According to I. A. Goncharov, A. N. Ostrovsky “donated a whole library of works of art to literature, created his own special world for the stage.” The world of Ostrovsky's works is amazing. He created large and solid characters, knew how to emphasize comic or dramatic properties in them, draw the reader's attention to the merits or vices of his characters.
The heroes of the play "Thunderstorm" - Savel Prokofievich Dikoy and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova - deserve special attention.
Savel Prokofievich Wild - a merchant, a significant person in the city of Kalinov. Eloquent characteristics are given to him by the heroes of the play. “He belongs everywhere. He’s afraid, what, he’s someone! ” - says Kudryash about him. Wild, in fact, does not recognize anything but her own will. He does not care about the thoughts and feelings of other people. Cursing, humiliating, insulting Savel Prokofievich is worth nothing. With those around him, he behaves as if he had "lost the chain", and without this he "cannot breathe." “... You are a worm,” he says to Kuligi-nu. “If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush.”
The power of the Wild is the stronger, the weaker, weaker the person. So Curly, for example, knows how to resist the Wild One. “...He is the word, and I am ten; spit, and go. No, I won’t become a slave to him, ”says Kudryash about his relationship with the merchant. Another man is Dikiy's nephew, Boris. “Boris Grigorievich got it as a sacrifice, so he rides on it,” people around notice. Wild is not embarrassed by the fact that Boris is an orphan and that he has no one closer to his uncle. The merchant realizes that the fate of his nephew is in his hands, and takes advantage of this. "Driven, beaten ...", Boris says with sorrow. The merchant is no less cruel to his employees: “With us, no one dares to utter a word about a salary, he scolds what the world is worth.” On someone else's slave labor and deceit, the unscrupulous Wild makes his fortune: "... I will not pay them for some penny ... and I make thousands of this ... ". However, sometimes an epiphany comes to Wild, and he realizes that he is going too far: “After all, I already know what I need to give, but I can’t do everything with kindness.”
Dikoi is a despot and tyrant in his family, “his own people cannot please him in any way”, “when he is offended by such a person whom he does not dare to scold; stay at home here!”
Not inferior to Wild and Kabanikha, a rich Kalinovskaya merchant's wife. The boar is a hypocrite, she does everything "under the guise of piety." Outwardly, she is very pious. However, as Kuligin notes, Kabanikha “clothes the poor, but ate the household completely.” The main object of her tyranny is her own son Tikhon. As an adult, a married man, he is completely at the mercy of his mother, does not have his own opinion, is afraid to argue with her. The boar "builds" his relationship with his wife, she directs his every deed, every word. Complete obedience is all she wants to see in her son. The power-hungry Kabanikha does not notice that under her yoke a cowardly, pitiful, weak-willed, irresponsible person has grown up. Having escaped for some time from the supervision of his mother, he chokes on freedom and drinks, because he does not know how to use freedom in another way. “... Not a single step out of your will,” he repeats to his mother, but “he himself thinks how he could break out as soon as possible.”
The boar is jealous of her son's daughter-in-law, constantly reproaches him with Katerina, "eating eats." “I already see that I am a hindrance to you,” she saws Tikhon. Kabanikha believes that the wife of her husband should be afraid, namely afraid, and not love and respect. In her opinion, the right relationship is built precisely on the suppression of one person by another, on humiliation, on lack of freedom. Indicative in this regard is the scene of Katerina's farewell to her husband, when all the words of Tikhon addressed to his wife are only a repetition of Kabanikh's instigations.
If Tikhon, crushed by her, suffers from the Kabanikh from childhood, then the life of such a dreamy, poetic and whole nature as Katerina in the house of a merchant becomes completely unbearable. “Here that she married, that she was buried - it doesn’t matter,” Boris talks about this.
Constant pressure forces Kabanikh's daughter, Varvara, to adapt. “Do whatever you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered,” she argues.
Giving an assessment to the images of the "masters of life", N. Dobro-lyubov shows Wild and Kabanikha as tyrants, with their "constant suspicion, squeamishness and captiousness." According to the critic, "Thunderstorm" is the most decisive work of Ostrovsky" in this play "the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought ... to the most tragic consequences ...".
The image of Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm" is one of the main negative ones that form the plot. Hence the depth of his portrayal by the playwright Ostrovsky. The play itself shows how, in the depths of an obsolete, but still strong patriarchal society, the champions of the "dark kingdom" in the very bud stifle the barely emerging sprouts of a new one. At the same time, the author of the work depicts two types that support the foundations of the Old Testament society based on dogmas. This is the widowed wealthy merchant Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, as well as the wealthy merchant Savel Prokofich Wild. No wonder they call each other godfathers.
Merchant Kabanova as an ideologist of the "dark kingdom"
It should be recognized that the image of the Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm" in the gradation of negative images occupies a more significant position than the character of the merchant Wild. Unlike her godfather, who oppresses those around her in the most primitive ways (with the help of swearing, reaching almost beatings, humiliation), Marfa Ignatievna understands perfectly well what an “old man” is and how it should be protected. Her influence on others is more subtle. Indeed, in the course of reading the drama, the reader sees not only scenes where she categorically teaches her family, but also moments where she pretends to be “old and stupid.” Moreover, the merchant Kabanova acts in the manipulation of her neighbors as an apologist for double morality, hypocrisy. And in this sense, the image of Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm" is truly classic in Russian literature.
The merchant's desire is to subjugate her neighbors
The playwright Ostrovsky succeeded at the same time in a deep and understandable way for the reader to show how ostentatious, insincere religiosity coexists in the merchant's wife Kabanova with an absolutely non-Christian, immoral and selfish desire - to subjugate people to herself. Marfa Ignatievna really breaks the will and characters of her neighbors, their life aspirations, crushes real, genuine spirituality. She is opposed by the image of Katerina in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", her daughter-in-law.
Different understanding of antiquity by Kabanikha and Katerina
To be precise, Katerina is also a representative of a patriarchal society. This idea was expressed by the actor and literary critic Pisarev in response to the well-known article by Nikolai Dobrolyubov “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom”.
However, if her mother-in-law is a gloomy, dogmatic “old time”, subjugating people and killing their aspirations with meaningless “no” and teachings “how it should be”, then Katerina, unlike her, has completely different views on “old times”.
For her, there are also centuries-old traditions, but they are expressed in a completely different way: in love for others and caring for them, in a childishly enthusiastic attitude towards the world around them, in the ability to see and perceive all the good things around, in an instinctive rejection of gloomy dogmatism, in mercy . "Old" for Katerina - colorful, romantic, poetic, joyful. Thus, Katerina and Kabanikha personalize two opposite aspects of the Russian patriarchal serf society - dark and light.
Psychological pressure of Kabanikha on Katerina
The tragic image of Katerina in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" invariably arouses the sympathy and sympathy of the reader. The girl ends up in the Kabanov family, having married Tikhon, the son of a merchant. Before Katerina appeared in the house, her future mother-in-law completely imposed her will on everyone at home: her son and daughter Varvara. Moreover, if Tikhon is morally broken completely and is only able to follow the instructions of "mother", then Varvara only pretends to agree, but she always acts in her own way. However, under the influence of her mother, her personality was also deformed - the girl became insincere, double-minded.
The image of Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm" is antagonistic to the image of Katerina throughout the play. It is not in vain that the reproach of the daughter-in-law sounds that her mother-in-law "eats with food." The boar constantly insults her with far-fetched suspicions. It exhausts the soul with senseless compulsion to “bow down to your husband”, “to cut down on your nose”. Moreover, the merchant's wife appeals to quite plausible principles: maintaining order in the family; harmonious (as is customary in the Russian tradition) relations between relatives; foundations of the Christian faith. In fact, the influence of Marfa Ignatievna on Katerina comes down to coercion - to blindly follow her orders. The boar wants to turn her into another subject of his home "dark kingdom".
Unmercy is a common feature of the Boar and the Wild
The characterization of the image of the Kabanikh in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" shows its common feature with the image of the merchant Wild, despite their obvious characteristic differences. This is cruelty to people. Both of them treat their neighbors and fellow citizens in a non-Christian, consumerist way.
True, Savel Prokofich does this openly, and Marfa Ignatievna resorts to mimicry, imitating Christian beliefs. In a conversation with her neighbors, she prefers the tactics of "the best defense is an attack", accusing them of non-existent "sins". She does not even hear the opposite arguments from the children and daughter-in-law. “I would believe it… if I didn’t hear it with my own ears… what a reverence…” Isn’t it a very convenient, practically “impenetrable” position?
The characterization and image of the Kabanikh from the play "Thunderstorm" by A. Ostrovsky combines hypocrisy and cruelty. Indeed, in fact, Kabanikha, who regularly goes to church and does not spare alms to the poor, turns out to be cruel and unable to forgive Katerina, who repented and confessed to her husband Katerina. Moreover, she instructs her son Tikhon, deprived of his own point of view, to beat her, which he does. They motivate this, again, with traditions.
Boar contributed to Katerina's suicide
It is the image of Katerina Kabanova in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", constantly harassed by her mother-in-law, deprived of all rights and intercession, that gives the tragedy to Ostrovsky's play. None of the readers doubts that her suicide is the result of the adverse effects of her mother-in-law, constant humiliation, threats, and cruel treatment.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Katerina has previously stated that she will settle scores with her unhappy life. Marfa Ignatievna, who was perfectly aware of everything that was happening in the house, could not help but know this. Was there a direct intent on the part of the mother-in-law to bring the daughter-in-law to suicide? Hardly. Rather, Kabanikha thought of "breaking" her, completely, as she had already done with her son. As a result, the merchant's family collapses: Varvara's daughter accuses her of directly contributing to the tragedy and leaves home. Tikhon falls into a binge ...
However, the hard-hearted Marfa Ignatievna does not repent even after that. For her, the "dark kingdom", manipulating people is more important than family, more important than morality. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the episode of Kabanikh's manifest hypocrisy even in this tragic situation. The merchant's wife publicly bows and thanks the people who got the body of the late Katerina from the Volga. However, he then declares that she cannot be forgiven. What could be more anti-Christian than not to forgive the dead? This, perhaps, can only be done by a true apostate.
Instead of a conclusion
The negative characteristic character - the merchant's wife Kabanova - is revealed gradually in the course of the action. Does the image of Katerina in A. N. Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" fully oppose him? Probably no. The girl has nothing to oppose to the suffocating atmosphere around her, she only prays for understanding. She makes a mistake. The imaginary liberation from the domestic "dark kingdom" of the Kabanovs - an affair with Boris - turns out to be a mirage. Katherine is remorseful. It would seem that the Kabanikhi's morality has won... It costs nothing for the merchant's wife to turn the girl into her ally. For this, it is only necessary to show mercy. However, as they say, habit is second nature. Kabanikha, "offended", treats the already unrequited, humiliated Katerina with a vengeance.
The suicide of the daughter-in-law brings devastating consequences for the family of Marfa Ignatievna. We are now witnessing a crisis in the obedient (before the appearance of Katerina) family of the merchant, which is disintegrating. Kabanikha can no longer effectively protect the "old times". From the foregoing, the conclusion suggests itself that at the turn of the 19th century, the way of life in Russian society was steadily changing.
In fact, society even then demanded a liberation decree abolishing serfdom, allowing the raznochintsy to raise the role of education and social freedoms.
Characteristics of Kabanikha from the play Thunderstorm
boar play heroine
Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna (Kabanikha) - the central heroine of the play, mother of Tikhon and Varvara, mother-in-law of Katerina. The list of characters says about her: a rich merchant's wife, a widow. In the system of characters of the play - the antagonist of the main character, Katerina, a contrasting comparison with which is of decisive importance for understanding the meaning of the play. The similarity of the heroines can be seen both in their belonging to the world of patriarchal ideas and values, and in the scale and strength of the characters. Both of them are maximalists, they will never reconcile themselves with human weaknesses, they do not allow the possibility of any compromise. The religiosity of both also has one similar feature: they both do not believe in forgiveness and do not remember mercy. However, these similarities are exhausted, creating ground for comparison and emphasizing the essentially significant antagonism of the heroines. They represent, as it were, two poles of the patriarchal world. Katerina - his poetry, spirituality, impulse, dreaminess, the spirit of the patriarchal way of life in its ideal meaning. The boar is all chained to the earth and earthly affairs and interests, she is the guardian of order and form, defends the way of life in all its petty manifestations, demanding the strict execution of the rite and rite, not caring in the least about the inner essence of human relations (see her rude response to Katerina's words about that her mother-in-law is like her own mother; all teachings to her son).
K. in the play is characterized not only by her own speeches and actions, but is also discussed by other characters. For the first time, the wanderer Feklusha speaks about her: “I am so pleased, so, mother, satisfied, to the neck! For our failure to leave them, even more bounty will be multiplied, and especially to the Kabanovs' house. Before this remark - Kuligin's judgment: “The hypocrite, sir! She clothes the poor, but eats the household completely. Soon after these preliminary characteristics, K. appears, coming out of Vespers, accompanied by her family, whom she constantly saws, finding fault with her son’s imaginary cooling off towards her, showing jealous hostility towards his young wife and distrust of her sincere words (“For me, mother, everything is the same as your own mother, what you are. Yes, and Tikhon loves you"). From this conversation we learn that, according to K., the correct family order and household way of life are based on the fear of the younger ones before the elders, she tells Tikhon about his relationship with his wife: “You will not be afraid, even more so. What kind of order will this be in the house? Thus, if the key words in Katerina's ideas about a happy and prosperous life in the house are “love” and “will” (see her story about life as a girl), then in K.’s ideas, these are fear and order. This is especially evident in the scene of Tikhon's departure, when K. forces his son to strictly follow the rules and "order his wife" how to live without him. K. has no doubts about the moral correctness of the hierarchical relations of “patriarchal life, but there is no longer any confidence in their inviolability. the elders will die, I don’t know how the light will stand), and the expectation that chaos will come with her death gives tragedy to her figure. She does not consider herself a rapist either: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach you good things.” If Katerina already feels in a new way, not in the Kalinov way, but does not realize this, then K., on the contrary, still feels quite in the old way, but clearly sees that her world is perishing. Of course, this awareness is clothed in completely "Kalinov's", medieval forms of common people's philosophizing, mainly in apocalyptic expectations. All this reveals her dialogue with Feklusha, the peculiarity of which is that it characterizes, first of all, K ., although Feklusha “pronounces” these thoughts, and K. strengthens himself, wants to assure the interlocutor that they really have “paradise and silence” in their city, but at the end of the scene her true thoughts are fully revealed in the last two remarks, as if authorizing the apocalyptic Feklusha’s reasoning: “And it will be worse than this, dear,” and in response to the words of the wanderer: “We just don’t live to see this” - K. weightily throws: "Maybe we will live." It is impossible to accept the very common definition of K. as "fools". Tyranny is not the order of the patriarchal world, but the rampant self-will of a powerful person, who also violates the correct order and ritual in his own way. K. condemns his godfather Wild, a real tyrant (unlike K. herself, who strictly adheres to the rules and regulations), and treats with contempt his rampage and complaints about his family as a manifestation of weakness. Others do not doubt the strength of K.’s character (“Our mistress would be behind him, she would soon stop him,” remarks the maid Glasha in response to Boris, who complains about the wildness of the Wild). K. herself, no matter how much she sharpened her children for disrespect and disobedience, would not even think of complaining to strangers about the disorder in her house. And therefore, for her, Katerina's public confession is a terrible blow, which will soon be joined again by her son's open, in public, rebellion, not to mention the escape from the house of her daughter Varvara. Therefore, in the finale of The Thunderstorm, not only the death of Katerina, but also the collapse of K. Of course, the antagonist of the tragic heroine does not cause sympathy.
The boar is very rich. This can be judged because her trading affairs go beyond Kalinov (on her behalf, Tikhon traveled to Moscow), because Dikoy respects her. But the affairs of Kabanikha are of little interest to the playwright: she has a different role in the play. If the Wild shows the brute force of tyranny, then Kabanikha is the spokesman for the ideas and principles of the "dark kingdom". She understands that some money does not give power yet, another indispensable condition is the obedience of those who do not have money. And she sees her main concern in stopping any possibility of rebelliousness. She "eats" the household in order to kill their will, any ability to resist. With Jesuit sophistication, she exhausts their souls, offends their human dignity with baseless suspicions. She skillfully uses various techniques. to assert your will.
The boar can speak both benevolently and instructively (“I know, I know that my words are not to your liking, but what can you do, I’m not a stranger to you, my heart hurts about you”), and hypocritically show down (“Mother is old , stupid; well, you, young people, smart, should not exact from us fools"), and authoritatively order ("Look, remember! Kill yourself on your nose!", "Bow at your feet!"). Kabanikha tries to show his religiosity. Words: “Oh, a grave sin! How long to sin!”, “Only one sin!” - constantly accompany her speech. She supports superstitions and prejudices, strictly observes ancient customs. It is not known whether Kabanikha believes in the ridiculous tales of Feklusha and the signs of the townspeople, she herself does not say anything like that. But it resolutely suppresses all manifestations of free-thinking. She condemns Kuligin's statements against prejudices and superstitions, and she supports the superstitious prophecies of the townspeople that “this thunderstorm will not pass in vain”, and instructively tells her son: “Don't judge yourself older! They know more than you. Old people have signs of everything. An old man will not say a word to the wind. And in religion, and in ancient customs, she sees the main goal: to push a person, to keep him in eternal fear. She understands that only fear can keep people in subjection, prolong the shattered domination of petty tyrants. To the words of Tikhon, why should his wife be afraid of him, Kabanova exclaims in horror: “How, why be afraid! How, why be afraid! Yes, you're crazy, right? You will not be afraid, and even more so me. What is the order in the house will be? After all, you, tea, live with her in law. Ali, do you think the law means nothing?” She defends the law, according to which the weak must be afraid of the strong, according to which a person should not have his own will. As a faithful guardian of this order, she teaches her family in front of a crowd of citizens. After Katerina's confession, she loudly, triumphantly says to Tikhon: “What, son! Where will the will lead? I told you so you didn't want to listen. That's what I've been waiting for!"
In the son of Kabanikha, Tikhon, we see the living embodiment of the goal towards which the rulers of the "dark kingdom" are striving. They would be completely calm if they could make all people just as downtrodden and weak-willed. Thanks to the efforts of "mother" Tikhon is so saturated with fear and humility that he does not even dare to think about living his mind and his will. “Yes, mother, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live with my will! he assures his mother.
But Tikhon is by nature a good person. He is kind, sympathetic, sincerely loves and pities Katerina, and is alien to any selfish aspirations. But everything human is suppressed in him by the despotism of his mother, he becomes a submissive executor of her will. However, the tragedy of Katerina makes even the humble Tikhon raise his voice of protest. If the first words of Tikhon in the play are: “Yes, how can I, mother, disobey you!” At the end of it, he desperately throws a passionate, angry accusation into his mother’s face: “You ruined her! You! You!"
The unbearable life under the yoke of Kabanikh, the longing for freedom, the desire for love and devotion - all this, which did not find a response in Tikhon, was the reason for the emergence of Katerina's feelings - for Boris. Boris is not like the other inhabitants of Kalinov. He is educated and seems like a man from another world. Like Katerina, he is also oppressed. and this. makes a young woman hope to find in him a kindred spirit capable of responding to her ardent feeling. But Katerina was bitterly deceived in Boris. Boris only outwardly seems better than Tikhon, but in reality he is worse than him. Like Tikhon, Boris does not have his own will and meekly obeys.
The imperious and rude Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova or Kabanikha is one of the central female characters in Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm.
Characteristics of the heroine
(Faina Shevchenko as Kabanikha, drama production, 1934)
Kabanikha is a wealthy merchant and widow who lives in the provincial town of Kalinov with her daughter, son and wife. She single-handedly manages all the affairs of the family and does not accept any objections, she has a very strong and domineering nature. For her, the main concepts in the family structure, which she demands to be strictly followed, are “fear” and “order”.
Despite the fact that she is religious and is a zealous Christian, she is far from the spiritual life, and is only interested in earthly and pressing problems. She is a very hypocritical, cold-blooded and cunning old woman who gives alms to the poor in public, and at home offends and tyrannizes children and daughter-in-law. It costs nothing for her to insult or humiliate a person, she is distinguished by rigidity and severity, she likes to keep people in fear, so it is better to control and subordinate them to her will.
(Illustration by Gerasimov S, V, detgiz 1950)
Kabanikha is a typical representative of the old patriarchal way of life, for her, orders and customs are primarily important, she simply does not take into account the feelings and desires of loved ones and thinks that she has every moral right to humiliate them, “read morals” and manage them in every possible way. Moreover, justifying herself with parental care and love for children, she does not consider herself a tyrant at all and firmly believes that she acts for the good. The Kabanikha is sure that she is not at all obliged to argue whether she is acting correctly or not, the main thing is to live according to the covenant of the fathers and strictly follow their instructions, then peace and order will reign everywhere. According to her, only aged people have sufficient intelligence and wisdom, young people must do everything according to their instructions, they themselves cannot make any decisions.
Most of all, the quiet and submissive daughter-in-law Katerina suffers from the tyranny of the evil Kabanikh, whom she hates with all her heart and is madly jealous of her son. His mother considers him a rag, and manifestations of affection towards his young wife - weakness, before his departure, she advises him to reprimand Katerina as severely as possible so that she fears him and respects him. Changes in her daughter-in-law's behavior do not escape her and she suspects her of cheating on her husband. When Tikhon returns, his mother brings Katerina to the point that she confesses everything. The boar is completely satisfied, because she turned out to be right in everything - an affectionate attitude towards her wife cannot lead to anything good.
The image of the heroine in the work
The image of Kabanikhi, a tyrant and petty tyrant in a female guise, symbolizes the mores and moral principles that reigned in the merchant society in Russia in the 19th century. Steeped in outdated dogmas and unshakable traditions, they have the strength and financial capabilities to make the state better, but lacking sufficient self-awareness and bogged down in inertia and hypocrisy, they cannot decide to do so.
At the end of the work, the evil and cruel Boar is waiting for her own “thunderstorm” and the complete collapse of her world: daughter-in-law Katerina confesses her feelings for another man, her son publicly rebels against her, her daughter runs away from home. It all ends very sadly: Katerina, under the pressure of shame and morality, driven by Kabanikha to complete despair, throws herself off a cliff into the river, her daughter finds salvation in escaping, and son Tikhon finally discarding all the years of humiliation and indulging the whims of his mother finally tells the truth: “You ruined her !You!".
In his work, Ostrovsky created a terrible and gloomy fictional city of Kalinov, a real embodiment of a cruel and inhuman attitude towards people. This is the kingdom of darkness, where such monsters as the merchant's wife Kabaniha and her godfather Dikoy reign supreme. Sometimes rare rays of light and kindness, such as Katerina, break through there, but having expressed their protest against the terrible and dark kingdom, they die, unable to withstand the unequal struggle with the dominance of evil and cruelty. And yet, the kingdom of darkness will sooner or later be scattered, and people in Kalinovo will begin a new, happy life.
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Very often negative images appear in the literature. At a time when the opinion is mainly expressed about the duality of the human soul and nature and the presence of both the positive and negative sides of the personality, the masters of the artistic word now and then deliberately endow their characters with only bad character traits, excluding even the slightest manifestations of the positive influence of the hero’s activity.
In the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky, one of these characters is Kabanikha.
Characteristics of the personality of Kabanikhi
The full name of the heroine is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, but in the text she is most often called Kabanikha. Marfa Ignatievna is on friendly terms with Wild, he is also her godfather. It is worth noting that such friendship is not surprising, because both characters are very similar in character.
Dear readers! On our site you can get acquainted with the characteristics of the city of Kalinov in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm".
Kabanikha is a wealthy merchant's wife. Her position in society implied a tolerant attitude towards others, but in fact her habits were not at all noble. The boar has a firm and unshakable character. She is a cruel and rude woman.
Marfa Ignatievna is too conservative, she is “stuck” in the past and lives by the principles and foundations of the past, not realizing that changes have taken place in the world and it is no longer possible to live in the old way. She believes that the wisdom of a person is determined by his age - young people a priori cannot be smart, this is only the prerogative of the elderly: “Do not judge yourself older! They know more than you."
Kabanikha is sure that children must bow at the feet of their parents, and the husband must always “order” his wife. Marfa Ignatyevna is very upset when these norms of behavior are not observed and she thinks that this is a problem of bad manners of the younger generation: “They don’t know anything, there is no order.”
The boar is used to playing for the public - she tries to be a virtuous and noble woman in the eyes of society, although in reality she is not. Marfa Ignatievna often gives alms to the poor, but she does it not at the behest of her heart, but so that everyone thinks that she is a kind and generous woman.
Kabanikha is a very pious woman, but, apparently, her religiosity is also feigned, because in spite of everything, Kabanikha does not adhere to the laws of God and often neglects the basic rules of behavior towards other people.
Family and relationships
The complexity of the character manifests itself in full force in relation to its native people. Her family consists of three people - a son, a daughter and a daughter-in-law. With all of them, Kabanikhi developed extremely contradictory relations.
All the difficulties and conflicts in the family are associated with the authoritarian nature of the mother, her conservatism and special love for scandals.
We invite thoughtful readers to familiarize themselves with the characterization of Katerina in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm".
The son of Kabanikha - Tikhon - at the time of the story is already an adult, he could be completely independent, but his mother does not give him the opportunity to do this. The woman takes care of her son all the time and tries to control his every step, referring not to Tikhon's incompetence. As a result
The boar began not only to give advice to her son, but literally to live instead of him: “he eats food, does not give a pass.”
Marfa Ignatyevna constantly interferes in the relationship between her son and daughter-in-law and sometimes orders her son's wife to be beaten, because this is the order: “But I love her, I'm sorry to touch her with my finger. He beat me a little, and even that was ordered by my mother.
Tikhon, despite his age and belief that such rude actions towards his wife are not needed, nevertheless unquestioningly fulfills the will of his mother.
Kabanikha does not have the best attitude towards the young daughter-in-law Katerina - she is always unhappy with her and will always find something to reproach the young girl with. The reason for this attitude lies not in Katerina's dishonorable attitude towards Kabanikha, or not in Katerina's failure to fulfill her duties, but in Kabanikha's habit of commanding everyone and the jealousy that arose in relation to her daughter-in-law.
The boar cannot accept the adulthood of her son, she is offended that Tikhon prefers his wife, and not his mother.
The daughter of Kabanikha Varvara is not so straightforward, she has long understood that she will never succeed in defending her position: her mother, who was essentially a domestic tyrant, simply could not stand anything like this and did not allow any liberties. From this situation, the girl found only one way out - to deceive her mother. Varvara always said what Marfa Ignatyevna wanted to hear, but she acted as she wanted: “Our whole house rests on that. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.
Such actions within the family on the part of the Kabanikha cause many tragedies. Her daughter Varvara runs away from home, never to appear here again - for the girl, the escape became the only salvation from her mother's domestic tyranny. Tikhon and Katerina, who did not even think about how it was possible to change their situation, but only took a wait-and-see attitude and silently endured insults and humiliation from their mother, could not succeed.
Katerina, having cheated on her husband in order to feel happy, confesses her act under the pressure of morality and shame, and then, but under the pressure of Kabanikh's humiliation, commits suicide. Only after the death of Katerina did Tikhon find the strength to verbally rebuff his mother and reproach her for unlawful actions towards her loved ones: “You ruined her! You! You!". However, due to the softness of Tikhon's character, he is unlikely to be able to defend his position to the end.
