The creativity of the Russian playwright Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky is widely known to many readers since his school years. He lived a long life. He was born in eighteen hundred twenty-three, and died in eighteen eighty-six. And on his way of life was one very important date.
This is one thousand eight hundred and fifty-sixth year. In the indicated year, Alexander Nikolaevich moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where literary life was seething. The most popular Russian magazines were published, and here Ostrovsky consolidated his fame as a playwright, which he won back in Moscow.
Features of the era in which the work was written
The drama "Thunderstorm" became the most famous work of this remarkable author . A.N. Ostrovsky wrote it in eighteen fifty-nine. And first of all, it is necessary to say what kind of era it was in Russian life. Only two years remain before the great reform, the abolition of serfdom. This was a period when topics and problems were raised that were previously preferred to be silent.
Attention to the national theme at that time was attracted everywhere. And in newspapers, and in literature, and in the theater. The play in question was awarded the Uvarov Prize. In 1898, the drama written by Ostrovsky, Storm, was first staged at the Maly Theater. The content and images of the play have been pleasing many viewers for one hundred and fifty years.
The plot of it is quite simple. It shows the life of ordinary people of the merchant estate and the inner experiences of the main character Katerina. Her peculiar love for her husband. Subsequent relationship with lover Tikhon. And most importantly - reverence for traditions and God, which prompted Katya to commit suicide in the tragic finale of the work.
Special estate. Genre of work
In his play, Alexander Nikolayevich continued the theme, a connoisseur of which he established himself in the Moscow years. This is the motive of the Russian merchants - estates with their own special traditions. These are people who are not prone to changes in their lives. They live a fairly simple life, and most importantly for them - the observance of traditions. And behind this lies a whole philosophy, which Alexander Nikolaevich knew very well.
Ostrovsky designated the genre of the play Thunderstorm as drama. Readers know that at the end of the work, the main character Catherine dies, not overcoming the difficult circumstances of her personal life. But then this play should belong to the genre of tragedy. How to determine the affiliation of the work, based on the storyline and problems in the drama "Thunderstorm"?
Most likely, it was important for the author to show the drama of Russian reality, which at that time was not important and did not need strong personalities. That is, people for whom internal and spiritual values are more precious than life itself.
Values of merchant families. Complex construction of the work
The virtue of the merchant family is to increase the fortune not for the sake of luxury, but in the name of observing a special code of ethics. This is a very vicious circle where everyone obeys traditions. The son must necessarily continue the work of his father, and not go to enter the university or the service. And the daughter must be infinitely submissive to the will of the parents.
The city of Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga, in which the play takes place, is also a kind of closed world. And the news from the big world comes there with great difficulty. Kalinov is separated from him by many barriers.
The meaning of the title of the drama "Thunderstorm" is conveyed using a complex scheme of constructing the work. It has a lower level - this is a ravine and a whirlpool, the middle one is where the houses of the townsfolk are located, and the upper one is the high bank of the Volga. For ordinary people, going down to a ravine is like going to hell, and going up to the shore to heaven.
The main character is Katerina. Thunderstorm: Transition from Old to New
But there is a main character in the work, which has the opposite. When Katerina descends into the ravine, she overcomes herself, reaches a heavenly state of freedom. And if it rises to a high bank, it means that it came close to death. Because the top and bottom are connected. There is only one jump to the pool.
Life in the city of Kalinov seemed to stop. The image of the inventor Kulibin is very indicative. And he at Ostrovsky comes up with things either long invented, such as a lightning rod, or even impossible at all - such as a perpetual motion machine. All the fates of the inhabitants of the city embody the fate of the inhabitants of then-Russia. All characters are at a crossroads between the old and new ways, including Katerina.
“Thunderstorm” is a play that shows the transition from the traditional merchant world, where a person has no individual fate, private will, but only obedience to what is accepted, to a new world based on the activity of each person. This is what lies behind the simple events of this work. But what is the meaning of the title of the drama "Thunderstorm"? What role does this phenomenon play in the composition of the play?
Natural phenomenon as a character
Thunderstorm is not only a symbol of the work, but also a participant in the main actions of the drama. A common natural phenomenon has a significant effect on the behavior of many characters. Reveals their characters. And first of all, the meaning of the name of the drama "Thunderstorm" is very closely connected with the main character Katerina.
Even her personality resembles this natural phenomenon. Two irreconcilable extremes cannot meet in Katya’s character. She is both a man of tradition and a person living in the spirit of the new time, according to her own emotions. The most important thing is that no one exposes her; there were no witnesses to their visits with Tikhon. She herself admits this.
Katerina, on the one hand, an impulsive person, even threatens to rush into the Volga, and in the end it turns out that way. On the other, she is very devout. She experiences minutes of extraordinary lift in the church. And the love of God in this play sounds very clear and voluminous. And, like many believers at that time, the main character considers this natural phenomenon to be a heavenly punishment. It is during a thunderstorm that Katya confesses her sin.
Vivid but tragic consequences
The more the reader ponders not only the meaning of the title of the drama "Thunderstorm", but also the storyline of the play, the more clearly he understands that Katerina is opposed to not a specific person. Not the Boar, not Boris, not the Wild, but the whole world order. Some forces that far surpass the world in which she lives.
And the main enemy of Katie is inside her mind. She observes traditions, the concept of sin is significant for her, and at the same time she wants to act at the behest of her soul, love and other feelings. This is a dramatic confrontation between man and the elements. And it has not only very bright, but also tragic consequences.