NCERT Solutions Class 10 English Chapter 11 The Proposal

1. What does Chubukov at first suspect that Lomov has come for? Is he sincere when he later says “And I’ve always loved you, my angel, as if you were my own son”? Find reasons for your answer from the play.
Answer
At first, Chubukov suspected that Lomov had come to borrow money. He was not sincere when he told Lomov that he had always loved him and that he was like his own son. He had decided that he would not give Lomov any money if he tried borrowing from him. If he truly meant what he had said, then he would not have thought of not giving him money. He said so only because Lomov had come with the proposal to marry his daughter.

2. Chubukov says of Natalya: “... as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a lovesick cat…” Would you agree? Find reasons for your answer.
Answer
Chubukov thought that Lomov was a good marriage prospect for his daughter. He had been waiting for this proposal. When Lomov expressed his doubt regarding Natalya’s consent to the proposal, Chubukov immediately told him that she was in love with him. However, this was not true. Natalya did not seem to be in love with Lomov at any point in the play. It seemed like she was more attached to her land, meadows and dogs than to Lomov. In fact, the way they kept getting into arguments about trivial matters suggests that neither Lomov nor Natalya was in love with the other.

 

Answer
(i) Several words and expressions have been used by the characters to describe each other. Some of them are as follows:
Chubukov: grabber; intriguer; old rat; Jesuit
Natalya: a lovesick cat; an excellent housekeeper; not bad-looking, well-educated
Lomov: a good neighbour; a friend; impudent; pettifogger; a malicious, double-faced intriguer; rascal; blind hen; turnip-ghost; a villain; a scarecrow; monster; the stuffed sausage; the wizen-faced frump; boy; pup; milksop; fool

 

(ii) He seems to be coming round after the trauma of his father’s death.

(iii) After the three hour long yoga session, my foot’s gone to sleep.
 

 

“Why do you want to know my age? If people know I am so old, I won’t get work!” laughs 90-year-old A. K. Hangal, one of Hindi cinema’s most famous character actors. For his age, he is rather energetic. “What’s the secret?” we ask. “My intake of everything is in small quantities. And I walk a lot,” he replies. “I joined the industry when people retire. I was in my 40s. So I don’t miss being called a star. I am still respected and given work, when actors of my age are living in poverty and without work. I don’t have any complaints,” he says, adding, “but yes, I have always been underpaid.” Recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Hangal never hankered after money or materialistic gains. “No doubt I am content today, but money is important. I was a fool not to understand the value of money earlier,” he regrets.
Answer
90-year-old A.K. Hangal, one of Hindi cinema’s most famous character actors, laughingly asked why we wanted to know his age. If people knew he was that old, he would not get work. For his age, he is rather energetic. We asked him what the secret was. He replied that his intake of everything was in small quantities and he walked a lot. He said that he had joined the industry when people retired. He had been in his 40s. So he did not miss being called a star. He was still respected and given work, when actors of his age were living in poverty and without work. He said he did not have any complaints, adding that he had always been underpaid. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan, Hangal never hankered after money or materialistic gains. He said that no doubt he was content at present, but money was important. He said regretfully that he was a fool not to understand the value of money before.

 

 

GIST OF THE LESSON:
The Proposal is a one-act play written by the Russian story writer and dramatist Anton Chekov in 1888-89. The play is about the tendency of rich families to hunt ties with other wealthy families and to extend their estates by encouraging marriages that observe economic sense. This is a highly humorous play which satirizes marriages of convenience that are solemnized without any feeling of love or affection between the partners. The play, with three quarrelsome characters, is replete with comic situations that generate a lot of humour.

SUMMARY OF THE LESSON:
“The Proposal” is a humorous play where a thirty-five years old bachelor, Ivan Lomov, comes to his neighbor, Stepan Chubukov, to propose to his twenty-five years old daughter, Natalya Stepanovna. Both Lomov and Natalya are desperate to get married. Though Lomov doesn’t consider Natalya to be an ideal match for him, yet knowing his own limitations, he decides to take this step. Not only is Natalya fairly good looking and well-educated, she is an excellent house-keeper too. As far as Lomov is concerned, in the first place he is at a critical age of thirty-five years, secondly his nervousness, lack of confidence and fragile health leave him with no option but to propose to Natalya. Natalya, on the other hand, is more than eager to be proposed by someone.
When Lomov tells Chubukov, the father of Natalya, about the purpose of his visit, the old man who feels it a burden to be the father of a grown up daughter, gets very excited. He is absolutely certain that Natalya would readily give her consent for the proposal. He rushes in to call out Natalya. However, when Natalya comes to the drawing room, she is surprised to see Lomov is formal dress as she doesn’t know the purpose of his visit. After exchanging a few pleasantries, when Lomov is just on the verge of proposing to the girl, there crops up a controversy between the two of them regarding the ownership of a piece of land ‘Oxen Meadows’.
Both Lomov and Natalya claim to be the real owner of this property. Initially both of them claimed it very politely. However, soon the argument becomes heated and they start shouting at each other. Lomov insists that the documents prove that Oxen Meadows belong to him, although at one time they were a subject of dispute. Natalya counters his claim by telling that their land extended till Burnt Marsh, which meant that the Oxen Meadows were theirs. In the meantime, Chubukov also makes his entry and he joins the two in the argument. After a lot of accusations and mudslinging at each other’s family, the flared up Lomov became unwell and his heart started palpitating dangerously. He leaves the father and daughter in a fit of temper. Soon after he leaves, Natalya gets to know from her father that he had come to propose to her. Instantly she creates a scene. In hysterics, she tells her father to get back to Lomov immediately. Both the father and the daughter accuse each other of driving Lomov out. However, the father runs after and gets him back.
This time Natalya is very sweet to Lomov but she doesn’t know how to make him propose to her. Unfortunately, there is yet another argument between the two before the proposal is made. This time they start quarrelling over the superiority of their respective dogs. Natalya finds faults with Lomov’s dog ‘Guess’, whereas Lomov feels that ‘Guess’ is a far better dog than the Chubukovs’ ‘Squeezer’. Soon both of them flare up once again and Chubukov also joins them. They abuse and accuse each other repeatedly. Lomov, too frail to continue the argument, falls into a chair exhausted!
Natalya, taking the unconscious man to be dead, starts wailing. Chubukov is thoroughly unnerved, but the moment he realizes that Lomov is not dead, with all his presence of mind, he puts Lomov’s hand into his daughter’s hand and gives consent for the wedding on Natalya’s behalf. He gives his blessings and makes them kiss each other. He rushes to get the entire drama through so that the weight of marrying Natalya is off his shoulder. However, though the proposal matures, Lomov and Natalya still continue to argue with each other about the superiority of their dogs. When the curtain drops, the reader is left guessing about the fate of this couple after the two gets married. Thus, we understand that this drama displays the greed of rich families to marry their children into other wealthy families with the aim of enhancing their wealth.