On the national significance of Ostrovsky's work. The value of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy

What is the significance of the work of A. N. Ostrovsky in world drama.

1. The significance of A. N. Ostrovsky for the development of domestic drama and the stage, his role in the achievements of all Russian culture are undeniable and enormous. He has done as much for Russia as Shakespeare did for England or Molière for France.
   Ostrovsky wrote 47 original plays (not counting the second editions of Kozma Minin and Voyevoda and seven plays in collaboration with S. A. Gedeonov (Vasilisa Melentyeva), N. Ya. Solovyov (Happy Day, Belugin's Marriage, Savage, Shines, but does not warm) and P. M. Nevezhin (Bliss, the Old in a New Way)... In the words of Ostrovsky himself, this is a whole folk theater.
   But the dramaturgy of Ostrovsky is a purely Russian phenomenon, although his work,
   undoubtedly influenced the dramaturgy and theater of the fraternal peoples,
   belonging to the USSR. His plays have been translated and staged in
   stages of Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, etc.

   Ostrovsky's plays gained admirers abroad. His plays are staged
   in the theaters of the former people's democratic countries, especially on the stages
   Slavic states (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia).
   After the Second World War, the plays of the playwright increasingly attracted the attention of publishers and theaters in the capitalist countries.
   Here, first of all, they became interested in the plays Storm, For every wise man there is enough simplicity, Forest, Snow Maiden, Wolves and sheep, Dowry.
   But such popularity and such recognition as Shakespeare or Moliere, Russian
   playwright in world culture did not win.

2. Everything that the great playwright described has not been eradicated to this day.

The literary life of Russia was stirred up when Ostrovsky's first plays entered it: first in reading, then in magazine publications, and, finally, from the stage. Perhaps the largest and most profoundly estimated critical legacy dedicated to his dramaturgy was left by Ap.A. Grigoriev, a friend and admirer of the writer's work, and N.A. Dobrolyubov. Dobrolyubov's article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" about the drama "Thunderstorm" has become well-known, a textbook.

Let us turn to the estimates of Ap.A. Grigoriev. An extended article entitled “After Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm. Letters to Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev ”(1860), in many respects contradicts the opinion of Dobrolyubov, argues with him. The disagreement was fundamental: two critics adhered to a different understanding of nationality in literature. Grigoriev considered nationality not so much a reflection in the artistic work of the life of the working masses, as Dobrolyubov, but an expression of the general spirit of the people, regardless of position and class. From the point of view of Grigoriev, Dobrolyubov reduces the complex issues of Ostrovsky's plays to the denunciation of tyranny and the "dark kingdom" in general, and assigns the playwright only the role of a satirist-denunciator. But not the "evil humor of the satirist", but the "naive truth of the people's poet" - this is the strength of Ostrovsky's talent, as Grigoriev sees it. Grigoriev calls Ostrovsky "a poet who plays in every way of folk life." “The name for this writer, for such a great writer, despite his shortcomings, is not a satirist, but a folk poet” - this is the main thesis of Ap.A. Grigorieva in a polemic with N.A. Dobrolyubov.

The third position, which does not coincide with the two mentioned, was held by D.I. Pisarev. In the article "Motives of Russian Drama" (1864), he completely denies everything positive and bright that Ap.A. Grigoriev and N.A. Dobrolyubov was seen in the image of Katerina in The Thunderstorm. The “realist” Pisarev has a different view: Russian life “does not contain any inclinations of independent renewal,” and only people like V.G. Belinsky, the type that appeared in the image of Bazarov in "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev. The darkness of Ostrovsky's artistic world is hopeless.

Finally, let us dwell on the position of the playwright and public figure A.N. Ostrovsky in the context of the struggle in Russian literature between the ideological currents of Russian social thought - Slavophilism and Westernism. The time of Ostrovsky's collaboration with MP Pogodin's Moskvityanin magazine is often associated with his Slavophile views. But the writer was much broader than these positions. A statement of this period caught by someone, when from his Zamoskvorechye he looked at the Kremlin on the opposite bank and said: “Why were these pagodas built here?” (seemingly, clearly “Westernizing”), also did not reflect his true aspirations. Ostrovsky was neither a Westernizer nor a Slavophile. The powerful, original, folk talent of the playwright flourished during the formation and rise of Russian realistic art. The genius of P.I. Tchaikovsky; arose at the turn of the 1850-1860s XIX century creative community of Russian composers "Mighty Handful"; Russian realistic painting flourished: I.E. Repin, V.G. Perov, I. N. Kramskoy and other major artists - this is how intense life was in full swing in the visual and musical art of the second half, rich in talents XIX centuries. The portrait of A. N. Ostrovsky belongs to the brush of V. G. Perov, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov creates an opera based on the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”. A.N. Ostrovsky entered the world of Russian art naturally and rightfully.

As for the theater itself, the playwright himself, assessing the artistic life of the 1840s - the time of his first literary searches, speaks of a great variety of ideological currents and artistic interests, a multitude of circles, but at the same time notes that everyone was united by a common, craze for theater . The writers of the 1840s, who belonged to the natural school, everyday writers-essayers (the first collection of the natural school was called "Physiology of St. Petersburg", 1844-1845) included an article by V.G. Belinsky "Alexandrinsky Theatre". The theater was perceived as a place where the classes of society collide, "to see enough of each other." And this theater was waiting for a playwright of such a scale, which manifested itself in A.N. Ostrovsky. The significance of Ostrovsky's work for Russian literature is extremely great: he truly was the successor of the Gogol tradition and the founder of a new, national Russian theater, without which the appearance of A.P. Chekhov. The second half of the 19th century in European literature did not give a single playwright comparable in scale to A. N. Ostrovsky. The development of European literature proceeded differently. The French romanticism of V. Hugo, George Sand, the critical realism of Stendhal, P. Mérimée, O. de Balzac, then the work of H. Flaubert, the English critical realism of C. Dickens, W. Thackeray, C. Bronte paved the way not for drama, but for epic , first of all - to the novel, and (not so noticeable) to the lyrics. The problems, characters, plots, depiction of the Russian character and Russian life in Ostrovsky's plays are so nationally unique, so understandable and consonant with the Russian reader and viewer that the playwright did not have such an impact on the world literary process as Chekhov later did. And in many respects the reason for this was the language of Ostrovsky's plays: it turned out to be impossible to translate them, preserving the essence of the original, to convey that special and special thing with which he fascinates the viewer.

Source (abbreviated): Mikhalskaya, A.K. Literature: Basic level: Grade 10. At 2 o'clock. Part 1: account. allowance / A.K. Mikhalskaya, O.N. Zaitsev. - M.: Bustard, 2018

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (1823-1886) rightfully occupies a worthy place among the largest representatives of world drama.

The significance of the activities of Ostrovsky, who for more than forty years annually published in the best magazines in Russia and staged plays on the stages of the imperial theaters of St. Petersburg and Moscow, many of which were an event in the literary and theatrical life of the era, is briefly but accurately described in the famous letter of I. Goncharov, addressed to the playwright himself.

“You brought a whole library of works of art as a gift to literature, you created your own special world for the stage. You alone completed the building, at the foundation of which you laid the cornerstones of Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol. But only after you we are Russians, we can proudly say: “We have our own Russian, national theater.” It, in fairness, should be called Ostrovsky's Theatre.

Ostrovsky began his career in the 40s, during the lifetime of Gogol and Belinsky, and completed it in the second half of the 80s, at a time when A.P. Chekhov was already firmly established in literature.

The conviction that the work of a playwright, creating a theater repertoire, is a high public service permeated and directed Ostrovsky's activity. He was organically connected with the life of literature.

In his younger years, the playwright wrote critical articles and participated in the editorial affairs of Moskvityanin, trying to change the direction of this conservative magazine, then, while publishing in Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski, he became friends with N. A. Nekrasov, L. N. Tolstoy , I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov and other writers. He followed their work, discussed their works with them and listened to their opinion about his plays.

In an era when state theaters were officially considered "imperial" and were under the control of the Ministry of the Court, and provincial entertainment institutions were given to the full disposal of business entrepreneurs, Ostrovsky put forward the idea of ​​​​a complete restructuring of theatrical business in Russia. He argued the need to replace the court and commercial theater with a folk one.

Not limited to the theoretical development of this idea in special articles and notes, the playwright fought for its implementation for many years. The main areas in which he realized his views on the theater were his work and work with actors.

Dramaturgy, the literary basis of the performance, Ostrovsky considered its defining element. The theatre's repertoire, which gives the viewer the opportunity to "see Russian life and Russian history on the stage", according to his concepts, was addressed primarily to the democratic public, "for which people's writers want to write and are obliged to write." Ostrovsky defended the principles of the author's theater.

He considered the theaters of Shakespeare, Moliere, Goethe to be exemplary experiments of this kind. The combination in one person of the author of dramatic works and their interpreter on stage - the teacher of actors, the director - seemed to Ostrovsky a guarantee of artistic integrity, the organic activity of the theater.

This idea, in the absence of directing, with the traditional orientation of the theatrical spectacle to the performance of individual, "solo" actors, was innovative and fruitful. Its significance has not been exhausted even today, when the director has become the main figure in the theater. It is enough to recall B. Brecht's theater "Berliner Ensemble" to be convinced of this.

Overcoming the inertia of the bureaucratic administration, literary and theatrical intrigues, Ostrovsky worked with actors, constantly directing productions of his new plays at the Maly Moscow and Alexandrinsky Petersburg theaters.

The essence of his idea was to implement and consolidate the influence of literature on the theater. Fundamentally and categorically, he condemned the more and more felt from the 70s. the subordination of dramatic writers to the tastes of the actors, the favorites of the stage, to their prejudices and whims. At the same time, Ostrovsky did not conceive of dramaturgy without the theatre.

His plays were written with the direct expectation of real performers, artists. He emphasized that in order to write a good play, the author must have full knowledge of the laws of the stage, the purely plastic side of the theatre.

Far from every playwright, he was ready to hand over power over stage artists. He was sure that only a writer who created his own unique dramaturgy, his own special world on the stage, has something to say to the artists, has something to teach them. Ostrovsky's attitude to modern theater was determined by his artistic system. The hero of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy was the people.

The whole society and, moreover, the socio-historical life of the people appeared in his plays. Not without reason, critics N. Dobrolyubov and A. Grigoriev, who approached Ostrovsky’s work from mutually opposite positions, saw in his works a complete picture of the life of the people, although they assessed the life depicted by the writer differently.

This orientation of the writer to the mass phenomena of life corresponded to the principle of ensemble play, which he defended, the consciousness inherent in the playwright of the importance of unity, the integrity of the creative aspirations of the team of actors participating in the performance.

In his plays, Ostrovsky portrayed social phenomena that had deep roots - conflicts, the origins and causes of which often date back to distant historical eras.

He saw and showed the fruitful aspirations arising in society, and the new evil rising in it. The bearers of new aspirations and ideas in his plays are forced to wage a hard struggle against the old, consecrated by tradition, conservative customs and views, and the new evil in them collides with the centuries-old ethical ideal of the people, with strong traditions of resistance to social injustice and moral untruth.

Each character in Ostrovsky's plays is organically connected with his environment, his era, the history of his people. At the same time, the ordinary person, in whose concepts, habits and very speech his kinship with the social and national world is imprinted, is the focus of interest in Ostrovsky's plays.

The individual fate of a person, the happiness and unhappiness of an individual, ordinary person, his needs, his struggle for his personal well-being excite the viewer of dramas and comedies of this playwright. The position of a person serves in them as a measure of the state of society.

Moreover, the typical personality, the energy with which the life of the people "affects" in the individual characteristics of a person, in Ostrovsky's dramaturgy has an important ethical and aesthetic significance. The characterization is wonderful.

Just as in Shakespeare's drama the tragic hero, whether he is beautiful or terrible in terms of ethical assessment, belongs to the sphere of beauty, in Ostrovsky's plays the characteristic hero, to the extent of his typicality, is the embodiment of aesthetics, and in a number of cases, spiritual wealth, the historical life and culture of the people. .

This feature of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy predetermined his attention to the play of each actor, to the performer's ability to present a type on stage, to vividly and captivatingly recreate an individual, original social character.

Ostrovsky especially appreciated this ability in the best artists of his time, encouraging and helping to develop it. Addressing A. E. Martynov, he said: “... from several features sketched by an inexperienced hand, you created the final types, full of artistic truth. That's why you are dear to the authors.

Ostrovsky ended his discussion about the nationality of the theatre, about the fact that dramas and comedies are written for the entire people: "...dramatic writers must always remember this, they must be clear and strong."

The clarity and strength of the author's creativity, in addition to the types created in his plays, finds its expression in the conflicts of his works, built on simple life incidents, reflecting, however, the main collisions of modern social life.

In his early article, positively evaluating the story of A.F. Pisemsky “The Mattress”, Ostrovsky wrote: “The intrigue of the story is simple and instructive, like life. Because of the original characters, because of the natural and highly dramatic course of events, a noble thought, acquired by worldly experience, shines through.

This story is truly a work of art." The natural dramatic course of events, the original characters, the depiction of the life of ordinary people - listing these signs of true artistry in Pisemsky's story, the young Ostrovsky undoubtedly proceeded from his reflections on the tasks of drama as an art.

Characteristically, Ostrovsky attaches great importance to the instructiveness of a literary work. The instructiveness of art gives him a reason to compare and bring art closer to life.

Ostrovsky believed that the theater, gathering within its walls a large and diverse audience, uniting it with a sense of aesthetic pleasure, should educate society, help simple, unprepared spectators “to understand life for the first time”, and give educated ones “a whole perspective of thoughts that you can’t get rid of” (ibid.).

At the same time, abstract didactics was alien to Ostrovsky. “Anyone can have good thoughts, but only a select few can own minds and hearts,” he reminded, ironically at writers who replace serious artistic problems with edifying tirades and a naked trend. Knowledge of life, its truthful realistic depiction, reflection on the most pressing and complex issues for society - this is what the theater should present to the public, this is what makes the stage a school of life.

The artist teaches the viewer to think and feel, but does not give him ready-made solutions. Didactic dramaturgy, which does not reveal the wisdom and instructiveness of life, but replaces it with declaratively expressed common truths, is dishonest, since it is not artistic, while it is precisely for the sake of aesthetic impressions that people come to the theater.

These ideas of Ostrovsky found a peculiar refraction in her attitude to historical dramaturgy. The playwright argued that "historical dramas and chronicles<...>develop people's self-knowledge and educate a conscious love for the fatherland.

At the same time, he emphasized that not the distortion of the past for the sake of this or that tendentious idea, not calculated on the external stage effect of melodrama on historical plots and not the transcription of scientific monographs into a dialogical form, but a truly artistic recreation of the living reality of bygone centuries on the stage can be the basis patriotic performance.

Such a performance helps society to know itself, encourages reflection, giving a conscious character to the immediate feeling of love for the motherland. Ostrovsky understood that the plays that he creates every year form the basis of the modern theatrical repertoire.

Defining the types of dramatic works, without which an exemplary repertoire cannot exist, he, in addition to dramas and comedies depicting modern Russian life, and historical chronicles, named extravaganzas, fairy-tale plays for festive performances, accompanied by music and dances, designed as a colorful folk spectacle.

The playwright created a masterpiece of this kind - the spring fairy tale "The Snow Maiden", in which poetic fantasy and picturesque setting are combined with deep lyrical and philosophical content.

History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983

In connection with the 35th anniversary of Ostrovsky's activity, Goncharov wrote to him: “You alone built the building, at the base of which you laid the cornerstones of Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol. But only after you, we, Russians, can proudly say: "We have our own, Russian, national theater." It, in fairness, should be called the Ostrovsky Theater.

The role played by Ostrovsky in the development of Russian theater and drama may well be compared with the importance that Shakespeare had for English culture, and Molière for French. Ostrovsky changed the nature of the Russian theater repertoire, summed up everything that had been done before him, and opened up new paths for dramaturgy. His influence on theatrical art was exceptionally great. This is especially true of the Moscow Maly Theatre, which is also traditionally called the Ostrovsky House. Thanks to the numerous plays of the great playwright, who affirmed the traditions of realism on the stage, the national school of acting was further developed. A whole galaxy of remarkable Russian actors on the material of Ostrovsky's plays was able to vividly show their unique talent, to affirm the originality of Russian theatrical art.

At the center of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy is a problem that has gone through all of Russian classical literature: the conflict of man with the unfavorable conditions of life opposing him, the diverse forces of evil; assertion of the individual's right to free and all-round development. Before readers and spectators of the plays of the great playwright, a wide panorama of Russian life is revealed. This is, in essence, an encyclopedia of life and customs of an entire historical era. Merchants, officials, landlords, peasants, generals, actors, merchants, matchmakers, businessmen, students - several hundred characters created by Ostrovsky gave a total idea of ​​​​Russian reality in the 40-80s . in all its complexity, diversity and inconsistency.

Ostrovsky, who created a whole gallery of wonderful female images, continued the noble tradition that had already been defined in the Russian classics. The playwright exalts strong, integral natures, which in a number of cases turn out to be morally superior to a weak, insecure hero. These are Katerina (“Thunderstorm”), Nadya (“Pupil”), Kruchinina (“Guilty Without Guilt”), Natalia (“Labor Bread”), and others.

Reflecting on the originality of Russian dramatic art, on its democratic basis, Ostrovsky wrote: “People's writers want to try their hand in front of a fresh audience, whose nerves are not very pliable, which requires strong drama, big comedy, causing frank, loud laughter, hot, sincere feelings, lively and strong characters. In essence, this is a characteristic of the creative principles of Ostrovsky himself.

The dramaturgy of the author of "Thunderstorm" is distinguished by genre diversity, a combination of tragic and comic, everyday and grotesque, farcical and lyrical elements. His plays are sometimes difficult to attribute to one specific genre. He wrote not so much drama or comedy as "plays of life", according to the apt definition of Dobrolyubov. The action of his works is often carried out on a wide living space. The noise and talk of life break into action, become one of the factors determining the scale of events. Family conflicts develop into social ones. material from the site

The skill of the playwright is manifested in the accuracy of social and psychological characteristics, in the art of dialogue, in apt, lively folk speech. The language of the characters becomes for him one of the main means of creating an image, an instrument of realistic typification.

A great connoisseur of oral folk art, Ostrovsky made extensive use of folklore traditions, the richest treasury of folk wisdom. The song can replace his monologue, proverb or saying and become the title of the play.

The creative experience of Ostrovsky had a huge impact on the further development of Russian drama and theatrical art. V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko and K. S. Stanislavsky, the founders of the Moscow Art Theater, sought to create “a folk theater with approximately the same tasks and in the same plans as Ostrovsky dreamed of.” The dramatic innovation of Chekhov and Gorky would have been impossible without mastering the best traditions of their remarkable predecessor.

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Introduction

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky... This is an unusual phenomenon. The significance of Alexander Nikolaevich for the development of Russian dramaturgy and the stage, his role in the achievements of all Russian culture are undeniable and enormous. Continuing the best traditions of Russian progressive and foreign dramaturgy, Ostrovsky wrote 47 original plays. Some constantly go on stage, filmed in films and on television, others are almost never staged. But in the minds of the public and the theater there lives a certain stereotype of perception in relation to what is called "Ostrovsky's play". Ostrovsky's plays are written for all time, and it is not difficult for the audience to see our current problems and vices in it.

Relevance:His role in the history of the development of Russian dramaturgy, performing arts and the entire national culture can hardly be overestimated. He did as much for the development of Russian dramaturgy as Shakespeare did in England, Lope de Vega in Spain, Molière in France, Goldoni in Italy, and Schiller in Germany.

Ostrovsky appeared in literature in very difficult conditions of the literary process, on his creative path there were favorable and unfavorable situations, but in spite of everything, he became an innovator and an outstanding master of dramatic art.

The influence of the dramatic masterpieces of A.N. Ostrovsky was not limited to the theatrical stage. It also applied to other forms of art. The national character characteristic of his plays, the musical and poetic element, the colorfulness and clarity of large-scale characters, the deep vitality of the plots have aroused and continue to arouse the attention of outstanding composers of our country.

Ostrovsky, being an outstanding playwright, a remarkable connoisseur of stage art, also showed himself as a public figure of a large scale. This was greatly facilitated by the fact that the playwright throughout his life was "on a par with the century."
Target:The influence of the dramaturgy of A.N. Ostrovsky in the creation of the national repertoire.
A task:Follow the creative path of A.N. Ostrovsky. Ideas, path and innovation of A.N. Ostrovsky. Show the significance of A.N. Ostrovsky.

1. Russian dramaturgy and playwrights preceding A.N. Ostrovsky

.1 Theater in Russia before A.N. Ostrovsky

The origins of Russian progressive drama, in line with which Ostrovsky's work arose. The national folk theater has a wide repertoire, consisting of buffoon games, interludes, Petrushka's comedic adventures, farcical jokes, "bear" comedies and dramatic works of a wide variety of genres.

The folk theater is characterized by a socially pointed theme, freedom-loving, accusatory satirical and heroic-patriotic ideology, deep conflict, large, often grotesque characters, a clear, clear composition, colloquial colloquial language, skillfully using a wide variety of means of comedy: omissions, confusion, ambiguity, homonyms, oxymorons.

“By its character and manner of playing, the folk theater is a theater of sharp and clear movements, sweeping gestures, extremely loud dialogue, powerful song and daring dance - here everything is heard and seen far away. By its very nature, the folk theater does not tolerate an inconspicuous gesture, words rendered in an undertone, all that can easily be perceived in a theater hall with the audience in complete silence.

Continuing the traditions of oral folk drama, Russian written drama has made great strides. In the second half of the 18th century, with the overwhelming role of translation and imitative dramaturgy, writers of various trends appeared, striving to depict domestic customs, taking care of creating a nationally original repertoire.

Among the plays of the first half of the 19th century, such masterpieces of realistic dramaturgy as Griboyedov's Woe from Wit, Fonvizin's Undergrowth, Gogol's The Government Inspector and Marriage stand out.

Pointing to these works, V.G. Belinsky said that they "would do honor to any European literature". Most appreciating the comedies "Woe from Wit" and "The Government Inspector", the critic believed that they could "enrich any European literature."

The outstanding realistic plays by Griboedov, Fonvizin and Gogol clearly outlined the innovative trends in Russian dramaturgy. They consisted in topical social topics, in a pronounced public and even socio-political pathos, in a departure from the traditional love and household plot that determines the entire development of the action, in violation of the plot and compositional canons of comedy and drama of intrigue, in the setting for the development of typical and at the same time individual characters, closely related to the social environment.

These innovative tendencies, manifested in the best plays of progressive domestic drama, writers and critics began to realize theoretically. So, Gogol connects the emergence of Russian progressive dramaturgy with satire and sees the originality of comedy in its true public. He rightly noted that "comedy has not yet taken such an expression from any of the peoples."

By the time A.N. Ostrovsky, Russian progressive dramaturgy already had world-class masterpieces. But these works were still extremely few in number, and therefore did not determine the face of the then theatrical repertoire. A great damage to the development of progressive domestic drama was that the plays of Lermontov and Turgenev, delayed by censorship, could not appear in time.

The vast majority of the works that filled the theatrical stage were translations and adaptations of Western European plays, as well as the stage experiences of domestic writers of the protective sense.

The theatrical repertoire was not created spontaneously, but under the active influence of the gendarme corps and the watchful eye of Nicholas I.

Preventing the appearance of accusatory-sateric plays, the theatrical policy of Nicholas I in every possible way patronized the production of purely entertaining, autocratic-patriotic dramatic works. This policy proved unsuccessful.

After the defeat of the Decembrists, vaudeville came to the fore in the theatrical repertoire, which had long lost its social sharpness and turned into a light, thoughtless, sharply effective comedy.

Most often, a one-act comedy was distinguished by an anecdotal plot, playful, topical, and often frivolous couplets, punning language and ingenious intrigue woven from funny, unexpected incidents. In Russia, vaudeville gained momentum in the 1910s. The first, though unsuccessful, vaudeville is considered to be “The Cossack Poet” (1812) by A.A. Shakhovsky. A whole swarm of others followed him, especially after 1825.

Vaudeville enjoyed the special love and patronage of Nicholas I. And his theatrical policy had its effect. Theater - 30-40s of the XIX century became the realm of vaudeville, in which attention was mainly given to love situations. “Alas,” Belinsky wrote in 1842, “like bats, a beautiful building has taken possession of our stage by vulgar comedies with gingerbread love and an inevitable wedding! This is what we call "plot". Looking at our comedies and vaudevilles and taking them as an expression of reality, you will think that our society is only engaged in love, only lives and breathes, that it is love!

The distribution of vaudeville was also facilitated by the system of benefit performances that existed at that time. For a benefit performance, which was a material reward, the artist often chose a narrowly entertaining play, calculated to be a box office success.

The theatrical stage was filled with flat, hastily sewn works, in which the main place was occupied by flirting, farcical scenes, anecdote, mistake, chance, surprise, confusion, dressing up, hiding.

Under the influence of social struggle, vaudeville changed in its content. According to the nature of the plots, his development went from love-erotic to everyday life. But compositionally, he remained mostly standard, relying on the primitive means of external comedy. Describing the vaudeville of this time, one of the characters in Gogol's "Theatrical Journey" aptly said: "Go only to the theater: there every day you will see a play where one hid under a chair, and the other pulled him out by the leg."

The essence of the mass vaudeville of the 30-40s of the 19th century is revealed by such titles: "Confusion", "They came together, got mixed up and parted." Emphasizing the playful and frivolous properties of vaudeville, some authors began to call them vaudeville farce, joke vaudeville, etc.

Having fixed "insignificance" as the basis of the content, vaudeville became an effective means of distracting viewers from the fundamental issues and contradictions of reality. Entertaining the audience with stupid situations and cases, vaudeville "from evening to evening, from performance to performance, inoculated the viewer with the same ridiculous serum, which was supposed to protect him from the infection of superfluous and unreliable thoughts." But the authorities sought to turn it into a direct glorification of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and serfdom.

Vaudeville, which took over the Russian stage in the second quarter of the 19th century, as a rule, was not domestic and original. For the most part, these were plays, in the words of Belinsky, "forcibly dragged" from France and somehow adapted to Russian customs. We observe a similar picture in other genres of dramaturgy of the 1940s. Dramatic works that were considered original turned out to be largely disguised translations. In pursuit of a sharp word, for effect, for a light and funny plot, the vaudeville-comedy play of the 30s and 40s was most often very far from depicting the true life of its time. People of reality, everyday characters were most often absent in it. This was repeatedly pointed out by the then critics. Regarding the content of vaudeville, Belinsky wrote with displeasure: “The scene is always in Russia, the characters are marked with Russian names; but neither Russian life, nor Russian society, nor Russian people will you recognize or see here.” Pointing to the isolation of the vaudeville of the second quarter of the 19th century from concrete reality, one of the later critics rightly noted that it would be "a stunning misunderstanding" to study the then Russian society on the basis of it.

Vaudeville, developing, quite naturally showed a desire for the specificity of the language. But at the same time, the speech individualization of characters in it was carried out purely externally - by stringing unusual, funny morphologically and phonetically distorted words, introducing incorrect expressions, ridiculous phrases, sayings, proverbs, national accents, etc.

In the middle of the 18th century, melodrama was very popular in the theatrical repertoire along with vaudeville. Its formation as one of the leading dramatic types takes place at the end of the 18th century in the context of the preparation and implementation of Western European bourgeois revolutions. The moral and didactic essence of Western European melodrama of this period is determined mainly by common sense, practicality, didacticism, the moral code of the bourgeoisie, going to power and opposing their ethnic principles to the depravity of the feudal nobility.

And vaudeville and melodrama in the vast majority were very far from life. However, they were not merely negative phenomena. In some of them, not alienated by satirical tendencies, progressive tendencies - liberal and democratic - made their way. Subsequent dramaturgy, undoubtedly, used the art of vaudeville in the conduct of intrigue, external comedy, sharply honed, elegant pun. She did not pass by the achievements of melodramatists in the psychological depiction of characters, in the emotionally intense development of the action.

While melodrama historically preceded romantic drama in the West, in Russia these genres appeared simultaneously. At the same time, most often they acted in relation to each other without a sufficiently precise accentuation of their features, merging, passing one into another.

About the rhetoric of romantic dramas, using melodramatic, falsely pathetic effects, Belinsky spoke sharply many times. “And if you,” he wrote, “want to take a closer look at the“ dramatic performances ”of our romanticism, you will see that they are kneaded according to the same recipes that pseudo-classical dramas and comedies were composed of: the same hackneyed plots and violent denouements, that the same unnaturalness, the same "decorated nature", the same images without faces instead of characters, the same monotony, the same vulgarity and the same skill.

Melodramas, romantic and sentimental, historical-patriotic dramas of the first half of the 19th century were mostly false not only in their ideas, plots, characters, but also in language. Compared with the classicists, the sentimentalists and romantics undoubtedly took a big step in terms of the democratization of the language. But this democratization, especially among the sentimentalists, often did not go beyond the colloquial language of the noble drawing room. The speech of the unprivileged strata of the population, the broad working masses, seemed to them too rude.

Along with the domestic conservative plays of the romantic genre at this time, translated plays close to them in spirit also widely penetrate the theater stage: “romantic operas”, “romantic comedies” are usually combined with ballet, “romantic performances”. The translations of the works of progressive playwrights of Western European romanticism, such as Schiller and Hugo, also enjoyed great success at this time. But in rethinking these plays, the translators reduced their work of "translation" to arousing sympathy in the audience for those who, experiencing the blows of life, retained meek resignation to fate.

In the spirit of progressive romanticism, Belinsky and Lermontov created their plays during these years, but none of them were staged in the theater in the first half of the 19th century. The repertoire of the 1940s does not satisfy not only progressive critics, but also artists and spectators. The remarkable artists of the 40s, Mochalov, Shchepkin, Martynov, Sadovsky, had to waste their strength on trifles, on playing in non-fiction one-day plays. But, recognizing that in the 1940s plays “are born in swarms, like insects”, and “there is nothing to see”, Belinsky, like many other progressive figures, did not look hopelessly at the future of the Russian theater. Unsatisfied with the flat humor of vaudeville and the false pathos of melodrama, the advanced audience has long lived with the dream that original realistic plays would become defining and leading in the theatrical repertoire. In the second half of the 40s, the dissatisfaction of the advanced audience with the repertoire began to be shared to some extent by the mass theater visitor from noble and bourgeois circles. In the late 40s, many viewers, even in vaudeville, "were looking for hints of reality." They were no longer satisfied with melodramatic and vaudeville effects. They wanted the plays of life, they wanted to see ordinary people on the stage. The progressive spectator found an echo of his aspirations only in a few, rarely appearing productions of plays by Russian (Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol) and Western European (Shakespeare, Molière, Schiller) dramatic classics. At the same time, every word associated with protest, free, the slightest hint of feelings and thoughts that disturbed him, acquired a tenfold value in the perception of the viewer.

Gogol's principles, which were so clearly expressed in the practice of the "natural school", contributed to the establishment of realistic and national identity in the theater. Ostrovsky was the clearest exponent of these principles in the field of dramaturgy.

1.2 From early creativity to mature

OSTROVSKY Alexander Nikolaevich, Russian playwright.

Ostrovsky was addicted to reading as a child. In 1840, after graduating from high school, he was enrolled in the law faculty of Moscow University, but left in 1843. Then he entered the office of the Moscow Constituent Court, later served in the Commercial Court (1845-1851). This experience played a significant role in the work of Ostrovsky.

He entered the literary field in the second half of the 1840s. as a follower of the Gogol tradition, focused on the creative principles of the natural school. At this time, Ostrovsky created the prose essay "Notes of a Resident from the Moscow Region", the first comedies (the play "Family Picture" was read by the author on February 14, 1847 in the circle of Professor S.P. Shevyrev and approved by him).

The playwright became widely known for the satirical comedy "The Bankrupt" ("Our people - let's get along", 1849). The plot (the false bankruptcy of the merchant Bolshov, the deceit and heartlessness of his family members - the daughter of Lipochka and the clerk, and then the son-in-law of Podkhalyuzin, who did not redeem the old father from the debt hole, Bolshov's later insight) were based on Ostrovsky's observations on the analysis of family litigation, obtained during service in the conscience court. The strengthened skill of Ostrovsky, a new word that sounded on the Russian stage, was reflected, in particular, in a combination of spectacularly developing intrigue and vivid everyday descriptive inserts (speech of a matchmaker, squabbles between mother and daughter), which slow down the action, but also make you feel the specifics of life and customs of the merchant environment. A special role here was played by the unique, at the same time class, and individual psychological coloring of the characters' speech.

Already in Bankrut, a cross-cutting theme of Ostrovsky's dramatic work was identified: the patriarchal, traditional life, as it was preserved in the merchant and petty-bourgeois environment, and its gradual degeneration and collapse, as well as the complex relationships that a person enters into with a gradually changing way of life.

Having created fifty plays over forty years of literary work (some of them co-authored), which became the repertoire basis of the Russian public, democratic theater, Ostrovsky presented the main theme of his work in different ways at different stages of his career. So, having become in 1850 an employee of the Moskvityanin magazine known for its soil-based trend (editor M.P. Pogodin, employees A.A. Grigoriev, T.I. Filippov, etc.), Ostrovsky, who was a member of the so-called “young editorial board”, tried to give the magazine a new direction - to focus on the ideas of national identity and identity, but not the peasantry (unlike the "old" Slavophiles), but the patriarchal merchant class. In his subsequent plays “Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Do not live as you want” (1852-1855), the playwright tried to reflect the poetry of folk life: “To have the right to correct the people without offending them , you need to show him that you know good behind him; this is what I am doing now, combining the lofty with the comic,” he wrote in the “Muscovite” period.

At the same time, the playwright got along with the girl Agafya Ivanovna (who had four children from him), which led to a break in relations with his father. According to eyewitnesses, she was a kind, warm-hearted woman, to whom Ostrovsky owed much of his knowledge of Moscow life.

The “Muscovite” plays are characterized by a well-known utopianism in resolving conflicts between generations (in the comedy “Poverty is no vice”, 1854, a happy accident upsets the marriage imposed by the tyrant father and hated by the daughter, arranges the marriage of a rich bride - Lyubov Gordeevna - with a poor clerk Mitya) . But this feature of Ostrovsky's "Muscovite" dramaturgy does not negate the high realistic quality of the works of this circle. The image of Lyubim Tortsov, the drunken brother of the tyrant merchant Gordey Tortsov, in the play “Hot Heart” (1868), written much later, turns out to be complex, dialectically connecting seemingly opposite qualities. At the same time, Lyubim is the herald of truth, the bearer of folk morality. He makes Gordey see clearly, having lost a sober view of life because of his own vanity, passion for false values.

In 1855, the playwright, dissatisfied with his position in the Moskvityanin (constant conflicts and meager fees), left the magazine and became close to the editors of the St. Petersburg Sovremennik (N.A. Nekrasov considered Ostrovsky "undoubtedly the first dramatic writer"). In 1859 the first collected works of the playwright were published, which brought him both fame and human joy.

Subsequently, two trends in the coverage of the traditional way of life - critical, accusatory and poetic - fully manifested and merged in Ostrovsky's tragedy The Thunderstorm (1859).

The work, written within the genre framework of social drama, is endowed with tragic depth and historical significance of the conflict at the same time. The clash of two female characters - Katerina Kabanova and her mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna (Kabanikha) - in its scale far exceeds the conflict between generations, traditional for the Ostrovsky theater. The character of the main character (called by N.A. Dobrolyubov “a ray of light in a dark kingdom”) consists of several dominants: the ability to love, the desire for freedom, a sensitive, vulnerable conscience. Showing the naturalness, inner freedom of Katerina, the playwright at the same time emphasizes that she is, nevertheless, the flesh of the flesh of the patriarchal way of life.

Living by traditional values, Katerina, having betrayed her husband, surrendering to her love for Boris, takes the path of breaking with these values ​​and is acutely aware of this. The drama of Katerina, who denounced herself in front of everyone and committed suicide, turns out to be endowed with the features of the tragedy of an entire historical order, which is gradually being destroyed, becoming a thing of the past. The stamp of eschatologism, the feeling of the end, is also marked by the attitude of Marfa Kabanova, the main antagonist of Katerina. At the same time, Ostrovsky's play is deeply imbued with the experience of the "poetry of folk life" (A. Grigoriev), song and folklore elements, a sense of natural beauty (the features of the landscape are present in the remarks, stand up in the replicas of the characters).

The subsequent long period of the playwright's work (1861-1886) reveals the closeness of Ostrovsky's searches to the development paths of the contemporary Russian novel - from M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin to the psychological novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

The theme of “mad money”, greed, shameless careerism of representatives of the impoverished nobility, combined with the richness of the psychological characteristics of the characters, with the ever-increasing art of plot construction of the playwright sounds powerfully in the comedies of the “post-reform” years. So, the "anti-hero" of the play "Enough Stupidity for Every Wise Man" (1868) Egor Glumov is somewhat reminiscent of Griboyedov's Molchalin. But this is Molchalin of a new era: Glumov's inventive mind and cynicism for the time being contribute to his dizzying career that has begun. These same qualities, the playwright hints, in the finale of the comedy will not let Glumov fall into the abyss even after his exposure. The theme of the redistribution of life's blessings, the emergence of a new social and psychological type - a businessman ("Mad Money", 1869, Vasilkov), and even a predatory businessman from nobles ("Wolves and Sheep", 1875, Berkutov) existed in Ostrovsky's work until the end of his writer's path. In 1869 Ostrovsky entered into a new marriage after the death of Agafya Ivanovna from tuberculosis. From his second marriage, the writer had five children.

Genre and compositionally complex, full of literary allusions, hidden and direct quotations from Russian and foreign classical literature (Gogol, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Moliere, Schiller), the comedy The Forest (1870) sums up the first post-reform decade. The play touches upon themes developed by Russian psychological prose - the gradual ruin of the "noble nests", the spiritual decline of their owners, the stratification of the second estate and those moral collisions in which people are involved in new historical and social conditions. In this social, domestic and moral chaos, the bearer of humanity and nobility is a man of art - a declassed nobleman and provincial actor Neschastlivtsev.

In addition to the “folk tragedy” (“Thunderstorm”), the satirical comedy (“Forest”), Ostrovsky at the late stage of his work also creates exemplary works in the genre of psychological drama (“Dowry”, 1878, “Talents and Admirers”, 1881, “Without Guilty Guilty", 1884). The playwright in these plays expands, psychologically enriches the stage characters. Correlating with traditional stage roles and with commonly used dramatic moves, characters and situations turn out to be able to change in an unforeseen way, thereby demonstrating the ambiguity, inconsistency of a person’s inner life, the unpredictability of every everyday situation. Paratov is not only a "fatal man", the fatal lover of Larisa Ogudalova, but also a man of simple, rough worldly calculation; Karandyshev is not only a "little man" who tolerates cynical "masters of life", but also a person with immense, painful pride; Larisa is not only a heroine suffering from love, ideally different from her environment, but also under the influence of false ideals ("Dowry"). The character of Negina (“Talents and Admirers”) is psychologically ambiguously resolved by the playwright: the young actress not only chooses the path of serving art, preferring it to love and personal happiness, but also agrees to the fate of a kept woman, that is, she “practically reinforces” her choice. The fate of the famous actress Kruchinina (“Guilty Without Guilt”) intertwined both the ascent to the theatrical Olympus and a terrible personal drama. Thus, Ostrovsky follows a path that is comparable with the paths of contemporary Russian realistic prose - the path of an ever deeper awareness of the complexity of the inner life of the individual, the paradoxical nature of the choice she makes.

2. Ideas, themes and social characters in the dramatic works of A.N. Ostrovsky

.1 Creativity (Ostrovsky's democracy)

In the second half of the 1950s, a number of major writers (Tolstoy, Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky) entered into an agreement with the Sovremennik magazine on preferential provision of their works to it. But soon this agreement was violated by all writers except Ostrovsky. This fact is one of the testimonies of the great ideological closeness of the playwright with the editors of the revolutionary-democratic journal.

After the closure of Sovremennik, Ostrovsky, consolidating his alliance with the revolutionary democrats, with Nekrasov and Saltykov-Shchedrin, published almost all of his plays in the journal Fatherland Notes.

Ideologically maturing, the playwright reaches the heights of his democracy, alien Westernism and Slavophilism by the end of the 60s. In its ideological pathos, the dramaturgy of Ostrovsky is the dramaturgy of peaceful-democratic reformism, ardent propaganda of enlightenment and humanity, and the protection of working people.

The democracy of Ostrovsky explains the organic connection of his work with oral folk poetry, the material of which he so wonderfully used in his artistic creations.

The playwright highly appreciates M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. He speaks of him "in the most enthusiastic way, declaring that he considers him not only an outstanding writer, with incomparable methods of satire, but also a prophet in relation to the future."

Closely associated with Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin and other leaders of the revolutionary peasant democracy, Ostrovsky, however, was not a revolutionary in his socio-political views. In his works there are no calls for a revolutionary transformation of reality. That is why Dobrolyubov, completing the article "The Dark Kingdom", wrote: "We must confess: we did not find a way out of the" dark kingdom "in the works of Ostrovsky." But in the totality of his works, Ostrovsky gave fairly clear answers to questions about the transformation of reality from the standpoint of peaceful reformist democracy.

Ostrovsky's characteristic democratism determined the enormous strength of his sharply satirical guise of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the bureaucracy. In a number of cases these guises were raised to the level of the most resolute criticism of the ruling classes.

The accusatory satirical power of many of Ostrovsky's plays is such that they objectively serve the cause of the revolutionary transformation of reality, which Dobrolyubov spoke about: “The modern aspirations of Russian life in the most extensive dimensions find their expression in Ostrovsky, as in a comedian, from the negative side. Drawing to us in a vivid picture false relationships, with all their consequences, he through the very same serves as an echo of aspirations that require a better device. Concluding this article, he said, and even more definitely: "Russian life and Russian strength are called by the artist in The Thunderstorm to a decisive task."

In the very last years, Ostrovsky has a tendency to improve, which is reflected in the substitution of clear social characteristics for abstract moralizing ones, in the appearance of religious motives. For all that, the tendency to improve does not violate the foundations of Ostrovsky's work: it manifests itself within the boundaries of his inherent democracy and realism.

Each writer is distinguished by his curiosity and observation. But Ostrovsky possessed these qualities to the highest degree. He watched everywhere: on the street, at a business meeting, in a friendly company.

2.2 Innovation A.N. Ostrovsky

Ostrovsky's innovation manifested itself already in the subject matter. He sharply turned dramaturgy to life, to its everyday life. It was with his plays that the content of Russian dramaturgy became life as it is.

Developing a very wide range of topics of his time, Ostrovsky mainly used material from the life and customs of the upper Volga region and Moscow in particular. But regardless of the place of action, Ostrovsky's plays reveal the essential features of the main social classes, estates and groups of Russian reality at a certain stage of their historical development. "Ostrovsky," Goncharov rightly wrote, "scribbled the whole life of the Moscow, that is, the Great Russian state."

Along with the coverage of the most important aspects of the life of the merchants, the dramaturgy of the 18th century did not pass by such private phenomena of merchant life as the passion for dowry, which was prepared on a monstrous scale (“The Bride under a Veil, or the Petty-bourgeois Wedding” by an unknown author 1789)

Expressing the socio-political demands and aesthetic tastes of the nobility, vaudeville and melodrama, which flooded the Russian theater in the first half of the 19th century, greatly muted the development of everyday drama and comedy, in particular drama and comedy with merchant themes. The theater's keen interest in plays with merchant themes emerged only in the 1930s.

If in the late 30s and at the very beginning of the 40s the life of the merchants in dramatic literature was still perceived as a new phenomenon in the theater, then in the second half of the 40s it already becomes a literary cliché.

Why did Ostrovsky turn to the merchant theme from the very beginning? Not only because the merchant life literally surrounded him: he met with the merchant class in his father's house, in the service. On the streets of Zamoskvorechye, where he lived for many years.

Under the conditions of the disintegration of feudal-serf relations, landlord Russia was rapidly turning into capitalist Russia. The commercial and industrial bourgeoisie was rapidly advancing onto the public stage. In the process of transforming landowner Russia into capitalist Russia, Moscow becomes a commercial and industrial center. Already in 1832, most of the houses in it belonged to the "middle class", i.e. merchants and townspeople. In 1845, Belinsky stated: “The core of the indigenous Moscow population is the merchant class. How many old noble houses have now passed into the ownership of the merchants!

A significant part of Ostrovsky's historical plays is devoted to the events of the so-called "Time of Troubles". This is no coincidence. The turbulent time of the “troubles”, clearly marked by the national liberation struggle of the Russian people, clearly echoes the growing peasant movement of the 60s for their freedom, with the sharp struggle of reactionary and progressive forces that unfolded during these years in society, in journalism and literature.

Depicting the distant past, the playwright also had in mind the present. Exposing the ulcers of the socio-political system and the ruling classes, he scourged the contemporary autocratic order. Drawing in plays about the past images of people boundlessly devoted to their homeland, reproducing the spiritual greatness and moral beauty of the common people, he thereby expressed sympathy for the working people of his era.

Ostrovsky's historical plays are an active expression of his democratic patriotism, an effective realization of his struggle against the reactionary forces of modernity, for its progressive aspirations.

Ostrovsky's historical plays, which appeared during the years of a fierce struggle between materialism, idealism, atheism and religion, revolutionary democratism and reaction, could not be raised to the shield. Ostrovsky's plays emphasized the significance of the religious principle, and the revolutionary democrats waged irreconcilable atheistic propaganda.

In addition, advanced criticism negatively perceived the very departure of the playwright from the present into the past. Ostrovsky's historical plays began to find more or less objective evaluation later. Their true ideological and artistic value begins to be realized only in Soviet criticism.

Ostrovsky, depicting the present and the past, was carried away by his dreams into the future. In 1873. He creates a wonderful fairy tale play "The Snow Maiden". This is a social utopia. It has a fabulous plot, characters, and setting. Profoundly different in its form from the playwright's social plays, it organically enters the system of democratic, humanistic ideas of his work.

In the critical literature about The Snow Maiden, it was rightly pointed out that Ostrovsky draws here a “peasant kingdom”, a “peasant community”, once again emphasizing his democracy, his organic connection with Nekrasov, who idealized the peasantry.

It is with Ostrovsky that the Russian theater in its modern sense begins: the writer created a theater school and a holistic concept of acting in the theater.

The essence of Ostrovsky's theater is the absence of extreme situations and opposition to the actor's gut. Alexander Nikolaevich's plays depict ordinary situations with ordinary people, whose dramas go into everyday life and human psychology.

The main ideas of the theater reform:

· the theater should be built on conventions (there is a 4th wall separating the audience from the actors);

· invariability of attitude to language: mastery of speech characteristics, expressing almost everything about the characters;

· betting on more than one actor;

· "People go to see the game, not the play itself - you can read it."

Ostrovsky's theater demanded a new stage aesthetics, new actors. In accordance with this, Ostrovsky creates an ensemble of actors, which includes such actors as Martynov, Sergei Vasilyev, Evgeny Samoilov, Prov Sadovsky.

Naturally, innovations met opponents. They were, for example, Shchepkin. The dramaturgy of Ostrovsky demanded from the actor detachment from his personality, which M.S. Shchepkin did not. For example, he left the dress rehearsal of The Thunderstorm, being very dissatisfied with the author of the play.

Ostrovsky's ideas were carried to their logical end by Stanislavsky.

.3 Socio-ethical dramaturgy of Ostrovsky

Dobrolyubov said that Ostrovsky "extremely fully exposed two types of relations - family relations and property relations." But these relations are always given to them in a broad social and moral framework.

Ostrovsky's dramaturgy is socio-ethical. It raises and solves the problems of morality, human behavior. Goncharov rightly drew attention to this: “Ostrovsky is usually called a writer of everyday life, morals, but this does not exclude the psychic side ... he does not have a single play where this or that purely human interest, feeling, life truth is not affected.” The author of "Thunderstorm" and "Dowry" has never been a narrow everyday worker. Continuing the best traditions of Russian progressive dramaturgy, he organically fuses in his plays family and everyday, moral and everyday motives with deeply social or even socio-political ones.

At the heart of almost any of his plays is the main, leading theme of great social resonance, which is revealed with the help of subordinate private themes, mostly everyday ones. Thus, his plays acquire a thematically complex complexity, versatility. So, for example, the leading theme of the comedy "Own people - let's settle!" - unbridled predation, which led to malicious bankruptcy - is carried out in an organic interweaving with its subordinate private topics: education, relationships between elders and younger, fathers and children, conscience and honor, etc.

Shortly before the appearance of "Thunderstorm" N.A. Dobrolyubov published the articles "Dark Kingdom", in which he argued that Ostrovsky "possesses a deep understanding of Russian life and is great at portraying its most essential aspects sharply and vividly."

The Thunderstorm served as new proof of the correctness of the propositions expressed by the revolutionary-democratic critic. In The Thunderstorm, the playwright so far showed with exceptional force the clash between old traditions and new trends, between the oppressed and the oppressors, between the aspirations of the oppressed people for the free manifestation of their spiritual needs, inclinations, interests and the social and family-household orders that dominated in the conditions of pre-reform life.

Solving the urgent problem of illegitimate children, their social powerlessness, Ostrovsky in 1883 created the play Guilty Without Guilt. This problem was touched upon in the literature both before and after Ostrovsky. Democratic fiction paid particular attention to it. But in no other work did this theme sound with such penetrating passion as in the play Guilty Without Guilt. Confirming its relevance, a contemporary of the playwright wrote: "The question of the fate of the illegitimate is a question inherent in all classes."

In this play, the second problem is also loud - art. Ostrovsky skillfully, justifiably tied them into a single knot. He turned a mother looking for her child into an actress and unfolded all the events in an artistic environment. Thus, two heterogeneous problems merged into an organically inseparable life process.

Ways to create a work of art are very diverse. A writer can come from a real fact that struck him or a problem or idea that excited him, from a glut of life experience or from imagination. A.N. Ostrovsky, as a rule, started from the concrete phenomena of reality, but at the same time he defended a certain idea. The playwright fully shared Gogol's judgment that “idea, thought governs the play. Without it, there is no unity in it.” Guided by this position, on October 11, 1872, he wrote to his co-author N.Ya. Solovyov: “I worked on “The Savage Woman” all summer, and I thought for two years, I not only have not a single character or position, but there is not a single phrase that would not strictly follow from the idea ... "

The playwright has always been an opponent of frontal didactics, so characteristic of classicism, but at the same time he defended the need for complete clarity of the author's position. In his plays, one can always feel the author-citizen, a patriot of his country, a son of his people, a champion of social justice, acting either as a passionate defender, lawyer, or as a judge and prosecutor.

Ostrovsky's social, ideological, and ideological position is clearly revealed in relation to the various depicted social classes and characters. Showing the merchants, Ostrovsky reveals with particular fullness his predatory egoism.

Along with selfishness, an essential feature of the bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky is acquisitiveness, accompanied by insatiable greed and shameless cheating. The acquisitive greed of this class is all-consuming. Kindred feelings, friendship, honor, conscience are exchanged here for money. The glitter of gold overshadows in this environment all the usual concepts of morality and honesty. Here, a wealthy mother gives her only daughter to an old man only because he “doesn’t peck for money” (“Family Picture”), and a rich father is looking for a groom for his, also only daughter, considering only that he has “ there were money and a smaller dowry ache "(" "Own people - let's settle!").

In the trading environment portrayed by Ostrovsky, no one takes into account other people's opinions, desires and interests, considering only their own will and personal arbitrariness as the basis of their activity.

An integral feature of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky is hypocrisy. The merchants strove to hide their fraudulent nature under the mask of sedateness and piety. The religion of hypocrisy professed by the merchants became their essence.

Predatory egoism, acquisitive greed, narrow practicality, a complete lack of spiritual inquiries, ignorance, tyranny, hypocrisy and hypocrisy - these are the leading moral and psychological features of the pre-reform commercial and industrial bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky, its essential properties.

Reproducing the pre-reform commercial and industrial bourgeoisie with its pre-construction way of life, Ostrovsky clearly showed that in life the forces opposing it were already growing, inexorably undermining its foundations. The ground under the feet of self-indulgent despots became more and more shaky, foreshadowing their inevitable end in the future.

The post-reform reality has changed a lot in the position of the merchants. The rapid development of industry, the growth of the domestic market, and the expansion of trade relations with foreign countries have turned the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie not only into an economic but also into a political force. The type of the old pre-reform merchant began to be replaced by a new one. A merchant of a different fold came to replace him.

Responding to the new that the post-reform reality introduced into the life and customs of the merchants, Ostrovsky even more sharply poses in his plays the struggle of civilization with patriarchy, of new phenomena with antiquity.

Following the changing course of events, the playwright in a number of his plays draws a new type of merchant, who was formed after 1861. Acquiring a European gloss, this merchant hides his selfish and predatory essence under external plausibility.

Drawing representatives of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie of the post-reform era, Ostrovsky exposes their utilitarianism, narrow-mindedness, spiritual poverty, preoccupation with the interests of hoarding and domestic comfort. “The bourgeoisie,” we read in the Communist Manifesto, “tore away their touchingly sentimental veil from family relations and reduced them to purely monetary relations.” We see a convincing confirmation of this position in the family and everyday relations of both the pre-reform and, in particular, the post-reform Russian bourgeoisie, depicted by Ostrovsky.

Marriage and family relations are subordinated here to the interests of entrepreneurship and profit.

Civilization has undoubtedly streamlined the technique of professional relations between the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie and has imparted to it the gloss of an external culture. But the essence of the social practice of the pre-reform and post-reform bourgeoisie remained unchanged.

Comparing the bourgeoisie with the nobility, Ostrovsky prefers the bourgeoisie, but nowhere, except for three plays - “Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Do not live as you want”, - does not idealize it as an estate. It is clear to Ostrovsky that the moral foundations of the representatives of the bourgeoisie are determined by the conditions of their environment, their social existence, which is a particular expression of the system, which is based on despotism, the power of wealth. The commercial and entrepreneurial activity of the bourgeoisie cannot serve as a source of spiritual growth of the human personality, humanity and morality. The social practice of the bourgeoisie can only disfigure the human personality, instilling in it individualistic, anti-social properties. The bourgeoisie, historically replacing the nobility, is vicious in its essence. But it has become a force not only economic, but also political. While the merchants of Gogol were afraid of the mayor like fire and wallowed at his feet, the merchants of Ostrovsky treat the mayor in familiarity.

Depicting the affairs and days of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, its old and young generation, the playwright showed a gallery of images full of individual originality, but, as a rule, without soul and heart, without shame and conscience, without pity and compassion.

The Russian bureaucracy of the second half of the 19th century, with its inherent properties of careerism, embezzlement, and bribery, was also subjected to harsh criticism by Ostrovsky. Expressing the interests of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, it was in fact the dominant socio-political force. “Tsarist autocracy is,” Lenin said, “the autocracy of officials.”

The power of the bureaucracy, directed against the interests of the people, was uncontrolled. Representatives of the bureaucratic world are the Vyshnevskys ("Profitable Place"), the Potrokhovs ("Labor Bread"), the Gnevyshevs ("The Rich Bride") and the Benevolenskys ("The Poor Bride").

The concepts of justice and human dignity exist in the bureaucratic world in an egoistic, extremely vulgar sense.

Revealing the mechanics of bureaucratic omnipotence, Ostrovsky paints a picture of the terrible formalism that brought to life such dark businessmen as Zakhar Zakharych (“Hangover at a Strange Feast”) and Mudrov (“Hard Days”).

It is quite natural that the representatives of autocratic-bureaucratic omnipotence are stranglers of any free political thought.

Stealing from the treasury, taking bribes, perjury, whitewashing the evil and drowning the just cause in a paper stream of casuistic cunning gossip, these people are morally devastated, everything human in them is weathered, there is nothing cherished for them: conscience and honor are sold for profitable places, ranks, money.

Ostrovsky convincingly showed the organic merging of the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy with the nobility and the bourgeoisie, the unity of their economic and socio-political interests.

Reproducing the heroes of the conservative bourgeois bureaucratic life with their vulgarity and impenetrable ignorance, carnivorous greed and rudeness, the playwright creates a magnificent trilogy about Balzaminov.

Looking ahead in his dreams to the future, when he marries a rich bride, the hero of this trilogy says: “Firstly, I would sew myself a blue cloak with a black velvet lining ... I would buy myself a gray horse and a racing droshky and drive along the Hook, mother, and he ruled ... ".

Balzaminov is the personification of vulgar petty-bourgeois bureaucratic limitations. This is a type of great generalizing power.

But a significant part of the petty bureaucracy, being socially between a rock and a hard place, itself endured oppression from the autocratic-despotic system. Among the petty bureaucracy there were many honest workers who stooped and often fell under the unbearable burden of social injustice, deprivation and want. Ostrovsky treated these workers with ardent attention and sympathy. He devoted a number of plays to the little people of the bureaucratic world, where they act as they were in reality: good and evil, smart and stupid, but both of them are destitute, deprived of the opportunity to reveal their best abilities.

More acutely felt their social infringement, more deeply felt their futility people in one way or another outstanding. And so their lives were mostly tragic.

Representatives of the working intelligentsia in the image of Ostrovsky are people of spiritual vivacity and bright optimism, goodwill and humanism.

Principled directness, moral purity, a firm belief in the truth of one's deeds and the bright optimism of the working intelligentsia find ardent support from Ostrovsky. Depicting the representatives of the working intelligentsia as true patriots of their fatherland, as carriers of light, designed to dispel the darkness of the dark kingdom, based on the power of capital and privileges, arbitrariness and violence, the playwright puts his cherished thoughts into their speeches.

Ostrovsky's sympathies belonged not only to the working intelligentsia, but also to ordinary working people. He found them among the philistinism - a motley, complex, contradictory estate. By property aspirations, the petty-bourgeoisie are adjacent to the bourgeoisie, and by their labor essence, to the common people. Ostrovsky portrays from this estate mainly working people, showing obvious sympathy for them.

As a rule, ordinary people in Ostrovsky's plays are carriers of natural intelligence, spiritual nobility, honesty, innocence, kindness, human dignity and sincerity of the heart.

Showing the working people of the city, Ostrovsky penetrates with deep respect for their spiritual merits and ardent sympathy for the difficult situation. He acts as a direct and consistent defender of this social stratum.

Deepening the satirical tendencies of Russian dramaturgy, Ostrovsky acted as a merciless denunciator of the exploiting classes and, thereby, of the autocratic system. The playwright portrayed a social system in which the value of the human personality is determined only by its material wealth, in which poor workers experience heaviness and hopelessness, and careerists and bribe-takers prosper and triumph. Thus, the playwright pointed out his injustice and depravity.

That is why in his comedies and dramas all positive characters are predominantly in dramatic situations: they suffer, suffer and even die. Their happiness is accidental or imaginary.

Ostrovsky was on the side of this growing protest, seeing in it a sign of the times, an expression of a nationwide movement, the beginnings of what was to change all life in the interests of working people.

Being one of the brightest representatives of Russian critical realism, Ostrovsky not only denied, but also affirmed. Using all the possibilities of his skill, the playwright attacked those who oppressed the people and disfigured their souls. Permeating his work with democratic patriotism, he said: “As a Russian, I am ready to sacrifice everything I can for the fatherland.”

Comparing Ostrovsky’s plays with his contemporary liberal-accusatory novels and short stories, Dobrolyubov rightly wrote in his article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”: “It is impossible not to admit that Ostrovsky’s work is much more fruitful: he captured such common aspirations and needs that permeate the entire Russian society whose voice is heard in all the phenomena of our life, whose satisfaction is a necessary condition for our further development.

Conclusion

The vast majority of Western European dramaturgy of the 19th century reflected the feelings and thoughts of the bourgeoisie, which dominated all spheres of life, praised its morality and heroes, and affirmed the capitalist order. Ostrovsky expressed the mood, moral principles, ideas of the working strata of the country. And this determined the height of his ideology, that strength of his public protest, that truthfulness in his depiction of the types of reality, with which he so clearly stands out against the background of all the world drama of his time.

The creative activity of Ostrovsky had a powerful influence on the entire further development of progressive Russian drama. It was from him that our best playwrights studied, he taught. It was to him that aspiring dramatic writers were drawn in their time.

Ostrovsky had a tremendous impact on the further development of Russian drama and theatrical art. IN AND. Nemirovich-Danchenko and K.S. Stanislavsky, the founders of the Moscow Art Theater, sought to create "a folk theater with approximately the same tasks and plans as Ostrovsky dreamed of." The dramatic innovation of Chekhov and Gorky would have been impossible without mastering the best traditions of their remarkable predecessor. Ostrovsky became an ally and comrade-in-arms of playwrights, directors, and actors in their struggle for nationality and the high ideology of Soviet art.

Bibliography

Ostrovsky dramatic ethical play

1.Andreev I.M. “The creative path of A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 1989

2.Zhuravleva A.I. “A.N. Ostrovsky - comedian "M., 1981

.Zhuravleva A.I., Nekrasov V.N. “Theatre A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 1986

.Kazakov N.Yu. “The life and work of A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 2003

.Kogan L.R. “Chronicle of the life and work of A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 1953

.Lakshin V. “Theatre A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 1985

.Malygin A.A. “The Art of Drama by A.N. Ostrovsky "M., 2005

Internet resources:

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.Shchelykovo www. Shelykovo.ru

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