How Dobrolyubov treats the victims of the dark kingdom. Victims of the Dark Kingdom in the play The Thunderstorm essay


If Dikoy and Kabanikha can be called tyrants, then Tikhon Kabanov, rightly, is called a downtrodden and humiliated person.
He has no will of his own and no thought of his own. “How can I, Mama, disobey you!” “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will!” - this is the only kind of speech that his mother hears from him. She, of course, approves of him for this; but, as usually happens with this kind of people, she herself does not respect him. She calls him a fool; She contemptuously says to him: “Why are you pretending to be an orphan! Why are you being so naughty? Well, what kind of husband are you? Look at yourself!”


And his sister Varvara does not respect him. Tikhon is a kind man and not essentially bad: he loves, in his own way, his wife, he believes her; he doesn’t want his wife to be afraid of him. But there is not enough love in his soul to protect the poor woman from insults, and he himself insults her on his mother’s orders. His own will and the opportunity to roam freely, without supervision, are most valuable to him. He reproaches his wife for the fact that his mother sharpened him with reproaches; He openly tells Katerina that he is glad to get out of the house, that he and his mother “drove” him. He himself, stupidly and blindly, destroys his wife, himself, and the possibility of his happiness. Katerina, afraid of her impulses, asks him to take her with him, but refuses. “Have you really stopped loving me?” asks the poor woman.
“Yes, I haven’t stopped loving you,” he answers, “but with this kind of bondage you can run away from whatever beautiful wife you want!” Just think: no matter what I am, I am still a man; Living like this all your life, as you see, will run away from your wife. But as I know now that there won’t be any thunderstorms over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?”
“How can I love you when you say such words?” Katerina exclaims mournfully.


Tikhon has a heart; when Katerina begins to repent in front of her mother-in-law and tells her about her misdeed, he tries to stop her in order to hide the matter from her merciless mother. He then sympathizes with his wife’s torment... But he still does what his mother orders: he beats Katerina at her command. Having no thoughts of his own, he, drunk out of grief, deliberately prepares himself for hostile feelings, in accordance with his mother’s views. The man of conscience and feelings defeats his blindly submissive son only when Katerina committed suicide. “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you...” But this is a late protest and unnecessary; Yes, it’s hardly durable. Maybe Kabanikha is right when she speaks with confidence in response to him: “Well, I’ll talk to you at home!”
This is one element of life depicted in “The Thunderstorm” - the element of tyrant oppression of the strong over the weak, humiliating and shameful belittlement of the weak.

In the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom”, under the yoke of tyrant power, living human feelings fade and wither, the will weakens, the mind fades. If a person is endowed with energy and a thirst for life, then, adapting to the circumstances, he begins to lie, cheat, and dodge.

Under the pressure of this dark force, the characters of Tikhon and Varvara develop. And this power disfigures them - each in its own way.

Tikhon is depressed, pitiful, impersonal. But even Kabanikha’s oppression did not completely kill the living feelings in him. Somewhere in the depths of his timid soul there glimmers a flame - love for his wife. He does not dare to show this love, he does not understand the complex spiritual life of Katerina and is glad to leave even her, just to escape from his home hell. But the fire in his soul does not go out. Confused and depressed, Tikhon shows love and pity for his wife who cheated on him. “And I love her, I feel sorry for laying a finger on her...” he confesses to Kuligin.

His will is paralyzed, and he does not even dare to help his unfortunate Katya. However, in the last scene, love for his wife overcomes fear of his mother, and a man awakens in Tikhon. Over Katerina’s corpse, for the first time in his life, he turns to his mother with accusations. Here before us is a man in whom, under the influence of terrible misfortune, the will has awakened. Curses sound all the more menacing because they come from the most downtrodden, most timid and weak person. This means that the foundations of the “dark kingdom” are really crumbling and Kabanikha’s power is wavering, if even Tikhon spoke like that.

Traits different from those in Tikhon are embodied in the image of Varvara. She does not want to endure the power of tyrant force, she does not want to live in captivity. But she chooses the path of deception, cunning, dodging, and this becomes habitual for her - she does it easily, cheerfully, without feeling any remorse. Varvara claims that it is impossible to live without lies: their whole house rests on deception. “And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.” Her everyday philosophy is very simple: “Do whatever you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.” However, Varvara was cunning while she could, and when they began to lock her up, she ran away from home. And again the old Testament ideals of Kabanikha are crumbling. The daughter “disgraced” her house and broke free from her power.

The weakest and most pitiful of all is Dikiy’s nephew, Boris Grigorievich. He speaks about himself: “I’m walking around completely dead... Driven, beaten...” This is a kind, cultured person who stands out against the backdrop of the merchant environment. However, he is not able to protect either himself or the woman he loves; in misfortune, he only rushes about and cries and is unable to respond to abuse.

In the scene of his last date with Katerina, Boris evokes contempt in us. Like Kudryash, he is afraid to run away with the woman he loves. He is afraid to even talk to Katerina (“They wouldn’t find us here”). This is exactly the case, according to the proverb, from weakness to meanness there is only one step. Boris’s powerless curses sound submissively and cowardly: “Oh, if only these people knew what it’s like for me to say goodbye to you! My God! May God grant that they may someday feel as sweet as I do now. Goodbye, Katya!.. You are villains. Monsters! Oh, if only there was strength!

He does not have this power... However, in the general chorus of protesting voices, even this powerless protest is significant.

Among the characters in the play, contrasted with the Wild and Kabanikha, Kuligin judges the “dark kingdom” most clearly and sensibly. This self-taught mechanic has a bright mind and a broad soul, like many talented people from the people. It is no coincidence that Kuligin’s surname itself resembles the surname of the remarkable self-taught inventor from Nizhny Novgorod Kulibin.

Kuligin condemns the possessive instincts of the merchants, cruelty towards people, ignorance, and indifference to everything truly beautiful. Kuligin's opposition to the “dark kingdom” is especially expressive in the scene of his confrontation with Dikiy.

When asking for money for a sundial, Kuligin is not concerned about himself, he is interested in “the benefits for all ordinary people in general.” But Dikoy won’t even understand what we’re talking about, the very concept of public interests is so alien to him. The interlocutors seem to speak different languages. Dikoy often simply does not understand Kuligin’s words, especially when he quotes his favorite poets of the 18th century. Dikoy reacts to Kuligin’s respectful remarks, decorated with quotes, in a very unique way: “Don’t you dare be rude to me!” - and scares Kuligin with the mayor.

Kuligin is an extraordinary person. But it was not he who was called by Dobrolyubov “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” Why? Yes, because Kuligin is powerless, weak in his protest. Just like Tikhon, like Boris, Kuligin is afraid of tyrant power and bows before it. “There is nothing to do, we must submit!” - he says humbly. Kuligin teaches others to be obedient. So, he advises Kudryash: “It’s better to endure it.” He recommends the same to Boris: “What should we do, sir? We must try to please somehow.”

Only in the fifth act, shocked by the death of Katerina, Kuligin rises to open protest. A harsh accusation is heard in his last words: “Here is your Katerina. Do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; but her soul is now not yours: she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” With these words, Kuligin not only justifies Katerina’s suicide, which freed her from oppression, but also blames the merciless judges for her death, who killed their victim.

And what tears flow behind these constipations,

invisible and inaudible.

A. N. Ostrovsky

Tyranny and despotism, suppressing the dream of freedom and independence in those around them, inevitably give rise to intimidated and downtrodden people who do not dare to live by their own will. Such victims of the “dark kingdom” include Tikhon and Boris in the drama “The Thunderstorm”.

Since childhood, Tikhon has become accustomed to obeying his mother in everything, so accustomed that in adulthood he is afraid to act against her will. He endures all of Kabanikha’s bullying meekly, not daring to protest. “How can I, mamma, disobey you!” - he says and then adds: “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live by my own will!”

Tikhon's only cherished desire is to escape, at least for a short time, from under the care of his mother, drink, go on a spree, go on a spree so as to be off for a whole year. In the farewell scene, Kabanikha’s despotism reaches the extreme and Tikhon’s complete inability not only to protect, but also to understand Katerina is revealed. Kabanikha, with her instructions, brought him to complete exhaustion, and he, maintaining a respectful tone, is looking forward to when this torture will end.

Tikhon understands that by fulfilling his mother’s will, he is humiliating his wife. He feels ashamed of her and feels sorry for her, but he cannot disobey his mother. And so, under his mother’s dictation, he teaches Katerina, trying at the same time to soften the rudeness of his words and the harshness of his mother’s intonations. Powerless to protect his wife, forced to play the pathetic role of a tool in the hands of Kabanikha, Tikhon does not deserve respect. Katerina’s spiritual world is incomprehensible to him, a person who is not only weak-willed, but also narrow-minded and simple-minded. “I can’t figure you out, Katya! You won’t get a word from you, much less affection; “otherwise you climb on your own,” he tells her. He also did not understand the drama brewing in his wife’s soul. Tikhon unwittingly becomes one of the culprits of her death, since he refused to support Katerina and pushed her away at the most critical moment.

According to Dobrolyubov, Tikhon is “a living corpse - not one, not an exception, but a whole mass of people subject to the corrupting influence of the Wild and Kabanovs!”

Boris, Dikiy's nephew, in terms of his level of development is significantly higher than his environment. He received a commercial education and is not devoid of “a certain degree of nobility” (Dobrolyubov). He understands the savagery and cruelty of the morals of the Kalinovites. But he is powerless, indecisive: material dependence puts pressure on him and turns him into a victim of his tyrant uncle. “Education took away from him the strength to do dirty tricks... but did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do,” notes Dobrolyubov.

Boris sincerely loves Katerina, is ready to suffer for her, to ease her torment: “Do with me what you want, just don’t torture her!” He is the only one among everyone who understands Katerina, but is unable to help her. Boris is a kind, gentle person. But Dobrolyubov was right, who believed that Katerina fell in love with him “more in solitude,” in the absence of a more worthy person. Material from the site

Both of them, Tikhon and Boris, failed to protect and save Katerina. And both of them were doomed by the “dark kingdom”, which turned them into weak-willed, downtrodden people, to “live and suffer.” But even people as weak, weak-willed, resigned to life, and driven to extremes as the inhabitants of Kalinov are capable of condemning the despotism of tyrants. Katerina’s death pushed Kudryash and Varvara to search for a different life and forced Kuligin to turn to the tyrants for the first time with a bitter reproach. Even the unfortunate Tikhon leaves his mother’s unconditional submission and regrets that he did not die with his wife: “Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay in the world and suffer!” Of course, the protest of Varvara, Kudryash, Kuligin, Tikhon has a different character than that of Katerina. But Ostrovsky showed that the “dark kingdom” was beginning to loosen, and Dikoy and Kabanikha showed signs of fear of incomprehensible new phenomena in the life around them.

1. The storyline of the drama “The Thunderstorm”.
2. Representatives of the “dark kingdom” - Kabanikha and Dikoy.
3. Protest against the foundations of sanctimonious morality.

Imagine that this same anarchic society was divided into two parts: one reserved the right to be mischievous and not know any law, and the other was forced to recognize as law every claim of the first and meekly endure all its whims and outrages.

N. A. Dobrolyubov The great Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky, the author of wonderful plays, is considered the “singer of merchant life.” The depiction of the world of Moscow and provincial merchants of the second half of the 19th century, which N. A. Dobrolyubov called the “dark kingdom,” is the main theme of A. N. Ostrovsky’s work.

The play "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1860. Its plot is simple. The main character Katerina Kabanova, not finding a response to her feminine feelings in her husband, fell in love with another person. Not wanting to lie, tormented by remorse, she confesses her offense publicly, in church. After this, her existence becomes so unbearable that she throws herself into the Volga and dies. The author reveals to us a whole gallery of types. Here are tyrant merchants (Dikoy), and guardians of local morals (Kabanikha), and pilgrim pilgrims telling fables, taking advantage of the lack of education of the people (Feklusha), and home-grown scientists (Kuligin). But with all the variety of types, it is not difficult to see that they all diverge along two sides, which could be called: “the dark kingdom” and “victims of the dark kingdom.”

The “Dark Kingdom” is represented by people in whose hands the power is. These are those who influence public opinion in the city of Kalinov. Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova comes to the fore. She is respected in the city, her opinion is taken into account. Kabanova constantly teaches everyone how they “did it in the old days,” whether it concerns matchmaking, seeing off and waiting for a husband, or going to church. Kabanikha is the enemy of everything new. She sees him as a threat to the established course of things. She condemns young people for not having “due respect” for their elders. She does not welcome enlightenment, because she believes that learning only corrupts minds. Kabanova says that a person should live in fear of God, and a wife should also live in fear of her husband. The Kabanovs’ house is full of praying mantises and pilgrims, who are well fed here and who receive other “favors”, and in return they tell what they want to hear from them - tales about lands where people with dog heads live, about “crazy” people in large cities inventing all sorts of innovations like the steam locomotive and thereby bringing the end of the world closer. Kuligin says about Kabanikha: “Prudence. He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family...” Indeed, Marfa Ignatievna’s behavior in public differs from her behavior at home. The whole family is in fear of her. Tikhon, absolutely suppressed by his domineering mother, lives with only one simple desire - to get out, even if only for a short time, from the house to have fun. He is so oppressed by his home situation that neither the requests of his wife, whom he loves, nor his work can stop him if even the slightest opportunity is given to go away somewhere. Tikhon’s sister Varvara also experiences all the hardships of family life. But she, compared to Tikhon, has a stronger character. She has the courage, albeit secretly, not to obey her mother’s harsh temper.

The head of another family shown in the play is Dikoy Savel Prokofievich. He, unlike Kabanikha, who covers up her tyranny with hypocritical reasoning, does not hide his wild disposition. Dikoy scolds everyone: neighbors, workers, family members. He gives up and doesn’t pay the workers: “I know that I have to pay, but I still can’t…”. Dikoy is not ashamed of this; on the contrary, he says that each of the workers will be missing a penny, but “for me this makes thousands.” We know that Dikoy is the guardian of Boris and his sister, who, according to the will of their parents, should receive their inheritance from Dikoy “if they are respectful to him.” Everyone in the city, including Boris himself, understands that he and his sister will not receive an inheritance. After all, nothing and no one will stop the Wild One from declaring that they were disrespectful to him. Dikoy directly says that he is not going to part with the money, since he “has his own children.”

Tyrants rule the city behind the scenes. But this is the fault not only of the representatives of the “dark kingdom” itself, but also of its “victims”. None of them dare to openly protest. Tikhon strives to escape from home. Tikhon’s sister Varvara dares to protest, but her philosophy of life is not much different from the views of representatives of the “dark kingdom.” Do what you want, “as long as everything is sewn and covered.” She secretly goes on dates and also lures Katerina. Varvara runs away from home with Kudryash, but her escape is just an attempt to escape from reality, like Tikhon’s desire to break out of the house and run into a “tavern”. Even Kuligin, a completely independent person, prefers not to get involved with Dikiy. His dreams of technical progress and a better life are fruitless and utopian. He only dreams of what he would do if he had a million. Although he does nothing to earn this money, he turns to Dikiy for money to carry out his “projects”. Of course, Dikoy does not give money and drives Kuligin away.

And in this suffocating atmosphere of resourcefulness, lies, and rudeness, love arises. It’s probably not even love, but its illusion. Yes, Katerina fell in love. I fell in love as only strong, free natures can love. But she found herself completely alone. She doesn’t know how to lie and doesn’t want to, and she can’t bear to live in such a nightmare. No one protects her: neither her husband, nor her lover, nor the townspeople who sympathize with her (Kuligin). Katerina blames only herself for her sin; she does not reproach Boris, who does nothing to help her.

Katerina’s death at the end of the work is natural - she has no other choice. She does not join those who preach the principles of the “dark kingdom,” but she cannot come to terms with her situation. Katerina’s guilt is only a guilt before herself, before her soul, because she darkened it with deception. Realizing this, Katerina does not blame anyone, but understands that it is impossible to live with a pure soul in the “dark kingdom”. She doesn’t need such a life, and she decides to part with it. Kuligin speaks about this when everyone was standing over Katerina’s lifeless body: “Her body is here, but her soul is now not yours, it is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!”

Katerina’s protest is a protest against the lies and vulgarity of human relationships. Against hypocrisy and sanctimonious morality. Katerina's voice was lonely, and no one was able to support and understand her. The protest turned out to be self-destructive, but it was the free choice of a woman who did not want to obey the cruel laws that a hypocritical and ignorant society imposed on her.

“The Thunderstorm,” as you know, presents us with an idyll of the “dark kingdom,” which little by little Ostrovsky illuminates for us with his talent. The people you see here live in blessed places: the city stands on the banks of the Volga, all in greenery; from the steep banks one can see distant spaces covered with villages and fields; A blessed summer day beckons you to the shore, to the air, under the open sky, under this breeze blowing refreshingly from the Volga. And the residents, indeed, sometimes walk along the boulevard above the river, although they have already taken a closer look at the beauty of the Volga views; 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 set themselves. But what should they do but not sleep when they are full?
Their life flows smoothly and peacefully, no interests of the world disturb them, because they do not reach them; kingdoms can collapse, new countries can open up, the face of the earth can change as it pleases, the world can begin a new life on a new basis - the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov will continue to exist in complete ignorance of the rest of the world.
From a young age they still show some curiosity, but they have nowhere to get food from: information comes to them only from wanderers, and even those nowadays are few and far between, the real ones; one has to be content with those who “themselves, due to their weakness, did not walk far, but heard a lot,” like Feklusha in “The Thunderstorm.” It is only from them that the residents of Kalinov learn about what is happening in the world; otherwise they would think that the whole world is the same as their Kalinov, and that it is absolutely impossible to live differently than them. But the information provided by the Feklushis is such that it is not capable of inspiring a great desire to exchange their life for another.
Feklusha belongs to a patriotic and highly conservative party; she feels good among the pious and naive Kalinovites: she is revered, treated, and provided with everything she needs; she can very seriously assure that her very sins stem from the fact that she is higher than other mortals: “common people,” she says, “each one is confused by one enemy, but for us, strange people, to whom six are assigned, to whom twelve are assigned, that’s what we need overcome them all.” And they believe her. It is clear that a simple instinct of self-preservation should force her to say a good word about what is being done in other lands.
And this is not at all because these people are more stupid and stupid than many others whom we meet in academies and learned societies. No, the whole point is that by their position, by their life under the yoke of arbitrariness, they are all accustomed to seeing unaccountability and meaninglessness and therefore find it awkward and even daring to persistently seek rational grounds in anything. Ask a question - there will be more to answer; but if the answer is that “the cannon is on its own, and the mortar is on its own,” then they no longer dare to torture further and humbly content themselves with this explanation. The secret of such indifference to logic lies primarily in the absence of any logic in life relationships.
The key to this secret is given to us, for example, by the following replica of the Wild One in “The Thunderstorm”. Kuligin, in response to his rudeness, says: “Why, sir Savel Prokofich, would you like to offend an honest man?” Dikoy answers this: “I’ll give you a report, or something!” I don’t give an account to anyone more important than you. I want to think about you like that, and I do! For others you are an honest person, but I think you are a robber - that’s all. Did you want to hear this from me? So listen! I say I’m a robber, and that’s the end of it. So, are you going to sue me or something? So you know that you are a worm. If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush.”
What theoretical reasoning can survive where life is based on such principles! The absence of any law, any logic - this is the law and logic of this life. This is not anarchy, but something much worse (although the imagination of an educated European cannot imagine anything worse than anarchy).
The situation of a society subject to such anarchy (if such anarchy is possible) is truly terrible.
In fact, no matter what you say, a person alone, left to himself, will not fool around much in society and will very soon feel the need to agree and come to terms with others for the common good. But a person will never feel this necessity if he finds in many others like himself a vast field for exercising his whims and if in their dependent, humiliated position he sees constant reinforcement of his tyranny.
But - a wonderful thing! - in their indisputable, irresponsible dark dominion, giving complete freedom to their whims, putting all laws and logic into nothing, the tyrants of Russian life begin, however, to feel some kind of discontent and fear, without knowing what and why. Everything seems to be the same, everything is fine: Dikoy scolds whoever he wants; when they say to him: “How is it that no one in the whole house can please you!” - he replies smugly: “Here you go!” Kabanova still keeps her children in fear, forces her daughter-in-law to observe all the etiquettes of antiquity, eats her like rusty iron, considers herself completely infallible and is pleased with various Feklush.
But everything is somehow restless, it’s not good for them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants. They are fiercely looking for their enemy, ready to attack the most innocent, some Kuligin; but there is neither an enemy nor a culprit whom they could destroy: the law of time, the law of nature and history takes its toll, and the old Kabanovs breathe heavily, feeling that there is a force higher than them, which they cannot overcome, which they cannot even approach know how.
They do not want to give in (and no one has yet demanded concessions from them), but they shrink and shrink; Previously, they wanted to establish their system of life, forever indestructible, and now they are also trying to preach; but hope is already betraying them, and they, in essence, are only concerned about how things would turn out in their lifetime... Kabanova talks about how “the last times are coming,” and when Feklusha tells her about various horrors of the present time - about the railways etc., - she prophetically remarks: “And it will be worse, dear.” “We just wouldn’t live to see this,” Feklusha answers with a sigh. “Maybe we’ll live,” Kabanova says again fatalistically, revealing her doubts and uncertainty. Why is she worried? People travel by railroad, but what does that matter to her?
But you see: she, “even if you shower her with gold,” will not go according to the devil’s invention; and people travel more and more, not paying attention to her curses; Isn’t this sad, isn’t it evidence of her powerlessness? People learned about electricity - it seems that there is something offensive here for the Wild and Kabanovs? But, you see, Dikoy says that “a thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel,” but Kuligin does not feel or feels something completely wrong, and talks about electricity. Isn’t this self-will, not a disregard for the power and importance of the Wild One?
They don’t want to believe what he believes, which means they don’t believe him either, they consider themselves smarter than him; Think about what this will lead to? No wonder Kabanova remarks about Kuligin: “The times have come, what teachers have appeared! If the old man thinks like this, what can we demand from the young!” And Kabanova is very seriously upset about the future of the old order, with which she has outlived the century. She foresees their end, tries to maintain their significance, but already feels that there is no former respect for them, that they are being preserved reluctantly, only unwillingly, and that at the first opportunity they will be abandoned. She herself had somehow lost some of her knightly fervor; She no longer cares with the same energy about observing old customs; in many cases she has already given up, bowed down before the impossibility of stopping the flow and only watches with despair as it little by little floods the colorful flower beds of her whimsical superstitions.
That is why, of course, the appearance of everything over which their influence extends more preserves the antiquities and seems more motionless than where people, having abandoned tyranny, are trying only to preserve the essence of their interests and meaning; but in fact, the internal significance of tyrants is much closer to its end than the influence of people who know how to support themselves and their principle with external concessions. That is why Kabanova is so sad, and that is why Dikoy is so furious: until the last moment they did not want to tame their broad ambitions and are now in the position of a rich merchant on the eve of bankruptcy.

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