Ostrovsky embodied in the image of Katerina a typical representative of that time, more precisely, the 19th century. The time when a woman did not yet have rights, when there was no such thing as a divorce. Marriages were concluded not by the consent of the couple themselves (as it happens in the modern world), but by matchmaking, that is, at the request of the parents. Marriages were rarely successful, women had almost no rights and were most often the "victims" of marriage.
The main character of Ostrovsky's work "Thunderstorm" found herself in a similar situation.
What was the family, upbringing and education of the character? One of the reasons for Katerina's problems is that the family she ended up in (became Tikhon's wife) was the opposite of her own family. So, for example, they had different customs, principles, traditions. Katrina's family was distinguished by meekness of morals and good nature, in the Kabanov family everything is absolutely the opposite. Katerina received her education at home, like all women at that time, who did not have the right to study on an equal basis with men. Therefore, her upbringing was good (modest, distinguished by religiosity)
Portrait of the hero (external features, psychological, internal portrait) There is no description of Katerina's appearance in the work, so Ostrovsky invites the reader to independently come up with the appearance of the heroine.
So, for example, I see her as a blue-eyed, dark-haired and slender girl with kind eyes. That is how, in my opinion, the appearance of the darkness would reflect the inner world of the heroine. The play says that she is very beautiful, this is done so that everyone will like her (in the head a person will think of it himself, and everyone has different tastes, so the author wanted Katerina to be beautiful for everyone) Many characters admire her face. The girl is childishly vulnerable, naive, open, sweet, good-natured, very sensitive.
Character traits (how character traits are manifested) She is kind, manifested in the fact that after living in the house of Kabanikh she did not become embittered, did not become callous. She tried to establish communication links with Tikhon's mother, but she did not want to cooperate with her. Tender, vulnerable - trying to awaken her husband's self-esteem and stand up for her. Unfortunately, all attempts of the heroine are in vain. The problem is with the system itself, not just the people.
Features of speech Katerina's speech is melodic, musical, reminiscent of a folk song, a fairy tale. Addresses all heroes with reverence and respect, courtesy. So the author shows that she is close to the people.
The role in Katerina's work (what themes and problems are presented through Katerina?) Ostrovsky considers in his work such topics as the theme of love (the relationship between Katerina and Boris), the conflict of fathers and children, the problem of the fate of a Russian woman - the main problem. The author wanted to convey the idea of the importance of equality between men and women, that it is time to move away from patriarchy and matriarchy, and come to a partner type of family.
Updated: 2017-12-01
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Everything fresh, young, talented perishes in the gloomy atmosphere depicted by Ostrovsky in The Thunderstorm of the city of Kalinov. It languishes from violence, malice, from the dead emptiness of this life. The weak become an inveterate drunkard, vicious and petty natures defeat despotism with cunning and resourcefulness. For natures of direct, bright, endowed with an indefatigable desire for a different life, a tragic end is inevitable when confronted with the brute forces of this world.
A. N. Ostrovsky. Storm. Play
This outcome becomes inevitable for Katerina, the main character of The Thunderstorm. Brought up in her father's house, locked up in the rooms of her own house according to the conditions of that time, the girl grew up surrounded by love in her own peculiar little world. Dreamy by nature, she found an outlet for the vague inclinations of the child's soul in religious contemplation and dreams; she loved church services, the lives of the saints, the stories of the pilgrims about the holy places.
Love for nature merged with her religious ideas and dreams; some kind of religious enthusiasm burns in her soul, like Joan of Arc in childhood: at night she gets up and prays fervently, at dawn she loves to pray in the garden and cry in a vague, unconscious impulse. Mental forces accumulate in her and they encourage her, call her to some kind of sacrifices and deeds. She dreams of wonderfully beautiful countries, and invisible voices sing to her from above. At the same time, she discovers strength, directness and independence of character.
And this girl, full of bright spiritual strength, finds herself in the rough atmosphere of the house of the merchant Kabanova, the wife of her weak-willed, downtrodden and humiliated son, Tikhon. At first, she became attached to her husband, but his lethargy, downtroddenness and his eternal desire to leave his parental home and forget himself in a drunkenness pushed Katerina away from him. In the house of the tyrant Kabanova, Katerina began to visit her religious visions less and less; she began to languish and get bored. The meeting with the nephew of the merchant Wild, Boris, decided her fate: she fell in love with Boris in the way that was characteristic of her nature - strongly and deeply.
Katerina struggles with this "sinful passion" for a long time, despite the persuasion of Kabanova's daughter, Varvara. But in the end, the oppressive feeling of loneliness, melancholy and emptiness of existence in the house. Kabanova and the passionate thirst for life in the young soul of Katerina resolve her hesitation. In her struggle, she seeks help from her husband, but he leaves the disgusted mother's house, where his wife is not sweet to him either. The consciousness that she has transgressed some inviolable commandment does not leave Katerina; she cannot calmly surrender to love, like Barbara, to cunning and hiding. Katerina is gnawed by the consciousness of guilt, her whole life is clouded; pure by nature, she cannot live in deceit, in lies, in criminal joys.
Full of tormenting doubts and a thirst to throw off something unclean, wash some stain, once in a thunderstorm, under the peals of thunder, publicly repents of sins, giving vent to his indignant conscience. Life in Kabanova's house after repentance becomes completely unbearable. Driven to despair, seeing that there is nowhere else to wait for salvation, Katerina rushes into the Volga and dies.
Why does the critic N.A. Dobrolyubov call Katerina a “strong character”?
In the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”, N.A. Dobrolyubov writes that “The Thunderstorm” expresses “a strong Russian character”, which strikes “by its opposite to any self-impossible beginnings”. This character is “concentrated and resolute, unswervingly faithful to the instinct of natural truth, full of faith in new ideals and selfless, in the sense that death is better for him than life under those principles that are contrary to him.” This is how the critic saw the character of Katerina. But is this the way the reader sees it? And how does the character of the heroine manifest itself in action?
The formation of personality begins in childhood, so the author introduces Katerina's story about life in her parents' house into the play. The experiences of the heroine, her state of mind, the perception of the events that happened to her as a tragedy - all this would be incomprehensible without a description of life before marriage and after. To explain the changes that have taken place in Katerina's soul, and her inner struggle that arose as a result of her actions, the author gives pictures of the heroine's childhood and youth through memories painted in light colors (in contrast to the "dark kingdom", where she is forced to live in marriage ).
Katerina considers the atmosphere of the parental home very beneficial for her development and upbringing: “I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, ... like a bird in the wild.” The occupations of this period - needlework, gardening, going to church, singing, talking with wanderers - do not differ much from what fills the life of the heroine in the Kabanovs' house. But behind the fence of the merchant's house there is no freedom of choice, warmth and sincerity in relations between people, there is no joy and desire to sing like a bird. Everything, as in a distorted mirror, is distorted beyond recognition, and this causes dissonance in Katerina's soul. Anger, quarrelsomeness, eternal dissatisfaction, constant reproaches, moralizing and mistrust of the mother-in-law deprived Katerina of confidence in her own rightness and purity of thoughts, caused anxiety and mental pain. She longingly recalls a happy and peaceful life in girlhood, about how her parents loved her. Here, in the “dark kingdom”, the joyful expectation of happiness, the bright perception of the world, disappeared.
Cheerfulness, optimism, a feeling of purity and light in the soul were replaced by despondency, a sense of sinfulness and guilt, fear and a desire to die. This is no longer the cheerful girl that people knew her as a girl, this is a completely different Katerina. But the strength of character is manifested even in the conditions of life behind the fence, since the heroine cannot humbly endure injustice and humiliation, accept the principles of merchant hypocrisy. When Kabanova reproaches Katerina for pretense, she objects to her mother-in-law: “What with people, without people, I’m all alone, I don’t prove anything of myself ... It’s nice to endure slander!”
So no one talked to Kabanova, and Katerina was used to being sincere, and she wanted to stay like that in her husband's family. Indeed, before marriage, she was a cheerful and sensitive girl, loved nature, was kind to people. That is why N.A. Dobrolyubov had reason to call Katerina a “strong character”, which “amazes us with its opposite” in relation to the characters of the merchant class depicted in the play. Indeed, the image of the main character is the opposite of other female characters in the play "Thunderstorm".
Katerina is a sensitive and romantic nature: sometimes it seemed to her that she was standing over an abyss and someone was pushing her there, down. She seemed to have a premonition of her fall (sin and early death), so her soul is filled with fear. To love another person while married is an unforgivable sin for a believer. The girl was brought up on the principles of high morality and the fulfillment of Christian commandments, but she is used to living "by her own will", that is, to have the opportunity to choose in actions, to make decisions on her own. Therefore, she says to Varvara: “And if I get cold here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, I’ll throw myself into the Volga.
Boris said about Katerina that in church she prays with an angelic smile, "but from her face it seems to glow." And this opinion confirms the peculiarity of Katerina's inner world, speaks of her difference in comparison with other heroes of the play. In her own family, where there was respect for the personality of the child, in an atmosphere of love, kindness and trust, the girl saw worthy role models. Feeling warmth and sincerity, she got used to a free life, to work without coercion. Parents did not scold her, but rejoiced, watching her behavior and actions. This gave her confidence that she was living correctly and without sin, and that God had nothing to punish her for. Her pure, immaculate soul was open to kindness and love.
In the house of the Kabanovs, as well as in the city of Kalinovo in general, Katerina finds herself in an atmosphere of bondage, hypocrisy, suspicion, where she is treated as a potential sinner, accused in advance of what she did not even think of doing. At first she made excuses, trying to prove her moral purity to everyone, she suffered and endured, but the habit of freedom and longing for sincerity in relationships with people make her go out, break out of the “dungeon”, first into the garden, then to the Volga, then to forbidden love. And a feeling of guilt comes to Katerina, she begins to think that, having crossed the borders of the "dark kingdom", she also violated her own ideas about Christian morality, about morality. It means that she has become different: she is a sinner, worthy of God's punishment.
For Katerina, feelings of loneliness, defenselessness, her own sinfulness and loss of interest in life turned out to be fatal. There are no dear people nearby, for whom it would be worth living. Caring for elderly parents or children would bring responsibility and joy into her life, but the heroine has no children, and whether her parents were alive is unknown, the play does not say.
However, it would not be entirely correct to consider Katerina a victim of an unhappy marriage, because hundreds of women patiently accepted and endured such circumstances. It is also impossible to call her repentance to her husband, an honest confession of treason, stupidity, since Katerina could not have done otherwise, thanks to her spiritual purity. And suicide was the only way out because the man she loved, Boris, could not take her with him, leaving at the request of his uncle to Siberia. Returning to the Kabanovs' house was worse for her than death: Katerina understood that they were looking for her, that she would not even have time to escape, and in the state in which the unfortunate woman was, the nearest path led her to the Volga.
All of the above arguments confirm the opinion of N.A. Dobrolyubov that Katerina became a victim of her own purity, although it is in the purity of her spiritual strength and that inner core that the merchant Kabanova could not break. The freedom-loving nature of Katerina, her principles, which did not allow her to lie, put the heroine much higher than all the characters in the play. In this situation, the decision to leave the world, where everything was contrary to her ideals, was a manifestation of strength of character. In those circumstances, only a strong person could decide to protest: Katerina felt lonely, but she rebelled against the foundations of the "dark kingdom" and significantly shook this block of ignorance.
The main characters of "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky
Events in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" unfold on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. The work gives a list of characters and their brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not so many main characters in Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm.
Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in Thunderstorm. Indeed, outwardly, the strength of Katya's character is not manifested. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems that she is easily broken. But that's not the case at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikh's attacks. It opposes, and does not ignore them, like Barbara. The conflict is more of an internal nature. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya can influence her son, after which Tikhon will no longer obey the will of his mother.
Katya wants to fly, often compares herself to a bird. She literally suffocates in the "dark kingdom" of Kalinov. Having fallen in love with a visiting young man, Katya created for herself an ideal image of love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.
Ostrovsky in "Thunderstorm" makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is opposed to the image of Marfa Ignatievna. A woman who keeps the whole family in fear and tension does not command respect. The boar is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took over the “reins of government” after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that even in marriage, Kabanikha did not differ in humility. Most of all, Katya, her daughter-in-law, got it from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.
Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikhi. Despite the fact that she has learned resourcefulness and lies over the years, the reader still sympathizes with her. Barbara is a good girl. Surprisingly, deceit and cunning do not make her like the rest of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Barbara is not afraid of her mother's wrath, because she is not an authority for her.
Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, inconspicuous. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikh. His rebellion ends up being the most significant. After all, it is the words, and not Varvara's escape, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.
The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about his customs, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His estimates of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself is a kind person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of the perpetual mobile, of the lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams were not destined to come true.
Diky has a clerk, Curly. This character is interesting because he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks about him. At the same time, Curly, just like Wild, tries to find a benefit in everything. He can be described as a simple person.
Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to improve relations with Diky, because only in this case will he be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya, honest and fair. In the last scenes, this is refuted: Boris is not able to take a serious step, take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.
One of the heroes of the "Thunderstorm" is a wanderer and a servant. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and ignorance is truly amazing. Their judgments are absurd, and their outlook is very narrow. Women judge morality and morality by some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now a place of amusement and games, but there is an Indo roar in the streets, a groan stands. Why, mother Marfa Ignatievna, they began to harness the fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed ”- this is how Feklusha speaks of progress and reforms, and the woman calls the car a “fire serpent”. The concept of progress and culture is alien to such people, because it is convenient for them to live in a fictional limited world of calm and regularity.
Characteristics of Katerina from the play "Thunderstorm"
Using the example of the life of a single family from the fictional city of Kalinov, Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm" shows the whole essence of the outdated patriarchal structure of Russia in the 19th century. Katerina is the main character of the work. She is opposed to all other actors of the tragedy, even from Kuligin, who also stands out among the inhabitants of Kalinov, Katya is distinguished by the power of protest. The description of Katerina from The Thunderstorm, the characteristics of other characters, the description of the life of the city - all this adds up to a revealing tragic picture, conveyed photographically accurately. The characterization of Katerina from the play "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky is not limited to the author's commentary in the list of characters. The playwright does not evaluate the actions of the heroine, relieving himself of the duties of an omniscient author. Thanks to this position, each perceiving subject, whether a reader or a viewer, can himself evaluate the heroine based on his moral convictions.
Katya was married to Tikhon Kabanov, the son of a merchant. It was issued, because then, according to the house building, marriage was more the will of the parents than the decision of young people. Katya's husband is a pitiful sight. The irresponsibility and infantilism of the child, bordering on idiocy, led to the fact that Tikhon is not capable of anything but drunkenness. In Marfa Kabanova, the ideas of tyranny and hypocrisy inherent in the entire "dark kingdom" were fully embodied. Katya strives for freedom, comparing herself with a bird. It is hard for her to survive in conditions of stagnation and slavish worship of false idols. Katerina is truly religious, every trip to church seems like a holiday for her, and as a child, Katya often fancied that she heard angelic singing. Sometimes, Katya prayed in the garden, because she believed that the Lord would hear her prayers anywhere, not only in the church. But in Kalinovo, the Christian faith was deprived of any inner content.
Katerina's dreams allow her to briefly escape from the real world. There she is free, like a bird, free to fly wherever she wants, not obeying any laws. “And what dreams I had, Varenka,” continues Katerina, “what dreams! Or golden temples, or unusual gardens, and invisible voices sing, and the smell of cypress, and the mountains and trees seem not to be the same as usual, but as they are written on the images. And it’s like I’m flying, and I’m flying through the air. ” Recently, however, a certain mysticism has become inherent in Katerina. Everywhere she begins to see imminent death, and in her dreams she sees the evil one, who warmly embraces her, and then destroys her. These dreams were prophetic.
Katya is dreamy and gentle, but along with her fragility, Katerina's monologues from The Thunderstorm show resilience and strength. For example, a girl decides to meet Boris. She was overcome by doubts, she wanted to throw the key from the gate into the Volga, thought about the consequences, but nevertheless took an important step for herself: “Throw the key! No, not for anything! He is mine now ... Come what may, and I will see Boris! Katya is disgusted with the Kabanikh's house, the girl does not like Tikhon. She thought about leaving her husband and, having received a divorce, live honestly with Boris. But there was nowhere to hide from the tyranny of the mother-in-law. With her tantrums, Kabanikha turned the house into hell, cutting off any opportunity for escape.
Katerina is surprisingly perceptive towards herself. The girl knows about her character traits, about her decisive disposition: “I was born like that, hot! I was still six years old, no more, so I did it! They offended me with something at home, but it was towards evening, it was already dark; I ran out to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed it away from the shore. The next morning they already found it, ten miles away! Such a person will not submit to tyranny, will not be subject to dirty manipulations by the Kabanikh. It is not Katerina's fault that she was born at a time when the wife had to unquestioningly obey her husband, she was an almost disenfranchised application, the function of which was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya has no children.
The motif of freedom is repeated many times in the work. An interesting parallel is Katerina - Barbara. Sister Tikhon also strives to be free, but this freedom must be physical, freedom from despotism and mother's prohibitions. At the end of the play, the girl runs away from home, finding what she dreamed of. Katerina understands freedom differently. For her, this is an opportunity to do as she wants, to take responsibility for her life, not to obey stupid orders. This is the freedom of the soul. Katerina, like Varvara, gains freedom. But such freedom can only be achieved by suicide.
In the work of Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm", Katerina and the characteristics of her image were perceived differently by critics. If Dobrolyubov saw in the girl a symbol of the Russian soul, tormented by the patriarchal housing construction, then Pisarev saw a weak girl who herself drove herself into such a situation.
Catherine in the drama "Thunderstorm"
Composition based on the drama by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm"
Katerina is the main character in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm". Main
the idea of the work is the conflict of this girl with the "dark kingdom",
the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. Find out why this
conflict and why the end of the drama is so tragic, you can look at
Katerina's soul, understanding her ideas about life. And it's possible
to do, thanks to the skill of the playwright Ostrovsky.
From the words of Katerina, we learn about her childhood and adolescence. Girl don't
received a good education. She lived with her mother in the countryside.
Katerina's childhood was joyful, cloudless. Mother in her "no soul
looked forward to, "did not force her to work around the house. Katya lived freely:
got up early, washed herself with spring water, crawled flowers, walked with
mother to church, then sat down for some work and listened to
wanderers and praying women, who were many in their house. Katerina
had magical dreams in which she flew under the clouds. And How
strongly contrasts with such a quiet, happy life
a six-year-old girl, when Katya, offended by something, ran away
in the evening from the house to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed off from the shore! ...
We see that Katerina grew up happy, romantic, but
restricted girl. She was very pious and passionate
loving. She loved everything and everyone around her: nature, the sun,
church, her home with wanderers, the poor whom she helped. But
the most important thing about Katya is that she lived in her dreams, apart from
the rest of the world. Of everything that exists, she chose only what
did not contradict her nature, she did not want to notice the rest and did not
noticed. Therefore, the girl saw angels in the sky, and was for her
the church is not an oppressive and crushing force, but a place where everything is bright, where
you can dream. It can be said that Katerina was naive and
kind, brought up in a completely religious spirit.
But if she met on her way what. contradicted her
ideals, then turned into a rebellious and stubborn nature and defended
herself from that outsider, a stranger, that boldly disturb her soul. So
was the case with the boat.
After marriage, Katya's life changed a lot. From the free
joyful, sublime world in which she felt her
merging with nature, the girl fell into a life full of deceit,
cruelty and depravity.
It's not even that Katerina married Tikhon against her will:
she didn’t love anyone at all and she didn’t care who she married.
The fact is that the girl was robbed of her former life, which she
created for myself. Katerina no longer feels such delight from
attending church, she cannot do her usual activities.
Sad, disturbing thoughts do not allow her to calmly admire
nature. Katya has to endure, while she is patient, and dream, but she already
can't live with his thoughts, because the cruel reality
brings her back to earth, where there is humiliation and suffering.
Katerina is trying to find her happiness in love for Tikhon: "I will be a husband
be in love. Tisha, my dear, I won't trade you for anyone. "But
sincere manifestations of this love are suppressed by Kabanikha: "What on
Are you hanging your neck, shameless? You don't say goodbye to your lover."
Katerina has a strong sense of outward obedience and duty, which is why she
forces himself to love an unloved husband. Tikhon and himself because of
tyranny of his mother cannot truly love his wife,
though he probably wants to. And when he, leaving for a while, leaves Katya,
to walk freely, the girl (already a woman) becomes completely
lonely.
Why did Katerina fall in love with Boris? After all, he did not exhibit his
masculine qualities, like Paratov, did not even talk to her.
Perhaps the reason is that she lacked something clean in the stuffy
atmosphere of the Kabanikhi house. And love for Boris was this pure, not
let Katerina finally wither away, somehow supported her.
She went on a date with Boris because she felt
a man with pride, elementary rights. It was a riot
against submission to fate, against lawlessness. Katherine knew that
commits a sin, but she also knew that she would continue to live as before
it is forbidden. She sacrificed the purity of her conscience to freedom and Boris.
In my opinion, taking this step, Katya already felt the approaching
the end and probably thought: "Now or never." She wanted
get enough love, knowing that there will be no other chance. On the first
On a date, Katerina said to Boris: "You have ruined me." Boris -
the reason for the discrediting of her soul, and for Katya this is tantamount to death.
Sin hangs on her heart like a heavy stone.
Katerina is terribly afraid of an approaching thunderstorm, considering it a punishment for
perfect. Katerina has been afraid of thunderstorms ever since she started thinking about
Boris. For her pure soul, even the thought of loving a stranger
man is a sin.
Katya cannot live on with her sin, and the only way
to get rid of him at least partially, she considers repentance, she confesses
in everything to her husband and Kabanikh. Such an act in our time seems very
strange, naive. "I don't know how to deceive; I can't hide anything
I can" - such is Katerina. Tikhon forgave his wife, but did she herself forgive
myself? Being very religious. Katya is afraid of God, and her God lives in
her, God is her conscience. The girl is tormented by two questions: how will she return
home and will look into the eyes of her husband, whom she cheated on, and how she
will live with a stain on his conscience. The only way out of this
situation Katerina sees death: "No, I'm either home or in the grave -
anyway... It's better in the grave... To live again? No, no, don't... not good"
Haunted by her sin, Katerina takes her own life to save
your soul.
Dobrolyubov defined Katerina's character as "resolute, integral,
Russian". Resolute, because she decided to take the last step,
to death to save himself from shame and remorse.
Whole, because in Katya's character everything is harmonious, one, nothing
does not contradict each other, because Katya is one with
nature, with God.
Russian, because who, no matter how Russian a person, is capable of loving like that,
Able to sacrifice so, so seemingly humbly endure all hardships,
Remaining at the same time himself, free, not a slave.
