• The Merchant “King Lear” of A. N. Ostrovsky. To the Question of the Shakespearean Tradition in the Comedy It’s a Family Affair — We’ll Settle It Ourselves

УДК: 821.161.1-22

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2025-4-73-91

EDN: RNJIGC

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Ivan O. Volkov

Сand. Sc. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature
National Research Tomsk State University
Tomsk, Russia
E-mail: wolkoviv@gmail.com

The Merchant “King Lear” of A. N. Ostrovsky. To the Question of the Shakespearean Tradition in the Comedy It’s a Family Affair — We’ll Settle It Ourselves

Abstract

The article examines A.N.  Ostrovsky’s comedy It’s a Family Affair — We’ll Settle It Ourselves (1850) in the context of the Shakespearean tradition, primarily through its significant convergence with the tragedy King Lear. The focus of the study is the image of the merchant Samson Silych Bolshov, who is interpreted not only as a socially typical figure of the Russian merchant class but also as a bearer of a complex moral and psychological conflict comparable to the tragic experience of Shakespeare’s hero. The analysis is based upon the history of the play’s creation, Ostrovsky’s translation and theatre activities, and the critical reception of Bolshov’s character in the works of Ostrovsky’s contemporaries, including N.P. Nekrasov, N.A. Dobrolyubov, and A.A. Grigoriev. The long-established and now outdated interpretation of Bolshov as a socially one-dimensional type of tyrannical “samodur” proves insufficient to exhaust the creative complexity of the character. Comparison with King Lear reveals a more intricate moral and psychological structure, in which a social conflict develops into an ethical and psychological ordeal. Particular attention is paid to the motifs of voluntary renunciation of power and property, the conflict between fathers and children, the role of feigned love and false loyalty, and the function of the monologue as a form of self-revelation. A parallel is traced between the moral downfall and subsequent awakening of the merchant Bolshov and the tragic experience of King Lear, despite fundamental generic and cultural differences. The article concludes that, by employing a Shakespearean narrative framework, Ostrovsky creates an original model of a “merchant Lear.” The high tragic collision articulated by Shakespeare is realized within the conditions of Russian social and residential reality, allowing the comedy to transcend narrow social typology and acquire a universal human resonance, aptly noted by A.P. Skaftymov.

Keywords

A.N. Ostrovsky; It’s a Family Affair — We’ll Settle It Ourselves; William Shakespeare; King Lear; Shakespearean tradition; image of the merchant; social typology; moral conflict; the tragic and the comic.

For citation

Volkov I. О. The Merchant King Lear of A. N. Ostrovsky. To the Question of the Shakespearean Tradition in the Comedy It’s a Family Affair — We’ll Settle It Ourselves. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2025, no. 4, pp. 73–91.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2025-4-73-91

EDN RNJIGC

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Received: 02.10.2025

Revised: 09.11.2025

Accepted: 12.11.2025