English Literature - Prose and Drama: 11 MCQs with Answers

Anton Chekhov’s one-act play ‘The Proposal’ is a farce. Lomov comes to Chubukov’s house to ask for the hand of his daughter Natalya, but before the proposal can be made the two fall into a violent quarrel over the ownership of Oxen Meadows and then over the merits of their dogs, Guess and Squeezer. The exaggerated situations, the absurd trivial disputes, the hypochondria and shouting, and the abrupt reconciliation that ends in the betrothal are all typical of farce, which aims at laughter through improbable and ridiculous action rather than at pity or fear.