The plot and compositional originality of the play by A. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm

Method - realism

1. "Thunderstorm" as a work of the 60s. XIX century (see below).
2. Typical characters in typical circumstances social types(See paragraph "City of Kalinov and its inhabitants").
3. Original features of Ostrovsky's realism:

One of the first in Russian dramaturgy, Ostrovsky introduces a landscape that acts not just as a background, but embodies the natural element that opposes the “dark kingdom” (at the beginning of the work, the scene on the Volga, the death of Katerina).

Ostrovsky uses the traditions of folklore when creating the image of Katerina, Kuligin, Kudryash, and some fabulous features can be traced in the images of Wild and Kabanikh.

The speech of the characters is replete with vernacular.

Use of symbols: a thunderstorm is a symbol of discord in Katerina's soul; the lightning rod offered by Kulagin is a symbol of enlightenment, etc.

Genre - drama

Drama is characterized by the fact that it is based on conflict. individual and the surrounding society. Tragedy is characterized by a feeling of tragic guilt that haunts the protagonist, leading him to death; the idea of ​​fate, fate; catharsis (a feeling of spiritual purification that occurs in the viewer, contemplating the death of the protagonist).

"Thunderstorm", despite the fact that main character dies, it is considered to be a drama, since the work is based on the conflict between Katerina and the "dark kingdom".

Ostrovsky's comedy traditions: satirical image mores of the patriarchal merchant environment.

The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants

1. "Thunderstorm" as a work of the 60s. 19th century

   “The storm came out in 1859 (on the eve of the abolition of serfdom in Russia). The historicism of The Thunderstorm lies in the conflict itself, the irreconcilable contradictions reflected in the play. In The Thunderstorm there is no idealization of the merchants, there is only sharp satire, which indicates that Ostrovsky largely overcame his Slavophile views.

   Dobrolyubov's "Ray of Light in the Dark Realm" is an example of a revolutionary-democratic interpretation of "Thunderstorm". Dobrolyubov focuses on those aspects of the drama that correspond to the spirit of the times, the sharpness of the social struggle.

   Dobrolyubov: “... plays of life: the struggle required by theory from drama is carried out in Ostrovsky’s plays not in monologues actors, but in the facts that dominate them ... "Thunderstorm" is an idyll of the "dark kingdom" ... "Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, the most decisive work Ostrovsky ... The mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought in it to the very tragic consequences... In The Thunderstorm there is even something refreshing and encouraging - the background of the play ... the character of Katerina ... portends unsteadiness and the near end of tyranny ... Russian life and Russian strength are called by the artist in The Thunderstorm to a decisive task " .

2. "Dark Kingdom" and its victims

   The playwright's innovation is manifested in the fact that a real heroine from the people's environment appears in the play, and it is the description of her character that is given the main attention, while the little world of the city of Kalinov and the conflict itself are described more generally.

   Dobrolyubov: “Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests of the world disturb them, because they do not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries open up, the face of the earth ... change ... - the inhabitants of the town of Kalinov will exist as before in complete ignorance of the rest of the world ... The concepts and way of life they have adopted are the best in the world, everything new is happening from evil spirits... they find it awkward and even daring to persistently seek out reasonable grounds ... The information reported by the Feklushs is such that they are not able to inspire a great desire to exchange their life for another ... A dark mass, terrible in its naivety and sincerity.

   Wanderers

   “They didn’t go far because of their weakness, but they heard a lot” (endless talk about sins, six or twelve embarrassing enemies, about countries where saltans rule the earth, about people with dog heads, about the bustle in Moscow, where “the last times are coming ”, about the “fiery serpent” (machine), about the unclean, about the thin and sad women, that time is made shorter for human sins).

   petty tyrants

   Dobrolyubov: “The absence of any law, any logic - this is the law and logic of this life ... The tyrants of Russian life, however, begin to feel some kind of discontent and fear, without knowing what and why ... Apart from them, not having asked them, another life has grown ... the old Kabanovs breathe heavily, feeling that there is a power higher than them, which they cannot overcome, which they don’t even know how to approach ... The Wild and. Kabanovs, meeting themselves with a contradiction and not being in forces to defeat him, but wanting to put their foot down, they openly declare themselves against logic, that is, they make fools of themselves in front of most people.

   Kabanova

   Kabanov's hypocrite, the despot, covers up his tyranny with adherence to the old order. Her feminine tyranny is smaller and more intolerable than a man's. The result of her impotence is a small world of rituals, customs and stupidity. Tikhon for Kabanikhi is not a man - not an independent unit. By the way and inopportunely, she reminds her son of the need for self-respect, constantly sawing him, Tikhon's attitude towards Katerina is due to the fear of maternal anger. Katerina Kabanikha is hated by a dull, unconscious hatred. The boar cannot be pleased, her petty demands, perseverance and endless claims poison the atmosphere in the house. The family despotism of the Kabanikhs is based on religious hypocrisy (Feklusha).

   wild

   Dobrolyubov: “It seems to him that if he recognizes over himself the laws of common sense common to all people, then his importance will suffer greatly from this ... He realizes that he is absurd ... The habit of fooling him is so strong that he obeys it even against the voice of his own common sense.

   Barbara and Kudryash

   Outwardly, they oppose, but internally they are closely connected with the "other kingdom" - they try to adapt, but, having failed to cope with this task, they leave.

   Kuligin

   Opposes ignorance and obscurantism of the "dark kingdom". This is the bearer of the ideas of enlightenment, folk type, in which a strongly healthy human principle. However, Kuligin is not a fighter, but a passive observer. He cannot bring his inventions to life. Although Kuligin is sincerely trying to be useful, in the conditions of the "dark kingdom" his abilities do not develop - for example, he is obsessed with the unrealizable idea of ​​​​inventing a panacea for all ills - a "perpetual motion machine". He is not capable of great accomplishments, as he is dependent on " the mighty of the world this."

   Tikhon

   Dobrolyubov: “Ingenuous and vulgar, not at all evil, but extremely spineless ... from the many pitiful types that are usually called harmless, although in a general sense they are just as harmful as the petty tyrants themselves, because they serve them faithful assistants ... there is no strong feeling, no resolute striving can develop.

   Boris

   Dobrolyubov: “Not a hero ... He had enough education and could not cope either with the old way of life, or with his heart, or with common sense- walks as if lost ... one of those ... people who do not know how to do what they understand, and do not understand what they are doing.

   Despite the fact that Boris understands that he will not see the inheritance, he depends on Wild and will henceforth be with him. The key phrase for understanding the character: “Oh, if only there was strength!”

The image of Katerina and the means of its creation

1. Folk type, natural beginning.

   Dobrolyubov: "Katerina did not kill human nature in herself..."

2. A sense of natural truth, integrity of character.

   Dobrolyubov: "Russian a strong character... amazes us with its opposition to any self-conscious principles ... Character ... creative, loving, ideal ... She tries to smooth out any external dissonance ... she covers every shortcoming from the fullness of her internal forces... She is strange, extravagant from the point of view of others, but this is because she cannot accept their views and inclinations in any way.

3. Striving for freedom, spiritual emancipation.

   Dobrolyubov: “She is eager for a new life, even if she had to die in this impulse ... A mature demand for the right and space of life that arises from the depths of the whole organism ...”

4. Inconsistency.

   Dobrolyubov: “In the dry monotonous life of his youth, in rude and superstitious terms environment, she was constantly able to take what agreed with her natural aspirations for beauty, harmony, contentment, happiness ... All the ideas instilled in her from childhood, all the principles of the environment rebel against her natural aspirations and actions. Everyone is against Katerina, even her own concepts about good and evil."

5. relation to Boris.

   Katerina fell in love with Boris in the absence of people: a) The need for love, b) The offended feelings of the wife and woman, c) The mortal longing of her monotonous life, d) The desire for freedom, space.

   Katerina struggles with herself, but ultimately justifies herself internally.

Tools for creating the image of Katerina:

1. Traditions of oral folk art.
   1. motives folk songs (« Why do people don't fly like birds?").
   2. Appeal to a “dear friend”, without whom it is not nice White light(“My friend, my joy”).
   3. Appeal to the "violent winds" ("Wild winds, transfer my sadness and longing to him").
   4. The image of the "grave" ("Yes, what's home, what's in the grave ...", "It's better in the grave ... under the tree there is a grave ... how good!").
2. Church life images in the popular understanding.
   1. Visiting a church (“And I loved to go to church to death! For sure, it used to be that I would go to heaven ...”).
   2. Stories of wanderers (“Our house was full of wanderers and praying women ...”).
   3. Katerina's dreams ("Either golden temples, or some extraordinary gardens, and invisible voices sing all...").
3. Speech characteristic.

   Colloquial expressions (“So that I don’t see either my father or mother ...”, “Someone affectionately speaks to me, like a dove cooing ..”).

The artistic merits of the drama "Thunderstorm" give the right to consider it one of the masterpieces of Russian dramatic literature. The action of the drama is revealed with a deep internal regularity, harmoniously and naturally. At the same time, the playwright skillfully uses such techniques of composition, which give the play a special stage character, and the movement of action - sharpness and tension. This is the way the landscape is used throughout the play.

The landscape performs a double function in The Thunderstorm. At the beginning of the play, he is the background against which the dramatic action. He, as it were, emphasizes the discrepancy between the dead, motionless life of the Kalinovites and their "cruel morals", on the one hand, and the beautiful gifts of nature, which Kalinovtsy do not know how to appreciate, on the other. This landscape is really beautiful. Admiring him, Kuligin says to Boris: “All right, sir, let's go for a walk now. Silence, the air is excellent, because of the Volga it smells of flowers from the meadows, the sky is clear ... The abyss has opened, the stars are full, There are no stars, the abyss is the bottom.

But Kuligin, a poet, a romantic, is alone in the city with his enthusiastic attitude towards nature. The more vividly the indifference to everything elegant, beautiful is outlined on the part of the Wild and Kabanovs, who are ready to stifle any manifestation of a good, natural feeling in their environment.
The thunderstorm plays a different role in the play in the first and fourth acts. A thunderstorm in nature, atmospheric, here directly invades emotional drama heroines, influencing the very outcome of this drama. It comes at the moment of the most strong feelings Catherine.

In the soul of Katerina, under the influence of a feeling of love for Boris, confusion begins. She betrays her secret to Varvara and struggles between two feelings: love for Boris and the consciousness of sinfulness, the “illegality” of this love. Katerina feels as if some kind of misfortune is approaching her, terrible and inevitable, and at this time a thunderstorm begins. "Storm! Let's run home! Hurry!” she exclaims in horror. The first thunderclaps are heard, and Katerina again exclaims: “Oh, hurry, hurry!”
The storm is coming again:
"Woman. Well, the whole sky overlaid. Exactly with a hat, and covered it.
1st walker. Eko, my brother, it’s like a cloud is twisting in a ball, it’s as if life is tossing and turning in it.
2nd walker. You mark my word that this thunderstorm will not pass in vain! .. Either it will kill someone, or the house will burn down ...
KATERINA (listening). What they're saying? They say they'll kill someone... Tisha, I know who they'll kill... They'll kill me."
A thunderstorm breaks out, and Katerina's tense nerves cannot stand it: she publicly repents of her guilt ... A thunderclap - and she falls unconscious.
The role of the old “lady with two lackeys” also has an important compositional significance. Her appearances also coincide with the pictures of a thunderstorm ... “To be a sin of some kind,” says Katerina. - Such a fear on me, such a fear on me! It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there ... ”She is afraid of temptation,“ a terrible sin ” forbidden love- and then the old woman appears with her ominous speeches: “What, beauties? What are you doing here? Are you waiting for the good fellows, gentlemen? Are you having fun? Funny? Does your beauty make you happy? This is where beauty leads [points to the Volga]. Here, here, in the very pool, ”she prophesies Katerina her fate. In the distance, behind the Volga, clouds are crawling, enveloping the sky before a thunderstorm.

"A lady with a stick and two lackeys in three-cornered hats behind" are shown once more at the moment highest voltage the actions of the play. Thunder rumbles. Katerina again hears the words of the crazy old woman: “What are you hiding? Nothing to hide! It can be seen that you are afraid, you don’t want to die! .. It’s better with beauty in the pool ... Everything will burn in the fire in unquenchable! Katerina, horrified, runs up to the wall of the gallery and, as if on purpose, kneels down near the picture depicting “gehenna fiery”: “Hell! Hell! Hell! Gehenna fiery! (Kabanov, Kabanov and Varvara surround her). The whole heart is broken! I can't take it anymore. Mother! Tikhon! I am a sinner before God and before you!”
By such means, the author of The Thunderstorm intentionally enhances the drama of its stage positions.

The picturesqueness and relief of the image of the situation and characters in the play are enhanced by the use of contrasts. Parallel to the main intrigue of the play (Katerina and Boris Grigorievich), a secondary one (Varvara and Kudryash) also develops, opposed to the first. The whole scene of a meeting at night in a ravine is built on parallelism and contrast: the ingenuously rude feelings and speeches of Kudryash and Varvara set off the elevated lyrical tone of Boris and Katerina's explanations. Their very characters are opposite in everything: Kudryash, unlike Boris, is a lively, courageous, dexterous person who knows how to stand up for himself even in front of Wild; simply and easily looks at the life of Varvara, is not tormented by remorse, like Katerina, and does not even understand her torments. “In my opinion,” she argues, “do whatever you want, if only it were sewn and covered ...” Varvara does not let herself be offended, does not give in to her mother and, defending her freedom, runs away from home with Kudryash.

Ostrovsky also emphasizes the characteristic features of the heroes with the so-called "significant" or "pictorial" surnames, with the help of which the author reveals inner world their heroes, the dominant features of their character (Wild, Boar, Curly). This characterization technique is generally widely used in Ostrovsky's dramaturgy, and his characters bear not only allegorical surnames, but also names: Gordey and Lyubim Tortsovs in the comedy "Poverty is not a vice", Groznov's power in the dramatic scenes "True is good, but happiness is better", Lup Lupych - an official in "Abyss", etc. Sometimes Ostrovsky emphasizes the main properties of the hero in the names and surnames, even parodic and exaggerated: the quarterly in the comedy "There was not a penny, but suddenly Altyn" bears the name of Tigriy Lvovich Lyutov (fierce, as if tiger and lion). Merchants at Ostrovsky's have the names of Puzatov, Bryukhov, Raznovesov, Akhov, etc.
Very convex characterizes the characters and their very language, somewhat old-fashioned, with a bookish, Church Slavonic touch in Kuligin, dotted folk proverbs, proverbs and sayings by Kudryash, etc. The speech of the characters is strictly individualized. In its very warehouse, in the choice of expressions, in their turns, the inner essence of a person is visible. The wanderer Feklusha, for example, weaves her touching, flattering words, talks about her wonderful “visions” and about the lands “where all the people have dog heads”, and the image of a hypocrite and saint is drawn by itself, exploiting the philistine darkness, ignorance and backwardness.

Composition.

The peculiarity of the conflict in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"

In every dramatic work the connection between composition, conflict and genre is very close, these three components of the work simply cannot but echo each other, and often, after reading genre definition, allocated small print on title page, we already guess not only the form, but sometimes the plot, and with it the idea, the theme of the whole work, and, accordingly, the conflict that gives rise to these ideas. Sometimes the genre definition itself (in this case, often underlined by the author) may simply not correspond to the main traditions of genre division in literature. The fact that the genre definition of the author suddenly does not correspond to the form or content suggests that the conflict here is much deeper than the boundaries of one chosen genre dictate. If the writer deliberately emphasizes this discrepancy between form and content, then researchers and critics are faced with another mystery, the resolution of which is important for understanding the conflict, and, consequently, the idea of ​​the work. A prime example can serve as Gogol's " Dead Souls”, not accidentally called a poem. With his work, N.V. Gogol, as it were, sums up all previous literature, forcing already perfected to perfection existing genres work in a new way, and the purpose of such work is to identify a new deep conflict.
The situation in the play “Thunderstorm”, the history of its creation is both similar and different from the above observations. A. N. Ostrovsky did not sum up, did not synthesize new genres, nevertheless, the genre definition of “Thunderstorm” as everyday social drama, given by himself, is not entirely correct, and, accordingly, one conflict lying on the surface is, in fact, replaced by another, deeper and more complex. The genre definition of A. Ostrovsky was only a tribute literary tradition. The conflict here is destined to play a completely different role. If we consider The Thunderstorm as a social drama, then the resulting conflict looks quite simple: it is, as it were, external, social; the attention of the audience is equally distributed between the characters, all of them, like checkers on the board, play almost the same roles necessary to create story line, they confuse and then, flickering and rearranging, as if in tags, help to resolve the intricate plot. If the system of characters is laid out in such a way that the conflict arises and is resolved, as it were, with the help of all the actors. Here we are dealing with a drama of an everyday nature, its conflict is simple and easy to guess. What happens in the Thunderstorm? Married woman, rather God-fearing, fell in love with another person, secretly meets with him, cheats on her husband. The only thing that worries her is her relationship with her mother-in-law, who is a representative of the “past century” and sacredly guards precisely the letter of the law, and not the content itself, speaking allegorically. Katerina, with such a layout of the conflict and such an understanding of it in the light of the genre definition of “Thunderstorm” as a social and everyday drama, is the personification of the new time, the “current century”, and along with Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash, she fights against the remnants of the past, against house building, against the very atmosphere stagnant of dead rules and orders, the personification of which is the pre-reform Kalinov. The main antagonists are also easily identified - Katerina and Kabanikha. In this spirit, many critics understood The Thunderstorm, and, in particular, N. A. Dobrolyubov. Here strong personalities collide, two antagonists, one of them must leave, and suddenly ... This seemingly doomed person turns out to be not the old Kabanikha with her archaic views on life, but the young, full of strength Katerina, surrounded by her like-minded people. What's the matter? What happened? The conflict between the old and the new, “of the current century and the past century,” would seem to have been resolved, but somewhat in a strange way. All this leads us to the idea that the conflict in the play is much deeper, more complex and subtle than it seems at first glance. Definitely well crafted. story line, confrontation between two strong personalities- Katerina and Kabanikhi take place and give us the opportunity to observe the conflict of a social and domestic nature, reminiscent of any current television series. But a deeply hidden conflict is revealed here with a slightly different reading of the play and a different genre definition, with a different interpretation of the plot of The Thunderstorm. The definition of the “Thunderstorms” genre and the understanding of the conflict as social and everyday, given by A. N. Ostrovsky, is here not only a tribute to tradition, but, perhaps, the only possible option while. A. I. Zhuravleva explains this phenomenon in this way: “... the whole history of Russian drama that preceded Ostrovsky did not give examples of such a tragedy in which the heroes would be private individuals, and not historical figures, even legendary ones.” So, the genre definition of "Thunderstorm" with a different interpretation is tragedy, and tragedy, accordingly, implies a higher level of conflict than in drama. The contradiction is carried out not at the level of the system of characters, but at a more complex level. The conflict arises primarily in the mind of the hero, who is struggling with himself.
The history of tragedy goes far back into the mists of time, but usually the actors, ranging from ancient tragedy, were historical figures. Suffice it to recall Antigone Sophocles, who does not know what to do without violating her moral, internal moral principles(and by no means “external”, synthesized state laws).
The classicists have an exemplary situation in Corneille's Cid; it is resolved only by eliminating the moral doubts that struggle in Rodrigo. Such is the conflict with A. N. Ostrovsky, it is internal, moral, only it is not the tsar’s daughter or noble lady, but a simple merchant's wife. Brought up on Christian morality and house building principles, she sees with horror their collapse not only around, but also inside herself, in her soul. Everything around her collapses, “time began to come in prayer,” says the wanderer Feklusha. The consciousness of her sinfulness and at the same time the understanding that she is not to blame for anything and that she is not in her power to resist passion, brings her to an insoluble contradiction within herself. Katerina cannot but love Tikhon - after all, this is how she betrays God in her soul, but nevertheless a terrible thing happens, and Katerina is not able to change anything. The conflict is not in the antagonism of Kabanikh and Katerina, who at first glance seeks the right to freedom of choice of feelings, the conflict lies in Katerina herself, who saw in such a struggle a crime against God and could not come to terms with it. And it is not Kabanikha who destroys Katerina, as Tikhon exclaims in the finale, perceiving everything that happens from the point of view of a man of modern times - Katerina is ruined by her own oppressive inconsistency of her feelings. But the understanding of Katerina's inner experiences is inaccessible to Tikhon, as well as to all other characters in the play. They seem to be relegated to the background, they serve only as a background, a decoration for the manifestation of Katerina's character, such as, for example, Wild or a lady. But in fact, one of the main characters, Boris, is generally characterized as "belonging more to the situation." All the characters seem to form a single whole - their disbelief, coupled with Kuligin's progressive worldview, acts as a kind of counterbalance to Katerina's fanatical faith. At the same time, Katerina's almost sectarian faith leads to an insoluble contradiction in her soul, while everyone else has long been reconciled with their conscience. This contradiction cannot be peacefully resolved, and Katerina is not able to compromise with herself.
Katerina is very different from all the other heroes, however, she is very similar to Kabanikha. Both fanatically believe, both are aware of the horror of Katerina's misdeed, but if Kabanikha guards the old, obsolete, then Katerina also believes with all her heart, and for her all these tests are many times harder than for Kabanikh. Unable to withstand the state of uncertainty, Katerina sees a way out in repentance, but even this does not bring her relief. Repentance no longer plays a special role, retribution is inevitable, Katerina, like all true believers, is a fatalist and does not believe that anything can be changed. do away with tragic conflict in the soul there is only one way - to lose it, to deprive it of immortality, and Katerina commits the most serious sin - suicide.
So, we see that the culmination and denouement of this tragedy is dictated by the genre itself, and this is no longer a social drama with its external conflict. The play is built according to the laws of tragedy; genre, composition, plot - everything affects the conflict, making it subtle and multifaceted, deep and meaningful.
The motive of atonement for the guilt of a woman who crossed the line, the tragedy of her situation develops later on and after A. N. Ostrovsky, especially F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy (Katyusha Maslova in “Resurrection”, Katerina Ivanovna in “Crime and Punishment ”, Katya from A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve.” It is interesting that the name Katerina is firmly entrenched in the literary tradition). But nevertheless, we can say with confidence: “Thunderstorm” is, as it were, the beginning of the emergence new tradition and at the same time remains, due to the peculiarity of the conflict, “a unique phenomenon in Russian literature XVIII century

Essay plan
1. Introduction. The plot-compositional structure and genre originality plays.
2. The main part. Plot-compositional originality of "Thunderstorm".
— Artistic techniques Ostrovsky the playwright.
- First action. Exposure.
- Second act. Tie.
— Third act. The culmination of a love affair. The development of internal conflict.
— Fourth act. Culmination of the main conflict.
— Fifth act. Interchange.
3. Conclusion. artistic originality of the play.

Reflecting on the plot-compositional structure of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky, we cannot but think about the problem genre interpretation works. Traditionally, "Thunderstorm" is considered a social drama. At the center of the story - love triangle(Katerina - Tikhon - Boris), on its basis, a family and domestic conflict is tied up, in which a large number of characters. Critic N.A. Dobrolyubov emphasizes the social facet of the conflict in the play, revealing its social issues: the crisis of the world of patriarchal ties, the opposition of the world of the "dark kingdom" and strong, integral personalities. Modern researchers (A.I. Zhuravleva) consider the play a tragedy, noting the significance of the internal conflict in it. “Thunderstorm” is not a tragedy of love, but a tragedy of conscience. When Katerina’s fall is complete, caught up in a whirlwind of liberated passion, which merges for her with the concept of will, she becomes bold to the point of insolence ... “I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, if I’m afraid of human court!” she says to Boris. But this “sin was not afraid” just portends further development tragedy...<….>Katerina's death is predetermined and inevitable, no matter how the people on whom she depends behave. It is inevitable because neither her self-consciousness, nor the whole way of life in which she exists, allow the personal feeling awakened in her to be embodied in everyday forms, ”the researcher notes. Let's try to consider the plot-compositional structure of the play.
Each action in the play is divided into separate scenes. They give the development of the conflict in any one perspective, shows the perception of any one actor. In general, the conflict in The Thunderstorm develops quickly and dynamically, which is achieved by the special arrangement of the scenes: with each new scene, starting with the plot, the tension of the plot action increases.
There are five acts in the drama. The first action is exposure. The first scene paints a scene for us - small town Kalinov. It is spread out on the banks of the Volga, immersed in greenery. There is beauty and serenity in nature. It is a completely different matter in human relations and mores. From the very first scenes, we get an idea of ​​local life, of the characters of the characters. " Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! Kuligin notes. In the first act, both non-plot characters and all the people involved in the main conflict appear. We see Kudryash, Shapkin, Kuligin, Feklusha, Dikoy and Boris, the Kabanov family. Moreover, even before the appearance on the stage of Diky and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, Kudryash and Shapkin talk about them, briefly outlining the characters. Here is given the backstory of Boris, Diky's nephew. Then Dikoy himself and Kabanova appear on the stage. Dikoi scolds her nephew, while Marfa Ignatievna reads instructions to her son and daughter-in-law. Thus, the first act is based on the principle of antithesis: the beauty of nature is opposed to urban customs. The main conflict is outlined here as a dotted line: Boris admits to Kuligin that he loves Katerina. And here we see Katerina's bondage in the mother-in-law's family, her husband's timidity and passivity. And at the same time, we note the complete psychological incompatibility of the heroine with her family, the strength and energy inherent in her very nature. So, to the remarks of her mother-in-law, Katerina replies: “You are talking about me, mother, in vain you say this. That in front of people, that without people, I'm all alone ... "," It's nice to endure slander! Tikhon in this scene is shown as a timid, passive, weak-willed person. We understand that the heroine's relationship with Boris is possible.
The second act contains very important points. Katerina confesses to Varvara her love for Boris. However, while she still drives away the thought of her love. Tikhon's departure is planned. Katerina says goodbye to him and asks to take him with her. However, he seeks to escape from maternal oppression and take a walk in the wild. Tikhon notices that he will not be “up to his wife” there. The scene of farewell and the scene with the key represent the beginning of the conflict. The tension of the heroine's mental strength here reaches the limit: “Come what may, but I will see Boris! Ah, if only the night would come sooner!..”
Further, the confrontation between the two camps in the play deepens. Dikoy talks to Marfa Ignatievna, and in this dialogue his tyranny, rudeness, arbitrariness, stinginess are exposed (he cannot part with money). Kuligin also gives an accurate assessment of urban customs in a conversation with Boris: “The gates of everyone, sir, have been locked for a long time and the dogs are lowered. Do you think they do business or pray to God? No, sir! And they don’t lock themselves up from thieves, but so that people don’t see how they eat their own home and tyrannize their families. And what tears flow behind these locks, invisible and inaudible!<…>And what, sir, behind these locks is the debauchery of the dark and drunkenness! And everything is sewn and covered - no one sees or knows anything ... ". And at the same time, the internal tension in Groz is growing. The culmination of the love affair is Katerina's date with Boris. But only after that in the play begins to develop internal conflict- the struggle of the heroine with her own conscience, with the integrity of nature, with her ideas about morality and honor. The researchers noted the compositional innovation of Ostrovsky, who divided the third act into two "scenes". Thus, the playwright departs from the traditional principle of "three unities" accepted in classicism.
In the fourth act, the tension in the plot increases. Tikhon unexpectedly returns. Katerina is experiencing a moral crisis. She considers her actions criminal and is experiencing real confusion. depicts folk festival on the boulevard A thunderstorm is gathering in the air. Wild notices that the thunderstorm is sent to people as a punishment. The same motives are heard in the remarks of passers-by (“Either he will kill someone, or the house will burn down ...”) Finally, right there we hear the prophecies of the crazy lady: “You will have to answer for everything. In the whirlpool is better with beauty!”. During a thunderstorm, Katerina publicly confesses her relationship with Boris. This scene becomes the climax in the development of the main conflict of the play.
In the fifth act, the denouement takes place. After the confession, the heroine does not feel better, she cries and yearns. Not finding support in the family, she commits suicide, throws herself into the Volga. Tikhon in despair falls on the body of his wife: “It’s good for you, Katya! And why did I stay in the world and suffer! The conflict thus ends in disaster. Here is what Dobrolyubov wrote about the end of the play: “The play ends with this exclamation, and it seems to us that nothing could be invented stronger and more truthful than such an ending. Tikhon's words give the key to the understanding of the play for those who would not even understand its essence before; they make the viewer think about love affair but about this whole life, where the living envy the dead…”.
Thus, Ostrovsky's play is both a social drama and a tragedy. Exactly genre features determine the development of the conflict and the course of the plot in The Thunderstorm. “The tragedy of Katerina is that the life surrounding her has lost its integrity and completeness, has entered a period of deep moral crisis. Soul Storm experienced by the heroine is a direct consequence of this disharmony. Katerina feels guilty not only before Tikhon and Kabanikha ... It seems to her that the whole universe is offended by her behavior.<…>Speaking with her whole life against despotism, against authoritarian morality, Katerina trusts in everything inner voice conscience. Having gone through spiritual trials, she is morally cleansed and leaves the sinful Kalinov world as a man who has been ill with his illnesses and overcome them with his torments.

1. Zhuravleva A.I. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. – History of Russian literature of the 19th century. Second half. Ed. prof. N.N. Skatova. M ... 1987, p. 257.

2. Dobrolyubov N.A. A beam of light in a dark realm. - ON THE. Dobrolyubov. Russian classics. Selected literary-critical articles. M., 1970. Electronic version. www.az.lib.ru

3. Lebedev Yu.V. Russian literature XIX V. Second half. The book for the teacher. M., 1990, p. 176.

The method is realism. A) "Thunderstorm" as a product of the 60s. XIX century. B) Typical characters in typical circumstances, social types. C) The original features of Ostrovsky's realism:

One of the first in Russian dramaturgy, Ostrovsky introduces a landscape that acts not just as a background, but embodies the natural element that opposes the “dark kingdom” (at the beginning of the work, the scene on the Volga, the death of Katerina).

Ostrovsky uses the traditions of folklore when creating the image of Katerina, Kuligin, Kudryash, and some fabulous features can be traced in the images of Wild and Kabanikh. The speech of the characters is replete with vernacular. Use of symbols: a thunderstorm is a symbol of discord in Katerina's soul; the lightning rod proposed by Kuligin is a symbol of enlightenment, etc.

Genre - drama Drama is characterized by the fact that it is based on the conflict between the individual and the surrounding society. Tragedy is characterized by a feeling of tragic guilt that haunts the protagonist, leading him to death; the idea of ​​fate, fate; catharsis (a feeling of spiritual purification that occurs in the viewer, contemplating the death of the protagonist). "Thunderstorm", despite the fact that the main character dies, is considered to be a drama, since the work is based on the conflict between Katerina and the "dark kingdom". Ostrovsky's Comedy Traditions: A Satirical Depiction of the Mores of the Patriarchal Merchant Environment.

The playwright's innovation is manifested in the fact that a real heroine from the people's environment appears in the play and it is the description of her character that is given the main attention, and the little world of the city of Kalinov and the conflict itself are described more generally.

Tools for creating the image of Katerina: folk type, natural beginning, integrity of character, desire for freedom, for spiritual emancipation.

The play repeatedly repeats an image that helps to understand the main thing in Katerina's character - the image of a bird. In folk poetry, the bird is a symbol of will. Katerina endures for the time being. Katerina's speech is imbued high poetry, she speaks the impeccably correct folk language, her speech is musical, melodious.

Katerina struggles not only with the environment, but also with herself. it is poisoned by religious prejudice. Katerina's religiosity is not hypocrisy, but rather a childish faith in fairy tales. Religion forces Katerina to perceive the bright human feeling of love as evil, a mortal sin.

The drama ends with Katerina's moral victory over dark kingdom that fettered her will and mind. Suicide is an expression of protest in this extreme case for Katerina, when other forms of struggle are impossible.

Ostrovsky created in Russia the genre of drama (the play of life). The drama is characterized by an interest in the conflicts of everyday reality, behind which the viewer catches the deep contradictions of the era. The artistic thought of Ostrovsky found in everyday life a bizarre combination of the tragic and the comic, and this also became one of the signs of Russian drama, cat. zat. was developed in Chekhov's TV.

24. The main motives of the lyrics of N.A. Nekrasov, her artistic originality. Studies on the work of the poet. Periodization of creativity

Nekrasov can distinguish two major creative periods:

First: from 1845 to 1856, in which his poetry can be called "the muse of sorrow and sorrow"; the main mood of the poems of this time is despondency; the main psychological trait of heroes from the people is eternal patience, passivity; the main characters are the peasant and urban poor, raznochintsy workers, people of a tragic social fate, the poor, the destitute and the disenfranchised; the main attitude towards their heroes is compassionate love and pity; Nekrasov himself during this period acts as a "saddener" of the people's grief, having formulated his poetic and civic task; “I was called to sing of your sufferings, amazing people with patience.”

The social essence of the lyrics of this period was democracy and compassionate humanism.

Among the poems of these 10-11 years, two groups stand out. In the poems of the first group - sorrow and protection of the disenfranchised and disadvantaged: "On the road", "Gardener", "Troika", "Am I driving down a dark street at night", "In the village", "Uncompressed lane", "Vlas", "Forgotten village”, etc. Their leitmotif is love-sorrow. The second group includes satirical verses of open contempt “to the jubilant, idly chattering, staining their hands with blood”: “Lullaby”, “Moral Man”, “Modern Ode”, etc.; all this poetic satire would later be included in the large satirical poem "Contemporaries", written in the 70s in parallel with the poem "Who should live well in Rus'?".

If in the first group of poems Nekrasov is psychologically close to Dostoevsky, then in the second group he is close to Gogol and Shchedrin.

The second period of Nekrasov: from 1857 to 1877.

This second period begins with a social thaw in the country that came after the death of Nicholas I, after the defeat in the Crimean War, and with the beginning of the preparation and implementation of the peasant reform by Tsar Alexander II.

New heroic notes begin to sound in Nekrasov's poetry. Revolutionary-democratic optimism develops and grows stronger in it, an intensive search begins for a positive hero, a conscious exponent of progressive ideas, an educator-fighter who seeks to throw a "ray of consciousness" into the elements of the people, i.e., a hero of civil resistance, awakening the people to civil activity.

If Griboyedov raised the problem of “woe from wit” in Russian literature, then Nekrasov puts forward the problem of happiness from the mind as a priority, that is, happiness from knowing what needs to be done for the common good. The leading ideological and psychological line is the idea of ​​unity of the heroes of civil resistance with the people. Poetry is imbued with the revolutionary music of labor and struggle. In this atmosphere of "great expectations", which were felt by Turgenev in "Fathers and Sons", and Ostrovsky in "Thunderstorm", and Chernyshevsky in "What is to be done?", Nekrasov's mood also changed: out of grief and compassion, he, along with Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov passes into the vanguard of the revolutionary upsurge, turning into the Petrel of the peasant revolution, or, according to Dobrolyubov, becoming "Garibaldi in his business."

During this period, two groups of poems stand out. The first group includes, firstly, poems about the poet-citizen: “The Poet and the Citizen”, “Elegy; secondly, poems about the heroism of the people, their work and fate: “Reflections at the front door”, “Peddlers”, “Railway”, “Arina - the mother of a soldier” and the poem “Frost-Red Nose”.

Thirdly, poems glorifying civic feat and moral purity devotees and fighters for the people, who are contemporaries of the poet: "In Memory of a Friend" (about Belinsky), "On the Death of Shevchenko", "In Memory of Dobrolyubov", "In Memory of Pisarev" and "The Prophet" (about Chernyshevsky); interesting is the ascending triad of the image or idea of ​​the hero in poems about fighters: friend ("In memory of a friend" - Belinsky) - citizen ("Poet citizen", "Blessed is the gentle poet") - prophet ("Prophet" - Chernyshevsky).

The second group of poems includes confessional-love poems, the main theme of which is the theme of one's own tragic guilt and personal responsibility to the people, to the dead and arrested comrades in the struggle, to one's conscience, to unrealized poetic possibilities.

This mournful, suffering, tragic theme of one's own sin and repentance (partly caused by the poet's severe physical illness) was embodied by him in a collection of poems from the last two years of his life, called by Nekrasov himself "Last Songs" and representing the "Chronicle of the unfortunate life" of the poet himself. In these poems of the dying Nekrasov, suffering is expressed from the insufficient activity of his people, insufficient revolutionary spirit, and the poet perceives the poverty of the people's consciousness and their civil immaturity as the result of personal guilt and his own sinfulness, which causes the pathos of self-accusation, self-reproach, lynching.

Thus, poetry becomes self-criticism, fearlessly exposing the author's weaknesses, breakdowns, retreats, hesitations. In these verses, Nekrasov suffered and mourned because he could not be constantly uncompromising, steadfast and monolithic, like Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov.

Blaming himself, Nekrasov appeared to the reader as a highly moral person, and at the same time he debunked the artificial myth of the superhumanity of the hero of civil resistance, that is, the hero-citizen, who, supposedly, is alien to human weaknesses (poems: “I deeply despise myself for this”, "Literature with crackling phrases", "Knight for an hour", "The enemy rejoices, is silent, at a loss", "I will die soon. A miserable inheritance ...", "I will soon become the prey of decay", etc.). The entire collection "Last Songs" is riddled with frank sobbing. Note that Nekrasov is the poet who has the most poems about death in Russian poetry.

All these themes and aspects of Nekrasov's poetry, brought together, make, firstly, his poetry an "encyclopedia of Russian life", and secondly, they represent him not only as an agitator poet, but, above all, as an all-Russian poet, who is characterized by ethical maximalism, a Russian poet of a wounded soul, publicly recognizing himself as a sinner, and in this fearless confession he turns into a righteous man.

In Nekrasov's poetry, two extreme tendencies that are difficult to connect are adjacent and mated: on the one hand, the prosaic ruthlessness of introspection, on the other, the songful sobbing cry. This combination is the uniqueness of Nekrasov the poet to this day.

It has long been a traditional idea of ​​​​N. A. Nekrasov as a "singer of the peasant share", "women's fate." At the same time, the poetic heritage of the poet is distinguished by thematic and genre diversity.

Nekrasov's poetry was not limited to solving social problems. He penned heartfelt words of love confessions, wonderful messages to friends, subtle landscape sketches, striking scenes of urban and rural life with psychologism. The poet's lyrics reflected not only all aspects of the life of that time, but also the poet's philosophical thoughts about the fate of the people, his country, the meaning of life and the purpose of a person in it, his own innermost feelings and experiences were conveyed. The works of N. A. Nekrasov at the beginning of the 21st century sound no less relevant than at the time when they were created, because the main motives for the poet's work were such moral concepts as conscience, sympathy, empathy, compassion.

25. The development of the genre of the poem in the work of N.A. Nekrasov. A wide panorama of the pre-reform and post-reform life of the peasants in the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'". The skill of the poet in the image of the Russian national character

Nekrasov's poems: "Sasha", "Pedlars", "Frost, Red Nose", "Grandfather", "Russian Women", satirical poem"Contemporaries"

The poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" occupies a central place in Nekrasov's work. It has become a kind of artistic result of more than thirty years of the author's work.

All the motifs of Nekrasov's lyrics are developed in the poem; all the problems that worried him were rethought; used his highest artistic achievements.

Nekrasov not only created special genre socio-philosophical poem. He subordinated it to his super-task: to show the developing picture of Russia in its past, present and future. Starting to write "in hot pursuit", that is, immediately after the reform of 1862, a poem about a liberated, resurgent people, Nekrasov endlessly expanded the original plan.

The search for "lucky people" in Rus' took him from modernity to the origins: the poet seeks to realize not only the results of the abolition of serfdom, but also the very philosophical nature of the concepts of HAPPINESS, FREEDOM, HONOR, PEACE, because outside of this philosophical understanding it is impossible to understand the essence of the present moment and see the future people.

The fundamental novelty of the genre explains the fragmentation of the poem, built from internally open chapters. United by the image-symbol of the road, the poem breaks up into stories, the fate of dozens of people. Each episode in itself could become the plot of a song or a story, a legend or a novel. All together, in their unity, they constitute the fate of the Russian people, their historical path from slavery to freedom. That is why only in the last chapter does the image of the "people's protector" Grisha Dobrosklonov appear - the one who will lead people to freedom.

Only by this moment the author himself fully saw the compositional and artistic solution of his poem and, dying, regretted that he did not have time to realize it: "The only thing I regret," he said, "is that I do not have time to finish" To whom in Russia ... "Now I see that this is such a thing that will only have its entire meaning." The author's task determined not only genre innovation, but also the whole originality of the poetics of the work.

Nekrasov repeatedly turned to folklore motifs and images in lyrics. a poem about folk life he builds entirely on the basis of folklore. All the main genres of folklore are "involved" to one degree or another in "To whom in Rus' it is good to live: a fairy tale, a song, an epic, a legend."

The place and meaning of folklore in the poem

Folklore has its own special ideas, style, techniques, its own figurative system, their laws and their artistic means. The most basic difference between folklore and fiction is the absence of authorship in it: the people compose, the people tell, the people listen.

Nekrasov repeatedly turned to folklore motifs and images in lyrics. He builds a poem about folk life entirely on a folklore basis. In "Who is living well in Rus'?", to one degree or another, all the main genres of folklore are "involved": a fairy tale, a song, an epic, a legend.

Authorial literature turns to folklore when it is necessary to penetrate deeper into the essence of public morality; when the work itself is addressed not only to the intelligentsia (the main part of the readers of the nineteenth century), but also to the people. Both of these tasks were set by Nekrasov in the poem "Who should live well in Rus'?"

And one more the most important aspect distinguishes author's literature from folklore. Oral creativity does not know the concept of "canonical text": each listener becomes a co-author of the work, retelling it in his own way. Nekrasov aspired to such active co-creation of the author and the reader. That is why his poem is written "in a free language, as close as possible to common speech.

"The researchers call the verse of the poem Nekrasov's "brilliant find". Free and flexible poetic size, independence from rhyme opened up the possibility of:

Generously convey the originality of the national language, retaining all its accuracy, aphorism and special sayings; organically weave into the fabric of the poem village songs, sayings, lamentations, elements of a folk tale (a magical self-assembly tablecloth treats wanderers);

Skillfully reproduce the fervent speeches of peasants drunk at the fair, and the expressive monologues of peasant speakers, and the absurdly self-satisfied reasoning of the tyrant landowner, colorful folk scenes, full of life and movements, many characteristic faces and figures ... - all this creates the unique polyphony of the Nekrasov poem, in which the voice of the author himself seems to disappear, and instead of him the voices and speeches of his countless characters are heard.

Ideological and artistic originality:

1. The problem is built on the correlation of folklore images and specific historical realities. The problem of people's happiness is the ideological center of the project. Images of 7 male wanderers - symbolic image Russia, moving off

2. The poem reflected the contradictions of Russian reality in the post-reform period:

a) class contradictions (the landowner Obolt-Obolduev does not understand why he needs to study, work, because he is “not a peasant-bast worker, but, by the grace of God, a Russian nobleman”)

b) contradictions in the peasant consciousness (on the one hand, the people are a great worker, on the other hand, a drunken ignorant mass)

c) contradictions between the high spirituality of the people and ignorance, illiteracy and downtroddenness (Nekrasov's dream of the time when the peasant "will carry Belinsky and Gogol from the market")

d) Contradictions between strength, the rebellious spirit of the people and humility, long-suffering, humility (images of Savely, the Syator Russian hero and Jacob the faithful, an exemplary serf)

3. The reflection of revolutionary democratic ideas is associated with the image of the people's protector Grisha Dobrosklonov (prototype Dobrolyubov)

4. Reflection of the evolution of the people's consciousness is associated with the images of 7 men

5. This is the pr-th of critical realism, tk.

a) historicism (depiction of the contradictions of the life of peasants in post-reform Russia)

b) images of typical characters in typical circumstances (a collective image of 7 peasants, typical images of a priest, a landowner, peasants)

c) the original features of Nekrasov's realism - Spanish folk traditions, in cat. he was a follower of Lermontov and Ostrovsky

For the poem, the profuse use of folklore genres is characteristic:

Fairy tale - prologue

Bylina - Saveliy - hero

Ritual song (wedding, harvesting, lamentation songs) and labor song

Legend (About two great sinners)

Proverbs, sayings, riddles