Ostrovsky life of a merchant. Portrayal of merchants in the plays of A.N. Ostrovsky “Thunderstorm” and “Forest. Who are they, the masters of life? Let's look at the example of the main characters

On the integration of the humanitarian and aesthetic cycles in lessons using the example of the topics “The Image of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Literature and Fine Arts” and “The Legend of the Tower of Babel in Russian Literature and Architecture”, see the Festival of Pedagogical Ideas “Open Lesson”. Collections of theses for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 academic years.

Material “The World of Merchants in the Works of A.N. Ostrovsky and in the painting by P.A. Fedotov" can be used in the 10th grade in lessons studying the biography of the playwright and the plays "Our People - Let's Be Numbered", "The Thunderstorm" and others.

Illustrative material – reproductions of P. Fedotov’s paintings “Major’s Matchmaking”, “The Picky Bride” and others. “Ostrovsky’s world is not our world,” argued literature researcher Yu.I. at the beginning of the twentieth century. Aikhenwald, - and to a certain extent we, people of a different culture, visit it as strangers...” Yes, it is difficult for us, and even more so for our students, to understand the world in which Ostrovsky’s heroes live, their psychology, the motives that drive their actions. Once in his early youth, the writer felt that it was his duty to open a new, albeit familiar, space to the public: “Until now, only the position and name of this country were known; as for its inhabitants, that is, their way of life, language, morals, customs, degree of education - all this was covered in the darkness of the unknown.

This country, according to official news, lies directly opposite the Kremlin, on the other side of the Moscow River, which is probably why it is called Zamoskvorechye.”

These words are not just a joke. Ostrovsky really introduced the educated public into a world unknown to them. Over the years, he wrote a great many plays about Moscow merchant life. His life, not rich in adventures, fed his imagination, and he created more and more new stories.

Today's children need to rediscover this world. We want to know what the inhabitants of this mysterious country looked like? Let's walk through the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery, look at the paintings of Perov, Pryanishnikov, Fedotov. We want to hear the voices of these people, their speech, intonations - let's open the works of Ostrovsky. Zamoskvorechye was a special world of merchants and petty officials, living according to their own separate laws. Church rituals were strictly observed here (mixing superstitions into them), ancient customs reigned here, native Russian speech was heard, they even dressed differently here than in the city center.

The quiet flow of life, the ancient way of life, the customs of the Moscow merchants, who often settled in Zamoskvorechye - all these impressions shaped the personality of the young Ostrovsky. In 1850, the magazine “Moskvityanin” published the comedy “Bankrut” (“We will count our own people”), which was prohibited from being staged. Nicholas I himself drew attention to the play. He considered that the comedy was printed in vain, and instructed the Minister of Public Education to carry out the necessary educational work with the author. The comedy hit the stage only more than ten years later, and in its initial version, without censorship interference, in 1881. V.F. Odoevsky, in one of his letters, attested to the hitherto unknown author and the work itself: “...I believe there are three tragedies in Rus': “The Minor,” “Woe from Wit,” “The Inspector General.” On “Bankrut” I put number four.”

The young author, then still an official of the Commercial Court, took the plot of the comedy from his professional practice. In court, he often encountered various fraudulent tricks of merchants. In this environment, it was the most ordinary thing to declare oneself an insolvent debtor and refuse to repay debts to trusted creditors. This is what the head of the family, Samson Silych Bolshov, does. And his daughter Lipochka, even though she is a merchant’s daughter, dreams of marrying a nobleman, that is, a military man: “I won’t marry a merchant, I won’t marry him for anything. Is that why I was brought up like that: I learned French, the piano, and dancing!” Students join the discussion with interest: was marriage possible between representatives of different classes - nobles and merchants? Was he equal? Why did such marriages still take place?

At the same time, an unprecedented number of visitors gathered for the academic art exhibition of 1849. Everyone was in a hurry to see “The Major’s Matchmaking,” a painting by a hitherto unknown author Pavel Fedotov. Next to the Venuses and Apollos that were fashionable at that time, this small everyday scene depicting an arranged marriage breathed modernity and novelty. It was as if the artist didn’t have enough of what the audience would see in the painting, and he read the poem-verses he composed, which revealed the plot of the painting:

Honest gentlemen,
Come here!
Welcome,
We won't ask for money:
Look for nothing
Just wipe your glasses thoroughly...
Here is a merchant's house,
There's plenty of everything in it,
There’s just no point in anything:
One smells like a village,
Another tavern.
There is only one point here,
That everything was not borrowed,
How do you sometimes
Honest gentlemen!..
But if you please take a look:
Like a merchant owner,
Father of the bride
Doesn't work well with a frock coat...
But if you please take a look:
Like our bride
Foolishly he won’t find a place...
Like in another room
The hawk threatens the turtle dove,
Like a fat, brave major,
The pocket is full of holes,
Twists his mustache:
“I, they say, will get to the money!”

The artist wrote about himself: “My father was a warrior of Catherine’s times; He rarely talked about campaigns, but he saw a lot in his lifetime... He was married twice: the first time to a captured Turkish woman, the second time to my mother. Our family lived in a small house (in Moscow). We lived very poorly, but as long as my father could serve, we didn’t feel any particular need. My father had immeasurable honesty, but, like many honest old men, it was clothed in harsh, cruel, angular forms... Every day I saw dozens of people of the most varied character, picturesque and, above all, close to me. Our numerous relatives... consisted of simple people, unsettled by social life, our servants formed part of the family, chatted in front of me and appeared wide open; the neighbors were all familiar people...” Thus, being already a mature man, Pavel Andreevich Fedotov recalled the environment of his early childhood. He talked about his childhood often and willingly, visibly worried, depicted his family in their faces, and reproduced their voices. Eyewitnesses recalled what a brilliant performance it was. The future artist is a multi-talented person: he not only draws, but also composes music and writes poetry. All these hobbies, however, did not prevent Fedotov from brilliantly graduating from the Moscow Cadet Corps (he was assigned there according to family tradition) and then regularly serving in the Life Guards Finnish Regiment in St. Petersburg. The young officer did not give up his art studies there either; he attended drawing classes at the Academy of Arts.

Let's return to the 1848 exhibition. Painting “Major's Matchmaking”. Before us is a living, like a spied scene. Look at it carefully and try to tell what is depicted here, what story formed the basis of the plot of the picture, try to reveal its content.

Students talk, draw their conclusions and generalizations.

The author introduces the viewer into the atmosphere of merchant life. Take a look at the decor and you will feel like you are in a merchant’s house, where everything speaks of the sustainability of life, the lifestyle of its inhabitants: a painted ceiling, a rich chandelier, an embroidered tablecloth on a set table; on the walls there are symmetrically hung portraits of generals, a clergyman, and a merchant.

What is happening here at the moment captured by the artist? It’s easy to see that everyone in the house is excited: the matchmaker has brought the groom. Here he is standing at the door, straightening his mustache. The embarrassed bride tries to run away, but is held back by her angry mother. And the owner of the house - a bearded merchant - hastily buttons up his frock coat. All the characters are in motion, so we can anticipate future events. In a minute, the groom will appear in the room, the bride will stop simpering, the mother will not be angry, everyone will sit down at the table, and the conversation will begin.

In the skillfully constructed mise-en-scène, it is easy to read not only the external outline of events, but also their socio-psychological meaning: the major is clearly going to get rich by marrying a merchant’s daughter. For a merchant, it is very tempting to become related to a nobleman by giving his daughter in marriage to a “noble” man. Typical marriage deal.

The more we look at the picture, the more clearly we notice that the major’s arrival was not unexpected, as it might seem at first glance. The house carefully prepared for the groom's visit. This is evidenced not only by the table set for dinner, but also by the expensive outfits of the women and the abundance of household members busy preparing for the reception.

In the architectonic construction of “The Major’s Matchmaking,” Fedotov creatively used the principles of the classic “law of balance,” which contributes to the impression of compactness and harmonious coherence of the image. Thus, the chandelier, which is a kind of “plumb line” in the picture, divides the composition into two halves along the vertical axis, holding together the figures of mother and daughter in the center of the picture. The remaining members of the family, together with the servants and the matchmaker, upon careful examination, turn out to be located symmetrically to the central vertical axis of the rear wall of the interior, passing right through the center of the portrait of the ancestor, the founder of the merchant family, whose important posture contrasts with the fussiness of the members of the merchant family, enhancing the critical perception of the matchmaking scene.

Fedotov’s color plays an active role in creating an artistic image. The artist uses color and light to highlight the main characters and place semantic accents. Fedotov's mastery in conveying the materiality of objects is perfect. Look at how the transparency of the bride’s light muslin dress is conveyed, the heaviness of the merchant’s satin dress with sparkling light reflections on it and golden reflections from the shiny floor, the shine of the gilded frames on the walls and the fragility of the crystal glasses on the table. You experience the same pleasure from looking at the characters in the picture as from reading the monologues and dialogues of Ostrovsky’s characters. For example, Lipochka (“We’ll be our own people”), in response to matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna’s question about how many dresses she has, she lists: “But count: a blonde wedding dress on a satin cover and three velvet ones - that’s four; two gas and crepe, embroidered with gold - that’s seven; three satin and three grosgrain - that's thirteen; seven Grodenaples and Grodafriks are twenty; three marceline, two muslindeline, two chineroyal - is that a lot? - three and four seven, and twenty - twenty-seven; four crapeshelids is thirty-one. Well, there are also up to twenty pieces of muslin, muslin and calico; Yes, there are blouses and hoods - either nine or ten. Yes, I recently sewed it from Persian fabric.”

The student makes a report about the outfits of a Moscow merchant's wife, illustrating it with reproductions of paintings by B. Kustodiev and photographs of dresses from the collection of the State Historical Museum. Many merchants and tradeswomen depicted in the portraits hold handkerchiefs of thin transparent linen, tulle, silk, muslin or lace. This detail, which gave a naturalness to the gesture, was truly a work of seamstress art. They fanned themselves languidly with handkerchiefs, like fans. In the painting by P.A. Fedotov, the bride threw a flirtatious handkerchief on the floor, which gives the whole scene some additional completeness and grace.

Before realizing the concept of the work, Fedotov nurtured every image, every detail for a long time. According to him, his main work was not in the workshop, but “on the streets and in other people’s houses.” Where did he go to find nature! With what difficulty he sometimes had to get people to agree to pose for him! Under various pretexts, he entered unfamiliar houses, searched, looked for types and suitable objects.

“...There may be such lucky people for whom imagination immediately gives the desired type,” said Fedotov. – I am not one of them, and perhaps I am too conscientious to pass off a game of fantasy as possible. When I needed a type of merchant for my “Major”, I often walked around Gostiny and Apraksin Dvor, looking closely at the faces of the merchants, listening to their conversation and studying their tricks... Finally, one day, at the Anichkov Bridge, I met the realization of my ideal, and no one lucky man, who had been assigned the most pleasant rendezvous on Nevsky, could not be more delighted with his beauty, as I was delighted with my red beard and thick belly... I accompanied my discovery home, then found an opportunity to meet him... studied his character... and then only brought it into my picture. For a whole year I studied one face, but what did the others cost me!”

Fedotov’s painting “The Major’s Matchmaking” has not lost its charm to this day. It is dear to us as evidence of the talent and skill of a remarkable artist of the 19th century, as the first manifestation of critical realism in Russian painting. After this picture, Fedotov was recognized by the public. Criticism has written a lot about him. In 1848, the Academy of Arts awarded Fedotov the title of academician. When Fedotov came to Moscow in 1850 to see his relatives and help them organize family affairs, the artist’s joy knew no bounds: the exhibition of paintings he organized was a huge success here too.

The last years of the artist's life were very difficult. he suffered from the imperfection of life, from loneliness, poverty, but out of pride he did not like to talk about it. Many plans remained unfulfilled, the paintings started were unfinished. The man could not bear the constant mental stress and backbreaking labor. In 1852, Pavel Andreevich Fedotov died in a private psychiatric hospital. Not a single line about the artist’s death was published in any of the St. Petersburg newspapers. He died at the age of 37.

“Fedotov died,” wrote V.V. Stasov, having produced barely a small grain of the wealth with which his nature was gifted. But this grain was pure gold and later bore great fruits... For the first time, Fedotov deeply and powerfully touched upon that same terrible “dark kingdom,” which a few years later Ostrovsky brought onto the stage with all the power of his talent.”

List of used literature

1. Kuznetsova E.V. Conversations about Russian art from the 19th century to the beginning of the 19th century: a manual for teachers. – M.: Publishing house “Enlightenment”, 1972.
2. The legend of happiness. Prose and poetry by Russian artists. – M.: Moscow worker, 1987.
3. Morov A.G. Three centuries of the Russian stage. Book 1. From the origins to the Great October Revolution. – M.: Publishing house “Enlightenment”, 1978.
4. Ostrovsky A.N. Dramaturgy. – M.: OOO Publishing House “Olympus”, 2002.
5. Arkhangelsky A. A. N. Ostrovsky. The artistic world of the writer.// Literature, 2001, No. 33.
6. Karakash T. “You overtook me…” // Art at school, 1999, No. 3.
7. Gerasimova E. Country of A.N. Ostrovsky // Young artist, 1996, No. 1.
8. Aleshina T. Outfits of a Moscow merchant's wife.// Young artist, 1995, No. 7.
9. Stasov V.V. Selected works, vol.2.- M.: Art, 1952.

Despite the fact that merchants increasingly entered into the system of economic management of the country, becoming deputies of the Dumas, councils, city mayors and even governors, they never engaged in politics. A thoroughly practical, rather than philosophical, mindset pushed them towards practical forms of city management. There was another powerful tool - charity. The generosity of the Russian merchants amazed both compatriots and foreigners with its scope. With the money of merchants, gymnasiums, schools, hospitals, charity homes, theaters, and exhibition galleries were opened. Merchants established personalized scholarships for the best students, paid for the education of the most gifted abroad, sponsored performances and tours of dramatic and ballet companies. Merchant families adorned the pediments of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

The impressive amounts of donations, which became known to everyone, gave the merchant enormous weight in society and this helped against the social inferiority complex. But there was another important reason. This is the increased religiosity of the merchants, who, in their desire for grace in eternal life, followed the gospel formula: “Whoever clothed the naked, fed the hungry, visited the prisoner, clothed Me, fed Me, visited Me.”

In 1917, the merchant class ceased to exist due to the abolition of the class division, and in subsequent years it either dissolved into the general mass of builders of communism or emigrated.

Thus, we examined the formation of the “merchant class” as a class. To summarize, we can say that a merchant is an industrialist or a sales representative, he seeks to obtain his benefit. They are very religious and generous, they do charity work, but this is also done for profit. The “merchant class” is uneducated, despite this they strive to educate their children and grandchildren. For a Russian merchant, a fat, statuesque horse and a fat, statuesque wife are the first blessings of life. The nobles envy them. In Russia, they looked at merchants “somehow wonderfully,” because he is a man like everyone else, only he wears a blue frock coat. We can observe the evolution of this image in the works of Russian writers.

One of the first works depicting the merchant environment was the almost forgotten comedy by P. A. Plavilshchikov “Sidelets”, where the Moscow merchant Khariton Avdulin, together with his fellow merchants, wants to deceive and rob his pet, who serves as his housekeeper. But the honest policeman Dobrodotelev intervenes, and everything ends well.

U I. A. Krylova There is fable, and entitled "Merchant". It talks about the instructions that a merchant gave to his nephew: “Trade my way, so you won’t lose money.” The merchant teaches how to sell rotten cloth for good English cloth, but the merchant himself turns out to be deceived, since the buyer pays him with counterfeit money. The words of the fable are very revealing:

<…> The merchant deceived: there is no wonder in that;

But if someone comes into the world

He will look above the shops, -

He will see that he is going to the same place there too...

In N.V. Gogol little is said about merchants. Like other Russian writers, there are no positive merchant types, but some of their characteristics have become proverbial. Mayor in "The Inspector General""calls the merchants "samovar makers", "arshinniks", "proto-beasts", "sea swindlers". “Samovarnik” and “arshinnik” - literally stuck to the merchant with Gogol’s light hand.

The merchant receives the same short and to the point description by A. N. Nekrasov in “Who Lives Well in Rus'”:

Kupchina fat-bellied! -

The Gubin brothers said,

Ivan and Metrodor...

In the poem “Railroad” we will also find a description of the merchant’s appearance:

In a blue caftan - a venerable meadowsweet,

Thick, squat, red as copper,

A contractor is traveling along the line on holiday,

He goes to see his work.

The idle people part decorously...

The merchant wipes the sweat from his face

And he says, putting his hands on his hips:

“Okay...something...well done!..well done!

In Saltykov-Shchedrin, people of the trading class occupy an insignificant place. However, he also has interesting information. Here is an excerpt from the monologue of the merchant Izhburdin:

“Before, how did we trade? Sometimes a peasant would bring you a dozen bags, and then leave, and come back for the money, they say, in a week. And he will come in a week, and I don’t know him, I don’t know who he is. The poor fellow will leave, and there will be no authority over you, because both the mayor and all the clerk's brothers are pulling your hand. This is how they made money, and in their old age they atone for their sins before God.”

P. A. Buryshkin in his book “Merchant Moscow” about the inimitable comic storyteller, artist of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg I. F. Gorbunov. He himself wrote monologues for his stage performances, which for the most part have not survived. Scenes from merchant life occupied the main place in his repertoire. He also had a larger work - the comedy “Tyrant”, where, according to the recollections of those who read and saw it, he surpassed Ostrovsky himself in exposing merchant dishonesty and crime.

Melnikov-Pechersky in his chronicle “In the Forests” and “On the Mountains” devotes quite a lot of space to describing merchant life in Nizhny Novgorod, its environs and in remote areas (half the country gathered for the fair in Nizhny). These are almost always schismatics, opponents of the Nikonian Church (Melnikov-Pechersky was a deep expert on the Russian schism and religious issues constitute the main content of his chronicles). The heroes from the merchant environment are very busy with these issues, but this does not prevent them from building their business on deception and fraud, which indicates some kind of inviolability of these qualities in merchant characters, regardless of faith. There is one amazing episode in the chronicle “In the Woods”. Amazing due to its exclusivity (it is difficult, maybe even impossible, to find similar reviews about merchants on the pages of Russian literature). In a conversation with the main character Chapurin, his future son-in-law tells him about the beginning of the textile business in the Kostroma province:

And how things began. A smart man with good income turned up, we agreed, he was pious in the ancient way. He was called Konovalov. He started a small weaving establishment, and with his light hand the business took off, and off it went. And the people became rich, and now live better than those here. You never know there are such places in Russia. And in every case, a good deed began with one person. If we had more Konovalovs, the people would live well.”

This quote is still an exception from the vast gallery of samovar makers, arshinniks, fat-bellied merchants, rogues and swindlers.

A. N. Ostrovsky gave the largest number of images from the merchant environment to Russian literature. It is in his works that the merchant becomes the main character. In Ostrovsky we see “completely respectable and respectable people” as swindlers and criminals. This image is not idealized. Merchants are uneducated, and the main value is material well-being. They are able to neglect others, considering themselves the exception. Devoid of any morality.

Ostrovsky is the “discoverer” of such a class as the merchants. It was he who first identified this type as a serious literary object, proved that this hero is also interesting and deserves no less attention.

THE IMAGE OF A MERCHANT IN THE PLAY BY A. N OSTROVSKY

"THE OWN PEOPLE - WE'LL BE COUNTED."

Ostrovsky's first full-act play to appear in print was “Our People - Let's Be Numbered!” It was written in 1846-1849. entitled “Bankrupt”, and was published under the well-known title in the magazine “Moskvityanin” for 1850. This is one of Ostrovsky’s most famous plays. The “merchant theme” and the related themes of money, tyranny, and ignorance are fully represented here. This play is interesting to us as an artistic testimony of an eyewitness to merchant life, customs, and language in the second half of the forties of the 19th century, that is, in pre-reform Russia. The interpretation of the image of the merchant in the comedy was not satisfactory, for which the Moscow merchants, upon the release of the play, demanded to open a “case” against Ostrovsky.

According to the initiators of Ostrovsky’s “case,” the playwright distorted the positive image of the Moscow merchant, turning “completely respectable and respected” people into swindlers and criminals. They also argued that malicious bankruptcy, depicted by the playwright as a natural phenomenon and typical of the merchant environment, was not such at all. However, not all readers and critics thought so. G.V. Granovsky, for example, spoke of the play as “the devil's luck”; T. Shevchenko wrote in his diary: “... as if Ostrovsky’s comedy “Our own people - we will be numbered!” banned on stage at the request of the Moscow merchants. If this is true, then the satire could not have achieved its goal.”

So, for the first time in literature, the merchant became the main character. Already in the poster, which gives a list of characters with a brief description: “Bolshov Samson Silych. Merchant". Then everything falls on the shoulders of the characters and the author, as it were, is eliminated from the action, without giving it any interpretations or comments.

The main theme: exposing relations within the merchant class, appears in the title - “Our own people - we will be numbered!” Calculation between your own? Paradox. Just not for the merchant circle, where everything is accustomed to being measured in market terms. All the characters in the play are “our people”, relatives, or as employees would say now, but that is not the only reason why they are “our people”. Ostrovsky wants to show that they are all equally immoral and pay each other with one “coin” - betrayal for the sake of money. So the very name of the play “Our people - let's be numbered!” turns us to the topic of nepotism and the topic of money.

The poster then gives the names of the characters. Ostrovsky loved to give his heroes “talking” names. These names directly correlate with the unchanging inner qualities of the heroes (a tradition well known from Fonvizin, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, etc.). For such “straightforwardness,” Ostrovsky more than once listened to reproaches from critics who considered this technique old and naive (its roots in classicism), but until the end of his life he did not abandon this technique. Ostrovsky’s method is not as straightforward as it seems. A meaningful surname never defines his entire image; “it serves only as one of the means of characterization, pointing to some property of the image.” In the play “Our People – We Will Be Numbered!” a catastrophic change is depicted, a shift in human relations, in the social position of the main characters (who was “nobody” becomes “everyone”).: “And we’ll give you money, sir, just to get rid of it!” So be it, I’ll add another five kopecks.”

This shift completely changes the social position of the heroes. The situation changes, but the name remains. For example; the main character is Samson Silych Bolshov, whose name and surname speak for themselves, since they convey the hero’s assessment of the environment, which corresponds to his self-esteem. The name is read literally as Bogatyr - Great Power. Such semantic excess (each of these words already expresses the desired meaning), triple repetition exaggerates the hero’s power and at the same time makes him comical. If we conduct a little cultural analysis, we will see that Samson, according to the Old Testament legend, is a defeated, blinded hero, defeated by cunning. Thus, just by naming his hero on the poster, the playwright already determines the outcome of the conflict for him.

At the beginning of the play, we really have an omnipotent owner in front of us, in the prime of life, strength and business: “We have enough cash, all bills have come due”; “We’ll do something else that you don’t expect.” At the end, covered in shame, accompanied by a convoy, he hides his face from the townspeople, whom he just recently looked down on: “Tell me, daughter: go, you old devil, into the pit! Yes, into the hole! To jail him, the old fool"; “Don’t forget, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, that there are cages with iron bars, poor prisoners sitting there. Don’t forget us poor prisoners”; “Just think about what it’s like for me to go into a hole now. Should I close my eyes, or what? Now Ilyinka will seem a hundred miles away to me. Just think what it’s like to walk along Ilyinka.”

Composition

A. N. Ostrovsky is not just a master of drama. This is a very sensitive writer who loves his land, his people, his history. His plays attract attention with their amazing moral purity and genuine humanity.

“The Thunderstorm” was written in 1859, during the period of the rise of the social movement, when the need for political and economic change was felt by everyone. The playwright very accurately and vividly reproduced the atmosphere of the patriarchal merchant class, which emanates mossy, narrow-mindedness, savagery, which does not know the desire for knowledge, interest in discoveries in the field of science, in socio-political and economic problems.

The only enlightened person in the play, Kuligin, looks like an eccentric in the eyes of the townspeople. His selfless desire to do good does not meet with support from the townspeople. But he does not oppose Kalinov’s world; he humbly endures not only ridicule, but also rudeness and insult.

It seems as if Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world by a high fence and lives some kind of special, closed life. This is a typical picture of Russian provincialism. The playwright focused on the most important things, showing the wretchedness and savagery of the morals of Russian patriarchal life.

Why is there no place for something new and fresh here? Because this whole life is based on familiar, outdated laws that seem completely ridiculous to us. This is standing still. Stagnation. Its consequences are terrible and unpredictable. People either become dumber or adapt. And, which is rare, they try to protest. Stagnation is always possible when it is supported by people in power. These in Kalinov are Dikoy and Kabanikha.

It is no coincidence that in the list of characters only three are fully named: Savel Prokofievich Dikoy, a merchant, a significant person in the city; Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, rich merchant's wife, widow; Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, her son. They are honorary citizens of their city. These are three different characters, but they are all generated by the “dark kingdom”. Dikoy is depicted in only three scenes, but a complete image appears before us, a type of tyrant.

Ostrovsky not only introduced the word “tyrant” into literature, but also investigated why such a phenomenon arises and on what basis. And this soil is unlimited power and the absence of true culture. Dikoy swaggers in front of his nephew, in front of his family, but retreats in front of those who are able to fight back. Rude and unceremonious, he can no longer be different. Even his speech distinguishes him from other characters.

The very first appearance of this hero on stage reveals his nature. He takes advantage of the fact that his nephew Boris is financially dependent on him: “What the hell, he came here to beat me up! Parasite! Get lost. I told you once, I told you twice: “Don’t you dare appear towards me”; “You’re itching for everything!”; “Fail!” etc. Dikoy behaves differently with Kabanova, although out of habit he is rude to her.

In the Wild there are features inherent in the people. Thus, he perceives natural phenomena in purely religious traditions. To Kuligin’s request to give money for the construction of a lightning rod, Dikoy proudly replies: “It’s all vanity.” Stinginess and unbridledness are, of course, not purely individual qualities of the Wild. These are typical features of patriarchal merchants. But it stood out from the people's environment. But, having become detached from folk culture, this part of the merchant class lost the best aspects of its national character.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is perceived as a strong and powerful character. After the death of her husband, she took all power in the house into her own hands. And not only in the house, but also in the city, no one dares to argue with her. Kabanikha takes the house-building order seriously. She is sincerely upset by the decline in morality among young people, the disrespectful attitude towards the laws to which she herself obeyed unconditionally. The heroine stands up for a strong, lasting family, for order in the house, which, in her opinion, is possible only if all the rules prescribed by the house-building are observed. She cares more about the stormy children - Tikhon and Varvara.

"The Thunderstorm" is a wonderful textbook for studying the merchant life of that time. This life is shown in the play from all sides - both from within the merchant circle itself, and through the relationships of people who are not members of it.

Another work in which Ostrovsky showed the life of the merchants was “The Forest”. This comedy was written in 1871, when the old way of life in post-reform Russia was being rebuilt in a new way. In his work, Ostrovsky reflected the state of Russian society at that time. The writer managed to cover a fairly wide range of social strata, brought together people who would previously have been impossible to imagine together: representatives of the district nobility, provincial actors, merchants, a poor pupil, a dropout high school student.

The comedy “The Forest” is closely connected with its time: the fates of the heroes fit into a great historical time. In a concentrated form, all changes in the life of society were reflected in the family. With the collapse of serfdom, patriarchal foundations in the life of society and family are destroyed. A person finds himself alone with himself. All this is happening against the backdrop of completely new economic relations.

In the very first act, we learn that the fate of the forest, which Raisa Pavlovna Gurmyzhskaya sells, decides the fate of many people. The huge estates of Gurmyzhskaya are melting, they are being bought up by yesterday’s “man,” the merchant Vosmibratov. The landowners realize that under Vosmibratov’s ax the forests surrounding their estates and symbolizing the inviolability of feudal relations are dying. They understand that Vosmibratov will not spare the forms of life familiar to the “noble nests”, and will not spare the beauty of the forests. In the play, Ostrovsky shows the clash of material interests of the landowners and the bourgeoisie.

It would seem that these two plays are separated by only twelve years, but how different are the characters and worldviews of the characters! If in “The Thunderstorm” the old merchants are trying with all their might to prevent the penetration of everything new into life, to preserve patriarchal traditions and pass them on to their children, then in the play “The Forest” the desire for something new and change has embraced almost everyone, even representatives of the older generation. At the same time, all the rules of decency and tact are forgotten. Well, these are signs of the times, and Ostrovsky reflected them as accurately as possible in his works.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

All the characters in the play, both main and secondary (matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna, housekeeper Fominichna and others) are depicted satirically. At the beginning of his work, Ostrovsky immediately declared himself as a satirist writer, a successor to the tradition of D. I. Fonvizin, A. S. Griboyedov, N. V. Gogol. And the playwright’s subsequent works only strengthened and expanded his fame.

K. N. Rybakov (Bolshov) and M. P. Sadovsky (Podkhalyuzin) staged by the Maly Theater in 1892. A merchant's daughter of marriageable age, Olympiada (Lipochka) Samsonovna Bolshova, sits alone at the window with a book and, reasoning, “what a pleasant activity these dances are,” begins to waltz: she hasn’t danced for a year and a half and is afraid, if anything, “to be embarrassed.” She doesn't dance well. The mother, Agrafena Kondratyevna, enters. Mother and daughter are arguing. The daughter demands to find her a groom. Matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna arrives. Lipochka wants a “noble” groom, her father is rich, her mother is a merchant, “so that he can baptize his forehead in the old-fashioned way.” Sysoy Psoich Rispozhensky, a lawyer expelled from court for drunkenness, comes. They make fun of him. Bolshov seriously needs a lawyer: he is considering whether to declare himself an insolvent debtor. The women leave and the owner and the lawyer delve deeper into this topic. The solicitor advises to transfer all property to the clerk Lazar Elizarych Podkhalyuzin. He also comes in, telling how he teaches the shop assistants how to deceive customers “more naturally.” Bolshov is reading a newspaper. In Moscow there is a chain of bankruptcies, mostly “malicious”, intentional ones; and each, each refusal to pay debts naturally entails the following. Then the merchant makes up his mind. The main question: can you trust someone to whom you will transfer your goods, hidden from the inventory for debts? Podkhalyuzin sends the boy Tishka to fetch rowan wood for Rispozhensky, with whom he has business. Lazar is in love with Lipochka and is already making new plans, including marrying her. And, treating the lawyer, he asks how much Bolshov promised him for “all this mechanics,” and he himself promises not a thousand, but two. The matchmaker comes, he promises her the same amount and a sable fur coat to boot, if she discourages the intended “noble” groom. The house is getting ready for matchmaking. Samson Silych is also solemn in his own way, but Ustinya Naumovna appears with bad news: supposedly the groom is being capricious. The housekeeper Fominishna, Rispozhensky, Lazar join the company, and Bolshov solemnly announces Lazar as the groom. Commotion. Lipochka is making a scandal. Lazar follows the hostess and, left face to face with the enraged Lipochka, informs her that the house and shops are now his, and “your little brother is bankrupt, sir!” Lipochka, after a pause, agrees, with the condition: “We will live on our own, and they will live on their own. We will run everything according to fashion, and they will do it as they want.” The family celebration begins. Bolshov announces: “You, Lazar, will have a house and shops instead of a dowry, and we’ll count it out of the cash... Just feed the old woman and me, and pay the creditors ten kopecks each. - Is it worth talking about this, darling? . We’ll be our own people!” At the end of the comedy, Bolshov ends up in prison, and Podkhalyuzin is left with all his wealth.

Bibliography

1. Collection composition in 10 vols. , ed. N. N. Dolgova, 1919--1924

2. Maksimov S., A. N. Ostrovsky (According to my recollections), “Russian Thought”, 1897 3. Nelidov F., Ostrovsky in the circle of the “Young Muscovite”, “Russian Thought”, 1901 4. Kropachev N., A . N. Ostrovsky in the service of the imperial theaters, M., 1901 5. Morozov P., A. N. Ostrovsky in his correspondence (1850--1855), “Bulletin of Europe”, 1916 6. Belchikov N., A. N. . Ostrovsky (Archival materials), “Art”, 1923, 7. Pigulevsky A., A. N. Ostrovsky as a literary figure, Vilna, 1889

Similar documents

Biography and creative path of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. Representation of the merchant class, bureaucracy, nobility, and acting environment in the works of the playwright. Stages of Ostrovsky's creativity. Original features of realism by A.N. Ostrovsky in the drama "The Thunderstorm".

presentation, added 05/18/2014


Family situation in childhood and early youth of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. The beginning of literary activity. Friends and inspirers of Ostrovsky. Awarding the writer with the Uvarov Prize. Work on the commission under the directorate of the Imperial Theaters.

presentation, added 09/13/2012


Obvious and unknown facts of Ostrovsky’s biography, his works on the modern stage. Analysis of the play "Our people - let's be numbered, or Bankrupt." Her reading a century and a half later, the performance of the municipal Izhevsk youth theater "Young Man".

course work, added 05/20/2011


Basic information about childhood and youth, about A.N.’s parents. Ostrovsky. Years of study and the beginning of the writer’s creative path, first attempts at writing in drama. Collaboration of the playwright with the Sovremennik magazine. The drama "The Thunderstorm" and its connection with the writer's personal life.

presentation, added 09/21/2011


The concept of the comic in the literature of the 19th century. Comic as a literary and aesthetic category. The concept of the comic in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Don't get into your own sleigh." Comedy and morality, a comic background as a contrast for tragically colored situations.

thesis, added 03/26/2010


The main aspects of A.N. Ostrovsky’s life path: family, education received. First successes in writing plays. The role of a trip along the Volga for the formation of a worldview. Works of 1860-1880: displaying the post-reform nobility, the fate of women.

presentation, added 03/20/2014


Biography of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky - playwright, one of the most prominent representatives of Russian realistic theater. My first passion for theater, the beginning of my creative path. The most popular dramatic works of Ostrovsky.

presentation, added 10/20/2014


Features of the image of the “little man” in the literature of the era of realism. The history of this phenomenon in world literature and its popularity in the works of writers: Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky. The spiritual world of the hero in the works of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky.

report, added 04/16/2014


Theater in Russia before A.N. Ostrovsky. From early to mature creativity (plays). Ideas, themes and social characters in the author's dramatic works. Creativity (democracy and innovation of Ostrovsky), directions of social and ethical dramaturgy.

course work, added 06/09/2012


The problem of a turning point in social life, a change in social foundations in A. Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm". The image of Kuligin is a simple tradesman, a self-taught mechanic, a noble dreamer. The positive traits of the hero, his protest against tyranny and savagery in society.