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, depriving a person of
The possibilities for the manifestation of the highest feelings are doomed to destruction. This is as unconditional as the purification of nature through a thunderstorm. Thus, Ostrovsky expressed the hope that renewal in society would come as soon as possible.
What is the meaning of the play "Thunderstorm" by the great Russian playwright A. Ostrovsky?
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 already after the appearance of his first major play received literary recognition. 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. Sukhovo-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” stated. 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, which is 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! Beauty! The soul rejoices,” Kuligin 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 Dikoy 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 on her sacrifice ... 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 long.
Katerina married Tikhon without love. Everything in the house of Kabanikhi 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.”
Katerina's directness and sincerity 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 senseless. 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 Kuligin and Diky is interesting. Kuligin talks about lightning rods (“we have frequent thunderstorms”) and provokes the wrath of 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 Kuligin 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 tell you ask!”.
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. Inhuman morals will sooner or later come to an end. The struggle between the new and the old has begun and continues. This is the meaning of the work of the great Russian playwright.
The title of a work very often reflects either its essence, or gives the reader at least a little understanding of what will be discussed. This does not apply to the texts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but this provision can be fully applied to the texts of the era of realism. For example, F. Dostoyevsky's "Poor People" really tells about poor people, and "Childhood. Adolescence. Youth ”L. Tolstoy shows precisely these stages of a person’s life. The same can be said about plays. One of Ostrovsky's dramas, which will be discussed, was written in 1859, at a time of acute social controversy. The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" is not limited to a description of a natural phenomenon.
In order to most accurately answer the question of why Ostrovsky called the drama "Thunderstorm", you need to consider this image in more detail.
As you know, sentimentalists introduced the image of nature into literature, conveying the feelings and emotions of the characters with the help of the landscape. Thunder and lightning in Ostrovsky's play perform the same functions. Initially, the author describes the pre-storm time. This applies not only to the weather (some characters notice that it may soon begin to rain), but also to the social situation. Before a thunderstorm, it is usually very stuffy - just the same in the city of Kalinov. It is impossible for people who do not like lies and hypocrisy to breathe in such an environment. Talk about money, drinking and judgment are concentrated to such an extent that disaster becomes inevitable. In order for this state of affairs to change, a push, a blow, a catalyst were needed, which is what thunder with a thunderstorm acts in the text of the play.
The storm is one of the main characters in the fourth act, namely in the scene of a walk along the embankment. Kuligin draws attention to the gathering rain, admiring the power of nature. He thinks that a lightning rod would be useful to all the inhabitants of the city, but Dikoy does not share his ideas. In act No. 4, the author's remarks that a thunderclap is heard are repeatedly repeated. These sounds become the auditory design of the climactic scene, increasing the semantic load and intensifying the severity of the unfolding tragedy. It is the thunderstorm that frightens Katerina, makes her nervous and weak. The girl, hearing the peals of thunder, confesses her betrayal to her husband and Kabanikh, and with the next lightning strike she falls unconscious.
As already indicated earlier, there are several meanings for the title of the play "Thunderstorm". There is another aspect that needs to be considered in more detail. Thunderstorm appears before the reader not only as a manifestation of the elements, but also as a separate character. The storm is represented by fate, which hangs over all the heroes. It is no coincidence that Tikhon, before leaving, says that there will be “no thunderstorms” over him for two weeks. By the word "thunderstorm" Kabanov means all that unhealthy atmosphere that reigns in their family. This mainly concerns the moralizing of Marfa Ignatievna, because for two whole weeks the mother will not get into the life of her son.
Kuligin, for example, is not afraid of thunderstorms. On the contrary, he calls on the inhabitants to come to their senses from unreasonable anxiety: “It is not a thunderstorm that kills!
... kills grace! Perhaps Kuligin is the only character who does not have an inner feeling of a thunderstorm. There is no premonition of impending misfortune. Wild believes that "a thunderstorm is sent as punishment." The merchant thinks that people should be afraid of a thunderstorm, even though it frightens the Wild One himself. Katerina considers the storm to be God's punishment. The girl is also afraid of her, but not in the same way as Wild. There is a significant difference between the concepts of “punishment” and “punishment”: punishment is rewarded only for sins, but you can punish just like that. Katerina considers herself a sinner because she betrayed her husband. In her soul, just like in nature, a thunderstorm begins. Doubts accumulate gradually, Katerina is torn between the desire to live her own life and independently manage her own destiny and stay in her usual surroundings, trying to forget about her feelings for Boris. There can be no compromise between these contradictions.
Another of the meanings of the title of the drama "Thunderstorm" can be called a plot-forming factor. The storm becomes the impetus for the denouement of the conflict. Both the internal contradiction of the main character, and the conflict between representatives of the "dark kingdom" and educated people of the 19th century. Katerina was frightened by the words of the half-witted Lady about beauty, which certainly leads to a whirlpool, but only after a thunderclap, Katerina confesses to treason.
The relationship between Boris and Katya can also be compared to a thunderstorm. They have a lot of decisive, passionate, spontaneous. But, like a thunderstorm, this relationship would not last long.
So, what is the meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky? The thunderstorm appears as a natural phenomenon, framing the work with an auditory frame; as a separate image; as a symbol of fate and punishment; as a kind of generalized reflection of the social catastrophe that hung over Russia in the 19th century.
The above versions of the title of Ostrovsky's drama are intended to answer the popular question “why was the thunderstorm called a thunderstorm”, this information can help 10th grade students in revealing the corresponding topic in the essay “The Meaning of the Title of Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm”.
Artwork test
The title of a work very often reflects either its essence, or gives the reader at least a little understanding of what will be discussed. This does not apply to the texts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but this provision can be fully applied to the texts of the era of realism. For example, F. Dostoyevsky's "Poor People" really tells about poor people, and "Childhood. Adolescence. Youth ”L. Tolstoy shows precisely these stages of a person’s life. The same can be said about plays. One of Ostrovsky's dramas, which will be discussed, was written in 1859, at a time of acute social controversy. The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" is not limited to a description of a natural phenomenon.
In order to most accurately answer the question of why Ostrovsky called the drama "Thunderstorm", you need to consider this image in more detail.
As you know, sentimentalists introduced the image of nature into literature, conveying the feelings and emotions of the characters with the help of the landscape. Thunder and lightning in Ostrovsky's play perform the same functions. Initially, the author describes the pre-storm time. This applies not only to the weather (some characters notice that it may soon begin to rain), but also to the social situation. Before a thunderstorm, it is usually very stuffy - just the same in the city of Kalinov. It is impossible for people who do not like lies and hypocrisy to breathe in such an environment. Talk about money, drinking and judgment are concentrated to such an extent that disaster becomes inevitable. In order for this state of affairs to change, a push, a blow, a catalyst were needed, which is what thunder with a thunderstorm acts in the text of the play.
The storm is one of the main characters in the fourth act, namely in the scene of a walk along the embankment. Kuligin draws attention to the gathering rain, admiring the power of nature. He thinks that a lightning rod would be useful to all the inhabitants of the city, but Dikoy does not share his ideas. In act No. 4, the author's remarks that a thunderclap is heard are repeatedly repeated. These sounds become the auditory design of the climactic scene, increasing the semantic load and intensifying the severity of the unfolding tragedy. It is the thunderstorm that frightens Katerina, makes her nervous and weak. The girl, hearing the peals of thunder, confesses her betrayal to her husband and Kabanikh, and with the next lightning strike she falls unconscious.
As already indicated earlier, there are several meanings for the title of the play "Thunderstorm". There is another aspect that needs to be considered in more detail. Thunderstorm appears before the reader not only as a manifestation of the elements, but also as a separate character. The storm is represented by fate, which hangs over all the heroes. It is no coincidence that Tikhon, before leaving, says that there will be “no thunderstorms” over him for two weeks. By the word "thunderstorm" Kabanov means all that unhealthy atmosphere that reigns in their family. This mainly concerns the moralizing of Marfa Ignatievna, because for two whole weeks the mother will not get into the life of her son.
Kuligin, for example, is not afraid of thunderstorms. On the contrary, he calls on the inhabitants to come to their senses from unreasonable anxiety: “It is not a thunderstorm that kills!
... kills grace! Perhaps Kuligin is the only character who does not have an inner feeling of a thunderstorm. There is no premonition of impending misfortune. Wild believes that "a thunderstorm is sent as punishment." The merchant thinks that people should be afraid of a thunderstorm, even though it frightens the Wild One himself. Katerina considers the storm to be God's punishment. The girl is also afraid of her, but not in the same way as Wild. There is a significant difference between the concepts of “punishment” and “punishment”: punishment is rewarded only for sins, but you can punish just like that. Katerina considers herself a sinner because she betrayed her husband. In her soul, just like in nature, a thunderstorm begins. Doubts accumulate gradually, Katerina is torn between the desire to live her own life and independently manage her own destiny and stay in her usual surroundings, trying to forget about her feelings for Boris. There can be no compromise between these contradictions.
Another of the meanings of the title of the drama "Thunderstorm" can be called a plot-forming factor. The storm becomes the impetus for the denouement of the conflict. Both the internal contradiction of the main character, and the conflict between representatives of the "dark kingdom" and educated people of the 19th century. Katerina was frightened by the words of the half-witted Lady about beauty, which certainly leads to a whirlpool, but only after a thunderclap, Katerina confesses to treason.
The relationship between Boris and Katya can also be compared to a thunderstorm. They have a lot of decisive, passionate, spontaneous. But, like a thunderstorm, this relationship would not last long.
So, what is the meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky? The thunderstorm appears as a natural phenomenon, framing the work with an auditory frame; as a separate image; as a symbol of fate and punishment; as a kind of generalized reflection of the social catastrophe that hung over Russia in the 19th century.
The above versions of the title of Ostrovsky's drama are intended to answer the popular question “why was the thunderstorm called a thunderstorm”, this information can help 10th grade students in revealing the corresponding topic in the essay “The Meaning of the Title of Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm”.
Artwork test
"Thunderstorm" - the greatest work of A.N. Ostrovsky. It was founded in 1859, during a period of cardinal changes in Russian society. Therefore, it is not surprising that the author gave this name to his work. The word "thunderstorm" has several meanings in the play. Firstly, this is a natural phenomenon, and secondly, a symbol of impending changes in the "dark kingdom" - the centuries-old social order in Russia.
Conflict in the work
The work is based on the conflict between conservatives and innovators. In the bosom of beautiful nature, Ostrovsky depicts the unbearable life of the townspeople of Kalinov. Katerina, the main character, cannot withstand the oppression, which is expressed in changes in nature - clouds are gathering, thunder is heard. Some terrible changes are coming.
Tikhon is the first to pronounce the word "thunderstorm", calling it the atmosphere of fear and despotism in his own house. Wild, speaking of a thunderstorm, recalls such a concept as punishment. The fear of divine retribution terrifies all the heroes, including the religious Katerina, who is aware of the sinfulness of her connection with Boris.
Only the mechanic Kuligin is not afraid of a thunderstorm, perceiving it as some kind of majestic spectacle, a manifestation of the power of the elements, and not a danger to people.
Thunderstorm in society
So, the storm in society has already begun. Katerina is no longer able to live according to the old house-building principles, she longs for freedom, but she no longer has the strength to fight the system. Thunder rolls predict the heroine's imminent death. The prediction of the crazy lady was the impetus for the denouement of events.
Katerina is scared because she is a deeply religious person. She could not bear the burden of sin in her heart, could not come to terms with the structure of society, its rules, so she threw herself into the arms of the Volga.
Thunderstorm as a sign of love
A thunderstorm is also a sign of love between Katerina and Boris. Their relationship is a real element that does not bring joy to either him or her. Boris was the only one who understood the tragedy of Katerina, but could not help her in any way, because he lacked determination. Did he really love the girl? I don't think so. Otherwise, he would have easily sacrificed everything for her well-being. He exchanged his feelings for an inheritance, which he will not receive anyway.
Epilogue
The name of the play speaks of the spontaneity of the changes taking place in the society of the mid-19th century. But, if updates come in nature after a thunderstorm, then in life one can only hope for them. But, most likely, everything will remain in place.
