Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard"
My interpretation is that Lopakhin is a realist because he sees the mistress of the house living above her means and wants to take advantage of seizing her estate when the auction day comes August 22. Lopakhin knows what they are up against and he uses the fact that they are in financial troubles against them. They didn't understand that their land and estate was going to be sold even though he was telling them the plain and honest truth.
On the other hand, Trofimov is still a student after 30 years, and knew that in life that not all people are good and that there were vulgarity in the world, however, he would not face the truth of the life he was leading. Trofimov also allowed Anya or either Varya to believe that their estate and all of Russia was theirs by appealing to her emotions. I think this part is in Act Two. But in reality they were going to get the rug swept from under them when Lopaknin ended up buying their estate.
Lopaknin was also a realist because he didn't put on airs. He was truthful about his background when he said he grew up poor, but now he had money and was successful. But I also think that because Trofimov was an idealist he did not let money rule his life.
