Why is the city called Kalinov during a thunderstorm? Essay “The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants in the “Thunderstorm”

CITY
KALINOV (AFTER A. N. OSTROVSKY’S PLAY “THE THUNDER”)

Alexander
Nikolaevich Ostrovsky - the largest
playwright of the last century. His
famous plays are still included in
repertoire of many theaters in Russia. "He
began in an extraordinary way,” wrote I.S. about him.
Turgenev. After Ostrovsky
read my first play "Painting
family happiness", him immediately
dubbed, "a luminary in the domestic
literature." And immediately before him they opened
everyone's doors literary circles, and then
the time was about forty. The playwright entered
into literature as a folk writer, as
effective satirical exposer and how
one of the luminaries of the Russian school of drama.

Merchants
reflected in literature back in the 18th century, but
never shown with such force
the conviction with which Ostrovsky showed this.
Playwright convincing, complete
through the images of his plays convinces us that
the whole life, the whole life of the merchant class of that
pores rests on gross deception, on
cheating. Working on yours
works, the writer is probably not
suspected how relevant his plays would be in
our time, when such a country reigns
disorder and the desire to accumulate in any way.
"Don't deceive - don't sell," - this
the proverb runs like a red outline through
all works by Ostrovsky. Isn't this one
does the motto rule in our lives?

Almost
#all Ostrovsky's plays are built on
the suffering and experiences of the heroes. And not all
the plays end well. In a special place
there is a play "The Thunderstorm" - a play with
tragic end of the main character
Katerina. The drama takes place in a quiet
provincial town of Kalinov. Kalinov -
this is a typical Russian provincial town
of that time, with stable morals and
habits, with a measured lifestyle
the entire population, merchants, townspeople and
commoners. Ostrovsky, as a rule,
described life in his works
Moscow merchants. Moscow in those years was not
was the capital, all social life took place
in St. Petersburg. And Moscow, with its Zamoskvorechye
was also considered a provincial town. But
writer of the action of his play "The Thunderstorm"
moved to the quieter town of Kalinov. This
he wanted to show that the life of a merchant
is the same everywhere: both big and small
cities of Russia. And everywhere it is monotonous and
boring, especially for women living
obeying Domostroevsky orders.

Clear
descriptions of the city of Kalinov in the play we do not
we'll find it. But, after reading it, you can vividly
imagine the outlines of the town and its interior
life. The city stands on a high bank
Russian river Volga. The town is small
therefore from a high point on the shore, where located
public garden, fields nearby are visible
villages The houses in the city are wooden, near
Every house has a flower garden. It was almost like that
everywhere in Russia. This is the house before
Katerina also lived there. She remembers: “I will get up,
it used to be early; If it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring,
I’ll wash myself, bring some water with me and that’s it, that’s it
I'll water the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers.
Then we’ll go to church with mommy..."

Church
- this is the main place in any village in Russia.
The people were very pious, and the churches
the most beautiful part of the city was allocated. She
was built on a hill and had to be
visible from everywhere in the city. Kalinov was not there
exception, and the church in it was a place
meetings of all residents, the source of all
conversations and gossip.

Walking
near the church, Kuligin tells Boris about
order of life here: " Cruel morals V
our city, - he says - In the philistinism,
sir, except for rudeness and poverty
initial, you won't see anything." Money
do everything - that’s the motto of that life. And yet
less, the writer’s love for cities such as
Kalinov, is felt in discreet but warm
descriptions of local landscapes. "Silence,
air excellent because
The Volga meadows smell of flowers, the sky is clear...".
I just want to find myself in that place, to walk
along the boulevard with the residents. After all, the boulevard
- this is also one of the main places of small ones, -
yes and big cities. On the boulevard in the evening
The whole class goes for a walk.

Earlier,
when there were no museums, cinemas,
television, the boulevard was the main place
entertainment. Mothers took their mothers there
daughters, as if to be seen, married couples
proved the strength of their union, and
young people were looking for future wives.

But
nevertheless, the life of ordinary people is boring and
monotonous. People with lively and sensitive
in kind, such as Katerina, this life in
burden. It sucks in like a quagmire and
get out of it, change nothing
no possibility. On this high note
tragedy and the life of the main one ends
heroines of the play Katerina. "It's better in the grave"
- she says. Get out of the monotony and
This was the only way she could cope with boredom.
Concluding his "protest, brought to
despair", Katerina makes you convert
attention to the same despair of others
residents of the city of Kalinov.

This
Despair is expressed in different ways. It is, according to
Dobrolyubov notation, fits into
various types public clashes:
younger with elders, unresponsive with
self-willed, poor with rich. After all
Ostrovsky bringing residents onto the stage
Kalinova, paints a panorama of the morals of more than one
city, but the whole society, where a person
depends only on wealth, which gives strength,
be he a fool or a clever man, a nobleman or
commoner.

World
- "dark kingdom", Katerina - "ray
light" in it. This emphasizes
the universal significance of what is happening in
Kalinov, the typical morals of its inhabitants,
leading to the death of a person.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is rightfully considered a singer merchant environment. He is the author of about sixty plays, the most famous of which are “Our People – We Will Be Numbered”, “The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry” and others.
“The Thunderstorm,” as Dobrolyubov described it, is the author’s “most decisive work,” since the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought to tragic consequences in it...” It was written at a time of social upsurge, on the eve of the peasant reform, as if crowning the author’s cycle of plays about " dark kingdom».
The writer’s imagination takes us to a small merchant town on the banks of the Volga, “...all in greenery, from the steep banks you can see distant spaces covered with villages and fields. A blessed summer day beckons to the air, under open sky...”, admire the local beauty, take a walk along the boulevard. Residents have already taken a closer look at the beautiful nature in the vicinity of the city, and it does not please the eye of anyone. The townspeople spend most of their time at home: running the household, relaxing, and in the evenings “...they sit on the rubble at the gate and engage in pious conversations.” They are not interested in anything that goes beyond the city limits. The residents of Kalinov learn about what is happening in the world from wanderers who, “themselves, due to their weakness, did not walk far, but heard a lot.” Feklusha enjoys great respect among the townspeople; her stories about the lands where people with dog heads live are perceived as irrefutable information about the world. It is not at all disinterested that she supports Kabanikha and Dikiy, their concepts of life, although these characters are the leaders of the “dark kingdom”.
In Kabanikha’s house, everything is built on the authority of power, just like in the Wild. She forces her loved ones to sacredly honor the rituals and follow the old customs of Domostroy, which she has remade in her own way. Marfa Ignatievna internally realizes that there is nothing to respect her for, but she does not admit this even to herself. With her petty demands, reminders and suggestions, Kabanikha achieves the unquestioning obedience of her household.
For him, swearing is also a way of self-defense when it comes to money, which he hates to give away.
But something is already eroding their power, and they see with horror how the “covenants of patriarchal morality” are crumbling. This “the law of time, the law of nature and history takes its toll, and the old Kabanovs breathe heavily, feeling that there is a force above them that they cannot overcome,” however, they are trying to instill their rules in the younger generation, and not to no avail.
For example, Varvara is the daughter of Marfa Kabanova. Her main rule: “do what you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered.” She is smart, cunning, and before marriage she wants to be everywhere and try everything. Varvara adapted to the “dark kingdom” and learned its laws. I think her bossiness and desire to deceive makes her very similar to her mother.
The play shows the similarities between Varvara and Kudryash. Ivan is the only one in the city of Kalinov who can answer Dikiy. “I am considered a rude person; Why is he holding me? Therefore, he needs me. Well, that means I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me…” says Kudryash.
In the end, Varvara and Ivan leave the “dark kingdom”, but I think they are unlikely to be able to completely free themselves from old traditions and laws.
Now let's turn to the true victims of tyranny. Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, is weak-willed and spineless, obeys his mother in everything and slowly becomes an alcoholic. Of course, Katerina cannot love and respect such a person, but her soul longs for real feeling. She falls in love with Dikiy's nephew, Boris. But Katya fell in love with him, in Dobrolyubov’s apt expression, “in the wilderness.” In essence, Boris is the same Tikhon, only more educated. He traded love for his grandmother's inheritance.
Katerina differs from all the characters in the play in the depth of her feelings, honesty, courage and determination. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she says to Varvara.
She sees a way out of this impasse in her death. Katya’s act stirred up this “quiet swamp”, because there were also sympathetic souls, for example, Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic. He is kind and obsessed with the desire to do something useful for people, but all his intentions run into a thick wall of misunderstanding and ignorance.
Thus, we see that all the inhabitants of Kalinov belong to the “dark kingdom”, which sets its own rules and orders here, and no one can change them, because these are the morals of this city, and whoever fails to adapt to such an environment is, alas, doomed to death.

Play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1860, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. At this difficult time, the culmination of the revolutionary situation of the 60s in Russia is observed. Even then the foundations of the autocratic-serf system were crumbling, but still...

Was the love of Katerina Kabanova from A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” a crime? Did the poor woman deserve such a terrible punishment? Katerina's misfortunes begin after she marries Tikhon Kabanov and moves into his house. There's a young...

Respect for elders has been considered a virtue at all times. One cannot but agree that the wisdom and experience of those who belong to the older generation usually helps the youth. But in some cases, respect for elders and absolute submission to them can be...

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Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was endowed with great talent as a playwright. He is deservedly considered the founder of the Russian national theater. His plays, varied in theme, glorified Russian literature. Ostrovsky's creativity had a democratic...

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Ural State Pedagogical University

Test

on Russian literature of the 19th (2nd) century

IV year correspondence students

IFC and MK

Agapova Anastasia Anatolyevna

Yekaterinburg

2011

Subject: The image of the city of Kalinov in “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky.

Plan:

Brief biography of the writer
Image of the city of Kalinova
Conclusion
References

Brief biography of the writer

Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky was born on September 29 in the village of Viliya, Volyn province, into a working-class family. He worked as an assistant electrician, and from 1923 - in a leading Komsomol job. In 1927, progressive paralysis confined Ostrovsky to bed, and a year later future writer went blind, but “continuing to fight for the ideas of communism,” he decided to take up literature. In the early 30s, the autobiographical novel “How the Steel Was Tempered” (1935) was written - one of the textbook works Soviet literature. In 1936, the novel “Born of the Storm” was published, which the author did not have time to finish. Nikolai Ostrovsky died on December 22, 1936.

The history of the creation of the story "The Thunderstorm"

The play was begun by Alexander Ostrovsky in July and completed on October 9, 1859. The manuscript is kept inRussian State Library.

The writing of the play “The Thunderstorm” is also associated with the writer’s personal drama. In the manuscript of the play, next to famous monologue Katerina: “And what dreams I had, Varenka, what dreams! Or golden temples, or some extraordinary gardens, and everyone is singing invisible voices...” (5), there is Ostrovsky’s entry: “I heard from L.P. about the same dream...”. L.P. is an actressLyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with whom the young playwright had a very difficult personal relationship: both had families. The actress's husband was an artist of the Maly TheaterI. M. Nikulin. And Alexander Nikolaevich also had a family: he lived in a civil marriage with the commoner Agafya Ivanovna, with whom he had common children - they all died as children. Ostrovsky lived with Agafya Ivanovna for almost twenty years.

It was Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya who served as the prototype for the image of the heroine of the play, Katerina, and she also became the first performer of the role.

In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. Natural beauty The Volga region struck the playwright, and then he thought about the play. For a long time it was believed that the plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was taken by Ostrovsky from the life of the Kostroma merchants. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kostroma residents could accurately indicate the place of Katerina’s suicide.

In his play, Ostrovsky raises the problem of the turning point in social life that occurred in the 1850s, the problem of changing social foundations.

5 Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

3. Image of the city of Kalinov

“The Thunderstorm” is rightfully considered one of the masterpieces of Ostrovsky and all Russian drama. “The Thunderstorm” is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky’s most decisive work.

Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" shows the ordinary provincial life of the provincial merchant town of Kalinov. It is located on the high bank of the Russian Volga River. The Volga is the great Russian river, a natural parallel to Russian destiny, Russian soul, Russian character, which means that everything that happens on its banks is understandable and easily recognizable to every Russian person. The view from the shore is divine. The Volga appears here in all its glory. The town itself is no different from others: merchant houses in abundance, a church, a boulevard.

Residents lead their own special way of life. Life in the capital is changing quickly, but here everything is the same as before. Monotonous and slow passage of time. The elders teach the younger ones in everything, but the younger ones are afraid to stick their nose out. There are few visitors to the city, so everyone is mistaken for a stranger, like an overseas curiosity.

The heroes of "The Thunderstorm" live without even suspecting how ugly and dark their existence is. For some, their city is “paradise”, and if it is not ideal, then at least it represents traditional device society of that time. Others do not accept either the situation or the city itself that gave birth to this situation. And yet they constitute an unenviable minority, while others maintain complete neutrality.

Residents of the city, without realizing it, fear that just a story about another city, about other people, can dispel the illusion of prosperity in their “promised land.” In the remark preceding the text, the author determines the place and time of the drama. This is no longer Zamoskvorechye, so characteristic of many of Ostrovsky’s plays, but the city of Kalinov on the banks of the Volga. The city is fictional, in it you can see the features of a variety of Russian cities. The landscape background of “Thunderstorms” also gives a certain emotional mood, allowing, by contrast, to more acutely feel the stuffy atmosphere of life in Kalinovsky.

The events take place in the summer, with 10 days passing between acts 3 and 4. The playwright does not say in what year the events take place; any year can be staged - so typical is what is described in the play for Russian life in the provinces. Ostrovsky especially stipulates that everyone is dressed in Russian, only Boris’s costume corresponds to European standards, which have already penetrated into the life of the Russian capital. This is how new touches appear in depicting the way of life in the city of Kalinov. Time seemed to have stopped here, and life turned out to be closed, impenetrable to new trends.

The main people of the city are tyrant merchants who try to “enslave the poor so that his labors will be free.” more money make money." They keep in complete subordination not only the employees, but also the household, who are entirely dependent on them and therefore unresponsive. Considering themselves to be right in everything, they are sure that it is on them that the light rests, and therefore they force all households to strictly follow house-building orders and rituals. Their religiosity is distinguished by the same ritualism: they go to church, observe fasts, receive strangers, generously give them gifts and at the same time tyrannize their family “And what tears flow behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!.” The internal, moral side of religion is completely alien to Wild and Kabanova, representatives of the “Dark Kingdom” of the City of Kalinov.

The playwright creates a closed patriarchal world: the Kalinovites do not know about the existence of other lands and simply believe the stories of the townspeople:

What is Lithuania? – So it is Lithuania. - And they say, my brother, it fell on us from the sky... I don’t know how to tell you, from the sky, from the sky...

Feklushi:

I...haven’t walked far, but I’ve heard – I’ve heard a lot...

And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads...For infidelity.

That there are distant countries where “Saltan Maxnut the Turkish” and “Saltan Makhnut the Persian” rule.

Here you have...rarely does anyone come out of the gate to sit...but in Moscow there are carousals and games along the streets, sometimes there is a groan... Why, they began to harness a fiery serpent...

The world of the city is motionless and closed: its inhabitants have a vague idea of their past and know nothing about what is happening outside Kalinov. The absurd stories of Feklushi and the townspeople create distorted ideas about the world among the Kalinovites and instill fear in their souls. She brings darkness and ignorance into society, mourns the end of the good old days, and condemns the new order. The new is powerfully entering life, undermining the foundations of the Domostroev order. Feklusha’s words about “ the last times" She strives to win over those around her, so the tone of her speech is insinuating and flattering.

The life of the city of Kalinov is reproduced in volume, with detailed details. The city appears on the stage, with its streets, houses, beautiful nature, and citizens. The reader seems to see with his own eyes the beauty of Russian nature. Here, on the banks of the free river, glorified by the people, the tragedy that shocked Kalinov will occur. And the first words in “The Thunderstorm” are the words of a familiar song of freedom, sung by Kuligin, a man who deeply feels beauty:

Among the flat valley, at a smooth height, a tall oak blossoms and grows. In mighty beauty.

Silence, excellent air, the smell of flowers from the meadows from across the Volga, the sky is clear... An abyss of stars has opened up and is full...
Miracles, truly it must be said, miracles!... For fifty years I have been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of it!
The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices! Delight! Either you look closely or you don’t understand what beauty is spilled out in nature. -he says (5). However, next to poetry there is a completely different, unsightly, repulsive side of Kalinov’s reality. It is revealed in Kuligin’s assessments, felt in the conversations of the characters, and sounds in the prophecies of the half-crazy lady.

The only enlightened person in the play, Kuligin, looks like an eccentric in the eyes of the townspeople. Naive, kind, honest, he does not oppose Kalinov’s world, humbly endures not only ridicule, but also rudeness and insult. However, it is he who the author instructs to characterize the “dark kingdom”.

It seems as if Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world and lives some kind of special, closed life. But can we really say that life is completely different in other places? No, it's typical picture Russian province and the wild customs of patriarchal life. Stagnation.

There is no clear description of the city of Kalinov in the play.But as you read it, you can vividly imagine the outlines of the town and its inner life.

5 Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House of Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

The central position in the play is occupied by the image of the main character Katerina Kabanova. For her, the city is a cage from which she is not destined to escape. The main reason for Katerina’s attitude towards the city is that she has learned the contrast. Her happy childhood and serene youth passed, above all, under the sign of freedom. Having gotten married and finding herself in Kalinov, Katerina felt like she was in prison. The city and the prevailing situation in it (traditionality and patriarchy) only aggravate the situation of the heroine. Her suicide is a challenge given to the city, - was committed on the basis internal state Katerina and surrounding reality.
Boris, a hero who also came “from outside,” develops a similar point of view. Probably, their love was due precisely to this. In addition, for him, like Katerina, the main role in the family is played by the “domestic tyrant” Dikoy, who is a direct product of the city and is a direct part of it.
The above can be fully applied to Kabanikha. But for her the city is not ideal; before her eyes, old traditions and foundations are crumbling. Kabanikha is one of those who is trying to preserve them, but only “Chinese ceremonies” remain.
It is on the basis of the differences between the heroes that the main conflict arises - the struggle between the old, the patriarchal and the new, reason and ignorance. The city gave birth to people like Dikoy and Kabanikha, they (and wealthy merchants like them) rule the roost. And all the city’s shortcomings are fueled by morals and environment, which in turn support Kabanikh and Dikoy with all their might.
Art space The play is closed, it is confined exclusively to the city of Kalinov, the more difficult it is to find a way for those who are trying to escape from the city. In addition, the city is static, like its main inhabitants. That is why the stormy Volga contrasts so sharply with the stillness of the city. The river embodies movement. The city perceives any movement as extremely painful.
At the very beginning of the play, Kuligin, who is in some respects similar to Katerina, talks about the surrounding landscape. He sincerely admires beauty natural world, although Kuligin has a very good idea of the internal structure of the city of Kalinov. Not many characters are given the ability to see and admire the world around them, especially in the setting of the “dark kingdom.” For example, Kudryash does not notice anything, just as he tries not to notice the cruel morals reigning around him. The natural phenomenon shown in Ostrovsky's work - a thunderstorm - is also viewed differently by city residents (by the way, according to one of the heroes, thunderstorms are a frequent occurrence in Kalinov, this makes it possible to classify it as part of the city's landscape). For Wild thunderstorm - given to people an event tested by God, for Katerina it is a symbol of the near end of her drama, a symbol of fear. Only Kuligin perceives the thunderstorm as ordinary natural phenomenon, which you can even rejoice at.

The town is small, so from a high point on the shore where the public garden is located, the fields of nearby villages are visible. The houses in the city are wooden, and there is a flower garden near each house. This was the case almost everywhere in Russia. In a house like this lived before and Katerina. She recalls: “I used to get up early; If it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water with me, and that’s it, I’ll water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers. Then we’ll go to church with mommy...”
The church is the main place in any village in Russia. The people were very pious, and the church was given the most beautiful part of the city. It was built on a hill and should have been visible from everywhere in the city. Kalinov was no exception, and the church there was a meeting place for all residents, the source of all conversations and gossip. Walking near the church, Kuligin tells Boris about the order of life here: “Cruel morals in our city,” he says, “In the philistinism, sir, you will not see anything except rudeness and basic poverty” (4). Money makes everything happen - that’s the motto of that life. And yet, the writer’s love for cities like Kalinov is felt in the discreet but warm descriptions of local landscapes.

"It's quiet, the air is great, because...

The Volga of servants smells of flowers, unclean..."

I just want to find myself in that place, to walk along the boulevard with the residents. After all, the boulevard is also one of the main places in small and large cities. The whole class goes out to the boulevard for a walk in the evening.
Previously, when there were no museums, cinemas, or television, the boulevard was the main place of entertainment. Mothers took their daughters there as if to a bridesmaid, married couples proved the strength of their union, and young men looked for future wives. But nevertheless, the life of ordinary people is boring and monotonous. For people with a lively and sensitive nature, such as Katerina, this life is a burden. It sucks you in like a quagmire, and there is no way to get out of it or change anything. On this high note of tragedy, the life of the main character of the play, Katerina, ends. “It’s better in the grave,” she says. She was able to get out of monotony and boredom only in this way. Concluding her “protest, driven to despair,” Katerina draws attention to the same despair of other residents of the city of Kalinov. Such despair is expressed in different ways. It is, according to

Dobrolyubov’s designation fits into various types of social clashes: younger with older, unrequited with self-willed, poor with rich. After all, Ostrovsky, bringing the residents of Kalinov onto the stage, draws a panorama of the morals of not just one city, but the entire society, where a person depends only on wealth, which gives strength, whether he is a fool or a smart one, a nobleman or a commoner.

The title of the play itself has a symbolic meaning. A thunderstorm in nature is perceived differently by the characters in the play: for Kuligin it is “grace,” with which “every... grass, every flower rejoices,” while the Kalinovites hide from it as if from “some kind of misfortune.” The thunderstorm intensifies emotional drama Katerina, her tension, influencing the very outcome of this drama. The thunderstorm gives the play not only emotional tension, but also a pronounced tragic flavor. At the same time, N.A. Dobrolyubov saw something “refreshing and encouraging” in the finale of the drama. It is known that Ostrovsky himself, who gave great value title of the play, wrote to playwright N. Ya. Solovyov that if he cannot find a title for the work, it means that “the idea of the play is not clear to him

In “The Thunderstorm,” the playwright often uses the techniques of parallelism and antithesis in the system of images and directly in the plot itself, in the depiction of pictures of nature. The technique of antithesis is especially clearly manifested: in the opposition of the two main characters- Katerina and Kabanikha; in the composition of the third act, the first scene (at the gates of Kabanova’s house) and the second (night meeting in the ravine) differ sharply from each other; in the depiction of pictures of nature and, in particular, the approach of a thunderstorm in the first and fourth acts.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky in his play showed a fictional city, but it looks extremely authentic. The author saw with pain how backward Russia was politically, economically, and culturally, how dark the population of the country was, especially in the provinces.

Ostrovsky not only recreates the panorama of city life in detail, specifically and in many ways, but also, using various dramatic means and techniques, introduces art world The plays contain elements of the natural world and the world of distant cities and countries. The peculiarity of vision of the environment inherent in the townspeople creates the effect of a fantastic, incredible “lostness” of Kalinovsky life.

A special role in the play is played by the landscape, described not only in the stage directions, but also in the dialogues of the characters. Some people can understand its beauty, others have taken a closer look at it and are completely indifferent. The Kalinovites not only “fenced off, isolated” themselves from other cities, countries, lands, they made their souls, their consciousness immune to the influence of the natural world, a world full of life, harmony, and higher meaning.

People who perceive their surroundings in this way are ready to believe in anything, even the most incredible, as long as it does not threaten to destroy their “quiet, heavenly life.” This position is based on fear, psychological unwillingness to change something in one’s life. So the playwright creates not only an external, but also an internal, psychological background for tragic story Katerina.

"Thunderstorm" - drama with tragic ending, the author uses satirical devices, on the basis of which readers develop a negative attitude towards Kalinov and his typical representatives. He especially introduces satire to show the ignorance and lack of education of the Kalinovites.

Thus, Ostrovsky creates an image of a city traditional for the first half of the 19th century. The author shows through the eyes of his heroes. The image of Kalinov is collective; the author knew the merchants well and the environment in which they developed. So, with the help of different points of view of the characters in the play “The Thunderstorm”, Ostrovsky creates full picture district merchant town of Kalinov.

References

Anastasyev A. “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky. “Fiction” Moscow, 1975.
Kachurin M. G., Motolskaya D. K. Russian literature. Moscow, Education, 1986.
Lobanov P. P. Ostrovsky. Moscow, 1989.
Ostrovsky A. N. Selected works. Moscow, Children's literature, 1965.

5. Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House of Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

6. http://referati.vladbazar.com

7. http://www.litra.ru/com

Dramatic events of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" takes place in the city of Kalinov. This town is located on the picturesque bank of the Volga, from the high cliff of which the vast Russian expanses and boundless distances open up to the eye. “The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices,” enthuses local self-taught mechanic Kuligin.
Pictures of endless distances, echoed in lyrical song. Among the flat valleys,” which he sings, are of great importance for conveying the feeling of the immense possibilities of Russian life, on the one hand, and the limitations of life in a small merchant town, on the other.

Magnificent paintings of the Volga landscape are organically woven into the structure of the play. At first glance, they contradict its dramatic nature, but in fact they introduce new colors into the depiction of the scene of action, thereby fulfilling an important artistic function: The play begins with a picture of a steep bank, and it ends with it. Only in the first case does it give rise to a feeling of something majestically beautiful and bright, and in the second - catharsis. The landscape also serves to more vividly depict the characters - Kuligin and Katerina, who subtly sense its beauty, on the one hand, and everyone who is indifferent to it, on the other. The brilliant playwright so carefully recreated the scene of action that we can visually imagine the city Kalinov, immersed in greenery, as he is depicted in the play. We see its high fences, and gates with strong locks, and wooden houses with patterned shutters and colored window curtains filled with geraniums and balsams. We also see taverns where people like Dikoy and Tikhon are carousing in a drunken stupor. We see the dusty streets of Kalinovsky, where ordinary people, merchants and wanderers talk on benches in front of the houses, and where sometimes a song can be heard from afar to the accompaniment of a guitar, and behind the gates of the houses the descent begins to the ravine, where young people have fun at night. A gallery with vaults of dilapidated buildings opens to our eyes; a public garden with gazebos, pink bell towers and ancient gilded churches, where “noble families” walk decorously and where entertainment unfolds social life this small merchant town. Finally, we see the Volga pool, in the abyss of which Katerina is destined to find her final refuge.

Residents of Kalinov lead a sleepy, measured existence: “They go to bed very early, so to an unusual person It’s hard to endure such a sleepy night.” On holidays, they walk decorously along the boulevard, but “they only pretend to be walking, but they themselves go there to show off their outfits.” The inhabitants are superstitious and submissive, they have no desire for culture, science, they are not interested in new ideas and thoughts. The sources of news and rumors are pilgrims, pilgrims, and “passing kaliki.” The basis of relationships between people in Kalinov is material dependence. Here money is everything. “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! - says Kuligin, addressing a new person in the city, Boris. “In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and stark poverty.” And we, sir, will never get out of this crust. Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor in order to make even more money from his free labors. He testifies: “And among themselves, sir, how they live! They undermine each other's trade, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other; they get drunken clerks into their high mansions... And they... write malicious clauses about their neighbors. And for them, sir, a trial and a case will begin, and there will be no end to the torment.”

A vivid figurative expression of the manifestation of rudeness and hostility that reigns in Kalinov is the ignorant tyrant Savel Prokofich Dikoy, a “scold man” and a “shrill man,” as its residents characterize it. Endowed with an unbridled temper, he intimidated his family (dispersed “to attics and closets”), terrorizes his nephew Boris, who “got to him as a sacrifice” and which, according to Kudryash, he constantly “rides.” He also mocks other townspeople, cheats, “shows off” over them, “as his heart desires,” rightly believing that there is no one to “calm him down” anyway. Swearing, swearing for any reason is not only the usual way of treating people, it is his nature, his character, the content of his entire life.

Another personification of the “cruel morals” of the city of Kalinov is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, a “hypocrite,” as the same Kuligin characterizes her. “He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family.” Kabanikha firmly stands guard over the established order established in her house, jealously guarding this life from fresh wind change. She cannot come to terms with the fact that the young people do not like her way of life, that they want to live differently. She doesn't swear like Dikoy. She has her own methods of intimidation, she corrosively, “like rusting iron,” “sharpenes” her loved ones.

Dikoy and Kabanova (one - rudely and openly, the other - “under the guise of piety”) poison the lives of those around them, suppressing them, subordinating them to their orders, destroying bright feelings in them. For them, the loss of power is the loss of everything in which they see the meaning of existence. That’s why they hate new customs, honesty, sincerity in the expression of feelings, and the attraction of young people to “freedom.”

A special role in the “dark kingdom” belongs to the ignorant, deceitful and arrogant wanderer-beggar Feklusha. She “wanders” through cities and villages, collecting absurd tales and fantastic stories - about the depreciation of time, about people with dog heads, about scattering chaff, about a fiery serpent. One gets the impression that she deliberately misinterprets what she hears, that she takes pleasure in spreading all these gossip and ridiculous rumors - thanks to this, she is willingly accepted in the houses of Kalinov and towns like it. Feklusha does not fulfill her mission unselfishly: she will be fed here, given something to drink here, and given gifts there. The image of Feklusha, personifying evil, hypocrisy and gross ignorance, was very typical of the environment depicted. Such feklushi, carriers of nonsense news that clouded the consciousness of ordinary people, and pilgrims were necessary for the owners of the city, as they supported the authority of their government.

Finally, another colorful exponent of the cruel morals of the “dark kingdom” is the half-crazed lady in the play. She rudely and cruelly threatens the death of someone else's beauty. These terrible prophecies, sounding like the voice of tragic fate, receive their bitter confirmation in the finale. In the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” N.A. Dobrolyubov wrote: “In “The Thunderstorm” the need for the so-called “ unnecessary persons“: without them, We cannot understand the heroine’s face and can easily distort the meaning of the entire play...”

Dikoy, Kabanova, Feklusha and the half-crazy lady - representatives of the older generation - are exponents of the worst sides of the old world, its darkness, mysticism and cruelty. To the past, rich in its own original culture, their traditions, these characters have no relationship. But in the city of Kalinov, in conditions that suppress, break and paralyze the will, representatives of younger generation. Someone, like Katerina, closely bound by the way of the city and dependent on it, lives and suffers, strives to escape from it, and someone, like Varvara, Kudryash, Boris and Tikhon, humbles himself, accepts its laws or finds ways to reconcile with them .

Tikhon, the son of Marfa Kabanova and Katerina’s husband, is naturally endowed with a gentle, quiet disposition. There is in him kindness, and responsiveness, and the ability for sound judgment, and the desire to break free from the clutches in which he finds himself, but weak-willedness and timidity outweigh him positive qualities. He is used to unquestioningly obeying his mother, doing everything she demands, and is not able to show disobedience. He is unable to truly appreciate the extent of Katerina’s suffering, unable to penetrate into her peace of mind. Only in the finale does this weak-willed but internally contradictory person rise to open condemnation of his mother’s tyranny.

Boris, “a young man of decent education,” is the only one who does not belong to the Kalinovsky world by birth. This is a mentally soft and delicate, simple and modest person, and, moreover, his education, manners, and speech are noticeably different from most Kalinovites. He does not understand local customs, but is unable either to defend himself from the insults of the Wild One, or to “resist the dirty tricks that others do.” Katerina sympathizes with his dependent, humiliated position. But we can only sympathize with Katerina - she happened to meet on her way a weak-willed man, subordinate to the whims and whims of his uncle and doing nothing to change this situation. N.A. was right. Dobrolyubov, who claimed that “Boris is not a hero, he stands far from Katerina, and she fell in love with him in the desert.”

Cheerful and cheerful Varvara - the daughter of Kabanikha and the sister of Tikhon - is a vitally full-blooded image, but she emanates some kind of spiritual primitiveness, starting with her actions and everyday behavior and ending with her thoughts about life and rudely cheeky speech. She adapted, learned to be cunning so as not to obey her mother. She is too down to earth in everything. Such is her protest - escaping with Kudryash, who is well acquainted with the customs of the merchant environment, but lives easily” without hesitation. Varvara, who learned to live guided by the principle: “Do what you want, as long as it’s covered and covered,” expressed her protest at the everyday level, but on the whole she lives according to the laws of the “dark kingdom” and in her own way finds agreement with it.

Kuligin, a local self-taught mechanic who in the play acts as an “exposer of vices,” sympathizes with the poor, is concerned with improving people’s lives, having received a reward for the discovery of a perpetual motion machine. He is an opponent of superstitions, a champion of knowledge, science, creativity, enlightenment, but his own knowledge is not enough.
He doesn’t see an active way to resist tyrants, and therefore prefers to submit. It is clear that this is not the person who is able to bring novelty and fresh air into the life of the city of Kalinov.

Among the characters in the drama, there is no one, except Boris, who does not belong to the Kalinovsky world by birth or upbringing. All of them revolve in the sphere of concepts and ideas of a closed patriarchal environment. But life does not stand still, and tyrants feel that their power is being limited. “Besides them, without asking them,” says N.A. Dobrolyubov, - another life has grown, with different beginnings ... "

Of all the characters, only Katerina - a deeply poetic nature, filled with high lyricism - is focused on the future. Because, as noted by academician N.N. Skatov, “Katerina was brought up not only in the narrow world of a merchant family, she was born not only by the patriarchal world, but by the entire national world, folk life, already spilling over the boundaries of patriarchy.” Katerina embodies the spirit of this world, its dream, its impulse. She alone was able to express her protest, proving, albeit at a cost own life that the end of the “dark kingdom” is approaching. By creating such expressive image A.N. Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified world of a provincial town, “ folk character amazing beauty and strength”, whose pen is based on love, on the free dream of justice, beauty, some kind of higher truth.

Poetic and prosaic, sublime and mundane, human and animal - these principles are paradoxically united in the life of a provincial Russian town, but in this life, unfortunately, darkness and oppressive melancholy prevail, which N.A. could not better characterize. Dobrolyubov, calling this world a “dark kingdom.” This phraseological unit is of fairy tale origin, but merchant world“Thunderstorms,” we are convinced of this, are devoid of that poetic, mysterious and captivating that is usually characteristic of a fairy tale. “Cruel morals” reign in this city, cruel...

In general, the history of the creation and concept of the play “The Thunderstorm” is very interesting. For some time there was speculation that this work was based on real events which occurred in the Russian city of Kostroma in 1859. “In the early morning of November 10, 1859, Kostroma bourgeois Alexandra Pavlovna Klykova disappeared from her home and either rushed into the Volga herself, or was strangled and thrown there. The investigation revealed the silent drama that played out in an unsociable family living narrowly with commercial interests: […]
Whole, honest, sincere, she is incapable of lies and falsehood, therefore cruel world, where wild and wild boars reign, her life is so tragic. Katerina’s protest against Kabanikha’s despotism is a struggle of the bright, pure, human against the darkness, lies and cruelty of the “dark kingdom”. No wonder Ostrovsky, who is very great attention paid attention to the selection of names and surnames of the characters, and gave this name to the heroine of “The Thunderstorm”: translated from Greek, “Ekaterina” means “eternally pure.” Katerina is a poetic person. IN […]
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was endowed with great talent as a playwright. He is deservedly considered the founder of the Russian national theater. His plays, varied in theme, glorified Russian literature. Ostrovsky's creativity had a democratic character. He created plays that showed hatred of the autocratic serfdom regime. The writer called for the protection of the oppressed and humiliated citizens of Russia and longed for social change. Ostrovsky’s enormous merit is that he opened the enlightened [...]
In “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky shows the life of a Russian merchant family and the position of women in it. Katerina’s character was formed in a simple merchant family, where love reigned and the daughter was given complete freedom. She acquired and retained all the wonderful traits of the Russian character. This is a pure, open soul that does not know how to lie. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she tells Varvara. In religion, Katerina found the highest truth and beauty. Her desire for the beautiful and the good was expressed in prayers. Coming out […]
In the drama “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky created a very psychologically complex image - the image of Katerina Kabanova. This young woman charms the viewer with her huge, pure soul, childish sincerity and kindness. But she lives in the musty atmosphere of the “dark kingdom” merchant morals. Ostrovsky managed to create a bright and poetic image of a Russian woman from the people. The main plot line of the play is tragic conflict the living, feeling soul of Katerina and the dead way of life of the “dark kingdom”. Honest and […]
Katerina Varvara Character Sincere, sociable, kind, honest, pious, but superstitious. Tender, soft, and at the same time, decisive. Rough, cheerful, but taciturn: “... I don’t like to talk a lot.” Decisive, can fight back. Temperament Passionate, freedom-loving, courageous, impetuous and unpredictable. She says about herself, “I was born so hot!” Freedom-loving, intelligent, prudent, courageous and rebellious, she is not afraid of either parental or heavenly punishment. Upbringing, […]
“The Thunderstorm” was published in 1859 (on the eve of the revolutionary situation in Russia, in the “pre-storm” era). Its historicism lies in the conflict itself, the irreconcilable contradictions reflected in the play. It responds to the spirit of the times. "The Thunderstorm" represents the idyll of the "dark kingdom". Tyranny and silence are brought to the extreme in her. A real heroine from the people’s environment appears in the play, and it is the description of her character that receives the main attention, while the little world of the city of Kalinov and the conflict itself are described in a more general way. “Their lives […]
Katerina – main character Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm", Tikhon's wife, Kabanikha's daughter-in-law. The main idea of the work is the conflict of this girl with the “dark kingdom”, the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. You can find out why this conflict arose and why the end of the drama is so tragic by understanding Katerina’s ideas about life. The author showed the origins of the heroine's character. From Katerina's words we learn about her childhood and adolescence. Drawn here ideal option patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general: “I lived, not about [...]
“The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky made a strong and deep impression on his contemporaries. Many critics were inspired by this work. However, even in our time it has not ceased to be interesting and topical. Elevated to the category of classical drama, it still arouses interest. The tyranny of the “older” generation lasts for many years, but some event must occur that could break the patriarchal tyranny. Such an event turns out to be the protest and death of Katerina, which awakened other […]
Critical history"Thunderstorms" begins even before she appears. To argue about “a ray of light in a dark kingdom,” it was necessary to open the “Dark Kingdom.” An article under this title appeared in the July and September issues of Sovremennik for 1859. It was signed with the usual pseudonym of N. A. Dobrolyubov - N. - bov. The reason for this work was extremely significant. In 1859, Ostrovsky summed up the interim result of his literary activity: his two-volume collected works appeared. "We consider it the most [...]
In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky, using a small number of characters, managed to reveal several problems at once. Firstly, this is, of course, social conflict, the clash of “fathers” and “children”, their points of view (and if we resort to generalization, then two historical eras). Kabanova and Dikoy belong to the older generation, who actively express their opinions, and Katerina, Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash and Boris to the younger generation. Kabanova is sure that order in the house and control over everything that happens in it are the key right life. Correct […]
A conflict is a clash between two or more parties that do not coincide in their views and worldviews. There are several conflicts in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” but how can you decide which one is the main one? In the era of sociology in literary criticism, it was believed that social conflict was the most important in the play. Of course, if you see in the image of Katerina a reflection of spontaneous protest masses against the constraining conditions of the “dark kingdom” and perceive Katerina’s death as a result of her collision with her tyrant mother-in-law, one should […]
The play “The Thunderstorm” by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is historical for us, as it shows the life of the philistinism. "The Thunderstorm" was written in 1859. It is the only work of the “Nights on the Volga” series conceived but not realized by the writer. The main theme of the work is a description of the conflict that arose between two generations. The Kabanikha family is typical. The merchants cling to their old morals, not wanting to understand the younger generation. And since young people do not want to follow traditions, they are suppressed. I'm sure, […]
Let's start with Katerina. In the play "The Thunderstorm" this lady - main character. What is the problem? of this work? The problem is main question, which the author sets in his creation. So the question here is who will win? The dark kingdom, which is represented by the bureaucrats of a provincial town, or the bright beginning, which is represented by our heroine. Katerina is pure in soul, she has a gentle, sensitive, loving heart. The heroine herself is deeply hostile to this dark swamp, but is not fully aware of it. Katerina was born […]
Special Hero in Ostrovsky's world, adjacent to the type of poor official with a feeling self-esteem, – Karandyshev Yuliy Kapitonovich. At the same time, his pride is hypertrophied to such an extent that it becomes a substitute for other feelings. Larisa for him is not just his beloved girl, she is also a “prize” that gives him the opportunity to triumph over Paratov, a chic and rich rival. At the same time, Karandyshev feels like a benefactor, taking as his wife a dowry-free woman, partly compromised by the relationship […]
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The love story of clerk Mitya and Lyuba Tortsova unfolds against the backdrop of life merchant's house. Ostrovsky once again delighted his fans with his remarkable knowledge of the world and amazing bright language. Unlike early plays, in this comedy there is not only the soulless manufacturer Korshunov and Gordey Tortsov, who boasts of his wealth and power. They are contrasted with those dear to the hearts of the soil people, simple and sincere people- kind and loving Mitya and the wasted drunkard Lyubim Tortsov, who remained, despite his fall, […]
The drama takes place in the Volga city of Bryakhimov. And in it, as everywhere else, cruel orders reign. The society here is the same as in other cities. The main character of the play, Larisa Ogudalova, is a homeless woman. The Ogudalov family is not rich, but, thanks to the persistence of Kharita Ignatievna, they make acquaintance with strongmen of the world this. The mother inspires Larisa that, although she does not have a dowry, she should marry a rich groom. And Larisa for the time being accepts these rules of the game, naively hoping that love and wealth […]
The focus of the writers of the 19th century is on a person with a rich spiritual life and a changeable inner world. The new hero reflects the state of the individual in an era of social transformation. The authors do not ignore the complex conditioning of the development of the human psyche by the external material environment. The main feature of the depiction of the world of heroes of Russian literature is psychologism , that is, the ability to show the change in the soul of the hero in the center different works we see “extra […]
It is not for nothing that the novel “The Master and Margarita” is called the “sunset novel” of M. Bulgakov. For many years he rebuilt, supplemented and polished his final work. Everything that M. Bulgakov experienced in his life - both happy and difficult - he devoted all his most important thoughts, all his soul and all his talent to this novel. And a truly extraordinary creation was born. The work is unusual, first of all, in terms of its genre. Researchers still cannot determine it. Many people consider The Master and Margarita mystical novel, referring to […]

Essay on literature.

Cruel morals in our city, cruel...
A.N. Ostrovsky, "The Thunderstorm".

The city of Kalinov, in which the action of “The Thunderstorm” takes place, is outlined by the author very vaguely. Such a place could be any town in any corner of vast Russia. This immediately increases and generalizes the scale of the events described.

Preparations for the reform to abolish serfdom are in full swing, which affects the life of all of Russia. Outdated orders give way to new ones, previously unknown phenomena and concepts arise. Therefore, even in remote towns like Kalinov, ordinary people are worried when they hear the steps of a new life.

What is this “city on the banks of the Volga”? What kind of people live there? The stage nature of the work does not allow the writer to directly answer these questions with his thoughts, but general idea It is still possible to write about them.

Externally, the city of Kalinov is a “blessed place.” It stands on the banks of the Volga, from the steepness of the river an “extraordinary view” opens. But most local residents“they either take a closer look or don’t understand” this beauty and speak disdainfully about it. Kalinov seems to be separated by a wall from the rest of the world. They don’t know anything here about what’s going on in the world. Residents of Kalinov are forced to draw all information about the world around them from the stories of “wanderers” who “they themselves have not walked far, but have heard a lot.” This satisfaction of curiosity leads to ignorance of the majority of citizens. They talk quite seriously about the lands “where people have dog heads” and that “Lithuania fell from the sky.” Among the residents of Kalinov there are people who “don’t give an account to anyone” for their actions; ordinary people, accustomed to such lack of accountability, lose the ability to see logic in anything.

Kabanova and Dikoy, living according to the old order, are forced to give up their positions. This embitters them and makes them even more furious. Dikoy attacks everyone he meets with abuse and “doesn’t want to know anyone.” Aware internally that there is nothing to respect him for, he, however, reserves the right to deal with the “little people” like this:

If I want, I will have mercy, if I want, I will crush.

Kabanova relentlessly pesters her family with ridiculous demands that contradict common sense. She is terrible because she reads instructions “under the guise of piety,” but she herself cannot be called pious. This can be seen from Kuligin’s conversation with Kabanov:

Kuligin: We must forgive our enemies, sir!
Kabanov: Go talk to your mother, what will she say to you about this.

Dikoy and Kabanova still seem strong, but they begin to realize that their strength is coming to an end. They have “nowhere to rush,” but life moves forward without asking their permission. That is why Kabanova is so gloomy, she cannot imagine “how the light will stand” when her order is forgotten. But those around them, not yet feeling the powerlessness of these tyrants, are forced to adapt to them,

Tikhon, deep down kind person, came to terms with his situation. He lives and acts as “mama ordered,” having finally lost the ability to “live with his own mind.”

His sister Varvara is not like that. Tyrant oppression did not break her will, she is bolder and much more independent than Tikhon, but her conviction “if only everything was sewn and covered” suggests that Varvara was unable to fight her oppressors, but only adapted to them.

Vanya Kudryash, a daring and strong character, has become accustomed to tyrants and is not afraid of them. The Wild One needs him and knows this, he will not “slave in front of him.” But the use of rudeness as a weapon of struggle means that Kudryash can only “take an example” from the Wild One, defending himself from him with his own techniques. His reckless daring reaches the point of self-will, and this already borders on tyranny.

Katerina is, as the critic Dobrolyubov put it, “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” Original and lively, she is not like any of the characters in the play. Inner strength gives it its folk character. But this strength is not enough to withstand Kabanova’s relentless attacks. Katerina is looking for support - and does not find it. Exhausted, unable to further resist oppression, Katerina still did not give up, but left the fight, committing suicide.

Kalinov can be located in any corner of the country, and this allows us to consider the action of the play on a scale throughout Russia. Everywhere tyrants are living out their days, weak people still suffer from their antics. But life moves forward tirelessly, no one can stop its rapid flow. A fresh and strong stream will sweep away the dam of tyranny... Characters freed from oppression will spill out in all their breadth - and the sun will break out in the “dark kingdom”!