Already such and such a scolder, like ours
Savel Prokofich, look for more!
A. N. Ostrovsky
Drama by Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" on long years became a textbook work depicting the "dark kingdom", which suppresses the best human feelings and aspirations, trying to force everyone to live according to its rough laws. No free-thinking - unconditional and complete obedience to elders. The carriers of this "ideology" are Wild and Kabanikha. Internally, they are very similar, but there is some external difference in their characters.
The boar is a hypocrite and a hypocrite. Under the guise of piety, she, “like rusty iron,” eats her household, completely suppressing their will. The boar raised a weak-willed son, she wants to control his every step. The very idea that Tikhon can make decisions on his own without looking back at his mother is unpleasant to her. “I would believe you, my friend,” she says to Tikhon, “if I didn’t see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears, what kind of respect for parents from children has now become! If only they remembered how many diseases mothers endure from children.
The boar not only humiliates the children herself, she teaches Tikhon to do the same, forcing him to torture his wife. This old woman is suspicious. If she had not been so ferocious, Katerina would not have rushed first into the arms of Boris, and then into the Volga. Wild, just like a "chain" pounces on everyone. Curly, however, is sure that “... we don’t have enough guys for me to become, otherwise we would wean him to be mischievous.” This is absolutely true. Wild does not meet with due resistance, and therefore suppresses everyone. Behind him, capital is the basis of his outrages, which is why he keeps himself that way. For Wild there is one law - money. With them, he determines the “value” of a person. Swearing is a normal state for him. They say about him: “To look for such a scolder as Savel Prokofich is with us. No way will a person be cut off. ”
Kabanikha and Wild are "pillars of society", spiritual mentors in the city of Kali-nova. They have established unbearable orders, from which one rushes into the Volga, others run wherever their eyes look, and still others become drunkards.
The boar is quite sure of her rightness, she alone knows the ultimate truth. That is why he behaves so unceremoniously. She is the enemy of everything new, young, fresh. “That’s how the old thing is being brought out. I don't want to go to another house. And if you go up, you will spit, but get out more quickly. What will happen, how the old people will die, how the light will stand, I don’t know. Well, at least it’s good that I don’t see anything. ”
Dikoy has a pathological love for money. In them, he sees the basis of his unlimited power over people. Moreover, for him, all means are good in getting money: he shortchanges the townspeople, “he will not count a single one by way”, he has “thousands made up of unpaid kopecks”, quite calmly appropriates the inheritance of his nephews. Wild is not scrupulous in the choice of means.
Under the yoke of the Scavs and Boars, not only their households, but the whole city, groan. "Tolstoy is powerful" opens before them an unlimited possibility of arbitrariness and tyranny. “The absence of any law, any logic - this is the law and logic of this life,” Dobrolyubov writes about the life of the city of Kalinov, and, consequently, of any other city in Tsarist Russia.
In the play "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky gives a true picture of the musty atmosphere of the provincial city. A terrifying impression is made on the reader and the viewer, but why is the drama still relevant 140 years after its creation? Little has changed in the psychology of people. Who is rich, in power, he is right, unfortunately, to this day.

The play "Thunderstorm" occupies a special place in the work of Ostrovsky. In this play, the playwright most vividly described the "world of the dark kingdom", the world of tyrant merchants, the world of ignorance, arbitrariness and despotism, domestic tyranny.

The action in the play takes place in a small town on the Volga - Kalinov. Life here, at first glance, is a kind of patriarchal idyll. The whole city is immersed in greenery, beyond the Volga there is an “unusual view”, on its high banks there is a public garden, where the inhabitants of the town often stroll. Life in Kalinovo flows quietly and unhurriedly, there are no upheavals, no exceptional events. News from the big world is brought to the town by the pilgrim Feklusha, who tells Kalinovtsy fables about people with dog heads.

However, in reality, not everything is so safe in this small, abandoned world. This idyll is already destroyed by Kuligin in a conversation with Boris Grigoryevich, Dikiy's nephew: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty... more money make money." However, there is no agreement between the rich either: they “feud with each other”, “scribble malicious slander”, “sue”, “undermine trade”. Everyone lives behind oak gates, behind strong locks. “And they don’t lock themselves up from thieves, but so that people don’t see how they eat their own home and tyrannize their family. And what tears flow behind these locks, invisible and inaudible!.. And what, sir, behind these locks is the debauchery of dark and drunkenness!” exclaims Kuligin.

One of the richest, most influential people in the city is the merchant Savel Prokofievich Wild. The main features of the Wild are rudeness, ignorance, irascibility and absurdity of character. “Look for such and such a scolding, like Savel Prokofich with us, to look for more! For no reason will a person be cut off, ”Shapkin says about him. The whole life of Wild is based on "cursing". Neither cash settlements, nor trips to the market - "he does nothing without scolding." Most of all, he gets from Wild to his family and his nephew Boris, who came from Moscow.

Savel Prokofievich is stingy. “...Just give me a hint about money, it will start to kindle my whole interior,” he says to Kabanova. Boris came to his uncle hoping to receive an inheritance, but actually fell into bondage to him. Savel Prokofievich does not pay him a salary, constantly insults and scolds his nephew, reproaching him for laziness and parasitism.

Repeatedly quarrels with Dika and with Kuligin, a local self-taught mechanic. Kuligin is trying to find a reasonable reason for Savel Prokofievich's rudeness: "Why, sir Savel Prokofievich, would you like to offend an honest man?" To which Dikoy replies: “A report, or something, I will give you! I don't report to anyone more important than you. I want to think about you like that, I think so! For others you fair man, and I think that you are a robber, that's all ... I say that you are a robber, and that's the end. Well, are you going to sue, or what, will you be with me? So you know that you are a worm. If I want, I will have mercy, if I want, I will crush.

“What theoretical reasoning can stand where life is based on such principles! The absence of any law, any logic is the law and logic of this life. This is not anarchy, but something even much worse ... ”, Dobrolyubov wrote about the tyranny of Wild.

Like most Kalinovites, Savel Prokofievich is hopelessly ignorant. When Kuligin asks him for money to install a lightning rod, Dikoi declares: “The storm is sent to us as a punishment, so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and horns.”

Wild represents the "natural type" of the petty tyrant in the play. His rudeness, rudeness, mockery of people are based, first of all, on an absurd, unbridled character, stupidity and lack of opposition from other people. And only then already on wealth.

It is characteristic that practically no one offers Wild active resistance. Although it is not so difficult to calm him down: an unfamiliar hussar “cursed” him on the ferry, and Kabanikha is not shy in front of him. “There are no elders above you, so you are swaggering,” Marfa Ignatyevna bluntly declares to him. It is characteristic that here she is trying to fit Wild to her vision of the world order. Kabanikha explains the constant anger, irascibility of Wild by his greed, but Savel Prokofievich himself does not even think about denying her conclusions. "Who does not feel sorry for his own good!" he exclaims.

Much more complex in the play is the image of Kabanikha. This is an exponent of the "ideology of the dark kingdom", which "created for itself a whole world of special rules and superstitious customs."

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is a wealthy merchant's wife, a widow who cultivates the customs and traditions of antiquity. She is grouchy, constantly dissatisfied with others. It gets from her, first of all, at home: she “eats” her son Tikhon, reads endless moralizing to her daughter-in-law, and tries to control her daughter’s behavior.

The boar zealously defends all the laws and customs of Domostroy. A wife, in her opinion, should be afraid of her husband, be silent and submissive. Children should honor their parents, unquestioningly follow all their instructions, follow their advice, respect them. None of these requirements, according to Kabanova, is fulfilled in her family. Marfa Ignatyevna is dissatisfied with the behavior of her son and daughter-in-law: “They don’t know anything, there is no order,” she argues alone. She reproaches Katerina with the fact that she does not know how to see off her husband "in the old way" - therefore, she does not love him enough. “Another good wife, after seeing her husband off, howls for an hour and a half, lies on the porch ...,” she instructs her daughter-in-law. Tikhon, according to Kabanova, is too soft in dealing with his wife, not respectful enough in relation to his mother. “They don’t really respect elders nowadays,” says Marfa Ignatievna, reading instructions to her son.

The boar is fanatically religious: she constantly remembers God, sin and retribution, and there are often wanderers in her house. However, the religiosity of Marfa Ignatievna is nothing but hypocrisy: “The hypocrite ... She clothes the poor, but she completely ate the household,” Kuligin remarks about her. In her faith, Marfa Ignatievna is severe and adamant, there is no place for love, mercy, forgiveness in her. So, at the end of the play, she does not even think about forgiving Katerina her sin. On the contrary, she advises Tikhon to bury his wife alive in the ground so that she is executed.

Religion, ancient rites, pharisaical complaints about his life, playing on filial feelings - Kabanikha uses everything to assert his absolute power in the family. And she "gets her way": in the harsh, overwhelming atmosphere of domestic tyranny, Tikhon's personality is mutilated. “Tikhon himself loved his wife and would be ready to do everything for her; but the oppression under which he grew up has so disfigured him that no strong feeling, no resolute striving can develop in him. He has a conscience, there is a desire for good, but he constantly acts against himself and serves as a submissive tool of his mother, even in his relationship with his wife, ”writes Dobrolyubov.

The simple-hearted, gentle Tikhon lost the integrity of his feelings, the opportunity to show the best features of his nature. Family happiness was closed to him from the very beginning: in the family where he grew up, this happiness was replaced by “Chinese ceremonies”. He cannot show his love for his wife, and not because “a wife should be afraid of her husband”, but because he simply “does not know how” to show his feelings, which have been cruelly suppressed since childhood. All this led Tikhon to a certain emotional deafness: he often does not understand Katerina's condition.

Depriving her son of any initiative, Kabanikha constantly suppressed his masculinity and at the same time reproached him for his lack of masculinity. Subconsciously, he seeks to make up for this "lack of masculinity" in drinking and rare "partying" "in the wild." Tikhon cannot realize himself in some business - probably, his mother does not allow him to manage affairs, considering his son unsuitable for this. Kabanova can only send her son on an assignment, but everything else is under her strict control. It turns out that Tikhon is deprived of both his own opinion and his own feelings. It is characteristic that Marfa Ignatievna herself is to some extent dissatisfied with her son's infantilism. It slips through her intonation. However, she probably does not realize the extent of her involvement in this.

The life philosophy of Varvara was also formed in the Kabanov family. Her rule is simple: “do whatever you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.” Varvara is far from Katerina's religiosity, from her poetry, exaltation. She quickly learned to lie and dodge. We can say that Varvara, in her own way, "learned" the "Chinese ceremonies", having perceived their very essence. The heroine still retains immediacy of feelings, kindness, but her lie is nothing more than reconciliation with Kalinov's morality.

It is characteristic that in the finale of the play both Tikhon and Varvara, each in their own way, rebel against the "power of mother". Varvara runs away from home with Kuryash, while Tikhon expresses his opinion openly for the first time, reproaching his mother for the death of his wife.

Dobrolyubov noted that “some critics even wanted to see in Ostrovsky a singer of broad natures”, “they wanted to assign arbitrariness to a Russian person as a special, natural quality of his nature - under the name“ breadth of nature ”; they also wanted to legitimize cheating and cunning in the Russian people under the name of sharpness and deceit". In the play "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky debunks both that and another phenomenon. Arbitrariness turns out to be "heavy, ugly, lawless", he sees in it nothing more than tyranny. Roguery and cunning turn into not sharpness, but vulgarity , the reverse side of tyranny.

The rich merchant's wife Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is one of the main pillars of the "dark kingdom". This is an imperious, cruel, superstitious woman who treats everything new with deep distrust and even contempt. In the progressive phenomena of her time, she sees only evil, therefore Kabanikha with such jealousy protects her little world from their invasion. Because of this, her children, despite many good traits, nevertheless grew up as morally crippled people who do not have enough strength to openly confront the world of cruelty, inertia and despotism. Kabanova, simply not realizing that Varvara and Tikhon are already adults with their own thoughts and feelings, continues to treat them like property. She considers herself, perhaps, a slightly strict, but loving and fair parent: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach good.”

The gradual destruction of the patriarchal way of life, which is already felt even in such provincial towns, like Kalinov, instills fear in her. As a smart person, she understands that times are changing and the younger generation is increasingly resisting the old order with more force. But she is not ready to accept these changes, and along with fear, her heart is filled with even more anger. Especially goes to Katerina. "Bow at your feet!" - orders Kabanikha to Katerina, who says goodbye to her husband. And when Katerina died, she only grumbled: ““ She did little shame to us. It’s enough, it’s a sin to cry about her. ”

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Very often negative images appear in the literature. At a time when the opinion about duality is mainly expressed human soul and nature and presence and the positive and negative sides of the personality, the master artistic word every now and then they deliberately endow their characters with only bad character traits, excluding even the slightest manifestations of the positive influence of the hero's activities.

In the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky, one of these characters is Kabanikha.

Characteristics of the personality of Kabanikhi

Full name the heroine is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, but in the text she is most often called Kabanikha. Marfa Ignatievna is on friendly terms with Wild, he is also her godfather. It is worth noting that such friendship is not surprising, because both characters are very similar in character.

Dear readers! On our site you can get acquainted with the characteristics of the city of Kalinov in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm".

Kabanikha is a wealthy merchant's wife. Her position in society implied a tolerant attitude towards others, but in fact her habits were not at all noble. The boar has a firm and unshakable character. She is a cruel and rude woman.

Marfa Ignatievna is too conservative, she is “stuck” in the past and lives by the principles and foundations of the past, not realizing that changes have taken place in the world and it is no longer possible to live in the old way. She believes that the wisdom of a person is determined by his age - young people a priori cannot be smart, this is only the prerogative of the elderly: “Do not judge yourself older! They know more than you."

Kabanikha is sure that children must bow at the feet of their parents, and the husband must always “order” his wife. Marfa Ignatievna is very upset when these norms of behavior are not observed and thinks that this is a problem of bad manners younger generation: "They know nothing, no order."

The boar is used to playing for the public - she tries to be a virtuous and noble woman in the eyes of society, although in reality she is not. Marfa Ignatievna often gives alms to the poor, but she does it not at the behest of her heart, but so that everyone thinks that she is a kind and generous woman.

Kabanikha is a very pious woman, but, apparently, her religiosity is also feigned, because in spite of everything, Kabanikha does not adhere to the laws of God and often neglects the basic rules of behavior towards other people.

Family and relationships

The complexity of the character manifests itself in full force in relation to its native people. Her family consists of three people - a son, a daughter and a daughter-in-law. With all of them, Kabanikhi developed extremely contradictory relations.

All the difficulties and conflicts in the family are associated with the authoritarian nature of the mother, her conservatism and special love for scandals.

We invite thoughtful readers to familiarize themselves with the characterization of Katerina in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm".

The son of Kabanikha - Tikhon - at the time of the story is already an adult, he could be completely independent, but his mother does not give him the opportunity to do this. The woman takes care of her son all the time and tries to control his every step, referring not to Tikhon's incompetence. As a result

The boar began not only to give advice to her son, but literally to live instead of him: “he eats food, does not give a pass.”

Marfa Ignatievna constantly interferes in the relationship between her son and daughter-in-law and sometimes orders her son's wife to be beaten, because this is the order: “But I love her, I'm sorry to touch her with my finger. He beat me a little, and even that was ordered by my mother.

Tikhon, despite his age and belief that such rude actions towards his wife are not needed, nevertheless unquestioningly fulfills the will of his mother.

Kabanikha does not have the best attitude towards the young daughter-in-law Katerina - she is always unhappy with her and will always find something to reproach the young girl with. The reason for this attitude lies not in Katerina's dishonorable attitude towards Kabanikha, or not in Katerina's failure to fulfill her duties, but in Kabanikha's habit of commanding everyone and the jealousy that arose in relation to her daughter-in-law.

The boar cannot accept the adulthood of her son, she is offended that Tikhon prefers his wife, and not his mother.

The daughter of Kabanikha Varvara is not so straightforward, she has long understood that she will never succeed in defending her position: her mother, who was essentially a domestic tyrant, simply could not stand anything like this and did not allow any liberties. From this situation, the girl found only one way out - to deceive her mother. Varvara always said what Marfa Ignatyevna wanted to hear, but she acted as she wanted: “Our whole house rests on that. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.

Such actions within the family on the part of the Kabanikha cause many tragedies. Her daughter Varvara runs away from home, never to appear here again - for the girl, the escape became the only salvation from her mother's domestic tyranny. Tikhon and Katerina, who did not even think about how it was possible to change their situation, but only took a wait-and-see attitude and silently endured insults and humiliation from their mother, could not succeed.

Katerina, having cheated on her husband in order to feel happy, confesses her act under the pressure of morality and shame, and then, but under the pressure of Kabanikh's humiliation, commits suicide. Only after the death of Katerina did Tikhon find the strength to verbally rebuff his mother and reproach her for unlawful actions towards her loved ones: “You ruined her! You! You!". However, due to the softness of Tikhon's character, he is unlikely to be able to defend his position to the end.

The attitude of others to Kabanikhe

Despite all the efforts to convince others that she is a kind and good woman, Marfa Ignatievna did not succeed. The truth about her quarrelsome nature and love of tyranny still leaked out and those around her periodically gossip about it.

The main accusatory array of information about the character of Kabanikh falls on the statements of Kuligin and Kudryash. Curly denounces the duality of her behavior. Marfa Ignatievna lives "to show people" and "as it really is." According to Kudryash, everything happens at Kabanikha "under the guise of piety."

Kuligin also develops the same theme in his stories: “The hypocrite, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely.

Thus, thanks to a literary hoax, the reader has the opportunity to see an unusual image, consisting exclusively of negative character traits. Kabanikha is trying with her cardinal deeds to preserve the old system, which is rapidly collapsing, to achieve positive result she does not succeed with such methods, but at the same time Marfa Ignatievna destroys the fate of her children, which looks extremely sad.

Boar in the play "Thunderstorm" is an antagonist main character, Catherine. The contrast of the characters in the work is of decisive importance, revealing its meaning. The characters are representatives of opposite poles. patriarchal world. If Katerina is spirituality, poetry, kindness, mercy, then Marfa Ignatievna is earthiness, love of money, pettiness.

The heroine's relationship with her family

An ignorant person, rude, superstitious, guardian of the old laws, despotic, likes to teach and keep everyone in fear - this is a brief description of Boars. This is a rich merchant's wife, widow, mother of Varvara and Tikhon, mother-in-law of Katerina. A woman comes to her family, she constantly saws, teaches, tries to keep the old order at home and gets angry when the youth does not listen to her. Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna firmly believes that order can be restored only if everyone is kept in fear.

The characteristic of Kabanikh allows the reader to understand the attitude of the Old Believers to the new world. The merchant's wife raised her children in fear, she wants to extend her power to her daughter-in-law. She constantly teaches her son, makes him punish his wife, keep her on a short leash. When Tikhon wonders why Katerina needs to be afraid of him, because she loves him, his mother yells at him. After all, if the daughter-in-law of her husband will not be afraid, then her mother-in-law and even more so.

The relationship of the merchant with others

The boar regularly goes to church, surrounds himself with hysterics, regularly gives alms to the poor. The merchant's wife talks to her godfather Wild on an equal footing. Although these two belong to the same world and support the old order, the characterization of Kabanikh shows that the woman still disdains the tyranny of the landowner. Marfa Ignatieva really keeps her family in fear, but she does this to maintain order in the house, and not because of her violent nature. In addition, the merchant's wife will never complain in public about problems in her family, as Wild does.

The last guardian of order

The image of Kabanikh is the embodiment of old belief, some medieval foundations. The merchant's wife suffers from the fact that her world is slowly collapsing. She sees that the youth does not support her, does not respect the old laws, and thinks in a new way. The woman is overwhelmed with some kind of apocalyptic expectations, she does not understand what will happen when all the old-timers die out, and there will be no one to resist everything modern. The House of the Kabanovs is almost the last stronghold where the dogmas of antiquity are revered.

The characterization of Kabanikha does not cause pity for this heroine, although at the end of the play not only Katerina, but also her mother-in-law suffered. For the merchant's wife, the public confession of her daughter-in-law, the rebellion of her son and the escape from her daughter's house were a terrible blow. But this woman did not understand that by her rejection modern world she led to the death of Katerina, ruined the life of Varvara and pushed Tikhon to drunkenness. No one got better from the rule of Kabanikhi. But she does not understand this, because the merchant's wife, even after so many misfortunes, continues to insist on her own.