Character traits of Boris in the play Thunderstorm. Boris: “Oh, if only there was strength!” (about the play “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky). Features of compositional construction

In Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” the characters can be divided into representatives of the “dark kingdom” and its victims. The representatives include Dikoy and Kabanikha, but among the victims they name Katerina, Tikhon and Boris. However, is it possible to say with confidence that the last of those listed is really a victim of the “dark kingdom”? Let's try to understand this issue. The characterization of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” can fit in one sentence: a weak-willed young man who is ready to sacrifice his moral principles in order to get money. And indeed it is. But does that make him a victim?

Little has been said about the appearance of Boris from the play “The Thunderstorm”. This is a young man who came from Moscow. He is dressed differently than the residents of Kalinov, in a capital style, in a foreign way. Boris differs from the Kalinovites in his perception of the world, but he himself seems to be proud of it. Of course, the fact that Boris received an education adds a share of snobbery. But here, in Kalinov, no one is interested in this. His motives for coming to the city, actions in life situations and attitude towards others become much more important and revealing.

Boris Grigorievich, Dikiy’s nephew, did not come to the city because he missed his relative. Boris, like everyone else in the city, just needs money. Dikoy, being a stingy and greedy person, does not want to give away the inheritance that is due to his nephew. And Boris, realizing that you won’t get the money legally, decides to “establish relations” with his uncle so that he will be kinder and give the amount. But neither the nephew nor the Wild have any kindred feelings. Savl Prokofievich insults and scolds Boris, and he does not want to stay in Kalinov anymore, but steps over his principles for the sake of money.

The image of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is associated with a love line. Boris falls in love with Katerina, at least that’s what he thinks. But with Tikhon’s arrival, several days of secret meetings with Katya pass, and here Boris’s real face, cowardly and petty, is revealed. Katerina was determined to confess her feelings to the whole family just to live honestly with Boris, but Boris thought differently. He was very afraid that Katya would talk about their walks, and tried to persuade the girl to remain silent. The young man lamented that everything was already over at that moment when Katerina had not yet said anything to her husband and mother-in-law. That is, he refused to take responsibility for the girl and for his feelings; it is easier for Boris to escape from the problem and regret what was lost. Unfortunately, neither he nor Tikhon were able and could never protect Katerina from the kingdom of lies and deceit. The last conversation between Boris and Katya is especially indicative in this regard. Boris understands that something is wrong with the girl, but does not ask about her condition. Instead, Boris makes the situation worse: he needs to go to Siberia for a long time, he doesn’t want to take Katya. With similar words, he makes it clear to the girl that in fact Boris did not actually experience any deep feelings. While he felt good and easy, he was with Katya. As soon as the problems started, he left.

Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is known to everyone. Life in a small town goes on as usual. Everything changed with the arrival of Boris, who met and fell in love with a married woman. The image and characterization of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” is inextricably linked with the love line. The relationship between Boris and Katerina played a big role in the tragedy that unfolded in the play. He was unable to protect his love, which led to the death of the girl, who was unable to cope with mental anguish and decided that the best way out in this situation would be suicide.

Boris is a young man who came from the capital to claim an inheritance. He is related to the Wild.

Image and characteristics

Little is known about Boris's appearance. He dressed like a dandy in the latest fashion. Received a good education. Well-mannered It was no coincidence that I ended up in Kalinov. I came to collect my inheritance from my grandmother. Only my sister remained from the family. Parents died.

He received a good education while studying at the Commercial Academy.

“Our parents in Moscow raised us well, they spared nothing for us. I was sent to the Commercial Academy, my sister to a boarding school.”

Fashionable, stylish. This is not surprising, because in Moscow everyone dresses brand new. In comparison with the residents of Kalinovo, his appearance was strikingly different.

“All the faces, except Boris, are dressed in Russian.”

The purpose of coming to the city is one - to receive an inheritance. This is possible under the only condition that the guy treats the guy (Wild) with reverence and respect.

“My grandmother died and left a will so that my uncle would pay us the portion that was due when we came of age, only on the condition that we be respectful to him.”

Boris constantly suffers humiliation from his uncle. He always finds a reason to find fault and humiliate the guy. He has to endure and endure insults in silence, because there is too much at stake. He is no longer sure that he will be able to get at least a penny from the guy. It works and works, but to no avail.

“He will first break with us, scold us in every possible way, as his heart desires, but he will still end up not giving anything or so, some little thing.”

Weak character. Boris's weakness of character manifests itself more than once throughout the play. He knows this trait in himself, but cannot change it. He fawns over his uncle, fawns over him, tolerating his antics. In the case of Katerina, he did not have the fortitude to protect the woman he loved. Having turned her head, he abandons her in difficult times, running away from the city like a cowardly hare from the chase. If he had shown at least a little character, he would have taken her with him, thereby saving her life, but, alas.

Kind. By nature, Boris is a kind and sympathetic guy. Kuligin said about him:

“He’s a good man, sir...”

Indecisive. Performing actions is not about our Boris, we don’t have enough courage. When everyone knows about his love affair with Katerina, he panicked, preferring to “throw around and cry,” but not do anything. At the moment of saying goodbye to her, he relied on himself:

“Oh, if only these people knew how it feels for me to say goodbye to you! My God! May God grant that someday they may feel as sweet as I do now...You villains! Monsters! Oh, if only there was strength!

But the strength can't come from anywhere. Boris himself understands this very well.

It is easier for him to run away from problems than to tackle them. He saw that something was wrong with Katerina, but did not deign to ask what was bothering her and why she was alarmed. He added fuel to the fire by saying that he was leaving for a long time, his uncle ordered it, and to disobey him would mean losing hope of getting an inheritance. Boris is not used to being held responsible for his actions. Maybe he didn’t love Katerina, he just spent time with her, brightening up his leisure time. As soon as she started causing him problems, he chose to retreat.

Egoist. First of all, Boris always thought only about himself and his own benefit. The interests and problems of other people did not bother him much. He was unable to understand the depth of Katerina’s nature and appreciate the tragedy of her personality, which ultimately led to a sad ending. His cowardice brought Katerina to tragedy. If he had even thought about her, things might have been different.

“Why do living, creative, kind and decent people painfully retreat before the shapeless gray mass that fills the world?” - this phrase would become a wonderful epigraph to one of Ostrovsky’s works. The conflict of the tragedy is realized at several levels. Firstly, the playwright showed the flawed nature of the established order, the conflict between the patriarchal system and the new, free life. This aspect is realized at the level of such characters as Kuligin and Katerina. In short, the existence, and even more so the coexistence of feeling, fair people, striving for spiritual enrichment and honest work is impossible next to the angry, deprived and deceitful inhabitants of Kalinov. Moreover, it is necessary to make a reservation that Kalinov is a fictional space, which means the space becomes conditional. Secondly, Katerina’s emotional drama in “The Thunderstorm” is shown.

In this case, we are talking about conflict within the character. These types of conflicts are always interesting, because contradictions make images alive and multifaceted. Ostrovsky managed to create a character that caused completely opposite opinions among critics. Dobrolyubov called the main character of the play “a ray of light in a dark kingdom” and sincerely believed that Katerina embodied the best qualities of a Russian person. But Pisarev entered into a debate with Dobrolyubov, saying that Katerina’s problems were far-fetched and solvable. However, both critics were somehow interested in the emotional drama of Katerina Kabanova.

Katya lives with her husband, his sister and mother-in-law. The family appears on stage for the first time in this composition. The fifth phenomenon begins with a conversation between Marfa Ignatievna and her son. Tikhon supports his mother in everything, agrees even with outright lies. Katya's husband, Tikhon Kabanov, is a weak and weak-willed person. He is tired of his mother’s hysterics, but instead of expressing his opinion at least once or protecting his wife from cruelty and evil words, Tikhon goes to have a drink with Dikiy. Tikhon looks like an adult child. He loves Katya because he feels inner strength in her, but his feelings are not mutual: Katya feels only pity for Tikhon.

Varvara seems to be the only person who is at least somehow interested in Katerina. She worries about Katya and tries to help her. However, Varvara does not understand how subtly Katerina feels this world, Varvara is practical, she does not understand why it is so difficult for Katerina to learn to “tell a white lie,” why Katya wants to become a bird, why she feels approaching death.

Katya herself appreciates the moments when she manages to be alone. She regrets that she does not have children, because then she would love and care for them. The happiness of motherhood would allow Katya to realize herself as a woman, as a mother and as a person, because she would be in charge of raising her. Katya's childhood was carefree. She had everything she could have dreamed of: loving parents, going to church, freedom and a sense of life. Before her marriage, Katya felt truly alive, and now she dreams of becoming a bird in order to fly away from this place, which deprived the girl of her inner lightness.

So, Katya lives in a house with a mother-in-law who is prone to tyranny and manipulation, and a husband who obeys his mother in everything, cannot protect his wife, and loves to drink. In addition to this, there is no person around the girl with whom she could share her experiences, who would not just listen to her, but would hear her. Agree, it is quite difficult to live in such an environment, considering that education and self-esteem do not allow one to respond to aggression with aggression.

The situation gets worse with the appearance of Boris, or rather, Katya’s feelings for Boris. The girl had a huge need to love and give her love. Perhaps in Boris Katya saw someone to whom she could give her unrealized feelings. Or she saw in him an opportunity to finally be herself. Most likely, both. The feelings of young people flare up suddenly and develop rapidly. It was very difficult for Katerina to decide to meet with Boris. She thought for a long time about her husband, about her feelings towards Tikhon, about what everything could lead to. Katya rushed from one extreme to another: either come to terms with an unhappy family life, forgetting Boris, or divorce Tikhon in order to be with Boris. And yet the girl decides to go out into the garden where her lover was waiting for her. “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I do! If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” - this was Katya’s position. She neglects the laws of Christianity, committing a sin, but the girl is firmly confident in her decision. Katya takes responsibility for her life: “Why feel sorry for me? I went for it myself.” The secret meetings, which lasted ten days, end with the arrival of Tikhon. Katya is afraid that the truth about her betrayal will soon become known to her husband and mother-in-law, so she wants to tell them herself. Boris and Varvara try to persuade the girl to remain silent. A conversation with Boris opens Katya's eyes: Boris is the same person as all those from whom she dreamed of escaping. The collapse of illusions was very painful for Katerina. In this case, it turns out that there is no way out of the “dark kingdom”, but Katya can no longer live here. Gathering all her strength, Katya decides to end her life.

Katerina’s emotional drama from Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” consists of the discrepancy between real life and desires, the collapse of hopes and illusions, the awareness of the hopelessness and immutability of the situation. Katerina could not live in a world of ignoramuses and deceivers; the girl was torn by the contradiction of duty and feelings. This conflict turned out to be tragic.

“The characters can be roughly divided into representatives of the “dark kingdom” and its victims. The representatives include Dikoy and Kabanikha, but among the victims they name Katerina, Tikhon and Boris. However, is it possible to say with confidence that the last of those listed is really a victim of the “dark kingdom”? Let's try to understand this issue. The characterization of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” can fit in one sentence: a weak-willed young man who is ready to sacrifice his moral principles in order to get money. And indeed it is. But does that make him a victim?

Little has been said about the appearance of Boris from the play “The Thunderstorm”. This is a young man who came from Moscow. He is dressed differently than the residents of Kalinov, in a capital style, in a foreign way. Boris differs from the Kalinovites in his perception of the world, but he himself seems to be proud of it. Of course, the fact that Boris received an education adds a share of snobbery. But here, in Kalinov, no one is interested in this. His motives for coming to the city, actions in life situations and attitude towards others become much more important and revealing.

Boris Grigorievich, Dikiy’s nephew, did not come to the city because he missed his relative. Boris, like everyone else in the city, just needs money. Dikoy, being a stingy and greedy person, does not want to give away the inheritance that is due to his nephew. And Boris, realizing that you won’t get the money legally, decides to “establish relations” with his uncle so that he will be kinder and give the amount. But neither the nephew nor the Wild have any kindred feelings. Savl Prokofievich insults and scolds Boris, and he does not want to stay in Kalinov anymore, but steps over his principles for the sake of money.

The image of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is associated with a love line. Boris falls in love with Katerina, at least that’s what he thinks. But with Tikhon’s arrival, several days of secret meetings with Katya pass, and here Boris’s real face, cowardly and petty, is revealed. Katerina was determined to confess her feelings to the whole family just to live honestly with Boris, but Boris thought differently. He was very afraid that Katya would talk about their walks, and tried to persuade the girl to remain silent. The young man lamented that everything was already over at that moment when Katerina had not yet said anything to her husband and mother-in-law. That is, he refused to take responsibility for the girl and for his feelings; it is easier for Boris to escape from the problem and regret what was lost. Unfortunately, neither he nor Tikhon were able and could never protect Katerina from the kingdom of lies and deceit. The last conversation between Boris and Katya is especially indicative in this regard. Boris understands that something is wrong with the girl, but does not ask about her condition. Instead, Boris makes the situation worse: he needs to go to Siberia for a long time, he doesn’t want to take Katya. With similar words, he makes it clear to the girl that in fact Boris did not actually experience any deep feelings.
While he felt good and easy, he was with Katya. As soon as the problems started, he left.

The given description of the image of Boris will be useful to 10th grade students when collecting material for an essay on the topic “Characterization of Boris in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky.”

Characteristics of Boris from the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, an essay on the topic of the image of the hero |

The famous critic Apollo Grigoryev believed that the main artistic flaw of “The Thunderstorm” was “the impersonality of Boris... What was there to fall in love with? “Everyone involuntarily asked himself, but probably none of the conscientiously thinking people doubted that Katerina, due to the fatal necessity of her situation, had to fall in love with someone.”

Yes, there was something of fatal necessity in Katerina’s love, but she should have fallen in love not with anyone, but with Boris. There were quite a few young guys in Kalinov - you can even remember the same Kudryash or his comrade Shapkin. And yet we understand that Katerina, as a heroine of a tragic plan, needed another chosen one, not like any of the Kalinovites and - according to her instinctive insight - somewhat similar to her. How? Yes, the same strangeness, unusualness, that loneliness, even restlessness, which might not have caught Katerina’s eye.

In the city, Boris is a stranger to everyone, and Ostrovsky emphasizes this from the very beginning in the author’s foreshadowing: “All the faces, except Boris, are dressed in Russian.” He alone walks around in a European suit, unusual for Kalinov. The morals and customs of the provincial town are completely unfamiliar to him: something scares him, but something seems poetic and beautiful. He admires the beauty of the night, the joy of love dates. “This is so new to me, so good, so fun!”

But have you noticed that during the first date with Katerina, Boris, despite the most oathful assurances (“I love you more than anything in the world, more than myself!”), thinks first of all about the pleasures that the meeting promises him. Chi with a young and beautiful woman? At first he doesn’t even want to think about what these dates could lead to, what they threaten with the one whom he, in his own words, loves so passionately.

“...Don’t make me sad,” he turns to Katerina, who tells him about her tragic premonitions. “...Well, what to think about it, fortunately we’re good now!” And having learned that Tikhon has left for two weeks, Boris exclaims with undisguised satisfaction: “Oh, so we’ll go for a walk! There's plenty of time."

So once again the theme arises in the play time. Boris simply does not want to look beyond two weeks. For him, this time is quite enough. But in this short period of time (in fact, Tikhon returned even earlier) the fate of both Katerina and himself was decided. But he (like Tikhon) realized this only when he lost Katerina.

Doesn’t it seem strange to you that Tikhon, who has already experienced a painful internal crisis, sees in Boris not only an enemy (which is understandable), but also a deeply suffering person, and even experiences, to a certain extent, sympathy and pity for him? Remember or re-read the beginning of the fifth act, Tikhon’s conversation with Kuligin. This scene gives a lot for understanding young Kabanov and his new way of thinking. But it also makes you look at Boris differently, about whom Kuligin asks with sympathy: “Well, what about him, sir?” Tikhon replies: “He rushes about too; crying. Just now my uncle and I attacked him, we scolded him, scolded him - he was silent. Just like he turned out to be wild. With me, she says, do whatever you want, just don’t torture her! And he also has pity for her.” The fair Kuligin concludes: “He is a good man, sir.”

You must always be attentive to the text. Why do we often diligently avoid this conversation when characterizing Boris? Because it does not correspond to the established point of view? Meanwhile, the scenes from the fifth act indicate that Boris has also changed - and changed for the better. Now he is no longer thinking about himself, but about Katerina, not about his pleasures, but about her fate. One might not believe him himself, but Tikhon speaks about this, whose objectivity is beyond doubt. Material from the site

The first and last dates of Boris and Katerina are very different. Pay attention, in particular, to the tone of Boris’s speeches. Now his words are imbued with sadness and pain: “Well, we cried together, God brought us.” And his remark: “If only they wouldn’t find us here,” which is often quoted as a reproach to Boris, must be considered in the general context of the conversation. He’s not worried about himself, but about her. And in a moment of acute emotional excitement, such folk, almost village words burst out from him: “I’m exhausted on the road, thinking about you.”

Boris is not as impersonal as A. Grigoriev once thought. At the end of the play, glimpses of sincere feeling and the ability to experience deep feelings become noticeable in him. In this he is to some extent similar to Tikhon, although, as it seems to us, Tikhon still shows greater tact, nobility and humanity in a difficult psychological situation.

And yet Boris cannot be a “free bird,” as he calls himself. Alas, he sits in a tight cage from which he will never escape. Apparently, Tikhon won’t be able to escape either. In the play, only Katerina succeeded in this - but at the cost of her life.

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• why is Boris from the drama The Thunderstorm not dressed in Russian style?
• Boris Grigorievich in the play Thunderstorm
• the image of Boris in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky thunderstorm
• brief description of Boris in a thunderstorm
• Katerina and Boris's first date