Characteristics of the voice from the play Thunderstorm briefly. Characteristics of the characters in the play "Thunderstorm. The attitude of the children of Kabanikh to the patriarchal world

Feklusha tells the inhabitants of the city about other countries. They listen to her, focus their attention only on this. At the same time, she imperceptibly tells the truth about people. But they don't hear it because they don't want to hear it. Feklusha praises the city of Kalinov, the quiet life in it. People are happy that their city is so magnificent, they don’t need anything else. The secondary characters in the play not only form the backdrop against which Katerina's personal drama unfolds, main character works. They show us different types of people's attitudes towards their lack of freedom. The system of images in the play is such that all minor characters form conditional pairs, and only Katerina is alone in her true desire to escape from the yoke of "tyrants".

Dikoy and Kabanova are people who keep in constant fear those who are somehow dependent on them. Dobrolyubov very aptly called them "tyrants", since the main law for everyone is their will. It is no coincidence that they treat each other very respectfully: they are the same, only the sphere of influence is different. Wild manages in the city, Kabanikha - in his family.

Katerina's constant companion is Varvara, the sister of her husband Tikhon. She is the main opponent of the heroine. Her main rule: "Do whatever you want, if only everything was sewn and covered." Barbara will not be denied intelligence and cunning; before marriage, she wants to be in time everywhere, to try everything, because she knows that “girls walk around as they want, father and mother don’t care. Only women are locked up.” Varvara perfectly understands the essence of relations between people in their house, but does not consider it necessary to fight mother's "storm". Lying is the norm for her. In a conversation with Katerina, she directly speaks about this: “Well, you can’t do without it ... Our whole house rests on this. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary. Barbara adapted to the dark kingdom, learned its laws and rules. It feels power, strength, desire to deceive. She, in fact, is the future Boar, because an apple does not fall far from an apple tree.

Varvara's friend, Ivan Kudryash, is a match for her. He is the only one in the city of Kalinov who can answer Wild. “I am considered a rude; why is he holding me? So, he needs me. Well, that means I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me ... ”says Kudryash. In conversation, he behaves cheekily, smartly, boldly, boasts of his prowess, red tape, knowledge of the "merchant establishment". He, too, adapted to the tyranny of the Wild. Moreover, one can even assume that Curly could have turned into a second Wild.

At the end of the play, Varvara and Kudryash leave the "dark kingdom", but does this escape mean that they have completely freed themselves from old traditions and laws and will become the source of new laws of life and honest rules? Hardly. They are likely to try to become masters of life themselves.

The couple is also made up of two men with whom the fate of Katerina was connected. They can be safely called the true victims of the "dark kingdom". So the husband of Katerina Tikhon is a weak-willed, spineless creature. He obeys his mother in everything and obeys her. He does not have a clear life position, courage, boldness. His image fully corresponds to the name given to him - Tikhon (quiet). Young Kabanov not only does not respect himself, but also allows his mother to treat his wife shamelessly. This is especially evident in the scene of farewell, before leaving for the fair. Tikhon repeats word for word all the instructions and moralizing of his mother. Kabanov could not resist his mother in anything, he only sought consolation in wine and on those short trips when, at least for a while, he could escape from the yoke of his mother.

Of course, Katerina cannot love and respect such a husband, but her soul yearns for love. She falls in love with Diky's nephew, Boris. But Katerina fell in love with him, in the apt expression of A. N. Dobrolyubova, “on the desert”, because in essence Boris is not much different from Tikhon. Is that more educated, yes, like Katerina, he did not spend his whole life in Kalinovo. Boris's lack of will, his desire to receive his part of his grandmother's inheritance (and he will receive it only if he is respectful with his uncle) turned out to be stronger than love. Katerina bitterly says that Boris, unlike her, is free. But his freedom - except in the absence of his wife.

Kuligin and Feklusha also form a couple, but here it is already appropriate to talk about antithesis. The wanderer Feklusha can be called the "ideologist" of the "dark kingdom". With her stories about the lands where people with dog heads live, about the thunderstorm, which are perceived as irrefutable information about the world, she helps the "tyrants" to keep people in constant fear. Kalinov, for her, is the land blessed by God. The self-taught mechanic Kuligin, who is looking for a perpetual motion machine, is the exact opposite of Feklusha. He is active, obsessed with a constant desire to do something useful for people. A condemnation of the “dark kingdom” was put into his mouth: “Cruel, sir, morals in our city, cruel ... Whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor, so that for his labors gratuitous more more money to make money...” But all his good intentions run into a thick wall of misunderstanding, indifference, ignorance. So, on an attempt to put steel lightning rods on the houses, he receives a fierce rebuff from Diky: “The storm is sent to us as a punishment, so that we feel, but you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of horns, God forgive me.”

Kuligin, perhaps, is the only one who understands the main character, it is no coincidence that it is he who pronounces accusatory words at the end of the play, holding the body of the dead Katerina in his arms. But he is also incapable of fighting, as he also adapted to the "dark kingdom", resigned himself to such a life.

And finally, the last character is a half-mad lady, who at the very beginning of the play predicts the death of Katerina. She becomes the personification of those ideas about sin that live in the soul of the religious Katerina, brought up in a patriarchal family. True, in the finale of the play, Katerina manages to overcome her fear, for she understands that all her life to lie and humble herself is a greater sin than suicide.
Secondary characters, as already mentioned, are the background against which the tragedy of a desperate woman unfolds. Each character in the play, each image is a detail that allows the author to convey as accurately as possible the atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" and the unpreparedness of most people to fight.

Events in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" unfold on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. Listed in the work actors and their brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not so many main characters in Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm.

Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in Thunderstorm. Indeed, outwardly, the strength of Katya's character is not manifested. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems that she is easily broken. But that's not the case at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikh's attacks. It opposes, and does not ignore them, like Barbara. Conflict brings more internal character. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya can influence her son, after which Tikhon will no longer obey the will of his mother.

Katya wants to fly, often compares herself to a bird. She literally suffocates in the "dark kingdom" of Kalinov. Falling in love with a visitor young man, Katya created for herself perfect image love and eventual liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Ostrovsky in "Thunderstorm" makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is opposed to the image of Marfa Ignatievna. A woman who keeps the whole family in fear and tension does not command respect. The boar is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took over the “reins of government” after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that in marriage, Kabanikha was not distinguished by humility. Most of all, Katya, her daughter-in-law, got it from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikhi. Despite the fact that she has learned resourcefulness and lies over the years, the reader still sympathizes with her. barbarian good girl. Surprisingly, deceit and cunning do not make her like the rest of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Barbara is not afraid of her mother's wrath, because she is not an authority for her.

Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, inconspicuous. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikh. His rebellion ends up being the most significant. After all, it is the words, and not Varvara's escape, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about his customs, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His estimates of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself good person who is accustomed to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of a perpetual mobile, of a lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams were not destined to come true.

Diky has a clerk, Curly. This character is interesting because he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks about him. At the same time, Curly, just like Wild, tries to find a benefit in everything. He can be described as a simple person.

Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to improve relations with Diky, because only in this case will he be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya, honest and fair. In the last scenes, this is refuted: Boris is not able to take a serious step, take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.

One of the heroes of the "Thunderstorm" is a wanderer and a servant. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and ignorance is truly amazing. Their judgments are absurd, and their outlook is very narrow. Women judge morality and morality by some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now a place of amusement and games, but there is an Indo roar in the streets, a groan stands. Why, mother Marfa Ignatievna, they began to harness the fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed ”- this is how Feklusha speaks of progress and reforms, and the woman calls the car a “fire serpent”. Such people are alien to the concept of progress and culture, because it is convenient for them to live in a fictional limited world of calm and regularity.

This article is given a brief description of heroes of the play "Thunderstorm", for a deeper understanding, we recommend that you read the thematic articles about each character of the "Thunderstorm" on our website.

Artwork test

Who is Feklusha in the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky? At first glance, he is a completely inconspicuous character who does not directly or indirectly affect the plot. Then the question arises why introduce such a character at all. In fact, this character has its own, very significant, function. The characterization of Feklusha in the play "Thunderstorm" can be started with the word "wanderer".

In general, the motives of wandering are quite strong in Russian literature and culture. The images of wanderers are found in Pushkin, and in Dostoevsky, and in Gorky. It cannot be denied that the image of wanderers is associated with folklore tradition. In fairy tales, you can find many examples of characters who traveled the world, "wandered". Wanderers were a symbol and bearer of worldly wisdom, some higher truth, such as Luka in Gorky's play "At the Bottom" or the old wanderers from epics about Ilya Muromets. In Ostrovsky's works, the pole of perception changes. The role of Feklusha in the play "Thunderstorm" is different. There is no description of Feklusha in the text. But her appearance is easy to imagine. Wanderers are usually middle-aged or a little older. Often, for lack of other clothing, they were forced to dress in rags.

The name of the character is indicative - Feklusha. Despite the fact that Feklusha is about the same age as Marfa Ignatievna, if not more. With the childish form of the name, the author wants to emphasize not at all the childish immediacy of perception, but, again, as in the case of Tikhon, the infantilism inherent in these characters. This woman has remained at the level of development at which there are small children. But only this feature is rather negative. Ostrovsky introduces this character into the comedy immediately after Kuligin's monologue about " cruel morals”And the hypocrisy of Kabanikh and before the appearance of Marfa Ignatievna.

“Bla-alepie, honey, blah-alepie! Beauty is wondrous! What can I say! Live in the promised land! And the merchants are all a pious people, adorned with many virtues, ”Feklusha says these words to another woman. Her words are sweet and deceitful. She shamelessly lies, supporting the myth of the power of the merchants and the correctness of their way of life. Thanks to this character, one can see how deeply false principles are rooted in the minds of people. What Feklusha says cannot be called adequate.

The episode of the conversation with Glasha, the yard girl of the Kabanovs' house, is noteworthy. The wanderer talks about the unrighteousness of life. She judges narrowly, limitedly. From her point of view, other religions and beliefs are not correct, because they are unrighteous: “they say there are such countries, dear girl, where there are no Orthodox kings, and the saltans rule the earth. In one land, the Turkish Saltan Mahnut sits on the throne, and in the other, the Persian Saltan Mahnut; and they do justice, dear girl, over all people, and whatever they judge, everything is wrong. And they, my dear, cannot judge a single case righteously, such is the limit set for them. We have a righteous law, but they, dear, have an unrighteous one.

Her words about the Moscow bustle and fiery machines not only look like illogical nonsense, but also illustrate the ignorance, "darkness" of such people. Progress and enlightenment for such as Feklusha will forever remain a sinful darkness. By the way, in the image of Feklusha, the author shows hypocrisy in relation to religion. The fact is that it has long been believed that helping strangers is righteous. Here, people who have mutilated knowledge and understanding of Christianity help and believe a wanderer with exactly the same judgments.

The speech characteristic of Feklusha in The Thunderstorm is also important. Her remarks are overflowing with appeals "sweetheart", "sir", "dear girl", "your grace". On the one hand, this gives her speech a hypnotic melodiousness, on the other hand, it proves the creeping nature of Feklusha.

The Thunderstorm by A. N. Ostrovsky made a strong and deep impression on his contemporaries. Many critics were inspired by this work. However, in our time it has not ceased to be interesting and topical. Raised to the category of classical drama, it still arouses interest.

The arbitrariness of the "older" generation lasts for many years, but some event must occur that could break the patriarchal tyranny. Such an event is the protest and death of Katerina, which awakened other representatives of the younger generation.

Let us consider in more detail the characteristics of the main acting heroes.

The play "Thunderstorm" by a famous Russian writer XIX century by Alexander Ostrovsky, was written in 1859 in the wake of a public upsurge on the eve of social reforms. She became one of the best works the author, opening the eyes of the whole world to the mores and moral values ​​of the then merchant class. It was first published in the Library for Reading magazine in 1860 and, due to the novelty of its subject matter (descriptions of the struggle of new progressive ideas and aspirations with old, conservative foundations), immediately after publication caused a wide public outcry. She became the subject for writing a large number of critical articles of that time (“Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” by Dobrolyubov, “Motives of Russian Drama” by Pisarev, criticism by Apollon Grigoriev).

History of writing

Inspired by the beauty of the Volga region and its vast expanses during a trip with his family to Kostroma in 1848, Ostrovsky began writing the play in July 1859, after three months he finished it and sent it to the court of St. Petersburg censorship.

Having worked for several years in the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court, he knew well what the merchants were like in Zamoskvorechye (the historical district of the capital, on the right bank of the Moscow River), more than once, on duty, faced with what was happening behind the high fences of the merchant choir , namely with cruelty, tyranny, ignorance and various superstitions, illegal transactions and scams, tears and suffering of others. The basis for the plot of the play was tragic fate daughter-in-law in the wealthy merchant family of Klykovs, which happened in reality: a young woman rushed into the Volga and drowned, unable to withstand the harassment from the imperious mother-in-law, tired of her husband’s spinelessness and secret passion for the postal clerk. Many believed that it was stories from the life of the Kostroma merchants that became the prototype for the plot of the play written by Ostrovsky.

In November 1859, the play was played on the stage of the Maly academic theater in Moscow, in December of the same year in Alexandrinsky drama theater In Petersburg.

Analysis of the work

Story line

At the center of the events described in the play is the wealthy merchant family of the Kabanovs, who live in the fictional Volga city of Kalinovo, a kind of peculiar and closed little world, symbolizing the general structure of the entire patriarchal Russian state. The Kabanov family consists of a domineering and cruel woman-tyrant, and in fact the head of the family, a wealthy merchant and widow Marfa Ignatievna, her son, Tikhon Ivanovich, weak-willed and spineless against the backdrop of the heavy temper of his mother, the daughter of Varvara, who learned by deceit and cunning to resist the despotism of her mother , as well as daughter-in-law Katerina. A young woman, who grew up in a family where she was loved and pitied, suffers in the house of an unloved husband from his lack of will and the claims of her mother-in-law, in fact, having lost her will and becoming a victim of the cruelty and tyranny of the Kabanikh, left to the mercy of fate by a rag-husband.

From hopelessness and despair, Katerina seeks solace in love for Boris Diky, who also loves her, but is afraid to disobey her uncle, the wealthy merchant Savel Prokofich Diky, because the financial situation of him and his sister depends on him. Secretly, he meets with Katerina, but at the last moment he betrays her and runs away, then, at the direction of his uncle, he leaves for Siberia.

Katerina, being brought up in obedience and submission to her husband, tormented by her own sin, confesses everything to her husband in the presence of his mother. She makes the life of her daughter-in-law completely unbearable, and Katerina, suffering from unhappy love, reproaches of conscience and cruel persecution of the tyrant and despot Kabanikhi, decides to end her torment, the only way in which she sees salvation is suicide. She throws herself off a cliff into the Volga and dies tragically.

Main characters

All the characters in the play are divided into two opposing camps, some (Kabanikha, her son and daughter, the merchant Dikoy and his nephew Boris, the maids Feklusha and Glasha) are representatives of the old, patriarchal way of life, others (Katerina, self-taught mechanic Kuligin) are new, progressive.

A young woman, Katerina, the wife of Tikhon Kabanov, is the central character of the play. She was brought up in strict patriarchal rules, in accordance with the laws of the ancient Russian Domostroy: a wife must obey her husband in everything, respect him, fulfill all his requirements. At first, Katerina tried with all her might to love her husband, to become a submissive and good wife for him, but due to his complete spinelessness and weakness of character, she can only feel pity for him.

Outwardly, she looks weak and silent, but in the depths of her soul there is enough willpower and perseverance to resist the tyranny of her mother-in-law, who is afraid that her daughter-in-law can change her son Tikhon and he will no longer obey the will of his mother. Katerina is cramped and stuffy in the dark realm of life in Kalinovo, she literally suffocates there and in her dreams she flies away like a bird away from this terrible place for her.

Boris

Having fallen in love with a visiting young man Boris, the nephew of a wealthy merchant and businessman, she creates in her head the image of an ideal lover and a real man, which is completely untrue, breaks her heart and leads to a tragic ending.

In the play, Katerina's character is opposed not to a specific person, her mother-in-law, but to the entire existing patriarchal way of life at that time.

Boar

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha), like the tyrant merchant Dikoi, who tortures and insults his relatives, does not pay wages and deceives his workers, are vivid representatives of the old, petty-bourgeois way of life. They are distinguished by stupidity and ignorance, unjustified cruelty, rudeness and rudeness, complete rejection of any progressive changes in the ossified patriarchal way of life.

Tikhon

(Tikhon, in the illustration near the Kabanikhi - Marfa Ignatievna)

Tikhon Kabanov throughout the play is characterized as a quiet and weak-willed person, who is under the complete influence of a despotic mother. Distinguished by his gentle nature, he makes no attempt to protect his wife from the attacks of his mother.

At the end of the play, he finally breaks down and the author shows his rebellion against tyranny and despotism, it is his phrase at the end of the play that leads readers to a certain conclusion about the depth and tragedy of the current situation.

Features of compositional construction

(Fragment from a dramatic production)

The work begins with a description of the city on the Volga Kalinov, whose image is collectively all Russian cities of that time. The landscape of the Volga expanses depicted in the play contrasts with the musty, dull and gloomy atmosphere of life in this city, which is emphasized by the dead isolation of the life of its inhabitants, their underdevelopment, dullness and wild lack of education. The author described the general state of urban life as if before a thunderstorm, when the old, dilapidated way of life is shaken, and new and progressive trends, like a gust of furious thunderstorm wind, will carry away outdated rules and prejudices that prevent people from living normally. The period of life of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov described in the play is just in a state when outwardly everything looks calm, but this is only the calm before the coming storm.

The genre of the play can be interpreted as a social drama, as well as a tragedy. The first is characterized by the use of a thorough description of living conditions, the maximum transfer of its "density", as well as the alignment of characters. The attention of readers should be distributed among all participants in the production. The interpretation of the play as a tragedy suggests its deeper meaning and solidity. If we see in the death of Katerina the consequence of her conflict with her mother-in-law, then she looks like a victim of a family conflict, and all the unfolding action in the play seems small and insignificant for a real tragedy. But if we consider the death of the main character as a conflict of a new, progressive time with a fading, old era, then her act is best interpreted in a heroic way, characteristic of a tragic story.

The talented playwright Alexander Ostrovsky from a social drama about the life of the merchant class gradually creates a real tragedy in which, with the help of a love and domestic conflict, he showed the onset of an epoch-making turning point in the minds of the people. Simple people they are aware of the awakening sense of their own dignity, they begin to relate to the world around them in a new way, they want to decide their own destinies and fearlessly express their will. This nascent desire comes into irreconcilable contradiction with the real patriarchal way of life. The fate of Katerina acquires a social historical meaning, expressing the state of popular consciousness at the turning point of two eras.

Alexander Ostrovsky, who noticed in time the doom of decaying patriarchal foundations, wrote the play "Thunderstorm" and opened the eyes of the entire Russian public to what was happening. He depicted the destruction of the usual, outdated way of life, with the help of the ambiguous and figurative concept of a thunderstorm, which, gradually growing, will sweep away everything from its path and open the way for a new, better life.