The history of the creation of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm. The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky. The creative history of the drama The Thunderstorm in brief

A. N. Ostrovsky was a prominent literary figure. He changed a lot in the production of plays, and his works are distinguished by realism, the views of which the writer adhered to. One of his most famous works is the play "The Thunderstorm", an analysis of which is presented below.

History of the play

The analysis of "The Thunderstorm" should begin with the history of its writing, because the circumstances of that time played an important role in the creation of the plot. The play was written in 1859 during Ostrovsky's travels around the Volga region. The writer observed and explored not only the beauty of nature and the sights of the Volga region cities.

He was no less interested in the people he met on his journey. He studied their characters, everyday life, and their life stories. Alexander Nikolaevich took notes, and then based on them he created his work.

But the story of the creation of Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" has different versions. For a very long time they were of the opinion that the writer took the plot for the play from real life. There lived a girl in Kostroma who, unable to withstand her mother-in-law’s oppression, threw herself into the river.

Researchers found many matches. This happened in the same year in which the play was written. Both girls were young and were married off at a very early age. Both were oppressed by their mothers-in-law, and their husbands were weak-willed. Katerina had an affair with the nephew of the most influential man in the city, and a poor Kostroma girl had an affair with a postal employee. It is not surprising that due to such a large number of coincidences, for a long time everyone believed that the plot was based on real events.

But more detailed studies have refuted this theory. Ostrovsky sent the play to print in October, and the girl dropped out a month later. Therefore, the plot could not be based on the life story of this Kostroma family. However, perhaps, thanks to his powers of observation, Alexander Nikolaevich was able to predict this sad end. But the story of the creation of the play also has a more romantic version.

Who was the prototype for the main character?

In the analysis of "The Thunderstorm" one can also point out that there were many disputes about who the image of Katerina was copied from. There was also room for the writer’s personal drama. Both Alexander Nikolaevich and Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya had families. And this served as an obstacle to the further development of their relationship.

Kositskaya was a theater actress, and many believe that she is the prototype of the image of Katerina in Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm". Later, Lyubov Pavlovna will play her role. The woman herself was from the Volga region, and the playwright’s biographers wrote that “Katerina’s Dream” was written down from Kositskaya’s words. Lyubov Kositskaya, like Katerina, was a believer and loved the church very much.

But "The Thunderstorm" is not only a drama about personal relationships, it is a play about the growing conflict in society. In that era there were already people who wanted to change the old order, but the ossified “Domostroevsky” society did not want to obey them. And this confrontation is reflected in Ostrovsky’s play.

The play takes place in the fictional Volga city of Kalinov. The inhabitants of this town are people accustomed to deception, tyranny, and ignorance. Several people from the Kalinovsky society stood out for their desire for a better life - these are Katerina Kabanova, Boris and Kuligin.

The young girl was married to the weak-willed Tikhon, whose stern and oppressive mother constantly oppressed the girl. Kabanikha established very strict rules in her house, so all members of the Kabanov family did not like her and were afraid of her. During Tikhon's departure on business, Katerina secretly meets with Boris, an educated young man who came from another city to visit his uncle, Dikiy, a man of the same tough character as Kabanikha.

When her husband returned, the young woman stopped seeing Boris. She feared punishment for her action because she was pious. Despite all the persuasion, Katerina confessed everything to Tikhon and his mother. The boar began to tyrannize the young woman even more. Boris's uncle sent him to Siberia. Katerina, having said goodbye to him, rushed into the Volga, realizing that she could no longer live in tyranny. Tikhon accused his mother that it was because of her attitude that his wife decided to take such a step. This is a summary of "The Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky.

Brief description of the characters

The next point in the analysis of the play is the characteristics of the heroes of Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm". All the characters turned out to be memorable, with bright characters. The main character (Katerina) is a young woman brought up in the house-building order. But she understood the rigidity of these views and strived for a better life, where all people would live honestly and do the right thing. She was devout and loved to go to church and pray.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is a widow, a wealthy merchant. She adhered to the principles of house building. She had a bad temper and established tyrannical rules in the house. Tikhon, her son, a weak-willed man, loved to drink. He understood that his mother was unfair to his wife, but was afraid to go against her will.

Boris, an educated young man, came so that Dikoy would give him part of the inheritance. He is impressionable and does not accept the laws of Kalinov society. Dikoy is an influential man, everyone was afraid of him because they knew what a harsh character he had. Kuligin is a tradesman who believes in the power of science. Tries to prove to others the importance of scientific discoveries.

This is a characteristic of the heroes of Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm", who played a significant role in the plot. They can be divided into two small societies: those who held the old views and those who believed that change was necessary to create better conditions.

Ray of light in the play

In the analysis of "The Thunderstorm" it is worth highlighting the main female character - Katerina Kabanova. It is a reflection of what tyranny and despotic attitudes can do to a person. The young woman, although she grew up in the “old” society, unlike the majority, sees the injustice of such orders. But Katerina was honest, she did not want and did not know how to deceive, and this is one of the reasons why she told her husband everything. And those people who surrounded her were accustomed to deceiving, fearing, and tyrannizing. But the young woman could not accept this; all her spiritual purity opposed it. Because of the inner light and the desire to live honestly, the image of Katerina from Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” was compared to “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.”

And the only joys in her life were prayer and love for Boris. Unlike all those who talked about faith, Katerina believed in the power of prayer, she was very afraid of committing a sin, so she could not meet with Boris. The young woman understood that after her act, her mother-in-law would torment her even more. Katerina saw that in this society no one wanted to change, and she could not live among injustice, misunderstanding and without love. Therefore, throwing herself into the river seemed to her the only way out. As Kuligin later said, she found peace.

Image of a thunderstorm

In the play, some of the important episodes are associated with a thunderstorm. According to the plot, Katerina was very afraid of this natural phenomenon. Because people believed that a thunderstorm would punish a sinful person. And all these clouds, thunder - all this only intensified the depressing atmosphere of the Kabanovs’ house.

In the analysis of "The Thunderstorm" it should also be noted that it is very symbolic that all episodes with this natural phenomenon are connected with Katerina. This is a reflection of her inner world, the tension in which she was, the storm of feelings that raged inside her. Katerina was afraid of this intensity of feelings, so she was very worried when there was a thunderstorm. Also, thunderstorm and rain are a symbol of purification; when the young woman threw herself into the river, she found peace. Just like nature seems cleaner after rain.

The main idea of the play

What is the main meaning of Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm"? The playwright sought to show how unfair society is structured. How they can oppress the weak and defenseless, leaving people no choice. Perhaps Alexander Nikolaevich wanted to show that society should reconsider its views. The meaning of Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" is that one cannot live in ignorance, lies and rigidity. We must strive to become better, to treat people more tolerantly, so that their life does not resemble the “dark kingdom”, like Katerina Kabanova’s.

Personality conflict

The play shows the growth of Katerina's internal conflict. On the one hand, there is the understanding that it is impossible to live in tyranny, love for Boris. On the other hand, strict upbringing, a sense of duty and fear of committing a sin. A woman cannot come to one decision. Throughout the play, she meets with Boris, but does not even think about leaving her husband.

The conflict is growing, and the impetus for Katerina’s sad death was separation from Boris and increased persecution from her mother-in-law. But personal conflict does not occupy the most important place in the play.

Social issue

In the analysis of "The Thunderstorm" it should be noted that the playwright tried to convey the mood of society that was at that time. People understood that changes were needed, that the old system of society must give way to a new, enlightened one. But the people of the old order did not want to admit that their views had lost their strength, that they were ignorant. And this struggle between the “old” and the “new” was reflected in A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”.

A. N. Ostvosky "Thunderstorm"

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HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE PLAY.

The play was begun by Alexander Ostrovsky in July 1859 and completed on October 9. The manuscript of the play is kept in the Russian State Library.

In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. The natural beauty of the Volga region struck the playwright and then he thought about the play. For a long time it was believed that the plot of the drama The Thunderstorm was taken by Ostrovsky from the life of the Kostroma merchants. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kostroma residents could accurately point to the place of Katerina’s suicide.

In his play, Ostrovsky raises the problem of the turning point in social life that occurred in the 1850s, the problem of changing social foundations.

The names of the characters in the play are endowed with symbolism: Kabanova - an overweight, difficult woman; Kuligin - this is a “kuliga”, a swamp, some of its features and name are similar to the name of the inventor Kulibin; the name Katerina means “pure”; her opposite is Varvara - « barbarian».

THE MEANING OF THE TITLE OF THE DRAMA THE THUNDER.

The title of Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" plays a big role in understanding this play. The image of a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky's drama is unusually complex and multi-valued. On the one hand, a thunderstorm - a direct participant in the action of the play, on the other hand - symbol of the idea of this work. In addition, the image of a thunderstorm has so many meanings that it illuminates almost all facets of the tragic collision in the play.

Thunderstorm plays an important role in the composition of the drama. In the first act - the plot of the work: Katerina tells Varvara about her dreams and hints at her secret love. Almost immediately after this, a thunderstorm approaches: “... the storm is setting in...” At the beginning of the fourth act, a thunderstorm is also gathering, foreshadowing the tragedy: “Remember my words, this storm will not pass in vain...”

And a thunderstorm breaks out only in the scene of Katerina’s confession - at the climax of the play, when the heroine speaks about her sin to her husband and mother-in-law, without shame

the presence of other citizens. The thunderstorm is directly involved in the action as a real natural phenomenon. It influences the behavior of the characters: after all, it is during a thunderstorm that Katerina confesses her sin. They even talk about the thunderstorm as if it were alive (“The rain is dripping, as if a thunderstorm is not going to gather?”, “And so it creeps on us, and creeps, as if alive!”).

But the thunderstorm in the play also has a figurative meaning. For example, Tikhon calls his mother’s swearing, scolding and antics a thunderstorm: “But as I know now that there won’t be any thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?”

This fact is also noteworthy: Kuligin - a supporter of the peaceful eradication of vices (he wants to ridicule bad morals in the book: “I wanted to depict all this in poetry ...”). And it is he who invites Dikiy to make a lightning rod (“copper tablet”), which serves here as an allegory, because a gentle and peaceful opposition to vices by exposing them in books - This is a kind of lightning rod.

In addition, the thunderstorm is perceived differently by all characters. So, Dikoy says: “A thunderstorm is being sent to us as punishment.” Dikoy declares that people should be afraid of thunderstorms, but his power and tyranny are based precisely on people’s fear of him. Evidence of this - Boris's fate. He is afraid of not receiving the inheritance and therefore submits to the Wild One. This means that the Wild One benefits from this fear. He wants everyone to be afraid of the thunderstorm, just like him.

But Kuligin treats the thunderstorm differently: “Now every blade of grass, every flower is rejoicing, but we are hiding, afraid, as if some misfortune is coming!” He sees a life-giving force in a thunderstorm. It is interesting that not only the attitude towards thunderstorms, but also the principles of Dikiy and Kuligin are different. Kuligin condemns the lifestyle of Dikiy, Kabanova and their morals: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!..”

So the image of a thunderstorm turns out to be connected with the revelation of the characters in the drama. Katerina is also afraid of thunderstorms, but not as much as Dikoy. She sincerely believes that the thunderstorm is God's punishment. Katerina does not talk about the benefits of a thunderstorm; she is afraid not of punishment, but of sins. Her fear is associated with deep, strong faith and high moral ideals. Therefore, her words about the fear of thunder do not sound like complacency, like Dikiy’s, but rather repentance: “It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts.” ..."

The heroine herself also resembles a thunderstorm. Firstly, the theme of the thunderstorm is connected with Katerina’s experiences and state of mind. In the first act

a thunderstorm is gathering, as if a harbinger of tragedy and as an expression of the heroine’s troubled soul. It was then that Katerina confesses to Varvara that she loves someone else - not a husband. The thunderstorm did not bother Katerina during her date with Boris, when she suddenly felt happy. A thunderstorm appears whenever storms rage in the soul of the heroine herself: the words “With Boris Grigorievich!” (in the scene of Katerina’s confession) - and again, according to the author’s remark, a “thunderclap” is heard.

Secondly, Katerina’s confession and her suicide was a challenge to the forces of the “dark kingdom” and its principles (“secretly hidden”). Love itself, which Katerina did not hide, her desire for freedom - this is also a protest, a challenge that thundered over the forces of the “dark kingdom” like a thunderstorm. Katerina’s victory is that rumors will spread about Kabanikha, about her role in her daughter-in-law’s suicide, and it will not be possible to hide the truth. Even Tikhon begins to weakly protest. “You ruined her! You! You!" - he shouts to his mother.

So, Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” produces, despite its tragedy, a refreshing, encouraging impression, which Dobrolyubov spoke about: “... the end (of the play)... seems gratifying to us, it’s easy to understand why: it presents a terrible challenge to tyrant power. ..”

Katerina does not adapt to Kabanova’s principles, she did not want to lie and listen to other people’s lies: “You are in vain saying this about me, mamma...”

The thunderstorm also does not obey anything or anyone - It happens both in summer and spring, not limited to the time of year, like precipitation. It is not without reason that in many pagan religions the main god is the Thunderer, the lord of thunder and lightning (thunderstorms).

As in nature, a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky’s play combines destructive and creative forces: “The thunderstorm will kill!”, “This is not a thunderstorm, but grace!”

So, the image of a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky’s drama is multi-valued and multi-sided: while symbolically expressing the idea of the work, it is at the same time directly involved in the action. The image of a thunderstorm illuminates almost all facets of the tragic conflict of the play, which is why the meaning of the title becomes so important for understanding the play.

THEME AND IDEA OF THE PLAY.

The author takes us to the provincial merchant town of Kalinov, whose residents stubbornly cling to the centuries-old way of life. But already at the beginning of the play it becomes clear that those universal human values that Domostroy stands for have long ago lost their meaning for the ignorant inhabitants of Kalinov. For them, it is not the essence of human relationships that is important, but only the form, the observance of decency. It’s not for nothing that in one of the first acts “Mother Marfa Ignatievna” - Kabanikha, Katerina's mother-in-law - received a damning description: “Prude, sir. He gives food to the poor and eats his family.” And for Katerina, the main character of the drama, patriarchal values are full of deep meaning. She, a married woman, fell in love. And he tries with all his might to fight his feelings, sincerely believing that this is a terrible sin. But Katerina sees that no one in the world cares about the true essence of those moral values to which she is trying to cling, like a drowning man to a straw. Everything around her is already collapsing, the world of the “dark kingdom” is dying in agony, and everything she tries to rely on turns out to be an empty shell. Under the pen of Ostrovsky, the planned drama from the life of the merchants develops into a tragedy.

The main idea of the work - the conflict of a young woman with the “dark kingdom”, the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. You can find out why this conflict arose and why the end of the drama is so tragic by looking into Katerina’s soul and understanding her ideas about life. And this can be done thanks to the skill of A. N. Ostrovsky.

Behind the external calm of life lie dark thoughts, the dark life of tyrants who do not recognize human dignity. Representatives of the “dark kingdom” are Dikoy and Kabanikha. First - a complete type of merchant-tyrant, whose meaning of life is to amass capital by any means. The domineering and stern Kabanikha - an even more sinister and gloomy representative of Domostroy. She strictly observes all the customs and orders of patriarchal antiquity, eats her family, shows hypocrisy when giving gifts to the poor, and does not tolerate anyone. The development of action in “The Thunderstorm” gradually reveals the conflict of the drama. The power of the Kabanikha and the Wild over those around them is still great. "But it's a wonderful thing, - writes Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”, - The tyrants of Russian life, however, begin to feel some kind of discontent and fear, not knowing what and why another life has grown up, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving a presentiment and sending bad visions of the dark tyranny of tyrants.” This is the “dark kingdom” - the embodiment of the entire system of life in Tsarist Russia: the lack of rights of the people, arbitrariness, oppression of human dignity and the manifestation of personal will. Katerina - poetic, dreamy, freedom-loving nature. The world of her feelings and moods was formed in her parents' home, where she was surrounded by the care and affection of her mother. In an atmosphere of hypocrisy and importunity, petty tutelage, the conflict between the “dark kingdom” and Katerina’s spiritual world matures gradually. Katerina endures only for the time being. Not finding an echo in the heart of her narrow-minded and downtrodden husband, her feelings turn to a man unlike everyone else around her. Love for Boris flared up with the force characteristic of such an impressionable nature as Katerina; it became the meaning of the heroine’s life. Katerina comes into conflict not only with the environment, but also with herself. This is the tragedy of the heroine’s situation.

For its time, when Russia experienced a period of enormous social upsurge before the peasant reform, the drama “The Thunderstorm” was important. The image of Katerina belongs to the best images of women not only in Ostrovsky’s work, but also in all Russian fiction.

ARTICLE N.A. DOBROLYUBOV “A RAY OF LIGHT IN THE DARK KINGDOM.”

thunderstorm Ostrovsky Dobrolyubov

At the beginning of the article, Dobrolyubov writes that “Ostrovsky has a deep understanding of Russian life.” Next, he analyzes articles about Ostrovsky by other critics, writing that they “lack a direct view of things.”

Then Dobrolyubov compares “The Thunderstorm” with dramatic canons: “The subject of the drama must certainly be an event where we see the struggle between passion and duty - with the unhappy consequences of the victory of passion or with the happy ones when duty wins.” Also, the drama must have unity of action, and it must be written in high literary language. “The Thunderstorm” at the same time “does not satisfy the most essential goal of the drama - to inspire respect for moral duty and show the harmful consequences of being carried away by passion. Katerina, this criminal, appears to us in the drama not only not in a sufficiently gloomy light, but even with the radiance of martyrdom. She speaks so well, suffers so pitifully, everything around her is so bad that you take up arms against her oppressors and thus justify vice in her person. Consequently, drama does not fulfill its high purpose. All the action is sluggish and slow, because it is cluttered with scenes and faces that are completely unnecessary. Finally, the language in which the characters speak exceeds any patience of a well-bred person.”

Dobrolyubov makes this comparison with the canon in order to show that approaching a work with a ready-made idea of what should be shown in it does not provide true understanding. “What to think about a man who, upon seeing a pretty woman, suddenly begins to resonate that her figure is not like that of the Venus de Milo? The truth is not in dialectical subtleties, but in the living truth of what you are discussing. It cannot be said that people are evil by nature, and therefore one cannot accept for literary works principles such as, for example, that vice always triumphs and virtue is punished.”

“The writer has so far been given a small role in this movement of humanity towards natural principles,” - writes Dobrolyubov, after which he recalls Shakespeare, who “moved the general consciousness of people to several levels that no one had risen to before him.” Next, the author turns to other critical articles about “The Thunderstorm”, in particular, Apollo Grigoriev, who argues that Ostrovsky’s main merit - in his "nationality". “But what nationality consists of, Grigoriev does not explain, and therefore his remark seemed very funny to us.”

Then Dobrolyubov comes to define Ostrovsky’s plays in general as “plays of life”: “We want to say that with him the general situation of life is always in the foreground. He punishes neither the villain nor the victim. You see that their situation dominates them, and you only blame them for not showing enough energy to get out of this situation. And that’s why we never dare to consider as unnecessary and superfluous those characters in Ostrovsky’s plays who do not directly participate in the intrigue. From our point of view, these persons are just as necessary for the play as the main ones: they show us the environment in which the action takes place, they depict the situation that determines the meaning of the activities of the main characters in the play.”

In “The Thunderstorm,” the need for “unnecessary” persons (minor and episodic characters) is especially visible. Dobrolyubov analyzes the remarks of Feklusha, Glasha, Dikiy, Kudryash, Kuligin, etc. The author analyzes the internal state of the heroes of the “dark kingdom”: “everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown up, with different beginnings, and although it is not yet clearly visible, it is already sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants. And Kabanova is very seriously upset about the future of the old order, with which she has outlived the century. She foresees their end, tries to maintain their significance, but already feels that there is no former respect for them and that at the first opportunity they will be abandoned.”

Then the author writes that “The Thunderstorm” is “Ostrovsky’s most decisive work; mutual relations of tyranny are brought to the most tragic consequences; and for all that, most of those who have read and seen this play agree that there is even something refreshing and encouraging in The Thunderstorm. This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the precariousness and the near end of tyranny. Then the very character of Katerina, drawn against this background, also breathes on us with new life, which is revealed to us in her very death.”

Further, Dobrolyubov analyzes the image of Katerina, perceiving it as “a step forward in all of our literature”: “Russian life has reached the point where the need for more active and energetic people was felt.” The image of Katerina “is unswervingly faithful to the instinct of natural truth and selfless in the sense that it is better for him to die than to live under those principles that are disgusting to him. In this integrity and harmony of character lies his strength. Free air and light, contrary to all the precautions of dying tyranny, burst into Katerina’s cell, she strives for a new life, even if she has to die in this impulse. What does death matter to her? Doesn't matter - She does not consider life to be the vegetation that befell her in the Kabanov family.”

The author analyzes in detail the motives of Katerina’s actions: “Katerina does not at all belong to the violent character, dissatisfied, who loves to destroy. On the contrary, this is a predominantly creative, loving, ideal character. That's why she tries to ennoble everything in her imagination. The feeling of love for a person, the need for tender pleasures naturally opened up in the young woman.” But it won’t be Tikhon Kabanov, who is “too downtrodden to understand the nature of Katerina’s emotions: “I won’t understand you, Katya, - he tells her - then you won’t get a word from you, let alone affection, otherwise you’ll get in your way.” This is how spoiled natures usually judge a strong and fresh nature.”

Dobrolyubov comes to the conclusion that in the image of Katerina, Ostrovsky embodied a great popular idea: “in other creations of our literature, strong characters are like fountains, dependent on an extraneous mechanism. Katerina is like a big river: a flat bottom, good - it flows calmly, large stones meet - she jumps over them, cliff - pours in a cascade, damming it - it rages and breaks out elsewhere. It bubbles not because the water suddenly wants to make noise or get angry at obstacles, but simply because it needs it to fulfill its natural requirements. - for further progress."

Creative history of "Thunderstorm"

Ostrovsky came to an artistic synthesis of the dark and light principles of merchant life in the Russian tragedy “The Thunderstorm” - the pinnacle of his mature creativity. The creation of “The Thunderstorm” was preceded by the playwright’s expedition to the Upper Volga, undertaken on instructions from the Maritime Ministry in 1856-1857. She revived and revived his youthful impressions, when in 1848 Ostrovsky first went with his household on an exciting journey to his father’s homeland, to the Volga city of Kostroma and further, to the Shchelykovo estate acquired by his father. The result of this trip was Ostrovsky’s diary, which reveals much in his perception of the life of provincial, Volga Russia. The Ostrovskys set off on April 22, the eve of Yegoriev's Day. “It’s spring time, holidays are frequent,” says Kupava to Tsar Berendey in Ostrovsky’s “spring fairy tale” “The Snow Maiden.” The journey coincided with the most poetic time of year in the life of a Russian person. In the evenings, in ritual spring songs that sounded outside the outskirts, in the groves and valleys, the peasants addressed the birds, curly willows, white birches, and silky green grass. On Yegoryev’s day, they walked around the fields, “called out to Yegory,” and asked him to protect the cattle from predatory animals. Following Yegoriev's Day there were holidays of green Christmastide (Russian week), when round dances were held in the villages, they played burners, burned bonfires and jumped over fire. The Ostrovskys’ journey lasted a whole week and went through ancient Russian cities: Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma. The Upper Volga region opened up for Ostrovsky as an inexhaustible source of poetic creativity. “Merya begins from Pereyaslavl,” he writes in his diary, “a land rich in mountains and waters, and a people who are tall, and beautiful, and intelligent, and frank, and obliging, and a free mind, and a wide-open soul. These are my beloved countrymen, with whom I seem to get along well. Here you won’t see a little bent man or woman in an owl costume, who constantly bows and says: “and father, and father...” “And everything goes on in a crescendo,” he continues further, “and the cities, and the views, and the weather, and the village buildings, and girls. Here are eight beauties we came across on the road.” “On the meadow side the views are amazing: what a village, what buildings, just as if you are driving not through Russia, but through some promised land.” And here are the Ostrovskys in Kostroma. “We are standing on a steep mountain, the Volga is under our feet, and along it ships go back and forth, sometimes with sails, sometimes in barge haulers, and one charming song haunts us irresistibly. Here the bark approaches, and charming sounds are barely audible from a distance; closer and closer, the song grew and finally poured out at the top of its voice, then little by little it began to subside, and meanwhile another bark was approaching and the same song was growing. And there is no end to this song... And on the other side of the Volga, right opposite the city, there are two villages; and one is especially picturesque, from which the most curly grove stretches all the way to the Volga; the sun at sunset somehow miraculously climbed into it, from the roots, and created many miracles. I was exhausted looking at this... Exhausted, I returned home and for a long, long time I could not sleep. A kind of despair took possession of me. Will the painful experiences of these five days be fruitless for me? Such impressions could not turn out to be fruitless, but they persisted and matured in the soul of the playwright and poet for a long time before such masterpieces of his work as “The Thunderstorm” and then “The Snow Maiden” appeared. His friend S.V. spoke well about the great influence of the “literary expedition” along the Volga on Ostrovsky’s subsequent work. Maksimov: “The artist, strong in talent, was not able to miss a favorable opportunity... He continued to observe the characters and worldview of the indigenous Russian people, who came out to meet him in the hundreds... The Volga gave Ostrovsky abundant food, showed him new themes for dramas and comedies and inspired him to those of them, which constitute the honor and pride of Russian literature. From the veche, once free, Novgorod suburbs there was a whiff of that transitional time, when the heavy hand of Moscow shackled the old will and sent iron-knitted governors on long raked paws. I had a poetic “Dream on the Volga”, and the “voevoda” Nechai Grigorievich Shalygin and his enemy, a free man, the fugitive posad daredevil Roman Dubrovin, rose from the grave alive and active, in all that truthful situation of old Rus', which only the Volga can imagine, in at the same time both pious and robber, well-fed and hungry... Outwardly beautiful Torzhok, jealously guarding its Novgorod antiquity to the strange customs of girlish freedom and strict seclusion of married women, inspired Ostrovsky to create the deeply poetic “Thunderstorm” with playful Varvara and artistically graceful Katerina " For quite a long time, it was believed that Ostrovsky took the plot of “The Thunderstorm” from the life of the Kostroma merchants, and that it was based on the Klykov case, which was sensational in Kostroma at the end of 1859. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Kostroma residents proudly pointed to the site of Katerina’s suicide - a gazebo at the end of a small boulevard, which in those years literally hung over the Volga. They also showed the house where she lived - next to the Church of the Assumption. And when “The Thunderstorm” was first performed on the stage of the Kostroma Theater, the artists made themselves up “to look like the Klykovs.”

Kostroma local historians then thoroughly examined the “Klykovo Case” in the archives and, with documents in hand, came to the conclusion that it was this story that Ostrovsky used in his work on “The Thunderstorm.” The coincidences were almost literal. A.P. Klykova was handed over at the age of sixteen to a gloomy and unsociable merchant family, consisting of old parents, a son and an unmarried daughter. The mistress of the house, stern and obstinate, depersonalized her husband and children with her despotism. She forced her young daughter-in-law to do any menial work and refused her requests to see her family.

At the time of the drama, Klykova was nineteen years old. In the past, she was raised in love and in the comfort of her soul by a doting grandmother, she was cheerful, lively, cheerful. Now she found herself unkind and alien in the family. Her young husband, Klykov, a carefree and apathetic man, could not protect his wife from the oppression of her mother-in-law and treated them indifferently. The Klykovs had no children. And then another man stood in the way of the young woman, Maryin, an employee at the post office. Suspicions and scenes of jealousy began. It ended with the fact that on November 10, 1859, the body of A.P. Klykova was found in the Volga. A long trial began, which received wide publicity even outside the Kostroma province, and none of the Kostroma residents doubted that Ostrovsky had used the materials of this case in “The Thunderstorm.”

Many decades passed before Ostrovsky’s researchers established for sure that “The Thunderstorm” was written before the Kostroma merchant Klykova rushed into the Volga. Ostrovsky began work on “The Thunderstorm” in June - July 1859 and finished it on October 9 of the same year. The play was first published in the January issue of the magazine “Library for Reading” for 1860. The first performance of “The Thunderstorm” on stage took place on November 16, 1859 at the Maly Theater, during a benefit performance by S.V. Vasilyeva with L.P. Nikulina-Kositskaya as Katerina. The version about the Kostroma source of the “Thunderstorm” turned out to be far-fetched. However, the very fact of an amazing coincidence speaks volumes: it testifies to the foresight of the national playwright, who caught the growing conflict in merchant life between the old and the new, a conflict in which Dobrolyubov saw “something refreshing and encouraging” for a reason, and the famous theater figure S.A. . Yuryev said: “Ostrovsky didn’t write the “Thunderstorm”... “Volga” wrote the “Thunderstorm”.

The play “The Thunderstorm” was written by Ostrovsky during the summer and autumn of 1859, staged in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the same year, and published 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 impressions from a literary expedition along the Volga in 1856-1857. in order to study 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 to have the play take place in their city (domostroy, tyranny, rudeness and humiliation prevailed in many Russian cities of 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 thunderstorm becomes the backdrop against which the final scene of the play unfolds. The outbreak of a thunderstorm frightens everyone with the fear of retribution for sins.

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

A thunderstorm broke out over Kalinov in Act I. She caused confusion in Katerina's soul.

In Act IV, the thunderstorm motif no longer ceases. (“The rain begins to fall, as if a thunderstorm is not going to gather?..”; “A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel...”; “A thunderstorm will kill! It’s not a thunderstorm, but grace...”; “Remember my words, 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 “thunderstorm state of society”, a thunderstorm in the souls of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov.

A thunderstorm is a threat to the fading but still strong world of wild boars and wild animals.

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

For Kuligin, a thunderstorm is God's grace. For Dikiy and Kabanikha - heavenly punishment, for Feklusha - Ilya the Prophet is rolling across the sky, for Katerina - retribution for sins. But the heroine herself, her last step, which shook Kalinov’s world, is also a thunderstorm.

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

The drama reflected the rise of the social movement, the sentiments that lived the progressive people of the 50-60s.

“The Thunderstorm” was approved by dramatic censorship for performance in 1859, and published in January 1860. At the request of Ostrovsky’s friends, censor I. Nordstrem, who favored the playwright, presented “The Thunderstorm” as a play not socially accusatory, satirical, but a love story. , without mentioning a word in his report about Dikiy, Kuligin, or Feklush.

In the most general formulation, the main theme of “The Thunderstorm” can be defined as a clash between new trends and old traditions, between the oppressed and the oppressors, between the desire of people to freely express their human rights, spiritual needs and the social and family order that prevailed in pre-reform Russia.

The theme of “Thunderstorm” is organically connected with its conflicts. The conflict that forms the basis of the plot of the drama is a conflict between old social and everyday principles and new, progressive aspirations for equality and 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 Dikiy and Kabanikha, Kudryash with Dikiy, Boris with Dikiy, Varvara with Kabanikha, Tikhon with Kabanikha. The play is a true reflection of social relations, interests and struggles of its time.

The overall theme of "Thunderstorms" entails a number of special topics:

a) with the stories of Kuligin, the remarks of Kudryash and Boris, the actions of Dikiy and Kabanikha, Ostrovsky gives a detailed description of the material and legal situation of all layers of society of that era;

c) depicting the life, interests, hobbies and experiences of the characters in “The Thunderstorm”, the author reproduces from different sides the social and family life of the merchants and philistines. This illuminates the problem of social and family relations. The position of women in the bourgeois-merchant environment is clearly depicted;

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

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

So, in the words of Goncharov, in “The Thunderstorm” “a broad picture of national life and morals has settled down.” Pre-reform Russia is represented in it by its socio-economic, cultural, moral, and family and everyday appearance.

Composition of the play

The play has 5 acts: I act - the beginning, II-III - the development of the action, IV - the climax, V - the denouement.

Exposition- pictures of the Volga open space and the stuffiness of Kalinovsky morals (d. I, appearances 1-4).

The beginning- Katerina responds with dignity and peacefully to her mother-in-law’s nagging: “You’re talking about me, Mama, in vain. Whether in front of people or without people, I’m still alone, I don’t prove anything of myself.” The first collision (part I, scene 5).

Next comes development of the conflict between the heroes, a thunderstorm gathers twice in nature (D. I, Rev. 9). Katerina confesses to Varvara that she has fallen in love with Boris - and the old lady’s prophecy, a distant clap of thunder; end of part IV. A thundercloud creeps in like a living, half-crazed old woman, threatening Katerina with death in the whirlpool and hell, and Katerina confesses her sin (first climax), falls unconscious. But the thunderstorm never hit the city, only pre-storm tension.

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

Denouement- Katerina’s suicide, the shock of the inhabitants of the city, Tikhon, who, being alive, envies his dead wife: Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay to live and suffer!..” (D. V, Rev. 7).

“On the instructions of His Imperial Highness, Admiral General, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, prominent Russian writers who already had travel experience and a taste for essayistic prose were sent around the country for new materials for the “Sea Collection”. They were supposed to study and describe folk crafts associated with the sea, lakes or rivers, methods of local shipbuilding and navigation, the situation of domestic fisheries and the very state of Russian waterways.

Ostrovsky inherited the Upper Volga from its source to Nizhny Novgorod. And he got down to business with passion.”

“In the ancient dispute between the Volga cities about which of them, by Ostrovsky’s will, was turned into Kalinov (the location of the play “The Thunderstorm”), arguments in favor of Kineshma, Tver, and Kostroma are most often heard. The debaters seemed to have forgotten about Rzhev, and yet Rzhev was clearly involved in the birth of the mysterious plan of “The Thunderstorm”!

It is not known exactly where “The Thunderstorm” was written - at a dacha near Moscow or in Shchelykovo on the Volga - but it was created with amazing speed, truly by inspiration, in a few months of 1859.”

“The year 1859 is hidden from Ostrovsky’s biographer under a thick veil. That year he did not keep a diary and, it seems, did not write letters at all... But it is still possible to restore some things. “The Thunderstorm” was begun and written, as can be seen from the notes in the first act of the draft manuscript, on July 19, July 24, July 28, July 29 - in the height of summer 1859. Ostrovsky still does not regularly travel to Shchelykovo and, according to some sources, spends the hot summer near Moscow - in Davydovka or Ivankovo, where a whole colony of Maly Theater actors and their literary friends settle in their dachas.

Ostrovsky's friends often gathered at his home, and the talented, cheerful actress Kositskaya was always the soul of the party. An excellent performer of Russian folk songs, owner of a colorful speech, she attracted Ostrovsky not only as a charming woman, but also as a deep, perfect folk character. Kositskaya “drove more than one Ostrovsky crazy when she started singing perky or lyrical folk songs.

Listening to Kositskaya’s stories about the early years of her life, the writer immediately drew attention to the poetic richness of her language, the colorfulness and expressiveness of her phrases. In her “servile speech” (as Countess Rostopchina disparagingly described Kositskaya’s manner of speaking), Ostrovsky felt a fresh source for his creativity.

The meeting with Ostrovsky inspired Kositskaya. The tremendous success of the first production of the play “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh,” chosen by Kositskaya for the benefit performance, opened a wide path for Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy to the stage.

Of the twenty-six original plays by Ostrovsky staged in Moscow during the period from 1853 to the year of Kositskaya’s death (1868), that is, over a period of fifteen years, she participated in nine.

Kositskaya’s life path, personality, and stories gave Ostrovsky rich material for creating the character of Katerina.

In October 1859, at the apartment of L.P. Kositskaya Ostrovsky read the play to the actors of the Maly Theater. The actors unanimously admired the composition, pretending to play roles for themselves. It was known that Ostrovsky gave Katerina to Kositskaya in advance. Borozdina was slated to play Varvara, Sadovsky to play Dikiy, Sergei Vasiliev to play Tikhon, and Rykalova to play Kabanikha.

But before rehearsing, the play must be passed through censorship. Ostrovsky himself went to St. Petersburg. Nordström read the drama as if what lay before him was not a work of art, but a coded proclamation. And he suspected that... the late Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich was removed from Kabanikha. Ostrovsky spent a long time dissuading the frightened censor, saying that he could not give up the role of Kabanikha...

The play was received from the censor a week before the premiere. However, in those days, playing a play with five rehearsals did not seem like a miracle to anyone.

The main director was Ostrovsky. Under his guidance, the actors searched for the right intonations and coordinated the tempo and character of each scene. The premiere took place on November 16, 1859."

“The scientific world of Russia quite quickly confirmed the high merits of the play: on September 25, 1860, the board of the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded the play “The Thunderstorm” the Great Uvarov Prize (this prize was established by Count A.S. Uvarov, the founder of the Moscow Archaeological Society, to reward the most outstanding historical and dramatic works)".

Genre of the play

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

In the most general formulation, the main topic "Thunderstorms" can be defined as a clash between new trends and old traditions, between the oppressed and the comforters, between the desire of people to freely express their human rights, spiritual needs and the social, family and everyday order that prevailed in pre-reform Russia.

The theme of “Thunderstorm” is organically connected with its conflicts. Conflict, forming the basis of the plot of the drama, is conflict between old social and everyday principles and new, progressive aspirations for equality and freedom of the human person. The main conflict - Katerina's with her environment - unites all the others. It is joined by the conflicts of Kuligin with Dikiy and Kabanikha, Kudryash with Dikiy, Boris with Dikiy, 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” also entails a number of specific themes:

e) along with socio-economic and living conditions, the author masterfully painted pictures of nature and the different attitudes of the characters towards it.

3. K composition of the play

Exposition- pictures of the Volga open space and the stuffiness of Kalinov’s morals (D. I, appearances 1-4).

The beginning- to her mother-in-law’s nagging, Katerina replies with dignity and peacefully: “You’re talking about me, Mama, in vain. Whether in front of people or without people, I’m all alone, I don’t prove anything of myself.” The first collision (D. I, phenomenon 5).

Next comes development of the conflict, in nature a thunderstorm gathers twice (D. I, Rev. 9). Katerina confesses to Varvara that she has fallen in love with Boris - and the old lady’s prophecy, a distant clap of thunder; end D. IV. A thundercloud creeps in like a living, half-mad old woman, threatening Katerina with death in the whirlpool and hell.

First climax- Katerina confesses her sin and falls unconscious. But the thunderstorm never hit the city; only pre-storm tension is felt.

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

Denouement- Katerina’s suicide, the shock of the inhabitants of the city, Tikhon, who is jealous of his dead wife: “Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay to live and suffer!..” (D.V. 7).

Conclusion. By all indications of the genre, the play “The Thunderstorm” is a tragedy, since the conflict between the characters leads to tragic consequences. There are also elements of comedy in the play (the tyrant Dikoy with his absurd, degrading demands, Feklusha’s stories, the arguments of the Kalinovites), which help to see the abyss that is ready to swallow Katerina and which Kuligin unsuccessfully tries to illuminate with the light of reason, kindness and mercy. Ostrovsky himself called the play a drama, thereby emphasizing the widespread nature of the conflict in the play and the everyday nature of the events depicted in it.