This remark, made in passing, was not specifically substantiated at the time the “Thunderstorm” appeared. It was not developed with due completeness either by criticism or by directing in the future. And yet, it is precisely this, in our opinion, that points in the most correct direction for resolving the issue of the genre of the famous play.
The tragedy, as is known, dates back thousands of years. In the process of development, it took on the most diverse concrete historical expression, but despite all the modifications, it retained its most significant general features until very recently.
The first feature of the tragedy is a deep conflict - moral, philosophical, ideological and political. The content of the tragedy is sharp violations of certain generally accepted norms, irreconcilable contradictions between the individual and social institutions. The second feature of the tragedy is the presence of a hero as a person, outstanding in his spiritual properties (mind, will, feelings). The third feature of the tragedy is that its main character enters into a struggle with unusual, internally or externally insurmountable obstacles. The fourth feature of the tragedy is the physical death of the main character, whose struggle ends in disaster for him, causing fear and compassion in the reader and viewer.
V.G. Belinsky wrote: “The idea of tragedy is connected with the idea of a terrible, gloomy event, a fatal outcome”; “... Destroy the fatal catastrophe in any tragedy - and you will deprive it of all its greatness, all its meaning, from a great creation you will make an ordinary thing, which over you will be the first to lose all its charming power”; “... the effect produced by tragedy is soul-shattering sacred horror.” “The tragic,” in Chernyshevsky’s understanding, “is the great suffering of a person or the death of a great person. In the first case, compassion and horror are aroused by the fact that the suffering is great, in the second - by the fact that great things perish”; “chance or necessity is the cause of suffering and death - it makes no difference, suffering and death are terrible.”
The fifth feature of tragedy is that it sets itself the ethical goal of a cleansing and uplifting effect on the audience. By depicting suffering and the passions associated with it, tragedy is designed to purify the bad passions of readers and spectators, arousing in them noble, sublime moral feelings.
Focusing its attention on the struggle that dooms the main character to suffering and death, tragedy sometimes uses a certain amount of comedy.
“All human life,” wrote Belinsky, “consists in the collision and mutual influence of heroes, villains, ordinary characters, insignificant people and fools on each other... and the subject of tragedy is life in all the complexity of its elements; therefore, tragedy “rightfully includes a comic element.” Thus, in Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov,” the comic element clearly appears in the first folk scenes of the tragedy and in the scene in the tavern. Not a single Shakespeare tragedy is complete without humor.
By pointing out the most general constructive features of the tragic genre, we do not at all want to say that only a work that embodies their entirety can be called a tragedy. The specific historical practice of the tragedy genre is much more complex.
But the main feature of tragedy, which distinguishes it at all stages of development from drama, is that it depicts a contradiction that is insoluble in given life conditions, causing the death of the main character, represented by an outstanding person.
This defining feature is evident in The Thunderstorm.
The main character of this play, in the conditions of the depicted environment, is distinguished by undoubtedly outstanding spiritual properties - moral and volitional. In “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky rose “to depict a tragic collision of living passion and a dead, inert way of life.” Katerina is “a real tragic heroine: a deep personal feeling (love for Boris) fights in her with the consciousness of family duty, sanctified by religion and public opinion the entire “dark kingdom”. Personal will collides with a higher social law, and this leads the heroine to suffering and death."
In “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky gave a brilliant synthesis of personal tragedy and the underlying, inevitable death of an entire social order. Death main character is in this play a harbinger of the collapse of those who destroyed her social relations. Personal and public tragedy is revealed here in the form of social and everyday relations.
Dobrolyubov rightly wrote about The Thunderstorm that “the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought to the most tragic consequences in it.”
“The Thunderstorm” is a folk social and everyday tragedy. Folk in the sense that it expresses democratic ideas that were advanced for its time, depicts heroes closely connected with the life, customs and interests of the people (Kuligin, Katerina, Glasha). It is not for nothing that its action takes place mainly in the public square.
In “The Thunderstorm,” Dobrolyubov explained, “the Russian character is reproduced, reflecting the “new movement folk life”(vol. 6, p. 350), and the “Russian situation” surrounding this character (vol. 6, p. 363).
Throughout the entire development of “The Thunderstorm”, one can clearly feel the course of an inexorable “fate”, corrupting the centuries-old foundations of religious, moral and everyday concepts that were once historically established in society. Dobrolyubov pointed out “the decisive necessity of that fatal end that Katerina has in “The Thunderstorm”” (vol. 6, p. 361).
2
The tragedy of “The Thunderstorm” is achieved by the conflict not only of the main character, but to some extent also of others characters.
Thus, the situation of the noble enthusiast Kuligin is tragic in its hopelessness, dreaming of the invention of wonderful machines, of the happiness and contentment of the working people, but doomed to repair small household utensils. In the same sense, even the fate of Tikhon, who is a pathetic toy of unbridled self-will, is tragic to a certain extent. Regarding Tikhon’s final words, Dobrolyubov wrote: “Tikhon’s words provide the key to understanding the play for those who would not even understand its essence before; they make the viewer think not about a love affair, but about this whole life (where the living envy the dead, and even some suicides). Strictly speaking, Tikhon’s exclamation is stupid: The Volga is close, who’s stopping him from rushing in if life is sickening? But this is his grief, this is what is hard for him, that he cannot do anything, absolutely nothing, even what he recognizes as his goodness and salvation. This moral corruption, this destruction of man, affects us more heavily than any, even the most tragic incident: there you see simultaneous death, the end of suffering, often deliverance from the need to serve as a pitiful instrument of some abomination; and here - constant oppressive pain, relaxation, a half-corpse, rotting alive for many years... And to think that this living corpse is not one, not an exception, but a whole mass of people subject to the corrupting influence of the Wild and Kabanovs! And not expecting deliverance for them is, you see, terrible! But what a joyful, fresh life a healthy personality breathes upon us, finding within himself the determination to end this rotten life, at any cost!..” (vol. 6, p. 362).
Depicting the social and everyday characters and mores of pre-reform reality, Ostrovsky, as already noted, showed that the principles of absolute authority, which then dominated life, had long ago lost all their meaning and moral force. They only slowed down social development and suppressed the human personality. These conditions created the preconditions for an insoluble contradiction in the fate of the people of that time, their tragedy.
The general coloring of the play is also tragic, with its gloominess, with its emphasized parallelism of the social storm and the natural storm.
“Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!” - Kuligin says to Boris (D. I, Rev. 3). “But what kind of people are here! - Kudryash turns to Boris. - You know it yourself. They will eat you, they will drive you into the coffin” (d. III, scene 2, scene 2). This persistently repeated characteristic of the morals of the city of Kalinov is illustrated by the entire figurative system of the play, which gives it a clearly tragic overtones.
It is quite natural that the comic elements in this play, in comparison with others, are minimal.
Despite the presence of an undoubted tragic conflict, the play is permeated with social optimism. The death of Katerina testifies to the rejection of the dark kingdom, resistance to it, and the growth of forces called upon to sweep away the power of the Wild and Boars. In conditions of arbitrariness and violence, the bright Kuligins are already beginning to protest, albeit timidly. Dissatisfaction with despotism is communicated to Kudryash, Varvara, and Glasha.
All this fully explains Dobrolyubov’s testimony that “the majority of those who have read and seen this play agree that it produces a less serious and sad impression than Ostrovsky’s other plays (not to mention, of course, his sketches of a purely comic nature). 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 upon us with new life, which is revealed to us in her very death” (vol. 6, p. 334).
3
Understanding the “Thunderstorm” as a tragedy met not only sympathy and support, but also strong objections.
Speaking about the tragic genre, researchers are accustomed to dealing with historical plots, with images outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in one or another exceptional life situation. Tragedy was usually associated with heroes like Sophocles' Oedipus, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello, Pushkin's Boris Godunov, A.K.'s The Death of Ivan the Terrible. Tolstoy.
Ostrovsky created a tragedy based on the life material of a completely different social circle. He chose a woman from a merchant environment as a tragic hero, and emphasized not the exclusivity, but the typicality of her position, and transferred interest from intrigue to social characters and morals, giving special meaning extra-plot characters. Naturally, the tragedy sounded unusual, and this confused and confused many not only pre-October, but also post-October critics, researchers and directors.
Understanding the image of Katerina as tragic heroine For many, D.I. found it difficult to judge her. Pisareva: “Katerina, having committed many stupid things, throws herself into the water and thus commits the last and greatest absurdity.” The critic did not understand that death was the only type of protest that Katerina could choose. Passionately hating the despotism surrounding her, Katerina did not want to live on her knees. And this affected her enormous strength will, spontaneous protest.
Katerina's death undoubtedly increased hatred of despotism.
One cannot but agree with the comments of N.P. Kashina k final scene plays: “Something incredible happened: the weak-willed Tikhon found the strength to tell his mother the absolute truth that she had ruined Katerina. That house-building life, the true representative of which is Kabanikha, has cracked. Kabanikha will “talk” to Tikhon at home, but this is no longer the same Tikhon. His fate, however, can be predicted: he, of course, will become drunk, and this will only be an extra touch in the picture of “cruel morals,” but Kabanikha’s authority has already been shaken.”
The death of Katerina, which strengthened and intensified Kuligin’s indignation, causing the timid Tikhon to “revolt” against his mother, undoubtedly contributed to the destruction of the old order, i.e., repeating the words of Pisarev, “the cessation or alleviation of suffering.”
When speaking out against classifying “The Thunderstorm” as a tragedy, researchers most often referred to the fact that its main character does not have true strength of character. “Katerina,” wrote V. Volkenstein, “feels the power of the supreme divine law over her. She not only violates family norms of a certain way of life, she rebels against God. The prophecy of a madwoman, prophetic voices that Katerina hears, picture doomsday, which she notices at a moment of great confusion - with all these means the author introduces us into the atmosphere of tragic “fight against God.” However, Katerina is weak: having barely felt her sin, her “tragic guilt,” Katerina dies and commits suicide; she is unable to persistently fight with God.”
By pointing out Katerina's weakness, the researcher is clearly sinning against the truth. Tormented by the guilt of sinful love for Boris, she nevertheless decided to neglect social and everyday laws environment and connect life with Boris. She asks Boris to take her to Siberia, where he is going at the behest of his uncle. But Boris turned out to be too weak to help Katerina break free. The only means of protest for Katerina was death.
This is exactly how the playwright himself understood the death of his heroine: “Katerina,” Ostrovsky commented on his favorite image, “a woman with passionate nature And strong character. She proved this with her love for Boris and suicide. Katerina, although overwhelmed by her environment, at the first opportunity gives herself over to her passion, saying before this: “Come what may, but I will see Boris!” ... Katerina’s situation became hopeless. You can't live in your husband's house. There is nowhere to go. To your parents? Yes, at that time they would have tied her up and brought her to her husband. Katerina came to the conclusion that it was impossible to live as she lived before and, having a strong will, drowned herself.”
Ostrovsky highlighted the most pressing issues of his time in the struggle and protest against the constraining and oppressive principles of the old life in “The Thunderstorm”, mainly based on the material of family and everyday relations. By this, he gave it the character of a family play, however, only in the form of expression, in the material, and not in the essence of the questions posed in it. “The Thunderstorm” poses not specific, but general, key questions of that era.
Based on the real conditions of the depicted time, Ostrovsky showed his heroine in an environment of contradictions, which, despite all her rightness, with all her passionate desire to live, with all her craving for freedom, still turned out to be insurmountable for her and led to death, to disaster . Having understood and implemented emotional drama Katerina and her very death as a passionate and heroic affirmation of a better life worthy of a person, Ostrovsky created in “The Thunderstorm” a wonderful social and everyday tragedy imbued with the spirit of genuine nationality.
Ostrovsky adhered to the realistic method in his work. This could not but affect his understanding of the drama genre. It is known that the author’s definition and the definition of literary scholars may differ slightly. The play ends tragically, although Ostrovsky initially did not envision such an outcome, planning to write a “comedy.” But gradually the plot became more complicated, and we had to move away from the original plan. Ostrovsky worked out the everyday background in detail, typified other characters, while at the same time filling Katerina’s character with unique features, making the heroine more poetic.
The author’s definition of the “Thunderstorm” genre is extremely simple – drama. The events of the play are simple and understandable to every viewer. Characters are easy to introduce real people. But there are also tragic events in the work. Nevertheless, “The Thunderstorm” cannot be completely called a tragedy. Tragedies usually involve intense struggle, a struggle of ideals, a personal or social catastrophe, ending in the death of one or more heroes.
Author's definition of “Thunderstorm”
rather, it was a kind of tribute to tradition, but it is possible that by defining “social and everyday drama” the author wanted to give the work greater social significance.
The correlation with any genre also determines the essence of the conflict. In “The Thunderstorm,” everyday circumstances lead to tragic consequences. It is easy to notice that “The Thunderstorm” combines both the dramatic and the tragic, however, it is impossible to attribute the work to any one genre. “The Thunderstorm” is neither a drama nor a tragedy. Some critics have suggested combining these two concepts, calling “Thunderstorm” domestic tragedy" But this term did not catch on. The question of the genre of this play in literary criticism has not yet been resolved, but the author’s definition of the play “The Thunderstorm” should not be neglected.
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Ostrovsky adhered to the realistic method in his work. This could not but affect his understanding of the drama genre. It is known that the author’s definition and the definition of literary scholars may differ slightly. The play ends tragically, although Ostrovsky initially did not envision such an outcome, planning to write a “comedy.” But gradually the plot became more complicated, and we had to move away from the original plan. Ostrovsky worked out the everyday background in detail, typified other characters, while at the same time filling Katerina’s character with unique features, making the heroine more poetic.
The author's definition of the genre "Thunderstorms" is extremely simple - drama. The events of the play are simple and understandable to every viewer. The characters are easy to imagine as real people. But there are also tragic events in the work. Nevertheless, “The Thunderstorm” cannot be completely called a tragedy. Tragedies usually involve intense struggle, a struggle of ideals, a personal or social catastrophe, ending in the death of one or more heroes.
The author’s definition of “The Thunderstorm” was rather a kind of tribute to tradition, but it is possible that by defining “social and everyday drama” the author wanted to give the work greater social significance.
The correlation with any genre also determines the essence of the conflict. In The Thunderstorm, everyday circumstances lead to tragic consequences. It can be easily seen that “The Thunderstorm” combines both the dramatic and the tragic, however, it is impossible to attribute the work to any one genre. “The Thunderstorm” is neither a drama nor a tragedy. Some critics suggested combining these two concepts, calling “The Thunderstorm” an “everyday tragedy.” But this term did not catch on. The question of the genre of this play in literary criticism has not yet been resolved, but one should not neglect the author’s definition of the play “The Thunderstorm”.
People! Anyone who has read Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" and more or less remembers it knows the content. Please help... I've raised the rating and got the best answer
Answer from Liudmila Sharukhia[guru]
“The Thunderstorm” is a folk social and everyday tragedy.
N. A. Dobrolyubov
During Ostrovsky's work on it, the play underwent great changes - the author introduced a number of new characters, but most importantly, Ostrovsky changed his original plan and decided to write not a comedy, but a drama. However, the strength social conflict in “The Thunderstorm” is so great that one can talk about the play not even as a drama, but as a tragedy. There are arguments in defense of both opinions, so the genre of the play is difficult to determine unambiguously.
Of course, the play is written on a social and everyday theme: it is characterized by special attention the author’s focus on depicting the details of everyday life, the desire to accurately convey the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, its “ cruel morals" The fictional city is described in detail and in many ways. The Kalinovites have retained only vague legends about the past - Lithuania “fell from the sky to us”, news from big world The wanderer Feklusha brings them. Undoubtedly, such attention by the author to the details of the characters’ everyday life makes it possible to talk about drama as a genre of the play “The Thunderstorm”.
Another feature characteristic of drama and present in the play is the presence of a chain of intra-family conflicts. At first it is a conflict between the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law behind the locks of the house gate, then the whole city learns about this conflict, and from an everyday one it develops into a social one. The expression of conflict inherent in drama in the actions and words of the characters is most clearly shown in the monologues and dialogues of the characters. So, we learn about Katerina’s life before marriage from a conversation between young Kabanova and Varvara: Katerina lived “not worried about anything,” like a “bird in the wild,” spending the whole day in pleasures and household chores. We know nothing about the first meeting of Katerina and Boris, or how their love began.
The originality of the “Thunderstorms” genre is also manifested in the fact that, despite the gloomy, tragic overall coloring, the play also contains comic and satirical scenes. Feklusha’s anecdotal and ignorant stories about the Saltans, about lands where all the people “have dog heads,” seem ridiculous to us.
The author himself called his play a drama. But could it have been otherwise? At that time, speaking about the tragic genre, we were accustomed to dealing with a historical plot, with the main characters, outstanding not only in character, but also in position, placed in exceptional life situations. Tragedy was usually associated with images of historical figures, even legendary ones, such as Oedipus (Sophocles), Hamlet (Shakespeare), Boris Godunov (Pushkin). It seems to me that on Ostrovsky’s part calling “The Thunderstorm” a drama was only a tribute to tradition.
The innovation of A. N. Ostrovsky lay in the fact that he wrote a tragedy based on exclusively life-like material, completely uncharacteristic of the tragic genre.
The tragedy of “The Thunderstorm” is revealed by a conflict with the environment not only of the main character, Katerina, but also of other characters.
The genre uniqueness of “The Thunderstorm” lies in the fact that it is, without a doubt, a tragedy, the first Russian tragedy written on social and everyday material. This is not just a tragedy for Katerina alone, it is a tragedy for the entire Russian society, which is at turning point its development, living on the eve of significant changes, in a revolutionary situation that contributed to the individual’s awareness of self-esteem. One cannot but agree with the opinion of V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, who wrote: “If some merchant’s wife cheated on her husband and hence all her misfortunes, then it would be a drama. But for Ostrovsky this is only the basis for high life theme... Here everything rises to tragedy.”
Reply from Lenko :)[guru]
1. because they were very truthful and bright
2. the conflict of feelings and duty in the soul of the main character, Katerina Kabanova.... when she cheated on her husband...
Reply from Botha[guru]
1. The play of life - touches on topical issues of our time
2. Features of classicism - unity of time, place and action.
like everything I remembered
Reply from Knesenka Elen[guru]
1. like taught to live
2.features of a classic drama: misunderstood love and death at the end.
the transition was justified by the fact that his soul ached for Russian society, which he called the “dark kingdom”, and considered Katerina a “ray of light”, because she blew up the routine of the swamp of house-building, philistinism.
3. Express your point of view here. What do you think? right? drama is tragedy. since Katerina challenged the society in which she lived, its foundations (domostroy), and she was not the only one who suffered so much under the yoke of her mother-in-law, we can say that it was a national tragedy.
Reply from Yatyana Rastegay[guru]
A. N. Ostrovsky wrote many plays about the merchants. They are so truthful and bright that Dobrolyubov called them “plays of life.” In these works, the life of the merchants is described as a world of hidden, quietly sighing sorrow, a world of dull, aching pain, a world of prison, deathly silence. And if a dull, meaningless murmur appears, it fades away at its birth. The critic N.A. Dobrolyubov titled his article devoted to the analysis of Ostrovsky’s plays “The Dark Kingdom.” He expressed the idea that the tyranny of the merchants rests only on ignorance and humility. But a way out will be found, because the desire to live with dignity cannot be destroyed in a person. He won't be subdued for long.
The classic “fossilization” of the characters deeply corresponds to the entire system of the patriarchal world. This inability to change, his fierce resistance to any alien element enslaves everyone within the circle of the patriarchal world, forms souls that are unable to exist outside of its closed circle. It doesn’t matter whether they like this life or not - they simply won’t be able to live in another, the heroes of the play belong to the patriarchal world, and their blood connection with it, their subconscious dependence on it is the hidden spring of the entire action of the play; a spring that forces the heroes to make mostly “puppet” movements, constantly emphasizing their lack of independence, lack of self-sufficiency. Image system drama almost repeats the social and family model of the patriarchal world. The family and family problems are placed at the center of the narrative, as well as at the center of the patriarchal community. The dominant of this small world is the eldest in the family, Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. Around her, family members are grouped at various distances - daughter, son, daughter-in-law and other inhabitants of the house: Glasha and Feklusha. The same “alignment of forces” seems to be repeated by the life of the city: in the center of Dikaya (and merchants of his level not mentioned in the play), on the periphery there are persons of less and less significance, without money and social status.
Our lesson today is dedicated to the work of N.A. Ostrovsky. We will reflect on the genre of the play "The Thunderstorm". What is this - drama or tragedy? To do this, we will turn to the history of the tragedy genre, find its signs in the play and try to determine genre feature works.
It was immediately staged at the Moscow Maly drama theater and caused serious controversy and controversy. Not everyone could see the large-scale meaning of this play. Some took it simply as family drama about how a dark, downtrodden, intimidated woman cheated on her pathetic husband. Such thoughts were expressed not only by conservatives, but even by such a revolutionary and radical-minded literary critic like D. Pisarev (Fig. 2).
Rice. 2. D.I. Pisarev ()
In his article “Motives of Russian Drama,” he reproached Katerina for not leaving her husband, and generally believed that her behavior was ridiculous and stupid, and she should not have been put at the center of the play. But already in 1860, Dobrolyubov’s article was published in the Sovremennik magazine (Fig. 3).
Rice. 3. N.A. Dobrolyubov ()
It must be said that we are now reconsidering Dobrolyubov’s work and cannot agree with him on all points. But we must take into account that Ostrovsky himself wrote Dobrolyubov’s article “A Ray of Light in dark kingdom"I liked it very much. He repeatedly said that Dobrolyubov absolutely correctly understood the concept of his play.
What is the difference between drama and tragedy? First of all, the scale of the problem. The tragedy touches upon universal questions about life and death, about the world and the fate of man in it. The drama examines the issues in more detail, but perhaps in more detail: man and society, man and his social environment, man and his various social connections that a person establishes with the people around him. Dobrolyubov persistently called Ostrovsky’s play a tragedy:
"Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, the most decisive work Ostrovsky; the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought to the most tragic consequences; and for all that, most of those who have read and seen this play agree that it produces a less serious and sad impression than Ostrovsky’s other plays...”
“There’s even something refreshing and encouraging about 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 blows on us new life, which is revealed to us in her very death...”
“The character of Katerina is a step forward not only in Ostrovsky’s dramatic activity, but also in all of our literature. It corresponds to a new phase of our national life..."
It is no coincidence that Dobrolyubov speaks of a new phase of people’s life. What happened in Russia at the end of the 50s? This is a difficult and critical time. Just died down Crimean War(Fig. 4),
Rice. 4. Crimean War ()
which turned out to be a complete disgrace for Russia, Nicholas I died (Fig. 5),
Rice. 5. Emperor Nicholas I ()
and the conversation turned to reforms, the inevitability of which the country’s leadership understood. Already in 1857, the liberation of the peasants was announced (Fig. 6).
Rice. 6. Reading the manifesto on the liberation of the peasants ()
Archaic, inhumane, completely backward social order in Russia had to be completely broken. But here a large-scale question arose before society: are the people ready for these changes, can they become a subject of history, go to high goals etc? After all, several centuries of oppression and slavery could kill his will to independence and freedom. These questions were answered in different ways, there were intense debates in society, and it was at this moment that the play “The Thunderstorm” appeared, which is intended to answer this question as Ostrovsky understands it.
Thus, Ostrovsky is trying to find in his play a conscious or at least spontaneous heroic beginning in the thickness of people's life.
Tragedy- a play that depicts extremely acute, often insoluble contradictions in life. The plot is based on the irreconcilable conflict of the hero, a strong personality, with supra-personal forces (fate, state, elements, etc.) or with himself. In this struggle, the hero, as a rule, dies, but wins a moral victory. The purpose of the tragedy is to cause shock in the viewer by what they see, which, in turn, gives rise to grief and compassion in their hearts. This state of mind leads to catharsis.
Drama - literary work, written in the form of a dialogue between the characters. Focused on spectacular expressiveness. The relationships between people and the conflicts that arise between them are revealed through the actions of the heroes and are embodied in a monologue-dialogue form. Unlike tragedy, drama does not end in catharsis.
Let us now turn to the history of the tragedy genre itself. Tragedy as a genre often appears in literature precisely at turning points in history. It helps to understand the global issues facing humanity. Tragedy was born in Ancient Greece and it was precisely at that moment when the man of Antiquity first began to recognize himself not just as a member of a collective, tribe, state, but as a separate sovereign person. How should an individual behave, for example, in combat with power, if this power is omnipotent and unrighteous? Here is the problem of the famous tragedy of Aeschylus (Fig. 7)
“Prometheus chained” (Fig. 8).
Rice. 8. “Prometheus Chained” (P. Rubens, 1612) ()
How will a person behave when faced with inexorable fate? This is the problematic of the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles (Fig. 9, 10).
Rice. 9. Antigone leads blind Oedipus out of Thebes (C. Jalabert, 19th century) ()
Can a person resist the chaos of feelings raging in his own soul? This is the problematic of such famous tragedies of Euripides (Fig. 11),
like “Hippolytus” or “Medea” (Fig. 12).
Rice. 12. “Medea” (A. Feuerbach, 1870) ()
Shakespeare's tragedies (Fig. 13) also appeared at a turning point, when the harsh patriarchal world of the Middle Ages was becoming a thing of the past, but the world that replaced it was not pleasing, revealing the disunity of people, selfishness, greed, and evil passions.
Classicists in France of the 17th century showed great interest in the tragedy, who put the cult of reason and the state at the forefront, trying to normalize everything. At the same time, many are written scientific works about literature, about how to write, in particular tragedy. Tragedy was thought of as a high, standard genre, and therefore it was in it that a certain set of rules had to be observed. The greatest representatives of classic tragedy are Corneille and Racine. It seemed to the classicists that these requirements flowed directly from ancient Greek poetics and that this was exactly how plays were staged in ancient Greece. But this is not entirely true. In ancient Greek plays the law of unity of time and place was not always observed. For example, in the famous “Oresteia” (Fig. 14) by Aeschylus, the duration of action is about ten years.
Rice. 14. “Clytemnestra hesitates before killing the sleeping Agamemnon” (P.-N. Guerin, 1817) ()
But, be that as it may, these laws were popular in both European and Russian literature of the 19th century. For example, in Griboyedov’s play (Fig. 15)
Rice. 15. A.S. Griboyedov ()
“Woe from Wit” actions begin early in the morning and end exactly the next morning.
What is unity of action? Here everything is more complicated. Firstly, the action should be limited to a small number of characters, 7-8. Secondly, there should be no side plot devices. And thirdly, there should be no characters who are not involved in the main course of the play. These rules were considered mandatory. In addition, one more thing was added to them: the main character of a tragedy - a high genre - can only be high, significant historical figure. These could be gods, heroes, generals, kings, but not representatives of the third estate. As we see, Ostrovsky does not meet all these requirements. That is why, probably, he decided, in order to avoid misunderstandings, to put the subtitle to his play “drama”, although, in fact, this is not entirely true. If we consider Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" from the point of view of the normative laws of classicism, then this is not a tragedy. The action lasts about ten days, the location of the action also changes, and there are also heroes who are not related to the fate of the main character - Katerina (Fig. 16).
Rice. 16. Katerina ()
First of all, this is Feklusha, the wanderer (Fig. 17).
The description of the environment also occupies an unusual place “ dark kingdom" Katerina herself is a representative of the “dark kingdom”: a merchant’s wife, a merchant’s daughter, thus she is a person of the third estate. But the fact is that the laws developed by the classicists are quite formal, and they do not determine the essence of the genre. After all, Shakespeare did not obey these laws, but the tragedies “Hamlet”, “Macbeth” (Fig. 18), “Othello”, “King Lear” do not cease to be tragedies.
Rice. 18. “Lady Macbeth” (M. Gabriel, 1885) ()
A tragedy has three mandatory features, and if they are present in the work, then the genre can safely be called a tragedy, and if they are absent, then it is obviously a drama.
First. In tragedy there must be tragic hero, that is, a hero whose moral qualities are much higher than those around him.
Second. In tragedy there must be tragic conflict, i.e. the conflict is global and insoluble by conventional peaceful means. This conflict usually ends with the death of the main character.
Third. Tragedy needs catharsis, that is, cleansing. First of all, this concerns the surviving heroes. They become taller, better, cleaner, and gain for themselves a certain life lesson. The same applies to the audience.
We can find all these moments in Ostrovsky's play. Is there a tragic hero there? Yes, this is Katerina. No matter what unkind critics say, Katerina is clearly superior to those around her. They may object to us: she is superstitious, not educated enough, commits sinful acts, such as treason and suicide, and these, from the point of view of Christianity, are terrible sins. But in at least one point she is certainly superior to everyone around her. She hates lies and finds it impossible for herself to lie. Lies are what unites all residents of the city of Kalinov.
Dikoy lies (Fig. 19).
In addition to being stupid and cruel, his actions are also riddled with hypocrisy. For example, he knows that scolding workers on a holiday is a grave sin, nevertheless, he scolds them, does not pay them, and then humbly asks for their forgiveness. By the way, he is also cowardly: as soon as Kabanova rebuffs him, he immediately calms down.
Kabanova’s entire behavior is permeated with hypocrisy (Fig. 20): in front of the city she is virtuous, but with her family she is power-hungry and evil.
Rice. 20. Marfa Kabanova ()
In addition, she is a lover of form, and therefore despises content. It seems to her that she needs to live according to Domostroy. But she is interested in the external pattern of behavior: the main thing is to maintain the form. This is evil hypocrisy.
Her daughter Varvara easily submits to someone else’s lies (Fig. 21), who herself has learned to lie with passion.
Varvara also has one more quality that does not decorate her: she is bored of sinning alone, because it is she who involves Katerina in sin, giving her the key to the gate so that she can see Boris.
Kudryash - at first glance, cheerful, cheerful, clearly opposed to the “dark kingdom” (Fig. 22).
But from the verbal skirmish with the Wild, we understand that there is no difference between them, and in a few years Curly will become another Wild.
Finally, the most oppressed person in this “kingdom” is Tikhon, who lies out of habit, always and everywhere (Fig. 23).
Rice. 23. Tikhon Kabanov ()
This is a man completely crushed by the situation.
Boris is not just a product of the “dark kingdom”; despite his education and ability to love, he behaves irrationally (Fig. 24).
He will be given an inheritance only on one condition: if he is respectful to his uncle Wild. It is known that uncle will not part with money under any circumstances, so there is nothing to respect him for. But Boris tries his best, he literally kowtows when communicating with Dikiy.
Finally, Kuligin is an old inventor, in whose speech we often see a reflection of the thoughts of Ostrovsky himself (Fig. 25).
He does not lie, but he has reconciled, he has neither the moral nor physical strength to resist the evil, lies and violence that reigns in the city. For example, Dikoy accuses him of being a robber because he wants to. And Kuligin silently presses his head into his shoulders and runs away. He's not a fighter.
Thus, everyone in this “dark kingdom” either lies and is a hypocrite themselves, or has come to terms with the lies and hypocrisy of others. Against this background, Katerina presents a sharp contrast with the other characters. From the very beginning we see that she does not want and cannot come to terms. Even with my unsuccessful family life she can only come to terms as long as she feels at least some human warmth and affection for Tikhon. Once all this disappears, she will not remain in the family cage, because she is irresistibly drawn to freedom, which for her is inextricably linked with truth. The sincerity and purity of Katerina’s soul is emphasized by her very name, which translated from Greek means “pure.”
Now let's move on to the second point of our reasoning: is there a tragic conflict in Ostrovsky's play? Here it must be said that Ostrovsky made a colossal innovation compared to ancient Greek drama. Usually, among the ancient Greeks, the conflict was either external - a person and the whole the world around us- either internal, when different elements collide in an irresistible struggle human soul. Ostrovsky uses both conflicts in the play.
The external conflict is obvious: pure, truth-loving, sincere Katerina cannot get along in the terrible world of the city of Kalinov, permeated with cruelty, lies and hypocrisy.
Internal conflict: Katerina is a sincerely believing woman to whom angels appear in broad daylight in the middle of the temple. Saints experienced such visions. She believes in both sin and fiery Gehenna, she is absolutely sure that her betrayal of her husband is terrible sin, which is impossible to pray away. But on the other hand, she cannot remain faithful to her husband, because he does not love her and does not respect her. He is truly worthy only of contempt. Already at the beginning of the play, he betrays her: when she asks him for help, he mockingly shrugs, refuses and leaves her alone with her difficulties and suffering. It is impossible to love and respect such a person, and therefore it is impossible to be a hypocrite by maintaining this hateful marriage. And so Katerina struggles in this morally insoluble situation for her: on the one hand, cheating on her husband is a terrible sin, perceived by her as a moral impossibility, and on the other hand, it is impossible to remain honest married woman and continue this disgusting hypocritical life. She cannot give up her love for Boris, because in this love for her there is not only sensual passion, but a desire for truth, freedom, life. And only death can resolve this tragic collision.
Now the third moment: catharsis, cleansing. Does anyone in the play experience purification after Katerina's death? Yes, definitely. Firstly, Tikhon, who has always been quiet and submissive to his mother, finally finds his voice and shouts, uncontrollably blaming his mother for Katerina’s death: “You ruined her! You! You!" Thus, he regained his sight, perhaps not for long, but still rose above his grassy and inhuman state.
Kuligin also finds his voice, carrying out Katerina’s body and telling her tormentors: “Here is your Katerina. Do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; but the soul is now not yours: it is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” That is, he accuses the city of Kalinov of the fact that it can and knows primitive, harsh justice, but mercy is inaccessible to it. Thus, Kuligin’s voice merges into in this case with the voice of Ostrovsky himself.
Some still reproach Katerina: how can this be, she is a suicide, a sinner, and according to Christian canons this is an unforgivable sin. But here we can say the following: it is not for nothing that we were given the Holy Testament, the Bible, in two books: the first is the Old Testament (Fig. 26),
Rice. 26. Old Testament (cover, modern edition) ()
the Bible itself, which teaches us justice, and the second - New Testament(Fig. 27),
Rice. 27. New Testament (cover, modern edition) ()
The gospel that teaches us mercy. No wonder Christ said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Fig. 28).
Rice. 28. Icon depicting Jesus Christ ()
He did not say that only those who are pure should come to him, he said that everyone should come. And we believe, together with Kuligin, that there is a judge who is more merciful than the city of Kalinov.
Thus, both in terms of the scale of the problem and the depth of the conflict, Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” can safely be called a tragedy. But one difficulty remains: the play depicts the environment in great detail, so the final conclusion must be made as follows: Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is a tragedy with elements of drama.
References
- Sakharov V.I., Zinin S.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: Russian Word.
- Arkhangelsky A.N. and others. Russian language and literature. Literature (advanced level) 10. - M.: Bustard.
- Lanin B.A., Ustinova L.Yu., Shamchikova V.M. / ed. Lanina B.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: VENTANA-GRAF.
- Russian language ().
- Internet portal Otherreferats.allbest.ru ().
- Internet portal Referatwork.ru ().
Homework
- Write down the definitions of “drama” and “tragedy” from five sources.
- Compose comparative characteristics dramatic and tragic elements in the play "The Thunderstorm".
- *Write an essay-reflection on the topic: “The tragedy of the heroes of the play “The Thunderstorm.”