Why the dark kingdom. The Dark Kingdom in the play "The Thunderstorm" - what is it

"Dark Kingdom" in "The Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like Katerina, Kuligin is a poetic and dreamy person. So, it is he who admires the beauty of the Trans-Volga landscape and complains that the Kalinovites are indifferent to it. He sings “Among the flat valley...” folk song literary origin. This immediately emphasizes the difference between Kuligin and other characters associated with folk culture, he is also a bookish person, albeit of a rather archaic bookishness. He confidentially tells Boris that he writes poetry “in the old-fashioned way,” as Lomonosov and Derzhavin once wrote. In addition, he is a self-taught mechanic. However, Kuligin’s technical ideas are a clear anachronism. The sundial that he dreams of installing on Kalinovsky Boulevard comes from antiquity. Lightning rod - a technical discovery of the 18th century. And his oral stories about judicial red tape are consistent with even earlier traditions and resemble ancient moral tales. All these features show his deep connection with the world of Kalinov. He, of course, differs from the Kalinovites. We can say that Kuligin " new person“, but only its novelty has developed here, inside this world, which gives birth not only to its passionate and poetic dreamers, like Katerina, but also to its “rationalists” - dreamers, its own special, home-grown scientists and humanists.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It would be a mistake to perceive the “dark kingdom” in “The Thunderstorm” only personified, correlating it primarily with the Wild and Kabanikha. In fact, evil cannot be reduced only to one or another specific character. It is dispersed in the surrounding life. It’s just that Dikoy and Kabanikha most clearly express those dark forces that surrounded Katerina from all sides. Silent ignorance turns out to be an excellent breeding ground for strengthening the authority of the “dark kingdom.” From this point of view, the conversation about Lithuania, which “fell from the sky on us,” takes on a particularly expressive character. It is significant that the slightest attempt at doubt is suppressed by reference to the general knowledge of this incredible event: “Explain more! Everyone knows that from heaven...” The conversation is not directly related to the plot, but on this action unfolds in the background this environment, it is Dikoy who finds moral support, and not Kuligin with his educational ideas. The same is the case with Feklusha, whose role, it would seem, is completely episodic and is in no way connected with the plot, but without her the story about the “dark kingdom” would be incomplete.

Feklusha not only justifies the order of this kingdom, she creates a myth about Kalinov as a promised land, where, according to her concepts, “bla-alepie”, “the merchants are all a pious people, adorned with many virtues.”

In a city where they don’t read newspapers and magazines, where there aren’t even clocks (Kuligin is unsuccessfully trying to build a sundial for the city), people like Feklusha were a kind of mass media that shaped public opinion. And the townsfolk learn from the omnipresent wanderer that “by all indications” the last times are coming, that only in Kalinov alone there is still paradise and silence, and in other cities there is “noise, running, incessant driving.”

The idea of ​​movement as a sign of development is deeply disgusting to both Feklusha and Kabanova. That is why they so unanimously curse the train (“fiery serpent”), people who “run like that, that’s why their women are all so thin.” Moreover, it turns out that even time itself changes; it is “done in short.”

This dark the kingdom surprisingly resembles another - sleepy, which Goncharov portrayed in the novel “Oblomov”. Despite all the differences in social structures, there is something in common between them - in the philosophy of stagnation, in the desire to isolate themselves from life, in the firm conviction that “to live otherwise is a sin.” These two kingdoms touch, border each other, and sometimes converge even in small things. In Pshenitsyna’s house on the Vyborg side there was absolutely fantastic talk about the upcoming war with the Turkish Pasha. This is almost the same as the rumors in “The Thunderstorm” about the Turkish Sultan Mahmut.

However, in the “dark kingdom” one can already feel the internal defectiveness. From this point of view, let us take a closer look at the main carriers of the idea of ​​“stagnation” - Di-kom and Kabanikha.

There is such a methodical technique - “oral drawing”. Try to “draw” a portrait of the Wild One - how do you imagine him? One schoolgirl described him in an essay as follows: “A small, dry old man with a sparse beard and restless darting eyes.” Do you think so too? If so, then he is not very scary. But in fact, Dikoy is not old at all: he has teenage daughters. Young Kabanov drinks vodka with him. Perhaps what is much more terrible is that Dikoy is still in the prime of his life, that he himself does not at all feel like a decrepit old man. Why is Dikoy constantly irritated, constantly inflaming himself, scolding? This is his, as they now say, “behavioral model.” For the Wild, this is a kind of self-defense from everything strange, new, and incomprehensible in life. In the end, Kudryash is still understandable to him (maybe he himself was once like that - just as Kabanikha was once the same as Varvara). But Boris cannot but irritate him as an expression of something new in the merchant environment. Kuligin, who “crashes to talk,” is also annoying. That is why Dikoy furiously attacks not only Boris, but also Kuligin, although he is a complete stranger to him. Where does the anger come from? From a collision with something strange, incomprehensible and therefore especially dangerous.

And the merchant’s wife, the widow Marfa Ignatievna, more cunning and insightful than Dikoy, was already seriously worried, feeling how her patriarchal foundations were collapsing, under which she, the guardian of ossified rituals, ancient house-building orders, was the indisputable authority for the family , neighbors, the whole city. Having heard the speeches of the same Kuligin, she blames everything not even on him alone, but on new times: “Now times have moved on, some teachers have appeared.”

Time First of all, it frightens Kabanova, it is he who she seeks to detain, to stop him with all her might. She is convinced that the world should be fear. Will disappear fear— the very basis of life will disappear. It is necessary that they fear the Wild, fear her, so that Tikhon is completely submissive to her, and Katerina, in turn, to Tikhon. When Katerina has her own children, they will definitely be afraid of Katerina... This is what the world stands on - not on love, but on fear.

Unhappy Tikhon does not understand at all why his wife must be afraid of him. “It’s enough for me,” he says, “that she loves me.” Tikhon’s words, which seem to contain absolutely no challenge, lead Kabanova into a state of extreme indignation. She is extremely amazed: “Why, why be afraid! How, why be afraid! Are you crazy, or what? He won’t be afraid of you, and he won’t be afraid of me either. What kind of order will there be in the house? After all, you, tea, live with her in law.”

Law in this case does not just mean legal marriage. This common law, based on unquestioning obedience, on the inviolability of the existing universe, which is clearly established in Kabanova’s consciousness and which cannot be shaken at any point. “So, in your opinion,” she instructs Tikhon, “you need to be affectionate with your wife? How about shouting at her and threatening her?” Material from the site

Kabanova defends, first of all, the need to comply with the form of unwritten rules. It is not required that a wife love her husband, but she must fear him. It is not necessary for Katerina to really have a hard time experiencing separation from her husband, it is necessary for her to “make this example” for others - howl for an hour and a half, lying on the porch...

Actually, all Kabanova wants is for nothing to change, for everything to go exactly the same as before. That is why it clings so tightly to established forms - without reasoning about their expediency, meaning or rationality. Live like everyone else, be like everyone else. She feels her personal responsibility for the strength of the old order; she fights for them not out of fear, but out of conscience. This is her task, purpose, purpose, meaning of life.

Kabanova’s attitude towards Katerina’s public repentance is extremely revealing. According to the Christian tradition, a repentant person deserves forgiveness - not in a legal sense, but in a moral sense. And what? Katerina is not forgiven. Kabanova does not show one of the most important virtues - Christian, universal - mercy. Thus, the moral inferiority of the “dark kingdom” is clearly revealed.

The “Dark Kingdom” is closed in on itself, it is doomed, because it is frozen in immobility, existing outside of time and space, which means not life, but death. But the deathly, doomed person is characterized by hatred of all living things, no matter in what form it may appear. The “Dark Kingdom” has been shaken, but is far from broken. That is why it requires more and more victims. That's why Katerina died.

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The action in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" takes place in the city of Kalinov. This city is fictional. And it represents a kind of “dark kingdom”. The power in this city belongs to greedy, dark people. These are oppressors and tyrants.

And the second estate of this “dark kingdom” are those who submit to the first, allow them to humiliate themselves, taking it for granted. And most importantly, everyone is happy with this way of life. Those who do not want to put up with him are eaten by the rulers. There is no place for such people here, because they do not want to obey, they are dangerous to established laws.

Such people include the main character of the play, Katerina. No wonder she is a ray of sunshine in this dark world. She does not accept or understand his laws. But she has to endure all this absurdity of life and her mother-in-law’s hatred of her. This, in addition to her sinful love for Boris, leads her to suicide.

Varvara, Kabanikha’s daughter, doesn’t want to put up with such a life either. She constantly lies to her mother and eventually escapes from the hated “dark kingdom.” Mother is one of the main tyrants of the city. But she tyrannizes her own family, thereby destroying it. Her actions, aimed at preserving, as it seemed to her, the right way of life, led her to the loss of a close relationship with her daughter and to the death of her daughter-in-law.

She raised her son, Tikhon, in the strictest fear. He is afraid of his own mother and therefore obeys without question. He cannot even stand up for his wife, whom she simply harassed. Only at the end of the play, when the thunderstorm passed and Katerina was already dead, his eyes seemed to open. He sees everything that is happening around him in a completely different light. And he realizes that he can live differently, not obeying the laws of the “dark kingdom.” True, the realization of this comes to him late. If this had happened a little earlier, everything could have happened differently. Katerina could have remained alive and, perhaps, their relationship would have developed completely differently.

Another tyrant and tyrant presented in this work is Dikoy. He loves to put others down. But people, even knowing this, still turn to him for help, knowing full well that the landowner will only humiliate them and refuse them anyway. This speaks of the reluctance of the city's residents to fight the darkness reigning in it. Dikoy himself is far from an immoral and rude person. But he is rich. And he believes that since he has money, then everyone owes him something. And he doesn't owe anyone anything. Boris was not that far from him. Yes, he is educated. But the feeling of profit guides him most of all. It is because of this that he also endures the tyranny of the Wild.

The play represents how many lived during that time. There were many such “dark kingdoms” in Russia. In the period in which the play takes place, these “kingdoms” are still firmly on their feet. But it is also shown that the rule of such oppressors and tyrants will not last long. After all, people began to appear who did not agree to put up with his foundations. It is only for now that tyrants and tyrants manage to dislodge and oppress them. This will end soon.

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

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

N. A. Dobrolyubov

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" caused a strong reaction in the field of literary scholars and critics. A. Grigoriev, D. Pisarev, F. Dostoevsky dedicated their articles to this work. N. Dobrolyubov, some time after the publication of “The Thunderstorm,” wrote the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” Being a good critic, Dobrolyubov emphasized the author's good style, praising Ostrovsky for his deep knowledge of the Russian soul, and reproached other critics for the lack of a direct view of the work. In general, Dobrolyubov’s view is interesting from several points of view. For example, the critic believed that dramas should show the harmful influence of passion on a person’s life, which is why he calls Katerina a criminal. But Nikolai Alexandrovich nevertheless says that Katerina is also a martyr, because her suffering evokes a response in the soul of the viewer or reader. Dobrolyubov gives very accurate characteristics. It was he who called the merchants the “dark kingdom” in the play “The Thunderstorm”.

If we trace how the merchant class and adjacent social strata were displayed over the decades, we see full picture degradation and decline. In "The Minor" the Prostakovs are shown limited people, in “Woe from Wit” the Famusovs are frozen statues who refuse to live honestly. All these images are the predecessors of Kabanikha and Wild. It is these two characters that support the “dark kingdom” in the drama “The Thunderstorm”. The author introduces us to the morals and customs of the city from the very first lines of the play: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!” In one of the dialogues between residents, the topic of violence is raised: “Whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor... And among themselves, sir, how they live!... They quarrel with each other.” No matter how much people hide what is happening inside families, others already know everything. Kuligin says that no one has prayed to God here for a long time. All the doors are locked, “so that people don’t see how... they eat their family and tyrannize their family.” Behind the locks there is debauchery and drunkenness. Kabanov goes to drink with Dikoy, Dikoy appears drunk in almost all scenes, Kabanikha is also not averse to having a glass - another in the company of Savl Prokofievich.

The entire world in which the inhabitants of the fictional city of Kalinov live is thoroughly saturated with lies and fraud. Power over the “dark kingdom” belongs to tyrants and deceivers. The residents are so accustomed to dispassionately fawning over wealthier people that this lifestyle is the norm for them. People often come to Dikiy to ask for money, knowing that he will humiliate them and not give them the required amount. Most negative emotions The merchant is called by his own nephew. Not even because Boris flatters Dikoy in order to get money, but because Dikoy himself does not want to part with the inheritance he received. His main traits are rudeness and greed. Dikoy believes that since he has a large number of money, which means others must obey him, fear him and at the same time respect him.

Kabanikha advocates for the preservation of the patriarchal system. She a real tyrant, capable of driving anyone she doesn't like crazy. Marfa Ignatievna, hiding behind the fact that she reveres the old order, essentially destroys the family. Her son, Tikhon, is glad to go as far as possible, just not to hear his mother’s orders, her daughter does not value Kabanikha’s opinion, lies to her, and at the end of the play she simply runs away with Kudryash. Katerina suffered the most. The mother-in-law openly hated her daughter-in-law, controlled her every action, and was dissatisfied with every little thing. The most revealing scene seems to be the farewell scene to Tikhon. Kabanikha was offended by the fact that Katya hugged her husband goodbye. After all, she is a woman, which means she should always be inferior to a man. A wife’s destiny is to throw herself at her husband’s feet and sob, begging for a quick return. Katya does not like this point of view, but she is forced to submit to the will of her mother-in-law.

Dobrolyubov calls Katya “a ray of light in a dark kingdom,” which is also very symbolic. Firstly, Katya is different from the residents of the city. Although she was brought up according to the old laws, the preservation of which Kabanikha often talks about, she has a different idea of ​​​​life. Katya is kind and pure. She wants to help the poor, she wants to go to church, do household chores, raise children. But in such a situation, all this seems impossible because of one thing simple fact: in the “dark kingdom” in “The Thunderstorm” it is impossible to find inner peace. People constantly walk in fear, drink, lie, cheat on each other, trying to hide the unsightly sides of life. In such an atmosphere it is impossible to be honest with others, honest with oneself. Secondly, one ray is not enough to illuminate the “kingdom”. Light, according to the laws of physics, must be reflected from some surface. It is also known that black has the ability to absorb other colors. Similar laws apply to the situation with the main character plays. Katerina does not see in others what is in her. Neither the city residents nor Boris, “decently educated person", could not understand the reason internal conflict Kati. After all, even Boris is afraid of public opinion, he is dependent on Diky and the possibility of receiving an inheritance. He is also bound by a chain of deception and lies, because Boris supports Varvara’s idea of ​​​​deceiving Tikhon in order to maintain a secret relationship with Katya. Let's apply the second law here. In Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm,” the “dark kingdom” is so all-consuming that it is impossible to find a way out of it. It eats Katerina, forcing her to take on one of the most terrible sins from the point of view of Christianity - suicide. " Dark Kingdom" leaves no other choice. It would find her anywhere, even if Katya ran away with Boris, even if she left her husband. No wonder Ostrovsky transfers the action to a fictional city. The author wanted to show the typicality of the situation: such a situation was typical of all Russian cities. But is it only Russia?

Are the findings really that disappointing? The power of the tyrants is gradually beginning to weaken. Kabanikha and Dikoy feel this. They feel that soon other people, new ones, will take their place. People like Katya. Honest and open. And, perhaps, it is in them that those old customs that Marfa Ignatievna zealously defended will be revived. Dobrolyubov wrote that the ending of the play should be viewed in a positive way. “We are glad to see Katerina’s deliverance - even through death, if it is impossible otherwise. Living in the “dark kingdom” is worse than death.” This is confirmed by the words of Tikhon, who for the first time openly opposes not only his mother, but also the entire order of the city. “The play ends with this exclamation, and it seems to us that nothing could have been invented stronger and more truthful than such an ending. Tikhon’s words make the viewer think not about a love affair, but about this whole life, where the living envy the dead.”

The definition of the “dark kingdom” and the description of the images of its representatives will be useful to 10th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The Dark Kingdom in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky.”

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