“Thunderstorm” is a folk social tragedy.
N. A. Dobrolyubov
"Thunderstorm" stands out as the main, milestone work of the playwright. "Thunderstorm" was supposed to be included in the collection "Nights on the Volga", conceived by the author during a trip to Russia in 1856, organized by the naval ministry. True, Ostrovsky then changed his mind and did not unite, as he initially assumed, the cycle of “Volga” plays with a common title. The Thunderstorm was published as a separate book in 1859. During Ostrovsky's work on it, the play underwent great
Changes - the author introduced a number of new characters, but most importantly - Ostrovsky changed his original plan and decided to write not a comedy, but a drama. However, the power of social conflict in The Thunderstorm is so great that one can even speak of the play not as a drama, but as a tragedy. There are arguments in favor of both opinions, so the genre of the play is difficult to define unambiguously.
Undoubtedly, the play is written on a social and everyday theme: it is characterized by the author's special attention to the depiction of the details of everyday life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, its "cruel morals". The fictional city is described in detail, many-sidedly. An important role is played by the landscape beginning, but here a contradiction is immediately visible: Kuligin speaks of the beauty of the beyond the river, the high Volga cliff. “Something,” Kudryash objects to him. Pictures of night walks along the boulevard, songs, picturesque nature, Katerina's stories about childhood - this is the poetry of the Kalinov world, which is faced with the everyday cruelty of the inhabitants, stories about "naked poverty". About the past Kalinovtsy kept only vague legends - Lithuania “fell from the sky to us”, the wanderer Feklusha brings them news from the big world. Undoubtedly, such attention of the author to the details of the life of the characters makes it possible to speak of the drama as a genre of the play "Thunderstorm".
Another feature characteristic of the drama and present in the play is the presence of a chain of intra-family conflicts. First, this is a conflict between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law behind the locks of the gates of the house, then the whole city learns about this conflict, and from everyday life it develops into a social one. The expression of the conflict in the actions and words of the characters, characteristic of the drama, is most clearly shown in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. So, we learn about Katerina’s life before marriage from a conversation between young Kabanova and Varvara: Katerina lived, “didn’t grieve about anything”, like a “bird in the wild”, spending all day in pleasures and household chores. We know nothing about the first meeting of Katerina and Boris, about how their love was born. In his article, N. A. Dobrolyubov considered the insufficient “development of passion” to be a significant omission, he said that this is precisely why the “struggle of passion and duty” is designated for us “not quite clearly and strongly”. But this fact does not contradict the laws of drama.
The originality of the Thunderstorm genre is also manifested in the fact that, despite the gloomy, tragic general coloring, the play also contains comic, satirical scenes. The anecdotal and ignorant stories of Feklusha about the saltans, about the lands where all the people are “dog-headed” seem absurd to us. After the release of The Thunderstorm, A. D. Galakhov wrote in his review of the play that “the action and the catastrophe are tragic, although many places excite laughter.”
The author himself called his play a drama. But could it be otherwise? At that time, speaking of the tragic genre, they were used to dealing with a historical plot, with the main characters, outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in exceptional life situations. Tragedy was usually associated with images of historical figures, even legendary ones, such as Oedipus (Sophocles), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Boris Godunov (Pushkin). It seems to me that on Ostrovsky's part to call "Thunderstorm" a drama was only a tribute to tradition.
The innovation of A. N. Ostrovsky consisted in the fact that he wrote the tragedy on exclusively vital material, completely uncharacteristic of the tragic genre.
The tragedy of "Thunderstorm" is revealed by the conflict with the environment not only of the main character, Katerina, but also of other characters. Here “the living envy… the dead” (N. A. Dobrolyubov). Thus, the fate of Tikhon, who is a weak-willed toy in the hands of his domineering and despotic mother, is tragic here. Regarding Tikhon's final words, N. A. Dobrolyubov wrote that Tikhon's "woe" was in his indecision. If life is sickening, what prevents him from rushing into the Volga? Tikhon can do absolutely nothing, even “in which he recognizes his good and salvation.” Tragic in its hopelessness is the position of Kuligin, who dreams of the happiness of the working people, but is doomed to obey the will of a rude tyrant - Diky and repair small household utensils, earning only "their daily bread" "honest work".
A feature of the tragedy is the presence of a hero who is outstanding in his spiritual qualities, according to V. G. Belinsky, “a man of higher nature”, according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, a man “with a great, and not a petty character.” Turning from this position to the “Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky, we certainly see that this feature of the tragedy is clearly manifested in the character of the main character.
Katerina differs from Kalinov's "dark kingdom" in her morality and willpower. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty, her dreams are full of fabulous visions. It seems that she fell in love with Boris not real, but created by her imagination. Katerina could well adapt to the morality of the city and continue to deceive her husband, but “she doesn’t know how to deceive, she can’t hide anything,” honesty does not allow Katerina to continue to pretend to her husband. As a deeply religious person, Katerina had to have great courage to overcome not only the fear of the physical end, but also the fear of “before the judge” for the sin of suicide. Katerina's spiritual strength “... and the desire for freedom, mixed with religious prejudices, create a tragedy” (V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko).
A feature of the tragic genre is the physical death of the protagonist. Thus, Katerina, according to V. G. Belinsky, is “a real tragic heroine.” The fate of Katerina was determined by the collision of two historical eras. Not only her misfortune is that she commits suicide, it is a misfortune, a tragedy of society. She needs to free herself from the heavy oppression, from the fear that burdens the soul.
Another characteristic feature of the tragic genre is the purifying effect on the audience, which arouses noble, lofty aspirations in them. So, in The Thunderstorm, as N. A. Dobrolyubov said, “there is even something refreshing and encouraging.”
The overall color of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with every second feeling of an impending thunderstorm. Here, the parallelism of a social, social thunderstorm and a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is clearly emphasized.
In the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is imbued with optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the “dark kingdom”, about resistance, about the growth of forces called to replace the Boars and the Wild. Albeit still timidly, the Kuligins are already beginning to protest.
So, the genre originality of The Thunderstorm lies in the fact that it, without a doubt, is a tragedy, the first Russian tragedy written on social and everyday material. This is not only the tragedy of Katerina, it is the tragedy of the entire Russian society, which is at a critical stage in its development, living on the eve of significant changes, in a revolutionary situation that contributed to the realization of self-esteem by the individual. One cannot but agree with the opinion of V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who wrote: “If some merchant's wife cheated on her husband and hence all her misfortunes, then it would be a drama. But for Ostrovsky, this is only the basis for a high life theme ... Here everything rises to tragedy.
"Thunderstorm" is a folk social tragedy.
N. A. Dobrolyubov
"Thunderstorm" stands out as the main, milestone work of the playwright. "Thunderstorm" was supposed to look into the collection "Nights on the Volga", conceived by the author during a trip to the Russian Federation in 1856, organized by the naval ministry. True, Ostrovsky later changed his mind and did not unite, as he originally assumed, the cycle of "Volga" plays under a common title. The Thunderstorm was published as a separate book in 1859. During the time Ostrovsky worked on it, the play underwent great changes - the author introduced a number of new characters, but most importantly - Ostrovsky changed his original project and decided to write not a comedy, but a drama. However, the force of the social conflict in The Thunderstorm is so great that one can speak of the play, moreover, not as a drama, but as a tragedy. There are arguments in favor of both opinions, so the genre of the play is difficult to define unambiguously.
Of course, the play is written on a social and everyday theme: it is characterized by the author's special sensitivity to depicting the details of everyday life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, his "cruel manners". The fictional city is described in detail, many-sidedly. An important role is played by the landscape beginning, but here a contradiction is immediately visible: Ku-ligin speaks of the beauty of the distances beyond the river, the high Volga cliff. “Something,” Kudryash objects to him. Pictures of night walks along the boulevard, songs, picturesque nature, Katerina's stories about childhood - this is the poetry of the Kalinov world, which faces the everyday cruelty of the inhabitants, stories about "naked poverty". About the past Kalinovtsy kept only vague legends - Lithuania "fell from the sky to us", the wanderer Feklusha brings them news from the big world. Undoubtedly, such sensitivity of the author to the details of the life of the characters makes it possible to broadcast about the drama as a genre of the play "Thunderstorm".
Another feature characteristic of the drama and present in the play is the presence of a chain of intra-family conflicts. First, this is a conflict between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law behind the locks of the gates of the house, then the whole city learns about this conflict, and from everyday life it develops into a social one. The expression of the co-conflict in the actions and words of the characters, characteristic of the drama, is most clearly shown in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. So, we learn about Katerina’s life before marriage from a conversation between young Kabanova and Varvara: Katerina lived, “didn’t grieve about anything”, like a “bird in the wild”, spending all day in pleasures and household chores. We know nothing about the first meeting of Katerina and Boris, about how their love was born. In his article, N. A. Dobrolyubov considered the insufficient “development of passion” to be a significant omission, he said that precisely for this reason the “struggle of passion and duty” is designated for us “not completely clearly and strongly.” But the very fact does not contradict the laws of drama.
The originality of the Thunderstorm genre is also manifested in the fact that, despite the gloomy, tragic general coloring, the play also contains comic, satirical scenes. Feklusha's anecdotal and ignorant stories about the saltans, about the lands where all the people are "dog-headed" seem absurd to us. After the release of The Thunderstorm, A. D. Galakhov wrote in his review of the play that "the action and the tragedy are tragic, although many places excite laughter."
The author himself called his play a drama. But could it be otherwise? At that time, speaking of the tragic genre, they were accustomed to deal with the historical plot, with the main characters, outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in exceptional life situations. Tragedy was usually associated with the images of historical figures, even legendary ones, such as Oedipus (Sophocles), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Boris Godunov (Pushkin). It seems to me that on Ostrovsky's part to call "Thunderstorm" a drama was only a tribute to tradition.
The innovation of A. N. Ostrovsky consisted in the fact that he wrote the tragedy on only vital material, completely uncharacteristic of the tragic genre.
The tragedy of "Thunderstorm" is revealed by the conflict with the environment not only of the main character, Katerina, but also of other characters. Here "the living envy ... the dead" (N. A. Dobrolyubov). Thus, the fate of Tikhon, who is a weak-willed toy in the hands of his domineering and despotic mother, is tragic here. Regarding Tikhon's final words, N. A. Dobrolyubov wrote that Tikhon's "woe" was in his indecision. If it is sickening to exist, what prevents him from rushing into the Volga? Tikhon can do absolutely nothing, more than that, "in which he recognizes his good and salvation." Tragic in its hopelessness is the position of Kuligin, who dreams of the happiness of the working people, but is doomed to obey the will of a rude tyrant - Diky and repair small household utensils, earning only "the daily bread" "honest labor".
A feature of the tragedy is the presence of a hero who is outstanding in his spiritual qualities, according to V. G. Belinsky, "a man of higher nature", according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, a man "with a great, and not a petty character." Turning from this position to the "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky, we certainly see that this feature of the tragedy is dazzlingly manifested in the character of the main character.
Katerina differs from Kalinov's "dark kingdom" in her morality and willpower. Her human essence is constantly drawn to beauty, her dreams are full of fabulous visions. It seems that she fell in love with Boris not real, but created by her imagination. Katerina could fully adapt to the morality of the city and continue to deceive her husband, but "she can’t deceive ... she can’t hide anything," honesty does not allow Katerina to continue to pretend to her husband. As a person of great faith, Katerina must have had great courage to overcome not only the fear of a physical end, but also the fear of "before the judge" for the misdemeanor of suicide. The spiritual strength of Katerina "... and the desire for freedom, mixed with religious prejudices, create a tragedy" (V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko).
A feature of the tragic genre is the physical death of the protagonist. Thus, Katerina, according to V. G. Belinsky, is "a real tragic heroine." The fate of Katerina was determined by the collision of two historical eras. Not only her misfortune is that she commits suicide, it is a misfortune, a tragedy of society. She needs to free herself from the heavy oppression, from the fear that burdens the soul.
Another characteristic feature of the tragic genre is contained in the purifying effect on the audience, which arouses noble, lofty aspirations in them. So, in "Thunderstorm", as N. A. Dobrolyubov said, "there is, moreover, something refreshing and encouraging."
The overall color of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with every second feeling of an impending thunderstorm. Here, the parallelism of a social, social thunderstorm and a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is clearly emphasized.
In the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is imbued with optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the "dark kingdom", about resistance, about the growth of forces called upon to replace the Boars and the Wild. Albeit still timidly, the Kuligins are already beginning to protest.
So, the genre originality of "Thunderstorm" is contained in the fact that it, without a doubt, is a tragedy, the first Russian tragedy written on social and everyday material. This is not only the tragedy of Katerina, it is the tragedy of the entire Russian society, which is at a critical stage in its development, living on the eve of significant changes, in a revolutionary situation that contributed to the realization of self-esteem by the individual. One cannot but agree with the opinion of V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who wrote: “If some merchant’s wife cheated on her husband and hence all her misfortunes, then it would be a drama. But for Ostrovsky this is only the basis for a high life theme ... Here everything rises to tragedy."
A.N. Ostrovsky is not just a writer-playwright. He is rightfully considered the father of Russian drama. After all, before him in the literature of the 19th century, theatrical art developed very poorly. Ostrovsky's plays were new, fresh and interesting. It was thanks to this author that people again reached out to theaters. One of the most famous plays is "Thunderstorm".
History of creation
A.N. Ostrovsky was sent on a special mission to central Russia. Here the writer was able to see provincial life in all its glory. Like any other writer, in the first place, Ostrovsky paid attention to the life and life of the Russian merchants, petty bourgeois, noble people of the province. He was looking for characters and plots. As a result of the trip, the play "Thunderstorm" was written. And a little while later, a similar incident occurred in one of them. Ostrovsky was able to predict the events that took place in the future. The characterization of the play "Thunderstorm" as a holistic work shows that the author is not just an insightful person, but also a talented writer-playwright.
Artistic originality of drama
The play has a number of artistic features. It should be said that Ostrovsky was at the same time a novelist in dramaturgy and supported the tradition. To understand, it is necessary to analyze the genre, the main characters, the conflict and the meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm".
Genre
There are three dramaturgic tragedy and drama. Of these, the oldest - then comedy follows, but drama as a genre appears only in the 19th century. Its founder in Russia was A.N. Ostrovsky. The play "Thunderstorm" is fully consistent with its canons. In the center of the image are ordinary people, not historical figures, not people with their own shortcomings and virtues, in whose souls feelings, affections, likes and dislikes develop. The situation is also common. However, there is an acute life conflict in it, most often unresolvable. Katerina (the main character of the drama) finds herself in a life situation from which there is no way out. The meaning of the name of the play "Thunderstorm" is multifaceted (this will be discussed below), one of the interpretation options is the inevitability of something, the predestination and tragedy of the situation.
Main characters
The main characters of the play: Kabanikha, her son Tikhon, Katerina (Kabanova's daughter-in-law), Boris (her lover), Varvara (Tikhon's sister), Wild, Kuligin. There are other characters, each of which has its own semantic load.
Kabanikha and Wild personify everything negative that is in the city of Kalinov. malice, tyranny, the desire to lead everyone, greed. Tikhon Kabanov is an example of resigned worship of his mother, he is spineless and stupid. Barbara is not like that. She understands that her mother is wrong in many ways. She, too, wants to free herself from her pressure, and she does it in her own way: she simply deceives her. But such a path is impossible for Katerina. She cannot lie to her husband, cheating for her is a big sin. Katerina, against the background of others, looks more thinking, feeling and alive. Only one hero stands aside - Kuligin. He plays the role of a reasoning hero, that is, a character in whose mouth the author puts his attitude to the situation.
The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm"
The symbolic title is one of the ways to express the ideological intent of the work. One word has a huge meaning, it is multilayered.
Firstly, a thunderstorm occurs twice in the city of Kalinov. Each character reacts differently. Kuligin, for example, sees physical phenomena in a thunderstorm, so it does not cause much fear in him. Of course, the meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" is not only that this phenomenon is present in the text. The symbol of a thunderstorm is closely connected with the main character - Katerina. For the first time, this natural phenomenon catches the heroine on the street when she is talking to Varvara. Katerina was very frightened, but not of death. Her horror is justified by the fact that lightning can kill suddenly, and she will suddenly appear before God with all her sins. But she has one gravest sin - falling in love with Boris. Education, conscience do not allow Katerina to completely surrender to this feeling. Going on a date, she begins to experience great torment. The heroine also makes a confession during a thunderstorm. Hearing a thunderclap, she can't stand it.
Depends on the level of interpretation. On a formal level, this is the beginning and climax of the drama. But on a symbolic level, this is the fear of the punishment of the Lord, retribution.
We can say that the "thunderstorm" hung over all the inhabitants of the city. Outwardly, these are the attacks of Kabanikh and Dikiy, but on the existential level, this is the fear of answering for one's sins. Perhaps that is why she causes horror not only in Katerina. Even the word "thunderstorm" is pronounced in the text not only as the name of a natural phenomenon. Tikhon leaves home, rejoicing that his mother will no longer bother him, that she will no longer order him. Katerina is not able to get away from this "thunderstorm". She was cornered.
The image of Katerina
The heroine commits suicide, and because of this, her image is very contradictory. She is pious, she is afraid of "gehena fiery", but at the same time she commits such a grave sin. Why? Apparently, moral suffering, moral torment is stronger than her thoughts about hell. Most likely, she simply stopped thinking about suicide as a sin, seeing it as a punishment for her sin (betrayal to her husband). Some of the critics see in her an exceptionally strong personality who challenged society, the "dark kingdom" (Dobrolyubov). Others believe that voluntary death is not a challenge, but, on the contrary, a sign of weakness.
How to regard this act of the heroine, it is impossible to say unambiguously. The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" emphasizes that in the society that has developed in Kalinovo, such cases are not surprising, because it is a ossified, backward city, it is ruled by petty tyrants, such as Dikoi and Kabanikha. As a result, sensitive natures (Katerina) suffer without feeling support from anyone.
Conclusions. Features and meaning of the name of the play "Thunderstorm" (briefly)
1. The drama has become a vivid example of the life of provincial cities, exposing one of the main problems of Russia - tyranny.
2. The drama corresponds to the canons of the genre (there is a reasoning hero, there are negative characters), but at the same time it is innovative (it is symbolic).
3. The "thunderstorm" in the title of the play is not just a compositional element, it is a symbol of God's punishment, repentance. The meaning of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky brings the play to a symbolic level.
Genre originality of the drama "Thunderstorm"
“Thunderstorm” is a folk social tragedy.
N. A. Dobrolyubov
"Thunderstorm" stands out as the main, milestone work of the playwright. "Thunderstorm" was supposed to be included in the collection "Nights on the Volga", conceived by the author during a trip to Russia in 1856, organized by the naval ministry. True, Ostrovsky then changed his mind and did not unite, as he initially assumed, the cycle of “Volga” plays with a common title. The Thunderstorm was published as a separate book in 1859. During Ostrovsky's work on it, the play underwent great changes - the author introduced a number of new characters, but most importantly - Ostrovsky changed his original plan and decided to write not a comedy, but a drama. However, the power of social conflict in The Thunderstorm is so great that one can even speak of the play not as a drama, but as a tragedy. There are arguments in favor of both opinions, so the genre of the play is difficult to define unambiguously.
Undoubtedly, the play is written on a social and everyday theme: it is characterized by the author's special attention to the depiction of the details of everyday life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, its "cruel morals". The fictional city is described in detail, many-sidedly. An important role is played by the landscape beginning, but a contradiction is immediately visible here: Ku-ligin speaks of the beauty of the distance beyond the river, the high Volga cliff. “Something,” Kudryash objects to him. Pictures of night walks along the boulevard, songs, picturesque nature, Katerina's stories about childhood - this is the poetry of the Kalinov world, which is faced with the everyday cruelty of the inhabitants, stories about "naked poverty". About the past Kalinovtsy kept only vague legends - Lithuania “fell from the sky to us”, the wanderer Feklusha brings them news from the big world. Undoubtedly, such attention of the author to the details of the life of the characters makes it possible to speak of the drama as a genre of the play "Thunderstorm".
Another feature characteristic of the drama and present in the play is the presence of a chain of intra-family conflicts. First, this is a conflict between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law behind the locks of the gates of the house, then the whole city learns about this conflict, and from everyday life it develops into a social one. The expression of the co-conflict in the actions and words of the characters, characteristic of the drama, is most clearly shown in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. So, we learn about Katerina’s life before marriage from a conversation between young Kabanova and Varvara: Katerina lived, “didn’t grieve about anything”, like a “bird in the wild”, spending all day in pleasures and household chores. We know nothing about the first meeting of Katerina and Boris, about how their love was born. In his article, N. A. Dobrolyubov considered the insufficient “development of passion” to be a significant omission, he said that this is precisely why the “struggle of passion and duty” is designated for us “not quite clearly and strongly”. But this fact does not contradict the laws of drama.
The originality of the Thunderstorm genre is also manifested in the fact that, despite the gloomy, tragic general coloring, the play also contains comic, satirical scenes. The anecdotal and ignorant stories of Feklusha about the saltans, about the lands where all the people are “dog-headed” seem absurd to us. After the release of The Thunderstorm, A. D. Galakhov wrote in his review of the play that “the action and the catastrophe are tragic, although many places excite laughter.”
The author himself called his play a drama. But could it be otherwise? At that time, speaking of the tragic genre, they were used to dealing with a historical plot, with the main characters, outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in exceptional life situations. Tragedy was usually associated with images of historical figures, even legendary ones, such as Oedipus (Sophocles), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Boris Godunov (Pushkin). It seems to me that on Ostrovsky's part to call "Thunderstorm" a drama was only a tribute to tradition.
The innovation of A. N. Ostrovsky consisted in the fact that he wrote the tragedy on exclusively vital material, completely uncharacteristic of the tragic genre.
The tragedy of "Thunderstorm" is revealed by the conflict with the environment not only of the main character, Katerina, but also of other characters. Here “the living envy ... the dead” (N. A. Dobrolyubov). Thus, the fate of Tikhon, who is a weak-willed toy in the hands of his domineering and despotic mother, is tragic here. Regarding Tikhon's final words, N. A. Dobrolyubov wrote that Tikhon's "woe" was in his indecision. If life is sickening, what prevents him from rushing into the Volga? Tikhon can do absolutely nothing, even “in which he recognizes his good and salvation.” Tragic in its hopelessness is the position of Kuligin, who dreams of the happiness of the working people, but is doomed to obey the will of a rude tyrant - Dikiy and repair small household utensils, earning only “their daily bread” by “honest labor”.
A feature of the tragedy is the presence of a hero who is outstanding in his spiritual qualities, according to V. G. Belinsky, “a man of higher nature”, according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, a man “with a great, and not a petty character.” Turning from this position to the “Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky, we certainly see that this feature of the tragedy is clearly manifested in the character of the main character.
Katerina differs from Kalinov's "dark kingdom" in her morality and willpower. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty, her dreams are full of fabulous visions. It seems that she fell in love with Boris not real, but created by her imagination. Katerina could well adapt to the morality of the city and continue to deceive her husband, but “she doesn’t know how to deceive, she can’t hide anything,” honesty does not allow Katerina to continue to pretend to her husband. As a deeply religious person, Katerina had to have great courage to overcome not only the fear of the physical end, but also the fear of “before the judge” for the sin of suicide. The spiritual strength of Katerina “...and the desire for freedom, mixed with religious prejudices, create a tragedy” (V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko).
A feature of the tragic genre is the physical death of the protagonist. Thus, Katerina, according to V. G. Belinsky, is “a real tragic heroine.” The fate of Katerina was determined by the collision of two historical eras. Not only her misfortune is that she commits suicide, it is a misfortune, a tragedy of society. She needs to free herself from the heavy oppression, from the fear that burdens the soul.
Another characteristic feature of the tragic genre is the purifying effect on the audience, which arouses noble, lofty aspirations in them. So, in The Thunderstorm, as N. A. Dobrolyubov said, “there is even something refreshing and encouraging.”
The overall color of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with every second feeling of an impending thunderstorm. Here, the parallelism of a social, social thunderstorm and a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is clearly emphasized.
In the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is imbued with optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the “dark kingdom”, about resistance, about the growth of forces called to replace the Boars and the Wild. Albeit still timidly, the Kuligins are already beginning to protest.
So, the genre originality of The Thunderstorm lies in the fact that it, without a doubt, is a tragedy, the first Russian tragedy written on social and everyday material. This is not only the tragedy of Katerina, it is the tragedy of the entire Russian society, which is at a critical stage in its development, living on the eve of significant changes, in a revolutionary situation that contributed to the realization of self-esteem by the individual. One cannot but agree with the opinion of V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who wrote: “If some merchant's wife cheated on her husband and hence all her misfortunes, then it would be a drama. But for Ostrovsky, this is only the basis for a high life theme ... Here everything rises to tragedy.
Bibliography
For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.ostrovskiy.org.ru/ were used.
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Genre originality of the drama "Thunderstorm"
"Thunderstorm" folk social tragedy.
N. A. Dobrolyubov
"Thunderstorm" stands out as the main, milestone work of the playwright. "Thunderstorm" was supposed to be included in the collection "Nights on the Volga", conceived by the author during a trip to Russia in 1856, organized by the naval ministry. True, Ostrovsky then changed his mind and did not unite, as he initially assumed, the cycle of “Volga” plays with a common title. The Thunderstorm was published as a separate book in 1859. During Ostrovsky's work on it, the play underwent major changes; the author introduced a number of new characters, but most importantly, Ostrovsky changed his original plan and decided to write not a comedy, but a drama. However, the power of social conflict in The Thunderstorm is so great that one can even speak of the play not as a drama, but as a tragedy. There are arguments in favor of both opinions, so the genre of the play is difficult to define unambiguously.
Undoubtedly, the play is written on a social and everyday theme: it is characterized by the author's special attention to the depiction of the details of everyday life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, its "cruel morals". The fictional city is described in detail, many-sidedly. An important role is played by the landscape beginning, but a contradiction is immediately visible here: Ku-ligin speaks of the beauty of the distance beyond the river, the high Volga cliff. “Something,” Kudryash objects to him. Pictures of night walks along the boulevard, songs, picturesque nature, Katerina's stories about childhood - this is the poetry of the Kalinov world, which faces the everyday cruelty of the inhabitants, stories about “naked poverty”. About the past, Kalinovtsy retained only vague legends Lithuania “fell from the sky to us”, the wanderer Feklusha brings them news from the big world. Undoubtedly, such attention of the author to the details of the life of the characters makes it possible to speak of the drama as a genre of the play "Thunderstorm".
Another feature characteristic of the drama and present in the play is the presence of a chain of intra-family conflicts. First, this is a conflict between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law behind the locks of the gates of the house, then the whole city learns about this conflict, and from everyday life it develops into a social one. The expression of the co-conflict in the actions and words of the characters, characteristic of the drama, is most clearly shown in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. So, we learn about Katerina’s life before marriage from a conversation between young Kabanova and Varvara: Katerina lived, “didn’t grieve about anything”, like a “bird in the wild”, spending all day in pleasures and household chores. We know nothing about the first meeting of Katerina and Boris, about how their love was born. In his article, N. A. Dobrolyubov considered the insufficient “development of passion” to be a significant omission, he said that this is precisely why the “struggle of passion and duty” is designated for us “not quite clearly and strongly”. But this fact does not contradict the laws of drama.
The originality of the Thunderstorm genre is also manifested in the fact that, despite the gloomy, tragic general coloring, the play also contains comic, satirical scenes. The anecdotal and ignorant stories of Feklusha about the saltans, about the lands where all the people are “dog-headed” seem absurd to us. After the release of The Thunderstorm, A. D. Galakhov wrote in his review of the play that “the action and the catastrophe are tragic, although many places excite laughter.”
The author himself called his play a drama. But could it be otherwise? At that time, speaking of the tragic genre, they were used to dealing with a historical plot, with the main characters, outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in exceptional life situations. Tragedy was usually associated with images of historical figures, even legendary ones, such as Oedipus (Sophocles), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Boris Godunov (Pushkin). It seems to me that on Ostrovsky's part to call "Thunderstorm" a drama was only a tribute to tradition.
The innovation of A. N. Ostrovsky consisted in the fact that he wrote the tragedy on exclusively vital material, completely uncharacteristic of the tragic genre.
The tragedy of "Thunderstorm" is revealed by the conflict with the environment not only of the main character, Katerina, but also of other characters. Here “the living envy ... the dead” (N. A. Dobrolyubov). Thus, the fate of Tikhon, who is a weak-willed toy in the hands of his domineering and despotic mother, is tragic here. Regarding Tikhon's final words, N. A. Dobrolyubov wrote that Tikhon's "woe" was in his indecision. If life is sickening, what prevents him from rushing into the Volga? Tikhon can do absolutely nothing, even “in which he recognizes his good and salvation.” Tragic in its hopelessness is the position of Kuligin, who dreams of the happiness of the working people, but is doomed to obey the will of the rude tyrant Diky and repair small household utensils, earning only “their daily bread” by “honest labor”.
A feature of the tragedy is the presence of a hero who is outstanding in his spiritual qualities, according to V. G. Belinsky, “a man of higher nature”, according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, a man “with a great, and not a petty character.” Turning from this position to the “Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky, we certainly see that this feature of the tragedy is clearly manifested in the character of the main character.
Katerina differs from Kalinov's "dark kingdom" in her morality and willpower. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty, her dreams are full of fabulous visions. It seems that she fell in love with Boris not real, but created by her imagination. Katerina could well adapt to the morality of the city and continue to deceive her husband, but “she doesn’t know how to deceive, she can’t hide anything,” honesty does not allow Katerina to continue to pretend to her husband. As a deeply religious person, Katerina had to have great courage to overcome not only the fear of the physical end, but also the fear of “before the judge” for the sin of suicide. The spiritual strength of Katerina “...and the desire for freedom, mixed with religious prejudices, create a tragedy” (V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko).
A feature of the tragic genre is the physical death of the protagonist. Thus, Katerina, according to V. G. Belinsky, is “a real tragic heroine.” The fate of Katerina was determined by the collision of two historical eras. Not only her misfortune is that she commits suicide, it is a misfortune, a tragedy of society. She needs to free herself from the heavy oppression, from the fear that burdens the soul.
Another characteristic feature of the tragic genre is the purifying effect on the audience, which arouses noble, lofty aspirations in them. So, in The Thunderstorm, as N. A. Dobrolyubov said, “there is even something refreshing and encouraging.”
The overall color of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with every second feeling of an impending thunderstorm. Here, the parallelism of a social, social thunderstorm and a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is clearly emphasized.
In the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is imbued with optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the “dark kingdom”, about resistance, about the growth of forces called to replace the Boars and the Wild. Albeit still timidly, the Kuligins are already beginning to protest.
So, the genre originality of The Thunderstorm lies in the fact that it, without a doubt, is a tragedy, the first Russian tragedy written on social and everyday material. This is not only the tragedy of Katerina, it is the tragedy of the entire Russian society, which is at a critical stage in its development, living on the eve of significant changes, in a revolutionary situation that contributed to the realization of self-esteem by the individual. One cannot but agree with the opinion of V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who wrote: “If some merchant's wife cheated on her husband and hence all her misfortunes, then it would be a drama. But for Ostrovsky, this is only the basis for a high life theme ... Here everything rises to tragedy.
Bibliography
For the preparation of this work, materials from the site were used. http://www.ostrovskiy.org.ru/
