Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" was written a year before the abolition of serfdom, in 1859. This work stands out among the playwright's other plays due to its character main character. In “The Thunderstorm,” Katerina is the main character through whom the conflict of the play is shown. Katerina is not like other residents of Kalinov; she is distinguished by a special perception of life, strength of character and self-esteem. The image of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm” is formed due to a combination of many factors. For example, words, thoughts, environment, actions.
Childhood
Katya is about 19 years old, she was married off early. From Katerina's monologue in the first act, we learn about Katya's childhood. Mama “doted on her.” Together with her parents, the girl went to church, walked, and then did some work. Katerina Kabanova remembers all this with bright sadness. Varvara’s phrase that “we have the same thing” is interesting. But now Katya doesn’t have a feeling of ease, now “everything is done under duress.” In fact, life before marriage was practically no different from life after: the same actions, the same events. But now Katya treats everything differently. Then she felt supported, felt alive, and had amazing dreams about flying. “And now they dream,” but only much less often. Before her marriage, Katerina felt the movement of life, the presence of certain higher forces in this world, she was devout: “she loved going to church with such passion! " From the early childhood Katerina had everything she needed: her mother’s love and freedom. Now, by force of circumstances, she is cut off from loved one and deprived of freedom.
Environment
Katerina lives in the same house with her husband, her husband's sister and mother-in-law. This circumstance alone is no longer conducive to happy family life. However, the situation is worsened by the fact that Kabanikha, Katya’s mother-in-law, is a cruel and greedy person. Greed here should be understood as a passionate desire for something, bordering on madness. Kabanikha wants to subjugate everyone and everything to her will. One experience with Tikhon was successful, the next victim is Katerina. Despite the fact that Marfa Ignatievna was looking forward to her son’s wedding, she is unhappy with her daughter-in-law. Kabanikha did not expect that Katerina would be so strong in character that she could silently resist her influence. The old woman understands that Katya can turn Tikhon against her mother, she is afraid of this, so she tries in every possible way to break Katya in order to avoid such a development of events. Kabanikha says that his wife has long become dearer to Tikhon than his mother.
“Kabanikha: Or maybe your wife is taking you away from me, I don’t know.
Kabanov: No, mama! What are you saying, have mercy!
Katerina: For me, Mama, it’s all the same as my own mother, as you, and Tikhon loves you too.
Kabanova: It seems like you could have kept quiet if they didn’t ask you. Why did you jump out in front of your eyes to make jokes! So that they can see how much you love your husband?So we know, we know, in your eyes you prove it to everyone.
Katerina: You are in vain saying this about me, Mama. Whether in front of people or without people, I’m still alone, I don’t prove anything of myself.”Katerina's answer is quite interesting for several reasons. She, unlike Tikhon, addresses Marfa Ignatievna on a personal level, as if putting herself on an equal footing with her. Katya draws Kabanikha’s attention to the fact that she is not pretending or trying to seem like someone she is not. Despite the fact that Katya fulfills the humiliating request to kneel before Tikhon, this does not indicate her humility. Katerina is insulted by false words: “Who likes to endure falsehoods?” - with this answer Katya not only defends herself, but also reproaches Kabanikha for lying and slander.
Katerina’s husband in “The Thunderstorm” appears to be a gray man. Tikhon looks like an over-aged child who is tired of his mother’s care, but at the same time does not try to change the situation, but only complains about life. Even his sister, Varvara, reproaches Tikhon for the fact that he cannot protect Katya from the attacks of Marfa Ignatievna. Varvara only person, who is at least a little interested in Katya, but still she persuades the girl that she will have to lie and squirm in order to survive in this family.
Relationship with Boris
In "The Thunderstorm" the image of Katerina is revealed through love line. Boris came from Moscow on business related to receiving an inheritance. Feelings for Katya flare up suddenly, as do the girl’s reciprocal feelings. This is love at first sight. Boris is worried that Katya is married, but he continues to look for meetings with her. Katya, realizing her feelings, tries to abandon them. Treason is contrary to the laws of Christian morality and society. Varvara helps the lovers meet. For ten whole days, Katya secretly meets with Boris (while Tikhon was away). Having learned about Tikhon's arrival, Boris refuses to meet with Katya; he asks Varvara to persuade Katya to remain silent about their secret meetings. But Katerina is not that kind of person: she needs to be honest with others and herself. She is afraid of God's punishment for her sin, so she regards the raging thunderstorm as a sign from above and talks about betrayal. After this, Katya decides to talk to Boris. It turns out that he is going to leave for Siberia for a few days, but cannot take the girl with him. It is obvious that Boris does not really need Katya, that he did not love her. But Katya didn’t love Boris either. More precisely, she loved, but not Boris. In “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky’s image of Katerina endowed her with the ability to see the good in everything, and endowed the girl with a surprisingly strong imagination. Katya thought up the image of Boris, she saw in him one of his features - non-acceptance of Kalinov's reality - and made it the main one, refusing to see other sides. After all, Boris came to ask Dikiy for money, just as other Kalinovites did. Boris was for Katya a man from another world, from the world of freedom, the one that the girl dreamed of. Therefore, Boris himself becomes a kind of embodiment of freedom for Katya. She falls in love not with him, but with her ideas about him.
The drama "The Thunderstorm" ends tragically. Katya rushes into the Volga, realizing that she cannot live in such a world. And there is no other world. The girl, despite her religiosity, commits one of the most terrible sins Christian paradigm. To decide to take such an action you need enormous strength will. Unfortunately, the girl had no other choice in those circumstances. Surprisingly, Katya maintains inner purity even after committing suicide.
A detailed disclosure of the image of the main character and a description of her relationships with others actors The play will be useful for 10th graders in preparing for an essay on the topic “The Image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”.”
Work test
Disregarded in her rights and married off early. Most marriages of that time were designed for benefits. If the chosen one was from a wealthy family, this could help to obtain a high rank. Marry even if not your loved one young man, and wealthy and wealthy were the order of the day. There was no such thing as divorce. Apparently, from such calculations, Katerina was married to a rich young man, a merchant’s son. Married life brought her neither happiness nor love, but, on the contrary, became the embodiment of hell, filled with the despotism of her mother-in-law and the lies of the people around her.
This image in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the main and at the same time the most controversial. She differs from the residents of Kalinov in her strength of character and self-esteem.
Katerina's life in her parents' house
The formation of her personality was greatly influenced by her childhood, which Katya loves to remember. Her father was a wealthy merchant, she did not feel any need, maternal love and care surrounded her from birth. Her childhood was fun and carefree.
The main features of Katerina can be called:
- kindness;
- sincerity;
- openness.
Her parents took her to church with them, and then she walked and devoted her days to her favorite job. My passion for the church began in childhood with attending church services. Later, it was in the church that Boris would pay attention to her.
When Katerina turned nineteen, she was married off. And, although everything is the same in her husband’s house: walks and work, this no longer gives Katya the same pleasure as in childhood.
The former ease is no longer there, only responsibilities remain. The feeling of her mother's support and love helped her believe in the existence of higher powers. Marriage, which separated her from her mother, deprived Katya of the main thing: love and freedom.
Essay on the topic “the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” will be incomplete without getting to know her surroundings. This:
- husband Tikhon;
- mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova;
- husband's sister Varvara.
The person who causes her suffering in her family life is her mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna. Her cruelty, control over her household and subjugation of them to her will also applies to her daughter-in-law. The long-awaited wedding of her son did not make her happy. But Katya manages to resist her influence thanks to the strength of her character. This scares Kabanikha. Possessing all the power in the house, she cannot allow Katerina to influence her husband. And he reproaches his son for loving his wife more than his mother.
In conversations between Katerina Tikhon and Marfa Ignatievna, when the latter openly provokes her daughter-in-law, Katya behaves extremely dignified and friendly, not allowing the conversation to develop into a skirmish, she answers briefly and to the point. When Katya says that she loves her like her own mother, her mother-in-law does not believe her, calling it a pretense in front of others. Nevertheless, Katya’s spirit cannot be broken. Even when communicating with her mother-in-law, she addresses her as “You,” showing that they are on the same level, while Tikhon addresses his mother exclusively as “You.”
Katerina's husband cannot be considered either positive or negative characters. Essentially, he is a child tired of his parent's control. However, his behavior and actions are not aimed at changing the situation; all his words end in complaints about his existence. Sister Varvara reproaches him for not being able to stand up for his wife.
When communicating with Varvara, Katya is sincere. Varvara warns her that life in this house is impossible without lies, and helps her organize a meeting with her lover.
The connection with Boris fully reveals the characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm”. Their relationship is developing rapidly. Having arrived from Moscow, he fell in love with Katya, and the girl reciprocates his feelings. At least the status married woman and worries him, but he is unable to refuse meetings with her. Katya struggles with her feelings, does not want to break the laws of Christianity, but during her husband’s departure, she goes on secret dates.
After Tikhon's arrival, on Boris's initiative, the meetings stop; he hopes to keep them a secret. But this contradicts Katerina’s principles; she cannot lie to others or herself. The beginning of a thunderstorm pushes her to talk about the betrayal; she sees this as a sign from above. Boris wants to go to Siberia, but he refuses her request to take her with him. He probably doesn’t need her, there was no love on his part.
And for Katya he was a sip fresh air. Having come to Kalinov from an alien world, he brought with him a feeling of freedom that she so lacked. The girl’s rich imagination gave him traits that Boris never had. And she fell in love, but not with a person, but with her idea of him.
The break with Boris and the inability to unite with Tikhon end tragically for Katerina. The realization of the impossibility of living in this world prompts her to throw herself into the river. In order to break one of the strictest Christian prohibitions, Katerina needs to have enormous willpower, but the current circumstances leave her no choice.
Catherine in the drama "The Thunderstorm"
Essay on drama by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
Katerina - main character Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm". Main
the idea of the work is the conflict of this girl with the “dark kingdom”,
the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. Find out why this happened
conflict and why the end of the drama is so tragic, you can look into
Katerina’s soul, understanding her ideas about life. And it's possible
to do, thanks to the skill of the playwright Ostrovsky.
From Katerina's words we learn about her childhood and adolescence. The girl is not
received good education. She lived with her mother in the village.
Katerina's childhood was joyful and cloudless. The mother in her has no soul
“I wanted”, did not force me to do housework. Katya lived freely:
got up early, washed spring water, crawled flowers, walked with
mother to church, then sat down to do some work and listened
wanderers and praying mantises, of whom there were many in their house. Katerina
I had magical dreams in which she flew under the clouds. And How
contrasts strongly with such a quiet one, happy life act
six-year-old girl, when Katya, offended by something, ran away
in the evening from home to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed off from the shore!...
We see that Katerina grew up happy, romantic, but
limited girl. She was very pious and passionate
loving. She loved everything and everyone around her: nature, sun,
the church, her home with the pilgrims, the beggars whom she helped. But
the most important thing about Katya is that she lived in her dreams, apart from
the rest of the world. Of everything that existed, she chose only what
did not contradict her nature, the rest she did not want to notice and did not
noticed. That's why the girl saw angels in the sky, and for her there were
the church is not an oppressive and oppressive force, but a place where everything is light, where
you can dream. We can say that Katerina was naive and
kind, brought up in a completely religious spirit.
But if she encountered something on her way... contradicted her
ideals, she turned into a rebellious and stubborn nature and defended
herself from that stranger, stranger, who boldly disturbed her soul. So
This was also the case with the boat.
After marriage, Katya's life changed a lot. From free
joyful, sublime world in which she felt her
merging with nature, the girl found herself in a life full of deception,
cruelty and desolation.
The point is not even that Katerina married Tikhon not of her own free will:
She didn’t love anyone at all and she didn’t care who she married.
The fact is that the girl was taken away from her old life which she
created for myself. Katerina no longer feels such delight from
going to church, she cannot do her usual activities.
Sad, anxious thoughts do not allow her to calmly admire
nature. Katya can only endure as long as she can and dream, but she’s already
can't live with his thoughts because the cruel reality
returns her to earth, to where there is humiliation and suffering.
Katerina is trying to find her happiness in love for Tikhon: “I will be a husband
be in love. Silence, my darling, I won’t exchange you for anyone." But
sincere manifestations of this love are suppressed by Kabanikha: “What on
Are you hanging your neck, shameless one? It's not your lover you're saying goodbye to." In
Katerina has a strong sense of external humility and duty, which is why she
forces herself to love her unloved husband. Tikhon himself because
the tyranny of his mother cannot truly love his wife,
although he probably wants to. And when he, leaving for a while, leaves Katya,
in order to walk around to her heart's content, the girl (already a woman) becomes completely
lonely.
Why did Katerina fall in love with Boris? After all, he did not exhibit his
masculine qualities, like Paratov, didn’t even talk to her.
Probably the reason was that she lacked something pure in the stuffy
atmosphere of Kabanikha’s house. And love for Boris was pure, not
let Katerina completely wither away, somehow supported her.
She went on a date with Boris because she felt
a person with pride and basic rights. It was a riot
against submission to fate, against lawlessness. Katerina knew that
commits a sin, but she also knew that she would continue to live as before
it is forbidden. She sacrificed the purity of her conscience to freedom and Boris.
In my opinion, when taking this step, Katya already felt the approaching
the end and probably thought: “It’s now or never.” She wanted
to be satisfied with love, knowing that there will be no other opportunity. On the first
On a date, Katerina told Boris: “You ruined me.” Boris -
the reason for the disgrace of her soul, and for Katya this is tantamount to death.
Sin hangs like a heavy stone on her heart.
Katerina is terribly afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, considering it a punishment for
perfect. Katerina has been afraid of thunderstorms ever since she started thinking about
Boris. For her pure soul even the thought of loving a stranger
man is a sin.
Katya cannot continue to live with her sin, and the only way
She considers it a form of repentance to get rid of him at least partially. She confesses.
in everything to my husband and Kabanikha. Such an act in our time seems very
strange, naive. "I don't know how to deceive; there's nothing to hide
I can" - this is Katerina. Tikhon forgave his wife, but did she forgive herself?
myself? Being very religious. Katya fears God, but her God lives in
her, God is her conscience. The girl is tormented by two questions: how will she return?
home and will look into the eyes of the husband she cheated on, and how she
will live with a stain on his conscience. The only way out of this
situation Katerina sees death: “No, I’m either going home or going to the grave -
anyway...It's better in the grave...Living again? No, no, don't... not good."
Haunted by her sin, Katerina leaves this life to save
your soul.
Dobrolyubov defined Katerina’s character as “decisive, integral,
Russian". Decisive, because she decided to take the last step,
to death to save himself from shame and remorse.
Whole, because in Katya’s character everything is harmonious, one, nothing
do not contradict each other, because Katya is one with
nature, with God.
Russian, because who, if not a Russian person, is capable of loving like that,
Capable of sacrificing so much, seemingly humbly enduring all hardships,
While remaining yourself, free, not a slave.
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, of the fact 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 this difficult situation the girl is trying 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 a crazy lady, thunderclaps, 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 and that she had a moral victory over the “dark kingdom.”
Katerina combined in herself proud strength and independence, which Dobrolyubov regarded as a sign of deep protest against external, including social conditions life. Katerina, who with her sincerity, integrity and recklessness of feelings is hostile to this world, undermines “ dark kingdom”. 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 best features- love of freedom, independence, talent, poetry, high moral qualities.
// The image of Katerina in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”
According to one version, while writing "" Ostrovsky was in love with one of the actresses of the Maly Theater. Her name was Lyubov Kositsyna. She was married and could not reciprocate the author's feelings. Subsequently, Kositsyna played the role of Katerina and, perhaps, in words literary work predicted her fate. It is worth noting that the actress to some extent repeated the fate of her heroine, passing away early.
The image of Katerina combines all the lack of rights of Russian women of that era. It must be said that in the 19th century Russian women had virtually no rights. The lion's share of marriages was based solely on personal gain or obtaining a high rank. Young girls were forced to marry older men simply because they were rich or respected in high society. The institution of divorce did not exist at all. In the spirit of precisely these traditions, Katerina was married to a merchant's son. Marriage became a real hell for the girl, because she found herself in the “dark kingdom”, where tyranny and lies ruled.
An important place in the image of Katerina is occupied by the description of her childhood. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Katenka's childhood was cheerful and carefree. She could do what she loved, and no one could blame her for that. Katerina was surrounded from birth motherly love. Little Katya was dressed up like a doll.
Since childhood, Katerina has been very interested in the church. She often attended church services, receiving spiritual pleasure from it. It was this passion for the church that played with Katerina cruel joke, because it was in the church that Boris noticed her and immediately fell in love with her.
Parental education revealed the best features of the Russian soul in the girl’s character. Katerina was sensual, open and kind person. She did not know how and did not want to deceive. At one point, all this cleanliness and care of the parental home was replaced by the Kabanovs’ house, where human relationships were built on fear and unconditional obedience.
Every day the girl suffered humiliation from her mother-in-law. No one, not even her husband, can protect and support her; everyone is thinking about how not to fall out of favor.
Katerina tried to treat her mother-in-law as a beloved mother, but no one needed her feelings. This atmosphere gradually “kills” the girl’s cheerful character. She fades like a flower. But a strong character the girl does not let her fade away completely. Katerina rebels against this despotism. She becomes the only hero of the work who is ready to fight for her life, her feelings.
Katerina's protest resulted in her love for Boris. Of course, the girl reproaches herself for this act. She understands that she has violated God's commandment and deceived her husband. Katerina cannot live with this. She openly declares her actions. After this, Katerina experiences terrible mental suffering; she cannot find a place for herself. Tikhon cannot support his wife, because he is afraid of his mother’s curses. Boris also turns away from the girl. Unable to withstand this suffering, Katerina throws herself off a cliff. But her soul remained just as strong and unconquered. Only death allowed her to escape from this “dark kingdom.”
Katerina’s action was not in vain. Tikhon blamed his mother for the death of his wife. Varvara, unable to withstand Kabanikha’s tyranny, ran away with Kudryash from her mother’s house. Katerina was able to destroy this kingdom of eternal tyranny, even at the cost of her own life.
