A. N. Ostrovsky is rightfully considered the father of Russian everyday drama, Russian theater. He opened up new horizons for the Russian theater, new heroes, a new type of human relations. About 60 plays belong to his pen, of which the most famous are such as “Dowry”, “Late Love”, “Forest”, “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man”, “Own People - Let's Settle” and, of course, “Thunderstorm”.
The play “Thunderstorm” was called by A.N. Dobrolyubov the most decisive work, since “the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to tragic consequences ...”. Indeed, the play takes us to the small Volga town of Kalinov, which would not be remarkable at all if, in the depths of its patriarchal nature, problems would not arise that can be attributed to a number of universal human problems. Stuffiness is the main thing that determines the atmosphere of the city. And the playwright very accurately conveys to us the state of mind of people who are forced to spend their lives in this atmosphere.
The secondary characters in the play not only form the background against which the personal drama of Katerina, the main character of the work, unfolds. They show us different types of people's attitudes towards their lack of freedom. The system of images in the play is such that all minor characters form conditional pairs, and only Katerina is alone in her true desire to escape from the oppression of the “tyrants”.
Dikoy and Kabanova are people who keep in constant fear those who are somehow dependent on them. Dobrolyubov very aptly called them "tyrants", since the main law for everyone is their will. It is no coincidence that they treat each other very respectfully: they are the same, only the sphere of influence is different. Wild manages in the city, Kabanikha - in his family.
Katerina's constant companion is Varvara, the sister of her husband Tikhon. She is the main opponent of the heroine. Her main rule: "Do what you want, if only everything was sewn and covered." Barbara cannot be denied intelligence and cunning; before marriage, she wants to be in time everywhere, to try everything, because she knows that “girls walk around as they want, father and mother don’t care. Only women are locked up.” Varvara perfectly understands the essence of relations between people in their house, but does not consider it necessary to fight mother's "storm". Lying is the norm for her. In a conversation with Katerina, she directly speaks about this: “Well, you can’t do without it ... Our whole house rests on this. 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.
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”. He, too, adapted to the tyranny of the Wild. Moreover, one can even assume that Curly could have turned into a second Wild.
At the end of the play, 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 the source of new laws of life and honest rules? Hardly. They are likely to try to become masters of life themselves.
The couple is also made up of two men with whom the fate of Katerina was connected. They can be safely called the true victims of the "dark kingdom". So the husband of Katerina Tikhon is a weak-willed, spineless creature. He obeys his mother in everything and obeys her. He does not have a clear life position, courage, courage. His image fully corresponds to the name given to him - Tikhon (quiet). Young Kabanov not only does not respect himself, but also allows his mother to treat his wife shamelessly. 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 only sought consolation in wine and on those short trips when, at least for a while, he could escape from the yoke of his mother.
Of course, Katerina cannot love and respect such a husband, 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 A. N. Dobrolyubov, “in the desert”, because in essence Boris is not much different from Tikhon. Is that more educated, yes, like Katerina, he did not spend his whole life in Kalinovo. 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. Katerina bitterly says that Boris, unlike her, is free. But his freedom is only in the absence of his wife.
Kuligin and Feklusha also form a couple, but here it is already appropriate to talk about antithesis. The wanderer Feklusha can be called the “ideologist” of the “dark kingdom”. With her stories about the lands where people with dog heads live, about the thunderstorm, which are perceived as irrefutable information about the world, she helps the "tyrants" to keep people in constant fear. Kalinov, for her, is a land blessed by God. The self-taught mechanic Kuligin, who is looking for a perpetual motion machine, is the exact opposite of Feklusha. He is active, obsessed with a constant desire to do something useful for people. A condemnation of the “dark kingdom” is put into his mouth: “Cruel, sir, morals in our city, cruel ... Whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor so that he can make even more money from his free labors ... ”But all his good intentions come across on a thick wall of misunderstanding, indifference, ignorance. So, on an attempt to put steel lightning rods on the houses, he receives a furious rebuff from Wild: “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, perhaps, is the only one who understands the main character, it is no coincidence that it is he who pronounces accusatory words at the end of the play, holding the body of the dead Katerina in his arms. But he is also incapable of fighting, as he has also adapted to the “dark kingdom”, resigned himself to such a life.
And finally, the last character is a half-mad lady, who at the very beginning of the play predicts the death of Katerina. She becomes the personification of those ideas about sin that live in the soul of the religious Katerina, brought up in a patriarchal family. True, in the finale of the play, Katerina manages to overcome her fear, for she understands that lying all her life and humble herself is a greater sin than suicide.
Secondary characters, as already mentioned, are the background against which the tragedy of a desperate woman unfolds. Each character in the play, each image is a detail that allows the author to convey as accurately as possible the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom” and the unpreparedness of most people for the fight.
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You are now reading: The role of minor characters in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
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, a 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".
A. N. Ostrovsky is rightfully considered the father of Russian everyday drama, Russian theater. He opened up new horizons for the Russian theater, new heroes, a new type of human relations. About 60 plays belong to his pen, of which the most famous are such as “Dowry”, “Late Love”, “Forest”, “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man”, “Own People - Let's Settle” and, of course, “Thunderstorm”.
The play "Thunderstorm" was called by A.N. Dobrolyubov the most decisive work, since "the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to tragic consequences ...". Indeed, the play takes us to the small Volga town of Kalinov, which would not be remarkable at all if, in the depths of its patriarchal nature, problems would not arise that can be attributed to a number of universal human problems. Stuffiness is the main thing that determines the atmosphere of the city. And the playwright very accurately conveys to us the state of mind of people who are forced to spend their lives in this atmosphere.
The secondary characters in the play not only form the background against which the personal drama of Katerina, the main character of the work, unfolds. They show us different types of people's attitudes towards their lack of freedom. The system of images in the play is such that all secondary characters form conditional pairs, and only Katerina is alone in her true desire to escape from the oppression of "tyrants".
Dikoy and Kabanova are people who keep in constant fear those who are somehow dependent on them. Dobrolyubov very aptly called them "tyrants", since the main law for everyone is their will. It is no coincidence that they treat each other very respectfully: they are the same, only the sphere of influence is different. Wild manages in the city, Kabanikha - in his family.
Katerina's constant companion is Varvara, the sister of her husband Tikhon. She is the main opponent of the heroine. Her main rule: "Do whatever you want, if only everything was sewn and covered." Barbara cannot be denied intelligence and cunning; before marriage, she wants to be in time everywhere, to try everything, because she knows that “girls walk around as they want, father and mother don’t care. Only women are locked up.” Varvara perfectly understands the essence of relations between people in their house, but does not consider it necessary to fight mother's "storm". Lying is the norm for her. In a conversation with Katerina, she directly speaks about this: “Well, you can’t do without it ... Our whole house rests on this. 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.
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". He, too, adapted to the tyranny of the Wild. Moreover, one can even assume that Curly could have turned into a second Wild.
At the end of the play, 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. They are likely to try to become masters of life themselves.
The couple is also made up of two men with whom the fate of Katerina was connected. They can be safely called the true victims of the "dark kingdom". So the husband of Katerina Tikhon is a weak-willed, spineless creature. He obeys his mother in everything and obeys her. He does not have a clear life position, courage, courage. His image fully corresponds to the name given to him - Tikhon (quiet). Young Kabanov not only does not respect himself, but also allows his mother to treat his wife shamelessly. 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 only sought consolation in wine and on those short trips when, at least for a while, he could escape from the yoke of his mother.
Of course, Katerina cannot love and respect such a husband, but her soul yearns for love. She falls in love with nephew-
Nick Wild, Boris. But Katerina fell in love with him, in the apt expression of A. N. Dobrolyubova, “on the desert”, because in essence Boris is not much different from Tikhon. Is that more educated, yes, like Katerina, he did not spend his whole life in Kalinovo. 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. Katerina bitterly says that Boris, unlike her, is free. But his freedom - except in the absence of his wife.
Kuligin and Feklusha also form a couple, but here it is already appropriate to talk about antithesis. The wanderer Feklusha can be called the "ideologist" of the "dark kingdom". With her stories about the lands where people with dog heads live, about the thunderstorm, which are perceived as irrefutable information about the world, she helps the "tyrants" to keep people in constant fear. Kalinov, for her, is the land blessed by God. The self-taught mechanic Kuligin, who is looking for a perpetual motion machine, is the exact opposite of Feklusha. He is active, obsessed with a constant desire to do something useful for people. A condemnation of the “dark kingdom” was put into his mouth: “Cruel, sir, the morals in our city, cruel ... Whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor in order to make even more money from his free labors ...” But all his good intentions come across on 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 some poles and horns, God forgive me.”
Kuligin, perhaps, is the only one who understands the main character, it is no coincidence that it is he who pronounces accusatory words at the end of the play, holding the body of the dead Katerina in his arms. But he is also incapable of fighting, as he also adapted to the "dark kingdom", resigned himself to such a life.
And finally, the last character is a half-mad lady, who at the very beginning of the play predicts the death of Katerina. She becomes the personification of those ideas about sin that live in the soul of the religious Katerina, brought up in a patriarchal family. True, in the finale of the play, Katerina manages to overcome her fear, for she understands that all her life to lie and humble herself is a greater sin than suicide.
Secondary characters, as already mentioned, are the background against which the tragedy of a desperate woman unfolds. Each character in the play, each image -
a detail that allows the author to convey as accurately as possible the atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" and the unpreparedness of most people to fight.
A.N. Ostrovsky was born and spent his childhood in Zamoskvorechye, where merchants, artisans, and the poor have long settled. Almost 50 plays were written by him during his long literary life, and many of them were rooted in his native Zamoskvorechye. The drama Thunderstorm (1859), written at the time of public upsurge on the eve of the peasant reform, seemed to crown the first decade of the writer's activity, a cycle of his plays about the "dark kingdom" of petty tyrants. The artist's imagination takes us to the small Volga town of Kalinov - with merchants' storehouses on the main street, with an old church where pious parishioners go to pray, with a public garden over the river, where the townsfolk walk decorously on holidays, with gatherings on benches at the boarded gate, behind which watchdogs bark furiously. The rhythm of life is sleepy, boring, to match that languidly long summer day with which the play begins:
The main conflict of the drama is not limited to the love story of Katerina and Boris. The development of the dramatic conflict would have been impossible without Feklusha, without Varvara, without Kuligin and other minor characters. Feklusha, a wanderer and a hanger-on, is similar to Kabanikhe in her reasoning. She thinks like her mistress, she regrets what her mistress regrets - about the old times dear to their hearts: “The last times, mother Marfa Ignatievna, the last, by all signs the last.” The interlocutors lament the fact that life is in full swing in other cities. They are terrified by the "fiery serpent", which they began to harness. They are waiting for all sorts of troubles ahead: "And worse than this, dear, it will be." But of the people close to Kabanikhe, only Feklusha will not condemn her severity. In the atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" under the yoke of tyrannical power, living human feelings fade, wither away, the will weakens, the mind fades. If a person is endowed with energy, a thirst for life, then, getting used to the circumstances, he begins to lie, dodge.
Under the pressure of this dark force, the characters of Tikhon and Barbara develop. This power disfigures them, each in its own way. Tikhon is pathetic, impersonal. But even the oppression of Kabanikh did not completely kill the living feelings in him. Somewhere in the depths of his timid soul, a spark glimmers - love for his wife. He does not dare to show this love, and he does not understand Katerina, he is glad to leave even from her, if only to escape from the hell at home. But the fire in his soul does not go out. Confused and depressed, Tikhon speaks of his wife who cheated on him: “But I love her, I’m sorry to touch her with my finger ...” His will is constrained, and he does not even dare to help his unfortunate Katya. However, in the last scene, love for his wife overcomes Tikhon's fear of his mother. Over the corpse of Katerina, for the first time in his life, he dares to blame his mother:
"Kabanov. Mother, you ruined her, you, you, you...
Kabanova. What you! Al don't remember yourself! Forgot who you're talking to!
Kabanov. You ruined her! You! You!"
How different these accusations are from the timid, humiliated words of Tikhon at his first appearance on stage: “Yes, do we dare, mother, think!”, “Yes, mother, ...” So, indeed, the foundations of the “dark kingdom” are the power of Kabanikha is wavering, even if Tikhon spoke like that.
The development of characters in The Thunderstorm is connected with the central conflict of the drama. Life in Kabanova's house also crippled Varvara. She does not want to endure the power of her mother, does not want to live in captivity. But Barbara easily adapts to the morality of the "dark kingdom", takes the path of deception. This becomes habitual for her - she claims that it is impossible to live otherwise: their whole house is based on deceit. “And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary,” says Varvara. Her worldly rules are very simple: "Do whatever you want, if only it was sewn and covered." However, Varvara was cunning as long as it was possible, but when they began to lock her up, she ran away from home. And again the ideals of Kabanikhi are crumbling. The daughter "disgraced" her house, broke free from her power.
Most of the characters are weak and miserable nephew of Diky, Boris Grigorievich. He himself says about himself: “I walk around completely dead ... Driven, beaten ...” This is a kind, cultured person. He stood out sharply against the background of the merchant environment. But Boris is not able to protect himself or his beloved woman. 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 for me now. Farewell, Katya! You villains! Fiends! Oh, if only there was strength! In the scene of the last meeting with Katerina, Boris causes contempt. The man whom she passionately loved is afraid to run away with the woman she loves. He is afraid to even talk to her: “We wouldn’t be found here.” But it is to this weak-willed person that Katerina’s last words before her death are addressed: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!"
The husband of Katerina Tikhon deserves more respect than Boris, as he dared to accuse. Even the clerk Wild Curly, who is said to be rude, commands at least some respect, because he was able to protect his love by running away with his beloved. Among the characters of the play, opposed to the Wild and the Boar, Kuligin boldly and sensibly judges the "dark kingdom". This self-taught mechanic has a bright mind and a broad soul, like many talented people from the people. He condemns the greed of the merchants, the cruel attitude towards man, ignorance, indifference to everything truly beautiful. Kuligin's opposition to the "dark kingdom" is especially expressive in the scene of his encounter with Wild. Kuligin writes poetry, but his usual speech is imbued with poetry. “It’s very good, sir, to walk now,” he says to Boris. - Silence, the air is excellent, because of the Volga it smells of flowers from the meadows, the sky is clear ... "And then Lomonosov's poems sound.
Kuligin denounces the "cruel manners" of the Dikikhs and Kabanovs, but he is too weak in his protest. Just like Tikhon, like Boris, he is afraid of tyrannical power, bows before it. "There is nothing to do, you must submit!" he says humbly. Kuligin and others teach obedience. He advises Curly: "It's better to endure." He recommends the same to Boris: “What to do, sir. You have to try to please somehow." And only at the end, shocked by the death of Katerina, Kuligin rises to an open protest: “Here is your Katerina for you. Do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; and the soul is no longer yours: it is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” With these words, Kuligin not only justifies Katerina, but also blames the merciless judges who killed her. We see that Katerina's death aroused a protest against the "dark kingdom" from the silent, downtrodden Tikhon, called Kuligin, who is usually timid before the tyrants, to an open protest. The main conflict of the drama is the struggle between old and new morality. And as the author intended, not only the main character - Katerina protests against the old world, but also secondary characters somehow raise their voices against the "dark kingdom".
The role of secondary characters, everyday background and landscape in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
I. Introduction
The introduction of secondary characters into the play, the depiction of everyday background and landscape enable the author to expand the scope of the depicted, show the environment in which the action unfolds, and create a certain emotional flavor in the work.
II. main part
1. Minor characters:
a) Wild. He is not directly involved in the plot of the play. The function of this character is to embody with maximum clarity the features of the "cruel morals" of the city of Kalinov, to give the reader and viewer an idea of militant tyranny;
b) the wanderer Feklusha. Her stories show all the ignorance of the inhabitants of the city, their hypocrisy and active rejection of everything new;
c) Kuligin. The role of this character is approximately the same, although Kuligin himself is completely opposite to Feklusha. Kuligin represents science and education in the play. In his ideas, however, there is nothing particularly new, but even these ideas (for example, a lightning rod) are met with misunderstanding and contempt. In addition, Kuligin is a man of much more exalted thoughts than his environment (he feels nature, reads poetry, etc.). It is he who expresses thoughts close to the author's (especially after Katerina's suicide).
d) Kudryash and Varvara. This pair of characters is closely connected with the motive of freedom, both external and internal. Due to certain circumstances and character traits, they were able to oppose their own independence to the arbitrariness of tyrants. However, it is impossible to associate with them any serious hopes for changes in the world of petty tyrants: they live one day, not at all caring about the future.
2. Household background. In part, he is associated with such minor characters as Dikoy and Feklusha. Another way to introduce a domestic background into the play and at the same time expand the scope of what is depicted is the stories of the characters (Kuligin, Boris, Diky, etc.), from which we learn about the features of the "cruel morals" of the inhabitants of the city. The everyday background reveals in the play an atmosphere of tyranny, ignorance, rudeness and arbitrariness. He gives the reader and viewer the impression of a stagnant life, contrary to any free speech and freedom in general; everyday background exacerbates the tragedy of the position of the main character.
3. The landscape performs the opposite function in the play. The action takes place in a town on the Volga, and the Volga has long been associated in the minds of Russian people with freedom, with will. It is in the Volga that Katerina finds a unique and only possible release for her. Kuligin speaks more than once about the beauty of the Volga nature, but no one understands him. Thus, nature acts as a contrast to the "cruel morals" of the life of the city of Kalinov.
4. The image of a thunderstorm is somewhat more complicated. If for the same Kuligin this is a natural phenomenon that he sincerely admires, then for the rest, a thunderstorm is a manifestation of God's wrath. So does Katerina; her repentance is connected with the storm.
