Each person is the one and only world, with his actions, character, habits, honor, morality, self-esteem.
It is the problem of honor and dignity that Ostrovsky raises in his play The Thunderstorm.
In order to show the contradictions between rudeness and honor, between ignorance and dignity, two generations are shown in the play: people of the older generation, the so-called "dark kingdom", and people of the new trend, more progressive, not
Those who want to live according to the old laws and customs.
Wild and Kabanova are typical representatives of the "dark kingdom". It was in these images that Ostrovsky wanted to show the ruling class in Russia at that time.
So who are Dikoy and Kabanova? First of all, these are the richest people in the city, in their hands is the “supreme” power, with the help of which they oppress not only their serfs, but also their relatives. Kuligin said well about the life of the philistines: "... And whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor, so that he can make even more money on his free labors ...", and again: "In philistinism, sir, you are nothing but rudeness , you won’t see ... "And so they live, knowing nothing but money, ruthless exploitation, immense profit
At someone else's expense. It was not without intent that Ostrovsky created these two types. Wild is a typical merchant, and his social circle is Kabanikha.
The images of Dikoy and Kabanova are very similar: they are rude, ignorant people. They only do selfishness. Wild is annoyed by his relatives, who accidentally caught his eye: “... Once I told you, I told you twice: “Don’t you dare to meet me”; you get it all! Is there enough space for you? Wherever you go, here you are! .. "And if someone comes to ask for money from Dikiy, then there's no way to do without swearing:" I understand this; what are you going to tell me to do with myself when my heart is like that! After all, I already know what I need to give, but I can’t do everything with good. You are my friend, and I must give it back to you, but if you come and ask me, I will scold you. I will give, I will give, but I will scold. Therefore, just give me a hint about money, my whole interior will be kindled; it kindles the whole interior, and that's all ... "
Kabanova does not like it when Katerina defends her human dignity and tries to protect her husband from excessive scolding. The boar is disgusted that someone dares to argue with her, to do something against her command. But between Wild and Kabanova there is a slight difference in relation to relatives and the people around them. Dikoy swears openly, “as if he had broken the chain”, Kabanikha - “under the guise of piety”: “I know, I know that my words are not to your liking, but what can you do, I am not a stranger to you, I have a heart about you it hurts ... After all, from love, parents are strict with you, from love they scold you, everything
They think it's good to teach. Well, now I don't like it. And the children will go to people to praise that the mother is grumbling, that the mother does not give a pass, she shrinks from the light. And God forbid, you won’t please your daughter-in-law with any word, so the conversation began that the mother-in-law ate completely.
Greed, rudeness, ignorance, tyranny will always be in these. These qualities have not been eradicated, because they were brought up in such a way, they grew up in the same environment. Such as Kabanova and Dikoy will always be together, they cannot be separated. Where one ignorant and petty tyrant has appeared, another will appear there. Whatever the society, there will always be people who, under the guise of progressive ideas and education, hide, or rather, try to hide their stupidity, rudeness and ignorance. They tyrannize others, while not at all embarrassed and not afraid to bear any responsibility for this. Wild and Kabanova - this is the very "dark kingdom", remnants, supporters of the foundations of this "dark kingdom". That's who they are, these Wild and Kabanovs, stupid, ignorant, hypocritical, rude. They preach the same peace and order. This is the world of money, anger, envy and enmity. They hate everything new and progressive. The idea of A. Ostrovsky was to expose the "dark kingdom", using the images of Wild and Kabanova. He denounced all rich people in lack of spirituality and meanness. Basically, in the secular societies of Russia in the 19th century, there were such Wild and Kabanovs, which the author showed us in his drama Thunderstorm.
The curtain opens. And the viewer's eye sees the high bank of the Volga, the city garden, the inhabitants of the charming town of Kalinov walking and talking. The beauty of the landscape causes Kuligin's poetic delight and surprisingly harmonizes with the free Russian folk song. The conversation of the city dwellers slowly flows, in which the life of Kalinov, hidden from prying eyes, is already slightly revealed.
A talented self-taught mechanic Kuligin calls his manners "cruel". What does he see as a manifestation of this? First of all, in the poverty and rudeness that reigns in the philistine environment. The reason is extremely clear dependence of the working population on the power of money, concentrated in the hands of the wealthy merchants of the city. But, continuing the story of Kalinov's morals, Kuligin by no means idealizes the relationship of the merchant class, which, according to him, undermines trade from each other, writes "malicious slander". The only educated person, Kali-nova, draws attention to one important detail, clearly visible in the amusing story about how Dikoy explained to the mayor about the peasants' complaint against him.
Let us recall Gogol's "Inspector General", in which the merchants did not dare to utter a word under the mayor, but dutifully put up with his tyranny and endless requisitions. And in "Thunderstorm", in response to the remark of the main person of the city about his dishonest act, Wild
He only condescendingly pats the representative of authority on the shoulder, not even considering it necessary to make excuses. So, money and power have become synonymous here. Therefore, there is no uprava on the Wild, who offends the whole city. No one can please him, no one is immune from his violent abuse. Wild is self-willed and tyrannical, because he does not meet with resistance and is confident in his own impunity. This hero, with his rudeness, greed and ignorance, personifies the main features of Kalinov's "dark kingdom". Moreover, his anger and irritation especially increase in cases where it is either about money that needs to be returned, or about something inaccessible to his understanding. That is why he scolds Boris's nephew so much, for his mere appearance
Reminds of the inheritance, which, according to the will, must be shared with him. That is why he lashes out at Kuligin, who is trying to explain to him the principle of the lightning rod. Diky is outraged by the idea of a thunderstorm as electrical discharges. He, like all Kalinovtsy, is convinced that a thunderstorm is coming! people as a reminder of the responsibility for their actions. This is not just ignorance and superstition, it is a folk mythology passed down from generation to generation, before which the language of the logical mind falls silent. This means that even in the violent, uncontrollable tyrant Dick lives this moral truth, forcing him to publicly bow at the feet of the peasant, whom he scolded during fasting. Even if Diky has fits of remorse, the wealthy merchant widow Marfa Ignatyevna Kabanova seems at first even more religious and pious. Unlike Wild, she will never raise her voice, will not rush at people like a chain dog. But the despotism of her nature is not at all a secret for the Kalinovs. Even before the appearance of this heroine on the stage, we hear biting and well-aimed remarks of the townspeople addressed to her. "Prude, sir. She gives clothes to the poor, but she eats the household completely, ”Kuligin says to Boris about her. And the very first meeting with Kabanikha convinces us of the correctness of this
Characteristics. Her tyranny is limited to the sphere of the family, which she ruthlessly tyrannizes. The boar crippled her own son, turning him into a miserable, weak-willed person who only does what is justified before her for non-existent sins. The cruel, despotic Kabanikha turned the life of her children and daughter-in-law into hell, constantly torturing them, harassing them with reproaches, complaints and suspicions. Therefore, her daughter Barbara! , a brave, strong-willed girl, is forced to live by the principle: "... do what you want, if only it was sewn and covered." Therefore, Tikhon and Katerina cannot be happy.
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”, A.N. Ostrovsky for the first time depicts the realistic world of the "dark kingdom". Who was in it? This is a large part of that society - petty tyrants who had the power of money in their hands, who wanted to enslave the poor and profit even more from their free labor. Ostrovsky for the first time opens the world of merchants with all the realities and true events. There is nothing humane or good in this world. There is no faith in a free person, in happiness, in love and decent work.
What is the play's conflict? In the clash of interests and morality of the obsolete and future generations of people. Complex images of the characters of this play are depicted with special meaning. A wealthy merchant - Wild - is quite an important person in the city. Curly, tobish Savel Prokofievich - presents himself as the arbiter of the world and the master of the life around him. Many characters are afraid of him and simply tremble before his image. Lawlessness in the behavior of the Wild is covered by the power and significance of his financial condition. He has the patronage of the state power.
Ostrovsky creates a rather ambiguous and complex image of the Wild. This character is faced with the problem of not external opposition of others to his person. He is experiencing an internal protest. The hero understands how callous his middle and his heart are. He tells a story about how, for nothing, he scolded a peasant who carried firewood. Dikoy pounced on him and nearly killed him for nothing. And then he began to repent and ask for forgiveness. And he admitted that he had such a “wild” heart.
It is in this image that we see the hidden meaning of the "dark kingdom". It redeemed itself from within. The inner protest of the petty tyrants of that time destroyed them themselves.
Analyzing another image of the play "The Dark Kingdom", one can notice other features of the petty tyrants of that time.
The person makes us confused. In her opinion, all relationships in the family should be subject to fear. She is despotic and hypocritical. She is used to living according to the old society. She completely ate all the household and does not give them a quiet life.
The secondary image of the wanderer Feklusha comes to the defense of the dying "dark kingdom". She enters into a conversation with Kabanikha and keeps preaching to her her thoughts about the imminent death of the "dark kingdom".
In his play, in order to convey to the reader all his thoughts and reasoning, Ostrovsky creates many symbolic images. Thunderstorm is one of them. The finale of the play conveys the author's thoughts that life in such a "dark kingdom" is unbearable and terrible. The reader understands that the world of tyrants is overcome by an awakened person who is filled with real, human feelings, who can overcome the falsity and hypocrisy of that “dark kingdom”.
Type: Problem-thematic analysis of the work
A.N. Ostrovsky completed his play in 1859, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. Russia was in anticipation of reform, and the play became the first stage in the realization of the coming changes in society.
In his work, Ostrovsky presents us with a merchant environment, personifying the "dark kingdom". The author shows a whole gallery of negative images on the example of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. On the example of the townspeople, their ignorance, lack of education, and adherence to the old order are revealed to us. We can say that all Kalinovtsy are in the shackles of the old "house building".
The prominent representatives of the "dark kingdom" in the play are the "fathers" of the city in the person of Kabanikhi and Dikiy. Marfa Kabanova tortures those around her and those close to her with reproaches and suspicion. She relies on the authority of antiquity in everything and expects the same from others. There is no need to talk about her love for her son and daughter, the children of Kabanikha are completely subordinate to her power. Everything in Kabanova's house is based on fear. To scare and humiliate is her philosophy.
Wild is much more primitive than Kabanova. This is the image of a real tyrant. With his screams and swearing, this hero humiliates other people, thereby, as it were, rising above them. It seems to me that this is a way of self-expression for Dikiy: “What are you going to order me to do with myself when my heart is like that!”; “I scolded him, so scolded him that it’s impossible to demand better, he almost nailed me. Here it is, what a heart I have!
The unreasonable scolding of the Wild, the hypocritical captiousness of the Kabanikh - all this is due to the impotence of the heroes. The more real the changes in society and people, the stronger their protesting voices begin to sound. But there is no point in the rage of these heroes: only an empty sound remains from their words. “... And everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. In addition to them, without asking them, another life has grown up with other beginnings, and although it is far away, it is still not clearly visible, but it already gives itself a presentiment and sends bad visions to dark arbitrariness, ”dobrolyubov writes about the play.
The images of Kuligin and Katerina are opposed to the Wild, Kabanikha, and the whole city. In his monologues, Kuligin tries to reason with the inhabitants of Kalinov, to open their eyes to what is happening around. For example, all the townspeople are in a wild, natural horror from a thunderstorm and perceive it as a punishment from heaven. Only Kuligin is not afraid, but sees in a thunderstorm a natural phenomenon of nature, beautiful and majestic. He proposes to build a lightning rod, but does not find the approval and understanding of others. Despite all this, the "dark kingdom" failed to absorb this self-taught eccentric. Amid savagery and tyranny, he retained a man in himself.
But not all the heroes of the play can resist the cruel customs of the "dark kingdom". Tikhon Kabanov is downtrodden, hounded by this society. Therefore, his image is tragic. The hero could not resist, from childhood he agreed with his mother in everything, he never contradicted her. And only at the end of the play, in front of the body of the dead Katerina, Tikhon decides to confront his mother and even blames her for the death of his wife.
Tikhon's sister, Varvara, finds her way to survive in Kalinovo. A strong, courageous and cunning character allows the girl to adapt to life in the "dark kingdom". For her peace of mind and for the sake of avoiding trouble, she lives by the principle of "hidden and covered", deceives and tricks. But, doing all this, Varvara is only trying to live as she wants.
Katerina Kabanova is a bright soul. Against the backdrop of the entire dead kingdom, it stands out for its purity and immediacy. This heroine was not mired in material interests and outdated worldly truths, like other residents of Kalinov. Her soul strives to free itself from the oppression and suffocation of these people, alien to it. Having fallen in love with Boris and cheated on her husband, Katerina is in terrible pangs of conscience. And she perceives the storm as a punishment from heaven for her sins: “Everyone should be afraid! It’s not that it’s scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins ... ”. Pious Katerina, unable to withstand the pressure of her own conscience, decides on the most terrible sin - suicide.
Dikiy's nephew, Boris, is also a victim of the "dark kingdom". He resigned himself to spiritual slavery and broke down under the pressure of the old-timers. Boris seduced Katerina, but he did not have the strength to save her, to take her away from the hated city. The "Dark Kingdom" turned out to be stronger than this hero.
Another representative of the "Dark Kingdom" is the wanderer Feklusha. In the house of Kabanikhi, she is highly respected. Her ignorant tales about distant lands are listened to attentively and even believed. Only in such a dark and ignorant society, no one can doubt Feklusha's stories. The wanderer supports the Boar, feeling her strength and power in the city.
In my opinion, the play "Thunderstorm" is a work of genius. It reveals so many images, so many characters that would be enough for a whole encyclopedia of negative characters. All ignorance, superstition, lack of education absorbed the "dark kingdom" of Kalinov. Thunderstorm shows us that the old way of life has long outlived itself and does not meet modern conditions of life. Changes are already on the threshold of the "dark kingdom" and, together with a thunderstorm, they are trying to break into it. It doesn't matter that they meet with great resistance from wild and boar. After reading the play, it becomes clear that they are all powerless before the future.
"Dark Kingdom" in Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm"
Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", in accordance with the critical and theatrical traditions of interpretation, is understood as a social drama, since it attaches special importance to everyday life.
As almost always with Ostrovsky, the play begins with a lengthy, unhurried exposition. The playwright does more than introduce us to the characters and the scene: he creates an image of the world in which the characters live and where events will unfold.
The action takes place in a fictional remote town, but, unlike other plays by the playwright, the city of Kalinov is described in detail, concretely and in many ways. In The Thunderstorm, an important role is played by the landscape, described not only in stage directions, but also in the dialogues of the characters. One can see its beauty, others have looked at it and are completely indifferent. The high steep bank of the Volga and beyond the river introduce the motif of space and flight.
Beautiful nature, pictures of the nightly festivities of young people, songs that sound 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 of the everyday cruelty of the inhabitants to each other, with stories about the lack of rights of the majority of the townsfolk, with the fantastic, incredible "lostness" of Kalinov's life.
The motif of the complete isolation of Kalinov's world is getting stronger and stronger 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, lost connection and meaning legends (talking about Lithuania, which “fell to us from the sky”). Life in Kalinovo freezes, dries up. The past is forgotten, "there are hands, but there is nothing to work." News from the big world is brought to the inhabitants by the wanderer Feklusha, and they listen with equal confidence both about countries where people with dog heads “for infidelity”, and about the railway, where “the fire serpent began to be harnessed” for speed, and about the time that “ began to diminish."
There is no one among the characters in the play who does not belong to Kalinov's world. Lively and meek, domineering and subservient, merchants and clerks, a wanderer and even an old crazy lady prophesying hellish torments for everyone - they all revolve in the sphere of concepts and ideas of a closed patriarchal world. Not only Kalinov's obscure townsfolk, but also Kuligin, who performs some of the functions of the reasoning hero in the play, is also flesh and blood of Kalinov's world.
This character is depicted as an unusual person. The list of actors says about him: "... a tradesman, a self-taught watchmaker, looking for a perpetuum mobile." The hero's surname transparently hints at a real person - I.P. Kulibin (1735 - 1818). The word "kuliga" means a swamp with a well-established connotation of the meaning of "a distant, deaf place" due to the well-known saying "in the middle of nowhere."
Like Katerina, Kuligin is a poetic and dreamy nature. So, it is he who admires the beauty of the Trans-Volga landscape, complains that the Kalinovites are indifferent to him. He sings "Among the Flat Valley...", a folk song of literary origin. This immediately emphasizes the difference between Kuligin and other characters associated with folklore culture, he is also a bookish man, although of rather archaic bookishness. He confidentially informs Boris that he writes poetry "in the old way," as Lomonosov and Derzhavin once wrote. In addition, he is a self-taught mechanic. However, Kuligin's technical ideas are clearly anachronistic. The sundial, which he dreams of installing on Kalinovsky Boulevard, came from antiquity. Lightning rod - a technical discovery of the XVIII century. And his oral stories about judicial red tape are sustained in even earlier traditions and resemble old moralizing stories. All these features show his deep connection with the world of Kalinov. He, of course, is different from the Kalinovites. It can be said that Kuligin is a “new man”, but only his 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 business of Kuligin's life is the dream of inventing the "perpetuum mobile" and getting a million from the British for it. He intends to spend this million on Kalinov's society, to give work to the bourgeoisie. Kuligin is really a good person: kind, disinterested, 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, and it never occurs to society that there can be any benefit from them, for fellow countrymen Kuligin is a harmless eccentric, something like a city holy fool. And the main of the possible "philanthropists" of Dikaya even lashes out at the inventor with abuse, confirming the general opinion that he is incapable of parting with money.
Kuligin's passion for creativity remains unquenched: he pities his countrymen, seeing in their vices the result of ignorance and poverty, but he cannot help them in anything. With all the industriousness, creative warehouse of his personality, Kuligin is a contemplative nature, devoid of any pressure and aggressiveness. Probably, this is the only reason 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, does not look like 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 has already been taken prisoner by Kalinov, he cannot break ties with him, he has recognized his laws over himself. After all, Boris's connection with Wild is not even monetary dependence. And he himself understands, and those around him say that he will never give him Wild grandmother's inheritance, left on such "Kalinov" conditions ("if he is respectful to his uncle"). And yet he behaves as if he is financially dependent on Wild or is obliged to obey him as the eldest in the family. And although Boris becomes the subject of great passion for Katerina, 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 attributed to the setting.
In a certain sense, the same can be said about all the other characters in the play, starting with Wild and ending with Kudryash and Varvara. All of them are bright and lively. However, compositionally, two heroes are put forward in 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 come to terms with human weaknesses and will not compromise. Both, finally, believe in the same way, their religion is harsh and merciless, there is no forgiveness for sin, and they both do not remember mercy.
Only Kabanikha is all chained to the ground, all her forces are aimed at holding, collecting, upholding the way of life, she is the guardian of the ossified form of the patriarchal world. The boar perceives life as a ceremonial, and she not only does not need, but is also afraid 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, a folk character of amazing beauty and strength can arise, whose faith - truly Kalinov's - is nevertheless 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 from the expanses of another life, another historical time (after all, the patriarchal Kalinov and contemporary Moscow, where bustle is in full swing, or the railway that Feklusha talks about, are different historical times) , but was born and formed in the same "Kalinov" conditions.
Katerina lives in an era when the very spirit of patriarchal morality - harmony between the individual and the moral ideas of the environment - has disappeared and the ossified forms of relations are based only on violence and coercion. Her sensitive soul caught it. 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 drops.
All family relations in the Kabanovs' house are, in essence, a complete violation of the essence of patriarchal morality. Children willingly express their humility, listen to instructions without attaching any importance to them, and slowly violate all these commandments and orders. “Oh, I think you can do whatever you want. If only it was sewn and covered, ”says Varya
Katerina's husband in the list of characters follows directly Kabanova, and it is said about him: "her son." Such, indeed, is the position of Tikhon in the city of Kalinov and in the family. Belonging, like a number of other characters in the play (Barbara, Kudryash, Shapkin), to the younger generation of Kalinovites, Tikhon in his own way marks the end of the patriarchal way of life.
The youth of Kalinov no longer wants to adhere to the old ways of life. However, Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash are alien to the maximalism of Katerina, and, unlike the central heroines of the play, Katerina and Kabanikha, all these characters stand on the position of worldly compromises. Of course, the oppression of their elders is hard for them, but they have learned to get around it, each according to his character. Formally recognizing the power of elders and the power of customs over themselves, they constantly go against them. But it is against the background of their unconscious and compromise position that Katerina looks significant and morally lofty.
Tikhon in no way corresponds to the role of a husband in a patriarchal family: to be the ruler and at the same time the support and protection of his wife. A mild-mannered and weak man, 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, to break free from his mother's care means to go on a spree, to drink. “Yes, mother, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live with my will! - he answers the endless reproaches and instructions of Kabanikh. Humiliated by his mother's reproaches, Tikhon is ready to vent his annoyance on Katerina, and only the intercession of her sister Barbara, who secretly lets him go to drink at a party, stops the scene.
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky was endowed with a great talent as a playwright. He is deservedly considered the founder of the Russian national theater. His plays, varied in subject matter, glorified Russian literature. Creativity Ostrovsky had a democratic character. He created plays in which hatred for the autocratic-feudal regime was manifested. The writer called for the protection of the oppressed and humiliated citizens of Russia, longed for social change.
The great merit of Ostrovsky is that he opened to the enlightened public the world of merchants, about whose daily life Russian society had a superficial understanding. Merchants in Russia provided trade in goods and food, they were seen in shops, considered uneducated and uninteresting. Ostrovsky showed that behind the high fences of merchant houses, in the souls and hearts of people from the merchant class, almost Shakespearean passions are played out. He was called the Columbus of Zamoskvorechye.
Ostrovsky's ability to assert progressive tendencies in Russian society was fully revealed in the play The Thunderstorm, published in 1860. The play reflects the irreconcilable contradictions between the individual and society. The playwright raises an acute question in the 1860s about the position of women in Russian society.
The action of the play takes place in the small Volga town of Kalinov, where the merchant population mainly lives. In his famous article “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom,” the critic Dobrolyubov characterizes the life of merchants in this way: “Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests of the world disturb them, because they do not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries open up, the face of the earth ... change - the inhabitants of the town of Kalinov will continue to exist for themselves in complete ignorance of the rest of the world ... The concepts and way of life they have adopted are the best in the world, everything new comes from evil spirits ... A dark mass, terrible in its naivety and sincerity.
Ostrovsky, against the backdrop of a beautiful landscape, draws the bleak life of the townsfolk of Kalinov. Kuligin, who in the play opposes the ignorance and arbitrariness of the "dark kingdom", says: "Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!"
The term "tyranny" came into use along with Ostrovsky's plays. The playwright called petty tyrants "the masters of life", the rich, whom no one dared to argue with. This is how Savel Prokofievich Dikoy is depicted in the play "Thunderstorm". It was not by chance that Ostrovsky awarded him a "speaking" surname. Wild is famous for its wealth, acquired by deceit and exploitation of other people's labor. No law was written to him. With his absurd, rude disposition, he inspires fear in others, this is a "cruel scolder", "a piercing man." His wife is forced every morning to persuade others: “Fathers, do not make me angry! Doves, don't get angry! Impunity has corrupted the Wild, he can shout, insult a person, but this applies only to those who do not rebuff him. Half the city belongs to Wild, but he does not pay those who work for him. He explains to the mayor this way: “What is so special about it, I won’t give them a penny a penny, and I have a fortune.” Pathological greed overshadows his mind.
Progressive man Kuligin turns to Wild with a request to give money to install a sundial in the city. In response, he hears: “Why are you climbing to me with all sorts of nonsense! Maybe I don't want to talk to you. You should have known first whether I was disposed to listen to you, fool, or not. So right with the snout and climb to talk. Wild is completely unbridled in his tyranny, he is sure that any court will be on his side: “For others, you are an honest person, but I think that you are a robber, that’s all ... What are you going to sue, or something, with me? .. So know that you are a worm, if you want, I will crush you.”
Another bright representative of the mores of the "dark kingdom" is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. Kuligin speaks of her like this: “A hypocrite. She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely. Kabanova single-handedly rules the house and her family, she is accustomed to unquestioning obedience. In her face, Ostrovsky shows an ardent defender of the wild orders of house building in families and in life. She is sure that only fear holds the family together, she does not understand what respect, understanding, good relations between people are. The boar suspects everyone of sins, constantly complains about the lack of due respect for the elders on the part of the younger generation. “They don’t really respect elders these days…,” she says. The boar always becomes shy, pretends to be a victim: “Mother is old, stupid; well, you, young people, smart, should not exact from us, from fools. material from the site
Kabanova "feels with her heart" that the old order is coming to an end, she is anxious and scared. She turned her own son into a dumb slave who has no power in his own family, acts only at the behest of his mother. Tikhon happily leaves home, only to take a break from scandals and the oppressive atmosphere of his home.
Dobrolyubov writes: “The tyrants of Russian life, however, begin to feel some kind of discontent and fear, themselves not knowing what and why ... In addition to them, without asking them, another life grew up, with other beginnings, and although it is far away, it is still is not well seen, but already gives itself a presentiment and sends bad visions to the dark arbitrariness of petty tyrants.
Showing the life of the Russian provinces, Ostrovsky paints a picture of extreme backwardness, ignorance, rudeness and cruelty that kill all life around. The life of people depends on the arbitrariness of the Wild and Boars, who are hostile to any manifestations of free thought, self-esteem in a person. Having shown from the stage the life of the merchants in all its manifestations, Ostrovsky pronounced a harsh sentence on despotism and spiritual slavery.
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- image of the cruel customs of the dark kingdom of the storm
- life and customs of the dark kingdom in the thunderstorm of Ostrov
- image of the dark kingdom in a thunderstorm
- "thunderstorm" Ostrovsky speaking surnames composition
