Ostrovsky's plays: list and heroes
Creativity of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovskydeservedly is the peak of Russian drama of the middle of the XIX century. It is familiar to us since school years. And despite the fact that Ostrovsky's plays, whose list is very large, were written back in the century before last, they still remain relevant today. So what is the merit of the famous playwright and how was his creativity innovative?
short biography
Alexander Ostrovsky was born on March 31(April 12) in 1823 in Moscow on the Little Ordynka. The childhood of the future playwright was held in Zamoskvorechye - the merchant district of Moscow. The father of the playwright Nikolai Fyodorovich served as a court solicitor and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Therefore Ostrovsky studied for several years on a lawyer and after that, at the behest of his father, went to court as a scribe. But already then Ostrovsky began to create his first plays. Since 1853, plays playwright in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Alexander Ostrovsky had two wives and six children.
General characteristics of the works and themes of Ostrovsky's plays
During the years of his work the playwright created 47plays. "Poor Bride", "Forest", "Bride", "Snow Maiden", "Poverty is not a vice" - all these are Ostrovsky's plays. The list can be continued very long. Most of the plays are comedies. No wonder Ostrovsky remained in history as a great comedian - even in his dramas there is a funny beginning.
Ostrovsky's great service is that,that he laid the principles of realism in Russian drama. His work reflects the very life of the people in all their diversity and naturalness, the heroes of Ostrovsky's plays are very different people: merchants, artisans, teachers, officials. Perhaps the works of Alexander Nikolayevich are still close to us precisely because his characters are so realistic, truthful and so similar to ourselves. Let's analyze this on specific examples of several plays.
Early work of Nikolai Ostrovsky. "We'll count our people"
One of the debut plays presented to Ostrovskya general celebrity, was the comedy "His people - we will be counted." Her plot is built on the basis of actual events from the legal practice of the playwright.
The play depicts the deception of the merchant Bolshov,who declared himself bankrupt, so that he did not have to pay his debts, and the return swindle of his daughter and son-in-law, who refused to help him. Here Ostrovsky depicts patriarchal traditions of everyday life, characters and vices of Moscow merchants. In this play, the playwright sharply touched on the theme that the red lines went through all his work: this is the theme of the gradual destruction of the patriarchal life, the transformation of moral values and the human relations themselves.
Analysis of Ostrovsky's play "The Storm"
The play "Thunderstorm" became a turning point and one of the bestworks in the works of Ostrovsky. It also shows the contrast between the old patriarchal world and the fundamentally new way of life. The play takes place on the bank of the Volga in the provincial town of Kalinove.
The main heroine Katerina Kabanova lives in the househis husband and his mother, the merchant Kabanikhi. She suffers from constant pressure and oppression from her mother-in-law - a bright representative of the patriarchal world. Katerina is torn between the sense of duty towards her family and the feelings that have overwhelmed her towards the other. She is confused, because she loves her husband in her own way, but she can not control herself and agrees to meet Boris. After the heroine repents, her desire for freedom and happiness collides with established moral principles. Katerina, incapable of deceit, confesses to her husband and Kabanikh.
She can no longer live in a society where there is alies and tyranny and people are not able to perceive the beauty of the world. The husband of the heroine loves Katerina, but she can not, like her, rebel against the oppression of her mother - for this he is too weak. Beloved, Boris, too, is not able to change anything, since he himself can not free himself from the power of the patriarchal world. And Katerina commits suicide - a protest against the old way of life, doomed to destruction.
As for this Ostrovsky play, the listheroes can be divided into two parts. In the first there will be representatives of the old world: Kabanikh, Wild, Tikhon. In the second - the heroes, symbolizing a new beginning: Katerina, Boris.
Heroes of Ostrovsky
Alexander Ostrovsky created a gallery of the mostvarious characters. Here, officials and merchants, peasants and noblemen, teachers and artists are many-sided, like life itself. A remarkable feature of Ostrovsky's drama is the speech of his characters - each character speaks his own language, appropriate to his profession and character. It is worth noting the skilful use by the playwright of folk art: proverbs, sayings, songs. As an example, we can mention at least the name of Ostrovsky's plays: "Poverty is not a flaw", "We'll count our people" and others.
The significance of the Ostrovsky drama for Russian literature
The playwriting of Alexander Ostrovsky servedthe most significant stage in the formation of the national Russian theater: he created in the present form, and this is the undoubted innovation of his work. Ostrovsky's plays, the list of which was briefly mentioned at the beginning of the article, confirmed the triumph of realism in Russian drama, and he entered its history as a unique, original and vivid word master.
