Katerina - a ray of light in a dark kingdom - essay. Katerina – Russian tragic heroine

Whole, honest, sincere, she is incapable of lies and falsehood, which is why in a cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life turns out so tragically. Katerina’s protest against Kabanikha’s despotism is a struggle of the bright, pure, human against the darkness, lies and cruelty of the “dark kingdom”. No wonder Ostrovsky, who is very great attention paid attention to the selection of names and surnames characters, gave this name to the heroine of “Thunderstorms”: translated from Greek “Ekaterina” means “eternally pure”.

Katerina is a poetic person. Unlike the rude Kalinovites, she feels the beauty of nature and loves it. “I used to get up early; If it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water with me, and that’s it, I’ll water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers,” she says about her childhood. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty. Her dreams were filled with wonderful, fabulous visions. She often dreamed that she was flying like a bird. She talks about her desire to fly several times. With these repetitions, the playwright emphasizes the romantic sublimity of Katerina’s soul and her freedom-loving aspirations. Married early, she tries to get along with her mother-in-law and love her husband, but in the Kabanovs’ house no one needs sincere feelings. And the gentle, poetic Katerina “withered completely” in this gloomy atmosphere. Like a proud bird that cannot live in a cage, she dies in Kabanikha’s house.

Katerina’s poetry and spiritual purity are manifested in her every word. “Where should I go, poor thing? Who should I grab hold of? My fathers, I am perishing!” - she says, saying goodbye to Tikhon. With what natural simplicity and accuracy these words convey her condition! The tenderness that fills her soul finds no outlet. Deep human longing resounds in her dream of children: “If only there were someone’s children! Eco woe! I don’t have children: I would still sit with them and amuse them. I really like talking to children - they are angels.” What a loving wife and mother she would have been under different conditions!

Katerina is religious. Given her impressionability, the religious feelings instilled in her in childhood firmly took possession of her soul. But how different is Katerina’s sincere, childishly pure religiosity from Kabanikha’s sanctimonious religiosity! For Kabanikha, religion is a dark force that suppresses the will of man, but for Katerina it is a poetic world fairy tale images. “...To death I loved going to church! “Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven, and I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over,” she recalls. In Kalinov, no one prayed as sincerely as Katerina. “Oh, Curly, how she prays, if only you would look! What an angelic smile she has on her face, and her face seems to glow,” says Boris, and Kudryash immediately unmistakably determines that we are talking about Katerina.

And then Same time. religion is a cage in which the “dark kingdom” locked Katerina’s soul. After all, the fear of “sin” torments her even more than Kabanikha’s oppression. And the fact that she was able to overcome him testifies to Katerina’s moral strength.

At the heart of Katerina’s protest against the oppression of the “dark kingdom” is a natural desire to defend the freedom of her personality. Bondage is the name of her main enemy. Outwardly, the living conditions in Kalinov are no different from the environment of Katerina’s childhood. The same prayers, the same rituals, the same activities, but “here,” the heroine notes, “everything seems to be from under captivity.” Bondage is incompatible with her freedom-loving soul. “And bondage is bitter, oh, how bitter!” - she says in the scene with the key, and this thought leads her to the decision to see Boris. With all her being, Katerina felt that living in “ dark kingdom» worse than death. And she chose death over captivity. “Sad, bitter is such liberation,” wrote Dobrolyubov, “but what to do when there is no other way out.”

In Katerina’s behavior, according to Dobrolyubov, a “decisive, integral Russian character” was revealed, which “will withstand itself, despite any obstacles, and when there is not enough strength, it will die, but will not betray itself.” Dobrolyubov noted that the character of Katerina, constituting “a step forward not only in Ostrovsky’s dramatic activity, but also in all of our literature,” reflects a new phase in the development of Russian folk life. There is a need for people with a decisive character who would embody general requirement truth and rights into decisive action. Katerina was the first type of such a person in Russian literature. Therefore, Dobrolyubov compared it with a ray of light, illuminating not only the horrors of the “dark kingdom”, but also the signs of its near end.

The great Russian actress Glikeria Nikolaevna Fedotova spoke about stage embodiment image of Katerina: “I’ve been playing this role since I was young, but only now I understand how to play it. And I didn’t understand at all before that Katerina is a ray of light in a dark kingdom. And it is necessary that through every word, every movement, this shining ray should be visible somewhere, which strives to break through the darkness. And let Katerina, not finding the road to a bright and joyful life, die: it is not helplessness, not sadness or inner devastation that leads to this end. On the contrary - a bright impulse. And only now he has no way out of the dark kingdom, but someday, soon there will be... This is how Ostrovsky conceived Katerina, this is how she should be played.” Wonderful Russian actresses L.P. Nikulina-Kositskaya, the first performer of the role of Katerina, P.A. Strepetova, M.N. Ermolov, left unforgettable, creatively original portraits of Katerina in the history of Russian theater.

Katerina’s protest against Kabanikha’s despotism was not only personal in nature in the context of the struggle against serfdom, it had great revolutionary significance, although Katerina herself acted completely unconsciously, defending only the freedom of her own personality.

Death main character Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” ends, the genre of which could easily be described as tragedy. The death of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” is the denouement of the work and carries a special meaning. The scene of Katerina’s suicide gave rise to many questions and interpretations of this plot twist. For example, Dobrolyubov considered this act noble, and Pisarev was of the opinion that such an outcome was “completely unexpected for her (Katerina) herself.” Dostoevsky believed that Katerina’s death in the play “The Thunderstorm” would have occurred without despotism: “this is a victim of her own purity and her beliefs.” It is easy to see that the opinions of critics differ, but at the same time each is partly true. What made the girl make such a decision, commit the table desperate step? What does the death of Katerina, the heroine of the play “The Thunderstorm” mean?

In order to answer this question, you need to study the text of the work in detail. The reader meets Katerina already in the first act. Initially, we observe Katya as a mute witness to the quarrel between Kabanikha and Tikhon. This episode allows us to understand the unhealthy environment of lack of freedom and oppression in which Katya has to survive. Every day she is convinced that her old life, the same as it was before marriage, will never be again. All power in the house, despite the patriarchal way of life, is concentrated in the hands of the hypocritical Marfa Ignatievna. Katya's husband, Tikhon, is unable to protect his wife from hysterics and lies. His weak-willed submission to his mother shows Katerina that in this house and in this family one cannot count on help.

Since childhood, Katya was taught to love life: go to church, sing, admire nature, dream. The girl “breathed deeply,” feeling safe. She was taught to live by the rules of Domostroy: respect the word of her elders, do not contradict them, obey her husband and love him. And now Katerina is married off, the situation changes radically. There is a huge, insurmountable gap between expectations and reality. Kabanikha’s tyranny knows no bounds; her limited understanding of Christian laws terrifies the believing Katerina. What about Tikhon? He is not at all a man who is worthy of respect or even compassion. Katya feels only pity for Tikhon, who drinks often. The girl admits that no matter how hard she tries to love her husband, nothing works.

A girl cannot realize herself in any area: neither as a housewife, nor as a loving wife, not like a caring mother. The girl regards Boris's appearance as a chance for salvation. Firstly, Boris is unlike the rest of the residents of Kalinov, and he, like Katya, does not like unwritten laws dark kingdom. Secondly, Katya was visited by thoughts of getting a divorce and after that living with Boris honestly, without fear of condemnation from society or the church. Relations with Boris are developing rapidly. One meeting was enough for two young people to fall in love with each other. Even without the opportunity to talk, Boris dreams of Katya. The girl is very worried about the feelings that have arisen: she was brought up differently, Katya cannot walk with someone else secretly; purity and honesty “prevent” Katya from hiding her love, pretending that everything is “kept under cover” and others don’t realize.

For a very long time the girl decided to go on a date with Boris, and yet she went to the garden at night. The author does not describe the ten days when Katerina saw her lover. This, in fact, is not necessary. It is easy to imagine their leisure time and the growing feeling of warmth that was in Katerina. Boris himself said “he only lived for those ten days.” The arrival of Tikhon Kabanov revealed new sides to the characters. It turned out that Boris does not want publicity at all; he would rather abandon Katya than involve himself in intrigues and scandals. Katya, unlike young man, wants to tell both her husband and mother-in-law about the current situation. Being a somewhat suspicious and impressionable person, Katya, driven by the thunder and the words of the crazy lady, confesses everything to Kabanov.

The scene ends. Next we learn that Marfa Ignatievna has become even tougher and more demanding. She humiliates and insults the girl much more than before. Katya understands that she is not as guilty as her mother-in-law wants to convince her, because Kabanikha needs such tyranny only for self-affirmation and control. It is the mother-in-law who becomes the main catalyst for the tragedy. Tikhon would most likely forgive Katya, but he can only obey his mother and go drink with Dikiy.

Imagine yourself in the heroine's place. Imagine all the things she had to deal with every day. The way the attitude towards her changed after the confession. A husband who cannot contradict his mother, but at every opportunity finds solace in alcohol. Mother-in-law, personifying all that dirt and abomination from which the pure and fair man wants to stay as far away as possible. Your husband’s sister, the only one who is interested in your life, but at the same time cannot fully understand. And a loved one for whom public opinion and the possibility of receiving an inheritance turned out to be much more important than feelings for the girl.

Katya dreamed of becoming a bird, of flying away forever dark world tyranny and hypocrisy, break free, fly, be free. Katerina's death was inevitable.
However, as stated above, there are several different points of view on Katerina’s suicide. After all, on the other hand, couldn’t Katya just run away without making such desperate decisions? That's the point, she couldn't. This was not for her. To be honest with yourself, to be free - this is what the girl so passionately desired. Unfortunately, all this could only be obtained at the price own life. Is Katerina’s death a defeat or a victory over the “dark kingdom”? Katerina did not win, but she did not remain defeated either.

Work test

Katerina is an outwardly fragile, tender and open-to-feeling young woman, not at all as defenseless as she seems at first glance. She is strong inside, she is a fighter against this “dark kingdom”. Katerina is a girl who is able to stand up for herself, who is capable of much for the sake of her love. But she is alone in this world, and it’s hard for her, so she is looking for support. It seems to her that she finds support in Boris. And she strives for him in every possible way, no matter what. She chose him because Boris stood out from all the young people in this city, and they both had a similar situation. But in the finale, Boris abandons her, and she is left alone against the “dark kingdom.” To accept and return to Kabanikha’s house meant not to be herself. Suicide is the only way out. Katerina passes away because she does not accept this world - the world of Kabanikha, Dikiy, Tikhon and Boris. Kabanikha is a completely different person, she is the opposite of Katerina.

She is completely satisfied with the world in which she lives. No one ever dared to contradict her, but then Katerina appears, unwilling to put up with Kabanikha’s rudeness, rudeness and cruelty. And therefore Katerina, with her self-esteem, constantly irritates Kabanikha. A conflict is brewing between Katerina and Kabanikha. This conflict does not come to an explosion until there are reasons for it. And the reason is Katerina’s confession of cheating on her husband. And Katerina understands that after this her life is over, because Kabanikha will then completely bully her. And she decides to commit suicide. After the death of Katerina, Kabanikha remains satisfied, because now no one will resist her. Katerina’s death is a kind of protest against this world, a world of lies and hypocrisy, to which she could never get used to.

But Katerina and Kabanikha have something in common, because they are both capable of standing up for themselves, both do not want to put up with humiliation and insult, both a strong character. But their reluctance to be humiliated and insulted manifests itself in different ways. Katerina will never respond to rudeness with rudeness. Kabanikha, on the contrary, will try in every possible way to humiliate, offend, and bully a person who says something unpleasant in her direction.

Katerina and Kabanikha have different attitudes towards God. If Katerina’s feeling for God is something bright, holy, inviolable and highest, then for Kabanikha it is only an external, superficial feeling. Even going to church for Kabanikha is only to make the impression of a pious lady on those around her.
The most suitable comparison between Katerina and Kabanikha is something light and something dark, where Katerina is light and Kabanikha is dark. Katerina is a ray of light in the “dark kingdom”. But this “ray” is not enough to illuminate this darkness that in the end it fades out altogether.

The hero's mental flabbiness and the heroine's moral generosity are most obvious in the scene of their last date. Katerina’s hopes are in vain: “If only I could live with him, maybe I would see some kind of joy.” “If only”, “maybe”, “some kind”... Little consolation! But even here she finds the strength to think not about herself. This is Katerina asking her beloved for forgiveness for the troubles she has caused him. Boris couldn’t even imagine such a thing. He won’t really be able to save or even feel sorry for Katerina: “Who knew that we should suffer so much with you for our love! It would be better for me to run then!” But didn’t she remind Boris of the price to pay for loving married woman folk song performed by Kudryash, didn’t Kudryash warn him about this: “Eh, Boris Grigoryich, stop annoying me! Isn’t that what you told Boris? Alas, the hero simply did not hear any of this.

Dobrolyubov soulfully saw an epochal meaning in the “Thunderstorm” conflict, and in the character of Katerina - “a new phase of our people’s life.” But, idealizing free love in the spirit of the then popular ideas of female emancipation, he impoverished the moral depth of Katerina’s character. Dobrolyubov considered the hesitation of the heroine, who fell in love with Boris, and the burning of her conscience, “the ignorance of a poor woman who has not received a theoretical education.” Duty, loyalty, conscientiousness, with the maximalism characteristic of revolutionary democracy, were declared “prejudices”, “artificial combinations”, “conventional instructions of the old morality”, “old rags”. It turned out that Dobrolyubov looked at Katerina’s love with the same un-Russian ease as Boris.

Explaining the reasons for the heroine’s nationwide repentance, we will not repeat, following Dobrolyubov’s words, about “superstition,” “ignorance,” and “religious prejudices.” We will not see cowardice and fear of external punishment in Katerina’s “fear”. After all, such a look turns the heroine into a victim of the dark kingdom of the Boars. The true source of the heroine’s repentance lies elsewhere: in her sensitive conscience. “It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts. I’m not afraid to die, but when I think that I’ll suddenly appear before God as I am here with you, after this conversation, that’s what’s scary.” “My heart really hurts,” says Katerina in a moment of confession. “Whoever has fear, there is also God,” echoes her folk wisdom. From time immemorial, “fear” was understood by the Russian people as a heightened moral self-awareness.

IN " Explanatory dictionary V. I. Dahl “fear” is interpreted as “consciousness of moral responsibility.” This definition corresponds state of mind heroines. Unlike Kabanikha, Feklushi and other heroes of “The Thunderstorm,” Katerina’s “fear” is the inner voice of her conscience. Katerina perceives the thunderstorm as the chosen one: what is happening in her soul is akin to what is happening in the stormy skies. This is not slavery, this is equality. Katerina is equally heroic both in her passionate and reckless love affair and in her deeply conscientious public repentance. “What a conscience!.. What a mighty Slavic conscience!.. What moral strength... What huge, sublime aspirations, full of power and beauty,” wrote V. M. Doroshevich about Katerina Strepetova in the scene of repentance. And S.V. Maksimov told how he happened to sit next to Ostrovsky during the first performance of “The Thunderstorm” with Nikulina-Kositskaya in the role of Katerina. Ostrovsky watched the drama in silence, absorbed in himself. But in that “pathetic scene when Katerina, tormented by remorse, throws herself at the feet of her husband and mother-in-law, repenting of her sin, Ostrovsky, all pale, whispered: “It’s not me, not me: it’s God!” Ostrovsky, obviously, did not believe that he could write such an amazing scene.” It's time for us to appreciate not only the love, but also the repentant impulse of Katerina. Having gone through the stormy trials, the heroine is morally cleansed and leaves this sinful world with the consciousness of her rightness: “He who loves will pray.”

“Death due to sins is terrible,” people say. And if Katerina is not afraid of death, then her sins have been atoned for. Her departure takes us back to the beginning of the tragedy. Death is sanctified by the same full-blooded and life-loving religiosity that has entered the heroine’s soul since childhood. “There is a grave under the tree... The sun warms it... birds will fly to the tree, they will sing, they will bring out the children...”

Katerina dies amazingly. Her death is the last flash of spiritualized love for God's world: trees, birds, flowers and herbs. Monologue about the grave - awakened metaphors, folk mythology with her belief in immortality. A person, dying, turns into a tree growing on a grave, or into a bird making a nest in its branches, or into a flower that gives a smile to passers-by - these are the constant motives folk songs about death. When leaving, Katerina retains all the signs that, according to popular belief, distinguished the saint: she is dead as if she were alive. “And exactly, guys, like alive! There’s only a small wound on the temple, and there’s only one drop of blood.”

The basis of A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the conflict of the “dark kingdom” and the bright beginning, presented by the author in the image of Katerina Kabanova. A thunderstorm is a symbol of the heroine’s mental turmoil, the struggle of feelings, moral elevation in tragic love, and at the same time, the embodiment of the burden of fear under the yoke of which people live.
The work depicts the musty atmosphere of a provincial town with its rudeness, hypocrisy, and the power of the rich and “elders.” The “Dark Kingdom” is an ominous environment of heartlessness and stupid, slavish worship of the old order. The kingdom of obedience and blind fear is opposed by the forces of reason, common sense, enlightenment, represented by Kuligin, as well as the pure soul of Katerina, which, albeit unconsciously, is hostile to this world with the sincerity and integrity of her nature.
Katerina's childhood and youth were spent in merchant environment, but at home she was surrounded by affection, her mother’s love, and mutual respect in the family. As she herself says, “... she lived, did not worry about anything, like a bird in the wild.”
Given in marriage to Tikhon, she found herself in an ominous environment of heartlessness and stupid, slavish admiration for the power of the old, long-rotten order, which the “tyrants of Russian life” so greedily clutch at. Kabanova tries in vain to instill in Katerina her despotic laws, which, in her opinion, constitute the basis of domestic well-being and the strength of family ties: unquestioning submission to the will of her husband, obedience, diligence and respect for elders. This is how her son was raised.
Kabanova intended to mold Katerina into something similar to what she turned her child into. But we see that for a young woman who finds herself in her mother-in-law’s house, such a fate is excluded. Dialogues with Kabanikha
show that “Katerina’s nature will not accept base feelings.” In her husband's house she is surrounded by an atmosphere of cruelty, humiliation, and suspicion. She tries to defend her right to respect, does not want to please anyone, wants to love and be loved. Katerina is lonely, she lacks human participation, sympathy, love. The need for this draws her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he does not look like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to recognize inner essence, considers him a man from another world. In her imagination, Boris seems to be the only one who will dare to take her from the “dark kingdom” to a fairy-tale world.
Katerina is religious, but her sincerity in faith differs from the religiosity of her mother-in-law, for whom faith is only a tool that allows her to keep others in fear and obedience. Katerina perceived the church, icon painting, and Christian chants as an encounter with something mysterious, beautiful, taking her far from the gloomy world of the Kabanovs. Katerina, as a believer, tries not to convert special attention to Kabanova’s teachings. But this is for the time being. The patience of even the most patient person always comes to an end. Katerina “endures until... until such a demand of her nature is insulted in her, without the satisfaction of which she cannot remain calm.” For the heroine, this “demand of her nature” was the desire for personal freedom. To live without listening to stupid advice from all sorts of wild boars and others, to think as one thinks, to understand everything on one’s own, without any extraneous and useless admonitions - this is what is of the greatest importance to Katerina. That's something she won't let anyone trample on. Her personal freedom is her most precious value. Katerina even values ​​life much less.
At first, the heroine resigned herself, hoping to find at least some sympathy and understanding from those around her. But this turned out to be impossible. Even Katerina began to have some “sinful” dreams; as if she were racing against three frisky horses, intoxicated with happiness, next to her loved one... Katerina protests against seductive visions, but human nature defended its rights. A woman has awakened in the heroine. The desire to love and be loved grows with inexorable force. And this is a completely natural desire. After all, Katerina is only 16 years old - the prime of youth, sincere feelings. But she doubts, reflects, and all her thoughts are fraught with panic. The heroine is looking for an explanation for her feelings, in her soul she wants to justify herself to her husband, she is trying to tear away vague desires from herself. But reality, the real state of affairs returned Katerina to herself: “Before whom am I pretending...”
Katerina's most important character trait is honesty with herself, her husband and other people; unwillingness to live in a lie. She says to Varvara: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.” She does not want and cannot be cunning, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene when Katerina confesses to her husband that she is cheating.
Her most great value- freedom of the soul. Katerina, accustomed to living, as she admitted in a conversation with Varvara, “like a bird in the wild,” is burdened by the fact that in Kabanova’s house everything comes “as if from under captivity!” But before it was different. The day began and ended with prayer, and the rest of the time was spent walking around the garden. Her youth is shrouded in mystery, bright dreams: angels, golden temples, paradise gardens - can an ordinary earthly sinner dream of all this? And Katerina had just such mysterious dreams. This testifies to the extraordinary nature of the heroine. The unwillingness to accept the morality of the “dark kingdom”, the ability to preserve the purity of one’s soul is evidence of the strength and integrity of the heroine’s character. She says about herself: “And if I get really tired of it here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga.”
With such a character, Katerina, after betraying Tikhon, could not stay in his house, return to a monotonous and dreary life, endure constant reproaches and moralizing from Kabanikha, or lose freedom. It is difficult for her to be in a place where she is not understood and humiliated. Before her death, she says: “What goes home, what goes to the grave, it’s all the same... It’s better in the grave...” She acts according to the first call of her heart, according to the first spiritual impulse. And this, it turns out, is her problem. Such people are not adapted to the realities of life, and always feel that they are superfluous. Their spiritual and moral strength, which is able to resist and fight, will never dry up. Dobrolyubov rightly noted that “the strongest protest is the one that rises... from the chests of the weakest and most patient.”
And Katerina, without realizing it, challenged the tyrant force: however, it led her to tragic consequences. The heroine dies defending the independence of her world. She doesn't want to become a liar and a pretender. Love for Boris deprives Katerina’s character of integrity. She is cheating not on her husband, but on herself, which is why her judgment of herself is so cruel. But by dying, the heroine saves her soul and gains the desired freedom.
Katerina's death at the end of the play is natural - there is no other way out for her. She cannot join those who profess the principles of the “dark kingdom”, become one of its representatives, since this would mean destroying everything that is bright and pure in herself, in her own soul; cannot come to terms with the position of a dependent, join the “victims” of the “dark kingdom” - live according to the principle “if only everything is sewn and covered.” Katerina decides to part with such a life. “Her body is here, but her soul is no longer yours, she is now before a judge who is more merciful than you!” - Kuligin says to Kabanova after tragic death heroine, emphasizing that Katerina has found the desired, hard-won freedom.
Thus, A. N. Ostrovsky showed his protest against the hypocrisy, lies, vulgarity and hypocrisy of the world around him. The protest turned out to be self-destructive, but it was and is evidence of the free choice of an individual who does not want to put up with the laws imposed on her by society.

The death of the main character ends Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm", the genre of which could easily be described as a tragedy. The death of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” is the denouement of the work and carries a special meaning. The scene of Katerina’s suicide gave rise to many questions and interpretations of this plot twist. For example, Dobrolyubov considered this act noble, and Pisarev was of the opinion that such an outcome was “completely unexpected for her (Katerina) herself.” Dostoevsky believed that Katerina’s death in the play “The Thunderstorm” would have occurred without despotism: “this is a victim of her own purity and her beliefs.” It is easy to see that the opinions of critics differ, but at the same time each is partly true. What made the girl make such a decision, take such a desperate step? What does the death of Katerina, the heroine of the play “The Thunderstorm” mean?

In order to answer this question, you need to study the text of the work in detail. The reader meets Katerina already in the first act. Initially, we observe Katya as a mute witness to the quarrel between Kabanikha and Tikhon. This episode allows us to understand the unhealthy environment of lack of freedom and oppression in which Katya has to survive. Every day she is convinced that her old life, the same as it was before marriage, will never be again. All power in the house, despite the patriarchal way of life, is concentrated in the hands of the hypocritical Marfa Ignatievna. Katya's husband, Tikhon, is unable to protect his wife from hysterics and lies. His weak-willed submission to his mother shows Katerina that in this house and in this family one cannot count on help.

Since childhood, Katya was taught to love life: go to church, sing, admire nature, dream. The girl “breathed deeply,” feeling safe. She was taught to live by the rules of Domostroy: respect the word of her elders, do not contradict them, obey her husband and love him. And now Katerina is married off, the situation changes radically. There is a huge, insurmountable gap between expectations and reality. Kabanikha’s tyranny knows no bounds; her limited understanding of Christian laws terrifies the believing Katerina. What about Tikhon? He is not at all a man who is worthy of respect or even compassion. Katya feels only pity for Tikhon, who drinks often. The girl admits that no matter how hard she tries to love her husband, nothing works.

A girl cannot realize herself in any area: not as a housewife, not as a loving wife, not as a caring mother. The girl regards Boris's appearance as a chance for salvation. Firstly, Boris is unlike the other residents of Kalinov, and he, like Katya, does not like the unwritten laws of the dark kingdom. Secondly, Katya was visited by thoughts of getting a divorce and after that living with Boris honestly, without fear of condemnation from society or the church. Relations with Boris are developing rapidly. One meeting was enough for two young people to fall in love with each other. Even without the opportunity to talk, Boris dreams of Katya. The girl is very worried about the feelings that have arisen: she was brought up differently, Katya cannot walk with someone else secretly; purity and honesty “prevent” Katya from hiding her love, pretending that everything is “kept under cover” and others don’t realize.

For a very long time the girl decided to go on a date with Boris, and yet she went to the garden at night. The author does not describe the ten days when Katerina saw her lover. This, in fact, is not necessary. It is easy to imagine their leisure time and the growing feeling of warmth that was in Katerina. Boris himself said “he only lived for those ten days.” The arrival of Tikhon Kabanov revealed new sides to the characters. It turned out that Boris does not want publicity at all; he would rather abandon Katya than involve himself in intrigues and scandals. Katya, unlike the young man, wants to tell both her husband and mother-in-law about the current situation. Being a somewhat suspicious and impressionable person, Katya, driven by the thunder and the words of the crazy lady, confesses everything to Kabanov.

The scene ends. Next we learn that Marfa Ignatievna has become even tougher and more demanding. She humiliates and insults the girl much more than before. Katya understands that she is not as guilty as her mother-in-law wants to convince her, because Kabanikha needs such tyranny only for self-affirmation and control. It is the mother-in-law who becomes the main catalyst for the tragedy. Tikhon would most likely forgive Katya, but he can only obey his mother and go drink with Dikiy.

Imagine yourself in the heroine's place. Imagine all the things she had to deal with every day. The way the attitude towards her changed after the confession. A husband who cannot contradict his mother, but at every opportunity finds solace in alcohol. The mother-in-law, personifying all that dirt and abomination from which a pure and honest person wants to stay as far away as possible. Your husband’s sister, the only one who is interested in your life, but at the same time cannot fully understand. And a loved one, for whom public opinion and the possibility of receiving an inheritance turned out to be much more important than feelings for the girl.

Katya dreamed of becoming a bird, of flying away forever from the dark world of tyranny and hypocrisy, of breaking free, of flying, of being free. Katerina's death was inevitable.
However, as stated above, there are several different points of view on Katerina’s suicide. After all, on the other hand, couldn’t Katya just run away without making such desperate decisions? That's the point, she couldn't. This was not for her. To be honest with yourself, to be free - this is what the girl so passionately desired. Unfortunately, all this could only be obtained at the cost of one’s own life. Is Katerina’s death a defeat or a victory over the “dark kingdom”? Katerina did not win, but she did not remain defeated either.