Description of the city in the play Thunderstorm. Essay on the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants based on the play "Thunderstorm". Org moment. Independent work

Homework for the lesson

1. Write down the definition of the word in your notebook remark.
2. Look up the interpretation of words in the explanatory dictionary wanderer, pilgrimage.

Question

Where does Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" take place?

Answer

The play takes place in the Volga town of Kalinov.

Answer

Through stage directions.

Already the first remark contains a description of the landscape. "A public garden on the banks of the Volga; beyond the Volga there is a rural view; on the stage there are two benches and several bushes."

The viewer seems to see with his own eyes the beauty of Russian nature.

Question

Which character introduces readers to the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov? How does he characterize the city of Kalinov?

Answer

Kuligin’s words: “Miracles, truly it must be said that they are miracles! ...for fifty years I have been looking at the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of everything. The view is extraordinary! Beauty. My soul rejoices.”

Question

What laws underlie the life of Mr. Kalinov? Is everything as good in the city of Kalinov as it seems at first glance?

Answer

Kuligin speaks about the inhabitants of his city and their morals as follows: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, are cruel. In the philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty. And we, sir, will never get out of this hole !"

Despite the fact that Kalinov is located in a beautiful place, each of its residents spends almost all of their time behind the high fences of their estates. “And what tears flow behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!” - Kuligin paints a picture of the city.

Next to poetry, there is a completely different, ugly, unsightly, repulsive side of Kalinov’s reality. Here merchants undermine each other's trade, tyrants mock their households, here they receive all information about other lands from ignorant wanderers, here they believe that Lithuania “fell from the sky on us.”

Nothing interests the residents of this city. Occasionally some incredible rumor will fly here, for example, that the Antichrist has been born.

News is brought by wanderers who have not wandered for a long time, but only convey what they have heard somewhere.

Wanderers- a common type of people in Rus' who go on pilgrimage. Among them there were many individuals who were purposeful, inquisitive, hardworking, who had learned and seen a lot. They were not afraid of difficulties, road inconveniences, or meager food. There were among them the most interesting people, sort of philosophers with their own special, original attitude to life, who traveled from Rus' on foot, endowed with a keen eye and figurative speech. Many writers loved to talk with them, L.N. showed particular interest in them. Tolstoy, N.S. Leskov, A.M. Bitter. A.N. also knew them. Ostrovsky.

In acts II and III, the playwright brings the wanderer Feklusha onto the stage.

Exercise

Let's turn to the text. Let's read the dialogue between Feklushi and Glasha by role. P.240. (II act).

Question

How does this dialogue characterize Feklusha?

Answer

This wanderer intensively spreads superstitious tales and absurd fantastic rumors throughout the cities and villages. Such are her messages about the belittlement of time, about people with dog heads, about scattering tares, about a fiery serpent... Ostrovsky did not portray an original, highly moral person, but a selfish, ignorant, deceitful nature that cares not about its soul, but about its stomach.

Exercise

Let's read the monologue of Kabanova and Feklushi at the beginning of Act III. (P.251).

Comment

Feklusha is readily accepted in Kalinov’s houses: her absurd stories are needed by the owners of the city, wanderers and pilgrims support the authority of their government. But she also disinterestedly spreads her “news” throughout the city: they will feed you here, give you something to drink here, give you gifts there...

The life of the city of Kalinov with its streets, alleys, high fences, gates with strong locks, wooden houses with patterned shutters, and townspeople was reproduced by A.N. Ostrovsky in great detail. Nature has fully “entered” the work, with the high Volga bank, expanses beyond the river, and a beautiful boulevard.

Ostrovsky so carefully recreated the scene of the play that we can very clearly imagine the city of Kalinov itself, as it is depicted in the play. It is significant that it is located on the banks of the Volga, from the high slope of which wide open spaces and boundless distances open up. These pictures of endless expanses, echoed in the song “Among the Flat Valley,” are of great importance for conveying the feeling of the immense possibilities of Russian life and, on the other hand, the constraint of life in a small merchant town. Volga impressions were widely and generously included in the fabric of Ostrovsky's play.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky showed a fictitious city, but it looks extremely authentic. The author saw with pain how politically, economically and culturally backward Russia was, how dark the country's population was, especially in the provinces.

It seems as if Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world by a tall fence and lives some kind of special, closed life. But is it really possible to say that this is a unique Russian town, that life is completely different in other places? No, this is a typical picture of Russian provincial reality.

Homework

1. Write a letter about the city of Kalinov on behalf of one of the characters in the play.
2. Select quotation material to characterize Dikiy and Kabanova.
3. What impression did the central figures of “The Thunderstorm” – Dikaya and Kabanov – make on you? What brings them together? Why do they manage to “tyrannize”? What is their power based on?

Literature

Based on materials from the Encyclopedia for Children. Literature Part I
Avanta+, M., 1999

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is rightfully considered a singer of the merchant milieu. 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.

“The Thunderstorm,” as Dobrolyubov described it, is the author’s “most decisive work,” 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 "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 distant spaces covered with villages and fields are visible. A blessed summer day beckons you to go outside, under the open sky...”, admire the local beauties, and 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 inhabitants 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,” however, they are trying to instill their rules in 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.

Alexander Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" was created by the playwright on the eve of the reform of 1861. The need for socio-social changes has already matured, there are debates, discussions, and movement of social thought. But there are places in Russia where time has stopped, society is passive, does not want change, is afraid of it.

This is the city of Kalinov, described by Ostrovsky in his play “The Thunderstorm”. This city did not really exist, it is the writer’s fiction, but thereby Ostrovsky shows that in Russia there are still many such places where stagnation and savagery reign. Despite all this, the city is located in a beautiful area, on the banks of the Volga. The surrounding nature simply screams that this place could be paradise! But the residents of this city do not have happiness, in the full sense of the word, and it is their own fault.

The inhabitants of Kalinov, for the most part, are people who do not want any changes and are illiterate. Some live reveling in the power that money gives them, others put up with their humiliating situation and do nothing to get out of this situation. Dobrolyubov called the Kalinovsky Society the Dark Kingdom.

The main negative characters of the play are Savel Prokofievich Dikoy and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova.

Wild merchant, an important person in the city. To describe him briefly, he is a tyrant and a miser. He simply does not consider everyone below him in position to be people. Dikoy can easily shortchange an employee, and he doesn’t want to give his nephew the inheritance left to him by his grandmother. At the same time, he is very proud of these qualities.

The rich merchant's wife Kabanikha is a real punishment for her family. From this domineering, grumpy person there is no peace for anyone in the house. She wants everyone to obey her unquestioningly and to live according to the laws of Domostroy. Kabanikha cripples the lives of her children and at the same time takes credit for such an existence.

The boar's son, the meek, cowardly Tikhon, is afraid to say an extra word against his domineering mother and cannot even protect his wife, whom the boar constantly reproaches and humiliates. But her daughter Varvara learned to lie and live a double life in order to get out of her mother’s influence, and she is quite happy with this state of affairs.

Boris, Dikiy's nephew, is completely dependent on his uncle, although he has received an education, he is not a stupid person, and does not make any moves to free himself from this dependence. With his lack of independence and indecision, he destroys the woman he loves.

The tradesman Kuligin, a self-taught inventor, is an intelligent man, aware of the depth of stagnation and savagery in society, but he, too, cannot do anything in this situation and escapes from reality, trying to accomplish the impossible, to invent a perpetual motion machine.

The person who can give at least some resistance to the rudeness and tyranny of the Dikiy is his employee Vanya Kudryash, a minor hero of the play, who, however, plays a significant role in the unfolding action.

The only pure and bright person in this city, Kabanikha’s daughter-in-law Katerina. She cannot live in this swamp, where there is no love, no normal human relationships, where lies and hypocrisy rule. She protests against this with her death; having decided to take this terrible step, she, at least for a moment, gains such a desired will.

Ostrovsky called his play “The Thunderstorm” for a reason, the name is meaningful. The impending changes in society, like thunderclouds, are gathering over the heads of the inhabitants of the “dark kingdom”. Katerina, in her confusion, thinks that the thunderstorm was sent to her as punishment for treason, but in fact, the thunderstorm must finally destroy this dominance of stagnation, slavery and evil.

Image of the city of Kalinov, life and customs of the monasteries

All events in a dramatic work called “The Thunderstorm,” written by Ostrovsky, take place on the territory of the city of Kalinov. The city is a district town and is located on one of the banks of the Volga. The author says that the area is distinguished by beautiful landscapes and is pleasing to the eye.

The tradesman Kulagin talks about the morals of the city residents, his opinion is that each of the residents has quite cruel morals, they are used to being rude and cruel, such problems were often caused by existing poverty.

The center of cruelty becomes two heroes - the merchant Dikoy and Kabanikha, who are shining representatives of ignorance and rudeness addressed to the people around them.

Dikoy, holding the position of a merchant, is a fairly rich man, stingy and has great influence in the city. But at the same time, he was used to holding power in his hands quite cruelly. He is sure that a thunderstorm is sent to people every time as a punishment for their wrong actions and therefore they must endure it, and not install lightning rods on their houses. Also from the story, the reader learns that Dikoy manages his household well and has a correct attitude towards financial matters, but this is all that limits his horizons. At the same time, it is worth noting his lack of education; he does not understand why electricity is needed and how it actually works.

Therefore, we can conclude that the majority of merchants and townsfolk living in the town are uneducated people, unable to accept new information and change their lives for the better. At the same time, books and newspapers are available to everyone, which they can read regularly and improve their inner intelligence.

Anyone who has a certain amount of wealth is not used to treating any officials or government officials with respect. They treat them with some disdain. And the mayor is treated like a neighbor and communicates with him in a friendly way.

The poor segments of the population are accustomed to sleeping no more than three hours a day; they work day and night. The rich try in every possible way to enslave the poor and get even more money through the work of others. That’s why Dikoy himself doesn’t pay anyone for their work, and everyone receives their salary only through a lot of abuse.

At the same time, scandals often occur in the city that do not lead to anything good. Kuligin tries to write poems himself, he is self-taught, but at the same time he is afraid to show his talent, because he is afraid that he will be swallowed up alive.

Life in the city is boring and monotonous; all residents are accustomed to listening to Feklusha more than reading newspapers and books. It is he who tells others that there are countries where there are people who have a dog's head on their shoulders.

In the evening, residents of the town do not go out for walks along the narrow streets; they try to lock the door with all the locks and stay inside the house. They also release dogs to protect them from possible robbery. They are very worried about their property, which they sometimes get through backbreaking labor. That's why they try to always be at home.

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The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants (based on the play “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky)

The action of the play begins with the remark: “A public garden on the high bank of the Volga; beyond the Volga there is a rural view.” Behind these lines lies the extraordinary beauty of the Volga expanses, which only Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic, notices: “... Miracles, truly it must be said that miracles! Curly! Here you are, my brother, for fifty years I’ve been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of it.” All other residents of the city of Kalinov do not pay attention to the beauty of nature, this is evidenced by Kudryash’s casual remark in response to Kuligin’s enthusiastic words: “Neshto!” And then, on the sidelines, Kuligin sees Diky, the “scolder,” waving his arms, scolding Boris, his nephew.

The landscape background of “Thunderstorms” allows you to more clearly feel the stuffy atmosphere of life in Kalinov residents. In the play, the playwright truthfully reflected social relations of the mid-19th century: he characterized the material and legal situation of the merchant-philistine environment, the level of cultural demands, family life, and outlined the position of women in the family. “The Thunderstorm”... presents us with the idyll of the “dark kingdom”... Residents... sometimes walk along the boulevard above the river..., in the evening they sit on the rubble at the gate and engage in pious conversations; but they spend more time at home, doing housework, eating, sleeping - they go to bed very early, so that it is difficult for an unaccustomed person to endure such a sleepy night as they set themselves... Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests the world does not disturb them because it does not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries can open up, the face of the earth can change as he pleases, the world can begin a new life on a new basis - the inhabitants of the town of Kalinov will continue to exist in complete ignorance of the rest of the world...

It is scary and difficult for every newcomer to try to go against the demands and beliefs of this dark mass, terrible in its naivety and sincerity. After all, she will curse us, will run around like people with the plague - not out of malice, not out of calculations, but out of a deep conviction that we are akin to the Antichrist... A wife, according to prevailing concepts, is connected with him (with her husband ) inseparably, spiritually, through the sacrament; no matter what her husband does, she must obey him and share his meaningless life with him... And in general opinion, the most important difference between a wife and a bast shoe is that she brings with her a whole burden of worries from which the husband does not care. can get rid of it, whereas the footwear gives only convenience, and if it is inconvenient, it can easily be thrown off... Being in such a position, a woman, of course, must forget that she is the same person, with the same right by you, like a man,” wrote N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” Continuing to reflect on the position of a woman, the critic says that she, having decided to “go to the end in her rebellion against the oppression and tyranny of her elders in the Russian family, must be filled with heroic self-sacrifice, must decide on everything and be ready for everything -va”, because “at the first attempt they will make her feel that she is nothing, that they can crush her”, “they will kill her, leave her to repent, on bread and water, deprive her of daylight, try all the home remedies good old times and will still lead to humility.”

Kuligin, one of the heroes of the drama, gives a characterization of the city of Kalinov: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and stark poverty. And never, sir, get out of this bark! Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor in order to make even more money from his free labors... And among themselves, sir, how they live! They undermine each other's trade, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other...” Kuligin also notes that there is no work for the philistines in the city: “The philistines must be given work. Otherwise, he has hands, but nothing to work with,” and dreams of inventing a “perpeta mobile” in order to use the money for the benefit of society.

The tyranny of the Wild and others like him is based on the material and moral dependence of other people. And even the mayor cannot call the Wild One to order, who “will not disrespect any of his men.” He has his own philosophy: “Is it worth it, your honor, for us to talk about such trifles! I have a lot of people every year; You understand: I won’t pay them a penny extra per person, but I make thousands out of this, so it’s good for me!” And the fact that these guys count every penny doesn’t bother him.

And what are Feklusha’s stories about overseas lands worth! (“They say that there are such countries, dear girl, where there are no Orthodox kings, and the Saltans rule the earth... And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads.” But what about distant countries! The narrow-mindedness of the wanderer’s views is especially clearly manifested in the story of the “vision” in Moscow, when Feklusha mistakes an ordinary chimney sweep for an unclean one who “spreads chaff on the roof, but the people invisibly pick it up during the day in their bustle.”

The rest of the city’s residents are a match for Feklusha, you just have to listen to the conversation of local residents in the gallery:

1st: And this, my brother, what is it?

2nd: And this is the Lithuanian ruin. Battle! Do you see? How ours fought with Lithuania.

1st: What is Lithuania?

2nd: So it is Lithuania.

1st: And they say, my brother, it fell on us from the sky.

2nd: I don’t know how to tell you. From the sky, from the sky.

It is not surprising that the Kalinovites perceive a thunderstorm as God’s punishment. Kuligin, understanding the physical nature of the thunderstorm, tries to secure the city by building a lightning rod, and asks Di-kogo for money for this purpose. Of course, he didn’t give anything, and even scolded the inventor: “What kind of elitism is that! Well, what kind of robber are you? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we can feel it, but you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of goads, God forgive me.” But Dikiy’s reaction does not surprise anyone: parting with ten rubles just like that, for the good of the city, is like death. The behavior of the townspeople, who did not even think of standing up for Kuligin, but only silently, from the sidelines, watched as Dikoy insulted the mechanic is appalling. It is on this indifference, irresponsibility, ignorance that the power of tyrants wavers.

The plot of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" takes place in the city of Kalinov off the banks of the Volga. Here the author reveals many characters with a wide variety of personalities. As events unfold, new sides of their personalities are revealed to us, most often not the most pleasant.

The central place in the work is given to the Kabanov family - the mother of the family Kabanikha, her son Tikhon, daughter Varvara, daughter-in-law Katerina. Relationships in the family are built in the most complex way, each member is focused only on himself and cannot find a common language with anyone else. A more detailed description should begin with the main character of the play - Katerina Kabanova.

The girl Katerina grew up in a loving family, and from childhood she was surrounded by the care and kindness of her parents. She often remembers that happy time and often talks about it. She prays a lot, as she is used to doing in her parents’ home, and as she sees fit. Having married Tikhon, she did not find the happiness and love she dreamed of. Tikhon's husband does not take her into account, does not protect her and does not show any kindness on his part. The boar constantly humiliates, clings to the poor girl, does not let her live. And yet, despite these sorrows, she still believes in goodness and remains just as pure and naive. This must have contributed to her falling in love with Dikiy’s visiting nephew.

Boris, just like Katerina, strives to be free from the shackles that society imposes. He does not accept the practices that are accepted in Kalinov, denies them with all his might and wants to remain untouched by the hypocrisy that lives in this city. But despite this, it turned out that Boris himself was not far from the local residents, since, as he himself admitted, he came only for his uncle’s inheritance. He falls in love with Katerina, but was not ready to do anything for love like she did. The inheritance of the merchant uncle still remained more significant for him. Boris leaves, and despite Katerina’s requests to take her with him, he leaves alone so as not to anger Dikiy.

Tikhon Kabanov himself, as a person, is of no interest. He is rather a shadow of his authoritarian mother, who suppressed all the masculinity in this puny man with her pressure. He is incapable of making independent decisions, does not show any emotions, is cold towards his wife and never protects her from Kabanikha’s attacks, showing cowardice that is unforgivable for a man. This is not because he is emotionless, but rather simply because he is stupid and spineless. As he himself admits, he is not smart, and therefore obeys his mother in everything. Because of his stupidity, Tikhon is not able to admit any guilt after the death of his wife - he blames his mother for everything.

A guy with a girl. Kabanikha is perhaps the main antagonist in this story - a rich merchant’s wife who is accustomed to the fact that all her orders and wishes are immediately carried out. She terrorizes her entire family, not giving them a free breath, especially strangling Katerina with her despotism. Kabanikha’s masculine character is not capable of making anyone happy, not even himself. Her callousness was the cause of many tragic events in the play.

Varvara Kabanova, the daughter of Kabanikha, showed herself to be a resourceful person. She learned to cope with her mother's oppression and adapt to all the tension and bad atmosphere that lingered in their home. She, if she wishes, goes on dates with Kudryash, who works for Dikiy, and eventually runs away with him. She arranged meetings for Katerina and Boris, guessing that Katerina was in love. Unlike honest Katerina, Varvara has long been accustomed to lying, hiding and constantly dodging, and therefore suffered the least loss in this story.

The rest of the characters in the play - Dikoy, Kudryash, and others - fully correspond to the picture presented by Ostrovsky. The city of Kalinov is a place where light and goodness do not coexist; on the contrary, they are crushed and trampled, as if completely unnecessary. Its inhabitants - one worth another - demonstrate an example of hopeless existence without purpose and values, bringing with it cold and gloominess, which fully justifies the title of the play - “The Thunderstorm”.