The Cherry Orchard Lesson Plan

The Emancipation of the Serfs

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will research serfdom in 19th century Russia and its abolition, and will gain a deeper understanding of the ramifications depicted in The Cherry Orchard

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.7

Structure:

In The Cherry Orchard, several characters express their opinions of the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. (For example, Firs views this event as a catastrophe, and Lopakhin sees it as the thing that has enabled his success.)

The Cherry Orchard takes place four decades after the emancipation, but the effects of this...