Background on The Proposal Chekhov wrote The Proposal, a -act play, as a farce. A farce is a light drama that depicts improbable situations and characters to create and viewers. Reading Selection: The Proposal Characters, Setting, and Plot in The Proposal Part A: Characters • Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov is an elderly who is intent on making his daughter, Natalya Stepanovna, happy. Chubukov is a man. • Natalya Stepanovna is 25 years old. Natalya is a woman. • Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov is 35 and appears to be healthy, but he suffers from and heart trouble. Lomov seems to possess a weak strong personality. Part B: Setting The play is set in nineteenth-century . Part C: Plot 1. Exposition: The play is set in the Russian during the 1800s. Lomov comes to Chubukov’s house to ask for Natalya’s hand in . 2. Rising Action: Lomov and Natalya start . Natalya and Chubukov overwhelm Lomov with their and drive him away. 3. Climax: Chubukov informs Natalya that Lomov had come to propose to her. This event Natalya, and she cries in desperation for Chubukov to bring Lomov back. 4. Falling Action: Natalya and Lomov get into another argument. This argument causes Lomov to . 5. Resolution: Natalya informs Lomov that she is "" to marry him after he recovers.