City of Kalinov. Storm. Quote characteristic
The city of Kalinov is one of central images in the play "The Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky.
The city of Kalinov is located in a beautiful area on the banks of the Volga: “The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices. ... Delight! And you are “something”! Have you looked closely, or do not understand what beauty is poured in nature.”
We learn about the morals of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov from the words of the tradesman Kuligin, one of the heroes of “The Thunderstorm”. In his opinion, “cruel morals,” “rudeness and poverty” reign in the city: “ Cruel morals, sir, in our city, they are cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty."
The main representatives of savagery, ignorance and cruelty in the city of Kalinov are two bright personalities: the merchant Dikoy and Kabanikha.
Merchant Dikoy is a rich and influential, but ignorant and cruel man. For example, Dikoy is convinced that thunderstorms are sent to people as punishment and that lightning rods are not needed. This is a more than ignorant approach: “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.” (words of Dikoy) It is obvious that the merchant Dikoy successfully runs his business and counts money well, but his horizons are limited to this. There is no doubt that the other merchants in the city are similar to the Wild One. The illiterate Dikoy, for example, calls electricity “elistry.” Apparently, he, like most of the inhabitants of the city, does not know about the discovery of electricity: Kuligin. Electricity. Wild (stomping his foot). What other beauty there is!
The majority of Kalinov's monasteries are poorly educated merchants, townspeople and peasants. Even the rich inhabitants of Kalinov, who have access to books and newspapers, are not distinguished by their education. In Kalinov, influential, rich people do not respect government officials. So, for example, the merchant Dikoy treats the mayor as his friend: “Your uncle patted the mayor on the shoulder and said: “Is it worth it, your honor, for us to talk about such trifles!” The poor population in Kalinov sleep 3 hours a day, because they work “day and night”: “The poor, sir, have no time to walk, they work day and night. And they sleep only three hours a day.”
In the city of Kalinov, people with money are trying to “enslave” the poor and get even richer at the expense of cheap labor. This is exactly what the merchant Dikoy does, who has yet to pay anyone a salary without cursing: “And whoever has the money, sir, tries to enslave the poor so that his labors will still be free.” more money make money Do you know what your uncle, Savel Prokofich, answered to the mayor? The peasants came to the mayor to complain that he would not disrespect any of them..."
The merchants of the city of Kalinov quarrel with each other, plot intrigues and go to court, bribing officials: “And among themselves, sir, how they live! They undermine each other’s trade, and not so much out of self-interest, but out of envy. They quarrel with each other; their tall mansions of drunken clerks, such, sir, clerks that there is no human appearance on him, his human appearance is lost. sir, trial and action, and there is no end to torment..."
Obviously, high art not held in high esteem by the residents of the city of Kalinov. The self-taught Kuligin does not dare to write poetry, because he is afraid that he will be “swallowed alive”: Boris. Can you write poetry? ... You would have written it. It would be interesting. Kuligin. How is it possible, sir! They will eat you, swallow you alive.
The city of Kalinov lives its boring and monotonous life. The illiterate residents of Kalinov receive information about the world not from newspapers and books, but from wanderers, such as, for example, Feklu-sha. She reports that there are unknown countries where people with dog heads live, etc.: “I, due to my weakness, have not walked far; but I have heard a lot. They say there are such countries, dear girl, where There are no Orthodox kings, but the Saltans rule the earth.<...>And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads." The ignorant inhabitants of Kalinov willingly believe such "enlighteners." The inhabitants of Kalinov, for example, believe that Lithuania fell from the sky:
1st. And they say, my brother, she fell on us from the sky... A woman. Explain again! Everyone knows what comes from heaven; and where there was some kind of battle with her, mounds were poured there for memory.
1st. What about you, my brother! It's so accurate!
The rich inhabitants of the city do not walk along the boulevard in the evenings, but lock themselves at home early and let their dogs out in fear that they will be robbed: “What are the rich doing? Well, so that, it seems, they don’t walk, don’t breathe.” fresh air? So no. “Everyone’s gates, sir, have been locked for a long time, and the dogs have been let loose.” The rich residents of Kalinov “eat” their households and tyrannize them, but they do it behind their fences so that no one finds out. Of course, we are talking, first of all, about the Kabano families -vykh and Dikiy: “...Do you think they are doing something or praying to God? No, sir. And they don’t lock themselves away from thieves, but so that people don’t see them eating their own family and tyrannizing their family. And what tears flow behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible! ... And what, sir, behind these castles is dark debauchery and drunkenness! And everything is sewn and covered - no one sees or knows anything, only God sees! ... Rob orphans, relatives, nephews, beat up his family so that they don’t dare make a squeak about anything he does there. That's the whole secret."
Fortunately, in this whole gloomy picture there are also bright touches, for example, couples in love walking around the city at night: “Do you know, sir, who walks with us? Young guys and girls. So these steal an hour or two from sleep, Well, they walk in couples."
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Drama A.N. Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” is truly unique for its conflicts, one of which is social, it occupies a central place in the play, thanks to it the author exposes all the vices of the “dark kingdom” that dominate the city of Kalinov.
The work begins with a remark from Kuligin, in which he praises the Volga expanses, but against the backdrop of all the abundance of beauty we observe a cruel scene of Dikiy’s violence against his nephew Boris. With this contrast, Ostrovsky shows that behind the external, seemingly pleasant to the eye, veil hides a terrible way of life - domostroy
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In it, according to Kuligin, cruel morals triumph: only those who have power and money can “speak”. Prominent representatives of powerful people are Dikoy, a significant person in the city, and Kabanikha, a rich merchant’s wife, for whom everything is “under the guise of piety.” These people behave immorally: behind their high fences they terrorize their households. Dikoy, whose surname highlights the main trait of his character - savagery, cannot live a day without offending anyone, while Kabanikha constantly teaches life lessons to his son Tikhon and his wife Katerina. Savel Prokofievich and Marfa Ignatievnaya are bright representatives of the “dark kingdom”, their souls have become hardened due to the thirst for power over everyone, they look down on people, and do not consider them such at all.
Other residents of the Volga town are simple people who want to live a quiet life. But in the conditions of a patriarchal way of life, this is impossible. Varvara, the ungrateful and deceitful daughter of Kabinikha, lives by the motto “as long as everything is sewn and covered,” she is a hypocrite to her mother when necessary, so as not to succumb to her attacks. Her brother, Tikhon, is completely spineless; all he does is indulge his mother and obey her will.
Glasha and Feklusha are the lowest stratum of society. They are happy to serve their masters.
Boris is a decently educated young man with difficult fate. Every day I am forced to listen to sayings addressed to me from Dikiy.
Another resident of the city, who differs from others in his sincerity, honesty, and his desire to do something useful for society, is Kuligin, a tradesman, a self-taught watchmaker. He has promising idea for the construction of a lightning rod, but he does not have the money to implement it. It is unlikely that he will ever realize his plans, because in the conditions of the “dark kingdom” this is impossible.
All simple people The cities of Kalinov are part of the “dark kingdom”, they are not able to take any measures to free themselves from the life they live, because they are powerless by cruel morals, all they can do is “go with the flow”.
The only one opposite character appears Katerina, Tikhon’s wife, according to Dobrolyubov, “a ray of light in dark kingdom", the image of which helps to shed light on all the vices of the “dark kingdom” and give birth to something new and bright in the “dead” city. This is a bright, sincere, vulnerable nature who is not used to living according to the laws of house-building. Although Katerina is married to Tikhon, she loves someone else - Boris. She experiences mental suffering every day because she is cheating on her albeit unloved husband. When a thunderstorm comes, Katerina attributes this phenomenon to God's punishment, her vulnerable soul cannot stand it and she commits suicide.
The playwright Ostrovsky negatively portrayed the inhabitants of the fictional city of Kalinov and its morals, thereby he wanted to show how sad the situation is in the provincial cities of Russia.
Updated: 2018-06-08
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Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is rightfully considered a singer merchant environment. He is the author of about sixty plays, the most famous of which are “Our People – We Will Be Numbered”, “The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry” and others.
“Thunderstorm,” as Dobrolyubov described it, “the most decisive work"by the author, since the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought to tragic consequences in it..." It was written at a time of social upsurge, on the eve of the peasant reform, as if crowning the author’s cycle of plays about the “dark kingdom.”
The writer’s imagination takes us to a small merchant town on the banks of the Volga, “...all in greenery, from the steep banks you can see distant spaces covered with villages and fields. A blessed summer day beckons to the air, under open sky...”, admire the local beauty, take a walk along the boulevard. Residents have already taken a closer look at the beautiful nature in the vicinity of the city, and it does not please the eye of anyone. The townspeople spend most of their time at home: running the household, relaxing, and in the evenings “...they sit on the rubble at the gate and engage in pious conversations.” They are not interested in anything that goes beyond the city limits. The residents of Kalinov learn about what is happening in the world from wanderers who, “themselves, due to their weakness, did not walk far, but heard a lot.” Feklusha enjoys great respect among the townspeople; her stories about the lands where people with dog heads live are perceived as irrefutable information about the world. It is not at all disinterested that she supports Kabanikha and Dikiy, their concepts of life, although these characters are the leaders of the “dark kingdom”.
In Kabanikha’s house, everything is built on the authority of power, just like in the Wild. She forces her loved ones to sacredly honor the rituals and follow the old customs of Domostroy, which she has remade in her own way. Marfa Ignatievna internally realizes that there is nothing to respect her for, but she does not admit this even to herself. With her petty demands, reminders and suggestions, Kabanikha achieves the unquestioning obedience of her household.
Dikoy matches her, whose greatest joy is to abuse a person and humiliate him. For him, swearing is also a way of self-defense when it comes to money, which he hates to give away.
But something is already eroding their power, and they see with horror how the “covenants of patriarchal morality” are crumbling. This “the law of time, the law of nature and history takes its toll, and the old Kabanovs breathe heavily, feeling that there is a force above them that they cannot overcome,” nevertheless, they are trying to instill their own rules to the younger generation, and not to no avail.
For example, Varvara is the daughter of Marfa Kabanova. Her main rule: “do what you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered.” She is smart, cunning, and before marriage she wants to be everywhere and try everything. Varvara adapted to the “dark kingdom” and learned its laws. I think her bossiness and desire to deceive makes her very similar to her mother.
The play shows the similarities between Varvara and Kudryash. Ivan is the only one in the city of Kalinov who can answer Dikiy. “I am considered a rude person; Why is he holding me? Therefore, he needs me. Well, that means I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me…” says Kudryash.
In the end, Varvara and Ivan leave the “dark kingdom”, but I think they are unlikely to be able to completely free themselves from old traditions and laws.
Now let's turn to the true victims of tyranny. Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, is weak-willed and spineless, obeys his mother in everything and slowly becomes an alcoholic. Of course, Katerina cannot love and respect such a person, but her soul longs for real feeling. She falls in love with Dikiy's nephew, Boris. But Katya fell in love with him, in Dobrolyubov’s apt expression, “in the wilderness.” In essence, Boris is the same Tikhon, only more educated. He traded love for his grandmother's inheritance.
Katerina differs from all the characters in the play in the depth of her feelings, honesty, courage and determination. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she says to Varvara. Gradually, life in her mother-in-law's house becomes unbearable for her. She sees a way out of this impasse in her death. Katya’s act stirred up this “quiet swamp”, because there were also sympathetic souls, for example, Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic. He is kind and obsessed with the desire to do something useful for people, but all his intentions run into a thick wall of misunderstanding and ignorance.
Thus, we see that all the residents of Kalinov belong to the “dark kingdom”, which sets its own rules and orders here, and no one can change them, because these are the morals of this city, and whoever fails to adapt to such an environment is, alas, doomed to death.
Nothing sacred, nothing pure, nothing right about it dark world.
ON THE. Dobrolyubov.
The drama “The Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovsky is one of the outstanding works of Russian drama. In it, the author showed the life and customs of a typical provincial town, whose residents stubbornly cling to a long-established way of life with its patriarchal traditions and foundations. Describing the conflict in merchant family, the writer denounces spiritual and moral problems Russia mid-19th century century.
The play takes place on the banks of the Volga, in the small town of Kalinov.
In this city, the basis of human relationships is material dependence. Here money decides everything, and power belongs to those who have more capital. Profit and enrichment become the goal and meaning of life for most Kalinov residents. Because of money, they quarrel among themselves and harm each other: “I’ll spend it, and it will cost him a pretty penny.” Even the self-taught mechanic Kuligin, who is advanced in his views, realizing the power of money, dreams of a million in order to talk on equal terms with the rich.
So, money in Kalinov gives power. Everyone is timid in front of the rich, so there is no limit to their cruelty and tyranny. Dikoy and Kabanikha, the richest people in the city, oppress not only their workers, but also their relatives. Unquestioning submission to elders, in their opinion, is the basis family life, and everything that happens inside the house should not concern anyone except the family.
The tyranny of the “masters of life” manifests itself in different ways. Dikoy is openly rude and unceremonious; he cannot live without swearing and swearing. For him, a person is a worm: “If I want, I will have mercy, if I want, I will crush.” He enriches himself by ruining hired workers, and he himself does not consider this a crime. “I won’t pay them a penny more per person, but I make thousands out of this,” he boastfully tells the mayor, who himself is dependent on him. Kabanikha hides her true essence under the guise of righteousness, while tormenting both his children and his daughter-in-law with nagging and reproaches. Kuligin gives her an apt description: “Prude, sir! He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family.”
Hypocrisy and hypocrisy determine the behavior of those in power. Kabanikha’s virtue and piety are false, his religiosity is put on display. She also wants to force the younger generation to live by the laws of hypocrisy, arguing that the most important thing is not the true manifestation of feelings, but the external observance of decency. Kabanikha is outraged that Tikhon, when leaving home, does not order Katerina how to behave, and the wife does not throw herself at her husband’s feet and does not howl to show her love. And Dikoy doesn’t mind covering up his greed with a mask of repentance. At first he “scold” the man who came for the money, and “after he asked for forgiveness, bowed at his feet, ... bowed in front of everyone.”
We see that Kalinov has been living for centuries according to long-established laws and traditions. The townspeople are not interested in new ideas and thoughts; they are superstitious, ignorant and uneducated. Residents of Kalinov are afraid of various innovations and know little about science and art. Dikoy is not going to install lightning rods in the city, believing that the thunderstorm is God’s punishment, Kabanikha thinks the train is a “fiery serpent” that cannot be ridden, and the townspeople themselves think that “Lithuania has fallen from the sky.” But they willingly believe the stories of wanderers who, “due to their weakness,” did not walk far, but “heard and heard a lot.”
The city of Kalinov is located in a very picturesque place, but its residents are indifferent to the beauty that surrounds them. The boulevard built for them remains empty, “people walk there only on holidays, and even then... they go there to show off their outfits.”
The Kalinovites are also indifferent to the people around them. Therefore, all requests and efforts of Kuligin remain unanswered. While the self-taught mechanic has no money, all his projects do not find support.
Any manifestation sincere feeling in Kalinov it is regarded as a sin. When Katerina, saying goodbye to Tikhon, throws herself on his neck, Kabanikha pulls her back: “Why are you hanging on your neck, shameless one! You are not saying goodbye to your lover! He’s your husband, your boss!” Love and marriage are incompatible here. Kabanikha remembers love only when she needs to justify her cruelty: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you...”
These are the conditions in which the younger generation of the city of Kalinov is forced to live. This is Varvara, Boris, Tikhon. Each of them adapted in their own way to life under despotism, when any manifestation of personality is suppressed. Tikhon completely obeys his mother’s demands and cannot take a step without her instructions. Material dependence on Dikiy makes Boris powerless. He is unable to protect Katerina or stand up for himself. Varvara learned to lie, dodge, and pretend. Her life principle: “Do what you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.”
One of the few who is aware of the atmosphere that has developed in the city is Kuligin. He speaks directly about the lack of education and ignorance of the townspeople, about the impossibility of earning money through honest work, and criticizes the cruel morals that reign in Kalinov. But he is also unable to protest in defense of his human dignity, believing that it is better to endure and submit.
Thus, we see the passivity of the majority of residents of Kalinov, their reluctance and inability to fight the established order, the despotism and arbitrariness of the “masters of life.”
The only person who is not afraid to challenge the “dark kingdom” is Katerina. She does not want to adapt to the life around her, but the only way out she sees for herself is death. According to Dobrolyubov, death main character- this is “a protest against Kabanov’s concepts of morality, a protest brought to the end.”
Thus, Ostrovsky masterfully showed us a typical provincial city with its customs and morals, a city where arbitrariness and violence reign, where any desire for freedom is suppressed. Reading “The Thunderstorm,” we can analyze the merchant environment of that time, see its contradictions, and understand the tragedy of that generation that can no longer and does not want to live within the framework of the old ideology. We see that the crisis of an oppressive, ignorant society is inevitable and the end of the “dark kingdom” is inevitable.
Published his drama: “The Thunderstorm” (see its summary and analysis). Here he again depicted the “dark kingdom,” but already at that period of its existence when light begins to flicker in this mud.
The play takes place in the city of Kalinov, on the banks of the Volga River; The inhabitants of this city have not yet been touched by the trends of the “new time”. That's why it's hard to breathe here for people who are making their way to the light.
A. N. Ostrovsky. Storm. Play
The city of Kalinov is like the entire remote Russian province in miniature. He lives a dark, rough and inert life; he is dominated by the beginnings of that dark merchant world, which is presented in Ostrovsky’s previous plays. Despotism, brute force, ignorance, the power of wild superstitions, tyranny of elders and oppression of younger ones, drunkenness, tears, beatings - this is what reigns behind the quiet walls of merchant houses. “And what tears flow behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible! And what, sir, behind these castles is dark debauchery and drunkenness! - says the quiet dreamer Kuligin, one of the bright figures in this dark kingdom, in his monologue, and adds: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel.”
In the dark and ignorant life of the inhabitants of the town, no higher interests have influence; religiosity and piety here are external: in the first place is everything that is done “for the people,” for show. By observing fasts and diligently visiting churches and monasteries, Kalinovites do not bind better life with the precepts of religion and continue the same rude and wild life, tyrant of the household, getting drunk, and in weekdays cheating buyers. Everything fresh, young, and talented perishes in this atmosphere, withers away from violence, anger, from the dead emptiness of this life. The weak become drunkards, vicious and petty natures defeat despotism with cunning and resourcefulness; for straight, bright natures, endowed with a tireless desire for another life, a tragic end is inevitable when confronted with the brute forces of this world.
“They made the boulevard, but they don’t walk…” says Kuligin in another monologue. - Well, why don’t they, it seems, go for walks and breathe fresh air? So no. Everyone's gates, sir, have been locked for a long time, and the dogs have been let loose... Do you think they are doing business or praying to God? No, sir. And they don’t lock themselves away from thieves, but so that people don’t see them eating their own family and tyrannizing their family. And what tears flow behind these locks, invisible and inaudible!.. And what, sir, behind these locks is dark debauchery and drunkenness! And everything is sewn and covered... You, he says, look, I’m among people and on the street, but you don’t care about my family; for this, he says, I have locks, and constipations, and angry dogs. The family says it’s a secret, secret matter! We know these secrets! Because of these secrets, sir, only he is having fun, while the rest are howling like a wolf. And what's the secret? Who doesn't know him! Rob orphans, relatives, nephews, beat up his family so that they don’t dare make a peep about anything he does there. That's the whole secret."
In this vivid description of the life of the inhabitants of the city, the reverse side of the Domostroevsky way of life is revealed, with its patriarchal despotism, fear of public “court”, with outward decorum, often covering up heartlessness and cruelty... When the Domostroevsky way of life is softened by the rationality and warmth of the “lord” of the house - he is not only tolerable, but even captivates with the heartfelt simplicity of life (grandmother Tatyana Markovna in “ Precipice", old Bagrov in " Family Chronicle»,