The city of viburnums in the play a thunderstorm description. The composition "The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants in the" Thunderstorm. Composition Cruel manners of the city of Kalinov

The dramatic events of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" is set in the city of Kalinov. This town is located on the picturesque bank of the Volga, from the high steep of which the immense Russian expanses and boundless distances open to the eyes. “The view is extraordinary! The beauty! The soul rejoices, "- admires the local self-taught mechanic Kuligin.
Pictures of endless distances, echoed in a lyric song. Among the flat valley ”, which he sings, are of great importance for conveying the feeling of the immense possibilities of Russian life, on the one hand, and the limited life in a small merchant town, on the other.

Magnificent paintings of the Volga landscape are organically intertwined with the structure of the play. At first glance, they contradict its dramatic nature, but in fact, they bring new colors to the scene of the action, thereby performing an important artistic function: the play begins with a picture of a steep coast, and it ends with it. Only in the first case does it give rise to the feeling of something majestically beautiful and light, and in the second - catharsis. The landscape also serves for a more vivid depiction of the characters - Kuligin and Katerina, who are subtly feeling its beauty, on the one hand, and everyone who is indifferent to him, on the other. The genius playwright has recreated the scene so carefully that we can visually imagine the city Kalinov, immersed in greenery, as he is depicted in the play. We see its high fences, and gates with strong locks, and wooden houses with patterned shutters and colored window curtains, covered with geraniums and balsams. We also see taverns where people like Dikoy and Tikhon are carousing in a drunken stupor. We see the dusty Kalinovka streets, where ordinary people, merchants and wanderers talk on benches in front of houses, and where sometimes a song is heard from afar to the accompaniment of a guitar, and behind the gates of the houses begins the descent to the ravine, where young people have fun at night. A gallery with vaults of dilapidated buildings opens before our eyes; a public garden with gazebos, pink bells and old gilded churches, where the "noble families" promenade decorously and where the social life of this small merchant town unfolds. Finally, we see the Volga pool, in the depths of which Katerina is destined to find her last refuge.

The inhabitants of Kalinov lead a sleepy, measured existence: "They go to bed very early, so it is difficult for an unaccustomed person to endure such a sleepy night." On holidays, they dignifiedly walk along the boulevard, but "even then they pretend that they are walking, and they themselves go there to show their clothes." The townsfolk are superstitious and submissive, they have no striving for culture, sciences, they are not interested in new ideas and thoughts. The sources of news and rumors are wanderers, pilgrims, "pedestrian kaliki". The basis of human relationships in Kalinov is material dependence. Here money is everything. “Cruel manners, sir, are cruel in our city! - says Kuligin, addressing a new person in the city of Boris. - In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty. And we, sir, will never get out of this crust. Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, is trying to enslave the poor so that he can earn even more money on his free labors ... ”Speaking of the moneybags, Kuligin vigilantly notices their mutual enmity, spider struggle, litigation, addiction to slander, manifestation of greed and envy. He testifies: “And among themselves, sir, how they live! Trade is undermined by each other, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other; they get drunk clerks in their tall mansions ... And those ... they scribble malicious clauses on their neighbors. And they will begin with them, sir, judgment and work, and there will be no end to torment. "

An ignorant tyrant Savel Prokofich Dikoy, a "swearing man" and a "shrill peasant", as its inhabitants describe, becomes a vivid figurative expression of the manifestation of rudeness and enmity that reign in Kalinov. Endowed with an unbridled disposition, he intimidated his household (dispersed "in attics and closets"), terrorized nephew Boris, who "got him to sacrifice" and on which he, according to Kudryash, constantly "drives". He also mocks other townspeople, cheats, “swaggers” over them, “as his heart desires,” rightly believing that there is no one to “calm him down” anyway. Swearing, swearing on any occasion is not only the habitual treatment of people, it is his nature, his character, - the content of his whole life.

Another personification of the "cruel morals" of the city of Kalinov is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, "prude", as the same Kuligin characterizes her. "She closes the beggars, but she ate the family altogether." The boar firmly stands guard over the established order in her house, zealously guarding this life from the fresh wind of change. She cannot come to terms with the fact that the young did not like her way of life, that they want to live differently. She doesn't swear like Wild. She has her own methods of intimidation, she corrosively, "like rusting iron", "sharpens" her loved ones.

Dikoy and Kabanova (one - rudely and openly, the other - “under the guise of piety”) poison the lives of those around them, suppressing them, subordinating them to their own orders, destroying bright feelings in them. For them, the loss of power is the loss of everything in which they see the meaning of existence. Therefore, they so hate new customs, honesty, sincerity in the manifestation of feelings, the attraction of young people to "will."

A special role in the "dark kingdom" belongs to such as the ignorant, deceitful and arrogant wanderer-beggar Feklusha. She "wanders" through the cities and villages, collecting absurd tales and fantastic stories - about belittling time, about people with dogs' heads, about scattering chaff, about a fiery serpent. One gets the impression that she deliberately misinterprets what she has heard, that it gives her pleasure to spread all these gossip and ridiculous rumors - thanks to this, she is readily accepted in the houses of Kalinov and similar towns. Feklusha fulfills his mission not disinterestedly: here they will feed, here they will give it to drink, there they will give gifts. The image of Feklusha, personifying evil, hypocrisy and gross ignorance, was very typical of the depicted environment. Such feckles, carriers of absurd news that clouded the minds of the inhabitants, and pilgrims were necessary for the owners of the city, as they supported the authority of their power.

Finally, another colorful expression of the cruel morals of the "dark kingdom" is the half-mad lady in the play. She rudely and cruelly threatens the death of someone else's beauty. These are her terrible prophecies, sounding like the voice of a tragic fate, receive their bitter confirmation in the finale. In the article "A ray of light in the dark kingdom" N.А. Dobrolyubov wrote: "The need for so-called" unnecessary faces "is especially visible in" The Thunderstorm ": without them we cannot understand the heroine's face and can easily distort the meaning of the entire play ..."

Dikoy, Kabanova, Feklusha and the half-crazy lady - representatives of the older generation - are the spokesmen for the worst sides of the old world, its darkness, mysticism and cruelty. These characters have nothing to do with the past, rich in its own unique culture and traditions. But in the city of Kalinovo, in conditions that suppress, break and paralyze the will, representatives of the younger generation also live. Someone, like Katerina, closely connected with the way of life of the city and dependent on it, lives and suffers, seeks to break out of it, and someone, like Varvara, Kudryash, Boris and Tikhon, resigns himself, accepts its laws or finds ways to come to terms with them ...

Tikhon - the son of Martha Kabanova and the husband of Katerina - is endowed by nature with a gentle, quiet disposition. There is in him kindness, and responsiveness, and the ability to sound judgment, and the desire to break free from the clutches in which he found himself, but weakness and timidity outweigh his positive qualities. He is used to obeying his mother unquestioningly, doing whatever she requires, and is unable to show disobedience. He is unable to truly appreciate the extent of Katerina's suffering, unable to penetrate into her spiritual world. Only in the finale does this weak-willed, but internally contradictory person rise to an open condemnation of the tyranny of the mother.

Boris, "a young man of decent education," is the only one who does not belong to the Kalinovka world by birth. He is a mentally gentle and delicate, simple and modest person, moreover, with his education, manners, speech, he noticeably differs from most of the Kalinovites. He does not understand local customs, but he is unable to protect himself from the insults of the Wild, nor "resist the dirty tricks that others do." Katerina sympathizes with his dependent, humiliated position. But we can only sympathize with Katerina - she happened to meet a weak-willed person on her way, subject to the whims and whims of her uncle and doing nothing to change this situation. N.A. was right. Dobrolyubov, who asserted that "Boris is not a hero, he is far from Katerina, and she fell in love with him in solitude."

The cheerful and cheerful Varvara - the daughter of Kabanikha and the sister of Tikhon - is a vital, full-blooded image, but she exudes some kind of spiritual primitiveness, starting with her actions and everyday behavior and ending with her reasoning about life and rudely cheeky speech. She adapted herself, learned to be cunning so as not to obey her mother. She is too earthly in everything. Such is her protest - an escape from Kudryash, who is well acquainted with the customs of the merchant environment, but lives easily "without hesitation. Barbara, who has learned to live guided by the principle: “Do what you want, if only it is sewn and covered,” expressed her protest at the everyday level, but on the whole lives by the laws of the “dark kingdom” and in her own way acquires agreement with it.

Kuligin, a local self-taught mechanic who in the play acts as a "denouncer of vices", sympathizes with the poor, is concerned with improving the lives of people, having received an award for the discovery of a perpetual motion machine. He is an opponent of superstitions, a champion of knowledge, science, creativity, enlightenment, but his own knowledge is not enough for him.
He does not see an active way to resist tyrants, and therefore prefers to submit. It is clear that this is not the kind of person who is able to bring novelty and fresh spirit to the life of the city of Kalinov.

Among the characters in the drama, there is no one, except Boris, who would not belong to the Kalinov world by birth or upbringing. All of them revolve in the sphere of concepts and representations of a closed patriarchal environment. But life does not stand still, and tyrants feel that their power is limited. “Apart from them, without asking them,” says N.A. Dobrolyubov, - another life has grown, with different beginnings ... "

Of all the characters, only Katerina - a deeply poetic nature, full of high lyricism - is directed into the future. Because, as Academician N.N. Skatov, “Katerina was brought up not only in the narrow world of a merchant family, she was born not only by the patriarchal world, but by the whole world of national, folk life, already spilling over the boundaries of patriarchy”. Katerina embodies the spirit of this world, its dream, its impulse. Only she alone was able to express her protest, proving, albeit at the cost of her own life, that the end of the "dark kingdom" was approaching. By creating such an expressive image of A.N. Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified world of a provincial town, a "folk character of amazing beauty and strength" can arise, whose pen is based on love, on the free dream of justice, beauty, some kind of higher truth.

Poetic and prosaic, sublime and mundane, human and bestial - these principles have paradoxically combined in the life of a provincial Russian town, but unfortunately, gloom and oppressive melancholy predominates in this life, which N.A. Dobrolyubov, calling this world a "dark kingdom". This phraseological unit is of fabulous origin, but the merchant world of "The Storm", we were convinced of this, is devoid of that poetic, mysterious and captivating, which is usually characteristic of a fairy tale. "Cruel manners" reign in this city, cruel ...

Ural State Pedagogical University

Test

on Russian literature of the 19th (2) century

4th year correspondence students

IFC and MK

Agapova Anastasia Anatolyevna

Ekaterinburg

2011

Theme: The image of the city of Kalinov in the "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky.

Plan:

1. Brief biography of the writer
2. The image of the city of Kalinov
3. Conclusion
4. Bibliography

1. Brief biography of the writer

Nikolai Alekseevich Ostrovsky was born on September 29 in the village of Viliya, Volyn province, into a working class family. He worked as an assistant to an electrician, since 1923 - in the leadership of the Komsomol. In 1927, progressive paralysis confined Ostrovsky to bed, and a year later the future writer went blind, but, "continuing to fight for the ideas of communism," he decided to take up literature. In the early 1930s, the autobiographical novel How the Steel Was Tempered (1935) was written - one of the textbook works of Soviet literature. In 1936, the novel Born by the Storm was published, which the author did not manage to finish. Nikolai Ostrovsky died on December 22, 1936.

1. The history of the creation of the story "Thunderstorm"

The play was started by Alexander Ostrovsky in July and finished on October 9, 1859. The manuscript is kept inRussian State Library.

The writer's personal drama is also connected with the writing of the play "The Thunderstorm". In the manuscript of the play, next to the famous monologue of Katerina: “What dreams I dreamed, Varenka, what dreams! Or golden temples, or some kind of extraordinary gardens, and everyone is singing invisible voices ... "(5), there is Ostrovsky's record:" I heard from L. P. about the same dream ... ". L.P. is an actressLyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with whom the young playwright had a very difficult personal relationship: both had families. The husband of the actress was an artist of the Maly TheaterI. M. Nikulin... And Alexander Nikolaevich also had a family: he lived in a civil marriage with a commoner Agafya Ivanovna, with whom he had children in common - they all died as children. Ostrovsky lived with Agafya Ivanovna for nearly twenty years.

It was Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya who served as the prototype for the image of the heroine of the play Katerina, she also became the first performer of the role.

In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. The natural beauty of the Volga region amazed the playwright, and then he thought about the play. For a long time it was believed that the plot of the drama "The Thunderstorm" was taken by Ostrovsky from the life of the Kostroma merchants. Kostroma residents at the beginning of the 20th century could accurately indicate the place of Katerina's suicide.

In his play, Ostrovsky raises the problem of the turning point in social life that occurred in the 1850s, the problem of changing social foundations.

5 Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House of Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

3. The image of the city of Kalinov

One of the masterpieces of Ostrovsky and of all Russian drama is Thunderstorm. "The Thunderstorm" is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky's most decisive work.

Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" shows the usual provincial life of the provincial merchant town of Kalinov. It is located on the high bank of the Russian Volga River. The Volga is a great Russian river, a natural parallel to Russian fate, Russian soul, Russian character, which means that everything that happens on its banks is understandable and easily recognizable by every Russian person. The view from the shore is divine. The Volga appears here in all its glory. The town itself is nothing special from the others: merchant houses in abundance, a church, a boulevard.

Residents lead their own special way of life. Life in the capital is changing rapidly, but here everything is the same old fashioned way. Monotonous and slow passage of time. The elders teach the younger about everything, and the younger ones are afraid to stick their nose out. There are few visitors to the city, so everyone is mistaken for a stranger, as an overseas curiosity.

The heroes of "The Thunderstorm" live without even knowing how ugly and dark their existence is. For some of them, the city is "paradise", and if it is not ideal, then at least it represents the traditional structure of society of that time. Others do not accept either the setting or the city itself that created this setting. And yet they constitute an unenviable minority, while others remain completely neutral.

Residents of the city, without realizing it, fear that just a story about another city, about other people can dispel the illusion of well-being in their "promised land." In the remark preceding the text, the author defines the place and time of the drama. This is no longer Zamoskvorechye, which is so characteristic of many of Ostrovsky's plays, but the city of Kalinov on the banks of the Volga. The city is fictional, in it you can see the features of various Russian cities. The landscape background of "The Thunderstorms" also gives a certain emotional mood, which makes it possible, by contrast, to more sharply feel the stuffy atmosphere of Kalinovites' life.

Events unfold in the summer, 10 days pass between actions 3 and 4. The playwright does not say in what year the events take place, you can stage any year - so characteristic of the play described in the play is for Russian life in the provinces. Ostrovsky specifically stipulates that everyone is dressed in Russian, only Boris's costume meets European standards, which have already penetrated the life of the Russian capital. This is how new touches appear in the outlining of the way of life in the city of Kalinov. Time seemed to have stopped here, but life turned out to be closed, impenetrable for new trends.

The main people of the city are tyrant merchants who try to "enslave the poor so that they can earn even more money from his work." They keep in complete submission not only employees, but also households, who are entirely dependent on them and therefore unrequited. Considering themselves to be right in everything, they are sure that it is on them that the light rests, and therefore they force all household members to carry out the house-building orders and rituals. Their religiosity is distinguished by the same ritualism: they go to church, observe fasts, receive pilgrims, generously give them gifts and at the same time tyrannize their household "And what tears are pouring behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!". The inner, moral side of religion is completely alien to the Wild and Kabanova representatives of the "Dark Kingdom" of the City of Kalinov.

The playwright creates a closed patriarchal world: the Kalinovites are unaware of the existence of other lands and innocently believe the stories of the townspeople:

What is Lithuania? - So she is Lithuania. - And they say, my brother, she fell on us from the sky ... I don't know how to tell you, from the sky, so from the sky ..

Feklushi:

I ... didn’t go far, but to hear - I heard a lot ...

And then there is also the land, where all the people with the heads of the dogs ... For infidelity.

That there are distant countries where "Maxnut Turkish Saltan" and "Persian Saltan Makhnut" rule.

Here you have ... rarely anyone will go out of the gate to sit ... but in Moscow, along the streets of gulbische and merrymaking, sometimes there is a moan ... But why, they began to harness the fiery serpent ...

The world of the city is motionless and closed: its inhabitants have a vague idea of ​​their past and do not know anything about what is happening outside Kalinov. The absurd stories of Feklusha and the townspeople create distorted ideas about the world among Kalinovites, instill fear in their souls. She brings darkness, ignorance into society, grieves over the end of the good old days, condemns the new order. The new powerfully enters life, undermines the foundations of the Domostroy order. Feklusha's words about “the last times” sound symbolic. She strives to win over those around her, so the tone of her speech is smooth and flattering.

The life of the city of Kalinov is reproduced in volume, with detailed details. The city appears on the stage, with its streets, houses, beautiful nature, and townspeople. The reader sees with his own eyes the beauty of Russian nature. Here, on the bank of the free river, sung by the people, a tragedy will take place that shook Kalinov. And the first words in "The Thunderstorm" are the words of everyone's familiar free song, which is sung by Kuligin - a man who deeply feels beauty:

In the midst of a flat valley, at a smooth height, a tall oak tree blooms and grows. In mighty beauty.

Silence, the air is excellent, because of the Volga from the meadows it smells of flowers, the sky is clear ... The abyss of stars is full ...
Miracles, I must truly say that miracles! ... For fifty years I have been looking beyond the Volga every day and I can’t see everything!
The view is extraordinary! The beauty! The soul rejoices! Delight! If you take a closer look, or you don't understand what kind of beauty is spilled in nature. -he says (5). However, next to poetry, there is a completely different, unsightly, repulsive side of Kalinov's reality. It is revealed in the assessments of Kuligin, is felt in the conversations of the characters, sounds in the prophecies of a half-crazy lady.

The only enlightened person in the play, Kuligin, looks like an eccentric in the eyes of the townspeople. Naive, kind, honest, he does not oppose Kalinov's world, he humbly endures not only ridicule, but also rudeness, insult. However, it was he who was commissioned by the author to characterize the "dark kingdom".

One gets the impression that Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world and lives some kind of special, closed life. But how can you say that in other places life is completely different? No, this is a typical picture of the Russian provinces and the wild customs of patriarchal life. Stagnation.

There is no clear description of the city of Kalinov in the play.But, reading it carefully, one can vividly imagine the outlines of the town and its inner life.

5 Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House of Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

The central position in the play is occupied by the image of the main character Katerina Kabanova. For her, the city is a cage from which she is not destined to escape. The main reason for this attitude of Katerina to the city is that she knew the contrast. Her happy childhood and serene youth passed, first of all, under the sign of freedom. After getting married and finding herself in Kalinov, Katerina felt like she was in prison. The city and the atmosphere reigning in it (tradition and patriarchy) only aggravate the position of the heroine. Her suicide - a challenge given to the city - was committed on the basis of Katerina's inner state and the surrounding reality.
Boris, the hero who also came "from outside," has a similar point of view. Probably, their love was due precisely to this. In addition, like Katerina, the main role in the family is played by the "house tyrant" Dikoy, who is a direct offspring of the city and is a direct part of it.
The above can be fully attributed to Kabanikha. But for her the city is not ideal, before her eyes old traditions and foundations are crumbling. Kabanikha is one of those who are trying to preserve them, but only "Chinese ceremonies" remain.
On the basis of the disagreements of the heroes, the main conflict grows - the struggle of the old, patriarchal and new, reason and ignorance. The city gave birth to people like Dikoy and Kabanikha, they (and people like them, wealthy merchants) run the show. And all the disadvantages of the city are fueled by morals and environment, which in turn support with all the forces of Kabanikh and Dikoy.
The artistic space of the play is closed, it is confined exclusively to the city of Kalinov, the more difficult it is to find a way for those who are trying to escape from the city. In addition, the city is static, like its main inhabitants. Therefore, the stormy Volga contrasts so sharply with the immobility of the city. The river embodies movement. The city, however, perceives any movement extremely painful.
At the very beginning of the play, Kuligin, who is in some respects similar to Katerina, speaks of the surrounding landscape. He sincerely admires the beauty of the natural world, although Kuligin has an excellent idea of ​​the internal structure of the city of Kalinov. Not many characters can see and admire the world around them, especially in the setting of the "dark kingdom". For example, Kudryash does not notice anything, how he tries not to notice the cruel morals prevailing around him. A natural phenomenon shown in Ostrovsky's work - a thunderstorm is also viewed by residents of the city in different ways (by the way, according to one of the heroes, a thunderstorm is a frequent occurrence in Kalinov, this makes it possible to rank it among the city's landscape). For the Wild, a thunderstorm is an event given to people for testing by God, for Katerina it is a symbol of the near end of her drama, a symbol of fear. Kuligin alone perceives a thunderstorm as an ordinary natural phenomenon, which one can even enjoy.

The town is small, therefore, from the high point of the bank, where the public garden is located, the fields of nearby villages are visible. The houses in the city are wooden, there is a flower garden near each house. This was the case almost everywhere in Russia. Katerina used to live in such a house. She recalls: “I used to get up early; if in the summer I go to the spring, wash, bring some water with me and water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers. Then let's go with mamma to church ... "
The church is the main place in any village in Russia. The people were very devout, and the most beautiful part of the city was assigned to the church. It was built on a dais and had to be visible from everywhere in the city. Kalinov was no exception, and the church in it was a meeting place for all residents, the source of all conversations and gossip. Walking by the church, Kuligin tells Boris about the order of life here: “Cruel manners in our city, - he says - In philistinism, sir, except for rudeness and initial poverty, you will not see anything” (4). Money does everything - that's the motto of that life. Nevertheless, the love of the writer for cities like Kalinov is felt in the discreet but warm descriptions of local landscapes.

"Silence, the air is excellent, because of.

Volga servants smells of flowers, sky-clean ... "

I just want to find myself in that place, to walk along the boulevard with the residents. After all, the boulevard is also one of the main places of small, and even big cities. In the evening, the entire estate goes for a walk on the boulevard.
Previously, when there were no museums, cinemas, television, the boulevard was the main place for entertainment. Mothers took their daughters there, as if to a bride, married couples proved the strength of their union, and young people were looking for future wives for themselves. But nevertheless, the life of ordinary people is boring and monotonous. For people with a lively and sensitive nature, such as Katerina, this life is a burden. It sucks in like a quagmire, and there is no way to get out of it, to change something. On this high note of tragedy, the life of the main character of the play Katerina ends. “It's better in the grave,” she says. She could get out of monotony and boredom only in this way. Completing her “protest, driven to despair,” Katerina draws attention to the same despair of other residents of the city of Kalinov. This despair is expressed in different ways. It, by

Dobrolyubov's designation fits into various types of social clashes: the younger with the elders, the unrequited with the headstrong, the poor with the rich. After all, Ostrovsky, bringing the inhabitants of Kalinov onto the stage, paints a panorama of the mores of not one city, but of the whole society, where a person depends only on wealth, which gives strength, be he a fool or a clever, nobleman or a commoner.

The title of the play itself has a symbolic meaning. The thunderstorm in nature is perceived differently by the characters of the play: for Kuligin it is “grace”, with which “every ... grass, every flower rejoices,” while the Kalinovites hide from it as from “some misfortune”. The thunderstorm intensifies Katerina's emotional drama, her tension, influencing the very outcome of this drama. The thunderstorm gives the play not only emotional tension, but also a pronounced tragic flavor. At the same time, N. A. Dobrolyubov saw something "refreshing and encouraging" in the finale of the drama. It is known that Ostrovsky himself, who attached great importance to the title of the play, wrote to the playwright N. Ya. Solovyov that if he cannot find a title for the play, it means that “the idea of ​​the play is not clear to him

In The Thunderstorm, the playwright often uses the methods of parallelism and antithesis in the system of images and directly in the plot itself, in the depiction of pictures of nature. The reception of the antithesis is especially vividly manifested: in the opposition of the two main characters - Katerina and Kabanikha; in the composition of the third act, the first scene (at the gates of Kabanova's house) and the second (a night meeting in a ravine) differ sharply from each other; in the depiction of pictures of nature and, in particular, the approach of a thunderstorm in the first and fourth acts.

1. Conclusion

Ostrovsky in his play showed a fictional city, but it looks extremely reliable. The author saw with pain how backward Russia was in political, economic and cultural terms, how dark the population of the country was, especially in the provinces.

Ostrovsky not only recreates the panorama of urban life in detail, concretely and multilaterally, but also, using various dramatic means and techniques, introduces elements of the natural world and the world of distant cities and countries into the artistic world of the play. The peculiarity of the vision of the environment, inherent in the townspeople, creates the effect of a fantastic, incredible "lost" life in Kalinovka.

A special role in the play is played by the landscape described not only in the stage directions, but also in the dialogues of the characters. Some people have access to its beauty, others have taken a closer look at it and are completely indifferent. Kalinovtsy not only “fenced off, isolated” themselves from other cities, countries, lands, they made their souls, their consciousness immune to the influence of the natural world, a world full of life, harmony, and higher meaning.

People who perceive their surroundings in this way are ready to believe in anything, even the most incredible, as long as it does not threaten the destruction of their "quiet, paradise life." This position is based on fear, psychological unwillingness to change something in your life. So the playwright creates not only external, but also internal, psychological background for the tragic story of Katerina.

"The Thunderstorm" is a drama with a tragic denouement, the author uses satirical techniques, on the basis of which the negative attitude of readers towards Kalinov and his typical representatives is formed. He especially introduces satire to show the ignorance and ignorance of the Kalinovites.

Thus, Ostrovsky creates the image of a traditional city for the first half of the 19th century. Shows the author through the eyes of his heroes. The image of Kalinov is collective, the author knew the merchants well and the environment in which they developed. So with the help of different points of view of the heroes of the play "The Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky creates a complete picture of the district merchant town of Kalinov.

1. Bibliography

1. Anastasiev A. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm". "Fiction" Moscow, 1975.
2. Kachurin M.G., Motolskaya D.K.Russian Literature. Moscow, Education, 1986.
3. Lobanov P.P. Ostrovsky. Moscow, 1989.
4. Ostrovsky A. N. Selected Works. Moscow, Children's Literature, 1965.

5. Ostrovsky A. N. Thunderstorm. State Publishing House of Fiction. Moscow, 1959.

6.http: //referati.vladbazar.com

7.http: //www.litra.ru/com

The play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" is known to many. She is on many school lists of literary works.

The play takes place near the Volga River in the city of Kalinov. In this city, everyone knows each other, but everyone fenced off from each other - they build fences to enclose themselves. They live a closed life and do not know what is happening in other cities. The merchants learn about life outside their city thanks to the pilgrims, who tell them about the world.

Its inhabitants are financially dependent. In this city, money plays a huge role. Power belongs to the one who has more money. The goal of most residents is to get rich. They quarrel over money. They are trying to improve the city of Kalinov. They make walking paths, but there is no one there. The poor are happy about this, but they have no time to walk, because they need to work to feed themselves and their families. The townspeople are not interested in the problems of others. They not only refuse to help people, they are not even ready to listen to their difficult situations. When residents show sincere feelings, society considers it a sin. The city does not know about the relationship between marriage and love. Rich people believe that they need to get married for their own benefit, for convenience.

The heroes of the play are not responsible for their words and deeds. Kuligin criticizes residents of the city who are ready to fight for money at the cost of their lives. He tried to change the mores of the inhabitants, but to no avail. He worries that the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov are uneducated. Kuligin is very worried and upset, because the townspeople are not ready to earn money by honest work. Dikoy is the richest man in the city. He made his wealth through dishonest labor, ruining the workers. Because of the big money, he has no morality. He does not consider the poor and the needy inhabitants of the city people. He is rude and always swears with society. He does not consult with anyone and does whatever he pleases. Another rich heroine of the play is Kabanikha. She has no special differences from the Wild. She mocks her family and tyrannizes them, but in public she behaves differently. Katerina suffers the most from her actions and words. She cannot listen to constant reproaches and wants to leave home. Kabanikha wants everything to be as she says.

The life of the city of Kalinov consists in the complete degradation of humanity and mental stagnation. Behind an ordinary and measured life lies cruel morals. In the city, the main feelings are self-interest and cruelty, and sincere feelings and reason are beyond the control of the inhabitants. Lies and deception spoil people and their souls, but in Kalinov this is a common occurrence.

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The dramatic events of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" is set in the city of Kalinov. This town is located on the picturesque bank of the Volga, from the high steep of which the immense Russian expanses and boundless distances open to the eyes. “The view is extraordinary! The beauty! The soul rejoices, "- admires the local self-taught mechanic Kuligin.
Pictures of endless distances, echoed in a lyric song. Among the flat valley ”, which he sings, are of great importance for conveying the feeling of the immense possibilities of Russian life, on the one hand, and the limited life in a small merchant town, on the other.

Magnificent paintings of the Volga landscape are organically intertwined with the structure of the play. At first glance, they contradict its dramatic nature, but in fact, they bring new colors to the scene of the action, thereby performing an important artistic function: the play begins with a picture of a steep coast, and it ends with it. Only in the first case does it give rise to the feeling of something majestically beautiful and light, and in the second - catharsis. The landscape also serves for a more vivid depiction of the characters - Kuligin and Katerina, who are subtly feeling its beauty, on the one hand, and everyone who is indifferent to him, on the other. The genius playwright has recreated the scene so carefully that we can visually imagine the city Kalinov, immersed in greenery, as he is depicted in the play. We see its high fences, and gates with strong locks, and wooden houses with patterned shutters and colored window curtains, covered with geraniums and balsams. We also see taverns where people like Dikoy and Tikhon are carousing in a drunken stupor. We see the dusty Kalinovka streets, where ordinary people, merchants and wanderers talk on benches in front of houses, and where sometimes a song is heard from afar to the accompaniment of a guitar, and behind the gates of the houses begins the descent to the ravine, where young people have fun at night. A gallery with vaults of dilapidated buildings opens before our eyes; a public garden with gazebos, pink bells and old gilded churches, where the "noble families" promenade decorously and where the social life of this small merchant town unfolds. Finally, we see the Volga pool, in the depths of which Katerina is destined to find her last refuge.

The inhabitants of Kalinov lead a sleepy, measured existence: "They go to bed very early, so it is difficult for an unaccustomed person to endure such a sleepy night." On holidays, they dignifiedly walk along the boulevard, but "even then they pretend that they are walking, and they themselves go there to show their clothes." The townsfolk are superstitious and submissive, they have no striving for culture, sciences, they are not interested in new ideas and thoughts. The sources of news and rumors are wanderers, pilgrims, "pedestrian kaliki". The basis of human relationships in Kalinov is material dependence. Here money is everything. “Cruel manners, sir, are cruel in our city! - says Kuligin, addressing a new person in the city of Boris. - In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty. And we, sir, will never get out of this crust. Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, is trying to enslave the poor so that he can earn even more money on his free labors ... ”Speaking of the moneybags, Kuligin vigilantly notices their mutual enmity, spider struggle, litigation, addiction to slander, manifestation of greed and envy. He testifies: “And among themselves, sir, how they live! Trade is undermined by each other, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other; they get drunk clerks in their tall mansions ... And those ... they scribble malicious clauses on their neighbors. And they will begin with them, sir, judgment and work, and there will be no end to torment. "

An ignorant tyrant Savel Prokofich Dikoy, a "swearing man" and a "shrill peasant", as its inhabitants describe, becomes a vivid figurative expression of the manifestation of rudeness and enmity that reign in Kalinov. Endowed with an unbridled disposition, he intimidated his household (dispersed "in attics and closets"), terrorized nephew Boris, who "got him to sacrifice" and on which he, according to Kudryash, constantly "drives". He also mocks other townspeople, cheats, “swaggers” over them, “as his heart desires,” rightly believing that there is no one to “calm him down” anyway. Swearing, swearing on any occasion is not only the habitual treatment of people, it is his nature, his character, - the content of his whole life.

Another personification of the "cruel morals" of the city of Kalinov is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, "prude", as the same Kuligin characterizes her. "She closes the beggars, but she ate the family altogether." The boar firmly stands guard over the established order in her house, zealously guarding this life from the fresh wind of change. She cannot come to terms with the fact that the young did not like her way of life, that they want to live differently. She doesn't swear like Wild. She has her own methods of intimidation, she corrosively, "like rusting iron", "sharpens" her loved ones.

Dikoy and Kabanova (one - rudely and openly, the other - “under the guise of piety”) poison the lives of those around them, suppressing them, subordinating them to their own orders, destroying bright feelings in them. For them, the loss of power is the loss of everything in which they see the meaning of existence. Therefore, they so hate new customs, honesty, sincerity in the manifestation of feelings, the attraction of young people to "will."

A special role in the "dark kingdom" belongs to such as the ignorant, deceitful and arrogant wanderer-beggar Feklusha. She "wanders" through the cities and villages, collecting absurd tales and fantastic stories - about belittling time, about people with dogs' heads, about scattering chaff, about a fiery serpent. One gets the impression that she deliberately misinterprets what she has heard, that it gives her pleasure to spread all these gossip and ridiculous rumors - thanks to this, she is readily accepted in the houses of Kalinov and similar towns. Feklusha fulfills his mission not disinterestedly: here they will feed, here they will give it to drink, there they will give gifts. The image of Feklusha, personifying evil, hypocrisy and gross ignorance, was very typical of the depicted environment. Such feckles, carriers of absurd news that clouded the minds of the inhabitants, and pilgrims were necessary for the owners of the city, as they supported the authority of their power.

Finally, another colorful expression of the cruel morals of the "dark kingdom" is the half-mad lady in the play. She rudely and cruelly threatens the death of someone else's beauty. These are her terrible prophecies, sounding like the voice of a tragic fate, receive their bitter confirmation in the finale. In the article "A ray of light in the dark kingdom" N.А. Dobrolyubov wrote: "The need for so-called" unnecessary faces "is especially visible in" The Thunderstorm ": without them we cannot understand the heroine's face and can easily distort the meaning of the entire play ..."

Dikoy, Kabanova, Feklusha and the half-crazy lady - representatives of the older generation - are the spokesmen for the worst sides of the old world, its darkness, mysticism and cruelty. These characters have nothing to do with the past, rich in its own unique culture and traditions. But in the city of Kalinovo, in conditions that suppress, break and paralyze the will, representatives of the younger generation also live. Someone, like Katerina, closely connected with the way of life of the city and dependent on it, lives and suffers, seeks to break out of it, and someone, like Varvara, Kudryash, Boris and Tikhon, resigns himself, accepts its laws or finds ways to come to terms with them ...

Tikhon - the son of Martha Kabanova and the husband of Katerina - is endowed by nature with a gentle, quiet disposition. There is in him kindness, and responsiveness, and the ability to sound judgment, and the desire to break free from the clutches in which he found himself, but weakness and timidity outweigh his positive qualities. He is used to obeying his mother unquestioningly, doing whatever she requires, and is unable to show disobedience. He is unable to truly appreciate the extent of Katerina's suffering, unable to penetrate into her spiritual world. Only in the finale does this weak-willed, but internally contradictory person rise to an open condemnation of the tyranny of the mother.

Boris, "a young man of decent education," is the only one who does not belong to the Kalinovka world by birth. He is a mentally gentle and delicate, simple and modest person, moreover, with his education, manners, speech, he noticeably differs from most of the Kalinovites. He does not understand local customs, but he is unable to protect himself from the insults of the Wild, nor "resist the dirty tricks that others do." Katerina sympathizes with his dependent, humiliated position. But we can only sympathize with Katerina - she happened to meet a weak-willed person on her way, subject to the whims and whims of her uncle and doing nothing to change this situation. N.A. was right. Dobrolyubov, who asserted that "Boris is not a hero, he is far from Katerina, and she fell in love with him in solitude."

The cheerful and cheerful Varvara - the daughter of Kabanikha and the sister of Tikhon - is a vital, full-blooded image, but she exudes some kind of spiritual primitiveness, starting with her actions and everyday behavior and ending with her reasoning about life and rudely cheeky speech. She adapted herself, learned to be cunning so as not to obey her mother. She is too earthly in everything. Such is her protest - an escape from Kudryash, who is well acquainted with the customs of the merchant environment, but lives easily "without hesitation. Barbara, who has learned to live guided by the principle: “Do what you want, if only it is sewn and covered,” expressed her protest at the everyday level, but on the whole lives by the laws of the “dark kingdom” and in her own way acquires agreement with it.

Kuligin, a local self-taught mechanic who in the play acts as a "denouncer of vices", sympathizes with the poor, is concerned with improving the lives of people, having received an award for the discovery of a perpetual motion machine. He is an opponent of superstitions, a champion of knowledge, science, creativity, enlightenment, but his own knowledge is not enough for him.
He does not see an active way to resist tyrants, and therefore prefers to submit. It is clear that this is not the kind of person who is able to bring novelty and fresh spirit to the life of the city of Kalinov.

Among the characters in the drama, there is no one, except Boris, who would not belong to the Kalinov world by birth or upbringing. All of them revolve in the sphere of concepts and representations of a closed patriarchal environment. But life does not stand still, and tyrants feel that their power is limited. “Apart from them, without asking them,” says N.A. Dobrolyubov, - another life has grown, with different beginnings ... "

Of all the characters, only Katerina - a deeply poetic nature, full of high lyricism - is directed into the future. Because, as Academician N.N. Skatov, “Katerina was brought up not only in the narrow world of a merchant family, she was born not only by the patriarchal world, but by the whole world of national, folk life, already spilling over the boundaries of patriarchy”. Katerina embodies the spirit of this world, its dream, its impulse. Only she alone was able to express her protest, proving, albeit at the cost of her own life, that the end of the "dark kingdom" was approaching. By creating such an expressive image of A.N. Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified world of a provincial town, a "folk character of amazing beauty and strength" can arise, whose pen is based on love, on the free dream of justice, beauty, some kind of higher truth.

Poetic and prosaic, sublime and mundane, human and bestial - these principles have paradoxically combined in the life of a provincial Russian town, but unfortunately, gloom and oppressive melancholy predominates in this life, which N.A. Dobrolyubov, calling this world a "dark kingdom". This phraseological unit is of fabulous origin, but the merchant world of "The Storm", we were convinced of this, is devoid of that poetic, mysterious and captivating, which is usually characteristic of a fairy tale. "Cruel manners" reign in this city, cruel ...

• In general, the history of the creation and the idea of ​​the play "The Thunderstorm" are very interesting. For some time, there was an assumption that this work was based on real events that took place in the Russian city of Kostroma in 1859. “In the early morning of November 10, 1859, the Kostroma bourgeoisie Alexandra Pavlovna Klykova disappeared from the house and either threw herself into the Volga, or was strangled and thrown there. The investigation revealed a dull drama played out in an unsociable family living with narrowly commercial interests: [...]
• Whole, honest, sincere, she is not capable of lies and falsehood, therefore, in a cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life is so tragic. Katerina's protest against the despotism of Kabanikha is the struggle of the light, pure, human against the darkness, lies and cruelty of the “dark kingdom”. It is not for nothing that Ostrovsky, who paid great attention to the selection of the names and surnames of the characters, gave such a name to the heroine of "The Thunderstorm": translated from Greek, "Ekaterina" means "eternally pure." Katerina is a poetic nature. V […]
• Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was endowed with a great talent as a playwright. He is deservedly considered the founder of the Russian national theater. His plays, varied in themes, glorified Russian literature. Ostrovsky's work was democratic in nature. He created plays in which hatred of the autocratic-serf regime was manifested. The writer called for the protection of the oppressed and humiliated citizens of Russia, he longed for social change. The great merit of Ostrovsky is that he discovered the enlightened [...]
• In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky shows the life of a Russian merchant family and the position of a woman in it. The character of Katerina was formed in a simple merchant family, where love reigned and her daughter was given complete freedom. She acquired and retained all the beautiful features of the Russian character. This is a pure, open soul who cannot lie. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything, ”she says to Varvara. In religion, Katerina found the highest truth and beauty. Her striving for the beautiful, the good was expressed in prayers. Coming out [...]
• In the drama "The Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky created a very complex psychologically image - the image of Katerina Kabanova. This young woman disposes of the viewer with her huge, pure soul, childish sincerity and kindness. But she lives in the musty atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" of merchant customs. Ostrovsky managed to create a light and poetic image of a Russian woman from the people. The main plot line of the play is a tragic conflict between the living, feeling soul of Katerina and the dead way of life of the “dark kingdom”. Honest and [...]
• Katerina Varvara Personality Sincere, sociable, kind, honest, pious, but superstitious. Delicate, soft, at the same time, determined. Rough, cheerful, but taciturn: "... I don't like to talk a lot." Determined, can fight back. Temperament Passionate, freedom-loving, bold, impetuous and unpredictable. She says about herself, "I was born so hot!" Free-loving, intelligent, calculating, courageous and rebellious, she is not afraid of either parental or heavenly punishment. Upbringing, […]
• "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1859 (on the eve of the revolutionary situation in Russia, in the "pre-storm" era). Its historicism lies in the conflict itself, the irreconcilable contradictions reflected in the play. She meets the spirit of the times. "Thunderstorm" is the idyll of the "dark kingdom". Petty tyranny and speechlessness are brought to the limit in her. A real heroine from the folk environment appears in the play and it is the description of her character that is given the main attention, and the world of the city of Kalinov and the conflict itself are described in a more generalized way. "Their life […]
• Katerina is the main character in Ostrovsky's drama The Thunderstorm, Tikhon's wife, Kabanikha's daughter-in-law. The main idea of ​​the work is the conflict of this girl with the "dark kingdom", the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. You can find out why this conflict arose and why the end of the drama is so tragic by understanding Katerina's ideas about life. The author showed the origins of the character of the heroine. From the words of Katerina, we learn about her childhood and adolescence. Here is drawn an ideal version of patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general: “I lived, not about [...]
• A. N. Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm made a strong and deep impression on his contemporaries. Many critics were inspired by this work. However, even in our time it has not ceased to be interesting and topical. Raised into the category of classical drama, it still awakens interest. The arbitrariness of the "older" generation lasts for many years, but some event must take place that could break the patriarchal tyranny. Such an event turns out to be the protest and death of Katerina, which awakened others [...]
• The critical story of The Thunderstorm begins even before its appearance. To argue about the "ray of light in the dark kingdom", it was necessary to open the "Dark kingdom". An article under this title appeared in the July and September issues of Sovremennik for 1859. It was signed by the usual pseudonym of N. A. Dobrolyubov - N. - bov. The motive for this work was extremely significant. In 1859 Ostrovsky summed up an intermediate result of his literary activity: his two-volume collected works appeared. "We consider it the most [...]
• In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky, operating with an insignificant number of characters, was able to reveal several problems at once. First, it is, of course, a social conflict, a clash of "fathers" and "children", their points of view (and if we resort to generalization, then two historical eras). The older generation, actively expressing their opinion, belong to Kabanova and Dikoy, to the younger - Katerina, Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash and Boris. Kabanova is sure that order in the house, control over everything that happens in it is the guarantee of a correct life. Correct [...]
• A conflict is a clash of two or more parties that do not coincide in views, attitudes. There are several conflicts in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm", but how to decide which one is the main one? In the era of sociologism in literary criticism, it was believed that social conflict is the most important in the play. Of course, if you see in the image of Katerina a reflection of the spontaneous protest of the masses against the shackling conditions of the “dark kingdom” and perceive the death of Katerina as a result of her collision with the tyrant mother-in-law, you should [...]
• The play by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm" is historical for us, as it shows the life of the bourgeoisie. The Thunderstorm was written in 1859. It is the only work of the cycle "Nights on the Volga" conceived but not realized by the writer. The main theme of the work is a description of the conflict that arose between two generations. The Kabanikha family is typical. The merchants cling to their old morals, not wanting to understand the younger generation. And since the young do not want to follow traditions, they are suppressed. I'm sure, […]
• Let's start with Katerina. In the play "The Thunderstorm" this lady is the main character. What are the problems of this work? Problems are the main question that the author asks in his creation. So the question here is who will win? The dark kingdom, which is represented by the bureaucrats of the county town, or the light beginning, which is represented by our heroine. Katerina is pure in soul, she has a gentle, sensitive, loving heart. The heroine herself is deeply hostile against this dark swamp, but she does not fully realize it. Katerina was born [...]
• A special hero in Ostrovsky's world, adjoining the type of a poor official with a sense of his own dignity, is Yuliy Kapitonovich Karandyshev. At the same time, pride in him is hypertrophied so much that it becomes a substitute for other feelings. Larisa for him is not just a beloved girl, she is also a "prize" that gives him the opportunity to triumph over Paratov, a gorgeous and rich rival. At the same time, Karandyshev feels like a benefactor, marrying a dowry woman, partly compromised by relations [...]
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Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was a master of accurate descriptions. The playwright in his works managed to show all the dark sides of the human soul. Perhaps unsightly and negative, but without which it is impossible to create a complete picture. Criticizing Ostrovsky, Dobrolyubov pointed to his "popular" attitude, seeing the main merit of the writer in the fact that Ostrovsky was able to notice those qualities in Russian people and society that are capable of hindering natural progress. The theme of the "dark kingdom" is raised in many of Ostrovsky's dramas. In the play "The Thunderstorm" the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants are shown as limited, "dark" people.

The city of Kalinov in The Thunderstorm is a fictional space. The author wanted to emphasize that the vices that exist in this city are characteristic of all cities in Russia at the end of the 19th century. And all the problems that arise in the work existed everywhere at that time. Dobrolyubov calls Kalinov a "dark kingdom". The definition of a critic fully characterizes the atmosphere described in Kalinov. The residents of Kalinov should be viewed as inextricably linked with the city. All the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov deceive each other, rob, terrorize other family members. Power in the city belongs to those who have money, and the mayor's power is only nominal. This becomes clear from Kuligin's conversation. The governor comes to Dikiy with a complaint: the men complained about Savl Prokofievich, because he cheated them. Dikoy does not try to justify himself at all, on the contrary, he confirms the words of the mayor, saying that if merchants steal from each other, then there is nothing wrong with a merchant stealing from ordinary residents. Dikoy himself is greedy and rude. He swears and grumbles constantly. We can say that because of greed, Savl Prokofievich's character deteriorated. There was nothing human left in him. Even Gobsek from the novel of the same name by O. Balzac, the reader sympathizes with more than the Wild. There are no feelings for this character other than disgust. But in the city of Kalinov, its inhabitants indulge Dikoy themselves: they ask him for money, they humiliate themselves, they know that they will be insulted and, most likely, they will not give the required amount, but they still ask. Most of all, the merchant is annoyed by his nephew Boris, because he also needs money. Dikoy is openly rude to him, curses and demands that he leave. Savl Prokofievich is alien to culture. He does not know either Derzhavin or Lomonosov. He is only interested in the accumulation and augmentation of material wealth.

The boar is different from the Wild. “Under the guise of piety,” she tries to subordinate everything to her will. She raised an ungrateful and deceitful daughter, a spineless weak son. Through the prism of blind maternal love, Kabanikha does not seem to notice Varvara's hypocrisy, but Marfa Ignatievna perfectly understands how she made her son. Kabanikha treats her daughter-in-law worse than the others. In relations with Katerina, Kabanikha's desire to control everyone is manifested, to instill fear in people. After all, the ruler is either loved or afraid, and there is nothing to love Kabanikha.
It should be noted the speaking surname of the Wild and the nickname of the Boar, which send readers and viewers to the wild, animal life.

Glasha and Feklusha are the lowest link in the hierarchy. They are ordinary residents who are happy to serve such masters. It is believed that every nation deserves its ruler. In the city of Kalinov, this is confirmed many times. Glasha and Feklusha are in dialogue about the fact that Moscow is now "sodom", because people there are beginning to live differently. Culture and education are alien to the inhabitants of Kalinov. They praise Kabanikha for the fact that she stands up for the preservation of the patriarchal system. Glasha agrees with Feklusha that the old order was preserved only in the Kabanov family. Kabanikha's house is heaven on earth, because in other places everything is mired in debauchery and bad manners.

The reaction to the thunderstorm in Kalinovo is more similar to the reaction to a large-scale natural disaster. People run to save themselves, trying to hide. This is because a thunderstorm becomes not just a natural phenomenon, but a symbol of God's punishment. This is how Savl Prokofievich and Katerina perceive her. However, Kuligin is not at all afraid of a thunderstorm. He urges people not to panic, tells Dikiy about the benefits of a lightning rod, but he is deaf to the requests of the inventor. Kuligin cannot actively resist the established order, he adapted to life in such an environment. Boris understands that in Kalinov, Kuligin's dreams will remain dreams. At the same time, Kuligin differs from the rest of the city's residents. He is honest, modest, plans to earn his own work, without asking the rich for help. The inventor studied in detail all the orders in which the city lives; knows what is happening behind closed doors, knows about the deceit of the Wild, but can do nothing about it.

In The Thunderstorm, Ostrovsky portrays the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants from a negative point of view. The playwright wanted to show how deplorable the situation is in the provincial cities of Russia, he emphasized that social problems require immediate solutions.

The above description of the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants will be useful to pupils of the 10th grade when preparing an essay on the topic "The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants in the play" The Thunderstorm ".

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