2. Background of the story, "The Proposal"

‘The Proposal’ (originally titled ‘A Marriage Proposal’) is a one-act play, a farce, by the Russian short story writer and dramatist Anton Chekhov. It was written in \(1888\)–\(89\).

 

The play is about wealthy families' tendency to seek ties with wealthy families and increase their estates by encouraging marriages that make good economic sense. Ivan Lomov, a long-time wealthy neighbour of Stepan Chubukov, also wealthy, comes to seek the hand of Chubukov’s twenty-five-year-old daughter, Natalya. All three are quarrelsome people, and they quarrel over petty issues. The proposal is in danger of being forgotten amidst all this quarrelling. But economic good sense ensures that the proposal is made, after all — although the quarrelling perhaps continues!

 

Characters involved:

STEPAN STEPANOVITCH CHUBUKOV: a landowner
NATALYA STEPANOVNA: his daughter, twenty-five years old
IVAN VASSILEVITCH LOMOV: a neighbour of Chubukov, a large and hearty, but very suspicious, landowner

  

  

S.No	Words	Meaning
1.	Perhaps	Used to express uncertainty
2.	Petty	Of little importance
3.	Proposal	An offer of marriage
4.	Quarrel	an angry argument or disagreement
5.	Farce	Refers to a comic dramatic work