Vivid female characters in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"

A.N. Ostrovsky is not only a wonderful playwright, but also a true innovator in the field of plays. No one before him had examined the merchant environment, its characters, types, and destinies in such a multifaceted way.

Ostrovsky introduced the problem of the “dark kingdom” into Russian literature. He showed that behind the walls of handsome merchant houses, lawlessness, tyranny, and cruelty were happening. Here young lives and destinies are ruined, any attempts to bring something new, free, and individual into life are suppressed.

It is especially difficult for women in this atmosphere. One of the most striking and famous female images of A.N. Ostrovsky is Katerina, the main character of the play “The Thunderstorm”. This is a young woman who ended up in the Kabanovs’ house after marrying the weak-willed Tikhon. In her husband’s family, Katerina encountered an abyss of misunderstanding, rejection, and the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom.” All this oppresses her, but Katerina endures it because she considers it her duty and God’s providence.

There is another young woman in the Kabanovs’ house – Tikhon’s sister Varvara. She is also oppressed by the atmosphere in the family, the tyranny of her mother, and the weak-willedness of her brother. But despite all their external similarities, Varvara and Katerina are strikingly different from each other.

As you know, a person learns the basis of his nature from childhood. Therefore, it is important to remember that these heroines grew up in completely different families. Katerina grew up in a patriarchal but loving family: “I lived without worrying about anything, like a bird in the wild. Mama doted on me, dressed me up like a doll, and didn’t force me to work; I used to do whatever I want.” An atmosphere of goodness, light, understanding, love for God and people reigned in the heroine’s house. The girl grew up freedom-loving. The ideal of family was firmly established in her head. The heroine dreamed of a loving husband who would become her support and protection. In addition, Katerina could not imagine her life without a large number of children. The main thing in life for her was peace and harmony in the family.

Varvara was born and raised in the Kabanikha family. Their family is one of the most respected and influential in Kalinov. Therefore, the heroine always had to fit in. This meant that in the eyes of the entire city she had to live according to the laws of Domostroy. But for a young girl such a life was tantamount to voluntary slavery. Having a fairly cheerful character, Varvara could not exist like that.

Thus, both heroines are faced with a choice: to live, obeying the laws of the “dark kingdom” and ruining their soul, or to try to live in their own way. Katerina and Varvara each solve this problem in their own way. Katerina tries to obey the laws of Domostroy, because they correspond to her internal laws. She feels obligated to love her husband, please her mother-in-law, and do housework. Therefore, Katerina regards her love for Boris as an irredeemable sin.

Varvara only outwardly observes the laws of the “dark kingdom.” But in fact, these laws do not correspond to her internal ideas about life. Therefore, since childhood, the heroine has become accustomed to lying, dodging, concealing and, ultimately, adapting. She herself speaks about this: “Our house rests on this. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.” Varvara will never protest openly. But she will always do what she wants.

So, the heroine indulges her whim to walk with Curly. At night she secretly leaves home and returns only in the morning.

Each of the heroines has a lover. Katerina, unfortunately, is not her husband, but Boris, Dikiy’s nephew. The heroine resists this forbidden feeling for a long time, denies her obvious love for Boris Grigorievich. But when Tikhon leaves home for a long time, Katerina, succumbing to Varvara’s persuasion, goes on a date with Dikiy’s nephew. In this regard, the episode with the key is very important. In this scene, not just two heroines come into confrontation, but their worldviews, their theories regarding truth, honesty, righteousness. Varvara’s theory - do whatever you want, as long as everything is “sealed and covered” - prevails over Katerina’s desire to remain faithful to herself and her moral ideals. Katerina goes on a date with Boris, becomes his mistress and betrays herself. From this moment on, a split occurs in the heroine’s inner world. Now she has no peace anywhere. No one except Varvara knows about her betrayal, there is no one to condemn her, but Katerina condemns and punishes herself. A woman cannot live with such a heavy burden on her heart. Upon her husband’s arrival, she confesses everything to Tikhon and Kabanikha and commits suicide.

I think that Varvara is largely to blame for the death of the heroine, because it was she who pushed Katerina to betrayal. But she proceeded from her life ideas. I think Varvara never loved anyone. She is not capable of sacrificing her life for love. For this heroine, she herself, her desires and whims, come first. Varvara is unfamiliar with life “according to God’s laws”; she even loves for herself, not knowing how to give or sacrifice. Therefore, she will never suffer the same fate as Katerina.

In the play “The Thunderstorm” the reader gets acquainted with two bright female characters. Both heroines suffer in the atmosphere of the “dark kingdom,” but each has their own path in life, because each of them has their own life basis, their own “inner core.” Katerina dies, unable to withstand the internal discord, and Varvara... I think this heroine will sooner or later leave her parents’ house and live simply for herself, for her own pleasure.

Being in many ways a turning point for Russian society as a whole, the 19th century brought many fundamental changes to all areas of public life. Since this process could not but be very significant for the Russian people, there was a need to attract public attention to it. Literature took on this function. To raise the most pressing issues of our time, many bright, colorful characters were created. It should be noted that the works have traditionally been dominated by male images, reflecting the most

Socially active representatives of society of that time. However, if you pay attention to the works of many Russian classics, starting with Fonvizin and Griboyedov, it is impossible not to notice their interest in depicting female images. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was no exception. On the contrary, he created a whole series of very expressive female characters, capable, in the words of Goncharov, “of thinking, speaking and acting as they think, speaking and acting themselves,” each of which is deeply typical and at the same time individual and valuable in itself.
It is not difficult to note that in general, family and everyday conflicts predominate in Ostrovsky’s work, in which the dominant role is played not by a man, but by a woman. The underlying motive here is often the confrontation between old and new. Usually it is expressed by a conflict between a strong, despotic woman of the older generation and a young, socially helpless girl (a kind of motive for the relationship between the “executioner and the victim”). This situation is typical for both Ostrovsky’s comedy “The Forest” and his drama “The Thunderstorm”.
It should be emphasized that in the comedy “Forest” this conflict is revealed in a more simplified form (compared to “The Thunderstorm”). The older generation is represented here by Gurmyzhskaya. Ostrovsky creates a very colorful image of a wealthy landowner, who once shone in the world, now living in the provinces. As one of the most eloquent characteristics, the author cites her imaginary penchant for charity. According to her, she is only “a clerk with her money, and the owner of it is every poor, every unfortunate person.” Gurmyzhskaya is a characteristic type of heroine, representing a noble version of the “tyrant” principle, so fully revealed by Ostrovsky in “The Thunderstorm”. In the comedy “The Forest” this motive is not expressed so clearly. Gurmyzhskaya lives with the knowledge of her former life and does not want to part with it. To do this, she discharges a dropout high school student, Bulanov, from St. Petersburg. Ostrovsky very clearly paints a grotesque-comedy image of a careerist and “survivor”. Gurmyzhskaya falls in love with him, and Aksyusha becomes her “opponent,” according to Strakhov, “an honest and mentally strong girl,” but in many ways inferior to Katerina from “The Thunderstorm,” despite the fact that parallels in the construction of the image are clearly visible. For example, she also lives under the patronage of a strong, powerful woman, and also falls in love with a young man who is under the command of her father and completely dependent on him (it’s hard not to remember Boris and Dikiy from “The Thunderstorm”); finally, she also strives for personal freedom, for independent self-determination. However, despite some deeply meaningful psychological sketches (for example, her conversation with Peter, in which she admits: “I have no tears, and there is no great melancholy, but, I tell you, my heart is empty here”), the image is much more simplified, devoid of the deep psychological analysis characteristic of Ostrovsky in “The Thunderstorm”. N.A. Dobrolyubov points out that “he does not punish either the villain or the victim.” Indeed, neither Gurmyzhskaya with Bulanov, nor Aksyusha with Peter and other heroes receive a harsh assessment: Ostrovsky draws the readers’ attention not to specific heroes, but to the social types that they represent.
The same situation can be seen in “The Thunderstorm”, but here a much more detailed construction of the psychological portrait is evident. The local nobility gives way in this case to the merchants. The role of Gurmyzhskaya is played by Kabanikha, “a typical tyrant of Russian life.”
This is a very colorful figure, symbolizing one of the most significant parts of the “dark kingdom” and speaking on behalf of patriarchal principles. It represents the impersonal “we”, the old order, doomed to destruction even in such a “backwater” city of Kalinov, where it still has sufficient strength. The new time frightens Kabanikha, she senses the changes, notices that “they don’t really respect elders these days,” and tries by all means to maintain her authority. Ostrovsky emphasizes that she is not doing this out of malice, that her trouble is that she sincerely believes that young people “don’t know anything, have no order” and that “it’s good that those who have elders in the house, they the house lasts as long as you live.” Just like Gurmyzhskaya, Kabanikha has a strongly developed motive of imaginary charity, she welcomes “strangers, shows them favors,” listens to their words, while at the same time keeping her family in strictness and obedience.
The main character of “The Thunderstorm,” Katerina, finds herself in such conditions. This is an incomparably more complex (compared to Aksyusha) image, causing a lot of controversy in Russian criticism. Due to its deep internal contradictions, modern critics tend to highlight the “light and dark sides of Katerina’s soul.” The “bright side” includes her poetry and romanticism, sincere religiosity, as well as her “complete opposition to all tyrant principles.” Ostrovsky draws an example of a “female energetic character.” Although not particularly educated and striving for high ideals, Katerina has a strong sense of inner freedom. Any attempts to impose any restrictions on her turn all her strength and energy into protest. And here the “dark side” of her soul is revealed, indicating her connection with the “dark kingdom”. Although, according to Dobrolyubov, “Katerina does not at all belong to the violent character, never dissatisfied, loving to destroy at any cost,” she nevertheless becomes a slave to her emotions. Her wounded pride and offended self-esteem come to the fore, pushing her onto the sinful path of adultery. It should be noted that, despite her great social dependence, in Ostrovsky it is the woman who plays the leading role in the love triangle, and the lover does not always correspond to the deep inner decency of the heroine. This situation is observed both in “The Thunderstorm” and in “The Forest”. Actually, Katerina’s love for Boris is part of a protest against the growing oppression of the “dark kingdom”, a short-term consolation for her. However, having become completely confused in the current situation, she acutely feels the need for liberation and, being an idealist at heart, sees it only in death. Ostrovsky emphasizes that this is the only way out in this case, emphasizing this with the words of Boris: “Only one thing should be asked of God, that she die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time!”, and also with a short but expressive remark from Tikhon, pronounced over the dead Katerina: “Good for you, Katya!”
Speaking about the image of Katerina, one cannot fail to mention the figure of Varvara, who here performs the function of a carefree, flighty soubrette. Ostrovsky deliberately pushes the reader to compare these two images, focusing even more on the positive traits of the main character. “You’re kind of tricky, God be with you!” - says Varvara, favorably highlighting this “wisdom” with her frivolity and, although practical, but superficial “grip”. If we turn to the comedy “The Forest”, here the role of the soubrette is played by Ulita, Gurmyzhskaya’s housekeeper, but she is by no means an antipode, but, on the contrary, a double of her ardent and amorous mistress, she is also possessed by dreams (“So sometimes she finds something like a cloud,” - admits). Gurmyzhskaya’s love affair with Bulanov is emphasized by Ulita’s love for Schastlivtsev.
Quite a few female images in Ostrovsky are satirical and grotesque in nature. In the comedy “The Forest”, according to the laws of the genre, this applies to all characters; As for “The Thunderstorm,” here it was the satirical female images that were one of the expressions of the comedy principle. This includes the wanderer Feklusha and the “girl” Glasha. Both images can be safely called grotesque-comedy. Feklusha seems to be a storyteller of folk tales and legends, pleasing those around her with her stories about how “the Saltans rule the earth” and “no matter what they judge, everything is wrong,” and about the lands “where all the people are with dog heads.” Glasha is a typical reflection of ordinary “Kalinovites” who listen with reverence to such Feklush, confident that “it’s still good that there are good people; no, no, and you’ll hear what’s going on in this world, otherwise you’d die like a fool.” Both Feklusha and Glasha belong to the “dark kingdom,” dividing this world into “theirs” and “theirs,” into patriarchal “virtue,” where everything is “cool and orderly,” and into external vanity, from which the old order and time begin “to come into humiliation.” With these characters, Ostrovsky introduces the problem of the absurd ignorance and lack of enlightenment of the old conservative way of life, its inconsistency with modern trends.
Thus, summing up all of the above, it should be emphasized that, firmly aware of all the changes and trends in society, Ostrovsky was nevertheless opposed to the ideas of violent changes and saw his educational activities in a rather traditional aspect: in moral re-education, exposing vice, the discovery of the virtue of simple and eternal values ​​of life. And an important role in revealing this topic was played by the characters so precisely selected and “written out” by him, including female ones, as dominant in many of his plays, including “The Thunderstorm” and “The Forest.” It was their presence that made possible such plot devices as the conflict between the old and new generations, the confrontation or, on the contrary, the union of a strong, thoughtful personality and carefree but practical staff, the introduction of comedic and grotesque images and much more, which ultimately ensured the completion of the task and made Ostrovsky one of the most outstanding Russian playwrights of the 19th century.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a Russian playwright, whose work became the most important stage in the development of the Russian national theater. During his life he wrote many worthy works, but the dramas “The Thunderstorm” and “Dowry” became the most widely known. Both plays are devoted to the problem of the position of women in society, which is played out on the two most significant female images of the works: Larisa Ogudalova and Katerina Kabanova.

Katerina is a sincere, open and bright person, which makes her stand out sharply from the background of the society in which she is forced to live.

She was brought up on love, mutual understanding and respect for her neighbor, which she cannot achieve from her current family in relation to herself. Katerina cannot get along in the situation in which she found herself after her marriage, and in the end her hostility towards her own married life results in a protest against the patriarchal way of life.

By nature, Larisa Ogudalova is a proud, rather reserved, but unusually friendly girl. Larisa is unhappy in love, in which she is similar to Katerina Kabanova; she also cannot find support and participation in her family, which leads to the brewing of the heroine’s internal conflict. Her mother, Kharita Ignatievna, cares only about her daughter’s future well-being, trying to find a richer groom, but despite all her efforts, Larisa, unexpectedly for herself, agrees to marry a poor official. She is ashamed of her future husband and humiliated by his attempts to compare with Paratov, for whom she still has tender feelings. In Larisa’s soul there is a terrible struggle between the desire to come to terms with the fate of the wife of a minor official and the dream of a beautiful and bright life.

Despite the similarity of the situations in which both girls find themselves, their protest and reaction to what is happening is expressed differently. Larisa is indifferent and only sometimes does she make individual remarks that betray her dislike for bourgeois life. Throughout the play we see little of any emotion that Larissa shows. Katerina, on the other hand, reacts most vividly to the situation around her; she is frank with the reader from the very beginning. Perhaps that is why she comes out more decisively with her protest than Ogudalova the younger. She repents of what she has done and, no longer able to continue such a life, throws herself into the water, which Larisa herself, although she dreams of death, does not dare to do.

Thus, the internal conflict brewing in both heroines, which later turns into a protest against society, has a different basis. In the case of Katerina, this is a protest of the victim of tyranny against the tyrants themselves; Larisa opposes the “trade” of human feelings and consumer attitudes towards personality. Both girls, who so passionately strived for freedom, eventually achieve it, but at what cost?

Some of them have long lost their relevance due to changing historical realities. But this does not prevent us from still finding life's truth in wonderful dialogues and characters. One of the greatest dramas that still excites the hearts of readers and theater fans is the play created by A. N. Ostrovsky, “The Thunderstorm.” Confrontation with the emotional, hot-tempered and sensitive girl Katerina patriarchal family and in our time finds many responses in the souls of people. First of all, because this is a tragedy of human feelings, which in one form or another comes to life in every generation and under any social system.

Katerina and her entourage

Katerina Kabanova is the central character of the play “The Thunderstorm”. Ostrovsky portrayed her as an extremely integral person. Her very first words in a dialogue with her mother-in-law say a lot: Katya is clearly a very direct, honest girl who does not know how to bend her heart. When she hears indirect attacks about herself, she immediately intervenes to clarify the situation. And in a fairly direct, albeit friendly manner, resolve the conflict face to face with its instigator. But the rest of the Kabanov family is not like that. An oppressive mother-in-law in no way needs to be spoken to directly and openly. What helps her divide and rule in her home is precisely the atmosphere of omissions, hidden hostility and the ability to subtly and imperceptibly provoke. This is truly a “dark kingdom”! An open conversation, sorting out relationships without involving third parties and the desire to live in harmony are absolutely not in use here. The hypocritical Varvara and the timid, obedient Tikhon can do nothing to change the order of things established by Kabanova once and for all. Bringing the few heroes of the drama “The Thunderstorm” onto the stage, Ostrovsky painted them very carefully and endowed each with a bright, recognizable character.

Were there alternatives?

Having married and fallen in love with another person, Katerina herself slammed the trap, which led her to a tragic end. But even if the ill-timed feeling for another man had not led her to a mental crisis and suicide, it is hard to believe that her life could have turned out happily. The inability to fit into either the existing patriarchal system or the husband’s family, mired in lies and hypocrisy - all this would sooner or later lead to collapse, the metaphor of which is the impending thunderstorm. Ostrovsky skillfully created a depressing atmosphere with just a few remarks and showed the approaching denouement of the tragedy that was brewing in the soul of the main character.

Duplicity is the only alternative

Initially brought up to sharply oppose any doublethink, Katerina was not used to hiding something from loved ones. Varvara, her husband's sister, in this sense is her complete opposite. She, by her own admission, long ago realized “what kind of house she lives in,” and learned to lie to her strict mother and spineless brother Tikhon. Katerina exaggeratedly does not accept any lies - she constantly subjects even her own conscience to strict interrogations. Naturally, for her even death turns out to be closer than a double life in which there would be a place for a lover. Ostrovsky portrayed her so extremely truthfully. “The Thunderstorm” in abbreviation will give an idea of ​​the plot and characters, and will introduce you to the most striking dialogues. But in order to make an objective judgment about the work, it is better to read it in its entirety. The way “The Thunderstorm” was originally created. Ostrovsky, without a doubt, is an excellent playwright, and reading will give moments of pleasure to all lovers of good drama.