Helping a student. Judging by their actions, the main "moral" quality in the merchant environment is a businesslike attitude.

Ostrovsky's drama "Dowry" shows readers the tragedy of Larisa Ogudalova, who has become a weak-willed toy in the hands of others. Larisa Ogudalova, like Katerina Kabanova, the protagonist of another Ostrovsky drama, also becomes a victim. However, Larisa initially has other qualities than Katerina, who grew up in a patriarchal environment. The drama "Dowry" was written in 1879. At this time, capitalist relations had already been established in Russia. This means that patriarchal foundations are gradually losing their relevance.

Larisa Ogudalova received a good education. She is European-style refined. Larisa dreams of love. The girl has a warm heart. She cannot allow her life to be connected with an unloved person. But Larisa's desire for love coincides with her dream and beautiful life. Larisa is poor, but in order to become happy, she also needs wealth.

Larisa is surrounded by petty, ignoble people. The brilliant master Paratov perceives Larisa only as a beautiful thing. This imposing narcissist seems to the girl the embodiment of the ideal. But in fact, Paratov does not have either nobility or kindness. He is selfish, petty, cruel, prudent.

However, Karandyshev, who is not initially perceived as a worthy couple for Larisa, differs little from him. Larisa is young and inexperienced. She does not have strong character to deal with the prevailing circumstances. She seems to be playing by someone else's rules, becoming a toy in someone else's hands. Even Larisa's mother perceives her daughter only as a commodity. She is ready to sacrifice Larisa's beauty and youth, as this makes it possible to obtain material benefits, to strengthen the social position of the Ogudalovs.

Everyone who surrounds Larisa thinks of her only as a thing, an object of entertainment. It is no coincidence that they play it in a toss. All best qualities Larisa, her soul, feelings are of no interest to anyone. People only think about her external beauty. That's what makes it such an attractive toy.

Karandyshev tells Larisa: "They do not look at you as a woman, as a person ... they look at you as a thing." Ogudalova herself agrees with this: “Thing ... yes, thing! They are right, I am a thing, I am not a man...”. In my opinion, the main tragedy girls lies precisely in the fact that Larisa has a warm heart. If she had been cold-blooded, prudent, cunning, Larisa, with her external data and the ability to present herself, would have managed to get along quite well in life. However, the ardor, emotionality, openness of the heroine makes her suffer more from the role that is assigned to her. Love, Larisa's feelings are of no interest to anyone, she is needed solely for entertainment. The girl at the end of the drama is crushed and destroyed. This leads to the fact that the desperate Larisa even agrees to accept Knurov's conditions.

The tragic ending of "Dowry" is a salvation for the heroine, deliverance from humiliation. Now she belongs to no one. Death seems to be a boon for Larisa. After all, humiliated, unhappy, she sees no point in later life. The act of Sergei Sergeevich Paratov makes the girl realize that terrible fact that the end of her life would inevitably be tragic. Yes, now someone other than Sergei Paratov still needs her, but years will pass, youth will fade and Larisa will simply be thrown out by one of the rich landlords, as a worn out and unnecessary thing.

The drama "Dowry" again makes us think about the place of a woman in the world. If in the play "Thunderstorm" Katerina became a victim of the Domostroy way of life, then Larisa is a victim of new, capitalist relations. It is noteworthy that the rules by which society lives are changing. And the woman still remains a powerless creature. Katerina Kabanova finds the strength to protest. After all, her suicide is a clear protest against the reality4 in which the heroine had to live. Larisa lacks the courage to even attempt to protest. She remains a toy in the hands of circumstances to the last. Perhaps the reason for this is the upbringing that Larisa Ogudalova received. If we turn again to the image of Katerina from The Thunderstorm, we can recall that this girl grew up in an atmosphere parental love and guardianship. Therefore, she very sharply perceived her current disenfranchised position. As for the heroine of the drama "Dowry", here, apparently, Larisa was initially prepared by her mother for the role of a commodity, a toy. Hence the passivity of the girl, the lack of desire to fight, to defend her rights.

The fate of Larisa is regrettable. But at the same time, one involuntarily wonders why the heroine, who has ardent heart, passionately desiring to love, finds no other way out for her passions. After all, she, having received a Europeanized upbringing, could guess that her lover sees in her only entertainment. However, Larisa was brought up in such an atmosphere that the opportunity to profitably sell herself, her beauty and talent seemed quite acceptable. It is no coincidence that Larisa's mother is depicted as very mercenary. It is sad that from the whole environment of Larisa there is no one who would not be so indifferent and cruel to the fate of a young girl.

Many poets and writers dedicated their lines to women, the beautiful half of humanity. In Russian literature, the image of a woman was drawn with great warmth, her best features were sung: fidelity, sincerity, beauty, intelligence, nobility, tenderness and selfless love.

Larisa is an unusually interesting and attractive character in A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Dowry".

The meaning of life main character is love. Larisa is a beautiful, smart, gentle, multi-talented girl with a pure soul. She lives in a provincial town, in a family without sufficient means of subsistence. But the girl does not chase a successful party, she waits and hopes that true love will come to her .

Harita Ignatievna is trying to arrange the fate of her daughter, so she is busy looking for the best groom, but the main condition is money. The girl’s mother is not interested in the education and decency of the groom, if only it would be more profitable to marry her daughter.

Frequent receptions are held in the house with the money of Knurov and Vozhevatov. The audience is very diverse: rich merchants and the modest Karandyshev, officials and the brilliant nobleman Sergei Sergeyevich Paratov. Larisa fell in love with Sergey Sergeyevich with all her heart. He is handsome, charming, smart, courteous and prudent. But the girl does not notice his shortcomings, forgives him any sin, dooms himself to shame for his pleasure and is ready to follow him to the ends of the world.

Having squandered his fortune, Paratov is forced to marry a rich bride. Larisa is deceived, disgraced and abandoned. Desperate, she is ready to marry Karandyshev, hoping to find peace with him. Childhood friend Vasya Vozhevatov will play her in toss with an elderly and serious merchant Knurov. , Larisa is not interested in any of them. For them, she is a “thing”, dear and beautiful. Having lost everything, the girl is ready to become a “thing”. Karandyshev’s shot brings her deliverance: she dies free, without becoming a draw. deliverance from torment: "I was looking for love and did not find it. They looked at me and look like fun. No one has ever tried to look into my soul, I have not seen sympathy from anyone, I have not heard a warm, heartfelt word"

Cunning and lies were alien to sincere and proud Larisa, she is a woman with a "hot heart". Such people are not capable of compromise. They can either win or die. Beauty and youth are ruined, but Larisa dies free.

A real masterpiece Russian dramaturgy Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky's play "The Dowry" is rightfully considered. It compares favorably with deep psychologism, colorful images, and the acuteness of social and personal issues. We invite you to familiarize yourself with literary analysis works according to a plan that will be useful to students in grade 10 in preparing for a lesson in literature.

Brief analysis

Year of writing- 1874-1878 years.

History of creation- As the basis of the plot, Ostrovsky, who held the honorary position of a justice of the peace, took the real story of the death of a young woman who died at the hands of her own husband. The author worked on the play for four years, from 1874 to 1878. At first, the work did not receive recognition, but after a while it became a resounding success.

Topic- Distorted relationships in a society in which the principles of "purchase and sale" reign. Any person, any act can be bought, the only question is the price.

Composition– A work consisting of four acts is characterized by a linear composition. The first act is the exposition and application (the arrival of Paratov), ​​the second act is the development of the plot ( strong love Larisa to Paratov, for whom she is ready to make great sacrifices), the third act is the culmination (lunch at Karandyshev), the fourth act is the denouement (Larisa's death).

Genre- A play. Socio-psychological drama.

Direction- Realism.

History of writing

In the 70s of the 19th century, Alexander Nikolayevich served as a magistrate of the Kineshma district. On duty, he took part in high-profile court hearings and was well acquainted with the criminal chronicle of that time. All this gave Ostrovsky, as a writer, a rich literary material which he often used in his works.

Presumably, the plot of "Dowry" was based on real history, which shook the entire Kineshma district, when a local resident Ivan Konovalov killed his own young beautiful wife.

Ostrovsky began writing the play in the fall of 1874. However, parallel work on other works delayed her writing for four long years. Having successfully passed the censorship, "Dowry" was published in 1879 in literary magazine"Domestic Notes".

The first performances were a failure and caused sharp criticism in their address. Such rejection was due to the fact that the author managed to open painful ulcers on the body of society. Such courage was not to everyone's taste, and was received with hostility by both theater critics and ordinary readers.

And only in the 90s of the 19th century, almost 10 years after the death of the writer, the well-deserved success came to the play.

Topic

The essence of Ostrovsky's drama fully reflects the meaning of the title- "Dowry". Previously, this was the name of poor girls who did not have a penny for their souls. Their position was very humiliating and difficult - rarely did anyone want to create a family with a dependent, who had to be fully supported all his life. Only beauty, education and personal traits could attract the attention of a worthy groom, ready to turn a blind eye to the lack of a dowry from the bride.

Thus, the author draws one of serious problems a society in which a person appears as a commodity that can be bought or sold. Few people are interested in the personality of a person, his emotional experiences, since everyone pursues only one goal - not to sell too cheap.

Larisa Ogudalova is a sensitive, kind and vulnerable girl, real beauty, which, nevertheless, has one significant drawback - the absence of a dowry. They see the meaning of their lives in the search true love, and soon finds her in the face of Sergei Paratov. She sees his image in a kind of halo, endowing him with virtues that do not exist in reality.

However, soon the romantic veil falls from the eyes of the heroine, and she sensibly assesses the current situation. The people around her, including her own mother, see in her only luxurious fun, an expensive toy that can be boasted in society. Even in close circle, no one seeks to look into her soul, to show sincere participation in her.

Larisa comes to the sad conclusion that she is a thing that should be sold at a higher price. The collision of a pure soul with a vicious material world invariably leads to a tragic denouement - the death of the main character. However, Larisa finds consolation in her death, as it gives her long-awaited freedom.

Composition

In The Dowry, the analysis includes a description compositional structure works. The composition of the play is sustained according to all classical laws, and consists of four acts:

• first act contains an exposition and a plot (a description of the life of Larisa and her family, the arrival of Paratov);
• in the second act a development of events takes place (Larisa is becoming more and more convinced that her personal happiness is possible only with Paratov, and for his sake she is ready to sacrifice a lot);
• third act- climax (lunch at Karandyshev's, Larisa's singing, which, in fact, is a pure and sincere declaration of love for Paratov);
• fourth act- denouement (the death of Larisa, who, at the moment of her death, from the bottom of her heart forgives all those who, one way or another, are guilty of her death).

All events take place during the day, which further enhances the drama of the story. Linear composition allows the author to accurately convey the motives of the behavior of the main actors. It becomes clear that their actions are largely determined not only by character traits, but also by the environment in which they live.

main characters

Genre

The play "Dowry" is fully consistent with the genre of drama, since it presents difficult fate the main character, forced to live in a constant conflict of her soul and society.

The purpose of the socio-psychological drama, to which "Dowry" belongs, is to reveal to the reader all the hardships that a person has to face in an alien environment. As a rule, the main characters of the drama are expected internal contradictions, spiritual suffering, and as a result - tragic fate. But, at the same time, the drama fully reflects the realities of the surrounding life, making you think about many important issues prevailing in any society.

Ostrovsky's drama "Dowry" is built on the classical naturalness and simplicity of the characters' images, but at the same time on the complexity of their characters and actions. that they are simpler, easy to understand.

Goncharov, discussing the basis of Ostrovsky's drama, said that the playwright "as if he does not want to resort to the plot - this artificiality is below him: he must sacrifice to it part of the truthfulness, integrity of character, precious touches of morals, details of everyday life - and he more willingly lengthens the action, cools the viewer , if only to carefully preserve what he sees and smells alive and true in nature.

Ostrovsky's work does not fit into any of the classical genre forms, this gave Dobrolyubov a reason to speak of it as a "play of life". In "Dowry" Ostrovsky comes to the disclosure of complex, subtle, psychologically polyphonic human characters. He shows us a life conflict, the reader lives this short period of life as a resident of the same city of Bryakhimov, or, even more interesting, like any hero of the drama.

Larisa Ogudalova is the main character of the drama, all the action is around her, intrigues "roam".

Larisa is a girl, even more fragile, unprotected than it seems at first glance. In my opinion, it can be compared with a white noble rose. The girl is just as gentle and beautiful, it is not for nothing that she is called the "decoration of the city." But on the other hand, they say about Larisa that she " expensive decoration requiring a good jeweler." Maybe it would be nice, but here, in the play, these words sounded impudent and vulgar. After all, here Larisa is evaluated as a thing, in this case, as a precious stone. Of course, precious is flattering, but after all, a stone, something cold, inanimate, insensitive, not at all suitable for the romantic nature of Larisa.

Her soul is refined, bright, musical, sensitive and melodic. Larisa is like a spark in this city, like the heroine of one of the Russian romances that she loves to sing so much. After listening to romances in her own performance, she begins to dream of pure love, about a strong family, a loving wife.

But things don't work out the way the girl wants. At the core of the drama social theme. Larisa is poor, she is a girl without a material dowry, but at the same time she has a rich inner world, which we will not find in any other of the heroes of the drama. Larisa lives in a world where everything is bought and sold, even girlish beauty and love. But, getting lost in her dreams, in her rainbow world, she does not notice the most disgusting sides in people, she does not notice an ugly attitude towards herself, Larisa sees only good everywhere and in everyone and believes that people are like that.

This is how Larisa made a mistake in Paratov. He leaves a girl in love for profit, destroys own will. After, Larisa is preparing to marry Karandyshev. The girl perceives him as a kind poor man who is not understood by others. But the heroine does not understand and does not feel the envious, proud nature of Karandyshev. Indeed, in his attitude towards Larisa, there is more complacency for owning such precious stone like Larisa.

At the end of the drama, Larisa comes to a realization. She realizes with horror and bitterness that everyone around perceives her as a thing or, even worse, wants to make her a kept woman, such as Knurov and Vozhevatov.

And then the heroine utters the words: "Thing ... yes thing. They are right, I am a thing, not a person." Larisa, in desperation, tries to rush into the Volga, but she cannot, she is afraid to part with her life, no matter how useless and unhappy it may seem to her.

The frustrated girl finally understands that in this world everything is evaluated by "the rustle of banknotes", and then she decides: "If it is to be a thing, then one consolation is to be expensive."

Karandyshev's shot is salvation in Larisa's eyes, she is glad that she belongs only to herself again, they cannot sell or buy her, she is free. Larisa Karandysheva finds a shadow of nobility and living human feeling, and her emotional drama and the end ends, for the first time the heroine feels for real happy and free.

The famous play "Dowry", which Ostrovsky wrote over the course of four years from 1874 to 1878, was considered by the author himself to be one of his best and most significant dramatic works. Although shown on the stage in 1878, it caused a storm of protest and indignation, both among the audience and critics, the play received its well-deserved share of popularity only after the death of the famous Russian playwright. A clear demonstration of the main idea that the author wanted to show people that money rules the world, and in modern society they are the main driving force that allows their owners to control the fate of other people who depend on them, many did not like it. Like other innovations in the play, incomprehensible a wide range public, all this caused a rather sharp assessment of both readers and critics.

History of creation

In the early seventies of the nineteenth century, Ostrovsky worked as an honorary magistrate of the Kineshma district, on duty he participated in various high-profile trials and was well acquainted with the criminal reports of that time, which gave him, as a writer, rich literary material for writing works. Life itself gave him plots for his dramatic plays, and there is an assumption that the preimage storyline in "Dowry" was the tragic death of a young woman whom he killed own husband, Ivan Konovalov, a local resident of the Kineshma district.

Ostrovsky begins the play in late autumn (November 1874), making a marginal note "Opus No. 40", stretching its writing for four long years, due to parallel work on several more works, and finishing it in the autumn of 1878. The play was approved by the censors, preparations began for publication, which ended with its publication in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1879. This was followed by rehearsals of theater companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, who wanted to play the play on the stage, bringing it to the judgment of the audience and critics. Premieres of "Dowry" both in the Small and in Alexandria theaters were a failure and caused sharp negative judgments theater critics. And only ten years after the death of Ostrovsky (second half of the 90s of the XIX century) the well-deserved success finally came to the play, largely due to the huge popularity and fame of the actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya, who played leading role Larisa Ogudalova.

Analysis of the work

Story line

The action of the work takes place in the Volga town of Bryakhimov, which looks like the town of Kalinov from the play "Thunderstorm" only after 20 years have passed. The time of such petty tyrants and tyrants as Kabanikha and Porfiry Wild has long passed, it has come " finest hour”for enterprising, cunning and dodgy businessmen, such as the millionaire Knurov and the representative of a wealthy trading company Vasily Vozhevatov, who are able to buy and sell not only goods and things, but also human destinies. From their dialogue, which tells about the fate of a young woman, Larisa Ogudalova, deceived by a wealthy master Paratov (a kind of grown-up Boris, Diky's nephew), the first act of the play begins. From the conversation of the merchants, we learn that the first beauty of the city, whose artistry and charm has no equal, marries a poor official, absolutely insignificant and miserable in their opinion, Karandyshev.

Larisa's mother, Kharitona Ogudalova, who raised three daughters herself, tried to find a good match for each daughter, and for the youngest, most beautiful and artistic daughter, she prophesies a wonderful future with a rich husband, only one simple and well-known fact spoils everything: she is a bride from poor family and has no dowry. When the brilliant, young master Paratov appears on the horizon among her daughter's admirers, the mother tries with all her might to marry her daughter to him. However, having played with Larisa's feelings, he leaves her for a whole year without any explanation (during the dialogue it turns out that he squandered his fortune and is now forced to marry the daughter of the owner of the gold mines in order to save his position). Desperate Larisa declares to her mother that she is ready to marry the first person she meets, who becomes Yuli Kapitonych Karandyshev.

Before the wedding, Larisa meets with Paratov, who has returned after a year's absence, confesses her love to him and runs away with him from her unloved fiancé to his ship "Swallow", which the unlucky bankrupt also sells for debts. There, Larisa tries to find out from Paratov who she now belongs to him: his wife, or someone else, then she learns with horror about his future marriage to a rich bride. The heartbroken Larisa with a proposal to take her to the Paris exhibition, and in fact become his mistress and kept woman, is approached by the millionaire Knurov, who wins this right from Vozhevatov (after conferring, the merchants decide that such a diamond as Larisa should not be wasted, they play her fate by tossing a coin). Karandyshev appears and begins to prove to Larisa that for her fans she is only a thing, a beautiful and refined, but absolutely soulless object, with which you can do as its owner wants. Crushed by the circumstances of life and the callousness of people-dealers who sell and buy so easily human lives, Larisa finds this comparison with a thing very successful, and now in life, having not found love, she agrees to look only for gold, and nothing else. Insulted by Larisa, who called him miserable and insignificant, Karandyshev, in a fit of jealousy, anger and hurt pride with the words “So don’t get you to anyone!” shoots Larisa with a pistol, she dies with the words that she does not blame anyone, and forgives everyone everything.

main characters

The main character of the play, Larisa Ogudalova, a young dowry woman from the city of Bryakhimov, is a slightly grown-up Katerina from the play Thunderstorm, previously written by the same author. Their images are united by an ardent and sensitive nature, which ultimately leads them to a tragic ending. Just like Katerina, Larisa "suffocates" in the dull and musty town of Bryakhimov, among its inhabitants, who are also bored and dreary here.

Larisa Ogudalova finds herself in a difficult life situation, characterized by some duality and undoubted tragedy: she is the first smart girl and beauty of the city, she cannot marry a worthy man, because she is a dowry. In this situation, two ways out are outlined in front of her: to become a kept woman of a rich and influential married man, or choose a man for your husband, a lower social position. Grasping at the last straw, Larisa falls in love with the image she created of a handsome and brilliant man, the bankrupt landowner Sergei Paratov, who, like Boris, Diky's nephew in The Thunderstorm, finds himself in real life a completely different person. He breaks the heart of the main character and with his indifference, lies and spinelessness in literally"kills" the girl, i.e. causes it tragic death. The tragic death becomes a kind of "good deed" for the main character, because for her the current situation has become a life tragedy that she could not cope with. That is why in their last minutes, the dying Larisa does not blame anyone for anything and does not complain about her fate.

Ostrovsky portrayed his heroine as passionate and passionate nature, who survived severe mental trauma and the betrayal of a loved one, who, nevertheless, did not lose her sublime lightness, did not become embittered and remained the same noble and pure soul that she had been throughout her life. Due to the fact that the concepts and aspirations of Larisa Ogudalova were fundamentally different from the value system that prevails in the world around her, even though she was constantly in the center of public attention (like a beautiful and elegant doll), in her soul she remained lonely and not understood by anyone. Absolutely not understanding people, not seeing lies and falsehood in them, she creates for herself perfect image the man that Sergey Paratov becomes, falls in love with him and cruelly pays for his self-deception with his life.

In his play, the great Russian playwright amazingly talentedly portrayed not only the image of the main character Larisa Ogudalova, but the people around her: the cynicism and unscrupulousness of hereditary merchants Knurov and Vozhevatov, who played the girl’s fate with a simple lot, the immorality, deceit and cruelty of her failed fiancé Paratov, greed and depravity her mother, who is trying to sell her daughter as profitably as possible, envy, pettiness and narrow-mindedness of a loser with a heightened pride and a sense of ownership of the jealous Karandyshev.

Features of the genre and compositional construction

The composition of the play, built in a certain way in strict classical style, contributes to the growth of mental tension among viewers and readers. The time interval of the play is limited to one day, in the first act the exposition is shown and the plot begins, in the second act the action gradually develops, in the third ( dinner party in the Ogudalovs) - the climax, in the fourth - a tragic denouement. Due to this consistent linearity compositional construction the author reveals the motivation of the characters' actions, which becomes well understood and explainable both for readers and viewers, who realize that people act one way or another not only because of their own psychological features but also due to the influence of the social environment.

Also, the play “Dowry” is characterized by the use of a peculiar system of images, namely, “speaking” names invented for the characters: the name of an exalted nature, Larisa Ogudalova, translated from the Greek “seagull”, the name Harita is of gypsy origin and means “charming”, and the surname Ogudalova comes from the word "ogudat" - to deceive, to deceive. The surname Paratov comes from the word "paraty", which means "predator", Knurov - from the word "knur" - a wild boar, named after Larisa's fiancé Yuliya Karandysheva (The name is in honor of the Roman Gaius Julius Caesar, and the surname is a symbol of something small and insignificant ) the author shows the incompatibility of desires with the capabilities of this hero.

In his play, Ostrovsky wanted to show that in a world where money rules and a certain social stigma is stuffed on everyone, no one can feel free and do what he really wants. As long as people believe in the power of money, they forever remain hostages of social cliches: Larisa cannot become the wife of a loved one, because she is a dowry, even rich and influential merchants, just like the bankrupt Paratov, are bound hand and foot by social dogmas and cannot marry at will, to receive love and human warmth just like that, and not for money.

It is thanks to the enormous power of emotional impact, scale, topicality of the problems raised and the indisputable artistic value, Ostrovsky's play "Dowry" takes place of honor among the classics of world drama. This work will never lose its relevance, each generation of readers, immersed in the world of experiences of the characters in the play, will discover something new and find answers to eternal spiritual and moral questions.