The writing of the play “The Thunderstorm” was preceded by an expedition along the Volga in order to study the life of the local population. Ostrovsky took part in it. Thus, several Volga towns, such as Tver, Ostashkovo and others, became the prototype of the city of Kalinov. Observing the life and character of people from the provinces, the writer made corresponding entries in his diary. Based on the collected facts, Ostrovsky soon created the play “The Thunderstorm”.

For a long time there was a theory that the plot of the work was borrowed from real life from beginning to end. In 1859, early in the morning a woman left her house, and some time later she was found drowned in the river. The deceased was local resident Alexandra Klykova. As a result of the investigation, it became known that the situation in the Klykov family was unhealthy, the mother-in-law abused the woman, and the weak-willed husband could not do anything. The girl fell in love with another person, which served as a catalyst for such a sad outcome.

It is interesting that the Kostroma researcher found a lot of exact coincidences in the text of “Thunderstorms” and in the case of the dead woman. Both girls were married off early, both had to endure bullying from their mother-in-law, and neither family had children. In addition, in the play, Katerina falls in love with Boris and at the same time, Alexandra begins a relationship on the side.

At the beginning of the 20th century, this theory was refuted due to a comparison of time periods. In particular, the Kostroma story took place in November, and in October, that is, a month earlier, Ostrovsky presented the play for publication. Therefore, it cannot be argued that the work is a reflection of the sad events in Kostroma. It can be assumed that during his trip along the Volga, Ostrovsky showed great wisdom and observation, predicting the further development of events in the fate of the girl living in the typical conditions of that place and that time.

Most likely, Alexandra suffered from the same stuffiness that is discussed in the work and which squeezed Katerina like a vice, not allowing her to live and breathe freely. Outdated, long-outdated views and principles, inertia, and the absence of any hope led to what ultimately happened. However, it should be emphasized that not everything is similar in the fates of these two women, because the exact reason that led to Alexandra’s death is probably unknown. Perhaps these were some everyday difficulties, and not the deep personal experiences and contradictions that tormented the main character of the play.

Another alleged prototype of Katerina Kabanova is the theater actress Lyubov Kositskaya. It was she who later got the role of Katerina.

Several interesting essays

• Tamara's essay in the story by Yama Kuprin

  Tamara's real name is Lukeria. She is quite beautiful, with red hair and “dark gold” eyes. She is very modest and has a calm character.

• The idea, essence and meaning of the novel Hero of Our Time by Lermontov

  The novel “A Hero of Our Time” was written by Lermontov in the mid-nineteenth century, however, the action was moved precisely to the beginning of the century. Years later, the reader sees similar reflections in famous books by such writers

Policeman is a very difficult profession. Being a police officer is a calling as a person must have courage, honesty and good logic. All police officers have good physical training, even when they accept people for training, they are checked.

• Essay Description of the Ball (story After the Ball by Tolstoy)

  Life is a very funny thing. So many interesting things happen to a person. Every day a person does what the world around him recognizes: he falls in love, meets other people, becomes disappointed in them, or connects his life with them.

Love is the strongest feeling a person can experience. It is multifaceted and each of these faces has its own color. Those who think that the color of love is red are mistaken. Red is one of the shades of love

“The Thunderstorm” is rightfully considered one of the masterpieces of Ostrovsky and all Russian drama, which the author himself assessed as a creative success; he rejoiced when the actors managed to realize his plan, and was deeply worried if he encountered misunderstandings, acting mediocrity or a careless attitude towards the play.

“The Thunderstorm” was conceived by Ostrovsky while traveling along the Volga from the source of the river to Nizhny Novgorod in a postal carriage together with the actor Prov Sadovsky. The playwright was fascinated by the beauty of the great Russian river and the cities and villages located along it. These were long-term ethnographic studies. In his correspondence from Tver, Ostrovsky wrote about the frescoes that amazed him, seen while examining the ruins of the city of Vertyazin. These images on the theme of the Lithuanian devastation will be echoed in “The Thunderstorm”. In charming Torzhok, Ostrovsky met with the customs of maiden freedom and strict seclusion of married women, preserved from the times of Novgorod antiquity, which are strange in modern times. These observations will be reflected in the characters of the unmarried Varvara and Katerina, doomed to family captivity.

Ostrovsky especially liked Kostroma for the rare beauty of its nature, a public garden with strolling merchant families, a gazebo at the end of the boulevard, which overlooked the Trans-Volga distances, delightful open spaces and picturesque groves.

The impressions received fueled Ostrovsky’s creativity for many years. They were also reflected in “The Thunderstorm,” which takes place in the fictional remote Volga town of Kalinov. Kostroma residents have long argued that it was Kostroma that was the prototype of the city of Kalinov.

When Ostrovsky submitted his play to the censor, the famous dialogue between the playwright and an official took place, who saw in Kabanikha a symbolized figure of Tsar Nicholas and therefore expressed doubt about the possibility of publishing the play. Nevertheless, it was published in the journal “Library for Reading” in 1860, for which censor’s permission was obtained with some difficulty.

However, even before its magazine publication, “The Thunderstorm” appeared on the Russian stage, for which it was primarily intended. The premiere took place on November 16, 1859 at the Maly Theater on the occasion of a benefit performance of the famous actor S. Vasiliev, who played Tikhon. Other roles were also performed by outstanding masters P. Sadovsky, N.V. Rykalova, L.P. Nikulina-Kositskaya and others. This production was directed by A.N. himself. Ostrovsky. The premiere and subsequent performances were a huge success and turned into a complete triumph. The same stage success awaited the actors of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Here the play was also staged by the playwright himself.

A year after the brilliant premiere of “The Thunderstorm,” the play by A.N. Ostrovsky was awarded the highest academic award - the Great Uvarov Prize, which was awarded at the request of the writer I.A. Goncharov and professors P.A. Pletnev and A.D. Galakhova. This prize became the first evidence of the significance of the contribution that Ostrovsky made both to Russian literature and to the domestic performing arts.

Literature

Rogover E.S. Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century M., 2006

Creative history of "Thunderstorm"

Ostrovsky came to an artistic synthesis of the dark and light principles of merchant life in the Russian tragedy “The Thunderstorm” - the pinnacle of his mature creativity. The creation of “The Thunderstorm” was preceded by the playwright’s expedition to the Upper Volga, undertaken on instructions from the Maritime Ministry in 1856-1857. She revived and revived his youthful impressions, when in 1848 Ostrovsky first went with his household on an exciting journey to his father’s homeland, to the Volga city of Kostroma and further, to the Shchelykovo estate acquired by his father. The result of this trip was Ostrovsky’s diary, which reveals much in his perception of the life of provincial, Volga Russia. The Ostrovskys set off on April 22, the eve of Yegoriev's Day. “It’s spring time, holidays are frequent,” says Kupava to Tsar Berendey in Ostrovsky’s “spring fairy tale” “The Snow Maiden.” The journey coincided with the most poetic time of year in the life of a Russian person. In the evenings, in ritual spring songs that sounded outside the outskirts, in the groves and valleys, the peasants addressed the birds, curly willows, white birches, and silky green grass. On Yegoryev’s day, they walked around the fields, “called out to Yegory,” and asked him to protect the cattle from predatory animals. Following Yegoriev's Day there were holidays of green Christmastide (Russian week), when round dances were held in the villages, they played burners, burned bonfires and jumped over fire. The Ostrovskys’ journey lasted a whole week and went through ancient Russian cities: Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma. The Upper Volga region opened up for Ostrovsky as an inexhaustible source of poetic creativity. “Merya begins from Pereyaslavl,” he writes in his diary, “a land rich in mountains and waters, and a people who are tall, and beautiful, and intelligent, and frank, and obliging, and a free mind, and a wide-open soul. These are my beloved countrymen, with whom I seem to get along well. Here you won’t see a little bent man or woman in an owl costume, who constantly bows and says: “and father, and father...” “And everything goes on in a crescendo,” he continues further, “and the cities, and the views, and the weather, and the village buildings, and girls. Here are eight beauties we came across on the road.” “On the meadow side the views are amazing: what a village, what buildings, just as if you are driving not through Russia, but through some promised land.” And here are the Ostrovskys in Kostroma. “We are standing on a steep mountain, the Volga is under our feet, and along it ships go back and forth, sometimes with sails, sometimes in barge haulers, and one charming song haunts us irresistibly. Here the bark approaches, and charming sounds are barely audible from a distance; closer and closer, the song grew and finally began to flow at the top of its voice, then little by little it began to subside, and meanwhile another bark was approaching and the same song was growing. And there is no end to this song... And on the other side of the Volga, right opposite the city, there are two villages; and one is especially picturesque, from which the most curly grove stretches all the way to the Volga; the sun at sunset somehow miraculously climbed into it, from the roots, and created many miracles. I was exhausted looking at this... Exhausted, I returned home and for a long, long time I could not sleep. A kind of despair took possession of me. Will the painful experiences of these five days be fruitless for me? Such impressions could not turn out to be fruitless, but they persisted and matured in the soul of the playwright and poet for a long time before such masterpieces of his work as “The Thunderstorm” and then “The Snow Maiden” appeared. His friend S.V. spoke well about the great influence of the “literary expedition” along the Volga on Ostrovsky’s subsequent work. Maksimov: “The artist, strong in talent, was not able to miss a favorable opportunity... He continued to observe the characters and worldview of the indigenous Russian people, who came out to meet him in the hundreds... The Volga gave Ostrovsky abundant food, showed him new themes for dramas and comedies and inspired him to those of them, which constitute the honor and pride of Russian literature. From the veche, once free, Novgorod suburbs there was a whiff of that transitional time, when the heavy hand of Moscow shackled the old will and sent iron-knitted governors on long raked paws. I had a poetic “Dream on the Volga”, and the “voevoda” Nechai Grigorievich Shalygin and his enemy, a free man, the fugitive posad daredevil Roman Dubrovin, rose from the grave alive and active, in all that truthful situation of old Rus', which only the Volga can imagine, in at the same time, both pious and robber, well-fed and hungry... Outwardly beautiful Torzhok, jealously guarding its Novgorod antiquity to the strange customs of girlish freedom and strict seclusion of married women, inspired Ostrovsky to create the deeply poetic “Thunderstorm” with playful Varvara and artistically graceful Katerina " For quite a long time, it was believed that Ostrovsky took the plot of “The Thunderstorm” from the life of the Kostroma merchants, and that it was based on the Klykov case, which was sensational in Kostroma at the end of 1859. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Kostroma residents proudly pointed to the site of Katerina’s suicide - a gazebo at the end of a small boulevard, which in those years literally hung over the Volga. They also showed the house where she lived - next to the Church of the Assumption. And when “The Thunderstorm” was first performed on the stage of the Kostroma Theater, the artists made themselves up “to look like the Klykovs.”

Kostroma local historians then thoroughly examined the “Klykovo Case” in the archives and, with documents in hand, came to the conclusion that it was this story that Ostrovsky used in his work on “The Thunderstorm.” The coincidences were almost literal. A.P. Klykova was handed over at the age of sixteen to a gloomy and unsociable merchant family, consisting of old parents, a son and an unmarried daughter. The mistress of the house, stern and obstinate, depersonalized her husband and children with her despotism. She forced her young daughter-in-law to do any menial work and refused her requests to see her family.

At the time of the drama, Klykova was nineteen years old. In the past, she was raised in love and in the comfort of her soul by a doting grandmother, she was cheerful, lively, cheerful. Now she found herself unkind and alien in the family. Her young husband, Klykov, a carefree and apathetic man, could not protect his wife from the oppression of her mother-in-law and treated them indifferently. The Klykovs had no children. And then another man stood in the way of the young woman, Maryin, an employee at the post office. Suspicions and scenes of jealousy began. It ended with the fact that on November 10, 1859, the body of A.P. Klykova was found in the Volga. A long trial began, which received wide publicity even outside the Kostroma province, and none of the Kostroma residents doubted that Ostrovsky had used the materials of this case in “The Thunderstorm.”

Many decades passed before Ostrovsky’s researchers established for sure that “The Thunderstorm” was written before the Kostroma merchant Klykova rushed into the Volga. Ostrovsky began work on “The Thunderstorm” in June - July 1859 and finished it on October 9 of the same year. The play was first published in the January issue of the magazine “Library for Reading” for 1860. The first performance of “The Thunderstorm” on stage took place on November 16, 1859 at the Maly Theater, during a benefit performance by S.V. Vasilyeva with L.P. Nikulina-Kositskaya as Katerina. The version about the Kostroma source of the “Thunderstorm” turned out to be far-fetched. However, the very fact of an amazing coincidence speaks volumes: it testifies to the foresight of the national playwright, who caught the growing conflict in merchant life between the old and the new, a conflict in which Dobrolyubov saw “something refreshing and encouraging” for a reason, and the famous theater figure S.A. . Yuryev said: “Ostrovsky didn’t write the “Thunderstorm”... “Volga” wrote the “Thunderstorm”.

A. N. Ostvosky "Thunderstorm"

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HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE PLAY.

The play was begun by Alexander Ostrovsky in July 1859 and completed on October 9. The manuscript of the play is kept in the Russian State Library.

In 1848, Alexander Ostrovsky went with his family to Kostroma, to the Shchelykovo estate. The natural beauty of the Volga region struck 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 point to 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.

The names of the characters in the play are endowed with symbolism: Kabanova - an overweight, difficult woman; Kuligin - this is a “kuliga”, a swamp, some of its features and name are similar to the name of the inventor Kulibin; the name Katerina means “pure”; her opposite is Varvara - « barbarian».

THE MEANING OF THE TITLE OF THE DRAMA THE THUNDER.

The title of Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" plays a big role in understanding this play. The image of a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky's drama is unusually complex and multi-valued. On the one hand, a thunderstorm - a direct participant in the action of the play, on the other hand - symbol of the idea of ​​this work. In addition, the image of a thunderstorm has so many meanings that it illuminates almost all facets of the tragic collision in the play.

Thunderstorm plays an important role in the composition of the drama. In the first act - the plot of the work: Katerina tells Varvara about her dreams and hints at her secret love. Almost immediately after this, a thunderstorm approaches: “... the storm is setting in...” At the beginning of the fourth act, a thunderstorm is also gathering, foreshadowing the tragedy: “Remember my words, this storm will not pass in vain...”

And a thunderstorm breaks out only in the scene of Katerina’s confession - at the climax of the play, when the heroine speaks about her sin to her husband and mother-in-law, without shame

the presence of other citizens. The thunderstorm is directly involved in the action as a real natural phenomenon. It influences the behavior of the characters: after all, it is during a thunderstorm that Katerina confesses her sin. They even talk about the thunderstorm as if it were alive (“The rain is dripping, as if a thunderstorm is not going to gather?”, “And so it creeps on us, and creeps, as if alive!”).

But the thunderstorm in the play also has a figurative meaning. For example, Tikhon calls his mother’s swearing, scolding and antics a thunderstorm: “But as I know now that there won’t be any thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?”

This fact is also noteworthy: Kuligin - a supporter of the peaceful eradication of vices (he wants to ridicule bad morals in the book: “I wanted to depict all this in poetry ...”). And it is he who invites Dikiy to make a lightning rod (“copper tablet”), which serves here as an allegory, because a gentle and peaceful opposition to vices by exposing them in books - This is a kind of lightning rod.

In addition, the thunderstorm is perceived differently by all characters. So, Dikoy says: “A thunderstorm is being sent to us as punishment.” Dikoy declares that people should be afraid of thunderstorms, but his power and tyranny are based precisely on people’s fear of him. Evidence of this - Boris's fate. He is afraid of not receiving the inheritance and therefore submits to the Wild One. This means that the Wild One benefits from this fear. He wants everyone to be afraid of the thunderstorm, just like him.

But Kuligin treats the thunderstorm differently: “Now every blade of grass, every flower is rejoicing, but we are hiding, afraid, as if some misfortune is coming!” He sees a life-giving force in a thunderstorm. It is interesting that not only the attitude towards thunderstorms, but also the principles of Dikiy and Kuligin are different. Kuligin condemns the lifestyle of Dikiy, Kabanova and their morals: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!..”

So the image of a thunderstorm turns out to be connected with the revelation of the characters of the drama. Katerina is also afraid of thunderstorms, but not as much as Dikoy. She sincerely believes that the thunderstorm is God's punishment. Katerina does not talk about the benefits of a thunderstorm; she is afraid not of punishment, but of sins. Her fear is associated with deep, strong faith and high moral ideals. Therefore, in her words about the fear of thunderstorms, there is no sound of complacency, like Dikiy’s, but rather of repentance: “It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts.” ..."

The heroine herself also resembles a thunderstorm. Firstly, the theme of the thunderstorm is connected with Katerina’s experiences and state of mind. In the first act

a thunderstorm is gathering, as if a harbinger of tragedy and as an expression of the heroine’s troubled soul. It was then that Katerina confesses to Varvara that she loves someone else - not a husband. The thunderstorm did not bother Katerina during her date with Boris, when she suddenly felt happy. A thunderstorm appears whenever storms rage in the soul of the heroine herself: the words “With Boris Grigorievich!” (in the scene of Katerina’s confession) - and again, according to the author’s remark, a “thunderclap” is heard.

Secondly, Katerina’s confession and her suicide was a challenge to the forces of the “dark kingdom” and its principles (“secretly hidden”). Love itself, which Katerina did not hide, her desire for freedom - this is also a protest, a challenge that thundered over the forces of the “dark kingdom” like a thunderstorm. Katerina’s victory is that rumors will spread about Kabanikha, about her role in her daughter-in-law’s suicide, and it will not be possible to hide the truth. Even Tikhon begins to weakly protest. “You ruined her! You! You!" - he shouts to his mother.

So, Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” produces, despite its tragedy, a refreshing, encouraging impression, which Dobrolyubov spoke about: “... the end (of the play)... seems gratifying to us, it’s easy to understand why: it presents a terrible challenge to tyrant power. ..”

Katerina does not adapt to Kabanova’s principles, she did not want to lie and listen to other people’s lies: “You are in vain saying this about me, mamma...”

The thunderstorm also does not obey anything or anyone - It happens both in summer and spring, not limited to the time of year, like precipitation. It is not without reason that in many pagan religions the main god is the Thunderer, the lord of thunder and lightning (thunderstorms).

As in nature, a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky’s play combines destructive and creative forces: “The thunderstorm will kill!”, “This is not a thunderstorm, but grace!”

So, the image of a thunderstorm in Ostrovsky’s drama is multi-valued and multi-sided: while symbolically expressing the idea of ​​the work, it is at the same time directly involved in the action. The image of a thunderstorm illuminates almost all facets of the tragic conflict of the play, which is why the meaning of the title becomes so important for understanding the play.

THEME AND IDEA OF THE PLAY.

The author takes us to the provincial merchant town of Kalinov, whose residents stubbornly cling to the centuries-old way of life. But already at the beginning of the play it becomes clear that those universal human values ​​that Domostroy stands for have long ago lost their meaning for the ignorant inhabitants of Kalinov. For them, it is not the essence of human relationships that is important, but only the form, the observance of decency. It’s not for nothing that in one of the first acts “Mother Marfa Ignatievna” - Kabanikha, Katerina's mother-in-law - received a damning description: “Prude, sir. He gives food to the poor and eats his family.” And for Katerina, the main character of the drama, patriarchal values ​​are full of deep meaning. She, a married woman, fell in love. And he tries with all his might to fight his feelings, sincerely believing that this is a terrible sin. But Katerina sees that no one in the world cares about the true essence of those moral values ​​to which she is trying to cling, like a drowning man to a straw. Everything around her is already collapsing, the world of the “dark kingdom” is dying in agony, and everything she tries to rely on turns out to be an empty shell. Under the pen of Ostrovsky, the planned drama from the life of the merchants develops into a tragedy.

The main idea of ​​the work - the conflict of a young woman 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 looking into Katerina’s soul and understanding her ideas about life. And this can be done thanks to the skill of A. N. Ostrovsky.

Behind the external calm of life lie dark thoughts, the dark life of tyrants who do not recognize human dignity. Representatives of the “dark kingdom” are Dikoy and Kabanikha. First - a complete type of merchant-tyrant, whose meaning of life is to amass capital by any means. The domineering and stern Kabanikha - an even more sinister and gloomy representative of Domostroy. She strictly observes all the customs and orders of patriarchal antiquity, eats her family, shows hypocrisy when giving gifts to the poor, and does not tolerate anyone. The development of action in “The Thunderstorm” gradually reveals the conflict of the drama. The power of the Kabanikha and the Wild over those around them is still great. "But it's a wonderful thing, - writes Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”, - The tyrants of Russian life, however, begin to feel some kind of discontent and fear, not knowing what and why another life has grown up, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving a presentiment and sending bad visions of the dark tyranny of tyrants.” This is the “dark kingdom” - the embodiment of the entire system of life in Tsarist Russia: the lack of rights of the people, arbitrariness, oppression of human dignity and the manifestation of personal will. Katerina - poetic, dreamy, freedom-loving nature. The world of her feelings and moods was formed in her parents' home, where she was surrounded by the care and affection of her mother. In an atmosphere of hypocrisy and importunity, petty tutelage, the conflict between the “dark kingdom” and Katerina’s spiritual world matures gradually. Katerina endures only for the time being. Not finding an echo in the heart of her narrow-minded and downtrodden husband, her feelings turn to a man unlike everyone else around her. Love for Boris flared up with the force characteristic of such an impressionable nature as Katerina; it became the meaning of the heroine’s life. Katerina comes into conflict not only with the environment, but also with herself. This is the tragedy of the heroine’s situation.

For its time, when Russia experienced a period of enormous social upsurge before the peasant reform, the drama “The Thunderstorm” was important. The image of Katerina belongs to the best images of women not only in Ostrovsky’s work, but also in all Russian fiction.

ARTICLE N.A. DOBROLYUBOV “A RAY OF LIGHT IN THE DARK KINGDOM.”

thunderstorm Ostrovsky Dobrolyubov

At the beginning of the article, Dobrolyubov writes that “Ostrovsky has a deep understanding of Russian life.” Next, he analyzes articles about Ostrovsky by other critics, writing that they “lack a direct view of things.”

Then Dobrolyubov compares “The Thunderstorm” with dramatic canons: “The subject of the drama must certainly be an event where we see the struggle between passion and duty - with the unhappy consequences of the victory of passion or with the happy ones when duty wins.” Also, the drama must have unity of action, and it must be written in high literary language. “The Thunderstorm” at the same time “does not satisfy the most essential goal of the drama - to inspire respect for moral duty and show the harmful consequences of being carried away by passion. Katerina, this criminal, appears to us in the drama not only not in a sufficiently gloomy light, but even with the radiance of martyrdom. She speaks so well, suffers so pitifully, everything around her is so bad that you take up arms against her oppressors and thus justify vice in her person. Consequently, drama does not fulfill its high purpose. All the action is sluggish and slow, because it is cluttered with scenes and faces that are completely unnecessary. Finally, the language in which the characters speak exceeds any patience of a well-bred person.”

Dobrolyubov makes this comparison with the canon in order to show that approaching a work with a ready-made idea of ​​what should be shown in it does not provide true understanding. “What to think about a man who, upon seeing a pretty woman, suddenly begins to resonate that her figure is not like that of the Venus de Milo? The truth is not in dialectical subtleties, but in the living truth of what you are discussing. It cannot be said that people are evil by nature, and therefore one cannot accept for literary works principles such as, for example, that vice always triumphs and virtue is punished.”

“The writer has so far been given a small role in this movement of humanity towards natural principles,” - writes Dobrolyubov, after which he recalls Shakespeare, who “moved the general consciousness of people several steps to which no one had risen before him.” Next, the author turns to other critical articles about “The Thunderstorm”, in particular, Apollo Grigoriev, who argues that Ostrovsky’s main merit - in his "nationality". “But what nationality consists of, Grigoriev does not explain, and therefore his remark seemed very funny to us.”

Then Dobrolyubov comes to define Ostrovsky’s plays in general as “plays of life”: “We want to say that with him the general situation of life is always in the foreground. He punishes neither the villain nor the victim. You see that their situation dominates them, and you only blame them for not showing enough energy to get out of this situation. And that’s why we never dare to consider as unnecessary and superfluous those characters in Ostrovsky’s plays who do not directly participate in the intrigue. From our point of view, these persons are just as necessary for the play as the main ones: they show us the environment in which the action takes place, they depict the situation that determines the meaning of the activities of the main characters in the play.”

In “The Thunderstorm” the need for “unnecessary” persons (minor and episodic characters) is especially visible. Dobrolyubov analyzes the remarks of Feklusha, Glasha, Dikiy, Kudryash, Kuligin, etc. The author analyzes the internal state of the heroes of the “dark kingdom”: “everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown up, with different beginnings, and although it is not yet clearly visible, it is already sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants. And Kabanova is very seriously upset about the future of the old order, with which she has outlived the century. She foresees their end, tries to maintain their significance, but already feels that there is no former respect for them and that at the first opportunity they will be abandoned.”

Then the author writes that “The Thunderstorm” is “Ostrovsky’s most decisive work; mutual relations of tyranny are brought to the most tragic consequences; and for all that, most of those who have read and seen this play agree that there is even something refreshing and encouraging in The Thunderstorm. This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the precariousness and the near end of tyranny. Then the very character of Katerina, drawn against this background, also breathes on us with new life, which is revealed to us in her very death.”

Further, Dobrolyubov analyzes the image of Katerina, perceiving it as “a step forward in all of our literature”: “Russian life has reached the point where the need for more active and energetic people was felt.” The image of Katerina “is unswervingly faithful to the instinct of natural truth and selfless in the sense that it is better for him to die than to live under those principles that are disgusting to him. In this integrity and harmony of character lies his strength. Free air and light, contrary to all the precautions of dying tyranny, burst into Katerina’s cell, she strives for a new life, even if she has to die in this impulse. What does death matter to her? Doesn't matter - She does not consider life to be the vegetation that befell her in the Kabanov family.”

The author analyzes in detail the motives of Katerina’s actions: “Katerina does not at all belong to the violent character, dissatisfied, who loves to destroy. On the contrary, this is a predominantly creative, loving, ideal character. That's why she tries to ennoble everything in her imagination. The feeling of love for a person, the need for tender pleasures naturally opened up in the young woman.” But it won’t be Tikhon Kabanov, who is “too downtrodden to understand the nature of Katerina’s emotions: “I won’t understand you, Katya, - he tells her - then you won’t get a word from you, let alone affection, otherwise you’ll get in your way.” This is how spoiled natures usually judge a strong and fresh nature.”

Dobrolyubov comes to the conclusion that in the image of Katerina, Ostrovsky embodied a great popular idea: “in other creations of our literature, strong characters are like fountains, dependent on an extraneous mechanism. Katerina is like a big river: a flat bottom, good - it flows calmly, large stones meet - she jumps over them, cliff - pours in a cascade, damming it - it rages and breaks out elsewhere. It bubbles not because the water suddenly wants to make noise or get angry at obstacles, but simply because it needs it to fulfill its natural requirements. - for further progress."

On June 16 and 17, the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after G. A. Tovstonogov will host the premiere of Andrei Moguchy’s play “The Thunderstorm” based on the play of the same name by Alexander Ostrovsky. Ekaterina Astafieva will talk about the first production of “The Thunderstorm” and the reaction of contemporaries to the play.

First production

Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" was first staged at the Maly Theater on November 16, 1859. The premiere coincided with a benefit performance for actor Sergei Vasiliev, who played the role of Tikhon. Some characters were played by people for whom the playwright wrote the roles specifically. For example, actress Lyubov Nikulina-Kositskaya reincarnated as Katerina, Nadezhda Rykalova played Kabanikha, and Varvara Borozdina even gave the name to the heroine of the play.

The public was delighted, the press was full of laudatory reviews. The author of “Domestic Notes” Dudyshkin wrote: “In a town in which people know how to get rich, in which there must certainly be one large, dirty street and on it something like a guest courtyard, and honorable merchants, about whom Mr. Turgenev said that they “ They usually work around their shops and pretend that they are trading” - in this kind of town, which you and I have seen a lot of, but passed through without seeing, even more so, that touching drama took place that struck us so much.”

"Thunderstorm" in St. Petersburg

The second premiere of “The Thunderstorm” took place on December 2, 1859, already in St. Petersburg. This time the Alexandrinsky Theater opened its doors to spectators. The audience received the performance favorably. Critics especially noted Alexander Martynov, who revealed his talent in the role of Tikhon. Evdokia Panaeva, the wife of the writer Ivan Panaev, writes in her memoirs: “I was at the first performance of Ostrovsky’s The Thunderstorm. Martynov played his role in such a way that his spirit froze at his every word in the last scene, when he rushed to the corpse of his wife, pulled out of the water. All the spectators were shocked by his performance. In “The Thunderstorm” Martynov showed that he also has a remarkable tragic talent.” Unfortunately, the actor’s fate turned out to be tragic: in the summer of 1860 he died of consumption.

Actor Alexander Martynov became famous for playing the role of Tikhon

Glikeria Fedotova as Katerina, Maly Theatre, 1866

A year after the St. Petersburg premiere, the play moved into the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theater, and from there to provincial stages. In 1860, “The Thunderstorm” was published: first it appeared in the magazine “Library for Reading”, and then as a separate publication.

Dark Kingdom

Many famous critics considered it their duty to write a review of Ostrovsky’s drama. In three critical articles published in Sovremennik in 1859-1860, Nikolai Dobrolyubov views the city of Kalinov as a “dark kingdom.” He determines the main rules of drama and then finds out that in Ostrovsky's play most of them are violated. Nevertheless, the author believes that “The Thunderstorm” is “Ostrovsky’s most decisive work.” About the playwright himself, Dobrolyubov writes: “Ostrovsky has a deep understanding of Russian life and a great ability to depict sharply and vividly its most significant aspects.”

Sketches by Golovin for “The Thunderstorm”, 1916

Pisarev vs. Dobrolyubov

Dmitry Pisarev argues with Dobrolyubov in his article “Motives of Russian Drama.” What the first critic majestically calls the “dark kingdom,” the second simply calls the “family chicken coop,” recalling the well-known saying “eggs don’t teach a hen.” And even more so, Pisarev does not consider Katerina a “ray of light.” With his characteristic skepticism, the critic succinctly describes the heroine’s behavior and the essence of the play: “Katerina’s whole life consists of constant internal contradictions; every minute she rushes from one extreme to another; Today she repents of what she did yesterday, and yet she herself does not know what she will do tomorrow; at every step she confuses both her own life and the lives of other people; finally, having mixed up everything she had at hand, she cuts through the lingering knots with the most stupid means, suicide, and even a suicide that is completely unexpected for herself.”

Ivan Goncharov, who served as a censor, left a flattering review of “The Thunderstorm”

“The Thunderstorm” on the stage of the Maly Theater, 1962

Censor Goncharov

A flattering review can be found in a short article by Ivan Goncharov, who at the time of the premiere served as a censor. The writer notes: “Without fear of being accused of exaggeration, I can say in all conscience that there has never been such a work as a drama in our literature. She undoubtedly occupies and will probably for a long time occupy first place in high classical beauties.” Goncharov pays special attention to the language of the characters - “artistically faithful, taken from reality, like the very persons speaking to them.”

In the article “Motives of Russian Drama,” Pisarev argues with Dobrolyubov

After the "Thunderstorm"

The article “After the Thunderstorm” contains letters from the critic Apollo Grigoriev to Ivan Turgenev. Grigoriev considers the play as the work of a national poet. About Ostrovsky he writes: “Ostrovsky is first and foremost a playwright: after all, he does not create his types for Mr. Bov ( Dobrolyubova, approx. "Amateur"), the author of articles about the “Dark Kingdom,” - not for you, not for me, not for anyone, but for the masses, for whom he, perhaps, as their poet, the people’s poet, is also a teacher, but a teacher since then higher points of view that are accessible to it, the mass, and not you, not me, not Mr. Bov, from the points of view, it, the mass, understood, shared by it.”