1. The image of a thunderstorm. time in the play.
2. Katerina's dreams and symbolic images of the end of the world.
3. Heroes-symbols: Wild and Boar.
The very title of A. N. Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" is symbolic. A thunderstorm is not only an atmospheric phenomenon, it is an allegorical designation of the relationship between the elders and the younger, those who have power and those who are dependent. “... There will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs ...” - Tikhon Kabanov is glad to escape from the house at least for a while, where his mother “gives orders, one is more formidable than the other.”
The image of a thunderstorm - a threat - is closely related to the feeling of fear. “Well, what are you afraid of, pray tell! Now every grass, every flower rejoices, but we hide, we are afraid, just what kind of misfortune! The storm will kill! This is not a storm, but grace! Yes, grace! You all have a thunderstorm! - Kuligin shames fellow citizens, trembling at the sound of thunder. Indeed, a thunderstorm as a natural phenomenon is as necessary as sunny weather. Rain washes away dirt, cleanses the earth, promotes better plant growth. A person who sees in a thunderstorm a natural phenomenon in the cycle of life, and not a sign of divine wrath, does not feel fear. The attitude to the thunderstorm in a certain way characterizes the heroes of the play. The fatalistic superstition associated with a thunderstorm and widespread among the people is voiced by the tyrant Wild and a woman hiding from a thunderstorm: “A thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment so that we feel ...”; "Yes, no matter how you hide! If someone's destiny is written, then you won't go anywhere. But in the perception of Diky, Kabanikh and many others, the fear of a thunderstorm is something familiar and not a very vivid experience. “That's it, you need to live in such a way as to always be ready for anything; there would be no such fear, ”Kabanikha remarks coolly. She has no doubt that the storm is a sign of God's wrath. But the heroine is so convinced that she leads the right way of life that she does not experience any anxiety.
Only Katerina experiences the liveliest thrill before a thunderstorm in the play. We can say that this fear clearly demonstrates her mental discord. On the one hand, Katerina longs to challenge the hateful existence, to meet her love. On the other hand, she is not able to renounce the ideas inspired by the environment in which she grew up and continues to live. Fear, according to Katerina, is an integral element of life, and it is not so much the fear of death as such, but the fear of the coming punishment, of one's spiritual failure: “Everyone should be afraid. It’s not so terrible that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts.
In the play, we also find another attitude to the storm, to the fear that it supposedly must evoke. “I’m not afraid,” say Varvara and the inventor Kuligin. The attitude to a thunderstorm also characterizes the interaction of one or another character in the play with time. Wild, Kabanikhs and those who share their view of the thunderstorm as a manifestation of heavenly displeasure, of course, are inextricably linked with the past. Katerina's internal conflict comes from the fact that she is unable to either break with the ideas that are fading into the past, or keep the precepts of "Domostroy" in inviolable purity. Thus, she is at the point of the present, at a contradictory, critical time when a person must choose how to act. Varvara and Kuligin are looking to the future. In the fate of Varvara, this is emphasized by the fact that she leaves her native home to no one knows where, almost like folklore heroes setting off in search of happiness, and Kuligin is constantly in scientific search.
The image of time now and then slips through the play. Time does not move uniformly: it either shrinks to a few moments, or it stretches for an incredibly long time. These transformations symbolize different sensations and changes, depending on the context. “For sure, I used to go into paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over. Just like it all happened in one second” - this is how Katerina characterizes the special state of spiritual flight that she experienced in her childhood, attending church.
“The last times ... according to all signs, the last. You also have paradise and silence in your city, but in other cities it’s so simple sodom, mother: noise, running around, incessant driving! The people are just scurrying about, one there, the other here. The wanderer Feklusha interprets the acceleration of the pace of life as approaching the end of the world. Interestingly, the subjective sensation of time compression is experienced differently by Katerina and Feklusha. If for Katerina the quickly flying time of the church service is associated with a feeling of inexpressible happiness, then for Feklusha the “diminution” of time is an apocalyptic symbol: “... Time is getting shorter. It used to be that summer or winter dragged on and on, you can’t wait until they end, and now you don’t even see how they fly by. The days and hours seem to have remained the same; but time, for our sins, is getting shorter and shorter.
No less symbolic are the images from Katerina's childhood dreams and the fantastic images in the wanderer's story. Alien gardens and palaces, the singing of angelic voices, flying in a dream - all these are symbols of a pure soul that does not yet know contradictions and doubts. But the unrestrained movement of time finds expression in Katerina's dreams: “I no longer dream, Varya, as before, paradise trees and mountains; but it’s as if someone is hugging me so hotly and hotly and leading me somewhere, and I follow him, I go ... ”. So Katerina's experiences are reflected in dreams. What she tries to suppress in herself rises from the depths of the unconscious.
The motifs of "vanity", "the fiery serpent" that arise in Feklusha's story are not just the result of a fantastic perception of reality by an ordinary person, ignorant and superstitious. The themes sounding in the wanderer's story are closely connected with both folklore and biblical motifs. If the fiery serpent is just a train, then the vanity in Feklusha's view is a capacious and ambiguous image. How often people are in a hurry to do something, not always correctly assessing the real significance of their deeds and aspirations: “It seems to him that he is running after business; he is in a hurry, the poor man, he does not recognize people, it seems to him that someone is beckoning him; but it will come to the place, but it is empty, there is nothing, there is only one dream.
But in the play "Thunderstorm" not only phenomena and concepts are symbolic. The figures of the characters in the play are also symbolic. In particular, this applies to the merchant Diky and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, nicknamed Kabanikha in the city. A symbolic nickname, and even the surname of the venerable Savel Prokofich can rightfully be called a speaker. This is not accidental, because it was in the images of these people that the storm was embodied, not the mystical heavenly wrath, but the very real tyrannical power, firmly entrenched on the sinful earth.
For works of a realistic direction, endowing objects or phenomena with a symbolic meaning is characteristic. A. S. Griboyedov was the first to use this technique in the comedy Woe from Wit, and this became another principle of realism. A. N. Ostrovsky continues the tradition of Griboedov and endows the heroes with the meaning of natural phenomena, the words of other characters, and the landscape. But Ostrovsky's plays have their own peculiarity: through images - symbols are set in the titles of the works, and therefore, only by understanding the role of the symbol embedded in the title, we can understand the whole pathos of the work. An analysis of this topic will help us see the totality of symbols in the drama "Thunderstorm ”and determine their meaning and role in the play. One of the important symbols is the Volga River and a rural view on the other side. The river as a boundary between the dependent, unbearable for many life on the bank, on which the patriarchal Kalinov stands, and the free, cheerful life there, on the other bank. The opposite bank of the Volga is associated by Katerina, the main character of the play, with childhood, with life before marriage: “What a frisky I was! I've completely screwed up with you." Katerina wants to be free from a weak-willed husband and a despotic mother-in-law, to "fly away" from the family with house-building principles. “I say: why don’t people fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on the torus, you are drawn to fly,” says Katerina to Varvara. Katerina recalls birds as a symbol of freedom before throwing herself off a cliff into the Volga: “It’s better in a grave ... Under a tree, a grave ... how good! ... The sun warms her, wets her with rain ... spring on her the grass grows, so soft... the birds will fly to the tree, they will sing, they will take the children out...” The river also symbolizes an escape towards freedom, but it turns out that this is an escape towards death. And in the words of the mistress, a half-crazy old woman, the Volga is a whirlpool that draws beauty into itself: “This is where beauty leads. Here, here, into the very pool! ” For the first time, the lady appears before the first thunderstorm and frightens Katerina with her words about disastrous beauty. These words and the thunder in Katerina's mind become prophetic. Katerina wants to escape into the house from a thunderstorm, because she sees God's punishment in her, but at the same time she is not afraid of death, but is afraid to appear before God after talking with Varvara about Boris, considering these thoughts sinful. Katerina is very religious, but this perception of a thunderstorm is more pagan than Christian. The heroes perceive a thunderstorm in different ways. For example, Dikoy believes that a thunderstorm is sent by God as a punishment so that people remember God, that is, he perceives a thunderstorm in a pagan way. Ku-ligin says that thunder is electricity, but this is a very simplified understanding of the symbol. But then, calling the storm grace, Kuligin thereby reveals the highest pathos of Christianity. Some motifs in the heroes' monologues also have a symbolic meaning. In act 3, Kuligin says that the home life of the rich people of the city is very different from the public life. Locks and closed gates, behind which “homes eat food and tyrannize the family,” are a symbol of secrecy and hypocrisy. In this monologue, Kuligin denounces the “dark kingdom” of petty tyrants and tyrants, whose symbol is a lock on closed gates so that no one can see and condemn them for bullying family members. In the monologues of Kuligin and Feklusha, the motif of the trial sounds. Feklusha speaks of a trial that is unfair, albeit Orthodox. Kuligin, on the other hand, speaks of a trial between merchants in Kali-nova, but this trial cannot be considered fair either, since the main reason for the emergence of court cases is envy, and because of the bureaucracy in the judiciary, cases are dragged out, and every merchant is only glad that " Yes, and he will become a penny. The motif of the court in the play symbolizes the injustice reigning in the “dark kingdom.” The paintings on the walls of the gallery, where everyone runs during a thunderstorm, also have a certain meaning. The paintings symbolize obedience in society, and “gehenna fiery” is hell, which Katerina, who was looking for happiness and independence, is afraid of, and is not afraid of Kabanikh, because outside the house she is a respectable Christian and she is not afraid of God's judgment. Tikhon's last words carry another meaning : “Good for you, Katya! But why did I stay in the world and suffer! ”The meaning is that Katerina, through death, gained freedom in a world unknown to us, and Tikhon will never have enough strength of mind and strength of character to either fight his mother or end his life, so how weak-willed and weak-willed he is. Summing up what has been said, we can say that the role of symbolism is very important in the play. Giving the phenomena, objects, landscape, words of the characters another, deeper meaning, Ostrovsky wanted to show how serious the conflict existed at that time only between, but also within each of them. A. Ostrovsky's plays are full of various symbolism. First of all, these are symbols associated with the natural world: forest, thunderstorm, river, bird, flight. The names of the characters also play a very important role in the plays, most often the names of ancient origin: ancient Greek and Roman. The motives of the ancient theater in the works of Ostrovsky have not yet been sufficiently studied, so it is difficult to take into account all the semantic overtones of Greek and Roman names here. It is clear, however, that these names were not at all randomly chosen by the author, their sound composition, imagery and their meaning in Russian are very important. The names of Dikoy and Kabanov do not need to be commented on. But let's not forget that Dikoi is not only the all-powerful Savel Prokofievich, but also his nephew, Boris. After all, Boris's mother "could not get along with her relatives", "it seemed very wild to her." So, Boris is Wild by his father. What follows from this? Yes, it follows that he failed to defend his love and protect Katerina. After all, he is the flesh of the flesh of his ancestors and knows that he is entirely in the power of the “dark kingdom”. Yes, and Tikhon - Kabanov, no matter how "quiet" he is. So Katerina is rushing about in this dark forest among animal-like creatures. She chose Boris almost unconsciously, the only difference from him from Tikhon is that his name (Boris is Bulgarian for “fighter”). Wild, masterful characters, except for Wild, are represented in the play by Varvara (she is a pagan, “barbarian”, not a Christian and behaves accordingly) and Kudryash, on whom the corresponding Shapkin is located, reasoning with him. Kuligin, in addition to the well-known associations with Kulibin, also evokes the impression of something small, defenseless: in this terrible swamp he is a sandpiper, a bird - and nothing more. He praises Kalinov as a sandpiper praises his swamp. Women's names in Ostrovsky's plays are very bizarre, but the name of the main character almost always extremely accurately characterizes her role in the plot and fate. Larisa - "seagull" in Greek, Katerina - "clean". Larisa is a victim of Paratov's pirate trade deals: he sells "birds" - "Swallow" (steamboat) and then Larisa - a seagull. Katerina is a victim of her purity, her religiosity, she could not bear the split of her soul, because she loved - not her husband, and severely punished herself for this. It is interesting that Kharita and Martha (in "Dowry" and in "Thunderstorm", respectively) are both Ignatievnas, that is, "ignorant" or, scientifically, "ignoring". They stand, as it were, on the sidelines of the tragedy of Larisa and Katerina, although both are certainly to blame (not directly, but indirectly) for the death of their daughter and daughter-in-law. Larisa in the “Dowry” is not surrounded by “animals”. But these are people with great ambitions, playing with it like a thing. Mokiy - “blasphemous”, Vasily - “king”, Julius is, of course, Julius Caesar, and even Kapitonych, that is, living with his head (kaput - head), or maybe striving to be the main one. And everyone looks at Larisa as a stylish, fashionable, luxurious thing, as an unprecedented high-speed steamer, as a luxurious villa. And what Larisa thinks or feels about herself is the tenth thing, which does not interest them at all. And the chosen one of Larisa, Sergey Sergeevich Paratov - “highly venerated”, from a kind of arrogant Roman patricians, evokes associations with such a famous tyrant in history as Lucius Sergius Catilina. beauties, of which there were three, but she also destroys them (remember the terrible fate of the other two sisters - one married a cheater, the other was stabbed by a Caucasian husband). In the play “Forest”, Aksyusha is completely alien to this world of evil spirits. The forest can be understood as a new "dark kingdom". Only not merchants live here, but kikimoras like Gurmyzhskaya and Julitta. Aksyusha is a stranger because her name means in Greek “foreigner”, “foreigner”. In light of this, the questions that Aksyusha and Peter ask each other are noteworthy: “Are you yours or someone else’s?” - “Whose are you? Is it your own?” But the name Gurmyzhskaya (Raisa - in Greek “careless”, “frivolous”) is very suitable for her, it just seems to be an overly delicate characteristic for this witch. Ulita (Julia) is again related to the Julii family, famous in Rome, but this name may hint more directly at her depraved nature. Indeed, in the old Russian story “On the Beginning of Moscow”, Ulita is the name of the criminal wife of Prince Daniel, a traitor and a deceiver. The names of the actors Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev (Arkady and Gennady) justify their pseudonyms and behavior. Arkady means “happy”, and Gennady means “noble”. Milonov, of course, has something in common with Manilov and Molchalin, and Bodaev is Sobakevich's heir both by surname and manners. So, revealing the meaning of names and surnames in Ostrovsky's plays helps to comprehend both the plots and the main images. Although surnames and names cannot be called “speaking” in this case, since this is a feature of the plays of classicism, they are speaking in the broad - symbolic - sense of the word.
44. OSTROVSKII AS A MASTER PLAYWRIST
Ostrovsky performed his plays at the turning point from the 1940s to the 1950s. This was a critical playwright period in the history of the Russian stage, when it became filled with either bombastic tragedies or vaudeville and sensitive melodramas partly borrowed from the West. Actually, there was no Russian, folk theater that would widely reflect the life of Russia. Ostrovsky acted in his plays primarily as a first-class realist artist. Perfectly knowing Russian life, especially the life of the merchants, Ostrovsky transferred Russian life to the stage in all its originality and naturalness. The family life of merchants with its despotism and tyranny, rudeness and ignorance in public and domestic life, the disempowered position of women, the ritual side of life, prejudices and superstitions, folk dialect - all this was reflected in Ostrovsky's everyday plays so truthfully and vividly that the theatrical spectator, as it were, he felt the very atmosphere of Russian life on stage. Having finally broken with the patterns of classicism and romanticism and made his numerous works “plays of life”, OstroEsky completed the work of Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Pushkin and Gogol in dramaturgy and forever established the triumph of realistic drama in Russia. that Ostrovsky described the life of not only merchants. We see in his plays both officials, and clerks, and matchmakers, and actors, and businessmen of a new formation, and nobles, and poor working intellectuals, and generals, and peasants, etc. This is a whole encyclopedia of life and customs of the era with all their positive and negative sides. A return to stilted tragedy and sensitive method-drama after Ostrovsky's realistic plays has become impossible. Gogol's "Dead Souls" or Oblomov in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov". The speech of each character is one of the important methods of typing in the works of the epic genre. But in novels, the author has at his disposal various means of characterizing the characters, up to and including direct characterization of the author. In the play, the author's speech is absent. Therefore, the language of the characters in it is the main means of their typification. The characters in the play, as Gorky explains, "are created exclusively and only by their speeches." The hero of the play must speak as a person of his character, way of thinking, moods, cultural level and social status or profession would speak. Consequently, the image of a hero in a play can only turn out to be typical and expressive when his speech is typical for this image. There are more than a thousand characters in Ostrovsky's plays, and each of them speaks a language corresponding to his spiritual appearance and profession. Thus, the lyrically colored language of Katerina in the play "Thunderstorm" has nothing to do with the rough, abrupt speech of Diky. And Diky’s speech, in turn, differs significantly from the speech of another tyrant - Gordey Tortsov (“Poverty is not a vice”), who is fond of the external, ostentatious side of culture and uses such “foreign” words as nebel, champagne, waiters, etc. Skillful individualization the characters' speech characterizes Ostrovsky as a remarkable master of dialogue. It is enough to read or listen to the conversation between Kabanova, Tikhon and Katerina in the third scene of the second act, or Diky's conversation with Kuligin in the second scene of the fourth act, to be convinced of this. The difference in the speech of the characters in these dialogues is given so expressively and clearly that the character of each character is made clear without any explanation. It is necessary to note in Ostrovsky's plays the skillful use of the language riches of folk poetry: songs, proverbs, sayings, etc. Recall, for example, songs of Curly in the third act of the drama "Thunderstorm". Ostrovsky even uses proverbs in the titles of plays: “Don’t live as you want”, “Don’t get into your sleigh”, “Own people - we’ll settle”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “True is good, but happiness is better”, “Old a friend is better than two new ones, etc. The fidelity and accuracy of Ostrovsky’s folk language were already noted by Dobrolyubov. Assessing Ostrozsky’s remarkable linguistic skills, Gorky called him a “magician of the word.” The composition of Ostrovsky’s plays also serves the task of a realistic depiction of reality. The action of his plays usually unfolds slowly, calmly, in accordance with the stable, sedentary life that they depict. Ostrovsky avoids dramatic effects in the form of shots, suicides, disguises, etc. Katerina's suicide in the drama "Thunderstorm" should be considered not as a stage device that enhances the impression of the play, but as a dramatic finale prepared by the whole course of events. A very important property of Ostrovsky's plays is the comic element, skillfully used by the playwright. It manifests itself in Ostrovsky in different forms: sometimes as humor, warmed by warmth and sympathy, when depicting small, downtrodden, honest people, unwitting victims of social inequality, then as accusatory, satirical laughter directed against the despotism of tyrants, shamelessness and ruthlessness of predators, depravity nobility, etc. The satirical orientation of Ostrovsky’s plays was deeply revealed by Dobrolyubov. In his articles on Ostrovsky, the great critic explained how ego was possible within the framework of tsarist censorship, what important ideological significance Ostrovsky’s laughter had, aimed at exposing various aspects of the “dark kingdom.” Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy - a complex phenomenon that has absorbed the experience of a number of Russian and Western European playwrights, whose work Ostrovsky carefully studied. characterization of the depicted environment and the naturalness of the construction of plays.
46. The artistic originality of the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who in Russia should live well”
The poem “To whom it is good to live in Russia” occupies a central place in the work of N. A. Nekrasov. It became a kind of artistic result of more than thirty years of literary work of the author. All the motives of his early lyrics are, as it were, brought together and developed in the poem, all the problems that worried him are rethought, the highest artistic achievements are used. N. A. Nekrasov not only created a special genre of socio-philosophical poem. He subordinated it to his super-task: to show Russia in its past, present and future. Starting to write "in hot pursuit", that is, immediately after the reform of 1861, an epic poem about a liberated, resurgent people, N. A. Nekrasov endlessly expanded his original plan. The search for “lucky ones” in Russia took him from modernity to ancient sources: the poet seeks to realize not only the results of the abolition of serfdom, but also the very philosophical nature of such concepts as “happiness”, “freedom”, “sin”, because beyond this philosophical understanding it is impossible to understand the essence of the present moment and foresee the future of the people. The fundamental novelty of the genre explains the fragmentation of the poem, built from separate unfinished chapters. United in an image - a symbol of the road, the poem breaks up into someone's stories, as well as into the fate of dozens of people. Each episode in itself could become the plot of a song or a story, a legend or a novel. All together, in their unity, they constitute the fate of the Russian people, highlighting its historical path from slavery to freedom. That is why only in the last chapter does the image of the “people's protector” Grisha Dobrosklonov appear - the one who will help people find their will. Each of the characters in the poem has its own voice. N. A. Nekrasov combines fairy tale, everyday and poetic speech and introduces an evaluative element into it, forcing readers to perceive the character’s speech the way the author wants. We do not get the impression of the stylistic disorder of the poem, because all the techniques used here are subordinated to the general task: to create a poem that would be close and understandable to the peasant. The author's task determined not only genre innovation, but also the whole originality of the work's poetics. N. A. Nekrasov repeatedly turned to folklore motifs and images in lyrics. He builds a poem about folk life entirely on a folklore basis. All the main genres of folklore are involved in the work to one degree or another: a fairy tale, a song, an epic, a legend, a ditty. What is the place and significance of folklore in the poem? Firstly, folklore elements allow N. A. Nekrasov to recreate a picture of the peasant idea of the world, to express the people's view of many important issues. Secondly, the poet skillfully uses special folklore techniques, style, figurative system, laws and artistic means. The images of Kudeyar and Savely are taken from folklore. Folk art prompted N. A. Nekrasov and many comparisons; some of them are based on riddles at all. The poet uses repetitions characteristic of folk speech, negative parallelism, picking up the end of a line at the beginning of the next, the use of song interjections. But the most basic difference between folklore and fiction, which we find in N. A. Nekrasov, is the lack of authorship. Folklore is distinguished by the fact that the people together compose a work, the people tell it, and the people listen. In folklore, the author's position is replaced by national morality. The individual author's point of view is alien to the very nature of oral folk art. Authorial literature turns to folklore when it is necessary to penetrate deeper into the essence of public morality; when the work itself is addressed not only to the intelligentsia (the main part of the readers of the 19th century), but also to the people. Both of these tasks were set by N. A. Nekrasov in the poem “Who should live well in Russia”. And one more important aspect distinguishes author's literature from folklore. Oral creativity does not know the concept of “canonical text”: each listener becomes a co-author of the work, retelling it in his own way. N. A. Nekrasov aspired to such active co-creation of the author and the reader. That is why his poem is written "in a free language, as close as possible to common speech." The verse of the poem is called the “brilliant find” by N. A. Nekrasov. Free and flexible poetic meter, independence from rhyme opened up the opportunity to generously convey the originality of the folk language, retaining all its accuracy, aphorism and special verbal turns; organically weave into the fabric of the poem village songs, sayings, lamentations, elements of a folk tale (a magical tablecloth treats wanderers), skillfully reproduce the fervent speeches of peasants drunk at the fair, and the expressive monologues of peasant speakers, and the absurdly self-satisfied reasoning of a tyrant landowner. Colorful folk scenes full of life and movement, round dances of characteristic expressive faces and figures - all this creates a unique polyphony in Nekrasov's poem.
In 1859, the premiere took place on the stage of one of the capital's theaters. The audience saw a drama created by a young writer - Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich. This work is considered unique in its kind. The drama does not follow many of the laws of the genre.
"Thunderstorm" was written in the era of realism. And this means that the work is filled with symbols and images. Therefore, in our article you will learn about the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky.
The first image of a thunderstorm
The image of a thunderstorm in this work is multifaceted. This natural phenomenon is both the idea and the protagonist of the drama. Why do you think Ostrovsky used the image of a thunderstorm? Let's discuss this.
Please note that this phenomenon of nature in the work appears before the reader in several guises. Firstly, the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm" lies in the fact that initially the reader sees a natural phenomenon. The city of Kalinov, described in the work, as well as its inhabitants live in anticipation and expectation of a thunderstorm. Everything that happens in the play lasts about two weeks. Every now and then on the streets of the town one can hear talk that a storm is coming.
In compositional terms, a thunderstorm is also the culmination! It is the powerful peals of thunder that force Katerina to confess to deceit and treason. Attentive readers will notice that act 4 is accompanied by peals. One gets the impression that the writer was preparing the reader and viewer for the apogee. But that's not all. Secondly, the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm" has one more core. Let's take a look at that as well.
The second image of a thunderstorm
It turns out that each character in the work understands the storm in different ways, that is, in his own way:
- The inventor Kuligin is not afraid of it, because he does not see anything mystical in this natural phenomenon.
- Thunderstorm is perceived by Wild as a punishment, he considers it an occasion to remember the Almighty.
- The unfortunate Catherine saw in the thunderstorm the symbolism of fate and fate. So, after the most terrible roll of thunder, the young lady confessed her feelings for Boris. She fears thunderstorms because she considers them to be God's judgment. On this, the search for the meaning of the name of the play "Thunderstorm" by A.N. Ostrovsky do not end. This natural phenomenon helps Katerina take a desperate step. Thanks to her, she admits to herself, becomes honest.
- Kabanov, her husband, sees a different meaning in a thunderstorm. The reader will recognize this at the very beginning of the play. He needs to leave for a while, thanks to this he will get rid of excessive maternal control, as well as her unbearable orders. He says that there will be no thunderstorm over him and no shackles. In these words lies the comparison of a natural disaster with the endless tantrums of Kabanikh.
The author's interpretation of the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm"
Above, we have already said that the image of a thunderstorm is symbolic, multifaceted, and also polysemantic. This suggests that the title of the play contains many meanings that complement and combine with each other. All this allows the reader to understand the problem comprehensively.
It is worth noting that the reader has a huge number of associations with the name. It is noteworthy that the author's interpretation of the work does not limit the reader, so we do not know exactly how to decipher the image-symbol that interests us.
Nevertheless, the author understands the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm" as a natural phenomenon, the beginning of which the reader observes in the first act. And in the fourth, the storm is impulsively gaining strength.
The city lives in fear of the coming of a thunderstorm. Only Kuligin is not afraid of her. After all, he alone leads a righteous life - earns a living by honest work, and so on. He does not understand the primal fear of the townspeople.
One gets the impression that the image of a thunderstorm carries a negative symbolism. However, it is not. The role of this natural phenomenon in the play is to stir up and refresh social life and people. After all, it was not in vain that the literary critic Dobrolyubov wrote that the city of Kalinov is a deaf kingdom in which the spirit of vices and stagnation lives. Man has become a fool because he does not know and does not understand his own culture, which means that he does not know how to be a Man.
A thunderstorm phenomenon is trying to destroy the trap and penetrate the city. But one such thunderstorm will not be enough, as well as the death of Katerina. The death of the young lady led to the fact that the indecisive spouse for the first time acts as his conscience tells him.
The image of the river
As you may have guessed, the image of a thunderstorm in this work is transparent. That is, he is embodied and appears before the reader in different guises. However, there is another equally important image in the drama, which also contains the figurative symbolism of the drama The Thunderstorm.
We are now moving on to consider the image of the Volga River. Ostrovsky depicted it as a border that separates opposite worlds - the cruel kingdom of the city of Kalinov and the ideal world, invented by each hero of the work. The lady repeated several times that the river draws in any beauty, as it is a whirlpool. The alleged symbol of freedom in the representation of Kabanikh turns out to be a symbol of death.
Conclusion
We have examined the work of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky - "Thunderstorm". The drama was written in the era of realism, which means that it is filled with many meanings and images.
We have seen that the meaning of the title and the figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm" is relevant even today. The skill of the author lies in the fact that he was able to depict the image of a thunderstorm in various phenomena. With the help of a natural phenomenon, he showed all aspects of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century, from wild customs to the personal drama of each of the characters.
The meaning of the title of the play by A. Ostrovsky “Thunderstorm”
The purpose of the lesson :
To trace the realization of the thunderstorm metaphor through its image (the stormy state of society,
thunderstorm in the souls of people);
Help students prepare for the miniature essay “The Meaning of the Name ...”;
Raise interest in the work of N. Ostrovsky
DURING THE CLASSES
And how did you miss the thunderstorm in the poster? After all, she is also a character.
We will not choose the name - what does this mean? This means that the idea of the play is not clear; that the plot is not properly covered ... that the very existence of the play is not justified; why was it written, what does the author want to say?
(A.N. Ostrovsky)
I. Organizational moment. Topic message.
– Read the topic of the lesson. What we will talk about?
II. Working with epigraphs
What are the key words in the formulation of the topic of the lesson? (Thunderstorm is a character.) So, we will talk about a thunderstorm as a character in a play. This is not enough. What does the author want to say? (Thunderstorm - idea - plot).
III. Goal setting.
So, it is necessary to find out what is the meaning of the title of the play; learn to analyze a dramatic text; prepare for the composition “The meaning of the title of the play by A. Ostrovsky “Thunderstorm”.
– Where do we start the conversation? (From the definition of the word "thunderstorm".)
I.Y. « Let's talk about the meaning
1. Individual message
– What is the meaning of the word “thunderstorm” according to the dictionary of V.I.Dal? (Fear, noise, anxiety, disturbance, crush, thunder, natural phenomenon, threat, threaten, tragedy, purification.)
– In what sense does “thunderstorm” appear in the play? (In the first meaning - “threat”, “intimidation”, “swearing”.)
2 . "Let's draw conclusions." Group work.
1 group
– What images are associated with the metaphor of a thunderstorm in the exposition? (Almost all actors.)
– What meaning of "thunderstorm" prevails in the exposition? (Fear, threat, threaten.)
Conclusion number 1. All exposition associated with the meaning of the word "thunderstorm". Ostrovsky universally realizes the metaphor of a thunderstorm.
2 group
– What images of the drama symbolize the storm from below? (Wild, Kabanova.)
– What is the storm of the Wild? (Money - power - fear.)
– What is Kabanova's thunderstorm? (Money - power under the guise of piety - fear.)
Conclusion number 2. For Kalinovites, a thunderstorm is “from above” and “from below”. From above - the punishment of God, from below - the power and money of the possessor.
3 group
– Why do they need fear in society? (Keep power.)
– Are only Dikoy and Kabanova intoxicated with power? (Review the monologue
Kuligin in the 1st act.)
Conclusion number 3. The goal of the “warrior” Wild is the lawless intoxication with power. Kabanova is a more complex version of tyranny: its goal is the legitimate intoxication with power (under the guise of piety).
4 group
– When does a thunderstorm appear as a natural phenomenon? (At the end of act 1.)
– Consider the meaning of this scene. Why did Ostrovsky introduce the half-crazy lady? To whom is she addressing? What prophesies? What is the basis of her prophecy? (“I sinned all my life from a young age.”)
– What is Varvara's reaction to her hysterics? (Smiling.)
– What is Katherine's reaction? (“I’m scared to death…”)
Conclusion number 4. Ostrovsky in a detailed composition had to show that the order of the merchant town, whose roots are Old Believers, rests on fear.
The siege war of the Boar, just like the dashing attacks of the Wild, comes from uncertainty and anxiety. Diky's anxiety is vague and unconscious, Kabanikh's fear is conscious and far-sighted: something is not going well, something is broken in the mechanism of power and subordination.
Thus, the metaphor of a thunderstorm - fear, intoxication with power, threat, threaten - runs through the entire exposition.
Group 5
– What scares Katherine? (Death will find you with sinful, evil thoughts.)
– How can you confirm that the author defined this scene as a plot? (Thunder peals sound 2 times. Katerina's fear intensifies.)
Thus, in eyeballs action involved a thunderstorm.
Conclusion number 5. Varvara has common sense, she accepts centuries-old traditions with irony. This is her protection. Barbara needs calculation and common sense against fear. Katerina has a complete lack of calculation and common sense, increased emotionality.
3. "Troubles, but not from a barrel."
1 block of questions.
– What a shock Katerina experienced in the scene of Tikhon's farewell before leaving for
Moscow? (Shocked by the humiliation.)
– Prove it with text. Pay attention to the remarks. (D.2, yavl. 3,4.)
– “ Foreshadow a bad outcome” is another meaning of the word “thunderstorm”. How is this value
played in this scene?
– “ Tisha, don’t leave…” - “Well, take me with you…” - “Fathers, I’m dying…” - “…take
an oath ... ”(D. 2, yavl.4.)
– Is Tikhon able to protect Katerina? What norms of Domostroy does Katerina violate?
(Throws herself on Tikhon's neck. - He doesn't howl: "What's the matter with making people laugh")
2 block of questions.
– How does the metaphor of a thunderstorm break into Katerina's monologue after the farewell scene?
(“…she crushed me…”) Analyze Katerina's monologue (D.2, yavl.4).
– How does Kudryash warn Boris about the possible death of Katerina? (“Only women
sitting locked up.” “So you want to ruin her completely.” - “They will eat it, drive it into the coffin.”)
The theme of the coffin, the grave, breaks in, which from now on sounds stronger.
– Is Boris able to protect Katerina? Who is trying to protect the heroine? (Kuligin.)
– How? (Proposes to install a lightning rod.)
– Why do you think Dikay got so angry in a conversation with Kuligin about
lightning rod? (“Thunderstorm is sent to us as a punishment ...”)
Lightning rod against the Wild himself. They experience the fear of God before the Wild himself, they are afraid of punishment from the Wild himself. Kabanikhi has the same role; breaking away from her, Tikhon rejoices that over him "there will be no thunderstorm for two weeks." Tyranny is associated with fear for one's power, so it requires constant confirmation and testing.
3 block of questions.
– When is the second time a thunderstorm breaks into a play as a natural phenomenon? Analyze this
scene. Find frightening, warning phrases of those present (“thunderstorm
will not pass in vain”, “... creeps, overlaid with a hat”).
– Why does Katerina hide screaming when the mistress appears?
– Who is the crazy lady addressing? Find frightening, key phrases in the lady’s speech (“... you don’t want to die ...” - “... Beauty is death after all ...” - “... into the pool with beauty ...” - “... you can’t leave God ...”).
– Name the set of circumstances that intensify the tragedy in Katerina's soul and lead to recognition. (The conversations of those present, the crazy lady with her prophecy, the fiery hyena.)
And Katerina's confession sounds like a thunderclap.
For Katerina, a thunderstorm (as well as for Kalinovites) is not a stupid fear, but a reminder to a person of responsibility to the higher forces of goodness and truth. “... a heavenly storm ... only harmonizes with a moral storm even more terrible. And the mother-in-law is a thunderstorm, and the consciousness of a crime is a thunderstorm. (M. Pisarev.)
Thus, there is also a thunderstorm in the climactic scene.
The storm brings cleansing. The death of Katerina, like a peal of thunder, a lightning discharge, brings purification: an awakening sense of personality and a new attitude towards the world.
4 block of questions.
– In which of the heroes, under the influence of Katerina's death, does a personality awaken? (Varvara and Kudryash ran away. - Tikhon publicly blames his mother for the first time: “you ruined her.” - Kuligin: “... the soul is now not yours, it is before a judge who is more merciful than you!”)
So, A.N. Ostrovsky universally realized the thunderstorm metaphor in the play. The title of the play is an image that symbolizes not only the elemental force of nature, but also the stormy state of society, a storm in the souls of people. The storm passes through all the elements of the composition (all the important moments of the plot are connected with the image of the storm). Ostrovsky used all the meanings of the word “thunderstorm” indicated in the dictionary by V. Dahl.
- Why did we look for the meaning of the title of Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm?".
Y. Making a plan.
Joint formulation of the introduction, thesis, conclusion, and the children work on the main part at home.
Sample plan.
I. The meaning of the word “thunderstorm” according to the dictionary of V. Dahl.
II. Ostrovsky in his drama universally realizes the metaphor of a thunderstorm.
1. Wild and Kabanikha - a “thunderstorm” for Kalinovites, an example of tyranny.
2. A premonition of misfortune and Katerina's fear after the first clap of thunder.
3. Katerina is shocked by the humiliation in the scene of Tikhon's farewell before leaving for Moscow.
4. Kuligin proposes to install a lightning rod.
5. Against the backdrop of a thunderstorm, Katerina confesses to treason.
6. Katerina is a victim of the “internal thunderstorm”, “thunderstorm of conscience”.
III. The death of Katerina, like a lightning discharge, brings purification.
VI. Homework: learn by heart an excerpt of your choice (Kuligin “We have cruel morals, sir ....” 1 act., yavl. 3,
Katerina “I say: why don’t people fly ...” 1 action, yavl. 7).
The realistic method of writing enriched literature with symbolic images. Griboyedov used this technique in the comedy Woe from Wit. The bottom line is that objects are endowed with a certain symbolic meaning. Images-symbols can be end-to-end, that is, repeated several times throughout the text. In this case, the meaning of the symbol becomes significant for the plot. Particular attention should be paid to those images-symbols that are included in the title of the work. That is why it is necessary to focus on the meaning of the title and figurative symbolism of the drama "Thunderstorm".
To answer the question of what the symbolism of the title of the play "Thunderstorm" contains, it is important to know why and why the playwright used this particular image. Thunderstorm in the drama appears in several forms. The first is a natural phenomenon. Kalinov and its inhabitants seem to live in anticipation of thunder and rain. The events unfolding in the play take about 14 days. All this time, from passers-by or from the main characters there are phrases that a thunderstorm is coming. The violence of the elements is the culmination of the play: it is the storm and the peals of thunder that make the heroine confess to treason. Moreover, peals of thunder accompany almost the entire fourth act. With each beat, the sound grows louder: Ostrovsky seems to be preparing readers for the highest point of conflict.
The symbolism of a thunderstorm includes another meaning. "Thunderstorm" is understood by different heroes in different ways. Kuligin is not afraid of a thunderstorm, because he does not see anything mystical in it. Wild considers a thunderstorm a punishment and an occasion to remember the existence of God. Katerina sees in a thunderstorm a symbol of fate and fate - after the most rolling thunderclap, the girl confesses her feelings for Boris. Katerina is afraid of thunderstorms, because for her it is equivalent to the Last Judgment. At the same time, the storm helps the girl to take a desperate step, after which she became honest with herself. For Kabanov, Katerina's husband, a thunderstorm has its own meaning. He talks about this at the beginning of the story: Tikhon needs to leave for a while, which means he needs to lose his mother's control and orders. “There will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs ...”. Tikhon compares the riot of nature with the incessant tantrums and whims of Marfa Ignatievna.
One of the main symbols in Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm can be called the Volga River. She seems to separate two worlds: the city of Kalinov, the "dark kingdom" and that ideal world that each of the characters came up with for themselves. Indicative in this respect are the words of the Lady. Twice the woman said that the river is a whirlpool that draws in beauty. From a symbol of supposed freedom, the river turns into a symbol of death.
Katerina often compares herself to a bird. She dreams of flying away, escaping from this addictive space. “I say: why don’t people fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you are drawn to fly,” says Katya to Varvara. Birds symbolize the freedom and lightness that a girl is deprived of.
The symbol of the court is not difficult to trace: it appears several times throughout the work. Kuligin, in conversations with Boris, mentions the court in the context of the "cruel morals of the city." The court appears to be a bureaucratic apparatus that is not called upon to seek the truth and punish violations. He can only take time and money. Feklusha talks about refereeing in other countries. From her point of view, only a Christian court and a court according to the laws of house building can judge righteously, while the rest are mired in sin.
Katerina, on the other hand, talks about the Almighty and about human judgment when she tells Boris about her feelings. For her, Christian laws come first, and not public opinion: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?”
On the walls of the dilapidated gallery, past which the inhabitants of Kalinovo walk, scenes from the Holy Letter are depicted. In particular, the paintings of fiery hell. Katerina herself recalls this mythical place. Hell becomes synonymous with mustiness and stagnation, which Katya is afraid of. She chooses death, knowing that this is one of the worst Christian sins. But at the same time, through death, the girl gains freedom.