Tyrannical Characters by A. N. Ostrovsky in View of the Primary Speech Genres

The author of this article applies the theory of speech genres of M. M. Bakhtin, developed by A. D. Stepanov, to analyze the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky. In particular, she considers the tyrannical characters through the prism of primary speech genres. According to the author’s point of view, a completely definite and stable set of primary speech genres defines such characters. There prevail imperative speech genres, which are associated with influencing the will of another person, namely, an order, a demand or a threat. The article briefly describes each of these genres showing that they are used by the tyrannical characters to impose their own whims on the interlocutors. The author confirms this conclusion by the examples (the behavior of Bruskov, Akhov, Karkunov). What is more, the tyrannical characters resort to didactic speech genres, which mainly demonstrates their opinion of themselves as “knowledgeable” (this distinguishes, for example, Kabanikha). At the same time, the tyrannical characters often use the speech genre of complain, which shows the weakness of their nature and lack of strength when facing resistance (for example, Bolshov, Akhov). The author makes a conclusion that there are wide possibilities of applying the theory of speech genres in the study of Ostrovsky’s plays.