Collection of essays: The problem of human dignity in the drama "Thunderstorm"
Throughout his career, he created a number of realistic works in which he depicted contemporary reality and the life of the Russian provinces. One of them is the play "Thunderstorm". In this drama, the author showed the wild, deaf society of the county town of Kalinov, living according to the laws of Domostroy, and contrasted it with the image of a freedom-loving girl who did not want to come to terms with Kalinov's norms of life and behavior. One of the most important problems raised in the work is the problem of human dignity, which was especially relevant in the middle of the 19th century, during the crisis of the obsolete, obsolete orders that then reigned in the province.
The merchant society shown in the play lives in an atmosphere of lies, deceit, hypocrisy, duplicity; within the walls of their estates, representatives of the older generation scold and teach the household, and behind the fence they portray courtesy and benevolence, putting on cute, smiling masks. N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” uses the division of the heroes of this world into tyrants and “downtrodden personalities”. Tyrants - merchant Kabanova, Dikoy - domineering, cruel, who consider themselves entitled to insult and humiliate those who depend on them, constantly torment their household with reprimands and quarrels. For them, there is no concept of human dignity: in general, they do not consider subordinates to be people.
Constantly humiliated, some members of the younger generation lost their self-respect, became slavishly submissive, never arguing, never objecting, having no opinion of their own. For example, Tikhon is a typical "downtrodden personality", a person whose mother, Kabanikha, crushed her already not very lively attempts to demonstrate character from childhood. Tikhon is pitiful and insignificant: he can hardly be called a person; drunkenness replaces all the joys of life for him, he is not capable of strong, deep feelings, the concept of human dignity is unknown and inaccessible to him.
Less "downtrodden" personalities - Varvara and Boris, they have a greater degree of freedom. The boar does not forbid Varvara to go for a walk (“Walk before your time has come - you will still sit up”), but even if reproaches begin, Varvara has enough self-control and cunning not to react; she does not let herself be offended. But then again, in my opinion, she is driven more by pride than by self-esteem. Dikoy publicly scolds Boris, insulting him, but in doing so, in my opinion, he belittles himself in the eyes of others: a person who makes family squabbles and quarrels on public display is unworthy of respect.
But Dikoy himself and the population of the city of Kalinov have a different point of view: Dikoy scolds his nephew, which means that the nephew depends on him, which means that Dikoy has a certain power, which means that he is worthy of respect.
Kabanikha and Dikoy are unworthy people, petty tyrants, corrupted by the unlimitedness of their power at home, spiritually callous, blind, insensitive, and their life is dull, gray, filled with endless teachings and reprimands at home. They do not have human dignity, because the person who possesses it knows the value of himself and others and always strives for peace, peace of mind; tyrants, on the other hand, are always trying to assert their power over people who are often mentally richer than themselves, provoke them to quarrels and exhaust them with useless discussions. Such people are not loved and not respected, they are only feared and hated.
This world is opposed by the image of Katerina - a girl from a merchant family who grew up in an atmosphere of religiosity, spiritual harmony and freedom. Having married Tikhon, she finds herself in the Kabanovs' house, in an environment unusual for herself, where lies are the main means to achieve something, and duplicity is in the order of things. Kabanova begins to humiliate and insult Katerina, making her life impossible. Katerina is a mentally vulnerable, fragile person; Kabanikha's cruelty and heartlessness hurt her painfully, but she endures, not responding to insults, and Kabanova provokes her into a quarrel, piercing and humiliating her dignity with every remark. This constant bullying is unbearable. Even the husband is not able to stand up for the girl. Katerina's freedom is sharply limited. “Everything here is somehow out of captivity,” she says to Varvara, and her protest against the insult to human dignity translates into her love for Boris - a man who, in principle, simply took advantage of her love and then ran away, and Katerina, who could not stand it further humiliation, committed suicide.
None of the representatives of Kalinov's society knows the feeling of human dignity, and no one can understand and appreciate it in another person, especially if she is a woman, according to Domostroev standards - a housewife who obeys her husband in everything, who can beat her in extreme cases. Not noticing this moral value in Katerina, the Mir of the city of Kalinov tried to humiliate her to his level, make her a part of her, draw her into a web of lies and hypocrisy, but human dignity belongs to the number of innate and ineradicable qualities, it cannot be taken away, which is why Katerina does not can become like these people and, seeing no other way out, throws herself into the river, finally finding in heaven, where she has been striving all her life, the long-awaited peace and tranquility.
The tragedy of the play "Thunderstorm" lies in the insolubility of the conflict between a person who has a sense of his own dignity, and a society in which no one has any idea about human dignity. The Thunderstorm is one of Ostrovsky's greatest realistic works, in which the playwright showed the immorality, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness that reigned in provincial society in the middle of the 19th century.
The drama of a thunderstorm opens before us the world of the provincial town of Kalinov. Its inhabitants are secretly divided into two camps: the first is Wild and Kabanova. They are representatives of those in power, under whose yoke the rest of the characters bend. And the second - Katerina, Tikhon, Boris, Kuligin, Varvara and Kudryash. They are slaves to tyranny.
With her character and extraordinary mind, Katerina stands out from all the other heroes. And this is the main reason for the drama that she experiences, being a hostage of fate.
This young woman is a dreamer by nature.
And this is not surprising, since she was brought up in the caress of love and understanding. She is emotional, impressionable, still dreams of magical dreams and expects only good and kind from life. Even her speech is characterized by figurativeness and emotionality. And such a bright and sensitive little man finds himself in this hornet's nest, where an atmosphere of hypocrisy, importunity and callousness reigns.
The bright soul of Katerina stumbles upon the stakes of such an unhealthy situation and a tragedy occurs. The whole situation is complicated by the marriage of the main character, who, by the will of evil fate, turned out to be the wife of an unfamiliar and unloved person. At the same time, she
He tries with all his might to remain faithful to his wife Tikhon. All her aspirations to achieve an echo in her husband's heart are broken against the stones of his slavish humiliation, rudeness and stupidity. His complete and uncomplaining obedience to a cruel and domineering mother
Raised in Tikhon only one cherished desire - for a short time to escape from under the vigilant mother's control and work up to your heart's content. He himself is a victim of this attitude. An emotional invalid who not only cannot help his wife, but also simply understand her spiritual impulses. Her inner world is incomprehensible to him, inaccessible and high. And his narrow-mindedness, of course, could not tell him that something unique would happen soon.
Dikiy's nephew, Boris, is also a victim of this unhealthy society. He, of course, is much higher than them in cultural development, but his character also does not allow him to rebel against such power. And with his soul he understands all the torment of Katerina, only he is not given to help a young woman. Fear of his benefactors does not allow him to fight for his beloved. He knows that the end of Katerina is near, but still he persuades her to bow her head before the dark power of power. The spinelessness of Boris and Tikhon dooms them to eternal trouble and torment. Only one weak woman, Katerina, challenges despotism in the face.
Katerina's suicide is not only a daring challenge to her tormentors, it is a glove thrown in the face of despotism and tyranny, which were the foundations of Russian society in the 19th century.
Dignity is how a person feels internally in relation to others. It is inextricably linked with conscience, honor and responsibility. A person who has self-esteem does not throw words to the wind, remains true to himself in difficult situations. And a person who cannot keep his promises, in a sense, does not have dignity.
In the play "Thunderstorm" A. N. Ostrovsky, in my opinion, portrayed the evil society of the county town of Kalinov, which lives according to its own laws, and contrasted it with the image of a girl who did not want to put up with the norms of life and behavior of the townspeople. The main problem raised in the work, I think the problem of human dignity. People from Kalinov live according to the laws of deceit and hypocrisy. The older generation behaves arbitrarily in relation to relatives, and with strangers they are kind and respectful. Kabanova and Dikoy are imperious and ruthless, they know nothing about human dignity: they do not consider subordinates to be people. Yes, and they themselves completely lack human dignity, as they constantly try to assert themselves at the expense of others, they are not valued and respected, but only feared and hated.
Being under the power of his mother, Tikhon seems miserable: only drunkenness gives him pleasure, he cannot sincerely feel and does not know what human dignity is. Varvara is less overwhelmed by her mother's strength: Kabanikha does not forbid her daughter anything, but even if it comes to reproaches, Varvara has enough restraint not to pay attention.
This society is opposed by the image of Katerina - a religious girl from a good family who grew up in peace and freedom. After marriage, she finds herself in an unfamiliar atmosphere where deceit is the main weapon to achieve goals. Kabanova offends Katerina, turning her life into a real nightmare. The cruelty of Kabanikha humiliates her dignity, but the girl endures all insults.
The whole tragedy of the play, it seems to me, lies in the insoluble conflict between the inhabitants of Kalinovo and Katerina. Kalinovsky society is unfamiliar with the concept of human dignity. Katerina cannot become like them, because this feeling has been inherent in her since birth. As a result, seeing no way out, she throws herself into the river and only in this way does she find peace of mind.
Option 2
Dignity determines the inner man, it cannot be compensated by material wealth. Such people can direct love, peace and various good deeds towards other people. This quality is violated when evil deeds occur, as well as the infringement of rights and freedoms that may not be accepted and not fully perceived.
This feeling is closely interconnected with conscience and honor. A person who has dignity can save face even in difficult situations, get out of them courageously. Although loves may differ from each other in character and outlook, they share a common view of how a person who has dignity should behave.
A.N. Ostrovsky in the play "Thunderstorm" talks about what a wild, rather deaf society looks like, living in a small county town. Everyone lives according to the rules established in Kalinov, while the author contrasts the huge city with one girl who does not want to live according to the established rules.
In the center of events is the girl Katerina, who looks at things with completely different eyes. The main problem that Ostrovsky raises in his work is society itself, which is full of deceit and hypocrisy.
The whole society described by Ostrovsky is divided into tyrants who are ready to establish their own power and fight for it, and downtrodden people who are afraid to contradict the tyrants exercising power.
For the Merchant and Diky there is no such thing as human dignity, they are not ready to make concessions, therefore they always defend their opinion and go to the last.
And the youth, whom they constantly humiliate, are deprived of human dignity. Tikhon belongs to one of them, his mother always made all the decisions for him, she actually did not give him the opportunity to make decisions.
Society, which is devoid of human dignity, is opposed by Katerina, who, despite the fact that she was brought up in a merchant family and in this society, had a certain dignity. She wanted to fight for her own opinions and the feelings she had.
But the current events show that none of the heroes of the work "Thunderstorm", written by Ostrovsky, except for Catherine. All members of society try to completely humiliate her and show that no one needs her dignity in this world. She couldn't fight to the end. But at the same time, it has sufficient human dignity.
`The problem of human dignity in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
A. N. Ostrovsky defined the genre of his work as a drama, thus emphasizing the widespread conflict of the play, the everyday life of the events depicted in it. The main theme of "The Thunderstorm" - the clash between the oppressors (Kabanikha, Di-koy) and the oppressed (Katerina, Tikhon, Boris, Kuligin and others) is organically connected with its conflicts: between the old social and everyday principles and the progressive manifestations of human freedom individual, family, community.
In the city of Kalinovo, power belongs to tyrants, and this power is based on the moral and material dependence of people. The reader learns about the orders that reign in the Diky family from the dialogue between Boris and Kudrya-sha:
Curly: Who will please him, if his whole life is based on swearing? And most of all because of the money; not a single calculation can do without scolding. Another is glad to give up his own, if only he calms down. And the trouble is, how someone will make him angry in the morning! He picks on everyone all day long.
Boris: Every morning, my aunt begs everyone with tears: “Fathers, don’t make me angry! Dear friends, don’t make me angry!”... But the trouble is when he is offended by such a person whom he does not dare to scold; stay at home here!
Curly: Father! What a laugh! Somehow, on the Volga, on the ferry, the hussar scolded him. Here he worked wonders!
Boris: And what was it like at home! After that, for two weeks everyone hid in attics and closets.
The situation is similar in the Kabanova family, only there "everything is under the guise of piety." Kuligin speaks of Kabanikha like this: “A hypocrite, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely. The household members of the Kabanikhi do not dare to contradict her. Tikhon agrees with his mother in everything, and only the author's remarks (“sighing to the side: Oh, my God!”) help to understand the true attitude to constant moralizing. Varvara, his sister, has developed her own line of behavior: she also does not reread her mother aloud, but comments to herself: “You won’t respect you, how can it be!” She has her own view of life: “But in my opinion: do what you want, if only it’s sewn and covered.”
Each hero adapts to life in Kalinov in his own way. Varvara teaches Katerina: “... Remember where you live! Our whole house is based on that (on a lie). And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.
Tikhon drinks quietly from hopelessness, Boris only sighs: “Oh, if only there was strength!” Kuligin advises Boris to “please somehow” Diky, and comforts himself with the thought that he will soon get rich by inventing a perpetu-mind-mobile: “There is nothing to do, you have to submit! When will I have a million? Then I'll talk!" Kudryash has a slightly different position, who is considered a rude person in the city. He regrets that in the city there are few “guys to become like me, otherwise they would have taught Diky to be mischievous, something weaned”: “Four of us, five of us in an alley somewhere would talk to him face to face, so he would become silk. And about our science, I wouldn’t utter a word to anyone, if only I would walk and look around.” Perhaps Kudryash was right when he spoke of such a method of dealing with the "scold" Wild. After all, we see that with equals, for example, with Kabanova, Savel Prokofievich behaves in a completely different way. As they say, strength feels strength. Marfa Ignatievna, without ceremony, cuts off Diky: “Well, don’t open your throat very much! Find me cheaper! And I am dear to you!”. And Dikoy changes his tone, it turns out that he knows how to talk like a human: “Wait, godfather, wait! Do not be angry...".
But Kudryash is ready to fight Wild and other methods (and low and vile ones): “It’s a pity that his daughters are teenagers, there aren’t any big ones ... I would respect him. It hurts dashing for girls!”
Only Katerina dares to openly declare to her mother-in-law about her human dignity: The plot of the drama is defined by literary critics in different ways. A.I. Revyakin considers Boris’s declaration of love for Katerina, combined with the reciprocal confession of the hero, to be the plot. More common and, in my opinion, correct is Katerina’s full sense of her own dignity to her mother-in-law’s nit-picking: “You’re talking about me, mama, you’re talking about it in vain. With people, that without people, I’m all alone, I don’t prove anything of myself.
The boar, seeing such resistance from her daughter-in-law, tries to break her, to humiliate her. What is the scene when Kabanova forces to give Tikhon orders to his wife! Perhaps this was the last straw, and Katerina decided to cheat. But this betrayal weighs heavily on Katerina's soul and leads her to suicide.
You can also think about Katerina's suicide. What is it: weakness or protest, an attempt to escape from captivity? Of course, there are both weak and strong sides in the behavior of the main character, but in general she is the only one who rejects the principles of Domostroy's morality, even at the cost of her life, more subconsciously than consciously, in a fit of feelings, but still it is a protest against the foundations of the surrounding world.
Katerina could adjust, like Varvara, to continue secretly meeting with Boris, continuing to deceive the family. But this would mean that Katerina had come to terms with her lot and became the same as the others - vicious and deceitful. Katerina, despite the betrayal, remains pure in her soul.
Throughout his career, A. N. Ostrovsky created a number of realistic works in which he depicted the reality and life of the Russian provinces contemporary to him. One of them is the play "Thunderstorm". In this drama, the author showed the wild, deaf society of the county town of Kalinov, living according to the laws of Domostroy, and contrasted it with the image of a freedom-loving girl who did not want to come to terms with Kalinov's norms of life and behavior. One of the most important problems raised in the work is the problem of human dignity, which was especially relevant in the middle of the 19th century, at the time of the crisis of the obsolete, obsolete orders that then reigned in the province.
The merchant society shown in the play lives in an atmosphere of lies, deceit, hypocrisy, duplicity; within the walls of their estates, representatives of the older generation scold and teach the household, and behind the fence they portray courtesy and benevolence, putting on cute, smiling masks. N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" uses the division of the heroes of this world into petty tyrants and "downtrodden personalities." Tyrants - merchant Kabanova, Dikoy - domineering, cruel, who consider themselves entitled to insult and humiliate those who depend on them, constantly torment their household with reprimands and quarrels. For them, there is no concept of human dignity: in general, they do not consider subordinates to be people.
Constantly humiliated, some members of the younger generation lost their self-respect, became slavishly submissive, never arguing, never objecting, having no opinion of their own. For example, Tikhon is a typical "downtrodden personality", a person whose mother, Kabanikha, crushed her already not very lively attempts to demonstrate character from childhood. Tikhon is pitiful and insignificant: he can hardly be called a person; drunkenness replaces all the joys of life for him, he is not capable of strong, deep feelings, the concept of human dignity is unknown and inaccessible to him.
Less "downtrodden" personalities - Varvara and Boris, they have a greater degree of freedom. The boar does not forbid Varvara to take a walk ("Walk until your hour has come - you will still sit up"), but moreover, if reproaches begin, Varvara has enough self-control and cunning not to react; she does not let herself be offended. But then again, in my opinion, she is driven more by pride than by self-esteem. Dikoy publicly scolds Boris, insulting him, but in doing so, in my opinion, he belittles himself in the eyes of others: a person who makes family squabbles and quarrels on public display is unworthy of respect.
But Dikoy himself and the population of the city of Kalinov have a different point of view: Dikoy scolds his nephew, which means that the nephew depends on him, which means that Dikoy has a certain power, which means that he is worthy of respect.
Kabanikha and Dikoy are unworthy people, petty tyrants, corrupted by the unlimitedness of their power at home, spiritually callous, blind, insensitive, and their life is dull, gray, filled with endless teachings and reprimands at home. They do not have human dignity, because the person who possesses it knows the value of himself and others and constantly strives for peace, peace of mind; tyrants, on the other hand, are always trying to assert their superiority over people who are often mentally richer than themselves, provoke them to quarrels and exhaust them with useless discussions. Such people are not loved and not respected, they are only feared and hated.
This world is opposed by the image of Katerina - a girl from a merchant family who grew up in an atmosphere of religiosity, spiritual harmony and freedom. Having married Tikhon, she finds herself in the Kabanovs' housing, in an environment unusual for herself, where lies are the main means to achieve something, and duplicity is in the order of things. Kabanova begins to humiliate and insult Katerina, making her life impossible. Katerina is a mentally vulnerable, fragile person; Kabanikha's cruelty and heartlessness hurt her painfully, but she endures, not responding to insults, and Kabanova provokes her into a quarrel, piercing and humiliating her dignity with every remark. This constant bullying is unbearable. Even the husband is not able to stand up for the girl. Katerina's freedom is sharply limited. “Everything here is somehow out of bondage,” she says to Varvara, and her protest against the insult to human dignity translates into her love for Boris - a man who, in principle, simply took advantage of her love and then ran away, and Katerina, who could not stand it further humiliation, committed suicide.
None of the representatives of Kalinov's society knows the feeling of human dignity, and no one can understand and appreciate it in another person, especially if she is a lady, according to Domostroy's standards, a housewife who obeys her husband in everything, who can beat her in extreme cases. Not noticing this moral value in Katerina, the Mir of the city of Kalinov tried to humiliate her to his level, make her a part of her, draw her into a web of lies and hypocrisy, but human dignity belongs to the number of innate and ineradicable qualities, it cannot be taken away, which is why Katerina does not can become like these people and, seeing no other way out, throws herself into the river, finally finding in heaven, where she has been striving all her life, the long-awaited peace and tranquility.
The tragedy of the play "Thunderstorm" is in the insolubility of the conflict between a person who has a sense of his own dignity, and a society in which no one has an idea about human dignity. "Thunderstorm" - one of the greatest realistic works of Ostrovsky, in which the playwright showed the immorality, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness that reigned in provincial society in the middle of the 19th century.
