The history of the creation of Groz Ostrovsky is brief. The history of the creation of Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm"

Aug 02 2010

I. S. Turgenev described Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” as “the most amazing, most magnificent piece of Russian mighty... talent.” Indeed, both the artistic merits of “The Thunderstorm” and its ideological content give the right to consider this drama Ostrovsky’s most remarkable work. “The Thunderstorm” was written in 1859, in the same year it was staged in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg; it appeared in print in 1860. The appearance of the play on stage and in print coincided with the most acute period in the history of the 60s. This was the period when Russian society lived with tense anticipation of reforms, when numerous unrest among the peasant masses began to result in formidable riots, when Chernyshevsky called the people “to the axe.” In the country, according to V.I. Belinsky’s definition, a revolutionary situation has clearly emerged.

The revival and rise of social thought at this turning point in Russian life found expression in the abundance of accusatory literature. Naturally, the social struggle had to be reflected in the artistic struggle.

Three topics attracted particular attention of Russian writers in the 50-60s: serfdom, appearance in the arena public life new force - the heterogeneous intelligentsia and the position of women in the country.

But among the topics put forward by life, there was one more that required urgent coverage. This is the tyranny of tyranny, money and ancient authority in merchant life, a tyranny under the yoke of which not only members of merchant families, especially women, suffocated, but also the working poor, who depended on the whims of tyrants. The task of exposing economic and spiritual tyranny " dark kingdom”And Ostrovsky set himself in front of him in the drama “The Thunderstorm”.

Ostrovsky also acted as an exposer of the “dark kingdom” in plays written before “The Thunderstorm” (“Our people will be numbered”, etc.). However, now, under the influence of the new social situation, he puts his denunciations wider and deeper. He now not only denounces the “dark kingdom”, but also shows how in its depths a protest arises against age-old traditions and how the Old Testament way of life begins to collapse under the pressure of the demands of life. Protest against the outdated foundations of life finds expression first and foremost in suicide. “It’s better not to live than to live like this!” - that’s what Katerina’s suicide meant. Before the appearance of the drama “The Thunderstorm,” Russians did not yet know the verdict on social life, expressed in such a tragic form.

The tragic conflict between Katerina's living feelings and the dead way of life is the main plot line of the play. But, as Dobrolyubov correctly pointed out, the audience and readers of the play think “not about a love affair, but about the whole life.” This means that the accusatory pathos of “The Thunderstorm” extends to the most diverse aspects of Russian life, affecting its very foundations. It sounds in one form or another in the speeches of Kudryash, Varvara and even the unrequited Tikhon (at the end of the play). “You villains! Monsters! Oh, if only there was strength! - exclaims Boris. This is a harbinger of the collapse of old forms of life. Even Kabanikha, this imperious guardian of the Domostroevsky way of life, begins to realize the doom of the “dark kingdom”. “Old times are coming to an end,” she declares gloomily.

Thus, in the drama “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky pronounced a harsh verdict on the “dark kingdom” and, consequently, on the system that fully supported the “dark kingdom.”

The action of the drama “The Thunderstorm” takes place in the city of Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga. Steep, high bank of the river... Below is the calm, wide Volga, in the distance are peaceful villages and fields of the Trans-Volga region. This is the view of the surrounding area from the public garden of the city of Kalinov. “The view is extraordinary! ! The soul rejoices!” - exclaims one of the local residents, who has been admiring the familiar landscape for fifty years now and still cannot stop admiring it.

Against the backdrop of this peaceful landscape, full of beauty and tranquility, it would seem that the inhabitants of the city of Kalinova should flow serenely and smoothly. But the calm that the life of the Kalinovites breathes is only an apparent, deceptive calm. This is not even calm, but sleepy stagnation, indifference to all manifestations of beauty, indifference to everything that goes beyond the framework of ordinary household worries and worries.

Residents of Kalinov live that closed life alien to public interests, which characterized the life of remote provincial towns in the old, pre-reform times. They live in complete ignorance of what is happening in this world. Only wanderers will sometimes bring news about distant countries where “Turkish Sultan Makhnut” and “Persian Sultan Makhnut” rule, and they will also bring rumors about a land “where all the people have dog heads.” These messages are confusing and unclear, since the wanderers “themselves, due to their weakness, did not go far, but they heard a lot.” But the idle stories of such wanderers completely satisfy undemanding listeners, and the Kalinovites, having sat on the rubble at the gate, tightly locked the gate and let the dogs out for the night, go to bed.

Ignorance and complete mental stagnation are characteristic of life in the city of Kalinov. Behind the external calm of life here lie harsh, gloomy morals. “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!” - says poor Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic, who has experienced the futility of trying to soften the morals of his city and bring people to reason. Describing the life of the city to Boris Grigorievich and sympathetically pointing out the plight of the poor, he says: “What are the rich doing? ...Do you think they are doing something or praying to God? No, sir! And they don’t lock themselves away from thieves, but so that people don’t see them eating their own family and tyrannizing their family! And what tears are flowing behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!

Ostrovsky mercilessly and truthfully depicts the dark life and “ cruel morals» the city of Kalinov, and the tyranny of local tyrants, and the deadening house-building way of life family life, leading the younger generation to lack of rights and downtroddenness, and the exploitation of defenseless working people by the rich, and the power of religious superstitions among the merchants, and the hatred of the pillars of the “dark kingdom” for everything new, and in general the darkness and routine hanging over the life of the “dark kingdom”.

Need a cheat sheet? Then save - "The history of the creation of Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm". Literary essays!

The play "The Thunderstorm", which by genre intended as a comedy, was written by A. N. Ostrovsky in 1859. At first, the work did not imply a tragic ending, but in the process of writing, in addition to the conflict of an individual, a socially accusatory orientation clearly emerged. As Ostrovsky wrote the play “The Thunderstorm”, summary We bring to your attention the actions.

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Characteristics of the work

To which literary genre(story or short story) belongs to the work “The Thunderstorm”?
How many actions are there in the play "The Thunderstorm"?
Briefly: what formed the basis of the plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm”?

“The Thunderstorm” is a play in five acts, according to the author’s definition, a drama, but with a genre originality:

this is a tragedy, since the conflict of the situation leads to tragic consequences;
present comic elements(ignorant reasoning of the characters in the play);
the drama of events is enhanced by the everyday ordinariness of what is happening.

The place where the main actions of the play unfold was not chosen by Ostrovsky by chance. Kalinov city- This is a collective image of the Volga cities and villages, the beauty of which the playwright was fascinated by.

But the splendor of endless expanses of water and the discreet beauty of nature cannot overshadow the cruelty, indifference, hypocrisy, ignorance and tyranny that reign behind the facades of elegant houses.

The work, as it is now customary to say, “ based on real events " In the wealthy Moscow merchant family of the Klykovs, the daughter-in-law committed suicide by throwing herself into the Volga, unable to withstand the reproaches and oppression from her mother-in-law, not finding protection from her husband and suffering from secret love to another man.

It is precisely this tragedy of actions that is main storyline works. However, if Ostrovsky had only limited himself to the ups and downs in the life of a young woman, the essay would not have had such resounding success and did not cause such a resonance in society. Here is outlined and exposed conflict between old traditions and new trends, ignorance and progress, love of freedom and savagery of the bourgeois world.

Getting to know the characters of the work

The author wrote a story about dramatic events in the form of a play for stage performance. And any script begins with a description of the characters.

Main characters

Katerina is a young woman of pleasant appearance, God-fearing and meek disposition, with a trembling soul and pure thoughts. Daughter-in-law in the Kabanov family of merchants.
Boris, an educated young man who was brought up in a different environment, came to support and work with his uncle. Suffering from the surrounding reality. Secretly in love with Katerina.
Kabanikha (Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna) is a wealthy widowed merchant. Powerful and despotic woman, sanctimoniously covering up her tyranny with veneration for her elders.
Tikhon Kabanov - Katerina’s husband and Kabanikha’s son - weak-willed person, completely subordinate to the will of the mother.

Characters

Varvara is Tikhon’s sister, Kabanikha’s daughter. The girl is “on her own mind”, living according to the principle “as long as everything is neat and tidy.” However, good to Katerina.
Kudryash - Varvarin's suitor.
Dikoy Savel Prokofievich is an influential merchant in the city. Main character traits - rudeness, rudeness and bad manners, especially to subordinates.
Kuligin is a local craftsman who dreams of bringing progressive ideas to the city.
Feklusha is a wanderer, dark and uneducated.
The lady is a crazy old woman who sends curses to women.
Glasha – maid at the Kabanovs.

Of no small importance in the play is such a figurative concept as a thunderstorm - harbinger of a cleansing storm for some and God's warning for others.

Important! It should be remembered that the play was written by Ostrovsky in pre-reform years(1861 - year). The spirit of uplift and expectation of dramatic changes reigned, and it was at this time that the playwright writes about the awakening of the individual, in which Dobrolyubov would later see “something refreshing and encouraging.”

For a more detailed look at the intricacies storylines each action of Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm", their brief content is presented below.

Action 1

Volga Bank, public garden in the foreground. Kuligin is delighted with the views. Kudryash and a friend are strolling leisurely nearby. Diky’s swearing is muffled, which surprises no one - this common occurrence. This time he scolds his nephew Boris. Kudryash sympathizes with the unenviable fate of Dikiy’s relative, who is forced to endure the oppression of his uncle, a tyrant. He himself is one of the few who can repel the rude man: “He is the word, and I am ten; he’ll spit and let it go.”

The abusive speech is heard more and more clearly - Savel Prokofievich and his nephew are approaching those present. Having taken his breath away, having shouted, Dikoy leaves. Boris explains the reason for his forced humility: he and his sister after the death of their parents were left orphans. The grandmother in Kalinov wrote off an inheritance for her grandchildren upon reaching adulthood, and they will get it under the condition of respectful and respectful attitude towards uncle. Kuligin assures that this is a utopia: No one will appease the wild one. Boris sadly agrees: and so he works for his uncle for nothing, but there is no use. He feels wild and stuffy in Kalinov - this is not the kind of upbringing and education that their parents gave to their sister and Boris, who previously lived in the capital.

Feklusha and a townswoman enter. Bogomolka praises the beauty of the city, extolling the decorum and virtues of the merchant class, noting the Kabanov family. After the women leave, Kuligin remembers the glorified Kabanikha with an unkind word for her bigotry and domestic tyranny. He shares with Boris his thoughts on the invention of the “perpetum mobile”. For a perpetual motion machine they give a lot of money, which can be used for the benefit of society. But there is no money for parts - it’s such a vicious circle. Boris, left alone, sympathizes with Kuligin, but, remembering his ill-fated fate, also leaves the garden.

Kabanikha appears with her family: son Tikhon with his wife Katerina and Varvara Kabanova. The merchant's wife harasses her son with accusations in his excessive love for his wife and disrespectful attitude towards his mother. The words are intended for Tikhon, but are clearly directed against his daughter-in-law. Tikhon makes excuses in every possible way, his wife tries to support him, which causes a storm of indignation from the mother-in-law and new wave accusations against Tikhon, they say, he cannot keep his wife strict, and he is not far from his lover.

After his mother leaves, Tikhon attacks Katerina, accusing her of reproaches Mother. Not wanting to listen to his wife’s objections, he goes to Dikiy to pour vodka over the troubles.

An offended woman complains to her sister-in-law about difficult life with mother-in-law, remembers how well, cleanly and freely she lived with her mother: “in the summer I go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water and that’s it, water all the flowers in the house.”

There was sheer splendor - gold embroidery, church prayers, stories of wanderers.

It's not the same in my husband's house. Katya admits to Varvara that she is visited by bad, sinful thoughts, which she cannot drive away with any prayers. A in her heart there are thoughts about one person.

Then an abnormal lady appears who showers the girls with curses, promising them hellish torment for their sinful beauty. Thunderclaps are heard, a thunderstorm is approaching, and the girls quickly run away.

Act 2

Act 2 begins in the Kabanovs' house. Feklusha and Glasha settled down in the room. The wanderer, watching the maid at work, tells her what is happening in this world. And at least her story replete with lies and ignorance Glasha listens carefully and with interest to Feklusha’s stories; for her this is the only source of information.

Katerina and Varvara appear. They help outfit Tikhon for a week-long business trip to another city. Feklusha has already left, Varvara sends the maid with her things to the horses. Katerina recalls an old childhood story when she ran to the river out of resentment for something, sailed away in a boat and then was found ten miles away. This indicates the decisiveness of her character- despite the girl’s meekness, she tolerates insults for the time being. Varvara asks Katerina who the person is for whom her heart aches. This is Boris Grigorievich - nephew of Savel Prokofievich. Varya assures Katerina that the man also has feelings for the young woman, and after her husband leaves he must arrange a meeting for lovers. The woman gets scared and resolutely refuses this proposal.

Kabanikha and her son come in. She continues to give instructions to Tikhon on how to behave in the city, what instructions to give to his wife in her absence: listen to your mother-in-law and don’t contradict her on anything, don’t sit around like a lady without work, don’t exchange glances with young guys. Tikhon, embarrassed, pronounces these instructions after his mother. They are then left alone. Katerina, as if anticipating trouble, asks Tikhon not to leave her alone or to take her with him to the city. But Tikhon, exhausted by his mother’s nagging, is glad to break free, at least for a short while.

Farewell scene. Katerina hugs her husband, which displeases her mother-in-law, saying that she doesn’t know how to say goodbye properly.

Then Kabanikha rants for a long time about the fact that after the departure of the old people - the last zealots of antiquity, it is not known how the white light will remain.

Left alone, Katya, instead of calming down, comes to complete confusion and thoughts. No matter how much she loaded herself with work, her heart was not in the right place.

Here Varvara pushes her to meet Boris. Having replaced the key to the garden gate, Varya hands it to Katerina. She tries to resist these actions, but then gives up.

Act 3

Kabanova and Feklusha on a bench in front of the merchant's house. They grumble about the vanity of life in big cities, enjoy the peace and quiet in their own town. Appears Wild, he's drunk. According to his habit, having become inflamed, he begins be rude to Kabanikha, but she quickly puts him down. Dikoy makes the excuse that the workers upset him in the morning, demanding payment, and to him it’s like a sharp knife in his heart. Having cooled down in conversation with Kabanikha, he leaves.

Boris hasn't seen Katerina for a long time and saddened by this circumstance. Kuligin stands nearby, reflecting on the plight of the poor, who have no time for natural beauty - they are in need, but in work, and the rich have fenced themselves off high fences with dogs, and they think about how to rob orphans and poor relatives. Kudryash and Varvara approach. They hug and kiss. The girl notifies Boris about the upcoming meeting with Katerina and determines the place in the ravine.

At night, having arrived at the meeting place, Boris meets Kudryash playing the guitar and asks him to give him a seat, but Kudryash resists, arguing that he has long “warmed up” this place for meetings with his girlfriend.

Then Boris confesses that he has a date with a married lady here. Curly guesses who we're talking about and warns Boris, because married women forced.

Varvara arrives and takes Kudryash away. The lovers are left alone.

Katerina tells Boris about ruined honor, about God's punishment, but then they both surrender to the power of feelings. Ten days of the husband's absence are spent in unity with the beloved.

Act 4

Partially destroyed gallery, its walls are painted with paintings Last Judgment. Here people are hiding from the rain that has begun. Kuligin begs Savel Prokofevich to make donations for the installation of a tower clock in the garden and a lightning rod. Dikoy swears, calling him names Kuligin is an atheist, for a thunderstorm is God’s punishment and no amount of iron can be saved from it.

After Tikhon returns home, Katerina is in complete confusion. Varvara tries to reason with her and teaches her not to show any pretence. She herself has long become skilled in tricks and deceptions. Having not achieved what she wanted, Varya reports to Boris about Katya’s condition.

Thunderclaps are heard. The Kabanov family comes out in full force. Tikhon, noticing wife's strange condition, jokingly asks her to repent of her sins. Noticing how pale Katerina has turned, the sister cuts off her brother’s joke. Boris approaches them. Katya is on the verge of fainting. Varya gives a signal to the young man to leave.

Then the Lady appeared and began to frighten the pullets for their secret sins, and Katerina could not stand it - in a frenzy admits to having a secret relationship with another man throughout all ten days. Scene of repentance main character- This is the climax of the play.

Action 5

Again the Volga embankment, the city garden. It's getting dark. Tikhon approaches Kuligin, who is sitting on the bench. He crushed by Katerina's confession and sends wishes of cruel death to her, then begins to feel sorry for her.

The boar's wife grinds her daughter-in-law at home like rust, but Katya wordless and unresponsive wanders around the house like a shadow. Everything is wrong in the Kabanov family, even Varya ran away with Kudryash from home.

But Tikhon hopes for a favorable outcome- after all, the lover, at the behest of his uncle, is exiled to Siberia for three whole years. Glasha comes and says that Katerina is missing.

Katerina is alone, quietly wandering, talking to herself. She is already decided to give up my life, even though it is a great sin. One thing holds her back - the desire to see her beloved one last time and receive forgiveness from him for bringing misfortune upon him. Boris comes to the call of his beloved. He is affectionate with her, says that he does not hold a grudge against her, but fate separates them, and he has no right to take someone else’s wife with him. Katerina cries and asks Boris to give alms to the poor on the way to commemorate her soul. She goes to the shore herself.

Kuligin, Kabanikha and Tikhon are watching the search for the missing Katerina. People with lanterns search the shore. Tikhon is confused by terrible assumptions, The boar accuses her daughter-in-law in a desire to attract attention. Voices are heard from the coast: “The woman threw herself into the water!” Tikhon tries to run there, but his mother won’t let him, promising to curse him. They bring a drowned woman. Katerina beautiful even after death. Kabanov blames his mother for his wife’s death.

Ostrovsky A N - Thunderstorm summary

Thunderstorm. A.N. Ostrovsky (brief analysis)

Towards the end

After the first production of the play on the stage of the Maly Theater the audience was delighted, the press was full of laudatory notes, the plot of the drama amazed the sophisticated public. Famous critics did not fail to reflect the work in their reviews. So the critic Apollon Grigoriev, writing a letter to I.S. Turgenev, described the plot of the drama as “ denunciation of the tyranny of our lives, and this is the significance of the author, his merit as an artist, this is the power of his action on the masses.”

“The Thunderstorm” was not written by Ostrovsky... “The Thunderstorm” was written by Volga.
S. A. Yuriev

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was one of the largest cultural figures XIX century. His work will forever remain in the history of literature, and his contribution to the development of Russian theater is difficult to overestimate. The writer made some changes to the production of plays: attention should no longer be focused on just one character; a fourth scene is introduced, separating the audience from the actors in order to emphasize the conventionality of what is happening; are depicted ordinary people and standard everyday situations. The last position most accurately reflected the essence of the realistic method that Ostrovsky adhered to. His literary creativity began in the mid-1840s. “We are our own people – we will be numbered” were written, “ Family paintings", "Poverty is not a vice" and other plays. The drama “The Thunderstorm” has a history of creation that is not limited to just working on the text and writing conversations between the characters.

The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky begins in the summer of 1859, and ends a few months later, in early October. It is known that this was preceded by a trip along the Volga. Under the patronage of the Maritime Ministry, an ethnographic expedition was organized to study the customs and morals of the indigenous population of Russia. Ostrovsky also took part in it.

The prototypes of the city of Kalinov were many Volga towns, at the same time similar friends to each other, but having something unique: Tver, Torzhok, Ostashkovo and many others. Ostrovsky, as an experienced researcher, recorded all his observations about the life of the Russian province and the characters of the people in his diary. Based on these recordings, the characters of "The Thunderstorm" were later created.

For a long time there was a hypothesis that the plot of “The Thunderstorm” was completely borrowed from real life. In 1859, precisely at this time the play was written, a resident of Kostroma left home early in the morning, and later her body was discovered in the Volga. The victim was the girl Alexandra Klykova. During the investigation, it became clear that the situation in the Klykov family was quite tense. The mother-in-law constantly mocked the girl, and the spineless husband could not influence the situation. The catalyst for this outcome was love relationship between Alexandra and the postal worker.

This assumption is deeply ingrained in people's minds. Surely in modern world tourist routes would already have been laid out in that place. In Kostroma, “The Thunderstorm” was published as a separate book; during the production, the actors tried to resemble the Klykovs, and local residents they even showed the place from where Alexandra-Katerina allegedly jumped. Kostroma local historian Vinogradov, to whom the famous literature researcher S. Yu. Lebedev refers, found many literal coincidences in the text of the play and in the “Kostroma case”. Both Alexandra and Katerina were married off early. Alexandra was barely 16 years old. Katerina was 19.

Both girls had to endure discontent and despotism from their mothers-in-law. Alexandra Klykova had to do everything menial work around the house. Neither the Klykov family nor the Kabanov family had children. The series of “coincidences” does not end there. The investigation knew that Alexandra had a relationship with another person, a postal worker. In the play "The Thunderstorm" Katerina falls in love with Boris. That is why for a long time it was believed that “The Thunderstorm” was nothing more than a real-life incident reflected in the play.

However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the myth created around this incident was dispelled due to a comparison of dates. So, the incident in Kostroma occurred in November, and a month earlier, on October 14, Ostrovsky took the play to print. Thus, the writer could not display on the pages what had not yet happened in reality. But creative history This doesn't make "Thunderstorms" any less interesting. It can be assumed that Ostrovsky, being smart person, was able to predict how the girl’s fate would turn out under typical conditions of that time. It is quite possible that Alexandra, like Katerina, was tormented by the stuffiness that is mentioned in the play. The old orders are becoming obsolete and the absolute inertia and hopelessness of the current situation. However, one should not completely correlate Alexandra with Katerina. It is quite possible that in the case of Klykova, the reasons for the girl’s death were only everyday difficulties, and not a deep-seated personal conflict, like Katerina Kabanova’s.

Most real prototype Katerina can be called theater actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, who later played this role. Ostrovsky, like Kositskaya, had his own family, it was this circumstance that prevented further development relationship between playwright and actress. Kositskaya was originally from the Volga region, but at the age of 16 she ran away from home in search of better life. Katerina’s dream, according to Ostrovsky’s biographers, was nothing more than the recorded dream of Lyubov Kositskaya. In addition, Lyubov Kositskaya was extremely sensitive to faith and churches. In one of the episodes, Katerina utters the following words:

“... Until death, I loved going to church! Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven, and I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over... And you know, on a sunny day such a light pillar comes from the dome, and smoke moves in this pillar, like clouds, and I see that it used to be as if angels were flying and singing in this pillar.”

The history of the creation of Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is interesting in its own way: there are both legends and personal drama. The premiere of “The Thunderstorm” took place on November 16, 1859 on the stage of the Maly Theater.

Work test

The play "The Thunderstorm" by the famous Russian writer XIX century by Alexander Ostrovsky, was written in 1859 on the wave of social upsurge on the eve of social reforms. She became one of best works author, opening the eyes of the whole world to the morals and moral values of the merchant class of that time. It was first published in the journal “Library for Reading” in 1860 and, due to the novelty of its subject matter (descriptions of the struggle of new progressive ideas and aspirations with old, conservative foundations), immediately after publication it caused a wide public response. It became the subject of a large number of critical articles of that time (“A Ray of Light in dark kingdom"Dobrolyubova, "Motives of Russian Drama" by Pisarev, critic Apollon Grigoriev).

History of writing

Inspired by the beauty of the Volga region and its endless expanses during a trip with his family to Kostroma in 1848, Ostrovsky began writing the play in July 1859, three months later he finished it and sent it to the St. Petersburg censor.

Having worked for several years in the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court, he knew well what the merchant class was like in Zamoskvorechye (the historical district of the capital, on the right bank of the Moscow River), more than once having encountered in his service what was going on behind the high fences of the merchant choirs , namely with cruelty, tyranny, ignorance and various superstitions, illegal transactions and scams, tears and suffering of others. The basis for the plot of the play was tragic fate daughters-in-law in the wealthy merchant family of the Klykovs, which happened in reality: a young woman rushed into the Volga and drowned, unable to withstand oppression from her domineering mother-in-law, tired of her husband’s spinelessness and secret passion for a postal employee. Many believed that it was the stories from the life of the Kostroma merchants that became the prototype for the plot of the play written by Ostrovsky.

In November 1859, the play was performed on the stage of Maly academic theater in Moscow, in December of the same year in Alexandrinsky drama theater In Petersburg.

Analysis of the work

Story line

At the center of the events described in the play is the wealthy merchant family of the Kabanovs, living in the fictional Volga city of Kalinov, a kind of peculiar and closed little world, symbolizing the general structure of the entire patriarchal Russian state. The Kabanov family consists of a powerful and cruel tyrant woman, and essentially the head of the family, a wealthy merchant and widow Marfa Ignatievna, her son, Tikhon Ivanovich, weak-willed and spineless against the backdrop of the difficult disposition of his mother, daughter Varvara, who learned by deception and cunning to resist her mother’s despotism , as well as Katerina’s daughter-in-law. A young woman, who grew up in a family where she was loved and pitied, suffers in the house of her unloved husband from his lack of will and the claims of her mother-in-law, having essentially lost her will and becoming a victim of Kabanikha’s cruelty and tyranny, left to the mercy of fate by her rag husband.

Out of hopelessness and despair, Katerina seeks consolation in her love for Boris Dikiy, who also loves her, but is afraid to disobey his uncle, the rich merchant Savel Prokofich Dikiy, because the financial situation of him and his sister depends on him. Secretly he meets with Katerina, but in last moment betrays her and escapes, then, at the direction of his uncle, leaves for Siberia.

Katerina, having been brought up in obedience and submission to her husband, tormented by her own sin, confesses everything to her husband in the presence of his mother. She makes her daughter-in-law’s life completely unbearable, and Katerina, suffering from unhappy love, reproaches of conscience and cruel persecution of the tyrant and despot Kabanikha, decides to end her torment, the only way in which she sees salvation is suicide. She throws herself off a cliff into the Volga and dies tragically.

Main characters

All the characters in the play are divided into two opposing camps, some (Kabanikha, her son and daughter, the merchant Dikoy and his nephew Boris, the maids Feklusha and Glasha) are representatives of the old, patriarchal way of life, others (Katerina, self-taught mechanic Kuligin) are representatives of the new, progressive.

The young woman, Katerina, wife of Tikhon Kabanov, is central heroine plays. She was brought up in strict patriarchal rules, in accordance with the laws of the ancient Russian Domostroy: a wife must submit to her husband in everything, respect him, and fulfill all his demands. At first, Katerina tried with all her might to love her husband, to become a submissive and good wife for him, but due to his complete spinelessness and weakness of character, she can only feel pity for him.

Outwardly, she looks weak and silent, but in the depths of her soul there is enough willpower and perseverance to resist the tyranny of her mother-in-law, who is afraid that her daughter-in-law might change her son Tikhon and he will stop submitting to his mother’s will. Katerina is cramped and stuffy in the dark kingdom of life in Kalinov, she literally suffocates there and in her dreams she flies like a bird away from this terrible place for her.

Boris

Having fallen in love with a newcomer young man Boris, the nephew of a rich merchant and businessman, she creates in her head the image of an ideal lover and a real man, which is not at all true, breaks her heart and leads to a tragic ending.

In the play, the character of Katerina opposes not a specific person, her mother-in-law, but the entire patriarchal structure that existed at that time.

Kabanikha

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha), like the tyrant merchant Dikoy, who tortures and insults his relatives, does not pay wages and deceives his workers, are prominent representatives of the old, bourgeois way of life. They are distinguished by stupidity and ignorance, unjustified cruelty, rudeness and rudeness, complete rejection of any progressive changes in an ossified patriarchal way of life.

Tikhon

(Tikhon, in the illustration near Kabanikha - Marfa Ignatievna)

Tikhon Kabanov is characterized throughout the play as a quiet and weak-willed person, under the complete influence of his oppressive mother. Distinguished by his gentle character, he makes no attempts to protect his wife from her mother’s attacks.

At the end of the play, he finally breaks down and the author shows his rebellion against tyranny and despotism; it is his phrase at the end of the play that leads readers to a certain conclusion about the depth and tragedy of the current situation.

Features of compositional construction

(Fragment from a dramatic production)

The work begins with a description of the city on the Volga Kalinov, the image of which is collectively all Russian cities of that time. The landscape of the Volga expanses depicted in the play contrasts with the musty, dull and gloomy atmosphere of life in this city, which is emphasized by the dead isolation of the life of its inhabitants, their underdevelopment, dullness and wild lack of education. The author described the general state of city life as if before a thunderstorm, when the old, dilapidated way of life will be shaken, and new and progressive trends, like a gust of furious thunderstorm wind, will sweep away the outdated rules and prejudices that prevent people from living normally. The period of life of the residents of the city of Kalinov described in the play is precisely in a state when outwardly everything looks calm, but this is only the calm before the coming storm.

The genre of the play can be interpreted as a social drama, as well as a tragedy. The first is characterized by the use of a thorough description of living conditions, the maximum transfer of its “density,” as well as the alignment of characters. Readers' attention should be distributed among all participants in the production. The interpretation of the play as a tragedy presupposes its more deep meaning and thoroughness. If you see Katerina’s death as a consequence of her conflict with her mother-in-law, then she looks like a victim family conflict, and the entire unfolding action in the play itself seems small and insignificant for a real tragedy. But if we consider the death of the main character as a conflict of a new, progressive time with a fading, old era, then her act is best interpreted in the heroic key characteristic of a tragic narrative.

Talented playwright Alexander Ostrovsky from social drama about the life of the merchant class gradually creates a real tragedy, in which, with the help of a love-domestic conflict, he showed the onset of an epochal turning point taking place in the consciousness of the people. Simple people They become aware of their awakening sense of self-worth, begin to have a new attitude towards the world around them, want to decide their own destinies and fearlessly express their will. This nascent desire comes into irreconcilable contradiction with the real patriarchal way of life. Katerina's fate acquires a social historical meaning, expressing the state national consciousness at the turning point of two eras.

Alexander Ostrovsky, who noticed in time the doom of the decaying patriarchal foundations, wrote the play “The Thunderstorm” and opened the eyes of the entire Russian public to what was happening. He depicted the destruction of a familiar, outdated way of life, with the help of the ambiguous and figurative concept of a thunderstorm, which, gradually growing, will sweep away everything from its path and open the way to a new, better life.

“The Thunderstorm” was not written by Ostrovsky... “The Thunderstorm” was written by Volga.
S. A. Yuriev

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was one of the largest cultural figures of the 19th century. His work will forever remain in the history of literature, and his contribution to the development of Russian theater is difficult to overestimate. The writer made some changes to the production of plays: attention should no longer be focused on just one character; a fourth scene is introduced, separating the audience from the actors in order to emphasize the conventionality of what is happening; ordinary people and standard everyday situations are depicted. The last position most accurately reflected the essence of the realistic method that Ostrovsky adhered to. His literary work began in the mid-1840s. “Our people are numbered,” “Family pictures,” “Poverty is not a vice” and other plays were written. The drama “The Thunderstorm” has a history of creation that is not limited to just working on the text and writing conversations between the characters.

The prototypes of the city of Kalinov were many Volga towns, at the same time similar to each other, but with something unique: Tver, Torzhok, Ostashkovo and many others. Ostrovsky, as an experienced researcher, recorded all his observations about the life of the Russian province and the characters of the people in his diary. Based on these recordings, the characters of "The Thunderstorm" were later created.

For a long time there was a hypothesis that the plot of “The Thunderstorm” was completely borrowed from real life. In 1859, precisely at this time the play was written, a resident of Kostroma left home early in the morning, and later her body was discovered in the Volga. The victim was the girl Alexandra Klykova. During the investigation, it became clear that the situation in the Klykov family was quite tense. The mother-in-law constantly mocked the girl, and the spineless husband could not influence the situation. The catalyst for this outcome of events was the love relationship between Alexandra and the postal employee.

This assumption is deeply ingrained in people's minds. Surely in the modern world, tourist routes would already be laid in that place. In Kostroma, “The Thunderstorm” was published as a separate book; during the production, the actors tried to resemble the Klykovs, and local residents even showed the place from which Alexandra-Katerina allegedly threw herself. Kostroma local historian Vinogradov, to whom the famous literature researcher S. Yu. Lebedev refers, found many literal coincidences in the text of the play and in the “Kostroma case”. Both Alexandra and Katerina were married off early. Alexandra was barely 16 years old. Katerina was 19.

Both girls had to endure discontent and despotism from their mothers-in-law. Alexandra Klykova had to do all the menial housework. Neither the Klykov family nor the Kabanov family had children. The series of “coincidences” does not end there. The investigation knew that Alexandra had a relationship with another person, a postal worker. In the play "The Thunderstorm" Katerina falls in love with Boris. That is why for a long time it was believed that “The Thunderstorm” was nothing more than a real-life incident reflected in the play.

However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the myth created around this incident was dispelled due to a comparison of dates. So, the incident in Kostroma occurred in November, and a month earlier, on October 14, Ostrovsky took the play to print. Thus, the writer could not display on the pages what had not yet happened in reality. But this does not make the creative history of “The Thunderstorm” any less interesting. It can be assumed that Ostrovsky, being an intelligent person, was able to predict how the girl’s fate would turn out in the typical conditions of that time. It is quite possible that Alexandra, like Katerina, was tormented by the stuffiness that is mentioned in the play. The old orders are becoming obsolete and the absolute inertia and hopelessness of the current situation. However, one should not completely correlate Alexandra with Katerina. It is quite possible that in the case of Klykova, the reasons for the girl’s death were only everyday difficulties, and not a deep-seated personal conflict, like Katerina Kabanova’s.

The most realistic prototype of Katerina can be called theater actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, who later played this role. Ostrovsky, like Kositskaya, had his own family; it was this circumstance that prevented the further development of the relationship between the playwright and the actress. Kositskaya was originally from the Volga region, but at the age of 16 she ran away from home in search of a better life. Katerina’s dream, according to Ostrovsky’s biographers, was nothing more than the recorded dream of Lyubov Kositskaya. In addition, Lyubov Kositskaya was extremely sensitive to faith and churches. In one of the episodes, Katerina utters the following words:

“... Until death, I loved going to church! Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven, and I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over... And you know, on a sunny day such a light pillar comes from the dome, and smoke moves in this pillar, like clouds, and I see that it used to be as if angels were flying and singing in this pillar.”

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