“The central themes and images in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm

A.N. Ostrovsky. Thunderstorm.

Theme, problem, idea and pathos of "Thunderstorm".

In "Thunderstorm" topic- an image of the life and customs of the Russian merchants of the 60s of the 19th century.

Issues - sociocultural and eternal. Exposure of tyranny as a social and psychological phenomenon in the characters of Dikoy and Kabanova. Condemnation of moral weakness, selfishness, opportunism through the images of Tikhon, Boris and Barbara. The problem of the Russian national heroic character, embodied in the image of Katerina. The Problem of Love, Sin and Repentance .

Idea: Ostrovsky argues that the desire for freedom and happiness is natural and irresistible, despite the tragic circumstances of life, and tyranny of any kind is doomed to death. The pursuit of freedom, justice, truth at all times has a high price. .

The pathos of the play- tragic. Its basis is Katerina's struggle for the realization and protection of lofty ideals, the impossibility of achieving the ideal at a given historical moment in a given social environment.

Conflict.

In The Thunderstorm we encounter two types of conflict. On the one hand, this contradiction between rulers (Dikaya, Kabanikha) and subordinates (Katerina, Tikhon, Boris, etc.) is an external conflict. On the other hand, the action moves due to the psychological conflict, internal - in the soul of Katerina.

Composition.

"Thunderstorm" begins with an exposition. exposition- this is, as a rule, the initial part of the work, which precedes the plot, introduces the characters, the place and time of the action. There is still no conflict here (1 action, 1 -4 phenomena). Here the author creates an image of the world in which the characters live and events unfold.

Then comes action development, that is, a series of episodes in which the actors try to actively resolve the conflict. Finally, the conflict reaches the moment when the contradictions require immediate resolution, the conflict reaches its maximum development - this is climax(4 days, 6 appearance). Since there are two conflicts in the play, each has its own culmination. The culmination of the internal conflict is Katerina's last monologue in act 5.

Following her - interchange, which demonstrates the insolubility of the conflict (the death of Katerina).

Artistic features of the drama.

Special artistic touch use of symbolism.

A symbol is a special artistic image, a kind of allegory. He is significant.

The very word "thunderstorm" in the title is ambiguous. The image of the “fiery hyena” on the wall is also symbolic, the image of a crazy lady is also symbolic. Katerina's striving for freedom is symbolized by the free flight of the bird.

Used in the play and reception of "speaking surnames" and special signs of heroes. Wild's unbridled arbitrariness fully corresponds to his surname, and in the city he is called "warrior" - this is a sign.

The city of Kalinov is a space of tyranny and fear.

The city as a scene of action has the same functions as the landscape: it affects the character and psyche Place of action in the "Thunderstorm" - the fictional town of Kalinov on the high bank of the Volga. (Then this town will become the setting for his other dramas - “Forest”, “Hot Heart ».)

Time of action- "our days", that is, the very end of the 1850s. The action takes place on the banks of the Volga, symbolizing will, freedom. Here, according to Kuligin, "the beauty". This "beauty" is opposed image of the city of Kalinov

The city of Kalinov, under the pen of Ostrovsky, turns into self image, becomes one of equal heroes of the play. He lives his own life, has his own character, his own temper. As the city sage Kuligin says, "cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!" Invisible, inaudible tears flow in it, and on the surface - silence and grace. If not for Katerina with her public rebellion against tradition, so everything would be quiet and smooth, the storm would pass by.

Wild.

Wild, endowed with a "speaking surname", has a special sign: in the city he is called "warrior". He is a petty tyrant, he knows one power - the power of money. Looking for the unrequited in order to take out his anger on them. His life consists of quarrels with others and hoarding. He feels this emptiness, it oppresses him and embitters him even more.

The epithet "cool at heart", characterizing Diky, is leitmotif, the word "heart" is repeated five times in connection with his image. In his concept, this word is associated with anger, indignation, anger, malice. Here he asks the Kabanikha: “Talk to me so that my heart will pass” (= anger). But he admires himself: “But what do you order me to do with myself when my heart is like that?” Here heart means "character". Is anger really the original trait of his character? No. Kabanova directly declares to him: “Why are you deliberately bringing yourself into your heart?” This quote contains a hint. The tyrant fools himself, "leads to the heart." What for? To be sure of your power. Why power? For the sake of power. This means that it is connected with fear for one's power, and requires its constant confirmation. "One word: warrior!" _ Shapkin says about him. In act 3, he himself admits: "... I have a war going on there." And everyone depends on the mercy of the “warrior”: if he wants, he will pay off the workers, give Boris his share of the inheritance, if he doesn’t want, it’s his will. But he cannot suppress a person - he keeps, like Curly, nearby, in sight, on his territory . Speech it is fully consistent with the character - rude, offensive, oversaturated reduced vocabulary and curses: “parasite”, “go to hell”, “ugh, you damned”, “fail you”, “imposed”.

Test.

Test.

Public garden on the high bank ________; for __________ rural look.

There are two benches and several bushes on the stage.

The first phenomenon

Kuligin sits on a bench and looks across the river. Kudryash and Shapkin

are walking.

Kuligin (sings)."In the midst of a flat valley, at a smooth height..." (Stops

sing.) Miracles, truly it must be said, miracles! Curly! Here you are brother

my, for fifty years I have been looking for ________ every day and I can’t get enough of everything.

Curly. And what?

Kuligin. The view is extraordinary! The beauty! The soul rejoices.

Curly. Something!

Kuligin. Delight! And you: "something!" Have you looked or you don't understand

what beauty is in nature.

Curly. Well, what's the deal with you! You are an antique, a chemist!

Kuligin. Mechanic, self-taught mechanic.

Curly. All the same.

Silence

Kuligin (pointing to the side). Look, brother Curly, who is there

waving his arms like that?

Curly. It? This Wild nephew scolds.

Kuligin. Found a place!

Curly. He belongs everywhere. Afraid of what, he of whom! Got him to sacrifice

Boris Grigorievich, so he rides on it.

Shapkin. Look for such and such a scolder as Savel Prokofich among us!

Will cut off a person for nothing.

Curly. A poignant man!

Shapkin. Good, too, and Kabaniha.

Curly. Well, yes, that one, at least in the extreme, is all under the guise of piety, but this one is like

off the chain!

Shapkin. There is no one to appease her, so he is fighting!

Curly. We don’t have many guys like me, otherwise we would be naughty

Shapkin. What would you do?

Curly. They would have done well.

Shapkin. Like this?

Curly. Four of us, five of us in the alley somewhere would talk to

him face to face, so he would have become silk. But about our science, and not

I would have peeped to anyone, if only I would have walked and looked around.

Shapkin. No wonder he wanted to give you to the soldiers.

Curly. I wanted to, but I didn’t give it away, so it’s all one thing. He won't give me away

he smells with his nose that I will not sell my head cheaply. This is it for you

scary, but I can talk to him.

Shapkin. Oy!

Curly. What's here: oh! I am considered a rude; why is he holding me?

So, he needs me. Well, that means I'm not afraid of him, but let him go

Shapkin. Like he doesn't scold you?

Curly. How not to scold! He can't breathe without it. Yes, I do not go down either:

he is the word, and I am ten; spit, and go. No, I'm in front of him

I will not be a slave.

Kuligin. With him, that eh, an example to take! It's better to be patient.<…>

The second phenomenon

The same, Dikoy and Boris.

Wild. Buckwheat, you came here to beat! Parasite! Fuck you

go to hell!

Boris. Holiday; what to do at home!

Wild. Find the job you want. Once I told you, twice I told you: “Not

dare to meet me"; you get it all! Is there enough space for you? Where

never mind, here you are! Pah you damned! Why are you standing like a pillar! Are you being told al no?

Boris. I'm listening, what else can I do!

wild (looking at Boris). You failed! I'm with you and don't talk

I want with a Jesuit. (Leaving.) Here it is imposed! (Spits and leaves.)

Alexander Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm".

B1. Which of the three genres of literature does the play "Thunderstorm" belong to (answer

write in the nominative case)?

B2. Insert the name of the river in question in place of the gap in the text

(in the nominative case).

B3. For Wild, Boar (and other heroes of their type) the word was fixed,

brought to the stage by Ostrovsky and made after his plays

commonly used. They are usually used to mean "a powerful person,

which is guided in relationships with people by personal

arbitrariness." One of the heroes of Ostrovsky interpreted this word as follows:

“This is called, if a person doesn’t listen to anyone, at least you

a stake on your head, and he is all his own. He stamps his foot, says: who am I?

At this point, all the households must hit him at the feet, and they lie there, otherwise

trouble..." Write down this word.

B4. What is the name of an acute clash, a confrontation of characters and

circumstances underlying the stage action (the beginning

we see such a confrontation in the above fragment)?

B5. What is the name of the verbal communication of two or more persons, built on

alternating their statements in a conversation?

b6. What is the name of a short statement of a character, a phrase that

does he speak in response to another character's words?

pronouncements of the characters, typed in italics. Which term

mean?

Clear and legible.

For a question in the amount of 5-10 sentences. Write down answers

Clear and legible.

C1 If you were a director of a play, what

comments would you give to the actors involved in the above episode

(on the example of one or two roles)?

The above fragment is taken from the first act of "Thunderstorm". In it Ostrovsky

releases all the characters on stage to introduce the viewer to them. Before

us the first appearance of the Kabanov family (the first exit, the first words

the hero in the drama is always very important for his understanding). Just now we

heard from Kuligin that Kabanikha is a hypocrite, that she “clothes the poor, and

ate at home completely. Now we see it with our own eyes.

The actress playing the Boar needs to master different intonations. Heroine

generously uses them in his military operations against domestic ones. She then

complains and pretends to be humble, now threatens and accuses, now speaks

“hot”, then “completely cold-blooded”. The boar is a master of confusing, playing people off for an outwardly good purpose. At the heart of her character is the same tyranny that Wild, only covered with piety. The key moment of the fragment is Kabanikh's extended remark about law and fear. She betrays the anxiety that the heroine feels (new, “last” times have come, the unshakable foundations are shaking).

Katerina, on the contrary, does not know how to pretend, which Kabanikhe declares directly.

The actress playing Katerina needs to show this directness and openness of her

character, not adapted to life in the "dark kingdom" of Kalinov. Here

Varvara knows how to live (it is no coincidence that all her remarks are aside, she knows how to

observe the rules outwardly, and find a way out of your inner energy - "if only everything was covered up").

Tikhon is a downtrodden and obedient son of his mother, who in self-deprecation is ridiculous. Let us notice the word-words in his speech: servants speak with masters, lower ranks with higher ranks. Tikhon belongs to such a group of heroes of the play who resign themselves to their lives under the heel of tyrants (Boris, Kuligin).

The more interesting will be the public protest, which Tikhon decides to

It is also important to note that the whole scene looks like a walk

families in the city. None of those around will suspect that inside this decorously walking family there is a war. This is very similar to Kuligin's stories about the structure of Kalinov's life - locked gates, high fences, behind which people eat at home and tears flow.

After this scene, the reasons for Katerina's conflict with

"dark realm"

C2 What other works of Russian literature raise the topic

relationships between parents and children and what roll calls arise

between them and the play "Thunderstorm"?

The topic of the relationship between parents and children is raised in many

works of Russian literature. Students can apply, for example,

to Fonvizin's "Undergrowth", Griboyedov's "I'm Burning with Wit", Pushkin's "Captain's Daughter", Gogol's "Dead Souls" (Chichikov's childhood), "Oblomov"

Goncharov, "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev, "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, etc.

Test.

Part 1

BORS (not seeing Katerina). My God! It's her voice, after all! Where is she? (Looks around.) KATERINA (runs up to him and falls on his neck). I did see you! (Crying on his chest.) Silence. B o r and s. Well, here we cried together, God brought. K a t e r i n a. Have you forgotten me? B o r and s. How to forget that you! K a t e r i n a. Oh no, no, no, no! Are you angry at me? B o r and s. Why should I be angry? Katerina, Well, forgive me! I did not want to harm you; Yes, she was not free. What she said, what she did, she did not remember herself. B o r and s. Completely you! What are you! K a t e r i n a. Well, how are you? Now how are you? B o r and s. I'm going. K a t e r i n a. Where are you going? B o r and s. Far away, Katya, to Siberia. K a t e r i n a. Take me away from here! B o r and s. I can't, Katya. I am not going of my own free will: my uncle sends, and the horses are already ready; I just asked my uncle for a minute, I wanted to at least say goodbye to the place where we met. K a t e r i n a. Ride with God! Don't worry about me. At first, only if it will be boring for you, the poor, and then you will forget. B o r and s. What is there to say about me! I am a free bird. How are you? What is the mother-in-law? K a t e r i n a. Torments me, locks me up. She tells everyone and says to her husband: "Do not trust her, she is cunning." Everyone follows me all day and laughs right in my eyes. At every word, everyone reproaches you. B o r and s. What about the husband? K a t e r i n a. Now affectionate, then angry, but drinking everything. Yes, he hates me, hates me, his caress is worse for me than beatings. B o r and s. Is it hard for you, Katya? K a t e r i n a. It's so hard, so hard, that it's easier to die! B o r and s. Who knew what it was for our love to suffer so much with you! I'd better run then! K a t e r i n a. Unfortunately, I saw you. I saw little joy, but grief, grief, what! Yes, there is still so much to come! Well, what to think about what will happen! Now I've seen you, they won't take that away from me; and I don't need anything else. I just needed to see you. Now it has become much easier for me; like a mountain had been lifted off my shoulders. And I kept thinking that you were angry with me, cursing me... B o r and s. What are you, what are you! K a t e r i n a. No, I'm not talking about everything; that's not what I wanted to say! I was bored with you, that's what, well, I saw you ... B o r and s. They wouldn't have found us here! K a t e r i n a. Stop, stop! I wanted to tell you something... I forgot! Something had to be said! Everything is confused in my head, I don’t remember anything. B o r and s. Time for me, Katya! Katerina. Wait, wait! Boris. Well, what did you want to say? K a t e r i n a. Now I will say. (Thinking.) Yes! You will go on your way, don’t let a single beggar through like that, give it to everyone and order them to pray for my sinful soul. B o r and s. Oh, if only these people knew what it feels like to say goodbye to you! My God! God grant that someday it will be as sweet for them as it is for me now. Farewell, Katya! (Hugs and wants to leave.) You villains! Fiends! Oh, what strength! A.N. Ostrovsky, "Thunderstorm".
B1	Specify the literary genus to which the work belongs.
	Answer:
B2	What act of Katerina will follow immediately after the events depicted?
	Answer:
VZ
	Answer:
B4
	Answer:
B5	In the answer sheet, write down the phrase that throughout the play was the poetic leitmotif of the image of Katerina, and what Boris said in this scene exposes his insincerity (a fragment from the words “Go with God!”).
	Answer:
B6	Katerina's response to Tikhon's remark ("Who knew that we should suffer so much with you for our love! ..") is a complete detailed statement. What is this type of utterance in a play called?
	Answer:
B7	The last words of Boris contain exclamations aimed at attracting the attention of listeners. What are these exclamations called?
	Answer:
B1		drama
B2		suicide
B3
B4
B5		free Bird
B6		monologue
B7		rhetorical

C1. How are Boris and Tikhon similar? Expand your position.

Tikhon and Boris. Comparative characteristics (based on the drama by A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm")

The play "Thunderstorm" was allowed by dramatic censorship to be presented in 1859. The censor I. Nordstrem, who had a good relationship with A. N. Ostrovsky, at the request of the playwright's friends, presented The Thunderstorm as love, and not socially accusatory, satirical, and in his report did not mention either Kabanikh or Diky. But the love conflict turns into a public one and unites all the others: family, social. The conflict between Katerina and Boris with those around them is joined by conflicts between Kuligin and Wild and Kabanikha, Kudryash with Wild, Boris with Wild, Varvara with Kabanikha, Tikhon with Kabanikha.

Two male images help us understand Katerina's character. The meek, unrequited Tikhon, Katerina's husband, who loves her, but cannot protect her, and Boris, Diky's nephew, who came to Kalinov from Moscow.

Boris involuntarily came to Kalinov: “ Our parents raised us well in Moscow, they spared nothing for us. I was sent to the Commercial Academy, and my sister was sent to a boarding school, but both suddenly died of cholera; my sister and I were left orphans. Then we hear that my grandmother also died here and left a will so that our uncle would pay us the part that should be when we come of age, only with the condition". Boris is uncomfortable in the city, he cannot get used to the local order: “ Oh, Kuligin, it's painfully difficult for me here without a habit! Everyone looks at me somehow wildly, as if I were superfluous here, as if I were disturbing them. I don't know the customs. I understand that all this is our Russian, native, but still I can’t get used to it in any way..»

Both heroes are united by bondage, dependence: Tikhon - from his own mother, Boris - from Wild. Tikhon from childhood is in the power of a despotic mother, agrees with her in everything, does not dare to contradict. She suppressed his will so much that, even after marrying Katerina, Tikhon continues to live according to his mother's orders:

Kabanova: If you want to listen to your mother, then when you get there, do as I ordered you.

Kabanov: Yes, how can I, mother, disobey you!

N. A. Dobrolyubov, considering the image of Tikhon, notes that he “by himself loved his wife and would be ready to do everything for her; but the oppression under which he grew up so disfigured him that there is no strong feeling in him ... ".

Tikhon does not know how to please his mother ("... only I don’t know what kind of unfortunate person I was born into the world that I can’t please you with anything”), and even breaks down on the innocent Katerina (“ You see, I always get it for you from my mother! Here is my life!"). And Kuligin was right when he said that behind the locked gates in families "debauchery of the dark and drunkenness!" Tikhon drinks from hopelessness, trying to brighten up his life with this. He is waiting for a trip in order to escape from maternal tyranny at least for a while. Varvara understands well the true desires of her brother:

Varvara: They are sitting with their mother, shutting themselves up. She sharpens it now, like rusting iron.

Katerina: For what?

Barbara: No way, so, he teaches the mind. It will be two weeks on the road, a secret matter! Judge for yourself! Her heart is aching that he walks of his own free will. Now she is giving him orders, one more menacing than the other, and then she will lead him to the image, make him swear that he will do everything exactly as ordered.

Katerina: And in the wild, he seems to be bound.

Barbara: Yes, of course, connected! As soon as he leaves, he will drink. He is now listening, and he himself is thinking how to break out as soon as possible.

Tikhon cannot, and it simply does not occur to him, to contradict his mother, cannot protect Katerina from attacks, although he pities her. In the parting scene, we see how Tikhon is tormented, realizing that he offends his wife, giving orders under pressure from his mother:

Kabanova: Why are you standing there, don't you know the order? Tell your wife how to live without you.

Kabanov: Yes, tea, she herself knows.

Kabanova: Talk more! Well, well, give orders! I want to hear what you order her! And then you come and ask if everything is done right.

Kabanov: Listen to your mother, Katya!

Kabanova: Tell her not to be rude to her mother-in-law.

Kabanov: Don't be rude!

Kabanova: To honor the mother-in-law as her own mother!

Kabanov: Honor, Katya, mother, as your own mother!

Kabanova: So that she doesn’t sit idly by like a lady!

Kabanov: Do something without me! Etc.

Tikhon prefers "non-resistance", adapting in his own way to domestic tyranny. He comforts Katerina, trying to make amends: " Take everything to heart, so you will soon fall into consumption. Why listen to her! She needs to say something! Well, let her talk, and you pass by your ears ... "

Boris is also in a dependent position, because the main condition for receiving an inheritance is to show respect for his uncle, Diky. He confesses that he would quit everyone left. And sorry sister».

Boris is a new face in town, but also succumbs to Kalinov's "cruel morals". How did he deserve Katerina's love? Perhaps Katerina pays attention to Boris because he is a visitor, not from the locals; or, as N. Dobrolyubov wrote, “she is attracted to Boris not only by the fact that she likes him, that he does not look like the others in appearance and speech ...; she is attracted to him by the need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, and the offended feeling of the wife and woman, and the mortal longing of her monotonous life, and the desire for freedom, space, hot, unrestricted freedom.

Katerina claims that she loves her husband, replacing the concept of "love" with pity. According to Varvara, “if it’s a pity, you don’t love it. Yes, and for nothing, we must tell the truth!

I think that there is nothing to love Boris either. He knew that this forbidden, sinful relationship could have very serious consequences for him, and especially for Katerina. And Curly warns: “ Only you look, don’t make trouble for yourself, and don’t get her into trouble! Suppose, even though her husband is a fool, but her mother-in-law is painfully fierce". But Boris does not even try to resist his feelings or reason with Katerina. But this is not the worst. Boris's behavior is striking after Katerina confessed to cheating on her mother-in-law and husband. Boris is also unable to protect Katerina. But she offers a way out of this situation - she asks to take her to Siberia, she is ready to go with her beloved even to the ends of the world. But Boris cowardly replies: “ I can't, Katya. I’m not going of my own free will: my uncle sends, and the horses are ready...". Boris is not ready for an open rebellion, and this is exactly how the Kalinovites would regard an act that the hero did not dare to do. It turns out that the inheritance is still more precious to him. He is only ready to cry with Katerina over his and her unfortunate shares. And after all, he understands that he leaves the woman he loves to die (“ There is only one thing we must ask God for, so that she will die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time!"). One cannot but agree with the point of view of N. A. Dobrolyubov that “Boris is not a hero, he is far from being worth Katerina, she fell in love with him more in the absence of people ... He represents one of the circumstances that make the fatal end necessary ... » plays.

But Tikhon, on the contrary, turned out to be more humane, higher and stronger than Boris! Despite the fact that Katerina betrayed and disgraced him, he was able to sympathize with her and his rival: “ It rushes about too; cries. Just now we pounced on him with his uncle, they already scolded him, scolded him - he was silent. Just what a wild one has become. With me, she says whatever you want to do, just don’t torture her! And he has pity for her too.».

Tikhon's love for Katerina is fully manifested after her death:

« Mommy, let me go, my death! I'll pull it out, otherwise I'll do it myself ... What can I do without it!"And at that moment, Tikhon was able to tell his mother the truth, accusing her of the death of his wife:" Mother, you have ruined her! you, you, you...»

These words speak of the fact that new times have come, where there is no place for despotism, tyranny, and oppression.

C2. What caused Katerina's protest in the drama "Thunderstorm" and in what works of Russian literature of the 19th century are rebel heroes portrayed?

Test.

Part 1

Read the text below and do tasks B1-B7; C1-C2.

D i k o y. Look, you wet everything. (Kuligin.) Get away from me! Leave me alone! (With heart.) Stupid man! K u l i g and n. Savel Prokofich, after all, this, your degree, is of benefit to all the townsfolk in general. D i k o y. Go away! What a use! Who needs this benefit? K u l i g and n. Yes, at least for you, your degree, Savel Prokofich. That would be, sir, on the boulevard, in a clean place, and put it. And what is the expense? The expense is empty: a stone column (shows with gestures the size of each thing), a copper plate, so round, and a hairpin, here is a straight hairpin (shows with a gesture), the simplest one. I'll put it all together and cut out the numbers myself. Now you, your degree, when you deign to walk or others who are walking, now come up and see what time it is. And that sort of place is beautiful, and the view, and everything, but it seems to be empty. With us, too, your degree, and there are passers-by, they go there to look at our views, after all, an ornament - it is more pleasant for the eyes. D i k o y. What are you doing to me with all sorts of nonsense! Maybe I don't want to talk to you. You should have known first whether I was in the mood to listen to you, fool, or not. What am I to you - even, or something! Look, what an important case you have found! So right with the snout something and climbs to talk. K u l i g and n. If I had climbed with my business, well, then it would be my fault. And then I am for the common good, your degree. Well, what does ten rubles mean for society! More, sir, is not needed. D i k o y. Or maybe you want to steal; who knows you. K u l i g and n. If I want to give away my labors for nothing, what can I steal, your degree? Yes, everyone here knows me, no one will say bad things about me. D i k o y. Well, let them know, but I don't want to know you. K u l i g and n. Why, sir Savel Prokofich, do you want to offend an honest man? D i k o y. Report, or something, I'll give you! I don't report to anyone more important than you. I want to think about you that way, and I think so. For others, you are an honest person, but I think that you are a robber, that's all. Would you like to hear it from me? So listen! I say that the robber, and the end! What are you going to sue, or what, will you be with me? So you know that you are a worm. If I want - I will have mercy, if I want - I will crush. K u l i g and n. God be with you, Savel Prokofich! I, sir, am a small man; it will not be long to offend me. And I’ll tell you this, your degree: “Virtue is honored in rags!” D i k o y. Don't you dare be rude to me! Do you hear! K u l i g and n. I'm not doing you any rudeness, sir; but I tell you because, perhaps, you will take it into your head to do something for the city sometime. You have a lot of strength, your degree; there would only be a will for a good deed. Let’s just take it now: we have frequent thunderstorms, and we won’t start lightning rods. D&C (proudly). All is vanity! K u l i g and n. But what's the fuss when the experiments were? D i k o y. What kind of lightning rods do you have there? K u l i g and n. Steel. DIKOY (with anger). Well, what else? K u l i g and n. Steel poles. DIKOY (more and more angry). I heard that the poles, you sort of asp; yes, what else? Adjusted: poles! Well, what else? K u l i g and n. Nothing more. D i k o y. Yes, a thunderstorm, what do you think, huh? Well, speak up. K u l i g and n. Electricity. DIKOY (stomping his foot). What else there elestrichestvo! Well, how are you not a robber! A thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of goads, God forgive me. What are you, a Tatar, or what? Are you Tatar? Ah, speak! Tatar? K u l i g and n. Savel Prokofich, your degree, Derzhavin said: I decay in the dust with my body, I command the thunders with my mind. D i k o y. And for these words, send you to the mayor, so he will ask you! Hey, venerable ones, listen to what he says! K u l i g and n. Nothing to do, you have to submit! But when I have a million, then I'll talk. (Waving his hand, he leaves.) DIKOY. What are you, steal, or something, from someone! Hold it! Such a fake man! What kind of person should be with this people? I don't know. (Turning to the people). Yes, you damned ones, you will lead anyone into sin! I didn’t want to be angry today, but he, as if on purpose, did make me angry. For him to fail! (Angrily). Has it stopped raining? 1st. It seems to have stopped. D i k o y. Seems! And you, fool, go and have a look. And then - it seems! 1st (coming out from under the vaults). Stopped! The third phenomenon Barbara and then Boris. V a r v a r a. It seems he is! BORS (passes in the back of the stage). Sssss! BORS (looks around). Come here. (Beckoning with his hand.) Borys (enters). What are we to do with Katherine? Say mercy! B o r and s. And what? V a r v a r a. The trouble is, and only. My husband has arrived, do you know that? And they did not wait for him, but he arrived. B o r and s. No, I didn't know. V a r v a r a. She just didn't make herself! B o r and s. It can be seen that only I lived a dozen days, bye! He was absent. You won't see her now! A.N. Ostrovsky, "Thunderstorm".
When completing tasks B1-B7, write down your answer in the answer sheet No. 1 to the right of the number of the corresponding task, starting from the first cell. The answer must be given in the form of a word or a combination of words. Write each letter in a separate cell legibly. Write words without spaces, punctuation marks and quotation marks.
B1	What is the genre of the work from which the fragment is taken?
	Answer:
B2	What class, depicted by Ostrovsky, is Dikaya a representative of?
	Answer:
VZ	Establish a correspondence between the three characters appearing (mentioned) in this fragment and their inherent personality traits. For each position in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.
	Answer:
B4	Establish a correspondence between the three main characters appearing in this fragment and their future fate. For each position in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.
	Answer:
	&

The play "Thunderstorm" by the famous Russian writer of the XIX century Alexander Ostrovsky, was written in 1859 in the wake of a public upsurge on the eve of social reforms. It became one of the best works of the author, opening the eyes of the whole world to the mores and moral values ​​of the then merchant class. It was first published in the Library for Reading magazine 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 caused a wide public outcry. She became the subject for writing a large number of critical articles of that time (“A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” by Dobrolyubov, “Motives of Russian Drama” by Pisarev, criticism by Apollon Grigoriev).

History of writing

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

Having worked for several years in the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court, he knew well what the merchants were like in Zamoskvorechye (the historical district of the capital, on the right bank of the Moscow River), more than once, on duty, faced with what was happening behind the high fences of the merchants' choir , namely with cruelty, tyranny, ignorance and various superstitions, illegal transactions and scams, tears and suffering of others. The plot of the play was based on the tragic fate of a daughter-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 the harassment of her imperious mother-in-law, tired of her husband’s spinelessness and secret passion for the postal clerk. Many believed that it was 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 the Maly Academic Theater in Moscow, in December of the same year at the Alexandrinsky Drama Theater in St. 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, who live 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 domineering and cruel woman-tyrant, and in fact 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 heavy temper of his mother, the daughter of Varvara, who learned by deceit and cunning to resist the despotism of her mother , as well as daughter-in-law Katerina. 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, in fact, having lost her will and becoming a victim of the cruelty and tyranny of the Kabanikh, left to the mercy of fate by a rag-husband.

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

Katerina, being 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 the life of her daughter-in-law completely unbearable, and Katerina, suffering from unhappy love, reproaches of conscience and cruel persecution of the tyrant and despot Kabanikhi, 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 characters in the play are divided into two opposing camps, some (Kabanikha, her son and daughter, merchant Dikoy and his nephew Boris, maids Feklusha and Glasha) are representatives of the old, patriarchal way of life, others (Katerina, self-taught mechanic Kuligin) are new, progressive.

A young woman, Katerina, the wife of Tikhon Kabanov, is the central character of the play. She was brought up in strict patriarchal rules, in accordance with the laws of the ancient Russian Domostroy: a wife must obey her husband in everything, respect him, fulfill all his requirements. 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 can change her son Tikhon and he will no longer obey the will of his mother. Katerina is cramped and stuffy in the dark realm of life in Kalinovo, she literally suffocates there and in her dreams she flies away like a bird away from this terrible place for her.

Boris

Having fallen in love with a visiting young man Boris, the nephew of a wealthy merchant and businessman, she creates in her head the image of an ideal lover and a real man, which is completely untrue, breaks her heart and leads to a tragic ending.

In the play, Katerina's character is opposed not to a specific person, her mother-in-law, but to the entire existing patriarchal way of life at that time.

Boar

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

Tikhon

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

Tikhon Kabanov throughout the play is characterized as a quiet and weak-willed person, who is under the complete influence of a despotic mother. Distinguished by his gentle nature, he makes no attempt to protect his wife from the attacks of his mother.

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 of Kalinov, whose image is a collective image of 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 urban life as if before a thunderstorm, when the old, dilapidated way of life is shaken, and new and progressive trends, like a gust of furious thunderstorm wind, will carry away outdated rules and prejudices that prevent people from living normally. The period of life of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov described in the play is just 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. The attention of readers should be distributed among all participants in the production. The interpretation of the play as a tragedy suggests its deeper meaning and solidity. If we see in the death of Katerina the consequence of her conflict with her mother-in-law, then she looks like a victim of a family conflict, and all the unfolding action in the play 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 a heroic way, characteristic of a tragic narrative.

The talented playwright Alexander Ostrovsky from the 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 that is taking place in the minds of the people. Ordinary people are aware of the awakening sense of their own dignity, they begin to relate to the world around them in a new way, they 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. The fate of Katerina acquires a social historical meaning, expressing the state of the people's consciousness at the turning point of two eras.

Alexander Ostrovsky, who noticed in time the doom of decaying patriarchal foundations, wrote the play "Thunderstorm" and opened the eyes of the entire Russian public to what was happening. He depicted the destruction of the usual, 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 for a new, better life.

Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" is the most significant work of the famous playwright. It was written in 1860 during a period of social upsurge, when the foundations of serfdom were cracking and a thunderstorm was gathering in the stuffy atmosphere of reality. Ostrovsky's play takes us to a merchant environment, where the house-building order was most stubbornly maintained. The inhabitants of a provincial town live a life closed and alien to public interests, in ignorance of what is going on in the world, in ignorance and indifference. The scope of their interests is limited to household chores. Behind the outward calmness of life lie gloomy thoughts, the dark life of tyrants who do not recognize human dignity. Representatives of the "dark kingdom" are Wild and Boar. The first complete type of merchant-tyrant, whose meaning of life is to make capital by any means. The main theme of the thunderstorm is the clash between new trends and old traditions, between oppressed and oppressors, between people's desire for the free manifestation of their human rights, spiritual needs that prevailed in Russia - social and family and domestic orders.

If we consider The Thunderstorm as a social drama, then the resulting conflict looks quite simple: it is, as it were, external, social; The audience's attention is equally distributed between the characters, all of them, like checkers on a board, play almost the same roles necessary to create a plot outline, they confuse and then, flickering and rearranging themselves, as if in tags, help resolve the intricate plot. If the system of characters is laid out in such a way that the conflict arises and is resolved, as it were, with the help of all the actors. Here we are dealing with a drama of an everyday nature, its conflict is simple and easy to guess.

Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" raises the problem of a turning point in public life that occurred in the 50s, a change in social foundations. The author cannot be absolutely impartial, but it is very difficult for him to express his position - the author's position is revealed in remarks, which are not very many and they are not expressive enough. One option remains - the author's position is presented through a certain hero, through composition, symbolism, etc.
Names are very symbolic in the play. The speaking names used in The Thunderstorm are an echo of the classic theater, the features of which were preserved in the late 60s of the XIX century.
The name Kabanova vividly draws us a heavy, heavy woman, and the nickname “Kabanikha” completes this unpleasant picture.
The author characterizes the wild man as a wild, unrestrained person.
Kuligin's name is ambiguous. On the one hand, it is consonant with Kulibin, a self-taught mechanic. On the other hand, “kuliga” is a swamp.

For a long time, the critical literature dealt with either one conflict or the other. But the author gave the work a deeper meaning - this is a folk tragedy.

Dobrolyubov called Katerina “a ray of light in a dark kingdom”, but later, a few years later, Ostrovsky himself gave such people a name - “hot heart”. Indeed, this is a conflict of a "hot heart" with the surrounding icy environment. And the storm, as a physical phenomenon, is trying to melt this ice. Another meaning given by the author to the storm symbolizes the wrath of God, and all who are afraid of the storm are not ready to accept death and stand before God's judgment, or think so. But the author puts his words into the mouth of Kuligin. “The judge is more merciful than you,” he says. Thus he characterizes his attitude towards this society. And this end expresses hope. Ostrovsky divides all the time in Kalinovo, like a play, into day and night. During the day, people play as the faithful, who live in Domostroy, and at night they take off their masks. Young people go for a walk and have fun, and the elders turn a blind eye to this. The author's position is expressed partly in Kuligin's monologues, partly it can be understood from the opposition of Katerina and Kabanikh. The author's position is expressed in the composition. A feature of the composition are two possible options for climax and denouement.

Of course, 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 life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, its "cruel manners". 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 “with dog heads” seem ridiculous 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 comedy "Thunderstorm" is one of the most famous works of the Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky. The idea, the characters of the work can be explored forever. The images of the characters in "Thunderstorm" are quite remarkable.

Problems of the play "Thunderstorm"

All characters can be divided into 2 groups: representatives of the older and younger generations. The elder represents the Boar and Wild. They are representatives of the patriarchal world, where selfishness and poverty rule. Other characters suffer from the tyranny of the Boar and the Wild. First of all, these are Varvara, Katerina, Boris and Tikhon. Comparative characteristics of the characters show that all the heroes resigned themselves to their fate, and only Katerina is not able to go against her conscience and her desires.

The entire work "Thunderstorm" is dedicated to the history of the main character Katerina. She is one of the participants. Katerina has to choose between two men, and these men are Boris and Tikhon. These characters will help to understand in detail the behavior of the characters in the play.

The fate of Boris

Before analyzing the character of Boris, you need to familiarize yourself with his history.

Boris is not Kalinov. He gets there at the behest of his parents. Boris was supposed to get the inheritance, which for the time being is in charge of Dikoy. For good behavior and obedience, Dikoy is obliged to give the inheritance to Boris, but readers understand that because of the greed of Dikoy, this will never happen. Therefore, Boris has to stay in Kalinovo and live there according to the rules established by Diky and Kabanikha.

The fate of Tikhon

Among all the characters, he singles out two heroes, two men - these are Boris and Tikhon. Comparative characteristics of these heroes can say a lot.

Tikhon depends on Kabanikhi - his mother. He has to obey her in everything. The boar does not hesitate to get into the personal life of his son, dictating how he should treat his wife. His daughter-in-law, Katerina Kabanikha, is literally slaughtered from the world. Katerina Kabanikha constantly finds fault.

Once Tikhon is forced to leave for another city for a few days. The reader clearly sees how glad he is of the opportunity to be alone and show his independence.

Common between Boris and Tikhon

So, we have two characters - this is Boris and Tikhon. A comparative description of these heroes is impossible without an analysis of their lifestyle. So, both characters live with tyrants, both heroes are forced to obey someone else's will. Both characters lack independence. Both heroes love Katerina.

At the end of the play, both suffer greatly after Katerina's death. Tikhon is left alone with his mother, and orders Boris Dika to leave Kalinov. Of course, after the incident with Katerina, he definitely will not see the inheritance.

Boris and Tikhon: differences

There are more differences between Boris and Tikhon than they have in common. So, Boris and Tikhon are a comparative characteristic. The table below will help organize the knowledge about these heroes.

	Boris	Tikhon
Relationship with Katerina	Boris is ready for anything. He risks his reputation, the reputation of Katerina - a married woman. His love is passionate, open and emotional.	Tikhon loves Katerina, but the reader sometimes questions this: if he loves her, why doesn't he protect Kabanikha from attacks? Why doesn't he feel her suffering?
Relationships with other characters in the play	Boris operates under the cover of Varvara. Night Kalinov is the time when all young people go out into the streets with songs and romantic moods.	Tikhon is treated well, but little is said about his relationship with other characters. The only remarkable thing is his relationship with his mother. He loves her to some extent and tries to respect her, but on the other hand, he feels her wrong.

Such are Boris and Tikhon. The comparative characteristics of the characters given in the table above are quite short and capacious. It is worth noting that readers mostly sympathize with Boris than Tikhon.

The main idea of ​​the play "Thunderstorm"

The characterization of Boris and Tikhon suggests that the two men loved Katerina. However, neither one nor the other could save her. Katerina threw herself off a cliff into the river, no one stopped her. It was Boris and Tikhon, whose comparative characteristics were given above, who were supposed to save her, who were supposed to rebel against the power of Kalinov's petty tyrants. However, they did not succeed, and the lifeless body of Katerina was carried out of the river.

Kalinov is a town that lives by its own rules. Dobrolyubov called Katerina "a ray of light in a dark kingdom", and this is true. Katerina could not change her fate, but perhaps she is the whole city. Her death is the first catastrophe that violated the patriarchal way of the family. Kabanikha and Dikoy feel that the youth is getting out of their power, which means that changes are coming.

Thus, A. Ostrovsky was able to show not just a family tragedy. Before us is the tragedy of an entire city perishing in the despotism of the Wild and Boar. Kalinov is not a fictional city, but there are a lot of such "Kalinovs" throughout Russia.

The theme of "Thunderstorm" was not new in the work of Ostrovsky. He touched on it before, but in The Thunderstorm it is developed more fully and deeper. Nowhere has the "dark kingdom" in its terrifying and repulsive form been so vividly exhibited as it is done in The Thunderstorm.
Here we see, on the one hand, representatives of the old world, brought up in the spirit of religion and servility - this is the widow of the merchant Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna and the merchant Dikoy Savel Prokofievich, and on the other hand - the younger generation, full of hopes for happiness - this is Katerina - daughter-in-law Kabanova, Kuligin - a self-taught watchmaker, Varvara - Kabanova's daughter, Vanya Kudryash - Diky's clerk, Boris Grigoryevich - Diky's nephew. The last group includes Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, the son of Kabanikh.

Ostrovsky with great skill portrayed the manners of the Volga trading city of Kalinov, where his heroes live, and showed that the cruel manners of the city are generated by the wild possessive instincts of its inhabitants. Indeed, a horrific picture is passing before us. The inhabitants of the city of Kalinov live an animal life. There, all relationships are built on a material proprietary basis, human feelings are trampled on and lose all value. No spiritual needs bother them, they live by gossip, get drunk, debauchery, the rich rob the poor and orphans. Merchants' houses there are like dungeons, where tears are shed, where people who try to escape into the light are beaten to death. The self-taught watchmaker Kuligina characterizes the customs of his city:

“Sir, what a small town we have! They made a boulevard, but they don’t walk around ... but they themselves go there to show their outfits. You will only meet a drunken clerk, trudging home from the tavern. The poor have no time to go out, they work day and night. And they only sleep three hours a day. And what do the rich do? Well, what would it seem to them not to walk, not to breathe fresh air? So no. Everyone's gates have been locked for a long time and the dogs have been lowered ... Do you think they are doing their job, or they are praying to God. No ... And they do not lock themselves up from thieves, but so that people do not see how they eat their own home, and tyrannize their families. And what tears flow behind these locks, invisible and inaudible... And what... behind these locks is the debauchery of the dark, and drunkenness! And everything is sewn and covered - no one sees or knows anything, only God sees! You, he says, look at me in people, but on the street; but you don’t care about my family, for this, he says, I have locks, yes constipation, and evil dogs. The family, they say, is a secret, a secret! We know these secrets! From these secrets, then ... he only has fun: and the rest howl like a wolf. And what's the secret? Who does not know him! Rob orphans, relatives, nephews, beat up the household so that they wouldn’t dare to utter a word about anything he does there. That's the whole secret."

The ignorance and savagery of the Kalinovites are amazing. They believe that the earth stands on three whales, the navel of the earth is in Jerusalem, and that there are countries where people have dog heads. They are seized with horror when they learn about countries where there are no “Orthodox kings, and the saltans rule the earth” and that in one land “Turkish Saltan Mahnut” sits on the throne, and in the other - “Persian Saltan Mahnut”. All this they learn from wanderers, as ignorant as themselves. The wanderer Feklusha, due to her “weakness, did not go far, but she heard a lot,” and she spreads gossip around the city, gives explanations for signs and predicts the doomsday.

The despotism and tyranny of Dikoy and Kabanova have grown in this world. With unquestioned, "dark irresponsible dominion", giving complete freedom to their whims, putting human laws and logic into nothing, they kill all living aspirations. In this situation whole, sublime natures perish [Katerina]. Dobrolyubov, in the person of Diky and Kabanova, rightly saw typical representatives of old Russia, who created the world of “hidden, quietly sighing sorrow, the world of dull, aching pain, the world of prison grave silence, only occasionally enlivened by a deaf, inglorious murmur, timidly dying away at the very birth.”