The family continues to ignore the future for the estate as personalities are developed in each of the characters. A very comical character is the clerk Yepikhodov, also known as "Twenty-two Calamities." In his entrance he stumbles over a chair while babbling at whatever comes to his mind. Firs, a senile manservant, is the next to add comic elements as he hobbles across the stage also talking to himself. As if the characters themselves weren"t funny enough, their interaction and dialogue between each other is just as comical. Gayev, Mrs. Ranevsky"s brother, continues to spit out billiard shots as the conversation continues, after which he weeps over the nursery"s bookcase. Pishchik, a neighbor who is also in financial struggle, grabs Mrs. Ranevsky"s pills out of her hand and swallows them all for no apparent reason. Again in this scene Firs mutters to himself as he trails off of the conversation taking place. The characters, it seems, are being warmed up for some sort of comic routine. .

             Yet through this dialogue, unpleasant truths spring forth. The mortgage has not been paid in a while due to Mrs. Ranevsky being broke. And while Mrs. Ranevsky was in Paris, Varya has not been paying the mortgage. This is somewhat tragic because the estate is now going to be lost because of Mrs. Ranevsky and Varya not being able to pay off the estate"s debts. When Lopakhin proposes his idea the family finds it impractical and Gayev even calls the idea "utter nonsense" (Chekhov 226-296). Pishchik also reveals that he too is going to be losing his estate due to an unpaid mortgage. Looking for a loan from Mrs. Ranevsky, he is denied. This is the first instance of tragedy.

             The character"s actions, moreover, are the comical focus in the play. It seems as though Chekhov gives the characters an awareness of their faults, and their actions reinforce these faults, as though the characters had forgotten them.