Character is the destiny of man.
ancient Indian saying
In the 19th century, Russian literature acquired worldwide significance. There were storms in Russia social processes. The old patriarchal order was “overturned”, a new system, still unknown to the Russian people, was “fitting in” - capitalism. Literature was faced with the task of showing the Russian man of the transitional era.
Against this background, Ostrovsky occupies a special place. He was the only Russian writer of the first rank who devoted himself entirely to drama and wrote about fifty plays. The world that Ostrovsky brought to literature is also peculiar: ridiculous merchants, old-fashioned lawyers, lively matchmakers, meek clerks and obstinate merchants' daughters, actors of provincial theaters.
The play "Thunderstorm", published in 1860, was a kind of source creative achievements Ostrovsky. In this play, the playwright portrayed not only the deadly conditions of the "dark kingdom", but also manifestations of deep hatred for them. The satirical denunciation naturally merged in this work with the affirmation in life of new forces, positive, bright, rising to fight for their human rights. In the heroine of the play, Katerina Kabanova, the writer drew new type an original, integral, selfless Russian woman, who, with the determination of her protest, foreshadowed the coming of the end of the “dark kingdom”.
Indeed, the integrity of Katerina's character above all distinguishes this irony. Let us pay attention to the life sources of this wholeness, to the cultural soil that nourishes it. Without them, Katerina's character fades like cut grass.
Katerina's worldview harmoniously combines Slavic pagan antiquity with the trends of Christian culture, spiritualizing and morally enlightening the old pagan beliefs. Katerina's religiosity is inconceivable without sunrises and sunsets, dewy grasses on flowering meadows, flights of birds, butterflies fluttering from flower to flower.
Let's remember how the heroine prays, "what an angelic smile she has on her face, but it seems to glow from her face." There is something iconic in this face, from which a light radiance emanates. But the earthly heroine of Ostrovsky, who radiates spiritual light, is far from the asceticism of official Christian morality. Ec prayer - Holy holiday spirit, a feast of the imagination: these angelic choirs in the pillar sunlight pouring from the dome, echoing the singing of wanderers, the chirping of birds. “For sure, it happened that I would enter paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over.” But "Domostroy" taught to pray with fear and trembling, with tears. Katerina's life-loving religiosity has gone far from the obsolete norms of the old patriarchal morality.
In the dreams of young Katerina there is an echo of the Christian legend about paradise, the divine garden of Eden, which was bequeathed to be cultivated by first-created people. They lived like birds of the sky, and their labor was the free labor of free people. “I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild. Mother did not have a soul in me, dressed me up like a doll, forced me to work; I used to do what I want... I used to get up early; if it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring some water with me and that’s it, I’ll water all the flowers in the house. Obviously, Katerina's legend of paradise embraces all the beauty of earthly life: prayers rising sun, morning visits to the keys - students, bright images of angels and birds.
In the key of these dreams of Katerina, there is another serious desire to fly: “Why don’t people fly! .. I say: why people do not fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you are drawn to fly.”
Where do these fantastic dreams come from for Katerina? Are they the fruit of a morbid imagination? No. In the mind of Katerina, those who entered the flesh and blood of the Russian are resurrected folk character pagan myths. And the people's consciousness is characterized by all sorts of poetic personifications. And Ostrovsky's Katerina refers to violent winds, grasses, flowers in a folk way as to spiritualized beings.
He did not realize this primordial freshness of her inner peace you won't understand life force and the power of her character, the figurative beauty of her folk language. “What a frisky I was! I've completely screwed up with you." And it is true that the soul of irony, blooming along with nature, really “withers” in the world of the Wild and Kabanovs.
Tenderness and daring, dreaminess and earthly passion merge with each other into the character of Katerina, and the main thing in it is not a mystical impulse away from the earth, but a moral force that inspires earthly life.
The soul of Ostrovsky's heroine is one of those chosen Russian souls who are alien to compromises, who crave universal truth and will not reconcile on less.
In the boar's kingdom, where all living things wither and dry up, Katerina is overcome by longing for the lost harmony. The languor of the heroine earthly love spiritually sublime, pure: I would now ride along the Volga, on a boat, with songs, or on a good troika, embracing. Her love is akin to the desire to raise her hands and fly, the heroine expects a lot from her. Love for Boris, of course, will not satisfy her longing. Not for this reason Ostrovsky intensifies the contrast between Katerina's lofty love flight and Boris's wingless infatuation.
The mental culture of Boris is completely devoid of a national moral dowry. He the only hero in "Thunderstorm", dressed not in Russian. Kalinov is a slum for him, here he is a stranger. Fate brings together people who are incommensurable in depth and moral sensitivity. Boris lives in the present and is hardly able to seriously think about the moral consequences of his actions. He is having fun now and that is enough: “How long has your husband left? Oh, so we walk! Time is enough ... Nobody will know about our love ... Let's compare his remarks with the words of Katerina: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I'm doing! .. If I'm not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human court?
What a contrast! What a fullness of love, free and open to the whole world, in contrast to the timid, voluptuous Boris!
When explaining the reasons for Katerina's popular repentance, one should not focus on superstition and ignorance, on religious prejudices and fear. The true source of the heroine's repentance lies elsewhere: in her sensitive conscientiousness. Katerina's fear -inner voice her conscience. Katerina is equally heroic both in a passionate and reckless love interest, and in a deeply conscientious one. national repentance. What conscience! What a mighty Russian conscience! What a mighty moral force!
The tragedy of Katerina, in my opinion, is that the life surrounding her has lost its integrity and completeness, has entered a period of deep moral crisis. Soul Storm experienced, a direct consequence of this disharmony. Katerina feels guilty not only before Tikhon Kabanikha and not so much before them, but before the whole world. It seems to her that the whole universe is offended by her behavior. Only a full-blooded and spiritually rich person can feel his unity with the universe so deeply and have such a high sense of responsibility before the highest truth and harmony that is enshrined in it.
For general meaning The play is very important that Katerina, a resolute, integral Russian character, did not appear from somewhere outside, but was formed in Kalinov's conditions. It is in the soul of a woman from the city of Kalinov that a new attitude to the world is born, a new feeling that is not yet clear to the heroine herself. It's an awakening sense of identity. And this inspires hope that new, fresh forces are maturing among the people. This means that the renewal of life, the joy of freedom is not far off.
"Thunderstorm" - the most powerful and decisive work A. N. Ostrovsky, which vividly describes the pictures of the gloomy reality of Russia in the pre-reform period. Central conflict dramas - the clash of the heroine, defending her human rights, with the world " dark kingdom", with the realm of lies, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, ignorance, the power of money, in which the "owners", strong and powerful people rule. It is they who are opposed to the bright and a pure soul the main character Katerina Kabanova.
From the very first scenes, she attracts special attention. Katerina differs from all representatives of the "dark kingdom" in the depth of her feelings, honesty, truthfulness, and poetry of nature. In her image, the author captured all the beauty folk soul. Katerina expresses her thoughts and feelings in a simple way. vernacular without using the usual merchant environment distorted words and expressions. The speech of the heroine is musical, melodious, reminiscent of folk songs. It has a lot of affectionate and diminutive words: sun, water, rain, grass. And what sincerity sounds in the story of her free life in home, among flowers, icons, prayers. “I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild.” The image of the bird helps to understand the main thing in the character of Katerina. IN folk poetry the bird is a symbol of will. And Katerina, like a "free bird", is true to the feeling of freedom, only in it she sees the content and meaning of life. “Why don’t people fly like birds?” she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes it seems to me that I am a bird.” But this free bird got into an iron cage. And she beats, yearns in captivity.
With her dreamy and romantic soul, Katerina is a stranger in the Kabanovs' house. With such a character, she cannot live where everything is based on lies, hypocrisy, tyranny. Can't live in a house where life philosophy mistresses - to frighten, humiliate and keep everyone in fear. It is hard for her to endure the humiliating reproaches of her mother-in-law. But whole strong nature, Katerina suffers only for the time being. “And if I get too cold here,” she says, “they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, I’ll rush into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, so I won’t, even if you cut me!” Among the victims of the "dark kingdom" she stands out for her open character, courage, and directness. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she answers Varvara, who says that you won’t live in their house without deception. The arrogant power of the "dark kingdom" did not bend Katerina, did not poison her consciousness, did not force her to hypocrisy and lie. She lives with a real dream human life.
Her attempt to escape from the "disgusted" world merges with the awakened feeling of love. And at this moment there is a clash of love and duty. After all, Katerina cannot love like the timid victims of the "dark kingdom." She wants openness, freedom, "honest" happiness. Boris tells her: "No one will know about our love ..." And Katerina replies: "Let everyone know, let everyone see what I'm doing!" She is cheating on her husband Tikhon, but at the same time she perceives her bright feeling of love as a mortal sin. And here we have a tragedy female soul her pain and suffering. Katerina comes into conflict not only with environment but also with itself. She cannot choose between duty and love. The heroine is in painful discord with her conscience. She rushes about, yearns, tries to suppress the joy of love that lit up her life, tries to forbid herself to love and be happy. But this struggle with herself, with her feelings, turns out to be beyond the heroine's strength. The laws of the world, its way of life and order put pressure on her. And Katerina longs to cleanse her conscience with repentance. She can't take it anymore. And when he sees a picture on the wall of the gallery in the church " doomsday“Then she can’t stand it, falls to her knees and publicly repents of sin. But this does not bring relief. The tragedy lies in the fact that the heroine does not find support anywhere. Even from a loved one. “Take me with you from here!” she prays to Boris But her friend is weak and downtrodden. "I can't, Katya. I’m not going of my own free will ... "- this is his answer. Boris is not a hero, he is not able to protect either himself or the woman he loves. The inability to find support and support in a loved one, persecution by a despotic mother-in-law, a clash of love and duty - all this leads to tragic end, breaks the fate of Katerina, pushes her to the cliff.
She can no longer imagine her life without love and happiness,
A. N. Ostrovsky- playwright, whose name is associated with the emergence of a truly Russian national theater, the author of numerous plays, diverse in terms of genre. In artistically 1 truthful images of his comedies, dramas, scenes from life, historical chronicles before us are representatives of various classes, people of various professions, origins, upbringing. Life, manners, the characters of the townspeople, nobles, officials, merchants - from "very important gentlemen", rich bar and businessmen to the most insignificant and poor - are reflected in his work with amazing breadth.
The plays were written not by an indifferent everyday writer, but by an angry accuser of the world of the "dark kingdom", where for the sake of profit a person is capable of everything, where the elders rule over the younger, the rich - over the poor, where government, the church and society in every possible way support the centuries-old cruel morals. About this - Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", which is rightfully considered one of the masterpieces of Russian realistic drama and which the author himself assessed as a great creative success. In "Thunderstorm" not only the deadly conditions of the dark kingdom are depicted, but also manifestations of deep hatred towards them. The satirical denunciation in the play naturally merged with the affirmation of new forces growing in life - positive, bright, rising to fight for their human rights. Feelings of discontent and spontaneous indignation were expressed in the play in the decisive protest of Katerina Kabanova.
The bright human beginning in Katerina is natural, like breathing. This is her nature, which is expressed not so much in reasoning, but in spiritual subtlety, the strength of emotions, in relation to people, in all her behavior. The confrontation escalates and intensifies in Katerina's soul: dark prejudice and poetic insight, selfless courage and despair, reckless love and unyielding conscience painfully clash. In the image Katerina Ostrovsky painted a new type of Russian woman - an original, selfless, resolute protest foreshadowing the end of the "dark kingdom". Katerina personifies moral purity, spiritual beauty Russian woman, her desire for freedom, her ability not only to endure, but also to defend her rights, her human dignity. A whole, strong nature, Katerina endures only for the time being. To the words of Varvara: “Where will you go?
You are a husband's wife." Katerina replies: "Oh, Varya, you don't know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if it gets too cold for me here, they won't hold me back by any force.
I'll throw myself out the window, I'll throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, so I won’t, even if you cut me!
» At Katerina - open character strong and free-spirited. She is characterized by courage and directness: “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything, ”she answers Varvara, who says that you won’t live in their house without deception. In my own way emotional mood Katerina is a “free bird”.
“... Why don't people fly? she turns to Barbara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.” Therefore, the awakened feeling for Katerina merges with longing for the will, with the dream of a real, human life. She loves not like the timid victims of the "dark kingdom".
Katerina gives herself to love to the end, demanding nothing in return and not wanting to hide anything. To Boris’s words: “No one will know about our love ...” Katerina replies: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I am doing!” And in the name of this free love that knows no boundaries, she enters into an unequal battle with the forces of the "dark kingdom" and dies. Who is to blame for her death? What is Katerina's suicide - her moral victory over the "dark kingdom", where rudeness, violence, ignorance and indifference to others rule, or a tragic defeat? It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. Too many reasons led to such an ending.
The playwright sees the tragedy of Katerina's position in the fact that she comes into conflict not only with Kalinov's family customs but also with itself. The straightforwardness of Ostrovsky's heroine is one of the sources of her tragedy. Katerina is pure in soul - lies and debauchery are alien and disgusting to her. She understands that, having fallen in love with Boris, she has violated the moral law.
“Ah, Varya,” she complains, “I have a sin on my mind! How much I, poor thing, wept, no matter what I did to myself!
I can't get away from this sin. Nowhere to go. After all, this is not good, this is a terrible sin, Varenka, that I love another? » If not mind, then Katerina felt in her heart the inevitable correctness of other laws - freedom, love, humanity. These laws are brutally violated, not by the heroine, but in relation to her: she was given in marriage to the unloved, her husband betrays her for the sake of a drunken revelry, her mother-in-law relentlessly tyrannizes, she is forced to live in captivity. Throughout the play, there is a painful struggle in Katerina's mind between understanding her wrong, her sinfulness and a vague, but increasingly powerful sense of her right to human life.
But the play ends with Katerina's moral victory over the dark forces that torment her. She expiates her guilt immeasurably, and escapes bondage and humiliation by the only path that has been opened to her. Committing suicide, committing, from the point of view of the church, a terrible sin, Katerina thinks not about the salvation of her soul, but about the love that was revealed to her: “My friend! My joy!
Goodbye! "Her decision to die, if only not to remain a slave, expresses, according to Dobrolyubov, "the need for the emerging movement of Russian life." And this decision comes to Katerina along with internal self-justification. Fear disappears in her heart, she feels ready to stand before a moral court. After all, people say: "Death by sins is terrible." If Katerina is not afraid means her sins are atoned for. She dies because she considers death the only worthy outcome, the only way to preserve the higher that lived in her.
The idea that Katerina's death is in fact a moral victory, the triumph of the real Russian soul over the forces of the "dark kingdom" of the Wild and Kabanovs, is also strengthened by the reaction of other heroes of the play to her death. For example, Tikhon, Katerina's husband, for the first time in his life expressed his own opinion, joining (even if only for a moment) in the fight against the "dark kingdom". "You ruined her, you, you...
he exclaims, turning to his mother, before whom he has trembled all his life. For the first time, he decides to protest against the suffocating foundations of his family:
- “Good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live in the world and suffer!”
Thus, a thunderstorm, the approach of which was felt throughout the play, broke out at the end. And this thunderstorm is not just a natural phenomenon, it is a shock to all existing foundations, a symbol of freedom.
This gave criticism Dobrolyubov a reason to call Katerina "a Russian, strong character", a national "bright ray in dark kingdom”, referring to the effective expression in the heroine of direct protest, the liberation aspirations of the masses. Pointing to the deep typicality of this image, to its national significance, the critic wrote that the image of Katerina represents "an artistic combination folk traits, manifested in different provisions Russian life, but serving as an expression of one idea. In his opinion, Katerina reflected in her feelings and actions the spontaneous protest of the broad masses of the people against the hated, fettering conditions of the dark kingdom.
Wholeness the decisiveness of Katerina's character, her "Russian living nature" was expressed in the fact that she refused to obey the routines of the Kabanikh's house with its "violent, deadening beginnings" and preferred death to life in captivity. She, according to Dobrolyubov, “does not want to put up, does not want to take advantage of the miserable vegetative life that they give her in exchange for her living soul ...
". And this decision of Katerina was not a manifestation of weakness, but of spiritual strength and courage.
The drama "Thunderstorm", published in 1860, was a kind of result of Ostrovsky's creative achievements. It more clearly revealed both his satirical power and his ability to assert the progressive tendencies that arise in life.
In the play "Thunderstorm", the playwright depicted not only the deadly conditions of the "dark kingdom", but also manifestations of deep hatred for them. The satirical denunciation naturally merged in this work with the affirmation of new forces growing in life, positive, bright, rising to fight for their human rights.
Feelings of discontent and spontaneous indignation were expressed in a strong protest of the main character of the play, Katerina Kabanova. But Katerina's protest turns into a spiritual drama. She did not marry out of love, she was married to Tikhon Kabanov only because his mother had capital. Yes, Katerina, being a strong and whole nature, could not have loved such a person, weak-willed, weak, without her own opinion, who in everything obeys only her mother. And when Boris meets Katerina on her way, two impulses of different magnitude and equal law collide in her soul. On the one hand, to give up love, remaining unhappy for life, on the other hand, to follow the natural inclination of your heart and become a criminal in your own eyes (not to mention the public).
In the boar's kingdom, where all living things wither and dry up, Katerina is overcome by longing for the lost harmony. After all, before marriage, she "lived, did not grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild." Therefore, her love is akin to the desire to raise her hands and fly. The heroine needs too much from her. But fate brings together people who are incommensurable in depth and moral sensitivity. Boris is hardly better than Tikhon in his spinelessness, in his lack of will. Tikhon truly loves Katerina and is ready to forgive her any insults, and Boris, despite his love for Katerina, does not think about the future, is not going to change anything. He lives for one day, he feels good today - and this is quite enough for happiness. Moreover, Boris does not want to publicize his relationship with Katerina, he is afraid that they will find out about their love. It remains to be wondered why Katerina fell in love with this man, besides, unlike the timid Boris, she does not want to hide her love: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I'm doing! If I am not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment? Ostrovsky contrasts Katerina's high love flight with Boris's wingless passion.
This contrast is most evident in the scene of their last date. Katerina's hopes are in vain: "If only I could live with him, maybe I would see some kind of joy." “If”, “maybe”, “something” ... little consolation! But even here she finds the strength to think not about herself. It is Katerina who asks for forgiveness from her beloved for causing him anxiety. Boris, however, cannot even think of such a thing: “Who knew that it was for our love that we suffer so much with you! I'd better run then!" But didn’t it remind Boris of the retribution for the love of married woman folk song, performed by Kudryash, didn’t Kudryash warn him about this: “Eh, Boris Grigoryich, stop giving up! ... After all, this means you want to ruin her completely ...” didn’t Katerina herself tell Boris about this? Alas, the hero simply did not hear anything of this. The fact is that the spiritual culture of the enlightened Boris is completely devoid of a moral "dowry". Kalinov is a slum for him, here he is a stranger. He does not have the courage to even listen to Katerina: “We would not have been found here!”. This is not the kind of love Katerina needs.
Katerina is equally heroic both in her passionate, reckless love interest and in her deeply conscientious repentance. 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." People say: "Death by sins is terrible." And if Katerina is not afraid of death, then her sins are atoned for.
Dobrolyubov considered the image of Katerina close "to the position in the heart of every decent person in our society."
Katerina in the fight for her human rights
The central place in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" is given to Katerina. Immediately after the publication, this heroine gained a reputation as a “beam of light in a dark kingdom”. Among other women of the city of Kalinov, she was singled out a strong character. She was honest, straightforward, sincere and freedom-loving. In addition, Katerina possessed a rare moral purity and beauty among them. In contrast, she is shown Kabanikha with her daughter Varvara - her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Marfa Ignatievna was a despotic and hypocritical woman. Under the guise of virtue, piety and high moral principles, she hid her desire to control the people around her. She regularly found fault with the children, with her daughter-in-law, constantly took out her anger on them and was unhappy with them. Kabanikha remembered love only when she needed to achieve something. Barbara has long been accustomed to life under the yoke of her mother. She preferred to lie and pretend rather than tell her about her personal life. Katerina could not understand and accept such a way of life, since she herself grew up in a loving and friendly
About the desire for a free life in Katerina says her daydreaming. She often wonders why people can't fly. Being a romantic nature, the heroine strives with all her might to break out of this slavish confinement. She does not have any feelings for her husband Tikhon, since he is a spineless and cowardly person. Despite the fact that he sincerely loves Katerina, standing up for her and protecting her from a formidable mother is beyond his moral strength. He dutifully accepts the orders of the “dark kingdom” and unquestioningly fulfills all the whims of his mother. In this sense, he is even worse than Varvara, who secretly meets with Diky's clerk.
Unfortunately, this hero also turned out to be a weak-willed and spineless person. Afraid to contradict his uncle, he left Katerina, and she, left alone with her pangs of conscience, rushed into the Volga and drowned herself. In fact, she saw the only way out in death, since she could no longer live in this “dark kingdom”. During her lifetime, she failed to overcome the world of tyrants, but with her death she expressed her frank protest and hatred for the oppressive order. She managed to shake the patriarchal morals of Kabanikhi and Dikiy, thus paving the way for a new order.
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