Composition “The relationship of characters: Katerina and Kabanikha. Katerina - Russian tragic heroine

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 female image who entered the fight against dark force and dooms himself to certain death. Among the victims, Katerina stands out for her open character, courage and directness. Everything I wrote in the essay is the reason further fate Catherine.
Katerina - young married woman, 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 Kabanikh's house, 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 of life and she was devoted with all her heart to her husband Baranov. And Tikhon himself by type small man. The cruel Boar suppressed in her son everything that is inherent in a man. He's looking for a little hole to break out and live 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 further, having changed Tikhon, in the soul of Katerina arises internal conflict, everything begins to crumble 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 affair 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 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 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 “He 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 better option than to shoot himself, hang himself or drown himself Death by suicide is better than moral death from the kingdom. No one understood Katerina, and she died from her hopelessness.

2. The image of Katerina in the play "Thunderstorm"

Katerina is a lonely young woman who lacks human participation, sympathy, love. The need for this draws her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he does not look like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to recognize him inner essence, considers him a man of another world. In her imagination, Boris appears as a handsome prince who will take her away from the "dark kingdom" to fairy world that exists in her dreams.

In terms of character and interests, Katerina stands out sharply from her environment. The fate of Katerina, unfortunately, is a vivid and typical example of the fate of thousands of Russian women of that time. Katerina is a young woman, the wife of the merchant's son Tikhon Kabanov. She recently left her native home and moved to the house with her husband, where she lives with her mother-in-law Kabanova, who is the sovereign mistress. In the family, Katerina has no rights, she is not even free to dispose of herself. With warmth and love she remembers parental home, her girlish life. There she lived freely, surrounded by the caress and care of her mother.

Katerina found herself in completely different conditions in her husband's house .. At every step she felt dependent on her mother-in-law, suffered humiliation and insults. On the part of Tikhon, she does not meet any support, much less understanding, since he himself is under the rule of Kabanikh. By her kindness, Katerina is ready to treat Kabanikha like her own mother. "But Katerina's sincere feelings do not meet with support from either Kabanikha or Tikhon.

Life in such an environment changed the character of Katerina. Katerina's sincerity and truthfulness collide in the house of Kabanikh with lies, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and rudeness. When love for Boris is born in Katerina, it seems to her a crime, and she struggles with the feeling that has washed over her. Katerina's truthfulness and sincerity make her suffer so much that she finally has to repent to her husband. Katerina's sincerity, her truthfulness are incompatible with the life of the "dark kingdom". All this was the cause of the tragedy of Katerina.

"Katerina's public repentance shows the depth of her suffering, moral greatness, determination. But after repentance, her situation became unbearable. Her husband does not understand her, Boris is weak-willed and does not go to her aid. The situation has become hopeless - Katerina is dying. It is not the fault of Katerina's death one specific person. Her death is the result of the incompatibility of morality and the way of life in which she was forced to exist. The image of Katerina had a huge impact for Ostrovsky's contemporaries and for subsequent generations educational value. He called for a fight against all forms of despotism and oppression of the human person. It is an expression of the growing protest of the masses against all forms of slavery.

Katerina, sad and cheerful, compliant and obstinate, dreamy, depressed and proud. So different states of mind are explained by the naturalness of every spiritual movement of this at the same time restrained and impulsive nature, the strength of which lies in the ability to always be oneself. Katerina remained true to herself, that is, she could not change the very essence of her character.

I think the most important feature Katerina's character - honesty to herself, her husband, the world around her; it is her unwillingness to live a lie. She does not want and cannot cheat, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene of Katerina's confession of treason. Not a thunderstorm, not a frightening prophecy of a crazy old woman, not a fear of fiery hell prompted the heroine to tell the truth. “The whole heart is broken! I can't take it anymore!" So she began her confession. For her honest and whole nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. To live just to live is not for her. To live means to be yourself. Her most precious value is personal freedom, the freedom of the soul.

With such a character, Katerina, after betraying her husband, could not remain in his house, return to a monotonous and dreary life, endure the constant reproaches and “moralizing” of Kabanikh, lose her freedom. But any patience comes to an end. It is difficult for Katerina to be where she is not understood, humiliated and insulted human dignity, ignore her feelings and desires. Before her death, she says: “What is home, what is in the grave is all the same ... In the grave is better ...” She does not want death, but life is unbearable.

Katerina is a deeply religious and God-fearing person. Since according to Christian religion suicide is a great sin, then by consciously committing it, she showed not weakness, but strength of character. Her death is a challenge to the “dark force”, a desire to live in the “light kingdom” of love, joy and happiness.

Katerina's death is the result of a collision between two historical eras.With her death, Katerina protests against despotism and tyranny, her death testifies to the approaching end of the "dark kingdom." The image of Katerina belongs to the best images Russian fiction. Katerina - new type people of Russian reality in the 60s of the XIX century.

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, make a table 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 makes sure that former 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 her 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 unwritten laws 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 young man, wants to tell about the current situation to both her husband and mother-in-law. 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 clean and fair man 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 only be obtained at a cost. 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.

A. N. Ostrovsky - playwright, whose name is associated with the emergence of a truly Russian national theater, the author of numerous plays, diverse in terms of genre. In artistically 1 truthful images of his comedies, dramas, scenes from life, historical chronicles before us are representatives of various classes, people of various professions, origins, upbringing.

Life, customs, characters of the philistines, nobles, officials, merchants - from "very important gentlemen", rich bar and businessmen to the most insignificant and poor - are reflected in his work with amazing breadth. The plays were written not by an indifferent everyday writer, but by an angry accuser of the world of the "dark kingdom", where for the sake of profit a person is capable of everything, where the elders rule over the younger, the rich - over the poor, where government, the church and society in every possible way support the centuries-old cruel morals. About this - Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm", which is rightfully considered one of the masterpieces of Russian realistic drama and which the author himself assessed as a great creative success.

The Thunderstorm depicts not only the deadening conditions of the dark kingdom, but also manifestations of deep hatred for them. The satirical denunciation in the play naturally merged with the affirmation of new forces growing in life - positive, bright, rising to fight for their human rights. Feelings of discontent and spontaneous indignation were expressed in the play in the decisive protest of Katerina Kabanova. The bright human beginning in Katerina is natural, like breathing. This is her nature, which is expressed not so much in reasoning, but in spiritual subtlety, the strength of emotions, in relation to people, in all her behavior. The confrontation escalates and intensifies in Katerina's soul: dark prejudice and poetic insight, selfless courage and despair, reckless love and unyielding conscience painfully clash.

In the image of Katerina, Ostrovsky painted a new type of Russian woman - an original, selfless, resolute protest foreshadowing the end of the "dark kingdom". Katerina personifies moral purity, the spiritual beauty of a Russian woman, her desire for freedom, her ability not only to endure, but also to defend her rights, her human dignity. whole, strong nature, Katerina suffers only for the time being. To the words of Varvara: “Where will you go? You are a husband's wife." Katerina replies: "Oh, Varya, you don't know my character! Of course, God forbid this happens! And if it gets too cold for me here, they won't hold me back by any force. I'll throw myself out the window, I'll throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, so I won’t, even if you cut me!” Katerina has an open character, strong and freedom-loving. She is characterized by courage and directness: “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything, ”she answers Varvara, who says that you won’t live in their house without deception.

According to her mental attitude, Katerina is a “free bird”. “... Why don't people fly? she turns to Barbara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.” Therefore, the awakened feeling for Katerina merges with longing for the will, with the dream of a real, human life. She loves not like the timid victims of the "dark kingdom". Katerina gives herself to love to the end, demanding nothing in return and not wanting to hide anything. To Boris’s words: “No one will know about our love ...” Katerina replies: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I am doing!” And in the name of this free love that knows no boundaries, she enters into an unequal battle with the forces of the "dark kingdom" and dies.

Who is to blame for her death? What is Katerina's suicide - her moral victory over the "dark kingdom", where rudeness, violence, ignorance and indifference to others rule, or a tragic defeat? It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. Too many reasons led to such an ending. The playwright sees the tragedy of Katerina's position in that she comes into conflict not only with Kalinov's family mores, but also with herself. The straightforwardness of Ostrovsky's heroine is one of the sources of her tragedy. Katerina is pure in soul - lies and debauchery are alien and disgusting to her. She understands that, having fallen in love with Boris, she has violated the moral law. “Ah, Varya,” she complains, “I have a sin on my mind! How much I, poor thing, wept, no matter what I did to myself! I can't get away from this sin. Nowhere to go. After all, this is not good, this is a terrible sin, Varenka, that I love another? »

If not with her mind, then with her heart, Katerina felt the inevitable correctness of other laws - freedom, love, humanity. These laws are brutally violated, not by the heroine, but in relation to her: she was given in marriage to the unloved, her husband betrays her for the sake of drunken revelry, her mother-in-law relentlessly tyrannizes, she is forced to live in captivity. Through the whole play, there is a painful struggle in Katerina's mind between the understanding of her wrong, her sinfulness and a vague, but more and more powerful sense of her right to human life. But the play ends with Katerina's moral victory over the dark forces that torment her. She expiates her guilt immeasurably, and escapes bondage and humiliation by the only path that has been opened to her. Committing suicide, committing, from the point of view of the church, a terrible sin, Katerina thinks not about the salvation of her soul, but about the love that was revealed to her: “My friend! My joy! Goodbye!" Her decision to die, if only not to remain a slave, expresses, according to Dobrolyubov, "the need for the emerging movement of Russian life." And this decision comes to Katerina along with internal self-justification. Fear disappears in her heart, she feels ready to stand before a moral court. After all, people say: "Death by sins is terrible."

If Katerina is not afraid, then her sins are atoned for. She dies because she considers death the only worthy outcome, the only way to preserve the higher that lived in her. The idea that Katerina's death is in fact a moral victory, the triumph of the real Russian soul over the forces of the "dark kingdom" of the Wild and Kabanovs, is also strengthened by the reaction of other heroes of the play to her death. For example, Tikhon, Katerina's husband, for the first time in his life expressed his personal opinion, joining (even if only for a moment) in the fight against the "dark kingdom". “You ruined her, you, you…” he exclaims, turning to his mother, before whom he has been trembling all his life. For the first time, he decides to protest against the suffocating foundations of his family:

* “Good for you, Katya! Why am I left to live in the world and suffer!”

Thus, the thunderstorm, the approach of which was felt throughout the play, broke out at the end. And this thunderstorm is not just a natural phenomenon, it is a shock to all existing foundations, a symbol of freedom. This gave the critic Dobrolyubov a reason to call Katerina "Russian, strong character", the national "bright beam in dark kingdom”, referring to the effective expression in the heroine of direct protest, the liberation aspirations of the masses. Pointing to the deep typicality of this image, to its nationwide significance, the critic wrote that the image of Katerina represents “an artistic combination of folk features, manifested in different provisions Russian life, but serving as an expression of one idea. In his opinion, Katerina reflected in her feelings and actions the spontaneous protest of the broad masses of the people against the hated, fettering conditions of the dark kingdom.

The integrity, decisiveness of Katerina's character, her "Russian living nature" was expressed in the fact that she refused to obey the routines of the Kabanikh's house with its "violent, deadening beginnings" and preferred death to life in captivity. She, according to Dobrolyubov, “does not want to put up, does not want to take advantage of the miserable vegetative life that they give her in exchange for her living soul... ". And this decision of Katerina was not a manifestation of weakness, but of spiritual strength and courage.

Whole, honest, sincere, she is not capable of lies and falsehood, therefore, in cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life is so tragic. Katerina's protest against the despotism of Kabanikh is a struggle of light, pure, human against darkness, lies and cruelty of the "dark kingdom". No wonder Ostrovsky, who is very great attention devoted to the selection of names and surnames actors, gave such a name to the heroine of "Thunderstorm": translated from Greek, "Catherine" means "eternally pure."

Katerina is a poetic nature. Unlike the rude Kalinovites, she feels the beauty of nature and loves it. “I’ll get up, it used to be early; if it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring water with me and that’s it, water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers,” she says of her childhood. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty. Her dreams were filled with wonderful, fabulous visions. She often dreamed that she was flying like a bird. She talks about her desire to fly several times. With these repetitions, the playwright emphasizes the romantic sublimity of Katerina's soul, her freedom-loving aspirations. Married early, she tries to get along with her mother-in-law, to love her husband, but no one needs sincere feelings in the Kabanovs' house. And the tender, poetic Katerina in this gloomy atmosphere "withered completely." Like a proud bird that cannot live in a cage, it dies in the house of the Kabanikh.

Katerina's poetry and spiritual purity are manifested in her every word. “Where can I, poor thing, go? Who can I grab onto? My fathers, I am dying!” she says, saying goodbye to Tikhon. From what natural simplicity and these words accurately convey her condition! The tenderness that overwhelms her soul finds no way out. Deep human anguish sounds in her dream of children: “If only someone’s children! Eco grief! I don’t have children: I would still sit with them and amuse them. I love to talk with children very much - they are angels, after all. Which loving wife and she would have been a mother in other conditions!

Catherine is religious. With her impressionability, the religious feelings instilled in her in childhood firmly took possession of her soul. But how different is Katerina's sincere, childlike religiosity from the sanctimonious religiosity of Kabanikh! For Kabanikha, religion is a gloomy force that suppresses the will of a person, and for Katerina, it is poetic world fabulous images. “... Before death, I loved to go to church! For sure, it used to happen that I would go into paradise, and I didn’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I didn’t hear when the service was over, ”she recalls. Nobody in Kalinovo prayed as sincerely as Katerina. “Ah, Curly, how she prays, if only you looked! What an angelic smile she has on her face, but it seems to glow from her face, ”says Boris, and Kudryash immediately unmistakably determines that we are talking about Katherine.

And at that same time. religion is a cage in which the "dark kingdom" has locked Katerina's soul. After all, the fear of "sin" torments her even more than the oppression of Kabanikhi. And the fact that she managed to overcome him testifies to the moral strength of Katerina.

Katerina's protest against the oppression of the "dark kingdom" is based on a natural desire to defend the freedom of her personality. Bondage is the name of her main enemy. Outwardly, the living conditions in Kalinovo are no different from the environment of Katerina's childhood. The same prayers, the same rituals, the same activities, but “here,” the heroine notes, “everything seems to be from under captivity.” Bondage is incompatible with her freedom-loving soul. “But bondage is bitter, oh, how bitter!” she says in the scene with the key, and this thought leads her to the decision to see Boris. With all her being, Katerina felt that living in the “dark kingdom” was worse than death. And she preferred death to captivity. “It’s sad, bitter is such a liberation,” Dobrolyubov wrote, “but what to do when there is no other way out.”

In the behavior of Katerina, according to Dobrolyubov, a “decisive, integral Russian character” was manifested, which “will withstand itself - in spite of any obstacles, and when there is not enough strength, it will die, but will not betray itself.” Dobrolyubov noted that the character of Katerina, constituting "a step forward not only in Ostrovsky's dramatic work, but in all of our literature," reflects a new phase in the development of Russian literature. folk life. There was a need for people with a decisive character who would embody general requirement truth and rights into decisive action. Katerina was the first type of such a person in Russian literature. Therefore, Dobrolyubov compared it with a ray of light that illuminated not only the horrors of the "dark kingdom", but also the signs of its near end.

The great Russian actress Glikeria Nikolaevna Fedotova spoke about the stage embodiment of the image of Katerina: “I play this role from my youth, but only now I understand how to play it. And I didn't understand at all earlier that Katerina is a ray of light in a dark kingdom. But it is necessary that through her every word, every movement somewhere this shining ray, which seeks to break through the darkness, peeped through. And let Katerina, not finding the way to a bright and joyful life, die: it is not helplessness, not sadness, and not inner devastation that leads to this end. On the contrary, a bright impulse. And only now he has no way out of the dark kingdom, but someday, soon there will be ... That's how Katerina Ostrovsky conceived, that's how she should be played. Remarkable Russian actresses L. P. Nikulina-Kositskaya, the first performer of the role of Katerina, P. A. Strepetova, M. N. Yermolova left unforgettable, creatively original portraits of Katerina in the history of the Russian theater.

Katerina's protest against the despotism of Kabanikha was not only personal in the context of the struggle against serfdom, it was of great revolutionary significance, although Katerina herself acted completely unconsciously, defending only the freedom of her own personality.