This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)Act 1[edit]In 1905, Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman living in the Russian village of Anatevka, explains to the audience what keeps the Jews of Anatevka going is the balance they achieve through following their ancient traditions, comparing their precarious circumstance to a fiddler on a roof: trying to scratch out a pleasant tune, while not breaking their necks. The fiddler appears throughout the film as a metaphoric reminder of the Jews' ever-present fears and danger, and also as a symbol of the traditions Tevye is trying to hold on to as his world changes around him. While in town, Tevye meets Perchik, a radical Marxist from Kiev. Tevye invites Perchik to stay with him and his family, and as a deal, offers him food, in exchange for Perchik tutoring his daughters.Through Yente, a matchmaker, Tevye arranges a marriage for his oldest daughter, Tzeitel, to Lazar Wolf, a wealthy butcher. However, Tzeitel is in love with her childhood sweetheart, Motel (pronounced "mottle") Kamzoil the tailor, and begs her father not to make her marry the much older butcher. Initially angry because he has already made an "agreement" with Wolf, Tevye realizes that Tzeitel loves Motel and yields to his daughter's demands. To get Tzeitel and Tevye out of the agreement with Lazar, Tevye claims to have had a nightmare, which he repeats to his wife Golde. In the nightmare, he says that Golde's deceased Grandmother Tzeitel told him that Tzeitel is supposed to marry Motel, as it was decided in heaven. Also in the nightmare, Lazar Wolf's late wife, Fruma-Sarah, warns Tevye that if Tzeitel marries Lazar, she will kill Tzeitel after three weeks of marriage. Golde concludes that the dream was a message to be followed from their ancestors, and Tzeitel and Motel arrange to be married.Meanwhile, after one of Perchik's lessons with Bielke and Shprintze (the youngest of Tevye's daughters), Tevye's second daughter, Hodel, mocks Perchik's interpretation of the story of Leah he told her sisters. He, in turn, criticizes her for hanging on to the old traditions of her religion and tells her that the world is changing. To illustrate this, he dances with her, because the opposite sexes dancing together is considered forbidden to Orthodox Jews. The two are shown to be falling in love, and Perchik tells Hodel that they just changed an old tradition.The constable is basically sympathetic to the Jewish villagers, though not enough to give up his job in their defense. He resists when ordered to put on a "spontaneous" anti-Jewish demonstration, but gives in to keep his job. Before Tzeitel's wedding, he warns Tevye of the impending demonstration.Later, at Tzeitel and Motel's wedding, an argument breaks out between Tevye and Lazar Wolf, who first decides to accept the fact that he is not married by giving the new couple gifts. However, when Tevye wants to share something with him, Lazar Wolf angrily does not want to listen to him and states that he should have been married to Tzeitel, as it was first promised. Another argument breaks out over whether a girl should be able to choose her own husband. Perchik addresses the crowd and says that, since they love each other, it should be left for the couple to decide and creates further controversy by asking Hodel to dance with him. The two begin to dance, and gradually, the crowd warms to the ideaâwith Tevye and Golde joining, then Motel and Tzeitel. The wedding then proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, the military presence in the town and the constable arrive and begin a pogrom, attacking the Jews and their property. The constable stops the attack on the wedding celebration after the "radical" Perchik is wounded in the scuffle with the Tsar's men; however, he allows the pogrom to continue in the form of massive property damage to the village of Anatevka. Tevye and the immediate family stand still, until Tevye angrily orders them to clean up, following the damage, instead of standing around. Tevye has no words to say, except silently, asking why God allowed this to happen to them, without any answers.Act 2[edit]Months later, Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka for the revolution and proposes to Hodel, to which she accepts. When they tell Tevye, he is furious that they have decided to marry without his permission and with Perchik leaving Hodel behind in Anatevka, but again he relents because they love each other. This time, Tevye tells Golde the truth about his reasons for giving his consent to their daughter's marriage. As a side effect, the two are lead to re-evaluate their own arranged marriage and relationship. They realizing that, despite being paired by a matchmaker, they do love each other.Weeks later, Perchik is arrested in Kiev and is exiled to Siberia. Hodel decides to join him there. She promises Tevye that she and Perchik will be married under a canopy there. Meanwhile, Tzeitel and Motel become parents, and Motel finally buys the sewing machine for which he has long scrimped and saved. By now they are becoming respected members of the community, and a close, almost parent-child relationship is developing between Motel and Tevye and Goldeâwho, not so long ago, had scorned Motel as a nobody.Meanwhile, Tevye's third daughter Chava has fallen in love with a young Russian peasant, a Russian Orthodox Christian named Fyedka. When Fyedka introduces himself to Tevye, with just a few words, Tevye advises Chava to be just distant friends, because of the difference in religion. When she eventually works up the courage to ask Tevye to allow her to marry him, he gets more serious reminding her that marrying outside the family's faith is against the tradition. He forbids her to have any contact with him or to mention his name, or to ever see him again. Fyedka and Chava then elope and are married in a Russian Orthodox church. Golde finds out when she meets up with the priest upon hearing about the marriage. When Tevye learns from a grief-striken Golde about the marriage he tells her that Chava is dead to the family, and that they shall forget her altogether. Chava later arrives to ask Tevye to accept her marriage. In a soliloquy reminiscent of those spoken by Tevye concerning his other daughters, but with a radically different conclusion, Tevye concludes that he cannot accept Chava marrying a non-Jew. He accuses her of abandoning the Jewish faith and disowns her.One winter day, the Jews of Anatevka are notified that they have to leave the village or be forced out by the government; they have three days. Tevye, his family and friends begin packing up to leave, heading for various parts of the United States and other places: Yente the matchmaker to Ottoman Palestine, Lazar Wolf to Chicago and Tzeitel and Motel to Warsaw (until they make enough money to join the rest of the family in New York). Tevye did receive letters from Hodel mentioning that while Perchik stays in the Siberian prison that Hodel is working hard, and it's hoped that when Perchik is released, that they would join the others in the United States. Chava and her husband Fyedka come to Tevye's house and tell her family that they are leaving, tooâunable to stay in a place that would force innocent people out. They head to KrakÃ³w, Poland. Tevye shows signs of forgiving Chava by murmuring under his breath "And God be with you", silently urging Tzeitel to repeat his words to Chava. Golde calls out to Chava and Fyedka, telling them where they will be living in New York.As the mass evacuation of Anatevka takes place, the Constable silently watches. The community forms their circle at a crossroad for one last time before scattering in different directions. Tevye spots the fiddler and motions to him to come along, symbolizing that even though he must leave his town, his traditions will always be with him.
Output: Question: What does the matchmaker do?, Answer: arrange a marriage