The life principles of the characters in the play by A. N.
Knurov is a typical representative of the merchant class of the 19th century. This hero is driven by cold calculation, and the main thing in their life is money.
“Mokiy Parmenych Knurov, one of the big businessmen of recent times, old man, with a huge fortune." Now about his name. According to Dahl's dictionary, "knur" is a hog, boar, boar, male pig. It turns out what kind of a human being this Knurov is.
This is a civilized “idol”, a millionaire who despises all low-income people, is withdrawn, taciturn, and disdainful of people not in his circle, for example, the poor official Karandyshev. Explaining his rare visits to the Ogudalovs, he says: “It’s awkward; They have a lot of all sorts of rabble; then they meet, bow, and start talking. For example, Karandyshev - what a meeting for me!”
“Who should he talk to? There are two or three people in the city, he talks to them, but no one else; well, he is silent. He doesn’t live here for long because of this; business. And he goes to talk to Moscow, St. Petersburg and abroad, where he has more space."
Knurov is first and foremost a businessman. He values money and a profitable business. (“It’s good for him, Vasily Danilovich, who has a lot of money”). Referring to your fortune, which can buy literally everything, including love beautiful woman(“For me, the impossible is not enough”).
Knurov even walks solely for exercise, to work up an appetite and eat his sumptuous lunch. He is secretive and taciturn, but Gavrilo says about him: “How do you want him to talk, if he has millions?...And he goes to Moscow, St. Petersburg and abroad to talk, where he has more space.”
Knurov is married, but would like to “take a ride to an exhibition” in Paris with Larisa. When Knurov and Vozhevatov draw lots for who should go to Paris with Larisa, Knurov wins (he doesn’t care about Larisa’s opinion).
Knurov is cunning and knows how to find an approach to people. How he cleverly won over Larisa’s mother and proposed to the girl a trip to Paris. Smart Knurov does not talk about love, but promises Larisa a luxurious life if she becomes his mistress. He promises that no one will speak ill of her as he will make her very rich.
The role of Knurov in the plot of the play
The role of Mokiy Parmenych is minimal. He is present in all significant events of the play, but does not have any important influence on them. Although the scene with the division of Larisa between Knurov and Vozhevatov played a certain role in Larisa’s fate. When Knurov invited her to go with him to Paris, she realized that she did not need to wait for some special fate, but just need to play her card - beauty and youth.
Quotes from Knurov
- The warm sympathy of a strong, rich man...
- In such cases good friend, solid, durable, must have.
- I wouldn't think for one minute about offering you my hand, but I'm married
- It’s good if she realizes to leave her husband as soon as possible and return to you.
- Don't be afraid of shame, there will be no condemnation. There are boundaries beyond which condemnation does not cross; I can offer you such enormous content that the most evil critics of other people's morality will have to shut up and open their mouths in surprise.
- I kept thinking about Larisa Dmitrievna. It seems to me that she is now in such a position that we, close people, are not only allowed, but we are even obliged to take part in her fate.
- An expensive diamond requires an expensive setting.
In the work of A.N. Ostrovsky "Dowry" there is one interesting character background. He's got enough unusual name. Mokiy Parmenych Knurov is an elderly man, a successful businessman. During his life he amassed a huge fortune.
Knurov is a prominent representative of the upper class of the county town. The man has a high opinion of himself. He tries not to pay attention to ordinary people; they are not interesting to him. Even a person with beautiful features and his character will not evoke any feelings in Knurov. The man is very concerned about his health and often walks along the city streets before eating.
Knurov communicates only with people in his circle. He pays attention to rich, significant and prestigious gentlemen. To do this, he constantly visits the capital and attends various social events. The man also loves to travel around Europe. Mine Small town Knurov considers Bryakhimov to be a remote village. Here he does not communicate with anyone and believes that he has no equal. Therefore in hometown he prefers to remain silent and not talk to anyone.
Despite the fact that Knurov behaves aloof, city residents treat him with reverence and great respect. The people recognize his importance and bow to him when they see Knurov.
The man has a family and they have been together for a long time. Mokiy Parmenych is a great connoisseur of everything beautiful. He believes that money can buy everything, even love. Knurov fell in love with Larisa Dmitrievna, he considers her an expensive diamond, and would like to see himself as a jeweler next to her. He wants the girl to become his kept woman. To realize his desire, he is ready to spend a large sum of money.
Knurov created for himself the image of a kind and noble person. And to support his image, he decided to give Larisa’s mother money to buy a wedding dress. When allocating funds, he hoped in his heart that they would be refused. The man was secretly against the wedding of Larisa and Karandashev; he hoped that the ceremony would not take place.
Talking with Kharita Ignatievna, Knurov expressed his assumption that Larisa would quickly get tired of poor Karandashev. He openly says that he is not against taking a young girl to his permanent residence. Knurov is even ready to take her to Paris. But Larisa is a proud girl and Mokiy Parmenych’s proposals are offensive to her.
In general, Knurov appears to readers as an arrogant character. He is a callous, soulless and pompous person. He is not interested in other people's experiences.
Option 2
One of the contenders for Larisa Ogudalova’s affection is Mokiy Parmenych Knurov. He is no longer a young man and a very wealthy man. This gives him confidence, leisure and respect in society. Everyone would like to have such a respectable friend or patron, which is why they curry favor with him.
Knurov often attends dinner parties, his presence is an honor for the hosts. Among his friends there are many famous people. Knurov has a strict character, everyone knows that. He loves to eat delicious food. He often walks, but only to meet someone he knows on the boulevard and work up an appetite for fresh air. Knurov is never in a hurry, which corresponds to his status.
He has practically no ordinary people among his friends. He spends a lot of time abroad, often travels to St. Petersburg and Moscow, where he is accepted into high society. Undoubtedly, Knurov is an educated person, knows French and easily reads newspapers in this language.
In addition to delicious food, another weakness of an important gentleman is women. He really liked the beautiful and poor Larisa. He is ready to see her often, despite her unenviable position. The fact that Knurov is married does not bother him at all. Legal wife There is no reason for him to have a young mistress. Moreover, he openly talks about this with others and offers this status to Larisa herself.
On the one hand, he pities the girl and promises her such protection and provision that not a single rumor will spread. On the other hand, he offers all this only for selfish reasons. There is not a drop of love on his part. Moreover, Knurov treats Larisa not as a person, but as a beautiful object that can be bought or played on a coin. Ogudalova finds herself in a hopeless situation and agrees to be an “expensive thing,” but dies. This does not cause Knurov much regret.
Knurov is a typical example of a person who believes that money can solve everything. He is confident that he will easily buy the favor of any person. He is also confident that no one will oppose his wishes. He could easily save Larisa, provide her with a dowry or give her a generous wedding gift, but Knurov does not know compassion, kindness and sensitivity. He is a selfish, narcissistic and cynical person.
Essay by Mokiy Parmenych Knurov
In Ostrovsky's play "Dowry", Knurov Mokiy Parmenych is an elderly man who has amassed a huge fortune. For him, money is the meaning of life. This character doesn’t have many phrases, but they are meaningful, so it’s quite easy to imagine such a businessman.
Moky Parmenych divides people into rich and poor. Calculation and self-interest became part of his flesh and blood. He does not deign to pay attention to the poor, this is especially evident from the contempt with which he treats Karandyshev. In the small town where he came on business, there are only a few people with whom Mokiy Parmenych communicates. These are the young merchant Vasily Danilych Vozhevatov, the nobleman Sergei Sergeevich Paratov and the Ogudalov family (mother and daughter).
Knurov, as a fairly insightful person and, in turn, blinded by the beauty and purity of Larisa Ogudalova, understands that she will be unhappy in her marriage to Karandyshev. Therefore, after Larisa’s “fall,” having won her in an argument with Vozhevatov, he invites the girl to become his mistress. Poor Larisa, deceived and abandoned by everyone, is in such nervous tension that she doesn’t care how her own fate will turn out in the future.
By making an unequivocal offer, Mokiy Parmenych thinks of himself as a benefactor. A “diamond” like Larisa Ogudalova should shine only with him. This man has long been accustomed to living his own way.
His every step is measured, he even walks around the city (exercises) only to work up an appetite. In essence, Knurov is a collective character. There were many such merchants at the end of the nineteenth century.
Without benefit for themselves, the Knurovs did not open their mouths. Mokiy Parmenych allows himself to talk only with a “pure” public and only in Moscow, St. Petersburg and abroad. Imagining himself in the company of a young beautiful mistress, Knurov mentally sees how he and Larisa are vacationing in Paris, going to artist exhibitions, and so on.
He is cunning, telling Kharita Ogudalova (Larissa’s mother) that he is ready to marry Larisa, but cannot fulfill this because he is married. However, with unusual agility for him, he talks in detail about his trip to Paris. Alas, the mother is ready to sell her daughter at a higher price.
He doesn’t give a damn about the feelings of his wife and “mistress”, because he provides for them from head to toe. In Dahl's dictionary, the word “knur” is a synonym for hog, boar and wild boar. This is approximately what this person is like in life. Behind the mask of decency and prosperity lies a cruel, heartless heart.
Mokiy Parmenych Knurov, thanks to his fabulous wealth, feels like the master of the world. Slowly and surely, he captures everything that lies in his zone of interest. He puts money at the forefront, therefore this attitude has distorted his mind and heart. Knurov looks at everything from the point of view of buying and selling, and since he is emotionally poor, he compensates for his feelings with “despicable metal.” Mokiy Parmenych treats Larisa Ogudalova like a thing and this is the whole tragedy of the play.
Nature is mother, nurse, without her human existence will be in jeopardy. It absorbs millions of living beings, all the ecosystems of the planet are its wealth.
Dunya Melekhova is the younger sister of Grigory Melekhov in the novel Quiet Don. At the beginning of the novel
Outstanding, famous and perhaps one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich. As an author, he more than once based any of his works on historical data that corresponded to true data
Knurov, Vozhevatov and Larisa
Knurov and Vozhevatov are typical representatives of the merchant class of the 19th century. These heroes are driven by cold calculation, and the main thing in their lives is money.
Knurov’s, like Vozhevatov’s, attitude towards people is determined by their financial situation. Therefore, Karandyshev’s behavior causes disapproval among merchants, and even reaches the point of open bullying.
It is also impossible not to mention speaking surnames, because these are brief characteristics of the heroes. “Knur” means boar, boar. Knurov even walks solely for exercise, to work up an appetite and eat his sumptuous lunch. He is secretive and taciturn, but Gavrilo says about him: “How do you want him to talk, if he has millions?...And he goes to Moscow, St. Petersburg and abroad to talk, where he has more space.” Mokiy
Parmenych is also distinguished by his determination, pursuing Larisa, although his attitude towards her is swinish. In his opinion, Larisa is an “expensive diamond” that requires an expensive setting, so Knurov offers the girl the humiliating position of a kept woman.
Vozhevatov, unlike Knurov, was young and could marry Larisa.
But he does not know the feeling of love, he is cold, practical and sarcastic. “What is my closeness?” - says Vozhevatov. - “Sometimes I’ll pour an extra glass of champagne on the sly from my mother [Larissa’s mother], I’ll learn a song, I’ll carry novels that girls are not allowed to read.” And he adds: “I don’t force it. Why should I care about her morality; I’m not her guardian.” Vasily Danilovich treats Larisa irresponsibly; she is like a toy for him. When a girl asks for help
Vozhevatova, he says: “Larisa Dmitrievna, I respect you and would be glad... I can’t do anything. Believe my word! By the way, it is Vozhevatov who comes up with the idea to decide Larisa’s fate with the help of a toss.
So, we can say that in this work A.N. Ostrovsky wanted to show what money does to people. Even in the title of the play you can already guess what it will be about. Money kills love, conscience, and makes you look down on those people who don’t have it. The coin decides the fate of a person, literally and figuratively.
We have prepared for you a series of lessons with the general title “Navigator”. Each lesson contains brief information about a specific work of Russian literature and helps to navigate additional materials dedicated to him. I propose to talk about Ostrovsky’s play “Dowry”.
The location of the action becomes the Volga city Bryakhimov, in the image of which one can find features of the author’s contemporary Nizhny Novgorod (in post-reform times, recreated in the play, many wealthy entrepreneurs lived there - “millionaires,” as they were called then - and it is no coincidence that the theme of money occupies such an important place in the work). The name Bryakhimov is not made up: such a city really once existed, was mentioned in the chronicles (here associations arise with antiquity, archaism - and, indeed, in Bryakhimov, despite industrial and commercial successes, conservative and sometimes dense morals reign).
Larisa Ogudalova, a girl with a good but impoverished family name, is dowryless. Her nimble mother wants to marry her off to a wealthy man, but despite Larisa’s beauty, intelligence and sophistication, numerous visitors to their modest home are in no hurry to propose marriage. The rich merchant Knurov is married, his childhood friend Vozhevatov is carried away by business and is in no hurry to start a family, and the one whom Larisa herself fell in love with, the noble rake Paratov, leaves and does not give any news about himself. Tired of the uncertainty of her position, no longer wanting to be an object of obvious trade, Larisa agrees to marry the poor and unremarkable official Karandyshev. He has been in love with Larisa for a long time, and even the obvious lack of reciprocity on the part of the bride does not bother him. Shortly before the wedding, Paratov returns to the city, wanting to have a short affair and take a walk before his own profitable wedding. He deceives Larisa into believing in his passionate love. Larisa and Paratov are traveling on a ship across the Volga, Larisa’s reputation is ruined. Trampled, having lost all hope, Karandyshev shoots Larisa, and she saves her killer from trial by faking suicide.
Larisa Ogudalova famous not only for her rare, refined beauty, but also for her creative talent: she “plays various instruments, sings,” loves romances (although in this we cannot help but notice bad taste, a certain limitation, but we will not blame her). The heroine with all her soul strives to get away from the world of ordinary people, yearns for real feeling, for authenticity. “...in Larisa Dmitrievna there is no earthly, this everyday thing. Well, you know, trivial... After all, this is ether,” even the cynical Knurov admits. But this detachment from the ordinary also has back side: Larisa sometimes turns out to be blind in her assessment of other people, she sees in Paratov only the illusion he creates - free, beautiful, different life, not noticing the spiritual misery of Paratov himself. The heroine is capable of desperate acts; she boldly follows Paratov, losing everything. Karandyshev’s terrible act frees the heroine from both suicide and the fate of a kept woman. Before her death, Larisa, who never found love, says that she forgives everyone and loves everyone.
Karandyshev:-Another one " small man"with his complexes, anger and vanity. Sincerely in love with Larisa, much more than her peace of mind, he wants a kind of benefit for himself: triumph, public compensation for past humiliations. While verbally despising the world where money rules, Karandyshev completely obeys its laws. For Karandyshev, the murder of Larisa is not a manifestation of jealousy: he is not jealous, because he already knows that he is unloved. Karandyshev wants assign beautiful, inaccessible, internally distant from him Larisa. He can rule over her, subjugate her only in death.
Paratov:- « I... have nothing treasured; If I find a profit, I’ll sell everything, anything,” this is how the character characterizes himself. “A squandered reveler, a depraved person,” these words spoken by Karandyshev also turn out to be an accurate description of Paratov. A financial “loser,” Paratov makes another profitable deal: he sells not only his ship, but also himself to a rich bride in exchange for gold mines. At the same time, Paratov tries to cover up his base actions in the eyes of those around him with lofty reasons, to create an aura of mystery around himself.
Knurov:- a cynical man who is in love with Larisa, but does not want to destroy his family. He treats Larisa like a precious, elegant thing and offers her the role of a kept woman.
Vozhevatov:- a strange character with unclear motives. He is Larisa’s childhood friend, is interested in her, and can afford to marry. What's the matter? Looking for a rich bride? Or doesn’t want to marry someone who is in love with someone else? Or, most likely, this pragmatic person doesn’t want the hassle, the expense, or the extreme feelings. Be that as it may, he betrays Larisa in the end, playing her like a thing, in a toss with Knurov, refusing Larisa even a word of consolation.
Kharita Ogudalova:- “a lively woman”, puzzled by money. This poor widow successfully married off her two eldest daughters (and the rich suitors, as it turned out later, ruined the girls’ lives, one of them even died at the hands of a jealous husband), but the author does not show any of Kharita Ignatievna’s worries about this. But we watch how she tries, through cunning, hypocrisy, and intrigue, not to “cheap up”, selling off her beautiful daughter.
One of the central problems is the place of man in the world of purely monetary relations, where he does not exist as a person, but turns out to be a commodity. Of course, sometimes this is done implicitly, for example, under the pretext of care or admiration. Among those like Knurov and Vozhevatov, Larisa cannot find love that would not be a cover for a profitable life deal. The play, which began with a deal - the purchase of a steamship - ends with a deal when Knurov invites Larisa to sell herself to him. “If you are a thing, then there is only one consolation - to be expensive, very expensive,” Larisa herself thinks in despair.
Of course, this is a monstrous humiliation of human dignity. Subject humiliation consistently permeates the play. “We are poor people, we have to humiliate ourselves all our lives. “It’s better to humiliate yourself from a young age, so that later you can live like a human being,” says Kharita Ignatievna, thinking that subsequent wealth and acquired status will cover up the former shame. The theme of humiliation is most clearly and consistently manifested through the image of Karandyshev.
And, of course, the theme of love, which does not exist in such a system of relationships, takes on special significance. There is a desire to possess. From Knurov, Vozhevatov, Paratov, Karandyshev. But they have no understanding, no respect, no responsibility for the other. It seems that maternal love has no place here either.
The scale of the problem here is quite typical for drama: the hero’s clash with life circumstances, with society, with his immediate environment. With such a conflict, the ending can be no less bitter than tragic. That's exactly what happens here. So, before us psychological drama, revealing the catastrophe of human nature.
An exceptional role for understanding the play is played by speaking names. The name Larisa means “seagull” in Greek. The image of a bird is associated with beauty, space, freedom and vulnerability. The surname Ogudalova, in relation to Larisa’s mother, hints at Kharita Ignatievna’s prudence and cynicism: in the dialects of Central Russian provinces, the verb “ogudat” meant “to seduce, deceive, deceive, deceive.”
Another significant trick - leitmotifs. For example, the whole play is permeated money motive. Let's remember about a small detail - a coin: the exhibition tells how Paratov shoots at Larisa, who is holding a coin in her hand, and at the end of the play, Larisa herself is played with a coin, like an object. Occupies an important place in the drama sparkle motif. At the beginning of the play we encounter the epithet “brilliant (master)” - this is a characteristic of Paratov in the list characters. “An expensive diamond is expensive and requires a setting,” says Larisa Knurov, a connoisseur of female beauty who claims to be a “jeweler.” “She is made to shine”; “You will sparkle with me like nothing has ever been seen here.” The gold mines of Paratov’s bride also evoke thoughts of brilliance... “Oh, what a brilliant idea!” - this is about the idea of getting Karandyshev drunk. And here are the words of Karandyshev: “Larisa Dmitrievna knows that not all that glitters is gold. ... She knows how to distinguish gold from tinsel. ... She was looking for a man not brilliant, but worthy...” And here are the despairing words of Larisa herself, who decided to make a “deal” with Knurov: “gold glittered before my eyes, diamonds sparkled.”
Play a significant role gypsy motifs: It is no coincidence that on the classical piano in the Ogudalovs’ house there is a guitar, a gypsy, freestyle instrument. Karandyshev mentions life in a “gypsy camp,” referring to the crowds of rich guests in the Ogudalovs’ house. In gypsy motifs we also see some characteristics of Larisa: her world is not devoid of romance templates, this is not a style better tone, although these are attempts to find her own personality, her own voice - it is no coincidence that Larisa sings in the play... Let's pay attention to bird motif and, in addition to the name of the heroine, let us remember the steamship “Swallow”: Paratov disposes of the “birds” like a master - he sells off first the “Swallow”, and then Larisa, the seagull of the Volga city yearning for freedom. .
We offer you various interpretations of the work, including comments from modern scientists. These materials will help you answer in class, when writing an essay, will be useful in preparing for exams and, of course, will give you the keys to understanding the text. See section. If you are interested in which other writers have thought about similar questions, with whom the writer enters into a creative dialogue, look at the section. If you liked the work and would be happy to read something similar in style and atmosphere, open the tab. If you want to think about the problems that the author touches on in the play and that have worried humanity for centuries, take a look at. Here are useful links, facts, thoughts from researchers and, most importantly, questions. Read, compare, reflect!
The famous play “Dowry,” which Ostrovsky wrote over 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 among both spectators 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 destinies of other people who depend on them; many did not like them. Like other innovations in the play, incomprehensible to a wide circle public, all this caused a rather harsh assessment from both readers and critics.
History of creation
In the early seventies of the nineteenth century, Ostrovsky worked as an honorary justice of the peace for 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 prototype storyline in "Dowry" was the tragic death of a young woman who was killed by her own husband, Ivan Konovalov, a local resident of the Kineshma district.
Ostrovsky began the play in late autumn (November 1874), making a note in the margin “Opus No. 40”, stretching out its writing over four long years, due to parallel work on several other works, and finishing it in the autumn of 1878. The play was approved by the censor, preparations for publication began, 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 perform the play on the stage, presenting it to the audience and critics. The premieres of “The Dowry” at both the Maly and Alexandrinsky theaters were disastrous and caused sharp negative judgments from theater critics. And only ten years after Ostrovsky’s death (the second half of the 90s of the 19th century) the play finally achieved well-deserved success, largely thanks to the enormous popularity and fame of the actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya, who played main 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 “The Thunderstorm” only after 20 years have passed. The time of such tyrants and tyrants as Kabanikha and Porfiry Dikoy has long passed; the “finest hour” has come for enterprising, cunning and resourceful businessmen, such as millionaire Knurov and representative of a wealthy trading company Vasily Vozhevatov, who are able to buy and sell not only goods and things, but And human destinies. The first act of the play begins with their dialogue, which tells about the fate of the young woman Larisa Ogudalova, deceived by the rich master Paratov (a kind of version of the matured Boris, Dikiy’s nephew). From a conversation between merchants, we learn that the first beauty of the city, whose artistry and charm have no equal, is marrying a poor official, absolutely insignificant and pathetic in their opinion, Karandyshev.
Larisa’s mother, Kharitona Ogudalova, who herself raised three daughters, 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 everything is spoiled by one simple and well-known fact for everyone: 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, he, having played with Larisa’s feelings, 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 situation). Desperate Larisa tells her mother that she is ready to marry the first person she meets, who becomes Yuliy Kapitonich Karandyshev.
Before the wedding, Larisa meets Paratov, who has returned after a year's absence, confesses her love to him and runs away with him from her unloved groom on his steamer "Swallow", which the unlucky bankrupt also sells for debts. There Larisa tries to find out from Paratov who she is now to him: his wife, or someone else, then she learns with horror about his future marriage to a rich bride. Heartbroken Larisa is approached with an offer to take her to the Paris exhibition, and in fact become his mistress and kept woman, by millionaire Knurov, who wins this right from Vozhevatov (after consulting, the merchants decide that such a diamond as Larisa should not go to waste, they play her fate by tossing a coin). Karandyshev appears and begins to prove to Larisa that for her fans she is just a thing, a beautiful and exquisite, but absolutely soulless object, with which you can do as its owner wants. Crushed by life's circumstances and the callousness of businessmen who sell and buy so easily human lives, Larisa finds this comparison with the 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 pathetic and insignificant, Karandyshev, in a fit of jealousy, anger and injured pride, with the words “So don’t let anyone get you!” shoots Larisa with a pistol, she dies saying that she blames no one and forgives everyone everything.
Main characters
The main character of the play, Larisa Ogudalova, a young homeless woman from the city of Bryakhimov, is a slightly older Katerina from the play “The 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 is “suffocating” 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 undeniable tragedy: she is the first smart and beautiful woman in the city and cannot marry a worthy man because she is without a dowry. In this situation, two options appear before her: to become the kept woman of a rich and influential married man, or to choose a man of lower social status as her husband. 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, Dikiy’s nephew in “The Thunderstorm,” turns out to be a completely different person in real life. He breaks your heart main character and with his indifference, lies and spinelessness, he literally “kills” the girl, i.e. becomes the reason for it tragic death. Tragic death becomes a kind of “good deed” for the main character, because for her the current situation became a life tragedy that she could not cope with. That is why in her last moments, the dying Larisa does not blame anyone for anything and does not complain about her fate.
Ostrovsky portrayed his heroine as an ardent and passionate person who experienced severe mental trauma and 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 as she was throughout her entire life. life. Due to the fact that Larisa Ogudalova’s concepts and aspirations were radically different from the value system dominant in the world around her, although she was constantly in the center of public attention (like a beautiful and graceful 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 an ideal image of a man, which Sergei Paratov becomes, falls in love with him and cruelly pays for her self-deception with her life.
In his play, the great Russian playwright surprisingly talentedly portrayed not only the image of the main character Larisa Ogudalova, but the people around her: the cynicism and unscrupulousness of the hereditary merchants Knurov and Vozhevatov, who played out the girl’s fate by simple lot, the immorality, deceit and cruelty of her failed fiancé Paratov, greed and depravity her mother, trying to sell her daughter as profitably as possible, the envy, pettiness and narrow-mindedness of a loser with the heightened pride and sense of ownership of the jealous Karandyshev.
Features of the genre and compositional structure
The composition of the play, constructed in a certain way in a strict classical style, contributes to an increase in emotional 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 at the Ogudalovs) there is a climax, in the fourth there is a tragic denouement. Thanks to this consistent linearity compositional construction the author reveals the motivation for the characters’ actions, which becomes well understood and explainable for both readers and viewers who realize that people act one way or another not only because of their psychological characteristics, and also due to the influence of the social environment.
Also, the play “Dowry” is characterized by the use of a unique system of images, namely “speaking” names invented for the characters: the name of an exalted nature, Larisa Ogudalova translated from Greek as “seagull”, the name Kharita is of gypsy origin and means “lovely”, and the surname Ogudalova comes from the word “gudat” - to deceive, deceive. The surname Paratov comes from the word “paraty”, which means “predator”, Knurov - from the word “knur” - wild boar, the name of Larisa’s fiance Yulia 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 everyone has a certain social stigma attached to them, no one can feel free and do what they really want. As long as people believe in the power of money, they will forever remain hostage to social cliches: Larisa cannot become the wife of a loved one because she is without 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 precisely thanks to the enormous power of emotional impact, scale, topicality of the problems raised and undeniable artistic value that Ostrovsky’s play “Dowry” takes pride of place 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.
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