Throughout his career, A. N. Ostrovsky created a number of realistic works in which he depicted contemporary reality and the life of the Russian provinces. One of them is the play "Thunderstorm". In this drama, the author showed the wild, deaf society of the county town of Kalinov, living according to the laws of Domostroy, and contrasted it with the image of a freedom-loving girl who did not want to come to terms with Kalinov's norms of life and behavior. One of the most important problems raised in the work is the problem of human dignity, which was especially relevant in the middle of the 19th century, during the crisis of the obsolete, obsolete orders that then reigned in the province. The merchant society shown in the play lives in an atmosphere of lies, deceit, hypocrisy, duplicity; within the walls of their estates, representatives of the older generation scold and teach the household, and behind the fence they portray courtesy and benevolence, putting on cute, smiling masks. N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” uses the division of the heroes of this world into tyrants and “downtrodden personalities”. Tyrants - merchant Kabanova, Dikoy - domineering, cruel, who consider themselves entitled to insult and humiliate those who depend on them, constantly torment their household with reprimands and quarrels. For them, there is no concept of human dignity: in general, they do not consider subordinates to be people. Constantly humiliated, some members of the younger generation lost their self-respect, became slavishly submissive, never arguing, never objecting, having no opinion of their own. For example, Tikhon is a typical "downtrodden personality", a person whose mother, Kabanikha, crushed her already not very lively attempts to demonstrate character from childhood. Tikhon is pitiful and insignificant: he can hardly be called a person; drunkenness replaces all the joys of life for him, he is not capable of strong, deep feelings, the concept of human dignity is unknown and inaccessible to him. Less "downtrodden" personalities - Varvara and Boris, they have a greater degree of freedom. The boar does not forbid Varvara to go for a walk (“Walk before your time has come - you will still sit up”), but even if reproaches begin, Varvara has enough self-control and cunning not to react; she does not let herself be offended. But then again, in my opinion, she is driven more by pride than by self-esteem. Dikoy publicly scolds Boris, insulting him, but in doing so, in my opinion, he belittles himself in the eyes of others: a person who makes family squabbles and quarrels on public display is unworthy of respect. But Dikoy himself and the population of the city of Kalinov have a different point of view: Dikoy scolds his nephew, which means that the nephew depends on him, which means that Dikoy has a certain power, which means that he is worthy of respect. Kabanikha and Dikoy are unworthy people, petty tyrants, corrupted by the unlimitedness of their power at home, spiritually callous, blind, insensitive, and their life is dull, gray, filled with endless teachings and reprimands at home. They do not have human dignity, because the person who possesses it knows the value of himself and others and always strives for peace, peace of mind; tyrants, on the other hand, are always trying to assert their power over people who are often mentally richer than themselves, provoke them to quarrels and exhaust them with useless discussions. Such people are not loved and not respected, they are only feared and hated. This world is opposed by the image of Katerina - a girl from a merchant family who grew up in an atmosphere of religiosity, spiritual harmony and freedom. Having married Tikhon, she finds herself in the Kabanovs' house, in an environment unusual for herself, where lies are the main means to achieve something, and duplicity is in the order of things. Kabanova begins to humiliate and insult Katerina, making her life impossible. Katerina is a mentally vulnerable, fragile person; Kabanikha's cruelty and heartlessness hurt her painfully, but she endures, not responding to insults, and Kabanova provokes her into a quarrel, piercing and humiliating her dignity with every remark. This constant bullying is unbearable. Even the husband is not able to stand up for the girl. Katerina's freedom is sharply limited. “Everything here is somehow out of bondage,” she says to Varvara, and her protest against the insult to human dignity translates into love for Boris - a man who, in principle, simply took advantage of her love and then ran away, and Katerina, not who would have withstood further humiliation, committed suicide. None of the representatives of Kalinov society knows the feeling of human dignity, and no one can understand and appreciate it in another person, especially if it is a woman, according to Domostroev standards - a housewife who obeys her husband in everything, who Might as well beat her up. Not noticing this moral value in Katerina, the Mir of the city of Kalinov tried to humiliate her to his level, make her a part of her, draw her into a web of lies and hypocrisy, but human dignity belongs to the number of innate and ineradicable qualities, it cannot be taken away, which is why Katerina does not can become like these people and, seeing no other way out, throws herself into the river, finally finding in heaven, where she has been striving all her life, the long-awaited peace and tranquility. The tragedy of the play "Thunderstorm" is in the insolubility of the conflict between a person who has a sense of his own dignity, and a society in which no one has any idea about human dignity. The Thunderstorm is one of Ostrovsky's greatest realistic works, in which the playwright showed the immorality, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness that reigned in provincial society in the middle of the 19th century. The Thunderstorm is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky's most decisive work; the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to the most tragic consequences ... There is even something refreshing and encouraging in The Thunderstorm. N. A. Dobrolyubov A. N. Ostrovsky received literary recognition after the appearance of his first major play. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became a necessary element of the culture of his time, he retained the position of the best playwright of the era, the head of the Russian drama school, despite the fact that A. V. Sukhov-Kobylin, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. F. Pisemsky, A. K. Tolstoy and L. N. Tolstoy. The most popular critics considered his works as a true and deep reflection of modern reality. Meanwhile, Ostrovsky, following his own original creative path, often baffled both critics and readers. So, the play "Thunderstorm" came as a surprise to many. LN Tolstoy did not accept the play. The tragedy of this work forced critics to reconsider their views on Ostrovsky's dramaturgy. Ap. Grigoriev noted that in "Thunderstorm" there is a protest against the "existing", which is terrible for its adherents. Dobrolyubov in the article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" argued. that from the image of Katerina in "Thunderstorm" "breathes new life on us." Perhaps for the first time, scenes of family, “private” life, that arbitrariness and lack of rights that were hitherto hidden behind the thick doors of mansions and estates, were shown with such pictorial power. And at the same time, it was not just a household sketch. The author showed the unenviable position of a Russian woman in a merchant family. The great power of the tragedy was given by the special truthfulness, skillfulness of the author, as D. I. Pisarev rightly noted: “Thunderstorm” is a picture from nature, that’s why it breathes truth.” The action of the tragedy takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is spread among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I have been looking beyond the Volga every day and I can’t see enough of everything. The view is extraordinary! The beauty! The soul rejoices,” Kulagin admires. It would seem that the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. However, the life and customs of the wealthy merchants created a "world of prison and grave silence." Savel Wild and Marfa Kabanova are the personification of cruelty and tyranny. Orders in the merchant's house are based on obsolete religious dogmas of Domostroy. Dobrolyubov says about Kabanikha that she "nibbles her victim ... for a long time and relentlessly." She forces her daughter-in-law Katerina to bow at the feet of her husband when he leaves, scolds her for not “howling” in public when seeing her husband off.

Kabanikha is very rich, this can be judged by the fact that the interests of her affairs go far beyond Kalinov, on her behalf Tikhon travels to Moscow. She is respected by Dikoy, for whom the main thing in life is money. But the merchant understands that power also gives the humility of the environment. She seeks to kill at home any manifestation of resistance to her power. The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant. Tikhon does not contradict her in anything. Barbara learned to lie, hide and dodge. The main character of the play, Katerina, is marked by a strong character, she is not used to humiliation and insults and therefore conflicts with her cruel old mother-in-law. In her mother's house, Katerina lived freely and easily. In the House of Kabanovs, she feels like a bird in a cage. She quickly realizes that she cannot live here for a long time. Katerina married Tikhon without love. Everything in the house of Kabanikh trembles at the mere imperious cry of the merchant's wife. Life in this house is hard for the young. And now Katerina meets a completely different person and falls in love. For the first time in her life, she knows a deep personal feeling. One night she goes on a date with Boris. Which side is the playwright on? He is on the side of Katerina, because one cannot destroy the natural aspirations of a person. Life in the Kabanov family is unnatural. And Katerina does not accept the inclinations of those people to whom she fell. Hearing Varvara’s offer to lie and pretend, Katerina replies: “I can’t deceive, I can’t hide anything.” The directness and sincerity of Katerina commands respect from the author, the reader, and the viewer. She decides that she can no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, cannot languish locked up. She is free! But she saw a way out only in her death. And this could be argued. Critics also disagreed on whether it was worth paying Katerina for freedom at the cost of her life. So, Pisarev, unlike Dobrolyubov, considers Katerina's act meaningless. He believes that after Katerina's suicide, everything will return to normal, life will go on as usual, and the "dark kingdom" is not worth such a sacrifice. Of course, Kabanikha brought Katerina to her death. As a result, her daughter Varvara runs away from home, and her son Tikhon regrets that he did not die with his wife. Interestingly, one of the main, active images of this play is the image of the thunderstorm itself. Symbolically expressing the idea of ​​the work, this image directly participates in the action of the drama as a real natural phenomenon, enters into action at its decisive moments, largely determines the actions of the heroine. This image is very meaningful, it illuminates almost all aspects of the drama. So, already in the first act, a thunderstorm broke out over the city of Kalinov. It burst like a harbinger of tragedy. Katerina already said: “I will die soon,” she confessed to Varvara in sinful love. The prediction of a crazy lady that a thunderstorm does not pass in vain, and a sense of her own sin with a real clap of thunder, were already combined in her imagination. Katerina rushes home: “Still, it’s better, everything is calmer, I’m at home - to the images and pray to God!”. After that, the storm stops for a while. Only in the grumbling of Kabanikha are her echoes heard. There was no thunderstorm that night, when Katerina, for the first time after her marriage, felt free and happy. But the fourth, culminating act, begins with the words: "It's raining, no matter how the storm gathers?". And after that, the motive of the thunderstorm does not stop. The dialogue between Kulagin and Dikoi is interesting. Kulagin talks about lightning rods (“we have frequent thunderstorms”) and angers Diky: “What kind of electricity is there? Well, why aren't you a robber? A thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of horns, God forgive me. What are you, a Tatar, or what? And to the quote from Derzhavin, which Kulagin cites in his defense: “I rot in the ashes with my body, I command thunder with my mind,” the merchant does not find anything to say at all, except: “And for these words, send you to the mayor, so he will ask you!" Undoubtedly, in the play, the image of a thunderstorm takes on a special meaning: it is a refreshing, revolutionary beginning. However, the mind is condemned in the dark realm, it met with impenetrable ignorance, reinforced by stinginess. But all the same, the lightning that cut through the sky over the Volga touched Tikhon, who was silent for a long time, flashed over the fates of Varvara and Kudryash. The storm shook everyone up. It's too early for inhuman morals. or the end will come later. The struggle between the new and the old has begun and continues. This is the meaning of the work of the great Russian playwright.

Representatives of the dark kingdom in the play "Thunderstorm"

In Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" the problems of morality are widely posed. On the example of the provincial town of Kalinov, the playwright showed the truly cruel customs reigning there. Ostrovsky portrayed the cruelty of people living in the old way, according to Domostroy, and a new generation of young people who reject these foundations. The characters in the drama are divided into two groups. On one side are the old people, champions of the old order, who, in essence, carry out this "Domostroy", on the other - Katerina and the younger generation of the city. The heroes of the drama live in the city of Kalinovo. This city occupies a small, but not the last place in Russia of that time, at the same time it is the personification of serfdom and "Domostroy". Outside the walls of the city, another, alien world seems to be. No wonder Ostrovsky mentions the Volga in his remarks, "a public garden on the banks of the Volga, beyond the Volga a rural view." We see how the cruel, closed world of Kalinov differs from the external, "uncontrollably huge." This is the world of Katerina, who was born and raised on the Volga. Behind this world lies the life that Kabanikha and her ilk are so afraid of. According to the wanderer Feklusha, the “old world” is leaving, only in this city there is “paradise and silence”, in other places it’s “just sodom”: people in the bustle do not notice each other, they harness the “fiery serpent”, and in Moscow “now the amusement Yes, games, but the Indo rumble goes through the streets, there is a groan. But even in the old Kalinov, something is changing. New thoughts are carried by Kuligin. Kulagin, embodying the ideas of Lomonosov, Derzhavin and representatives of an earlier culture, proposes to put a clock on the boulevard to watch the time. Let's get acquainted with the rest of Kalinov's representatives. Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova - champion of the old world. Already the name itself draws us a heavy, heavy woman, and the nickname "Boar" complements this unpleasant picture. The boar lives the old fashioned way, in accordance with a strict order. But she observes only the appearance of this order, which she maintains in public: a good son, an obedient daughter-in-law. He even complains: “They don’t know anything, there is no order ... What will happen, how the old people will die, how the light will stand, I don’t know. Well, at least it’s good that I don’t see anything. ” In the house, real arbitrariness reigns. The boar is despotic, rude, with the peasants, "eats" the household and does not tolerate objections. Her son is completely subordinate to her will, she expects this from her daughter-in-law. Next to Kabanikha, who every day “grinds all her household like rusty iron,” the merchant Dikoy, whose name is associated with wild strength, is speaking. Wild not only "grinds and saws" members of his family. He also suffers from the men whom he deceives in the calculation, and, of course, the buyers, as well as his clerk Kudryash, a recalcitrant and impudent guy, ready to teach a lesson to the “scoldener” in a dark alley with his fists. The character of Wild Ostrovsky described very accurately. For Wild, the main thing is money, in which he sees everything: power, glory, worship. This is especially striking in the small town where he lives. He can already easily “pat on the shoulder” of the mayor himself. Diky and Kabanikha, representatives of the old order, are opposed by Kuligin. Kulagin is an inventor, his views correspond to those of the Enlightenment. He wants to invent a sundial, a "perpetuum mobile", a lightning rod. His invention of the lightning rod is symbolic, just as a thunderstorm is symbolic in drama. It is not for nothing that he dislikes Kulagin Dikoy so much, who calls him “worm”, “Tatar” and “robber”. Diky's willingness to send the inventor-educator to the mayor, his attempts to refute Kuligin's knowledge, based on the wildest religious superstition - all this also acquires a symbolic meaning in the play. Kuligin quotes Lomonosov and Derzhavin and refers to their authority. He lives in the old "domostroevsky" world, where they still believe in omens and people with "dog heads", but the image of Kulagin is evidence that people have already appeared in the "dark kingdom" who can become moral judges of those who are above them dominates. Therefore, at the end of the drama, it is Kuligin who brings Katerina's body ashore and utters words full of reproach. The images of Tikhon and Boris are developed insignificantly, Dobrolyubov in a well-known article says that Boris can be more likely attributed to the setting than to the heroes. In the remark, Boris is distinguished only by his clothes: "All persons, except Boris, are dressed in Russian." This is the first difference between him and the inhabitants of Kalinov. The second difference is that he studied at a commercial academy in Moscow. But Ostrovsky made him a nephew of Wild, and this suggests that, despite some differences, he belongs to the people of the “dark kingdom”. This is confirmed by the fact that he is not able to fight this kingdom. Instead of giving Katerina a helping hand, he advises her to submit to her fate. The same and Tikhon. Already in the list of characters it is said about him that he is “her son”, that is, the son of Kabanikhi. He really is more like just a son of Kabanikha than a person. Tikhon has no willpower. The only desire of this man is to escape from the care of his mother in order to take a walk for the whole year. Tikhon is also unable to help Katerina. Both Boris and Tikhon leave her alone with their inner feelings. If Kabanikha and Wild belong to the old way, Kuligin carries the ideas of enlightenment, then Katerina is at a crossroads. Raised and brought up in a patriarchal spirit, Katerina fully follows this lifestyle. Cheating here is considered unforgivable, and, having cheated on her husband, Katerina sees this as a sin before God. But her character is naturally proud, independent and free. Her dream to fly means breaking free from the power of her despotic mother-in-law and from the stuffy world of the Kabanovs' house. As a child, she once, offended by something, went to the Volga in the evening. The same protest is heard in her words addressed to Varya: “And if I get really sick of it here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I'll throw myself out the window, I'll throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, so I won’t, even if you cut me!” In Katerina's soul there is a struggle between the pangs of conscience and the desire for freedom. Katerina also differs from the representatives of the youth - Varvara and Kudryash. She does not know how to adapt to life, to be hypocritical and pretend, as Kabanikha does, she does not know how to look at the world as easily as Varya. Ostrovsky could have ended the drama with a scene of Katerina's repentance. But that would mean that the "dark kingdom" won. Katerina dies, and this is her victory over. the old world. According to contemporaries, Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" was of great importance. It shows two worlds, two ways of life - the old and the new with their representatives. The death of the main character Katerina suggests that the new world will win and that it is this world that will replace the old one. play Ostrovsky thunderstorm personality

Daria MENDELEEVA

After "Thunderstorm"

or A few words about Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova

Ostrovsky's drama has long been read. The “cruel morals” of the city of Kalinov, once and for all declared a “dark kingdom” have been carefully studied and branded with shame; mourned the fate of the unfortunate Katerina; the most thoughtful commemorate the weak-willed Boris Grigorievich with an unkind word. And yet, before the final composition, let's re-read the play again.

Strange Boar

From the stories of the heroes about each other, from their own statements, a fairly clear gallery of characters of a small town on the Volga is built before us. Begging for money for his bold but senseless experiments “antique”, “chemist”, “little man” Kuligin (about whom Boris, who received a regular education, says that it is “sorry to disappoint him”), Tikhon, beaten down by his mother, gradually becomes an inveterate drunkard, Varvara walks with Kudryash, Feklusha tells stories to those around him, taken by the rest for news, scolds everyone and everything Wild ...

Among the reviews of others about Marfa Ignatievna - the old Kabaniha - one can find the most opposite opinions: some believe that she is a “prudence” and “has completely eaten at home”, others praise her piety and sincerely wish her prosperity. Of course, the arguments about the tyranny of the old merchant's wife are not based on an empty place, but let's take a closer look at how she communicates with her family.

Here is the Kabanov family in full force walking along the boulevard from Vespers home (I, 5). On the way, mother gives her son advice for the upcoming departure, and the general tone of the conversation cannot be called affectionate. It can be seen that all the younger members of the family are rather tired of her severity and endless nit-picking. What, besides the very common jealousy of the mother-in-law for the daughter-in-law (“I have long seen that your wife is dearer to you than your mother”), so poisons the life of a peaceful merchant family, what does the old mother demand from her children? Firstly, constant attention and unconditional respect for oneself and for elders in general (“If a parent says something insulting, in your pride, I think it can be endured”; “They don’t really respect elders now”); and secondly, modesty and unhypocritical piety (hence the reproaches of Katerina: “What did you pop out in your eyes!”). Speaking about the latter, Kabanova, again seized with jealousy, clearly overpowers, which greatly offends her so far innocent daughter-in-law, but immediately, albeit in her own way, apologizes: “Yes, I didn’t want to talk about you; and so, by the way, I had to. Of course, such an instruction given “in reserve” in the future will only push Katerina to Boris, secretly beloved by her, but somewhere in the depths of our consciousness the thought immediately arises that, if you turn out to be a new relative of Kabanikh, a less pure soul, like, say, Varvara, and maternal reproaches would not be far from the truth.

In everything that Marfa Ignatievna says, in general, it turns out to be much more common sense than is commonly believed. She, in particular, perfectly sees the weakness of her own son (“What are you doing nurses dismissed? Well, what kind of husband are you?”) 1 . Just as boldly and justly, the elderly merchant's wife evaluates the all-powerful Wild: “There are no elders over you, so you are swaggering”; “And the honor is not great either, because you have been fighting with the women all your life” (III, 2).

In general, the whole conversation between Kabanova and Dikoy at the beginning of the third act somehow does not fit into the characterization of provincial petty tyrants that we have learned. Starting with rudeness that is understandable to us (“What the hell is a water one here! .. - You don’t open your throat very much! .. I care about you!”), He then suddenly turns into some kind of sincere stream. It turns out that even the almost omnipotent Savel Prokofievich has a right, and even nothing to do with physical strength: that it’s better not to demand, he almost nailed it ... After forgiveness, he asked for forgiveness, bowed at his feet ... bowed at the peasant’s feet ... here in the yard, in the mud ... in front of everyone ... ”And besides, it turns out that, having scared away the household, the owner himself suffers from loneliness , looking for communication: "Talk to me so that my heart will pass." In Kabanova’s remarks, unexpected tolerance towards others (“... I wonder at you: how many people you have in your house, but they can’t please you for one”) and even attention and ability to understand people (“Why are you Are you bringing yourself into your heart on purpose?.. I have seen it, I know”). The question involuntarily arises: why, possessing such spiritual qualities, Marfa Ignatievna cannot recognize the almost undisguised lies of Varvara and Katerina's mental anguish?

The reason that the old merchant's wife is so able to heal the inconsolable Wild may be extremely simple - such a state of mind - "anger in the hearts" - is well known to her herself. She also casually recalls this on the boulevard - in the first general family conversation on the stage: “A conversation close to the heart will go on, well, you will sin, you will get angry” (I, 5). Moreover, this random phrase in itself only testifies to the attentiveness to oneself, one's actions and mental states, which is characteristic of every religious person. But then we will have to recognize in Kabanikh also sincere, genuine religiosity. Why, then, does she tirelessly nag those around her day and night, destroying her own son morally and physically, accustoming her daughter to hypocrisy, turning the lives of those closest to her into an absolute hell?

She also talks about this herself, at first in the same scene on the boulevard: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach good” - and a little further: “I know I know that my words are not to your liking, but what can you do, I am not a stranger to you, my heart hurts about you ”; “Youth is what it means! It's funny to even look at them! If not for my own, I would have laughed to my fill ... ”(II, 6). Of course, it is incredibly difficult to immediately discard the idea of ​​hypocrisy and pretense and believe that an old mother sincerely wishes well for her children, but at that moment there are no outsiders on the boulevard where the merchant family is walking, and the last remark is generally pronounced by Marfa Ignatievna in full loneliness - so there is definitely no one to “exhibit” the head of the family.

So, what are the rules of life Kabanova is trying to convey to Tikhon, Katerina and Varvara? Her very first lengthy argument puts us, modern people, in a dead end, because the conversation about the spinelessness of a precious child ends with a completely unexpected conclusion: “Will your wife become afraid thereafter?" Tikhon’s weak attempts to object (“It’s enough for me that she loves me”) his mother interrupts with an even more “iron” argument: “You won’t be afraid, and even more so. What is the order in the house will be? After all, you, tea, live with her in the law ”(my italics. - D.M.). It remains completely incomprehensible to us why, according to Kabanova's concepts, this family life should be built primarily on fear, and not on cordial affection, and why this rule should be especially strictly observed in legal marriage, consecrated by the Church. They talk about this again and further: “At least have a lover!” (I, 5), and again - in the scene of Tikhon's farewell to his family (II, 5): “What are you hanging on your neck, shameless! You don’t say goodbye to your lover!” And the farewell itself - with bows to the ground and three kisses, with everyone in seniority - is extremely reminiscent of a rite or a theatrical performance, carefully directed by mother, who here again insists on observing order. The same can be said about the orders to his wife, delivered by Tikhon at his mother's insistence (II, 3), and about the requirements for Katerina to lie on the porch for an hour and a half after her husband's departure (II, 7). The pilgrim Feklusha was even going to come and look at this not sincere - from the depths of her soul, but deliberate howl as if at a performance: “I really love, dear girl, to listen, if someone howls well” (II, 1). Apparently, the receptions of guests and relatives are turning into the same theatrical performance in Kalinovo - Kabanova talks about this in the sixth phenomenon of the second act: “They will invite guests, they don’t know how to seat, and even, look, they will forget one of their relatives.” And even, having pulled the body of the unfortunate Katerina out of the pool, everyone suddenly begins to bow theatrically and thank each other.

Stop. Enough questions! It's time to move on to the answers.

Back to the Middle Ages

Let's open Domostroy. This name, which, probably, has already been torn from the lips of the readers of the Thunderstorm more than once, in our everyday life most often means all sorts of obsolete, inert orders - “Some kind of house-builder!” - actually belongs to the ancient Russian literary (using our very conventional concepts) monument. This rather extensive collection first appeared in Novgorod at the end of the 15th century and contained numerous articles strictly regulating various aspects of the life of an ancient Russian person - his faith in God and participation in church rites, civil and family obligations, household arrangements and the upbringing of children. Through the prism of Domostroy, the life of the provincial town of Kalinov will open up to us in a completely new way.

Let us make a reservation right away: the existence of this ancient book does not mean that an ancient Russian person would certainly consult it on every occasion or that Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova keeps an old tome somewhere at the bottom of the chest and runs to leaf through it after each conversation with her son. Most of the instructions of Domostroy, which, by the way, began to take shape several centuries before the creation of the final, consolidated list, were passed on from parents to children, from generation to generation through everyday experience, during the normal rhythm of life, made up of a series of religious and agricultural holidays, fasts and meat-eaters, births, weddings and deaths, accompanied by appropriate rites. The very emergence of a general set of rules for Russian life owes its appearance rather than to an urgent need for everyday instructions, but to the fashion of that time for compiling all sorts of compilations. After all, simultaneously with the second edition of Domostroy, the author of which was the associate of the young John IV, Archpriest Sylvester, in the 16th century there also appeared extensive collections for soul-beneficial reading: the Great Menaion of the Chetias of Metropolitan Macarius, the law books regulating civil law, Stoglav - Church. Various annals are combined into chronicles. So, when reading passages from an ancient book, let's try not to perceive them as dead rules, but to catch the spirit of medieval life behind them, the ideas and logic of our distant ancestors.

“Children, listen to the commandments of the Lord, love your father and your mother, and listen to them, and obey them according to God in everything, and honor their old age, and bear their infirmity and sorrow with all your soul on your neck (neck) and good to you be, and you will be long-lived on earth, by this cleanse your sins and from God you will have mercy and be glorified from man ... ”(37--38). And further: “You, children, in deed and word, please your parents in every good advice (good intention), may you be blessed by them: the father’s blessing will confirm the house, and mother’s prayer will save you from misfortune. If a father or mother becomes impoverished in mind, do not dishonor them, do not reproach them, but you will be respected from your children, do not forget the work of the mother and father, as if you were sick and sad (you were taken care of and worried) ... "(38--39). (Let us recall the words of Marfa Ignatievna about “how many mothers suffer from children’s illnesses” and that “you smart young people should not even exact from us fools.”)

For a more complete understanding of this passage, it is necessary to realize that, in addition to concern for practical benefits (“take care of your parents, and your children will honor you in old age”), “Domostroy” represents a completely different culture - a patriarchal culture. The Middle Ages is alien to our modern understanding of progress, the desire for the newest and most modern. It imagines life measured in an eternal circle, where the most valuable is, on the contrary, more ancient, close to the "golden age" and time-tested. The veneration of the elders - the guardians of the tradition - acquires under these conditions the same religious meaning as the veneration of God, who, in fact, is also the eldest (Lord, Lord).

Another passage is about raising children:

“Execute your son from his youth, and he will rest you in your old age, and will give the beauty of your soul ... Daughter of Imashi, put your thunderstorm on them (direct your severity on them), I will keep from bodily; yes, do not shame your face, but walk in obedience ... Loving your son, increase his wounds, but after (after) rejoice about him, execute your son from childhood and rejoice in him in courage ... do not laugh at him, creating games (do not smile , playing with him), in a small way, weaken - more great (you will suffer) grieving, and after that, like a soreness, create your soul ”(36--37).

Reading this, one should not be frightened and think that our ancestors were completely sadistic in their treatment of their children. It's just that the Christian Middle Ages almost does not know childhood as a special period of human life - after all, the vast majority of old children's games known to us (round dances, carols) and toys (various whistles, dolls) have been preserved from even more ancient paganism, where they had their own adult, ritual meaning. In the Middle Ages, as soon as a person emerged from the unconscious, angelic infancy, parents tried as quickly as possible to include him in the general circle of life with all the duties of an adult Christian. For this, it was necessary, first of all, to instill in the child the knowledge of prohibitions, the limits of what is permitted, and the use of physical influence was considered here not only not shameful, but quite justified. So, instructing Tikhon from day to day, Kabanova is just trying to “adjust” an adult, but not yet on his feet son, and the unmarried Barbara even enjoys unheard-of freedom from a “medieval” point of view.

On the relationship of the spouses:

“It is fitting for a husband to teach his wives with love and prudent punishment, the wives of husbands ask about every deanery, how to save a soul, please God and your husband and build your house in goodness, and submit to him in everything; and whatever the husband punishes, accept with love and do according to his punishment.(52--53). So, the exhortation of a wife before her husband's departure to distant lands, which looks like a meaningless performance in Ostrovsky's play, was probably once full of deep meaning.

When carefully reading Domostroy, we are particularly struck by the fact that in almost every article the reward for correct behavior, along with God's blessing, is "praise from people." Now it seems to us a petty-bourgeois prejudice to care first of all about what others think of us, but before that it was not so. Medieval people never felt themselves to be individuals in the full sense of the word, did not think about how unique their thoughts, feelings and destinies were. The man was primarily a Christian, whose thoughts could be either sinful or righteous, and in addition, a member of the parish, community, craft workshop, where his professional qualities, property and family status differed. Life “in the world”, under the watchful eyes of others, was in these conditions one of the regulators of behavior, and the saying: “The voice of the people is the voice of God” originates from the Middle Ages.

Another distinctive feature of the ancient collection is also connected with this. It consists in the fact that, while describing in great detail the external side of this or that act, he almost does not dwell on the internal state. For example:

“Start every business or do needlework ... washing your hands cleanly, before bowing to the saints three times to the ground ... who knows how to speak with dignity(here - say a prayer. - D.M.) Yes, bless the present (senior), yes, say the prayer of Jesus, and cross yourself, say: “Lord bless, father!” – also start all sorts of things…” (39).

Almost in the same way, touching only the external outline of events, Katerina Ostrovsky describes her life in her father's house, but how much feeling, how much sadness over the lost past comes through in her words. Such a fullness of personal experience, bordering on a flight (“Why don’t people fly?”), Is incomprehensible not only to Varvara, who exclaims in bewilderment: “But we have the same thing!” 3, but, no doubt, it would have seemed strange and dangerous in the Middle Ages. Ancient people were not aware of the sometimes tragic for us difference between thought and deed: each action implied for them a certain inner feeling, in which they invested exactly as much spiritual energy as was necessary, no more, no less. Education aimed at controlling actions (“Do as I ordered you”), in this case, simultaneously achieves the development of certain spiritual qualities that are otherwise inaccessible. The area of ​​the individual, not consistent with the experience of predecessors, and especially the individual-unconscious - dreams, intuition - from the church point of view is considered extremely doubtful and unreliable, and immersion in it is dangerous. So Katerina, with her religious visions in the Middle Ages, would have been considered at least enchanted.

The main character, due to her deep religiosity, mistaken by us for a typical resident of a town with an archaic way of life, in fact, has a powerful personality known only to the New Age. Every circumstance of external life, consecrated for those around her by centuries of tradition, she must comprehend and approve for herself. If this does not happen, she rebels, and rebels with incredible force, as has happened before when she was pulled out of the boat from the middle of the Volga as a little girl. Her life proceeds serenely only as long as the external circumstances correspond to her inner spiritual mood, and Dobrolyubov is partly right when arguing on the example of Katerina about conscious protest, but it is directed rather against the whole world than against specific, socially conditioned circumstances, because the intensity of passions in this soul is such that, feeling the existing contradiction, it is hardly capable of logical explanations and the search for a reasonable way out.

Among the times

Let's return now to the city of Kalinov, abandoned by us for such a long time. The revived old man looks at us from all sides, and we feel like strangers in front of her, like the same Boris Grigorievich, who says: “I don’t know the local customs. I understand that all this is our Russian, native, but still I can’t get used to it in any way. ” All church services are still diligently attended here, and the built French innovation - the boulevard on the Volga coast - is empty in the evenings, when the townsfolk hide behind high fences and release chain dogs: the ancient Russian man reluctantly left the limits of his yard or city wall without special need - - the surrounding space seemed to him undeveloped, hostile. The stories of the pilgrim Feklusha about distant lands where “unrighteous tsars” live, which we previously took as an example of Kalinov’s darkness and savagery, upon closer examination turn out to be excerpts from the Old Russian story about Magnet-Saltan used by Ostrovsky. Girls embroider church decorations with gold on velvet, and Marfa Ignatievna, as in the old days, tirelessly fussing about her home arrangement.

By the way, her own “speaking” name, undoubtedly borrowed by Ostrovsky from the biblical story about Martha and Mary, “dooms” her to such troubles.

In the Gospel of Luke (chapter 10, verses 38-42) we read:

“In the course of their journey, He came to a certain village; here a woman named Martha received him into her house;

She had a sister, named Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His word.

Martha, however, was concerned about the great treat, and approaching said: Lord! Or do you not need that my sister left me alone to serve? tell her to help me.

Jesus answered her and said, Martha! Martha! you care and fuss about many things.

And only one thing is needed. Mary chose the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

This biblical story was extremely popular in Russia. The behavior of his two heroines even gave rise to two complementary directions in the statutes of women's monasteries: in one case, exercises in prayer and the improvement of the soul were put at the forefront, in the other, concrete care for one's neighbor: hospitals or orphanages were often created at the monasteries, where, as obedience, nuns worked. However, the efforts of Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, who is ardently trying to establish external order in the house to the detriment of mutual understanding between her relatives, turn out to be just as futile as the efforts of her biblical namesake, who missed the Truth that came into the house and retired to the kitchen.

Outwardly, the order dictated by Domostroy is preserved, but its times have passed. And not only because, according to Kabanikha herself, “the old one is being brought out. I don't want to go to another house. And if you go up, you will spit and get out as soon as possible” (II, 6). The fact is that “Domostroy” has lost its inner content, has ceased to be a law that fills the earthly existence of people with a deep sacred meaning. And this is especially clearly shown not even by the tragedy of Katerina, but by how, having equally lost all purpose in life, people become drunkards, standing, according to this old order, at different levels of the social ladder - both the subordinate Tikhon and the all-powerful Dikoy.

In fact, the “tyranny of power”, about which N.A. Dobrolyubov, in his articles, which are still offered to schoolchildren as the main commentary on Ostrovsky's plays, in The Thunderstorm has a lot of hard times. Yes, both Kabanova and Diky can still be called “masters of life” in some respects, but this “restless household” not only does not bring them any joy, but is slipping out of our hands right before our eyes. As for the critic-raznochinets, he, in our opinion, portrayed the main conflict of Ostrovsky's play too narrowly, reducing it, in fact, to a social one.

Incidents in the Kabanov family, which disturbed the quiet town of Kalinov, like a flash of lightning, highlighted that several life orders coexist side by side in it, if you like, several times. The Russian merchant class - the beginnings of the bourgeoisie - who lived for the most part in small provincial towns and were aloof from any life, including public life, was discovered by Ostrovsky just on the eve of the events that brought him to the forefront of this life. But it has come to this milestone, carrying with it the remnants of old ideas and practices, lost in other layers long ago. Domostroy is not the only such “cargo” in Ostrovsky’s play, because a living person of the 18th century, the inventor Kuligin, walks next to its main characters.

It is not by chance that the author saturates the speech of this character with quotations from Lomonosov and Derzhavin and endows him with a biography that is very characteristic of the Peter the Great and Catherine's era - thanks to his abilities, without regular education, reach science and stay vegetating in a small town as an eccentric, local attractions. Following Derzhavin, he sincerely admires nature and immediately tries to build a perpetual motion machine and “thunder bends”, trying to conquer it. In line with the best traditions of the 18th century, all his aspirations are aimed at the benefit of society, and only he, being a representative of the New Age, sympathizes with the unfortunate Katerina: “Her body is here ... but now her soul is not yours; she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” (V, 7). It is Kuligin who is assigned the role of a kind of commentator in the play, discovering Kalinov for the audience of the 19th century, and concurrently also the “interpreter” - an interpreter of local customs - for the visitor Boris Grigorievich. Kuligin, as it were, links together all the tenses of the play, but that's all. His fate is also guessed without much effort: he will disappear in his provincial town, scolding his morals and humiliating himself before the Wild.

The two main conflicts of the play: the external conflict between the romantic Katerina and her family and the internal conflict between the heroine and herself are thus linked into a single knot of contradictions in the morality of different times. Breaking through time and rejecting those ways of resolving the situation that others can offer her, the main character must alone find a solution to the problem with all the “impossible”. She can’t return to her husband’s house, where her mother-in-law’s jealousy has now grown into fierce hatred, because the unworthy daughter-in-law has forever disgraced her son, and life itself, not illuminated by the light of love, has lost all meaning for Katerina - she doesn’t have the strength to “live again.” ”, “walk, say something”. She can't leave Kalinov for distant Kyakhta - the indecisive Boris refuses to take her with him, and his own conscience will not get rid of her, regardless of the distance. It is impossible for her to end everything at once: after all, suicide is a mortal sin; rushing from the Volga shore, she thereby dooms her soul to eternal torment. And Katerina nevertheless commits suicide in an almost insane state, trying first to depict for herself the rite of a church funeral (which she, as a suicide, is not supposed to): “Hands are folded crosswise ... in a coffin! .. I remembered”; “And again they sing somewhere!” (V, 4). The death of Katerina, therefore, does not solve the problem, but only marks it.

Well, what, you ask, is the positive role of Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova here? Why, with the passion of a researcher, lead the reader through the wilds of antiquity, isn’t it easier, following Dobrolyubov, to simply admit that the old Kabanikha is the embodiment of “tyrant power”, and her daughter-in-law is all protest against the “dark kingdom”. In such an assessment of "Thunderstorm" everything would be nothing if it were not for ... Barbara. As you remember, at the end of the play, the enterprising sister Tikhon flees from the hated Kalinovo together with Kudryash, and the critic almost does not dwell on this detail, only in passing attributing to her the features of protest against the “dark kingdom”. To poeticize every protest is natural for a revolutionary of the sixties, but we now know how revolutions usually turn out. And therefore, the fate of Varvara appears to us in less rosy colors: a young girl who ran away with a daring lover without a wedding (which means without documents), without a livelihood, risks ending her life in a gutter. And if, moreover, we recall that ominous detail that Barbara is “not afraid of thunderstorms”, hard labor will loom as a life prospect for her in the distance.

Following Dobrolyubov, Ostrovsky's drama can indeed be called a "play of life", because, as in life, there are no ready-made answers in it. Her characters represent two different generations, and parents sincerely try to pass on to their children their life experience, sanctified for centuries. But these attempts are futile - ironically, the heroes living side by side are actually separated by a black hole of four hundred years, so the children are doomed to find their own way in life - parental experience is only a burden for them.

It seems that Russian history has a vile property of repeating itself...

Notes

1 We do not dare to spread too much about the reasons for Tikhon's weakness, since they are hidden far beyond the time frame of the play itself. It only seems that little Tisha from childhood was not particularly glib, and after the death of his father, Marfa Ignatievna did not take the more natural position in the family in this case of a widow who lives a century dependent on the young owner, but actually manages all affairs through her son (“When you arrive there, do as I commanded you”; I, 5). And no one in Kalinovo mentioned a single word about Kabanov-father throughout the entire play.

2 Quotes from “Domostroy” are quoted from: Domostroy. M.: Artist. lit., 1991.

3 Let us recall in parallel another conversation about flights - the nighttime conversation between Sonya and Natasha from the second volume of “War and Peace”, where the enthusiastic fullness of the main character also runs into a misunderstanding of her friend, who lives only strictly following external circumstances.

Ostrovsky can rightly be called a great Russian playwright. In his works, he first showed the life and way of life of the merchant class. In the play "Thunderstorm", the writer described the state of provincial society in Russia on the eve of reforms. The playwright considers such issues as the position of a woman in the family, the modernity of Domostroy, the awakening in a person of a sense of personality and dignity, the relationship between the “old”, oppressive, and “young”, mute.

The main idea of ​​"Thunderstorm" is that a strong, gifted and courageous person with natural aspirations and desires cannot live happily in a society dominated by "cruel morals", where Domostroy reigns, where everything is based on fear, deceit and submission .

The name "Thunderstorm" can be considered from several positions. A thunderstorm is a natural phenomenon, and nature plays an important role in the composition of the play. So, it complements the action, emphasizes the main idea, the essence of what is happening. For example, a beautiful night landscape corresponds to a date between Katerina and Boris. The expanses of the Volga emphasize Katerina's dreams of freedom, a picture of cruel nature opens up when describing the suicide of the main character. Then nature contributes to the development of action, as if pushing events, stimulates the development and resolution of the conflict. So, in the scene of a thunderstorm, the elements induce Katerina to public repentance.

So, the name "Thunderstorm" emphasizes the main idea of ​​the play: self-esteem awakening in people; the desire for freedom and independence begins to threaten the existence of the old order.

The world of Kabanikhi and the Wild comes to an end, because in the "dark kingdom" a "beam of light" appeared - Katerina is a woman who cannot put up with the oppressive atmosphere that prevails in the family, in the city. Her protest was expressed in love for Boris, in an unauthorized departure from life. Katerina preferred death to existence in a world where she was "sick of everything". She is the first lightning of that thunderstorm that will soon break out in society. The clouds over the "old" world have been gathering for a long time. Domostroy has lost its original meaning. Kabanikha and Dikoi use his ideas only to justify their tyranny and tyranny. They failed to convey to their children the true faith in the inviolability of their rules of life. Young people live according to the laws of their fathers as long as they can achieve a compromise through deceit. When oppression becomes unbearable, when deceit saves only partially, then a protest begins to awaken in a person, he develops and is able to break out at any moment.

Katerina's suicide woke up a man in Tikhon. He saw that there is always a way out of the current situation, and he, the most weak-willed of all the characters described by Ostrovsky, who unquestioningly obeyed his mother all his life, accuses her of the death of his wife in public. If Tikhon is already able to declare his protest, then the "dark kingdom" really does not have long to exist.

The storm is also a symbol of renewal. In nature, after a thunderstorm, the air is fresh and clean. In society, after the thunderstorm that began with Katerina's protest, renewal will also come: the oppressive and subjugating orders will probably be replaced by a society of freedom and independence.

But the storm occurs not only in nature, but also in Katerina's soul. She committed a sin and repents of it. Two feelings struggle in her: fear of the Boar and fear that “death will suddenly find you, as you are, with all your sins ...” In the end, religiosity, fear of retribution - the day for sin prevails, and Katerina publicly admits in sin. None of the residents of Kalinovo can understand her: these people, like Katerina, do not have a rich spiritual world and high moral values; they do not feel remorse, because their morality is as long as everything is “covered”. However, recognition does not bring relief to Katerina. As long as she believes in Boris's love, she is able to live. But, realizing that Boris is no better than Tikhon, that she is still alone in this world, where everything is “embarrassing” to her, she finds no other way out than to rush into the Volga. Katerina broke the religious law for the sake of freedom. The storm also ends in renewal in her soul. The young woman completely freed herself from the shackles of the Kalinovsky world and religion.

Thus, the thunderstorm that occurs in the soul of the main character turns into a thunderstorm in society itself, and all the action takes place against the backdrop of the elements.

Using the image of a thunderstorm, Ostrovsky showed that a society that has become obsolete, based on deceit, and the old order, which deprives a person of the opportunity to manifest the highest feelings, is doomed to destruction. It is as natural as the purification of nature through a thunderstorm. Thus, Ostrovsky expressed the hope that renewal in society would come as soon as possible.

The play by A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" is based on the conflict between the "dark kingdom" and the bright beginning, presented by the author in the image of Katerina Kabanova. The thunderstorm is a symbol of the heroine's spiritual confusion, the struggle of feelings, moral exaltation in tragic love, and at the same time, the embodiment of the burden of fear under the yoke of which people live.

The work depicts the musty atmosphere of a provincial town with its rudeness, hypocrisy, the power of the rich and "senior". The "Dark Kingdom" is an ominous environment of heartlessness and stupid, slavish worship of the old order. The realm of humility and blind fear is opposed by the forces of reason, common sense, enlightenment represented by Kuligin, as well as the pure soul of Katerina, who, albeit unconsciously, is hostile to this world with the sincerity and integrity of her nature.

Katerina's childhood and youth passed in a merchant environment, but at home she was surrounded by affection, mother's love, mutual respect in the family. As she herself says, "... she lived, did not grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild."

Married to Tikhon, she found herself in an ominous environment of heartlessness and stupid, slavish admiration for the power of the old, long-rotten order, which the “tyrants of Russian life” so greedily clutch at. Kabanova tries in vain to impress Katerina with her despotic laws, which, in her opinion, are the basis of domestic well-being and the strength of family ties: unquestioning obedience to the will of her husband, humility, diligence and respect for elders. This is how her son was raised.

Kabanova and from Katerina intended to mold something similar to what she turned her child into. But we see that for a young woman who finds herself in her mother-in-law's house, such a fate is excluded. Dialogues with Kabanikha

They show that "Katerina's nature will not accept base feelings." In her husband's house, she is surrounded by an atmosphere of cruelty, humiliation, suspicion. She tries to defend her right to respect, does not want to please anyone, wants to love and be loved. Katerina is lonely, she lacks human participation, sympathy, love. The need for this draws her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he does not look like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to recognize the inner essence, considers him a man of another world. In her imagination, Boris seems to be the only one who dares to take her away from the "dark kingdom" to the fairy-tale world.

Katerina is religious, but her sincerity in faith differs from the religiosity of her mother-in-law, for whom faith is only a tool that allows her to keep others in fear and obedience. Katerina, on the other hand, perceived the church, icon painting, Christian chanting as a meeting with something mysterious, beautiful, taking her away from the gloomy world of the Kabanovs. Katerina, as a believer, tries not to pay much attention to Kabanova's teachings. But this is for the time being. The patience of even the most patient person always comes to an end. Katerina, on the other hand, “endures until ... until such a demand of her nature is offended in her, without the satisfaction of which she cannot remain calm.” For the heroine, this "requirement of her nature" was the desire for personal freedom. To live without listening to stupid advice from all sorts of boars and others, to think as one thinks, to understand everything on their own, without any extraneous and worthless exhortations - this is what is of the greatest importance for Katerina. That's what she won't let anyone trample on. Her personal is the most expensive value. Even Katerina appreciates life much less.

The heroine at first reconciled, hoping to find at least some sympathy, understanding from those around her. But this turned out to be impossible. Even Katerina's dreams began to have some "sinful" dreams; as if she is rushing to a trio of frisky horses, intoxicated with happiness, next to her loved one ... Katerina protests against seductive visions, but human nature has defended its rights. A woman woke up in the heroine. The desire to love and be loved grows with inexorable force. And this is a completely natural desire. After all, Katerina is only 16 years old - the heyday of young, sincere feelings. But she doubts, reflects, and all her thoughts are fraught with panic fear. The heroine is looking for an explanation for her feelings, in her soul she wants to justify herself to her husband, she tries to tear away vague desires from herself. But reality, the real state of things, brought Katerina back to herself: “To whom am I pretending something ...”

The most important character trait of Katerina is honesty with herself, her husband and other people; unwillingness to live a lie. She says to Varvara: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.” She does not want and cannot cheat, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene when Katerina confesses her infidelity to her husband.

Its greatest value is the freedom of the soul. Katerina, accustomed to living, according to her confession in a conversation with Varvara, “is like a bird in the wild,” is burdened by the fact that everything in Kabanova’s house comes “as if from bondage!” But before it was different. The day began and ended with prayer, and the rest of the time was occupied by walks in the garden. Her youth is covered with mysterious, bright dreams: angels, golden temples, paradise gardens - can an ordinary earthly sinner dream of all this? And Katerina had such mysterious dreams. This testifies to the originality of the nature of the heroine. The unwillingness to accept the morality of the "dark kingdom", the ability to preserve the purity of one's soul is evidence of the strength and integrity of the character of the heroine. She says about herself: “And if it gets too cold for me here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, I’ll throw myself into the Volga.

With such a character, Katerina, after betraying Tikhon, could not remain in his house, return to a monotonous and dreary life, endure the constant reproaches and moralizing of Kabanikh, lose her freedom. It is difficult for her to be where she is not understood and humiliated. Before her death, she says: “It doesn’t matter what goes home, what goes to the grave ... It’s better in the grave ...” She acts at the first call of her heart, at the first impulse of her soul. And that, it turns out, is her problem. Such people are not adapted to the realities of life, and all the time they feel that they are superfluous. Their spiritual and moral strength, which is able to resist and fight, will never run dry. Dobrolyubov rightly noted that "the strongest protest is the one that rises ... from the chest of the weakest and most patient."

And Katerina, without realizing it herself, challenged the tyrannical force: however, he led her to tragic consequences. The heroine dies defending the independence of her world. She does not want to become a liar and a pretender. Love for Boris deprives Katerina's character of integrity. She is not cheating on her husband, but on herself, which is why her judgment on herself is so cruel. But, dying, the heroine saves her soul and gains the desired freedom.

Katerina's death at the end of the play is natural - there is no other way out for her. She cannot join those who profess the principles of the "dark kingdom", become one of its representatives, since this would mean destroying in herself, in her own soul, all the brightest and purest; cannot come to terms with the position of a dependent, join the "victims" of the "dark kingdom" - live according to the principle "if only everything was covered and covered." Katerina decides to part with such a life. “Her body is here, but her soul is no longer yours, she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” - says Kuligin Kabanova after the tragic death of the heroine, emphasizing that Katerina has gained the desired, hard-won freedom.

Thus, A. N. Ostrovsky protested the hypocrisy, lies, vulgarity and hypocrisy of the world around him. The protest turned out to be self-destructive, but it was and is evidence of the free choice of an individual who does not want to put up with the laws imposed on her by society.

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(!LANG:Enmity between relatives
happens especially
irreconcilable
P. Tacitus
There is no worse retribution
for foolishness and delusion,
than to see as own
children suffer because of them
W. Sumner

A play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" tells about the life of provincial Russia in the 19th century. Events unfold in the city of Kalinov, located on the high bank of the Volga. Against the backdrop of the magnificent beauty of nature, the royal tranquility, a tragedy occurs that disrupts the quiet life of this city. Not all is well in Kalinov. Here, behind high fences, domestic despotism reigns, tears that no one sees are shed. In the center of the play is the life of one of the merchant families. But there are hundreds of such families in the city, and millions throughout Russia. However, life is arranged in such a way that everyone observes certain laws, rules of conduct, and any deviation from them is a shame, a sin.
The main character in the Kabanov family is the mother, a wealthy widow Marfa Ignatievna. It is she who dictates her own rules in the family and commands the household. It is no coincidence that her last name is Kabanova. There is something animal in this woman: she is uneducated, but powerful, cruel and stubborn, she demands that everyone obey her, honor the foundations of house building and observe its traditions. Marfa Ignatievna is a strong woman. She considers the family to be the most important, the basis of social order, and demands the uncomplaining obedience of her children and daughter-in-law. However, she sincerely loves her son and daughter, and her remarks speak of this: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, everyone thinks to teach good.” The boar is condescending to Varvara, lets her go for a walk with the youth, realizing how hard it will be for her in marriage. But she constantly reproaches her daughter-in-law Katerina, controls her every step, makes Katerina live the way she considers right. Perhaps she is jealous of her daughter-in-law for her son, which is why she is so unkind to her. “Since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you,” she says, turning to Tikhon. And he is unable to object to his mother, since the person is weak-willed, brought up in obedience, respects the opinion of his mother. Let us pay attention to Tikhon's remarks: “But how can I, mother, disobey you!”; “I, mother, don’t take a single step out of your will,” etc. However, this is only the outer side of his behavior. He does not want to live according to the laws of house building, he does not want to make his wife his slave, a thing: “But why be afraid? It's enough for me that she loves me." Tikhon believes that relations between a man and a woman in a family should be based on the principles of love and mutual understanding, and not on the subordination of one to the other. And yet he cannot disobey an imperious mother and stand up for his beloved woman. Therefore, Tikhon seeks solace in drunkenness. The mother, with her imperious character, suppresses the man in him, making him weak and defenseless. Tikhon is not ready to play the role of a husband, a protector, to take care of family well-being. Therefore, in the eyes of Katerina, he is a nonentity, and not a husband. She does not love him, but only regrets, suffers.
Tikhon's sister Varvara is much stronger and bolder than her brother. She adapted to life in her mother's house, where everything is based on deceit, and now lives by the principle: "Doing whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered." Barbara, secretly from her mother, meets with her beloved Curly, does not report to Kabanikha for her every step. However, it is easier for her to live - an unmarried girl is free, and therefore she is not kept under lock and key, like Katerina. Varvara tries to explain to Katerina that it is impossible to live in their house without deception. But her brother's wife is incapable of this: "I don't know how to deceive, I can't hide anything."
Katerina is a stranger in the Kabanovs' house, everything here is "as if from under captivity" for her. In the parental home, she was surrounded by love and affection, she was free: "... what I want, it happened, I do it." Her soul is like a bird, she must live in free flight. And in the mother-in-law's house, Katerina is like a bird in a cage: she yearns in captivity, endures the undeserved reproaches of her mother-in-law and the drunkenness of her unloved husband. She does not even have children to give them her affection, love, attention.
Fleeing from family despotism, Katerina is looking for support in life, such a person on whom she could rely, to truly love. And so the weak and weak-willed nephew of Wild Boris becomes in her eyes the ideal of a man, unlike her husband. She does not seem to notice his shortcomings. But Boris turned out to be a man unable to understand Katerina, to love her just as selflessly. After all, he throws her at the mercy of her mother-in-law. And Tikhon looks much nobler than Boris: he forgives Katerina everything, because he truly loves her.
Therefore, Katerina's suicide is a pattern. She cannot live under the yoke of the Kabanikh and forgive the betrayal of Boris. This tragedy stirred up the quiet life of a provincial town, and even the timid, weak-willed Tikhon begins to protest against his mother: “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you…”
On the example of the Kabanov family, we see that relations in the family cannot be built on the principle of subordinating the weak to the strong, the house-building foundations are being destroyed, the power of the autocrats is passing. And even a weak woman can challenge this wild world with her death. And yet I believe that suicide is not the best way out of this situation. Katherine could have done differently. For example, go to a monastery and devote your life to serving God, because she is a very religious woman. But the heroine chooses death, and this is both her strength and her weakness.

Enmity between relatives
happens especially
irreconcilable
P. Tacitus
There is no worse retribution
for foolishness and delusion,
than to see as own
children suffer because of them
W. Sumner

A play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" tells about the life of provincial Russia in the 19th century. Events unfold in the city of Kalinov, located on the high bank of the Volga. Against the backdrop of the magnificent beauty of nature, the royal tranquility, a tragedy occurs that disrupts the quiet life of this city. Not all is well in Kalinov. Here, behind high fences, domestic despotism reigns, tears that no one sees are shed. In the center of the play is the life of one of the merchant families. But there are hundreds of such families in the city, and millions throughout Russia. However, life is arranged in such a way that everyone observes certain laws, rules of conduct, and any deviation from them is a shame, a sin.
The main character in the Kabanov family is the mother, a wealthy widow Marfa Ignatievna. It is she who dictates her own rules in the family and commands the household. It is no coincidence that her last name is Kabanova. There is something animal in this woman: she is uneducated, but powerful, cruel and stubborn, she demands that everyone obey her, honor the foundations of house building and observe its traditions. Marfa Ignatievna is a strong woman. She considers the family to be the most important, the basis of social order, and demands the uncomplaining obedience of her children and daughter-in-law. However, she sincerely loves her son and daughter, and her remarks speak of this: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, everyone thinks to teach good.” The boar is condescending to Varvara, lets her go for a walk with the youth, realizing how hard it will be for her in marriage. But she constantly reproaches her daughter-in-law Katerina, controls her every step, makes Katerina live the way she considers right. Perhaps she is jealous of her daughter-in-law for her son, which is why she is so unkind to her. “Since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you,” she says, turning to Tikhon. And he is unable to object to his mother, since the person is weak-willed, brought up in obedience, respects the opinion of his mother. Let us pay attention to Tikhon's remarks: “But how can I, mother, disobey you!”; “I, mother, don’t take a single step out of your will,” etc. However, this is only the outer side of his behavior. He does not want to live according to the laws of house building, he does not want to make his wife his slave, a thing: “But why be afraid? It's enough for me that she loves me." Tikhon believes that relations between a man and a woman in a family should be based on the principles of love and mutual understanding, and not on the subordination of one to the other. And yet he cannot disobey an imperious mother and stand up for his beloved woman. Therefore, Tikhon seeks solace in drunkenness. The mother, with her imperious character, suppresses the man in him, making him weak and defenseless. Tikhon is not ready to play the role of a husband, a protector, to take care of family well-being. Therefore, in the eyes of Katerina, he is a nonentity, and not a husband. She does not love him, but only regrets, suffers.
Tikhon's sister Varvara is much stronger and bolder than her brother. She adapted to life in her mother's house, where everything is based on deceit, and now lives by the principle: "Doing whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered." Barbara, secretly from her mother, meets with her beloved Curly, does not report to Kabanikha for her every step. However, it is easier for her to live - an unmarried girl is free, and therefore she is not kept under lock and key, like Katerina. Varvara tries to explain to Katerina that it is impossible to live in their house without deception. But her brother's wife is incapable of this: "I don't know how to deceive, I can't hide anything."
Katerina is a stranger in the Kabanovs' house, everything here is "as if from under captivity" for her. In the parental home, she was surrounded by love and affection, she was free: "... what I want, it happened, I do it." Her soul is like a bird, she must live in free flight. And in the mother-in-law's house, Katerina is like a bird in a cage: she yearns in captivity, endures the undeserved reproaches of her mother-in-law and the drunkenness of her unloved husband. She does not even have children to give them her affection, love, attention.
Fleeing from family despotism, Katerina is looking for support in life, such a person on whom she could rely, to truly love. And so the weak and weak-willed nephew of Wild Boris becomes in her eyes the ideal of a man, unlike her husband. She does not seem to notice his shortcomings. But Boris turned out to be a man unable to understand Katerina, to love her just as selflessly. After all, he throws her at the mercy of her mother-in-law. And Tikhon looks much nobler than Boris: he forgives Katerina everything, because he truly loves her.
Therefore, Katerina's suicide is a pattern. She cannot live under the yoke of the Kabanikh and forgive the betrayal of Boris. This tragedy stirred up the quiet life of a provincial town, and even the timid, weak-willed Tikhon begins to protest against his mother: “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you…”
On the example of the Kabanov family, we see that relations in the family cannot be built on the principle of subordinating the weak to the strong, the house-building foundations are being destroyed, the power of the autocrats is passing. And even a weak woman can challenge this wild world with her death. And yet I believe that suicide is not the best way out of this situation. Katherine could have done differently. For example, go to a monastery and devote your life to serving God, because she is a very religious woman. But the heroine chooses death, and this is both her strength and her weakness.