- Essays
- On literature
- Ostrovsky
- Kuligin in the play The Thunderstorm
The first person encountered in the play is a simple tradesman named Kuligin. By nature, he is a dreamer and was even able to master the profession of a mechanic. True, without going into too much detail. It’s impossible to say anything about his appearance. The author completely hides even the facial features or general image of this person.
Even though he is aged, his display of initiative is a frequent occurrence. Activities are mainly directed towards the benefit of society, but few people appreciate this. At the beginning of the play, he is sitting on a bench looking at the Volga River. When Shapkin and Kudryash approached him, the first words that came out of him were: “Delight.” He loves nature very much and finds peace in it. Everyday problems concerning these two also bother him, but he knows how to distract himself and relax.
When an extremely pointless conversation begins, he is not going to support it. Moreover, the theme of the “Dark Kingdom” is extremely uninteresting. And when he still speaks negatively about swearing, there are a few basic things you can say. Namely:
- Kuligin is an educated, well-mannered man.
- He has a very sharp mind. This is confirmed repeatedly throughout the play.
- But most of all he does not like injustice, and values freedom above all else. This statement can be made based on a conversation with Boris Grigorievich. He, being a relative of the Wild One, constantly obeys him and tries to please him in everything.
The character understands the times and government principles very well. The city of Kalinov is not an island or an Oasis for anything. And the ability to conduct analysis allows you to fully assess the situation and not let yourself be controlled. But age also takes its toll and Kuligin does not want to change his life. Moreover, age is no longer permissible!
The ability to find a common language not to please personal interests allows you to talk with absolutely everyone and on different topics. Moreover, sometimes even with power he can take liberties, but he does it very carefully! And his wisdom is for many the very stumbling block that many are looking for. In general, he is an honest and even reliable person. But since no one needs or values this anymore, Kuligin automatically falls out of society.
Image and characteristics of Kuligin
One of the many minor characters in the work is Kuligin, presented by the writer in the image of a local resident of the provincial Russian town of Kalinovo.
The hero is described in the play as a fifty-year-old man of bourgeois origin, working as a simple mechanic and self-taught watchmaker.
The playwright portrays Kuligin's distinctive features as his high erudition, love of reading, admiration for famous scientists, especially Lomonosov, and verbatim knowledge of quotes from famous people.
Characterizing Kuligin, the author emphasizes his romantic, dreamy nature, as well as his reverent attitude towards the surrounding nature, which evokes reverence in the hero’s soul with its charming uniqueness and charm, thereby emphasizing his own poetic soul and the inner beauty of the incorrigible dreamer.
Kuligin is an honest person who does not recognize lies and prefers to express his own opinion about people and their actions exclusively truthfully and directly to their faces. In addition, Kuligin is also characterized by human courage, since, unlike other people, he is not afraid of either natural phenomena or other human actions. At the same time, Kuligin is distinguished by excessive talkativeness, which he himself recognizes as excessive chatter, but he cannot refuse the pleasure of once again chatting with the townspeople he meets.
Residents of the city characterize Kuligin as a kind, good, modest person who does not allow him to use bad words and expressions about the people around him.
The key characteristic feature of the hero is his sincere desire to become useful for his hometown, improving the life of Kalinov residents by implementing innovative ideas in the form of installing a sundial, a lightning rod, and also the dream of creating a perpetual motion machine. At the same time, Kuligin does not strive for his own enrichment, expressing the desire to work for the common benefit without remuneration, honestly fulfilling his earthly destiny in the form of serving people. However, the inventor does not find understanding and support from urban society, since local residents do not need to improve their quiet life by introducing strange scientific ideas that are incomprehensible to them.
In the image of Kuligin, the writer presents a noble representative of the provincial intelligentsia, who dreams of making his own contribution to social improvements, who understands the need for urgent changes in the dark kingdom, but does not have like-minded people among his circle and is unable to confront the old world alone.
Essay 4
One of the minor characters in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm is Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic. His surname is consonant with the surname of the famous mechanic-inventor Kulibin, who was a talented person: in addition to his inventions, he wrote poetry. Kuligin also writes poetry.
At the beginning of the play we see Kuligin admiring the view of the Volga. He admires the beauty of nature and hums a song. In a conversation with Kudryash, he admits that he has been admiring this landscape every day for fifty years now and still can’t get enough of it. Kuligin is a poetic and dreamy person, enthusiastic about nature. But he is alone in this city with such an attitude towards nature. Wild and Kabanovs are indifferent to beauty. In this city of rich and poor, everything is decided by the power of money.
Kuligin dreams of inventing a perpetual motion machine. At the same time, he thinks about the improvement of his native city, and not about personal gain. He would receive a million for a perpetual motion machine and would use it for the needs of the city residents. Kuligin is concerned about safety and is trying to install a lightning rod in the city. He wants to make a sundial in the city park. But ordinary people are ignorant and do not understand Kuligin, and the rich do not perceive him and consider him a “robber”, and they are sorry to part with their money. He asks Dikiy for money, but is refused.
The self-taught scientist seems stuck in the past. In poetry, he prefers the “old poets” Lomonosov and Derzhavin, he writes poetry himself, imitating them, as if there was no Pushkin, no Lermontov, no Griboyedov... His language is old-fashioned, the influence of bookish, Old Slavonic phrases is felt in it. It is impossible to invent a perpetual motion machine (this has already been proven); the lightning rod was invented long ago. Kuligin's ideas are utopian. And in the city of Kalinov, his ideas seem like innovations. They have no place in the patriarchal world that Kalinov represents.
In his monologues, Kuligin gives apt characteristics to the other heroes of the play, expresses bold thoughts about the cruel morals reigning in the city, speaks out in defense of the poor, but he does not enter into a fight with them, he acts more by denunciations. Unfortunately, he cannot change life in the city, because power is not on his side. By his nature, Kuligin is not a fighter, but a beautiful-hearted dreamer.
In the play, Kuligin is contrasted by the author with the residents of Kalinov. He exposes the cruel morals prevailing in the city and is the bearer of the author's position regarding the social and public problems of that time.
An essay on the topic of the image of Kuligin and its meaning in the play
The play “The Thunderstorm,” written by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, tells about life in the small town of Kalinov, where the tyranny of rich landowners knows no bounds. The “Dark Kingdom,” personifying these landowners, has no superiors above them who could express their disapproval of them. Every inhabitant of Kalinov does not agree with this injustice, and some decide to openly express what they think. The first person we meet in the play is Kuligin, a simple tradesman, a self-taught mechanic and a dreamer. We don't know his appearance. He is over fifty years old, but he is active and proactive. We meet Kuligin at the very beginning of the play. He sits on a bench and admires the Volga, and even sings with pleasure. When Kudryash and Shapkin approach him, Kuligin immediately shares his emotions with them. "Delight!" - he says, but they do not understand his joy, they “do not see” the beauty of the landscape, because they are immersed in everyday problems. The conversation immediately turns to the “dark kingdom”. Kuligin does not support meaningless chatter. We notice his remarks only “on business”, and when necessary. “What, let’s take him as an example! It’s better to endure it,” Kuligin says about Dikiy’s curses. This attitude shows the intelligence and originality of Kuligin’s behavior; for comparison, Kudryash boasts that he does not allow himself to be offended: “And I don’t let it go either: he is words, and I am ten.” But when Dikoy passes by, Shapkin and Kudryash step aside, afraid that he will get attached, Kuligin remains sitting in his place and just takes off his hat. In the next scene, Kuligin talks with Boris Grigorievich, Dikiy’s nephew. Kuligin is interested in why Boris lives in such subordination to his uncle that, moreover, he does not dare to challenge him for senseless reproaches, Boris replies that it is difficult for him to exist in this place, “I am superfluous in this place, I’m definitely in the way.” After listening to Boris Grigorievich, Kuligin understands that nothing can be changed and advises him to “please him somehow.” Kuligin is smart, he clearly understands what social principles reign in Kalinov and explains this to Boris: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel!” Along with the ability to analyze, there is dreaminess and poetry in him - Kuligin knows how to write poetry. But Boris refuses Boris’s offer to write life in Kalinov in verse: “How is it possible, sir! They will eat you, they will swallow you alive.” This shows his indecision: “I already get it for my chatter, sir.” If Katerina, the main character of “The Thunderstorm,” commits suicide as a sign of protest, then Kuligin does not want loud, decisive protests. Kuligin knows how to find a common language with people. “What a good man!” Boris says about him. Kuligin is a noble dreamer, he constantly thinks about the welfare of society - he wants to invent a perpetuum mobile and get a million for it, which he would spend on handing over the work to the philistines. “Otherwise you have hands, but nothing to work with.” “A mechanic, a self-taught mechanic,” as Kuligin calls himself, wants to make a sundial in the city park, for this he needs ten rubles and he asks Dikiy for them. Here Kuligin encounters the stubborn stupidity of Dikiy, who simply does not want to part with his money. Dobrolyubov wrote in his article “The Dark Kingdom” that “tyrants are easy to “stop” with the power of a judicious, enlightened mind.” “An enlightened person does not retreat, trying to instill in the Wild the correct concepts about the benefits of sundials and the saving power of lightning rods.” But everything is useless. One can only be surprised at the patience, respect and tenacity with which Kuligin tries to reach Dikiy. Kuligin subtly senses the beauty of nature: “because of the Volga, the meadows smell of flowers, the sky is clear...”; and regrets that people in the city do not see this at all, perhaps only the main character of the play, Katerina, just like him, admires the beauty of the world around her. The poor work from morning to night, and the rich sit at home behind locked gates and quarrel with each other. Only “young guys and girls... they steal an hour or so from sleep, and then they walk in couples.” He also tries to explain to people that they should not be afraid of such amazing natural phenomena as thunderstorms, northern lights, comets, they should be admired and surprised. But only he is capable of assessing these natural phenomena in this way; for everyone else they are God’s punishment, a sign, no one needs his reasoning about science and is rejected. “Everyone should be afraid of thunderstorms,” says Katerina. People are drawn to Kuligin. Tikhon Kabanov tells him with complete confidence about his experiences, about how hard it is for him to live in his mother’s house. Kuligin clearly understands all of Tikhon’s problems, gives him advice to forgive his wife and exist with his own mind. “She would be a good wife for you, sir; look - it’s better than anyone.” The trouble is that Tikhon cannot use this advice, his mother will not allow him, and he does not believe in his own strength: “No, it’s his own mind.” In the last scene of the play, when the dead Katerina is taken out of the Volga, Kuligin is the first to decide to tell Kabanikha: “Here is your Katerina. Do what you want with her! Her body is in this place, take it; but the human essence is now not yours; she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” After these words he runs away. He runs away because it is deeply unpleasant for him to be around these people. Ostrovsky gave his hero a surname consonant with the surname of the self-taught Russian mechanic Ivan Petrovich Kulibin, who helped the development of society with his inventions and discoveries. Kuligin is not the main character of the play, but the author gave him a very important role. In the person of Kuligin, another protest against the “dark kingdom” is expressed. Katerina sacrifices herself in protest against tyranny, and Kuligin is only ready to object. But these are not just tears for a hard life, but thoughtful proposals, the implementation of which would make the life of Kalinov residents better and more beautiful. If you look at the volume, Kuligin’s monologues are second only to the monologues of the main character. As the story progresses, he appears in all the key scenes of the drama, clearly explaining the complexity of the current situations with his reasoning. In the “dark kingdom” Kuligin appears as a good person, he reads poetry, sings, his judgments are always accurate and thorough. He is a kind dreamer who strives to make people's lives better and expand their knowledge about the world around them. It often seems that the wise and judicious thoughts that Kuligin expresses are an assessment of the events of the play by the author himself. I like the image of Kuligin because he always knows what he is striving for. He has a stated problem - to make the life of society better, for this he tries to come up with all sorts of inventions, perpetuum mobiles, in order to use the money he receives to provide jobs for city residents. Only that same character has some aspirations in life, everyone else simply lives, solving everyday problems or creating them for others. I think that Ostrovsky, in the image of Kuligin, wanted to draw a solution to the problem in Kalinov. If Kuligin were not alone in his aspirations or if he were richer, then he could really change the life of his society, but none of this is given to him, and he is doomed to be an “outcast” in Kalinov.
