The play The Thunderstorm is the image of Catherine. The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”

The publication of “The Thunderstorm” occurred in 1860. Difficult times. The country smelled of revolution. Traveling along the Volga in 1856, the author made sketches of the future work, where he tried to depict as accurately as possible the merchant world of the second half of the 19th century. There is an insoluble conflict in the play. It was he who led to death main character who couldn't cope with her emotional state. The image and characterization of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” is a portrait of a strong, extraordinary personality, forced to exist in the conditions of a small patriarchal city. The girl could not forgive herself for betraying herself, giving herself up to human lynching, without even hoping to earn forgiveness. For which she paid with her life.

Katerina Kabanova is the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. Kabanikha's daughter-in-law.

Image and characteristics

“Mama doted on me, dressed me up like a doll, and didn’t force me to work; I do what I want".

When she was very young, she was given to someone else's family.

“They married you off when you were young, you didn’t have to go out with the girls; “Your heart hasn’t left yet.”

That’s how it should be, for Katerina it was normal. In those days, no one built a family out of love. If you endure it, you will fall in love. She is ready to submit, but with respect and love. In my husband's house they did not know about such concepts.

“Was I like that! I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild...”

“This is how I was born, hot! I was still 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!

She is not one of those who obey tyrants. She is not afraid of dirty intrigues on the part of Kabanova. For her, freedom is the most important thing. Do not follow idiotic orders, do not bend under the influence of others, but do what your heart desires.

Her soul languished in anticipation of happiness and mutual love. Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, loved her in his own way, as best he could, but his mother’s influence on him was too strong, turning him against his young wife. He preferred to drown out problems with alcohol, and escaped from conflicts in the family on long business trips.

Katerina was often left alone. They did not have children with Tikhon.

“Eco woe! I don’t have children: I would still sit with them and amuse them. I really like talking to children – they are angels.”

The girl was increasingly sad about her worthless life, praying in front of the altar.

Katerina is religious. Going to church is like a holiday. There she rested her soul. As a child, she heard angels singing. She believed that God would hear prayers everywhere. When it was not possible to go to the temple, the girl prayed in the garden.

A new round of life is associated with the arrival of Boris. She understands that passion for another man is a terrible sin, but she is unable to cope with it.

"It's not good, it's terrible sin“Varenka, why do I love someone else?”

She tried to resist, but she did not have enough strength and support:

“It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, but I have nothing to hold on to.”

The feeling turned out to be too strong.

Sinful love raised a wave of internal fear for its action. The more her love for Boris grew, the more she felt sinfulness. She grabbed at the last straw, crying out to her husband with a request to take her with him, but Tikhon is a narrow-minded person and could not understand his wife’s mental suffering.
Bad dreams and an irreversible premonition of impending disaster drove Katerina crazy. She felt the reckoning approaching. With each thunderclap, it seemed to her that God was throwing arrows at her.

Tired of the internal struggle, Katerina publicly admits to her husband that she has cheated. Even in this situation, the spineless Tikhon was ready to forgive her. Boris, having learned about her repentance, under pressure from his uncle, leaves the city, leaving his beloved to the mercy of fate. Katerina did not receive support from him. Unable to withstand the mental anguish, the girl rushes into the Volga.

In the play “The Thunderstorm,” Ostrovsky creates a completely new female type for his work, a simple, deep character. This is no longer a “poor bride,” not an indifferently kind, meek young lady, not “immorality due to stupidity.” Katerina differs from Ostrovsky’s previously created heroines in the harmony of her personality, strength of spirit, and her attitude.

This is a bright, poetic, sublime, dreamy nature, with a highly developed imagination. Let us remember how she tells Varvara about her life as a girl. Visits to church, embroidery classes, prayers, pilgrims and pilgrims, wonderful dreams in which “golden temples” or “extraordinary gardens” appeared to her - these are the memories of Katerina. Dobrolyubov notes that she “tries to comprehend and ennoble everything in her imagination... Rough, superstitious stories turn into golden, poetic dreams for her...”. Thus, Ostrovsky emphasizes in his heroine spirituality, her desire for beauty.

Katerina is religious, but her faith is largely due to her poetic worldview. Religion is closely intertwined in her soul with Slavic pagan beliefs, with folklore concepts3. So, Katerina is sad because people don’t fly. " Why do people they don’t fly!.. I say: why don’t people fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you feel the urge to fly. That's how she would run up, raise her hands and fly. Anything to try now? - she says to Varvara. In her parents’ house, Katerina lived like a “bird in the wild.” She dreams about how she flies. Elsewhere in the play she dreams of becoming a butterfly.

The theme of birds introduces the motif of captivity and cages into the narrative. Here we can recall the symbolic ritual of the Slavs releasing birds from their cages. This ritual was carried out at the very beginning of spring and symbolized “the liberation of elemental geniuses and souls from the captivity in which they languished, imprisoned by the evil demons of winter.” This ritual is based on the Slavic belief in the ability of the human soul to reincarnate.

But the theme of birds also sets the motive for death here. Yes, in many cultures Milky Way called the “bird road” because “the souls ascending along this road to heaven were represented by light-winged birds.” Thus, already at the beginning of the play there are motifs that serve as signs tragic fate heroines.

Let's analyze the character of Katerina. This is a strong nature with self-esteem. She can’t bear it in Kabanikha’s house, where “everything seems to be out of captivity,” and the endless reproaches of her mother-in-law and her husband’s stupidity and weak character are unbearable. In Marfa Ignatievna’s house, everything is built on lies, deceit, and submission. Hiding behind religious commandments, she demands complete submission from her household, their compliance with all house-building norms. Under the pretext of moral sermons, Kabanikha methodically and consistently humiliates his household. But if Marfa Ignatievna’s children “adapted” to the situation in the house in their own way, finding a way out in silence and lies, then Katerina is not like that.

“I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she tells Varvara. Katerina does not want to tolerate unfounded insults from her mother-in-law. “Who enjoys tolerating falsehoods!” - she says to Marfa Ignatievna. When Tikhon leaves, Kabanikha notes that “ good wife“After seeing my husband off, he howls for an hour and a half.” To which Katerina replies: “No need! Yes, and I can’t. Something to make people laugh.”

It is possible that Kabanova’s constant attacks on her daughter-in-law are also connected with the fact that subconsciously she feels in Katerina a significant, a strong character, able to resist the mother-in-law. And Marfa Ignatievna is not mistaken in this: Katerina will endure only up to a certain point. “Eh, Varya, you don’t know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if I’m really disgusted with it, 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 it, even if you kill me!” - she admits to Varvara.

She tells Varvara about a characteristic event from her childhood: “...I was born so hot! I was still 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! In this story, the motives of Slavic pagan culture are guessed. As Yu.V. notes Lebedev, “this act of Katerina is consistent with the people's dream of truth. IN folk tales the girl turns to the river with a request to save her, and the river hides the girl in its banks.” Compositionally, Katerina's story precedes the ending of the play. For the heroine, the Volga is a symbol of will, space, and free choice.

Longing for will merges in Katerina’s soul with thirst true love. At first she tries to remain faithful to her husband, but there is no love in her heart, and Tikhon does not understand her, does not feel his wife’s condition. She also cannot respect her husband: Tikhon is weak-willed, not particularly smart, his spiritual needs are limited to drinking and the desire to “take a walk” in freedom. Katerina’s love is a selective feeling. She loves Boris Grigorievich, Dikiy's nephew. This young man seems to her kind, intelligent and well-mannered, he is so different from those around him. His image is probably associated in the heroine’s soul with a different, “non-Kalinov” life, with other values ​​to which she subconsciously strives.

And Katerina secretly meets with him while her husband is away. And then she begins to be tormented by the consciousness of the sin committed. Here in “The Thunderstorm” an internal conflict arises, allowing critics to talk about the tragedy of the play: Katerina’s actions not only seem sinful to her from the point of view Orthodox religion, but also diverge from her own ideas about morality, about good and evil.

The tragedy of the play is also given by the motive of the inevitability of the heroine’s suffering, which arises in the context of her character and attitude. On the other hand, Katerina’s suffering seems undeserved to readers: in her actions she realizes only natural needs human personality- desire for love, respect, the right to select feelings. Therefore, Ostrovsky’s heroine evokes a feeling of compassion in readers and viewers.

The concept of “the duality of a tragic act” (horror and pleasure) is also preserved here. On the one hand, Katerina’s love seems to her to be a sin, something terrible and terrible, on the other hand, it is for her the opportunity to feel happiness, joy, fullness of life.

Tormented by the consciousness of her own guilt, the heroine publicly confesses to her husband and mother-in-law. Katerina repents of everything in the city square during a thunderstorm. It seems to her that thunder is God's punishment. The thunderstorm in the play is a symbol of the heroine’s purification, catharsis, which is also a necessary element of tragedy.

However, the internal conflict here cannot be resolved by Katerina’s recognition. She does not receive the forgiveness of her family, the Kalinovites, and does not get rid of the feeling of guilt. On the contrary, the contempt and reproaches of others support this feeling of guilt in her - she finds them fair. However, if those around her had forgiven and pitied her, the feeling of burning shame possessing her soul would have been even stronger. This is the unsolvability internal conflict Katerina. Unable to reconcile her actions with her feelings, she decides to commit suicide and throws herself into the Volga.

Suicide, from the point of view of the Orthodox religion, is a terrible sin, but key concepts Christianity is love and forgiveness. And this is exactly what Katerina thinks about before her death. “It’s all the same that death will come, that it will... but you can’t live! Sin! Won't they pray? He who loves will pray..."

Of course, external circumstances were also reflected in this action - Boris turned out to be a timid, ordinary person, he is not able to save Katerina, give her the desired happiness, in essence, he is not worthy of her love. The image of Boris Grigorievich, unlike the local inhabitants, in Katerina’s mind is nothing more than an illusion. And Katerina, I think, feels this during her last meeting with him. And the stronger becomes for her the awareness of her own wrongness, bitterness and disappointment in love itself.

It is these feelings that strengthen the tragic attitude of the heroine. Of course, Katerina’s impressionability and exaltation are reflected here, as well as her reluctance to continue to put up with the cruelty of the world around her, with the tyranny of her mother-in-law, and the impossibility of further following Kalinov’s morality - to live without love. “If she cannot enjoy her feeling, her will, completely lawfully and sacredly, in broad daylight, in front of all the people, if what she has found and what is so dear to her is snatched from her, then she does not want anything in life, she does not want anything in life. doesn't want to. The fifth act of “The Thunderstorm” constitutes the apotheosis of this character, so simple, deep and so close to the position and heart of every decent person in our society,” wrote Dobrolyubov.

– 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

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.

COMPOSITION

On the topic: The image of Catherine, his ideological meaning in drama

A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
Group 1A student
Zavalny Vladimir

Why don't people fly like that?
how are the birds?
(A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm")

I. The history of writing the drama, the prototype of Catherine.

II. 1. Katerina’s place among other drama faces:
A) upbringing and life before marriage
B) living conditions after marriage

2. Character traits Katerina:
A) sincerity and truthfulness
B) passion of nature, depth and great strength of feelings
B) determination, willpower

3. Katerina and the community of Kalinova:
A) with whom and for what is the struggle being waged?
B) what is it based on? internal struggle in Katerina's soul
C) what events prompted public repentance
D) what events prompted suicide
D) why couldn’t Boris and Tikhon help?
E) the difference between Katerina’s protest and Kulibin’s protest

III. The role of the image of Katerina for contemporaries and subsequent generations of Russian people.

There is a version that Ostrovsky wrote “The Thunderstorm” while in love with the married actress of the Maly Theater Lyuba Kositskaya. It was for her that he wrote his Katerina, and it was she who played her. However, the actress did not respond to the writer’s fiery love - she loved another, who later brought her to poverty and early death. But then, in 1859, Lyubov Pavlovna played as if her fate, lived with feelings that she understood, creating the image of a young touching Katerina, who conquered even the emperor himself.

Katerina grew up in a wealthy merchant's house easily, carefree, and joyfully. Telling Varvara about her life before marriage, she says:
“I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild. Mama doted on me, dressed me up like a doll, didn’t force me to work, whatever I wanted, that’s what I did.” Growing up in a good family, she acquired and retained all the wonderful traits of the Russian character. This is a pure, open soul that does not know how to lie. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she says to Varvara.

And it’s impossible to live in your husband’s family without knowing how to pretend. Katerina’s main conflict is with her mother-in-law Kabanikha, who keeps everyone in the house in fear. Kabanikha's philosophy is to frighten and humiliate. Her daughter Varvara and son Tikhon adapted to such a life, creating the appearance of obedience, but they took their souls on the side - as long as “it was protected and covered” (Varvara - walking at night, and Tikhon - getting drunk and leading a riotous lifestyle, breaking out of the house) .

Katerina, quiet and not interfering in household affairs, scares Kabanikha. With what? - With its purity, hot, sincere soul, which does not tolerate falsehood. Thus, Katerina does not pretend to honor customs that she does not accept with her soul: she did not howl after her husband’s departure, as her mother-in-law wanted.
And she immediately confessed her love for Boris - first to Varvara, and after her husband’s arrival - to both him and her mother-in-law. The depth, strength and passion of her nature are manifested in her words that if she gets tired of life here, then nothing can hold her back - she will either throw herself out the window, or drown herself in the Volga. And her dreams are “strange”, incomprehensible to local inhabitants: “Why don’t people fly like birds?”, and fabulous dreams: “I dream either of golden temples, or of some extraordinary gardens, and everyone is singing invisible voices.”
And what courage and willpower a married woman had to have to confess her love to Boris, investing in him all her desire for freedom and happiness. It is these qualities of Katerina that come into conflict with the world of Marfa Kabanova, for whom blind worship of the traditions of antiquity is not a spiritual need, but the only chance to maintain her power. Even their religion different attitude: for Katerina this is a natural feeling (“I loved going to church to death! Surely, it used to be, I will enter heaven”), and for Kabanikha it is hypocrisy, formality (quickly moves from thoughts about God to everyday affairs).

Katerina is the best, but still part of the patriarchal system - she is characterized by religious fear (she is afraid of thunderstorms as punishment for sin). It was the thunderstorm and the fear of God’s punishment, and even the feeling of guilt before her husband that prompted her to publicly confess her sin.

She runs away from a hated house, where her husband takes pity on her, but beats her (because it’s necessary); looks for Boris for protection, hoping for help, but finds only sympathy and powerlessness of his loved one. Boris is weak and weak-willed. “Oh, if only there was strength!” - that’s all he could say. Katerina is left alone and throws herself off a cliff, not wanting to live in this scary world. I believe that this act is not from weakness, but from the strength of her character.

Katerina's protest is stronger than Kuligin's protest, which depends on " powerful of the world this,” and therefore does not go further than verbal reasoning.

The image of Katerina calls for freedom, spiritual emancipation. According to Dobrolyubov, “She is striving for a new life, even if she had to die in this impulse.” Her impulse and death are not in vain: after all, Varvara left home, Tikhon rebelled, Kabanikha’s world is collapsing (having lost authority, she can only go to a monastery). No wonder the play was banned from production, seeing in it a “veiled call for indignation.” The inhabitants did not allow their daughters to attend the play.

For us, the image of Katerina is the image of a beautiful Russian, pure, bright soul. This is what encourages us to fight the “dark” forces of tyranny, ignorance, rudeness, opportunism, which exist to this day.

Tasks and tests on the topic “The image of Catherine, its ideological meaning in A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama The Thunderstorm”

• Spelling - Important Topics to repeat the Unified State Exam in Russian

  Lessons: 5 Tasks: 7

• SPP with adverbial adverbs (adverbial comparisons, manner of action, measure and degree) - Complex sentence 9th grade

A. N. Ostrovsky in each of his plays created and showed multifaceted characters whose lives are interesting to watch. One of the playwright’s works tells about a girl who committed suicide, unable to withstand the pressure of circumstances. The development of Katerina’s character in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” as well as her emotional experiences, are the main driving forces of the plot.

On the list characters Ostrovsky designates Katerina as the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. As the plot develops, the reader gradually reveals the image of Katya, realizing that this character’s function as a wife is not exhausted. The character of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” can be called strong. Despite the unhealthy situation in the family, Katya managed to maintain purity and firmness. She refuses to accept the rules of the game, living by her own. For example, Tikhon obeys his mother in everything. In one of the first dialogues, Kabanov convinces his mother that he does not have his own opinion. But soon the topic of conversation changes - and now Kabanikha, as if casually, accuses Katerina of the fact that Tikhon loves her more. Until this moment, Katerina did not participate in the conversation, but now she is offended by her mother-in-law’s words. The girl addresses Kabanikha on a personal level, which can be regarded as hidden disrespect, as well as a kind of equality. Katerina puts herself on an equal footing with her, denying the family hierarchy. Katya politely expresses her dissatisfaction with the slander, emphasizing that in public she is the same as at home, and she has no need to pretend. This line actually speaks of Katya as strong man. As the story progresses, we learn that Kabanikha’s tyranny extends only to the family, and in society the old woman talks about preserving family order and proper upbringing, covering up her cruelty with words about benefactor. The author shows that Katerina, firstly, is aware of her mother-in-law’s behavior; secondly, I disagree with this; and thirdly, he openly declares to Kabanikha, to whom even his own son cannot object, about his views. However, Kabanikha does not give up trying to humiliate her daughter-in-law, forcing her to kneel in front of her husband.

Sometimes a girl remembers how she lived before. Katerina's childhood was quite carefree. The girl went to church with her mother, sang songs, walked, and according to Katya, she didn’t have everything she could have. Katya compares herself before marriage to a free bird: she was left to her own devices, she was in charge of her life. And now Katya often compares herself to a bird. “Why don’t people fly like birds? - she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.” But such a bird cannot fly away. Once in a cage with thick bars, Katerina gradually suffocates in captivity. A freedom-loving person like Katya cannot exist within the rigid confines of the kingdom of lies and hypocrisy. Everything in Katya seems to breathe with feelings and love for the most unique thing - for life itself. Once in the Kabanov family, the girl is deprived of this inner feeling. Her life is similar to life before marriage: the same songs, the same trips to church. But now, in such a hypocritical environment, Katya feels false.

It's amazing that having such inner strength, Katya does not oppose herself to others. She is “a martyr, a captive, deprived of the opportunity to grow and develop,” but she does not consider herself such. She tries to pass through the “millstone of hostility and malicious envy” with dignity, without losing or vulgarizing her essence.

Katya can easily be called brave. Indeed, the girl tried to fight the feelings that flared up in her for Boris, but still decided to meet with him. Katya takes responsibility for her destiny and decisions. In a sense, during her secret meetings with Boris, Katya gains freedom. She is not afraid of “neither sin nor human judgment.” Finally, a girl can do as her heart tells her.

But with Tikhon’s return, their meetings stop. Katya’s desire to talk about her relationship with Dikiy’s nephew does not please Boris. He hopes that the girl will remain silent, dragging her into the net " dark kingdom", from which Katya tried so desperately to escape. One of the critics of the drama, Melnikov-Pechersky, surprisingly aptly described Katerina: “a young woman, having fallen under the yoke of this old woman, experiences thousands of moral torments and at the same time realizes that God has put an ardent heart in her, that passions are raging in her young breast , not at all compatible with seclusion married women, which dominates the environment where Katerina found herself.”

Neither the confession of treason nor the conversation with Boris met Katerina’s hopes. For her, difference and inconsistency real world and ideas about the future turned out to be fatal. The decision to rush into the Volga was not spontaneous - Katya had long felt her approaching death. She was afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, seeing in it retribution for sins and bad thoughts. Frank confession Katerina becomes like a desperate communion, a desire to be honest to the end. It is noteworthy that between the events of the confession of treason - the conversation with Boris - the suicide, some time passes. And all these days the girl endures insults and curses from her mother-in-law, who wants to bury her in the ground alive.

You cannot condemn the heroine or talk about the weakness of Katerina’s character in “The Thunderstorm”. Nevertheless, even having committed such a sin, Katya remains as pure and innocent as in the first acts of the play.

A discussion about the strength or weakness of Katerina’s character can be useful for 10th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The Character of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”.”

Work test