What is the history of the creation of the drama thunderstorm. The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky. Plot and characters

According to biographers, the idea to write a play came from A.N. Ostrovsky after his trip along the Volga River. Having visited many Volga cities of Russia, he saw how the life of ordinary residents proceeded, looked at the life and customs of the patriarchal way of life. His impressions of what he saw formed the plot of the drama, which Ostrovsky began working on around July 1859, and finished on October 9 of the same year. And already on October 31, this play was allowed to be played on theater stages.

The name of the city Kalinov was invented by the writer. Most likely, this is a collected image of such provincial towns as Torzhok, Kineshma, Tver. A.N. Ostrovsky saw something in common in all these towns, but each of them delighted the writer with something of its own, special. Ostrovsky was greatly impressed by many incidents from everyday provincial life. Everything he saw formed the plot of the play.

Ostrovsky was an accidental witness to many real dialogues and scenes, and in his drama he left everything he saw and heard unchanged. That is why the play became such a success.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, there was an assumption that the plot of the play was taken from a real incident that occurred in the city of Kostroma. And the prototype of Katerina was the young girl Alexandra. It coincided that Alexandra’s mother-in-law mocked her in the same way as Kabanikha mocked Katerina, and her husband, like Tikhon, could not prevent this. Alexandra had a love and relationship with a postal employee, just like Katerina with Dikiy’s nephew, Boris. There are many coincidences, but the play was published in October, and the real incident in Kostroma occurred in November 1859. It became clear that Ostrovsky could not take the Kostroma incident as the plot of the play. But, since he was a smart man, he could imagine what such a hopeless life could lead to.

There are also suggestions that the prototype of Katerina was theater actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, who was the first to play the role of Katerina. Ostrovsky had a relationship with her, but since the actress, like the playwright, had her own family, they did not have a common future.

The premiere of the play “The Thunderstorm,” which included both the legend and the author’s personal drama, took place in the fall of 1859 at the Maly Theater. “The Thunderstorm” was prepared under the personal instruction of Ostrovsky; he himself was involved in reading the play to the actors, assigning roles, and gave instructions on makeup and costumes. The author of the play actively took part in the rehearsal of “The Thunderstorm”. And along the way I continued to work on the text, making some corrections. The play was a great success also thanks to its capable cast. The role of Katerina Kabanova was played by theater actress Lyubov Kositskaya. Ostrovsky wrote this role for her.

In December 1859, censorship allowed the play to be published, and in January 1859 the drama was published in the magazine “Library for Reading”. The Thunderstorm was also published as an independent publication in 1860. And on September 25, 1860, A.N. Ostrovsky was given a prize as the author of the play.

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.

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The play "The Thunderstorm", which by genre intended as a comedy, was written by A. N. Ostrovsky in 1859. At first, the work did not imply a tragic outcome, but in the process of writing, in addition to the conflict of an individual, a socially accusatory orientation clearly emerged. As Ostrovsky wrote the play “The Thunderstorm,” we bring to your attention a brief summary of the actions.

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Characteristics of the work

1. What literary genre (story or short story) does the work “The Thunderstorm” belong to?
2. How many actions are there in the play "The Thunderstorm"?
3. Briefly: what formed the basis of the plot of the drama “The Thunderstorm”?

“The Thunderstorm” is a play in five acts, according to the author’s definition, a drama, but with a genre originality:

• this is a tragedy, since the conflict of the situation leads to tragic consequences;
• present comic elements(ignorant reasoning of the characters in the play);
• the drama of events is enhanced by the everyday ordinariness of what is happening.

The place where the main actions of the play unfold was not chosen by Ostrovsky by chance. Kalinov city- This is a collective image of the Volga cities and villages, the beauty of which the playwright was fascinated by.

But the splendor of endless expanses of water and the discreet beauty of nature cannot overshadow the cruelty, indifference, hypocrisy, ignorance and tyranny that reign behind the facades of elegant houses.

The work, as it is now customary to say, “ based on real events" In the wealthy Moscow merchant family of the Klykovs, the daughter-in-law committed suicide by throwing herself into the Volga, unable to withstand the reproaches and oppression from her mother-in-law, not finding protection from her husband and suffering from secret love to another man.

It is precisely this tragedy of actions that is main storyline works. However, if Ostrovsky had only limited himself to the ups and downs in the life of a young woman, the essay would not have had such a resounding success and would not have caused such a resonance in society. Here is outlined and exposed conflict between old traditions and new trends, ignorance and progress, love of freedom and savagery of the bourgeois world.

Getting to know the characters of the work

The author wrote a story about dramatic events in the form of a play for stage performance. And any script begins with a description of the characters.

Main characters

• Katerina is a young woman of pleasant appearance, God-fearing and meek disposition, with a trembling soul and pure thoughts. Daughter-in-law in the Kabanov family of merchants.
• Boris, an educated young man who was brought up in a different environment, came to support and work with his uncle. Suffering from the surrounding reality. Secretly in love with Katerina.
• Kabanikha (Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna) is a wealthy widowed merchant. Powerful and despotic woman, sanctimoniously covering up her tyranny with reverence for her elders.
• Tikhon Kabanov - Katerina’s husband and Kabanikha’s son - soft-bodied, weak-willed person, completely subordinate to the will of the mother.

Characters

• Varvara is Tikhon’s sister, Kabanikha’s daughter. The girl is “on her own mind”, living by the principle “as long as everything is neat and tidy.” However, good to Katerina.
• Kudryash - Varvarin's suitor.
• Dikoy Savel Prokofievich is an influential merchant in the city. Main character traits - rudeness, rudeness and bad manners, especially to subordinates.
• Kuligin is a local craftsman who dreams of bringing progressive ideas to the city.
• Feklusha is a wanderer, dark and uneducated.
• The lady is a crazy old woman who sends curses to women.
• Glasha – maid at the Kabanovs.

Of no small importance in the play is such a figurative concept as a thunderstorm - harbinger of a cleansing storm for some and God's warning for others.

Important! It should be remembered that the play was written by Ostrovsky in the pre-reform years (1861). The spirit of uplift and expectation of dramatic changes reigned, and it was at this time that the playwright writes about the awakening of the individual, in which Dobrolyubov would later see “something refreshing and encouraging.”

For a more detailed acquaintance with the intricacies of the plot lines of each act of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” their summary is presented below.

Action 1

Volga Bank, public garden in the foreground. Kuligin is delighted with the views. Kudryash and a friend are strolling leisurely nearby. Diky’s swearing is muffled, which surprises no one - this is common occurrence. This time he scolds his nephew Boris. Kudryash sympathizes with the unenviable fate of Dikiy’s relative, who is forced to endure the oppression of his uncle, a tyrant. He himself is one of the few who can repel the rude man: “He is the word, and I am ten; he’ll spit and let it go.”

The abusive speech is heard more and more clearly - Savel Prokofievich and his nephew are approaching those present. Having taken his breath away, having shouted, Dikoy leaves. Boris explains the reason for his forced humility: he and his sister after the death of their parents were left orphans. The grandmother in Kalinov wrote off an inheritance to her grandchildren upon reaching adulthood, and they will get it on condition of respectful and respectful attitude towards uncle. Kuligin assures that this is a utopia: No one will appease the wild one. Boris sadly agrees: and so he works for his uncle for nothing, but there is no use. He feels wild and stuffy in Kalinov - this is not the kind of upbringing and education that their parents gave to their sister and Boris, who previously lived in the capital.

Feklusha and a townswoman enter. Bogomolka praises the beauty of the city, extolling the decorum and virtues of the merchant class, noting the Kabanov family. After the women leave, Kuligin remembers the glorified Kabanikha with an unkind word for her bigotry and domestic tyranny. He shares with Boris his thoughts on the invention of the “perpetum mobile”. For a perpetual motion machine they give a lot of money, which can be used for the benefit of society. But there is no money for parts - it’s such a vicious circle. Boris, left alone, sympathizes with Kuligin, but, remembering his ill-fated fate, also leaves the garden.

Kabanikha appears with her family: son Tikhon with his wife Katerina and Varvara Kabanova. The merchant's wife harasses her son with accusations in his excessive love for his wife and disrespectful attitude towards his mother. The words are intended for Tikhon, but are clearly directed against his daughter-in-law. Tikhon makes excuses in every possible way, his wife tries to support him, which causes a storm of indignation from the mother-in-law and a new wave of accusations against Tikhon, they say, he cannot keep his wife strict, and he is not far from his lover.

After his mother leaves, Tikhon attacks Katerina, accusing her of reproaches Mother. Not wanting to listen to his wife’s objections, he goes to Dikiy to pour vodka over the troubles.

An offended woman complains to her sister-in-law about difficult life with mother-in-law, remembers how well, cleanly and freely she lived with her mother: “in the summer I go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water and that’s it, water all the flowers in the house.”

There was sheer splendor - gold embroidery, church prayers, stories of wanderers.

It's not the same in my husband's house. Katya admits to Varvara that she is visited by bad, sinful thoughts, which she cannot drive away with any prayers. A in her heart there are thoughts about one person.

Then an abnormal lady appears who showers the girls with curses, promising them hellish torment for their sinful beauty. Thunderclaps are heard, a thunderstorm is approaching, and the girls quickly run away.

Act 2

Act 2 begins in the Kabanovs' house. Feklusha and Glasha settled down in the room. The wanderer, watching the maid at work, tells her what is happening in this world. And at least her story replete with lies and ignorance Glasha listens carefully and with interest to Feklushi’s stories; for her this is the only source of information.

Katerina and Varvara appear. They help outfit Tikhon for a week-long business trip to another city. Feklusha has already left, Varvara sends the maid with her things to the horses. Katerina recalls an old childhood story when she ran to the river out of resentment for something, sailed away in a boat and then was found ten miles away. This indicates the decisiveness of her character- despite the girl’s meekness, she tolerates insults for the time being. Varvara asks Katerina who the person is for whom her heart aches. This is Boris Grigorievich - nephew of Savel Prokofievich. Varya assures Katerina that the man also has feelings for the young woman, and after her husband leaves he must arrange a meeting for lovers. The woman gets scared and resolutely refuses this proposal.

Kabanikha and her son come in. She continues to give instructions to Tikhon on how to behave in the city, what instructions to give to his wife in her absence: listen to your mother-in-law and don’t contradict her on anything, don’t sit around like a lady without work, don’t exchange glances with young guys. Tikhon, embarrassed, pronounces these instructions after his mother. They are then left alone. Katerina, as if anticipating trouble, asks Tikhon not to leave her alone or to take her with him to the city. But Tikhon, exhausted by his mother’s nagging, is glad to break free, at least for a short time.

Farewell scene. Katerina hugs her husband, which displeases her mother-in-law, saying that she doesn’t know how to say goodbye properly.

Then Kabanikha rants for a long time about the fact that after the departure of the old people - the last zealots of antiquity, it is not known how the white light will remain.

Left alone, Katya, instead of calming down, comes to complete confusion and thoughts. No matter how much she loaded herself with work, her heart was not in the right place.

Here Varvara pushes her to meet Boris. Having replaced the key to the garden gate, Varya hands it to Katerina. She tries to resist these actions, but then gives up.

Act 3

Kabanova and Feklusha on a bench in front of the merchant's house. They grumble about the vanity of life in big cities, but rejoice in the peace and quiet in their own town. Appears Wild, he's drunk. According to his habit, having become inflamed, he begins be rude to Kabanikha, but she quickly puts him down. Dikoy makes the excuse that the workers upset him in the morning, demanding payment, and to him it’s like a sharp knife in his heart. Having cooled down in conversation with Kabanikha, he leaves.

Boris hasn't seen Katerina for a long time and saddened by this circumstance. Kuligin stands nearby, thinking about the plight of the poor, who have no time for the beauty of nature - they are in need, but in work, and the rich have fenced themselves off with high fences with dogs, and are thinking about how to rob orphans and poor relatives. Kudryash and Varvara approach. They hug and kiss. The girl notifies Boris about the upcoming meeting with Katerina and determines the place in the ravine.

At night, having arrived at the meeting place, Boris meets Kudryash playing the guitar and asks him to give him a seat, but Kudryash resists, arguing that he has long “warmed up” this place for meetings with his girlfriend.

Then Boris admits that he has a date with a married lady here. Curly guesses who comes and warns Boris, because married women are enslaved.

Varvara arrives and takes Kudryash away. The lovers are left alone.

Katerina tells Boris about ruined honor, about God's punishment, but then they both surrender to the power of feelings. Ten days of the husband's absence are spent in unity with the beloved.

Act 4

A partially destroyed gallery, its walls are painted with paintings of the Last Judgment. Here people are hiding from the rain that has begun. Kuligin begs Savel Prokofevich to make donations for the installation of a tower clock in the garden and a lightning rod. Dikoy swears, calling him names Kuligin is an atheist, for a thunderstorm is God’s punishment and no amount of iron can be saved from it.

After Tikhon returns home, Katerina is in complete confusion. Varvara tries to reason with her and teaches her not to show any pretense. She herself has long become skilled in tricks and deceptions. Having not achieved what she wanted, Varya reports to Boris about Katya’s condition.

Thunderclaps are heard. The Kabanov family emerges in full force. Tikhon, noticing wife's strange condition, jokingly asks her to repent of her sins. Noticing how pale Katerina has turned, the sister cuts off her brother’s joke. Boris approaches them. Katya is on the verge of fainting. Varya gives a signal to the young man to leave.

Then the Lady appeared and began to frighten the pullets for their secret sins, and Katerina could not stand it - in a frenzy admits to having a secret relationship with another man throughout all ten days. The scene of the main character's repentance is the climax of the play.

Action 5

Again the Volga embankment, the city garden. It's getting dark. Tikhon approaches Kuligin, who is sitting on the bench. He crushed by Katerina's confession and sends her wishes for a cruel death, then begins to feel sorry for her.

The boar's wife grinds her daughter-in-law at home like rust, but Katya wordless and unresponsive wanders around the house like a shadow. Everything is wrong in the Kabanov family, even Varya ran away with Kudryash from home.

But Tikhon hopes for a favorable outcome- after all, the lover, at the behest of his uncle, is exiled to Siberia for three whole years. Glasha comes and says that Katerina is missing.

Katerina is alone, quietly wandering, talking to herself. She is already decided to give up my life, even though it is a great sin. One thing holds her back - the desire to see her beloved one last time and receive forgiveness from him for bringing misfortune upon him. Boris comes to his beloved's call. He is affectionate with her, says that he does not hold a grudge against her, but fate separates them, and he has no right to take someone else’s wife with him. Katerina cries and asks Boris to give alms to the poor on the way to commemorate her soul. She goes to the shore herself.

Kuligin, Kabanikha and Tikhon are watching the search for the missing Katerina. People with lanterns search the shore. Tikhon is confused by terrible assumptions, The boar accuses her daughter-in-law in a desire to attract attention. Voices are heard from the coast: “The woman threw herself into the water!” Tikhon tries to run there, but his mother won’t let him, promising to curse him. They bring a drowned woman. Katerina beautiful even after death. Kabanov blames his mother for his wife’s death.

Ostrovsky A N - Thunderstorm summary

Thunderstorm. A.N. Ostrovsky (brief analysis)

Towards the end

After the first performance of the play on the stage of the Maly Theater the audience was delighted, the press was full of laudatory notes, the plot of the drama amazed the sophisticated public. Famous critics did not fail to reflect the work in their reviews. So the critic Apollon Grigoriev, writing a letter to I.S. Turgenev, described the plot of the drama as “ denunciation of the tyranny of our lives, and this is the significance of the author, his merit as an artist, this is the power of his action on the masses.”

“The Thunderstorm” was not written by Ostrovsky... “The Thunderstorm” was written by Volga.

S. A. Yuryev

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was one of the largest cultural figures of the 19th century. His work will forever remain in the history of literature, and his contribution to the development of Russian theater is difficult to overestimate. The writer made some changes to the production of plays: attention should no longer be focused on just one character; a fourth scene is introduced, separating the audience from the actors in order to emphasize the conventionality of what is happening; ordinary people and standard everyday situations are depicted. The last position most accurately reflected the essence of the realistic method that Ostrovsky adhered to. His literary work began in the mid-1840s. “Our people are numbered,” “Family pictures,” “Poverty is not a vice” and other plays were written. The drama “The Thunderstorm” has a history of creation that is not limited to just working on the text and writing conversations between the characters.

The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky begins in the summer of 1859, and ends a few months later, in early October.
It is known that this was preceded by a trip along the Volga. Under the patronage of the Maritime Ministry, an ethnographic expedition was organized to study the customs and morals of the indigenous population of Russia. Ostrovsky also took part in it.

The prototypes of the city of Kalinov were many Volga towns, at the same time similar to each other, but with something unique: Tver, Torzhok, Ostashkovo and many others. Ostrovsky, as an experienced researcher, recorded all his observations about the life of the Russian province and the characters of the people in his diary. Based on these recordings, the characters in "The Thunderstorm" were later created.

For a long time there was a hypothesis that the plot of “The Thunderstorm” was completely borrowed from real life. In 1859, precisely at this time the play was written, a resident of Kostroma left home early in the morning, and later her body was discovered in the Volga. The victim was the girl Alexandra Klykova. During the investigation, it became clear that the situation in the Klykov family was quite tense. The mother-in-law constantly mocked the girl, and the spineless husband could not influence the situation. The catalyst for this outcome of events was the love relationship between Alexandra and the postal employee.

This assumption is deeply ingrained in people's minds. Surely in the modern world, tourist routes would already be laid in that place. In Kostroma, “The Thunderstorm” was published as a separate book; during the production, the actors tried to resemble the Klykovs, and local residents even showed the place from which Alexandra-Katerina allegedly threw herself. Kostroma local historian Vinogradov, to whom the famous literature researcher S. Yu. Lebedev refers, found many literal coincidences in the text of the play and in the “Kostroma case”. Both Alexandra and Katerina were married off early. Alexandra was barely 16 years old.
Katerina was 19. Both girls had to endure discontent and despotism from their mothers-in-law. Alexandra Klykova had to do all the menial housework. Neither the Klykov family nor the Kabanov family had children. The series of “coincidences” does not end there. The investigation knew that Alexandra had a relationship with another person, a postal worker. In the play "The Thunderstorm" Katerina falls in love with Boris. That is why for a long time it was believed that “The Thunderstorm” was nothing more than a real-life incident reflected in the play.

However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the myth created around this incident was dispelled due to a comparison of dates. So, the incident in Kostroma occurred in November, and a month earlier, on October 14, Ostrovsky took the play to print. Thus, the writer could not display on the pages what had not yet happened in reality. But this does not make the creative history of “The Thunderstorm” any less interesting. It can be assumed that Ostrovsky, being an intelligent person, was able to predict how the girl’s fate would turn out in the typical conditions of that time. It is quite possible that Alexandra, like Katerina, was tormented by the stuffiness that is mentioned in the play. The old orders are becoming obsolete and the absolute inertia and hopelessness of the current situation. However, one should not completely correlate Alexandra with Katerina. It is quite possible that in the case of Klykova, the reasons for the girl’s death were only everyday difficulties, and not a deep-seated personal conflict, like Katerina Kabanova’s.

The most realistic prototype of Katerina can be called theater actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, who later played this role. Ostrovsky, like Kositskaya, had his own family; it was this circumstance that prevented the further development of the relationship between the playwright and the actress. Kositskaya was originally from the Volga region, but at the age of 16 she ran away from home in search of a better life. Katerina’s dream, according to Ostrovsky’s biographers, was nothing more than the recorded dream of Lyubov Kositskaya. In addition, Lyubov Kositskaya was extremely sensitive to faith and churches. In one of the episodes, Katerina utters the following words:

“... Until death, I loved going to church! Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven, and I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over... And you know, on a sunny day such a light pillar comes from the dome, and smoke moves in this pillar, like clouds, and I see that it used to be as if angels were flying and singing in this pillar.”

The history of the creation of Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is interesting in its own way: there are both legends and personal drama. The premiere of “The Thunderstorm” took place on November 16, 1859 on the stage of the Maly Theater.

“The Thunderstorm” is the history of the creation of Ostrovsky’s play - briefly about the time the drama was written |

The 50-60s of the 19th century were a rather difficult time for all of Russia. It was marked by a broad social upsurge that took place in connection with the emergence of new democratically minded forces and the actualization of the issue of serfdom. Against this background, people started talking loudly about the existing contradictions between generations and about the position of Russian women in the conditions of patriarchal relations that still persisted in most of the country.

In such a difficult situation, it was written, then staged and published, which was quite sensational in those years.

Chronology of work on the drama

The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” raises many questions. Briefly it can be described as follows.

Ostrovsky most likely began work on the work in July 1859 (in any case, no later than this month), and in early October he sent the finished text to the publishing house. This is proven by the original manuscript, which is still kept in the Russian State Library. A month later, the play was already staged on the St. Petersburg stage: on November 16 there was a premiere at the Maly Theater, on December 2 at the Alexandrinsky Theater. The following year it was published in the “Library for Reading” (in No. 1), and a little later it was published as a separate book.

The reaction of progressive minds to the appearance of the play

The new drama of the then-famous “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye” was met with stormy reviews and comments, both positive (for example, the assessment of N. Dobrolyubov, I. Goncharov, P. Pletnev) and condemning (L. Tolstoy, A. Fet). The then-recognized critic D. Pisarev, who in this regard entered into polemics with Dobrolyubov on a number of issues, also reacted ambiguously to Ostrovsky’s new creation. Be that as it may, “The Thunderstorm” will forever be among the playwright’s best plays. And the real reward, undoubtedly, was the Great Uvarov Prize, awarded to authors only for truly brilliant works written for the stage.

Plot and characters

The history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” is largely explained by the action of the drama, which takes place in a small town with the beautiful name Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga. When you meet him, he looks quite prosperous: a magnificent landscape that gives a feeling of peace and quiet. One of the first phrases a viewer hears from a local resident is: “Beauty!” But as you get to know the characters, the mood and general atmosphere change. The playwright skillfully exposes the vices of a society that has lived for centuries according to the laws of house-building. Hence, perhaps, the name of the city - Kalinov, which came from Russian folklore. This is a symbol of an established, scary, “fairy-tale” world that is difficult to destroy.

And now, among the “evil” and powerful forces, a person appears who decides to openly oppose their power - Katerina. The fate of the heroine is tragic, since she has not yet found either like-minded people or defenders (in the person of, for example, the same husband) capable of supporting her in the ongoing confrontation. The young man, in whom she sees her future happiness and a better destiny, also chickened out, not truly understanding Katerina. In conditions where all moral principles have been destroyed, it is difficult to find those responsible for the girl’s death.

Controversy over the origins of the plot

Statements regarding the prototypes and plot basis of the work are very contradictory. Thus, for Kostroma residents, the creative history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” was directly related to recent tragic incidents in their city. Some details indicated that the prototype of Katerina could be an acquaintance of the writer L.P. Kositskaya. People who personally knew the playwright believed that the appearance of “The Thunderstorm” was the result of Ostrovsky’s journey along the Volga.

What prompted such judgments?

Tragedy of the Klykov family

According to the first version, the history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” is connected with an incident in the city of Kostroma. At the beginning of November 1859, one of the city residents, Alexandra Klykova, who was only 19 years old, disappeared. Later, her body was found in the waters of the Volga, and a criminal case was opened on this fact. Two versions were considered: suicide or murder and an attempt to hide the crime. During the investigation, it turned out that the girl had recently been married off, and she ended up in a merchant family, where a despotic mother-in-law who did not take anyone into account completely ruled. Brought up in different conditions, Alexandra was unable to accept her fate and settle into her new family. She did not find support in her husband either - quiet, obedient, inferior to his mother in everything. All these details are easily recognizable in the drama. That is why, after the book appeared in Kostroma, local residents persistently started talking about the fact that the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” was directly related to the life of the Klykov family. And although it later turned out that the work was written a month before this tragedy, the actors who played on the local stage spent a long time making up specifically for the Klykov family. And the place on the banks of the Volga, from which Katerina-Alexandra allegedly threw herself into the waters, was one of the local attractions.

Is the thunderstorm a personal drama of A.N. Ostrovsky?

Another version, concerning the prototype of the main character, is associated with the playwright’s own note in the text. Next to Katerina’s monologue, in which she tells Varenka about her dream, it is written: “I heard from L.P. about the same dream..." For L.P. the famous actress L.P. Kositskaya, who most likely had a relationship with Ostrovsky, is hiding. Both are family people, so they are forced to hide their affection. Researchers explaining the creation of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” and considering this version also refer to the fact that it was Kositskaya who played the role of the main character for the first time. And the playwright, as you know, preferred to choose actors himself to stage his own works at the Maly Theater.

Trip along the Volga

Finally, the third and more probable version - the story of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” is connected with the author’s journey along the great Russian river.

In the summer months of 1856-57, Ostrovsky took part in the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society along the Volga. He visited many settlements located along the banks of the river, met and talked for a long time with local residents, and studied the peculiarities of their way of life. Ostrovsky witnessed many scenes unfolding in individual families and in the city as a whole. He was interested in the smallest details, which he later analyzed in the essay “Journey along the Volga.”

Echoes of these observations can also be found in the drama: a living folk language, typical scenes of communication between people (they, by the way, are often not directly related to the plot, but well characterize the general atmosphere of the city), the features of everyday life are beautifully shown, from different sides. All this confirms that the history of the creation of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” originates in his personal observations and attempts to understand how Russian people live, what hinders the development of the entire social structure of Russia.

Visionary playwright?

Thus, the tragedy that occurred in Kostroma in the fall of 1859 was predicted by Ostrovsky, who knew well the peculiarities of the life of the Russian merchants in the middle of the 19th century. This is a typical situation that could happen in any family living on the vast territory of the Russian state. The playwright successfully depicts the moment when the old forces are still clinging to what is passing and are trying by all means to maintain their power, and the new ones, just emerging, are entering into a difficult struggle, the outcome of which will determine the future fate of Russia. And against this background, it is no longer so important what the history of the creation of the play “The Thunderstorm” is connected with. The main thing is that this could serve as the beginning of progressive changes throughout the life of the country.