Catherine's husband in a thunderstorm. Katerina's life in the parental home (play by A. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm")

Perhaps, few works of that time, and even among the works of the author Ostrovsky himself, could cause so much heated debate than the play "The Thunderstorm".

The desperate act of Katerina Kabanova, who crossed the line of life and death, evokes both sympathetic understanding and sharp rejection. There is no one opinion, and there cannot be.

Characteristics of the heroine

Beloved and spoiled daughter merchant family, Katerina marries Tikhon, turning her world upside down. On the example of her parents and a new family, we see how different the patriarchal way can be: ostentatious and demonstrative (what will the neighbors say? What will acquaintances think?), Or deep and sincere, hidden from prying eyes.

The lack of a full-fledged education makes its contribution to the fate of this woman. According to the stories of Katerina, she learned her knowledge from the stories of her mother and father, as well as the pilgrims and wanderers. Faith in people and admiration for the world created by God - these are its main features. Katerina did not know the hard work, she loved to go to church, which seemed to her as a fabulous temple, where angels were waiting for her.

(Kiryushina Galina Aleksandrovna as Katerina, stage of the Maly Theater)

Cloudless and happy childhood quickly gives way to a bleak marriage. A kind, naive and very religious girl for the first time faced open hatred for the people around her. V new family there is no longer a place for angels and joy. And marriage itself is not at all for love. And if Katerina hopes to fall in love with Tikhon, then Kabanikha - as everyone around her mother-in-law is called - leaves no chance for either her son or daughter-in-law. Perhaps Tikhon would become the one who would make Katya happy, but only under the wing of his mother he does not know such feelings as love.

Meeting Boris gives the unhappy woman hope that life can still change and become better. The black atmosphere at home prompts her to rebel and try to fight for her happiness. When she goes on a date, she realizes that she is committing a sin. This feeling does not leave her either before or after. Firm faith in God and the awareness of the viciousness of the perfect act push Katerina to confess everything to her husband and mother-in-law.

The image of the heroine in the work

(A scene from a drama)

Struck, but deep down understanding his wife, Tikhon does not condemn her. Only Katerina herself does not feel any better from this. It is much more difficult to forgive yourself on your own. Perhaps she wanted to relieve her mental rush by recognition, but it just didn't work out. She doesn't need forgiveness. The very thought of returning to the house for her becomes identical with death, only not instantaneous, but long, painful, inevitable. According to the religious canon, suicide is a mortal sin that cannot be forgiven. But this does not stop the desperate woman.

In her thoughts, Katya often imagines herself as a bird, her soul rushes to heaven. She can't live in Kalinov. Having fallen in love with Boris, who has recently arrived in the city, she imagines how they will leave the hated city together. Love is seen as a real and so close salvation. Yes, only for the fulfillment of a dream you need a mutual desire ...

(Fragment from a dramatic production)

Having met Boris on the banks of the Volga, Katerina experiences the most severe disappointment. Once such a beautiful young man resolutely refuses to take a married woman with him, inflicting on her with his refusal final blow in heart. Katya doesn't want to be more stone stumbling blocks in his family, to continue to drag out a bleak existence, day after day to break his soul for the sake of his mother-in-law.

And the exit here it is - very close, you just need to take a step off the cliff into the Volga waters. And the thunderstorm seems to her the most that neither is the indication from above. What Katya once only vaguely thought about, afraid to admit her sinful thoughts to herself, turned out to be the easiest way out. Not finding her place, support, love, she decides to take this very last step.

Everything fresh, young, talented perishes in the gloomy atmosphere of the city of Kalinov depicted by Ostrovsky in The Thunderstorm. It wastes away from violence, anger, from the dead emptiness of this life. The weak drink too much, the vicious and petty natures defeat despotism with cunning and resourcefulness. For direct, bright natures, endowed with an indefatigable desire for a different life, a tragic end is inevitable when faced with the rough forces of this world.

A. N. Ostrovsky. Storm. Play

This outcome becomes inevitable for Katerina, the main character"Thunderstorms". Raised in her father's house, under the conditions of that time, locked up in the rooms of her home, the girl grew up surrounded by love in her own kind of world. Dreamy by nature, she found an outlet for the vague inclinations of a child's soul in religious contemplation and dreams; she loved church services, the lives of the saints, the stories of the praying mantis about the holy places.

Her love for nature merged with religious beliefs and dreams; a kind of religious delight burns in her soul, like Joan of Arc in childhood: at night she gets up and prays fervently, at dawn she loves to pray in the garden and cry in a vague, unconscious impulse. encouraging, calling her to some kind of sacrifice and exploits. She dreams of the wonderful beauty of the country, and invisible voices sing to her from above. At the same time, she discovers strength, straightforwardness and independence of character.

And this girl, full of light mental strength, falls into the rough atmosphere of the house of the merchant Kabanova, the wife of her weak-willed, downtrodden and humiliated son, Tikhon. At first she became attached to her husband, but his lethargy, downturn and his eternal desire to leave the parental home and forget himself in the intoxication - pushed Katerina away from him. In the house of the tyrant Kabanova, Katerina began to visit her religious visions less and less; she began to languish and bored. The meeting with the nephew of the Diky merchant, Boris, decided her fate: she fell in love with Boris in the way that was characteristic of her nature - strongly and deeply.

Katerina has been struggling with this "sinful passion" for a long time, despite the persuasions of Kabanova's daughter, Varvara. But in the end, an oppressive feeling of loneliness, longing and emptiness of existence in the house. Kabanova and the passionate thirst for life in Katerina's young soul allow her fluctuations. In her struggle, she seeks help from her husband, but he leaves the hateful mother's house, where his wife is not dear to him either. The knowledge that she has transgressed some inviolable commandment does not leave Katerina; she cannot calmly surrender to love, like Varvara, cunning and hiding. Katerina is gnawing at the consciousness of guilt, her whole life is clouded; pure by nature, she cannot live in deception, in lies, in criminal joys.

Full of painful doubts and a thirst to throw off something unclean, wash some stain, once in a thunderstorm, under the thunderclaps, publicly repents of his sins, giving vent to his indignant conscience. Life in Kabanova's house after repentance becomes completely unbearable. Driven to despair, seeing that there is no longer where to wait for salvation, Katerina rushes into the Volga and dies.

The image of Katerina in the play "The Thunderstorm" contrasts perfectly with the gloomy realities of Russia in the pre-reform period. At the epicenter of the unfolding drama is the conflict between the heroine, striving to defend her human rights, and the world in which everything is ruled by strong, rich and powerful people.

Katerina as the embodiment of a pure, strong and bright folk soul

From the very first pages of the work, the image of Katerina in the play "The Thunderstorm" cannot fail to attract attention and make you feel sympathetic. Honesty, the ability to feel deeply, sincerity of nature and a penchant for poetry - these are the features that distinguish Katerina herself from representatives " dark kingdom". In the main character, Ostrovsky tried to capture all the beauty of the people's simple soul. The girl expresses her emotions and feelings unpretentiously and does not use distorted words and expressions common in the merchant environment. It is not difficult to notice, Katerina's speech itself is more reminiscent of a melodic tune, she is replete with diminutive words and expressions: "sun", "grass", "rain". The heroine shows incredible sincerity, talking about her free life in her father's house, among icons, calm prayers and flowers, where she lived "like a bird in the wild."

The image of a bird is an accurate reflection of the state of mind of the heroine

The image of Katerina in the play "The Thunderstorm" resonates perfectly with the image of a bird, in folk poetry symbolizing freedom. Talking to Barbara, she repeatedly refers to this analogy and claims that she is "a free bird that fell into an iron cage." In captivity, she is sad and painful.

Katerina's life in the Kabanovs' house. Love of Katerina and Boris

In the Kabanovs' house, Katerina, who is inherent in dreaminess and romance, feels like a completely stranger. The humiliating reproaches of the mother-in-law, accustomed to keeping all household members at bay, the atmosphere of tyranny, lies and hypocrisy oppress the girl. However, Katerina herself, who is by nature a strong, whole person, knows that there is a limit to her patience: “I don’t want to live here, I won’t do this, even though you cut me!” Barbara's words that it is impossible to survive in this house without deception cause strong rejection in Katerina. The heroine opposes the "dark kingdom", his orders did not break her will to live, fortunately, did not force her to become like other residents of the Kabanovs' house and begin to be hypocritical and lie herself at every step.

The image of Katerina in the play "The Thunderstorm" is revealed in a new way, when the girl makes an attempt to escape from the "hateful" world. She does not know how and does not want to love the way the inhabitants of the "dark kingdom" do, freedom, openness, "honest" happiness are important to her. While Boris convinces her that their love will remain a secret, Katerina wants everyone to know about it, so that everyone can see. Tikhon, her husband, but awakened in her heart light feeling it seems to her And just at this moment the reader comes face to face with the tragedy of her suffering and torment. From this moment, Katerina's conflict occurs not only with the outside world, but also with herself. It is difficult for her to make a choice between love and duty, she tries to forbid herself to love and be happy. However, the struggle with their own feelings is beyond the strength of the fragile Katerina.

The style and laws that reign in the world around the girl put pressure on her. She seeks to repent of what she has done, to purify her soul. Seeing on the wall in the church the painting " The last judgment”, Katerina breaks down, falls to her knees and begins to publicly repent of her sin. However, even this does not bring the girl the desired relief. Other heroes of Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm are not able to support her, even a loved one. Boris refuses to Katerina's requests to take her out of here. This person is not a hero, he is simply unable to protect himself or his beloved.

Death of Katerina - a ray of light that illuminated the "dark kingdom"

Evil falls on Katherine from all sides. Constant bullying by the mother-in-law, throwing between duty and love - all this ultimately leads the girl to tragic ending... Having managed to learn happiness and love in her short life, she is simply not able to continue living in the Kabanovs' house, where such concepts do not exist at all. The only way out she sees her as suicide: the future frightens Katerina, and the grave is perceived as salvation from the torment of the soul. However, the image of Katerina in the drama "The Thunderstorm", in spite of everything, remains strong - she did not choose a wretched existence in a "cage" and did not allow anyone to break her living soul.

Nevertheless, the death of the heroine was not in vain. The girl won moral victory above " dark kingdom”, She managed to dispel a little darkness in the hearts of people, to induce them to action, to open their eyes. The life of the heroine herself became a "ray of light" that blazed in the darkness and for a long time left its glow over the world of madness and darkness.

Katerina- the main character, Tikhon's wife, Kabanikha's daughter-in-law. The image of K. - the most important discovery Ostrovsky - the discovery of the strong born of the patriarchal world folk character with an awakening sense of personality. In the plot of the play, K. is the protagonist, Kabanikha is the antagonist in tragic conflict... Their relationship in the play is not the everyday enmity of the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, their fates were expressed by the collision of two historical eras, which determines the tragic nature of the conflict. It is important for the author to show the origins of the character of the heroine, for which in the exhibition, contrary to the specifics dramatic kind the lengthy story of K. about life as a girl is given. Drawn here perfect option patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general. The main motive of her story is the motive of all-pervading mutual love: “I lived, I didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in freedom, what I want, it used to be, I do”. But it was a "will" that did not at all conflict with the secular way of a closed life, the whole circle of which is limited homework, and since K. is a girl from a wealthy merchant family, this is needlework, gold sewing on velvet; since she works together with wanderers, then, most likely, it comes about embroidery for the temple. This is a story about a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the general, since he does not yet separate himself from this community. That is why there is no violence and coercion here. Idyllic harmony of the patriarchal family life(perhaps it was the result of her childhood impressions, which remained forever in her soul) for K. - an unconditional moral ideal... But she lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality - harmony between the individual and the moral concepts of the environment - has disappeared and the ossified form is supported by violence and coercion. Sensitive K. catches this in her family life in the Kabanovs' house. After hearing the story of her daughter-in-law's life before marriage, Varvara (Tikhon's sister) exclaims in surprise: "Why, we have the same thing." “Everything here seems to be out of bondage,” K. drops, and this is the main drama for her.

For the entire concept of the play, it is very important that it is here, in the soul of a woman who is quite “Kalinovskaya” in her upbringing and moral ideas, that a new attitude to the world is born, a new feeling, still unclear to the heroine herself: “... Something bad is being done to me, some kind of miracle! .. Something in me is so extraordinary. It’s as if I’m starting to live again, or I don’t know. ” This is a vague feeling, which K. cannot, of course, explain rationally - the awakening sense of personality. In the soul of the heroine, naturally, in accordance with the whole structure of concepts and the sphere of life of a merchant's wife, it takes the form of individual, personal love. In K. passion is born and grows, but this passion is highly spiritualized, infinitely far from the thoughtless striving for hidden joys. K. perceives the awakened love as a terrible, indelible sin, because love for a stranger for her, a married woman, is a violation moral duty, moral commandments of the patriarchal world for K. are full of primordial meaning. She wants to be pure and impeccable with all her soul, her moral exactingness towards herself does not allow compromise. Having already realized her love for Boris, she resists her with all her might, but does not find support in this struggle: “as if I were standing over an abyss and someone was pushing me there, but I had nothing to hold on to.” And indeed, everything around her is already a dead form. For K., the form and ritual by themselves do not matter - she needs the very essence human relations who once donned this ritual. That is why it is unpleasant for her to bow at the feet of the departing Tikhon and she refuses to howl on the porch, as the guardians of customs expect from her. Not only external forms household items but even prayer becomes inaccessible to her as soon as she feels the power of sinful passion over herself. N.A. On the contrary, K.'s religious sentiments intensify as her mental storm... But it is precisely the discrepancy between her sinful internal state and what the religious commandments require of her, and does not allow her to pray as before: K. is too far from the sanctimonious gap between the external performance of rituals and everyday practice. Given her high moral character, such a compromise is impossible. She feels fear of herself, of the desire for will that has grown in her, inseparably merged in her consciousness with love: “Of course, God forbid this to happen! And if it makes me very disgusted here, they won't hold me back by any force. I'll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, I don’t want to, even though you cut me! ”

K. was married young, her fate was decided by her family, and she accepts this as a completely natural, common thing. She is part of the Kabanov family, ready to love and honor her mother-in-law (“For me, mamma, everything is the same, that my own mother, that you ...” - she says to Kabanikha in act I, but she does not know how to lie), expecting in advance that the husband will be her master, but also her support and protection. But Tikhon is not suitable for the role of the head of a patriarchal family, and K. says about his love for him: "I feel sorry for him very much!" And in the fight against illegal love for Boris K., despite her attempts, she cannot rely on Tikhon.

The "thunderstorm" is not a "tragedy of love", but rather a "tragedy of conscience." When the fall is complete, K. no longer retreats, does not feel sorry for himself, does not want to hide anything, saying to Boris: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid human judgment! " The consciousness of sin does not leave her in the moment of rapture with happiness and tremendous power takes possession of her when happiness is over. K. repents publicly without hope of forgiveness, and it is the complete absence of hope that pushes her to commit suicide, an even more grave sin: "All the same, I have ruined my soul." Not Boris's refusal to take her with him to Kyakhta, but the complete impossibility of reconciling his love for him with the demands of conscience and physical disgust for the home prison, kills K.

To explain the character of K., it is not motivation that is important (for love of Boris K. was condemned by the radical criticism), but free expression of will, the fact that she suddenly and inexplicably for herself, contrary to her own ideas about morality and order, fell in love in Boris not with a “function” (as this is supposed to be in the patriarchal world, where she should love not the personality of a specific person, but precisely the “function”: father, husband, mother-in-law, etc.), but another person who is not connected with her in any way. And the more inexplicable her attraction to Boris, the clearer it is that the point is precisely this free, unpredictable self-will of individual feeling. And this is precisely the sign of the awakening of the personal principle in this soul, all the moral foundations of which are determined by patriarchal morality. The death of K. is therefore a foregone conclusion and is irreversible, no matter how the people on whom she depends behave: neither her self-awareness nor her entire way of life allow the personal feeling that has awakened in her to be embodied in everyday forms. K. the victim is not someone else personally from those around her (whatever she thinks about it herself or other characters in the play), but the course of life. The world of patriarchal relations dies, and the soul of this world leaves life in torment and suffering, crushed by the ossified, meaningless form of everyday connections, and makes a moral judgment on itself, because in it the patriarchal ideal lives in its original content.
In addition to its precise socio-historical character, The Thunderstorm also has a pronounced lyrical beginning and powerful symbolism. Both are primarily (if not exclusively) associated with the image of K. K. Ostrovsky consistently correlates fate and speech with the plot and poetics lyric songs O female lobe... In this tradition, K.'s story about a free life as a girl is sustained, a monologue before last date with Boris. The author consistently poeticizes the image of the heroine, using for this even such an unconventional means for a dramatic kind as a landscape, which is first described in a remark, then the beauty of the Trans-Volga regions is discussed in Kuligin's conversations, then in K.'s words addressed to Varvara, the motif of a bird and flight appears (“Why don't people fly? .. You know, sometimes it seems to me that I am a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you are drawn to fly. That’s how you would run away, raise your hands and fly”). In the finale, the motive of the flight is tragically transformed into a fall from the Volga steep, from the very mountain that beckoned to fly. And the Volga saves K. from a painful life in captivity, symbolizing distance and freedom (recall the story of K; about her childhood rebellion, when she, offended, got into a boat and swam along the Volga - an episode from the biography of Ostrovsky's close friend, actress L.P. Kositskaya , the first performer of the role of K.).

The lyricism of "The Storm" arises precisely because of the proximity of the world of the heroine and the author. The hopes for overcoming social discord, rampant individualistic passions, cultural gap between the educated estates and the people on the basis of the resurrection of ideal patriarchal harmony, which Ostrovsky and his friends in the Moskvityanin magazine had in the 1850s, have not withstood the test of modernity. Farewell to them was the "Thunderstorm", which reflected the state of the people's consciousness at the turn of the epochs. AA Grigoriev, himself a former Muscovite, deeply understood the lyrical character of "The Thunderstorm", saying about the play: "... as if it was not a poet, but a whole people who created here."

The play by A. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm" was presented a year before the abolition of serfdom in 1859. Katerina's life in parental home... The image of the main character changes with each chapter, she is vulnerable and tender.

What is the play about?

The action takes place in the fictional city of Kalinov. The drama takes place in one of the merchant houses on the banks of the Volga. The owner of the house, merchant Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, is a domineering and wayward person. She holds everyone around in her arms. No one can resist her. But her zeal to subdue everyone and everything encourages the conquest of more and more souls.

The theme of the conflict of generations passes through the red line between the lines of the play. And today this problem is relevant and contemporary. The embodiment of tyranny and the desire to rule the world in the image of Martha Kabanova personifies the system established by the older generation. But the image of Katerina is especially revealed, her mental tragedy leaves no one indifferent.

Katerina's life in her mother-in-law's house

The appearance in the Kabanovs' house of a new family member, Katerina, switches the merchant's wife's attention to new victim... Katerina Kabanova, daughter-in-law of the imperious Marfa Ignatievna, appeared in the house not at the behest of her heart, but through the fault of circumstances. She was forcibly given in marriage to the son of the merchant Tikhon, whose will was enslaved by her mother. Katerina's life in the parental home was also not distinguished by joy and happiness.

The appearance of Katerina brings a special meaning to the atmosphere of the play, contrasting light image sincere and devout girl to the "gray" existence of the merchant class mid XIX century. The image of the girl amazes the reader with her simplicity, sincerity, she is ready to give the world her kindness and can do it. Her image is the only one that is called "a ray of light in the dark kingdom."

Such a strict framework

But the framework of the merchant society does not allow her soul to open up. Her bright dreams and thoughts, which she shares with her husband's sister Varya, are unnecessary and incomprehensible to anyone. In the merchant environment, there is no place for sincerity and love, freedom of the soul and purity of thoughts.

From childhood, Katya got used to the gratuitous love of her mother, to the joyful world of freedom and church wisdom. The girl has nothing to breathe in merchant house, she is alien to the resourcefulness and lies that reign in society. Her soul can fly like a free bird only in dreams, which have become so rare with the onset of marriage. The image of Katerina in The Storm is described in detail. Her experiences and mental anguish are briefly presented.

To seek salvation in love

Gulp fresh air for Katerina, love for Boris becomes, the nephew of the same greedy as Kabanikh and the pompous merchant Dikiy. Because she is forced to while away her days locked up in the kingdom of her mother-in-law, Katerina is looking for an outlet for her feelings in affection for Boris. While Katerina's husband is away, secret dates of lovers help her realize that her love for Dikiy's nephew is not really the kind of love from which one can fly to the stars. Katerina's life in a strange house turns into torment.

She understands that the hopelessness of her position pushed her to an imaginary lover, who is not at all as perfect in his thoughts as she would like. It turned out she had invented it herself. She needed at least someone who could share her bright thoughts with her, with whom she could make her dreams of a happy and free life... Katerina's life in the parental home makes the main character believe in ghostly love.

An immortal soul who did not bow her head

The merchant's widow Martha Kabanova, in her thirst for power, was never able to get her daughter-in-law to recognize her supremacy. Katerina in the eyes calls her mother-in-law on "you", thereby making it clear how much she considers them equal. Katerina regrets her husband, realizing that he will never be able to break free from his mother's embrace without permission, and his mother will not allow him to. His complaints about life are nothing more than a recognition of his infantilism and the habit of being led by a strong leader.

And Martha, like a poisonous spider, weaved her nets, sticky and strong, into which it was easy to get into those who lived in a society where deceit, foolishness and envy reigned. The appearance of a brave adversary, proud and silent, reveals a selfless desire to change something in the surrounding world. The inability to resist the ossified system of government alone is reflected in the thunderstorm that has broken out and finds its culmination in the suicide of the protagonist. For her, "not death is desirable, but life is unbearable."

A protest that ends in tragedy

Her dream to fly like a bird does not seem absurd and funny. She embodied all the despair of a young girl, all the pain and unimaginable spiritual tragedy. Understanding the very essence of life in a lie, unwillingness and inability to pretend and adapt, lead Katerina to the edge of the cliff. A deeply believer, she was not afraid to commit suicide, thereby depriving her restless soul forever, she was not afraid of the wrath of God and the punishment of heaven. Katerina's protest in Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm ends in tragedy.

At that time, Katerina was cornered by circumstances. Her confession of treason to her husband and mother-in-law speaks of how pure and highly spiritual her nature was. To be honest with others, but first with oneself - this is the wrong side of her soul, the very bottom.

A. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" struck his contemporaries with the courage of Katerina's reasoning and delighted with the strength of character of such a fragile and tender soul... Silent confrontation and disobedience to the will of the existing regime creates a feeling of incessant struggle and confidence in victory, if not now, but certainly.

The image of Katerina prompted many young minds to rise to the struggle against the autocracy, strengthen their will and spirit with trials and find their way to the light in the name of freedom and justice. The "Thunderstorm" task - "Katerina's life in the parental home" is given in secondary schools. The image of the girl-martyr is popular to this day.