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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 feeling of love, comes to a dead end.
Katerina's life story
main character Ostrovsky's plays - 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 one more, the 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 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 real 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 condition 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.
Boris did not flaunt his masculine qualities. Probably the reason was that she lacked something pure in the stuffy atmosphere of Kabanikha’s house. And love for Boris was this pure, did not allow Katerina to completely wither away, somehow supported her. She went on a date with Boris because she felt like a person with pride and basic rights. It was a rebellion against submission to fate, against lawlessness. Katerina knew that she was committing a sin, but she also knew that it was still impossible to live any longer. She sacrificed the purity of her conscience to freedom and Boris.
Katerina has been trying for a long time to adapt to the way of life in the Kabanov family. But then he can’t stand it. Her love for Boris is a kind of protest against oppression, humiliation and slavery. How does Katerina see Boris? Of course, he seems to her to be completely different from Tikhon and most of the people around her. Every person, having fallen in love, tends to idealize the object of his love, and, of course, Katerina is no exception. She idealizes her beloved, he seems to her stronger, nobler and more exalted than he really is.
However, the young man compares favorably with the bulk of Ostrovsky’s characters. He looks smarter and more educated. He is cultured and educated. But at the same time, Boris is weak, and therefore is inactive and goes with the flow. He even brought misfortune to the woman he loved. Katerina gave him everything she could, sacrificed her honor, even her life. Boris did not have the courage to help the poor woman standing on the edge of the abyss.
From the very beginning, Boris knew that loving a married woman was a crime. He noticed Katerina a long time ago, but did not dare to get to know her. When Boris starts talking about love with Kudryash, he tells him about local customs: “We are free about this. The girls go out as they please, father and mother don’t care. Only women are locked up.” And then Boris admits that he is in love with married woman. Kudryash persuades him to give up this idea, because such love should be prohibited. “After all, this means,” says Kudryash, “you want to completely ruin her, Boris Grigoryich! ”
What is Boris's reaction to these words? He assures in every possible way that in no case does he want to destroy his beloved woman: “God forbid! Save me, Lord! No, Curly, how can you! Do I want to destroy her? I just want to see her somewhere, I don’t need anything else.”
Katerina is open to the world like a child. She gives her all without getting anything in return. Katerina’s trouble is that Boris turned out to be unworthy of her love. With apparent positive qualities he is actually a petty selfish person who only thinks about himself. Katerina's love for him is just entertainment, although he is trying to prove to her that he acts solely by succumbing to the power of passion. When Boris finds out that Katerina’s husband has left for two weeks, he rejoices: “Oh, so we’ll go for a walk! There’s plenty of time.” These simple phrases they speak in the best possible way about his attitude towards Katerina and their connection.
Boris submits to the will of his uncle, who sends him to Siberia. The scene of Katerina’s farewell to her beloved shows how difficult it is for a woman and how restrained Boris behaves. He says: “What can you talk about me! I am a free bird.”
Boris’s words seem monstrous: “Well, God be with you! There is only one thing we need to ask God for: that she die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time! Goodbye! " And these words are spoken by a man about the woman he loves! He doesn’t even try to ease her fate, or at least console her. Boris simply wishes her death. And this is Katerina’s retribution for happiness that lasted only ten days!
Katerina’s love for Boris temporarily increases the boundaries of the small world in which the girl still lives. Katerina experiences such a strong feeling for the first time. The girl was forcibly married to an unloved man. Future life in the husband's house, constant nagging and humiliation from the mother-in-law kills the very possibility of love for the weak-willed and weak-willed Tikhon.
Katerina sincerely tries to love her husband. But apparently it’s not fate. And Katerina is a romantic and dreamy person. The girl was very emotional since childhood. As you know, impressionable and emotional people cannot live in an atmosphere of dullness and despondency. They need to enjoy life, enjoy its manifestations, feel the beauty of existence.
How does Katerina see Boris? Of course, he seems to her to be completely different from Tikhon and most of the people around her. Every person, having fallen in love, tends to idealize the object of his love, and, of course, Katerina is no exception.
What is Boris really like? At the very beginning of the work we learn its history. Parents gave Boris and his sister an enviable upbringing. Could they have thought that their children would be forced to communicate with relatives known for their stupidity, hypocrisy and malice? Boris tells Kuligin about his life, and the reader clearly feels how difficult it was for the young man to get used to the new way of life. The uncle mocks his nephew in every possible way. And he cannot oppose anything to him. This is where the tragedy lies young man. He lacks the mental strength and strength of character to deal with the difficult circumstances in which he finds himself.
However, the young man compares favorably with the bulk of Ostrovsky’s characters. He looks smarter and more educated. He is cultured and educated. But at the same time, Boris is weak, and therefore inactive and goes with the flow. He even brought misfortune to the woman he loved.
Boris, with all his intelligence and education, cannot understand the ingenuous and simple Katerina. She tells him, “You know what? Now I suddenly want to die!” Katerina puts deep meaning into her words. She understands deep down that life as it was before is over. Now she has crossed the line that forever separated her from her former life. And such a metamorphosis may well lead to death. But Boris answers her too simply and banally: “Why die when we can live so well?” Right now he is happy, he is confident in himself, he likes that the woman he loves is nearby. And what happens next does not interest him.
Katerina gives all of herself, receiving nothing in return. Katerina’s trouble is that Boris turned out to be unworthy of her love. Despite his seemingly positive qualities, he is actually a petty, selfish person who thinks only of himself. Katerina's love for him is just entertainment, although he is trying to prove to her that he acts solely by succumbing to the power of passion.
Boris submits to the will of his uncle, who sends him to Siberia. The scene of Katerina’s farewell to her beloved shows how difficult it is for a woman and how restrained Boris behaves.
Boris’s words seem monstrous: “Well, God be with you! There is only one thing we need to ask God for: that she die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time! Goodbye!". And these words are spoken by a man about the woman he loves! He doesn’t even try to ease her fate, or at least console her. Boris simply wishes her death. And this is Katerina’s retribution for happiness that lasted only ten days!
In his article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom,” A. N. Dobrolyubov wrote: “The Thunderstorm is, without a doubt, Ostrovsky’s most decisive work... There is even something refreshing and encouraging in The Thunderstorm.” .
“The Thunderstorm” was written by Ostrovsky after his trip along the Volga as part of a literary expedition. This trip helped the playwright more accurately and vividly depict the life, customs, and general atmosphere of provincial cities of the 19th century, and recreate typical and vibrant characters.
One of the leading lines in the drama is the relationship between Katerina and Boris, since these relationships play a large role in the tragedy that plays out in the play.
Katerina is a proud, strong-willed, but impressionable and dreamy woman. She was brought up in an atmosphere of love and joy, lived among pious and nature-loving people, was free to manage her life as she wanted, which is why she often and joyfully remembers native home. Now she is married to a weak, weak-willed Tikhon, who is completely subordinate to his mother. A spiritualized, poetic, bright and romantic nature, she ended up in a house where strict laws, lies, hypocrisy, hypocrisy reign, where the tyrant Ka-banikha rules, who no longer gives life to anyone. Freedom-loving and open-minded Katerina constantly feels the heavy moral oppression of her mother-in-law; she is forced to patiently endure her unfair, endless reproaches. This house is a prison for her, everything here is done “out of captivity.” Next to Katerina there is no soul mate, no person who could understand and support her.
But then Boris appears in the city, who differs from other residents of Kalinov in appearance, manners, European clothes, and education. Not knowing his inner world, Katerina creates in her soul an image that is unlike the real Boris in its qualities, but capable of evoking her deep and selfless love.
Who is Boris really, what is he like? Since childhood, Boris was raised with his sister in Moscow. Their parents loved them and gave them an excellent education, but then they died of cholera: “My sister and I were left orphans.” And then Boris’s grandmother died, leaving the entire inheritance to his uncle - a tyrant and a rude man, but the richest man in the city - Dikiy, ordering him to pay the required share to his nephews if they were respectful to him. However, Dikoy is not the kind of person to part with his money. And Boris patiently endures his uncle’s bullying, being confident in advance that neither he nor his sister will receive a penny from Dikiy.
Having fallen in love with Katerina, Boris does not think about the future, about the misfortune that he can bring to a married woman, which is obvious to others. Even the narrow-minded but freedom-loving Kudryash anxiously warns him: “Eh, Boris Grigoryich, stop annoying me!.. After all, this means you want to completely ruin her... But what kind of people are here! You know it yourself. They’ll eat you, they’ll drive her into the coffin... Just watch - don’t cause trouble for yourself, and don’t get her into trouble either! Let’s face it, even though her husband is a fool, her mother-in-law is painfully fierce.” Boris does not think about Katerina, follows his feelings, and this reflects his lack of character, lack of life guidelines and clear moral principles.
For sincere and deep religious Catherine love for Boris is a sin, and not only before the lawful husband, but also before God. This is the reason for her internal conflict, her conscience is restless. However, in Boris, Katerina sees a strong personality, capable of giving her support and protection, freeing her from the cramped and stuffy atmosphere of Kabanikha’s house. Katerina’s love is strong, deep, selfless, the girl is ready to sacrifice even her own moral principles as a sacrifice to this feeling: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?”
And yet, making a free choice, Katerina experiences her betrayal very hard. For her, this is a sin against her conscience, but she is ready to sacrifice her life for the sake of her loved one, knowing that any sins are atoned for by suffering. It is not human rumor that worries her, but the purity of her own soul, and we see that until the very tragic end, Katerina does not betray herself. Material from the site
What about Boris? When, at the beginning of the first date, Katerina drives him away, exclaiming in despair: “Well, how come you didn’t ruin me, if I left the house and went to you at night,” Boris cowardly justifies himself: “That was your will.” . This is all his love - weak, indecisive, sluggish, capable of taking, but not giving. After all, by and large, he has nothing to lose: he is a new person in the city, as he came, he will leave, a “free Cossack.” Having learned that their relationship has been discovered, he leaves at the behest of his uncle, leaving his beloved woman alone, despite the fact that he could have saved her by taking her with him, despite the bad feeling. It’s only enough to lament: “There’s only one thing we need to ask God for: that she die as soon as possible, so that she doesn’t suffer for a long time.” Thus, love did not elevate or inspire him, but only turned out to be a new, heavy burden that aggravated his situation in life. People like Boris are not hardened by life's trials, but rather bent to the ground.
Katerina, even with her death, expressed a protest against the darkness, savagery, limitations of patriarchal life, against the stuffy atmosphere of Kalinov, and in this protest the author’s faith in the spiritual strength of the Russian person and the expectation of future changes in Russian social life were revealed.
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- relationship between Katerina and Boris Groza
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- Katerina and Boris in a thunderstorm
- what is the tragedy of the relationship between Katerina and Boris
- relationship between Catherine and Boris
In Katerina’s situation we see that all the “ideas” instilled in her from childhood, all the principles environment- rebel against her natural aspirations and actions. The terrible struggle to which the young woman is condemned takes place in every word, in every movement of the drama, and this is where the full importance of the introductory characters for which Ostrovsky is so reproached appears. Take a good look: you see that Katerina was brought up in concepts identical to the concepts of the environment in which she lives, and cannot renounce them, not having any theoretical education. Although the stories of wanderers and the suggestions of her family were processed by her in her own way, they could not help but leave an ugly trace in her soul: and indeed, we see in the play that Katerina, having lost her bright dreams and ideal, lofty aspirations, retained one thing from her upbringing strong feeling - fear of some dark forces, something unknown, which she could not explain to herself well, nor reject. She is afraid for her every thought, for the simplest feeling she expects punishment; it seems to her that the thunderstorm will kill her, because she is a sinner, the pictures of fiery hell on the church wall seem to her to be a harbinger of her eternal torment... And everything around her supports and develops this fear in her: Feklushi goes to Kabanikha to talk about the last times; Dikoy insists that the thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel; the arriving lady, instilling fear in everyone in the city, appears several times in order to shout over Katerina in an ominous voice: “You will all burn in unquenchable fire.” Everyone around is full of superstitious fear, and everyone around, in agreement with the concepts of Katerina herself, should look at her feelings for Boris as the greatest crime. Even the daring Kudryash, the esprit-fort * of this environment, even finds that girls can hang out with guys as much as they want - that’s okay, but women should be locked up. This conviction is so strong in him that, having learned about Boris’s love for Katerina, he, despite his daring and some kind of outrage, says that “this matter must be abandoned.” Everything is against Katerina, even her own concepts of good and evil; everything must force her to drown out her impulses and wither in the cold and gloomy formalism of family silence and humility, without any living aspirations, without will, without love, or learn to deceive people and conscience.<…>
The environment in which Katerina lives requires her to lie and deceive; “You can’t live without this,” Varvara tells her, “remember where you live; Our whole house rests on this. And I wasn’t a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.” Katerina succumbs to her position, goes out to Boris at night, hides her feelings from her mother-in-law for ten days... You might think: here is another woman who has lost her way, learned to deceive her family and will be debauched on the sly, falsely caressing her husband and wearing a disgusting mask of a meek woman! It would be impossible to strictly blame her for this either: her situation is so difficult! But then she would have been one of the dozens of faces of the type that has already been so worn out in stories that showed how “the environment is seizing good people" Katerina is not like that: the denouement of her love, despite all the homely surroundings, is visible in advance, even when she is just approaching the matter. She doesn't study psychological analysis and therefore cannot express subtle observations of himself; what she says about herself means that she strongly makes herself known to her. And she, at Varvara’s first proposal about a date with Boris, screams: “No, no, don’t! God forbid: if I see him even once, I’ll run away from home, I won’t go home for anything in the world!” It’s not reasonable precaution that speaks in her, it’s passion; and it is clear that no matter how she restrains herself, passion is higher than her, higher than all her prejudices and fears, higher than all suggestions. heard by her since childhood. Her whole life lies in this passion; all the strength of her nature, all her living aspirations merge here. What attracts her to Boris is not just the fact that she likes him, that he, both in appearance and in speech, is not like the others around her; She is drawn to him by the need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, and the offended feeling of a wife and woman, and the mortal melancholy of her monotonous life, and the desire for freedom, space, hot, unfettered freedom. She keeps dreaming of how she could “fly invisibly wherever she wants”; and then such a thought comes: “if it were up to me, I would now ride on the Volga, on a boat, with songs, or on a good troika, hugging each other”... “Just not with my husband,” Varya tells her, and Katerina doesn’t can hide his feelings and immediately opens up to her with the question: “how do you know?” It is clear that Varvara’s remark explained a lot to her: while telling her dreams so naively, she did not yet fully understand their meaning. But one word is enough to give her thoughts the certainty that she herself was afraid to give them. Until now, she could still doubt whether this new feeling really contained the bliss that she was so painfully seeking. But once she has uttered the word of secret, she will not give up on it even in her thoughts. Fear, doubt, the thought of sin and human judgment - all this comes to her mind, but no longer has power over her; This is just a formality, to clear your conscience. In the monologue with the key (the last one in the second act) we see a woman in whose soul a decisive step has already been taken, but who only wants to somehow “talk” herself. She makes an attempt to stand somewhat aside from herself and judge the action she has decided to take as an extraneous matter; but her thoughts are all directed towards justifying this act. “Now,” he says, “how long will it take to die... In captivity, someone is having fun... Even though I’m living now, I’m toiling, I don’t see any light for myself... my mother-in-law crushed me”... etc. d. - all exculpatory articles. And then there are some more relieving considerations: “it’s already clear that fate wants it this way. .. But what a sin is there in this, if I look at it once... Yes, even if I talk, it’s not a problem. Or maybe such a case will not happen in my entire life...” This monologue aroused in some critics the desire to sneer at Katerina as a shameless critic *; but we know of no greater shamelessness than to assure that we or any of our ideal friends are not involved in such transactions with conscience... In these transactions, it is not the individuals who are to blame, but those concepts that have been hammered into their heads from childhood and which so often they are contrary to the natural course of the living aspirations of the soul. Until these concepts are driven out of society, until the complete harmony of ideas and the needs of nature is restored in the human being, such transactions are inevitable. It’s also good if, when doing them, they come to what seems natural and common sense, and do not fall under the yoke of conventional instructions of artificial morality. This is precisely what Katerina gained strength for, and the stronger her nature speaks, the calmer she faces the childish nonsense that those around her have taught her to fear. Therefore, it even seems to us that the artist playing the role of Katerina on the St. Petersburg stage is making a small mistake, giving the monologue we are talking about too much heat and tragedy. She obviously wants to express the struggle taking place in Katerina’s soul, and from this point of view she conveys the difficult monologue perfectly. But it seems to us that it is more consistent with Katerina’s character and position in this case to give her words more calmness and lightness. The struggle, in fact, is already over, only a little thought remains, the old rag still covers Katerina, and little by little she throws it off. The end of the monologue betrays her heart. “Come what may, I will see Boris,” she concludes, and in the oblivion of foreboding, she exclaims: “Oh, if only the night would speed up!”
Such love, such a feeling will not live within the walls of Kabanov’s house, with pretense and deception. Although Katerina decided to go on a secret date, for the first time, in the delight of love, she says to Boris, who assures that no one will find out anything: “Eh, why feel sorry for me, it’s no one’s fault—she went for it herself. Don't be sorry, destroy me! Let everyone know, let everyone see what I’m doing... If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?”
And for sure, she is not afraid of anything except being deprived of the opportunity to see her chosen one, talk to him, enjoy these summer nights with him, these new feelings for her. Her husband arrived, and life became difficult for her. It was necessary to hide, to be cunning; she didn’t want it and couldn’t do it; she had to return again to her callous, dreary life - this seemed to her more bitter than before. Moreover, I had to be afraid every minute for myself, for my every word, especially in front of my mother-in-law; one also had to be afraid of terrible punishment for the soul... This situation was unbearable for Katerina: days and nights she kept thinking, suffering, exalting her imagination, which was already hotter, and the end was one that she could not endure - despite everything the people crowded in the gallery of the ancient church, she repented of everything to her husband. His first movement was fear of what his mother would say. “Don’t, don’t say, mother is here,” he whispers, confused. But the mother has already listened and demands a full confession, at the end of which she draws out her moral: “What, son, where does the will lead?”
It is difficult, of course, to ridicule common sense more than Kabanikha does in her exclamation. But in the “dark kingdom” common sense means nothing: with the “criminal” they took measures that were completely contrary to him, but usual in that life: the husband, at the behest of his mother, beat his wife, the mother-in-law locked her up and began to eat. ..
The will and peace of the poor woman are gone: before, at least they couldn’t reproach her, even though she could feel that she was completely right in front of these people. But now, one way or another, she is guilty before them, she violated her duties to them, brought grief and shame to the family; Now the most cruel treatment of her already has reasons and justification. What remains for her?
<…>Another solution would have been less impossible - to flee with Boris from the tyranny and violence of the family. Despite the strictness of the formal law, despite the cruelty of rude tyranny, such steps do not represent an impossibility in themselves, especially for such characters as Katerina. And she does not neglect this way out, because she is not an abstract heroine who wants death on principle. Having run away from home to see Boris, and already thinking about death, she, however, is not at all averse to escaping; Having learned that Boris is going far away, to Siberia, she very simply tells him: “Take me with you from here.” But then a stone pops up in front of us for a minute, which holds people in the depths of the pool that we called “ dark kingdom " This stone is material dependence. Boris has nothing and is completely dependent on his uncle, Dikiy; Dikoy and the Kabanovs agreed to send him to Kyakhta, and, of course, they will not allow him to take Katerina with him. That’s why he answers her: “It’s impossible, Katya; I’m not going of my own free will, my uncle is sending me, the horses are ready,” etc. Boris is not a hero, he is far from worthy of Katerina, and she fell in love with him more in solitude. He has had enough “education” and cannot cope with the old way of life, nor with his heart, nor with common sense - he walks as if lost. He lives with his uncle because he must give him and his sister part of his grandmother’s inheritance, “if they are respectful to him.” Boris understands well that Dikoy will never recognize him as respectful and, therefore, will not give him anything; Yes, that's not enough. Boris reasons like this: “No, he will first break with us, scold us in every possible way, as his heart desires, but he will still end up not giving anything or so, just some little thing, and will even begin to tell that he gave out of mercy, that even this should not have happened.” And yet he lives with his uncle and endures his curses; For what? - unknown. On her first date with Katerina, when she talks about what awaits her for this, Boris interrupts her with the words: “Well, what should we think about it, fortunately we are fine now.” And at the last date she cries: “Who knew that we would have to suffer so much with you for our love! It would be better for me to run then!” In a word, this is one of those very common people who do not know how to do what they understand, and do not understand what they do. Their type has been portrayed many times in our fiction - sometimes with exaggerated compassion for them, sometimes with excessive bitterness against them. Ostrovsky gives them to us as they are, and with his special skill he depicts with two or three features their complete insignificance, although, however, not devoid of a certain degree of spiritual nobility. There is no need to expand on Boris; in fact, he should also be attributed to the situation in which the heroine of the play finds herself. He represents one of the circumstances that makes her fatal end necessary. If it were a different person and in a different position, then there would be no need to throw yourself into the water. But the fact of the matter is that an environment subordinated to the power of the Wild and Kabanovs usually produces Tikhonovs and Borisovs, unable to perk up and accept their human nature, even when faced with characters such as Katerina. We said a few words above about Tikhon; Boris is essentially the same, only “educated”. Education took away from him the power to do dirty tricks, it’s true; but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do; it has not even developed in him the ability to behave in such a way as to remain alien to everything disgusting that swarms around him. No, not only does he not resist, he submits to other people’s nasty things, he willy-nilly participates in them and must accept all their consequences. But he understands his position, talks about it and often even deceives, for the first time, truly living and strong natures, who, judging by themselves, think that if a person thinks so, understands so, then he should do so. Looking from their point of view, such natures will not find it difficult to say to “educated” sufferers moving away from the sad circumstances of life: “Take me with you, I will follow you everywhere.” But this is where the powerlessness of the sufferers turns out to be; it turns out that they did not foresee it, and that they curse themselves, and that they would be glad, but they cannot, and that they have no will, and most importantly, that they have nothing in their souls and that in order to continue their existence they must serve that to the Wild One, from whom we would like to get rid of...
There is nothing to praise or scold these people, but you need to pay attention to the practical ground on which the question moves; it must be admitted that it is difficult for a person expecting an inheritance from his uncle to shake off his dependence on this uncle, and then he must give up unnecessary hopes for his nephews expecting an inheritance. even if they were “educated” it is absolutely impossible. If we look at who is to blame here, then it will be not so much the nephews who are to blame as the uncles, or, better said, their inheritance.
Dobrolyubov N.A. "A ray of light in a dark kingdom"