The moral issues in the play are thunderstorm. Moral problems in plays A
Throughout its creative path A. N. Ostrovsky created a series realistic works, in which he depicted contemporary reality and life Russian province. One of them is the play "The Thunderstorm". In this drama, the author showed a wild, deaf society county town Kalinov, living according to the laws of Domostroy, and contrasted him with the image of a freedom-loving girl who did not want to come to terms with Kalinov’s norms of life and behavior. One of the most important problems raised in the work is the problem of human dignity, especially relevant in mid-19th century, during the crisis of the outdated, obsolete order then reigning in the province.
The merchant society shown in the play lives in an atmosphere of lies, deceit, hypocrisy, and duplicity; within the walls of their estates, representatives of the older generation scold and lecture their household members, and behind the fence they pretend to be courteous and benevolent, putting on cute, smiling masks. N. A. Dobrolyubov, in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom,” applies the division of the heroes of this world into tyrants and “downtrodden individuals.” Tyrants - the merchant Kabanova, Dikoy - are powerful, cruel, considering themselves the right to insult and humiliate those who depend on them, constantly tormenting their family with reprimands and quarrels. For them, the concept of human dignity does not exist: in general, they do not consider their subordinates to be people.
Constantly humiliated, some representatives younger generation lost their self-esteem, became slavishly submissive, never arguing, not objecting, not having own opinion. For example, Tikhon is a typical “downtrodden personality,” a man whose mother, Kabanikha, crushed his already not very spirited attempts to demonstrate character since childhood. Tikhon is pitiful and insignificant: he can hardly be called a person; drunkenness replaces all the joys of life for him, he is incapable of strong, deep feelings, the concept of human dignity is unknown and inaccessible to him.
Less "downtrodden" personalities are Varvara and Boris, they have to a greater extent freedom. Kabanikha does not forbid Varvara to go for a walk (“Walk before your time comes, you’ll still have enough”), but even if reproaches begin, Varvara has enough self-control and cunning not to react; she does not let herself be offended. But again, in my opinion, she is driven more by pride than by self-esteem. Dikoy publicly scolds Boris, insulting him, but thereby, in my opinion, he humiliates himself in the eyes of others: a person who brings family squabbles and quarrels into public view is unworthy of respect.
But Dikoy himself and the population of the city of Kalinov adhere to a different point of view: Dikoy scolds his nephew - which means that the nephew depends on him, which means that Dikoy has a certain power - which means he is worthy of respect.
Kabanikha and Dikoy are unworthy people, tyrants, corrupted by the unlimited power of their home, mentally callous, blind, insensitive, and their life is dull, gray, filled with endless lectures and reprimands to their family. They do not have human dignity, because the person who has it knows the value of himself and others and always strives for peace and peace of mind; tyrants are constantly trying to assert their power over people, often mentally richer than themselves, provoking them into quarrels and exhausting them with useless discussions. The person who gives them knows the value of himself and others and always strives for peace and peace of mind; tyrants are constantly trying to assert their power over people, often mentally richer than themselves, provoking them into quarrels and exhausting them with useless discussions. Such people are not loved or respected, they are only feared and hated.
This world is contrasted with the image of Katerina - a girl from a merchant family who grew up in an atmosphere of religiosity, spiritual harmony and freedom. Having married Tikhon, she finds herself in the Kabanovs’ house, in an unfamiliar environment, where lying is the main means of achieving something, and duplicity is the order of the day. Kabanova begins to humiliate and insult Katerina, making her life impossible. Katerina is a mentally vulnerable, fragile person; Kabanikha’s cruelty and heartlessness hurt her painfully, but she endures without responding to insults, and Kabanova keeps provoking her into a quarrel, jabbing and humiliating her dignity with every remark. This constant bullying is unbearable. Even the husband is unable to stand up for the girl. Katerina's freedom is sharply limited. “Everything here is somehow out of bondage,” she says to Varvara, and her protest against the insult to human dignity results in her love for Boris - a man who, in principle, simply took advantage of her love and then ran away, and Katerina, not If she could withstand further humiliation, she would commit suicide. province tragedy dignity hypocritical
None of the representatives of Kalinovsky society knows the sense of human dignity, and no one can understand and appreciate it in another person, especially if it is a woman, by Domostroevsky standards --- housewife, obeying her husband in everything, who can, in extreme cases, beat her. Not noticing this in Katerina moral value, The world of the city of Kalinov tried to humiliate her to its level, to make her a part of itself, to drag her into a web of lies and hypocrisy, but human dignity is one of the innate and ineradicable qualities, it cannot be taken away, which is why Katerina cannot become like these people and, Seeing no other way out, she throws herself into the river, finally finding in heaven, where she has been striving all her life, the long-awaited peace and quiet.
The tragedy of the play "The Thunderstorm" lies in the intractability of the conflict between a person with self-esteem and a society in which no one has any self-esteem. human dignity representation. "The Thunderstorm" is one of Ostrovsky's greatest realistic works, in which the playwright showed the immorality, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness that reigned in provincial society in the mid-19th century.
"Columbus of Zamoskvorechye". A. N. Ostrovsky knew the merchant environment well and saw in it the focus of national life. According to the playwright, all types of characters are widely represented here. The writing of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was preceded by A. N. Ostrovsky’s expedition along the Upper Volga in 1856-1857. “The Volga gave Ostrovsky abundant food, showed him new themes for dramas and comedies and inspired him to those that constitute the honor and pride of Russian literature” (Maksimov S.V.). The plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm” was not a consequence real story the Klykov family from Kostroma, as they believed for a long time. The play was written before the tragedy that occurred in Kostroma. This fact testifies to the typical nature of the conflict between the old and the new, which was increasingly declaring itself louder among the merchants. The problems of the play are quite multifaceted.
Central problem- confrontation between personality and environment (and as a special case - the powerless position of a woman, about which N.A. Dobrolyubov said: “... the strongest protest is the one that finally rises from the chests of the weakest and most patient”). The problem of confrontation between personality and environment is revealed on the basis of the central conflict of the play: there is a clash between the “warm heart” and the dead way of life of merchant society. The lively nature of Katerina Kabanova, romantic, freedom-loving, hot, unable to tolerate “ cruel morals» the city of Kalinov, about which in the 3rd yavl. In the first act, Kuligin narrates: “And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor so that his labors will be free more money make money... 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; they entice drunken clerks into their high mansions...” All lawlessness and cruelty are committed under the guise of piety. The heroine is unable to put up with hypocrisy and tyranny, among which Katerina’s sublime soul suffocates. And for young Kabanova, an honest and integral nature, Varvara’s principle of “survival” is completely impossible: “Do what you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.” The opposition of a “warm heart” to inertia and hypocrisy, even if the price for such a rebellion is life, will be called by the critic N. A. Dobrolyubov “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.”
The tragic state of mind and progress in a world of ignorance and tyranny. This complex issue is revealed in the play through the introduction of the image of Kuligin, who cares about the common good and progress, but encounters misunderstanding on the part of the Wild: “... I would use all the money for society, for support. Work must be given to the philistines. Otherwise, you have hands, but nothing to work with.” But those who have money, for example Dikoy, are in no hurry to part with it, and even admit their lack of education: “What kind of elitism is there! Why aren't you a robber? 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 rods, God forgive me.” Feklushi’s ignorance finds deep “understanding” in Kabanova: “On such a beautiful evening, rarely does anyone come out to sit outside the gate; but in Moscow there are now festivals and games, and there is a roar and a groan in the streets. Why, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, did they start harnessing the fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed.”
Substitution of life according to the grace-filled Christian commandments for blind, fanatical, “Domostroevsky” Orthodoxy, bordering on obscurantism. The religiosity of Katerina’s nature, on the one hand, and the piety of Kabanikha and Feklushi, on the other, appear completely different. The faith of young Kabanova carries a creative principle, is filled with joy, light and selflessness: “You know: on a sunny day such a bright column goes down from the dome, and in this column there is smoke, like clouds, and I see, it used to be It’s as if angels are flying and singing in this pillar... Or I’ll go to the garden early in the morning. As soon as the sun rises, I fall on my knees, pray and cry, and I myself don’t know what I’m crying about; that's how they'll find me. And what I prayed for then, what I asked for, I don’t know; I don’t need anything, I had enough of everything.” Rigid religious and moral postulates and severe asceticism, so revered by Kabanikha, help her justify her despotism and cruelty.
The problem of sin. The theme of sin, which appears more than once in the play, is also closely related to the religious issue. Adultery becomes an unbearable burden for Katerina’s conscience, and therefore the woman finds the only possible way out for her - public repentance. But the most difficult problem is resolving the issue of sin. Katerina considers life in the “dark kingdom” to be a greater sin than suicide: “It doesn’t matter that death comes, that it itself... but you can’t live! Sin! Won't they pray? He who loves will pray..." Material from the site
The problem of human dignity. The solution to this problem is directly related to the main problem of the play. Only the main character, with her decision to leave this world, defends her own dignity and right to respect. The youth of the city of Kalinov are unable to decide to protest. Their moral “strength” is only enough for secret “outlets” that everyone finds for themselves: Varvara secretly goes for a walk with Kudryash, Tikhon gets drunk as soon as he leaves the vigilant mother’s care. And other characters have little choice. “Dignity” can only be afforded by those who have substantial capital and, as a result, power; the rest include Kuligin’s advice: “What to do, sir! We must try to please somehow!”
N. A. Ostrovsky covers wide circle moral problems that were acute in the contemporary merchant society, and their interpretation and understanding goes beyond the specific historical period and receives a universal human meaning.
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On this page there is material on the following topics:
- moral problems of the play thunderstorm
- Essay on the problems of the play by Ostrovsky Groz
- . Moral issues in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's thunderstorm theses
- which moral lessons the thunderstorm gives us the play
- the problem of debt and retribution in the play by Ostrovsky Groz
· The problem of fathers and children
· The problem of self-realization
· The problem of power
· The problem of love
· Conflict between old and new
In literary criticism, the problematics of a work are the range of problems that are addressed in one way or another in the text. This may be one or more aspects that the author focuses on.
The play was received ambiguously by critics. Dobrolyubov saw in Katerina hope for new life, Ap. Grigoriev noticed the emerging protest against the existing order, and L. Tolstoy did not accept the play at all. The plot of “The Thunderstorm,” at first glance, is quite simple: everything is based on a love conflict. Katerina secretly meets with a young man while her husband left for another city on business. Unable to cope with the pangs of conscience, the girl admits to treason, after which she rushes into the Volga. However, behind all this everyday, everyday life, lies much larger things that threaten to grow to the scale of space. Dobrolyubov calls the “dark kingdom” the situation described in the text. An atmosphere of lies and betrayal. In Kalinov, people are so accustomed to moral filth that their resigned consent only aggravates the situation. It becomes scary to realize that it was not the place that made people like this, it was the people who independently turned the city into a kind of accumulation of vices. And now the “dark kingdom” is beginning to influence the inhabitants. After a detailed reading of the text, you can see how widely the problems of the work “The Thunderstorm” have been developed. The problems in Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" are diverse, but at the same time they do not have a hierarchy. Each individual problem is important in its own right.
The problem of fathers and children
Here we are not talking about misunderstanding, but about total control, about patriarchal orders. The play shows the life of the Kabanov family. At that time, the opinion of the eldest man in the family was undeniable, and wives and daughters were practically deprived of their rights. The head of the family is Marfa Ignatievna, a widow. She took on male functions. This is a powerful and calculating woman. Kabanikha believes that she takes care of her children, ordering them to do as she wants. This behavior led to quite logical consequences. Her son, Tikhon, is a weak and spineless person. His mother, it seems, wanted to see him this way, because in this case it is easier to control a person. Tikhon is afraid to say anything, to express his opinion; in one of the scenes he admits that he doesn’t have his own point of view at all. Tikhon cannot protect either himself or his wife from his mother’s hysterics and cruelty. Kabanikha’s daughter, Varvara, on the contrary, managed to adapt to this lifestyle. She easily lies to her mother, the girl even changed the lock on the gate in the garden so that she could go on dates with Curly without hindrance. Tikhon is incapable of any rebellion, while Varvara, at the end of the play, runs away from her parents' house with her lover.
The problem of self-realization
When talking about the problems of “The Thunderstorm,” one cannot fail to mention this aspect. The problem is realized in the image of Kuligin. This self-taught inventor dreams of making something useful for all residents of the city. His plans include assembling a perpeta mobile, building a lightning rod, and generating electricity. But this whole dark, semi-pagan world needs neither light nor enlightenment. Dikoy laughs at Kuligin’s plans to find an honest income and openly mocks him. After a conversation with Kuligin, Boris understands that the inventor will never invent a single thing. Perhaps Kuligin himself understands this. He could be called naive, but he knows what morals reign in Kalinov, what happens behind closed doors, which represent those in whose hands power is concentrated. Kuligin learned to live in this world without losing himself. But he is not able to sense the conflict between reality and dreams as keenly as Katerina did.
The problem of power
In the city of Kalinov, power is not in the hands of the relevant authorities, but in those who have money. Proof of this is the dialogue between the merchant Dikiy and the mayor. The mayor tells the merchant that complaints are being received against the latter. Savl Prokofievich responds rudely to this. Dikoy does not hide the fact that he is cheating ordinary men; he talks about deception as a normal phenomenon: if merchants steal from each other, then it is possible to steal from ordinary residents. In Kalinov, nominal power decides absolutely nothing, and this is fundamentally wrong. After all, it turns out that it is simply impossible to live without money in such a city. Dikoy imagines himself almost like a priest-king, deciding who to lend money to and who not. “So know that you are a worm. If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush you,” is how Dikoy answers Kuligin.
The problem of love
In "The Thunderstorm" the problem of love is realized in the couples Katerina - Tikhon and Katerina - Boris. The girl is forced to live with her husband, although she does not feel any feelings other than pity for him. Katya rushes from one extreme to another: she thinks between the option of staying with her husband and learning to love him, or leaving Tikhon. Katya's feelings for Boris flare up instantly. This passion pushes the girl to take a decisive step: Katya goes against public opinion and Christian morality. Her feelings turned out to be mutual, but for Boris this love meant much less. Katya believed that Boris, like her, was incapable of living in a frozen city and lying for profit. Katerina often compared herself to a bird; she wanted to fly away, to break out of that metaphorical cage, but in Boris Katya saw that air, that freedom that she so lacked. Unfortunately, the girl was mistaken about Boris. The young man turned out to be the same as the residents of Kalinov. He wanted to improve relations with Dikiy in order to get money, and he talked with Varvara about the fact that it was better to keep his feelings for Katya secret for as long as possible.
The drama “The Thunderstorm” is based on an image of an awakening sense of personality and a new attitude towards the world.
Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified little world of Kalinov, a character of amazing beauty and strength can arise. It is very important that Katerina was born and formed in the same Kalinovsky conditions. In the exposition of the play, Katerina tells Varvara about her life as a girl. The main motive of her story is the permeating mutual love and will. But it was a “will” that did not at all conflict with the centuries-old way of life of a woman, whose entire range of ideas is limited to housework and religious dreams.
This is a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the general, since he does not yet separate himself from this community, and therefore there is no violence or coercion here. But Katerina lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality: harmony between individual and the ideas of the environment - has disappeared and the ossified form of relations rests on violence and coercion. Katerina’s sensitive soul caught this. “Yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity.”
It is very important that it is here, in Kalinov, that a new attitude towards the world is born in the heroine’s soul, new feelings that are still unclear to the heroine herself: “There is something so extraordinary about me. I’m starting to live again, or... I don’t know.”
This vague feeling is an awakening sense of personality. In the heroine’s soul it is embodied in love. Passion is born and grows in Katerina. The awakened feeling of love is perceived by Katerina as terrible sin because love for a stranger is for her, married woman, there is a violation of moral duty. In loyalty to one's own moral ideas Katerina has no doubts, she only sees that no one around her cares about the true essence of this morality.
She sees no outcome to her torment other than death, and it is precisely complete absence hopes for forgiveness pushes her to commit suicide - a sin even more serious from a Christian point of view. “Anyway, I lost my soul.”
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Play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1860, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. At this difficult time, the culmination of the revolutionary situation of the 60s in Russia is observed. Even then the foundations of the autocratic-serf system were crumbling, but still...
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Moral problems in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm"
Ostrovsky was once called the “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye”, emphasizing the artistic discovery of the world of merchants in the plays of the playwright, but today such works as “Dowry”, “Our People - Let’s Number”, “Talents and Admirers”, “Forest” and other plays are interesting not only specific historical issues, but also moral, universal ones. I would like to talk in more detail about the play “The Thunderstorm”.
It is symbolic that in 1859, on the eve of the social upsurge that would lead in 61 to the abolition of serfdom, a play called “The Thunderstorm” appeared. Just as the title of the play is symbolic, its moral issues, in the center of which are the problems of external and internal freedom, love and happiness, the problem of moral choice and responsibility.
The problem of external and internal freedom becomes one of the central ones in the play. “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel,” says Kuligin already at the beginning of the play.
Only one person is given the ability to stand out from the background of those who humiliate and humiliate – Katerina. The very first appearance of Katerina reveals in her not a timid daughter-in-law of a strict mother-in-law, but a person who has dignity and feels like an individual: “It’s nice for anyone to endure lies,” says Katerina in response to Kabanikha’s unfair words. Katerina is a spiritual, bright, dreamy person; she, like no one else in the play, knows how to feel beauty. Even her religiosity is also a manifestation of spirituality. The church service was filled with special charm for her: in the rays of sunlight she saw angels and felt a sense of belonging to something higher, unearthly. The motif of light becomes one of the central ones in Katerina’s characterization. “But the face seems to glow,” Boris had only to say this, and Kudryash immediately realized that he was talking about Katerina. Her speech is melodious, figurative, reminiscent of Russian folk songs: “Violent winds, bear with him my sadness and melancholy.” Katerina is distinguished by her inner freedom and passionate nature; it is no coincidence that the motif of a bird and flight appears in the play. The captivity of the Kabanovsky house oppresses her, suffocates her. “Everything seems to be out of captivity with you. I’ve completely wilted with you,” says Katerina, explaining to Varvara why she doesn’t feel happy in the Kabanovs’ house.
Another moral problem of the play is connected with the image of Katerina - human right to love and happiness. Katerina’s impulse to Boris is an impulse to joy, without which a person cannot live, an impulse to happiness, which she was deprived of in Kabanikha’s house. No matter how hard Katerina tried to fight her love, this fight was doomed from the very beginning. In Katerina’s love, like in a thunderstorm, there was something spontaneous, strong, free, but also tragically doomed; it is no coincidence that she begins her story about love with the words: “I will die soon.” Already in this first conversation with Varvara, the image of an abyss, a cliff appears: “There will be some kind of sin! Such fear comes over me, such and such fear! It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there, but I have nothing to hold on to.”
The title of the play takes on the most dramatic sound when we feel a “thunderstorm” brewing in Katerina’s soul. The central moral problem play can be called the problem of moral choice. The collision of duty and feeling, like a thunderstorm, destroyed the harmony in Katerina’s soul with which she lived; She no longer dreams, as before, of “golden temples or extraordinary gardens”; it is no longer possible to ease her soul with prayer: “If I start to think, I won’t be able to gather my thoughts, if I’ll pray, I won’t be able to pray.” Without agreement with herself, Katerina cannot live; she could never, like Varvara, be content with thieving, secret love. The consciousness of her sinfulness weighs on Katerina, torments her more than all of Kabanikha’s reproaches. Ostrovsky's heroine cannot live in a world of discord - this explains her death. She made the choice herself - and she pays for it herself, without blaming anyone: “No one is to blame - she did it herself.”
We can conclude that it is precisely the moral problematics of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” that makes this work interesting for the modern reader even today.
