Katerina is outwardly fragile, tender and open to feelings young woman, not at all as defenseless as it seems at first glance. She's strong inside, she's a fighter against it" dark kingdom". Katerina is a girl who is able to stand up for herself, who is capable of much for the sake of her love. But she is alone in this world, and it is hard for her, so she is looking for support. Support, as it seems to her, she finds in Boris. And she strives for him in every possible way, no matter what. She chose him because Boris stood out from all the young people in this city, and also they both had a similar situation. But in the finale, Boris refuses her, and she remains alone against the "dark kingdom" to reconcile and return to the Kabanikh's house meant not to be herself. Suicide is the only way out. Katerina passes away because she does not accept this world - the world of Kabanikh, Wild, Tikhon and Boris. Kabanikha is a completely different person, she is the opposite of Katerina.
She is completely satisfied with the world in which she lives. No one ever dared to argue with her, but then Katerina appears, who does not want to put up with the rudeness, rudeness and cruelty of the Kabanikh. And so Katerina, with her feeling dignity, constantly annoying Kabanikha. A conflict is brewing between Katerina and Kabanikha. This conflict does not reach the explosion until there was a reason for it. And the reason is Katerina's confession of infidelity to her husband. And Katerina understands that after that her life is over, because then Kabanikha will completely overwrite her. And she decides to commit suicide. After the death of Katerina, Kabanikha remains satisfied, because now no one will resist her. Katerina's death is a kind of protest against this world, the world of lies and hypocrisy, to which she could never get used.
But in Katerina and Kabanikh there is something in common, because they are both able to stand up for themselves, both do not want to put up with humiliation and insult, both of them a strong character. But their unwillingness to be humiliated and offended manifests itself in different ways. Katerina will never respond to rudeness with rudeness. The boar, on the contrary, will try in every possible way to humiliate, offend, overwrite a person who says something unpleasant in her direction.
Katerina and Kabanikha are different in relation to God. If Katerina's feeling for God is something bright, holy, inviolable and the highest, then Kabanikha's is only an external, superficial feeling. Even going to church for Kabanikhi is only to impress others as a pious lady.
The most appropriate comparison between Katerina and Kabanikha is something light and something dark, where Katerina is light and Kabanikha is dark. Katerina is a ray of light in the "dark kingdom". But this “beam” is not enough to illuminate this darkness so much that in the end it fades altogether.
The spiritual flabbiness of the hero and the moral generosity of the heroine are most evident in the scene of their last meeting. Katerina's hopes are in vain: "If only I could live with him, maybe I would see some kind of joy." “If”, “maybe”, “something” ... Poor consolation! But even here she finds the strength to think not about herself. It is Katerina who asks her beloved for forgiveness for causing him anxiety. Boris cannot even think of such a thing. Where is there to save, even to feel sorry for Katerina, he really will not be able to: “Who knew it that we would suffer so much for our love with you! I'd better run then!" But didn’t it remind Boris of the retribution for the love of married woman the folk song performed by Kudryash, didn’t Kudryash warn him about this: “Oh, Boris Grigoryich, stop giving up! .. After all, this means you want to ruin her completely ...” And Katerina herself, during poetic nights on the Volga, perhaps Didn't you tell Boris about this? Alas, the hero simply did not hear anything of this.
Dobrolyubov penetratingly saw an epoch-making meaning in the conflict of "Thunderstorm", and in the character of Katerina - "a new phase of our folk life". But, idealizing in the spirit of the then popular ideas of women's emancipation free love, he impoverished the moral depth of Katerina's character. The hesitation of the heroine, who fell in love with Boris, the burning of her conscience, Dobrolyubov considered "the ignorance of a poor woman who did not receive a theoretical education." Duty, fidelity, conscientiousness, with the maximalism characteristic of revolutionary democracy, were declared "prejudices", "artificial combinations", "conditional instructions of the old morality", "old rags". It turned out that Dobrolyubov looked at Katerina's love in the same non-Russian way easily as Boris.
Explaining the reasons for the popular repentance of the heroine, we will not repeat after Dobrolyubov the words about “superstition”, “ignorance”, “religious prejudices”. We will not see in Katerina's "fear" cowardice and fear of external punishment. After all, such a look turns the heroine into a victim of the dark kingdom of Boars. The true source of the heroine's repentance lies elsewhere: in her sensitive conscientiousness. “It’s not terrible that it will kill you, but that death will suddenly find you as you are, with all your sins, with all evil thoughts. I’m not afraid to die, but when I think that I’ll suddenly appear before God the way I am here with you, after this conversation, that’s what’s scary. “My heart hurts a lot,” says Katerina at the moment of recognition. “In whom there is fear, there is also God,” echoes her folk wisdom. "Fear" was from time immemorial understood by the Russian people as a heightened moral self-awareness.
IN " explanatory dictionary V. I. Dahl “fear” is interpreted as “consciousness of moral responsibility”. This definition corresponds to the state of mind of the heroine. Unlike Kabanikha, Feklusha and other heroes of "Thunderstorm", Katerina's "fear" - inner voice her conscience. Katerina perceives a thunderstorm as a chosen one: what is happening in her soul is akin to what is happening in thunderous skies. This is not slavery, this is equality. Katerina is equally heroic both in a passionate and reckless love interest, and in a deeply conscientious one. national repentance. “What a conscience! .. What a mighty Slavic conscience! .. What moral strength ... What huge, lofty aspirations, full of power and beauty,” V. M. Doroshevich wrote about Katerina Strepetova in the scene of repentance. And S.V. Maksimov told how he happened to sit next to Ostrovsky during the first performance of The Thunderstorm with Nikulina-Kositskaya in the role of Katerina. Ostrovsky watched the drama silently, deep in himself. But in that “pathetic scene, when Katerina, tormented by remorse, throws herself at the feet of her husband and mother-in-law, repenting of her sin, Ostrovsky whispered all pale: “It’s not me, not me: it’s God!” Ostrovsky, obviously, did not believe himself that he could write such an amazing scene. It is time for us to appreciate not only the love, but also the repentant impulse of Katerina. Having gone through thunderstorm trials, the heroine is morally cleansed and leaves this sinful world with the consciousness of her rightness: "Whoever loves will pray."
“Death by sin is terrible,” people say. And if Katerina is not afraid of death, then her sins are atoned for. Her departure takes us back to the beginning of the tragedy. Death is sanctified by the same full-blooded and life-loving religiosity that entered the soul of the heroine from childhood. “There is a little grave under the tree... The sun warms it... the birds will fly to the tree, they will sing, they will take the children out...”
Katherine dies amazingly. Her death is the last flash of spiritual love for God's world: for trees, birds, flowers and herbs. Monologue about the grave - awakened metaphors, folk mythology with her belief in immortality. A person, dying, turns into a tree growing on a grave, or into a bird making a nest in its branches, or into a flower that gives a smile to passers-by - these are the constant motives folk songs about death. Leaving, Katerina retains all the signs that, according to popular belief, distinguished the saint: she is dead, as if alive. “And for sure, guys, as if alive! Only on the temple is a small wound, and only one, as there is one, a drop of blood.
The drama "Thunderstorm" is the pinnacle of creativity of the famous Russian writer A.N. Ostrovsky. In this drama, there is a clash of two female characters: Katerina Kabanova and her mother-in-law Kabanikh. But what is morality? In my understanding, these are not only spiritual norms according to which a person acts, but also the ability to be responsible for one's actions.
Katerina ... the very name of the heroine already tells us a lot. In Greek, it means undefiled. But in the drama, Katerina commits two serious sins: treason and suicide. Why, despite this, Ostrovsky calls the heroine that? It seems to me that the author wants to show by this that the heroine atoned for her sin with a sincere confession. And being alone in the "dark kingdom" she could no longer resist him, and the only way out for her seemed to be suicide. It is in this that we see Ostrovsky's attitude towards Katerina. The Russian critic Dobrolyubov apparently shares the author's opinion, because he calls the heroine "a ray of light in a dark kingdom." Outwardly, Katerina is tender and fragile, amorous, but by her actions we see that she is the only one who even tries to object to Kabanikhe, defends her point of view. Ostrovsky also singles out Katerina, emphasizes her high morality: “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything, ”she says to Varvara with her characteristic simplicity. After the confession to her husband, Tikhon Ivanovich, and the departure of Boris, who leaves the heroine to the mercy of fate, she has no choice but to commit suicide. Katerina passes away because she understands that she can no longer live in the world of Kabanova, unfair and full of lies.
And what about the boar? She is the complete opposite of Katerina. The nickname that Ostrovsky gives to Marfa Ignatievna is immediately repulsive. It is not difficult to guess that this person is rude and cruel. Indeed, the boar has her own system of norms by which she is accustomed to live. In the "dark kingdom" no one dares to argue with her, and first of all her son, Tikhon Ivanovich, is under her complete control. "She sharpens it now, like rusting iron." Only Katerina does not want to put up with the rudeness of the boar, which is why Marfa Ignatieva does not miss the opportunity to offend and humiliate her daughter-in-law. “You, it seems, could have been silent if they don’t ask you,” interrupts Katerina Kabanikha with contempt. It is noticeable that a conflict was brewing between them, which spills out after Katerina's confession of treason. "Mother! Tikhon! I am a sinner before God and before you!” after this bitter truth, Katerina cannot return to the house, as she understands that her life there will be terrible. "to go home? no, I don’t care what to go home, what to the grave, it’s all the same "
So which of the two heroines wins the moral duel? I think it's Katherine. I like her as a person who is honest and repentant of her sins. Of course, Katerina's suicide is a grave sin, but still her tragic fate evokes sympathy, not condemnation. The boar Cruel person in which there is not a drop of love and kindness. But it is precisely these qualities that are the basis of Christian morality.
(c) Grebenyuk Evgenia Vitalievna
Did Katerina Kabanova have a way out?
The drama "Thunderstorm", written in 1859, at the time of public upsurge on the eve of the peasant reform, as if crowned the first stage creative activity Ostrovsky, a cycle of his plays about the “dark kingdom”. This play was extremely popular. The drama was staged on the stages of almost all theaters in Russia: from large metropolitan theaters to theaters in small, lost towns. And it is not surprising, because Ostrovsky in the play showed new heroine, symbolizing a protest against the old way of life, symbolizing the sprouts of a new life. This is how the play was received by the public. Even the censors perceived the “Thunderstorm” precisely as public play, since they demanded that Ostrovsky completely remove Kabanikha: it seemed to them that Kabanikha was a parody of the tsar, “Nikolai Pavlovich in a skirt.”
According to V. Lakshin, "Thunderstorm" struck Ostrovsky's contemporaries with its "poetic power and drama of the story about the fate of Katerina." The play was perceived as a denunciation of the merchant norms of morality and arbitrariness that prevailed in the country.
I think that no one will argue with the fact that Katerina's fate is really dramatic. She, perhaps without realizing it herself, protested against the tyranny and despotism of the society in which she lived. Her voluntary death is precisely a challenge to this tyrannical force. But was there a different outcome?
After some thought, one can come to the conclusion that, theoretically, Katerina Kabanova still had a choice. Let's try to analyze the possible resolutions of the play's conflict.
The first and, perhaps, the most desirable way is to leave with Boris. That is what the poor woman hopes for when she goes to last date with a loved man. But Boris, this “educated Tikhon”, is not able to answer for his actions, is not able to take responsibility for himself. He refuses Katherine. The last hope is shattered.
The second way is to get a divorce. But at that time, in order to get a divorce, one could wait a very long time, and one had to go through all the instances, experience all the humiliations. If divorce was rare in noble families(remember Anna Karenina), it was simply impossible for a merchant family.
The third way is to go to a monastery. But a husband's wife could not be accepted into a monastery. She would have been found there anyway and returned to her husband.
The fourth and most terrible path is the path of Katerina Izmailova. Get rid of the husband and mother-in-law, kill them. But Katerina Kabanova cannot choose this path, she cannot hurt another person, she cannot violate the fifth commandment “Thou shalt not kill”, as she is unusually pious.
Katerina could not live according to the principle of Barbara: “Do whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered.” Katerina's nature cannot accept a lie. It was impossible to simply leave her husband and return to her parents' house, she would have been found and returned, and her shame would have fallen on the whole family.
There was one more way left - to live with Tikhon as before, because he loved her in his own way and forgave her sin. But could Katerina listen to the daily prodding and reproaches of her mother-in-law? Yes, and that's not the point. With Boris Katerina experienced true love, knew the charm of closeness with a loved one, the joy of being in his arms. And is it possible after that to live with an unloved husband, who is under the heel of Kabanikh, a husband who is not even able to protect his wife from insults from her mother? Of course not! Having fallen in love with Boris, Katerina could no longer love anyone else. Her whole nature, driven by feelings, did not even allow the thought of it. She couldn’t even think about returning to the Kabanovs’ house: “I don’t care whether it’s home or to the grave. Yes, either home, or to the grave!.. It’s better in the grave... But I don’t even want to think about life... People are disgusting to me, and the house is disgusting to me, and the walls are disgusting!.. You can’t live! Sin!"
Thus, the only way out for Katerina was suicide. Such a decision is not at all a weakness, but a strength of her character. It is known that suicide Christian tradition- the greatest sin. Suicides are buried outside the fence of the church and are not buried. But this does not frighten the pious Katerina. “Won't they pray? she exclaims. “Whoever loves will pray...” Such spiritual talent and such integrity as Katerina has, one reward is death.
Of course, Katerina is “a ray of light in the dark kingdom”, but with her death it does not go out. The beam broke through a breach among the menacing clouds - the world of Wild and Boar. This gap is an ulcer in the “dark kingdom”. Katerina's death serves as a mute reproach to both Boris, "blindly submitting to the will of the Wild One", and Tikhon, "a weak-willed victim of fear of his mother." Katerina makes the apathetic Tikhon rouse inwardly, who accuses his mother of frenzy: “You ruined her! You! You!"
V. Lakshin wrote about this last scene drama: “This, though apparently fragile, victory over the fear of authority is the content of perhaps the most psychologically sharp and bold scene, worthy of crowning the whole drama.”
Home > DocumentA.N. Ostrovsky. Storm. Conflict and composition of the drama. Katerina as a tragic character.Scene. The peculiarity of the conflict. The location of the "Thunderstorm" is associated with different cities. However, the scene of the play cannot be correlated with any particular Volga city. Ostrovsky created a generalized image provincial town and therefore gave him a fictitious name - Kalinov. The action of the drama "Thunderstorm" develops in the city of Kalinovo, located on the high bank of the Volga. The playwright creates a closed patriarchal world: the Kalinovites do not know about the existence of other lands and innocently believe the stories of wanderers, such as Feklusha, that there are distant countries where “Saltan Maxnut Turkish” and “Saltan Mahnut Persian” rule, but there are lands “where all people with dog heads... for infidelity." These stories of a wanderer who “didn’t go far due to her weakness, but heard a lot” completely satisfy the listeners. more money make money." They keep in complete subjugation not only employees, but also domestic ones, entirely dependent on them and therefore unrequited. Considering themselves right in everything, they are sure that it is on them that the light rests, and therefore they force all households to strictly comply with house-building orders and rituals. Their religiosity is distinguished by the same ritualism: they go to church, observe fasts, receive wanderers, generously give them gifts and at the same time tyrannize their household (“And what tears are shed behind these constipation, invisible and inaudible!..” Inner, moral the side of religion is completely alien to Dikoy and Kabanova to the representatives of the "Dark Kingdom" of the City of Kalinov. Under the rule of the harsh, despotic Kabanikh, her household either lose their independence (Tikhon), or learn to deceive, like Varvara, to live in such a way that everything is "sewn and covered." Although Katerina "withered" in the boar's house, but the spiritual strength with which she was endowed did not allow her to finally break under the yoke of Kabanikha, to lose her sense of human dignity. And it is in these difficult conditions, where everything is “as if from under bondage”, that an internal protest is born against everything that prevents a person from living. Kabanova herself is already beginning to feel that the soil is shaking under her feet, that “old times are being brought out”. Eternal foundations are crumbling. She sees the awakening of new feelings, other relationships, she feels the resistance of Katerina, Barbara, even her son. In addition to the Kabanovs and Dikikhs, “without asking them, another life grew up, with different beginnings” (N. Dobrolyubov). endure their tyranny and despotism, "endure as long as they endure." But even among the victims of the "Dark Kingdom" not everyone expresses their attitude to the existing order in the same way: some believe that "it is better to endure" so as not to cause a new anger of the "scold" Diky or Kabanova (Shapkin, Boris, Tikhon); others, no longer wanting to endure the despotism of Kabanikh, leave their parental home (Barbara). A special place in the drama is occupied by Kuligin, who, although he advises Shapkin and Boris to “be patient,” criticizes the mores of the city. Patriarchal foundations family life and finally comes to a direct accusation thrown in the face of Kabanov at the end of the drama: “Here is your Katerina for you ... Her body is here, take it; and the soul is not yours now; she is now before the Judge, who is more merciful than you!” The desire to defend her human rights forces Katerina to enter into an unequal struggle with Kabanova, who personifies arbitrariness, despotism, and the protection of the unshakable laws of the “Dark Kingdom”. This conflict is one of the particular manifestations of the general conflict and attracts the attention of the viewer. There are two central figures- Katerina and Kabanikha, sharply opposed to each other, clashes between them are manifested in every action of the drama. Finally, what is especially important and what you should pay attention to when reading the play is internal conflict Katerina between a sense of duty and a passionate impulse for freedom and happiness. Critics unanimously noted the lyricism and symbolism of "Thunderstorm". Lyricism is created thanks to the introduction by the playwright into the play of pictures of nature, which are most closely connected with its ideological content: evil, oppression, despotism reigning in Kalinov are opposed by the harmony and beauty of nature. Special meaning acquires in the drama the image of the Volga as the embodiment of freedom. It appears at the beginning of the play, and in Katerina's monologue, and in the scene of a night meeting, the heroine rushes into the Volga at the end of the drama, preferring death to life in captivity. soulfulness, poetry of Katerina's monologues, folk songs, which are sung by Kuligin and Kudryash, give a lyrical sound to a number of scenes. The very name of the play has symbolic meaning. Thunderstorm in nature is perceived differently protagonists of the play: for Kuligin, she is “grace”, which “every ... grass, every flower rejoices”, Kalinovtsy hide from her, as from “what kind of misfortune”. The storm intensifies Katerina's spiritual drama, her tension, influencing the very outcome of this drama. The storm gives the play not only emotional tension, but also a pronounced tragic flavor. At the same time, N. A. Dobrolyubov saw something “refreshing and encouraging” in the finale of the drama. It is known that Ostrovsky himself, who gave great importance the title of the play, wrote to the playwright N. Ya. Solovyov that if he cannot find a title for the work, then “the idea of the play is not clear to him.” In The Thunderstorm, the playwright often uses the techniques of parallelism and antithesis in the system of images and directly in the plot itself , in the image of pictures of nature. The reception of antithesis is especially pronounced: in contrasting the two main characters - Katerina and Kabanikh; in the composition of the third act, the first scene (at the gates of Kabanova's house) and the second (night meeting in the ravine) differ sharply from each other; in the depiction of pictures of nature and, in particular, the approach of a thunderstorm in the first and fourth acts. Composition. The first action is a detailed exposition. Ostrovsky needed it in order to give an initial idea of actors, about the relationships that dominate the city of Kalinov. The inhabitants of the city constantly feel the cruel and unlimited power of the owners. Hence the word bondage so often repeated by the heroes of the play. Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Varvara talk about her. It was very important for the playwright to choose such a hero, through whose mouth he could give a general picture of the life and customs of the city of Kalinov. Such a person in the play is the self-taught mechanic Kuligin: it is he who owns the words about the beauty of the surrounding nature, it is he who is able to appreciate what is happening around. He tells Boris about " cruel morals" cities. Almost next to Kuligin's monologue in the play, the monologue of the wanderer Feklusha is given (“And the merchants are all pious people, adorned with many virtues!”). Kuligin Kabanova gives a different assessment: “Prude, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely .. The fifth phenomenon reveals family relationships who reign in the house of Kabanova. A sharp clash of characters begins to be felt in this phenomenon. One can feel the inner protest of both Tikhon and Barbara, and most importantly, Katerina. But Tikhon hides his discontent behind false phrases full of humiliation, Varvara speaks “to himself”, and Katerina, “what with people, what without people ... everything is one,” speaks with Kabanikha as an equal and, unlike Tikhon, even refers to her as "you". It is in Katerina that Kabanova sees her opponent. In the seventh appearance, Katerina talks about herself, about her life in parental home, and one can feel the depth and poetry of her inner world. The impressions of past years are in sharp contrast with the situation in the boar's house (“I have withered completely with you”). Katerina suffers from the difficult atmosphere in the Kabanikh's house, and from the consciousness of her secret love for Boris, hence the premonition of trouble. The tragic motif (“To be sad for someone! .. To be in trouble!”) Permeates the first and second acts, sounds throughout the play. In the first act, Ostrovsky leads the viewer from overall picture morals and characters to the Kabanova family and further to emotional drama Katerina The main event of the second act is the seeing off of Tikhon to Moscow, which allows the playwright to more fully reveal the house-building orders that reign in the Kabanovsky house, the psychology and characters of the heroes. In the scene of wires, there is a new clash between Kabanikh and Katerina. We see Tikhon's inability not only to protect, but also to understand Katerina, whose last hopes find support in her husband, hence her exclamation, full of mental pain: “Oh, my misfortune, misfortune! Where can I, poor thing, go? Who am I to hold on to? My fathers, I am dying!”. The second act and, in particular, the scenes of seeing off Tikhon and the subsequent monologue of Katerina with the key (the tenth phenomenon) is the plot of the drama, a turning point, followed by the development of the action. “Oh, if the night were sooner! ..” - with these words of Katerina, the second act of the drama ends, but the third begins not with the scene of a nightly date, which the heroine is waiting for, but with a conversation between Kabanikhi and Feklusha at the gates of the boar's house . This action is divided by the playwright into two pictures (scenes), sharply opposed to each other. end times": in the city there is one empty fuss, "amusements and games, and the Indo rumble goes through the streets ... they began to harness the fiery serpent." The second picture is a date night Let us turn to the dialogue between Katerina and Boris. It seems that they speak different languages feel differently. The consciousness of her sinfulness does not leave Katerina, she stands, “without raising her eyes”, almost does not see, does not listen to Boris. Her passionate "You" is contrasted in the dialogue with the cautious "you". With which Boris addresses her. In Katerina's remarks, full of deep feeling, there is a feeling of her imminent death: “Why do you want my death?”; “You ruined me” (the word ruined is repeated by her several times). Further, Boris’s answer: “Am I a villain?”, “Your will was for that.” The remarks accompanying Katerina’s remarks and reflecting her state of mind are important: “With fright, but without raising her eyes”, “With excitement”, “shaking her head ”, “raises his eyes and looks at Boris”, “throws himself on his neck”. The heroine’s remarks and remarks make you feel how her state of mind is changing: from complete confusion, fright - to the assertion of her right to love (“If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human court?”). To Boris’s words: “No one will know about our love,” Katerina replies: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I am doing!” In the name of this love, which means for her the will, the fullness of life, Katerina enters into a struggle with the forces of the "Dark Kingdom". Between the third and fourth acts, 10 days pass, as indicated by Ostrovsky in the poster, nevertheless, the intense rhythm does not decrease. The fourth act and, in particular, the fourth-sixth phenomena associated with the repentance of Katerina, the culmination of the drama. The first phenomena are pictures of the ignorance of the inhabitants of the city of Kalinov (a conversation of several citizens about Lithuania that fell from the sky; the rudeness of Diky in a conversation with Kuligin, who asks him for money for the construction sundial and a lightning rod). Simultaneously with the internal, psychological tension in Katerina’s soul, the playwright intensifies the external dynamics of the action, uses the technique of parallelism between state of mind heroines and phenomena occurring in nature. The rain intensifies, a thunderstorm approaches, and people head under the vaults of the ancient arch: Dikoy and Kuligin simply enter the gallery, Varvara "quickly enters", and Katerina is already rapidly running in. The action enters its culminating stage. The sky becomes ominous, causing fear in the people around Katerina. In addition to influencing the heroine of an impending thunderstorm, the playwright also resorts to external reasons prompting her to repentance: the words of Tikhon (“Katya, repent ...”), the replicas of the Kalinovites, and finally the appearance at the moment highest voltage crazy lady. The words of the lady are accompanied by a thunderclap. Katerina falls to her knees helplessly and sees the Last Judgment paintings depicted on the wall of the gallery. Katerina's repentance - the climax of the drama. Her words are accompanied by a clap of thunder, and she falls unconscious into her husband's arms. The imperious, triumphant voice of Kabanikhi is heard: “What, son! Where will the will lead!..” With these words, the fourth act of the drama ends. In the fifth act, events are rapidly moving towards a denouement. The scenery of the first act: a public garden on the high bank of the Volga, but at dusk. The action opens with Kuligin's song about the power of love that conquers hearts, then Tikhon's story about life in the boar's house after Katerina's repentance. Further, the action is dedicated to Katerina - her sad thoughts about life, timid hope for happiness with Boris, farewell to life. Pay attention to one of the phrases in Katerina's last monologue: “To live again? No, no, don't... Hexorhosho! - What does this word not good mean? To live under the yoke of the Kabanikh means to compromise, to submit to the power of the mother-in-law and the laws of the "Dark Kingdom", it means not to be yourself. But for Katerina it is no longer possible just to live, live and suffer. And she leaves life unconquered. The lyric-dramatic scene of Katerina's farewell to life is replaced by mass scene in which excited people are looking for the heroine. Following Tikhon, Kuligin, Kabanova, the people come running. Kuligin openly and for the first time boldly pronounces words condemning the wild boars and wild ones. For the first time in his life, Tikhon overcomes his fear of his mother and throws angry words of accusation in her face: “You ruined her! You! You!” Katerina's suicide should not be regarded as a stage device that enhances the impression of the play, but as a dramatic finale, prepared by the whole course of action. Tikhon's remark, which ends the drama, is not accidental: “It's good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live in the world and suffer!” These words make the viewer think not about love affair, but about Kalinov's life as a whole, where "the living envy the dead." Katerina how tragic heroine . By the nature of her character, Katerina differs sharply from that environment, from those people with whom she is forced to live. This exclusivity and originality of the character of the heroine is the reason for the deep life drama that she experiences in the "dark kingdom" of wild and boar. Even for Varvara, with whom Katerina is especially close, she is “sophisticated”, “wonderful”. Her spiritual world inaccessible neither to Varvara, who sincerely pities Katerina, nor to Tikhon, nor to Boris. Katerina is a dreamy, poetic and at the same time resolute nature, possessing a sense of her own dignity. In order for the reader, the viewer, to understand that the drama of his heroine is close, Ostrovsky reveals its origins and, in fact, gives Katerina's backstory: life in her parents' house, her formation as a person. Before us is the whole life path the heroines, her thoughts, actions are largely determined by past childhood, youth. The motive of the flight that accompanies Katerina is not accidental: “ Why do people do not fly like birds? And she has dreams about flying: “But it’s like I’m flying, and I’m flying through the air.” She constantly strives to move: sometimes she tries to swim away along the Volga when she was offended, then she sees herself racing in a troika. Impressive by nature, poetically inclined Katerina listened to every word of the wanderers, who, in her words, told “different lives” or sang poems . She prays in the garden among the flowers, and in the temple on a sunny day she sees how from the dome "such a bright pillar goes down ... as if angels in this pillar fly and sing." Katerina's religiosity is sincere and deep. But dreaminess, spiritual gentleness are combined with willpower, a character that knows no compromise, the ability to take decisive action if life “sickens” her. In the drama “Thunderstorm”, two images are sharply opposed - Katerina and Kabanikhi. One is poetically minded, with a “hot heart”, deeply feeling beauty, honest, truthful, humane, the other is domineering, rude, harsh, heartless, striving to subordinate everyone to her will. The name Katerina in Greek means “always pure”. Her patronymic is Petrovna (Peter in Greek "stone"). Apparently, the patronymic of the playwright wanted to emphasize the firmness of the character of his heroine. Ostrovsky attached great importance to the role of Kabanova, considering it "one of the most important in the play." Kabanikha is a living embodiment of despotism, a convinced guardian of the precepts of antiquity ardent opponent everything new. In despotic power and fear, she sees the strength of family foundations, and these ossified forms of relations in the family are kept by her only on violence and coercion. And at the same time, she clearly feels that her family has long wanted "freedom", this is mentioned more than once in the play. Already in the initial scenes, Katerina is seized by a feeling of love that comes to her as a feeling of spiritual renewal, rebirth something unusual for me. It’s as if I’m starting to live again ...”). Love, which became for her the personification of joy, happiness, will, made the heroine acutely feel the tragic hopelessness of her situation. Therefore, next to the words: "I'm starting to live again" - a gloomy foreboding tragic ending: "I will die soon." She perceives love for Boris as a mortal sin and seeks to suppress this feeling in herself. In the struggle between fidelity to marital duty and the desire to see your chosen one at least for a moment, the thirst for love, happiness and freedom takes over. The love that gripped Katerina was prepared by her whole life under the yoke of the boar's house. The heroine herself does not reach the realization of her struggle with tyranny, everything is done with her at the inclination of nature. Natural aspirations (the need for happiness, the desire for will, space, freedom) force her to enter into a struggle with all morality, the foundations of the "Dark Kingdom". The power of natural aspirations, unnoticed by Katerina herself, triumphs over all prejudices in her. She goes alone “against everyone”, “armed only with the power of her Feeling, the instinctive consciousness of her inalienable right to life, happiness and love ...” (N. Dobrolyubov). Katerina is ready to transgress even those concepts of sin and virtue for the sake of a loved one, which were sacred to her. Inner purity and truthfulness do not allow her to lie in love, to deceive. The tragic conflict of "Thunderstorm" lies in the irreconcilable contradiction between Katerina's love, expressing her desire for freedom, happiness, and Kalinov's world, which suppresses a person, oppresses his soul. Depicting the spiritual drama of Katerina, her internal struggle, Ostrovsky shows both the doubts of the heroine, and her hesitation, and the rise of feelings, and a temporary retreat. Katerina's public repentance is only a temporary retreat in the struggle for the right to love and be free. In the future, she will reject humility and humility to fate and prefer death to life in captivity. Although Katerina knows that suicide is a difficult task, she last moment does not think about saving her soul - all thoughts are directed to Boris and her last words are also addressed to him: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!"..
Katerina and Kabanikha - two very bright and equally interesting character. Both women are quite determined personalities, although each in its own way. Katerina and Kabanikha are not just dissimilar people, they are representatives of two different worlds. It would seem that both were brought up in the same environment, both roads family traditions So where do these different views on life come from? After all, both, in principle, are united by the fact that they do not know any other way of life than the one established in Kalinovo once and for all. Both are supporters of house building, both believe that a wife should obey her husband in everything. How else,; if the husband feeds, waters, clothes, gives shelter? But Kabanikha is more concerned about conventions: the daughter-in-law must obey her mother-in-law, howl on the porch when her husband leaves, work tirelessly. Katerina, quite sincerely, without unnecessary conventions, wants to be a "husband's wife." For this, after all, it is not at all necessary to obey the strictest canons. It is not Katerina's fault that her sincere impulses are completely suppressed by the imperious Marfa Ignatievna. It is completely useless to address your husband with prayers, with requests. But Katerina could become him, if not loving, then a faithful and devoted wife. The trouble is that Tikhon is too weak to meet his wife halfway, to support her in at least something. Even his name is “quiet”, weak. Let us recall at least that moment in the play when he is envious dead wife, although he could well follow her. But he doesn't have the strength to do so. Therefore, the husband is in conflict between the two strong women cannot be seen as either a support or an enemy of Katerina. He is just a character who, along with everyone else, pushes the heroine to death. Among those who became the perpetrators of the tragedy, essential role- at Kabanikhi. Her conflict with Katerina is not just a confrontation between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but also the irreconcilability of two radically opposite natures. The undoubted advantage of Kabanova is her strength. But what does she spend it on? To tyranny in the full sense of the word. Already the first meeting of the reader with her reveals her character in the best possible way. In the fifth appearance of the first act, she literally wears out the whole soul of] her son, and at the same time - and the reader. Her endless teachings, which have no basis under them, are very reminiscent of the reasoning of Saltykov's Yudushka Golovlev. Kabanikha, one might say, has become a somewhat softened version of it. Constant petty nit-picking and pious speeches - why not Judas? Kabanikhi has one characteristic property- respect for traditions (again Judas). In this, in essence, there is nothing reprehensible, but in her love for petty conventions and rituals grows to incredible limits. She lives according to the established once and for all order and does not want to change. Moreover, she makes her children live the same way. Of course she wishes them well; as you know, many old people try to make their children behave according to certain canons with the best of intentions. But this strange expression of love for children leads the Kabanovs to deplorable results: Tikhon gets drunk, Varvara, who was given the most indulgence, runs away, Katerina dies. The trouble is that for Kabanikh there is no other reality than the one she created for herself. And let the whole world move forward - she will stubbornly stand still, she does not care about the rest of the world. She knows that a wife must howl when her husband leaves, which means that it cannot be otherwise. The main thing is to comply with the conventions. Howl - you can, throw yourself on the neck - you can not.
Not like Katherine. Of course, she is not alien to conventions and dogmas, but, unlike her mother-in-law, she has alive soul. The soul is loving, bright, peaceful, submissive and patient ( perfect wife!). Patience is one of the main virtues of Katerina. She knows how to obey circumstances, but only up to certain limits. She will dutifully endure the fact that she is kept locked up or that she is forced to throw herself at her husband's feet. But when her feelings get stronger than the established moral standards, then even this angelic patience comes to an end. It should be noted that Kabanikha constantly pushed Katerina to take a decisive step with her eternal grumbling without any reason. But already at the first meeting with Katerina and Kabanikha on a walk, we understand that Katerina is not the kind of person who will obey, this can be heard in her few remarks. Suicide was not a concession, not a sign of weakness or humility, but, on the contrary, a manifestation of strength. Katerina is a free soul. Her dream is to fly. It is even strange that the idea of flying came to the head of a girl who grew up in an environment that was not too conducive to free thoughts. Although one can argue vice versa - the lack of external information gives freedom-loving souls a huge scope for imagination. Be that as it may, Katerina has the ability to deeply feel, dream, fantasize. And Kabanikha suppresses this beginning in her. If Katerina were not so resolute in nature, she would have remained under the yoke of the Kabanikh and would have buried her dreams in herself. But the fact of the matter is that the heroine has enough determination to meet Boris, to publicly repent of her betrayal of her husband, and to throw herself into the river. The ordinary conflict between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law of Kabanikh and Katerina turns into a much more serious one - a confrontation between two different worlds. Kabanikha is a representative of the old, inert, limited world, Katerina is a new, bright one, striving for free air, away from far-fetched moral foundations and conventions, j Kabanikha crawls on the ground, Katerina strives to fly. Such two personalities will never find a compromise. The conflict between Katerina and Kabanikha is eternal and will never outlive itself, as long as there are old and young, mundane and dreamy, spiritually poor and spiritually rich.
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