History of creation, system of images, techniques for characterizing characters in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” “Ostrovsky’s most decisive work” - presentation. Characteristics of the main characters of the work Groza, Ostrovsky. Their images and description Characteristics

The action of the play "The Thunderstorm" takes place in the fictional town of Kalinov, which is a collective image of all provincial towns of that time.
There are not so many main characters in the play “The Thunderstorm”; each one needs to be discussed separately.

Katerina is a young woman, married without love, “to someone else’s side,” God-fearing and pious. In her parents' home, Katerina grew up in love and care, prayed and enjoyed life. Marriage for her turned out to be a difficult test, which her meek soul resists. But, despite outward timidity and humility, passions boil in Katerina’s soul when she falls in love with someone else’s man.

Tikhon is Katerina’s husband, a kind and gentle man, he loves his wife, feels sorry for her, but, like everyone else at home, he obeys his mother. He does not dare to go against the will of “mama” throughout the play, just as he does not dare to openly tell his wife about his love, since his mother forbids this, so as not to spoil his wife.

Kabanikha is the widow of the landowner Kabanov, mother of Tikhon, mother-in-law of Katerina. A despotic woman, in whose power the whole house is, no one dares to take a step without her knowledge, fearing a curse. According to one of the characters in the play, Kudryash, Kabanikha is “a hypocrite, he gives to the poor and eats his family.” It is she who shows Tikhon and Katerina how to build their family life in the best traditions of Domostroy.

Varvara is Tikhon’s sister, an unmarried girl. Unlike his brother, he obeys his mother only for appearances; she herself secretly goes on dates at night, inciting Katerina to do the same. Her principle is that you can sin if no one sees, otherwise you will spend your whole life next to your mother.

Landowner Dikoy is an episodic character, but personifies the image of a “tyrant”, i.e. a person in power who is confident that money gives him the right to do whatever his heart desires.

Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, who came in the hope of getting his share of the inheritance, falls in love with Katerina, but cowardly runs away, abandoning the woman he seduced.

In addition, Kudryash, Dikiy’s clerk, takes part. Kuligin is a self-taught inventor, constantly trying to introduce something new into the life of a sleepy town, but is forced to ask Dikiy for money for inventions. The same, in turn, being a representative of the “fathers”, is confident in the uselessness of Kuligin’s undertakings.

All the names and surnames in the play are “talking”; they tell about the character of their “owners” better than any actions.

She herself vividly shows the confrontation between the “old people” and the “young people”. The first actively resist all kinds of innovations, complaining that young people have forgotten the orders of their ancestors and do not want to live “as they should.” The latter, in turn, are trying to free themselves from the oppression of parental orders, they understand that life moves forward and changes.

But not everyone decides to go against their parents’ will, some for fear of losing their inheritance. Some people are used to obeying their parents in everything.

Against the backdrop of blossoming tyranny and Domostroev’s covenants, the forbidden love of Katerina and Boris blossoms. The young people are drawn to each other, but Katerina is married, and Boris depends on his uncle for everything.

The difficult atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, the pressure of an evil mother-in-law, and the onset of a thunderstorm force Katerina, tormented by remorse for cheating on her husband, to confess everything publicly. Kabanikha is rejoicing - she turned out to be right when she advised Tikhon to keep his wife “strict.” Tikhon is afraid of his mother, but her advice to beat his wife so that she knows is unthinkable for him.

The explanation of Boris and Katerina further aggravates the situation of the unfortunate woman. Now she has to live away from her beloved, with a husband who knows about her betrayal, with his mother, who will now definitely harass her daughter-in-law. Katerina’s fear of God leads her to the idea that there is no point in living anymore, the woman throws herself off a cliff into the river.

Only after losing his beloved woman does Tikhon realize how much she meant to him. Now he will have to live his whole life with the understanding that his callousness and submission to his tyrant mother led to such an ending. The last words of the play are the words of Tikhon, spoken over the body of his dead wife: “Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay in the world to live and suffer!”

Appendix 5

Quotes characterizing the characters

Savel Prokofich Dikoy

1) Curly. This? This is Dikoy scolding his nephew.

Kuligin. Found a place!

Curly. He belongs everywhere. He's afraid of someone! He got Boris Grigoryich as a sacrifice, so he rides it.

Shapkin. Look for another scolder like ours, Savel Prokofich! There's no way he'll cut someone off.

Curly. Shrill man!

2) Shapkin. There is no one to calm him down, so he fights!

3) Curly. ...and this one just broke the chain!

4) Curly. How not to scold! He can't breathe without it.

Act one, phenomenon two:

1) Wild. What the hell are you, you came here to beat me up! Parasite! Get lost!

Boris. Holiday; what to do at home!

Wild. You will find a job as you want. I told you once, I told you twice: “Don’t you dare come across me”; you're itching for everything! Not enough space for you? Wherever you go, here you are! Ugh, damn you! Why are you standing there like a pillar! Are they telling you no?

1) Boris. No, that’s not enough, Kuligin! 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 just some little thing. Moreover, he will say that he gave it out of mercy, and that this should not have been the case.

2) Boris. That's the thing, Kuligin, it's absolutely impossible. Even their own people cannot please him; where am I supposed to be!

Curly. Who will please him, if his whole life is based on swearing? And most of all because of the money; Not a single calculation is complete without swearing. Another is happy to give up his own, if only he would calm down. And the trouble is, someone will make him angry in the morning! He picks on everyone all day long.

3) Shapkin. One word: warrior.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova

Act one, phenomenon one:

1) Shapkin. Kabanikha is also good.

Curly. Well, at least that one is all under the guise of piety, but this one is like he’s broken loose!

Act one, scene three:

1) Kuligin. Prude, sir! He gives money to the poor, but completely eats up his family.

Varvara

Act one, scene seven:

1) Varvara. Speak! I'm worse than you!

Tikhon Kabanov

Act one, scene six:

1) Varvara. So it’s not her fault! Her mother attacks her, and so do you. And you also say that you love your wife. It's boring for me to look at you.

Ivan Kudryash

Act one, phenomenon one:

1) Curly. I wanted it, but I didn’t give it, so it’s all the same thing. He won’t give me up to (Dikaya), he senses with his nose that I won’t sell my head cheaply. He's the one who's scary to you, but I know how to talk to him.

2) Curly. What's here: oh! I am considered a rude person; Why is he holding me? Maybe he needs me. Well, that means I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me.

3) Curly. ... Yes, I don’t let it go either: he is the word, and I am ten; he will spit and go. No, I won’t slave to him.

4) Curly. ...I'm so crazy about girls!

Katerina

Act two, scene two:

1) Katerina. And it never leaves.

Varvara. Why?

Katerina. I was born so 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!

2) Katerina. I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything.

Kuligin

Act one, scene three:

1) Kuligin. Why, sir! After all, the British give a million; I would use all the money for society, for support. Jobs must be given to the philistines. Otherwise, you have hands, but nothing to work with.

Boris

Act one, scene three:

Boris. Eh, Kuligin, it’s painfully difficult for me here without the habit! Everyone looks at me somehow wildly, as if I’m superfluous here, as if I’m disturbing them. I don't know the customs here. I understand that all this is Russian, native, but I still can’t get used to it.

Feklusha

1) F e k l u sha. Blah-alepie, honey, blah-alepie! Wonderful beauty! What can I say! You live in the promised land! And the merchants are all pious people, adorned with many virtues! Generosity and many alms! I’m so pleased, so, mother, completely satisfied! For our failure to leave them even more bounties, and especially to the Kabanovs’ house.

2) Feklusha. No, honey. Due to my weakness, I did not walk far; and to hear - I heard a lot. They say that there are such countries, dear girl, where there are no Orthodox kings, and the Saltans rule the earth. In one land the Turkish Saltan Makhnut sits on the throne, and in another - the Persian Saltan Makhnut; and they carry out judgment, dear girl, on all people, and no matter what they judge, everything is wrong. And they, my dear, cannot judge a single case righteously, such is the limit set for them. Our law is righteous, but theirs, dear, is unrighteous; that according to our law it turns out this way, but according to theirs everything is the opposite. And all their judges, in their countries, are also all unrighteous; So, dear girl, they write in their requests: “Judge me, unjust judge!” And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads.

Goodbye for now!

Glasha. Goodbye!

Feklusha leaves.

City manners:

Act one, scene three:

1) Kuligin. And you will never get used to it, sir.

Boris. From what?

Kuligin. Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and stark poverty. And we, sir, will never escape this crust! Because honest work will never earn us more than our daily bread. And whoever has money, sir, tries to enslave the poor so that he can make even more money from his free labors. Do you know what your uncle, Savel Prokofich, answered to the mayor? The peasants came to the mayor to complain that he would not disrespect any of them. The mayor began to tell him: “Listen, he says, Savel Prokofich, pay the men well! Every day they come to me with complaints!” Your uncle patted the mayor on the shoulder and said: “Is it worth it, your honor, for us to talk about such trifles! I have a lot of people every year; You understand: I won’t pay them a penny per person, but I make thousands out of this, so that’s good for me!” That's it, sir! And among themselves, sir, how they live! They undermine each other's trade, and not so much out of self-interest as out of envy. They are at enmity with each other; They get drunken clerks into their high mansions, such, sir, clerks that there is no human appearance on him, his human appearance is hysterical. And they, for small acts of kindness, scribble malicious slander against their neighbors on stamped sheets. And for them, sir, a trial and a case will begin, and there will be no end to the torment. They sue and sue here, but they go to the province, and there they are waiting for them and splashing their hands with joy. Soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done; they drive them, they drive them, they drag them, they drag them; and they are also happy about this dragging, that’s all they need. “I’ll spend it, he says, and it won’t cost him a penny.” I wanted to depict all this in poetry...

2) F e k l u sha. Bla-alepie, honey, blah-alepie! Wonderful beauty! What can I say! You live in the promised land! AND merchants All are pious people, adorned with many virtues! Generosity and many alms! I’m so pleased, so, mother, completely satisfied! For our failure to leave them even more bounties, and especially to the Kabanovs’ house.

Act two, scene one:

3) Feklusha. No, honey. Due to my weakness, I did not walk far; and to hear - I heard a lot. They say that there are such countries, dear girl, where there are no Orthodox kings, and the Saltans rule the earth. In one land the Turkish Saltan Makhnut sits on the throne, and in another - the Persian Saltan Makhnut; and they carry out judgment, dear girl, on all people, and no matter what they judge, everything is wrong. And they, my dear, cannot judge a single case righteously, such is the limit set for them. Our law is righteous, but theirs, dear, is unrighteous; that according to our law it turns out this way, but according to theirs everything is the opposite. And all their judges, in their countries, are also all unrighteous; So, dear girl, they write in their requests: “Judge me, unjust judge!” And then there is also a land where all the people have dog heads.

Glasha. Why is this so with dogs?

Feklusha. For infidelity. I’ll go, dear girl, and wander around the merchants to see if there’s anything for poverty.Goodbye for now!

Glasha. Goodbye!

Feklusha leaves.

Here are some other lands! There are no miracles in the world! And we sit here, we don’t know anything. It’s also good that there are good people; no, no, and you will hear what is happening in this wide world; Otherwise they would have died like fools.

Family relationships:

Act one, scene five:

1) Kabanova. If you want to listen to your mother, then when you get there, do as I ordered you.

Kabanov. How can I, Mama, disobey you!

Kabanova. Elders are not very respected these days.

Varvara (to herself). No respect for you, of course!

Kabanov. I, it seems, mummy, don’t take a step out of your will.

Kabanova. I would believe you, my friend, if I hadn’t seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears what kind of respect children show to their parents now! If only they remembered how many illnesses mothers suffer from their children.

Kabanov. I, mummy...

Kabanova. If your parent ever says something offensive, out of your pride, then, I think, you could bear it! What do you think?

Kabanov. But when, Mama, have I ever been unable to bear being away from you?

Kabanova. The mother is old and stupid; Well, you, young people, smart ones, shouldn’t exact it from us fools.

Kabanov (sighing, aside). Oh, Lord! (Mother.) Dare we, Mama, to think!

Kabanova. After all, out of love your parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach you good. Well, I don’t like it now. And the children will go around praising people that their mother is a grumbler, that their mother does not allow them to pass, that they are squeezing them out of the world. And, God forbid, you can’t please your daughter-in-law with some word, so the conversation started that the mother-in-law was completely fed up.

Kabanov. No, mama, who is talking about you?

Kabanova. I haven’t heard, my friend, I haven’t heard, I don’t want to lie. If only I had heard, I would have spoken to you, my dear, in a different way.(Sighs.) Oh, a grave sin! What a long time to sin! A conversation close to the heart will go well, and you will sin and get angry. No, my friend, say what you want about me. You can’t tell anyone to say it: if they don’t dare to your face, they will stand behind your back.

Kabanov. Shut up your tongue...

Kabanova. Come on, come on, don't be afraid! Sin! I'll
I’ve seen for a long time that your wife is dearer to you than your mother. Since
I got married, I don’t see the same love from you anymore.

Kabanov. How do you see this, Mama?

Kabanova. Yes in everything, my friend! A mother cannot see with her eyes, but her heart is a prophet; she can feel with her heart. Or maybe your wife is taking you away from me, I don’t know.

Act two, scene two:

2) Katerina. I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything.

V a r v a r a. Well, you can’t live without it; remember where you live! Our whole house rests on this. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary. I was walking yesterday, I saw him, I talked to him.

Storm

Act one, scene nine:

1) Varvara (looking around). Why is this brother not coming, there’s no way, the storm is coming.

Katerina (with horror). Storm! Let's run home! Hurry up!

Varvara. Are you crazy or something? How will you show up home without your brother?

Katerina. No, home, home! God bless him!

Varvara. Why are you really afraid: the thunderstorm is still far away.

Katerina. And if it’s far away, then perhaps we’ll wait a little; but really, it’s better to go. Let's go better!

Varvara. But if something happens, you can’t hide at home.

Katerina. Yes, it’s still better, everything is calmer; At home I go to the images and pray to God!

Varvara. I didn't know you were so afraid of thunderstorms. I'm not afraid.

Katerina. How, girl, not to be afraid! Everyone should be afraid. It’s not so scary that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all your evil thoughts. I’m not afraid to die, but when I think that suddenly I will appear before God as I am here with you, after this conversation, that’s what’s scary. What's on my mind! What a sin! scary to say!

1. Speech characteristics(individual speech characterizing the hero):

Katerina - poetic speech, similar to a spell, lament or song, filled with folk elements;

Kuligin is the speech of an educated person with “scientific” words and poetic phrases;

Wild - speech is replete with rude words and curses;

Kabanikha - hypocritical, “pressing” speech;

Feklusha - the speech shows that she has been in many places.

The role of the first remark, which immediately reveals the character of the hero.

Kuligin. Miracles, truly one must say: miracles!

Curly. And what?

Wild. What the hell are you, you came here to beat me up! Parasite! Get lost!

Boris. Holiday; what to do at home!

Feklusha. Blah-alepie, honey, blah-alepie! The beauty is wonderful.

Kabanova. If you want to listen to your mother, then when you get there, do as I ordered you.

Tikhon. How can I, Mama, disobey you!

Varvara. No respect for you, of course!

Katerina. For me, Mama, it’s all the same, like my own mother, like you, and Tikhon loves you too.

3. Using the technique of contrast and comparison:

Feklushi's monologue - Kuligin's monologue;

Life in the city of Kalinov - Volga landscape;

Katerina - Varvara;

Tikhon - Boris.

The main conflict of the play is revealed in the title, the system of characters, who can be divided into two groups - “masters of life” and “victims”, in the position of Katerina, who is not included in any of the named groups, in the speech of the characters and even in the use of contrast, defining the confrontation between the heroes.

The city of Kalinov is a typical Russian city of the second half of the 19th century. Most likely, A. N. Ostrovsky saw something similar during his travels along the Volga. Life in the city is a reflection of a situation where the old does not want to give up its positions and seeks to maintain power by suppressing the will of those around them. Money gives the “masters of life” the right to dictate their will to the “victims”. In a truthful display of such a life, there is the position of the author, calling for it to be changed.

A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm". The image of Katerina is the embodiment of the best qualities of female nature. The conflict of a romantic personality with a way of life devoid of folk moral foundations. Motives of temptations, motives of self-will and freedom in drama

The world in which the heroine lives. She grew up in a simple merchant family, where love and respect for each other reigned. I found the highest truth in religion. Her world is filled with poetry and beauty. They are in washing with spring water, in the stories and songs of wanderers, in prayers, in gold embroidery on velvet.

The character of the heroine. The nature is strong, passionate, freedom-loving. “I was still six years old..! They offended me with something at home... 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! “Eh, Varya, you don’t know my character!” - she admits. “And if I get really tired of being here, they won’t hold me back by any force.”

What is the tragedy of the heroine? Katerina is bright and sincere, but where she has to live (in the Kabanovs’ house), these qualities are simply not needed by anyone. But she does not want to live according to the laws of the “dark kingdom” and does not know how to adapt to them, because this would mean changing her moral principles.

Love in the heroine's life. She didn’t marry for love, but she tried very hard to be a good wife to Tikhon. The need for love lives in her - she seeks selfless, sacrificial love. Tikhon loves her in his own way, but is afraid of this love. Submitting to his mother in everything, he cannot protect his wife. The flaring passion for Boris deprived the heroine of her will - a new Katerina was born, ready to die for her love. Marriage, sanctified in the church, is holy for her, and she is well aware of the consequences of her sinful love. Boris is the only one who understands Katerina, but is unable to help her; he even advises her to submit to fate. Katerina: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” For the sake of love, she is ready to do anything, even to transgress those concepts of sin and virtue that are sacred to her.

Katerina’s death is a protest, a rebellion, a call to action, since after her death Varvara ran away from home, Tikhon blamed his mother for his wife’s death, Kuligin reproached her for being unmerciful.

Katerina is distinguished by her inner strength and love of freedom, since as a child she did not experience pressure from her parents, she grew up according to her nature; That’s why she didn’t break under the pressure of the “dark kingdom” and was able to defend her self-esteem. The city of Kalinov will not be able to live as before after Katerina’s death, because her death awakened the first words of protest among its residents.

Critics about the drama "The Thunderstorm"

“The Thunderstorm” was the reason for a heated debate that unfolded between two revolutionary-democratic magazines: “Sovremennik” and “Russkoe Slovo”. But critics were most interested in the revolutionary situation in Russia, its possible prospects, and not literary issues.

N. A. Dobrolyubov “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”

The play leaves the most gratifying impression, which is caused by the end, in which a terrible challenge is given to the “dark kingdom”, the tyrant force.

In Katerina we see a protest against Kabanov’s morality; she is “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” If a woman - the most powerless creature - expresses protest, this is significant.

Katerina can be compared to a spring (the more oppression, the greater the “recoil” when the spring gets rid of the oppression).

“The Thunderstorm” is the most decisive work of A. N. Ostrovsky.

D. I. Pisarev “Motives of Russian drama”

Katerina is a “crazy dreamer” (every minute she rushes from one extreme to the other, today she repents of what she did yesterday, and does not know what she will do tomorrow. At every step she confuses her own life, and someone else’s, and, finally, having mixed up everything she had at hand, she cuts the long knot with the stupidest means - suicide).

She assesses Katerina’s “spontaneous protest” as stupid nonsense, she is at best a “swamp light”, and calls Evgeniy Bazarov a “ray of light”. The critic does not believe in the revolutionary possibility of the peasantry (Katerina is ignorant and superstitious), but believes in natural sciences as a revolutionary force capable of enlightening the people.

A. A. Grigoriev “After Ostrovsky’s “Thunderstorm””

I saw in the play the poetry of “folk life”: “It was created as if it was not the artist, but the whole world who created.”

The main characters of Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm"

The events in A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” take place on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. The work provides a list of characters and their brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not many main characters in Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”.

Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house-building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in “The Thunderstorm”. Indeed, Katya’s strength of character does not appear outwardly. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems as if she is easy to break. But this is not true at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikha’s attacks. She resists, and does not ignore them, like Varvara. The conflict is rather internal in nature. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya might influence her son, after which Tikhon will stop obeying his mother’s will.

Katya wants to fly and often compares herself to a bird. She is literally suffocating in Kalinov’s “dark kingdom”. Having fallen in love with a visiting young man, Katya created for herself an ideal image of love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Ostrovsky in “The Thunderstorm” makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is contrasted with the image of Marfa Ignatievna. A woman who keeps her entire family in fear and tension does not command respect. Kabanikha is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took over the “reins of power” after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that in her marriage Kabanikha was not distinguished by submissiveness. Katya, her daughter-in-law, got the most from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikha. Despite the fact that over so many years she has learned to be cunning and lie, the reader still sympathizes with her. Varvara is a good girl. Surprisingly, deception and cunning do not make her like other residents of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Varvara is not afraid of her mother’s anger, since she is not an authority for her.

Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, unnoticeable. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikha. His rebellion ultimately proves to be the most significant. After all, it is the words, and not Varvara’s escape, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of tour guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about its morals, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His assessments of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself is a kind person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of a perpetu mobile, of a lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams are not destined to come true.

The Wild One has a clerk, Kudryash. This character is interesting because he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks about him. At the same time, Kudryash, just like Dikoy, tries to find benefit in everything. He can be described as a simple person.

Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to establish relations with Dikiy, because only in this case will he be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya, honest and fair. In the last scenes this is refuted: Boris is unable to decide to take a serious step, to take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.

One of the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” is a wanderer and a maid. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and lack of education is truly amazing. Their judgments are absurd and their horizons are very narrow. Women judge morality and ethics according to some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now full of carnivals and games, but in the streets there is an indo roar and groan. Why, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, they started harnessing a fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed” - this is how Feklusha speaks about progress and reforms, and the woman calls a car a “fiery serpent”. The concept of progress and culture is alien to such people, because it is convenient for them to live in an invented limited world of calm and regularity.

Characteristics of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm”

Using the example of the life of a single family from the fictional city of Kalinov, Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” shows the whole essence of the outdated patriarchal structure of Russia in the 19th 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 a revealing tragic picture, conveyed photographically accurately. The characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is not limited to just the author’s commentary in the list of 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. In Marfa Kabanova, the ideas of tyranny and hypocrisy inherent in the entire “dark kingdom” were fully embodied. 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 the 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, recently Katerina has become characterized by 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 only 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! 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 addition whose function was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya doesn’t have 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.

The events in A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” take place on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. The work provides a list of characters and their brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not many main characters in Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”.

Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house-building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in “The Thunderstorm”. Indeed, Katya’s strength of character does not appear outwardly. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems as if she is easy to break. But this is not true at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikha’s attacks. She resists, and does not ignore them, like Varvara. The conflict is rather internal in nature. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya might influence her son, after which Tikhon will stop obeying his mother’s will.

Katya wants to fly and often compares herself to a bird. She is literally suffocating in Kalinov’s “dark kingdom”. Having fallen in love with a visiting young man, Katya created for herself an ideal image of love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Ostrovsky in “The Thunderstorm” makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is contrasted with the image of Marfa Ignatievna. A woman who keeps her entire family in fear and tension does not command respect. Kabanikha is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took over the “reins of power” after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that in her marriage Kabanikha was not distinguished by submissiveness. Katya, her daughter-in-law, got the most from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikha. Despite the fact that over so many years she has learned to be cunning and lie, the reader still sympathizes with her. Varvara is a good girl. Surprisingly, deception and cunning do not make her like other residents of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Varvara is not afraid of her mother’s anger, since she is not an authority for her.

Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, unnoticeable. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikha. His rebellion ultimately proves to be the most significant. After all, it is the words, and not Varvara’s escape, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of tour guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about its morals, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His assessments of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself is a kind person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of a perpetu mobile, of a lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams are not destined to come true.

The Wild One has a clerk, Kudryash. This character is interesting because he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks about him. At the same time, Kudryash, just like Dikoy, tries to find benefit in everything. He can be described as a simple person.

Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to establish relations with Dikiy, because only in this case will he be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya, honest and fair. In the last scenes this is refuted: Boris is unable to decide to take a serious step, to take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.

One of the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” is a wanderer and a maid. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and lack of education is truly amazing. Their judgments are absurd and their horizons are very narrow. Women judge morality and ethics according to some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now full of carnivals and games, but in the streets there is an indo roar and groan. Why, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, they started harnessing a fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed” - this is how Feklusha speaks about progress and reforms, and the woman calls a car a “fiery serpent”. The concept of progress and culture is alien to such people, because it is convenient for them to live in an invented limited world of calm and regularity.

This article provides a brief description of the characters in the play “The Thunderstorm”; for a deeper understanding, we recommend that you read the thematic articles about each character in “The Thunderstorm” on our website.

Work test