The Cherry Orchard Lesson Plan

What is your opinion of Charlotta?

Charlotta is the oddest character in the play, and readers may have trouble deciding what to make of her (the other characters in the play certainly struggle with this). While never an antagonistic character, she never really connects with any of the other characters. She frequently is seen interacting with others, but her interactions always seem awkward and forced. She never seems to fit in anywhere. She has no shortage of eccentricities: her obsession with her dog, her circus tricks, her unconventional past, etc. Students should consider why Chekhov included such a character (comic relief? as a symbol of the irrelevance of the past?)