Typically, the genre of a work is easy to identify when reading. Difficulties arise when the author himself gives his creation an assessment that does not fit with the impression made on the reader. An example is the play by A.P. Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard", which the author called a comedy.
Can the Cherry Orchard be called a tragedy?
Most contemporaries of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov perceived The Cherry Orchard as a tragic work. How, then, to understand the words of the author of the play, who called this work comedy and even farce? Is it possible to unequivocally state that the sensational play in its time can be unambiguously assigned to a certain genre?
The answer can be found in the definitions of different genres of literature. It is believed that the tragedy can be characterized by the following features: it is distinguished by the special state of the situation and the inner world of the heroes, it is characterized by torment and insoluble conflict between the main character and the world around him. Very often the tragedy is crowned with a deplorable end, for example, the tragic death of a hero or the complete collapse of his ideals.
In this sense, Chekhov’s play cannot be considered pure tragedy. The heroes of the work are not suitable for the role of tragic characters, although their inner world is complex and contradictory. However, in the play, when describing the characters, their thoughts and actions, the easy irony that Chekhov refers to their shortcomings continually slips. The general state of the world in which the characters of the play are, of course, can be called a turning point, but there is nothing truly tragic in it.
