“The Thunderstorm,” as you know, presents us with an idyll of the “dark kingdom,” which little by little Ostrovsky illuminates for us with his talent. The people you see here live in blessed places: the city stands on the banks of the Volga, all in greenery; from the steep banks one can see distant spaces covered with villages and fields; A blessed summer day beckons you to the shore, to the air, under the open sky, under this breeze blowing refreshingly from the Volga. And the residents, indeed, sometimes walk along the boulevard above the river, although they have already taken a closer look at the beauty of the Volga views; 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. But what should they do but not sleep when they are full?
Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests of the world disturb them, because they do not reach them; kingdoms may collapse, new countries may open up, the face of the earth may change as it pleases, the world may begin new life on a new basis - the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov will continue to exist in complete ignorance of the rest of the world.
From a young age they still show some curiosity, but they have nowhere to get food from: information comes to them only from wanderers, and even those nowadays are few and far between, the real ones; one has to be content with those who “themselves, due to their weakness, did not walk far, but heard a lot,” like Feklusha in “The Thunderstorm.” It is only from them that the residents of Kalinov learn about what is happening in the world; otherwise they would think that the whole world is the same as their Kalinov, and that it is absolutely impossible to live differently than them. But the information provided by the Feklushis is such that it is not capable of inspiring a great desire to exchange their life for another.
Feklusha belongs to a patriotic and highly conservative party; she feels good among the pious and naive Kalinovites: she is revered, treated, and provided with everything she needs; she can very seriously assert that her very sins occur because she is superior to other mortals: “ ordinary people“,” he says, “everyone is confused by one enemy, but for us, strange people, some have six, some have twelve assigned to them, so we need to overcome them all.” And they believe her. It is clear that a simple instinct of self-preservation should force her to say good words about what is happening in other lands.
And this is not at all because these people are more stupid and stupid than many others whom we meet in academies and learned societies. No, the whole point is that by their position, by their life under the yoke of arbitrariness, they are all accustomed to seeing unaccountability and meaninglessness and therefore find it awkward and even daring to persistently seek rational grounds in anything. Ask a question - there will be more to answer; but if the answer is that “the cannon is on its own, and the mortar is on its own,” then they no longer dare to torture further and humbly content themselves with this explanation. The secret of such indifference to logic lies primarily in the absence of any logic in life relationships.
The key to this secret is given to us, for example, by the following replica of the Wild One in “The Thunderstorm”. Kuligin, in response to his rudeness, says: “Why, sir Savel Prokofich, would you like to offend an honest man?” Dikoy answers this: “I’ll give you a report, or something!” I don’t give an account to anyone more important than you. I want to think about you like that, and I do! For others you are an honest person, but I think you are a robber - that’s all. Did you want to hear this from me? So listen! I say I’m a robber, and that’s the end of it. So, are you going to sue me or something? So you know that you are a worm. If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush.”
What theoretical reasoning can survive where life is based on such principles! The absence of any law, any logic - this is the law and logic of this life. This is not anarchy, but something much worse (although the imagination of an educated European cannot imagine anything worse than anarchy).
The situation of a society subject to such anarchy (if such anarchy is possible) is truly terrible.
In fact, no matter what you say, a person alone, left to himself, will not fool around much in society and will very soon feel the need to agree and come to terms with others for the common good. But a person will never feel this necessity if he finds in many others like himself a vast field for exercising his whims and if in their dependent, humiliated position he sees constant reinforcement of his tyranny.
But - a wonderful thing! - in their indisputable, irresponsible dark dominion, giving complete freedom to their whims, putting all laws and logic into nothing, the tyrants of Russian life begin, however, to feel some kind of discontent and fear, without knowing what and why. Everything seems to be the same, everything is fine: Dikoy scolds whoever he wants; when they say to him: “How is it that no one in the whole house can please you!” - he replies smugly: “Here you go!” Kabanova still keeps her children in fear, forces her daughter-in-law to observe all the etiquettes of antiquity, eats her like rusty iron, considers herself completely infallible and is pleased with various Feklush.
But everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants. They are fiercely looking for their enemy, ready to attack the most innocent, some Kuligin; but there is neither an enemy nor a culprit whom they could destroy: 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 higher than them, which they cannot overcome, which they cannot even approach know how.
They do not want to give in (and no one has yet demanded concessions from them), but they shrink and shrink; Previously, they wanted to establish their system of life, forever indestructible, and now they are also trying to preach; but hope is already betraying them, and they, in essence, are only concerned about how things would turn out in their lifetime... Kabanova talks about how “the last times are coming,” and when Feklusha tells her about various horrors of the present time - about the railways etc., - she prophetically remarks: “And it will be worse, dear.” “We just wouldn’t live to see this,” Feklusha answers with a sigh. “Maybe we’ll live,” Kabanova says again fatalistically, revealing her doubts and uncertainty. Why is she worried? People by railways she drives, but what does that matter to her?
But you see: she, “even if you shower her with gold,” will not go according to the devil’s invention; and people travel more and more, not paying attention to her curses; Isn’t this sad, isn’t it evidence of her powerlessness? People learned about electricity - it seems that there is something offensive here for the Wild and Kabanovs? But, you see, Dikoy says that “a thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel,” but Kuligin does not feel or feels something completely wrong, and talks about electricity. Isn’t this self-will, not a disregard for the power and importance of the Wild One?
They don’t want to believe what he believes, which means they don’t believe him either, they consider themselves smarter than him; Think about what this will lead to? No wonder Kabanova remarks about Kuligin: “The times have come, what teachers have appeared! If the old man thinks like this, what can we demand from the young!” And Kabanova is very seriously upset about the future of the old order, with which she has outlived the century. She foresees their end, tries to maintain their significance, but already feels that there is no former respect for them, that they are being preserved reluctantly, only unwillingly, and that at the first opportunity they will be abandoned. She herself had somehow lost some of her knightly fervor; She no longer cares with the same energy about observing old customs; in many cases she has already given up, bowed down before the impossibility of stopping the flow and only watches with despair as it little by little floods the colorful flower beds of her whimsical superstitions.
That's why, of course, appearance everything over which their influence extends more retains the antiquities and seems more motionless than where people, having abandoned tyranny, are trying only to preserve the essence of their interests and meaning; but in fact, the internal significance of tyrants is much closer to its end than the influence of people who know how to support themselves and their principle with external concessions. That is why Kabanova is so sad, and that is why Dikoy is so furious: until the last moment they did not want to tame their broad ambitions and are now in the position of a rich merchant on the eve of bankruptcy.

Essay on literature on the topic: Masters and victims of the “dark kingdom”

Other writings:

1. In the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom”, under the yoke of tyrant power, living human feelings fade and wither, the will weakens, the mind fades. If a person is endowed with energy and a thirst for life, then, adapting to the circumstances, he begins to lie, cheat, and dodge. Under the pressure of this dark force, characters develop Read More......
2. The writer Yuryev noted: Ostrovsky did not write “The Thunderstorm,” Volga wrote “The Thunderstorm.” The play takes place in the city of Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga River. This is a fictional provincial town where cruel morals. And this seems very strange, since the picturesque nature of this cozy Read More......
3. In Ostrovsky's drama “The Thunderstorm”, problems of morality are widely raised. Using the example of the provincial town of Kalinov, the playwright showed the truly cruel customs reigning there. Ostrovsky depicted the cruelty of people living in the old fashioned way, according to “Domostroy,” and a new generation of youth rejecting these foundations. The characters in the drama are divided into Read More......
4. A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” was written in 1859. In the same year, it was staged in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg and for many years now has not left the stages of all theaters around the world. During this time, the play has undergone many Read More......
5. Reading Ostrovsky's works, we involuntarily find ourselves in the atmosphere that reigns in a given society, and become direct participants in the events that take place on stage. We merge with the crowd and, as if from the outside, observe the lives of the heroes. So, once in Read More......
6. A. N. Ostrovsky is considered an innovator of Russian drama. Perhaps he is the first to show the world of the “dark kingdom” in his works. In his essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident,” the writer seemed to “discover” a country “until now not known in detail by any of the travelers Read More ......
7. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” is the most significant work of the famous playwright. It was written in 1860 during a period of social upsurge, when the foundations of serfdom were cracking, and a thunderstorm was brewing in the stuffy atmosphere of reality. Ostrovsky's play takes us into the merchant environment, where Domostroev's orders Read More ......
8. The basis of the conflict in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the confrontation between the dark and ignorant merchant environment and a bright personality. As a result, the “dark kingdom” of the city of Kalinov wins, which, as the playwright shows, is very strong and has enormous influence. What is this “dark Read More......

If Dikoy and Kabanikha can be called tyrants, then Tikhon Kabanov, rightly, is called a downtrodden and humiliated person.
He has no will of his own and no thought of his own. “How can I, Mama, disobey you!” “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will!” - this is the only kind of speech that his mother hears from him. She, of course, approves of him for this; but, as usually happens with this kind of people, she herself does not respect him. She calls him a fool; She contemptuously says to him: “Why are you pretending to be an orphan! Why are you being so naughty? Well, what kind of husband are you? Look at yourself!”

And his sister Varvara does not respect him. Tikhon is a kind man and not essentially bad: he loves, in his own way, his wife, he believes her; he doesn’t want his wife to be afraid of him. But there is not enough love in his soul to protect the poor woman from insults, and he himself insults her on his mother’s orders. His own will and the opportunity to roam freely, without supervision, are most valuable to him. He reproaches his wife for the fact that his mother sharpened him with reproaches; He openly tells Katerina that he is glad to get out of the house, that he and his mother “drove” him. He himself, stupidly and blindly, destroys his wife, himself, and the possibility of his happiness. Katerina, afraid of her impulses, asks him to take her with him, but refuses. “Have you really stopped loving me?” asks the poor woman.
“Yes, I haven’t stopped loving you,” he answers, “but with this kind of bondage you can run away from whatever beautiful wife you want!” Just think: no matter what I am, I am still a man; Living like this all your life, as you see, will run away from your wife. But as I know now that there won’t be any thunderstorms over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?”
“How can I love you when you say such words?” Katerina exclaims mournfully.

Tikhon has a heart; when Katerina begins to repent in front of her mother-in-law and tells her about her misdeed, he tries to stop her in order to hide the matter from her merciless mother. He then sympathizes with his wife’s torment... But he still does what his mother orders: he beats Katerina at her command. Having no thoughts of his own, he, drunk out of grief, deliberately prepares himself for hostile feelings, in accordance with his mother’s views. The man of conscience and feelings defeats his blindly submissive son only when Katerina committed suicide. “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you...” But this is a late protest and unnecessary; Yes, it’s hardly durable. Maybe Kabanikha is right when she says confidently in response to him: “Well, I’ll talk to you at home!”
This is one element of life depicted in “The Thunderstorm” - the element of tyrant oppression of the strong over the weak, humiliating and shameful belittlement of the weak.

In the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom”, under the yoke of tyrant power, living human feelings fade and wither, the will weakens, the mind fades. If a person is endowed with energy and a thirst for life, then, adapting to the circumstances, he begins to lie, cheat, and dodge.

Under the pressure of this dark force, the characters of Tikhon and Varvara develop. And this power disfigures them - each in its own way.

Tikhon is depressed, pitiful, impersonal. But even Kabanikha’s oppression did not completely kill the living feelings in him. Somewhere in the depths of his timid soul there glimmers a flame - love for his wife. He does not dare to show this love, he does not understand the complex spiritual life of Katerina and is glad to leave even her, just to escape from his home hell. But the fire in his soul does not go out. Confused and depressed, Tikhon shows love and pity for his wife who cheated on him. “And I love her, I feel sorry for laying a finger on her...” he confesses to Kuligin.

His will is paralyzed, and he does not even dare to help his unfortunate Katya. However, in the last scene, love for his wife overcomes fear of his mother, and a man awakens in Tikhon. Over Katerina’s corpse, for the first time in his life, he turns to his mother with accusations. Here before us is a man in whom, under the influence of terrible misfortune, the will has awakened. Curses sound all the more menacing because they come from the most downtrodden, most timid and weak person. This means that the foundations of the “dark kingdom” are really crumbling and Kabanikha’s power is wavering, if even Tikhon spoke like that.

Traits different from those in Tikhon are embodied in the image of Varvara. She does not want to endure the power of tyrant force, she does not want to live in captivity. But she chooses the path of deception, cunning, dodging, and this becomes habitual for her - she does it easily, cheerfully, without feeling any remorse. Varvara claims that it is impossible to live without lies: their whole house rests on deception. “And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.” Her everyday philosophy is very simple: “Do whatever you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.” However, Varvara was cunning while she could, and when they began to lock her up, she ran away from home. And again the old Testament ideals of Kabanikha are crumbling. The daughter “disgraced” her house and broke free from her power.

The weakest and most pitiful of all is Dikiy’s nephew, Boris Grigorievich. He speaks about himself: “I’m walking around completely dead... Driven, downtrodden...” This is a kind, cultured person who stands out against the backdrop of the merchant environment. However, he is not able to protect either himself or the woman he loves; in misfortune, he only rushes about and cries and is unable to respond to abuse.

In the scene of his last date with Katerina, Boris evokes contempt in us. Like Kudryash, he is afraid to run away with the woman he loves. He is afraid to even talk to Katerina (“They wouldn’t find us here”). This is exactly the case, according to the proverb, from weakness to meanness there is only one step. Boris’s powerless curses sound submissively and cowardly: “Oh, if only these people knew what it’s like for me to say goodbye to you! My God! May God grant that they may someday feel as sweet as I do now. Goodbye, Katya!.. You are villains. Monsters! Oh, if only there was strength!

He does not have this power... However, in the general chorus of protesting voices, even this powerless protest is significant.

Among the characters in the play, contrasted with the Wild and Kabanikha, Kuligin judges the “dark kingdom” most clearly and sensibly. This self-taught mechanic has a bright mind and a broad soul, like many talented people from the people. It is no coincidence that Kuligin’s surname itself resembles the surname of the remarkable self-taught inventor from Nizhny Novgorod Kulibin.

Kuligin condemns the possessive instincts of the merchants, cruelty towards people, ignorance, and indifference to everything truly beautiful. Kuligin's opposition to the “dark kingdom” is especially expressive in the scene of his confrontation with Dikiy.

When asking for money for a sundial, Kuligin is not concerned about himself, he is interested in “the benefits for all ordinary people in general.” But Dikoy won’t even understand what we’re talking about, the very concept of public interests is so alien to him. The interlocutors seem to speak different languages. Dikoy often simply does not understand Kuligin’s words, especially when he quotes his favorite poets of the 18th century. Dikoy reacts to Kuligin’s respectful remarks, decorated with quotes, in a very unique way: “Don’t you dare be rude to me!” - and scares Kuligin with the mayor.

Kuligin is an extraordinary person. But it was not he who was called by Dobrolyubov “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” Why? Yes, because Kuligin is powerless, weak in his protest. Just like Tikhon, like Boris, Kuligin is afraid of tyrant power and bows before it. “There is nothing to do, we must submit!” - he says humbly. Kuligin teaches others to be obedient. So, he advises Kudryash: “It’s better to endure it.” He recommends the same to Boris: “What should we do, sir? We must try to please somehow.”

Only in the fifth act, shocked by the death of Katerina, Kuligin rises to open protest. A harsh accusation is heard in his last words: “Here is your Katerina. Do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; but her soul is now not yours: she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” With these words, Kuligin not only justifies Katerina’s suicide, which freed her from oppression, but also blames the merciless judges for her death, who killed their victim.

All essays on literature for grade 10 Team of authors

1. “The Dark Kingdom” and its victims (based on the play “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky)

“The Thunderstorm” was published in 1859 (on the eve of the revolutionary situation in Russia, in the “pre-storm” era). Its historicism lies in the conflict itself, the irreconcilable contradictions reflected in the play. It responds to the spirit of the times.

"The Thunderstorm" represents the idyll of the "dark kingdom". Tyranny and silence are brought to the extreme in her. A real heroine from the people’s environment appears in the play, and it is the description of her character that receives the main attention, while the little world of the city of Kalinov and the conflict itself are described in a more general way.

“Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests of the world disturb them, because they do not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries open up, the face of the earth change... - the inhabitants of the town of Kalinov will continue to exist in complete ignorance of the rest of the world... The concepts and way of life they accept are the best in the world, everything new comes from evil spirits... they find it awkward and even the daring ones should persistently seek reasonable grounds... The information reported by the Feklushis is such that it is not capable of inspiring a great desire to exchange one’s life for another... A dark mass, terrible in its naivety and sincerity.” .

It is scary and difficult for everyone to try to go against the demands and beliefs of this dark mass. The absence of any law, any logic - this is the law and logic of this life. In their indisputable, irresponsible dark dominion, giving complete freedom to whims, not putting any laws and logic into anything, the “tyrants” of life begin to feel some kind of discontent and fear, without knowing what and why. They are fiercely looking for their enemy, ready to attack the most innocent, some Kuligin: but there is neither an enemy nor a culprit whom they could destroy: the law of time, the law of nature and history takes its toll, and the old Kabanovs are breathing heavily, feeling that there is a power above them that they cannot overcome... They do not want to give in, they are only concerned about how things will turn out in their lifetime...

Kabanova is very seriously upset about the future of the old order, with which she has outlived the century, speaking about the collapse of the established world: “And it will be worse than this, dear,” and in response to the words of the wanderer: “We just wouldn’t live to see this.” Kabanikha says gravely: “Maybe we’ll live.” She is only consoled by the fact that somehow, with her help, the old order will survive until her death.

The Kabanovs and the wild ones are now busy only trying to continue what they were doing. They know that their willfulness will still have plenty of scope as long as everyone is timid in front of them; that's why they are so persistent.

The image of Katerina is the most important discovery of Ostrovsky - the discovery of the born patriarchal world strong folk character with an awakening sense of personality. The relationship between Katerina and Kabanikha in the play is not an everyday feud between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, their destinies expressed the clash of two historical eras, which determines the tragic nature of the conflict. In the soul of a woman who is quite “Kalinovsky” in terms of upbringing and moral ideas, a new attitude to the world is born, a feeling that is not yet clear to the heroine herself: “Something bad is happening to me, some kind of miracle! I’m sure I’m starting to live again, or I don’t know.” Katerina perceives awakened love as a terrible, indelible sin, because love for a stranger for her, a married woman, is a violation of moral duty. She wants with all her soul to be pure and impeccable; her moral demands on herself do not allow compromise. Having already realized her love for Boris, she resists it with all her might, but finds no support in this struggle: “It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss and someone is pushing me there, but I have nothing to hold on to.” Not only the external forms of household chores, but even prayer becomes inaccessible to her, since she felt the power of sinful passion over her. She feels fear of herself, of the desire for will that has grown in her, inseparably merging in her mind with love: “Of course, God forbid this to happen! And if I get really 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!”

The consciousness of sin does not leave her at the moment of intoxication with happiness and takes possession of her with enormous power when the happiness ends. Katerina publicly repents without hope of forgiveness, and it is the complete lack of hope that pushes her to commit suicide, an even more serious sin: “I’ve already ruined my soul anyway.” The complete impossibility of reconciling her love with the demands of her conscience and physical disgust for the home prison and captivity kill Katerina.

Katerina is a victim not of anyone personally around her, but of the course of life. World patriarchal relations dies, and the soul of this world leaves life in torment and suffering, crushed by the form of everyday connections, and passes a moral verdict on itself, because the patriarchal ideal lives in it.