Moral issues in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm"
Ostrovsky was once called the “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye”, emphasizing the artistic discovery of the world of merchants in the plays of the playwright, but today such works as “Dowry”, “Our People – We Will Be Numbered”, “Talents and Admirers”, “Forest” and other plays are interesting not only specific historical issues, but also moral, universal ones. I would like to talk in more detail about the play “The Thunderstorm”.
It is symbolic that in 1859, on the eve of the social upsurge that would lead in 61 to the abolition of serfdom, a play called “The Thunderstorm” appeared. Just as the title of the play is symbolic, its moral issues, in the center of which are the problems of external and internal freedom, love and happiness, the problem of moral choice and responsibility.
The problem of external and internal freedom becomes one of the central ones in the play. “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel,” says Kuligin already at the beginning of the play.
Only one person is given the ability to stand out from the background of those who humiliate and humiliate – Katerina. The very first appearance of Katerina reveals in her not a timid daughter-in-law of a strict mother-in-law, but a person who has dignity and feels like an individual: “Whoever likes to endure lies,” says Katerina in response to Kabanikha’s unfair words. Katerina is a spiritual, bright, dreamy person; she, like no one else in the play, knows how to feel beauty. Even her religiosity is also a manifestation of spirituality. The church service was filled with special charm for her: in the rays of sunlight she saw angels and felt a sense of belonging to something higher, unearthly. The motif of light becomes one of the central ones in Katerina’s characterization. “And the face seems to glow,” Boris had only to say this, and Kudryash immediately realized that he was talking about Katerina. Her speech is melodious, figurative, reminiscent of Russian folk songs: “Violent winds, bear with him my sadness and melancholy.” Katerina is distinguished by her inner freedom and passionate nature; it is no coincidence that the motif of a bird and flight appears in the play. The captivity of the Kabanovsky house oppresses her, suffocates her. “Everything seems to be out of captivity with you. I’ve completely wilted with you,” says Katerina, explaining to Varvara why she doesn’t feel happy in the Kabanovs’ house.
Another moral problem of the play is connected with the image of Katerina - human right to love and happiness. Katerina’s impulse to Boris is an impulse to joy, without which a person cannot live, an impulse to happiness, which she was deprived of in Kabanikha’s house. No matter how hard Katerina tried to fight her love, this fight was doomed from the very beginning. In Katerina’s love, like in a thunderstorm, there was something spontaneous, strong, free, but also tragically doomed; it is no coincidence that she begins her story about love with the words: “I will die soon.” Already in this first conversation with Varvara, the image of an abyss, a cliff appears: “There will be some kind of sin! Such fear comes over me, such and such fear! It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there, but I have nothing to hold on to.”
The title of the play takes on the most dramatic sound when we feel a “thunderstorm” brewing in Katerina’s soul. The central moral problem play can be called the problem of moral choice. The collision of duty and feeling, like a thunderstorm, destroyed the harmony in Katerina’s soul with which she lived; She no longer dreams, as before, of “golden temples or extraordinary gardens”; it is no longer possible to ease her soul with prayer: “If I start to think, I won’t be able to gather my thoughts, if I’ll pray, I won’t be able to pray.” Without agreement with herself, Katerina cannot live; she could never, like Varvara, be content with thieving, secret love. The consciousness of her sinfulness weighs on Katerina, torments her more than all of Kabanikha’s reproaches. Ostrovsky's heroine cannot live in a world of discord - this explains her death. She made the choice herself - and she pays for it herself, without blaming anyone: “No one is to blame - she did it herself.”
We can conclude that it is precisely the moral problematics of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” that makes this work interesting for the modern reader even today.
"Columbus of Zamoskvorechye". A. N. Ostrovsky knew the merchant environment well and saw in it the focus of national life. According to the playwright, all types of characters are widely represented here. The writing of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was preceded by A. N. Ostrovsky’s expedition along the Upper Volga in 1856-1857. “The Volga gave Ostrovsky abundant food, showed him new themes for dramas and comedies and inspired him to those that constitute the honor and pride of Russian literature” (Maksimov S.V.). The plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was not a consequence real story the Klykov family from Kostroma, as was believed for a long time. The play was written before the tragedy that occurred in Kostroma. This fact testifies to the typical nature of the conflict between the old and the new, which has been making itself known more and more loudly in merchant environment. The problems of the play are quite multifaceted.
The central problem is the confrontation between the individual and the environment (and, as a special case, the powerless position of women, about which N.A. Dobrolyubov said: “... the strongest protest is the one that finally rises from the chests of the weakest and most patient”). The problem of confrontation between personality and environment is revealed on the basis of the central conflict of the play: there is a clash between the “warm heart” and the dead way of life of merchant society. The lively nature of Katerina Kabanova, romantic, freedom-loving, hot, unable to tolerate “ cruel morals» the city of Kalinov, about which in the 3rd yavl. Act 1 is narrated by Kuligin: “And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor so that his labors will be free more money make money... They undermine each other's trade, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other; they get drunken clerks into their high mansions...” All lawlessness and cruelty are committed under the guise of piety. The heroine is unable to put up with hypocrisy and tyranny, among which Katerina’s sublime soul is suffocating. And for young Kabanova, an honest and integral nature, Varvara’s principle of “survival” is completely impossible: “Do what you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.” The opposition of the “warm heart” to inertia and hypocrisy, even if the price for such a rebellion is life, the critic N. A. Dobrolyubov will call “a ray of light in dark kingdom».
The tragic state of mind and progress in a world of ignorance and tyranny. This complex issue is revealed in the play through the introduction of the image of Kuligin, who cares about the common good and progress, but encounters misunderstanding on the part of the Wild: “... I would use all the money for society, for support. Jobs must be given to the philistines. Otherwise, you have hands, but nothing to work with.” But those who have money, for example Dikoy, are in no hurry to part with it, and even admit their lack of education: “What kind of elitism is there! Why aren't you a robber? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we can feel it, but you want to defend yourself, God forgive me, with poles and some kind of rods.” Feklusha’s ignorance finds deep “understanding” in Kabanova: “On such a beautiful evening, rarely does anyone even come out to sit outside the gate; but in Moscow there are now festivals and games, and there is a roar and a groan in the streets. Why, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, did they start harnessing the fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed.”
Substitution of life according to the grace-filled Christian commandments for blind, fanatical, “Domostroevsky” Orthodoxy, bordering on obscurantism. The religiosity of Katerina’s nature, on the one hand, and the piety of Kabanikha and Feklusha, on the other, appear completely different. The faith of young Kabanova carries a creative principle, full of joy, light and selflessness: “You know: on a sunny day such a bright pillar goes down from the dome, and smoke moves in this pillar, like clouds, and I see, it used to be like angels in they fly and sing on this pillar... Or I’ll go to the garden early in the morning. As soon as the sun rises, I fall on my knees, pray and cry, and I myself don’t know what I’m crying about; that's how they'll find me. And what I prayed for then, what I asked for, I don’t know; I don’t need anything, I had enough of everything.” Rigid religious and moral postulates and severe asceticism, so revered by Kabanikha, help her justify her despotism and cruelty.
The problem of sin. The theme of sin, which appears more than once in the play, is also closely related to the religious issue. Adultery becomes an unbearable burden for Katerina’s conscience, and therefore the woman finds the only possible way out for her - public repentance. But the most difficult problem is resolving the issue of sin. Katerina considers life in the “dark kingdom” to be a greater sin than suicide: “It doesn’t matter that death comes, that it itself... but you can’t live! Sin! Won't they pray? He who loves will pray..."
The problem of human dignity. The solution to this problem is directly related to the main problem of the play. Only the main character, with her decision to leave this world, defends her own dignity and right to respect. The youth of the city of Kalinov are unable to decide to protest. Their moral “strength” is only enough for secret “outlets” that everyone finds for themselves: Varvara secretly goes for a walk with Kudryash, Tikhon gets drunk as soon as he leaves the vigilant mother’s care. And other characters have little choice. “Dignity” can only be afforded by those who have substantial capital and, as a result, power; the rest include Kuligin’s advice: “What to do, sir! We must try to please somehow!”
The main conflict in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is the clash of Katerina, the main character, with the "dark kingdom" of cruel despotism and blind ignorance. It leads her to suicide after much torment and torment. But this did not cause Katerina’s disagreements with this “dark kingdom.” This feeling moral duty Katerina, which she cannot cope with and close her eyes to due to her spiritual purity. Therefore, the problem of moral duty permeates the main conflict of Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” everywhere and is one of the main ones. In this regard, I am going to talk about it.
The role of moral conflict in the play is extremely important. The influence of moral duty was one of the reasons for Katerina’s death. The pressure of a life alien to her, which was very great for her, brought discord into her inner world and caused a conflict between her personal thoughts and the responsibilities set by the moral and ethical laws of that time. The rules of the society described in this play obliged her to be obedient, to suppress original, innovative ideas in front of public ones, to meekly follow the law and customs of the time, which Katerina consciously protests against.
Kabanova: “You boasted that you love your husband very much; I see your love now. Another good wife, having seen her husband off, howls for an hour and a half and lies on the porch; but you obviously have nothing.”
Katerina: “No need! Yes, and I can’t. Why make people laugh!”
Because of everyday despotism, Katerina married Tikhon, although we do not find any direct mention of this in the text, but it is absolutely clear that she was married to Tikhon against her of one's own will, since she does not experience any positive feelings to her husband, except for respect out of a sense of duty. She says: “He’s sometimes affectionate, sometimes he’s angry, but he drinks everything. Yes, he was hateful to me, hateful, his caress is worse to me than beatings.” This demonstrates that from childhood she was immersed in the environment of the laws of this society and how deeply their influence on her was. And having reached conscious age, she begins to protest against them, since her principles were in conflict with the principles of the moral duty of society, which weighs on her, deprived of support from her friends. But the most depressing thing in her situation is that she is in captivity of the “dark kingdom”, mired in ignorance and vice, which is impossible to change or get rid of: “If it weren’t for my mother-in-law!.. She crushed me... from her I have a home “I’m disgusted: the walls are even disgusting.”
However, this is only an external conflict between the heroine and the world around her at the social and public level. But there is also another side to the coin. This is Katerina’s moral duty to God, since her actions, contrary to the customs and worldview of this “dark kingdom,” contradict her conservative, religious views. Since Katerina is a deeply religious person, she expects retribution for her actions. Her spiritual views have a greater influence than social ones, so she is permeated by a feeling of fear when she realizes the inevitability of retribution. She is terribly afraid of thunderstorms, considering it a punishment for her misdeeds: “Tisha, I know who will kill... He will kill me. Then pray for me!” This is the paradox of the doom of the Russian soul to suffer: a person who enters into confrontation with the “dark kingdom” must be spiritually superior to it, and this leads to a spiritual contradiction with religious canons, and because of his high spirituality, a person reaches a dead end in life. And religious contradictions arise precisely because of a sense of moral duty, which a person like Katerina cannot step over. The path she chose brought her to a dead end, morally, socially, and spiritually. Katerina realizes her situation and understands that the only way out for her is death.
Thus, Ostrovsky, in his work “The Thunderstorm,” wanted to emphasize the importance of moral duty and the power of influence of Orthodox religious principles on the Russian personality. However, the author does not give an unambiguous answer to the question: is this a disadvantage for a Russian person, capable of leading him to death, or an advantage, like a huge force capable of uniting the Russian people with faith into an unbending and indestructible whole that cannot be broken.
The main characters of two, probably the most popular plays by A.N. Ostrovsky differ significantly in their social status, but they are very similar in their tragic destinies. Katerina in "The Thunderstorm" is the wife of a rich, but weak-willed ^...
The family is an integral part of any society. The city of Kalinov is no exception, and therefore public life here is built on the same principles as the family one. Ostrovsky most fully presents to us the Kabanov family, at the head, in the center, on...
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The drama "The Thunderstorm" was conceived under the impression of Ostrovsky's trip along the Volga (1856-1857), but was written in 1859. "The Thunderstorm," as Dobrolyubov wrote, is without a doubt the most decisive work Ostrovsky". This assessment...
Essays on literature: Issues of Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm"
"The Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky's most decisive work; the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought to the most tragic consequences in it... There is even something refreshing and encouraging in “The Thunderstorm”. N. A. Dobrolyubov
A. N. Ostrovsky after the appearance of his first major play received literary recognition. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became a necessary element of the culture of his time; he retained the position of the best playwright of the era, the head of the Russian dramatic school, despite the fact that at the same time A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. . F. Pisemsky, A. K. Tolstoy and L. N. Tolstoy. The most popular critics viewed his works as a true and profound reflection of modern reality. Meanwhile, Ostrovsky, pursuing his own original creative way, often baffled both critics and readers.
Thus, the play “The Thunderstorm” came as a surprise to many. L. N. Tolstoy did not accept the play. The tragedy of this work forced critics to reconsider their views on Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy. Ap. Grigoriev noted that in “The Thunderstorm” there is a protest against the “existing”, which is terrible for its adherents. Dobrolyubov argued in his article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” that the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” “breathes on us with new life.”
Perhaps for the first time, scenes of family, “private” life, the arbitrariness and lawlessness that were hitherto hidden behind the thick doors of mansions and estates, were shown with such graphic power. And at the same time, this was not just an everyday sketch. The author showed the unenviable position of the Russian woman in merchant family. Immense power The tragedy was given special truthfulness and skill by the author, as D.I. Pisarev rightly noted: “The Thunderstorm” is a painting from life, which is why it breathes truth.”
The tragedy takes place in the city of Kalinov, which is located among the greenery of gardens on the steep bank of the Volga. “For fifty years I’ve been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t take it all in. The view is extraordinary! Beauty! My soul rejoices,” Kuligin admires. It would seem that the life of the people of this city should be beautiful and joyful. However, the life and customs of the rich merchants created “a world of prison and deathly silence.” Savel Dikoy and Marfa Kabanova are the personification of cruelty and tyranny. The order in the merchant's house is based on the outdated religious dogmas of Domostroy. Dobrolyubov says about Kabanikha that she “gnaws at her victim... long and relentlessly.” She forces her daughter-in-law Katerina to bow at her husband’s feet when he leaves, scolds her for “not howling” in public when seeing off her husband.
Kabanikha is very rich, this can be judged by the fact that the interests of her affairs go far beyond Kalinov; on her instructions, Tikhon travels to Moscow. She is respected by Dikoy, for whom the main thing in life is money. But the merchant's wife understands that power also brings obedience to those around her. She seeks to kill any manifestation of resistance to her power in the home. The boar is hypocritical, she only hides behind virtue and piety, in the family she is an inhuman despot and tyrant. Tikhon does not contradict her in anything. Varvara learned to lie, hide and dodge.
main character plays marked strong character, she is not used to humiliation and insults and therefore conflicts with her cruel old mother-in-law. In her mother’s house, Katerina lived freely and easily. In the Kabanov House she feels like a bird in a cage. She quickly realizes that she cannot live here for long.
Katerina married Tikhon without love. In Kabanikha’s house, everything trembles at the mere imperious cry of the merchant’s wife. Life in this house is hard for the young. And then Katerina meets a completely different person and falls in love. For the first time in her life, she experiences deep personal feeling. One night she goes on a date with Boris. Whose side is the playwright on? He is on Katerina’s side, because a person’s natural aspirations cannot be destroyed. Life in the Kabanov family is unnatural. And Katerina does not accept the inclinations of those people with whom she ended up. Hearing Varvara’s proposal to lie and pretend, Katerina replies: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Katerina's straightforwardness and sincerity evoke respect from the author, the reader, and the viewer. She decides that she can no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she cannot languish behind bars. She's free! But she saw a way out only in her death. And one could argue with this. Critics also disagreed about whether Katerina was worth paying for her freedom at the cost of her life. So, Pisarev, unlike Dobrolyubov, considers Katerina’s act senseless. He believes that after Katerina’s suicide everything will return to normal, life will go on as usual, and the “dark kingdom” is not worth such a sacrifice. Of course, Kabanikha brought Katerina to her death. As a result, her daughter Varvara runs away from home, and her son Tikhon regrets that he did not die with his wife.
It is interesting that one of the main, active images of this play is the image of the thunderstorm itself. Symbolically expressing the idea of the work, this image directly participates in the action of the drama as a real natural phenomenon, enters into action at its decisive moments, and largely determines the actions of the heroine. This image is very meaningful; it illuminates almost all aspects of the drama.
So, already in the first act a thunderstorm broke out over the city of Kalinov. It broke out like a harbinger of tragedy. Katerina already said: “I will die soon,” she confessed to Varvara her sinful love. In her mind, the mad lady's prediction that the thunderstorm would not pass in vain, and the feeling of her own sin with a real thunderclap had already been combined. Katerina rushes home: “It’s still better, everything is calmer, I’m at home - to the images and pray to God!”
After this, the storm ceases for a short time. Only in Kabanikha’s grumbling are its echoes heard. There was no thunderstorm that night when Katerina felt free and happy for the first time after her marriage.
But the fourth, climactic act, begins with the words: “The rain is falling, as if a thunderstorm is not gathering?” And after that the thunderstorm motif never ceases.
The dialogue between Kuligin and Dikiy is interesting. Kuligin talks about lightning rods (“we have frequent thunderstorms”) and provokes the wrath of Dikiy: “What other kind of electricity is there? Well, how come you’re not a robber? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment so that we can feel it, but you want poles and some kind of horns.” then, God forgive me, defend yourself. What are you, a Tatar, or what?” And in response to the quote from Derzhavin, which Kuligin cites in his defense: “I decay with my body in dust, I command thunder with my mind,” the merchant does not find anything to say at all, except: “And for these words, send you to the mayor, so he will will ask!"
Undoubtedly, in the play the image of a thunderstorm takes on special meaning: This is a refreshing, revolutionary start. However, the mind is condemned in the dark kingdom; it is faced with impenetrable ignorance, supported by stinginess. But still, the lightning that cut through the sky over the Volga touched the long-silent Tikhon and flashed over the destinies of Varvara and Kudryash. The thunderstorm shook everyone up thoroughly. It’s too early for inhuman morals. or the end will come later. The struggle between the new and the old has begun and continues. This is the meaning of the work of the great Russian playwright.
In Ostrovsky's tragedy "The Thunderstorm" problems of morality were widely raised. Using the example of the provincial town of Kalinov, the author showed the prevailing morals there. He depicted the cruelty of people living in the old fashioned way, according to Domostroi, and the riotousness younger generation. All the characters in the tragedy can be divided into two groups. Some believe that you can receive forgiveness for any sin if you then repent, while the other part believes that sin follows punishment and there is no salvation from it. Here one of the most important problems of man in general and the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” in particular arises.
Repentance as a problem appeared a very long time ago, when a person believed that there is high power, and was afraid of her. He began to try to behave in such a way as to appease the gods with his behavior. People gradually developed ways to appease the gods through certain actions or deeds. All violations of this code were considered displeasing to the gods, that is, a sin. At first, people simply made sacrifices to the gods, sharing with them what they had. The apogee of these relations becomes human sacrifice. In contrast to this, monotheistic religions arise, that is, those recognizing one God. These religions abandoned sacrifice and created codes defining standards of human behavior. These codices became shrines as they were believed to be inscribed by divine powers. Examples of such books are the Christian Bible and the Muslim Koran.
Violation of oral or written norms is a sin and must be punished. If at first a person was afraid of being killed for sins, then later he begins to worry about his afterlife. A person begins to worry about what awaits his soul after death: eternal bliss or eternal suffering. You can end up in blissful places for righteous behavior, that is, observing norms, but sinners end up in places where they will suffer forever. This is where repentance arises, because rare person could pro-
live without committing sins. Therefore, it becomes possible to save yourself from punishment by begging God for forgiveness. Thus, any person, even the last sinner, receives hope of salvation if he repents.
In "The Thunderstorm" the problem of repentance is especially acute. The main character of the tragedy, Katerina, experiences terrible pangs of conscience. She is torn between her legal husband and Boris, a righteous life and moral failure. She cannot forbid herself to love Boris, but she executes herself in her soul, believing that by doing this she is rejecting God, since a husband is to his wife as God is to the church. Therefore, by cheating on her husband, she betrays God, which means she loses all possibility of salvation. She considers this sin unforgivable and therefore denies the possibility of repentance for herself.
Katerina is very devout, since childhood she was accustomed to pray to God and even saw angels, which is why her torment is so strong. These sufferings bring her to the point where she, fearing God’s punishment (personified by a thunderstorm), throws herself at her husband’s feet and confesses everything to him, putting her life in his hands. Everyone reacts differently to this recognition, revealing their attitude towards the possibility of repentance. Kabanova offers to bury her alive in the ground, that is, she believes that there is no way to forgive her daughter-in-law. Tikhon, on the contrary, forgives Katerina, that is, he believes that she will receive forgiveness from God.
Katerina believes in repentance: she is afraid of sudden death, not because her life will be interrupted, but because she will appear before God unrepentant and sinful.
People's attitude towards the possibility of repentance is manifested during a thunderstorm. A thunderstorm represents the wrath of God, and therefore, when people see a thunderstorm, they look for ways of salvation and behave in different ways. For example, Kuligin wants to build lightning rods and save people from thunderstorms; he believes that people can be saved from God's punishment if they repent, then the wrath of God will disappear through repentance, just as lightning goes into the ground through a lightning rod. Dikoy is sure that it is impossible to hide from the wrath of God, that is, he does not believe in the possibility of repentance. Although it should be noted that he can repent, since he throws himself at the man’s feet and asks for forgiveness from him for cursing him.
Pangs of conscience bring Katerina to the point that she begins to think about suicide, which the Christian religion considers one of the most serious sins. Man seems to reject God, so suicides have no hope of salvation. Here the question arises: how was such a devout person like Katerina able to commit suicide, knowing that by doing so she was ruining her soul? Maybe she didn’t really believe in God at all? It must be said that she considered her soul already ruined and simply did not want to continue living in pain, without hope of salvation.
She faces Hamlet's question - to be or not to be? Should I endure torment on earth or commit suicide and thereby end my suffering? Katerina is driven to despair by the attitude of people towards her and the torments of her own conscience, so she rejects the possibility of salvation. But the denouement of the play is symbolic: it turns out that the heroine has hope of salvation, since she does not drown in the water, but breaks into an anchor. The anchor is similar to part of the cross, where the base represents the Holy Grail (the cup containing the blood of the Lord). The Holy Grail symbolizes salvation. Thus, there is hope that she was forgiven and saved.