The Proposal by Anton Chekhov
Quick answer: The Proposal by Anton Chekhov, Class 10 First Flight: summary of the one-act farce with the ending, Lomov, Natalya and Chubukov, Oxen Meadows, the dogs, and exam answers.
A nervous landowner arrives in evening dress to ask for his neighbour's daughter, and before he can propose the two are shouting about who owns a strip of meadow. Anton Chekhov wrote The Proposal, a one-act farce, in 1888; it closes the Class 10 First Flight textbook.
The play in brief
Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov, thirty-five, a hypochondriac with palpitations and a twitching eyebrow, calls on Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov to ask for his daughter Natalya Stepanovna, twenty-five. Chubukov is delighted and fetches her. Alone with Natalya, Lomov cannot get to the point and mentions his Oxen Meadows, which she claims as hers. The quarrel runs through family history and insults until Chubukov throws him out. Only then does Natalya learn he came to propose, and she demands he be brought back.
Lomov returns and Natalya steers him to hunting, which starts a second quarrel over whose dog is better, his Guess or her Squeezer. Lomov collapses into a chair, apparently dead. Father and daughter revive him with water, and Chubukov hastily joins their hands and declares them engaged. The couple resume arguing about the dogs as Chubukov calls for champagne.
The characters
Themes and meaning
Exams expect satire on marriage as a property transaction, the pettiness of the landed class, and quarrelsome people who cannot stop. The sharper observation is that both quarrels are about ownership, of land and then of a dog's reputation, and the engagement closes like a deal with the bride still arguing. Nobody in the play can tell love from possession.
The craft of farce
The turn arrives twice: when Natalya learns the purpose of the visit, and when Lomov collapses. Each quarrel follows the same escalation, courtesy, disagreement, ancestry, abuse, and the audience laughs the second time because it recognises the pattern. Lomov's ailments supply the physical climax that forces the engagement. Run the same argument twice with different objects, and let the second one break something.
For the exam
Summary in 100 words: Lomov, a nervous landowner of thirty-five, visits his neighbour Chubukov to propose to his daughter Natalya. Left alone with her, he mentions his Oxen Meadows, and she insists they belong to her family. The two quarrel violently, Chubukov joins in, and Lomov is thrown out. Learning that he came to propose, Natalya has him recalled. A second argument begins over whose dog is better, Guess or Squeezer. Lomov faints and appears to die. Revived, he is hastily engaged to Natalya by her father. The couple resume quarrelling about the dogs as Chubukov calls for champagne.
What writers can take from this
- Name the two objects of dispute precisely, Oxen Meadows and the dogs Guess and Squeezer.
- For the satire question, argue that marriage is treated as a property deal, using the ending as proof.
- List Lomov's ailments; they are the physical mechanism of the plot.
- Writers: run the same argument twice with different objects so the audience recognises the pattern.
- End a comedy mid-quarrel; resolution kills the joke.
Try it yourself
Write a short comic scene in which a character arrives to ask for something important and is derailed twice by arguments over trivial possessions, with the second argument causing a physical collapse that accidentally gets them what they came for.
Questions
What is the dispute about Oxen Meadows in The Proposal?
Lomov claims the meadows have belonged to his family for generations; Natalya says her grandfather's peasants used the land freely and it is theirs. The land is nearly worthless, but neither will give way.
Why does Lomov faint in The Proposal?
The heated quarrel over the dogs Guess and Squeezer aggravates his palpitations and nervous condition. He collapses into a chair and is briefly thought dead before being revived with water.
What is the theme of The Proposal by Chekhov?
The play satirises marriage among the landed gentry as a business arrangement, and mocks the vanity and quarrelsomeness of people who value property and pride above affection.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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