And N. Ostrovsky, after the appearance of his first major play, received literary recognition. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became a necessary element of the culture of his time; he retained the position of the best playwright of the era, the head of the Russian dramatic school, despite the fact that at the same time A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin was working in this genre. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. F. Pisemsky, A. K. Tolstoy and L. N. Tolstoy. The most popular critics viewed his works as a true and profound reflection of modern reality. Meanwhile, Ostrovsky, following his original creative path, often baffled both critics and readers.
Thus, the play “The Thunderstorm” came as a surprise to many. L.N. Tolstoy did not accept the play. The tragedy of this work forced critics to reconsider their views on Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy. A.P. Grigoriev noted that in “The Thunderstorm” there is a protest against the “existing”, which is terrible for its adherents. Dobrolyubov, in his article “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom,” argued that the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” “breathes on us with new life.”
Perhaps for the first time, scenes of family, “private” life, the arbitrariness and lawlessness that were hitherto hidden behind the thick doors of mansions and estates, were shown with such graphic power. And at the same time, this was not just an everyday sketch. The author showed the unenviable position of a Russian woman in a merchant family. The tragedy was given enormous power by the special truthfulness and skill of the author, as D.I. Pisarev rightly noted: “The Thunderstorm” is a painting from life, which is why it breathes truth.”
The tragedy takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is located among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I have been looking at the Volga every day - I can’t get enough of everything. The view is extraordinary! Beauty! My soul rejoices,” Kuligin admires. It would seem that. and the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. However, the life and customs of the rich merchants created “a world of prison and deathly silence.” Savel Dikoy and Marfa Kabanova are the personification of cruelty and tyranny. The order in the merchant's house is based on the outdated religious dogmas of Domostroy. Dobrolyubov says about Kabanikha that she “gnaws at her sacrifice, long and relentlessly.” She forces her daughter-in-law Katerina to bow at her husband’s feet when he leaves, scolds her for “not howling” in public when seeing off her husband.
Kabanikha is very rich, this can be judged by the fact that the interests of her affairs go far beyond Kalinov; on her instructions, Tikhon travels to Moscow. She is respected by Dikoy, for whom the main thing in life is money. But the merchant's wife understands that power also brings obedience to those around her. She seeks to kill any manifestation of resistance to her power in the home. The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant. Tikhon does not contradict her in anything. Varvara has learned to lie, hide and dodge.
The main character of the play, Katerina, is marked by a strong character; she is not used to humiliation and insults and therefore conflicts with her cruel old mother-in-law. In her mother’s house, Katerina lived freely and easily. In the Kabanov House she feels like a bird in a cage. She quickly realizes that she cannot live here for long.
Katerina married Tikhon without love. In Kabanikha’s house, everything trembles at the mere imperious cry of the merchant’s wife. Life in this house is hard for young people. And then Katerina meets a completely different person and falls in love. For the first time in her life, she experiences deep personal feeling. One night she goes on a date with Boris. Whose side is the playwright on? He is on Katerina’s side, because a person’s natural aspirations cannot be destroyed. Life in the Kabanov family is unnatural. And Katerina does not accept the inclinations of those people with whom she ended up. Hearing Varvara's offer to lie and pretend. Katerina replies: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Katerina’s directness and sincerity evokes respect from both the author, the reader, and the viewer. She decides that she can no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she cannot languish behind bars. She's free! But she saw a way out only in her death. And one could argue with this. Critics also disagreed about whether it was worth paying Katerina for freedom at the cost of her life. So, Pisarev, unlike Dobrolyubov, considers Katerina’s act senseless. He believes that after Katerina’s suicide everything will return to normal, life will go on as usual, and the “dark kingdom” is not worth such a sacrifice. Of course, Kabanikha brought Katerina to her death. As a result, her daughter Varvara runs away from home, and her son Tikhon regrets that he did not die with his wife.
It is interesting that one of the main, active images of this play is the image of the thunderstorm itself. Symbolically expressing the idea of the work, this image directly participates in the action of the drama as a real natural phenomenon, enters into action at its decisive moments, and largely determines the actions of the heroine. This image is very meaningful; it illuminates almost all aspects of the drama.
So. Already in the first act, a thunderstorm broke out over the city of Kalinov. It broke out as a harbinger of tragedy. Katerina already said: “I will die soon,” she confessed to Varvara her sinful love. In her mind, the mad lady's prediction that the thunderstorm would not pass in vain, and the feeling of her own sin with a real thunderclap had already been combined. Katerina rushes home: “It’s still better, everything is calmer, I’m at home - to the images and pray to God!”
After this, the storm ceases for a short time. Only in Kabanikha’s grumbling are its echoes heard. There was no thunderstorm that night when Katerina felt free and happy for the first time after her marriage.
But the fourth, climactic act, begins with the words: “The rain is falling, as if a thunderstorm is not gathering?” And after that the thunderstorm motif never ceases.
The dialogue between Kuligin and Dikiy is interesting. Kuligin talks about lightning rods (“we have frequent thunderstorms”) and provokes the wrath of Dikiy: “What other kind of electricity is there? Well, how come you’re not a robber? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment so that we can feel it, but you want poles and some kind of horns.” then, God forgive me, defend yourself. What are you, a Tatar, or what?" And in response to the quote from Derzhavin, which Kuligin cites in his defense: “I decay with my body in dust, I command thunder with my mind,” the merchant does not find anything to say at all, except: “And for these words, send you to the mayor, so he will will ask!"
Undoubtedly, in the play the image of a thunderstorm acquires special significance: it is a refreshing, revolutionary beginning. However, reason is condemned in the dark kingdom, it is faced with impenetrable ignorance, supported by stinginess. But still, the lightning that cut through the sky over the Volga touched the long-silent Tikhon and flashed over the destinies of Varvara and Kudryash. The thunderstorm shook everyone up thoroughly. Inhuman morals will come to an end sooner or later. The struggle between the new and the old has begun and continues. This is the meaning of the work of the great Russian playwright.
Ostrovsky was once called the “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye,” emphasizing the artistic discovery of the world of merchants in the plays of the playwright, but his plays are interesting not only for specific historical issues, but also for moral, universal ones. Thus, it is precisely the moral problematics of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” that makes this work interesting for the modern reader even today. The action of Ostrovsky's drama takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is located among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I’ve been looking at the Volga every day and I can’t take it all in. The view is extraordinary. My soul rejoices,” Kuligin admires. It would seem that the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. Especially considering the fact that Kabanikha, a woman who personifies the entire “dark kingdom,” constantly talks about high morality. But why didn’t life in the city become a kingdom of light and joy, but turned into “a world of prison and grave silence”?
There are moral laws that are not written down anywhere, but by following which, a person is able to comprehend spiritual happiness, find light and joy on earth. How are these laws implemented in a provincial Volga town?
1. The moral laws of people's lives are replaced in Kalinov by the law of force, power and money. Dikiy’s big money frees his hands and gives him the opportunity to swagger with impunity over everyone who is poor and financially dependent on him. People are nothing to him. “You are a worm. If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush,” he says to Kuligin. We see that the basis of everything in the city is money. They are worshiped. The basis of human relationships is material dependence. Here money decides everything, and power belongs to those who have more capital . Profit and enrichment become the goal and meaning of life for most Kalinov residents. Because of money, they quarrel among themselves and harm each other: “I’ll spend it, and it will cost him a pretty penny.” Even the self-taught mechanic Kuligin, who is advanced in his views, realizing the power of money, dreams of a million in order to talk on equal terms with the rich.
2. The basis of morality is respect for elders, parents, father and mother. But this law in Kalinov is perverted , because it is replaced by a ban on freedom, on respect. Katerina suffers the most from Kabanikha’s tyranny. A freedom-loving nature, she cannot live in a family where the youngest unquestioningly submits to the elder, the wife to the husband, where any desire for freedom and manifestation of self-esteem is suppressed. “Will” for Kabanikha is a dirty word. “Wait for it! Live in freedom! - she threatens the young people. For Kabanikha, the most important thing is not the real order, but its external manifestation. E She is outraged that Tikhon, leaving home, does not order Katerina how to behave, and does not know how to order, and the wife does not throw herself at her husband’s feet and does not howl to show her love. “That’s how you respect your elders...” Kabanova says every now and then, but respect in her understanding is fear. We should be afraid, she believes.
3. The great law of morality is to live in harmony with your heart, according to your conscience. But in Kalinov, any manifestation of sincere feeling is regarded as a sin. Love is a sin. But it’s possible to go on dates in secret. When Katerina, saying goodbye to Tikhon, throws herself on his neck, Kabanikha pulls her back: “Why are you hanging on your neck, shameless one! You are not saying goodbye to your lover! He’s your husband, your boss!” Love and marriage are incompatible here. Kabanikha remembers love only when she needs to justify her cruelty: “After all, parents are strict with you out of love.” She wants to force the younger generation to live by the laws of hypocrisy, arguing that what is most important is not the true manifestation of feelings, but the external keeping up appearances. Kabanikha is outraged that Tikhon, when leaving home, does not order Katerina how to behave, and the wife does not throw herself at her husband’s feet and does not howl to show her love
4.There is no place for sincere feelings in the city . The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant.. Kabanikha hides her true essence under the mask of righteousness, while tormenting both her children and daughter-in-law with nagging and reproaches. Kuligin gives her an apt description: “Prude, sir! He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family.” Lies and deceit, having become an everyday occurrence in life, cripple people’s souls.”
These are the conditions in which the younger generation of the city of Kalinov is forced to live.
5. Only one person can stand out among those who humiliate and humiliate – Katerina. The very first appearance of Katerina reveals in her not a timid daughter-in-law of a strict mother-in-law, but a person who has dignity and feels like an individual: “It’s nice for anyone to endure lies,” says Katerina in response to Kabanikha’s unfair words. Katerina is a spiritual, bright, dreamy person; she, like no one else in the play, knows how to feel beauty. Even her religiosity is also a manifestation of spirituality. The church service was filled with special charm for her: in the rays of sunlight she saw angels and felt a sense of belonging to something higher, unearthly. The motif of light becomes one of the central ones in Katerina’s characterization. “But the face seems to glow,” Boris had only to say this, and Kudryash immediately realized that he was talking about Katerina. Her speech is melodious, figurative, reminiscent of Russian folk songs: “Violent winds, bear with him my sadness and melancholy.” Katerina is distinguished by her inner freedom and passionate nature; it is no coincidence that the motif of a bird and flight appears in the play. The captivity of the Kabanovsky house oppresses her, suffocates her. “Everything seems to be out of captivity with you. I’ve completely wilted with you,” says Katerina, explaining to Varvara why she doesn’t feel happy in the Kabanovs’ house.
6. Another one is connected with the image of Katerina the moral problem of the play is the human right to love and happiness. Katerina’s impulse to Boris is an impulse to joy, without which a person cannot live, an impulse to happiness, which she was deprived of in Kabanikha’s house. No matter how hard Katerina tried to fight her love, this fight was doomed from the very beginning. In Katerina’s love, like in a thunderstorm, there was something spontaneous, strong, free, but also tragically doomed; it is no coincidence that she begins her story about love with the words: “I will die soon.” Already in this first conversation with Varvara, the image of an abyss, a cliff appears: “There will be some kind of sin! Such fear comes over me, such and such fear! It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there, but I have nothing to hold on to.”
7. The title of the play takes on the most dramatic sound when we feel a “thunderstorm” brewing in Katerina’s soul. The central moral problem play can be called the problem of moral choice. The collision of duty and feeling, like a thunderstorm, destroyed the harmony in Katerina’s soul with which she lived; She no longer dreams, as before, of “golden temples or extraordinary gardens”; it is no longer possible to ease her soul with prayer: “If I start to think, I won’t be able to gather my thoughts, if I’ll pray, I won’t be able to pray.” Without agreement with herself, Katerina cannot live; she could never, like Varvara, be content with thieving, secret love. The consciousness of her sinfulness weighs on Katerina, torments her more than all of Kabanikha’s reproaches. Ostrovsky's heroine cannot live in a world of discord - this explains her death. She made the choice herself - and she pays for it herself, without blaming anyone: “No one is to blame - she did it herself.”
We can conclude that it is precisely the moral problematics of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” that makes this work interesting for the modern reader even today.
2. “A poet in Russia is more than a poet” (according to the lyrics of N. A. Nekrasov). Reading by heart one of the poet's poems (at the student's choice).
The theme of the poet and poetry is traditional for Russian lyrics. It is this theme that is one of the main ones in Nekrasov’s lyrics.
N. A. Nekrasov’s ideas about the essence and purpose of poetry developed in the process of creative communication with the ideologists of revolutionary democracy N. G. Chernyshevsky, N. A. Dobrolyubov, as well as such progressive writers as M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy. Nekrasov believes that the role of the poet in the life of society is so significant that it requires from him not only artistic talent, but also citizenship, activity in the struggle for civic beliefs.
1. Nekrasov repeatedly states his views for the purpose of your creativity . Thus, in the poem “Yesterday, at about six o’clock...” he says that his muse becomes the sister of all the humiliated and insulted:
There they beat a woman with a whip,
Young peasant woman...
...And I said to the Muse: “Look!
Your dear sister!
The same idea is heard in a later poem, “Muse” (1852). The poet sees from the very beginning my calling is to glorify the common people, sympathize with their suffering, express their thoughts and aspirations, and attack their oppressors with censure and merciless satire . Nekrasov's muse, on the one hand, is a peasant woman. But on the other hand, this is the fate of this gender itself, persecuted and persecuted by the powers of this world. Nekrasov’s muse is suffering, chanting the people and calling them to fight.
2..In a poem “The Poet and the Citizen” (1856) Nekrasov argues with representatives of the “pure art” movement, who, in his opinion, lead the reader away from pressing social problems. The poem is structured as a dialogue. This dialogue in Nekrasov is an internal dispute, a struggle in his soul as a Poet and a Citizen. The author himself tragically experienced this internal rupture and often made the same claims against himself as the Citizen did against the Poet. The citizen in the poem shames the Poet for inaction; in his understanding, the immeasurable sublimity of civil service overshadows the previous ideals of freedom of creativity, the new high goal is to die for the Fatherland: “... go and die blamelessly.”
A poet who truly loves his homeland must have a clear civic position , without hesitation to expose and condemn the vices of society, as did Gogol, on the day of whose death the poem was written. Nekrasov emphasizes that the life of a poet who has chosen such a path is immeasurably more difficult than the life of one who avoids social problems in his work. But this is the feat of a true poet: he patiently endures all adversity for the sake of his high goal. According to Nekrasov, such a poet will be appreciated only by future generations, posthumously:
They curse him from all sides,
And just seeing his corpse,
They will understand how much he has done,
And how he loved - while hating!
According to Nekrasov, Without civic ideals, without an active social position, a poet will not be a true poet . The Poet, the protagonist of the poem “The Poet and the Citizen,” agrees with this. The dispute ends not with the victory of the Poet or the Citizen, but with a general conclusion: the role of the poet is so significant that it requires civic convictions and the fight for these convictions .
3.. In 1874 Nekrasov creates a poem "Prophet". This work, of course, continued the series in which the works of Pushkin and Lermontov already stood. . It again talks about the difficulty of the chosen path, about the divine beginning of creativity :
He hasn't been crucified yet,
But the time will come - he will be on the cross,
4. But N. A. Nekrasov sees the highest purpose of the poet in selfless service to the people . The theme of the people, the homeland becomes one of the most important themes of the poet’s entire work. He is sure: as long as the theme of the suffering of the people is relevant, the artist has no right to forget it. This selfless service to people is the essence of N. A. Nekrasov’s poetry. In a poem “Elegy”, (1874) In one of his most beloved poems, Nekrasov seems to sum up his work:
I dedicated the lyre to my people.
Perhaps I will die unknown to him,
But I served him - and my heart is calm...
The poet creates poems not for the sake of fame, but for the sake of conscience... Because you can only live in service to the people, and not to yourself.
« A poet in Russia is more than a poet,” these words do not belong to Nekrasov, but can rightfully be attributed to his work. A poet in Russia is, first of all, a person with an active life position. And all of Nekrasov’s work affirmed the thought: “You may not be a poet, but you must be a citizen.”
A.N. Ostrovsky received literary recognition after the appearance of his first major play. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became a necessary element of the culture of his time; he retained the position of the best playwright of the era, the head of the Russian dramatic school, despite the fact that at the same time A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. F. Pisemsky, A. K Tolstoy and L. N. Tolstoy. The most popular critics viewed his works as a true and profound reflection of modern reality. Meanwhile, Ostrovsky, following his original creative path, often baffled both critics and readers. Thus, the play “The Thunderstorm” came as a surprise to many. L.N. Tolstoy did not accept the play. The tragedy of this work forced critics to reconsider their views on Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy. Ap. Grigoriev noted that in “The Thunderstorm” there is a protest against the “existing”, which is terrible for its adherents. Dobrolyubov, in his article “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom,” argued that the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” “breathes on us with new life.”
Perhaps for the first time, scenes of family, “private” life, the arbitrariness and lawlessness that were hitherto hidden behind the thick doors of mansions and estates, were shown with such graphic power. And at the same time, this was not just an everyday sketch. The author showed the unenviable position of a Russian woman in a merchant family. The tragedy was given enormous power by the special truthfulness and skill of the author, as D.I. Pisarev correctly noted: “The Thunderstorm” is a painting from life; That’s why she breathes truth.”
The tragedy takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is located among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I’ve been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of it. The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices,” Kuligin admires. It would seem that the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. However, the life and customs of the rich merchants created “a world of prison and deathly silence.” Savel Dikoy and Marfa Kabanova are the personification of cruelty and tyranny. The order in the merchant's house is based on the outdated religious dogmas of Domostroy. Dobrolyubov says about Kabanikha that she “gnaws at her victim... long and relentlessly.” She forces her daughter-in-law Katerina to bow at her husband’s feet when he leaves, scolds her for “not howling” in public when seeing off her husband.
Kabanikha is very rich, this can be judged by the fact that the interests of her affairs go far beyond Kalinov; on her instructions, Tikhon travels to Moscow. She is respected by Dikoy, for whom the main thing in life is money. But the merchant's wife understands that power also brings obedience to those around her. She seeks to kill any manifestation of resistance to her power in the home. The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant. Tikhon does not contradict her in anything. Varvara learned to lie, hide and dodge.
The main character of the play, Katerina, is marked by a strong character; she is not used to humiliation and insults and therefore conflicts with her cruel old mother-in-law. In her mother’s house, Katerina lived freely and easily. In the Kabanov House she feels like a bird in a cage. She quickly realizes that she cannot live here for long.
Katerina married Tikhon without love. In Kabanikha’s house, everything trembles at the mere imperious cry of the merchant’s wife. Life in this house is difficult for young people. And then Katerina meets a completely different person and falls in love. For the first time in her life, she experiences deep personal feeling. One night she goes on a date with Boris. Whose side is the playwright on? He is on Katerina’s side, because a person’s natural aspirations cannot be destroyed. Life in the Kabanov family is unnatural. And Katerina does not accept the inclinations of those people with whom she ended up. Hearing Varvara’s offer to lie and pretend, Katerina replies: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Katerina's directness and sincerity evokes respect from both the author, the reader, and the viewer. She decides that she can no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she cannot languish behind bars. She's free! But she saw a way out only in her death. And one could argue with this. Critics also disagreed about whether it was worth paying Katerina for freedom at the cost of her life. So, Pisarev, unlike Dobrolyubov, considers Katerina’s act senseless. He believes that after Katerina’s suicide everything will return to normal, life will go on as usual, and the “dark kingdom” is not worth such a sacrifice. Of course, Kabanikha brought Katerina to her death. As a result, her daughter Varvara runs away from home, and her son Tikhon regrets that he did not die with his wife.
It is interesting that one of the main, active images of this play is the image of the thunderstorm itself. Symbolically expressing the idea of the work, this image directly participates in the action of the drama as a real natural phenomenon, enters into action at its decisive moments, and largely determines the actions of the heroine. This image is very meaningful; it illuminates almost all aspects of the drama.
So, already in the first act a thunderstorm broke out over the city of Kalinov. It broke out like a harbinger of tragedy. Katerina already said: “I will die soon,” she confessed to Varvara her sinful love. In her mind, the mad lady's prediction that the thunderstorm would not pass in vain, and the feeling of her own sin with a real thunderclap had already been combined. Katerina rushes home: “It’s still better, everything is calmer, I’m at home - to the images and pray to God!”
After this, the storm ceases for a short time. Only in Kabanikha’s grumbling are its echoes heard. There was no thunderstorm that night when Katerina felt free and happy for the first time after her marriage. But the fourth, climactic act, begins with the words: “The rain is falling, as if a thunderstorm is not gathering?” And after that the thunderstorm motif never ceases.
The dialogue between Kuligin and Dikiy is interesting. Kuligin talks about lightning rods (“we have frequent thunderstorms”) and provokes Dikiy’s anger: “What other kind of electricity is there? Well, how come you are not a robber? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we can feel it, but you want to defend yourself, God forgive me, with poles and some horns. What are you, a Tatar, or what?” And in response to the quote from Derzhavin, which Kuligin cites in his defense: “I decay with my body in dust, I command thunder with my mind,” the merchant does not find anything to say at all, except: “And for these words, send you to the mayor, so he will will ask!
Undoubtedly, in the play the image of a thunderstorm acquires a special meaning: it is a refreshing, revolutionary beginning. However, the mind, condemned in the dark kingdom, met with impenetrable ignorance, supported by stinginess. But still, the lightning that cut through the sky over the Volga touched the long-silent Tikhon and flashed over the destinies of Varvara and Kudryash. The thunderstorm shook everyone up thoroughly. Inhuman morals will come to an end sooner or later. The struggle between the new and the old has begun and continues. This is the meaning of the work of the great Russian playwright.
A.N. Ostrovsky received literary recognition after the appearance of his first major play. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became a necessary element of the culture of his time; he retained the position of the best playwright of the era, the head of the Russian dramatic school, despite the fact that at the same time A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. F. Pisemsky, A. K Tolstoy and L. N. Tolstoy. The most popular critics viewed his works as a true and profound reflection of modern reality. Meanwhile, Ostrovsky, following his own original creative path, often baffled both critics and readers.
Thus, the play “The Thunderstorm” came as a surprise to many. L.N. Tolstoy did not accept the play. The tragedy of this work forced critics to reconsider their views on Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy. Ap. Grigoriev noted that in “The Thunderstorm” there is a protest against the “existing”, which is terrible for its adherents. Dobrolyubov argued in his article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” that the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” “breathes on us with new life.”
Perhaps for the first time, scenes of family, “private” life, the arbitrariness and lawlessness that were hitherto hidden behind the thick doors of mansions and estates, were shown with such graphic power. And at the same time, this was not just an everyday sketch. The author showed the unenviable position of a Russian woman in a merchant family. The enormous power of the tragedy was given by the special truthfulness and skill of the author, as D.I. Pisarev rightly noted: “The Thunderstorm” is a painting from life, that’s why it breathes truth.”
The tragedy takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is located among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I’ve been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of it. The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices,” Kuligin admires. It would seem that the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. However, the life and customs of the rich merchants created “a world of prison and deathly silence.” Savel Dikoy and Marfa Kabanova are the personification of cruelty and tyranny. The order in the merchant's house is based on the outdated religious dogmas of Domostroy. Dobrolyubov says about Kabanikha that she “gnaws at her victim... for a long time and relentlessly.” She forces her daughter-in-law Katerina to bow at her husband’s feet when he leaves, scolds her for “not howling” in public when seeing off her husband.
Kabanikha is very rich, this can be judged by the fact that the interests of her affairs extend well beyond the borders of Kalinov; on her instructions, Tikhon travels to Moscow. She is respected by Dikoy, for whom the main thing in life is money. But the merchant’s wife understands that the political elite also gives the obedience of those around her. She seeks to kill any manifestation of resistance to her power in the home. The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant. Tikhon does not contradict her in anything. Varvara learned to deceive, hide and dodge.
The main character of the play, Katerina, is marked by a strong character; she is not used to humiliation and insults and therefore conflicts with her cruel old mother-in-law. In her mother’s house, Katerina lived freely and easily. In the Kabanov House she feels like a bird in a cage. She quickly realizes that she cannot exist here for a long time.
Katerina married Tikhon without love. In Kabanikha’s house, everything trembles at the mere imperious cry of the merchant’s wife. Life in this house is difficult for young people. And then Katerina meets a completely different person and falls in love. For the first time in her life, she experiences deep personal feeling. One night she goes on a date with Boris. Whose side is the playwright on? He is on Katerina’s side, because a person’s natural aspirations cannot be destroyed. Life in the Kabanov family is unnatural. And Katerina does not accept the inclinations of those people with whom she ended up. Hearing Varvara’s offer to lie and pretend, Katerina replies: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Katerina’s directness and sincerity evokes respect from the author, the reader, and the viewer. She decides that she can no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she cannot languish behind bars. She's free! But she saw a way out only in her death. And one could argue with this.
- The problem of fathers and children
- The problem of self-realization
- The problem of power
- The problem of love
- Conflict between old and new
In literary criticism, the problematics of a work are the range of problems that are addressed in one way or another in the text. This may be one or more aspects that the author focuses on. In this work we will talk about the problems of Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”. A. N. Ostrovsky received a literary vocation after his first published play. “Poverty is not a vice”, “Dowry”, “Profitable Place” - these and many other works are devoted to social and everyday themes, however, the issue of the problems of the play “The Thunderstorm” needs to be considered separately.
The play was received ambiguously by critics. Dobrolyubov saw hope for a new life in Katerina, Ap. Grigoriev noticed the emerging protest against the existing order, and L. Tolstoy did not accept the play at all. The plot of “The Thunderstorm,” at first glance, is quite simple: everything is based on a love conflict. Katerina secretly meets with a young man while her husband left for another city on business. Unable to cope with the pangs of conscience, the girl admits to treason, after which she rushes into the Volga.
However, behind all this everyday, everyday life, lies much larger things that threaten to grow to the scale of space. Dobrolyubov calls the “dark kingdom” the situation described in the text. An atmosphere of lies and betrayal. In Kalinov, people are so accustomed to moral filth that their resigned consent only aggravates the situation. It becomes scary to realize that it was not the place that made people like this, it was the people who independently turned the city into a kind of accumulation of vices. And now the “dark kingdom” is beginning to influence the inhabitants. After a detailed reading of the text, you can see how widely the problems of the work “The Thunderstorm” have been developed. The problems in Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" are diverse, but at the same time they do not have a hierarchy. Each individual problem is important in its own right.
The problem of fathers and children
Here we are not talking about misunderstanding, but about total control, about patriarchal orders. The play shows the life of the Kabanov family. At that time, the opinion of the eldest man in the family was undeniable, and wives and daughters were practically deprived of their rights. The head of the family is Marfa Ignatievna, a widow. She took on male functions. This is a powerful and calculating woman. Kabanikha believes that she takes care of her children, ordering them to do as she wants. This behavior led to quite logical consequences. Her son, Tikhon, is a weak and spineless person. His mother, it seems, wanted to see him this way, because in this case it is easier to control a person. Tikhon is afraid to say anything, to express his opinion; in one of the scenes he admits that he doesn’t have his own point of view at all. Tikhon cannot protect either himself or his wife from his mother’s hysterics and cruelty. Kabanikha’s daughter, Varvara, on the contrary, managed to adapt to this lifestyle. She easily lies to her mother, the girl even changed the lock on the gate in the garden so that she could go on dates with Curly without hindrance.
Tikhon is incapable of any rebellion, while Varvara, at the end of the play, runs away from her parents' house with her lover.
The problem of self-realization
When talking about the problems of “The Thunderstorm,” one cannot fail to mention this aspect. The problem is realized in the image of Kuligin. This self-taught inventor dreams of making something useful for all residents of the city. His plans include assembling a perpeta mobile, building a lightning rod, and generating electricity. But this whole dark, semi-pagan world needs neither light nor enlightenment. Dikoy laughs at Kuligin’s plans to find an honest income and openly mocks him. After a conversation with Kuligin, Boris understands that the inventor will never invent a single thing. Perhaps Kuligin himself understands this. He could be called naive, but he knows what morals reign in Kalinov, what happens behind closed doors, what those in whose hands the power is concentrated are like. Kuligin learned to live in this world without losing himself. But he is not able to sense the conflict between reality and dreams as keenly as Katerina did.
The problem of power
In the city of Kalinov, power is not in the hands of the relevant authorities, but in those who have money. Proof of this is the dialogue between the merchant Dikiy and the mayor. The mayor tells the merchant that complaints are being received against the latter. Savl Prokofievich responds rudely to this. Dikoy does not hide the fact that he is cheating ordinary men; he talks about deception as a normal phenomenon: if merchants steal from each other, then it is possible to steal from ordinary residents. In Kalinov, nominal power decides absolutely nothing, and this is fundamentally wrong. After all, it turns out that it is simply impossible to live without money in such a city. Dikoy imagines himself almost like a priest-king, deciding who to lend money to and who not. “So know that you are a worm. If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush you,” is how Dikoy answers Kuligin.
The problem of love
In "The Thunderstorm" the problem of love is realized in the couples Katerina - Tikhon and Katerina - Boris. The girl is forced to live with her husband, although she does not feel any feelings other than pity for him. Katya rushes from one extreme to another: she thinks between the option of staying with her husband and learning to love him, or leaving Tikhon. Katya's feelings for Boris flare up instantly. This passion pushes the girl to take a decisive step: Katya goes against public opinion and Christian morality. Her feelings turned out to be mutual, but for Boris this love meant much less. Katya believed that Boris, like her, was incapable of living in a frozen city and lying for profit. Katerina often compared herself to a bird; she wanted to fly away, to break out of that metaphorical cage, but in Boris Katya saw that air, that freedom that she so lacked. Unfortunately, the girl was mistaken about Boris. The young man turned out to be the same as the residents of Kalinov. He wanted to improve relations with Dikiy in order to get money, and he talked with Varvara about the fact that it was better to keep his feelings for Katya secret for as long as possible.
Conflict between old and new
We are talking about the resistance of the patriarchal way of life to the new order, which implies equality and freedom. This topic was very relevant. Let us remember that the play was written in 1859, and serfdom was abolished in 1861. Social contradictions reached their climax. The author wanted to show what the lack of reforms and decisive action can lead to. Tikhon’s final words confirm this. “Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay in the world and suffer!” In such a world, the living envy the dead.
This contradiction most strongly affected the main character of the play. Katerina cannot understand how one can live in lies and animal humility. The girl was suffocating in the atmosphere that had been created by the residents of Kalinov for a long time. She is honest and pure, so her only desire was so small and so great at the same time. Katya just wanted to be herself, to live the way she was raised. Katerina sees that everything is not at all as she imagined before her marriage. She cannot even allow herself a sincere impulse - to hug her husband - Kabanikha controlled and suppressed any attempts by Katya to be sincere. Varvara supports Katya, but cannot understand her. Katerina is left alone in this world of deceit and dirt. The girl could not bear such pressure; she finds salvation in death. Death frees Katya from the burden of earthly life, turning her soul into something light, capable of flying away from the “dark kingdom.”
We can conclude that the problems raised in the drama “The Thunderstorm” are significant and relevant to this day. These are unresolved questions of human existence that will worry people at all times. It is thanks to this formulation of the question that the play “The Thunderstorm” can be called a timeless work.
Problematics of Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" - description of problems for an essay on the topic |