The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”: the tragedy of the “female lot” in the interpretation of A. Ostrovsky

Kabanova, or as she is called, Kabanikha, is one of the main characters in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”. Marfa Ignatievna is a rich merchant's wife and also a widow. She has two children: son Tikhon and daughter Varvara. Her son Tikhon lives in her house with his wife Katerina.

Kabanikha is presented as an angry, envious and hypocritical woman who seemingly hates everything around her. Her favorite pastime is reading morals to her son and daughter, and she generally keeps Catherine in fear. Her very appearance is menacing and fearless.

It is not for nothing that the writer gives the head of the family such a strange nickname. It completely conveys the character of the heroine. Assessing her actions, we can confidently call her heartless.

Her greatest offense is that she raised her son to be a weak-willed and spineless man. He can't take a step without asking her. Thus, he cannot and does not even try to protect his wife from his mother-in-law’s attacks. From Kabanikha’s side, the reader sees ordinary jealousy towards her own son.

Her image is contradictory: she believes in God, but does evil, gives alms, but offends her loved ones. She skillfully plays in front of others: she pretends not to understand, calls herself old and haggard, but at the same time she is determined to teach others.

Naturally, the image of Kabanova is the prototype of Catherine, her opposite. Although, there is still something in common between them. They both respect antiquity, but understand it differently. For the mother-in-law, antiquity is what should subjugate the youth. Her attitude suggests that old people should give orders, and young people should obey unquestioningly. Katerina has other ideas. For her, antiquity is love and care for one’s neighbor, it is mercy and compassion not only towards older people, but also towards everyone around. Katerina is a victim of Kabanikha, who endures bullying and abuse, while Varvara only pretends to listen to her mother, in fact adhering only to her own views.

After reading the play, the reader realizes that it was Kabanikha who contributed to the death of Katerina. She threatened to take her own life, apparently running away from her mother-in-law's attacks. Maybe Kabanikha did not want such a denouement, but the desire to break her daughter-in-law prevailed in any case. As a result, Kabanova’s family is collapsing. The daughter blamed her mother for Katerina’s death and left home, while Tikhon went on a drinking binge.

Option 2

We all know Ostrovsky's dramatic play "The Thunderstorm", in which there is an interesting heroine - Kabanikha (Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova).

Kabanikha is presented in the image of a rich merchant's wife. Marfa Ignatievna is a long-widowed woman.

This woman can be described as a lover of showing off her strength. Power and fortitude are the main features of Kabanikha’s image.

Marfa Ignatievna demands obligatory obedience from everyone, including her relatives. She is almost always unhappy with them. She scolds and educates them every day, and is especially dissatisfied with her son and Katerina. Kabanikha requires people to perform rituals and rites. She believes that it is important to keep the family order at bay.

Kabanikha likes to do different things and her main interests are expressed in following established procedures.

Kabanikha and Katerina have little similarity in that both are unable to reconcile their weak character traits. The second similarity is expressed in religiosity, both revere it, while not believing in forgiveness. This is where the similarity in their character traits ends.

The differences in characters are expressed by the fact that she is spiritual and a dreamer, the second lover of maintaining order in small things. For Katerina, love and will come first; for Kabanikha, it’s carrying out orders.

Kabanikha feels like a guardian of order, believing that with her death there will be chaos in the world and at home. No one doubts that the lady has an imperious character, which she periodically shows to everyone.

Kabanikha herself, no matter how much she scolds her children for being disobedient, never complains about them. Therefore, when the daughter-in-law openly confesses in public, this is unacceptable for her and turns out to be a terrible blow to her pride, to which was added the son’s rebellion, and in addition to these troubles, another one is added - the daughter’s escape from her home.

At the end of the play, the author shows the collapse of the powerful, seemingly indestructible world of Kabanikha. It is a terrible blow for her that everything has gone out of the lady’s control. Of course, the reader does not sympathize with her, because this is her fault. What she deserved, she got.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the image of Marfa Ignatievna personifies the patriarchal way of life. She claims that it is not her business whether it is good or bad, but it must be followed.

The outcome of the play is tragic: Katerina dies, the son rebels, the daughter runs away from home. With all the events taking place in the play, Kabanikha’s world collapses, and so does she.

Essay on the theme of Kabanikh

One of the main characters in the work “The Thunderstorm” is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. People all called her Kabanikha. The rich merchant's wife and widow had two children, Varvara and Tikhon, who married Catherine. She was a typical representative of the older generation who loves to give instructions and lecture. For her, the most important priority in life was to comply with the customs and orders established in society. She did not love her children, kept the whole house in fear, and often offended people.

The author of the play describes his heroine as a formidable, strict, evil, cruel and heartless woman. She did not neglect to show hypocrisy. In public, she tried to behave decently. She helped the poor, but at the same time offended her own children and her daughter-in-law Ekaterina. She often left everyone to pray to God. But this did not help her live a holy life. Her children believed that the only way to survive in their mother's house was to learn to deceive. Marfa Ignatievna preferred to keep her Son in fear. She was often jealous of his young wife. In her instructions, she repeated more than once that young people respect old people. In fact, she only had herself. It wasn't so important to her that others listened. She just liked to keep everyone at bay and feel like she was in control. Kabanikha strictly observed traditions and forced young people to do the same.

The heroine was a very stern woman. You could often hear her scolding and criticizing everyone around her. In her character one could observe despotism, which was the result of her blind trust in established customs. Her severity was also expressed in her attitude towards her own daughter-in-law. She cut off every word of Catherine and made poisonous remarks. She condemned her daughter-in-law for treating her husband kindly. In her opinion, a woman should be so afraid of her husband that she feels like his slave.

As a result, with her behavior and attitude towards life, Kabanikha strangled all living things around her. Her children were unhappy. The fate of each of them is not attractive to readers. Perhaps everyone who read the play wondered whether it was worth being such a stern admirer of man-made traditions.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky wrote his play “The Thunderstorm” in 1859. The plot centers on a confrontation between generations. The older generation has always stuck to old morals, experiences and customs. They refused to understand the young people. And those, on the contrary, never sought to follow the traditions established over centuries. Therefore, the elders tried to re-educate their will. This problem, which Ostrovsky described in his play, will forever remain significant as long as fathers and sons exist. Parents want their children to be like them and follow their paths.

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I re-read all the posts, comments, watched videos related to the tragedy of the Kabanov family and came to disappointing conclusions. Despite the fact that numerous friends, acquaintances and acquaintances write about them (these entries contain mostly assumptions and groundless conjectures: perhaps she drank, perhaps he beat her, did not want to work), one thing is obvious and indisputable: having many children , the young family strived for well-being and stability and grabbed every opportunity, including playing roulette, running their own restaurant business, and opening a loan of money at interest. Having an apartment, they did not rent it out, but in order to have a decent income and a decent standard of living, they sold it and invested the entire amount in the business, using the correct principle: money should work. In the restaurant, to increase the popularity of the establishment, flash mobs were organized with expensive snacks, but free wine. All this suggests that the couple had a good prospect thanks to their ingenuity and irrepressible activity. The couple did not remain indifferent to what was happening in the country, took part in rallies and protests... at the same time, having three children, they managed to keep them and their home in order, trying their best to create the appearance of well-being.
Why did their lives go downhill and lead to complete collapse? Why did one business collapse, another...
I’ll make a short digression with a bright sketch. Recently I had to talk with one lady, in Soviet times - the director of a restaurant. She said that after retiring, she found former employees to organize her own business and open her own restaurant with shares. A native Petersburger, she was forced to sublet the premises from the Caucasians, because there were simply no other rooms! However, everything was organized, promotion began, and the restaurant began to make a profit. And then the rent pandemonium began. The price increased every month until the establishment had to close..
What happened to the Kabanovs' business? Nobody writes about this. Why didn’t they, with their desire, youth and energy, manage to develop themselves and reach a stable level? One can only guess about this..
I don’t want to believe in the senseless cruelty of Irina’s husband; I can’t wrap my head around many facts:
1. They lived together for more than one year, but did not divorce..
2. The two of us endured many difficulties.
3. Apparently, they had common interests, tastes, views, including political ones.
4. They raised two children together and one child from Irina’s first marriage.
5. In the end, a sophisticated murder, carefully thought out steps to cover up tracks... and parts of the corpse left in the car... and evidence meekly provided to the police - all this somehow does not fit into a single picture.
In conclusion:
In the media, on TV, on the Internet they endlessly tell us: Do you want to be rich? - behave like rich and wealthy, self-confident people. This is exactly how the Kabanovs behaved. They seemed quite prosperous to numerous friends and acquaintances. Do they borrow money and not pay it back? Such a vile nature! And it never occurred to anyone that the family was truly poor and on the verge of disaster!

The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” contrasts perfectly with the gloomy realities of Russia in the pre-reform period. At the epicenter of the unfolding drama is the conflict between the heroine, striving to defend her human rights, and a world in which strong, rich and powerful people rule everything.

Katerina as the embodiment of a pure, strong and bright people's soul

From the very first pages of the work, the image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” cannot but attract attention and make one feel sympathy. Honesty, the ability to feel deeply, sincerity of nature and a penchant for poetry - these are the features that distinguish Katerina herself from representatives of the “dark kingdom”. In the main character, Ostrovsky tried to capture all the beauty of the people's simple soul. The girl expresses her emotions and experiences unpretentiously and does not use distorted words and expressions common in the merchant environment. This is not difficult to notice; Katerina’s speech itself is more reminiscent of a melodic tune; it is replete with diminutive words and expressions: “sunshine”, “grass”, “rain”. The heroine shows incredible sincerity when she talks about her free life in her father’s house, among icons, calm prayers and flowers, where she lived “like a bird in the wild.”

The image of a bird is an accurate reflection of the heroine’s state of mind

The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” perfectly resonates with the image of a bird, which in folk poetry symbolizes freedom. Talking with Varvara, she repeatedly refers to this analogy and claims that she is “a free bird that is caught in an iron cage.” In captivity she feels sad and painful.

Katerina's life in the Kabanovs' house. Love of Katerina and Boris

In the Kabanovs' house, Katerina, who is characterized by dreaminess and romance, feels like a complete stranger. The humiliating reproaches of her mother-in-law, who is accustomed to keeping all household members in fear, and the atmosphere of tyranny, lies and hypocrisy oppress the girl. However, Katerina herself, who is by nature a strong, integral person, knows that there is a limit to her patience: “I don’t want to live here, I won’t, even if you cut me!” Varvara’s words that one cannot survive in this house without deception evoke sharp rejection in Katerina. The heroine resists the “dark kingdom”; its orders did not break her will to live; fortunately, they did not force her to become like the other residents of the Kabanov house and begin to be a hypocrite and lie at every step.

The image of Katerina is revealed in a new way in the play “The Thunderstorm”, when the girl makes an attempt to escape from the “disgusted” world. She does not know how and does not want to love the way the inhabitants of the “dark kingdom” do; freedom, openness, and “honest” happiness are important to her. While Boris convinces her that their love will remain a secret, Katerina wants everyone to know about it, for everyone to see. Tikhon, her husband, however, the bright feeling awakened in her heart seems to her And just at this moment the reader comes face to face with the tragedy of her suffering and torment. From this moment on, Katerina’s conflict occurs not only with the outside world, but also with herself. It is difficult for her to make a choice between love and duty; she tries to forbid herself to love and be happy. However, the fight with her own feelings is beyond the strength of the fragile Katerina.

The way of life and laws that reign in the world around the girl put pressure on her. She strives to repent of what she has done, to cleanse her soul. Seeing the painting “The Last Judgment” on the wall in the church, Katerina cannot stand it, falls to her knees and begins to publicly repent of her sin. However, even this does not bring the girl the desired relief. Other heroes of the drama “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky are not able to support her, even her loved one. Boris refuses Katerina’s requests to take her away from here. This man is not a hero, he is simply unable to protect either himself or his beloved.

The death of Katerina is a ray of light that illuminated the “dark kingdom”

Evil is falling on Katerina from all sides. Constant bullying from her mother-in-law, tossing between duty and love - all this ultimately leads the girl to a tragic ending. Having managed to experience happiness and love in her short life, she is simply unable to continue living in the Kabanovs’ house, where such concepts do not exist at all. She sees the only way out in suicide: the future scares Katerina, and the grave is perceived as salvation from mental torment. However, the image of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm”, in spite of everything, remains strong - she did not choose a miserable existence in a “cage” and did not allow anyone to break her living soul.

Nevertheless, the heroine’s death was not in vain. The girl won a moral victory over the “dark kingdom”; she managed to slightly dispel the darkness in the hearts of people, motivate them to action, and open their eyes. The life of the heroine herself became a “ray of light” that blazed in the darkness and left its glow over the world of madness and darkness for a long time.

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What are the morals of the Kabanov family?

The main character in the Kabanov family is the mother, the rich widow Marfa Ignatievna. It is she who dictates her own rules in the family and commands the household members. It is no coincidence that her last name is Kabanova. There is something animalistic about this woman: she is uneducated, but powerful, cruel and stubborn, demanding that everyone obey her, honor the foundations of the house-building and observe its traditions. Marfa Ignatievna is a strong woman. She considers the family to be the most important thing, the basis of social order, and demands the uncomplaining obedience of her children and daughter-in-law. However, she sincerely loves her son and daughter, and her remarks speak about this: “After all, out of love, your parents are strict with you, everyone thinks to teach you good.” Kabanikha is lenient towards Varvara and lets her go out with the young people, realizing how hard it will be for her to be married. But Katerina constantly reproaches her daughter-in-law, controls her every step, forces Katerina to live the way she considers right. Perhaps she is jealous of her daughter-in-law for her son, which is why she is so unkind to her. “Ever since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you,” she says, turning to Tikhon. But he is unable to object to his mother, since he is a weak-willed person, brought up in obedience, and respects his mother’s opinion. Let us pay attention to Tikhon’s remarks: “How can I, Mama, disobey you!”; “I, Mama, am not one step out of your control,” etc. However, this is only the external side of his behavior. He does not want to live according to the laws of house-building, he does not want to make his wife his slave, a thing: “But why be afraid? It’s enough for me that she loves me.” Tikhon believes that relationships between a man and a woman in a family should be built on the principles of love and mutual understanding, and not on the subordination of one to the other. And yet he cannot disobey his domineering mother and stand up for the woman he loves. That's why Tikhon seeks solace in drunkenness. The mother, with her domineering character, suppresses the man in him, making him weak and defenseless. Tikhon is not ready to play the role of husband, protector, or take care of family well-being. Therefore, in Katerina’s eyes he is a nonentity, not a husband. She doesn’t love him, but only feels sorry for him and tolerates him.

Tikhon's sister Varvara is much stronger and braver than her brother. She has adapted to life in her mother’s house, where everything is based on deception, and now lives by the principle: “Doing whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered.” Varvara meets her lover Kudryash secretly from her mother, and does not report to Kabanikha for her every step. However, it is easier for her to live - an unmarried girl is free, and therefore she is not kept under lock and key, like Katerina. Varvara tries to explain to Katerina that it is impossible to live in their house without deception. But her brother’s wife is incapable of this: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”

Katerina is a stranger in the Kabanovs’ house, everything here is “as if from under captivity” for her. In her parents' house she was surrounded by love and affection, she was free: "...whatever I want, it happened, that's what I do." Her soul is like a bird, she must live in free flight. And in her mother-in-law’s house, Katerina is like a bird in a cage: she yearns in captivity, endures undeserved reproaches from her mother-in-law and the drunkenness of her unloved husband. She doesn’t even have children to give them her affection, love, attention.

Fleeing from family despotism, Katerina is looking for support in life, a person she could rely on and truly love. And therefore, Dikiy’s weak and weak-willed nephew Boris becomes in her eyes an ideal man, unlike her husband. She doesn't seem to notice his shortcomings. But Boris turned out to be a man incapable of understanding Katerina and loving her just as selflessly. After all, he throws her to the mercy of her mother-in-law. And Tikhon looks much more noble than Boris: he forgives Katerina everything because he truly loves her.

Therefore, Katerina’s suicide is a pattern. She cannot live under the yoke of Kabanikha and forgive the betrayal of Boris. This tragedy shook up the quiet life of the provincial town, and even the timid, weak-willed Tikhon begins to protest against his mother: “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you...”

Using the example of the Kabanov family, we see that relationships in the family cannot be built on the principle of subordination of the weak to the strong, the foundations of Domostroev are being destroyed, and the power of the autocrats is passing. And even a weak woman can challenge this wild world with her death. And yet I believe that suicide is not the best way out of this situation. Katerina could have acted differently. For example, go to a monastery and devote your life to serving God, because she is a very religious woman. But the heroine chooses death, and this is both her strength and her weakness.

In Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm" the problems of morality are widely raised. Using the example of the provincial town of Kalinov, the playwright showed the truly cruel customs reigning there. The embodiment of these morals is the Kabanovs' house.

Let's meet its representatives.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is a champion of the old world. The name itself paints a picture of an overweight woman with a difficult character, and the nickname “Kabanikha” complements this unpleasant picture. Kabanikha lives the old fashioned way, in accordance with strict order. But she only keeps up appearances

This is the order that is maintained in public: a kind son, an obedient daughter-in-law. He even complains: “They don’t know anything, no order... What will happen, how the old people will die, how the light will stay on, I don’t even know. Well, at least it’s good that I won’t see anything.” There is real arbitrariness in the house. The boar is despotic, rude to the peasants, “eats” the family and does not tolerate objections. Her son is completely subordinate to her will, and she expects this from her daughter-in-law.

Next to Kabanikha, who day after day “sharpenes all her household like rusting iron,” stands the merchant Dikoy, whose name is associated with wild power. Dikoy not only “sharpenes and saws” members

Your family.

The men whom he deceives during payments suffer from it, and, of course, the customers, as well as his clerk Kudryash, a rebellious and impudent guy, ready to teach a “scold” a lesson in a dark alley with his fists.

Ostrovsky described the character of the Wild One very accurately. For the Wild, the main thing is money, in which he sees everything: power, glory, worship. This is especially striking in the small town where he lives. He can easily “pat on the shoulder” the mayor himself.

The images of Tikhon and Boris are slightly developed. Dobrolyubov, in a famous article, says that Boris can be attributed more to the setting than to the heroes. In the remark, Boris stands out only in his clothes: “All faces, except Boris, are dressed in Russian.” This is the first difference between him and the residents of Kalinov. The second difference is that he studied at a commercial academy in Moscow. But Ostrovsky made him Dikiy’s nephew, and this suggests that, despite some differences, he belongs to the people of the “dark kingdom”. This is also confirmed by the fact that he is not able to fight this kingdom. Instead of lending a helping hand to Katerina, he advises her to submit to her fate. Tikhon is the same. Already in the list of characters it is said about him that he is “her son,” that is, the son of Kabanikha. He really is more likely just Kabanikha’s son than a person. Tikhon has no willpower. This person’s only desire is to escape from his mother’s care so that he can take a break for the whole year. Tikhon is also unable to help Katerina. Both Boris and Tikhon leave her alone with their inner experiences.

If Kabanikha and Dikoy belong to the old way of life, Kuligin carries the ideas of enlightenment, then Katerina is at a crossroads. Having grown up and brought up in a patriarchal spirit, Katerina fully follows this way of life. Cheating here is considered unforgivable, and having cheated on her husband, Katerina sees this as a sin before God. But her character is naturally proud, independent and free. Her dream of flying means breaking free from the power of her oppressive mother-in-law and from the stuffy world of the Kabanovs' house. As a child, she once, offended by something, went to the Volga in the evening. The same protest can be heard in her words addressed to Varya: “And if I’m really tired of being here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, I won’t do this, even if you cut me!” In Katerina’s soul there is a struggle between the pangs of conscience and the desire for freedom. She does not know how to adapt to life, to be a hypocrite and pretend, as Kabanikha does, she does not know how to look at the world as easily as Varya.

The morals of the Kabanov house drive Katerina to suicide.