TalentJR

The Proposal – Class 10 English Chapter 9 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 10EnglishChapter 9NCERT book: First Flight - English Class 10

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 9 of the NCERT Class 10 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

🎧 Listen to the content

Chapter 9: The Proposal

Overview

"The Proposal" (originally A Marriage Proposal) is a one-act play, a farce, by the Russian writer and dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1888–89. It laughs at the tendency of wealthy families to seek marriages that "make good economic sense" — and at people so quarrelsome that a marriage proposal is nearly forgotten amid petty arguments.

Characters

  • Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov — a landowner; showers everyone with endearments ("my darling", "my angel") but is quick-tempered and practical.
  • Natalya Stepanovna — his daughter, twenty-five; capable housekeeper, argumentative, very eager to marry.
  • Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov — a neighbour landowner, thirty-five, "large and hearty, but very suspicious"; nervous and a hypochondriac (palpitations, twitching eyebrow, numb foot).

    • Setting: the drawing-room of Chubukov's house.

    Scene by scene

    1. Lomov arrives in evening dress. Chubukov wonders why he is so formal and suspects (aside): "He's come to borrow money. Shan't give him any!" When Lomov asks for Natalya's hand, Chubukov is overjoyed: "I've been hoping for it for a long time." He goes to call her, saying she is "like a lovesick cat".

    2. Lomov's reasons (soliloquy). He is 35 — "a critical age"; he needs a quiet, regular life; he suffers from palpitations and sleeplessness. Natalya is "an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking, well-educated. What more do I want?" — marriage as a practical arrangement.

    3. The quarrel over Oxen Meadows. Natalya enters (thinking a merchant has come). Lomov begins a long preamble about the two families and mentions "my Oxen Meadows" touching her birchwoods. Natalya objects: the Meadows are ours. They argue — "Mine!" "Ours!" — though she admits they are worth only about 300 roubles. Lomov offers to make her "a present of them"; she is insulted. She threatens to send her mowers; he clutches his heart.

    4. Chubukov joins in. He sides with his daughter. Insults fly: pettifogger, intriguer, lunacy in the Lomov family, a drunkard grandfather, a hump-backed mother. Lomov staggers out. Only then does Chubukov reveal that Lomov had come to propose. Natalya becomes hysterical: "Bring him back! Back!"

    5. The quarrel over the dogs. Lomov returns; Natalya concedes, "Oxen Meadows… really are yours." But soon they argue about their hunting dogs: Lomov's Guess (bought for 125 roubles from Mironov) versus Chubukov's Squeezer (bought for 85 roubles). Lomov says Squeezer is overshot (lower jaw shorter than the upper); Natalya calls Guess old and ugly. Chubukov joins in; more insults follow ("Old rat! Jesuit!", "Boy! Pup!").

    6. The farcical ending. Lomov collapses, and Natalya thinks he is dead. When he revives, Chubukov pushes the two together: *"She's willing! … Kiss and be damned to you!"* They kiss — and immediately resume the argument: *"Guess is worse than Squeezer." "Better!" "Worse!"* Chubukov tries to shout them down: *"Champagne! Champagne!"* Curtain.

    Themes and techniques

  • Farce: exaggerated situations, physical comedy (fainting, clutching the heart, drinking water), rapid insults.
  • Satire of marriage for property: land and money matter more than love; Chubukov's warmth hides self-interest (he first thought Lomov wanted money).
  • Quarrelsome human nature: petty issues (a meadow worth 300 roubles, a dog) override the important one.
  • Irony: a proposal nearly lost to a dispute over land and dogs; the couple quarrel even after the kiss.
  • Russian flavour: endearments like my darling, my treasure, my angel between men.

    • Word Power

  • palpitations — rapid, irregular heartbeat (धड़कन तेज़ होना)
  • implore — beg earnestly (विनती करना)
  • thoroughbred — of pure breed (शुद्ध नस्ल का)
  • pedigree — line of ancestry (वंशावली)
  • principle — a basic belief guiding action (सिद्धांत)
  • malicious — intending harm (द्वेषपूर्ण)
  • embezzlement — stealing money entrusted to one (गबन)
  • intriguer — a schemer (षड्यंत्रकारी)
  • pettifogger — one who quarrels over trifles (छोटी बातों पर झगड़ने वाला)
  • impudence — rude boldness (धृष्टता)
  • overshot — (of a dog) with the lower jaw shorter than the upper
  • dessiatin — a Russian measure of land (Natalya's Meadows: five dessiatins)
  • accustomed — used to (आदी)
  • misfortune — bad luck (दुर्भाग्य)

    • Board Exam Focus

  • What does Chubukov first suspect Lomov has come for? Is he sincere when he says he loves Lomov like a son? — Outline: suspects he has come to borrow money (aside) → overjoyed at the proposal because it suits him → later calls Lomov a "pettifogger" and "malicious, doublefaced intriguer" → affection is shallow and self-interested.
  • Would you agree Natalya is "like a lovesick cat"? — Outline: she is eager — hysterical to have Lomov back once she hears of the proposal → yet she quarrels fiercely with him → eagerness for marriage more than romantic love.
  • Why is the play called a farce? — Outline: exaggerated characters and situations, slapstick (fainting, water, numb foot), absurd quarrels over trivial matters, comic ending with the quarrel continuing.

    • Grammar & Language Focus — Reported Speech (from the exercise)

  • A reported sentence has a reporting clause (Mamta said) and a reported clause (that she had gone …).
  • To report a question, use asked; to report a statement, use said / declared.
  • Here → there; this → that; present → past (haven't been → hadn't been); present continuous → past continuous (am getting → was getting).
  • A word showing respect ("Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch") → add the adverb respectfully in the reporting clause.
  • Pronouns I, me, our, mine change to match the reporter (he, him, their, his).
  • Example: NATALYA: My mowers will be there this very day! → Natalya declared that her mowers would be there that very day.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Writing that the quarrel is about money only — the two quarrels are about Oxen Meadows and the dogs Guess and Squeezer.
  • Mixing up the dogs: Guess is Lomov's (125 roubles); Squeezer is the Chubukovs' (85 roubles).
  • Forgetting that Natalya did not know about the proposal during the first quarrel.
  • Calling the ending happy and peaceful — they are engaged but still quarrelling.
  • In reported speech, forgetting to change here/this and the tense.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Identify the three characters and the setting of Chekhov's one-act farce.
    • ✓Follow the sequence: proposal request → Oxen Meadows quarrel → revelation → dog quarrel → engagement.
    • ✓Explain how the play satirises marriage for economic gain and quarrelsome human nature.
    • ✓Recognise features of farce: exaggeration, slapstick, irony and a comic ending.
    • ✓Convert direct speech to reported speech using the book's rules (asked/said, tense and pronoun changes, 'respectfully').

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Start with the book's Russian-wedding reading and compare customs with Indian weddings.
    • →Stage the play in groups of three; exaggerate gestures (clutching the heart, drinking water) to feel the farce.
    • →List all insults and endearments the characters use (book Q3) on the board and discuss what they reveal.
    • →Make a two-column chart: 'Quarrel 1 — Oxen Meadows' vs 'Quarrel 2 — Guess and Squeezer'.
    • →Practise reported speech with lines from the play, then rewrite the A. K. Hangal excerpt from the chapter.
    • →Hold the book's anger-management discussion: ill effects of anger and ways to control it.
    • →Ask students to predict what the couple will quarrel about next (book Q3 iii).

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. What does Chubukov first suspect, and is his later affection sincere?
    2. Would you agree Natalya is 'like a lovesick cat'? Give reasons.
    3. Describe the two quarrels and how they almost wreck the proposal.
    4. Why is the play called a farce?
    5. Change three lines from the play into reported speech.

    Ask the AI tutor about Class 10 English Chapter 9

    Get question answers, important questions, a quick MCQ quiz or a simple explanation of “The Proposal”. Free — sign in with Google.

    How the AI tutor works →

    👩‍🏫 Class 10 English classes near you — online or at home

    Prefer a real teacher? TalentJR teachers take live online classes anywhere in India and visit homes in selected cities. Tell us what you need and our team will call you with timings and fees.

    • Live online classesSmall groups or 1:1 with a teacher, from home, any city.
    • Teacher at homeA TalentJR teacher visits your home (selected cities).
    • At a centreClasses at a TalentJR partner centre near you, where available.

    Keep learning

    All chapters in First Flight - English Class 10

    1. 1. A Letter to God
    2. 2. Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
    3. 3. Two Stories about Flying
    4. 4. From the Diary of Anne Frank
    5. 5. Glimpses of India
    6. 6. Mijbil the Otter
    7. 7. Madam Rides the Bus
    8. 8. The Sermon at Benares
    9. 9. The Proposal