Give a brief sketch of social life as you see in the play.

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Q.Give a brief sketch of social life as you see in the play.

Answer: Chekhov’s play ‘The Proposal’ gives a fine picture of social life in Russia. The author draws a thumbnail sketch of his contemporary society. Through the contract of marriage as it is proposed from one landed farmer to another .Chekhov exposes the non-romantic nature of marriage as it occurs as a social practice. Marriage is a vital social as well as a family issue. All the characters are desperate to have the issue of marriage realized.  Stepan is eager to see his daughter Natalya happily married. Lomov is obsessed with concerns for his ailments. So he seeks wife. Natalya chooses Ivan not for love. Ivan  chooses her for gaining social dignity and economic stability. Through their interaction is also expressed the snobbery of the landed upper middle class society .It seems that these people are the representatives of society where marriage is but  a convenient matter of fact deal bereft of love and romance ,solemnity or grandeur .The characters represent class attitudes rather than full grown personalities.