In terms of genre, the play "The Thunderstorm" can be attributed to a special type of tragedy: its social and everyday form, where the subject of the image is the collisions of everyday life, but raised to the degree of a catastrophic contradiction of the hero with the world around him. Tragedy is one of the main genres of drama; it is based on the insoluble conflict of the personality with life or himself, as a result of which the hero physically dies, but wins a moral victory, which causes grief of the audience and their mental purification through suffering - catharsis. All this can be fully attributed to Ostrovsky's play.

Indeed, the death of Katerina is inevitable. Katerina, a strong, proud nature capable of effective protest, will never compromise, will never reconcile with her slave position in the Kabanova house. But her victory is impossible, since it is not an evil mother-in-law who opposes Katerina, but the whole world of her modern life - the world of cruelty, lies, obedience and tyranny. To win would mean to change this whole world, so the death of the heroine is natural. On the other hand, according to Dobrolyubov, "The Thunderstorm" makes a refreshing impression, which is a vivid evidence of the presence of the catharsis effect in the audience ("a ray of light in dark kingdom»).

But "The Thunderstorm" is not a classic tragedy, but an innovative work: a social and domestic tragedy. The definition of "social" is given to the play because the conflict underlying it is not private, but public. The playwright depicts not a clash between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law, but serious disagreements between opposing camps, into which society was divided. But the main artistic discovery Ostrovsky is that he, having shown in the play real life Volga city, loaded the tragedy into everyday life, although the high tragedy, according to the existing canons, should not have come into contact with everyday phenomena. Material from the site

The originality of the plot and composition of the play corresponds to the innovation of the genre. The pace of action in the first acts is slowed down, which is due to the expansion of the exposition: it is important for the playwright to thoroughly get to know the reader and the viewer with the circumstances, everyday life, customs in which the heroes will act, introduce a number of secondary characters, and motivate the ripening of the conflict. The action of the play includes social and individual lines of struggle and two parallel love affairs - the main one (Katerina - Bo-ris) and the secondary one (Varvara - Kudryash). The play has a number of extra-fiction episodes that play a significant role in the plot, preorising the picture of the "dark kingdom". The intensity of the dramatic action grows from act to act, anticipating a future catastrophe, preparing for it. The culmination falls on Act IV (the scene of repentance), which means that the highest moment in the development of the action is not in the last act, as usual, but in the middle of the play. The denouement occurs in Act V, here two intrigues are completed, and two lines of struggle, intertwining into a tight knot, are untied. But only Katerina finds a way out of the impasse through her tragic death. Ring construction plays (the events of acts I and V take place on the Volga cliff, the same characters participate in them) serves as compositional completeness and expresses the author's intention.

Essay plan
1. Introduction. Plot-compositional structure and genre originality plays.
2. The main part. Subject-compositional originality of "Thunderstorms".
- Artistic techniques of Ostrovsky the playwright.
- First action. Exposition.
- Second action. The tie.
- Third action. The culmination of a love affair. Development of internal conflict.
- Fourth action. The culmination of the main conflict.
- Fifth action. Interchange.
3. Conclusion. Artistic originality plays.

Reflecting on the plot-compositional structure of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky, we cannot but think about the problem of the genre interpretation of the work. Traditionally, The Thunderstorm is considered a social and everyday drama. In the center of the plot is a love triangle (Katerina - Tikhon - Boris), on its basis a family and everyday conflict is tied up, in which a large number of characters participate. The critic N.A. Dobrolyubov emphasizes the social facet of the conflict in the play, revealing its social problems: the crisis of the world of patriarchal ties, the confrontation between the world of the "dark kingdom" and strong, whole individuals. Modern researchers (A.I. Zhuravleva) consider the play a tragedy, noting the importance of internal conflict in it. “The Thunderstorm is not a tragedy of love, but a tragedy of conscience. When Katerina's fall was complete, caught up in a whirlwind of liberated passion, merging for her with the concept of will, she became boldly bold ... "I was not afraid of sin for you, if I am afraid of human judgment!" She says to Boris. But this "was not afraid of sin" just foreshadows the further development of the tragedy ...<….> The death of Katerina is predetermined and inevitable, no matter how the people on whom she depends will behave. It is inevitable because neither her self-consciousness, nor the whole way of life in which she exists, does not allow the personal feeling that has awakened in her to be embodied in everyday forms, ”the researcher notes. Let's try to consider the plot-compositional structure of the play.
Each action in the play falls into separate scenes. In them, the development of the conflict is given in any one perspective, the perception of any one character is shown. In general, the conflict in "The Thunderstorm" develops quickly and dynamically, which is achieved by a special arrangement of scenes: with each new scene, starting from the beginning, the tension of the plot action increases.
There are five acts in the drama. The first action is exposure. The first scene depicts the scene for us - the small town of Kalinov. It is spread out on the banks of the Volga, immersed in greenery. There is beauty and serenity in nature. A completely different matter in human relationships and morals. From the very first scenes, we get an idea of \u200b\u200blocal life, about the characters actors. « Cruel manners, sir, in our city, cruel! " - remarks Kuligin. In the first act, both non-plot characters and all the persons participating in the main conflict appear. We see Kudryash, Shapkin, Kuligin, Feklusha, Dikiy and Boris, the Kabanov family. Moreover, even before the appearance on the stage of Dikiy and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, Kudryash and Shapkin talk about them, briefly outlining the characters. Here is the background of Boris, the nephew of the Wild. Then Dikoy and Kabanova himself appear on the stage. Dikoy scolds her nephew, while Marfa Ignatievna reads instructions to her son and daughter-in-law. Thus, the first action is based on the principle of antithesis: the beauty of nature is opposed to urban morals. The main conflict is also outlined here: Boris confesses to Kuligin that he loves Katerina. And here we see the servitude of Katerina in the family of her mother-in-law, the timidity and passivity of her husband. And at the same time, we note the complete psychological incompatibility of the heroine with her family, the strength and energy inherent in her very nature. So, to the remarks of her mother-in-law, Katerina replies: “You mean me, mamma, you needlessly say this. With people, that without people, I am all alone ... "," Someone is pleased to endure vain lies! " Tikhon, on the other hand, is shown in this scene as a timid, passive, weak-willed person. We understand that the relationship between the heroine and Boris is possible.
The second action contains very important points. Katerina confesses to Varvara her love for Boris. However, while she is still driving away the thought of her love. Tikhon's departure is planned. Katerina says goodbye to him and asks to take him with her. However, he seeks to escape from his mother's oppression and take a walk in freedom. Tikhon notes that there he will be "not up to his wife." The farewell scene and the key scene represent the plot of the conflict. The tension of the heroine's mental strength here reaches the limit: “Whatever happens, I'll see Boris! Oh, if the night is quick! .. "
Further, the confrontation between the two camps in the play deepens. Dikoy talks to Martha Ignatievna, and this dialogue reveals his tyranny, rudeness, arbitrariness, avarice (he cannot part with his money). Kuligin also gives an accurate assessment of urban morals in a conversation with Boris: “Everyone has long gates, sir, locked and the dogs down. Do you think they are doing business or are they praying to God? No, sir! And they do not lock themselves up from thieves, but so that people do not see how they eat their household and tyrannize their family. And what tears are pouring behind these constipations, invisible and inaudible!<…> And what, sir, behind these castles is the debauchery of dark and drunkenness! And everything is sewn and covered - no one sees or knows anything ... ”. And at the same time, the internal tension in the "Thunderstorm" is growing. The culmination of the love affair is Katerina's date with Boris. But only after that an internal conflict begins to develop in the play - the heroine's struggle with her own conscience, with the integrity of her nature, with her ideas of morality and honor. The researchers noted the compositional innovation of Ostrovsky, who divided the third act into two "scenes". This is how the playwright departs from the traditional principle of "three unities", which is pleasant in classicism.
In the fourth act, the tension in the plot increases. Tikhon unexpectedly returns. Katerina is going through a moral crisis. She considers her actions to be criminal and is in real confusion. depicts folk festivities on the boulevard. A thunderstorm is gathering in the air. Dikoy notices that a thunderstorm is sent to people as punishment. The same motives sound in the remarks of passers-by ("Either he will kill someone, or the house will burn down ...") Finally, right there we hear the prophecies of the mad lady: “You will have to answer for everything. It's better to go to the maelstrom with beauty! " During a thunderstorm, Katerina publicly confesses her relationship with Boris. This scene culminates in the development of the play's main conflict.
The fifth act is the denouement. After the recognition, the heroine does not feel better, she cries and misses. Not finding support in the family, she commits suicide and rushes into the Volga. Tikhon in despair falls on his wife's body: “It's good for you, Katya! And why did I stay to live in the world and suffer! " The conflict thus ends in disaster. Here is what Dobrolyubov wrote about the ending of the play: “With this exclamation the play ends, and it seems to us that nothing could have been thought up stronger and more truthful than such an ending. Tikhon's words give the key to understanding the play for those who would not even have understood its essence earlier; they make the viewer think no longer about a love affair, but about this whole life, where the living envy the dead ... ”.
Thus, Ostrovsky's play is both a social drama and a tragedy. Exactly genre features determine the development of the conflict and the course of the plot in "The Thunderstorm". “The tragedy of Katerina is that the life that surrounds her has lost its integrity and completeness, has entered a period of deep moral crisis. The emotional thunderstorm experienced by the heroine is a direct consequence of this disharmony. Katerina feels her guilt not only towards Tikhon and Kabanikha ... She thinks that the whole universe is offended by her behavior.<…> Speaking out with all her life against despotism, against authoritarian morality, Katerina trusts in all her inner voice of conscience. After going through spiritual trials, she is morally cleansed and leaves the sinful world of Kalinovka as a person who has recovered from his illnesses and overcame them with his torments. "

1. Zhuravleva A.I. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. - History of Russian literature of the XIX century. Second half. Ed. prof. N.N. Skatova. M ... 1987, p. 257.

2. Dobrolyubov N.A. A ray of light in the dark kingdom. - ON. Dobrolyubov. Russian classics. Selected literary critical articles. M., 1970. Electronic version. www.az.lib.ru

3. Lebedev Yu.V. Russian literature XIX in. Second half. Book for the teacher. M., 1990, p. 176.

Artistic contrast is the main principle of the construction of the play, which is already manifested inexposition ... The city with its blank fences - and nature, the beauty of which is spilled everywhere and is seen as a free distance, stretching beyond the Volga. The only person in the city who is able not only to see this beauty of the universe, but also to marvel at it for half a century, - and the townspeople for whom the beauty of the world is “nothing”, and the poetic dreamer is an eccentric, “antique”.

The exposition of the play continues in phenomena 1, 2 and 3, from where we learn about the wild tyranny of the Wild, the powerlessness of his educated and sensitive orphan nephew Boris, who was given over to the parental will together with his sister into the full power of tyrant, but also about the contradiction between the outgoing and the new generation of merchants: a conflict emerges between the merchant Dikim and his clerk Kudryash - a dashing, tough and cunning guy. Kudryash is not at all prone to suffering, like Boris (here is another opposition), he feels that his time will come, and does not feel any respect for his elders, but only waits to annoy the owner, but stronger. We also learn that Dikoy keeps the townspeople in fear, and that Kuligin is inclined to “endure better” than to contradict the tyrant. Phenomenon 3 gives us the famous monologue of Kuligin, in which he describes to Boris the life of the city of Kalinov and the characters of its inhabitants. "Cruel manners, sir, in our city, cruel!" - this is how this monologue begins.

Tie drama begins in phenomenon 4 and is more clearly indicated in phenomena 5-7. Phenomenon 7 is especially interesting for us, where, in a dialogue with Varvara, Katerina confidentially and dreamily talks about her former girlish life, reveals her pure heart. Pay attention to the following remarks of Katerina: “Why don't people fly?<…> You know, sometimes it seems to me that I am a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you are drawn to take off. So I would have scattered, raised my hands and flew. " In Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" there is a scene where main character speaks almost in the words of Katerina, and Prince Andrey hears this, and love for Natasha penetrates into his heart. All these forebodings of misfortune and death that overwhelm Katerina (phenomenon 7, dialogue with Varvara) require an explanation for the modern reader. Death (a complete shame and excommunication) for a married woman was considered open, explicit or open to others betrayal of her husband. Therefore, for a deeply believing, pure-hearted Katerina, even vague dreams of another (Boris) were a terrible sin and a direct road to "fiery hell", the death of the soul, the loss of its immortality. So in the Sermon on the Mount (Gospel): “You have heard what was said to the ancients: do not commit adultery. But I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ”- Matt. 5: 27-28.

In this phenomenon, the forebodings of innocent Katerina, told by her to Varvara - the same age, interlocutor, the only one to whom Katerina could open up, predicted andaction development , and its culmination and tragic denouement. Let us recall what was said in the "Word about Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion: for the Orthodox soul, Grace is higher than the Law, but submission to one's own willfulness leads not to Salvation, but to Death. Sinful, that is, naturally immoral, Varvara - she does not see anything serious in Katerina's throwing, as Kudryash does not see the beauty of the world striking Kuligin: “And what a desire to dry up! Though die of melancholy, they will regret that eh, you! Why, wait. So what a bondage to torture yourself! " - and pushes Katerina to death, developing quite practical ways to get rid of the torment.

In apparition 8, a terrible ghost appears - an old woman-prophetess with her prediction: “Does your beauty make you happy? This is where beauty leads. (Points to the Volga). Here, here, in the very whirlpool. " In phenomenon 9, an intense dialogue between two girls continues and - here it is! - thunder rumbles: "a thunderstorm is coming." The action develops, and a new ominous image appears - the wanderer Feklusha (d. 2). Her stories about what she allegedly saw in distant lands are both terrible, and absurd, and dark as only everything intended for the ears of the Wild in the "dark kingdom" can be wild.

A symbolic role in the drama is played by Kudryash's song, which sounds in the phenomenon of 1 scene 2 of act 3. It sounds a cruel threat to the husband's wife, who is guilty of treason, and it is performed as a dialogue between the husband who returned home and the wife awaiting death. “You kill me, ruin me after midnight,” Kudryash sings to his guitar, “out of boredom”… It takes place late in the evening in a ravine under the Kabanovs' garden, where Boris is waiting for Katerina.

Act 4 begins with a description in the dialogue of the townspeople of the destroyed, dilapidated church in the city of Kalinov. On the crumbling frescoes, traces of images are hardly distinguishable. One thing has survived - and the inhabitants, not without difficulty, recognize in it a scene of fiery hell.

Phenomenon 2 in action 4 is no less meaningful. Greed and obscurantism of the Wild is opposed to the desire for an enlightened common good and the protection of the city in a dialogue with Kuligin. And the image of a thunderstorm appears again.

Climax actions are prepared in phenomena 3 and 4 of action 4. The tension is built up along with more and more thunderclaps and the approach of a thunderstorm. Unhappy Katerina, tormented by her conscience, almost loses her mind and awaits a heavenly punishment. Especially important in Phenomenon 4 is Kuligin's appeal to the townspeople in the square. It would seem that a self-taught scientist explains to the ignorant the physical meaning of the phenomenon. But he calls it an amazing word in this context - grace!

In apparition 6, the culmination takes place. Driven to the limit of suffering by the appearance of a crazy lady with her terrible curses, Katerina confesses everything.

Step 5 is givenroundabout ... Actually, nothing unexpected can happen - everything is predicted and announced at the beginning of the first act. The playwright "finishes" the character of Tikhon, which was still not quite clear before, combining dull obedience to an evil and wild mother and genuine kindness. He felt sorry for his wife and even for Boris. One thing destroys this wretched person - a weakness that determines his entire fate and character. Katerina's monologue in Phenomenon 2 is scary, where she struggles and yearns for her lost love. Her scene is terrible last date with Boris (phenomenon 3) - and it is especially terrible because Boris is not stronger than Tikhon. But the most terrible thing in the denouement of this drama is the last, dying monologue of Katerina (phenomenon 4). Reconciled with fate, she decides to accept death of her own free will - not as punishment, but as salvation from unbearable pain. One thing worries her: this exit is not an option. Suicide is a sin. And to live is a sin, and to die is a sin. No choice. The last phenomena of the drama, 5th and 6th, complete the denouement, translating it into an epilogue. In Phenomenon 7, Kuligin's voice sounds, starting the play with the first remark: “Here's your Katerina,” he says. - Now do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; and now the soul is not yours: it is now before a judge who is more merciful than you! " And Tikhon is no longer interested in the last remark of the drama: “Good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live and suffer! "

Source (abridged): Mikhalskaya, A.K. Literature: Basic level: grade 10. At 2 o'clock, Part 1: uch. allowance / A.K. Mikhalskaya, O. N. Zaitsev. - M .: Bustard, 2018

Genre and composition. According to the genre, the play "The Thunderstorm" can be attributed to a special type of tragedy: its social and everyday form, where the subject of the image is the collisions of everyday life, but raised to the degree of a catastrophic contradiction of the hero with the world around him. Tragedy is one of the main genres of drama; at the heart of it is an insoluble conflict of personality with life or himself, as a result of which the hero physically dies, but wins a moral victory, which causes grief of the audience and their mental purification through suffering - catharsis. All this can be fully attributed to Ostrovsky's play.

Indeed, the death of Katerina is inevitable. Katerina, a strong, proud nature, capable of effective protest, will never compromise, will never come to terms with her slave position in the Kabanova house. But her victory is also impossible, since it is not an evil mother-in-law who opposes Katerina, but the whole world of her modern life - the world of cruelty, lies, obedience and tyranny. To win would mean to change this whole world, so the death of the heroine is natural. On the other hand, according to Dobrolyubov, "The Thunderstorm" gives a refreshing impression, which is a vivid evidence of the presence of the catharsis effect in the audience ("a ray of light in the dark kingdom").

But The Thunderstorm is not a classic tragedy, but an innovative work: a social and everyday tragedy. The definition of "social" is given to the play because the conflict underlying it is not private, but public. The playwright depicts not a clash between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law, but serious disagreements between opposing camps, into which society was divided. But Ostrovsky's main artistic discovery is that he, having shown in the play the real life of the Volga city, immersed the tragedy in everyday life, although the high tragedy, according to the existing canons, should not have come into contact with everyday phenomena.

The originality of the plot and composition of the play corresponds to the innovation of the genre. The pace of action in the first acts is slowed down, which is associated with the expansion of the exposition: it is important for the playwright to thoroughly acquaint the reader and viewer with the circumstances, everyday life, customs in which the heroes will act, introduce a number of secondary characters, and motivate the ripening of the conflict. The action of the play includes social and individual lines of struggle and two parallel love intrigues - the main one (Katerina - Boris) and the side one (Varvara - Kudryash). The play has a number of extra-story episodes that play an essential role in the plot, completing the picture of the "dark kingdom". The intensity of the dramatic action grows from act to act, anticipating a future catastrophe, preparing for it. The climax falls on Act IV (the scene of repentance), which means that the highest moment in the development of the action is not in the last act, as usual, but in the middle of the play. The denouement occurs in Act V, here two intrigues are completed, and two lines of struggle, intertwining into a tight knot, are untied. But only Katerina finds a way out of the impasse through her tragic death. The circular construction of the play (the events of acts I and V take place on the Volga cliff, the same characters participate in them) serves as compositional completeness and expresses the author's intention.