Analysis of the love of Katerina Kabanova (based on the play “The Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovsky)

Was the love of Katerina Kabanova from A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” a crime? Did the poor woman deserve such a terrible punishment?

Katerina's misfortunes begin after she marries Tikhon Kabanov and moves into his house. There the young woman realizes that she has found herself in an environment alien to her, in the realm of ignorance, inertia and tyranny. Katerina is trying with all her might to resist him, which is expressed in a conflict with the most prominent representative of this world - Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova.

The hostility that immediately arose between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is largely based on the difference in their characters.

Katerina’s inner world was mainly formed in accordance with the lifestyle that she led before her marriage. She grew up kind, sympathetic, very religious (she found solace and strength in faith) and dreamy. Her imagination carried her far away from the colorless world in which she now lived. One of the main features that distinguishes Katerina from others is that the essence of everything that happens is important to her, and not the form; she cannot live among dead formulas that have lost their meaning.

And for Marfa Ignatievna, maintaining order, strictly following the ancient foundations is the meaning and purpose of life. She eagerly seeks out apostates. But compliance with the rules of “Domostroy” only serves as an explanation for the despotism that stifles all manifestations of life and will.

At first, Katerina tries to come to terms with the atmosphere in which she found herself, to extinguish her protest against “fading” under the yoke of Marfa Ignatievna. But constant pressure, infringement of rights and loneliness took their toll: Katerina resisted. Her protest found expression in her love for Dikiy’s nephew Boris Grigorievich, since love was the only thing in which a woman of that time could express herself.

And now, having understood the situation Katerina found herself in, is it possible to blame her for an involuntary impulse, a sudden feeling? After all, the girl was married off very early. “You didn’t have to go for a walk with the girls, but your heart hasn’t gone away yet!” - Varvara tells her. And who did they give it for? For someone who cannot take a step without a “mother’s” word, let alone stand up for his wife! So Katerina found herself face to face with Marfa Ignatievna.

Therefore, Katerina is subconsciously looking for someone who could become her support, give her support, and understand her. She chooses Boris because, at first glance, he is very different from the people around whom the heroine finds herself. But it gradually becomes clear that Boris Grigorievich is only an “educated Tikhon.” He does not have the determination that Katerina has. He, seeing all the absurdity of the world of the Wild and Kabanovs, cannot and does not want to do anything to rid himself of his influence and, in spite of him, be happy with his beloved. Like Tikhon, Boris only complains about his fate and laments: “Oh, if only there was strength!” For him, Katerina is too complex, deep nature. He subconsciously understands this and after a while wants to move away from her, to run away.

The heroine, dreaming of finding consolation, hope and new strength from Boris, plunges into the feeling, as if into a pool, without thinking about the consequences and without fear of any judgment: neither divine nor human.

But, after some time, insight inevitably comes. Katerina realizes that she has committed a grave sin by cheating on her husband. And all excuses, all hopes for the future recede and collapse before the terrible word “treason.”

In order to continue the relationship with Boris after her husband’s arrival, it was necessary to hide and be cunning; She didn’t want it and couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to live like Varvara: “Do what you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.” Katerina is already beginning to feel how this double life is dragging her down. After all, she sinned, but outwardly she remained an honest woman.

It seems to me that if for many people the most terrible punishment is human trial, then for Katerina the most terrible punishment is pangs of conscience. Of course, by committing a “crime,” she knew that she would set all the residents of the city of Kalinov against her. But the heroine reasoned: “If I was not afraid of sin, will I be afraid of human judgment?” Griboyedov’s phrase immediately comes to mind: “Who are the judges?” After all, in the city of Kalinov, anyone who deviates from ancient traditions and established orders is already a criminal. And are the “judges” themselves really so righteous? No, it’s just that everything is “closed up and covered up”, everything is “under the guise of piety”!

Therefore, it was not human judgment, but remorse that became real retribution for Katerina. And the first thing that came to her mind was God’s punishment. After all, from childhood the heroine believed that God sees everything, that not a single sin can be hidden from him, and at the “Last Judgment” nothing can be justified. “What if I appear before God as I am, with all my sins - that’s what’s scary!”

This situation is unbearable for Katerina: days and nights she kept thinking, suffering and decided that she needed to repent and announce her actions. And this will not be an admission of guilt, not a renunciation of the right to freedom, but, on the contrary, the only form of protection of internal freedom - the freedom of conscience.

A thunderstorm, a prophecy of a crazy lady, a painting of “The Last Judgment” that she sees on the walls of the gallery - all this drives her into a frenzy, and in this state the heroine confesses her “sin” to her husband in front of everyone. Katerina does not repent of what she did in the absence of her husband, but only opens up in order to atone for her guilt by confessing.

It seems to me that loving Boris is not a serious crime, but the only possible form of protest for a poor woman left alone in the “kingdom of tyrants.” I believe that the punishment taken by Katerina is too cruel. I sincerely feel sorry for the heroine, who, by the will of fate, was forced to choose: love, which means life, or “withering” under the yoke of Kabanova, but without confronting her conscience.

", A.N. Ostrovsky reveals several problematic lines to readers, thereby making the plot fascinating and exciting.

Of course, the main problematic line of the play is the attempt to free herself and her soul from the oppressive oppression of her relatives. Life on the estate was a real punishment for her. Therefore, as the plot develops, we become fascinated by the problematic line of love that arises between Katerina and Boris.

Why does this girl have loving feelings not for her husband, but for someone else’s man? Yes, because she didn't love. She married him only because he did not dislike her. She never experienced real feelings of love for Tikhon Kabanov. Therefore, she is overcome by real love emotions, which the girl experiences for the first time in her life. And she can't resist them.

What attracted her to Boris? He was not like the rest of the inhabitants of her estate. He looked like a man of a new generation. It is he who changes not only Katerina’s inner world, but also her general worldview.

Chatting with her, she tells her about her dreams, that she no longer sees trees and birds. She feels the call of her native voice, she experiences a passionate embrace. It is precisely such changes in her consciousness that lead to that risky step. She goes on a date with her lover. Her brave act was done not only to meet love feelings. She yearns for freedom and liberation from domestic oppression, he has eternal clashes with Kabanikha, from the weak-willed Tikhon.

With Boris, Katerina experiences wonderful feelings of love, but, as we see further, the girl’s heart is wrong. Boris differed from the representatives of the “dark kingdom” only in his appearance. In fact, he was just as cowardly and spineless as Tikhon. He was afraid of the influence of his uncle Dikiy, which is why he could not protect poor Katerina from the shame and ridicule that fell on the girl after admitting her betrayal. Boris does not take his beloved with him. He leaves her among those callous and cruel people. And how does the girl behave? She is not angry, does not scold Boris, but only quietly and tenderly says goodbye to him. Her love was so high and pure. She was the highest value in life for Katerina.

After parting with Boris, Katerina decides to free herself from the heavy burden of life and jumps from a river cliff into the raging waves of the Volga. The girl dies, but at the same time her soul is freed from the cruel and hypocritical world of tyrants from the “dark kingdom”.

In Katerina’s situation, we see that all the “ideas” instilled in her from childhood, all the principles of the environment, rebel against her natural aspirations and actions. The terrible struggle to which the young woman is condemned takes place in every word, in every movement of the drama, and this is where the full importance of the introductory characters for which Ostrovsky is so reproached appears. Take a good look: you see that Katerina was brought up in concepts identical to the concepts of the environment in which she lives, and cannot renounce them, not having any theoretical education. The stories of the wanderers and the suggestions of her family, although she processed them in her own way, could not help but leave an ugly trace in her soul: and indeed, we see in the play that Katerina, having lost her bright dreams and ideal, lofty aspirations, retained one thing from her upbringing a strong feeling - fear of some dark forces, something unknown, which she could not explain to herself well or reject. She is afraid for her every thought, for the simplest feeling she expects punishment; It seems to her that the thunderstorm will kill her, because she is a sinner, the pictures of fiery hell on the church wall seem to her to be a harbinger of her eternal torment... And everything around her supports and develops this fear in her: Feklushi go to Kabanikha to talk about the last times; Dikoy insists that the thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel; the arriving lady, instilling fear in everyone in the city, appears several times in order to shout over Katerina in an ominous voice: “You will all burn in unquenchable fire.” Everyone around is full of superstitious fear, and everyone around, in agreement with the concepts of Katerina herself, should look at her feelings for Boris as the greatest crime. Even the daring Kudryash, the esprit-fort * of this environment, even finds that girls can walk with guys as much as they want - that’s okay, but women need to sit locked up. This conviction is so strong in him that, having learned about Boris’s love for Katerina, he, despite his daring and some kind of outrage, says that “this matter must be abandoned.” Everything is against Katerina, even her own concepts of good and evil; everything must force her to drown out her impulses and wither in the cold and gloomy formalism of family muteness and humility, without any living aspirations, without will, without love, or learn to deceive people and conscience.<…>

The environment in which Katerina lives requires her to lie and deceive; “You can’t live without this,” Varvara tells her, “remember where you live; Our whole house rests on this. And I wasn’t a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.” Katerina succumbs to her position, goes out to Boris at night, hides her feelings from her mother-in-law for ten days... You might think: here is another woman who has lost her way, learned to deceive her family and will secretly debauch herself, falsely caressing her husband and wearing a disgusting mask of a meek woman! It would be impossible to strictly blame her for this either: her situation is so difficult! But then she would have been one of the dozens of people of the type that has already become so worn out in stories that showed how “the environment eats up good people.” Katerina is not like that: the denouement of her love, despite all the homely surroundings, is visible in advance, even when she is just approaching the matter. She does not engage in psychological analysis and therefore cannot express subtle observations about herself; what she says about herself means that she strongly makes herself known to her. And she, at Varvara’s first proposal about a date with Boris, screams: “No, no, don’t! God forbid: if I see him even once, I’ll run away from home, I won’t go home for anything in the world!” It’s not reasonable precaution that speaks in her, it’s passion; and it is clear that no matter how she restrains herself, passion is higher than her, higher than all her prejudices and fears, higher than all suggestions. heard by her since childhood. Her whole life lies in this passion; all the strength of her nature, all her living aspirations merge here. What attracts her to Boris is not just the fact that she likes him, that he, both in appearance and in speech, is not like the others around her; She is drawn to him by the need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, and the offended feeling of a wife and woman, and the mortal melancholy of her monotonous life, and the desire for freedom, space, hot, unfettered freedom. She keeps dreaming of how she could “fly invisibly wherever she wants”; and then such a thought comes: “if it were up to me, I would now ride on the Volga, on a boat, with songs, or on a good troika, hugging each other”... “Just not with my husband,” Varya tells her, and Katerina doesn’t can hide his feelings and immediately opens up to her with the question: “how do you know?” It is clear that Varvara’s remark explained a lot to her: while telling her dreams so naively, she did not yet fully understand their meaning. But one word is enough to give her thoughts the certainty that she herself was afraid to give them. Until now, she could still doubt whether this new feeling really contained the bliss that she was so painfully seeking. But once she has uttered the word of secret, she will not give up on it even in her thoughts. Fear, doubt, the thought of sin and human judgment - all this comes to her mind, but no longer has power over her; This is just a formality, to clear your conscience. In the monologue with the key (the last one in the second act) we see a woman in whose soul a decisive step has already been taken, but who only wants to somehow “talk” herself. She makes an attempt to stand somewhat aside from herself and judge the action she has decided to take as an extraneous matter; but her thoughts are all directed towards justifying this act. “Now,” he says, “how long will it take to die... In captivity, someone has fun... Even though I am living now, toiling, I don’t see any light for myself... my mother-in-law crushed me”... etc. d. - all exculpatory articles. And then there are still relieving considerations: “it’s already clear that fate wants it this way... But what a sin is it, if I look at him once... Yes, even if I talk, it won’t matter. Or maybe such a case will not happen in the rest of my life...” This monologue aroused in some critics the desire to sneer at Katerina as a shameless critic *; but we know of no greater shamelessness than to assure that we or any of our ideal friends are not involved in such transactions with conscience... In these transactions, it is not the individuals who are to blame, but those concepts that have been hammered into their heads from childhood and which so often they are contrary to the natural course of the living aspirations of the soul. Until these concepts are driven out of society, until the complete harmony of ideas and the needs of nature is restored in the human being, such transactions are inevitable. It’s also good if, when doing them, they come to what seems natural and common sense, and do not fall under the yoke of conventional instructions of artificial morality. This is precisely what Katerina gained strength for, and the stronger her nature speaks, the calmer she faces the childish nonsense that those around her have taught her to fear. Therefore, it even seems to us that the artist playing the role of Katerina on the St. Petersburg stage is making a small mistake, giving the monologue we are talking about too much heat and tragedy. She obviously wants to express the struggle taking place in Katerina’s soul, and from this point of view she conveys the difficult monologue perfectly. But it seems to us that it is more consistent with Katerina’s character and position in this case to give her words more calmness and lightness. The struggle, in fact, is already over, only a little thought remains, the old rags still cover Katerina, and little by little she throws them off. The end of the monologue betrays her heart. “Come what may, I will see Boris,” she concludes, and in the oblivion of foreboding, she exclaims: “Oh, if only the night would speed up!”

Such love, such a feeling will not live within the walls of Kabanov’s house, with pretense and deception. Although Katerina decided to go on a secret date, for the first time, in the delight of love, she says to Boris, who assures that no one will find out anything: “Eh, why feel sorry for me, it’s no one’s fault—she went for it herself. Don't be sorry, destroy me! Let everyone know, let everyone see what I am doing... If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?”

And for sure, she is not afraid of anything except being deprived of the opportunity to see her chosen one, talk to him, enjoy these summer nights with him, these new feelings for her. Her husband arrived, and life became difficult for her. It was necessary to hide, to be cunning; she didn’t want it and couldn’t do it; she had to return again to her callous, dreary life - this seemed to her more bitter than before. Moreover, I had to be afraid every minute for myself, for my every word, especially in front of my mother-in-law; one also had to be afraid of a terrible punishment for the soul... This situation was unbearable for Katerina: days and nights she kept thinking, suffering, exalting her imagination, which was already hotter, and the end was one that she could not endure - despite everything the people crowded in the gallery of the ancient church, she repented of everything to her husband. His first movement was fear of what his mother would say. “Don’t, don’t say, mother is here,” he whispers, confused. But the mother has already listened and demands a full confession, at the end of which she draws out her moral: “What, son, where does the will lead?”

It is difficult, of course, to ridicule common sense more than Kabanikha does in her exclamation. But in the “dark kingdom” common sense means nothing: with the “criminal” they took measures that were completely contrary to him, but usual in that life: the husband, at the behest of his mother, beat his wife, the mother-in-law locked her up and began to eat. ..

The will and peace of the poor woman are gone: before, at least they couldn’t reproach her, even though she could feel that she was completely right in front of these people. But now, one way or another, she is to blame for them, she violated her duties to them, brought grief and shame to the family; Now the most cruel treatment of her already has reasons and justification. What remains for her?

<…> Another solution would have been less impossible - to flee with Boris from the tyranny and violence of the family. Despite the strictness of the formal law, despite the cruelty of rude tyranny, such steps do not represent an impossibility in themselves, especially for such characters as Katerina. And she does not neglect this way out, because she is not an abstract heroine who wants death on principle. Having run away from home to see Boris, and already thinking about death, she, however, is not at all averse to escaping; Having learned that Boris is going far away, to Siberia, she very simply tells him: “Take me with you from here.” But then a stone appears in front of us for a minute, which keeps people in the depths of the pool that we call the “dark kingdom.” This stone is material dependence. Boris has nothing and is completely dependent on his uncle, Dikiy; Dikoy and the Kabanovs agreed to send him to Kyakhta, and, of course, they will not allow him to take Katerina with him. That’s why he answers her: “It’s impossible, Katya; I’m not going of my own free will, my uncle is sending me, and the horses are ready,” etc. Boris is not a hero, he is far from worthy of Katerina, and she fell in love with him more in solitude. He has had enough “education” and cannot cope with the old way of life, nor with his heart, nor with common sense - he walks around as if lost. He lives with his uncle because he must give him and his sister part of his grandmother’s inheritance, “if they are respectful to him.” Boris understands well that Dikoy will never recognize him as respectful and, therefore, will not give him anything; Yes, that's not enough. Boris reasons like this: “No, he will first break with us, scold us in every possible way, as his heart desires, but he will still end up not giving anything or so, just some little thing, and will even begin to tell that he gave out of mercy, that even this should not have happened.” And yet he lives with his uncle and endures his curses; For what? - unknown. On her first date with Katerina, when she talks about what awaits her for this, Boris interrupts her with the words: “Well, what should we think about it, fortunately we’re good now.” And at the last date she cries: “Who knew that we would have to suffer so much with you for our love! It would be better for me to run then!” In a word, this is one of those very common people who do not know how to do what they understand, and do not understand what they do. Their type has been portrayed many times in our fiction - sometimes with exaggerated compassion for them, sometimes with excessive bitterness against them. Ostrovsky gives them to us as they are, and with his special skill he depicts with two or three features their complete insignificance, although, however, not devoid of a certain degree of spiritual nobility. There is no need to expand on Boris; in fact, he should also be attributed to the situation in which the heroine of the play finds herself. He represents one of the circumstances that makes her fatal end necessary. If it were a different person and in a different position, then there would be no need to throw yourself into the water. But the fact of the matter is that an environment subordinated to the power of the Wild and Kabanovs usually produces Tikhonovs and Borisovs, unable to perk up and accept their human nature, even when faced with characters such as Katerina. We said a few words above about Tikhon; Boris is essentially the same, only “educated”. Education took away from him the power to do dirty tricks, it’s true; but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do; it has not even developed in him the ability to behave in such a way as to remain alien to everything disgusting that swarms around him. No, not only does he not resist, he submits to other people’s nasty things, he willy-nilly participates in them and must accept all their consequences. But he understands his position, talks about it and often even deceives, for the first time, truly living and strong natures, who, judging by themselves, think that if a person thinks so, understands so, then he should do so. Looking from their point of view, such natures will not find it difficult to say to “educated” sufferers moving away from the sad circumstances of life: “Take me with you, I will follow you everywhere.” But this is where the powerlessness of the sufferers turns out to be; it turns out that they did not foresee it, and that they curse themselves, and that they would be glad, but they cannot, and that they have no will, and most importantly, that they have nothing in their souls and that in order to continue their existence they must serve that to the Wild One, from whom we would like to get rid of...

There is nothing to praise or scold these people, but you need to pay attention to the practical ground on which the question moves; it must be admitted that it is difficult for a person expecting an inheritance from his uncle to shake off his dependence on this uncle, and then he must give up unnecessary hopes for his nephews expecting an inheritance. even if they were “educated” it is absolutely impossible. If we look at who is to blame here, then it will be not so much the nephews who are to blame as the uncles, or, better said, their inheritance.

Dobrolyubov N.A. "A ray of light in a dark kingdom"

The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” contrasts perfectly with the gloomy realities of Russia in the pre-reform period. At the epicenter of the unfolding drama is the conflict between the heroine, striving to defend her human rights, and a world in which strong, rich and powerful people rule everything.

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

From the very first pages of the work, the image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” cannot but attract attention and make one feel sympathy. Honesty, the ability to feel deeply, sincerity of nature and a penchant for poetry - these are the features that distinguish Katerina herself from representatives of the “dark kingdom”. In the main character, Ostrovsky tried to capture all the beauty of the people's simple soul. The girl expresses her emotions and experiences unpretentiously and does not use distorted words and expressions common in the merchant environment. This is not difficult to notice; Katerina’s speech itself is more reminiscent of a melodic tune; it is replete with diminutive words and expressions: “sunshine”, “grass”, “rain”. The heroine shows incredible sincerity when she talks about her free life in her father’s house, among icons, calm prayers and flowers, where she lived “like a bird in the wild.”

The image of a bird is an accurate reflection of the heroine’s state of mind

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

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

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

The image of Katerina is revealed in a new way in the play “The Thunderstorm”, when the girl makes an attempt to escape from the “disgusted” world. She does not know how and does not want to love the way the inhabitants of the “dark kingdom” do; freedom, openness, and “honest” happiness are important to her. While Boris convinces her that their love will remain a secret, Katerina wants everyone to know about it, for everyone to see. Tikhon, her husband, however, the bright feeling awakened in her heart seems to her And just at this moment the reader comes face to face with the tragedy of her suffering and torment. From this moment on, Katerina’s conflict occurs not only with the outside world, but also with herself. It is difficult for her to make a choice between love and duty; she tries to forbid herself to love and be happy. However, the fight with her own feelings is beyond the strength of the fragile Katerina.

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

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

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

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

Selected natures have their own destiny. Only he is not outside of them: they carry him in their own hearts. When she comes on her first date with Boris, from the first words she showers him with reproaches for ruining her.

“Why have you come, my destroyer?” she says. “After all, I’m married, because I have to live with my husband until the grave, until the grave.” “After all, what am I preparing for myself? Where do I belong, you know?

Calm down, sit down.

Well, how come you didn’t ruin me if I left the house at night and came to you.

It was your will.

I have no will. If I had my own will, I would not have gone to you. ( He raises his eyes and looks at Boris. A little silence.) Your will is now over me, don’t you see! ( She throws herself on his neck.)

Eh! Why feel sorry for me, it’s no one’s fault, she went for it herself. Don’t be sorry, ruin me, let everyone know, let everyone see what I do. If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment? They say that it is even easier when you suffer for some sin here on earth.

The whole character is visible again. Again Russian motives. With some kind of voluptuousness, with some kind of daring, she is already thinking about the minute when everyone will learn about her fall and dreams of the sweetness of being publicly executed for her act. What kind of despotism could have an influence on such a nature after this? If she had been surrounded by the kindest people, having committed her sin, she would have been executed and grieved in the same way. There might not have been a suicide, but her life would still have been ruined. Such commoner women as the author gives us make no concessions either to social justice, or to the demands of youth, or even to the all-healing time. If she were a developed woman, she would find justification for her love both in man’s thirst to experience happiness on earth, and in her bitter lot, and, finally, in the legality in which she herself would clothe her love. All these higher considerations are completely alien to Katerina. What in ordinary language is called a misdemeanor, in her concept is a grave, mortal sin, worthy of all the torments of hell.

<…>How, they say, could Katerina fall in love with such a vulgar gentleman as Boris! Among so many prominent and bright faces in the drama, this face really strikes the eye with its impersonality and insignificance. Not a single property that makes up the character is indicated directly and positively by the author. The flabbiness and passivity of this face appear in him as if by themselves, without the knowledge of the author. All this is true, but what of it? Could Katerina now find out what kind of person he was? She fell in love with him without speaking a single word to him; on the first date I came to him as a stranger; Before she saw him, her heart was already demanding love. She liked him because he endures grief just as much as she does. Finally, she simply fell in love with his face, and she fell in love with Boris. You never know who and why women love, the most developed ones, in this respect no match for Katerina, a simple and spontaneous woman.

Dostoevsky M.M. ""Storm". Drama in five acts by A.N. Ostrovsky"

Read also other topics of analysis of the drama "The Thunderstorm":

Dobrolyubov N.A. "A ray of light in a dark kingdom"