Describe the city of Kalinov in a thunderstorm. An essay on the topic “Thunderstorm - The City of Kalinov and its inhabitants. Kalinov as a kingdom of unhappy people

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was a master of precise descriptions. The playwright in his works managed to show all the dark sides of the human soul. Perhaps unsightly and negative, but without which it is impossible to create a complete picture. Criticizing Ostrovsky, Dobrolyubov pointed to his “folk” worldview, seeing the writer’s main merit in the fact that Ostrovsky was able to notice those qualities in Russian people and society that can hinder natural progress. The theme of the “dark kingdom” is raised in many of Ostrovsky’s dramas. In the play “The Thunderstorm,” the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants are shown as limited, “dark” people.

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

Kabanikha is different from Wild. “Under the guise of piety,” she tries to subordinate everything to her will. She raised an ungrateful and deceitful daughter and a spineless, weak son. Through the prism of blind maternal love, Kabanikha does not seem to notice Varvara’s hypocrisy, but Marfa Ignatievna perfectly understands what she has made her son. Kabanikha treats her daughter-in-law worse than the others. In her relationship with Katerina, Kabanikha’s desire to control everyone and instill fear in people is manifested. After all, the ruler is either loved or feared, but there is nothing to love Kabanikha for.
It is necessary to note the telling surname of Dikiy and the nickname Kabanikha, which refer readers and viewers to wild, animal life.

Glasha and Feklusha are the lowest link in the hierarchy. They are ordinary residents who are happy to serve such gentlemen. There is an opinion that every nation deserves its own ruler. In the city of Kalinov this is confirmed many times. Glasha and Feklusha are having dialogues about how there is “sodom” in Moscow now, because people there are starting to live differently. Culture and education are alien to the residents of Kalinov. They praise Kabanikha for advocating for the preservation of the patriarchal system. Glasha agrees with Feklusha that only the Kabanov family has preserved the old order. Kabanikha’s house is heaven on earth, because in other places everything is mired in depravity and bad manners.

The reaction to a thunderstorm in Kalinov is more similar to a reaction to a large-scale natural disaster. People are running to save themselves, trying to hide. This is because a thunderstorm becomes not just a natural phenomenon, but a symbol of God’s punishment. This is how Savl Prokofievich and Katerina perceive her. However, Kuligin is not at all afraid of thunderstorms. He urges people not to panic, tells Dikiy about the benefits of the lightning rod, but he is deaf to the requests of the inventor. Kuligin cannot actively resist the established order; he has adapted to life in such an environment. Boris understands that in Kalinov, Kuligin’s dreams will remain dreams. At the same time, Kuligin differs from other residents of the city. He is honest, modest, plans to earn money by his own labor, without asking the rich for help. The inventor studied in detail all the ways in which the city lives; knows what is happening behind closed doors, knows about the Wild One’s deceptions, but cannot do anything about it.

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

The given description of the city of Kalinov and its inhabitants will be useful to 10th grade students when preparing an essay on the topic “The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants in the play “The Thunderstorm”.”

Work test

The city of Kalinov and its inhabitants (based on the play “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky)

The action of the play begins with the remark: “A public garden on the high bank of the Volga; beyond the Volga there is a rural view.” Behind these lines lies the extraordinary beauty of the Volga expanses, which only Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic, notices: “... Miracles, truly it must be said that miracles! Curly! Here you are, my brother, for fifty years I’ve been looking across the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of it.” All other residents of the city of Kalinov do not pay attention to the beauty of nature, this is evidenced by Kudryash’s casual remark in response to Kuligin’s enthusiastic words: “Neshto!” And then, to the side, Kuligin sees Dikiy, the “scolder,” waving his arms, scolding Boris, his nephew.

The landscape background of “Thunderstorms” allows you to more clearly feel the stuffy atmosphere of life in Kalinov residents. In the play, the playwright truthfully reflected social relations of the mid-19th century: he characterized the material and legal situation of the merchant-philistine environment, the level of cultural demands, family life, and outlined the position of women in the family. “The Thunderstorm”... presents us with the idyll of the “dark kingdom”... Residents... sometimes walk along the boulevard above the river..., in the evening they sit on the rubble at the gate and engage in pious conversations; but they spend more time at home, doing housework, eating, sleeping - they go to bed very early, so that it is difficult for an unaccustomed person to endure such a sleepy night as they imagine for themselves... Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests the world does not disturb them because it does not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries can open up, the face of the earth can change as he pleases, the world can begin a new life on a new basis - the inhabitants of the town of Kalinov will continue to exist in complete ignorance of the rest of the world...

It is scary and difficult for every newcomer to try to go against the demands and beliefs of this dark mass, terrible in its naivety and sincerity. After all, she will curse us, will run around like people with the plague - not out of malice, not out of calculations, but out of a deep conviction that we are akin to the Antichrist... A wife, according to prevailing concepts, is connected with him (with her husband ) inextricably, spiritually, through the sacrament; no matter what her husband does, she must obey him and share his meaningless life with him... And in general opinion, the most important difference between a wife and a bast shoe is that she brings with her a whole burden of worries from which the husband does not care. can get rid of it, while the footwear gives only convenience, and if it is inconvenient, it can easily be thrown off... Being in such a position, a woman, of course, must forget that she is the same person, with the same right by you, like a man,” wrote N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” Continuing to reflect on the position of a woman, the critic says that she, having decided to “go to the end in her rebellion against the oppression and tyranny of her elders in the Russian family, must be filled with heroic self-sacrifice, must decide on everything and be ready for everything -va”, because “at the first attempt they will make her feel that she is nothing, that they can crush her”, “they will kill her, leave her to repent, on bread and water, deprive her of daylight, try all the home remedies good old times and will still lead to humility.”

Kuligin, one of the heroes of the drama, gives a characterization of the city of Kalinov: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and stark poverty. And never, sir, get out of this bark! Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor in order to make even more money from his free labors... And among themselves, sir, how they live! They undermine each other's trade, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other...” Kuligin also notes that there is no work for the philistines in the city: “The philistines must be given work. Otherwise, he has hands, but nothing to work with,” and dreams of inventing a “perpeta mobile” in order to use the money for the benefit of society.

The tyranny of the Wild and others like him is based on the material and moral dependence of other people. And even the mayor cannot call the Wild One to order, who “will not disrespect any of his men.” He has his own philosophy: “Is it worth it, your honor, for us to talk about such trifles! I have a lot of people every year; You understand: I won’t pay them a penny extra per person, but I make thousands out of this, so it’s good for me!” And the fact that these guys count every penny doesn’t bother him.

And what are Feklusha’s stories about overseas lands worth! (“They say that there are such countries, dear girl, where there are no Orthodox kings, and the Saltans rule the earth... And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads.” But what about distant countries! The narrow-mindedness of the wanderer’s views is especially clearly manifested in the story of the “vision” in Moscow, when Feklusha mistakes an ordinary chimney sweep for an unclean one who “spreads chaff on the roof, but the people invisibly pick it up during the day in their bustle.”

The rest of the city’s residents are a match for Feklusha, you just have to listen to the conversation of local residents in the gallery:

1st: And this, my brother, what is it?

2nd: And this is the Lithuanian ruin. Battle! Do you see? How ours fought with Lithuania.

1st: What is Lithuania?

2nd: So it is Lithuania.

1st: And they say, my brother, it fell on us from the sky.

2nd: I don’t know how to tell you. From the sky, from the sky.

It is not surprising that the Kalinovites perceive a thunderstorm as God’s punishment. Kuligin, understanding the physical nature of the thunderstorm, tries to secure the city by building a lightning rod, and asks Di-kogo for money for this purpose. Of course, he didn’t give anything, and even scolded the inventor: “What kind of elitism is that! Well, what kind of robber are you? A thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we can feel it, but you want to defend yourself with poles and some kind of goads, God forgive me.” But Dikiy’s reaction does not surprise anyone: parting with ten rubles just like that, for the good of the city, is like death. The behavior of the townspeople, who did not even think of standing up for Kuligin, but only silently, from the sidelines, watched as Dikoy insulted the mechanic, is appalling. It is on this indifference, irresponsibility, ignorance that the power of tyrants wavers.

Homework for the lesson

1. Write down the definition of the word in your notebook remark.
2. Look up the interpretation of words in the explanatory dictionary wanderer, pilgrimage.

Question

Where does Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" take place?

Answer

The play takes place in the Volga town of Kalinov.

Answer

Through stage directions.

Already the first remark contains a description of the landscape. "A public garden on the banks of the Volga; beyond the Volga there is a rural view; on the stage there are two benches and several bushes."

The viewer seems to see with his own eyes the beauty of Russian nature.

Question

Which character introduces readers to the atmosphere of the city of Kalinov? How does he characterize the city of Kalinov?

Answer

Kuligin’s words: “Miracles, truly it must be said that they are miracles! ...for fifty years I have been looking at the Volga every day and I can’t get enough of everything. The view is extraordinary! Beauty. My soul rejoices.”

Question

What laws underlie the life of Mr. Kalinov? Is everything as good in the city of Kalinov as it seems at first glance?

Answer

Kuligin speaks about the inhabitants of his city and their morals as follows: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, are cruel. In the philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty. And we, sir, will never get out of this hole !"

Despite the fact that Kalinov is located in a beautiful place, each of its residents spends almost all of their time behind the high fences of their estates. “And what tears flow behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!” - Kuligin paints a picture of the city.

Next to poetry, there is a completely different, ugly, unsightly, repulsive side of Kalinov’s reality. Here merchants undermine each other's trade, tyrants mock their households, here they receive all information about other lands from ignorant wanderers, here they believe that Lithuania “fell from the sky on us.”

Nothing interests the residents of this city. Occasionally some incredible rumor will fly here, for example that the Antichrist has been born.

News is brought by wanderers who have not wandered for a long time, but only convey what they have heard somewhere.

Wanderers- a common type of people in Rus' who go on pilgrimage. Among them there were many individuals who were purposeful, inquisitive, hardworking, who had learned and seen a lot. They were not afraid of difficulties, road inconveniences, or meager food. There were among them the most interesting people, sort of philosophers with their own special, original attitude to life, who traveled from Rus' on foot, endowed with a keen eye and figurative speech. Many writers loved to talk with them, L.N. showed particular interest in them. Tolstoy, N.S. Leskov, A.M. Bitter. A.N. also knew them. Ostrovsky.

In acts II and III, the playwright brings the wanderer Feklusha onto the stage.

Exercise

Let's turn to the text. Let's read the dialogue between Feklushi and Glasha by role. P.240. (II act).

Question

How does this dialogue characterize Feklusha?

Answer

This wanderer intensively spreads superstitious tales and absurd fantastic rumors throughout the cities and villages. Such are her messages about the belittlement of time, about people with dog heads, about scattering tares, about a fiery serpent... Ostrovsky did not portray an original, highly moral person, but a selfish, ignorant, deceitful nature that cares not about its soul, but about its stomach.

Exercise

Let's read the monologue of Kabanova and Feklushi at the beginning of Act III. (P.251).

A comment

Feklusha is readily accepted in Kalinov’s houses: her absurd stories are needed by the owners of the city, wanderers and pilgrims support the authority of their government. But she also disinterestedly spreads her “news” throughout the city: they will feed you here, give you something to drink here, give you gifts there...

The life of the city of Kalinov with its streets, alleys, high fences, gates with strong locks, wooden houses with patterned shutters, and townspeople was reproduced by A.N. Ostrovsky in great detail. Nature has fully “entered” the work, with the high Volga bank, expanses beyond the river, and a beautiful boulevard.

Ostrovsky so carefully recreated the scene of the play that we can very clearly imagine the city of Kalinov itself, as it is depicted in the play. It is significant that it is located on the banks of the Volga, from the high slope of which wide open spaces and boundless distances open up. These pictures of endless expanses, echoed in the song “Among the Flat Valley,” are of great importance for conveying the feeling of the immense possibilities of Russian life and, on the other hand, the constraint of life in a small merchant town. Volga impressions were widely and generously included in the fabric of Ostrovsky's play.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky showed a fictitious city, but it looks extremely authentic. The author saw with pain how politically, economically and culturally backward Russia was, how dark the country's population was, especially in the provinces.

It seems as if Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world by a tall fence and lives some kind of special, closed life. But is it really possible to say that this is a unique Russian town, that life is completely different in other places? No, this is a typical picture of Russian provincial reality.

Homework

1. Write a letter about the city of Kalinov on behalf of one of the characters in the play.
2. Select quotation material to characterize Dikiy and Kabanova.
3. What impression did the central figures of “The Thunderstorm” – Dikaya and Kabanov – make on you? What brings them together? Why do they manage to “tyrannize”? What is their power based on?

Literature

Based on materials from the Encyclopedia for Children. Literature Part I
Avanta+, M., 1999

The theater season of 1859 was marked by a bright event - the premiere of the work “The Thunderstorm” by playwright Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. Against the background of the rise of the democratic movement for the abolition of serfdom, his play was more than relevant. As soon as it was written, it was literally torn from the author’s hands: the production of the play, completed in July, was on the St. Petersburg stage already in August!

A fresh look at Russian reality

A clear innovation was the image shown to the viewer in Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm”. The playwright, born in a merchant district of Moscow, thoroughly knew the world he presented to the audience, inhabited by philistines and merchants. The tyranny of the merchants and the poverty of the townspeople reached completely ugly forms, which, of course, was facilitated by the notorious serfdom.

Realistic, as if written off from life, the production (initially in St. Petersburg) made it possible for people buried in everyday affairs to suddenly see the world in which they live from the outside. It's no secret - mercilessly ugly. Hopeless. Indeed, it is a “dark kingdom”. What they saw was a shock to the people.

Average image of a provincial town

The image of the “lost” city in Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” was not only associated with the capital. The author, while working on material for his play, purposefully visited a number of settlements in Russia, creating typical, collective images: Kostroma, Tver, Yaroslavl, Kineshma, Kalyazin. Thus, the city dweller saw from the stage a broad picture of life in central Russia. In Kalinov, the Russian city dweller learned about the world in which he lived. It was like a revelation that needed to be seen, realized...

It would be unfair not to note that Alexander Ostrovsky adorned his work with one of the most remarkable female characters in Russian classical literature. The author used the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya as a prototype for creating the image of Katerina. Ostrovsky simply inserted her type, manner of speaking, and lines into the plot.

The radical protest against the “dark kingdom” chosen by the heroine - suicide - was also not original. After all, there was no shortage of stories when, among the merchants, a person was “eaten alive” behind “high fences” (expressions taken from Savel Prokofich’s story to the mayor). Reports of such suicides periodically appeared in Ostrovsky's contemporary press.

Kalinov as a kingdom of unhappy people

The image of the “lost” city in Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” was indeed similar to the fairy-tale “dark kingdom”. Very few truly happy people lived there. If ordinary people worked hopelessly, leaving only three hours a day for sleep, then employers tried to enslave them to an even greater extent in order to further enrich themselves from the labor of the unfortunate.

Prosperous townspeople - merchants - fenced themselves off from their fellow citizens with tall fences and gates. However, according to the same merchant Dikiy, there is no happiness behind these constipations, because they fenced themselves off “not from thieves,” but so that it would not be seen how “the rich... eat their household.” And behind these fences they “rob relatives, nephews...”. They beat the family members so much that they “don’t dare make a murmur.”

Apologists of the “dark kingdom”

Obviously, the image of the “lost” city in Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” is not at all independent. The richest townsman is the merchant Dikoy Savel Prokofich. This is the type of person who is unscrupulous in his means, accustomed to humiliating ordinary people and underpaying them for their work. So, in particular, he himself talks about an episode when a peasant turns to him with a request to borrow money. Savel Prokofich himself cannot explain why he went into a rage then: he cursed and then almost killed the unfortunate man...

He is also a real tyrant for his relatives. His wife daily begs visitors not to anger the merchant. His domestic violence forces his family to hide from this tyrant in closets and attics.

The negative images in the drama “The Thunderstorm” are also complemented by the rich widow of the merchant Kabanov, Marfa Ignatievna. She, unlike Wild, “eats” her family. Moreover, Kabanikha (this is her street nickname) tries to completely subjugate her household to her will. Her son Tikhon is completely deprived of independence and is a pitiful semblance of a man. Daughter Varvara “didn’t break,” but she changed radically internally. Her principles of life were deception and secrecy. “So that everything is covered up,” as Varenka herself claims.

Kabanikha drives his daughter-in-law Katerina to suicide, extorting compliance with the far-fetched Old Testament order: bowing to her husband as he enters, “howling in public,” seeing off her husband. The critic Dobrolyubov in his article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” writes about this mockery like this: “It gnaws for a long time and relentlessly.”

Ostrovsky - Columbus of merchant life

Characteristics of the drama “The Thunderstorm” were given in the press of the early 19th century. Ostrovsky was called “Columbus of the patriarchal merchants.” His childhood and youth were spent in a region of Moscow populated by merchants, and as a court official, he more than once encountered the “dark side” of the life of various “Wild” and “Boars”. What was previously hidden from society behind the high fences of mansions has become obvious. The play caused a significant resonance in society. Contemporaries recognized that the dramatic masterpiece raises a large layer of problems of Russian society.

Conclusion

The reader, getting acquainted with the work of Alexander Ostrovsky, certainly discovers a special, non-personified character - the city in the drama “The Thunderstorm”. This city created real monsters that oppress people: Wild and Kabanikha. They are an integral part of the “dark kingdom”.

It is noteworthy that it is these characters who with all their might support the dark patriarchal meaninglessness of house-building in the city of Kalinov, and personally instill misanthropic morals in it. The city as a character is static. It was as if he had frozen in his development. At the same time, it is noticeable that the “dark kingdom” in the drama “The Thunderstorm” is living out its days. Kabanikha’s family is collapsing... Expresses concerns about Dikaya’s mental health... The townspeople understand that the natural beauty of the Volga region is discordant with the heavy moral atmosphere of the city.

In the play “The Thunderstorm,” A.N. Ostrovsky immediately immerses the reader in the gloomy environment of Kalinov, called by N.A. Dobrolyubov the “dark kingdom.” A special world truly reigns in this Volga town; time seems to have stood still there.

I think the Russian critic quite rightly called Kalinov “the dark kingdom.” Patriarchal foundations are strong in it, and residents blindly observe life and customs that have not changed for centuries. The Kalinovites have learned: they honor the laws of their ancestors, everything else is from the devil himself and will certainly lead to death.

In the city there are respected guardians of the “only correct” foundations, first of all, the merchant’s wife Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, who is called Kabanikha behind her back.

Relationships here are built on material dependence, therefore power belongs to the owners of capital. Kabanikha vigilantly monitors the preservation of the old orders and believes that non-compliance with patriarchal traditions will destroy the whole world. The merchant's wife suppresses any dissent in the bud, even at the cost of destroying the lives of loved ones - trust, son, daughter-in-law.

Kabanikha is not alone in her aspirations; her views are shared by many townspeople. This is also facilitated by the wanderer Feklusha, who tells stories about the “horrors” happening outside Kalinov. Such an environment is not conducive to a full-blooded life: people rarely leave their backyards, do not want to develop, or learn about something new.

The younger generation wants to live differently, but they do not have the strength to resist rich tyrants. Local youth are adapting to life as best they can. Kabanikha’s son happily travels out of town on business, where he can take a break from his mother’s reproaches and go on a spree. Daughter Varvara lives for her own pleasure, but in order to avoid conflicts, she constantly deceives her wayward mother. Progressive Kuligin has many ideas to improve the lives of city residents, but the “fathers” of the city do not listen to his advice. He has to put up with refusals and live the dream of creating a perpetual motion machine.

The only person who openly opposes the established foundations is Tikhon Kabanov’s wife. It is Katerina who does not want to adapt, please and put up with injustice. It seems to me that only this young woman is an integral and strong personality in all of Kalinov. That is why Katerina is the only “ray of light in the dark kingdom.”

Updated: 2017-01-21

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefits to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.