The Dark Kingdom in the play by Ostrovsky Groz. Essay on the theme of the Dark Kingdom in play A

36. Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight for Me, so that I would not be betrayed to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here. Christ answers Pilate that he, as a representative of the Roman government, has the authority to

"Dark Kingdom" in "The Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky

Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm", in accordance with the critical and theatrical traditions of interpretation, is understood as social drama, since it attaches special importance to everyday life.

As almost always with Ostrovsky, the play begins with a lengthy, leisurely exposition. The playwright not only introduces us to the characters and the setting: he creates an image of the world in which the characters live and where the events will unfold.

The action takes place in a fictional remote town, but, unlike other plays by the playwright, the city of Kalinov is depicted in detail, specifically and in many ways. In “The Thunderstorm,” the landscape plays an important role, described not only in the stage directions, but also in the dialogues characters. Some people see his beauty, others take a closer look at it and are completely indifferent. The high Volga steep bank and the distances beyond the river introduce the motif of space and flight.

Beautiful nature, pictures of young people partying at night, songs heard in the third act, Katerina’s stories about childhood and her religious experiences - all this is the poetry of Kalinov’s world. But Ostrovsky confronts her with gloomy pictures of the everyday cruelty of residents towards each other, with stories about the lack of rights of the majority of ordinary people, with the fantastic, incredible “lostness” of Kalinov’s life.

The motif of the complete isolation of Kalinov’s world intensifies in the play. Residents do not see anything new and do not know other lands and countries. But even about their past they retained only vague legends that had lost connection and meaning (talk about Lithuania, which “fell from the sky to us”). Life in Kalinov freezes and dries up. The past is forgotten, “there are hands, but nothing to work with.” News from big world the wanderer Feklusha brings to the residents, and they listen with equal confidence about countries where people with dog heads “for infidelity”, and about the railway, where “they began to harness a fiery serpent” for speed, and about time, which “began to come into disrepute.” "

Among the characters in the play there is no one who does not belong to Kalinov’s world. The lively and the meek, the powerful and the subordinate, merchants and clerks, the wanderer and even the old crazy lady who prophesies hellish torment for everyone - they all revolve in the sphere of concepts and ideas of the closed patriarchal world. Not only Kalinov’s dark inhabitants, but also Kuligin, who performs some of the functions of a reasoning hero in the play, is also flesh and blood of Kalinov’s world.

This hero is depicted as an unusual person. The list of characters says about him: “... a tradesman, a self-taught watchmaker, looking for a perpetuum mobile.” The hero's surname transparently hints at real face– I.P. Kulibin (1735 – 1818). The word "kuliga" means a swamp with an established connotation of the meaning of "distant, remote place" due to the widespread famous saying"in the middle of nowhere."

Like Katerina, Kuligin is a poetic and dreamy person. So, it is he who admires the beauty of the Trans-Volga landscape and complains that the Kalinovites are indifferent to it. He sings “Among the flat valley...” folk song literary origin. This immediately emphasizes the difference between Kuligin and other characters associated with folklore culture; he is a bookish person, albeit of a rather archaic bookishness. He confidentially tells Boris that he writes poetry “in the old-fashioned way,” as Lomonosov and Derzhavin once wrote. In addition, he is a self-taught mechanic. However, Kuligin’s technical ideas are a clear anachronism. Sundial, which he dreams of installing on Kalinovsky Boulevard, came from antiquity. Lightning rod - technical opening XVIII V. And his oral histories about judicial red tape are kept in even earlier traditions and are reminiscent of ancient moralizing stories. All these features show his deep connection with the world of Kalinov. He, of course, differs from the Kalinovites. We can say that Kuligin " new person“, but only its novelty has developed here, inside this world, which gives birth not only to its passionate and poetic dreamers, like Katerina, but also to its “rationalists” - dreamers, its own special, home-grown scientists and humanists.

The main thing in Kuligin’s life is the dream of inventing the “perpetuum mobile” and receiving a million for it from the British. He intends to spend this million on the Kalinov society, to give work to the philistines. Kuligin is truly a good person: kind, selfless, delicate and meek. But he is hardly happy, as Boris thinks of him. His dream constantly forces him to beg for money for his inventions, conceived for the benefit of society, but it does not even occur to society that they could be of any use; for his fellow countrymen, Kuligin is a harmless eccentric, something like a city holy fool. And the main possible “patron of the arts,” Dikaya, attacks the inventor with abuse, confirming the general opinion that he is unable to part with money.

Kuligin's passion for creativity remains unquenched: he feels sorry for his fellow countrymen, seeing in their vices the result of ignorance and poverty, but cannot help them in anything. For all his hard work and creative personality, Kuligin is a contemplative nature, devoid of any pressure and aggressiveness. This is probably the only reason why the Kalinovites put up with him, despite the fact that he differs from them in everything.

Only one person does not belong to the Kalinovsky world by birth and upbringing, and is not similar to other residents of the city in appearance and manners - Boris, “a young man, decently educated,” according to Ostrovsky’s remark.

But even though he is a stranger, he is still captured by Kalinov, cannot break ties with him, and has recognized his laws over himself. After all, Boris’s connection with Dikiy is not even monetary dependence. And he himself understands, and those around him tell him that Dikoy will never give him his grandmother’s inheritance, left on such “Kalinovsky” conditions (“if he is respectful to his uncle”). And yet he behaves as if he is financially dependent on the Wild One or is obliged to obey him as the eldest in the family. And although Boris becomes an object great passion Katerina, who fell in love with him precisely because outwardly he is so different from those around him, Dobrolyubov was still right when he said about this hero that he should be related to the situation.

In a certain sense, this can be said about all the other characters in the play, starting with the Wild One and ending with Curly and Varvara. They are all bright and lively. However, compositionally, two heroes are put forward at the center of the play: Katerina and Kabanikha, representing, as it were, two poles of Kalinov’s world.

The image of Katerina is undoubtedly correlated with the image of Kabanikha. Both of them are maximalists, both will never come to terms with human weaknesses and will not compromise. Both, finally, believe the same, their religion is harsh and merciless, there is no forgiveness for sin, and they both do not remember mercy.

Only Kabanikha is completely chained to the earth, all her forces are aimed at holding, gathering, defending the way of life, she is the guardian of the ossified form of the patriarchal world. Kabanikha perceives life as a ceremony, and she not only does not need, but is also scared to think about the long-vanished spirit of this form. And Katerina embodies the spirit of this world, its dream, its impulse.

Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified world of Kalinov, folk character amazing beauty and strength, whose faith - truly Kalinovsky - is still based on love, on a free dream of justice, beauty, some kind of higher truth.

For general concept In the play, it is very important that Katerina did not appear from somewhere in the expanses of another life, another historical time (after all, patriarchal Kalinov and contemporary Moscow, where bustle is in full swing, or Railway, which Feklusha talks about, is different historical time), but was born and formed in the same “Kalinovsky” conditions.

Katerina lives in an era when the very spirit of patriarchal morality - harmony between an individual and the moral ideas of the environment - has disappeared and ossified forms of relationships rest only on violence and coercion. Her sensitive soul caught this. After listening to her daughter-in-law’s story about life before marriage, Varvara exclaims in surprise: “But it’s the same with us.” “Yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity,” Katerina says.

All family relationships in the Kabanovs' house are, in essence, a complete violation of the essence of patriarchal morality. Children willingly express their submission, listen to instructions without attaching any importance to them, and little by little break all these commandments and orders. “Ah, in my opinion, do what you want. If only it was sewn and covered,” says Varya

Katerina’s husband follows directly after Kabanova in the list of characters, and it is said about him: “her son.” This, indeed, is Tikhon’s position in the city of Kalinov and in the family. Belonging, like a number of other characters in the play (Varvara, Kudryash, Shapkin), to the younger generation of Kalinovites, Tikhon in his own way marks the end of the patriarchal way of life.

The youth of Kalinova no longer want to adhere to the old ways of life. However, Tikhon, Varvara, and Kudryash are alien to Katerina’s maximalism, and, unlike central heroines plays, Katerina and Kabanikha, all these characters stand in the position of everyday compromises. Of course, the oppression of their elders is hard for them, but they have learned to get around it, each in accordance with their character. Formally recognizing the power of elders and the power of customs over themselves, they constantly go against them. But it is precisely against the background of their unconscious and compromising position that Katerina looks significant and morally high.

Tikhon in no way corresponds to the role of a husband in a patriarchal family: to be a ruler and at the same time the support and protection of his wife. Kind and weak person, he is torn between the harsh demands of his mother and compassion for his wife. Tikhon loves Katerina, but not in the way that, according to the norms of patriarchal morality, a husband should love, and Katerina’s feeling for him is not the same as she should have for him according to her own ideas.

For Tikhon, breaking free from his mother’s care means going on a binge and drinking. “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live by my own will!” - he responds to Kabanikha’s endless reproaches and instructions. Humiliated by his mother’s reproaches, Tikhon is ready to take out his frustration on Katerina, and only the intercession of her sister Varvara, who allows him to drink at a party in secret from his mother, ends the scene.

“The Dark Kingdom” in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”

It went to the extreme, to the denial of all common sense; It is more than ever hostile to the natural demands of humanity and is trying more fiercely than ever to stop their development, because in their triumph it sees the approach of its inevitable destruction.

N. A. Dobrolyubov

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, for the first time in Russian literature, deeply and realistically depicted the world of the “dark kingdom”, painted colorful images of tyrants, their life and customs. He dared to look behind the iron merchant gates and was not afraid to openly show the conservative power of “inertia”, “numbness”. Analyzing Ostrovsky’s “plays of life,” Dobrolyubov wrote: “Nothing sacred, nothing pure, nothing right in this dark world: the tyranny dominating him, wild, insane, wrong, drove out from him all consciousness of honor and right... And they cannot exist where human dignity, personal freedom, faith in love and happiness and shrine of honest labor.” And yet, many of Ostrovsky’s plays depict “the precariousness and the near end of tyranny.”

The dramatic conflict in “The Thunderstorm” lies in the clash of the obsolete morality of tyrants with the new morality of people in whose souls a sense of human dignity is awakening. In the play, the background of life itself, the setting itself, is important. The world of the “dark kingdom” is based on fear and monetary calculation. Self-taught watchmaker Kuligin tells Boris: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! Whoever has money tries to enslave the poor so that his labors will be free more money make money." Direct financial dependence forces Boris to be respectful with the “scold” Dikiy. Tikhon is obediently obedient to his mother, although at the end of the play even he rises to a kind of rebellion. Wild Curly's clerk and Tikhon's sister Varvara are cunning and dodging. Katerina’s discerning heart senses the falseness and inhumanity of the life around her. “Yes, everything here seems to be out of captivity,” she thinks.

The images of tyrants in “The Thunderstorm” are artistically authentic, complex, and lack psychological certainty. Dikoy is a rich merchant, a significant person in the city of Kalinov. At first glance, nothing threatens his power. Savel Prokofievich, according to Kudryash’s apt definition, “feels like he’s broken free from a chain”: he feels like the master of life, the arbiter of the destinies of the people under his control. Isn’t this what Dikiy’s attitude towards Boris speaks about? Those around him are afraid to anger Savel Prokofievich with something, his wife is in awe of him.

Dikoy feels the power of money and support on his side state power. The requests to restore justice made by the “peasants” deceived by the merchant to the mayor turn out to be futile. Savel Prokofievich patted the mayor on the shoulder and said: “Is it worth it, your honor, for us to talk about such trifles!”

At the same time, as already mentioned, the image of the Wild is quite complex. Cool disposition “ significant person in the city” encounters not some kind of external protest, not the manifestation of discontent of others, but internal self-condemnation. Savel Prokofievich himself is not happy with his “heart”: “I was fasting about fasting, about a great one, but now it’s not easy and slip a little man in; He came for money, carried firewood... He did sin: he scolded him, he scolded him so much that he couldn’t ask for anything better, he almost beat him to death. This is the kind of heart I have! After asking for forgiveness, he bowed at his feet. This is what my heart brings me to: here in the yard, in the dirt, I bowed; I bowed to him in front of everyone.” This recognition of the Wild contains a terrible meaning for the foundations of the “dark kingdom”: tyranny is so unnatural and inhuman that it becomes obsolete and loses any moral justification for its existence.

The rich merchant Kabanova can also be called a “tyrant in a skirt.” Put into Kuligin's mouth exact specification Marfa Ignatievna: “Prudence, sir! He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family.” In a conversation with her son and daughter-in-law, Kabanikha hypocritically sighs: “Oh, a grave sin! How long will it take to sin!”

Behind this feigned exclamation lies a domineering, despotic character. Marfa Ignatievna actively defends the foundations of the “dark kingdom” and tries to conquer Tikhon and Katerina. Relations between people in the family should, according to Kabanova, be regulated by the law of fear, the Domostroevsky principle “let the wife fear her husband.” Marfa Ignatievna’s desire to follow previous traditions in everything is manifested in the scene of Tikhon’s farewell to Katerina.

The position of the mistress of the house cannot completely calm down Kabanikha. Marfa Ignatievna is frightened by the fact that young people want freedom, that the traditions of hoary antiquity are not respected. “What will happen, how the old people will die, how the light will remain, I don’t know. Well, at least it’s good that I won’t see anything,” Kabanikha sighs. In this case, her fear is completely sincere, and is not intended for any external effect (Marfa Ignatievna pronounces her words alone).

The image of the wanderer Feklusha plays a significant role in Ostrovsky’s play. At first glance in front of us minor character. In fact, Feklusha is not directly involved in the action, but she is a myth-maker and defender of the “dark kingdom”. Let’s listen to the wanderer’s reasoning about “Saltan Makhnute Persian” and “Saltan Makhnute Turkish”: “And they cannot... judge a single case righteously, such is the limit set for them. Our law is righteous, but theirs... unrighteous; that according to our law it turns out this way, but according to them everything is the opposite. And all their judges, in their countries, are also all unrighteous...” Main meaning the words quoted is that “we have a righteous law..:”.

Feklusha, anticipating the death of the “dark kingdom,” shares with Kabanikha: “ Last times, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, by all accounts, the last.” The wanderer sees an ominous sign of the end in the acceleration of the passage of time: “Time has already begun to decline... smart people They notice that our time is getting shorter.” And indeed, time works against the “dark kingdom”.

Ostrovsky comes to large-scale artistic generalizations in the play and creates almost symbolic images (thunderstorm). The remark at the beginning of the fourth act of the play is noteworthy: “In the foreground is a narrow gallery with the arches of an ancient building that is beginning to collapse...” It is in this decaying, dilapidated world that Katerina’s sacrificial confession sounds from its very depths. The fate of the heroine is so tragic primarily because she rebelled against her own Domostroevsky ideas about good and evil. The ending of the play tells us that living “in the dark kingdom is worse than death” (Dobrolyubov). “This end seems joyful to us... - we read in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”, - ... it gives a terrible challenge to tyrant power, it tells it that it is no longer possible to go further, it is impossible to live any longer with its violent, deadening principles." The irresistibility of the awakening of man in man, the rehabilitation of living human feeling that replaces false asceticism, constitute, it seems to me, the enduring merit of Ostrovsky’s play. And today it helps to overcome the power of inertia, numbness, and social stagnation.

Type: Problem-thematic analysis of the work

A.N. Ostrovsky finished his play in 1859, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. Russia was awaiting reform, and the play became the first stage in the awareness of impending changes in society.

In his work, Ostrovsky presents us with a merchant milieu that personifies the “dark kingdom.” The author shows a whole gallery of negative images using the example of residents of the city of Kalinov. Using the example of the townspeople, we are shown their ignorance, lack of education, and adherence to the old order. We can say that all Kalinovites are in the shackles of the ancient “house-building”.

Prominent representatives of the “dark kingdom” in the play are the “fathers” of the city in the person of Kabanikha and Dikoy. Marfa Kabanova tortures those around her and those close to her with reproaches and suspicion. She relies on the authority of antiquity in everything and expects the same from those around her. There is no need to talk about her love for her son and daughter; Kabanikha’s children are completely subordinate to her power. Everything in Kabanova's house is based on fear. To frighten and humiliate is her philosophy.

Dikaya is much more primitive than Kabanova. This is the image of a real tyrant. With his screams and swearing, this hero humiliates other people, thereby, as it were, rising above them. It seems to me that this is a way of self-expression for the Wild: “What are you going to tell me to do with myself when my heart is like this!”; “I scolded him, I scolded him so much that I couldn’t ask for anything better, I almost killed him. This is the kind of heart I have!”

The unreasonable abuse of the Wild One, the hypocritical pickiness of Kabanikha - all this is due to the powerlessness of the heroes. The more real the changes in society and people, the stronger their voices of protest begin to sound. But the rage of these heroes makes no sense: their words remain only an empty sound. “...But everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown with other beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to dark tyranny,” writes Dobrolyubov about the play.

The images of Kuligin and Katerina are contrasted with the wild one, Kabanikha, and the whole city. In his monologues, Kuligin tries to reason with the residents of Kalinov, to open their eyes to what is happening around them. For example, all the townspeople are in wild, natural horror from the thunderstorm and perceive it as heavenly punishment. Only Kuligin is not afraid, but sees in a thunderstorm a natural phenomenon of nature, beautiful and majestic. He proposes to build a lightning rod, but does not find approval or understanding from others. Despite all this, the “dark kingdom” was unable to absorb this self-taught eccentric. In the midst of savagery and tyranny, he retained the humanity within himself.

But not all the heroes of the play can resist the cruel morals of the “dark kingdom”. Tikhon Kabanov is downtrodden and persecuted by this society. Therefore, his image is tragic. The hero could not resist; from childhood he agreed with his mother in everything and never contradicted her. And only at the end of the play, in front of the body of the dead Katerina, Tikhon decides to confront his mother and even blames her for the death of his wife.

Tikhon's sister, Varvara, finds her own way to survive in Kalinov. A strong, courageous and cunning character allows the girl to adapt to life in the “dark kingdom”. For her peace of mind and to avoid troubles, she lives by the principle of “closet and security”, she deceives and deceives. But by doing all this, Varvara is only trying to live as she wants.

Katerina Kabanova – light soul. Against the backdrop of everything dead kingdom it stands out for its purity and spontaneity. This heroine is not mired in material interests and outdated everyday truths, like other residents of Kalinov. Her soul strives to free itself from the oppression and suffocation of these people who are strangers to it. Having fallen in love with Boris and cheating on her husband, Katerina is in terrible torment conscience. And she perceives the thunderstorm as heavenly punishment for her sins: “Everyone should be afraid! It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins...” Pious Katerina, unable to withstand the pressure of her own conscience, decides on the most terrible sin- suicide.

Dikiy’s nephew, Boris, is also a victim of the “dark kingdom.” He resigned himself to spiritual slavery and broke under the yoke of pressure from the old ways. Boris seduced Katerina, but he did not have the strength to save her, to take her away from the hated city. “The Dark Kingdom” turned out to be stronger than this hero.

Another representative of the “Dark Kingdom” is the wanderer Feklusha. She is highly respected in Kabanikha's house. Her ignorant fables about distant countries listen attentively and even believe them. Only in such a dark and ignorant society can no one doubt Feklusha’s stories. The Wanderer supports Kabanikha, feeling her strength and power in the city.

In my opinion, the play “The Thunderstorm” is a work of genius. It reveals so many images, so many characters that it would be enough for an entire encyclopedia negative characters. All ignorance, superstition, and lack of education were absorbed into Kalinov’s “dark kingdom.” “The Thunderstorm” shows us that the old way of life has long outlived its usefulness and does not respond modern conditions life. Change is already on the threshold of the “dark kingdom” and, together with the thunderstorm, is trying to break into it. It doesn't matter that they encounter enormous resistance from wild and boar animals. After reading the play, it becomes clear that they are all powerless in the face of the future.