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The Proposal


                                                       Summary

                 The curtain rises with Lomov entering his neighbour Chubukov’s house fully dressed
                 up in his evening attire. Chubukov is surprised to see him well-dressed and asks him
                 the  occasion.  Lomov  reveals  that  he  had  come  to  make  a  request.  Chubukov
                 anticipates that he must have come to ask for money which he doesn’t intend on
                 giving.  On  being  revealed  that  Lomov  had  come  to  ask  for  Chubulov’s  daughter,
                 Natalya’s hand in marriage, Chubukov gets filled with excitement and leaves to call
                 Natalya.
                 Lomov is a 35 year- old gentleman who suffers from palpitations, gets upset very
                 easily and doesn’t sleep well. He thinks it is the best age for him to get married and
                 he is happy that he has his mind made-up about Natalya. According to him, Natalya
                 is  average-looking  and  a  good housekeeper.  When Natalya  arrives,  Lomov  begins
                 the conversation about how grateful and glad he is that both their families are on
                 good  terms  since  the very  beginning.  While  continuing  to  talk  about  his  land, he
                 somehow mentions about Oxen Meadows which earlier was a disputed property but
                 is now his. Natalya couldn’t believe a word he was saying because she believes that
                 Oxen Meadows belong to her family. Both of them enter into a heated discussion
                 and act childishly when Chubukov enters just to get the conversation more heated.
                 They shout and scream while Lomov suffers from extreme pounding of the heart, a
                 side pull and a numb foot. They throw Lomov out of the house and continue cursing
                 him. While speaking ill of him, Chubukov unintentionally reveals that he had come
                 with a marriage proposal for Natalya which surprises Natalya and she immediately
                 regrets  sending  him  out.  She  tells  her  father  to  bring  him  back  immediately  and
                 Chubukov curses himself on being a father of a grown-up daughter. When Lomov
                 returns, Natalya tries to deviate to another topic and starts talking about shooting.
                 Somehow they enter into an argument involving their dogs. Natalya feels that her
                 Squeezer  is  better  than  Lomov’s  Guess.  They  continue  arguing  when  Chubukov
                 enters the scene only to make the situation worse, once again.
                 Everyone gets hyper and Lomov finally falls due to his palpitations. Even then, the
                 cursing continues when suddenly Natalya notices that he is unconscious. They try to
                 get water down his throat but end up getting unsuccessful and declare him dead. It
                 is  only  when  Lomov  moves  a  little  bit,  they feed  him some  water  and  Chubukov
                 forcefully hands over Natalya’s hands to him, gives his blessings and asks them to
                 kiss. Lomov, still not fully conscious doesn’t understand what is going on. When he
                 finally comes to his senses, he expresses his excitement and kisses Natalya’s hands.
                 Natalya, being childish  as she is, manipulates him  into  accepting that  Squeezer is
                 better than  Guess but Lomov, being adamant as he is, refuses to accept it. Thus,
                 once again, the quarrelling continues.





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