Katerina's life after marriage. The character of Katerina. She was given to someone else's family when she was very young.

In Russian literature there is a truly Russian image of a woman (Apollo Grigoriev).

The image of Katerina Kabanova in the drama “The Thunderstorm”

The heroine’s childhood determines her character:

“She lived... like a bird in the wild”, “she didn’t force me to work”, “our house was full of pilgrims and pilgrims”, “And to death I loved going to church!”, “... I’ll get up at night... and pray until the morning” .

It is important that Ostrovsky chooses a character in a merchant environment, as more patriarchal, alien to new trends, this determines the strength of the heroine’s protest and the drama of the conflict.

Katerina's character

The playwright emphasizes the following features in the image of this heroine:

• strength of character

“I was born this way, hot!” “And if I get really tired of it here, no force can hold me back. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, I won’t, even if you cut me”;

• truthfulness

“I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything”;

• longsuffering

“I’d rather endure as long as I can.”;

• poetry

“Why don’t people fly?”;

• religiosity

“Exactly, it happened that I entered heaven, and I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over,”

attitude towards betrayal as a sin, towards suicide as a sin

• superstition (fear of thunderstorms as God's punishment).

Katerina in the figurative system of the play

The heroine opposes them in the play and at the same time is comparable to them:

• the confrontation between Katerina and Kabanikha determines the main external conflict of the play (the confrontation between the trends of the new and the patriarchal foundations - Domostroy);

• The strength of character of the heroine contrasts with the character of the heroes, Tikhon and Boris, as people who have come to terms with the power of tyrants

“What attracts her to Boris is not just that she likes him, that he, both in appearance and in speech, is not like the others around her; She is drawn to him by the need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, and the offended feeling of a wife and woman, and the mortal melancholy of her monotonous life, and the desire for freedom, space, hot, unfettered freedom" -

Boris and Tikhon are twin images;

• Katerina also finds herself opposed to those who protest the “dark kingdom” - Varvara and Kudryash. However, they adapt to life

(Varvara deceives, because it is impossible without deception, Kudryash behaves the same as Dikoy) for the time being, and then they run away. Comparison: Katerina - Varvara-Kudryash - the younger generation, confronting the “dark kingdom”. Contrast: Varvara and Kudryash are more free, Varvara is not married, Katerina is a married woman.

• the image of Kuligin is comparable to the image of Katerina, since he also protests against Kalinov’s morals

(“Cruel morals, sir, in our city”),

but his protest is expressed exclusively verbally.

Our presentation about Katerina:

• the desire to love my husband,
• refuse to meet with Boris,
• the feeling breaks out, meeting with Boris,
• oppression of sin, thunderstorm, confession,
• inability to live in the Kabanovs’ house after confession,
• the struggle between the concept of the sin of suicide and the lack of a way out,
• death.

Means for creating the image of Katerina

They emphasize her exclusivity, for example, in the character’s speech, where there are many poetic words, this is especially evident in the heroine’s monologues.

The historical significance of the appearance of the Russian female character in the image of Katerina in the literature of the second half of the 19th century is a harbinger of the need for changes in the social life of Russia.

Materials are published with the personal permission of the author - Ph.D. O.A. Mazneva (see “Our Library”)

The image of Katerina, the main character of the play, is the most striking. Dobrolyubov, analyzing this work in detail, writes that Katerina is “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” Because only Katerina, a weak woman, protested, only we can talk about her as a strong person. Although, if we consider Katerina’s actions superficially, the opposite can be said. This is a dreamer girl who regrets her childhood years, when she lived with a constant feeling of happiness, joy, and her mother doted on her. She loved going to church and had no idea what life awaited her.

But childhood is over. Katerina did not marry for love and ended up in the Kabanovs’ house, which is where her suffering begins. The main character of the drama is a bird that was put in a cage. She lives among representatives of the “dark kingdom,” but she cannot live like that. Quiet, modest Katerina, from whom you sometimes don’t even hear a word, was still a child, offended by something at home, and sailed alone in a boat along the Volga.

The very character of the heroine contained integrity and fearlessness. She herself knows this and says: “I was born so hot.” In a conversation with Varvara, Katerina cannot be recognized. She utters unusual words: “Why don’t people fly?”, which seem strange and incomprehensible to Varvara, but mean a lot for understanding the character of Katerina and her position in the Kabanovsky house. The heroine wants to feel like a free bird that can flap its wings and fly, but, alas, she is deprived of this opportunity. With these words of a young woman, A. N. Ostrovsky shows how difficult it is for her to endure captivity and the despotism of an imperious and cruel mother-in-law.

But the heroine fights with all her might against the “dark kingdom,” and it is precisely this inability to fully come to terms with Kabanov’s oppression that aggravates the conflict that has been brewing for a long time. Her words addressed to Varvara sound prophetic: “And if I really get tired of it 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 won’t, even if you cut me!”

An all-consuming feeling gripped Katerina when she met Boris. The heroine gains victory over herself, she discovers the ability to love deeply and strongly, sacrificing everything for the sake of her lover, which speaks of her living soul, that Katerina’s sincere feelings have not died in the Kabanovsky world. She is no longer afraid of love, not afraid of conversations: “If I am not afraid of sin for myself, will I be afraid of human shame?” The girl fell in love with a man in whom she found something different from those around her, but it was not so. We see a clear contrast between the heroine’s sublime love and Boris’s down-to-earth, cautious passion.

But even in such a difficult situation, the girl tries to be true to herself, her life principles, she seeks to suppress love, which promises so much happiness and joy. The heroine begs her husband to take her with him, as he foresees what could happen to her. But Tikhon is indifferent to her pleas. Katerina wants to take an oath of allegiance, but even here Tikhon does not understand her. She continues to try to escape the inevitable. At the moment of her first meeting with Boris, Katerina hesitates. “Why have you come, my destroyer?” - she says. But as fate would have it, what she was so afraid of happens.

Katerina could not live with sin, then we see her repentance. And the cries of the crazy lady, the clap of thunder, the unexpected appearance of Boris lead the impressionable heroine into unprecedented excitement, forcing her to repent of what she had done, especially since Katerina was afraid all her life to die “with her sins” - without repenting. But this is not only weakness, but also the strength of spirit of the heroine, who could not, like Varvara and Kudryash, live by the joys of secret love, and was not afraid of human judgment. It was not a thunderclap that struck the young woman. She herself throws herself into the pool, decides her own fate, seeking liberation from the unbearable torment of such a life. She believes that going home or going to the grave, even “it’s better in the grave.” She commits suicide. Great courage is needed for such a decision, and it is not for nothing that the remaining Tikhon envy her, dead, “to live... and suffer.” By her action, Katerina proved that she was right, a moral victory over the “dark kingdom.”

Katerina combined within herself proud strength and independence, which Dobrolyubov regarded as a sign of deep protest against external, including social, living conditions. Katerina, who with her sincerity, integrity and recklessness of feelings is hostile to this world, undermines the “dark kingdom”. The weak woman was able to oppose him and won.

What is striking about the heroine is her loyalty to ideals, spiritual purity, and moral superiority over others. In the image of Katerina, the writer embodied the best traits - love of freedom, independence, talent, poetry, high moral qualities.

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 appendage whose function was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya has no 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.

Work test

– this is a nature that is not pliable, not bendable. She has a highly developed personality, she has a lot of strength and energy; her rich soul requires freedom, breadth - she does not want to secretly “steal” joy from life. It can not bend, but break. (See also the article The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” - briefly.)

A. N. Ostrovsky. Storm. Play. Episode 1

Katerina received a purely national upbringing, developed by the ancient Russian pedagogy of Domostroy. She lived locked up throughout her childhood and youth, but the atmosphere of parental love softened this life, and besides, the influence of religion prevented her soul from becoming hardened in suffocating loneliness. On the contrary, she did not feel any bondage: “she lived and did not worry about anything, like a bird in the wild!” Katerina often went to churches, listened to the stories of pilgrims and pilgrims, listened to the singing of spiritual poems - she lived carefree, surrounded by love and affection... And she grew up as a beautiful, gentle girl, with a fine mental organization, a great dreamer... Raised in a religious way , she lived exclusively in the circle of religious ideas; her rich imagination was fed only by those impressions that she drew from the lives of saints, from legends, apocrypha and the moods that she experienced during worship...

“...to death I loved going to church! - she later recalled her youth in a conversation with her husband’s sister Varvara. - Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven... And I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service ends. Mama said that everyone used to look at me, what was happening to me! And, you know, on a sunny day such a light column goes down from the dome and smoke moves in this column, like clouds. And I see, sometimes, as a girl, I’ll get up at night - we also had lamps burning everywhere - and somewhere, in a corner, I’ll pray until the morning. Or I’ll go into the garden early in the morning, the sun is just rising, and I’ll fall on my knees, pray and cry, and I myself don’t know what I’m praying for and what I’m crying about!”

From this story it is clear that Katerina was not just a religious person - she knew moments of religious “ecstasy” - that enthusiasm in which the holy ascetics were rich, and examples of which we will find in abundance in the lives of the saints... Like them, Katerina I had “visions” and wonderful dreams.

“And what dreams I had, Varenka, what dreams! Or golden temples, or some extraordinary gardens... And everyone is singing invisible voices, and they smell of cypress... And the mountains and the trees, as if not the same as usual, but as if they were written in images!

From all these stories of Katerina, it is clear that she is not an ordinary person... Her soul, squeezed by the ancient system of life, is looking for space, does not find it around her and is carried away to “grief”, to God... There are many such natures in the old days went into “asceticism”...

But sometimes in her relationships with her family, the energy of her soul broke through - she did not go "against people" but, indignant, protesting, she then left "from people"...

“I was born so hot! - she tells Varvara. “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!..

Eh, Varya, you don’t know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if I get really tired of it 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 won’t do this, even if you cut me!”

From these words it is clear that calm, dreamy Katerina knows impulses that are difficult to cope with.

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 a world in which strong, rich and powerful people rule everything.

Katerina as the embodiment of a pure, strong and bright people's soul

From the very first pages of the work, the image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” cannot but attract attention and make one feel sympathy. Honesty, the ability to feel deeply, sincerity of nature and a penchant for poetry - these are the features that distinguish Katerina herself from representatives of the “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 experiences unpretentiously and does not use distorted words and expressions common in the merchant environment. This is not difficult to notice; Katerina’s speech itself is more reminiscent of a melodic tune; it is replete with diminutive words and expressions: “sunshine”, “grass”, “rain”. The heroine shows incredible sincerity when she talks 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 heroine’s state of mind

The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” perfectly resonates with the image of a bird, which in folk poetry symbolizes freedom. Talking with Varvara, she repeatedly refers to this analogy and claims that she is “a free bird that is caught in an iron cage.” In captivity she feels sad and painful.

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

In the Kabanovs' house, Katerina, who is characterized by dreaminess and romance, feels like a complete stranger. The humiliating reproaches of her mother-in-law, who is accustomed to keeping all household members in fear, and the atmosphere of tyranny, lies and hypocrisy oppress the girl. However, Katerina herself, who is by nature a strong, integral person, knows that there is a limit to her patience: “I don’t want to live here, I won’t, even if you cut me!” Varvara’s words that one cannot survive in this house without deception evoke sharp rejection in Katerina. The heroine resists the “dark kingdom”; its orders did not break her will to live; fortunately, they did not force her to become like the other residents of the Kabanov house and begin to be a hypocrite and lie at every step.

The image of Katerina is revealed in a new way in the play “The Thunderstorm”, when the girl makes an attempt to escape from the “disgusted” world. She does not know how and does not want to love the way the inhabitants of the “dark kingdom” do; freedom, openness, and “honest” happiness are important to her. While Boris convinces her that their love will remain a secret, Katerina wants everyone to know about it, for everyone to see. Tikhon, her husband, however, the bright feeling awakened in her heart 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 on, 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 fight with her own feelings is beyond the strength of the fragile Katerina.

The way of life and laws that reign in the world around the girl put pressure on her. She strives to repent of what she has done, to cleanse her soul. Seeing the painting “The Last Judgment” on the wall in the church, Katerina cannot stand it, 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 the drama “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky are not able to support her, even her loved one. Boris refuses Katerina’s requests to take her away from here. This man is not a hero, he is simply unable to protect either himself or his beloved.

The death of Katerina is a ray of light that illuminated the “dark kingdom”

Evil is falling on Katerina from all sides. Constant bullying from her mother-in-law, tossing between duty and love - all this ultimately leads the girl to a tragic ending. Having managed to experience happiness and love in her short life, she is simply unable to continue living in the Kabanovs’ house, where such concepts do not exist at all. She sees the only way out as suicide: the future scares Katerina, and the grave is perceived as salvation from mental torment. However, the image of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm”, in spite of everything, remains strong - she did not choose a miserable existence in a “cage” and did not allow anyone to break her living soul.

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