The idea of repentance and the problem of sin are associated with the tradition of ancient theater. However, for the people of antiquity, the concept of sin and repentance differed from the Christian one. Heroes of the pre-Christian era turn to temples with a request to perform a cleansing rite, to pay off, making sacrifices to the gods. Christian repentance as an internal cleansing represents an extremely important step forward in the moral development of mankind.
In A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” written in 1859, questions of morality are raised very sharply. Already in the title itself is the idea of God's punishment for sins.
The action takes place in the city of Kalinov, located on the high bank of the Volga. The name is fictitious and is associated with oral folk art. Kalina, a symbol of a woman's bitter fate, is associated with the image of Katerina, a married woman who fell in love with another person. In fairy tales and epics, battles between Russian heroes and the miracle of jud take place on Kalinov Bridge, so it can be argued that the name of the town contains a motif of struggle. The action of the play is not driven by an external conflict - the confrontation between the proud Katerina, who does not tolerate “vain lies,” and her mother-in-law Marfa Petrovna Kabanova, who “will eat her family.” The plot spring is an internal conflict - Katerina’s struggle with her sin. This tragic conflict of the heroine with herself is insoluble and is associated with the idea of repentance. Katerina feels cheating on her husband as a sin that must be repented of, which cannot be eliminated “until the grave.” She does not forgive herself first of all, therefore she is not able to forgive another. A desperate woman cannot even imagine that someone can forgive her. About her husband who forgave her and is ready to forget everything. Katerina says: “His caress is worse to me than beatings.” It is possible that Tikhon’s Christian position causes new internal torment for the heroine. She feels her guilt even more strongly. Kabanikha’s moral persecution, on the contrary, to some extent alleviates Katerina’s consciousness of guilt. She thinks that suffering in earthly life atones for her sins in the future life.
Why does Katerina repent, although she does not believe in forgiveness? For her religious, almost fanatical consciousness, the thought of committing a sin is intolerable. From the point of view of a devout believer, the husband is God, the wife is the church. Cheating on your husband means falling away from God, betraying your faith.
The motif of sin permeates the entire play. Already in the first act, when Katerina admits to Varvara that she has fallen in love with someone else, and after this a half-crazed lady appears and predicts that “beauty leads into a whirlpool,” the motive of sin begins to clearly sound. We hear it in Varvara’s words about the lady who sinned from a young age, and now decided to guide others on the right path. This motive of sin is also felt in Katerina’s fear of a thunderstorm. The poor woman is not afraid of death, but of the fact that a thunderstorm will overtake her with sinful thoughts, and she will appear before God “all as is,” without repentance. The name "Katerina" translated from Greek means "pure". the heroine does not tolerate internal “impurity”; she is tormented by the thought of her own sinfulness.
The culmination of the heroine's moral torment occurs in the fourth act. What was the reason for the heroine’s nationwide repentance? A thunderstorm has broken out, and the Kalinovites are hiding from its thunder in a dilapidated gallery, on the walls of which fiery hell is painted. A thunderstorm has broken out in Katerina’s soul; she is close to insanity. From Varvara’s words we learn about the unbearable moral torment of a woman; she is ready at any moment to “thump” at her feet and admit her sin. Internal anxiety in the heroine’s soul is growing. Literally everything torments her. And Kabanikha’s admonition that one must behave in such a way as not to be afraid of thunderstorms. And Tikhon’s humorous statement: “Repent, Katya, it will be better for you.” And the prophecy of the newly appeared lady. And the Kalinovites’ conversations about the “unusual” color of the cloud and that it will definitely kill someone. Prayer does not save Katerina: she sees an image of fiery hell on the wall. The heroine’s soul is torn to pieces: “My whole heart was torn to pieces! I can’t stand it anymore!” The culmination of both the play and Katerina’s mental torment comes. The scene of repentance in public is reminiscent of Raskolnikov’s repentance scene, which is chronologically later. It is possible that Dostoevsky created this episode not without the influence of Ostrovsky.
All details of the play are subordinated to the task of revealing the tragic conflict. It is not the external action that develops, but the internal one - the struggle in Katerina’s soul flares up more and more. None of the characters in the play are Katerina’s rival in this moral duel, which testifies to her deepest conscience. Not the hypocritical wanderer Feklusha, who recognizes only one sin in herself - gluttony. Neither Glasha, reproaching the wanderers for their
constant intrigues against each other. Neither Dikoy, in whose soul there is only the dim light of truth. During Lent, out of habit, he scolded the peasant who came for a settlement, and then, coming to his senses, lay at his feet and asked for forgiveness. But the “scold” Dikoy is a Christian only formally. As a pagan, he understands repentance as an externally effective means, but not an internal cleansing.
Katerina realizes her sin in a Christian way, but she is not yet such a Christian as to have unlimited faith in the mercy of the Creator. Brought up in an atmosphere of love, warmth and beauty, she perceives faith in God only from the poetic side. She does not believe in the rebirth of man, in the resurrection of his soul through suffering, repentance and atonement. For her, repentance turns into self-curse. Impatient, hot-tempered, she arbitrarily takes her own life, committing an even more serious sin.
Disregarded in her rights and married off early. Most marriages of that time were designed for benefits. If the chosen one was from a wealthy family, this could help to obtain a high rank. Marrying, although not a beloved young man, but a wealthy and wealthy man, was in the order of things. There was no such thing as divorce. Apparently, from such calculations, Katerina was married to a rich young man, a merchant’s son. Married life brought her neither happiness nor love, but, on the contrary, became the embodiment of hell, filled with the despotism of her mother-in-law and the lies of the people around her.
This image in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the main and at the same time the most controversial. She differs from the residents of Kalinov in her strength of character and self-esteem.
Katerina's life in her parents' house
The formation of her personality was greatly influenced by her childhood, which Katya loves to remember. Her father was a wealthy merchant, she did not feel any need, maternal love and care surrounded her from birth. Her childhood was fun and carefree.
The main features of Katerina can be called:
- kindness;
- sincerity;
- openness.
Her parents took her to church with them, and then she walked and devoted her days to her favorite work. My passion for the church began in childhood with attending church services. Later, it was in the church that Boris would pay attention to her.
When Katerina turned nineteen, she was married off. And, although everything is the same in her husband’s house: walks and work, this no longer gives Katya the same pleasure as in childhood.
The former ease is no longer there, only responsibilities remain. The feeling of her mother's support and love helped her believe in the existence of higher powers. Marriage, which separated her from her mother, deprived Katya of the main thing: love and freedom.
Essay on the topic “the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” will be incomplete without getting to know her surroundings. This:
- husband Tikhon;
- mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova;
- husband's sister Varvara.
The person who causes her suffering in her family life is her mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna. Her cruelty, control over her household and subjugation of them to her will also applies to her daughter-in-law. The long-awaited wedding of her son did not make her happy. But Katya manages to resist her influence thanks to the strength of her character. This scares Kabanikha. Having all the power in the house, she cannot allow Katerina to influence her husband. And he reproaches his son for loving his wife more than his mother.
In conversations between Katerina Tikhon and Marfa Ignatievna, when the latter openly provokes her daughter-in-law, Katya behaves extremely dignified and friendly, not allowing the conversation to develop into a skirmish, she answers briefly and to the point. When Katya says that she loves her like her own mother, her mother-in-law does not believe her, calling it a pretense in front of others. Nevertheless, Katya’s spirit cannot be broken. Even when communicating with her mother-in-law, she addresses her as “You,” showing that they are on the same level, while Tikhon addresses his mother exclusively as “You.”
Katerina’s husband cannot be classified as either a positive or negative character. Essentially, he is a child tired of his parent's control. However, his behavior and actions are not aimed at changing the situation; all his words end in complaints about his existence. Sister Varvara reproaches him for not being able to stand up for his wife.
When communicating with Varvara, Katya is sincere. Varvara warns her that life in this house is impossible without lies, and helps her organize a meeting with her lover.
The connection with Boris fully reveals the characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm”. Their relationship is developing rapidly. Having arrived from Moscow, he fell in love with Katya, and the girl reciprocates his feelings. Although the status of a married woman worries him, he is unable to refuse dates with her. Katya struggles with her feelings, does not want to break the laws of Christianity, but during her husband’s departure, she goes on secret dates.
After Tikhon's arrival, on Boris's initiative, the meetings stop; he hopes to keep them a secret. But this contradicts Katerina’s principles; she cannot lie to others or herself. The beginning of a thunderstorm pushes her to talk about the betrayal; she sees this as a sign from above. Boris wants to go to Siberia, but he refuses her request to take her with him. He probably doesn’t need her, there was no love on his part.
And for Katya he was a breath of fresh air. Having come to Kalinov from an alien world, he brought with him a feeling of freedom that she so lacked. The girl’s rich imagination gave him traits that Boris never had. And she fell in love, but not with a person, but with her idea of him.
The break with Boris and the inability to unite with Tikhon end tragically for Katerina. The realization of the impossibility of living in this world prompts her to throw herself into the river. In order to break one of the strictest Christian prohibitions, Katerina needs to have enormous willpower, but the current circumstances leave her no choice. read our article.
2. The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”
Katerina is a lonely young woman who lacks human participation, sympathy, and love. The need for this draws her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he is not like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to recognize his inner essence, considers him a person from another world. In her imagination, Boris seems to be a handsome prince who will take her from the “dark kingdom” to the fairy-tale world that exists in her dreams.
In terms of character and interests, Katerina stands out sharply from her environment. The fate of Katerina, unfortunately, is a vivid and typical example of the fate of thousands of Russian women of that time. Katerina is a young woman, the wife of the merchant son Tikhon Kabanov. She recently left her home and moved into her husband’s house, where she lives with her mother-in-law Kabanova, who is the sovereign mistress. Katerina has no rights in the family; she is not even free to control herself. With warmth and love, she remembers her parents' home and her girlhood life. There she lived at ease, surrounded by the affection and care of her mother. The religious upbringing she received in the family developed in her impressionability, daydreaming, belief in the afterlife and retribution for man's sins.
Katerina found herself in completely different conditions in her husband’s house. At every step she felt dependent on her mother-in-law, endured humiliation and insults. From Tikhon she does not meet any support, much less understanding, since he himself is under the power of Kabanikha. Out of her kindness, Katerina is ready to treat Kabanikha as her own mother. "But Katerina's sincere feelings do not meet with support from either Kabanikha or Tikhon.
Life in such an environment changed Katerina's character. Katerina’s sincerity and truthfulness collide in Kabanikha’s house with lies, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and rudeness. When love for Boris is born in Katerina, it seems like a crime to her, and she struggles with the feeling that washes over her. Katerina's truthfulness and sincerity make her suffer so much that she finally has to repent to her husband. Katerina's sincerity and truthfulness are incompatible with the life of the “dark kingdom”. All this was the cause of Katerina’s tragedy.
"Katerina's public repentance shows the depth of her suffering, moral greatness, and determination. But after repentance, her situation became unbearable. Her husband does not understand her, Boris is weak-willed and does not come to her aid. The situation has become hopeless - Katerina is dying. It is not Katerina's fault one specific person. Her death is the result of the incompatibility of morality and the way of life in which she was forced to exist. The image of Katerina had great educational significance for Ostrovsky’s contemporaries and for subsequent generations. He called for the fight against all forms of despotism and oppression of the human personality. expression of the growing protest of the masses against all types of slavery.
Katerina, sad and cheerful, compliant and obstinate, dreamy, depressed and proud. Such different mental states are explained by the naturalness of each mental movement of this simultaneously restrained and impetuous nature, the strength of which lies in the ability to always be itself. Katerina remained true to herself, that is, she could not change the very essence of her character.
I think that the most important character trait of Katerina is honesty with herself, her husband, and the world around her; it is her unwillingness to live a lie. She does not want and cannot be cunning, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene of Katerina’s confession of treason. It was not the thunderstorm, not the frightening prophecy of the crazy old woman, not the fear of hellfire that prompted the heroine to tell the truth. “My whole heart was exploding! I can’t stand it anymore!” – this is how she began her confession. For her honest and integral nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. Living just to live is not for her. To live means to be yourself. Its most precious value is personal freedom, freedom of the soul.
With such a character, Katerina, after betraying her husband, could not stay in his house, return to a monotonous and dreary life, endure constant reproaches and “moral teachings” from Kabanikha, or lose freedom. But all patience comes to an end. It is difficult for Katerina to be in a place where she is not understood, her human dignity is humiliated and insulted, her feelings and desires are ignored. Before her death, she says: “Whether going home or going to the grave, it’s all the same... It’s better in the grave...” It’s not death that she desires, but life that is unbearable.
Katerina is a deeply religious and God-fearing person. Since, according to the Christian religion, suicide is a great sin, by deliberately committing it, she showed not weakness, but strength of character. Her death is a challenge to the “dark power”, the desire to live in the “light kingdom” of love, joy and happiness.
The death of Katerina is the result of a collision of two historical eras. With her death, Katerina protests against despotism and tyranny, her death indicates the approaching end of the “dark kingdom.” The image of Katerina belongs to the best images of Russian fiction. Katerina is a new type of people in Russian reality in the 60s of the 19th century.
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 boundless 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.
Tired of the internal struggle, Katerina publicly admits to her husband that she has cheated. 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.