Features of the composition of the drama thunderstorm briefly. Drama "Thunderstorm"

What is the composition of the play "Thunderstorm"? and got the best answer

Answer from Yuta[expert]
Exposition, plot, conflict development, climax, denouement.) And now remember the plot)) Composition. The first action is a detailed exposition. Ostrovsky needed it in order to give an initial idea of ​​the characters, of the relationships that prevail in the city of Kalinovo.
The inhabitants of the city constantly feel the cruel and boundless power of the owners. Hence the word bondage so often repeated by the heroes of the play. Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Barbara talk about her.
It was very important for the playwright to choose such a hero, through whose mouth he could give a general picture of the life and customs of the city of Kalinov. Such a person in the play is the self-taught mechanic Kuligin: it is he who owns the words about the beauty of the surrounding nature, it is he who is able to appreciate what is happening around. He tells Boris about the "cruel morals" of the city. Almost next to Kuligin's monologue in the play, the monologue of the wanderer Feklusha is given ("And the merchants are all pious people, adorned with many virtues!"). Kuligin Kabanova gives a different assessment: “Prude, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely. .
The fifth phenomenon reveals family relationships that reign in Kabanova's house. .
A sharp clash of characters begins to be felt in this phenomenon. One can feel the inner protest of both Tikhon and Barbara, and most importantly, Katerina. But Tikhon hides his discontent behind false phrases full of humiliation, Varvara speaks “to himself”, and Katerina, “what with people, what without people ... everything is one”, speaks with Kabanikha as an equal and, unlike Tikhon, even refers to her as "you". It is in Katerina that Kabanova sees her opponent.
In the seventh appearance, Katerina talks about herself, about her life in her parents' house, and one can feel the depth and poetry of her inner world. The impressions of past years are in sharp contrast with the furnishings of the boar's house ("I have withered completely").
Katerina suffers both from the difficult atmosphere in the house of Kabanikh, and from the consciousness of her secret love for Boris, hence the premonition of trouble. The tragic motif (“To be sad for someone!.. To be in trouble!”) permeates the first and second acts, sounds throughout the play.
In the first act, Ostrovsky leads the viewer from the general picture of morals and characters to the Kabanova family and further to the emotional drama of Katerina
^ The main event of the second act is the send-off of Tikhon to Moscow, which allows the playwright to more fully reveal the house-building orders that prevail in the Kabanovsky House, the psychology and characters of the heroes. In the scene of wires, there is a new clash between Kabanikh and Katerina. We see Tikhon's inability not only to protect, but also to understand Katerina, whose last hopes of finding support in her husband are crumbling, hence her exclamation, full of mental pain: “Oh, my misfortune, misfortune! Where can I, poor thing, go? Who am I to hold on to? My fathers, I am dying!” .
^ The second act and, in particular, the scenes of seeing off Tikhon and the subsequent monologue of Katerina with the key (the tenth phenomenon) is the beginning of the drama, the turning point, followed by the development of the action.
“Oh, if only the night would be sooner!..” - with these words of Katerina, the second act of the drama ends, but the third begins not with the scene of a nightly date, which the heroine is waiting for, but with a conversation between Kabanikhi and Feklusha at the gates of the boar's house. This action is divided by the playwright into two pictures (scenes), sharply opposed to each other.
The story of the pilgrim Feklusha about visiting Moscow, who listens attentively to Kabanov, is painted with a gloomy foreboding - according to all the signs, “the last times” are coming: there is only empty fuss in the city, “amusements and games, and the Indo rumble is walking along the streets ... the fiery serpent of steel harness".
^ Second picture - date night
Let us turn to the dialogue between Katerina and Boris. It seems that they speak different languages, feel differently. The consciousness of her sinfulness does not leave Katerina, she stands, “without raising her eyes”, almost does not see, does not listen to Boris. Her passionate "You" is contrasted in the dialogue with the cautious "you". With which Boris addresses her. AT

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, and 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.

The traditional literary plot (the love triangle Tikhon-Katerina-Boris) became the basis of the conflict between the old and the new in Ostrovsky's drama The Thunderstorm, not only during the change of generations, but also during the change of the old and the new in the social life of Russia.

Composition of the drama "Thunderstorm"

Ostrovsky the playwright turns the familiar story about his wife's betrayal and her suicide into a study of the social conditions of life of the Russian nation.

The first act is the start of the conflict

• characterization of the customs of the city of Kalinin

("Cruel morals, sir, in our city");

• characteristics of the masters of life:

(“Look for another scolder like our Savel Prokofievich!”),

Kabanikhi

(“The hypocrite, sir! He clothes the poor, but completely ate the household”);

• the weak-willed position of Boris and his love for Katerina

(“And I, apparently, will ruin my youth in this slum”, “... and then I decided to fall in love with a fool”);

• Tikhon's lack of will

(“I, it seems, mother, not a single step is out of your will”);

• confrontation between Katerina and Kabanikhi

(“It’s in vain to endure someone who is pleased!”);

• Information about childhood and love for Boris

(“I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild”, “After all, this is not good, it’s a terrible sin, Varenka, why do I love another?”);

• the theme of a thunderstorm (the image of a wild lady) and Katerina's religiosity

(“How, girl, do not be afraid! Everyone should be afraid”, “... death will suddenly find you, as you are, with all your sins, with all evil thoughts”).

The second act is the development of characters and plot

A) Tikhon's departure, Katerina's last attempt to confront the internal conflict

(“Take me with you”, “I don’t know how to break out, and you still impose on me”, “How can I love you when you say such words?”),

Katerina's consent to a date with Boris

(“I should even die, but see him”)

B) development of the character of Kabanikh, attitude towards young people

(“But, too, stupid ones, they want to do their own thing ...”)

C) information about the character of Katerina

(“I was born that way, hot!”, “I don’t know how to deceive ...”, “And if I get sick of it here, then no force can hold me back”);

D) information about the character of Barbara

(“And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary”);

Act three - continuation of the traditional plot of betrayal of her husband

Here there is a meeting between Katerina and Boris, as well as the development of a social conflict.

A) the development of the characters of Wild and Boar in the dialogues

(“You deliberately bring yourself into the heart”);

B) a generalization of the customs of the city of Kalinin in Kuligin's monologue

“Robbing orphans, relatives, nephews, slaughtering the household so that they don’t dare to utter a word about anything that he does there”;

C) Boris' character development: Boris is not Katerina's protector (Kudryash's warning:

“Just you look - you’ll make trouble for yourself, and you will introduce her into trouble”);

D) meeting and explanation of Katerina and Boris. Katerina as a stronger character

(“If you hadn’t come, it seems I would have come to you myself”).

The fourth act is the climax of the plot

It is accomplished in Katerina's confession:

A) the development of the plot in act IV prepares the climax at the end of the act: the conversations of the Kalinovites on the boulevard, the conversation between Diky and Kuligin, the dialogue between Varvara and Boris about Katerina’s condition after Tikhon’s return

(“She’s trembling all over, as if her fever beats; she’s so pale, rushing about the house, as if she’s looking for something”, “thumps at her husband’s feet, and she will tell everything”),

a thunderstorm over the city, the conversion of a wild lady

(“Where are you hiding, stupid! You won’t get away from God!”);

B) the climax is the recognition of the heroine. Features: on the boulevard, in front of people, which exacerbates the conflict.

Fifth act - denouement

A) Tikhon's weak-willed behavior

“Mother eats her, and she, like some kind of shadow, walks unanswered”, “I’ll take it, but I’ll drink the last one I have; let mamma then nurse me like a fool");

B) the flight of Varvara and Kudryash as a way out of the "dark kingdom":

C) the development of an internal conflict in Katerina's soul: the impossibility of life in the Kabanov family and the fear of suicide as a sin

(“... I have already ruined my soul”);

D) meeting with Boris - an analogue of farewell to Tikhon before leaving for Moscow

(“Take me from here with you! - I can’t, Katya. I’m not going of my own free will”),

a decision is ripening in Katerina

(“Don’t let a single beggar through, give and order to everyone to pray for my sinful soul);

E) resolution of external and internal conflict - the decision to die. Death as deliverance

(“Won’t they pray? Whoever loves will pray… And they will catch me and bring me back home by force… Ah, hurry, hurry!”);

E) reaction to Katerina's suicide as a protest against this world

“Her body is here, take it; and the soul is no longer yours: it is now before the Judge, who is more merciful than you!”,

“Mama, you ruined her! "

Conclusion

The Thunderstorm is Ostrovsky's most decisive work,

according to , the composition and plot of this work make Katerina one of the most determined heroines of Russian literature.

Materials are published with the personal permission of the author - Ph.D. O.A. Maznevoy (see "Our Library")

A.N. Ostrovsky. Thunderstorm. Conflict and composition of the drama. Katerina as a tragic character.Scene. The peculiarity of the conflict . The location of the "Thunderstorm" is associated with different cities. However, the scene of the play cannot be correlated with any particular Volga city. Ostrovsky created a generalized image of a provincial town and therefore gave it a fictitious name - Kalinov. The action of the drama "Thunderstorm" develops in the city of Kalinovo, located on the high bank of the Volga. The playwright creates a closed patriarchal world: the Kalinovites do not know about the existence of other lands and innocently believe the stories of wanderers, such as Feklusha, that there are distant countries where “Saltan Maxnut Turkish” and “Saltan Mahnut Persian” rule, but there are lands “where all people with dog heads... for infidelity." These stories of the wanderer, who “didn’t go far due to her weakness, but heard a lot,” completely satisfy the listeners. They keep in complete subordination not only employees, but also household members who are entirely dependent on them and therefore unrequited. Considering themselves right in everything, they are sure that it is on them that the light rests, and therefore they force all households to strictly comply with the house-building orders and rituals. Their religiosity is distinguished by the same rites: they go to church, observe fasts, receive strangers, generously give them presents and at the same time tyrannize their household (“And what tears are shed behind these constipation, invisible and inaudible!.” Internal, moral the side of religion is completely alien to Dikoy and Kabanova to the representatives of the “Dark Kingdom” of the City of Kalinov. Under the rule of the harsh, despotic Kabanikh, her household either lose their independence (Tikhon), or learn to deceive, like Varvara, to live in such a way that everything is “sewn and covered.” Although Katerina "withered" in the boar's house, but the spiritual strength with which she was endowed did not allow her to finally break under the yoke of the Kabanikh, to lose her sense of human dignity. protest against everything that prevents a person from living. Kabanova herself is already beginning to feel that the soil is shaking under her feet, that “old times are being brought out.” The age-old foundations are collapsing. new feelings, other relationships, feels the resistance of Katerina, Barbara, even her son. In addition to the Kabanovs and Dikikhs, “without asking them, another life grew up, with different beginnings” (N. Dobrolyubov). endure their tyranny and despotism, "endure as long as they endure." But even among the victims of the "Dark Kingdom" not everyone expresses their attitude to the existing order in the same way: some believe that "it is better to endure" so as not to arouse new anger of the "scold" Diky or Kabanova (Shapkin, Boris, Tikhon); others, no longer wanting to endure the despotism of Kabanikh, leave their parental home (Barbara). A special place in the drama is occupied by Kuligin, who, although he advises Shapkin and Boris to "be patient", criticizes the mores of the city. The patriarchal foundations of family life and finally comes to a direct accusation thrown in the face of Kabanov at the end of the drama: “Here is your Katerina for you ... Her body is here, take it; and the soul is not yours now; she is now before the Judge, who is more merciful than you! ”The desire to defend her human rights forces Katerina to enter into an unequal struggle with Kabanova, who personifies arbitrariness, despotism, and the defense of the unshakable laws of the “Dark Kingdom”. This conflict is one of the particular manifestations of the general conflict and attracts the attention of the viewer. In the drama, two central figures - Katerina and Kabanikha, are sharply opposed to each other, clashes between them appear in every action of the drama. Finally, what is especially important and what should be paid attention to when reading the play - this is Katerina's internal conflict between a sense of duty and a passionate impulse for freedom and happiness. Critics unanimously noted the lyricism and symbolism of "Thunderstorm". Lyricism is created thanks to the introduction by the playwright of pictures of nature, which are closely connected with its ideological content: the harmony and beauty of nature are opposed to evil, oppression, despotism that reigns in Kalinovo. Of particular importance in the drama is the image of the Volga as the embodiment of freedom. It appears at the beginning of the play, and in Katerina's monologue, and in the scene of a night meeting, the heroine rushes into the Volga at the end of the drama, preferring death to life in captivity. The soulfulness, poetry of Katerina's monologues, the folk songs sung by Kuligin and Kudryash give a lyrical sound to a number of scenes. The very title of the play has a symbolic meaning. Thunderstorm in nature is perceived differently by the characters of the play: for Kuligin it is a “grace”, which “every ... grass, every flower rejoices”, Kalinovites hide from it, as from “what kind of misfortune”. The storm intensifies Katerina's spiritual drama, her tension, influencing the very outcome of this drama. The storm gives the play not only emotional tension, but also a pronounced tragic flavor. At the same time, N. A. Dobrolyubov saw something “refreshing and encouraging” in the finale of the drama. It is known that Ostrovsky himself, who attached great importance to the title of the play, wrote to the playwright N. Ya. antitheses in the system of images and directly in the plot itself, in the depiction of pictures of nature. The reception of antithesis is especially pronounced: in contrasting the two main characters - Katerina and Kabanikh; in the composition of the third act, the first scene (at the gates of Kabanova's house) and the second (night meeting in the ravine) differ sharply from each other; in the depiction of pictures of nature and, in particular, the approach of a thunderstorm in the first and fourth acts. Composition. The first action is a detailed exposition. Ostrovsky needed it in order to give an initial idea about the characters, about the relationships that dominate the city of Kalinov. The inhabitants of the city constantly feel the cruel and unlimited power of the owners. Hence the word bondage so often repeated by the heroes of the play. Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Varvara talk about her. It was very important for the playwright to choose such a hero, through whose mouth he could give a general picture of the life and customs of the city of Kalinov. Such a person in the play is the self-taught mechanic Kuligin: it is he who owns the words about the beauty of the surrounding nature, it is he who is able to appreciate what is happening around. He tells Boris about the "cruel morals" of the city. Almost next to Kuligin's monologue in the play, the monologue of the wanderer Feklusha is given ("And the merchants are all pious people, adorned with many virtues!"). Kuligin Kabanova gives a different assessment: “Prude, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely .. The fifth phenomenon reveals family relationships that reign in Kabanova's house. A sharp clash of characters begins to be felt in this phenomenon. One can feel the inner protest of both Tikhon and Barbara, and most importantly, Katerina. But Tikhon hides his dissatisfaction behind false phrases full of humiliation, Varvara speaks “to himself”, and Katerina, “what with people, what without people ... everything is one,” speaks with Kabanikha as an equal and, unlike Tikhon, even refers to her as "you". It is in Katerina that Kabanova sees her opponent. In the seventh appearance, Katerina talks about herself, about her life in her parents' house, and one feels the depth and poetry of her inner world. The impressions of past years are in sharp contrast with the furnishings of the boar's house (“I completely withered in your place”). Katerina suffers both from the difficult atmosphere in the Kabanikh's house and from the consciousness of her secret love for Boris, hence the premonition of trouble. The tragic motif (“To be sad for some! .. To be in trouble!”) Permeates the first and second acts, sounds throughout the play. The main event of the second act is the seeing off of Tikhon to Moscow, which allows the playwright to more fully reveal the house-building orders that reign in the Kabanovsky house, the psychology and characters of the heroes. In the scene of wires, there is a new clash between Kabanikh and Katerina. We see Tikhon's inability not only to protect, but also to understand Katerina, whose last hopes of finding support in her husband are crumbling, hence her exclamation, full of mental pain: “Oh, my misfortune, misfortune! Where can I, poor thing, go? Who am I to hold on to? My fathers, I am dying!” The second act and, in particular, the scenes of seeing off Tikhon and the subsequent monologue of Katerina with the key (the tenth phenomenon) is the plot of the drama, the turning point, followed by the development of the action. “Oh, if only the night would come sooner! ..” - with these words of Katerina, the second act of the drama ends, but the third begins not with the scene of a night meeting, which the heroine is waiting for, but with a conversation between Kabanikha and Feklusha at the gates of the boar's house. This action is divided by the playwright into two pictures (scenes) that are sharply opposed to each other. merrymaking, and through the Indo streets a rumble is going on ... they began to harness the fiery serpent. The second picture is a date night Let us turn to the dialogue between Katerina and Boris. It seems that they speak different languages, feel differently. The consciousness of her sinfulness does not leave Katerina, she stands, “without raising her eyes”, almost does not see, does not listen to Boris. Her passionate "You" is contrasted in the dialogue with the cautious "you". With which Boris addresses her. In Katerina's remarks, full of deep feeling, there is a feeling of her imminent death: “Why do you want my death?”; “You ruined me” (the word ruined is repeated by her several times). Further, Boris’s answer: “Am I a villain?”, “Your will was on that.” The remarks accompanying Katerina’s remarks and reflecting her state of mind are important: “With fright, but without raising her eyes”, “With excitement”, “shaking her head ”,“ raises his eyes and looks at Boris ”,“ throws himself on his neck. The heroine’s remarks and remarks make it possible to feel how her state of mind is changing: from complete confusion, fright - to asserting her right to love (“If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human court?”). To Boris’s words: “No one will know about our love,” Katerina replies: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I am doing!” In the name of this love, which means for her the will, the fullness of life, Katerina enters into a struggle with the forces of the "Dark Kingdom". Between the third and fourth acts, 10 days pass, as indicated by Ostrovsky in the poster, nevertheless, the intense rhythm does not decrease. The fourth act and, in particular, the fourth-sixth phenomena associated with the repentance of Katerina, the culmination of the drama. The first phenomena are pictures of the ignorance of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov (the conversation of several townspeople about Lithuania that fell from the sky; the rudeness of Diky in a conversation with Kuligin, who asks him for money to build a sundial and a lightning rod). Simultaneously with the internal, psychological tension in Katerina’s soul, the playwright intensifies external dynamics of the action, uses the method of parallelism between the state of mind of the heroine and the phenomena occurring in nature. The rain intensifies, a thunderstorm approaches, and people head under the vaults of the ancient arch: Dikoy and Kuligin simply enter the gallery, Varvara "quickly enters", and Katerina is already rapidly running in. The action enters its culminating stage. The sky becomes ominous, causing fear in the people surrounding Katerina. In addition to the impact on the heroine of the impending thunderstorm, the playwright also resorts to external reasons prompting her to repentance: the words of Tikhon (“Katya, repent ...”), the replicas of the Kalinovites, and finally the appearance of the crazy lady at the moment of the highest tension. The words of the lady are accompanied by a thunderclap. Katerina kneels helplessly and sees the Last Judgment paintings depicted on the wall of the gallery. Katerina's repentance - the climax of the drama. Her words are accompanied by a clap of thunder, and she falls unconscious into her husband's arms. The imperious, triumphant voice of Kabanikhi is heard: “What, son! Where will the will lead!..” With these words, the fourth act of the drama ends. In the fifth act, events are rapidly moving towards a denouement. The scenery of the first act: a public garden on the high bank of the Volga, but at dusk. The action opens with Kuligin's song about the power of love that conquers hearts, then Tikhon's story about life in the boar's house after Katerina's repentance. Further, the action is dedicated to Katerina - her sad thoughts about life, timid hope for happiness with Boris, farewell to life. Pay attention to one of the phrases in Katerina's last monologue: “To live again? No, no, don't... Hexorhosho! - What does this word not good mean? To live under the yoke of the Kabanikh means to compromise, to submit to the power of the mother-in-law and the laws of the "Dark Kingdom", it means not to be yourself. But for Katerina it is no longer possible just to live, live and suffer. And she leaves life unconquered. The lyric-dramatic scene of Katerina's farewell to life is replaced by a mass scene in which excited people are looking for the heroine. Following Tikhon, Kuligin, Kabanova, the people come running. Kuligin openly and for the first time boldly pronounces words condemning the wild boars and wild ones. For the first time in his life, Tikhon overcomes his fear of his mother and throws angry words of accusation in her face: “You ruined her! You! You!” Katerina's suicide should not be regarded as a stage device that enhances the impression of the play, but as a dramatic finale, prepared by the whole course of action. Tikhon's remark, which ends the drama, is not accidental: “It's good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live in the world and suffer!” These words make the viewer think not about a love affair, but about Kalinov's life as a whole, where "the living envy the dead." Katerina as a tragic heroine . By the nature of her character, Katerina differs sharply from that environment, from those people with whom she is forced to live. This exclusivity and originality of the character of the heroine is the reason for the deep life drama that she experiences in the "dark kingdom" of wild and boar. Even for Varvara, with whom Katerina is especially close, she is “sophisticated”, “wonderful”. Her spiritual world is inaccessible neither to Varvara, who sincerely pities Katerina, nor to Tikhon, nor to Boris. Katerina is a dreamy, poetic and at the same time resolute nature, possessing a sense of her own dignity. In order for the reader, the viewer, to understand that the drama of his heroine is close, Ostrovsky reveals its origins and, in fact, gives Katerina's backstory: life in her parents' house, her formation as a person. The whole life path of the heroine appears before us, her thoughts, actions are largely determined by her past childhood and youth. The motive of the flight that accompanies Katerina is not accidental: “Why don’t people fly like birds? And she has dreams about flying: “But it’s like I’m flying, and I’m flying through the air.” She constantly strives to move: either she tries to swim away along the Volga when she was offended, then she sees herself racing in a troika. Impressive by nature, poetically inclined Katerina listened to every word of the wanderers, who, in her words, told “different lives” or sang poems . She prays in the garden among the flowers, and in the temple on a sunny day she sees how from the dome "such a bright pillar goes down ... as if angels fly and sing in this pillar." Katerina's religiosity is sincere and deep. But dreaminess, spiritual gentleness are combined with willpower, a character that knows no compromise, the ability to take decisive action if life “sickens” her. In the drama “Thunderstorm”, two images are sharply opposed - Katerina and Kabanikhi. One is poetically minded, with a “hot heart”, deeply feeling beauty, honest, truthful, humane, the other is domineering, rude, harsh, heartless, striving to subjugate everyone to her will. The name Katerina in Greek means “always pure”. Her patronymic is Petrovna (Peter in Greek "stone"). Apparently, the patronymic of the playwright wanted to emphasize the firmness of the character of his heroine. Ostrovsky attached great importance to the role of Kabanova, considering it "one of the most important in the play." The boar is a living embodiment of despotism, a convinced guardian of the precepts of antiquity And an ardent opponent of everything new. In despotic power and fear, she sees the strength of family foundations, and these ossified forms of relations in the family are kept by her only on violence and coercion. And at the same time, she clearly feels that her family has long wanted "freedom", this is mentioned more than once in the play. Already in the initial scenes, Katerina is seized with a feeling of love that comes to her as a feeling of spiritual renewal, rebirth something unusual for me. It’s as if I’m starting to live again ...”). Love, which became for her the personification of joy, happiness, will, made the heroine acutely feel the tragic hopelessness of her situation. Therefore, next to the words: "I am starting to live again" - a gloomy foreboding of the tragic finale: "I will die soon." She perceives love for Boris as a mortal sin and seeks to suppress this feeling in herself. In the struggle between fidelity to marital duty and the desire to see her chosen one at least for a moment, the thirst for love, happiness and freedom takes over. The love that gripped Katerina was prepared by her whole life under the yoke of the boar's house. The heroine herself does not reach the realization of her struggle with tyranny, everything is done with her at the inclination of nature. Natural aspirations (the need for happiness, the desire for will, space, freedom) force her to enter into a struggle with all morality, the foundations of the "Dark Kingdom". The power of natural aspirations, unnoticed by Katerina herself, triumphs in her over all prejudices. She goes alone “against everyone”, “armed solely by the power of her Feeling, by the instinctive consciousness of her inalienable right to life, happiness and love ...” (N. Dobrolyubov). Katerina is ready to transgress even those concepts of sin and virtue for the sake of her beloved which were sacred to her. Inner purity and truthfulness do not allow her to lie in love, to deceive. The tragic conflict of "Thunderstorm" lies in the irreconcilable contradiction between Katerina's love, expressing her desire for freedom, happiness, and Kalinov's world, which suppresses a person, oppresses his soul. Depicting the spiritual drama of Katerina, her inner struggle, Ostrovsky shows both the heroine's doubts, and her hesitation, and the rise of feelings, and a temporary retreat. Katerina's public repentance is only a temporary retreat in the struggle for the right to love and be free. In the future, she will reject humility and humility to fate and prefer death to life in captivity. Although Katerina knows that suicide is a difficult tragedy, at the last moment she does not think about saving her soul - all thoughts are directed to Boris and her last words are also addressed to him: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!"..

The play "Thunderstorm" was written by Ostrovsky during the summer and autumn of 1859, staged in the theaters of Moscow and St. Petersburg in the same year, and was printed in 1860. The success of the play and performances was so great that the playwright was awarded the Uvarov Prize (the highest award for a dramatic work).

The plot was based on the impressions of a literary expedition along the Volga in 1856-1857. with the aim of studying the life and customs of the Volga settlements. The plot is taken from life. It is no secret that many Volga cities disputed the right that the action of the play took place in their city (house-building, tyranny, rudeness and humiliation dominated many cities of Russia at that time).

This is a period of social upsurge, when the foundations of serfdom were cracking. The name "Thunderstorm" is not just a majestic natural phenomenon, but a social upheaval. . The storm becomes the backdrop against which the final scene of the play unfolds. A thunderstorm that breaks out frightens everyone with the fear of retribution for sins.

Thunderstorm... The peculiarity of this image is that, while symbolically expressing the main idea of ​​the play, at the same time it directly participates in the actions of the drama as a completely real natural phenomenon, determines (in many respects) the actions of the heroine.

A thunderstorm broke out over Kalinov in act I. She caused confusion in the soul of Katerina.

In act IV, the thunderstorm motif no longer ceases. (“It’s raining, no matter how the storm gathers? ..”; “The storm is sent to us as a punishment so that we feel ...”; “The storm will kill! It’s not a thunderstorm, but grace ...”; “You remember my word, that this storm will not pass in vain ... ")

A thunderstorm is an elemental force of nature, terrible and not fully understood.

A thunderstorm is a "stormy state of society", a thunderstorm in the souls of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov.

A thunderstorm is a threat to the outgoing, but still strong world of wild boars and wild ones.

The storm is good news about new forces designed to free society from despotism.

For Kuligin, a thunderstorm is God's grace. For Wild and Boar - heavenly punishment, for Feklusha - Ilya the Prophet rolls across the sky, for Katerina - retribution for sins. But after all, the heroine herself, her last step, from which the Kalinovsky world staggered, is also a thunderstorm.

Thunderstorm in Ostrovsky's play, as in nature, combines destructive and creative forces.

The drama reflected the rise of the social movement, the moods that lived in the advanced people of the era of 50-60 years.

The Thunderstorm was allowed by the dramatic censorship to be presented in 1859, and published in January 1860. At the request of Ostrovsky's friends, the censor I. Nordstrem, who favored the playwright, presented The Thunderstorm as a play not socially accusatory, satirical, but love-domestic , without mentioning a word in his report either about Diky, or about Kuligin, or about Feklush.

In the most general formulation, the main theme of "Thunderstorm" can be defined as a 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 and the social and family-household orders that dominated pre-reform Russia.

The theme of "Thunderstorm" is organically linked to its conflicts. The conflict that forms the basis of the plot of the drama is the conflict between the old social and everyday principles and the new, progressive aspirations for equality, for the freedom of the human person. The main conflict - Katerina and Boris with their environment - unites all the others. It is joined by the conflicts of Kuligin with Wild and Kabanikha, Kudryash with Wild, Boris with Wild, Varvara with Kabanikha, Tikhon with Kabanikha. The play is a true reflection of social relations, interests and struggles of its time.

The general theme of "Thunderstorms" entails and a number of private topics:

a) the stories of Kuligin, the remarks of Kudryash and Boris, the actions of Diky and Kabanikhi Ostrovsky gives a detailed description of the material and legal situation of all strata of society of that era;

c) depicting the life, interests, hobbies and experiences of the characters in The Thunderstorm, the author reproduces the social and family life of the merchants and bourgeoisie from different angles. This highlights the problem of social and family relations. The position of a woman in the philistine-merchant environment is clearly outlined;

d) the life background and problems of that time are displayed. The heroes talk about social phenomena that were important for their time: about the emergence of the first railways, about cholera epidemics, about the development of commercial and industrial activity in Moscow, etc.;

e) along with the socio-economic and living conditions, the author skillfully painted the surrounding nature, the different attitudes of the actors towards it.

So, in the words of Goncharov, in The Thunderstorm "a broad picture of national life and customs subsided." Pre-reform Russia is represented in it by its socio-economic, cultural and moral, and family and everyday appearance.

Composition of the play

There are 5 acts in the play: I act - the plot, II-III - the development of the action, IV - the climax, V - the denouement.

exposition- pictures of the Volga expanse and the stuffiness of Kalinov's customs (d. I, yavl. 1-4).

tie- Katerina replies with dignity and peace-lovingly to the nit-picking of her mother-in-law: “You are talking about me, mother, it is in vain to say. With people, that without people, I’m all alone, I don’t prove anything of myself. The first clash (d. I, yavl. 5).

Next comes conflict development between the characters, in nature a thunderstorm gathers twice (case I, phenom. 9). Katerina confesses to Varvara that she fell in love with Boris - and the prophecy of the old lady, a distant thunderclap; end of d. IV. A thundercloud creeps like a living, half-mad old woman threatens Katerina with death in a pool and hell, and Katerina confesses her sin (first climax), falls unconscious. But the storm did not hit the city, only pre-storm tension.

Second climax- Katerina says the last monologue when she says goodbye not to life, which is already unbearable, but with love: "My friend! My joy! Goodbye! (d. V, yavl. 4).

denouement- the suicide of Katerina, the shock of the inhabitants of the city, Tikhon, who, being alive, envies his dead wife: Good for you, Katya! And why did I stay to live and suffer! .. ”(d. V, yavl. 7).