A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” was a recognized public play immediately after its release. And this is not surprising, because the author showed a new heroine, opposed to merchant society with its house-building way of life. Fate main character Katerina Kabanova's plays are truly touching with their drama. The heroine opposed herself to the ignorance and inveterateness that reign in a society where there is no place for spiritually gifted natures. An unequal struggle with human callousness leads Katerina to voluntary death, ending dramatic fate the heroines and the course of the play itself.
On the one hand, the plot of the play is completely simple and typical of that time: a young married woman Katerina Kabanova, disillusioned with life with an unloved husband in the hostile environment of someone else's family, fell in love with another person. However, her Forbidden love does not give her peace, and, not wanting to accept the morality of the “dark kingdom” (“do what you want, as long as it is covered and covered”), he admits his betrayal publicly in the church. After this confession, life has no meaning for Katerina, and she commits suicide.
But, despite the simple plot, the image of Katerina is incredibly bright and expressive, becoming a symbol of rejection of a hostile conservative society living according to the laws of house-building. Not in vain in its critical article dedicated to the play, Dobrolyubov called Katerina “a ray of light in dark kingdom».
Growing up in the free environment of her family, Katerina was an extremely emotional and sincere person, differing from representatives of the “dark kingdom” in the depth of her feelings, truthfulness and determination. Open to other people, Katerina did not know how to deceive and be a hypocrite, so she did not take root in her husband’s family, where even her peer Varvara Kabanova considered the main character too “sophisticated”, even strange. Varvara herself has long adapted to the rules of merchant life, her ability for hypocrisy and lies more and more reminiscent of her mother.
Katerina was distinguished by incredible fortitude: one should have strong character to respond to an elderly cruel mother-in-law’s numerous insults. After all, in her own family, Katerina was not accustomed to the humiliation of human dignity, because she was raised differently. Author with feeling deep love and respect for Katerina tells us in what environment, under the influence of which a strong female character main character. It is not for nothing that Ostrovsky several times during the course of the play introduces the image of a bird, symbolizing Katerina herself. Like a caught bird, she ended up in an iron cage, the Kabanovs' house. Just as a bird yearning for freedom yearns for freedom, so Katerina, realizing the unbearable, impossible way of life for her in someone else’s family, decided on a last attempt to gain freedom, finding it in her love for Boris.
There is something elemental and natural in Katerina’s feelings for Boris, just like in a thunderstorm. However, unlike a thunderstorm, love should bring joy, and it leads Katerina to the abyss. After all, Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, is essentially little different from the rest of the inhabitants of the “dark kingdom,” including Katerina’s husband Tikhon. Boris failed to protect Katerina from her mental torment; one might say, he betrayed her, exchanging his love for respectful respect for his uncle in order to receive his part of the inheritance. In his lack of will, Boris also became the cause of Katerina’s disastrous despair. And yet, despite understanding the doom of her feelings, Katerina devotes herself with all the strength of her soul to love for Boris, without fear of the future. She is not afraid, just as Kuligin is not afraid of thunderstorms. And then, in my opinion, in the very title of the play, in the properties of this natural phenomenon, there is something inherent in the character of the main character, subject to the sincere spontaneous impulses of her soul.
Thus, Katerina’s spiritual drama lies precisely in the fact that, due to her character, the main character, unable to accept the beliefs of the environment in which she found herself, not wanting to pretend and deceive, does not see any other way except suicide, the voluntary departure of their life into a hypocritical and the sanctimonious merchant environment of the city of N. There is a special symbolism in the episode of Katerina’s repentance, during which a thunderstorm broke out and it began to rain. In essence, rain and water are symbols of purification, but in Ostrovsky’s play, society turns out to be not as merciful as nature. “The Dark Kingdom” did not forgive the heroine such a challenge, not allowing her to go beyond the rigid boundaries of the unspoken laws of the sanctimonious provincial society. Thus, Katerina’s tormented soul found final peace in the waters of the Volga, escaping from the cruelty of people. With her death, Katerina challenged a force hostile to her, and no matter how the reader or critics view this act, one cannot deny the heroine of “The Thunderstorm” the power of a fearless spirit, which led her to liberation from the “dark kingdom”, becoming a true “ray of light” in it!
Tasks and tests on the topic “What is the reason for Katerina’s drama in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”?”
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The play "The Thunderstorm" was written by Ostrovsky in 1859, shortly before the reform of 1861. In this drama, the author clearly depicts the social, everyday and family life Russia at that time. Against such a background, the central conflict of the play matures and gradually reaches a tragic intensity, the conflict between the free soul of the main character and the “tyrant force” of the environment.
In the image of Katerina Kabanova, the main character of the play, the author captured all the beauty and broad nature of the freedom-loving Russian soul, its subtle sensitivity, deep
Conscientiousness and religiosity. From the first scenes of the play, we are imbued with attention and sympathy for Katerina. Living in a heavy atmosphere
Kabanovsky house, she recalls with quiet melancholy her free life in parental home. Katerina was surrounded motherly love Yes, affectionately, I spent time among my favorite flowers and embroidering. From childhood, she was accustomed to honoring God and following his great commandments in life. Religion for Katerina is both a love for the beauty of God's world and a deep inner conscience that does not allow her to pretend and deceive. With a pure and open soul, with a heart, full of love, Katerina is looking for understanding and reciprocal love in her husband’s house. She endures her mother-in-law’s grumpy remarks with meekness, does not hold grudges against Tikhon, who is weak and submissive in everything to his mother, she is sincere in her
Inspirations to live according to conscience and moral law. But in Kabanikha’s house, where long ago
Already the way of life is built on the principle: “do what you want, as long as everything is covered,” the heroine, with her dreaminess and fragile romantic soul, becomes a stranger and lonely.
Tikhon Kabanov is a narrow-minded man, without character and will. He does not know how and is not able to understand his wife’s inner experiences, and he has no time to notice them: Tikhon is always busy
Looking for an opportunity to drink. Unfamiliar with spiritual impulses, languishing under the pressure of his mother, unable and unwilling to change anything, the younger Kabanov slides through life, slowly becoming an alcoholic. He has no time to listen and understand his wife: he is blinded by the happy opportunity to escape from under the omnipresent eye of his mother. Katerina can only “endure as long as she can.”
Overwhelming the heart and unclaimed by her husband. The heroine is always natural and
She is frank, there is not a drop of falsehood in her: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.” So in the first act she confesses to Varvara that she loves Boris. At the same time, Katerina is full of confusion and horror: “... sin is on my mind. How much I, poor thing, cried, what did I not do to myself! I can’t get away from this sin!” This is how it begins internal conflict Katerina, affecting her moral principles and religious views. Being courageous and brave by nature (even as a child she was not afraid to sail away alone
At night along the Volga), Katerina cannot overcome her fear of God: “I cannot die
It’s scary, but how can I think that suddenly I will appear before God as I am here with
It’s you, after this conversation, that’s what’s scary,” she says to Varvara.
Consists of main topic the heroine's discord with the world and with herself. Mental conflict
Katerina, gradually growing, determines the tragic intensity of the entire play in
With the help of Varvara, Katerina gets on the path free love, which, according to Dobrolyubov, is above human prejudices. But this choice is not easy for her. After all, what is only “prejudice” for a person with Dobrolyubov’s convictions, for folk heroine- moral law, the basis of patriarchal morality. Break this law, break your own life principles Katerina succeeds at the cost of severe mental anguish and
Torment, at the cost of an insurmountable struggle with shame and fear. Thirst for life and love
She turns out to be stronger, and the choice is made - she confesses to Boris her forbidden
Feeling.
Meek and a pure soul Katerina cannot come to terms with her fall from grace; she is in painful discord with her conscience. Crying ceaselessly, she is afraid of everyone
The sound, the noise, every glance in her direction. Katerina, unable to bear suffering, thirsts
Peace, seeks to ease the conscience with recognition. Subtle soul it is in tune with nature,
And in the alarming approach of a thunderstorm, the heroine senses the threat and the impending punishment. How
A terrible prophecy sounds in words addressed directly to Katerina: “It’s better with beauty in the maelstrom... Where are you hiding, stupid? You can’t escape God!” Katerina cannot stand it and publicly confesses her sin to her husband on her knees.
The tragic outcome of the conflict is determined by the fact that Katerina’s natural feeling
Incompatible with life in the society of Kabanovs and Wilds, it cannot withstand pressure
External circumstances and cowardice. Boris is an ordinary citizen of the city of Kalinov with
A petty and mercantile soul, unworthy of Katerina’s sacrificial love. Cowardly
IN last moment, he leaves his beloved, leaving the city to retain his grandmother's inheritance.
Surrounded by Kabanikha’s anger, universal condemnation and contempt, tormented by her own mental anguish, Katerina finds the only way out in death. As if about something inexplicably desired, alluring and promising deliverance, she dreams of a “grave” under a tree. Having cleansed her soul with repentance, Katerina is no longer afraid of death, but passionately desires it.
IN tragic ending plays Dobrolyubov sees the manifestation highest form protest, the victory of the heroine over the kingdom of arbitrariness and despotism, the triumph of light over darkness, and in
We can agree with him on this.
Character consists of the ability to act on principles.
A. N. Ostrovsky wrote many plays from the life of the merchants. They are so truthful and bright that Dobrolyubov called them “plays of life.” In these works, the life of the merchants is described as a world of hidden, quietly sighing sorrow, a world of dull, aching pain, a world of prison-like deathly silence. And even if a senseless murmur appears, it dies away at its birth. Critic N.A. Dobrolyubov titled his article devoted to the analysis of Ostrovsky’s plays “The Dark Kingdom.” He expressed the idea that the tyranny of the merchants rests only on ignorance and humility. But a way out will be found, because the desire to live with dignity cannot be destroyed in a person.
“...Who will be able to throw a ray of light into the ugly darkness of the dark kingdom?” - asks Dobrolyubov. The answer to this question was the playwright’s new play “The Thunderstorm”. Written in 1860, the play, both in its spirit and in its title, seemed to symbolize the process of renewal of society, which was shaking off the torpor of tyranny. The thunderstorm has long been the personification of the struggle for freedom. And in the play this is not only a natural phenomenon, but a vivid image internal struggle which began in the dark life of a merchant.
There is a lot in the play characters. But the main one is Katerina. The image of this woman is not only the most complex, but it is sharply different from all others. No wonder the critic called it “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” How is Katerina so different from other “residents” of this “kingdom”?
In this world there is no free people! Neither tyrants nor their victims are such. Here you can deceive, like Varvara, but you cannot live according to truth and conscience without betraying your soul.
Katerina was brought up in a merchant family, she “lived at home, did not worry about anything, like a bird in the wild.” But after marriage, this free nature fell into an iron cage of tyranny.
In Katerina’s house there were always many pilgrims and praying mantises, whose stories (and the whole situation in the house) made her very religious, sincerely believing in the commandments of the church. It is not surprising that she perceives her love for Boris as a grave sin. But Katerina is a “poet” in religion. She is endowed with a vivid imagination and dreaminess. Listening various stories, she seems to see them in reality. She often dreamed of paradise gardens and birds, and when she entered the church, she saw angels. Even her speech is musical and melodious, reminiscent of folk tales and songs.
However, religion, a secluded life, and the lack of outlet for her extraordinary sensitivity had a negative impact on her character. Therefore, when during a thunderstorm she heard the curses of the crazy lady, she began to pray. When she saw a drawing of “fiery hell” on the wall, her nerves could not stand it, and she confessed to Tikhon her love for Boris.
But religiosity even somehow sets off such traits of the heroine as the desire for independence and truth, courage and determination. Tyrant Wild and Kabanikha, who always reproaches and hates her relatives, are never able to understand other people. In comparison with them or with the spineless Tikhon, who only sometimes allows him to go on a spree for a few days, with her beloved Boris, who is unable to appreciate true love, Katerina’s character becomes especially attractive. She does not want and cannot deceive and directly declares: “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything.”
Love for Boris is everything for Katerina: longing for freedom, dreams of real life. And in the name of this love, she enters into an unequal duel with the “dark kingdom.” She does not perceive her protest as an indignation against the entire system, she does not even think about it. But the “dark kingdom” is structured in such a way that any manifestation of independence, independence, and personal dignity is perceived by him as a mortal sin, as a rebellion against the foundations of the rule of tyrants. That is why the play ends with the death of the heroine: after all, she is not only lonely, but also crushed by the inner consciousness of her “sin.”
The death of a brave woman is not a cry of despair. No, this is a moral victory over the “dark kingdom” that fetters her freedom, will, and reason. Suicide, according to the teachings of the church, is an unforgivable sin. But Katerina is no longer afraid of this. Having fallen in love, she declares to Boris: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” And her last words were: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!"
You can justify or blame Katerina for her fatal decision, but you cannot help but admire the integrity of her nature, her thirst for freedom, and her determination. Her death shocked even such downtrodden people as Tikhon, who to his face blames his mother for the death of his wife.
This means that Katerina’s act was truly “a terrible challenge to tyrant power.” This means that in the “dark kingdom” bright natures are capable of being born, who can illuminate this “kingdom” with their life or death.
“Why do living, creative, kind and decent people painfully retreat before the shapeless gray mass that fills the world?” - this phrase would become a wonderful epigraph to one of Ostrovsky’s works. The conflict of the tragedy is realized at several levels. Firstly, the playwright showed the flawed nature of the established order, the conflict between the patriarchal system and the new, free life. This aspect is realized at the level of such characters as Kuligin and Katerina. In short, the existence, and even more so the coexistence of feeling, fair people, striving for spiritual enrichment and honest work is impossible next to the angry, deprived and deceitful inhabitants of Kalinov. Moreover, it is necessary to make a reservation that Kalinov is a fictional space, which means the space becomes conditional. Secondly, Katerina’s emotional drama in “The Thunderstorm” is shown.
In this case, we are talking about conflict within the character. These types of conflicts are always interesting, because contradictions make images alive and multifaceted. Ostrovsky managed to create a character that caused completely opposite opinions among critics. Dobrolyubov called the main character of the play “a ray of light in the dark kingdom” and sincerely believed that Katerina embodied the most best qualities Russian person. But Pisarev entered into a debate with Dobrolyubov, saying that Katerina’s problems were far-fetched and solvable. However, both critics were somehow interested in the emotional drama of Katerina Kabanova.
Katya lives with her husband, his sister and mother-in-law. This is the first time the family appears on stage with this composition. The fifth phenomenon begins with a conversation between Marfa Ignatievna and her son. Tikhon supports his mother in everything, agrees even with outright lies. Katya's husband, Tikhon Kabanov, is a weak and weak-willed person. He is tired of his mother’s hysterics, but instead of expressing his opinion at least once or protecting his wife from cruelty and evil words, Tikhon goes to drink with Dikiy. Tikhon looks like an adult child. He loves Katya because he feels in her inner strength, but his feelings are not mutual: Katya feels only pity for Tikhon.
Varvara, it seems only person, who is at least somehow interested in Katerina. She worries about Katya and tries to help her. However, Varvara does not understand how subtly Katerina feels this world, Varvara is practical, she does not understand why it is so difficult for Katerina to learn to “be a white lie,” why Katya wants to become a bird, why she feels approaching death.
Katya herself appreciates the moments when she manages to be alone. She regrets that she does not have children, because then she would love and care for them. The happiness of motherhood would allow Katya to realize herself as a woman, as a mother and as a person, because she would be in charge of raising her. Katya's childhood was carefree. She had everything she could dream of: loving parents, going to church, freedom and a sense of life. Before her marriage, Katya felt truly alive, and now she dreams of becoming a bird in order to fly away from this place, which deprived the girl of her inner lightness.
So, Katya lives in a house with a mother-in-law who is prone to tyranny and manipulation, and a husband who obeys his mother in everything, cannot protect his wife, and loves to drink. In addition to this, there is no person around the girl with whom she could share her experiences, who would not just listen to her, but would hear her. Agree, it is quite difficult to live in such an environment, considering that education and self-esteem do not allow one to respond to aggression with aggression.
The situation gets worse with the appearance of Boris, or rather, Katya’s feelings for Boris. The girl had a huge need to love and give her love. Perhaps in Boris Katya saw someone to whom she could give her unrealized feelings. Or she saw in him an opportunity to finally be herself. Most likely, both. The feelings of young people flare up suddenly and develop rapidly. It was very difficult for Katerina to decide to meet with Boris. She thought for a long time about her husband, about her feelings towards Tikhon, about what everything could lead to. Katya rushed from one extreme to another: either resign herself to being unhappy family life, forgetting Boris, or divorce Tikhon in order to be with Boris. And yet the girl decides to go out into the garden where her lover was waiting for her. “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I do! If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” - this was Katya’s position. She neglects the laws of Christianity, committing a sin, but the girl is firmly confident in her decision. Katya takes responsibility for her life: “Why feel sorry for me? I went for it myself.” The secret meetings, which lasted ten days, end with the arrival of Tikhon. Katya is afraid that the truth about her betrayal will soon become known to her husband and mother-in-law, so she wants to tell them herself. Boris and Varvara try to persuade the girl to remain silent. A conversation with Boris opens Katya's eyes: Boris is the same person as all those from whom she dreamed of escaping. The collapse of illusions was very painful for Katerina. In this case, it turns out that the exit from “ dark kingdom“No, but Katya can’t live here anymore. Gathering all her strength, Katya decides to end her life.
Heartwarming drama Katerina from Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” consists of inconsistency real life and desires, in the collapse of hopes and illusions, in the awareness of the hopelessness and immutability of the situation. Katerina could not live in a world of ignoramuses and deceivers; the girl was torn by the contradiction of duty and feelings. This conflict turned out to be tragic.
Work test
Strength with untruth
Doesn't get along...
N. Nekrasov
A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” is one of the most significant works not only in the writer’s work, but in all of Russian drama. The central conflict of the play, conceived as social drama, gradually reaches true tragedy, which is facilitated by the image of the main character of the play - Katerina. Herzen wrote about “The Thunderstorm”: “In his drama, the author penetrated into the deepest recesses... of Russian life and threw a sudden ray of light into the unknown soul of a Russian woman... who is suffocating in the grip of the inexorable and semi-wild life of the patriarchal family.”
Katerina is a poetic, dreamy, free-spirited person. She was brought up in an atmosphere of love, joy, freedom, and therefore in the Kabanovs’ house she lives according to her own internal laws. Katerina is always open and natural, she does not want and does not know how to fake, lie, or deceive: “...I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Church and religion entered Katerina’s life from childhood, when she listened to the stories of pilgrims and praying mantises, and prayed fervently and sincerely in front of icons. The main character’s religiosity is sincere, deep, God for her is love and beauty, so Katerina’s desire to live according to God’s commandments, according to her conscience, is quite understandable and understandable. In general, the character of this girl is characterized by emotionality, sincerity, and impressionability. This is probably why Ostrovsky so often compares his heroine to a bird: “I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild,” “You know, sometimes it seems to me that I’m a bird.” After this, the Kabanov house, where Katerina ended up after her marriage, seems like a cage to her.
In this house, everything breathes hypocrisy, hypocrisy, violence against the individual, “prison” and “bondage.” Among the people around her, Katerina cannot find support, since all the wonderful qualities with which she is endowed are not valued in this world.
It’s dark and stuffy for Katerina in Kabanikha’s house, who eats her out. The domineering and despotic mother-in-law is not used to, and does not consider it necessary to respect, human dignity in others; she tries to hide hypocrisy and cruelty under the guise of religiosity and piety.
Katerina’s suffering does not find a response in the heart of her husband, Tikhon - narrow-minded, slavishly obedient to his mother, incapable of independent thoughts and actions. Sincerely, with all her spiritual strength, Katerina wants to love and respect this weak person, but nothing works out for her.
The more Kabanikha tries to suppress Katerina’s personality, the harder and more unbearable her life becomes, the stronger and stronger the girl’s dreams of will and freedom become. Modest and patient, she is not resigned, because she has an ardent and passionate soul: “And if I get tired of here, no force can hold me back. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga.”
The tragedy intensifies when Katerina meets a man who is not like the others and falls in love with him with all her heart, with all her soul, demanding freedom, love and happiness. However, this feeling is incompatible with the life of society, and moral principles Katerina herself does not give him the right to exist: “Ah, Varya, sin is on my mind! How much I, poor thing, cried, what did I do to myself! I can't escape this sin. Can't go anywhere. It's not good, it's terrible sin“Varenka, I love someone else.” Katerina’s soul is filled with confusion and horror, but for the sake of her loved one, she is even ready to transgress the concepts of sin and virtue that are sacred to her. A terrible drama plays out in the heroine’s soul, as she goes against her own conscience, but is unable to lie or pretend to herself and those around her. She cannot and does not want to hide her sin, since her nature has always been whole and harmonious, but the girl herself is not able to resolve the conflict that has arisen.
The arrival of her husband, the terrible lady with her curses, a terrible thunderstorm, which for Katerina symbolizes the “punishment of the sovereign,” ancient painting with picture Last Judgment outweigh the cup of Katerina’s internal suffering, and she publicly repents to her husband. Material from the site
Katerina’s burden is too heavy, since she does not find protection even with her beloved Boris, who, although he understands her, is himself weak, indecisive, and dependent on his rich Uncle Dikiy. Even anticipating evil, he abandons her in a difficult moment, leaves her alone in a terrible and unkind world, although he could take her with him. Katerina cannot and does not want to return home, into disgrace and captivity, to the reproaches and reproaches of Kabanikha: “... Either home or to the grave.” Katerina sees a way out in death, which seems to her the only salvation from mental anguish.
Katerina’s suicide should be perceived not as a powerless defeat, but as a moral victory over the “dark kingdom” to which she never submitted. Dobrolyubov saw in Katerina “a protest against Kabanov’s concepts of morality, a protest carried to the end, proclaimed both against domestic torture and over the abyss into which the poor woman threw herself.”
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- How does the boar feel after Katerina’s death?
The emotional drama of Katerina (based on the play by A.N. Ostrovsky “The Thunderstorm”)
Character consists of the ability to act on principles. A. N. Ostrovsky wrote many plays from the life of the merchants. They are so truthful and bright that Dobrolyubov called them “plays of life.” In these works, the life of the merchants is described as a world of hidden, quietly sighing sorrow, a world of dull, aching pain, a world of prison-like deathly silence. And even if a senseless murmur appears, it dies away at its birth. Critic N.A. Dobrolyubov titled his article devoted to the analysis of Ostrovsky’s plays “The Dark Kingdom.” He expressed the idea that the tyranny of the merchants rests only on ignorance and humility. But a way out will be found, because the desire to live with dignity cannot be destroyed in a person.
“...Who will be able to throw a ray of light into the ugly darkness of the dark kingdom?” - asks Dobrolyubov. The answer to this question was the playwright’s new play “The Thunderstorm”.
Written in 1860, the play, both in its spirit and in its title, seemed to symbolize the process of renewal of society, which was shaking off the torpor of tyranny. The thunderstorm has long been the personification of the struggle for freedom. And in the play this is not only a natural phenomenon, but a vivid image of the internal struggle that began in the dark life of a merchant.
There are many characters in the play. But the main one is Katerina. The image of this woman is not only the most complex, but it is sharply different from all others. No wonder the critic called it “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” How is Katerina so different from other “residents” of this “kingdom”?
There are no free people in this world! Neither tyrants nor their victims are such. Here you can deceive, like Varvara, but you cannot live according to truth and conscience without betraying your soul.
Katerina was brought up in a merchant family, she “lived at home, did not worry about anything, like a bird in the wild.” But after marriage, this free nature fell into an iron cage of tyranny.
In Katerina’s house there were always many pilgrims and praying mantises, whose stories (and the whole situation in the house) made her very religious, sincerely believing in the commandments of the church. It is not surprising that she perceives her love for Boris as a grave sin. But Katerina is a “poet” in religion. She is endowed with a vivid imagination and dreaminess. Listening to various stories, it is as if she sees them in reality. She often dreamed of paradise gardens and birds, and when she entered the church, she saw angels. Even her speech is musical and melodious, reminiscent of folk tales and songs.
However, religion, a secluded life, and the lack of outlet for her extraordinary sensitivity had a negative impact on her character. Therefore, when during a thunderstorm she heard the curses of the crazy lady, she began to pray. When she saw a drawing of “fiery hell” on the wall, her nerves could not stand it, and she confessed to Tikhon her love for Boris.
But religiosity even somehow sets off such traits of the heroine as the desire for independence and truth, courage and determination. Tyrant Wild and Kabanikha, who always reproaches and hates her relatives, are never able to understand other people. In comparison with them or with the spineless Tikhon, who only sometimes allows him to go on a spree for a few days, with her beloved Boris, who is unable to appreciate true love, Katerina’s character becomes especially attractive. She does not want and cannot deceive and directly declares: “I don’t know how to deceive; I couldn’t hide anything).”
Love for Boris is everything for Katerina: longing for freedom, dreams of real life. And in the name of this love, she enters into an unequal duel with the “dark kingdom.” She does not perceive her protest as an indignation against the entire system, she does not even think about it. But the “dark kingdom” is structured in such a way that any manifestation of independence, independence, and personal dignity is perceived by him as a mortal sin, as a rebellion against the foundations of the rule of tyrants. That is why the play ends with the death of the heroine: after all, she is not only lonely, but also crushed by the inner consciousness of her “sin.”
The death of a brave woman is not a cry of despair. No, this is a moral victory over the “dark kingdom” that fetters her freedom, will, and reason. Suicide, according to the teachings of the church, is an unforgivable sin. But Katerina is no longer afraid of this. Having fallen in love, she declares to Boris: “If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” And her last words were: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!"
You can justify or blame Katerina for her fatal decision, but you cannot help but admire the integrity of her nature, her thirst for freedom, and her determination. Her death shocked even such downtrodden people as Tikhon, who to his face blames his mother for the death of his wife.
This means that Katerina’s act was truly “a terrible challenge to tyrant power.” This means that in the “dark kingdom” bright natures are capable of being born, who can illuminate this “kingdom” with their life or death.
Bibliography
To prepare this work, materials were used from the site http://www.ostrovskiy.org.ru/
