The publication of “The Thunderstorm” occurred in 1860. Difficult times. The country smelled of revolution. Traveling along the Volga in 1856, the author made sketches of the future work, where he tried to depict as accurately as possible the merchant world of the second half of the 19th century. There is an insoluble conflict in the play. It was he who led to the death of the main character, who could not cope with her emotional state. The image and characterization of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” is a portrait of a strong, extraordinary personality, forced to exist in the conditions of a small patriarchal city. The girl could not forgive herself for betraying herself, giving herself up to human lynching, without even hoping to earn forgiveness. For which she paid with her life.
Katerina Kabanova is the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. Kabanikha's daughter-in-law.
Image and characteristics
After marriage, Katerina’s world collapsed. Her parents spoiled her and cherished her like a flower. The girl grew up in love and with a feeling of limitless freedom.“Mama doted on me, dressed me up like a doll, and didn’t force me to work; I do what I want.”
As soon as she found herself in her mother-in-law's house, everything changed. The rules and laws are the same, but now from a beloved daughter, Katerina became a subordinate daughter-in-law, whom her mother-in-law hated with every fiber of her soul and did not even try to hide her attitude towards her.
When she was very young, she was given to someone else's family.
“They married you off when you were young, you didn’t have to go out with the girls; “Your heart hasn’t left yet.”
That’s how it should be, for Katerina it was normal. In those days, no one built a family out of love. If you endure it, you will fall in love. She is ready to submit, but with respect and love. In my husband's house they did not know about such concepts.
“Was I like that! I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild...”
Katerina is a freedom-loving person. Decisive.
“This is how I was born, hot! I was still six years old, no more, so I did it! They offended me with something at home, and it was late in the evening, it was already dark; I ran out to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed it away from the shore. The next morning they found it, about ten miles away!
She is not one of those who obey tyrants. She is not afraid of dirty intrigues on the part of Kabanova. For her, freedom is the most important thing. Do not follow idiotic orders, do not bend under the influence of others, but do what your heart desires.
Her soul languished in anticipation of happiness and mutual love. Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, loved her in his own way, as best he could, but his mother’s influence on him was too strong, turning him against his young wife. He preferred to drown out problems with alcohol, and escaped from conflicts in the family on long business trips.
Katerina was often left alone. They did not have children with Tikhon.
“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.”
The girl was increasingly sad about her worthless life, praying in front of the altar.
Katerina is religious. Going to church is like a holiday. There she rested her soul. As a child, she heard angels singing. She believed that God would hear prayers everywhere. When it was not possible to go to the temple, the girl prayed in the garden.
A new round of life is associated with the arrival of Boris. She understands that passion for another man is a terrible sin, but she is unable to cope with it.
“It’s not good, it’s a terrible sin, Varenka, why do I love someone else?”
She tried to resist, but she did not have enough strength and support:
“It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, but I have nothing to hold on to.”
The feeling turned out to be too strong.
Sinful love raised a wave of internal fear for its action. The more her love for Boris grew, the more she felt sinfulness. She grabbed at the last straw, crying out to her husband with a request to take her with him, but Tikhon is a narrow-minded person and could not understand his wife’s mental suffering.
Bad dreams and an irreversible premonition of impending disaster drove Katerina crazy. She felt the reckoning approaching. With each thunderclap, it seemed to her that God was throwing arrows at her.
Charter of internal struggle, Katerina publicly confesses to her husband that she has cheated on her. Even in this situation, the spineless Tikhon was ready to forgive her. Boris, having learned about her repentance, under pressure from his uncle, leaves the city, leaving his beloved to the mercy of fate. Katerina did not receive support from him. Unable to withstand the mental anguish, the girl rushes into the Volga.
The main character of the work is Katerina, tragic fate which is described by the author in the play.
Katerina is presented by the writer in the image of a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who got married early. IN early childhood Katerina lived happily with her family, surrounded mother's love and cares, being free in their movements and passion for church life. The girl’s nature is vulnerable, sensitive and emotional, capable of real, sincere feelings.
The writer characterizes Katerina as a kind, sympathetic, sincere young woman who does not know how to deceive or be a hypocrite, and has a charming smile.
Once in her husband's house, Katerina is faced with rejection of her as her son's wife by her mother-in-law, the cruel and greedy merchant Kabanikha, who turns the life of young people into an unbearable existence.
Kabanikha’s gambling desire to subjugate all household members to her will, which is on the verge of madness, is completely aimed at the daughter-in-law who has appeared in the house.
Kabanikha’s son, beaten since childhood, tired of his mother’s tyranny, but making no attempts to change the situation in the house and constantly complaining about unhappy life, unable to protect Katerina from the humiliation and nagging of Kabanikha.
Katerina strives to create a happy and prosperous family, she is very religious and is afraid of committing a righteous sin. A passionate feeling of love for another man, the nephew of the merchant Dikiy Boris, flares up in Katerina’s soul, who reciprocates her feelings. But the woman fears heavenly punishment for committing treason and, due to her receptivity, accepts the sudden onset of bad weather in the form of a thunderstorm as a sign from God.
The girl is distinguished by inner purity and sincere honesty not only towards herself, but also towards others. Therefore, Katerina decides to confess her feelings for Boris to her husband. Having opened up about her betrayal, the girl finds out that Boris is not ready to accept her as a wife and does not feel love for her at all.
Katerina begins to realize that Boris is for her a symbol of freedom, a dream of happy life, and, having poured out hope, the desperate girl decides to commit suicide by throwing herself off the steep bank of the river.
Revealing the image of the main character of the play, the writer depicts inner strength a girl who decides to commit mortal sin for the sake of the desire for a new life, to get rid of the world of the dark kingdom towards true and true love.
Option 2
Kabanova Katerina Petrovna - the heroine from the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm".
Katerina is eighteen years old in the play. Born and raised in the city of Kalinov. Her parents loved her very much. In Katerina's childhood there were many interesting people, So. how wanderers often came to them and told different stories. She was very religious: every week her mother dressed her in beautiful dresses and took her to church. The girl really loved being there.
Katerina Petrovna’s character is combative, fair, and kind. Once in her childhood she was offended by something at home. Angry, she got into the boat and sailed far from home. She was married off early. Perhaps because of her character.
Tikhon, her husband, is a timid, calm man. His mother puts pressure on him all the time and tries in every possible way to hurt Katerina. Because of this main character I have to defend myself all the time because my husband doesn’t do it. The main character did not want to put up with the foundations of that family: humiliation, submission, insults. She's the only one who stood up to it.
Katerina was unhappily married. In the house I only communicated normally with Tikhon’s sister, Varenka, who felt sorry for her brother’s wife. Katerina began to wither away in this family. But one day a young man came to their city - Boris. The girl immediately drew attention to him, right. how, in her opinion, he was unlike anyone else. They began dating when the husband went away on business and did not take his wife with him, even though she begged him. But Katerina was a very religious person and was afraid to die with sin in her soul. She was not afraid of death, she was only afraid of appearing before God with all her sins. Katerina Petrovna admitted her betrayal.
After that, her life became even worse: at home there were constant insults, sometimes beatings, everyone turned away from her. She was ready to run away with Boris because she loved him. Boris was sent to Siberia. He also loved Katerina, but did not take him with him, because he did not want to quarrel with his uncle, on whom his inheritance depended.
At that time, women did not have the opportunity to live independently. If Katerina had run away alone, she would have been caught and severely beaten as punishment. She had only two choices: either return to her husband’s house, where she would not have a place to live, or throw herself into the Volga River. She chose the latter.
When her dead body was pulled out, many realized (and some already knew) that she was the only person in that area who was worthy of respect.
Essay Image and characteristics of Katerina
Subject female destiny in a harsh society one of the most bright topics, revealed in the works of Ostrovsky. “The Thunderstorm” also belongs to the cycle of these works. The main character of the play is a collective image.
Katerina is a girl from a decent family who married Tikhon, she loves him, but his mother always lectures her. She doesn’t even let her say goodbye to her husband when he leaves for Moscow.
Katerina is a poor, unhappy married woman, whose image is the image of many girls of that time. She understands that she will spend her whole life in this kingdom of darkness, where she is not loved, although she tries to be a good wife, where she will never become a free bird, which is what she says to Varvara, but she also does not understand her.
She is the only bright soul in that city. Katerina, even when she fell in love with Boris, felt shame and considered herself to blame for this, asked her husband to take her with him, as if she felt that something bad, irreparable would happen.
But Tikhon does not listen to her, he follows his mother’s lead. Tikhon does not even dare to object to her, and does not stand up for her, although Katerina herself did not remain silent, and answered Kabanikha that she was wrongfully offending her.
The author also shows the honesty of the main character, when she is unable to keep her husband in deception, before the terrible violence of the elements, she tells him everything about her and Boris. At the same time, the author emphasizes her bright soul, which is unable to endure the humiliation of Kabanikh, the indifference of her previously beloved husband, and the cowardice of her lover.
She knows that the only way to free herself from these shackles is death. The last hope fades when Boris refuses to take her with him.
Although he has every reason to do this if he truly loved her. But Boris is a coward. The main feature The author emphasizes this character at the beginning, when Boris lives with his uncle and endures all the insults and humiliations, in front of everyone, in the most crowded place, namely on the river embankment, on the main boulevard of the city.
Boris, when he says goodbye to Katerina, feels that something will happen, but he is a coward and Katerina will never see him again.
Her only path to freedom is death and now, jumping, she feels absolutely happy and free, now she is a bird!
Option 4
The work “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky occupies a special place in the writer’s work due to the image of the main character.
Katerina differs from the rest of the people of the “Dark Kingdom” in that she includes all kindness. However, fate does not spoil her. From her words, we learn that she did not receive an education because she did not have the opportunity to do so. The heroine lived in a village in poverty. But her childhood was carefree. Her mother did not force her to work, and therefore Katerina had a lot of time for activities she liked. It is clearly visible that the girl grew up happy and romantic, loving everything around her. But most importantly, she lived in dreams, separate from the existing world. Katerina especially loved going to church and admiring the angels. Yes, she can also be counted among them. But sometimes a contradictory nature awoke in her soul, and she went against some actions.
When Katerina got married, she changed a lot. From a bright world, devoid of deception and injustice, she falls into the sphere of deceit, cruelty and deceit. And the reason was not at all that her life partner was a man whom she did not even love. It's just that the girl was torn out of the light and good world, where she stayed for a long time. And now she doesn’t particularly enjoy going to church. The girl cannot carry out everyday activities as she did before marriage. She is always in a sad and depressed state, which prevents her from even admiring the beauty of nature. She has to endure and suffer, and the girl can no longer live with her thoughts, since reality returns her to the place where humiliation and insult exist. The girl tries to love her husband, but all her feelings are suppressed by Kabanikha. Because of her humility, she tries to show her feelings towards Tikhon, but he does not appreciate it. Then Katerina becomes completely lonely.
And the heroine cannot live in her husband’s house, pretending. A woman has a conflict with her mother-in-law. She scares Kabanikha with her sincerity and purity. Katerina did not howl in the house after her husband left, as Kabanikha wanted. And what courage it took to express your feelings to Boris. Running away from a hated house, Katerina seeks to find support from Boris, but is faced with a weak-willed and weak person. The woman stays in all alone, and she can only get out of this scary world. It seems to me that only a person with strong character. For us, Katerina embodies a simple, bright and Russian soul, which encourages us to fight the rudeness, ignorance, and tyranny that are still present.
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The question of choosing a soul mate has always been problematic for young people. Now we have the right to choose a life partner ourselves; previously, the final decision in marriage was made by the parents. Naturally, parents first of all looked at the well-being of their future son-in-law and his moral character. This choice promised an excellent material and moral existence for children, but the intimate side of marriage often suffered. Spouses understand that they should treat each other favorably and respectfully, but the lack of passion does not affect in the best possible way. There are many examples in the literature of such dissatisfaction and the search for fulfillment of one’s intimate life.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”
This topic is not new in Russian literature. From time to time it is raised by writers. A. Ostrovsky in the play “The Thunderstorm” portrayed a unique image of the woman Katerina, who, in search of personal happiness, under the influence of Orthodox morality and the emerging love feeling, comes to a dead end.
Katerina's life story
The main character of Ostrovsky's play is Katerina Kabanova. Since childhood, she was brought up with love and affection. Her mother felt sorry for her daughter, and sometimes freed her from all work, leaving Katerina to do what she wanted. But the girl did not grow up lazy.
After the wedding with Tikhon Kabanov, the girl lives in the house of her husband’s parents. Tikhon has no father. And the mother manages all processes in the house. The mother-in-law has an authoritarian character; she suppresses all family members with her authority: her son Tikhon, her daughter Varya and her young daughter-in-law.
Katerina finds herself in a world completely unfamiliar to her - her mother-in-law often scolds her for no reason, her husband is also not distinguished by tenderness and care - sometimes he beats her. Katerina and Tikhon have no children. This fact is incredibly upsetting for the woman - she likes to babysit children.
One day the woman falls in love. She is married and understands perfectly well that her love has no right to life, but still, over time, she gives in to her desire while her husband is in another city.
Upon her husband’s return, Katerina experiences pangs of conscience and confesses her action to her mother-in-law and husband, which causes a wave of indignation. Tikhon beats her. The mother-in-law says that the woman needs to be buried in the ground. The situation in the family, already unhappy and tense, worsens to the point of impossibility. Seeing no other way out, the woman commits suicide by drowning herself in the river. On the last pages of the play we learn that Tikhon still loved his wife, and his behavior towards her was provoked by his mother’s instigation.
Appearance of Katerina Kabanova
The author does not provide a detailed description of Katerina Petrovna’s appearance. We learn about the woman’s appearance from the lips of other characters in the play - most of the characters consider her beautiful and delightful. We also know little about Katerina’s age - the fact that she is in the prime of her life allows us to define her as a young woman. Before the wedding, she was full of aspirations and glowing with happiness.
Life in her mother-in-law's house did not have the best effect on her: she noticeably withered, but was still pretty. Her girlish gaiety and cheerfulness quickly disappeared - their place was taken by despondency and sadness.
Family relationships
Katerina’s mother-in-law is a very complex person; she runs everything in the house. This applies not only to household chores, but also to all relationships within the family. The woman finds it difficult to cope with her emotions - she is jealous of her son for Katerina, she wants Tikhon to pay attention not to his wife, but to her, his mother. Jealousy eats up the mother-in-law and does not give her the opportunity to enjoy life - she is always dissatisfied with something, constantly finding fault with everyone, especially with her young daughter-in-law. She doesn’t even try to hide this fact - those around her make fun of old Kabanikha, saying that she tortured everyone in the house.
Katerina respects old Kabanikha, despite the fact that she literally does not give her a pass with her nagging. The same cannot be said about other family members.
Katerina’s husband, Tikhon, also loves his mother. His mother's authoritarianism and despotism broke him, as did his wife. He is torn by feelings of love for his mother and wife. Tikhon does not try to somehow resolve the difficult situation in his family and finds solace in drinking and carousing. Kabanikha’s youngest daughter and Tikhon’s sister, Varvara, is more pragmatic, she understands that you cannot break through a wall with your forehead, in this case you need to act with cunning and intelligence. Her respect for her mother is ostentatious; she says what her mother wants to hear, but in reality she does everything her own way. Unable to bear life at home, Varvara runs away.
Despite the dissimilarity of the girls, Varvara and Katerina become friends. They support each other in difficult situations. Varvara incites Katerina to secret meetings with Boris, helps the lovers organize dates for the lovers. Varvara does not mean anything bad in these actions - the girl herself often resorts to such dates - this is her way of not going crazy, she wants to bring at least a piece of happiness into Katerina’s life, but the result is the opposite.
Katerina also has a difficult relationship with her husband. This is primarily due to Tikhon’s spinelessness. He does not know how to defend his position, even if his mother’s wishes clearly contradict his intentions. Her husband has no opinion of his own - he is a “mama’s boy”, unquestioningly fulfilling the will of his parent. He often, at his mother’s instigation, scolds his young wife and sometimes beats her. Naturally, such behavior does not bring joy and harmony to the relationship between spouses.
Katerina's dissatisfaction is growing day by day. She feels unhappy. Understanding that the quibbles addressed to her are far-fetched still do not allow her to live a full life.
From time to time, intentions arise in Katerina’s thoughts to change something in her life, but she cannot find a way out of the situation - the thought of suicide visits Katerina Petrovna more and more often.
Character Traits
Katerina has a meek and kind disposition. She doesn't know how to stand up for herself. Katerina Petrovna is a soft, romantic girl. She loves to indulge in dreams and fantasies.
She has an inquisitive mind. She is interested in the most unusual things, for example, why people cannot fly. Because of this, others consider her a little strange.
Katerina is patient and non-conflict by nature. She forgives the unfair and cruel attitude of her husband and mother-in-law towards her.
In general, those around you, if you don’t take into account Tikhon and Kabanikha good opinion about Katerina, they think that she is a sweet and lovely girl.
The desire for freedom
Katerina Petrovna has a unique concept of freedom. At a time when most people understand freedom as a physical state in which they are free to carry out those actions and actions that they prefer, Katerina prefers moral freedom, devoid of psychological pressure, allowing them to control their own destiny.
Katerina Kabanova is not so decisive as to put her mother-in-law in her place, but her desire for freedom does not allow her to live according to the rules within which she finds herself - the idea of death as a way of gaining freedom appears in the text several times before romantic relationships Katerina and Boris. The publication of information about Katerina's betrayal of her husband and the further reaction of her relatives, in particular her mother-in-law, become just a catalyst for her suicidal tendencies.
Katerina's religiosity
The issue of religiosity and the influence of religion on people's lives has always been quite controversial. This trend is especially clearly questionable in times of active scientific and technological revolution and progress.
In relation to Katerina Kabanova, this trend does not work. A woman, not finding joy in ordinary, worldly life, is imbued with special love and reverence for religion. Her attachment to the church is also strengthened by the fact that her mother-in-law is religious. While old Kabanikha’s religiosity is only ostentatious (in fact, she does not adhere to the basic canons and postulates of the church that regulate relationships between people), Katerina’s religiosity is true. She firmly believes in the commandments of God and always tries to observe the laws of existence.
While praying and being in church, Katerina experiences special pleasure and relief. At such moments she looks like an angel.
However, the desire to experience happiness and true love takes precedence over religious vision. Knowing that adultery- a terrible sin, a woman still succumbs to temptation. For happiness lasting ten days, she pays with another, most terrible sin in the eyes of a believing Christian - suicide.
Katerina Petrovna realizes the gravity of her action, but the concept that her life will never change forces her to ignore this prohibition. It should be noted that the thought of such an end life path had already arisen, but, despite the hardships of her life, it was not carried out. Perhaps the fact that the pressure from her mother-in-law was painful for her played here, but the concept that it had no basis stopped the girl. After her family finds out about the betrayal - the reproaches against her become justified - she really tarnished her reputation and the reputation of the family. Another reason for this outcome of events could be the fact that Boris refuses the woman and does not take her with him. Katerina must somehow solve the current situation herself and best option She doesn’t see how to throw herself into the river.
Katerina and Boris
Before Boris appeared in the fictional city of Kalinov, finding personal, intimate happiness was not relevant for Katerina. She did not try to make up for the lack of love from her husband on the side.
The image of Boris awakens in Katerina a faded feeling of passionate love. A woman realizes the severity of a love relationship with another man, and therefore languishes with the feeling that has arisen, but does not accept any prerequisites to turn her dreams into reality.
Varvara convinces Katerina that Kabanova needs to meet alone with her lover. The brother’s sister knows very well that the feelings of young people are mutual, in addition, the coolness of the relationship between Tikhon and Katerina is not news to her, therefore she regards her act as an opportunity to show her sweet and kind daughter-in-law what true love.
Katerina cannot make up her mind for a long time, but the water wears away the stone, the woman agrees to the meeting. Finding herself captive of her desires, strengthened by a kindred feeling on the part of Boris, the woman cannot deny herself further meetings. The absence of her husband plays into her hands - for 10 days she lived as if in paradise. Boris loves her more life, he is affectionate and gentle with her. With him Katerina feels a real woman. She thinks she has finally found happiness. Everything changes with Tikhon's arrival. Nobody knows about the secret meetings, but Katerina is tormented; she is seriously afraid of punishment from God, her psychological state reaches its climax and she confesses to the sin she has committed.
After this event, the woman’s life turns into hell - the already falling reproaches from her mother-in-law become unbearable, her husband beats her.
The woman still has hope for successful outcome events - she believes that Boris will not leave her in trouble. However, her lover is in no hurry to help her - he is afraid of angering his uncle and being left without his inheritance, so he refuses to take Katerina with him to Siberia.
For a woman, this becomes a new blow, she is no longer able to survive it - death becomes her only way out.
Thus, Katerina Kabanova is the owner of the kindest and most gentle qualities human soul. A woman is especially sensitive to the feelings of other people. Her inability to give a sharp rebuff becomes the reason for constant ridicule and reproaches from her mother-in-law and husband, which subsequently drives her into deadlock. Death in her case becomes an opportunity to find happiness and freedom. Awareness of this fact evokes the saddest feelings among readers.
The image and characteristics of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky: a description of the character, life and death of Katerina Kabanova
4 (80%) 8 votesKaterina- the main character, Tikhon’s wife, Kabanikha’s daughter-in-law. The image of K. is Ostrovsky’s most important discovery - the discovery of a strong man born in the patriarchal world folk character with an awakening sense of personality. In the plot of the play, K. is the protagonist, Kabanikha is the antagonist in tragic conflict. Their relationship in the play is not an everyday feud between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, their destinies expressed the clash of two historical eras, which determines the tragic nature of the conflict. It is important for the author to show the origins of the heroine’s character, for which purpose in the exhibition, despite the specifics dramatic kind K. gives a lengthy story about life as a girl. Here is an ideal version of patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general. The main motive of her story is the motive of all-pervading mutual love: “I lived, did not worry about anything, like a bird in the wild, I did what I wanted.” But it was “will”, which did not at all conflict with the age-old way of closed life, the entire circle of which is limited homework, and since K. is a girl from a rich merchant family, is needlework, gold embroidery on velvet; since she works together with the pilgrims, then most likely we are talking about embroideries for the temple. This is a story about a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the general, since he does not yet separate himself from this community. That is why there is no violence or coercion here. Idyllic patriarchal harmony family life(perhaps precisely the result of her childhood impressions, which remained forever in her soul) for K. - unconditional moral ideal. But she lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality - the harmony between the individual and the moral ideas of the environment - has disappeared and the ossified form rests on violence and coercion. Sensitive K. catches this in her family life in the Kabanovs' house. After listening to the story about her daughter-in-law’s life before marriage, Varvara (Tikhon’s sister) exclaims in surprise: “But it’s the same with us.” “Yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity,” K. drops, and this is the main drama for her.
For the entire concept of the play, it is very important that it is here, in the soul of a woman who is quite “Kalinov’s” in upbringing and moral ideas, that a new attitude to the world is born, a new feeling, still unclear to the heroine herself: “...Something bad is happening to me, some kind of miracle!.. There is something so extraordinary about me. I’m sure I’m starting to live again, or I don’t know.” This is a vague feeling, which K. cannot, of course, explain rationally - an awakening sense of personality. In the heroine’s soul, it, naturally in accordance with the whole set of concepts and sphere of life of a merchant’s wife, takes the form of individual, personal love. Passion is born and grows in K., but it is passion in highest degree spiritualized, infinitely far from the thoughtless desire for hidden joys. K. perceives awakened love as a terrible, indelible sin, because love for a stranger for her is married woman, there is a violation moral duty, the moral commandments of the patriarchal world for K. are full of primordial meaning. She wants with all her soul to be pure and impeccable; her moral demands on herself do not allow compromise. Having already realized her love for Boris, she resists it with all her might, but finds no support in this struggle: “It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss and someone is pushing me there, but I have nothing to hold on to.” And indeed, everything around her is already a dead form. For K., the form and ritual in themselves do not matter - she needs the very essence of human relations, which were once clothed in this ritual. That is why it is unpleasant for her to bow at the feet of the departing Tikhon and she refuses to howl on the porch, as the guardians of customs expect from her. Not only the external forms of household life, but even prayer becomes inaccessible to her as soon as she feels the power of sinful passion over herself. N.A. Dobrolyubov was wrong when he claimed that K.’s prayers had become boring. On the contrary, K.’s religious sentiments intensify as her spiritual thunderstorm. But it is precisely the discrepancy between her sinful inner state and what the religious commandments require of her that prevents her from praying as before: K. is too far from the sanctimonious gap between the external performance of rituals and everyday practice. Given her high morality, such a compromise is impossible. She feels fear of herself, of the desire for will that has grown in her, inseparably merging in her mind with love: “Of course, God forbid this to happen! 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. I don’t want to live here, I won’t do this, even if you cut me!”
K. was married off young, her fate was decided by her family, and she accepts this as a completely natural, ordinary thing. She enters the Kabanov family, ready to love and honor her mother-in-law (“For me, mamma, it’s all the same, like my own mother, like you...” she says to Kabanikha in Act I, but she doesn’t know how to lie), expecting in advance that her husband will be her master, but also her support and protection. But Tikhon is not suitable for the role of the head of a patriarchal family, and K. speaks of his love for him: “I feel very sorry for him!” And in the fight against her illegal love for Boris K., despite her attempts, she cannot rely on Tikhon.
“The Thunderstorm” is not a “tragedy of love,” but rather a “tragedy of conscience.” When the fall has taken place, K. no longer retreats, does not feel sorry for himself, does not want to hide anything, saying to Boris: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment!” The consciousness of sin does not leave her at the moment of intoxication with happiness and with enormous power takes possession of her when happiness is over. K. publicly repents without hope of forgiveness, and it is the complete lack of hope that pushes her to suicide, an even more serious sin: “Anyway, I ruined my soul.” It is not Boris’s refusal to take her with him to Kyakhta, but the complete impossibility of reconciling his love for him with the demands of his conscience and physical disgust for the home prison, for captivity, that kills K.
To explain K.’s character, what is important is not motivation (radical criticism condemned K. for his love for Boris), but free expression of will, the fact that she suddenly and inexplicably, contrary to her own ideas about morality and order, fell in love with Boris not for “function” (as this is supposed to happen in a patriarchal world, where she must love not the personality of a specific person, but precisely the “function”: father, husband, mother-in-law, etc.), but another person who is in no way connected with her. And the more inexplicable her attraction to Boris, the clearer it is that the issue is precisely this free, unpredictable self-will of individual feeling. And this is a sign of the awakening of the personal principle in this soul, all the moral foundations of which are determined by patriarchal morality. K.’s death is therefore predetermined and irreversible, no matter how the people on whom she depends behave: neither her self-awareness nor her entire way of life allows the personal feeling that has awakened in her to be embodied in everyday forms. K. is a victim not of anyone personally around her (no matter what she herself or other characters in the play think about it), but of the course of life. The world of patriarchal relations is dying, and the soul of this world leaves life in torment and suffering, crushed by the ossified, meaningless form of everyday connections, and passes a moral verdict on itself, because in it the patriarchal ideal lives in its primordial content.
In addition to its precise socio-historical character, “The Thunderstorm” also has a clearly expressed lyrical beginning and powerful symbolism. Both are primarily (if not exclusively) connected with the image of K. Ostrovsky consistently correlates the fate and speeches of K. with the plot and poetics of lyrical songs about women’s lot. In this tradition, K.’s story about his free life as a girl, a monologue before his last meeting with Boris, is carried out. The author consistently poeticizes the image of the heroine, using for this purpose even such an unconventional means for drama as the landscape, which is first described in the stage directions, then the beauty of the Trans-Volga region is discussed in Kuligin’s conversations, then in K.’s words addressed to Varvara, the motif of birds and flight appears (“Why don’t people fly?.. You know, sometimes it seems to me that I’m a bird. When you’re standing on a mountain, you feel the urge to fly. That’s how you’d run up, raise your arms and fly.”) In the finale, the motive of flight is tragically transformed into a fall from the Volga cliff, from the very mountain that beckoned to fly. And K. is saved from a painful life in captivity by the Volga, symbolizing distance and freedom (remember K.’s story about her childhood rebellion, when she, offended, got into a boat and sailed along the Volga - an episode from the biography of Ostrovsky’s close friend, actress L.P. Kositskaya , the first performer of the role of K.).
The lyricism of “The Thunderstorm” arises precisely because of the closeness of the world of the heroine and the author. The hopes of overcoming social discord, rampant individualistic passions, and the cultural gap between the educated classes and the people on the basis of the resurrection of ideal patriarchal harmony, which Ostrovsky and his friends in the Moskvityanin magazine nurtured in the 1850s, have not stood the test of modernity. The “Thunderstorm” was their farewell, reflecting the state national consciousness at the turn of the era. The lyrical character of “The Thunderstorm” was deeply understood by A. A. Grigoriev, himself a former Muscovite, who said about the play: “... as if not a poet, but whole people created here."
Using the example of the life of a single family from the fictional city of Kalinov in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, the whole essence of the outdated patriarchal structure is shown Russia XIX century. Katerina is the main character of the work. She is contrasted with all the other characters in the tragedy, even from Kuligin, who also stands out among the residents of Kalinov, Katya is distinguished by her strength of protest. The description of Katerina from “The Thunderstorm”, the characteristics of other characters, the description of the life of the city - all this adds up to an incriminating tragic picture, conveyed photographically accurately. The characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is not limited only to the author’s commentary in the list characters. The playwright does not evaluate the actions of the heroine, relieving himself of the responsibilities of an all-knowing author. Thanks to this position, each perceiving subject, be it a reader or a viewer, can himself evaluate the heroine based on his own moral convictions.
Katya was married to Tikhon Kabanov, the son of a merchant's wife. It was given out, because then, according to the domostroy, marriage was more likely the will of the parents than the decision of the young people. Katya's husband is a pitiful sight. The child's irresponsibility and immaturity, bordering on idiocy, led to the fact that Tikhon is incapable of anything other than drunkenness. Marfa Kabanova fully embodied the ideas of tyranny and hypocrisy inherent in everything “ dark kingdom" Katya strives for freedom, comparing herself to a bird. It is difficult for her to survive in conditions of stagnation and slavish worship of false idols. Katerina is truly religious, every trip to church seems like a holiday for her, and as a child, Katya more than once fancied that she heard angels singing. It happened that Katya prayed in the garden, because she believed that the Lord would hear her prayers anywhere, not just in church. But in Kalinov, the Christian faith was deprived of any internal content.
Katerina's dreams allow her to briefly escape from real world. There she is free, like a bird, free to fly wherever she wants, not subject to any laws. “And what dreams I had, Varenka,” continues Katerina, “what dreams! Either the temples are golden, or the gardens are extraordinary, and everyone is singing invisible voices, and there is a smell of cypress, and the mountains and trees seem not to be the same as usual, but as if depicted in images. And it’s like I’m flying, and I’m flying through the air.” However, in lately Katerina began to have a certain mysticism. Everywhere she begins to see imminent death, and in her dreams she sees the evil one who warmly embraces her and then destroys her. These dreams were prophetic.
Katya is dreamy and tender, but along with her fragility, Katerina’s monologues from “The Thunderstorm” reveal perseverance and strength. For example, a girl decides to go out to meet Boris. She was overcome by doubts, she wanted to throw the key to the gate into the Volga, thought about the consequences, but still took an important step for herself: “Throw the key!
No, not for anything in the world! He’s mine now... Whatever happens, I’ll see Boris!” Katya is disgusted with Kabanikha’s house; the girl doesn’t like Tikhon. She thought about leaving her husband and, having received a divorce, living honestly with Boris. But there was nowhere to hide from the tyranny of the mother-in-law. With her hysterics, Kabanikha turned the house into hell, stopping any opportunity for escape.
Katerina is surprisingly insightful towards herself. The girl knows about her character traits, about her decisive disposition: “I was born this way, hot! I was no more than six years old, so I did it! They offended me with something at home, and it was late in the evening, it was already dark; I ran out to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed it away from the shore. The next morning they found it, about ten miles away! Such a person will not submit to tyranny, will not be subject to dirty manipulations by Kabanikha. It’s not Katerina’s fault that she was born at a time when a wife had to unquestioningly obey her husband and was an almost powerless appendage whose function was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya has no children.
The motif of freedom is repeated many times in the work. The parallel between Katerina and Varvara seems interesting. Sister Tikhon also strives to be free, but this freedom must be physical, freedom from despotism and mother’s prohibitions. At the end of the play, the girl runs away from home, finding what she dreamed of. Katerina understands freedom differently. For her, this is an opportunity to do as she wants, take responsibility for her life, and not obey stupid orders. This is freedom of the soul. Katerina, like Varvara, gains freedom. But such freedom is achievable only through suicide.
In Ostrovsky’s work “The Thunderstorm,” Katerina and the characteristics of her image were perceived differently by critics. If Dobrolyubov saw in the girl a symbol of the Russian soul, tormented by the patriarchal house-building, then Pisarev saw a weak girl who had driven herself into such a situation.
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