Two groups of city dwellers are performing. One of them personifies the oppressive power " dark kingdom". This is Wild and, oppressors and enemies of all living and new. Another group includes,. Tikhon, Boris, Kudryash and Varvara. These are the victims of the "dark kingdom", the oppressed, equally feeling the brute force of the "dark kingdom", but expressing their protest against this force in different ways. Dikogo: Hangover in someone else's feast "so the meaning of the word tyrant is defined:" Tyrant is called, if it does not listen to anyone: you have at least a stake on his head, but he is all his own ... This is a domineering person with a tough heart. "

Savel Prokofich Dikoy is such a tyrant, whose behavior is governed only by unbridled arbitrariness and stupid obstinacy. Dikoy demands unquestioning obedience from those around him, who go to any lengths, just not to anger him in any way. It is especially hard for his family: at home, Dikoy loses his girdle without any restraint, and family members, fleeing from his rage, hide all day in attics and closets. He completely hunted down Dikoy's nephew Boris Grigorievich, knowing that he was completely financially dependent on him.

Dikoy is not at all shy with strangers, over whom one can “play around” with impunity. Thanks to money, he holds in his hands the entire mass of powerless inhabitants and mocks them. The features of tyranny are especially clearly manifested in his quarrel with Kuligin.

Kuligin turned to Dikiy with a request to give ten rubles to make a sundial for the city.

Wild. Or maybe you want to steal; who knows you! ..

Kuligin. Why, sir, Savel Prokofievich, would you please to offend an honest man?

Wild. Should I give you a report? I don't give an account to anyone more important than you. I want to think so of you, I think so. For others, you are an honest person, but I think that you are a robber, that's all. Do you want to hear it from me? So listen! I say that a robber, and horses! Why are you suing, or what, you will be with me So, you know that you are a worm. If I want - I will have mercy, if I want - I will crush.

Dikoy feels his strength and power - the power of capital. "Fat bags" were then revered by "eminent people", before whom the poor were forced to curry favor and grovel. Money is his passion. Parting with them, if they got into his pocket, is painful for him. "In his house, no one dares to utter a word about the salary: they scold at what the world stands." Dikoy himself speaks of this best of all: “Why would you order me to do with yourself when I have such a heart! After all, I already know that it is necessary to give, but I can’t do anything good! .. I will give, I will give, but I will swear. Therefore, just give me a hint about the money "I will start to kindle all the insides: he kindles all the insides, and that's all"; well, and in those days I will never curse a person. " "A piercing man" - this is how Kudryash characterizes Dikiy for his rudeness and curses.

Dikoy passes only in front of those who are able to rebuff him. Once on the ferry, on the Volga, he did not dare to contact the passing hussar, and then again he took out his resentment at home, dispersed everyone in the attics and closets. He also restrains his temper in front of Kabanikha, seeing her as his equal.

The power of money was, however, not the only reason that created the basis for unbridled arbitrariness. Another reason that helped petty tyranny flourish was ignorance. The Dikiy's ignorance is especially evident in the scene of his conversation with Kuligin regarding the lightning rod device.

Wild. Yes, a thunderstorm, what do you think, eh? Well, speaking!

Kulagin. Electricity.

Wild (stamping his foot). What else is Elgstry there? Well, how are you not a robber! The thunderstorm is sent to us so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and rods, God forgive me. What are you, a Tatar, or what?

A person's language, manner of speaking and the very intonation of speech usually correspond to the character of the person. This is fully confirmed in the language of the Wild. His speech is always rude and full of abusive, offensive expressions and epithets: a robber, a worm, a parasite, a fool, the damned, etc. foreign words (Jesuit, elesticism) only emphasizes his ignorance.

Despotism, unbridled arbitrariness, ignorance, rudeness - these are the features that characterize the image of the tyrant Wild, typical representative "Dark kingdom".

Need a cheat sheet? Then save - "The main characteristic of the Wild in Ostrovsky's drama" The Thunderstorm ". Literary works!

"Until recently, people were very wild"
(L. Dobychin)

Dikoy in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" completely belongs to the "dark kingdom". Wealthy merchant, most respected and influential person in the town. But at the same time terribly ignorant and cruel. The characterization of the Wild in the play "The Thunderstorm" is inextricably linked with the description of the mores and habits of the inhabitants of the city. Kalinov himself is a fictional space, so vices spread to the scale of all of Russia. Having identified the character traits of the Wild, one can easily understand the sad social situation that has developed in Russia XIX century.

The author gives a scant characterization to Dikoy in The Thunderstorm: a merchant, significant person in the town. Almost not a word is said about appearance. Nevertheless, it is a colorful image. The character's surname speaks for itself. The semantic field of "wildness" is mentioned more than once in the text of the work. In the description of the life of the city of Kalinov, drunkenness, swearing and assault, in other words, savagery, are constantly mentioned. Unmotivated fear of a thunderstorm only strengthens the belief that the inhabitants have stopped at some primitive stage of development. The name Saul also speaks. It belongs to the Christian tradition. This biblical character is known as the persecutor of Christians.

The image of the Wild in Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm is quite unambiguous. There is not a single scene or episode where this character would show his positive qualities. And, in fact, there is nothing to show. All Dikoy seems to consist of bile, dirt and abuse. Almost all his remarks contain swear words: “You have failed! I don’t want to talk to you, with a Jesuit ”,“ Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Stupid man! "," Yes, you damned, at least someone will lead to sin! "

Thoughtless submission to those with more money created a kind of legend about Dick as the main man in the city. And the wild behaves in accordance with this conditional status. He is rude to the mayor, steals from ordinary peasants, threatens Kuligin: “and for these words you will be sent to the mayor, so he will ask you!”, “So you know that you are a worm. If I want - I will have mercy, if I want - I will crush ”. Wild is uneducated. He does not know history, does not know the present. The names of Derzhavin and Lomonosov, and even more so the lines from their writings, are similar for Dikiy to the most insulting abuse. Inner world the hero is so poor that the reader has no reason to sympathize with him. Wild is not even a hero, but rather a character. There is no inner filling in it. The character of Savl Prokofievich is based on several qualities: greed, selfishness and cruelty. There is absolutely nothing else in Dick and a priori cannot appear.

One scene from the life of the Wild remains practically invisible to readers. Kudryash says that once a man was rude to Dikoy and put him in an awkward position, which made the merchant laugh for two more weeks. That is, Dikoy is actually not at all what he wants to seem. It is laughter that is an indicator of his insignificance and inappropriate pathos.

In one of the actions, the intoxicated merchant "confesses" with Martha Ignatievna. Kabanikha speaks with him on equal terms, from her point of view, Savl Prokofievich would be less arrogant if there was a man richer than the Wild in Kalinov. But Dikoy disagrees, remembering how he scolded the peasant, and then apologized, bowing at his feet. We can say that in his speeches is realized typical feature of the Russian mentality: “I know that I’m doing badly, but I can’t help myself.” Dikoy admits: “I will give, give, but I will swear. Therefore, just give me a hint about money, I will start to kindle all my insides; he kindles all the insides, and that's all; well, and in those days I will never curse a person. " Kabanikha notes that often Savl Prokofievich deliberately tries to evoke aggression in himself when people come to him to ask for loans. But Dikoy parries - "Who does not feel sorry for his good!" Although the merchant is used to taking out his anger on women, he is cautious with Kabanikha: she is more cunning and stronger than him. Perhaps it is in her that he sees a much stronger tyrant than himself.

Dikiy's role in Ostrovsky's The Thunder is clear. It is in this character that such a concept as tyranny is embodied. A wild greedy worthless man who imagines himself the arbiter of destinies. He is capricious and irresponsible, like Tikhon, he just loves to have a glass of vodka. However, behind all this tyranny, rudeness and ignorance is hidden ordinary human cowardice. Dikoy is even afraid of thunderstorms. In it, he sees supernatural power, the punishment of the Lord, so he tries to hide from the storm as soon as possible.

With this concentrated image, many social flaws can be identified. For example, rank worship, bribery, stupidity, limitation. Along with this, one can also talk about selfishness, the fall of moral principles and violence.

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The play "The Thunderstorm" by Alexander Ostrovsky presents a vivid picture of the serf society at the end of the 18th century. The playwright introduces us to the world of the Russian Volga city of Kalinov, which has lived for centuries the same patriarchal measured life. This is the world of philistines and merchants. Is he that good? Is there a lot of light in the Russian patriarchal pre-bourgeois society?

Who holds the "dark kingdom"?

Deprived of a positive vector of development, the urban community of the times of the decay of serfdom is socially ill to such an extent that Nikolai Dobrolyubov calls it a "dark kingdom" .. He, having called Ostrovsky "an expert on Russian life," actually confirms the typicality of images presented by the playwright. Dikoy and Kabanikha in the play "The Thunderstorm" really benefit from the suffering of others and in every possible way support the suffocating, antisocial atmosphere in society. The meaning of the "dark kingdom" they maintain is obvious: the transformation of human suffering into their personal wealth, into the capital of merchants - the world eaters. Both of the above negative images in Russian literature are considered classic. They are revealed by the author with tremendous artistic force. The topic of our article is the type of merchant Savely Prokofich Dikiy. Unfortunately, many critics emphasize its primitiveness. In our opinion, this is not true. In particular, it is noteworthy that Savel Prokofich is both the ruler and the victim of the county “dark kingdom”.

The specifics of the image of the Wild Merchant

The image of the Wild in the play "The Thunderstorm" is typical of Russian society. This is a man who "made" a huge fortune, rising from the bottom. The author does not give us a direct comment on this matter, however thoughtful reader will discover it. By the psychotype of a merchant. Let us explain our version. There was once a popular proverb "There is no worse pan for his Ivan". The image of the Wild in the play "The Thunderstorm" is a clear illustration of the validity of this idea. Savel Prokofievich, even having become the main tycoon of the city of Kalinov, cannot stop in his inertia of such a cyborg making money by any means.

Savel Prokofich's syndrome

Our task is to understand the image of the Wild in the play "The Thunderstorm". Imagine that you are an actor "entering this role." How can this be done in the shortest way? What can I advise you? Let's say you are chronically deprived of mercy. Imagine: having caused a person suffering and even ruining him, you do not experience any moral remorse. "Entering the image", pretend that you do not know the sense of responsibility to society ... Did you feel it?

Agree, the terrible, destructive image of the Wild in the play "The Thunderstorm" is typical and often found in our society, only in other guises ... In his rapid and continuous enrichment, he has one strange advantage over other people - he is not tormented by conscience. Savel Prokofich aggressively expands his living space, stopping at only two factors: before Power and before Power. Let's consider the above condensed characteristic in more detail ...

Mercy of the Wild Merchant

As we have already mentioned, the image of the Wild in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is not even the type of a person who makes a deal with his conscience (Savel Prokofich simply does not have it). His moral principles are very vague, and following the rituals of the Orthodox Church is more like a deal with God for the forgiveness of sins than a sincere desire to harmonize oneself and one's relations with society and family.

Every day, his wife begs visitors not to anger him. After all, Dikoy, in a rage, does not control himself, even his household hides from him in attics and closets.

Reflex rage

Manipulating a person through fear is his comfortable state, which he is embarrassed to openly say. (Aloud, he says: "My heart is like that!") The image of the Wild from the play "The Thunderstorm" is a dangerous type of a person who receives material benefits while in a state of inadequacy, bordering on schizophrenia.

It is in a state of consciousness altered by rage that he creates things that he often cannot explain later. Let us recall at least his story to the godmother Marfa Kabanova about the unfortunate peasant petitioner who was almost "knocked to death."

Attention is drawn to the episode when Dikoy talks about his uncontrollable rage in Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm. The characteristic given to himself is deceitful. Everything is understandable: his fits of rage are initially selfish, they bring him money. After all, when he underpays with humiliated shouting to hired people for work, the principle works in his favor: "the money saved is the money earned!" Daily seizures guarantee extra daily gains.

The danger of mental illness

He is worried about something else. Deprived of any spirituality, the image of Dikov in the play "The Thunderstorm" falls into a kind of vicious circle, reminiscent of Tolkien's deceitful ring of omnipotence. He understands that the reflex "initiation of rabies - gaining benefit", developed by him for decades, can play a cruel joke with him: completely drive him crazy and destroy him. It is about this that he expresses concern to his godmother, the merchant Kabanikha. Savel Prokofich himself does not even notice when a mechanism is triggered in him, turning on madness ...

Why is the image of the Wild one presented sporadically?

A man terrorizing the city ... The image of the Wild in Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm is deliberately disclosed by Ostrovsky unsystematically. In the course of the action, he appears only three times before the gaze of the spectator of the performance. And this is understandable. It is quite risky even for the classics to denounce their contemporaries - the mighty this.

What features, not disclosed by the author, may be inherent in Savel Prokofich? Most adult readers can easily speculate on such a characteristic themselves. We will provide only two key points for this reasoning. Is the psychotype of the main merchant of the city of Kalinov typical among modern powers that be? Does the modern average citizen have real rights in court? ...

Conclusion

This, of course, is a sad truth, but before us in the mass media every day a host of modern shameless Dikikh merchants, apologists for the neo-version of serfdom, flash across. These are modern feudal lords who prosper among entire strata of society (as Pelevin aptly put it, working for food).

So, what features can complement the modernized image of the Wild in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm"? This practice, by the way, is demonstrated by the theaters of Israel, where the modernized version of Gogol's "Inspector General" is playing with a bang. Let's “turn on the fantasy. What can in modern society help the Wild type by "raising the dregs in the water", make money more effectively and plant his "ego"?

We will answer briefly. A talent for inciting hatred between people and representatives of different nationalities. Lack of moral brakes when sanctioning murder (or murders). The desire to rake in the heat with someone else's hands, using your money as a tool.

Concluding our reasoning, we note that such a sociopathy really poisons the harmony of society, turning relations in it into a "dark kingdom".

One of the most respected representatives of Kalinov is the enterprising and domineering merchant Savel Prokofievich Dikoy. At the same time, this figure, along with Kabanikha, is considered the personification of the "dark kingdom". At its core, Dikoy is a tyrant who, in the first place, puts only his desires and whims. Therefore, his relationship with others can be characterized by only one word - arbitrariness. People are used to giving in to him, and he, feeling his power over them, continues to tyrannize everyone who is weaker than him. Kabanova, whom Dikoy is only afraid of, comments on his actions as follows: "There are no elders over you, so you are swaggering." Dikoy cowards only those who can put him in his place. There was a case when he gave up a passing hussar, but then with interest he took out all the accumulated anger on his family. He also gives in to Kabanikha, knowing that she is smarter and more cunning than him. Naturally, the merchant gets the most from the Wild one. Every morning his wife tearfully asks everyone not to anger her husband. But if it was possible to predict what exactly he will be angry with in the next minute.
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Ignorance is usually behind rudeness, and, most importantly, the Wild is completely lacking in curiosity and desire for enlightenment. This is how the merchant demonstrates all his deep darkness in a conversation in Kuligin on the boulevard, when he declares that a thunderstorm is sent as punishment to people, so the lightning rod does not make sense.

The Wild's speech characterizes him as an extremely rude and ignorant person. He doesn't want to know anything about science, culture, inventions that improve life. Kuligin's proposal to install a lightning rod infuriates him. By his behavior, he fully justifies the surname given to him. "How I fell off the chain!" Kudryash characterizes him. But Dikoy fights only with those who are afraid of him or are completely in his hands. Cowardice like characteristic feature tyranny Dobrolyubov noted in the article “ Dark kingdom":" Just show yourself somewhere a strong and decisive rebuff, the tyrant's strength falls, he begins to coward and get lost. " Indeed, Dikoy never ceases to scold Boris, his household, peasants, even the meek Kuligin who is completely outsider to him, but from his clerk Kudryash gets a worthy rebuff. “… He is the word, and I am ten; spit, and go. No, I will not become a slave to him, ”Kudryash says. It turns out that the limit of the tyrant's power depends on the degree of obedience of others. This was well understood by another mistress of the "dark kingdom" - Kabanikha.

In the guise of the Wild, despite all his belligerence, there are features of the comic: the contradiction of his behavior to reason, a painful unwillingness to part with money looks too ridiculous. The boar, with her cunning, hypocrisy, cold, inexorable cruelty, is truly terrible. She is outwardly calm, well-controlled. Measuredly, monotonously, without raising her voice, she exhausts her family with her endless moralizing. If Dikoy seeks to rudely assert his power, then Kabanikha acts under the guise of piety. She does not get tired of repeating that she does not care about herself, but about the children: “Because of love, parents are strict with you, because of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach good. Well, I don't like that nowadays. " But her "love" is only a hypocritical mask for the assertion of personal power. From her "care" comes Tikhon to complete stupidity, flees from the house of Varvara. Her methodical, constant. tyranny tortured Katherine, brought her to death. “If it’s not a mother-in-law! ..” says Katerina. “She crushed me… she made the house hateful to me; the walls are even disgusting. " Kabanikha is a cruel, heartless executioner. Even at the sight of Katerina's body pulled from the Volga, she remains icy calm