The features of classicism in the play thunderstorm briefly. The image of Katerina in a thunderstorm

1. The image of a thunderstorm. time in the play.
2. Katerina's dreams and symbolic images of the end of the world.
3. Heroes-symbols: Wild and Boar.

The very title of A. N. Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" is symbolic. A thunderstorm is not only an atmospheric phenomenon, it is an allegorical designation of the relationship between the elders and the younger, those who have power and those who are dependent. “... There will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs ...” - Tikhon Kabanov is glad to escape from the house at least for a while, where his mother “gives orders, one is more menacing than the other.”

The image of a thunderstorm - a threat - is closely related to the feeling of fear. “Well, what are you afraid of, pray tell! Now every grass, every flower rejoices, but we hide, we are afraid, just what kind of misfortune! The storm will kill! This is not a storm, but grace! Yes, grace! You all have a thunderstorm! - Kuligin shames fellow citizens, trembling at the sound of thunder. Indeed, a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is as necessary as sunny weather. Rain washes away dirt, cleanses the earth, promotes better plant growth. A person who sees in a thunderstorm a phenomenon natural in the cycle of life, and not a sign of divine wrath, does not feel fear. The attitude to the thunderstorm in a certain way characterizes the heroes of the play. The fatalistic superstition associated with a thunderstorm and widespread among the people is voiced by the tyrant Wild and a woman hiding from a thunderstorm: “A thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment so that we feel ...”; "Yes, no matter how you hide! If someone's destiny is written, then you won't go anywhere. But in the perception of Dikiy, Kabanikh and many others, the fear of a thunderstorm is something familiar and not a very vivid experience. “That's it, you need to live in such a way as to always be ready for anything; there would be no such fear, ”Kabanikha remarks coolly. She has no doubt that the storm is a sign of God's wrath. But the heroine is so convinced that she leads the right way of life that she does not experience any anxiety.

Only Katerina experiences the liveliest thrill before a thunderstorm in the play. We can say that this fear clearly demonstrates her mental discord. On the one hand, Katerina longs to challenge the hateful existence, to meet her love. On the other hand, she is not able to renounce the ideas inspired by the environment in which she grew up and continues to live. Fear, according to Katerina, is an integral element of life, and it is not so much the fear of death as such, but the fear of the coming punishment, of one's own spiritual failure: “Everyone should be afraid. It’s not that scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts.

In the play, we also find another attitude to the storm, to the fear that it supposedly must evoke. “I’m not afraid,” say Varvara and the inventor Kuligin. The attitude to the thunderstorm also characterizes the interaction of one or another character in the play with time. Wild, Kabanikhs and those who share their view of the thunderstorm as a manifestation of heavenly displeasure, of course, are inextricably linked with the past. Internal conflict Katerina comes from the fact that she is unable to either break with ideas that are fading into the past, or keep the precepts of Domostroy in inviolable purity. Thus, she is at the point of the present, at a contradictory, critical time when a person must choose how to act. Varvara and Kuligin are looking to the future. In the fate of Varvara, this is emphasized by the fact that she leaves her native home to no one knows where, almost like folklore heroes setting off in search of happiness, and Kuligin is constantly in scientific search.

The image of time now and then slips through the play. Time does not move uniformly: it either shrinks to a few moments, or it stretches for an incredibly long time. These transformations symbolize different sensations and changes, depending on the context. “For sure, I used to go into paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over. Just like it all happened in one second” - this is how Katerina characterizes the special state of spiritual flight that she experienced in her childhood, attending church.

“The last times ... according to all signs, the last. You also have paradise and silence in your city, but in other cities it’s so simple sodom, mother: noise, running around, incessant driving! The people are just scurrying about, one there, the other here. The wanderer Feklusha interprets the acceleration of the pace of life as approaching the end of the world. Interestingly, the subjective sensation of time compression is experienced differently by Katerina and Feklusha. If for Katerina the quickly flying time of the church service is associated with a feeling of indescribable happiness, then for Feklusha the “diminution” of time is an apocalyptic symbol: “... Time is getting shorter. It used to be that summer or winter dragged on and on, you can’t wait until they end, and now you don’t even see how they fly by. The days and hours seem to have remained the same; but time, for our sins, is getting shorter and shorter.

No less symbolic are the images from Katerina's childhood dreams and the fantastic images in the wanderer's story. Alien gardens and palaces, the singing of angelic voices, flying in a dream - all these are symbols of a pure soul that does not yet know contradictions and doubts. But the unrestrained movement of time finds expression in Katerina's dreams: “I no longer dream, Varya, as before, paradise trees and mountains; but it’s as if someone is hugging me so hotly and hotly and leading me somewhere, and I follow him, I go ... ”. So Katerina's experiences are reflected in dreams. What she tries to suppress in herself rises from the depths of the unconscious.

The motifs of "vanity", "fiery serpent" that arise in Feklusha's story are not just the result of a fantastic perception of reality by a simple person, ignorant and superstitious. The themes sounding in the wanderer's story are closely connected with both folklore and biblical motifs. If the fiery serpent is just a train, then the vanity in Feklusha's view is a capacious and ambiguous image. How often do people rush to do something, not always correctly assessing real value his deeds and aspirations: “It seems to him that he is running after business; he is in a hurry, the poor man, he does not recognize people, it seems to him that someone is beckoning him; but it will come to the place, but it is empty, there is nothing, there is only one dream.

But in the play "Thunderstorm" not only phenomena and concepts are symbolic. The figures of the characters in the play are also symbolic. In particular, this applies to the merchant Diky and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, nicknamed Kabanikha in the city. A symbolic nickname, and even the surname of the venerable Savel Prokofich can rightfully be called a speaker. This is not accidental, because it was in the images of these people that the storm was embodied, not mystical heavenly wrath, but a very real tyrannical power, firmly entrenched on sinful earth.

This remark, made in passing, at the time of the appearance of the "Thunderstorm" was not specifically substantiated. It was not deployed with due completeness either by criticism or directing in the future. Meanwhile, it is precisely this, in our opinion, that indicates the most correct direction for resolving the question of the genre of the famous play.

The prescription of the tragedy, as you know, is calculated in millennia. In the process of development, it took on the most diverse concrete historical expression, but with all the modifications, until very recently, it retained its most essential general features.

The first feature of the tragedy is a deep conflict - moral, philosophical, ideological and political. The content of the tragedy are sharp violations of certain generally recognized norms, irreconcilable contradictions between the individual and social institutions. The second feature of the tragedy is the presence of the hero as a personality outstanding in his spiritual properties (mind, will, feelings). The third feature of the tragedy is that its main character enters into a struggle with unusual obstacles, internally or externally insurmountable. The fourth feature of the tragedy is the physical death of the protagonist, whose struggle ends in a catastrophe for him, causing fear and compassion in the reader and viewer.

V.G. Belinsky wrote: “The idea of ​​a terrible, gloomy event, a fatal denouement is combined with the idea of ​​tragedy”; “... Destroy a fatal catastrophe in any tragedy - and you will deprive it of all greatness, all its significance, from a great creation you will make an ordinary thing that will be the first to lose all its charming power over you”; "... the action produced by tragedy is a soul-shattering sacred horror". “The tragic, in Chernyshevsky's understanding, is the great suffering of a person or the death of a great person. In the first case, compassion and horror are aroused by the fact that suffering is great, in the second, by the fact that great suffering perishes ”; "chance or necessity is the cause of suffering and death - all the same, suffering and death are terrible."

The fifth feature of the tragedy is that it sets itself the ethical goal of a purifying and uplifting effect on the audience. Depicting suffering and the passions associated with it, tragedy is called upon to purify the bad passions of readers and spectators, arousing noble, lofty moral feelings in them.

Focusing its attention on the struggle that dooms the protagonist to suffering and death, the tragedy sometimes uses a certain amount of the comic.

“All human life,” Belinsky wrote, “consists in the clash and mutual influence of heroes, villains, ordinary characters, insignificant people and fools on each other ... and the subject of tragedy is life in all the complexity of its elements; therefore, tragedy "rightfully includes a comic element." Thus, in Pushkin's Boris Godunov, the comic element clearly emerges in the first folk scenes of the tragedy and in the scene in the tavern. Not a single tragedy of Shakespeare can do without humor.

In pointing out the most general constructive features of the tragic genre, we do not at all want to say that only a work that embodies all of them in itself can be called a tragedy. The specific historical practice of the tragic genre is much more complicated.

But the main feature of tragedy, which distinguishes it from drama at all stages of development, is that it depicts a contradiction that cannot be resolved under given living conditions, causing the death of the protagonist, represented by an outstanding person.

This defining feature is present in The Thunderstorm.

The main character of this play in the conditions of the depicted environment is undoubtedly distinguished by outstanding spiritual properties - moral and strong-willed. In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky rose "to the image of a tragic collision of living passion and a dead, inert way of life." Katerina is “a real tragic heroine: a deep personal feeling (love for Boris) struggles in her with the consciousness of family duty, sanctified by religion and public opinion of the entire “dark kingdom”. Personal will collides with the superior public law, and this leads the heroine to suffering and death.

In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky gave a brilliant synthesis of personal tragedy and deeper than its underlying, inevitable death of an entire social order. The death of the main character in this play is a harbinger of the collapse of the social relations that destroyed her. Personal and social tragedy is revealed here in the form of social and domestic relations.

Dobrolyubov rightly wrote about The Thunderstorm that "the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to the most tragic consequences."

"Thunderstorm" is a folk social tragedy. Folk in the sense that it expresses advanced democratic ideas for its time, depicts heroes closely connected with the life, customs and interests of the people (Kuligin, Katerina, Glasha). Not without reason, even its action takes place, for the most part, in the people's square.

In The Thunderstorm, Dobrolyubov explained, the Russian character is reproduced, reflecting the "new movement folk life”(vol. 6, p. 350), and the “Russian situation” surrounding this character (vol. 6, p. 363).

Throughout the development of The Thunderstorm, one can clearly feel the course of an inexorable "fate" that decomposes the centuries-old foundations of religious and moral concepts that once historically developed in society. Dobrolyubov pointed out "the decisive need for that fatal end that Katerina has in The Thunderstorm" (vol. 6, p. 361).

2

The tragedy of "Thunderstorm" is carried out by the conflict not only of the main character, but to some extent other characters.

Thus, tragic in its hopelessness is the position of the noble enthusiast Kuligin, who dreams of inventing wonderful machines, of the happiness and contentment of the working people, but doomed to repair small household utensils. In the same sense, even the fate of Tikhon, who is a miserable plaything of unbridled self-will, is tragic to a certain extent. About final words Tikhon Dobrolyubov wrote: “Tikhon's words give the key to understanding the play for those who would not even understand its essence earlier; they make the viewer think not about a love affair, but about this whole life (where the living envy the dead, and even some suicides). As a matter of fact, Tikhon's exclamation is stupid: the Volga is close, who is stopping him from throwing himself if life is nauseating? But that is precisely his grief, that is what is hard for him, that he can do nothing, absolutely nothing, even that in which he recognizes his good and salvation. This moral corruption, this annihilation of a person, affects us harder than any most tragic event: there you see simultaneous death, the end of suffering, often deliverance from the need to serve as a miserable instrument of some kind of vile thing; and here - constant oppressive pain, relaxation, a half-corpse, rotting alive for many years ... And to think that this living corpse is not one, not an exception, but a whole mass of people subject to the corrupting influence of the Wild and Kabanovs! And do not expect deliverance for them - this, you see, is terrible! But what a joyful, fresh life a healthy person breathes in us, finding in himself the determination to put an end to this rotten life, at all costs!..” (vol. 6, p. 362).

Depicting the social characters and customs of the pre-reform reality, Ostrovsky, as already noted, showed that the principles of absolute authority, then dominant in life, had long since lost all their meaning and moral force. They only hindered social development, suppressed the human personality. These conditions created the prerequisites for an insoluble contradiction in the fate of the people of that time, their tragedy.

The general coloring of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with its emphasized parallelism between a public storm and a natural-spontaneous storm.

« Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! - says Kuligin to Boris (d. I, yavl. 3). “What kind of people are here! - Kudryash turns to Boris. - You know. They will eat them, they will hammer them into the coffin ”(case III, scene 2, scene 2). This persistently repeated characterization of the manners of the city of Kalinov is illustrated by the entire figurative system of the play, which gives it an obviously tragic coloring.

It is quite natural that the comic elements in this play, in comparison with others, are minimal.

In the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is permeated with social optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the dark kingdom, to resistance to it, to the growth of forces designed to sweep away the power of the Wild and Boars. In the conditions of arbitrariness and violence, albeit still timidly, but bright Kuligins are already beginning to protest. Dissatisfaction with the despotism is reported to both Kudryash, and Varvara, and Glasha.

All this fully explains Dobrolyubov's testimony that " most of those who have read and seen this play agree that it makes an impression less heavy and sad than Ostrovsky's other plays (not to mention, of course, his sketches of a purely comic nature). There is even something refreshing and encouraging about The Thunderstorm. This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the precariousness (and the near end) of tyranny. Then the very character of Katerina, drawn against this background, also blows on us with a new life, which is revealed to us in her very death ”(vol. 6, p. 334).

3

The understanding of The Thunderstorm as a tragedy met not only with sympathy and support, but also with strong objections.

Speaking of the tragic genre, researchers are accustomed to dealing with historical plots, with images that are outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in one or another exceptional life situation. Tragedy was usually associated with heroes like Sophocles' Oedipus, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello, Pushkin's Boris Godunov, A.K. Tolstoy.

Ostrovsky created a tragedy based on the life material of a completely different social circle. He chose a woman from merchant environment, moreover, he emphasized not the exclusivity, but the typicality of her position, and transferred interest from intrigue to social characters and mores, attaching special importance to non-plot characters. Naturally, the tragedy sounded unusual, and this confused and confused many not only pre-October but also post-October critics, researchers and filmmakers.

Understanding the image of Katerina as a tragic heroine was difficult for many by D.I. Pisareva: "Katerina, having committed many stupid things, throws herself into the water and thus makes the last and greatest absurdity." The critic did not understand that the departure from life was the only type of protest that Katerina could have chosen. Passionately hating the despotism surrounding her, Katerina did not want to live on her knees. And this was reflected in her enormous willpower, spontaneous protest.

The death of Katerina undoubtedly increased hatred for despotism.

One cannot but agree with the comments of N.P. Kashin to the final scene of the play: “Something incredible happened: the weak-willed Tikhon found the strength to tell his mother the real truth that she killed Katerina. That house-building life, the true representative of which is Kabanikha, has cracked. The boar will “talk” at home with Tikhon, but this is no longer the former Tikhon. True, his fate can be predicted: he, of course, will get drunk, and this will only be an extra touch in the picture of “cruel morals”, but the authority of Kabanikh has already been shaken.

The death of Katerina, which strengthened and intensified Kuligin's indignation, caused the timid Tikhon to "revolt" against his mother, undoubtedly contributed to the destruction of the old order, that is, repeating the words of Pisarev, "the cessation or relief of suffering."

Opposing the attribution of "Thunderstorm" to the genre of tragedy, researchers most often referred to the fact that main character She has no real strength of character. “Katerina,” wrote V. Volkenstein, “feels the power of the supreme divine law over her. She violates not only family norms of a certain way of life, she rebels against God. The prophecy of a madwoman, prophetic voices that Katerina hears, a picture doomsday, which she notices at the moment of the strongest confusion - by all these means the author introduces us into the atmosphere of tragic "theism". However, Katerina is weak: barely feeling her sin, her "tragic guilt", Katerina dies, commits suicide; she is not able to stubbornly fight with God.

Pointing to Katerina's weakness, the researcher is clearly sinning against the truth. Tormented by the guilt of sinful love for Boris, she nevertheless decided to neglect social and domestic laws. environment and connect life with Boris. She asks Boris to take her to Siberia, where he is going at the behest of his uncle. But Boris was too weak to help Katerina break free. The only means of protest for Katerina was death.

This is how the playwright himself understood the death of his heroine: “Katerina,” Ostrovsky commented on his favorite image, “a woman with passionate nature And strong character. She proved this with her love for Boris and suicide. Katerina, although overwhelmed by the environment, gives herself up to her passion at the first opportunity, saying before that: “Come what may, and I will see Boris!” ... Katerina's situation became hopeless. You can't live in your husband's house. There is nowhere to go. To parents? Yes, by that time they would have tied her up and brought her to her husband. Katerina came to the conclusion that it was impossible to live as she lived before, and, having a strong will, she drowned herself.

The most topical for his time issues of struggle and protest against the fettering and oppressive beginnings of the old life, Ostrovsky elucidated in The Thunderstorm, mainly on the material of family and domestic relations. By this, he gave it the character of a family-everyday play, however, only in the form of expression, in material, and not in the essence of the questions posed in it. In The Thunderstorm, not private, but general, key questions of that era are posed.

Based on the real conditions of the depicted time, Ostrovsky showed his heroine in an environment of contradictions, which, despite all her rightness, with all her passionate desire to live, with all her craving for freedom, nevertheless turned out to be invincible for her and led to death, to disaster. . Having understood and embodied Katerina's spiritual drama and her very death as a passionate and heroic affirmation of a better life worthy of a person, Ostrovsky created in The Thunderstorm a wonderful social tragedy imbued with the spirit of a genuine nationality.

The play by A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" was written in 1859. In the same year, it was staged in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and for many years it has not left the stages of all theaters in the world. Such popularity and relevance of the play is explained by the fact that The Thunderstorm combines the features of social drama and high tragedy.

In the center of the plot of the play is the conflict of feeling and duty in the soul of the main character, Katerina Kabanova. This conflict is a hallmark of a classic tragedy.

Katerina is a very pious and religious person. She dreamed of a strong family, loving husband and children, but ended up in the Kabanikha family. Marfa Ignatievna put the house-building order and way of life above all else. Naturally, Kabanikha forced everyone in her family to follow her Charter. But Katerina, a bright and free person, could not come to terms with the cramped and stuffy world of Domostroy. She aspired to a completely different life. This desire led the woman to sin - betrayal of her husband. Going on a date with Boris, Katerina already knew that after that she would not be able to live. The sin of treason lay like a heavy stone on the soul of the heroine, with whom she simply could not exist. A thunderstorm in the city accelerated Katerina's national recognition - she repented of her treason.

The boar also found out about the sin of the daughter-in-law. She ordered to keep Katerina locked up. What awaited the heroine? In any case, death: sooner or later, Kabanikha, with her reproaches and instructions, would have brought the woman to the grave.

But the worst thing for Katerina was not that. The worst thing for the heroine is her internal punishment, her internal judgment. She herself could not forgive herself for her betrayal, her terrible sin. Therefore, the conflict in the play is resolved in the tradition of classic tragedy: the heroine dies.

But Dobrolyubov also pointed out that throughout the play, readers think "not about a love affair, but about their whole life." This means that the accusatory notes of the work concerned various aspects of Russian life. The play takes place in the provincial merchant town of Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga River. In this place, everything is so monotonous and stable that even news from other cities and from the capital does not reach here. Residents in the city are closed, distrustful, hate everything new and blindly follow the Domostroy way of life, which has long outlived its usefulness.

Wild and Kabanikha personify the "fathers of the city", enjoying power and authority. Wild is depicted as a complete tyrant. He swaggers before his nephew, before his family, but retreats before those who are able to rebuff him. Kuligin notices that all the atrocities in the city take place behind the high walls of merchant houses. Here they deceive, tyrannize, suppress, cripple lives and destinies. In general, Kuligin's remarks often expose the "dark kingdom", pass judgment on him, and even, to some extent, reflect the position of the author.

Other minor characters also play an important role in the play. So, for example, the pilgrim Feklusha reveals all the ignorance and backwardness of the "dark kingdom", as well as his imminent death, because a society guided by such views cannot exist. An important role in the play is played by the image of the half-mad Lady, who voices the idea of ​​sinfulness and inevitable punishment for both Katerina and the entire "dark kingdom".

Material overview

Material overview

A number of lessons are presented, accompanied by presentations. Lesson No. 1, 2. A play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" (1859). Traditions and customs of the city of Kalinov. Lesson #3, 4. Katerina in the fight for her human rights.

Lesson No. 1, 2. A play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" (1859). Traditions and customs of the city of Kalinov.

Purpose of the lesson: trace the reflection of the era in the play, its way of life and customs; to determine the moral issues of the play and its universal significance.

Tasks:

Acquaintance with the history of the creation of the play "Thunderstorm", the characters, the definition of the theme, idea, the main conflict of the play.

Development of skills in the analysis of a dramatic work, the ability to determine the author's position in the work.

Equipment: multimedia projector, screen, textbooks, notebooks, texts of the play, presentation for the lesson.

Lesson progress

1. Organizational moment.

The history of the writing of the play (Presentation No. 1 "The history of the creation of the play").

The play was begun by Alexander Ostrovsky in July and finished on October 9, 1859. On October 9, the playwright graduated from The Thunderstorm, and on October 14 he sent the play to censorship in St. Petersburg. The manuscript is stored in the Russian State Library.

The personal drama of the writer is also connected with the writing of the play "Thunderstorm". In the play's manuscript, next to Katerina's famous monologue: “And what dreams I had, Varenka, what dreams! Or golden temples, or some extraordinary gardens, and everyone sings invisible voices…”, there is Ostrovsky’s note: “I heard from L.P. about the same dream…”. L.P. is the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with whom the young playwright had a very difficult personal relationship: both had families. The husband of the actress was the artist of the Maly Theater I. M. Nikulin. And Alexander Nikolayevich also had a family: he lived in a civil marriage with a commoner Agafya Ivanovna, with whom he had children in common (all of them 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, she also became the first performer of the role.

In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. The natural beauty of 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 "Thunderstorm" was taken by Ostrovsky from the life of the Kostroma merchants. Kostromichi at the beginning of the 20th century could accurately indicate the place of Katerina's suicide.

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

2. Genre features of the play "Thunderstorm".

A thunderstorm is thundering in Moscow, notice how cleverly it is said, and be surprised.

The epigraph to the lesson is the words of the actress L.P. Kositskaya-Nikulina, who played the main character of the play Katerina, who became the playwright's wife.

Today we will begin our acquaintance with the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm". in front of you different points view of the appearance of this play and the definition of the genre. Analyze the choice of the genre of the authors of these quotes and highlight the features that the author focuses on.

November 16, 1859 was the premiere.<...>The play made collections, because in addition to fine connoisseurs and connoisseurs of the elegant, the Moscow public flowed and flowed to the performances, attracted by the name of the playwright and the controversy surrounding the play. There were many spectators in "wolf coats", the most simple, direct, and therefore most dear to the author's heart.<...>As for the people of the old aesthetic concepts, whose tastes and morals were living out their days, they could no longer noticeably damage the success of the drama. Thunderstorm was a turning point for this audience. They still grumbled at her, but after the success was determined, the new countdown of the author's fame went precisely from this drama. And already to his next compositions, "Thunderstorm" was applied as a measure of "elegant", and his new plays were reproached for the merits of the former, obnoxiously received masterpiece. This is how literary history moves.

From the day of the first performance of The Thunderstorm in literary and theatrical criticism up to the present day, there have been disputes about the genre of this play and the originality of its main conflict. The author himself, paying tribute to traditions, as well as a number of critics and literary critics, saw in The Thunderstorm a social and everyday drama, since it is characterized by special attention to everyday life. In addition, the entire history of the drama that preceded Ostrovsky did not know such a tragedy in which the heroes were private individuals, and not historical or legendary.

S.P. Shevyrev, who happened to be at one of the first performances, considered The Thunderstorm a petty-bourgeois comedy.

Ostrovsky wrote the Russian Comedy to the merchants' guild, started with the first, brought it to the third - and now, having gone bankrupt, she is discharged with tears into the bourgeoisie. Here is the result of the "Thunderstorm", which I saw last week ... It seems to me that Kositskaya should have strangled herself, and not drowned herself. The last one is too old... Strangled would be more modern.S. P. Shevyrev - A. N. Verstovsky. October 25, 1859

You have never revealed your poetic powers in such a way as in this play... In The Thunderstorm you took a plot that is full of poetry through and through, a plot that is impossible for someone who does not possess poetic creativity... Katerina's love belongs to the same phenomena of a moral nature, to which the world's cataclysms in physical nature belong... Simplicity, naturalness, and a kind of meek horizon that envelops all this drama, over which heavy and ominous clouds pass from time to time, further enhances the impression of an imminent catastrophe.

A strong, deep, and mostly positively general impression was made not by the second act of the drama, which, although with some difficulty, can still be drawn to a punishing and accusatory kind of literature, but by the end of the third, in which (the end) there is absolutely nothing else , except for the poetry of folk life - boldly, widely and freely captured by the artist in one of its most essential moments, not allowing not only exposure, but even criticism and analysis, this moment is captured and transferred poetically directly ... The name for this writer, for such a great, despite his shortcomings, shortcomings, the writer is not a satirist, but a folk poet. The word for unraveling his activities is not "tyranny", but "nationality". Only this word can be the key to understanding his works.

"Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, the most decisive work Ostrovsky; the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to the most tragic consequences... There is even something refreshing and encouraging in The Thunderstorm. This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the precariousness and the near end of tyranny. Then the very character of Katerina, drawn against this background, also breathes new life into us, which opens up to us in her very death ... Russian life has finally reached the point where virtuous and respectable, but weak and impersonal beings do not satisfy public consciousness and are recognized good for nothing. There was an urgent need for people, though less beautiful, but more active and energetic.

If we understand the death of Katerina as the result of a collision with her mother-in-law, if we see her as a victim of family oppression, then the scale of the heroes will indeed turn out to be too small for a tragedy. But if you see that the fate of Katerina was determined by the clash of two historical eras, then the “heroic” interpretation of her character, proposed by Dobrolyubov, will turn out to be quite legitimate.

The Thunderstorm is a classic tragedy. Her characters appear from the very beginning as complete types - carriers of one character or another - and no longer change to the end. The classicism of the play is emphasized not only by the traditional tragic conflict between duty and feeling, but most of all by the system of image-types.<...>It is no coincidence that the play's reasoner, Kuligin, endlessly recites classic verses. The lines of Lomonosov and Derzhavin are called upon to play the role of a kind of positive beginning in the hopeless atmosphere of The Thunderstorm.<...>

Kuligin reads poems of a high calm to the point and out of place, and Ostrovsky subtly puts into his mouth not the main, not the decisive words of the great poets. But both the author and the educated connoisseur of the play knew what lines followed the hooligan declaration. Eternal doubts: “I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am God!”, The last questions: “But where, nature, is your law?” and “Tell me, what is it that worries us so much?”.

These unsolvable problems are solved by "Thunderstorm". Therefore, Ostrovsky so insistently appeals to classicism that he seeks to give significance to the petty-bourgeois drama. The level of approach is overestimated, just as the point of view on the city of Kalinov is established by remarks - from top to bottom, from the "high bank of the Volga".As a result, the petty-bourgeois drama turns into a petty-bourgeois tragedy.P. L. Vail, A. A. Genis. Native speech. 1991

♦ What is your impression after reading The Thunderstorm on your own? Whose point of view about the genre of the play seems more convincing to you?

3. Reread the play

Exercise 1

Alexander Ostrovsky

Storm

Drama in five acts

Drama as a genre of literature is one of the main genres (types) of drama as a kind of literature along with tragedy and comedy. Drama reproduces predominantly privacy people, but its main goal is not to ridicule morals, but to depict the individual in her dramatic relationship with society.

At the same time, like tragedy, drama tends to recreate acute contradictions, but at the same time, these contradictions are not so tense and allow for the possibility of a successful resolution.

The concept of drama as a genre developed in the second half of the 18th century. at the enlighteners. Drama 19th-20th century is predominantly psychological. Separate varieties of drama merge with related genres, using their means of expression, for example, the techniques of tragicomedy, farce, and mask theater.

Task 2

The list of actors (poster) of the play is a very significant part of its exposition and gives the first idea of ​​the city of Kalinovo and its inhabitants. What impressions can the viewer get by opening this poster? Pay attention to: a) the order of the characters in the list (social and family plans); b) the nature of names and surnames; c) the situation in the city; d) place and time of action.

Note: The disclosure of the meaning of names and surnames in the plays of A.N. Ostrovsky helps to comprehend both the plot and the main images. Although surnames and names cannot be called “speaking” in this case, since this is a feature of the plays of classicism, they are speaking in the broad - symbolic - sense of the word.

Persons:

Savel Prokofievich Wild, merchant, significant person in the city.

Boris Grigoryevich, his nephew, is a young man, decently educated.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha), a wealthy merchant's wife, widow.

Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, her son.

Catherine, his wife.

Barbara, Tikhon's sister.

Kuligin, a tradesman, a self-taught watchmaker looking for a perpetuum mobile.

Vanya Kudryash, a young man, Dikov's clerk.

Shapkin, tradesman.

Feklusha, stranger.

Glasha, the girl in Kabanova's house.

A lady with two lackeys, an old woman of 70, half crazy.

City dwellers of both sexes.

The action takes place in the city of Kalinovo, on the banks of the Volga, in the summer.

There are 10 days between steps 3 and 4.

Task 3

E. G. Kholodov speaks of the amazing ability of A. N. Ostrovsky to find such names, patronymics and surnames for his heroes, which are so organic and natural that they seem the only possible ones. He cites the opinions of various literary scholars that the names indicate the attitude of the author towards his characters, that they reflect their essential moral aspirations or inner qualities, that, using meaningful names and surnames to characterize the characters, Ostrovsky strictly followed the traditions of classicism.

♦ Do you think Ostrovsky followed the classical tradition in choosing first and last names for his characters? Explanations for the task. To prove the thesis that Ostrovsky follows the rules of classicism, researchers put forward the following assumptions: Katerina in Greek means “eternally pure”, her patronymic name is Petrovna, which translates as “stone” - her name and patronymic, the playwright allegedly emphasizes high morality, strength, determination, the firmness of the character of the heroine. Diky's patronymic "Prokofich" in Greek means "successful", Varvara - "rough", Glasha - "smooth", that is, sensible, reasonable.

Task 4

Please note that in the list of characters, some characters are presented in full - first name, middle name, last name, others - only first name and middle name, others - only first name or only middle name. Is it by chance? Try to explain why.

4. Verification homework: Presentation by students on the topic “Shapeful analysis of heroes” (individual reports).

1. Savel Prokofievich Wild, merchant, significant person in the city.

Wild in the northern Russian regions meant "stupid, crazy, insane, half-witted, crazy", and wild - "fool, beat, go crazy." Initially, Ostrovsky intended to give the hero the patronymic Petrovich (from Pyotr - “stone”), but there was no strength, firmness in this character, and the playwright gave Diky the patronymic Prokofievich (from Prokofy - “successful”). This was more suitable for a greedy, ignorant, cruel and rude person who at the same time was one of the richest and most influential merchants in the city.

Character naming principles, i.e. the use of a one-term, two-term and three-term anthroponym are directly related to the social status of the character. The trinomial is found not only among the heads of families (i.e., emphasizes the family role), but also among nobles, wealthy merchants, i.e. people with high social status. At the same time, it does not matter what his place in the system of characters, his role in the plot. For example, in the play "Thunderstorm", Savel Prokofievich Dikoi, an episodic character participating in three phenomena, has a three-term anthroponym.

2. Boris Grigoryevich, his nephew, a young man, decently educated.

Boris Grigorievich is the nephew of Dikiy. He is one of the weakest characters in the play. Boris himself says about himself: “I walk around completely dead ... Driven, hammered ...”

After all, Boris's mother "could not get along with her relatives", "it seemed very wild to her." So, Boris is Wild by his father. What follows from this? Yes, it follows that he failed to defend his love and protect Katerina. After all, he is the flesh of the flesh of his ancestors and knows that he is entirely in the power of the “dark kingdom”.

Boris - kind, good educated person. It stands out sharply against the background of the merchant environment. But he is by nature weak person. Boris is forced to humiliate himself in front of his uncle, Wild, for the sake of hope for the inheritance that he will leave him. Although the hero himself knows that this will never happen, he nevertheless fawns before the tyrant, enduring his antics. Boris is unable to protect himself or his beloved Katerina. In misfortune, he only rushes about and cries: “Oh, if only these people knew how it feels for me to say goodbye to you! My God! God grant that someday it will be as sweet for them as it is now for me ... You villains! Fiends! Oh, if only there was strength! But Boris does not have this power, so he is unable to alleviate Katerina's suffering and support her choice, taking her with him.

Katerina cannot love and respect such a husband of hers, but her soul yearns for love. She falls in love with Diky's nephew, Boris. But Katerina fell in love with him, in the apt expression of Dobrolyubov, “in the desert”, because, in essence, Boris is not much different from Tikhon, perhaps a little more educated than him. She chose Boris almost unconsciously, the only difference between him and Tikhon is his name (Boris is Bulgarian for “fighter”).

Boris's lack of will, his desire to receive his part of his grandmother's inheritance (and he will receive it only if he is respectful with his uncle) turned out to be stronger than love.

3. Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha), wealthy merchant's wife, widow.

Kabanova is a heavy, heavy woman. It is no coincidence that Kabanova bears the name Martha - “lady, mistress of the house”: she really holds the house completely in her hands, all household members are forced to obey her. In the New Testament, Martha is the sister of Mary and Lazarus, in whose house Christ stayed. When Christ comes to them, both sisters tried to show respect to the high Guest. Martha, who was distinguished by her lively and active disposition, immediately began to take care of preparing the treat. Her sister Mary, a quiet and contemplative person, in deep humility sat at the feet of the Savior and listened to His words. The different character of the sisters - the practical Martha and the contemplative Mary - became a symbol of different attitudes in the life of Christians. These two attitudes can also be seen in Ostrovsky’s play: Kabanikha perceives mainly the formal side of the patriarchal world that has developed over the centuries way of life, therefore, she tries so hard to preserve long-obsolete customs, the meaning of which she no longer understands. Katerina, like Maria, embodies a different approach to life: she sees the poetry of the patriarchal world, it is no coincidence that ideal patriarchal relationships based on mutual love are recreated in her monologue: “I used to get up early; if it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring water with me and that’s it, water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers. Then we’ll go to church with mama, all of them are wanderers - our house was full of wanderers; yes pilgrimage. And we will come from the church, we will sit down for some work, more like gold velvet, and the wanderers will begin to tell: where they were, what they saw, different lives, or they sing poetry. So it's time for lunch. Here the old women lie down to sleep, and I walk in the garden. Then to vespers, and in the evening again stories and singing. That was good!” The difference between Kabanikhi and Katerina in their views on life is clearly manifested in the scene of Tikhon's departure.

Kabanova. You boasted that you love your husband very much; I see your love now. Another good wife, after seeing her husband off, howls for an hour and a half, lies on the porch; and you see nothing.

Katerina. Nothing! Yes, I can't. What to make people laugh!

Kabanova. The trick is small. If I loved, so I would have learned. If you don’t know how to do it, you could at least make this example; still more decent; and then, apparently, in words only.

In fact, Katerina is very worried when seeing Tikhon off: it is no coincidence that she throws herself on his neck, asks to take her with her, wants him to take a terrible oath of allegiance from her. But Kabanikha misunderstands her actions: “What are you hanging on your neck, shameless! Don't say goodbye to your lover! He is your husband - the head! Al order do not know? Bow down at your feet!" Kabanikh's teachings echo the words of Martha, who is unhappy that Mary does not help her, but listens to Christ.

It is interesting that Ignatievna, that is, "ignorant" or "ignoring." They do not notice what is happening with people close to them, they do not understand that their ideas about happiness are completely different. Both are absolutely sure that they are right, they force others to live by their own rules. And thus they are indirectly to blame for the tragedy of Larisa and Katerina, Kabanikha provokes Varvara to escape.

Her speech is a mixture of rudeness, a cold imperative tone with feigned humility and sanctimonious sighs. From her words one can see the attitude towards the family: she despises Tikhon, is cold towards Varvara and hates Katerina.

Widows in Ostrovsky's plays, as a rule, regardless of their social status, have three-term anthroponyms: they are independent women who have to raise children and arrange their fates. In the analyzed plays, both widows also have a high social position.

4. Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, her son.

The connection with the word "quiet" is obvious. Tikhon is afraid to argue with his mother, he cannot even stand up for Katerina, protect her from her unfair accusations.

Kabanov Tikhon Ivanovich - one of the main characters, the son of Kabanikh, the husband of Katerina. In the list of characters, it follows directly Kabanova, and it is said about him - "her son." Such is the actual position of Tikhon in the city of Kalinov and in the family. Belonging, like a number of other characters in the play (Barbara, Kudryash, Shapkin), to younger generation Kalinovtsev, T, in its own way marks the end of the patriarchal way of life. The youth of Kalinov no longer wants to adhere to the old ways in everyday life. However, Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash are alien to the maximalism of Katerina, and unlike the central heroines of the play, Katerina and Kabanikha, all these characters stand on the position of worldly compromises. Of course, the oppression of their elders is hard for them, but they have learned to get around it, each according to their character. Formally recognizing the power of elders and the power of customs over themselves, they constantly go against them. But it is against the background of their unconscious and compromise position that Katerina looks significant and morally lofty.

Tikhon in no way corresponds to the role of a husband in patriarchal family: to be the ruler, but also the support and protection of the wife. A mild-mannered and weak man, he is torn between the harsh demands of his mother and compassion for his wife. He loves Katerina, but not in the way that, according to the norms of patriarchal morality, a husband should love, and Katerina’s feeling for him is not the same as she should have for him according to her own ideas: “No, how not to love! I feel sorry for him!” she says to Barbara. “If it’s a pity, it’s not love. Yes, and for nothing, we must tell the truth, ”Varvara replies. For Tikhon, breaking free from his mother's care means going on a spree, drinking. “Yes, mother, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live with my will! - he answers the endless reproaches and instructions of Kabanikh. Humiliated by his mother's reproaches, he is ready to vent his annoyance on Katerina, and only the intercession of his sister Varvara, who secretly releases him from his mother to drink at a party, stops the scene.

At the same time, Tikhon loves Katerina, trying to teach her to live in her own way (“What’s the point of listening to her! After all, she needs to say something! upset by the attacks of the mother-in-law). And yet, he does not want to sacrifice two weeks “without a thunderstorm” over himself, to take Katerina on a trip. He doesn't really understand what's going on with her. When his mother forces him to pronounce a ritual order to his wife, how to live without him, how to behave in the absence of her husband, neither Kabanikha nor he, saying: “Do not look at the guys,” do not suspect how close all this is to the situation in their family. And yet Tikhon's attitude to his wife is humane, it has a personal connotation. After all, it is he who objects to his mother: “But why should she be afraid? It's enough for me that she loves me." Finally, when Katerina asks to take terrible oaths from her, T. frightenedly replies: “What are you doing! What you! What a sin! I don't want to listen!" But, paradoxically, it is T.'s gentleness in Katerina's eyes that is not so much a virtue as a disadvantage. He cannot help her either when she is struggling with a sinful passion, or after her public repentance. And his reaction to betrayal is not at all the same as dictated by patriarchal morality in such a situation: “Here, mother says that she must be buried alive in the ground so that she will be executed! And I love her, I'm sorry to touch her with my finger. He cannot fulfill Kuligin's advice, cannot protect Katerina from the wrath of her mother, from the ridicule of the household. He is "sometimes affectionate, then angry, but he drinks everything." And only over the body of his dead wife T. decides to rebel against his mother, publicly blaming her for the death of Katerina and it is with this publicity that Kabanikha is dealt the most terrible blow.

Young Kabanov not only does not respect himself, but also allows his mother to treat his wife rudely. This is especially evident in the scene of farewell, before leaving for the fair. Tikhon repeats word for word all the instructions and moralizing of his mother. Kabanov could not resist his mother in anything, he slowly became an inveterate drunkard and thereby became even more weak-willed and quiet.

Tikhon is a kind, but weak person, he rushes between fear of his mother and compassion for his wife. The hero loves Katerina, but not in the way that Kabanikha requires - severely, "like a man." He does not want to prove his power to his wife, he needs warmth and affection: “Why should she be afraid? It's enough for me that she loves me." But Tikhon does not receive this in the house of Kabanikhi. At home, he is forced to play the role of an obedient son: “Yes, mama, I don’t want to live by my own will! Where can I live with my will! His only outlet is business trips, where he forgets all his humiliations by drowning them in wine. Despite the fact that Tikhon loves Katerina, he does not understand what is happening to his wife, what mental anguish she is experiencing. Tikhon's gentleness is one of his negative qualities. It is because of her that he cannot help his wife in her struggle with passion for Boris, he cannot alleviate the fate of Katerina even after her public repentance. Although he himself reacted gently to his wife’s betrayal, not being angry with her: “Here’s mother says that she must be buried alive in the ground so that she will be executed! And I love her, I'm sorry to touch her with my finger. Only over the body of his dead wife Tikhon decides to rebel against his mother, publicly blaming her for the death of Katerina. It is this rebellion in front of people that inflicts the most terrible blow on Kabanikha.

It is significant that Tikhon, the married son of Kabanikha, is designated as her son: he was never able to free himself from the power of his mother, to become truly independent.

5. Katerina, his wife.

Katerina is translated from Greek as "pure". Despite the fact that she commits two terrible sins: adultery and suicide, she remains morally pure, therefore she is opposed to all other characters. The heroine is aware of her guilt, cannot hide it, and therefore confesses to Tikhon that she has committed a sin right on the street. She feels the need for punishment; sincerely suffers that he cannot repent, cannot feel the sinfulness of his love. She silently endures Kabanikh's reproaches, understanding their justice (before the heroine did not want to listen to undeserved reproaches), and, according to Tikhon, "melts like wax." An important role in the fate of Katerina was played by Varvara, who herself arranged her meeting with Boris. Ostrovsky does not use the canonical form (Ekaterina), but the folk one, emphasizing the folk-poetic side of the character of the heroine, her folklore worldview, which is expressed in the desire to fly, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe “grave”: “Under the tree there is a grave ... how good! .. Her sun warms it, wets it with rain ... in the spring grass will grow on it, such soft ... birds will fly to the tree, they will sing, they will take out children, flowers will bloom: yellow, red, blue ... all kinds. A large number of words with diminutive suffixes is also characteristic of folklore.

This image in its own way indicates the end of the patriarchal way of life. T. no longer considers it necessary to adhere to the old ways in everyday life. But, by virtue of his nature, he cannot do as he sees fit and go against his mother. His choice is worldly compromises: “Why listen to her! She needs to say something! Well, let her talk, and you pass by your ears!

All the characters call Katerina only by her first name, Boris calls her by her first name and patronymic once when she comes to see him on a date. The appeal is also due to the situation of communication: Boris is surprised that Katerina herself made an appointment, he is afraid to approach her, to start a conversation.

A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm". Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" was written in the 50-60s of the XIX century. This is the time when in Russia there was serfdom, but the arrival of a new force was already clearly visible - raznochintsev-intellectuals. A new topic appeared in the literature - the position of women in the family and society. The central place in the drama is occupied by the image of Katerina. The relationship with the rest of the characters in the play determines its fate. Many events in the drama take place to the sound of thunder. On the one hand, this is a natural phenomenon, on the other hand, it is a symbol of a state of mind, therefore each of the heroes is characterized through their attitude to a thunderstorm. Katerina is madly afraid of thunderstorms, which shows her mental confusion. An internal, invisible thunderstorm rages in the soul of the heroine herself.

To understand the tragic fate of Katerina, consider what this girl is. Her childhood passed in the patriarchal-house-building time, which left an imprint on the character of the heroine and on her views on life. Katerina's childhood years were happy and cloudless. Her mother loved her very much, in the words of Ostrovsky, "did not have a soul in her." The girl took care of the flowers, of which there were many in the house, embroidered “on velvet with gold”, listened to the stories of praying women, went to church with her mother. Katerina is a dreamer, but the world of her dreams does not always correspond to reality. The girl does not seek to understand real life, at any moment she can give up everything that does not suit her, and again plunge into her world, where she sees angels. Her upbringing gave her dreams a religious tinge. This girl, so inconspicuous at first glance, has strong will, pride and independence, which manifested themselves already in childhood. While still a six-year-old girl, Katerina, offended by something, ran away to the Volga in the evening. It was a kind of protest of a child. And later, in a conversation with Varya, she will point to another side of her character: “I was born so hot.” Her free and independent nature is revealed through the desire to fly. "Why don't people fly like birds?" - these seemingly strange words emphasize the independence of Katerina's character.

Katerina appears before us, as it were, from two angles. On the one hand, this is a strong, proud, independent person, on the other, a quiet, religious and submissive girl to fate and parental will. Katerina's mother was convinced that her daughter "would love every husband," and, seduced by a profitable marriage, married her to Tikhon Kabanov. Katerina did not love her future husband, but meekly obeyed the will of her mother. Moreover, due to her religiosity, she believes that her husband is given by God, and tries to love him: “I will love my husband. Tisha, my dear, I will not exchange you for anyone. Having married Kabanov, Katerina found herself in a completely different world, alien to her. But you can’t leave him, she is a married woman, the concept of sinfulness binds her. The cruel, closed world of Kalinov is fenced off by an invisible wall from the external "uncontrollably huge" world. We understand why Katerina so dreams of escaping the city and flying over the Volga, over the meadows: “I would fly into the field and fly from cornflower to cornflower in the wind, like a butterfly.”

Imprisoned in the "dark kingdom" of ignorant wild and boar, faced with a rude and despotic mother-in-law, an inert husband in whom she does not see support and support, Katerina protests. Her protest turns into love for Boris. Boris is not much different from her husband, except perhaps in education. He studied in Moscow, at a commercial academy, he has a broader outlook in comparison with other representatives of the city of Kalinov. It is difficult for him, like Katerina, to get along among Dikoy and Kabanovs, but he is just as inert and weak-willed as Tikhon. Boris can do nothing for Katerina, he understands her tragedy, but advises her to submit to fate and thereby betrays her. Desperate Katerina reproaches him for ruining her. But Boris is only an indirect reason. After all, Katerina is not afraid of human condemnation, she is afraid of the wrath of God. The main tragedy takes place in her soul. Being religious, she understands that cheating on her husband is a sin, but forte her nature cannot come to terms with the environment of the Kabanovs. Katerina is tormented by terrible pangs of conscience. She is torn between her lawful husband and Boris, between a righteous life and a fall. She cannot forbid herself to love Boris, but she executes herself in her soul, believing that by her act she rejects God. These sufferings bring her to the point where, unable to bear the torments of her conscience and fearing God's punishment, she throws herself at her husband's feet and confesses everything to him, putting her life into his hands. Katerina's mental anguish is intensified by a thunderstorm.

No wonder Wild says that the storm sends punishment. “I didn’t know that you were so afraid of thunderstorms,” Varvara tells her. “How, girl, do not be afraid! Katherine answers. - Everyone should be afraid. It’s not that it’s scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you, as you are, with all your sins ... ”A clap of thunder was the last drop that overflowed Katerina’s cup of suffering. Everyone around her reacts to her recognition in their own way. Kabanova offers to bury her in the ground alive, while Tikhon, on the contrary, forgives Katerina. The husband forgave, Katerina, as it were, received absolution.

But her conscience remained restless, and she did not find the desired freedom and was again forced to live in the “dark kingdom”. The pangs of conscience and the fear of forever remaining among the Kabanovs and becoming one of them lead Katerina to the thought of suicide. How could a pious woman decide to commit suicide? Endure torment and the evil that is here on earth, or get away from all this of your own free will? Katerina is driven to despair callous attitude to her people and pangs of conscience, so she rejects the opportunity to stay alive. Her death was inevitable.

In the image of his heroine, Ostrovsky drew new type original, whole, selfless Russian girl who challenged the kingdom of the wild and boar. Dobrolyubov rightly called Katerina "a bright ray in a dark kingdom."

6. Varvara, Tikhon's sister.

Wild, self-willed characters, except for Wild, are represented in the play by Barbara (she is a pagan, "barbarian", not a Christian and behaves accordingly).

Her name means "rough" in Greek.

This heroine is really quite simple spiritually, rude. She knows how to lie when necessary. Its principle is “do whatever you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.” Varvara is kind in her own way, loves Katerina, she helps her, as it seems to her, find love, arranges a date, but does not think about what consequences all this may have. This heroine is in many respects opposed to Katerina - according to the principle of contrast, scenes of a date between Kudryash and Varvara, on the one hand, and Katerina and Boris, on the other, are built.

Barbara from Greek as "who came from foreign lands", i.e. ignorant wild ( neighboring nations were backward compared to the Greeks). Indeed, Barbara easily steps over morality: she meets with Kudryash, then, when her mother locks her up, she runs away with him. She does not obey the rules that forbid her to do what she wants without experiencing the slightest remorse. Her motto is: “do whatever you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.” Therefore, Katerina's torment is incomprehensible to her, she does not feel guilty for pushing her to sin.

Barbara cannot be denied intelligence, cunning and lightness; before marriage, she wants to be in time everywhere, to try everything, because she knows that “girls walk around themselves as they want, father and mother don’t care. Only women are locked up.” Lying is the norm for her. In a conversation with Katerina, she directly says this:

“Katerina. I can't lie, I can't hide anything.

Barbara. Well, you can’t do without it ... Our whole house rests on that. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.

Barbara adapted to the "dark kingdom", learned its laws and rules. It feels power, strength, desire to deceive. She, in fact, is the future Boar, because an apple does not fall far from an apple tree.

7. Kuligin, tradesman, self-taught watchmaker, looking for a perpetuum mobile.

"Self-taught mechanic", as the hero presents himself. Kuligin, in addition to the well-known associations with Kulibin, also evokes the impression of something small, defenseless: in this terrible swamp he is a sandpiper - a bird and nothing more. He praises Kalinov as a sandpiper praises his swamp.

P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky, in a review of The Thunderstorm, wrote: “... Mr. Ostrovsky very skillfully gave this man famous name Kulibin, who brilliantly proved in the past century and at the beginning of this century what an unlearned Russian person can do with the power of his genius and unbending will.

But not everything is so gloomy, there are also living, sensitive souls in the "dark kingdom". This is a self-taught mechanic Kuligin, looking for a perpetual motion machine. He is kind and active, obsessed with a constant desire to do something useful for people. However, all his good intentions run into a thick wall of misunderstanding, indifference, ignorance. So, on an attempt to put steel lightning rods on the houses, he receives a fierce rebuff from Diky: “The storm is sent to us as a punishment, so that we feel, but you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of horns, God forgive me.”

Kuligin is a reasoner in the play, a condemnation of the “dark kingdom” is put into his mouth: “Cruel, sir, the morals in our city are cruel ... Whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor so that he can make even more money for his free labors ..."

But Kuligin, like Tikhon, Boris, Varvara, Kudryash, adapted to the "dark kingdom", resigned himself to such a life, he is just one of the inhabitants of the "dark kingdom".

8. Vanya Kudryash, young man, clerk Dikov.

The use of a diminutive form of the name is indicative: not Ivan, but Vanya, he is not yet independent in everything: he serves Wild, although he can afford to be rude to him, knowing that he needs him.

It is not clear whether the anthroponym Kudryash is a surname or a nickname. Such a surname exists in the language along with the surname Kudryashov. Most likely, the anthroponym reflects the process of transition from a nickname to a surname, which corresponds to the anthroponymic situation in the second half of the 19th century. The use of an anthroponym in the play is close to the use of a surname: in the list of characters he is designated as Vanya Kudryash, and Tikhon says that Varvara "ran away with Kudryash and Vanka."

The clerk of the Wild, but unlike other employees of the merchant, knows how to stand up for himself. He is smart and sharp on the tongue, his characteristics of other characters, judgments about life are accurate and figurative. The image of Kudryash has analogies in Koltsov's poetry. You can, for example, establish a connection with Likhach Kudryavich (“The First Song of Likhach Kudryavich”), about whom it is said:

With joy-fun

Hop curls curl;

With no care

They don't split...

Right on time

Rivers flow with honey;

And from morning to night

Songs are being sung...

Varvara's friend, Ivan Kudryash, is a match for her. He is the only one in the city of Kalinov who can answer Wild. “I am considered a rude; why is he holding me? So, he needs me. Well, that means I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me ... ”, says Kudryash. In conversation, he behaves cheekily, smartly, boldly, boasts of his prowess, red tape, knowledge of the "merchant establishment". Curly is the second Wild, only he is still young.

In the end, Varvara and Kudryash leave the "dark kingdom", but does this escape mean that they have completely freed themselves from old traditions and laws and will become a source of new laws of life and honest rules? Hardly. Once free, they will most likely try to become masters of life themselves.

9. Shapkin, tradesman.

The townspeople are often named by their last names: Kuligin, Shapkin.

10. Feklusha, wanderer.

Feklusha tells the inhabitants of the city about other countries. They listen to her, focus their attention only on this. At the same time, she imperceptibly tells the truth about people. But they don't hear it because they don't want to hear it. Feklusha praises the city of Kalinov, the quiet life in it. People are happy that their city is so magnificent, they don’t need anything else. They only support Feklusha with alms, which is what she seeks.

Everyone calls the pilgrim Feklusha by name, using the folk diminutive form, which reflects the real use of names in speech (remember, for example, the pilgrim Fedosyushka in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace").

In the "dark kingdom" the wanderer Feklusha enjoys great respect and respect. Feklusha's stories about the lands where people with dog heads live are perceived as irrefutable information about the world.

11. Glasha, a girl in Kabanova's house.

Servants, clerks in Ostrovsky's dramaturgy are named, as a rule, only by name: it is often used diminutive form Name: Glasha.

Here, it was the satirical female images that were one of the expressions of the comedic principle. This includes the wanderer Feklusha and the “girl” Glasha. Both images can be safely called grotesque-comedy. Feklusha is presented as a narrator of folk tales and legends, appeasing those around her with her stories about how “saltans rule the earth” and “whatever they judge, everything is wrong”, and about lands “where all people are with dog heads”. Glasha, on the other hand, is a typical reflection of ordinary “Kalinovites”, who listen with reverence to such Feklush, confident that “it’s still good that there are good people; no, no, yes, and you will hear what is happening in the world, otherwise you would have died like fools. Both Feklusha and Glasha belong to the “dark kingdom”, dividing this world into “ours” and “alien”, into patriarchal “virtue”, where everything is “cool and decent”, and into external fuss, from which the old order and time begin "come to belittlement." With these characters, Ostrovsky introduces the problem of absurd ignorance and lack of enlightenment of the old conservative way of life, its inconsistency with modern trends.

12. A lady with two lackeys, an old woman of 70 years old, half crazy.

13. City dwellers of both sexes.

Secondary characters are the backdrop against which the tragedy of a desperate woman unfolds. Each face in the play, each image was a step on the ladder that led Katerina to the banks of the Volga, to a tragic death.

Make up a story using the listened material on the topic "Traditions and customs of the city of Klinov."

Traditions and customs of the city of Klinov.

Reading the works of Ostrovsky, we involuntarily find ourselves in the atmosphere that prevails in this society, and become direct participants in the events that take place on the stage. We merge with the crowd and, as if from the outside, observe the life of the heroes.

So, being in the Volga city of Kalinov, we can observe the life and customs of its inhabitants. The bulk is made up of the merchants, whose life the playwright showed in his plays with such skill and knowledge of the matter. It is it that is the “dark kingdom” that rules the show in such quiet provincial Volga cities as Kalinov.

Let's get acquainted with the representatives of this society. At the very beginning of the work, we learn about Wild, a "significant person" in the city, a merchant. Here is how Shapkin says about him: “Look for such and such a scolder, like Savel Prokofich among us, to look for more. No way will a person be cut off. ” Immediately we hear about Kabanikha and understand that they are “of the same field” with Wild.

“The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices, ” exclaims Kuligin, but against the background of this beautiful landscape, a bleak picture of life is drawn, which appears before us in The Thunderstorm. It is Kuligin who gives an accurate and clear description of the life, manners and customs that prevail in the city of Kalinov. He is one of the few who is aware of the atmosphere that has developed in the city. He directly speaks about the lack of education and ignorance of the masses, about the impossibility of earning money by honest labor, breaking out into people from the bondage of noble and important persons in the city. They live far from civilization and do not really strive for it. The preservation of the old foundations, the fear of everything new, the absence of any law and the power of force - this is the law and the norm of their life, this is what these people live and are content with. They subjugate everyone who surrounds them, suppress any protest, any manifestation of personality.

Ostrovsky shows us typical representatives this society - Boar and Wild. These persons occupy a special position in society, they are feared and therefore respected, they have capital, and, consequently, power. For them, there are no general laws, they have created their own and force others to live in accordance with them. They seek to subjugate those who are weaker and "cajole" those who are stronger. They are despots both in life and in the family. We see this unquestioning submission of Tikhon to his mother, and Boris to his uncle. But if Kabanikha scolds “under the guise of piety”, then Dikoy swears like “he broke loose from the chain”. Neither one nor the other does not want to recognize anything new, but wants to live according to the house-building orders. Their ignorance, combined with stinginess, makes us not only laugh, but also bitterly smile. Let us recall the reasoning of Dikoy: “What else is there electricity! .. A thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment, so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and horns of some kind, God forgive me.”

We are struck by their heartlessness in relation to people dependent on them, their unwillingness to part with money, to deceive in settlements with workers. Recall what Dikoy says: “I was talking about a fast, about a great one, and here it’s not easy and slip a little man; I came for money, carried firewood ... I sinned: I scolded, so scolded ... I almost nailed it.

These rulers also have those who unwittingly help them to exercise their dominance. This is Tikhon, who, with his silence and weak will, only contributes to strengthening the power of his mother. This is Feklusha, an uneducated, stupid writer of all sorts of fables about civilized world, these are the townspeople living in this city and resigned to such orders. All of them together are the "dark kingdom" that is presented in the play.

Ostrovsky, using various artistic means, showed us a typical country town with its customs and mores, a city where arbitrariness, violence, complete ignorance reigns, where any manifestation of freedom, freedom of the spirit is suppressed.

These are the cruel customs of the city of Kalinov. Residents can be divided into representatives of the "dark kingdom" and representatives of the new life. How do they live together?

Which of the heroes managed to challenge the cruel world of the "dark kingdom"? Yes, this is Katherine. Why does the author choose it?

5. Work with the tutorial on the page

The main character of the play is the young merchant Katerina Kabanova. But in order to understand her character, the reasons for her actions, one must know what kind of people she lives among, who surrounds her. The characters are introduced in the first act of the play. 1-4 the phenomenon of the first act is an exposition, and in the fifth-ninth acts the actual setting of the drama takes place.

So Katerina is rushing about in this dark forest among animal-like creatures. Women's names in Ostrovsky's plays are very bizarre, but the name of the main character almost always extremely accurately characterizes her role in the plot and fate. Katerina - "pure". Katerina is a victim of her purity, her religiosity, she could not bear the splitting of her soul, because she loved - not her husband, and severely punished herself for this. It is interesting that Marfa Ignatievna, that is, "ignorant" or, scientifically, "ignoring" stands, as it were, on the sidelines of Katerina's tragedy, but, of course, is to blame (not directly, but indirectly) for the death of her daughter-in-law.

6. Summing up the drama "Thunderstorm"

Theme of the play "Thunderstorm"	A clash between new trends and old traditions, between those who oppress and those who are oppressed, between the desire for the free expression of one's feelings, human rights, spiritual needs, and the social and family-household orders that prevailed in pre-reform Russia.
The idea of ​​the play	Exposing social orders. The nature in which people live is beautiful, but the social order is ugly. Under these orders, the majority of the population is materially and spiritually dependent on a wealthy minority.
Conflicts	The main one is between the old, already obsolete, authoritarian social and everyday principles, which are based on feudal-serf relations, and new, progressive aspirations for equality and freedom. human personality. The main conflict combines a node of conflicts: identify these conflicts and fill in the table in the following lessons.

6. Homework: by actions. Tasks No. 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26.

Individual task: prepare a presentation on the topic

1) “Symbols of the play “Thunderstorm”;

2) "The image of Katerina in the assessment of critics" (based on articles by Dobrolyubov and Pisarev).

Lesson No. 3, 4. A play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" (1859). Katerina in the fight for her human rights.

Purpose of the lesson: trace the reflection of the era in the play; reveal the meaning of the title of the drama; to determine the moral issues of the play and its universal significance.

Tasks:

Determination of the compositional structure of the play and artistic analysis leading scenes; acquaintance with critical articles to the drama by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm", analysis of the symbolism of the play;

Development of skills in analyzing a dramatic work and the ability to determine the author's position in a work;

Education of the moral reading position of students, interest in Russian classical literature, history and culture.

Equipment: multimedia projector, screen, textbooks, notebooks, texts of the play, presentation for the lesson.

1. Organizational moment.

2. Composition of the play(Presentation "To the play").

In The Thunderstorm, as in a dramatic work, the plot is based on the development of the conflict. The drama consists of five acts, each of which depicts a certain stage of the struggle.

1 action - the social background of the conflict, the inevitability (foreboding) of the conflict;

2 act - the irreconcilability of contradictions and the severity of the conflict between Katerina and the "dark kingdom"

3 act - freedom gained by Katerina - a step towards the tragic death of the heroine;

4 action - Katerina's mental confusion - a consequence of the freedom she gained;

5 act - Katerina's suicide as a challenge to tyranny.

Each action is divided into separate scenes, i.e. on such segments of the text, which depict the development of the conflict in any one perspective, is seen through the eyes of any one character. The conflict in The Thunderstorm develops rapidly and intensely, which is achieved by a special arrangement of the scenes: with each new scene, starting from the outset of the conflict, the tension (dramatic intensity) of the struggle grows.

3. Turning the pages of the play.

FIRST ACT

Action one. Public garden on the high bank of the Volga; beyond the Volga, a rural view. There are two benches and several bushes on the stage.

The social background of the conflict, the inevitability (foreboding) of the conflict is an exposition.

Task 5

Some researchers (A. I. Revyakin, A. A. Anastasyev, A. I. Zhuravleva and others) noted the presence in the play of a “slow”, detailed exposition, which takes on a “deeply effective character”, that is, it combines preliminary information about the background of the action with the image of the main characters in the action itself, dialogues, etc. Some consider the entire first act as an exposition, others limit it to the first three phenomena.

Find the boundaries of the exposition in the first act of "Thunderstorm" and justify your opinion. What is the effectiveness of the Thunderstorm exposition, what is its significance for understanding the conflict of the play? At what point does the action begin? Justify your point of view.

Task 6

Checking homework: a detailed description on the topic "Landscape of the city of Kalinov", using remarks, monologues of Kuligin, replicas of characters (action I - remark, phenomenon 1; action III - phenomenon 3; action IV - remark).

What do you think is the role of landscape in the play?

- What picture appears before the viewer when the curtain opens? Why does the author draw this picturesque picture before us? (The beauty of nature emphasizes the ugliness, the tragedy of what is happening in the world of people). Ostrovsky, for another reason, chose a public garden as the scene of the play, and the time of action - after the service in the church - it is easier and more natural to introduce the characters whose path lies through the boulevard.

Task 7

Please note that immediately after Kuligin’s accusatory monologue “Cruel morals, sir, cruel in our city,” Feklusha’s remark addressed to her interlocutor follows: “Blaalepie, dear, blaalepie! .. Live in the promised land! And the merchants are all a pious people, adorned with many virtues!..” (act I - phenomenon 3).

Why, in your opinion, did Ostrovsky put Kuligin's and Feklusha's evaluative statements side by side? What role do they play in the first act, being placed side by side?

Task 8

Checking homework: What do they talk about with their young relatives Dika and Kabanikha?

Compare the features of their language. What vocabulary prevails in their speech? Give examples (action I - phenomena 2, 5).

Task 9

Checking homework: Katerina's story about her life before marriage in her own home (act I - phenomenon 7).

Think about why the world in which she spent her childhood and early youth, seems to her so joyful, free and happy, and in the Kabanovs' house "everything seems to be from bondage", although, according to Varvara, "it's the same with us."

What does the word "order" mean in the mouth of Kabanikhi?

How is the emergence of a frank conversation between Katerina and Varvara motivated?

Analyze Katherine's speech. How does the heroine's speech reveal her inner world?

♦ Is it possible to find an explanation for this in the following excerpts from the 16th century book Domostroy (Monument of Old Russian Literature of the 1st half of the 16th century), which is often referred to by critics and literary scholars when considering the Thunderstorm conflict? Is Domostroy to blame for the tragic fate of Katerina in the Kabanovs' house?

I bless, a sinner, a name, and I teach, and instruct, and admonish my son, a name, and his wife, and their children, and households: follow all Christian laws and live with a clear conscience and in truth, doing the will of God with faith and keeping the commandments him, and affirming himself in the fear of God, in a righteous life, and teaching his wife, instructing his household in the same way, not by violence, not by beatings, not by heavy slavery, but like children, so that they are always reassured, fed and clothed, and in warm home, and always in order.<...>

<...>Yes, to yourself, to the master, and to the wife, and to the children, and to the household - do not steal, do not fornicate, do not lie, do not slander, do not envy, do not offend, do not slander, do not encroach on someone else's, do not condemn, do not dabble, do not ridicule, not to remember evil, not to be angry with anyone, to be obedient and submissive to the elders, to the middle ones - friendly, to the young and the poor - friendly and merciful, to rule every business without red tape and especially not to offend the worker in paying, to endure any offense with gratitude for the sake of God: both reproach and reproach, if rightly reproached and reproached, to accept with love and avoid such recklessness, but not to take revenge in response.<...>

Husbands should instruct their wives with love and exemplary instruction; the wives of their husbands ask about the strict order, about how to save the soul, to please God and the husband, and to arrange their house well, and to obey the husband in everything; and what the husband punishes, with that willingly agree and fulfill according to his instructions: and above all, have the fear of God and stay in bodily purity ... Whether a husband comes, whether a simple guest, she would always sit over needlework herself: for that, she is honored and glory, and praise to the husband, the servants would never wake up the mistress, but the mistress herself woke the servants and, going to bed, after labors, would always pray.<...>

<...>Invite the churchmen, and the poor, and the weak, and the poor, and the suffering, and the wanderers, to your house and, as you can, feed, drink, and warm, and give alms from your righteous labors, for both in the house and in the market, and on the way, all sins are cleansed by this: after all, they are intercessors before God for our sins.

Domostroy. Monument of ancient Russian literature of the first half of the 16th century

♦ What house-building norms do the characters of "Thunderstorm" observe and what do they violate in their daily life? How is this reflected in the development of the main conflict of the play?

Task 10

Get acquainted with the point of view of a modern literary critic on the considered monologue of Katerina. Do you agree with her? If yes, then give the development of this thought by involving the text of the entire play.

It is very important that Katerina ... did not appear from somewhere from the expanses of another life, another historical time (after all, the patriarchal Kalinov and contemporary Moscow, where vanity boils, or Railway, which Feklusha talks about, is different historical time), but was born, formed in the same "Kalinov" conditions. Ostrovsky talks about this in detail already in the exposition of the play, when Katerina tells Varvara about her life as a girl. This is one of Katerina's most poetic monologues. Here is drawn an ideal version of patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general. main motive of this story is the motive of all-penetrating mutual love ... But it was “will”, which did not at all conflict with the centuries-old way of closed life, the whole circle of which is limited by homework and religious dreams. This is a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the common, since he has not yet separated himself from this community. That is why there is no violence, coercion here. The idyllic harmony of patriarchal family life has remained in a very distant past.<...>

Katerina lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality - harmony between the individual and the moral ideas of the environment - has disappeared and the ossified form of relations is based on violence and coercion. Sensitive Katerina caught it ...

A. I. Zhuravleva. Thousand-year-old monument of Russia. 1995

SECOND ACT

Action two. A room in the Kabanovs' house.

The irreconcilability of contradictions and the acuteness of Katerina's conflict with the "dark kingdom" are the beginning.

Task 11

Some critics, contemporaries of Ostrovsky, reproached him for deviating from the laws performing arts, in particular, in the abundance of characters and scenes that are completely unnecessary, not related to the basis of the play. These persons include Feklusha and Glasha, Kuligin and Dikoy, Kudryash and Shapkin, a lady with two lackeys. These reproaches addressed to the playwright were refuted by N. A. Dobrolyubov:

In The Thunderstorm, the need for so-called "unnecessary faces" is especially visible: without them, we cannot understand the faces of the heroine and can easily distort the meaning of the whole play, which happened to most of the critics.N. A. Dobrolyubov. A beam of light in a dark realm. 1860

Try to figure out what significance the phenomenon of the second act has in the play, the dialogue between Feklusha and Glasha, which, it would seem, is very far from the events depicted in The Thunderstorm. (If this task turns out to be difficult for you, find one of the possible answers in the article by N. A. Dobrolyubov “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” (2nd part)).

Task 12

Checking homework: It is believed that the scene of Tikhon's departure is one of the most important in the play both for revealing the characters of the characters and for its function in the development of intrigue (phenomenon 3).

Determine the role of this scene in the development of the action "Thunderstorms". Does Katerina's attitude towards her husband change at the moment of parting?

What feelings do Katerina and Kabanikha experience at the same time? Write directing remarks to their lines to help understand their emotional state.

Why does Kabanikha confine herself to remarks, discontent that Katerina does not howl on the porch after her husband's departure, but does not insist, does not dare to force her daughter-in-law to fulfill this custom?

Task 13

Let's return to the conversation between Katerina and Tikhon before his departure:

"Kabanov. After all, you are not alone, you will stay with your mother.

Katerina. Don't talk to me about her, don't tyrannize my heart! Oh, my misfortune, my misfortune! (Cries.) Where can I, poor thing, go? Who can I grab onto? My fathers, I am dying!”

Before that, Katerina says about Kabanikh: “She offended me!”, And Tikhon replies: “Take everything to heart, so you will soon fall into consumption. Why listen to her! She needs to say something! Well, let her talk, and you pass by your ears.

What is Katerina's offense? Why is she not reassured by Tikhon's words, his advice not to pay attention to her mother-in-law? Can Katerina, as we know her from the first two actions, not take it to heart, pretend that she obeys the ridiculous demands of the Kabanikh and thereby ensure a relatively calm existence for herself in the house?

What is the meaning of the word "heart" in this dialogue?

Is this fragment of the dialogue between Katerina and Tikhon connected with her final decision to meet with Boris, and if so, to what extent?

Task 14

Reread Katerina's final monologue about the key in the second act and follow how in her thoughts she gradually comes to the decision to meet with Boris (from the words "Throw him, throw him far away, throw him into the river so that they never find him" to the words "Oh, if only the night hurry up!..”) What phrases of this monologue do you consider decisive and why?

Task 15

The testimony of a contemporary about how one of the famous actresses played Kabanova is interesting: in the first act, she went on stage strong, domineering, “flint-woman”, menacingly uttered her instructions to her son and daughter-in-law, then, left alone on the stage, suddenly everything changed and became kind. It was clear that the menacing look was just a mask she wore in order to "keep the house in order." Kabanova herself knows that the future is not hers: “Well, at least it’s good that I won’t see anything.” (According to the book: M. P. Lobanov. Ostrovsky. 1979.)

Is such a stage interpretation of the image of Kabanikha possible? What is the reason for the very condescending attitude of Kabanikh to the behavior of Varvara and uncompromising severity towards Katerina?

Do you agree with the statement that Marfa Ignatievna is far from insensitive as a mother?

THIRD ACT

Action three. Scene 1. Street. The gate of the Kabanovs' house, there is a bench in front of the gate.

The freedom gained by Katerina is a step towards the tragic death of the heroine - development.

Task 16

Checking homework: Expressively read the dialogue between Kabanikhi and Feklusha from Apparition I.

What is its main subtext? Determine the mood of the interlocutors. What intonational means can you express it?

What is more - comic or dramatic in the scene? Can we say that it is topical even today?

Task 17

Checking homework: Why do you think Diky needed to “confess” to the Boar (phenomenon II)?

Why does he, the petty tyrant, the sovereign ruler of his household, not want to return home (“I have a war going on there”)? Why is Dikoy so concerned?

Task 18

In a conversation with Wild Boar, she constantly uses the word “heart”: “... What do you want me to do with myself when I have such a heart!”, “Here it is, what kind of heart I have!”, “That’s up to what my heart brings me ... "; the words “angry”, “angry”, “angry” sound in parallel. The boar asks: “Why are you bringing yourself into your heart on purpose?”

What is the meaning of Ostrovsky and his characters in the word "heart"?

Task 19

Read the critically acclaimed ravine scene.

You know this moment, magnificent in its poetry - this hitherto unprecedented night of rendezvous in a ravine, all breathing with the proximity of the Volga, all fragrant with the smell of herbs of its wide meadows, all sounding with free songs, "funny", secret speeches, all full of charm of passion deep and tragic - fatal. After all, it was created as if not an artist, but a whole people created here.A. A. Grigoriev - I. S. Turgenev. 1860

Is this really the key scene in determining the direction of the play?

What do you think attracts Katerina to Boris?

Task 20

Building the scene in a ravine according to the laws of music, Ostrovsky leads in it two contrasting, but merging in a common chord themes: the anxious, difficult love of Katerina and Boris and the free, reckless love of Varvara and Kudryash. It is these two faces - Varvara and Kudryash - with the greatest force personify the will that even Kabanikha and Dikoy cannot suppress.

A. N. ANASTASEV "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky. 1975

Do you agree with this literary point of view? Are other assessments of the Thunderstorm characters possible in this scene and in its very composition?

Checking homework: What role do the songs of Kudryash and Varvara play in these scenes?

FOURTH ACT

Action four. In the foreground is a narrow gallery with the vaults of an old building that is beginning to collapse; here and there grass and bushes; behind the arches there is a bank and a view of the Volga.

Katerina's mental turmoil is a consequence of the freedom she has gained - the climax.

Task 21

Checking homework: What new in the manners of the "dark kingdom" do we learn from the dialogue between Kuligin and Boris? How does the topic of this dialogue relate to the conversation between Kudryash and Boris that preceded the meeting? How do these dialogues relate to the main event of the third act?

Task 22

Read the second phenomenon of the fourth act, analyze the author's remarks and, on the basis of this, write director's remarks for the dialogue between Diky and Kuligin, revealing the internal state of the speakers. They will help you determine your interpretations of these characters in the play.

Sample task completion

Director's remarks

Kuligin. Yes, at least for you, your degree, Savel Prokofich. That would be, sir, on the boulevard, on clean place and put. And what is the expense? The expense is empty: a stone column (shows with gestures the size of each thing), a copper plate, so round, and a straight hairpin (shows with a gesture), the simplest one. I'll fit it all in, and I'll cut out the numbers myself. Now you, your degree, when you deign to walk, or others who are walking, now come up and see what time it is. And that sort of place is beautiful, and the view, and everything, but it seems to be empty. With us, too, your degree, and there are passers-by, they go there to look at our views, after all, an ornament - it is more pleasant for the eyes.

option: persistently, with dignity, bitterly, with restraint, quietly, etc. option: loudly, excitedly, hastily, respectfully, etc. (Options of your choice.)

♦ Checking homework: Why does Ostrovsky accompanies Diky's speech with author's remarks much more often than Kuligin's?

Why did Derzhavin's verses quoted by Kuligin anger Wild? Why did he promise to send Kuligin to the mayor? What did he see in the verses? (“Hey, venerable ones, listen to what he says!”)

Task 23

In criticism and literary criticism, Kuligin was usually evaluated either as an advanced person, an intellectual from the people, his surname was associated with the surname of the inventor Kulibin, or as a person who understands everything, but downtrodden, a kind of victim of the “dark kingdom”.

Get acquainted with another point of view belonging to a modern literary critic:

Not only Kalinov's ignorant townsfolk, but also Kuligin, who performs some of the roles of the reasoning hero in the play, is still flesh from the flesh of Kalinov's world. His image is consistently painted in archaic tones... Technical ideas Kuligina is a clear anachronism. The sundial, which he dreams about, came from antiquity, the lightning rod is a technical discovery of the 18th century. Kuligin is a dreamer and a poet, but he writes "in the old way", like Lomonosov and Derzhavin. And his stories about the mores of Kalinov's townsfolk are sustained in even more ancient stylistic traditions, reminiscent of old moralizing stories and apocrypha. Kind and gentle, dreaming of changing the lives of his countrymen, having received an award for the discovery of a perpetual motion machine, he seems to them to be something like an urban holy fool.

A. I. Zhuravleva. Thousand-year-old monument of Russia. 1995

Task 24

Get acquainted with the following interpretations of the scene of Katerina's repentance.

Reviewing the production of The Thunderstorm at the Maly Theater (1962), E. G. Kholodov notes that in the scene of repentance, Rufina Nifontova, who played Katerina, rises to a truly tragic force.

No, it was not a thunderstorm, not the prophecies of a crazy old woman, not a fear of fiery hell that prompted this Katerina to confess. For her honest and whole nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. How humane, with what deep pity, Katerina says, looking into Tikhon's eyes: "My dear!" At that moment, it seems, she forgot not only Boris, but also herself. And it is in this state of self-forgetfulness that she shouts out the words of recognition, without thinking about the consequences. And when Kabanikha asks: “With whom ... Well, with whom?”, she firmly and proudly, without a challenge, but with dignity, answers: “With Boris Grigorievich.”

E. G. Kholodov. "Storm". Small theatre. A. N. Ostrovsky on the Soviet stage. 1974

If the passion that seized her led Katerina to Boris, then why did she publicly, publicly repent of her sin in the fourth act? After all, she knew, she could not help but know that this would entail shame, abuse, not to mention the collapse of love. However, in this most difficult and risky scene, Ostrovsky created a psychologically indisputable situation in which Katerina could not do otherwise if she remained herself. Not a “coincidence of empty circumstances”, but the greatest, cruel, insurmountable test for a pure and believing soul, Katerina met in a destroyed church gallery. Consistently - in full agreement with the truth of life, with the reality of the situation and at the same time with the great dramatic art - the writer brings down blow after blow on his heroine.

In a series of these beats - as in music - one feels the contrast, the increase in action, the harbinger of a thunderstorm and the thunderstorm itself. First, a woman’s remark thrown in passing: “If it’s written to someone, you won’t go anywhere.” Then such a joke, seemingly inappropriate in this tense atmosphere, by Tikhon: “Katya, repent, brother, if you are guilty of anything.” Further - unexpected appearance Boris is a living reminder of ill-fated love. In the dissonance of the conversation, one can hear that a thunderstorm will kill someone today - “because look, what color is not new!”. A sharp note of increasing tension is brought in by the Lady with her prophecies. But this is not enough! Hiding against the wall, Katerina sees the image of "fiery Gehenna" and can no longer stand it - she tells everything ...

In the drama "Thunderstorm" there is absolutely no concept of "fate", the tragic guilt of the hero and retribution for it as a constructive element. Moreover, the author's efforts are aimed at criticizing the notion of the hero's tragic guilt. Ostrovsky convincingly shows that modern society destroys the best, most gifted and pure natures, but such observations lead him to conclude that the relations that prevail in modern society are subject to change.L. M. Lotman. A. N. Ostrovsky and Russian dramaturgy of his time. 1961

Compare the proposed interpretations. Which of them, in your opinion, helps to better understand the motives of Katerina's behavior?

Task 25

A. N. Anastasiev. "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky. 1975

It is important that it is here, in Kalinovo, in the soul of an outstanding, poetic Kalinovskaya woman, that a new attitude to the world is born, a new feeling that is still unclear to the heroine herself ... This is a vague feeling that Katerina cannot, of course, rationally explain - the awakening sense of personality . In the soul of the heroine, naturally, it does not take the form of civil, public protest - this would be inconsistent with the warehouse of concepts and the whole sphere of life of a merchant's wife - but the form of individual, personal love.A. I. Zhuravleva. Thousand-year-old monument of Russia. 1995

Why did suicide turn out to be the only way out of this situation for Katerina?

4. The main characters of the play.

Task 29

The world of patriarchal relations dies, and the soul of this world passes away in torment and suffering, crushed by the ossified form of worldly connections that has lost its meaning and in itself pronounces a moral judgment, because in it the patriarchal ideal lives in its primordial content. That is why in the center of Groza, next to Katerina, there is not one of the heroes of the “love triangle”, not Boris or Tikhon, heroes of a completely different, everyday, everyday scale, but Kabanikha ... Both of them are maximalists, both will never reconcile with human weaknesses and do not compromise. Finally, both of them believe in the same way, their religion is harsh and merciless, there is no forgiveness for sin, and they both do not remember mercy. Only Kabanikha is all chained to the ground, all her forces are aimed at holding, collecting, upholding the way of life, she is the guardian of the form. And Katerina embodies the spirit of this world, its dream, its impulse. Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified world of the city of Kalinov, a folk character of amazing beauty and strength can arise, whose faith - truly Kalinov's - is nevertheless based on love, on a free dream of justice, beauty, some kind of higher truth.

A. I. Zhuravleva. Thousand-year-old monument of Russia. 1995

Who, in your opinion, along with Katerina, can be called the main characters of the play and why?

Is it possible to agree with Zhuravleva and accept Katerina and Kabanikha as two poles of Kalinov's world? If yes, then justify with examples from the text of the play.

Task 30

The fact is that the character of Katerina, as he is portrayed in The Thunderstorm, is a step forward not only in Ostrovsky's dramatic activity, but in all of our literature. It corresponds to the new phase of our people's life, it has long demanded its implementation in literature, our best writers circled around it; but they could only understand its need and could not comprehend and feel its essence; Ostrovsky managed to do this ...

In Katerina we see a protest against Kabanov's conceptions of morality, a protest carried to the end, proclaimed both under domestic torture and over the abyss into which the poor woman has thrown herself.N. A. Dobrolyubov. A beam of light in a dark realm. 1860

Katerina's whole life consists of constant internal contradictions; every minute she rushes from one extreme to another; today she repents of what she did yesterday, and yet she herself does not know what she will do tomorrow; she confuses her own life and the lives of other people at every step; finally, having mixed up everything that was at her fingertips, she cuts the tightened knots with the most stupid means, suicide, and even such suicide, which is completely unexpected for herself.D. I. Pisarev. Motives of Russian drama. 1864

As paradoxical as it may seem at first glance, it seems to us that both critics were right in this case. Each from his position, although within the same ideological and socio-political tradition. The very nature of Katerina, objectively, apparently, contained such elements that opened up the possibility of a certain duality in his assessment: under certain conditions, "Katerina" could "overthrow dark kingdom"and become an element of a renewed society - such an opportunity was objectively laid down by history in their character; under other historical circumstances, the “Katerinas” submitted to the social routine of this kingdom and themselves appeared as an element of this kingdom of the Foolovites. Dobrolyubov, evaluating Katerina only from one side, concentrated all his attention as a critic only on the spontaneously rebellious side of her nature; Pisarev was struck by the exceptional darkness of Katerina, the antediluvian nature of her social consciousness, her peculiar social “Oblomovism”, political bad manners.

A. A. Lebedev. Playwright in the face of criticism. 1974

♦ Can this point of view of a modern literary critic explain the reasons for the disagreement between Dobrolyubov and Pisarev in assessing Katerina?

5. Symbolism of "Thunderstorm" (Presentation "Symbolism of the play").

1. Names of heroes (see above). The use of proper names is determined by two main trends. Really existing (or existing) names and toponyms are used, although they are unusual (Ostrovsky does not give widely used surnames to his heroes, he often chooses rare names); surnames can be invented, but always taking into account the anthroponymic norms of the second half of the 19th century. At the same time, Ostrovsky strove to make names and surnames "talking", he often "revived" the semantics of even the most ordinary name.

The semantics of the surname in many cases turns out to be veiled, names and patronymics can be neutral.

The semantics of the anthroponym may not be related at all to the character of the character: Ostrovsky, most likely, sought to ensure that the viewer did not always have the desire to correlate the name and character.

At the same time, the playwright took into account the use of the name in a particular social environment. And here the principles of naming (single-member, two-member, three-member) are especially important. The functioning of anthroponyms in a work is determined primarily by social and family roles.

2. Toponyms are expressive in Ostrovsky's plays.

In "Thunderstorm" the action takes place in the city of Kalinov. There are two cities of Kalinov, perhaps in the time of Ostrovsky they were settlements. Kalina is often mentioned in proverbs and sayings, and in folk songs is a stable concurrency to the girl.

All the settlements mentioned by the characters really exist: Moscow, Paris, Tyakhta, the place where Dikoy sends Boris is a village in the Altai Territory.

It is unlikely that Ostrovsky hoped that the audience knew this village, so he specifies that Boris is going to the "Chinese", which is not far from the truth, taking into account the phonosemantics of the toponym: only a very remote place can be called that way.

3. One of the important symbols is the Volga River and a rural view on the other bank.

The river as a boundary between the dependent, unbearable for many life on the bank, on which the patriarchal Kalinov stands, and the free, cheerful life there, on the other bank. The opposite bank of the Volga is associated by Katerina, the main character of the play, with childhood, with life before marriage: “What a frisky I was! I've completely screwed up with you." Katerina wants to be free from a weak-willed husband and a despotic mother-in-law, to "fly away" from the family with house-building principles. "I speak: why people do not fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on the torus, you are drawn to fly,” says Katerina to Varvara. Katerina recalls birds as a symbol of freedom before throwing herself off a cliff into the Volga: “It’s better in a grave ... Under a tree there is a grave ... how good! ... The sun warms it, wets it with rain ... in the spring grass grows on it, so soft ... birds will fly up a tree, they will sing, they will take the children out ... "

The river also symbolizes an escape towards freedom, but it turns out that this is an escape towards death.

And in the words of the mistress, a half-crazy old woman, the Volga is a whirlpool that draws beauty into itself: “This is where beauty leads. Here, here, in the very pool!

4. The symbol of the bird and flight in Katerina's dreams. No less symbolic are the images from Katerina's childhood dreams and the fantastic images in the wanderer's story. Alien gardens and palaces, the singing of angelic voices, flying in a dream - all these are symbols of a pure soul that does not yet know contradictions and doubts. But the unrestrained movement of time finds expression in Katerina's dreams: “I no longer dream, Varya, as before, paradise trees and mountains; but it’s as if someone is hugging me so hotly and hotly and leading me somewhere, and I follow him, I go ... ”. So Katerina's experiences are reflected in dreams. What she tries to suppress in herself rises from the depths of the unconscious.

5. Some motifs in the characters' monologues also have a symbolic meaning.

In act 3, Kuligin says that the home life of the rich people of the city is very different from the public life. Locks and closed gates, behind which “households eat food and tyrannize the family,” are a symbol of secrecy and hypocrisy.

In this monologue, Kuligin denounces the "dark kingdom" of tyrants and tyrants, whose symbol is a lock on a closed gate so that no one can see and condemn them for bullying family members.

In the monologues of Kuligin and Feklusha, the motif of the court sounds. Feklusha speaks of a trial that is unfair, albeit Orthodox. Kuligin, on the other hand, speaks of a trial between merchants in Kalinov, but this trial cannot be considered fair either, since the main reason for the emergence of court cases is envy, and because of the bureaucracy in the judiciary, cases are dragged out, and every merchant is only glad that “yes, already and he will become a penny. The motive of the court in the play symbolizes the injustice reigning in the "dark kingdom".

The paintings on the walls of the gallery, where everyone runs during a thunderstorm, also have a certain meaning. The paintings symbolize obedience in society, and the “fiery Gehenna” is hell, which Katerina, who was looking for happiness and independence, is afraid of, and is not afraid of Kabanikh, because outside the house she is a respectable Christian and she is not afraid of God's judgment.

Carry another meaning and the last words of Tikhon: “It’s good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live in the world and suffer!” The point is that Katerina, through death, gained freedom in a world unknown to us, and Tikhon will never have enough strength of mind and strength of character to either fight his mother or end his life, since he is weak-willed and weak-willed.

6. Symbolism of a thunderstorm. The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm".

The storm in the play has many faces. Heroes perceive the storm in different ways.

A thunderstorm in society is a feeling by people who stand up for the immutability of the world, something incomprehensible, amazed because someone went against it.

For example, Dikoy believes that a thunderstorm is sent by God as a punishment so that people remember God, that is, he perceives a thunderstorm in a pagan way. Kuligin says that a thunderstorm is electricity, but this is a very simplified understanding of the symbol. But then, calling the storm grace, Kuligin thereby reveals the highest pathos of Christianity.

- In order to reveal the meaning of the name "Thunderstorms", the symbolic meaning of this image, one should remember (or write out in a notebook) fragments of the text, remarks that mention the thunderstorm and the perception of it by the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Name the possible interpretations of this symbol in the play. An excerpt from V. Ya. Lakshin's book "Ostrovsky" will help you prepare an answer to this question. Select from it the materials necessary for your analysis:

This is an image of fear: punishment, sin, parental authority, human judgment. “There will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks,” Tikhon rejoices, leaving for Moscow. The tales of Feklusha - this Kalinovskaya oral newspaper, ready to condemn the foreign and praise the native darkness, with their references to "Makhnut-saltan" and "judges of the unrighteous" reveal another literary source for the image of a thunderstorm in the play. This is "The Tale of Mahmet-Saltan" by Ivan Peresvetov. The image of a thunderstorm as fear is pervasive in the work of this ancient writer, who wants to support and instruct his sovereign, Ivan the Terrible. The Turkish king Mahmet-saltan, according to the story of Peresvetov, brought order to his kingdom with the help of the “great thunderstorm”. He ordered the unrighteous judges to be “ripped off”, and to write on their skin: “Without such a storm of truth, it is not possible to enter the kingdom ... Like a horse under a king without a bridle, so a kingdom without a thunderstorm.”

Of course, this is only one facet of the image, and the thunderstorm in the play lives with all the naturalness of a natural diva: it moves in heavy clouds, thickens with motionless stuffiness, bursts into thunder and lightning and refreshing rain - and with all this, a state of depression, moments of horror of public repentance and then a tragic release, a relief in Katerina's soul.V. Ya. Lakshin. Ostrovsky. 1976

Thunderstorm as a natural (? Physical) phenomenon.

There is another interpretation of the main symbol of the play:

The image of a thunderstorm is also endowed with special symbolism, which closes the general meaning of the play: it is a reminder of the presence in the world higher power, and therefore, the highest supra-personal meaning of being, in front of which such lofty aspirations for freedom, for the assertion of one's will, are truly comical outwardly. Before the storm of God, all Katerina and Marfa Kabanovs, Boriss and Savelas Wild, Kuligins and Curly are united. And nothing can convey better than a thunderstorm this ancient and eternal presence of God's will, which man must comprehend and with which it is pointless to compete.

A. A. ANIKIN To the reading of the play by A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm". 1988

For the first time, the lady appears before the first thunderstorm and frightens Katerina with her words about disastrous beauty. These words and the thunder in Katerina's mind become prophetic. Katerina wants to escape into the house from a thunderstorm, because she sees God's punishment in her, but at the same time she is not afraid of death, but is afraid to appear before God after talking with Varvara about Boris, considering these thoughts sinful. Katerina is very religious, but this perception of the storm is more pagan than Christian.

A thunderstorm is an image of a spiritual upheaval.

- How would you react to the given point of view of a modern literary critic? Does it reflect, in your opinion, the playwright's intention?

- Summing up what has been said, we can say that the role of symbolism is very important in the play. Giving the phenomena, objects, landscape, words of the characters another, deeper meaning, Ostrovsky wanted to show how serious the conflict existed at that time not only between, but also within each of them.

6. Criticism about the play "Thunderstorm"(Presentation "Criticism to the drama" Thunderstorm ").

The Thunderstorm became the subject of fierce debate among critics in both the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century, Dobrolyubov (the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”) and Apollon Grigoriev wrote about it from opposite positions. In the XX century - Mikhail Lobanov (in the book "Ostrovsky", published in the series "ZhZL") and Lakshin.

In the drama "Thunderstorm" the most advanced, progressive aspirations of Ostrovsky were especially clearly manifested. Katerina's encounter with the terrible world of the Wild, Kabanovs, with its bestial laws based on cruelty, lies, deceit, mockery and humiliation of a person, is shown in it with amazing force.

"Thunderstorm" was written by Ostrovsky in the years when the theme of "freedom of feeling", "liberation of a woman", "family foundations" was very popular and topical. In literature and dramaturgy, a number of works were dedicated to her. All these works were united, however, by the fact that they glided over the surface of phenomena, did not penetrate into the depths of the contradictions of modern life. Their authors did not see hopeless conflicts in the surrounding reality. They thought that with the era of change for Russia opens new era that a turning point in all spheres and areas of life is near and inevitable.

Liberal illusions and hopes were alien to Ostrovsky. Therefore, "Thunderstorm" against the background of such literature turned out to be a completely unusual phenomenon. She sounded among the works about the "liberation of women" with obvious dissonance.

Thanks to the penetration of Ostrovsky into the very essence of the contradictions of his contemporary life, the suffering and death of Katerina acquire the significance of a genuine social tragedy. Ostrovsky's theme of "woman's liberation" is organically connected with criticism of the entire social system; the tragic death of Katerina is shown by the playwright as a direct consequence of her hopeless situation in the "dark kingdom". The despotism of the Kabanikhi grows not only from the waywardness of her character. Her views and actions are determined by the primordial laws of Domostroy. The boar is an active and merciless guardian and keeper of all the "foundations" of his world. Kabanikha, as Dobrolyubov pointed out, "created for herself a whole world of special rules and superstitious customs, for which she stands with all the stupidity of tyranny."

In accordance with the ideological concept of the drama, Ostrovsky singles out in the image of Katerina those features that in no way allow her to come to terms with the "laws" of the environment, based on lies and deceit. The main thing in the character of Katerina is his integrity, love of freedom and sincerity. Katerina - heroic sublime image, raised above the little things, the daily routine of life. Her feelings are full-blooded, direct and deeply human.

Ostrovsky simultaneously shows Katerina's inner constraint by the norms of Christian morality. The consequence of this is a kind of interweaving in the image of Katerina of elements of "religious exaltation" with the desire for will, with the desire to defend her personality, to break the deadly narrowness of the family order guarded by Kabanikha.

7. Reflection.

- Imagine that you have to stage "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky on the stage of a modern theater.

- In what genre would you stage this play, what would you single out as the main conflict?

questions about the play. What are the similarities and differences between the characters of Tikhon and Boris? How do they feel about Katherine? Presentation

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The Thunderstorm by A. N. Ostrovsky made a strong and deep impression on his contemporaries. Many critics were inspired by this work. However, in our time it has not ceased to be interesting and topical. Raised to the category of classical drama, it still arouses interest.

The arbitrariness of the "older" generation lasts for many years, but some event must occur that could break the patriarchal tyranny. Such an event is the protest and death of Katerina, which awakened other representatives of the younger generation.

Let us consider in more detail the characteristics of the main acting heroes.

Characters	Characteristic	Examples from the text
"Older generation.
Kabanikha (Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna)	A wealthy merchant's widow, imbued with old beliefs. “Everything is under the guise of piety,” according to Kudryash. Forces to honor the rites, blindly follow the old customs in everything. Domestic tyrant, head of the family. At the same time, he understands that the patriarchal way of life is collapsing, the covenants are not respected - and therefore he imposes his authority in the family even more rigidly. "Prude", according to Kuligin. He believes that before people it is necessary to portray decency at all costs. Her despotism is the main reason for the collapse of the family.	Action 1, phenomenon 5; Action 2, phenomenon 3, 5; Action 2, phenomenon 6; Action 2, event 7.
Dikoi Savel Prokofievich	Merchant, tyrant. Accustomed to intimidate everyone, to take impudently. Swearing is what brings him true pleasure, there is no greater joy for him than the humiliation of people. Trampling human dignity, he experiences incomparable pleasure. If this “swearer” encounters someone whom he does not dare to scold, then he breaks down at home. Rudeness is an integral part of his nature: "he can't breathe, so as not to scold someone." Swearing is also a kind of protection for him, as soon as it comes to money. Stingy, unfair, as evidenced by his behavior towards his nephew and niece.	Action 1, phenomenon 1 - Kuligin's conversation with Kudryash; Action 1, phenomenon 2 - Diky's conversation with Boris; Action 1, phenomenon 3 - words about him by Kudryash and Boris; Act 3, event 2; Act 3, event 2.
Younger generation.
Katerina	Tikhon's wife does not contradict her husband, treats him affectionately. Initially, traditional humility and obedience to her husband and elders in the family are alive in her, but a keen sense of injustice allows her to take a step towards “sin”. She says about herself that she is "unchanging in character both in front of people and without them." In girls, Katerina lived freely, her mother spoiled her. He sincerely believes in God, therefore he is very worried because of sinful love out of wedlock for Boris. Dreamy, but her attitude is tragic: she anticipates her death. "Hot", fearless since childhood, she challenges Domostroy mores with both her love and her death. Passionate, having fallen in love, gives her heart without a trace. Lives more with emotions than with reason. He cannot live in sin, hiding and hiding, like Barbara. That is why she confesses to her husband in connection with Boris. She shows courage, which not everyone is capable of, defeating herself and rushing into the pool.	Action 1, phenomenon 6; Action 1, phenomenon 5; Action 1, phenomenon 7; Action 2, phenomenon 3, 8; Action 4, phenomenon 5; Action 2, phenomenon 2; Act 3, scene 2, appearance 3; Action 4, phenomenon 6; Action 5, phenomenon 4, 6.
Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov.	Son of Kabanikha, husband of Katerina. Quiet, timid, submissive in everything to his mother. Because of this, he is often unfair to his wife. I am glad to get out from under the heel of my mother for a while, to get rid of the constantly consuming fear, for which I go to the city to get drunk. In his own way, he loves Katerina, but in no way can he resist his mother. As a weak nature, devoid of any will, he envies Katerina's determination, remaining "to live and suffer", but at the same time he shows a kind of protest, blaming his mother for Katerina's death.	Action 1, phenomenon 6; Action 2, phenomenon 4; Action 2, phenomenon 2, 3; Action 5, phenomenon 1; Action 5, phenomenon 7.
Boris Grigorievich.	Nephew of Diky, Katerina's lover. An educated young man, an orphan. For the sake of the inheritance left by his grandmother to him and his sister, he involuntarily endures the scolding of Wild. "A good man," according to Kuligin, he is incapable of decisive action.	Action 1, phenomenon 2; Action 5, phenomenon 1, 3.
Barbara.	Sister Tikhon. The character is more lively than that of his brother. But, just like him, he does not openly protest against arbitrariness. Prefers to condemn the mother quietly. Practical, down to earth, not in the clouds. He secretly meets with Kudryash and sees nothing wrong in bringing Boris and Katerina together: “do whatever you want, if only it was sewn and covered.” But she also does not tolerate arbitrariness over herself and runs away with her beloved from home, despite all outward humility.	Action 1, phenomenon 5; Action 2, phenomenon 2; Action 5, phenomenon 1.
Curly Vanya.	Clerk Wild, has a reputation for being rude, in his own words. For the sake of Varvara, he is ready for anything, but he believes that male women should sit at home.	Action 1, phenomenon 1; Act 3, scene 2, appearance 2.
Other heroes.
Kuligin.	A tradesman, a self-taught mechanic, is looking for a perpetuum mobile. Selfish, sincere. preaches common sense, enlightenment, reason. Diversely developed. Like an artist, enjoy natural beauty nature, looking at the Volga. He writes poetry in his own words. Stands up for progress for the benefit of society.	Action 1, phenomenon 4; Action 1, phenomenon 1; Action 3, phenomenon 3; Action 1, phenomenon 3; Action 4, phenomenon 2, 4.
Feklusha	A wanderer who adapts to the concepts of Kabanikh and seeks to frighten those around her with a description of an unrighteous lifestyle outside the city, suggesting that they can live happily and in virtue only in Kalinov's "promised land". A gossip and a gossip.	Action 1, phenomenon 3; Action 3, event 1.

• Katerina Varvara Character Sincere, sociable, kind, honest, pious, but superstitious. Gentle, soft, at the same time, decisive. Rude, cheerful, but taciturn: "... I don't like to talk a lot." Determined, can fight back. Temperament Passionate, freedom-loving, bold, impetuous and unpredictable. She says about herself “I was born so hot!”. Freedom-loving, smart, prudent, bold and rebellious, she is not afraid of either parental or heavenly punishment. Upbringing, […]
• In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky shows the life of a Russian merchant family and the position of a woman in it. The character of Katerina was formed in a simple merchant family, where love reigned and her daughter was given complete freedom. She acquired and retained all the beautiful features 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 says to Varvara. In religion Katerina found the highest truth and beauty. Her desire for the beautiful, the good, was expressed in prayers. Coming out […]
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• Dramatic events of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" are deployed in the city of Kalinov. This town is located on the picturesque bank of the Volga, from the high steepness of which the vast Russian expanses and boundless distances open up to the eye. “The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices, ”the local self-taught mechanic Kuligin admires. Pictures of endless distances, echoed in a lyrical song. In the midst of a flat valley”, which he sings, are of great importance for conveying a sense of the immense possibilities of Russian […]
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• In the drama "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky created a very psychologically complex image - the image of Katerina Kabanova. This young woman disposes the viewer with her huge, pure soul, childish sincerity and kindness. But she lives in the musty atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" of merchant morals. Ostrovsky managed to create a bright and poetic image of a Russian woman from the people. The main storyline of the play is a tragic conflict between the living, feeling soul of Katerina and the dead way of life of the “dark kingdom”. Honest and […]
• Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky was endowed with a great talent as a playwright. He is deservedly considered the founder of the Russian national theater. His plays, varied in subject matter, glorified Russian literature. Creativity Ostrovsky had a democratic character. He created plays in which hatred for the autocratic-feudal regime was manifested. The writer called for the protection of the oppressed and humiliated citizens of Russia, longed for social change. The great merit of Ostrovsky is that he opened the enlightened […]
• The critical history of "Thunderstorm" begins even before its appearance. To argue about "a ray of light in the dark realm", it was necessary to open the "Dark Realm". An article under this title appeared in the July and September issues of Sovremennik in 1859. It was signed by the usual pseudonym of N. A. Dobrolyubova - N. - bov. The reason for this work was extremely significant. In 1859, Ostrovsky summed up the intermediate result of his literary activity: his two-volume collected works appeared. "We consider it the most [...]
• Whole, honest, sincere, she is not capable of lies and falsehood, therefore, in a cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life is so tragic. Katerina's protest against the despotism of Kabanikha is the struggle of the bright, pure, human against the darkness, lies and cruelty of the "dark kingdom". No wonder Ostrovsky, who paid great attention to the selection of names and surnames of the characters, gave such a name to the heroine of "Thunderstorm": in Greek, "Catherine" means "eternally pure." Katerina is a poetic nature. IN […]
• Turning to reflections on the topics of this direction, first of all, remember all our lessons in which we talked about the problem of "fathers and children." This problem is multifaceted. 1. Perhaps the topic will be formulated in such a way as to make you talk about family values. Then you must remember the works in which fathers and children are blood relatives. In this case, it will be necessary to consider the psychological and moral foundations of family relationships, the role family traditions, controversy and […]
• The novel was written from the end of 1862 to April 1863, that is, it was written in 3.5 months in the 35th year of the author's life. The novel divided readers into two opposing camps. Supporters of the book were Pisarev, Shchedrin, Plekhanov, Lenin. But such artists as Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Leskov believed that the novel was devoid of true artistry. To answer the question "What to do?" Chernyshevsky raises and resolves the following burning problems from a revolutionary and socialist position: 1. The socio-political problem […]
• How I wash the floors In order to wash the floors cleanly, and not pour water and smear the dirt, I do this: I take a bucket from the closet, which my mother uses for this, as well as a mop. I pour into the basin hot water, I add a tablespoon of salt to it (to exterminate microbes). I rinse the mop in the basin and wring it out well. I clean the floors in every room, starting from the far wall towards the door. I look into all corners, under beds and tables, where most of the crumbs, dust and other evil spirits accumulate. Domyv every […]
• At the ball After the ball Feelings of the hero He is "very strongly" in love; admired by the girl, life, ball, beauty and elegance of the surrounding world (including interiors); notices all the details on a wave of joy and love, ready to be touched and shed tears from any trifle. Without wine - drunk - with love. He admires Varya, hopes, trembles, is happy to be chosen by her. It is light, does not feel its own body, "floats". Delight and gratitude (for a feather from a fan), "cheerful and contented", happy, "blessed", kind, "an unearthly being." WITH […]
• I have never had my own dog. We live in the city, the apartment is small, the budget is limited and we are too lazy to change our habits, adapting to the dog's "walking" mode ... As a child, I dreamed of a dog. She asked to buy a puppy or take at least from the street, anyone. She was ready to take care, give love and time. Parents all promised: "Here you grow up ...", "Here you go to the fifth grade ...". Passed the 5th and 6th, then I grew up and realized that no one would ever let a dog into the house. Agreed on cats. Since then […]
• The love story of the clerk Mitya and Lyuba Tortsova unfolds against the backdrop of the life of a merchant's house. Ostrovsky in Once again delighted his fans with a wonderful knowledge of the world and a surprisingly vivid language. Unlike earlier plays, in this comedy there is not only the soulless factory owner Korshunov and Gordey Tortsov, who boasts of his wealth and power. They are contrasted with the simple and sincere people- kind and loving Mitya and a squandered drunkard Lyubim Tortsov, who, despite his fall, […]