[Stamps his feet.] Don't laugh at me. If my father and grandfather could only rise from their graves and see what happened, see how their Yermolay- Yermolay who was always being beaten, who could hardly write his name and ran round barefoot in the winter-how this same Yermolay bought this estate, the most beautiful estate in the world.

These lines are spoken by Lopakhin, immediately after he buys the orchard. They show Lopakhin as a man who seems to have resolved his internal conflict between his past and his present. Additionally, they show Lopakhin as a man who wishes that his ancestors could see what their descendent has accomplished and a man who gives his acquisition of the orchard, which he calls in hyperbole "the most beautiful place in the world," a mythical and historical importance. It also shows the fundamental contradiction in Lopakhin. He is a man who at once recognizes the beauty of the orchard, and yet has no compunctions about destroying it for profit. He is a man who has professed his affection and care for Ranevsky many times and told her he loved her "like a sister," or even more, yet here he is practically gloating over his acquisition of her orchard over her, driving her to tears. Lopakhin is at once a kind, empathetic, character, and the symbol of a ruthless, money-driven society that will destroy beauty for profit.