The heroes of Ostrovsky's plays most often become women. Of course, these women are extraordinary and extraordinary individuals. Suffice it to recall the heroine of the drama Katerina. She is so emotional and impressionable that she stands apart from the other characters in the play. Katerina's fate is somewhat similar to the fate of Ostrovsky's other heroine. IN in this case we are talking about a play.
Larisa Ogudalova had to experience the indifference and cruelty of those around her, to survive love drama, and as a result she dies, just like the heroine of the Thunderstorm. But despite the apparent similarity, Larisa Ogudalova has a completely different character than Katerina Kabanova. The girl received an excellent education. She is smart, sophisticated, educated, dreams of beautiful love, but initially her life turns out completely differently. She is homeless. Larisa's mother is very selfish. She sells the beauty and youth of her daughters. Larisa's older sisters have already settled in thanks to the care of their resourceful parent, but, unfortunately, their lives are developing very, very tragically.
Larisa Ogudalova falls in love with the brilliant gentleman Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. She sincerely considers him the ideal man. The master has a fortune, he fully corresponds to the idea of a noble and educated person. His inner essence is revealed later. Larisa is young and inexperienced, so she falls into Paratov’s trap and ruins herself. She doesn't have strong character and becomes a toy in the hands of others. It comes to the point where the girl is being played toss. Those around her consider her a thing, an expensive and beautiful amusement, but her sublime soul, beauty and talent turn out to be unimportant. Karandyshev says to Larisa: They don’t look at you as a woman, as a person... they look at you as a thing.
She herself agrees with this: A thing... yes, a thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a person….
Larisa has an ardent heart, she is sincere and emotional. She generously gives her love, but what does she get in return? For her loved one, Larisa is just another entertainment, amusement. Out of despair, she even agrees to accept Knurov’s conditions.
Death is a kind of salvation for Larisa, a spiritual salvation, of course. Such a tragic ending saves her from the difficult choice she is trying to make, saves her from moral ruin and falling into the abyss called depravity.
A. N. Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1960, on the eve of the revolutionary situation in Russia. The work reflected the impressions of the writer’s trip along the Volga in the summer of 1856. But not any specific Volga city and not any specific persons are depicted in “The Thunderstorm”. He reworked all his observations on the life of the Volga region and turned them into deeply typical paintings Russian life.
The drama genre is characterized by the fact that it is based on the conflict between an individual and the surrounding society. In “The Thunderstorm” this person is Katerina Kabanova.
Katerina personifies the moral purity, spiritual beauty of a Russian woman, her desire for will, for freedom, her ability not only to endure, but also to defend her rights, her human dignity. According to Dobrolyubov, she “did not kill human nature in herself.”
Katerina – Russian national character. First of all, this is reflected by Ostrovsky, who owned all the wealth in perfection vernacular, in the heroine’s speech. When she speaks, it seems like she is singing. In the speech of Katerina, associated with the common people, brought up on their oral poetry, colloquial vocabulary predominates, characterized by high poetry, imagery, and emotionality. The reader feels musicality and melodiousness; Katya’s speech reminds folk songs. The language of the Ostrovskaya heroine is characterized by repetitions (“at a C on a good one,” “and people are disgusting to me, and the house is disgusting to me, and the walls are disgusting!”), an abundance of affectionate and diminutive words (“sun,” “voditsa,” “grave”) , comparison (“she didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild,” “someone speaks kindly to me, like a dove coos”). Longing for Boris, at the moment of greatest tension of spiritual strength, Katerina expresses her feelings in language folk poetry, exclaiming: “Violent winds, transfer my sadness and melancholy to him!”
The naturalness, sincerity, and simplicity of the island heroine is striking. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she answers Varvara, who says that you can’t live in their house without deception. Let's take a look at Katerina's religiosity. This is not Kabanikha’s hypocrisy, but a childish, genuine faith in God. She often visits church and does it with pleasure and delight (“And to death I loved going to church! Surely, it happened, I will enter heaven”), loves to talk about pilgrims (“Our house was full of pilgrims and praying mantises”), Katerina's dreams about “golden temples.”
The love of the island heroine is not without reason. Firstly, the need for love makes itself felt: after all, it is unlikely that her husband Tikhon, under the influence of “mama,” showed his love for his wife very often. Secondly, the feelings of the wife and woman are offended. Thirdly, the mortal melancholy of a monotonous life strangles Katerina. And finally, the fourth reason is the desire for freedom, space: after all, love is one of the manifestations of freedom. Katerina is fighting with herself, and this is the tragedy of her situation, but in the end she internally justifies herself. Committing suicide, committing, from the point of view of the church, a terrible sin, she thinks not about the salvation of her soul, but about the love that was revealed to her. "My friend! My joy! Goodbye!" - Here last words Katerina.
Another characteristic feature of the Ostrovskaya heroine is “a mature demand for the right and spaciousness of life that arises from the depths of the whole organism,” the desire for freedom and spiritual emancipation. To Varvara’s words: “Where will you go? You’re a husband’s wife,” Katerina replies: “Eh, Varya, you don’t know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if I get tired of it here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, I won’t do this, even if you cut me!” It is not for nothing that the image of a bird – a symbol of will – is repeatedly repeated in the play. From here permanent epithet"free Bird". Katerina, remembering how she lived before her marriage, compares herself to a bird in the wild. “Why don’t people fly like birds,” she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I think I’m a bird.” But the free bird ended up in an iron cage. And she struggles and yearns in captivity.
The integrity and decisiveness of Katerina’s character was expressed in the fact that she refused to obey the rules of the Kabanikha house and preferred death to life in captivity. And this was not a manifestation of weakness, but of spiritual strength and courage, ardent hatred of oppression and despotism.
So, the main character of the drama “The Thunderstorm” comes into conflict with environment. In the fourth act, in the scene of repentance, the denouement seems to be coming. Everything is against Katerina in this scene: the “thunderstorm of God”, and the cursing half-crazed “lady with two lackeys”, and ancient painting on a dilapidated wall, depicting “fiery Gehenna.” The poor girl was almost driven crazy by all these signs of a passing, but tenacious old world, and she repents of her sin in a semi-delirious state of darkness. She herself later admits to Boris that “she was not free in herself,” “she didn’t remember herself.” If the drama “The Thunderstorm” ended with this scene, then it would show the invincibility of the “dark kingdom”: after all, at the end of the fourth act he triumphs: “What a son! Where will the will lead?
But the drama ends with a moral victory over external forces, which fettered Katerina’s freedom, and over the dark ideas that fettered her will and mind. And her decision to die, rather than remain a slave, expresses, according to Dobrolyubov, “the need of the emerging movement of Russian life.”
Moral problems in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “Dowry”. The essence dramatic work A. N. Ostrovsky’s “Dowry” is to show the contradictions surrounding reality through the destinies of heroes. The writer, penetrating into the life of the classes described, depicts his heroes in action, revealing them character traits. main topic Ostrovsky's works are a drama of personality in society. All lines of the play are devoted to the disclosure of this theme. Speaking about a woman in bourgeois society, the playwright reveals to the reader the true state of affairs.
In a quiet town on the Volga there lives a girl of marriageable age, Larisa Ogudalova. There are many eligible bachelors around, but Larisa is without a dowry. Therefore, despite her spiritual qualities, she is at a disadvantage. These men claim Larisa as just a beautiful thing, talking about her as just another matter. Larisa’s lyrical nature does not understand this at first; she is looking for love. If not mutual, then at least self-love. Therefore, in the absence of other candidates, she agrees to become the wife of Karandyshev, who loves her. With this decision, she crosses out a year of empty suffering for another person - Sergei Paratov, deciding that family responsibilities will help her forget about him. But Paratov reappears in her life. He decided to say goodbye to his free single life, maybe he barely remembers Ogudalova, but Larisa is sure that Sergei Sergeevich came for her sake.
Larisa's mother, Kharita Ignatyevna, knows what awaits her daughter, and her attitude towards her is no different from that of the merchants - she also wants to sell Larisa off at a profit. She talks to the poor Karandyshev with disdain, with Paratov she behaves a little familiarly, with Knurov she agrees with everything, understands that he is ready to take his daughter as a kept woman and is happy about this, having received a wardrobe for her daughter and three hundred rubles.
Larisa has self-esteem and believes that not having a dowry will not stigmatize her. The conflict of the drama is the contradiction between the girl’s expectations and harsh reality. When Larisa comes face to face with her, she rushes about, trying to maintain her self-esteem and pride. “Everyone loves themselves. When will someone love me? You will bring me to death…” she says to her fiancé Karandyshev. Larisa cannot change her fate in any way - others decide everything in advance for her.
As sad as it is to realize this, Karandyshev, even though he is in love with Larisa, also treats her as a beautiful, soulless thing. This is terrible for Larisa. After all, she considers love to be the main advantage of her fiancé. He is happy that she will become his wife and perceives this event as a profitable deal for himself. Now he has something to boast about in front of these rich people! There is something to hurt them! But he is jealous and also hurt, because Larisa doesn’t even hide the fact that she loves Paratov! Because she believes that she waited for her love, going through suffering.
Karandyshev has one difference from other male heroes - he acts at the behest of his heart. He tells Larisa that he is ready to be humiliated for her sake. How do others behave? What does Paratov feel for Larisa? Does she mean more to him than to others, or does he enjoy his power over the girl in love, as well as his dexterity in deceiving the groom? How honest are those around her towards Larisa?
Judging by their actions, the main “moral” quality in the merchant environment is business
grip They talk about everything from the point of view of profitability, and feelings have no place where there should be only calculation. The merchants keep their distance from the rest of the population, and they are quite distrustful even of each other. We learn their moral character in their relationship with Larisa. The powerful and calculating Knurov is emphatically friendly with her, saying that he is obliged to take part in her fate. In fact, this means that he will take advantage of the girl’s hopeless situation.
Paratov is ready to do anything for the sake of money, and his relationship with Larisa is like gambling, because he believes that in life you have to try everything. Unfortunately, the girl in love does not see his selfishness. The moral character of Sergei Sergeevich Paratov appears for Larisa only when he, having seduced a girl, tells her about his impossibility of marrying her. What did he choose? A more financially advantageous marriage to millions. Everyone learns about this event at the very beginning of the play. But, seeing how Larisa is rushing about, no one tells her about this, including her childhood friend Vasya Vozhevatov. Vozhevatov is a soulless egoist who is not touched by Larisa’s fate. He cannot even offer her help in a critical situation, because he is bound by the merchant’s word of honor. He plays Larisa toss with Knurov,
Knurov is a cynical businessman, he can only tell Ogudalova for the sake of a catchphrase that “he never thought about offering his hand for a single minute,” but he is married, so he is ready to give her such allowance that all critics of morality will be forced to remain silent. That is, there are no immoral actions - there is little money.
Thus, human relationships, morality, love, friendship are crossed out for the sake of business relationships, for the sake of profit. This is how Larisa herself sums up her life: “I was looking for love and didn’t find it. They looked at me and look at me as if I was funny. No one ever tried to look into my soul, I didn’t see sympathy from anyone, I didn’t hear a warm, heartfelt word. But it’s cold to live like this. It’s not my fault, I was looking for love and didn’t find it... it doesn’t exist in the world... there’s nothing to look for. I haven’t found love, so I’ll look for gold.” Larisa makes a choice - she is ready to become a beautiful thing for the rich man Knurov.
As usual, the truth comes from the lips of someone whose words are not taken seriously. Robinson tells Paratov: merchants are ignorant. And this is the mildest description that can be given. Karandyshev is the first to open the bride’s eyes to her surroundings; he tells her cruel but truthful words about those whom she considers friends: “They do not look at you as a woman, as a person - a person controls his own destiny; they look at you as if you were a thing.” He believes that he is obliged to protect Larisa and punish her offenders. But a transformation also occurs with him - his love is desecrated by jealousy and revenge. He envies the merchants and also wants to feel like a master.
After everything that happened, Larisa can only become a toy for Knurov or die. Therefore, she thanks Karandyshev for accidentally fulfilling her wish: “My dear, what a good deed you have done for me!” Perhaps she herself would not have decided to take her own life, and having become Mokiy Parmenych’s kept woman, she would have lost herself. She takes the blame for her death, covering for Karandyshev, who saved her from further disappointments and suffering.
Inevitability tragic ending prepared by the fact that Larisa has nothing holding her back in life. Nobody needs her love, the girl is alone in this world. She has lost harmony in her soul and does not see compassion from anyone. Larisa's drama is that she was born into a world in which only money and power are important.
Drama "Dowry" (1879) became one of the peaks in Ostrovsky's dramaturgy. Here, each character is revealed with utmost authenticity and convincingness. The play consists of a number of large and significant scenes that are built in accordance with the logic of positions and situations.
Ostrovsky puts the fate of a woman at the center of the work, showing life from the most emotional and expressive side, contrasting cold and soulless calculation and selfishness with the sincerity, gullibility and recklessness of “hot hearts”.
“B” presents a piece of Russian life at the end of the 19th century. The impoverished nobles Ogudalovs, living in the provincial Volga city of Bryakhimov, with difficulty maintaining the appearance of prosperity and secularism, the rich businessmen Knurov and Vozhevatov, the “brilliant gentleman of the shipowners” Sergei Sergeich Paratov, the poor official, the “little man” Karandyshev, the traveling actor Robinson, the bartender, servants, gypsies - this is the composition characters dramas. The composition is quite varied, but accurately reflects the signs of Russian life at that time.
The play is unusual in composition. Overall, this is a climax drama, because it captures the moment of the highest tension in life main character Larisa Ogudalova. The painful experiences of being “dowryless,” a mental crisis due to a long and incomprehensible separation from Paratov, forced the girl to make a difficult decision for herself - to become the wife of the uninteresting and unattractive Karandyshev.
Larisa, who clearly idealizes Paratov, does not see his selfishness and callousness and recklessly follows him, not at all doubting his nobility. The shock from the deception turns out to be so severe, and the situation is so irreparable - honor is lost, faith in a loved one and in love itself is lost - that life loses all meaning for Larisa. But in order to leave it, she does not find the strength in herself and is forced to accept the law of bourgeois society, where beauty, being a commodity, is bought and sold. Larisa is ready to become Knurov’s kept woman, and only Karandyshev’s shot put an end to doubts, torment, and moral hesitations, ending the life of Larisa Ogudalova.
The play is structured in such a way that the main action develops in two streams - on stage and off stage. Only the most acute events take place on stage, situations are shown that reveal the psychological complexity of relationships and sharp turns in the development of the plot. Everything ordinary, everyday or everyday known remains outside the stage space. Thus, the playwright omits the scene of Larisa’s first meeting with Paratov, does not show her experiences after his departure (the viewer learns about this from the characters’ remarks), and there is no scene of Larisa’s trip across the Volga with the gypsies. The basis of drama is not only action, but also psychological process.
“B” is a play about a beautiful, extraordinary girl who finds herself in an ordinary bourgeois environment, which looks at her as a bright, attractive thing. The theme of purchase and sale permeates the entire work, is the main one and is stated at the very beginning of the drama, when there is a conversation about the “Swallow”, profitably bought by Vozhevatov from Paratov, about pleasures for which “you have to pay” (meaning the pleasure of visiting the Ogudalovs’ house ), that it would be nice to go to Paris with Larisa Dmitrievna for an exhibition, and that this woman is created for luxury and, like an expensive diamond, she needs an expensive frame. All the remarks regarding Larisa were not thrown by chance, they are developed, and in the finale their truly dramatic meaning is revealed: at the most difficult moment for Larisa, when she realizes that Paratov has cruelly deceived her, Knurov makes her an offer to go with him to Paris for an exhibition.
Larisa does not have the integrity and inner strength that was felt in Katerina. Her soul is tossing about pure love, about a noble groom, between the desire to love people, to live according to the laws of honor, according to the moral standards accepted among the nobility, and the ability to morally compromise.
The playwright emphasizes Larisa’s loneliness with an unexpected technique: the heroine dies to the accompaniment of a “loud choir of gypsies.” Before her death, she perceives Karandyshev’s shot as a blessing, as relief from suffering. To the sounds of a gypsy song, Larisa talks about love for people and sends a farewell kiss. At the beginning of the play, the Ogudalovs' house was compared to a camp; the play ends with a camp song. Beginnings and ends, causes and effects, temporary and eternal, are united. Dying, Larisa understands that she is a stranger to everyone, but at the same time she does not blame anyone: “Let those who have fun have fun... I don’t want to disturb anyone! Live, live, everyone!” her death is not an accident, but an inevitable death due to the incompatibility of this woman with a practical and cruel world.
“B” is a drama, but it is seen as tragic. A number of leitmotifs:
Simplicity, which is shaded by the motive of wealth
At the beginning of the play, the motive of tragedy arises: Larisa always feels like she is on the edge of an abyss
Like Katerina, she recklessly shows her feelings all the time. Simplicity and stupidity testify to this.
The motif of the “man of things” is not only found in Larisa, but also in Paratov.
The motive of the game - acting - is common to everyone except Larisa.
Dramatic conflict: “if you are a thing, it is expensive” => having lost love, she accepts what is offered to her.
Death is a manifestation of weakness, not strength, as it was for Katerina.
Two contenders for Larisa's heart - Paratov and Karandyshev. Both Knurov and Vozhevatov are related to the death of Larisa. However, Paratov and Karandyshev occupy a central place in the system of images. It was these heroes who pushed Larisa to the moral abyss. Paratov cruelly deceives the girl, uses her gullibility and selfless love, and Karandyshev, having no power over Larisa’s heart, kills her.
At first glance, these heroes are antipodes. Paratov is handsome, rich, “a brilliant gentleman from a ship owner,” and Karandyshev is a small, poor official with an uninteresting appearance. Paratov appears everywhere with style, attracting attention with every gesture, every step. Paratov finds it easily mutual language with people, arouses their admiration. Kharita Ignatievna, for example, speaks of Paratov like this: “Well done man... What a falcon! Look at you and rejoice." Larisa will deeply and strongly fall in love with Paratov, a brave and passionate admirer. Karandyshev, on the contrary, the girl, even agreeing to become his wife, almost despises. He is a straw for her, “for the cat.” the drowning man grabs." None of the characters speak of him with respect. “B-he’s proud, envious,” notes Vozhevatov. “Well, what is Karandyshev!” - with contempt and bewilderment Gov. Knurov, having learned about Larisa’s decision to marry this man. Those around him are unpleasant about Karandyshev’s envy, his embitterment, and his desire to be in a chosen society at all costs. Karandyshev and Paratov are rivals. M\heroes have a social system. abyss. Karandyshev is “little h-k”, and Paratov is “the master of life”. He has a rule - “don’t forgive anyone, otherwise they will forget the fear and become forgotten.” And this is not an empty phrase, but one of the main qualities of Paratov, cat. can be defined as lordship. However, with a deep analysis of the characters and actions of Paratov and Karandyshev, we can conclude that the heroes have a lot in common. Both he and others are extremely proud and vain, love to impress, and achieve their goals by any means necessary. Both need Larisa for self-affirmation. For them she is a toy, a THING. Para-tov achieved that Larisa fell in love with him passionately, and he himself “beat off all the suitors, and there was no trace of him...”
Returning to Bryakhimov and inviting the girl for a ride on the Lastochka, Paratov coldly sacrifices her reputation to his whim. For him, the trip is a cheerful farewell to his bachelor life, and for Larisa, it is hope for a happy marriage with her loved one.
Karandyshev stubbornly waited for Larisa to be left without contenders for her hand, and he also achieved his goal: he became the girl’s fiancé. He can’t wait to experience the triumph of the winner, and after she agrees to marry him, he already looks at Larisa as his property.
Both Karandyshev and Paratov are not indifferent to Larisa, but at the same time they do not value the girl, do not listen to her words, and do not want to understand what is happening to her. The heroes revel in their power over Larisa. At the dinner party, Karandyshev is rejoicing; he is already enjoying his position as the future husband, the complete ruler of Larisa. He decides for her whether she will sing for the guests or not: “No, no, don’t ask, it’s impossible; I forbid..." Both heroes are to blame for the death of Larisa. Both the “little man” and the brilliant gentleman do not have true sensitivity and the ability to love unselfishly in their souls. They believe that in a world where everything is based on calculation, you can buy honor, love, and beauty. Larisa idealized both Paratov and Karandyshev. She perceived Karandysheva as a person with a kind soul, poor and misunderstood by others, she sincerely wanted to love him. Paratov was Larisa’s ideal man. She considered him noble and reliable, and dreamed of uniting her destiny with him. Too late, the girl realized that in the world of profit and self-interest there is no place for love.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is an excellent Russian playwright, whose work significantly influenced the development of both Russian literature and Russian theater. Ostrovsky wrote many plays that have not lost popularity to this day. They are often staged on the stages of Russian and foreign theaters. One of these works is the drama “Dowry”.
The title of the play reflects the everyday side of Larisa’s misfortune - she is “dowryless.” But, as the plot develops, the reader understands that Larisa’s problem lies not only in her poverty, but also in her mental inconsistency with this world, with the people around her, with society.
Initially, Ostrovsky planned to write a drama in three acts, but later his plans changed a little.
But a partial change of form did not in the least prevent the playwright from conveying his main idea to the reader and revealing all the problems. The play is constructed very musically, without any obtrusive rhythm. It contains both household side life, and drama and internal conflict heroines.
The play reveals many different themes: everyday (Ogudalova), comic (Robinson), tragicomic (Karandyshev), lyrical (Larisa), until the intensity of passions with the main character reaches the level of modern drama.
The subject matter of the drama is also very wide. The play covers many moral problems, such as the problem of honor and duty, buying and selling a person, choosing the goal and meaning of life, the problem of a broken dream, the conflict between fathers and children. Also conveyed in “Dowry” social problems: the difference in the life and morality of the rich and the poor, as well as the position of women in society.
Many of these problems are still relevant today.
The main idea of the work is that in a bourgeois-capitalist society there are orders that allow rich immoral people to buy others. They treat a person as a thing, each of which has a price. In such a society, where everyone is obsessed with power and the thirst for profit, there is simply no place for morality and humanity.
Ostrovsky masterfully portrayed the heroes of the drama. The play depicts very vividly, but not intrusively, the prudence, heartlessness and toughness of Paratov, Vozhevatov and Knurov, the cunning and dexterity of Ogudalova, the emotionality and sensitivity of Larisa. The characters seem to come straight out of the pages of a play, and their character traits, good or bad, seem as realistic as possible. The author manages to create integral, psychologically full-blooded social types.
Alexander Nikolaevich devoted Special attention the language of its heroes, its sound. He tries to convey the social affiliation of the characters not only with the help of characteristic vocabulary, certain words, which sometimes look ridiculous in combination with inappropriate speech patterns. Ostrovsky uses different aspects of speech: morphological, phonetic, syntactic and lexical to more clearly and accurately show the characters’ belonging to a certain social environment.
“Dowry” has a very strong impact on the reader. This play makes you think about many moral issues. Reading it, we think about justice, honor and honesty, humanity and much more. I believe that this drama is capable of touching the farthest corners of the soul of every reader.
Updated: 2017-02-19
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Ostrovsky’s psychological drama “Dowry,” as well as the play “The Thunderstorm,” is one of Ostrovsky’s dramatic masterpieces. She is sharp social issues, colorfulness and brightness of characters, refined psychologism, a plexus of the social and individual-personal that is rare in its expressiveness.
Almost twenty years separate “The Dowry” (1978) from “The Thunderstorm” (1859). Intensive changes in Russian life led to increased capitalization, the “triumph of the bourgeoisie.” The action of the play takes place in the Volga region city of Bryakhimov in “the present day” (that is, in the late 70s of the 19th century). The heroes of the play are Europeanized merchants who, in the words of one of the servants, go “to Moscow, to St. Petersburg and abroad” to talk.
Cross-cutting in the play and largely determining its conflict is the motif of the omnipotence of capital. A significant part of the exposition of the drama “Dowry,” the analysis of which interests us, is occupied by the dialogue between millionaire Knurov and a representative of a wealthy trading company, Vozhevatov. Both merchants, like most of Ostrovsky’s characters, significant surnames: “knur” - hog, boar, “vozhevaty” - polite, courteous. The merchants are discussing sensational news: the consent of the first beauty of the city, the charming and artistic Larisa Ogudalova, to marry the poor official Karandyshev, who is completely insignificant in the eyes of successful merchants. “Well, what is Karandyshev!” - Knurov says contemptuously (house 1, appearance 2).
From the dialogue of the merchants, we learn about Larisa’s relationship with her beloved Paratov, who, according to Vozhevatov, “recaptured all the suitors, and there was no trace of him, he disappeared to God knows where” (D. 1, Rev. 2). Larisa is in a hopeless situation, she is homeless, and this main reason her personal misfortunes. The interlocutors also evaluate their own chances in the competition for Larisa. The struggle for it, conducted almost according to the laws of the stock exchange game, reveals in each of the rivals the entire immensity of their personal ambitions, the desire to establish themselves in the role of “hero of the day.” Whatever the merchants talk about, even about the most personal, secret things, everywhere the motive of buying and selling comes first.
Each of the characters in the play “Dowry” (Ostrovsky), the analysis of which interests us, in accordance with their ideas, strives to master the “art of life.” Among the hierarchy of life values of merchants and nobles, wealth, luxury, and exquisite pleasures come to the fore. Knurov, who has a huge fortune, behaves like a person for whom “the impossible is not enough.” “Paratov lives in style”—this is how merchants evaluate the lifestyle of the “brilliant master.” “She loves to live a cheerful life,” says the young, successful Vasya Vozhevatov, a regular at her house, about the heroine’s mother, Kharita Ignatievna Ogudalova. The poor official Karandyshev, “a proud and envious man,” striving for success and comfort, appears as a parody double of Paratov. Karandyshev cannot assimilate the alien, inorganic style of behavior for him and gets confused. According to the successful expression of A.I. Zhuravleva, he cannot “get into the image.” And only the spiritually refined Larisa seems to exist “above everyday life”, longs for a spiritualized and moral life, dreams of sublimely romantic relationships. Naturally, with such different ideas about life, he and Karandyshev speak different languages.
The question naturally arises: is Karandyshev sincere in his feelings for Larisa? Without a doubt, this petty official with great ambitions loves her in his own way. But this feeling is inseparable from his hysterical ambition, the desire to show off his “capital” to his rivals. M.V. Otradin correctly notes that the relationship between Larisa and Karandyshev “immediately manifests itself as mutual claims.” Karandyshev, as soon as he becomes a groom, begins with accusations, behaves ignoblely, and reminds his bride of life “in the camp.” Larisa answers him with devastating, merciless frankness: “If I hadn’t been looking for silence, solitude, if I hadn’t wanted to run away from people, would I have married you?” (D. 1, Rev. 4). The romantically inclined Larisa does not hide from Karandyshev that her ideal man is Sergei Sergeich Paratov. She perceives Paratov in the aura of high romance associations (M.V. Otradin), sees in him a brave, generous, exceptional person in everything. Having agreed to marry Karandyshev, Larisa betrays her ideas about love and true happiness. However, Larisa’s consent to marry an unloved person allows different interpretations. Having lost what seemed to be newfound happiness (Paratov left and forgot about Larisa), she does not lose hope for a worthy and moral life. And that is why he chooses the path of marriage. “At least marry Karandyshev,” says Vozhevatov, not without annoyance. It is noteworthy that Larisa’s mother, Kharita Ignatievna Ogudalova, is much less picky about the means of achieving well-being in life. She does not rule out “warm participation” in the life of a rich man’s daughter, as evidenced by her conversation with Knurov. “It’s good how this participation will be found,” she agrees with Knurov (d. 2, appearance 2). In the eyes of the eldest Ogudalova, a daughter is a commodity, so Larisa’s marriage or the “patronage” of a sympathetic rich man are worth each other to her, her mother.
The main event in the first act is the return of Paratov to Bryakhimov. His arrival is important not only for influential people of the city. Both the tavern servants and the gypsies are happy to see him. Paratov is everyone's favorite. When he talks about the mechanics from the “Swallow”: “He’s a foreigner, he’s Dutch, his soul is short; they have arithmetic instead of a soul” (D. 1, Rev. 6) - the reader (viewer) has the right to expect that Paratov himself is a truly Russian man with a broad soul. Paratov strives to be perceived this way. But here it is revealed that it is not difficult for him to find a common language with the merchants: “I, Mokiy Parmenych,” he turns to Knurov, “have nothing cherished; If I find a profit, I’ll sell everything, anything” (D. 1, Rev. 6). This very frank self-confession is followed by a message about marrying a girl with a very rich dowry. Ostrovsky shows that in Russian society there is a process of erasing differences between classes. The big gentleman thinks and acts quite like a merchant. The fact that Paratov, with his education and intelligence, the ability to feel the beautiful, serves the same idols as the merchants, dramatically sharpens the conflict and inevitably brings disaster closer.
It is noteworthy that compared to strongmen of the world Therefore, the comic actor Arkady Schastlivtsev (his role is secondary in the plot) appears as a more natural person. His reactions to the world are more direct, but this only aggravates his position as a buffoon, with whom enlightened Russian tyrants “take their breath away” the newest formation. Larisa’s fiancé finds himself in a similar buffoonish position, to whom rival men are constantly trying to show his true place. Larisa herself, whom the “medicis” look at as a thing, is also related to Robinson.
During the meeting with Larisa (house 2, appearance 8) Paratov behaves like a director and an actor at the same time. His appeal to Shakespeare's Hamlet can be explained by his desire to play, change roles, and masks. Paratov is an extremely self-centered person, accustomed to excelling in everything and, above all, in love. His male vanity is flattered that Larisa is still in the grip of passionate feelings. Undoubtedly, he belongs to the “predatory” type of heroes (“paraty” - strong, beast of prey). In response to Larisa’s request not to abuse her frankness, Paratov hypocritically declares: “I, Larisa Dmitrievna, am a person with rules, marriage for me is a sacred matter” (D. 2, Rev. 8). The truth of these words is refuted by his entire subsequent behavior, the entire course of events. For him, marriage is a profitable deal; he sells his freedom, his attraction to Larisa, and the possible prospect of happiness with her for a large dowry of his unloved metropolitan bride.
Without exaggeration, we can say that pride is the “Archimedes lever” that moves action. “Everyone loves themselves,” Larisa says bitterly.
Karandyshev, starting dinner party, cherishes a secret desire to laugh at the rich “fanfarons” and take revenge on them. At dinner, he raises a toast to his fiancée Larisa - and pronounces a word of praise for himself. Karandyshev feels himself at the zenith of greatness, and his guests only see how funny he is. In the struggle of ambition, the strong and successful win. Paratov, mocking the owner of the dinner, achieves his goal: in the eyes of Larisa, Karandyshev is humiliated, and therefore destroyed. Larisa is freed from internal obligations to the groom.
Karandyshev also does not think about the fact that for Larisa, marriage with him is a compromise, that she hopes to find solitude and peace in the family. For him, to become related to the noble Ogudalov family, to get a beautiful wife is “to play for promotion.” Therefore, he dreams of a grand, magnificent wedding, which Larisa hates.
At the center of the drama is the fate of a charming and talented homeless woman, around whom there is frank and cynical bargaining. As the action develops, the “torture of feelings” (B. Eikhenbaum’s term) of the heroine is prolonged as much as possible. Paratov, who decided to destroy Karandyshev, does not think about the pain he will cause Larisa.
The dominant motives of the play are formed and supported by the musical romance element. Larisa sings a romance based on Baratynsky’s poems “Don’t tempt me unnecessarily.” This elegy is dominated by disappointment, fatigue of the soul, and inability to seduce love. Romance can be seen as the key to the heroine's drama. Larisa's singing is the voice of a tormented soul. The girl in the play, experiencing a high romantic feeling for Paratov, tried, but could not come to terms with the role of the bride of an unloved man whom her mother kept in the house “just in case.”
In the analyzed play “The Dowry” by Ostrovsky, as in the romances, there are many internal paradoxes. Larisa’s suffering, it would seem, had reached its final limit. And suddenly she heard in the words of the admiring Paratov what she had been waiting for and wanted to hear, and in her own way she perceived and interpreted his unsteady but passionate confessions. Her soul instantly responds to the loving, excited voice of her beloved. Living for Larisa means loving. Therefore, without hesitation, she agrees to go beyond the Volga with a man in whom she had already lost faith (D. 3, Rev. 12). Paratov’s remark - “She will go,” addressed to Knurov and Vozhevatov, seems to cancel out the entire previous situation (Karandyshev’s matchmaking, Larisa’s consent to marriage). Paratov always feels like the master of the situation.
For Karandyshev, the flight of the guests and the bride is a terrible blow. His monologue: “Yes, it’s funny... I funny man..." (D. 3, Rev. 14) - full of pathetic intonations. And the reader (viewer) - almost for the first time - begins to sympathize with him. Psychological characteristics this character becomes noticeably more complicated, his position is dramatized. Karandyshev is going to take revenge on his offenders, and this rebellion against them: “I will take revenge on each of them, each one, until they kill me” (D. 3, Rev. 14) - is completely natural.
In Ostrovsky's "Dowry" significant place devoted to the motive of the play, which is developed in many ways by the author both in the action of the play, and in the characters, and in the relationships of the characters. This is also a cruel joke with the actor Schastlivtsev, whom Paratov passes off as the foreigner Robinson and promises to send to Paris. But “Paris”, where Schastlivtsev ends up, is a Bryakhimov restaurant. This is also a play on the feelings and egos of the central characters.
This is also one of the forms of conflict embodiment. In the second act, Paratov talks with Larisa's mother. He playfully remarks: “It’s not for us, frivolous gentlemen, to start new turns!” (Revelation 7). In fact, he is far from a gentleman: a noble gloss is his mask, and behind it is the nature and interests of a businessman. Kharita Ignatievna is trying to reveal Paratov’s game, to discover his secret intentions: “I understand: do you want to marry profitably?” Marrying the dowryless Larisa is impossible for Paratov - this is a game not worth the candle: “After all, I almost married Larisa - I wish I could make people laugh! Yes, he was playing a fool” (D. 1, Rev. 7). And the relationship with Larisa itself, which awakens the passion of a player in Paratov, is cruel, dangerous game, a fully realized risk: “I will give up all calculations, and no force will snatch you from me; perhaps together with my life” (D. 3, Rev. 12). In the recognition scene, Paratov’s florid speeches are regarded by Larisa as a game of words: “No, no, Sergei Sergeich, you don’t tell me phrases!..” (d. 4, episode 7). The concept of “game” is realized in the play in a metaphorical sense: “life is a game.” “I have lost more than a fortune, I have lost you; I myself suffer, and I have made you suffer” (D. 3, Rev. 12). The last act begins with the scene card game, and is followed by an episode of Larisa’s toss, where Knurov and Vozhevatov rely on chance.
The “cruel game” of Paratov and Larisa ended with the heroine finally revealing the true Paratov, for whom calculation and benefit are above all. For Larisa, disappointment in her loved one is tantamount to losing the meaning of life. Suffering from Paratov’s betrayal, the dowry woman finds no sympathy in anyone, not even in her childhood friend, Vozhevatov. The last dialogue in the play, between Larisa and Karandyshev, takes place on strong emotional swings. The killer word "thing" that finds for ex-fiancée Karandyshev, becomes one of the leitmotifs of this last conversation. “I take you, I am your master,” says Karandyshev (no. 4, appearance 11). But then, shocked by Larisa’s intention to go to Knurov, he softens: “Larisa Dmitrievna! Stop! I forgive you, I forgive everything.” Karandyshev begs to make him happy and confesses his love. And then - in response to Larisa’s categorical refusal and contempt - a new emotional change follows: “So don’t let anyone get you!” Larisa's ex-fiancé, who decided to protect her and avenge her (one of all and one against all), cannot maintain this height and kills his beloved, confirming the view of her as a thing (B. O. Kostelyanets).
Larisa regards Karandyshev's shot as a blessing. She does not have the integrity of Katerina, so Larisa found herself on the verge of compromise and moral failure, although a passionate dream about the purity and beauty of human relationships is alive in her. Death allows her to maintain integrity and height, without losing her dignity. But, as A.I. Zhuravleva emphasizes, “the more gentleness and forgiveness the heroine has, the sharper the viewer’s judgment.”
The meaning of the title of the play “Dowry,” which we analyzed, is focused not only on social and everyday conflict, but also on moral and psychological conflict. “You can’t call Katerina a dowry. It is rich: behind it is the power of tradition, the power of the people's worldview and folk poetry. Larisa is beautiful, but she is on her own,” N. N. Skatov rightly noted. The heroines of Ostrovsky’s two dramatic masterpieces appear individually unique and are among the most charming female images Russian and world literature.