious demeanor that he isn’t making an ordinary neighborly visit. It’s also evident, from both Chubukóv and Lómov’s landowning status, that they aren’t impoverished peasants or even middle-class, although their lack of noble titles indicates that they aren’t among society’s most affluent, either. Chubukóv’s cynical aside suggests that Lómov has come asking for money before. At any rate, Chubukóv’s effusive greeting is at least a little insincere.
Themes
As Lómov continues fawning and stumbling over his words, at one point calling Chubukóv “Stepán Excúsemevich,” Chubukóv urges him to speak up: what does he want? Lómov declares that he has come to ask for the hand of Chubukóv’s daughter, Natásha. At once, Chubukóv embraces Lómov, gushing that this is a dream come true and that he’s always loved Lómov like a son. He reassures the worried Lómov that Natásha will certainly accept him and rushes off to find his daughter.
The Proposal is a farce, meaning that its characters are comically exaggerated. Here, the exaggeration serves Chekhov’s satire of marriage among the Russian propertied class. This satire is primarily conveyed through Chubukóv’s sudden shift from suspicion of Lómov to an over-the-top, gushing embrace once he learns that Lómov hasn’t come for a loan, but in fact wants to take a financial burden (Natásha) off Chubukóv’s hands. Meanwhile, when Lómov calls Chubukóv “Stepán Excúsemevich,” the play further establishes him as a bumbling figure who struggles to communicate clearly, building suspense for how the proposal itself will go.
Themes
Alone, Lómov notices that he’s shivering as if he’s about to take an exam. He muses aloud that if a man waits for the ideal woman or for true love, he’ll never get married. At least Natásha knows how to keep house, is somewhat attractive, and has been to school. Anyway, he has no choice but to get married—he’s 35, and it’s time for him to start leading a normal life. Plus, he has a heart murmur, his nerves are bad, and a pulsing in his left side disturbs him 20 times a night.
Natásha enters in her kitchen apron, surprised to see that it’s only Lómov—Papa had said that somebody was here to sell her something. She chats with him about the weather and hay-cutting season until she notices Lómov’s outfit and asks why he is so dressed up. Nervously, Lómov asks Natásha to listen to what he has to say. He recalls that they’ve known one another since childhood and that his aunt and uncle, from whom he inherited his land, always admired Natásha’s parents. Besides, their properties border each other—Lomov’s Meadowland, for example, lies right next to the Chubukóvs’ birch grove.
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At this, Natásha interrupts, insisting that the Meadowland isn’t Lómov’s—it belongs to the Chubukóvs. Lómov, though, insists that she’s mistaken. The field has always belonged to his family—everybody knows that. Perhaps there was some confusion long ago, when his aunt’s grandmother allowed Natásha’s grandfather’s tenants to use the Meadowland in exchange for making bricks for her. Then, Natásha’s family started to believe the field belonged to them, but the deeds show otherwise. Natásha counters that Lómov must be joking. It’s not that the meadow is so valuable—it’s only 12 acres, after all—but it’s Lómov’s injustice she can’t accept.
Natásha and Lómov get into a bitter, shouting back-and-forth, each insisting that the meadow belongs to their family. Natasha even threatens to send her mowers to the meadow to hay the field. She asks Lómov to settle down and behave like a gentleman. Clutching his chest, Lómov retorts that if it weren’t for his heart murmurs and throbbing veins, he wouldn’t be carrying on like this. Just then Chubukóv returns, asking what all the yelling is about. He corroborates Natásha’s claim that Meadowland belongs to them and adds that there was already a dispute about the land back in Lómov’s granny’s day—that’s why the Chubukóvs didn’t pay for it. Lómov must never have studied the survey map.
Themes
Chubukóv and Lómov argue over who can prove that the land indeed belongs to him, until Lómov rails that Chubukóv is not a neighbor, but a usurper, and he’ll take him to court. Chubukóv accuses the Lómov family of being litigious drunkards. Lómov’s youngest aunt consorted with an architect, of all things. Lómov counters that Chubukóv’s mother was a hunchback, but in between hurling insults, he clutches his chest and complains of paralysis in his leg and spots before his eyes. Chubukóv yells at Lómov to leave and never come back, and Lómov staggers out.
Chubukóv and Natásha, agitated, mutter about what a crook and a creep Lómov is. Chubukóv can’t believe that such a man had the nerve to come here and propose. Natásha asks what Lómov was proposing, and when Chubukóv explains that Lómov had come to ask Natásha to marry him, Natásha wails that he should have told her this before, collapses in a chair, and begs hysterically that her father make Lómov come back. Chubukóv chases after Lómov, saying he (Chubukóv) should kill himself for driving the man off. Being the father of an adult daughter is a thankless job. He tells Natásha she’ll have to do the talking this time, then exits.
Lómov comes in, complaining that his leg is paralyzed, his left side is going “drrk!”, and his eyes are twitching. Natásha apologizes for their mistake: she just remembered that Meadowland belongs to Lómov after all. Anyway, they should talk about something else. They sit down and, after an awkward pause, Natásha asks how the hunting is going. Lómov complains that his old hound Guesser has gone lame. He used to be the best dog; Lómov paid 125 rubles for him. Natásha says that he paid too much—Papa paid only 25 for their hound Messer, who is much better than Guesser.
Themes
Lómov laughs at Natásha’s opinion of Messer—she’s overlooking that Messer has an underslung jaw, which means he’ll never be a good retriever. He measured the dog’s jaw, and the lower is shorter than the upper. Natásha has never heard of such a thing and argues that Messer is a purebred, but Lómov insists that he’s a joke compared to Guesser. Natásha thinks Lómov is being intentionally perverse in his arguments about both the Meadowland and the hounds. They shout back and forth about the size of Messer’s jaw until Lómov complains his heart is racing and he must stop. Natasha continues to yell that Guesser is worthless, as good as dead, until Lómov starts to cry.
Chubukóv enters, demanding to know what’s wrong now. Lómov tries to get Chubukóv to concede that Guesser is a superior hound, but Chubukóv argues that Guesser is old and has a short bite. Lómov argues that Guesser kept pace with the count’s dog at the recent field trials while Messer lagged, but Chubukóv retorts that Messer fell behind because the count’s men struck Messer out of jealousy. Lómov whines about his heart murmur, whereupon Natásha mimics his cries and Chubukóv mocks him for not being a real hunter. The two men fall into an exchange of insults, then Lómov exclaims that he’s dying and faints into a chair.
Chubukóv and Natásha, still calling Lómov names, don’t notice right away that he’s collapsed. Then Natásha shakes Lómov, shrieks that he’s dead, and falls into hysterics. Chubukóv frantically calls for a doctor and wishes he had killed himself before this mess occurred. Then Lómov slowly stirs, blearily wondering where he is. Chubukóv places Lómov’s and Natásha’s hands together and begs them to get married and leave him in peace. Natásha kisses Lómov, who gradually remembers what just happened. Natásha hesitantly agrees with the still-dazed Lómov that she is very happy about their engagement.
Natásha asks if Lómov will now agree that Messer is better than Guesser. They begin shouting again, Lómov maintaining that Messer is “worse!” and Natásha that he is “Better! Better! Better!” Over them both, Chubukóv cries, “And they lived happily ever after!” and calls repeatedly for champagne.
