How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Julius West's translation.
Quote #1
LOPAKHIN. The train's arrived, thank God. What's the time?
DUNYASHA. It will soon be two. [Blows out candle] It is light already. (1.1-2)
The first line of the play gives us a lot of information. We don't know who Lopakhin is, but we know that a train has brought something he desperately wants. And that he's anxious about time. The situation of the play – saving the orchard before time runs out – is hinted at very early.
Quote #2
LOPAKHIN. Yes, time does go.
GAEV. Who does?
LOPAKHIN. I said that time does go. (1.83-85)
Lopakhin's not really trying to philosophize; he's just making conversation until he gets up the nerve to talk about the cherry orchard.
Quote #3
VARYA. [To LOPAKHIN and PISCHIN] Well, sirs, it's getting on for three, quite time you went.
LUBOV. [Laughs] You're just the same as ever, Varya. (1.93-94)
Varya is the house's rule-keeper. She has a pragmatic view of time that seems well-matched with Lopakhin's.
Quote #4
LOPAKHIN. [Looks at his watch] I'm going away at once, I haven't much time ... but I'll tell you all about it in two or three words. (1.107)
This is how Lopakhin introduces the idea of chopping down the orchard? By rushing through it in two or three words? Lopakhin's approach points up his frame of reference – so different from Lubov, who is leisurely drinking her coffee.
Quote #5
LOPAKHIN. We shall see each other in three weeks. [Kisses LUBOV ANDREYEVNA'S hand] Now, good-bye. It's time to go. (1.148)
As a representative of the modern, business-minded, time-obsessed world, Lopakhin constantly has to wrangle the lax, old-world Ranevskaya family.
Quote #6
GAEV. And do you know, Luba, how old this case is? A week ago I took out the bottom drawer; I looked and saw figures burnt out in it. That case was made exactly a hundred years ago. What do you think of that? What? We could celebrate its jubilee. It hasn't a soul of its own, but still, say what you will, it's a fine bookcase. (1.127)
Gaev's speech to the 100-year-old cabinet may be silly, but it reminds us of the history of the estate and how much has changed in the last century.
Quote #7
GAEV. I'm a man of the eighties. ... People don't praise those years much, but I can still say that I've suffered for my beliefs. (1.214)
Gaev admits his antiquity without embarrassment. There's almost a willful denial of progress in the things he says.
Quote #8
FIERS. I'm not well. At our balls some time back, generals and barons and admirals used to dance, and now we send for post-office clerks and the Station-master, and even they come as a favour. I'm very weak. (3.75)
Even more than Lubov and Gaev, Fiers regrets how things have changed over time. By juxtaposing his observations of their social decline with comments about Fiers's health, Chekhov seems to hint that the two are (at least symbolically) connected.
Quote #9
Ladies and gentlemen, please remember that it's only forty-seven minutes till the train goes! You must go off to the station in twenty minutes. Hurry up. (4.10)
Lopakhin keeps time in the play, from beginning to end. It's clear that his modern and efficient way of doing things has triumphed over Lubov's romantic and elliptical way.