Ostrovsky direction. Dramaturgy A

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky* (1823-1886)

*Attention! In Russian literature, two writers named Ostrovsky: Alexander Nikolaevich, Russian playwright of the 19th century, and Nikolai Alekseevich, Soviet prose writer of the 1920s and 30s, author of the novel How the Steel Was Tempered. Do not confuse, please!

The uniqueness of Ostrovsky's talent was that he combined the talent of a writer and the ability of a theater figure. For the first time in the history of Russian culture, a man appeared who managed not only to say a new word in dramaturgy, but also to lay the foundation for the Russian national theater. Until the middle of the 19th century, Russian dramaturgy was represented by only a few works, among which 2 comedies by Fonvizin, 1 comedy by Griboyedov, 5 tragedies by Pushkin, 3 comedies by Gogol can be distinguished. A.N. Ostrovsky, on the other hand, wrote 52 plays (of which 47 were original), having single-handedly created the repertoire of the Russian theater.

Ostrovsky's childhood born April 12, 1823 in Moscow on st. Malaya Ordynka did not portend him a great future. The Ostrovsky family belonged to the clergy. The grandfather of the future writer was an archpriest, and then a schemer of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow. Father, Nikolai Fedorovich, having graduated from the seminary in Kostroma and the Moscow Theological Academy, he preferred to serve in the civilian sector and settled in Zamoskoreche. Mother, Lyubov Ivanovna Savina, by the time of her marriage to the father of the future playwright, she was the widow of a sexton. By the end of the 1830s, Ostrovsky's father had served his ranks, received a title of nobility and made a decent fortune. His mother died in 1831, and five years later his father married the daughter of a Swedish nobleman. Emilia Andreevna von Tessin. According to various sources, the family had from 4 to 10 children, and the father paid close attention to their upbringing and education.

Ostrovsky's childhood and youth were spent in Zamoskvorechye. Description of the manners and way of life of this ancient Moscow region will cause Ostrovsky to be called "Columbus of Zamoskorechye".

Panorama of Zamoskvorechie in the 19th century from the Kremlin (source: Wikipedia). The names of the main temples of Zamoskvorechye are indicated

Having received a home and gymnasium (1835-1840) education, Ostrovsky felt an interest in literature and theater, but at the insistence of his father, who dreamed of making his son an official, he was forced to enter the Faculty of Law. Having no interest in the imposed profession, he leaves his second year and enters the service of the Moscow court, where he will serve for 8 years (during this time the salary of a young official will increase from 4 to 16 rubles). As it turned out later, the future playwright did not so much deal with the affairs of the service as he collected material for his as yet unwritten plays.

At the same time, Ostrovsky is a regular spectator of the Maly Theater, with which he will soon be connected by dramaturgy. The impressions from the performances were reinforced by the impressions from working in court, where Ostrovsky had to deal with the everyday side of human relations. It is no coincidence that subsequently Ostrovsky will compare his writer's work with the work of a judge: the writer creates his own judgment on life. The choice in favor of drama was due to the fact that the theater, in comparison with ordinary literature, is closer to the people.

By the mid 1840s. Ostrovsky defines his literary credo, in connection with which the first period of his work is called "moral accusatory". Already having experience in the genre of a physiological essay ("Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident"), he begins work on the first two comedies. The first is called "Family Picture" , the second was renamed twice: first "Insolvent debtor", then "Bankrupt", finally, "Own people - let's count" . Both comedies were read at literary evenings at M.P. Pogodin: the first - in 1847, the second - in 1849.

The comedy "Own People - Let's Settle" receives a positive review from N.V. Gogol, and in general was perceived as a new word in Russian dramaturgy. The comedy will make a strong impression on the Decembrist, Pushkin's friend V.F. Raevsky, who will put "Own people - let's count" on a par with "Undergrowth", "Woe from Wit" and "Inspector". The comedy was published in the unpopular magazine "Moskvityanin", but banned from staging: " It was printed in vain, it is forbidden to play"- such was the resolution of Nicholas the First. This play destroyed the myth of the patriarchal customs of the Russian merchant class, showing a world where man is a wolf to man, and relationships are built on greed.

In 1853, Ostrovsky admits that his view of reality was too harsh. Thus begins the second period of his work, called Slavophile. At this time, together with Apollon Grigoriev and Lev Mei, Ostrovsky edited the literary and artistic section of the Slavophile magazine Moskvityanin and published his plays there. "Do not get into your sleigh" (1852) - this is the first play by Ostrovsky, which hits the stage, and even the main drama theater of the country - Alexandrinsky, "Poverty is not a vice" (1853), "Don't Live the Way You Want" (1854). All these plays reflected the concept of Apollon Grigoriev about the patriarchy and spirituality of the middle classes, in which "the guarantee of the future of Russia." And if in the first play by Ostrovsky "Our people - let's settle" there were no positive characters, then in the plays of the 50s. negative characters are miraculously "corrected".

In 1856, the Moskvityanin magazine ceased to exist. Collaboration with Sovremennik marked the third period of Ostrovsky's work - revolutionary democratic. The themes of the playwright's plays expand, conflicts become sharper and deeper. Among the plays of the beginning of this period, it is worth highlighting the comedy "Plum" (1856) and the first play from the trilogy about Balzaminov "Holiday nap before dinner" (1857). In total, Nekrasov will publish 30 of his plays: 8 in Sovremennik and 22 in Otechestvennye Zapiski. Over the years, a tradition has even developed: the first issue of the year has always opened with a play by Ostrovsky.

In April-August 1856 and in May-August 1857, Ostrovsky traveled along the Volga. This happened thanks to the expedition "for gifted writers" organized by the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich. It is from the Volga observations and impressions that the most famous dramas of Ostrovsky - "Thunderstorm" and "Dowry" - will be born.

Drama "Thunderstorm"

In 1859, a two-volume collected works of Ostrovsky was published, in connection with which the critic Nikolai Dobrolyubov devotes the article "The Dark Kingdom" to Ostrovsky's work, in which he calls the playwright an "objective talent" that reflected the key vices of our time. The article also asked the question: “Who will throw a ray of light into the ugly darkness of the dark kingdom?”, To which the playwright answered in 1860 with his most famous play "Storm", which has become the first (except for Lermontov's "Masquerade") in Russian literature a work in the genre of drama.

Bank of the Volga. Sketch of the scenery for the play based on the play "Thunderstorm"

The play was conceived in July 1859, and in January 1860 it was published in the Library for Reading magazine. In the center of the play is the life of the provincial town of Kalinov, where "cruel morals" reign and obscurantism flourishes, supported by the richest and most influential residents (the merchant Dikaya and the widow Kabanikh). Some Kalinovites adapt to the existing order (such, for example, is the daughter of Kabanikh Varvara), others are characterized by spinelessness and spinelessness (Tikhon and Boris). Kuligin could boast of education and outlook, but he lacks the will to resist the brute force of the Wild.

Among all the characters in the play, the author singles out Katerina Kabanova, Tikhon's wife and Kabanikh's daughter-in-law. She is sincere, lives not in fear, like others, but at the behest of her heart. She knows she should love her husband, but she can't bring herself to feel something that isn't there. In addition, Tikhon does not dare to show his tender feelings for his wife in front of his mother. The outset of the conflict is Tikhon's departure to Moscow and Katerina's confession of secret love for Boris. It is love that provokes Katerina to openly oppose the tyranny of the Kabanikh. The moral throwing of the heroine on the one hand and open confrontation with the imperious mother-in-law form the basis of the play. The emotional drama of Katerina is symbolically intertwined with the elements of a thunderstorm, foreshadowing a tragic denouement. The image of a thunderstorm covers everything that happens in Kalinovo and grows into a complex dramatic symbol: the thunderstorm is thought of by the characters of the play as God's punishment, a punishment for sins, but Katerina's love and her struggle are a thunderstorm for Kalinov's patriarchal world. Lightning during a thunderstorm illuminates the city plunged into darkness.

The prototype of the image of Katerina Kabanova was Ostrovsky's mistress, actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya (Nikulina). Kositskaya also became the first performer of her role. Both had families: Kositskaya was married to the actor I. Nikulin, and Ostrovsky from 1848 to 1867. lived in an unregistered marriage with a commoner Agafya Ivanovna. All their illegitimate children died at an early age. In 1869, the writer married Maria Vasilievna Bakhmeteva. who will become the mother of Ostrovsky's six children.

Ostrovsky's innovation manifested itself in connection of social, family conflict with the internal conflict of the heroine, and in combination of the dramaturgy of the landscape with the dramaturgy of human relations. In general, the conflict of the drama consists of several components:

1) the tyranny of the rich: the "cruel morals" of the city are associated with the unlimited power of the tyrant Savel Prokofievich Wild, a dark, uneducated, rude, but well-to-do man; no one can resist him: neither the most educated person in the city of Kuligin, nor the policeman;

2) family tyranny: Katerina's conflict with her mother-in-law, Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, who "has completely ate at home";

3) the conflict of the past and the present in Katerina's mind, the contradiction between Katerina's former free life in her parents' house and the current life "from captivity" in the mother-in-law's house;

4) the internal conflict of the heroine due to the inability to combine a feeling of love and marital relations with Tikhon;

5) the conflict associated with Katerina's feeling of her own uselessness to either her husband or her beloved Boris.

The play caused a great public outcry and controversy in criticism.

Nikolai Dobrolyubov in the article "A ray of light in a dark kingdom" called "Thunderstorm" the most decisive work of Ostrovsky, in which "an encouraging and refreshing impression is achieved by the character of Katerina." The critic considers the suicide of the heroine to be a manifestation of the decisiveness of her character and a challenge to "tyrant force."

From an article by Dobrolyubov

The point is that the character of Katerina, as portrayed in The Thunderstorm, constitutes a step forward not only in Ostrovsky's dramatic activity, but in all of our literature.
The resolute, integral Russian character, acting among the Dikikhs and Kabanovs, appears in Ostrovsky in the female type, and this is not without its serious significance.
When she married Tikhon Kabanov, she did not love him either; she did not yet understand this feeling; they told her that every girl should get married, showed Tikhon as her future husband, and she went for him, remaining completely indifferent to this step. And here, too, a peculiarity of character is manifested: according to our usual concepts, she should be resisted if she has a decisive character; but she does not think of resistance, because she does not have sufficient grounds for this. She has no special desire to get married, but there is no aversion from marriage either; there is no love in her for Tikhon, but there is no love for anyone else either. You can’t see either impotence or apathy in this, but you can only find a lack of experience ... But when she understands what she needs and wants to achieve something, she will achieve her goal at all costs: then quite the strength of her character, not wasted in petty antics.
Katerina ... not only does not take heroic poses and does not utter sayings that prove her strength of character, but on the contrary, she appears in the form of a weak woman who cannot resist her desires, and tries to justify the heroism that is manifested in her actions. She complains about no one, blames no one, and nothing like that even comes to her mind. There is no malice, no contempt in it, nothing that usually flaunts disappointed heroes who arbitrarily leave the world.
... At the last moment, all domestic horrors flash especially vividly in her imagination. She cries out: “They will catch me and bring me back home by force! .. Hurry, hurry ...” And the matter is over: she will no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she will no longer languish locked up with her spineless and disgusting husband. She's released!
Sad, bitter is such a liberation; But what to do when there is no other way out. It's good that the poor woman found determination at least for this terrible exit. That is the strength of her character, which is why The Thunderstorm makes a refreshing impression on us.

We have already said that this end seems to us gratifying; it is easy to understand why: in it a terrible challenge is given to the tyrannical force, he tells it that it is no longer possible to go further, it is impossible to live any longer with its violent, deadening principles. In Katerina we see a protest against Kabanov's notions of morality, a protest carried to the end, proclaimed both under domestic torture and over the abyss into which the poor woman threw herself.

Another critic, Dmitry Pisarev, published an article in 1864 "Motives of Russian drama" , where he gave a generally negative description of Katerina, whose life "consists of constant internal contradictions."

From an article by Pisarev

"... where Dobrolyubov succumbed to an impulse of aesthetic feeling, we will try to reason in cold blood and see that our family patriarchy suppresses any healthy development. Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" caused a critical article from Dobrolyubov entitled "A ray of light in a dark kingdom." This article was a mistake on the part of Dobrolyubov; he was carried away by sympathy for the character of Katerina and took her personality for a bright phenomenon.

[Boris] looks at Katerina. Katerina falls in love with him, but wants to keep her virtue intact. What kind of love arises from the exchange of several glances? What kind of harsh virtue that gives up at the first opportunity? Finally, what kind of suicide caused by such petty troubles, which are tolerated quite safely by all members of all Russian families?

In each of Katerina's actions one can find an attractive feature; Dobrolyubov found these sides, put them together, made up an ideal image from them, as a result he saw “a ray of light in a dark kingdom”, rejoiced at this ray with the pure and holy joy of a citizen and poet. If he looked calmly and attentively at his precious find, then the simplest question would immediately arise in his mind, which would lead to the destruction of an attractive illusion. Dobrolyubov would have asked himself: how could this bright image have been formed? he would have seen that upbringing and life could not give Katerina either a firm character or a developed mind.

Every external impression shakes her whole organism; the most insignificant event, the most empty conversation, produces whole upheavals in her thoughts, feelings and actions. The boar grumbles, Katerina languishes from this; Boris Grigorievich casts tender glances, Katerina falls in love; Varvara says a few words in passing about Boris, Katerina considers herself a lost woman in advance. Varvara gives Katerina the key to the gate, Katerina, holding on to this key for five minutes, decides that she will certainly see Boris, and ends her monologue with the words: “Oh, if only the night would come sooner!” Meanwhile, at the beginning of her monologue, she even found that the key was burning her hands and that she should definitely throw it away. When meeting with Boris, of course, the same story is repeated; first, “go away, damned man!”, and after that it throws itself on the neck. While the dates continue, Katerina thinks only that we will “take a walk”; as soon as Tikhon arrives, he begins to be tormented by remorse and reaches half-madness in this direction. Thunder struck - Katerina lost the last remnant of her mind. The final catastrophe, suicide, just like that happens impromptu. Katerina runs away from home with the vague hope of seeing her Boris; she does not think about suicide; she regrets that before they killed, but now they do not kill; she finds it uncomfortable that death is not; is Boris; when Katerina is left alone, she asks herself: “Where to now? go home?" and answers: “No, it’s all the same to me whether it’s home or in the grave.” Then the word "grave" leads her to a new series of thoughts, and she begins to consider the grave from a purely aesthetic point of view, from which people have so far managed to look only at other people's graves. At the same time, she completely loses sight of the fiery Gehenna, and yet she is not at all indifferent to this last thought.

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; she 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 by the most stupid means, suicide, and even such suicide, which is completely unexpected for herself.

After "Thunderstorm"

Among the satirical works of Ostrovsky in the 1860s. attention-grabbing comedy "Sufficient simplicity for every wise man" , the plot of which is a rethinking of the plot of Griboedov's comedy "Woe from Wit". Its main character, Yegor Glumov, is distinguished, like Chatsky, with a sharp mind, insight, and the ability to give people accurate characteristics. However, unlike Chatsky, Glumov does not openly fight the stupidity and vulgarity of those around him, but takes advantage of their weaknesses, thanks to which he receives both a profitable position and a promising bride. He trusts all his real thoughts only to the diary, which he calls "Notes of a scoundrel written by himself."

Glumov easily wins the favor of his wealthy relative Mamaev, who loves to give advice and guidance; literary works on Krutitsky's treatise "On the Harm of Reforms in General"; writes a "speech" to the important Mr. Gorodulin; at the request of Mamaev himself, he takes care of his wife Cleopatra Lvovna. The hero is convinced that one should take advantage of someone else's abomination, and it turns out to be right: even after being exposed, he turns out to be needed by those "masters" whom he caustically ridiculed in his diary.

The 1870s are considered the heyday of Ostrovsky's work. He creates his best plays: "Forest", "Snow Maiden", "Wolves and Sheep", "Dowry".

Fairy tale play " Snow Maiden "was born from the plot described by the Russian folklorist A.N. Afanasiev in the work" Poetic views of the Slavs on nature ": the peasants Ivan and Marya loved each other, but they had no children, and then they made Snezhevinochka from the snow (they called her Snegurka ), and she came to life, but melted in the spring. In Ostrovsky's play, the Snow Maiden is the fifteen-year-old daughter of Morozko (Father Frost) and Spring-Krasna. The Yarilo-sun is going to light the fire of love in the heart of the Snow Maiden, and before that the earth will be immersed in frost and a long winter "Mizgir, Kupava's fiancé, falls in love with the Snow Maiden. After some time, the fire of love ignites in the cold heart of the Snow Maiden. She dies, but thanks her mother Spring-Krasna for knowing the feeling of love. The play-tale will be so unexpected (the realist-satirist Ostrovsky is used to see the author of comedies and dramas), that readers will not accept it at first, and Nekrasov will refuse to publish it in Fatherland Notes as empty and fantastic.

As traditional New Year's characters Ded Moroz and Snegurochka (now for some reason in the status of a granddaughter) will first appear in the Moscow House of Unions at a meeting of the new year, 1937. Moreover, Veliky Ustyug is considered the birthplace of Santa Claus, and Kostroma is considered the birthplace of the Snow Maiden. However, New Year's traditions are not directly related to the content of Ostrovsky's fairy tale play.

Drama "Dowry"

I have already read my play in Moscow five times, among the listeners there were people who were hostile to me, and everyone unanimously recognized The Dowry as the best of all my works.
A.N. Ostrovsky

The most significant psychological drama of the 19th century was created within four years and was completed in the fall of 1878. The source of the plot was the case of Ivan Konovalov, who killed his young wife out of jealousy, a resident of the Volga city of Kineshma, where Ostrovsky served as an honorary justice of the peace. The drama was a success with readers, but the premiere screenings at the Maly and Alexandrinsky theaters failed, which caused a number of negative reviews in criticism. However, in reality, the play required a new approach to acting and in this sense anticipated, as the critic Alexander Skabichevsky pointed out, the poetics of Chekhov's dramaturgy.

In the drama "Dowry", as in "Thunderstorm", the life of the provincial Volga city of Bryakhimov is shown. It is as if patriarchy and house-building orders are a thing of the past, and merchants have become educated masters of life who do not communicate with fellow countrymen, but go to Paris to “talk”. However, the laws established by them, according to which everything is sold and bought, lead to tragedy the talented and beautiful girl Larisa Ogudalova, who becomes the subject of bargaining for influential people, a thing in the hands of wealthy merchants Knurov and Vozhevatov on the one hand and the poor but proud official Karandyshev, each of whom Larisa seeks to use to satisfy her own ambitions.

In essence, no one really loves Larisa, who "searched for love and did not find it." Her friend Vozhevatov calmly perceives his loss to Knurov, who should now "get" Larisa. Knurov, in turn, is prudently waiting for Paratov to play his role: the “brilliant master” will take her away from under the nose of her fiancé Karandyshev, seduce and leave her, and even then, the broken Larisa Knurov is ready to take to Paris as his kept mistress . The petty official Karandyshev, it would seem, is as poor as Larisa, and compared to rich merchants, he looks like a "little man" who, for the time being, is offended and humiliated with impunity by the "big" people of the city of Bryakhimov. However, Karandyshev is not a victim, but the same part of the "cruel world" as Paratov, Knurov and Vozhevatov: for him, the upcoming marriage to Larisa is a reason to get even with his offenders, an attempt to demonstrate his "moral superiority". In this sense, Julius Kapitonych Karandyshev is very far from the "little people" of Pushkin, Gogol and early Dostoevsky.

Ostrovsky has been writing plays in recent years. "Talents and Admirers", "Handsome Man", "Guilty Without Guilt". By this time, Ostrovsky is the most respected Russian writer. In 1883, Emperor Alexander the Third granted the playwright, who by that time was chairman of the Society of Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, an annual pension of 3,000 rubles. After playwright's death on June 14, 1886 in the village of Shchelykovo, Kostroma province, the emperor allocated considerable sums for burial, to support the widow of the writer Maria Bakhmetyeva and their four children.

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky is a famous Russian writer and playwright who had a significant impact on the development of the national theater. He formed a new school of realistic play and wrote many remarkable works. This article will outline the main stages of Ostrovsky's work. As well as the most significant moments of his biography.

Childhood

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, whose photo is presented in this article, was born in 1823, on March 31, in Moscow, in the area. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, grew up in a priest's family, graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy himself, but did not serve in the church. He became a court lawyer, engaged in commercial and legal cases. Nikolai Fedorovich managed to rise to the rank of titular adviser, and later (in 1839) to receive the nobility. The mother of the future playwright, Savvina Lyubov Ivanovna, was the daughter of a sexton. She died when Alexander was only seven years old. Six children grew up in the Ostrovsky family. Nikolai Fedorovich did everything to ensure that the children grew up in prosperity and received a decent education. A few years after the death of Lyubov Ivanovna, he married a second time. His wife was Emilia Andreevna von Tessin, baroness, daughter of a Swedish nobleman. The children were very lucky with their stepmother: she managed to find an approach to them and continued to educate them.

Youth

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky spent his childhood in the very center of Zamoskvorechye. His father had a very good library, thanks to which the boy got acquainted early with the literature of Russian writers and felt a penchant for writing. However, the father saw only a lawyer in the boy. Therefore, in 1835, Alexander was sent to the First Moscow Gymnasium, after studying in which he became a student at Moscow University. However, Ostrovsky did not succeed in obtaining a law degree. He quarreled with the teacher and left the university. On the advice of his father, Alexander Nikolaevich went to work in the court as a scribe and worked in this position for several years.

Attempt at writing

However, Alexander Nikolayevich did not leave attempts to prove himself in the literary field. In his first plays, he adhered to an accusatory, "moral-social" direction. The first were printed in a new edition, Moscow City Listk, in 1847. These were sketches for the comedy "Failed Debtor" and the essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident". Under the publication were the letters "A. ABOUT." and "D. G." The fact is that a certain Dmitry Gorev offered the young playwright cooperation. It did not progress beyond the writing of one of the scenes, but subsequently became a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky. Some ill-wishers later accused the playwright of plagiarism. In the future, many magnificent plays will come out from under the pen of Alexander Nikolaevich, and no one will dare to doubt his talent. Further, the table presented below will be detailed, which will allow systematizing the information received.

First success

When did it happen? Ostrovsky's work gained great popularity after the publication in 1850 of the comedy "Our people - let's settle!". This work evoked favorable reviews in literary circles. I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol gave the play a positive assessment. However, an impressive fly in the ointment also fell into this barrel of honey. Influential representatives of the Moscow merchants, offended by the estate, complained to the highest authorities about the impudent playwright. The play was immediately banned for staging, the author was expelled from service and placed under the strictest police supervision. Moreover, this happened on the personal orders of Emperor Nicholas I himself. Supervision was abolished only after Emperor Alexander II ascended the throne. And the theatrical public saw the comedy only in 1861, after the ban on its production was lifted.

Early plays

The early work of A. N. Ostrovsky did not go unnoticed, his works were published mainly in the Moskvityanin magazine. The playwright actively collaborated with this publication both as a critic and as an editor in 1850-1851. Under the influence of the “young editors” of the magazine and the main ideologist of this circle, Alexander Nikolayevich composed the plays “Poverty is not a vice”, “Don’t get into your sleigh”, “Don’t live as you want”. The themes of Ostrovsky's work during this period are the idealization of patriarchy, Russian ancient customs and traditions. These moods slightly muffled the accusatory pathos of the writer's work. However, in the works of this cycle, the dramatic skill of Alexander Nikolayevich grew. His plays have become famous and in demand.

Collaboration with Sovremennik

Beginning in 1853, for thirty years, the plays of Alexander Nikolayevich were shown every season on the stages of the Maly (in Moscow) and Alexandrinsky (in St. Petersburg) theaters. Since 1856, Ostrovsky's work has been regularly covered in the Sovremennik magazine (works are published). During the social upsurge in the country (before the abolition of serfdom in 1861), the writer's works again acquired accusatory sharpness. In the play “Hangover at a Strange Feast,” the writer created an impressive image of Bruskov Tit Titych, in which he embodied the brute and dark power of domestic autocracy. Here, for the first time, the word "tyrant" was heard, which later became fixed for a whole gallery of Ostrovsky's characters. In the comedy "Profitable Place" the corruption of officials that has become the norm was ridiculed. The drama "The Pupil" was a living protest against violence against the person. Other stages of Ostrovsky's work will be described below. But the peak of the achievement of this period of his literary activity was the socio-psychological drama "Thunderstorm".

"Storm"

In this play, the "bytovik" Ostrovsky painted the dull atmosphere of a provincial town with its hypocrisy, rudeness, and the indisputable authority of the "senior" and rich. In opposition to the imperfect world of people, Alexander Nikolayevich depicts breathtaking pictures of the Volga nature. The image of Katerina is covered with tragic beauty and gloomy charm. The thunderstorm symbolizes the spiritual confusion of the heroine and at the same time personifies the burden of fear under which ordinary people constantly live. The kingdom of blind obedience is undermined, according to Ostrovsky, by two forces: common sense, which Kuligin preaches in the play, and Katerina's pure soul. In his "Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom", the critic Dobrolyubov interpreted the image of the main character as a symbol of deep protest, gradually ripening in the country.

Thanks to this play, the work of Ostrovsky soared to an unattainable height. "Thunderstorm" made Alexander Nikolaevich the most famous and revered Russian playwright.

Historical motives

In the second half of the 1860s, Alexander Nikolayevich began to study the history of the Time of Troubles. He began to correspond with the famous historian and Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov. Based on the study of serious sources, the playwright created a whole cycle of historical works: "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky", "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk", "Tushino". The problems of national history were depicted by Ostrovsky talentedly and reliably.

Other plays

Alexander Nikolaevich still remained true to his favorite topic. In the 1860s, he wrote many "everyday" dramas and plays. Among them: "Hard days", "Abyss", "Jokers". These works consolidated the motives already found by the writer. Since the late 1860s, Ostrovsky's work has been undergoing a period of active development. In his dramaturgy, images and themes of the “new” Russia that survived the reform appear: businessmen, acquirers, degenerate patriarchal moneybags and “Europeanized” merchants. Alexander Nikolayevich created a brilliant cycle of satirical comedies debunking the post-reform illusions of citizens: “Mad Money”, “Hot Heart”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”. The moral ideal of the playwright is pure-hearted, noble people: Parasha from the "Hot Heart", Aksyusha from the "Forest". Ostrovsky's ideas about the meaning of life, happiness and duty were embodied in the play "Labor Bread". Almost all of Alexander Nikolayevich's works written in the 1870s were published in Otechestvennye Zapiski.

"Snow Maiden"

The appearance of this poetic play was completely accidental. The Maly Theater was closed for repairs in 1873. Its artists moved to the building of the Bolshoi Theatre. In this regard, the commission for the management of the Moscow imperial theaters decided to create a performance in which three troupes will be involved: opera, ballet and drama. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky undertook to write a similar play. The Snow Maiden was written by the playwright in a very short time. The author took a plot from a Russian folk tale as a basis. While working on the play, he carefully selected the sizes of the verses, consulted with archaeologists, historians, and connoisseurs of antiquity. The music for the play was composed by the young P. I. Tchaikovsky. The premiere of the play took place in 1873, on May 11, on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. K. S. Stanislavsky spoke of The Snow Maiden as a fairy tale, a dream told in sonorous and magnificent verse. He said that the realist and bytovik Ostrovsky wrote this play as if he had not been interested in anything before, except for pure romance and poetry.

Work in recent years

During this period, Ostrovsky composed significant socio-psychological comedies and dramas. They tell about the tragic fate of sensitive, gifted women in a cynical and greedy world: "Talents and Admirers", "Dowry". Here the playwright developed new techniques of stage expression, anticipating the work of Anton Chekhov. Preserving the peculiarities of his dramaturgy, Alexander Nikolaevich sought to embody the "internal struggle" of the characters in an "intelligent fine comedy".

Social activity

In 1866, Alexander Nikolaevich founded the famous Artistic Circle. He subsequently gave the Moscow stage many talented figures. Ostrovsky was visited by D. V. Grigorovich, I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, P. M. Sadovsky, A. F. Pisemsky, G. N. Fedotova, M. E. Ermolova, P. I. Tchaikovsky , L. N. Tolstoy, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. E. Turchaninov.

In 1874, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was established in Russia. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was chosen as the chairman of the association. Photos of the famous public figure were known to every lover of theatrics in Russia. The reformer made a lot of efforts to ensure that the legislation of the theater management was revised in favor of the artists, and thereby significantly improved their financial and social situation.

In 1885, Alexander Nikolayevich was appointed to the post of head of the repertoire and became the head of the theater school.

Ostrovsky Theater

The work of Alexander Ostrovsky is inextricably linked with the formation of a real Russian theater in its modern sense. The playwright and writer managed to create his own theater school and a special holistic concept for staging theater performances.

Features of Ostrovsky's work in the theater are the lack of opposition to the acting nature and extreme situations in the action of the play. In the works of Alexander Nikolaevich, ordinary events occur with ordinary people.

The main ideas of the reform:

• the theater should be built on conventions (there is an invisible “fourth wall” that separates the audience from the actors);
• when staging a performance, it is necessary to rely not on one well-known actor, but on a team of artists who understand each other well;
• the invariability of the attitude of actors to language: speech characteristics should express almost everything about the characters represented in the play;
• people come to the theater to watch the actors play, and not to get acquainted with the play - they can read it at home.

The ideas that the writer Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich came up with were subsequently finalized by M. A. Bulgakov and K. S. Stanislavsky.

Personal life

The personal life of the playwright was no less interesting than his literary work. Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich lived in a civil marriage with a simple bourgeois for almost twenty years. Interesting facts and details of the marital relationship between the writer and his first wife still excite researchers.

In 1847, in Nikolo-Vorobinovsky Lane, next to the house where Ostrovsky lived, a young girl, Agafya Ivanovna, settled with her thirteen-year-old sister. She had no relatives or friends. Nobody knows when she met Alexander Nikolayevich. However, in 1848 the young people had a son, Alexei. There were no conditions for raising a child, so the boy was temporarily placed in an orphanage. Ostrovsky's father was terribly angry that his son not only dropped out of a prestigious university, but also got in touch with a simple bourgeois woman living next door.

However, Alexander Nikolaevich showed firmness and, when his father, together with his stepmother, left for the recently purchased Shchelykovo estate in the Kostroma province, he settled with Agafya Ivanovna in his wooden house.

The writer and ethnographer S.V. Maksimov jokingly called Ostrovsky's first wife "Marfa Posadnitsa", because she was next to the writer in times of severe need and severe hardship. Ostrovsky's friends characterize Agafya Ivanovna as a very intelligent and cordial person by nature. She remarkably knew the manners and customs of merchant life and had an unconditional influence on Ostrovsky's work. Alexander Nikolaevich often consulted with her about the creation of his works. In addition, Agafya Ivanovna was a wonderful and hospitable hostess. But Ostrovsky did not register an official marriage with her even after the death of his father. All the children born in this union died very young, only the eldest, Alexei, briefly survived his mother.

Over time, Ostrovsky had other hobbies. He was passionately in love with Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya-Nikulina, who played Katerina at the premiere of The Thunderstorm in 1859. However, a personal break soon occurred: the actress left the playwright for the sake of a rich merchant.

Then Alexander Nikolaevich had a connection with a young artist Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva. Agafya Ivanovna knew about this, but she steadfastly carried her cross and managed to maintain Ostrovsky's respect for herself. The woman died in 1867, March 6, after a serious illness. Alexander Nikolaevich did not leave her bed until the very end. The burial place of Ostrovsky's first wife is unknown.

Two years later, the playwright married Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva, who bore him two daughters and four sons. Alexander Nikolaevich lived with this woman until the end of his days.

Writer's death

Tense public and could not but affect the health of the writer. In addition, despite good fees from staging plays and an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, Alexander Nikolayevich was always short of money. Exhausted by constant worries, the writer's body eventually failed. In 1886, on June 2, the writer died at his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. The emperor granted 3,000 rubles for the playwright's burial. In addition, he assigned a pension of 3,000 rubles to the writer's widow, and another 2,400 rubles a year for the upbringing of Ostrovsky's children.

Chronological table

The life and work of Ostrovsky can be briefly displayed in a chronological table.

Ostrovsky's life and work were filled with such events. The table, which shows the main events in the life of the writer, will help to better study his biography. The dramatic heritage of Alexander Nikolaevich is difficult to overestimate. Even during the life of the great artist, the Maly Theater was called “Ostrovsky's house”, and this says a lot. The work of Ostrovsky, a brief description of which is presented in this article, is worth studying in more detail.

Creativity Ostrovsky today included in the school curriculum, he is known and loved by many of our compatriots. Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky is a playwright, a native of Moscow, the son of a lawyer and the grandson of an Orthodox priest. He studied at Moscow University, at the Faculty of Law (did not graduate), served in Moscow courts, then became a professional theater figure and writer-dramatist.

In comparison with the plays of Turgenev or A.K. Tolstoy, which are primarily works of literature, Ostrovsky's dramaturgy has a different nature. It is intended not so much for reading as for theatrical embodiment, and should be studied, first of all, within the framework of the history of the theater. However, the history of literature cannot underestimate the work of the greatest Russian playwright of the second third of the 19th century.

Considering the work of Ostrovsky, we note that among his youthful experiences there are essays and poems. The comedy that made him famous was The Bankrupt, which was renamed The Bankrupt (and later renamed The Bankrupt). Our people - let's count!”), appeared in the magazine Moskvityanin (1850), although it was not allowed to be staged at that time. The false bankruptcy announced in this play by the merchant Bolshov is a collision based on the facts of real life (a wave of bankruptcies that swept through business circles on the eve of writing the comedy). However, the plot basis of the comedy, which is close to an anecdote, by no means exhausts its content. The plot takes an almost tragic turn: the false bankrupt was abandoned in a debtor's prison by his son-in-law Podkhalyuzin and his own daughter Lipochka, who refuse to redeem him. Shakespearean allusions (the fate of King Lear) were understood by many contemporaries.

After the literary success of "Bankrut" in the work of Ostrovsky in the 1850s, an interesting "Slavophile" period began, which brought a wonderful comedy called " Do not sit in your sleigh"(1853) - his first play, immediately and with great success staged - as well as the drama" Don't live the way you want"(1855) and one of the playwright's best plays" Poverty is not a vice» (created in 1854). Vice (images of Vikhorev, Korshunov) is invariably defeated in them by high morality, based on Orthodox Christian truths and folk-patriarchal foundations (images of Borodkin, Rusakov, Malomalsky). A beautifully written literary character - Lyubim Tortsov from "Poverty is not a vice", who managed to bring his brother Gordey to repentance and unite the lovers - the clerk Mitya and Lyubov Gordeevna (Gordey Tortsov's instant spiritual revival was called "improbable" many times, but the author clearly did not strive for plausibility in a naive-realistic sense - depicting Christian repentance, which is just capable of immediately making the sinner "a different person"). The action “Poverty is not a vice” takes place at Christmas time, the action “Do not live as you want” - at Shrovetide, and jubilant fun, a festive atmosphere intones both plays (however, in “Do not live as you want” there is also the motive of the devilish temptation, which involves Peter the buffoon Yeryomka).

Somewhat apart stands in con. 1850 - early. 1860s the so-called "Balzamin's" trilogy, dedicated to collisions from the life of the province: " Festive sleep - before lunch"(1857)," Your dogs are biting - don't pester strangers" (written in 1861) and " What you go for is what you will find", better known as Balzaminov's marriage» (1861).

Rapprochement A.N. Ostrovsky with the camp of the authors of Nekrasov's Sovremennik was marked by an immediate sharp aggravation of socially accusatory motives in his work. This should include, first of all, the comedy "Profitable Place" (1857), dramas " pupil" (1859) and " Storm» (1859). Complex collision " Thunderstorms”, where in the center the adultery of the heroine, which took place in a patriarchal merchant family characterized by extreme strictness of moral rules, led by a despotic mother-in-law, was one-sidedly perceived in the spirit of the “emancipatory” theses of the “democratic” journalism of that time. The suicide of the main character (from the point of view of Orthodoxy, which is a terrible sin) was interpreted as an act of "noble pride", "protest" and a kind of spiritual victory over the "inert" "house-building" moral and social (as it was implied, and religious Christian) norms. When the highly talented democrat critic N.A. Dobrolyubov, in an article of the same name, declared the main character "a ray of light in a dark kingdom", this metaphor of his quickly turned into a template according to which this play by Ostrovsky was interpreted in a Russian high school a century later. At the same time, an equally important component of the problematic of The Thunderstorm was missed, and even today it is often missed: the “eternal” theme for literature of the collision of love and duty. Meanwhile, it is largely due to the presence of this theme in the work that the play retains its dramatic liveliness to this day (however, outside of Russia it has always been staged in theaters a little).

The merchant milieu, which the playwright portrayed during the period of his slavophile hobbies as one of the most morally stable and spiritually pure components of the Russian social organism, was presented in Groz as a terrible “dark kingdom”, oppressing the youth, based on the senseless tyranny of the elders, malicious and ignorant. Katerina feels so harassed that she repeatedly talks throughout the play about suicide as her only way out. On the other hand, this drama by Ostrovsky, which came out about two years earlier than “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev, encourages us to state: the theme of "fathers and children" in its sharp social turn, as it were, hung in the literary atmosphere of that time. Depicted in The Thunderstorm, young people from merchant circles (Katerina and Boris, Varvara and Kudryash) understand and accept life's values, in general, the worldly truth of the older generation no more than Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov.

The main character, Katerina Kabanova, was discharged by the playwright with great sympathy for her. This is the image of a poetic, sentimental and deeply religious young woman, married not for love. The husband is kind, but timid and is subordinate to the imperious mother-widow Marfa Kabanova (Kabanikha). It is significant, however, that at the behest of the author, Katerina falls in love not with some internally strong person, a “real man” (which would be psychologically natural), but with the merchant’s son Boris, who in many respects resembles her husband like one drop of water to another. (Boris is timid and in complete submission to his overbearing uncle Diky - however, he is noticeably smarter than Tikhon Kabanov and is not devoid of education).

In the early 1860s Ostrovsky created a kind of dramatic trilogy about the Time of Troubles, compiled by poetic "chronicles" Kozma Zakharyevich Minin, Sukhoruk"(in 1862)," Dmitry Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (year of creation - 1867) and " Tushino» (1867). About this time in the XVIII century. wrote A.P. Sumarokov ("Dimitri the Pretender"), and in the first half of the 19th century. A.S. Pushkin ("Boris Godunov"), who caused many imitations among his contemporaries both in prose, and in verse, and in dramaturgy. The central work of Ostrovsky's tragedy ("Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky") is dedicated to the period, chronologically shortly before which the plot of Pushkin's "Boris Godunov" ends. Ostrovsky, as it were, emphasized their connection, choosing a poetic form for his work - moreover, a white iambic pentameter, as in Boris Godunov. Unfortunately, the great playwright did not show himself as a master of verse. Taking a "historical" roll in creativity; Ostrovsky also wrote the comedy " Governor"(1865) and psychological drama" Vasilisa Melentyeva"(1868), and a few years later the comedy" 17th century comedian».

Ostrovsky firmly returned to the path of socially accusatory dramaturgy already in the 1860s, creating one after another comedies that remain in the theater repertoire to this day, such as “ Enough simplicity for every sage"(year of creation - 1868)," Warm heart"(1869)," crazy money"(1870)," Forest"(1871)," Wolves and sheep"(1875), etc. It has long been noticed that there are positive characters only in one of the listed plays - in " Lese"(Aksyusha and actor Gennady Neschastlivtsev) - that is, these works are sharply satirical. In them, Ostrovsky acted as an innovator, applying in major dramatic forms the conventional techniques of the so-called vaudeville dramaturgy, for which he was criticized by reviewers who did not understand the meaning of his efforts. He tried to resume his work in the spirit of his comedies, published in the 1850s by the Slavophile Moskvityanin. These are, for example, such plays as "Not All the Cat's Carnival" (written in 1871), "Truth is good, but happiness is better" (created in 1876), etc. But "folk" motifs here acquired an outwardly ornamental, in somewhat artificial.

In addition to The Forest, some of Ostrovsky's other best works refract the theme of the difficult fate of the people of the theater. Such are his later dramas" talents and fans" (1882) and " Guilty without guilt"(Written in 1884), in the center of each of which is the image of a talented actress who, at a certain point in her life, is forced to step over something personal, human (in the first play, Negina breaks up with her beloved fiancé Meluzov, in the second, Otradina-Kruchinina gives the child to be raised by Galchikha ). Many of the problems posed in these plays, unfortunately, do not depend much on this or that particular social structure, although the audience of the XIX century. might seem topical. But, on the other hand, their eternal character helps the very plots of the plays to remain alive and relevant to this day.

The latter can also be attributed to Ostrovsky's drama " Dowry”(year of creation - 1878) - one of the indisputable peaks of A.N. Ostrovsky. Perhaps this is his best work. Larisa is a beautiful girl, for whom, however, there is no dowry (that is, marrying her, from the point of view of people of a certain psychology, was economically “unprofitable”, and according to the concepts of that time, simply “not prestigious” - by the way, the same dowry Otradina will be made in "Without Guilt of the Guilty"). At the same time, Larisa is clearly not one of those who solved this problem by going to a monastery. As a result, she arouses a purely carnal and cynical interest in the men who curl around her and compete. However, Karandyshev, who is not rich and not brilliant, who is ready to marry her and is considered her fiancé, she openly despises. On the other hand, Larisa, who is primitively striking on the effects of Paratov with his “grand gestures,” naively girlishly, for a long time enthusiastically considers the “ideal of a man” and sacredly believes him. When he rudely deceived her, she loses ground under her feet. Going on a scandalous boat trip with Paratov, Larisa says goodbye at home: “Either you rejoice, mom, or look for me in the Volga.” True, Larisa did not have a chance to drown herself - she, who had belatedly become disillusioned with the "ideal of a man", was shot dead by her fiancé, miserable Karandyshev, who had finally been rejected by her, so that she "won't get to anyone."

The writing of A.N. Ostrovsky plays-tales " Snow Maiden"(1873) - conceived as an extravaganza, but full of high symbolism (Ostrovsky also wrote a fairy tale play" Ivan Tsarevich"). A craving for symbols is generally characteristic of Ostrovsky's style. Even the titles of his works either resemble proverbs (“Do not live as you want”, “The truth is good, but happiness is better”, etc.), or look like meaningful symbols (“Thunderstorm”, “Forest”, “Wolves and Sheep” and etc.). The Snow Maiden depicts the conditionally fabulous kingdom of the Berendeys - a kind of fantasy on the themes of Slavic mythology. The plot of the folk tale underwent a complex turn under the pen of the master. Doomed to melt with the advent of summer, the Snow Maiden managed to recognize love, and her death turns out to be a kind of "optimistic tragedy."

The Snow Maiden testifies, of course, not so much to the author's deep actual knowledge of Slavic mythology, ancient rituals and folklore, but to an intuitive penetrating understanding of their spirit. Ostrovsky created a magnificent artistic image of the Slavic fairytale antiquity, which soon inspired N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov to his famous opera and later repeatedly gave impetus to the artistic imagination of other authors (for example, the ballet The Rite of Spring by I.F. Stravinsky). In The Snow Maiden, as well as in many other plays (Poverty is not a vice, Thunderstorm, Dowry, etc.), songs are heard on the stage - genuine folk or written in the "folk spirit".

The great importance of A.N. Ostrovsky gave color to speech, showing himself to be a supporter of what Dostoevsky called writing "essences". His characters usually speak, scattering words and phrases in abundance, designed to depict the language of a certain social environment, as well as to characterize the personal cultural and educational level of this particular character, the characteristics of his psychology and the sphere of vital interests. Thus, the language of the pretentious and ignorant heroine of The Bankrut, Lipochka, who, for example, reproaches her mother, “became famous” in this regard: “Why did you refuse the groom? Why not an incomparable party? Why not a capidon? She calls the mantilla “mantella”, the proportion “portion”, etc. and so on. Podkhalyuzin, whom the girl marries, is a match for her. When she, coyly, asks him: “Why don’t you speak French, Lazar Elizarych?” He answers bluntly: “But for the fact that we have nothing to do.” In other comedies, the holy fool is called "ugly", the consequence is "means", the quadrille is "quadrel", etc.

A.N. Ostrovsky is the largest Russian playwright of the 19th century, who gave the national theater a first-class repertoire, and Russian literature, classical works that retain great artistic significance for our modern times.

Testing on the work of Ostrovsky

1 OPTION

1) Ostrovsky's name

a) Nikolai Alekseevich

b) Alexey Nikolaevich

c) Alexander Nikolaevich

d) Nikolai Alexandrovich

2) Ostrovsky was nicknamed

a) Columbus Zamoskvorechye

b) "a man without a spleen"

c) "comrade Konstantin"

3) Ostrovsky studied

a) at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

b) in the Nizhyn gymnasium

c) at Moscow University

d) at Simbirsk University

4) The work "Thunderstorm"

a) comedy

b) tragedy

a) "Snow Maiden"

b) Wolves and sheep

c) "Oblomov"

d) "Our people - we will count"

6) The drama "Thunderstorm" was first published in

7) What invention did the self-taught mechanic Kuligin want to introduce into the life of his city?

a) telegraph

b) printing press

c) lightning rod

d) microscope

8) Determine the climax of the drama "Thunderstorm"

a) farewell to Tikhon and Katerina before his trip

b) the scene with the key

c) Katerina's meeting with Boris at the gate

d) repentance of Katerina before the inhabitants of the city

a) realism

b) romanticism

c) classicism

d) sentimentalism

10) The action of the drama "Thunderstorm" takes place

a) in Moscow

b) in Nizhny Novgorod

c) in Kalinov

d) in Petersburg

11) What was the name of Katerina's husband?

c) Curly

d) Akaki

12) Determine the main conflict of the drama "Thunderstorm"

a) the love story of Katerina and Boris

b) clash of tyrants and their victims

c) the love story of Tikhon and Katerina

d) a description of the friendly relations between Kabanikhi and Dikiy

13) Which of the heroes of the drama "Thunderstorm" "envy" the deceased Katerina, considering his own life the forthcoming torment?

b) Kuligin

a) footnote

b) remark

c) explanation

d) escort

a) Kuligin

d) Curly

16) What type of literary heroes did Kabanikha belong to?

a) "extra person"

b) hero-reasoner

c) little man

d) "tyrant"

17) Who wrote the critical article "Motives of Russian Drama" about "Thunderstorm"?

a) V. G. Belinsky

b) N. G. Chernyshevsky

c) N. A. Dobrolyubov

d) D. I. Pisarev

He has such an establishment. With us, no one even dare to utter a word about salaries, they will scold what the world is worth. "You," he says

Why do you know what I have in mind? Can you know my soul somehow? Or maybe I'll come to such a position,

that you five thousand ladies. "So you talk to him! Only he has never been in such and such a

location did not come.

c) Curly

19) Who said:

“Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and bare poverty. And we, sir, will never get out of this bark.

a) Curly

b) Kuligin

c) Boris Grigorievich

20) To whom do the words addressed to the main character of the play "Dowry" belong?

"Your friends are good! What respect for you! They do not look at you as a woman, as a person - a person controls his own destiny, they look at you as a thing.

a) Knurov

b) Paratov

c) Vozhevatov

d) Karandyshev

Test on the work of Ostrovsky. "Thunderstorm", "Dowry"

OPTION 2

1) Years of life of A. Ostrovsky:

2 Ostrovsky studied

a) at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

b) in the Nizhyn gymnasium

c) at Moscow University

d) at Simbirsk University

3) Ostrovsky was nicknamed

a) Columbus Zamoskvorechye

b) "a man without a spleen"

c) "comrade Konstantin"

d) "a ray of light in a dark kingdom"

4) The drama "Thunderstorm" was first published in

5) Which work does not belong to Ostrovsky:

a) "Snow Maiden"

b) "Poverty is not a vice"

c) "Oblomov"

d) "Our people - we will count"

6) The work "Thunderstorm"

a) comedy

b) tragedy

d) story

7) What estate did Kabanikha belong to?

b) tradesmen

c) noblemen

d) commoners

8) Who arranged the meeting between Katerina and Boris, stealing the key from Kabanikh?

a) Curly

b) Kuligin

c) Barbara

9) To which literary direction should the drama "Thunderstorm" be attributed?

a) realism

b) sentimentalism

c) classicism

d) romanticism

10) What was the name of Katerina's lover

a) Kuligin

d) Curly

11) In which city does the play take place?

a) in Nizhny Novgorod

b) in Torzhok

c) in Moscow

d) in Kalinov

12) Who owns the phrase: “Do whatever you want, if only it was sewn and covered”?

a) Curly

b) Katerina

c) Barbara

d) Kabanikhe

13) What did the self-taught mechanic Kuligin invent?

a) telegraph

b) perpetuum mobile

c) sundial

a) footnote

b) remark

c) explanation

d) escort

15) What phrase ends the drama "Thunderstorm"?

a) Mom, you ruined her, you, you, you ...

b) Do with it what you want! Her body is here, take it; and the soul is now not yours: it is now before the judge,

who is more merciful than you!

c) Thank you, good people, for your service!

d) Good for you, Katya! And why did I stay in the world and suffer!

16) What type of literary characters did Dikoy belong to?

a) "extra person"

b) "tyrant"

c) little man

d) hero-lover

17) Who wrote the critical article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Realm" about "Thunderstorm"?

a) V. G. Belinsky

b) N. G. Chernyshevsky

c) N. A. Dobrolyubov

d) D. I. Pisarev

18) What character are we talking about?

He first breaks down on us, abuses us in every possible way, as his soul pleases, and ends up

all the same, by the fact that it will not give anything or so, some little. Yes, it will become

to tell that out of mercy he gave, that this should not have been.

c) Curly

19) Who said:

“My parents raised us well in Moscow, they spared nothing for us. Me

sent to the Commercial Academy, and my sister to a boarding school, but both suddenly died of cholera,

my sister and I were left orphans. Then we hear that the grandmother also died here and

left a will so that my uncle will pay us the part that is due when we arrive

in adulthood, only with the condition ... "

d) Curly

20) To whom do the words from A. Ostrovsky's play "The Dowry" belong?

“Thing... yes, thing! They are right, I am a thing, not a person. I am now convinced that I

tested myself ... I am a thing! (With vehemence.) At last the word has been found for me, you

found him. Go away! Please leave me!"

a) Larisa Dmitrievna Ogudalova

b) Agrofena Kondratyevna Bolshova

c) Anna Pavlovna Vyshnevskaya

d) Harita Ignatievna Ogudalova

1 option

1-c, 2-a, 3-c, 4-c, 5-c, 6-b, 7-c, 8-d, 9-a, 10-c, 11-a, 12-b, 13- d, 14-b, 15-c, 16-d, 17-d, 18-a, 19-b, 20-d

Option 2

1-a, 2-c, 3-a, 4-b, 5-c, 6-c, 7-a, 8-c, 9-a, 10-c, 11-d, 12-c, 13- b, 14-b, 15-d, 16-b, 17-c, 18-a, 19-b, 20-a

The question of genres has always been quite resonant among literary scholars and critics. Disputes over which genre to attribute this or that work to gave rise to many points of view, sometimes completely unexpected. Most often, disagreements arise between the author's and the scientific designation of the genre. For example, N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" from a scientific point of view should have been called a novel. In the case of dramaturgy, too, everything is not so clear. And this is not about a symbolist understanding of drama or futuristic experiments, but about drama within the framework of a realistic method. Speaking specifically, about the genre of "Thunderstorms" by Ostrovsky.

Ostrovsky wrote this play in 1859, at a time when theater reform was needed. Ostrovsky himself believed that the performance of actors was much more important to the audience, and you could read the text of the play at home. The playwright was already beginning to prepare the public for the fact that plays for performances and plays for reading should be different. But the old traditions were still strong. The author himself defined the genre of the work "Thunderstorm" as a drama. First you need to understand the terminology. The drama is characterized by a serious, mostly everyday plot, the style is close to real life. At first glance, The Thunderstorm has a lot of dramatic elements. This, of course, is life. The customs and way of life of the city of Kalinov are spelled out incredibly clearly. One gets a complete impression not only of a single city, but of all provincial towns. It is no coincidence that the author points to the conditionality of the place of action: it is necessary to show that the existence of inhabitants is typical. Social characteristics are also clear: the actions and character of each hero are largely determined by his social position.

The tragic beginning is associated with the image of Katerina and, in part, Kabanikh. Tragedy requires a strong ideological conflict, a struggle that can end in the death of the protagonist or several characters. The image of Katerina shows a strong, pure and honest person who strives for freedom and justice. She was married early against her will, but she was able to some extent fall in love with her spineless husband. Katya often thinks that she could fly. She again wants to feel that inner lightness that she had before marriage. The girl is cramped and stuffy in an atmosphere of constant scandals and quarrels. She can neither lie, even though Varvara says that the whole Kabanov family rests on a lie, nor hush up the truth. Katya falls in love with Boris, because initially both to her and to the readers he seems the same as her. The girl had the last hope of saving herself from disappointment in life and in people - an escape with Boris, but the young man refused Katya, acting like other inhabitants of a strange world for Katerina.

Katerina's death shocks not only readers and viewers, but also other characters in the play. Tikhon says that his imperious mother, who killed the girl, is to blame for everything. Tikhon himself was ready to forgive his wife's betrayal, but Kabanikha was against it.

The only character who can be compared with Katerina in strength of character is Marfa Ignatievna. Her desire to subjugate everything and everyone makes a woman a real dictator. Her difficult nature eventually led to her daughter running away from home, her daughter-in-law committing suicide, and her son blaming her for her failures. Kabanikha can be called Katerina's antagonist to some extent.

The conflict of the play can also be viewed from two sides. From the point of view of tragedy, the conflict is revealed in the clash of two different worldviews: the old and the new. And from the point of view of the drama in the play, the contradictions of reality and characters collide.

The genre of the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky cannot be precisely defined. Some tend to the author's version - a social drama, others propose to reflect the characteristic elements of both tragedies and dramas, defining the Thunderstorms genre as an everyday tragedy. But one thing cannot be denied for sure: in this play there are both traits of tragedy and drama.

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