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Drama final. Death of Katerina

The death of the main character ends Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", the genre of which could be safely described as a tragedy. The death of Katerina in The Thunderstorm is the denouement of the work and carries a special semantic load. The scene of Katerina's suicide gave rise to many questions and interpretations of this plot twist. For example, Dobrolyubov considered this act noble, and Pisarev was of the opinion that such an outcome was "completely unexpected for her (Katerina) herself." Dostoevsky de believed that Katerina's death in the play "Thunderstorm" would have occurred without despotism: "this is a victim of her own purity and her beliefs." It is easy to see that the opinions of critics differ, but at the same time, each is partly true. What made the girl make such a decision, take a desperate step? What does the death of Katerina, the heroine of the play "Thunderstorm" mean?

In order to answer this question, you need to study the text of the work in detail. The reader gets to know Katerina already in the first act. Initially, we observe Katya as a silent witness to the quarrel between Kabanikha and Tikhon. This episode allows us to understand the unhealthy environment of lack of freedom and oppression in which Katya has to survive. Every day she is convinced that the old life, such as it was before marriage, will never be. All power in the house, despite the patriarchal way of life, is concentrated in the hands of the hypocritical Marfa Ignatievna. Katya's husband, Tikhon, is unable to protect his wife from tantrums and lies. His weak-willed submission to his mother shows Katerina that in this house and in this family one cannot count on help.

From childhood, Katya was taught to love life: go to church, sing, admire nature, dream. The girl "breathed deeply", feeling safe. She was taught to live according to the rules of Domostroy: to respect the word of the elders, not to argue with them, to obey her husband and love him. And now Katerina is given in marriage, the situation is radically changing. There is a huge, unbridgeable gulf between expectations and reality. The tyranny of Kabanikh knows no bounds, her limited understanding of Christian laws horrifies the believing Katerina. What about Tikhon? He is not at all the kind of man who deserves respect or even compassion. Katya feels only pity for the often drinking Tikhon. The girl admits that no matter how hard she tries to love her husband, nothing happens.

In no area can a girl fulfill herself: neither as a mistress of the house, nor as a loving wife, nor as a caring mother. The girl regards the appearance of Boris as a chance for salvation. Firstly, Boris is unlike the rest of the inhabitants of Kalinov, and he, like Katya, does not like the unwritten laws of the dark kingdom. Secondly, Katya was visited by thoughts about how to achieve a divorce and after that live honestly with Boris, without fear of condemnation from society or the church. Relations with Boris are developing rapidly. One meeting was enough for two young people to fall in love with each other. Even without being able to talk, Boris dreams of Katya. The girl is very worried about the feelings that have arisen: she is brought up differently, Katya cannot walk with another secretly; purity and honesty "prevent" Katya from hiding love, pretending that everything is "hidden" and others do not guess.

For a very long time, the girl decided on a date with Boris, and yet she went to the garden at night. The author does not describe the ten days when Katerina saw her lover. This, in fact, is not necessary. It is easy to imagine their leisure and the growing sense of warmth that was in Katerina. Boris himself said "only those ten days he lived." The arrival of Tikhon Kabanov revealed new sides in the characters' characters. It turned out that Boris did not want publicity at all, he would rather refuse Katya than involve himself in intrigues and scandals. Katya, unlike the young man, wants to tell both her husband and mother-in-law about the current situation. Being a somewhat suspicious and impressionable person, Katya, driven by the peals of thunder and the words of a crazy lady, confesses everything to Kabanov.

The scene is cut off. Further, we learn that Marfa Ignatievna has become even tougher and more demanding. She humiliates, insults the girl much more than before. Katya understands that she is not as guilty as her mother-in-law wants to convince her, because Kabanikha needs such tyranny only for self-affirmation and control. It is the mother-in-law who becomes the main catalyst for the tragedy. Tikhon, most likely, would have forgiven Katya, but he can only obey his mother and go to drink with Diky.

Imagine yourself in the place of the heroine. Imagine all the things she had to deal with every day. The way her attitude changed after the confession. A husband who cannot argue with his mother, but at every opportunity finds solace in alcohol. The mother-in-law, personifying all that dirt and abomination, from which a pure and honest person wants to stay as far away as possible. The sister of your husband, the only one who is interested in your life, but at the same time cannot fully understand. And a loved one, for whom public opinion and the possibility of receiving an inheritance turned out to be much more important than feelings for a girl.

Katya dreamed of becoming a bird, flying away forever from the dark world of tyranny and hypocrisy, breaking free, flying, being free. Catherine's death was inevitable.
However, as mentioned above, there are several different points of view on Katerina's suicide. After all, on the other hand, couldn't Katya just run away without making such desperate decisions? That's the thing, she couldn't. It wasn't for her. To be honest with yourself, to be free - this is what the girl so passionately desired. Unfortunately, all this could be obtained only at the cost of one's own life. Is Katerina's death a defeat or a victory over the "dark kingdom"? Katerina did not win, but she did not remain defeated either.

Artwork test

This is the most "favorite" occupation of Russian classics - to look for a "hero of our time." Ostrovsky conducts the search for his hero on Katerina. Katerina is a female image that has entered into a struggle with a dark force and dooms itself to inevitable death. Among the victims, Katerina stands out for her open character, courage and directness. Everything written by me in the essay is the reason for the further fate of Katerina.
Katerina is a young married woman who was born and spent her childhood in another city or village in the circle of her mother. Ekaterina was free as a child and flew like a bird. My mother did not have a soul in her, she dressed me like a doll, she did not force me to work. Having married the son of a tyrant, this light went out. Living in the house of Kabanikha, Katerina's personality is suppressed. Katerina is humiliated by everything, that is, Kabanova. Kabanova is one of the representatives of this gloomy dark corner, and believed that he was the only one. She shows everyone that she is a saint and wants everyone to be. Kabanova lived and forced Katerina to live according to a book about home economics. It's like dragging a beam of light into a dark realm. No wonder the Russian proverb says that a house for a woman is hard labor.
Everything else is added to the fire of love for Boris, into which someone constantly pours oil. Katerina’s idea of ​​​​love is rooted in the patriarchal idea of ​​\u200b\u200blove as a criminal, demonic obsession, since Katerina is a woman of the patriarchal way and she was devoted with all her heart to her husband Baranov. And Tikhon himself is like a small person. The cruel Boar suppressed in her son everything that is inherent in a man. He is looking for a little hole to break out and live a normal life. In fact, Kabanov traded his wife for the opportunity to get drunk. He refuses to understand her, and under the influence of Barbara, she commits a sin. And then, having changed Tikhon, an internal conflict arises in Katerina’s soul, everything begins to collapse like a house of cards .. I would compare Katerina with a kettle that stands on fire, where the fire is the jealousy of her husband and Kabanikh. The kettle boils, boils, and then the water spills and...
Katerina cheats on her husband during his departure with Boris. Only a fleeting romance with Boris stirred her up, but even then, tormented by emotions, she told her husband about her adventure ... And she could not hide her feelings from her worst enemies, primarily from Marfa Ignatievna. She, as a person who is different in her inner way from her peers, young residents of Kalinov, does not accept lies and opportunism, which people around her have accepted as an integral part of their lives. Cheating on her husband was also a big sin. Some, probably, of course, cheated in marriage, but this did not frighten them.
Catherine thinks about the Thunderstorm, that this is God's punishment, and hides from her all the time, and when there is a thunderstorm over the city, the most terrible things happen to her. It is during a thunderstorm that she faints and after this natural phenomenon she decides to commit the worst sin for a person, suicide. According to the Christian faith, a person who commits suicide will roast in hell for the rest of his existence. No wonder Katerina cried out: "Oh fiery hyena!" .
Kabanikha sets her son hostile to her, and Dikoi sends Boris to Siberia. Left Katerina alone, she thought for a long time what to do. Katerina is exhausted, she wants to die. She runs away from home and runs to the Volga, remembering Boris' caresses. Katerina is at the crossroads of two roads: love, which means death and shame, or a painful life under the yoke of Kabanikh, which forced her to do what she herself did with pleasure. And in the middle is the high bank of the river, from which Katerina threw herself, pushed by the “thunderstorm”, that is, the ever-increasing conflict between these two worlds. She did not have a friend who would understand and support her, perhaps Katerina would not jump. Then she presents the grave from an aesthetic point of view. And despite the fact that suicide is a huge sin in Christian beliefs, Katerina remembered the proverb “I came out of the earth, entered the earth”, looking at the chirping birds, Katya made her last choice. Katerina begins to go crazy and commits suicide. After that, the whole Kabanov family suddenly got hurt.
If the hero commits suicide, then everyone pities him, but in N.A. Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" one can only be glad for the death of Katerina. Indeed, the death of Katerina is an open protest of a personality driven to the chapel against all forms. Having committed suicide, Katerina believes that this is the only solution in her position. It is not clear what caused this murder: a mental state or not wanting to submit to the dark kingdom. Making mistakes, for which you later pay, our conscience torments us, and we often do not find a better option than to shoot ourselves, hang ourselves or drown ourselves. Death by suicide is better than moral death from the kingdom. No one understood Katerina, and she died from her hopelessness.

The drama "Thunderstorm" is the pinnacle of Ostrovsky's work. In his work, the writer shows the imperfection of the patriarchal world, the influence of the system on the morals of people, he reveals to us society with all its vices and shortcomings, and at the same time he introduces a hero into the drama, different from this community, alien to it, reveals the influence of society on this person, how the character enters the circle of these people. In The Thunderstorm, Katerina becomes this new, different hero, a “beam of light”. It belongs to the old patriarchal world, but at the same time it comes into irreconcilable conflict with it. Using her example, the writer shows how terrible it is to be in the “kingdom of despots and tyrants” for a person with such a pure soul as Katerina. A woman comes into conflict with this society, and, along with external problems, internal contradictions are brewing in Katerina's soul, which, together with fatal circumstances, lead Katerina to suicide.
Katerina is a woman with a strong character, but meanwhile even she cannot resist the “kingdom of petty tyrants and despots”.

/> The mother-in-law (Boar) is a rough, domineering, despotic, ignorant nature, she is closed to everything beautiful. Of all the actors, Marfa Ignatievna exerts the strongest pressure on Katerina. The heroine herself admits: “If it weren’t for the mother-in-law!. She crushed me. it made me sick of the house: the walls are even disgusting. Kabanikha constantly accuses Katerina of almost all mortal sins, reproaches and finds fault with her with or without reason. But Kabanikha has no moral right to mock and condemn Katerina, because the inner qualities of her son’s wife, in their depth and purity, cannot be compared with the coarsened, callous, low soul of Marfa Ignatievna, and meanwhile Kabanikha is one of those through whose fault Katerina comes to thoughts of suicide. After the death of the main character, Kuligin says: “...the soul is now not yours: it is before a judge who is more merciful than you.” Katerina cannot come to terms with the oppressive, oppressive atmosphere that prevails in Kalinovo. Her soul strives for freedom at any cost, she says, “whatever I want, I’ll do it,” “I’ll leave, and I was like that.” With her marriage, Katerina's life turned into a living hell, this existence in which there are no joyful moments, and even love for Boris does not relieve her of longing.
In this "dark kingdom" everything is alien to her, everything oppresses her. She, according to the customs of that time, married not of her own free will and to an ugly man whom she would never love. Katerina soon realized how weak and pitiful her husband was, he himself could not resist his mother, Kabanikha, and, naturally, was not able to protect Katerina from constant attacks from her mother-in-law. The main character tries to convince herself and Varvara that she loves her husband, but nevertheless later confesses to her husband's sister: "I feel sorry for him very much." Pity is the only feeling she has for her husband. Katerina herself perfectly understands that she will never love her husband, and the words she uttered when her husband left (“how I would love you”) are words of despair. Katerina was already possessed by another feeling - love for Boris, and her attempt to grab hold of her husband in order to prevent trouble, a thunderstorm, the approach of which she feels, is futile and useless. Tisha does not heed her, he stands next to his wife, but in his dreams he is already far from her - his thoughts are about drinking and walking outside Kalinov, he himself says to his wife: “I can’t figure you out, Katya!” Yes, where should he “take it apart”! The inner world of Katerina is too complicated and incomprehensible for people like Kabanov. Not only Tikhon, but also his sister says to Katerina: “I don’t understand
  1. The theater in the image of Ostrovsky lives according to the laws of that world, which is familiar to the reader and the viewer from his other plays. The way the fates of the artists develop is determined by the customs, relationships, circumstances of the “common” life. Skill...
  2. Ostrovsky in his work more than once turned to the theme of the patriarchal merchant class. His most striking work on this topic is the drama The Thunderstorm, written in 1859. "Thunderstorm" - without a doubt, the most ...
  3. The plays of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky are often called the "window" into the merchant's world of creations were merchants of all guilds, shopkeepers, clerks, petty officials. Ostrovsky was even called “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye”, because he, like Columbus, opened to the Russian ...
  4. The drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "Dowry" is a remarkable play of the late period of the writer's work. It was conceived in 1874, completed in 1878 and staged in Moscow the same year...
  5. In the 70s of the 19th century, when processes related to the abolition of serfdom were going on in Russian society, A. N. Ostrovsky's comedy "The Forest" was written. These events affected not only the peasantry, but ...
  6. This name has a deep meaning. For the first time this word flashed in the scene of farewell to Tikhon. He says: “There will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks.” Tikhon wants at least for a while ...
  7. Feklusha tells the inhabitants of the city about other countries. They listen to her, focus their attention only on this. At the same time, she imperceptibly tells the truth about people. But they...
  8. In The Storm, Ostrovsky shows the life of a Russian merchant family and the position of a woman in it. The character of Katerina was formed in a simple merchant family, where love reigned and her daughter was given complete freedom. She purchased...
  9. A. N. Ostrovsky, the author of numerous plays about the merchants, is rightfully considered the “singer of merchant life” and the father of the Russian national theater. He created about 60 plays, the most famous of which are - "Dowry",...
  10. Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" is the most significant work of the famous playwright. It was written in 1860 during a period of social upsurge, when the foundations of serfdom were cracking, and a thunderstorm was gathering in the stuffy Atmosphere of reality....
  11. The play by Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" was released in 1860, during a period of public upsurge. The story itself, told in the play, reflects the typical conflicts of the era of the 60s: the struggle between the moribund morality of petty tyrants and their...
  12. We got acquainted with the main character of A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “Thunderstorm”, plunged into the magical world of her memories of childhood and adolescence, recognized her character traits, the spiritual world, watched the tragic ...
  13. Remarque - from the French word remarque - means remark, explanation. This is an indication of the author's actions, gestures, intonations of the characters, the features of their speech, and much more. In the time of Ostrovsky, in the second ...
  14. Terrible and difficult for every newcomer is an attempt to go against the requirements and convictions of the dark masses, terrible in their naivety and sincerity. After all, she will curse us, well, if only she considers us crazy and ...
  15. The world of A. Ostrovsky's literary heroes is extremely diverse. Philistines, merchants, their children, officials, clerks, actors, kings, robbers, princes. Each of his characters has its own character, speaks its own language, carries...
  16. The conflict that forms the basis of the plot of Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" goes beyond the limits of the play. It is a conflict between the old, patriarchal principles, and the new, the desire for freedom. This conflict is very important, but not...
  17. Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky is rightfully considered a singer of the merchant community. About sixty plays belong to his pen, the most famous of which are “Own people - let's settle”, “Thunderstorm”, “Dowry” and others. Thunderstorm like...
  18. At the heart of the drama "Thunderstorm" is the image of the awakening sense of personality and a new attitude to the world. Ostrovsky showed that even in the ossified little world of Kalinov, a character of striking beauty and strength can arise. Very...
  19. Share you! - Russian woman's share! Hardly harder to find. N. Nekrasov At the lessons of literature, we got acquainted with the biography of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky. His life was infinitely varied. He wrote comedies...
  20. Kalinov. Town on the Volga. Maybe it's Samara or Kostroma? Maybe Tver or Torzhok? Yes, it's not that important. The main thing is that merchant world, which is so talented ...

The drama "Thunderstorm" is the pinnacle of Ostrovsky's work. In his work, the writer shows the imperfection of the patriarchal world, the influence of the system on the morals of people, he reveals to us society with all its vices and shortcomings, and at the same time he introduces a hero into the drama, different from this community, alien to it, reveals the influence of society on this person, how the character enters the circle of these people. In The Thunderstorm, Katerina becomes this new, different hero, a “beam of light”. It belongs to the old patriarchal world, but at the same time it comes into irreconcilable conflict with it. Using her example, the writer shows how terrible it is to be in the “kingdom of despots and tyrants” for a person with such a pure soul as Katerina. A woman comes into conflict with this society, and, along with external problems, internal contradictions are brewing in Katerina's soul, which, together with fatal circumstances, lead Katerina to suicide.

Katerina is a woman with a strong character, but meanwhile even she cannot resist the “kingdom of petty tyrants and despots”.

The mother-in-law (Boar) is a rough, domineering, despotic, ignorant nature, she is closed to everything beautiful. Of all the actors, Marfa Ignatievna exerts the strongest pressure on Katerina. The heroine herself admits: “If it weren’t for my mother-in-law! .. She crushed me ... she made me sick of the house: the walls are even disgusting.” Kabanikha constantly accuses Katerina of almost all mortal sins, reproaches and finds fault with her with or without reason. But Kabanikha has no moral right to mock and condemn Katerina, because the inner qualities of her son’s wife, in their depth and purity, cannot be compared with the coarsened, callous, low soul of Marfa Ignatievna, and meanwhile Kabanikha is one of those through whose fault Katerina comes to thoughts of suicide. After the death of the main character, Kuligin says: “... the soul is now not yours: it is before a judge who is more merciful than you.” Katerina cannot come to terms with the oppressive, oppressive atmosphere that prevails in Kalinovo. Her soul strives for freedom at any cost, she says, “whatever I want, I’ll do it,” “I’ll leave, and I was like that.” With her marriage, Katerina's life turned into a living hell, this existence in which there are no joyful moments, and even love for Boris does not relieve her of longing.

In this "dark kingdom" everything is alien to her, everything oppresses her. She, according to the customs of that time, married not of her own free will and to an ugly man whom she would never love. Katerina soon realized how weak and pitiful her husband was, he himself could not resist his mother, Kabanikha, and, naturally, was not able to protect Katerina from constant attacks from her mother-in-law. The main character tries to convince herself and Varvara that she loves her husband, but nevertheless later confesses to her husband's sister: "I feel sorry for him very much." Pity is the only feeling she has for her husband. Katerina herself perfectly understands that she will never love her husband, and the words she uttered when her husband left (“how I would love you”) are words of despair. Katerina was already possessed by another feeling - love for Boris, and her attempt to grab hold of her husband in order to prevent trouble, a thunderstorm, the approach of which she feels, is futile and useless. Tisha does not listen to her, he stands next to his wife, but in his dreams he is already far from her - his thoughts are about drinking and walking outside Kalinov, he himself says to his wife: “I can’t figure you out, Katya!” Yes, where should he “take it apart”! The inner world of Katerina is too complicated and incomprehensible for people like Kabanov. Not only Tikhon, but also his sister says to Katerina: “I don’t understand what you are saying.”



In the "dark kingdom" there is not a single person whose spiritual qualities would be equal to Katerina's, and even Boris, a hero singled out by a woman from the whole crowd, is not worthy of Katerina. Her love is a turbulent river, his is a small stream that is about to dry up. Boris is only going to take a walk with Katerina during Tikhon's departure, and then ... then we'll see. He doesn’t care too much what the hobby will turn out for Katerina, even Kudryash’s warning does not stop Boris: “You want to completely ruin her.” On the last date, he says to Katerina: “Who knew that it was for our love to suffer so much with you,” because at the first meeting the woman told him: “I ruined, ruined, ruined.”



The reasons that prompted Katerina to commit suicide are hidden not only (and even not so much) in the society surrounding her, but in herself. Her soul is a gem and foreign particles cannot invade her. She cannot, like Barbara, act according to the principle “if only everything was sewn and covered”, she cannot live, keeping such a terrible secret in herself, and even a confession in front of everyone does not bring her relief, she understands that she will never atone for her guilt before himself and can't deal with it. She embarked on the path of sin, but will not aggravate it by lying to herself and everyone, and understands that the only deliverance from her mental anguish is death. Katerina asks Boris to take her to Siberia, but even if she runs away from this society, she is not destined to hide from herself, from remorse. To some extent, perhaps, Boris also understands this and says that “there is only one thing we need to ask God for her to die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time!” One of Katerina’s problems is that “she doesn’t know how to deceive, she can’t hide anything.” She cannot deceive or hide from herself, much less from others. Katerina is constantly tormented by the consciousness of her sinfulness.

Translated from Greek, the name Catherine means “always pure”, and our heroine, of course, always strives for spiritual purity. She is alien to any kind of lie and untruth, even when she finds herself in such a degraded society, she does not change her inner ideal, she does not want to become the same as many people of that circle. Katerina does not absorb dirt, she can be compared to a lotus flower that grows in a swamp, but, in spite of everything, blooms with unique snow-white flowers. Katerina does not live up to the lush flowering, her half-blossomed flower withered, but no toxic substances penetrated into it, he died innocent.

Katerina's protest in the drama "Thunderstorm"

A.N. Ostrovsky, the author of numerous plays about the merchants, the creator of the repertoire for the Russian national theater, is rightfully considered a "singer of merchant life." And he sits, sculpted by the chisel of the sculptor Andreev, at the entrance to the Maly Theater, and reminds us of the past, of the dark, funny and terrible world of his many heroes: the Glumovs, the Bolshovs, the Podkhalyuzins, the Wilds and the Boars. The image of the world of Moscow and provincial merchants, with the light hand of Dobrolyubov called the "dark kingdom", became the main theme of Ostrovsky's work. The drama The Thunderstorm, which was published in 1860, is no exception. The plot of the play is simple and typical of that environment and era: a young married woman, Katerina Kabanova, did not find a response to her feelings in her husband, fell in love with another person. Tormented by remorse and not wanting to accept the morality of the "dark kingdom" ("Do whatever you want, as long as everything is covered and covered"), she confesses her act publicly in the church. After this confession, her life becomes so unbearable that she commits suicide. The image of Katerina is the most striking image in Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm". Dobrolyubov, analyzing in detail the image of Katerina, called her "a ray of light in a dark kingdom." Katerina's life in her parents' house proceeded well and carelessly. Here she felt at ease. Katerina lived easily, carefree, joyfully. She loved her garden very much, in which she so often walked and admired the flowers. Later, telling Varvara about her life in her home, she says: “I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild. and I do." Katerina differs from all representatives of the "dark kingdom" in the depth of her feelings, honesty, truthfulness, courage, determination. Being brought up in a good family, she retained all the beautiful features of the Russian character. This is a pure, sincere, hot nature, an open soul that does not know how to deceive. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything,” she says to Varvara, who claims that everything in their house is based on deception. The same Varvara calls our heroine some kind of "tricky", "wonderful". Katerina is a strong, determined, strong-willed person. From childhood she was capable of bold deeds. Telling Varvara about herself and emphasizing her hot nature, she says: "I was born so hot!" Katerina was very fond of nature, its beauty, Russian songs. Therefore, her speech - emotional, enthusiastic, musical, melodious - is imbued with high poetry and sometimes reminds us of a folk song. Growing up in her own home, our heroine adopted all the centuries-old traditions of her family: obedience to elders, religiosity, obedience to customs. Katerina, who did not study anywhere, loved to listen to the stories of wanderers and pilgrims and perceived all their religious prejudices that poisoned her young life, forcing Katerina to perceive love for Boris as a terrible sin, from which she tries and cannot get away. Once in a new family, where everything is under the rule of a cruel, harsh, rude, despotic Kabanikh, Katerina does not find a sympathetic attitude towards herself. Dreamy, honest, sincere, friendly to people, Katerina takes the oppressive atmosphere of this house especially hard. Gradually, life in the house of Kabanikha, which constantly offends the human dignity of Katerina, becomes unbearable for the young woman. In her soul, a dull protest against the "dark kingdom" begins to emerge, which did not give her happiness, freedom and independence. This process develops... Katerina commits suicide. Thus, she proved her rightness, a moral victory over the "dark kingdom". Dobrolyubov in his article, assessing the image of Katerina, wrote: "This is the true strength of character, which in any case can be relied upon! This is the height to which our national life reaches in its development!" The fact that Katerina's act was typical of her time is also confirmed by the fact that a similar incident occurred in Kostroma in the Klykov family of merchants. And long after that, the actors playing the main roles in the play made up in such a way that they could be seen to resemble the Klykovs.

The drama "Thunderstorm" is the pinnacle of Ostrovsky's work. In his work, the writer shows the imperfection of the patriarchal world, the influence of the system on the morals of people, he reveals to us society with all its vices and shortcomings, and at the same time he introduces a hero into the drama, different from this community, alien to it, reveals the influence of society on this person, how the character enters the circle of these people. In The Thunderstorm, Katerina becomes this new, different hero, a “beam of light”. It belongs to the old patriarchal world, but at the same time it comes into irreconcilable conflict with it. Using her example, the writer shows how terrible it is to be in the “kingdom of despots and tyrants” for a person with such a pure soul as Katerina. A woman comes into conflict with this society, and, along with external problems, internal contradictions are brewing in Katerina's soul, which, together with fatal circumstances, lead Katerina to suicide.
Katerina is a woman with a strong character, but meanwhile even she cannot resist the “kingdom of petty tyrants and despots”.
The mother-in-law (Boar) is a rough, domineering, despotic, ignorant nature, she is closed to everything beautiful. Of all the actors, Marfa Ignatievna exerts the strongest pressure on Katerina. The heroine herself admits: “If it weren’t for my mother-in-law! .. She crushed me ... she made me sick of the house: the walls are even disgusting.” Kabanikha constantly accuses Katerina of almost all mortal sins, reproaches and finds fault with her with or without reason. But Kabanikha has no moral right to mock and condemn Katerina, because the inner qualities of her son’s wife, in their depth and purity, cannot be compared with the coarsened, callous, low soul of Marfa Ignatievna, and meanwhile Kabanikha is one of those through whose fault Katerina comes to thoughts of suicide. After the death of the main character, Kuligin says: “... the soul is now not yours: it is before a judge who is more merciful than you.” Katerina cannot come to terms with the oppressive, oppressive atmosphere that prevails in Kalinovo. Her soul strives for freedom at any cost, she says, “whatever I want, I’ll do it,” “I’ll leave, and I was like that.” With her marriage, Katerina's life turned into a living hell, this existence in which there are no joyful moments, and even love for Boris does not relieve her of longing.
In this "dark kingdom" everything is alien to her, everything oppresses her. She, according to the customs of that time, married not of her own free will and to an ugly man whom she would never love. Katerina soon realized how weak and pitiful her husband was, he himself could not resist his mother, Kabanikha, and, naturally, was not able to protect Katerina from constant attacks from her mother-in-law. The main character tries to convince herself and Varvara that she loves her husband, but nevertheless later confesses to her husband's sister: "I feel sorry for him very much." Pity is the only feeling she has for her husband. Katerina herself perfectly understands that she will never love her husband, and the words she uttered when her husband left (“how I would love you”) are words of despair. Katerina was already possessed by another feeling - love for Boris, and her attempt to grab hold of her husband in order to prevent trouble, a thunderstorm, the approach of which she feels, is futile and useless. Tisha does not listen to her, he stands next to his wife, but in his dreams he is already far from her - his thoughts are about drinking and walking outside Kalinov, he himself says to his wife: “I can’t figure you out, Katya!” Yes, where should he “take it apart”! The inner world of Katerina is too complicated and incomprehensible for people like Kabanov. Not only Tikhon, but also his sister says to Katerina: “I don’t understand

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