Quotes from Katerina Kabanova thunderstorm. Essay: The image of Katerina Kabanova in the play “The Thunderstorm” (A.N.

In the drama “The Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovsky created a completely new female image for his work - with inner harmony, spiritual strength and an extraordinary attitude.

Life before marriage

Katerina is a bright person with a poetic, elevated soul. She is a dreamer with a remarkably developed imagination. Before her marriage, she lived freely: she prayed in church, did handicrafts, listened to the stories of the praying mantis, and saw fabulous dreams. The author vividly represents the heroine’s desire for spirituality and beauty.

Religiosity

Katerina is very pious and religious. Christianity in her perception is closely connected with pagan beliefs and folklore legends. Katerina’s entire inner being strives for freedom and flight: “Why don’t people fly like birds?” she asks. Even in her dreams she sees her own flights in the form of a bird or a butterfly.

Having gotten married and settled in the Kabanovs’ house, she feels like a bird in a cage. Being a person of strong character, Katerina has a sense of self-esteem. In Kabanikha’s house, where everything is done as if against her will, it’s hard for her. How hard it is to accept the stupidity and weak character of your own husband. Their whole life is built on deception and submission.

Hiding behind God's commandments, Kabanova humiliates and insults her household. Most likely, such frequent attacks on the daughter-in-law are due to the fact that she feels in her a rival capable of resisting her will.

Varya Katerina admits that if her life becomes completely unbearable, she will not endure it - she will throw herself into the Volga. Even as a child, when her parents offended her in some way, she sailed away on a boat along the Volga alone. I think that the river for her is a symbol of freedom, will, and space.

Thirst for freedom and love

The thirst for freedom in Katerina’s soul is mixed with the thirst for true love, which knows no boundaries or barriers. Attempts to maintain a relationship with her husband lead nowhere - she cannot respect him because of his weak character. Having fallen in love with Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, she thinks of him as a kind, intelligent and well-mannered man, very different from those around him. He attracts her with his difference, and the heroine surrenders to her feelings.

Subsequently, she begins to be tormented by the awareness of her sinfulness. Her internal conflict is determined not only by the conviction of sin before God, but also before herself. Katerina’s ideas about morality and morality do not allow her to be calm about secret love meetings with Boris and her husband’s deception. Thus, the heroine’s suffering is inevitable. Due to her growing feelings of guilt, the girl confesses everything to her family just as a thunderstorm approaches. In thunder and lightning she sees God's punishment overtaking her.

Resolving internal conflict

Katerina's internal conflict cannot be resolved by her confession. From the inability to reconcile her feelings and the opinions of others about herself, she commits suicide.

Despite the fact that taking one’s own life is a sin, Katerina thinks about Christian forgiveness and is sure that her sins will be forgiven by the one who loves her.

A. N. Ostrovsky in each of his plays created and showed multifaceted characters whose lives are interesting to watch. One of the playwright’s works tells about a girl who committed suicide, unable to withstand the pressure of circumstances. The development of Katerina’s character in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” as well as her emotional experiences, are the main driving forces of the plot.

In the list of characters, Ostrovsky designates Katerina as the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. As the plot develops, the reader gradually reveals the image of Katya, realizing that this character’s function as a wife is not exhausted. The character of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” can be called strong. Despite the unhealthy situation in the family, Katya managed to maintain purity and firmness. She refuses to accept the rules of the game, living by her own. For example, Tikhon obeys his mother in everything. In one of the first dialogues, Kabanov convinces his mother that he does not have his own opinion. But soon the topic of conversation changes - and now Kabanikha, as if casually, accuses Katerina of the fact that Tikhon loves her more. Until this moment, Katerina did not participate in the conversation, but now she is offended by her mother-in-law’s words. The girl addresses Kabanikha on a personal level, which can be regarded as hidden disrespect, as well as a kind of equality. Katerina puts herself on an equal footing with her, denying the family hierarchy. Katya politely expresses her dissatisfaction with the slander, emphasizing that in public she is the same as at home, and she has no need to pretend. This line actually speaks of Katya as a strong person. As the story progresses, we learn that Kabanikha’s tyranny extends only to the family, and in society the old woman talks about preserving family order and proper upbringing, covering up her cruelty with words about benefactor. The author shows that Katerina, firstly, is aware of her mother-in-law’s behavior; secondly, I disagree with this; and thirdly, he openly declares to Kabanikha, to whom even his own son cannot object, about his views. However, Kabanikha does not give up trying to humiliate her daughter-in-law, forcing her to kneel in front of her husband.

Sometimes a girl remembers how she lived before. Katerina's childhood was quite carefree. The girl went to church with her mother, sang songs, walked, and according to Katya, she didn’t have everything she could have. Katya compares herself before marriage to a free bird: she was left to her own devices, she was in charge of her life. And now Katya often compares herself to a bird. “Why don’t people fly like birds? - she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.”

But such a bird cannot fly away. Once in a cage with thick bars, Katerina gradually suffocates in captivity. A freedom-loving person like Katya cannot exist within the rigid confines of the kingdom of lies and hypocrisy. Everything in Katya seems to breathe with feelings and love for the most unique thing - for life itself. Once in the Kabanov family, the girl is deprived of this inner feeling. Her life is similar to life before marriage: the same songs, the same trips to church. But now, in such a hypocritical environment, Katya feels false.

It’s surprising that with such inner strength, Katya does not oppose herself to others. She is “a martyr, a captive, deprived of the opportunity to grow and develop,” but she does not consider herself such. She tries to pass through the “millstone of hostility and malicious envy” with dignity, without losing or vulgarizing her essence.

Katya can easily be called brave. Indeed, the girl tried to fight the feelings that flared up in her for Boris, but still decided to meet with him. Katya takes responsibility for her destiny and decisions. In a sense, during her secret meetings with Boris, Katya gains freedom. She is not afraid of “neither sin nor human judgment.” Finally, a girl can do as her heart tells her.

But with Tikhon’s return, their meetings stop. Katya’s desire to talk about her relationship with Dikiy’s nephew does not please Boris. He hopes that the girl will remain silent, dragging her into the net of the “dark kingdom” from which Katya was so desperately trying to escape. One of the critics of the drama, Melnikov-Pechersky, surprisingly aptly described Katerina: “a young woman, having fallen under the yoke of this old woman, experiences thousands of moral torments and at the same time realizes that God has put an ardent heart in her, that passions are raging in her young chest , are not at all compatible with the seclusion of married women, which prevails in the environment where Katerina found herself.”

Neither the confession of treason nor the conversation with Boris met Katerina’s hopes. For her, the difference and discrepancy between the real world and ideas about the future turned out to be fatal. The decision to rush into the Volga was not spontaneous - Katya had long felt her approaching death. She was afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, seeing in it retribution for sins and bad thoughts. Katerina's frank confession becomes like a desperate communion, a desire to be honest to the end. It is noteworthy that between the events of the confession of treason - the conversation with Boris - the suicide, some time passes. And all these days the girl endures insults and curses from her mother-in-law, who wants to bury her in the ground alive.

You cannot condemn the heroine or talk about the weakness of Katerina’s character in “The Thunderstorm”. Nevertheless, even having committed such a sin, Katya remains as pure and innocent as in the first acts of the play.

A discussion about the strength or weakness of Katerina’s character can be useful for 10th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The Character of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”.”

Work test

<…>We can trace it [ feminine energetic character] development according to Katerina’s personality.

First of all, “you are struck by the extraordinary originality of this character. There is nothing external or alien in him, but everything somehow comes out from within him; every impression is processed in it and then grows organically with it. We see this, for example, in Katerina’s simple-minded story about her childhood and life in her mother’s house. It turns out that her upbringing and young life gave her nothing; in her mother’s house it was the same as at the Kabanovs’: they went to church, sewed with gold on velvet, listened to the stories of wanderers, had dinner, walked in the garden, again talked with the pilgrims and prayed themselves... After listening to Katerina’s story, Varvara, her sister husband, remarks with surprise: “But it’s the same with us.” But Katerina defines the difference very quickly in five words: “yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity!” And further conversation shows that in all this appearance, which is so commonplace everywhere, Katerina knew how to find her own special meaning, apply it to her needs and aspirations, until Kabanikha’s heavy hand fell on her. Katerina does not at all belong to the violent character, never satisfied, who loves to destroy at all costs... On the contrary, she is primarily a creative, loving, ideal character. That is why she tries to comprehend and ennoble everything in her imagination;<…> She tries to reconcile any external dissonance with the harmony of her soul, covering any shortcoming from the fullness of her inner strength. Rough, superstitious stories and senseless ravings of wanderers turn into golden, poetic dreams of the imagination, not frightening, but clear, kind. Her images are poor because the materials presented to her by reality are so monotonous; but even with these meager means, her imagination works tirelessly and takes her to a new world, quiet and bright. It’s not the rituals that occupy her in the church: she doesn’t even hear what they sing and read there; she has different music in her soul, different visions, for her the service ends imperceptibly, as if in one second. She looks at the trees, strangely drawn on the images, and imagines a whole country of gardens, where all the trees are like this and everything is blooming, fragrant, everything is full of heavenly singing. Otherwise, on a sunny day, she will see “such a bright pillar coming down from the dome and smoke moving in this pillar, like clouds,” and now she sees, “as if angels are flying and singing in this pillar.” Sometimes she will present herself - why shouldn’t she fly? and when she stands on the mountain, she just wants to fly: she would run like that, raise her arms, and fly. She is strange, extravagant from the point of view of others; but this is because she cannot in any way accept their views and inclinations. She takes materials from them because there is nowhere else to get them from; but she does not draw conclusions, but searches for them herself and often comes to a conclusion that is not at all what they settle on. We notice a similar attitude to external impressions in other environments, in people who, by their upbringing, are accustomed to abstract reasoning and know how to analyze their feelings. The whole difference is that for Katerina, as a direct, lively person, everything is done according to the instinct of nature, without a clear consciousness, while for people who are theoretically developed and strong in mind, logic and analysis play the main role. Strong minds are precisely distinguished by that inner strength that gives them the opportunity not to succumb to ready-made views and systems, but to create their own views and conclusions based on living impressions. They do not reject anything at first, but they do not stop at anything, but only take note of everything and process it in their own way. Katerina also presents us with similar results, although she does not resonate and does not even understand her own feelings, but is driven directly by nature. In the dry, monotonous life of her youth, in the rude and superstitious concepts of the environment, she constantly knew how to take what agreed with her natural aspirations for beauty, harmony, contentment, happiness. In the conversations of the wanderers, in the prostrations and lamentations, she saw not a dead form, but something else, to which her heart was constantly striving. Based on them, she built her ideal world, without passions, without need, without grief, a world entirely dedicated to goodness and pleasure. But what is real good and true pleasure for a person, she could not determine for herself; This is why these sudden impulses of some unaccountable, unclear aspirations, which she recalls: “Sometimes, it used to be, early in the morning I would go to the garden, the sun was still rising, I would fall on my knees, pray and cry, and I myself don’t know, about what I pray for and what I cry about; that's how they'll find me. And what I prayed for then, what I asked for, I don’t know; I don’t need anything, I had enough of everything.” A poor girl who has not received a broad theoretical education, who does not know everything that is going on in the world, who does not even properly understand her own needs, cannot, of course, give herself an account of what she needs. While she lives with her mother, in complete freedom, without any everyday worries, while the needs and passions of an adult have not yet emerged in her, she does not even know how to distinguish her own dreams, her inner world from external impressions. Losing herself among the praying mantises in her iridescent thoughts and walking in her bright kingdom, she keeps thinking that her contentment comes precisely from these praying mantises, from the lamps lit in all corners of the house, from the lamentations heard around her; with her feelings she animates the dead environment in which she lives, and merges with it the inner world of her soul.<…>

In the gloomy atmosphere of the new family, Katerina began to feel the insufficiency of her appearance, with which she had thought to be content before. Under the heavy hand of the soulless Kabanikha there is no scope for her bright visions, just as there is no freedom for her feelings. In a fit of tenderness for her husband, she wants to hug him, - the old woman shouts: “Why are you hanging around your neck, shameless one? Bow down at your feet!” She wants to stay alone and be sad quietly, as before, but her mother-in-law says: “Why aren’t you howling?” She is looking for light, air, she wants to dream and frolic, water her flowers, look at the sun, at the Volga, send her greetings to all living things - but she is kept in captivity, she is constantly suspected of unclean, depraved intentions. She still seeks refuge in religious practice, in going to church, in soul-saving conversations; but even here he no longer finds the same impressions. Killed by her daily work and eternal bondage, she can no longer dream with the same clarity of angels singing in a dusty pillar illuminated by the sun, she cannot imagine the Gardens of Eden with their undisturbed appearance and joy. Everything is gloomy, scary around her, everything emanates coldness and some kind of irresistible threat; and the faces of the saints are so stern, and the church readings are so menacing, and the stories of the wanderers are so monstrous... They are still the same in essence, they have not changed at all, but she herself has changed: she no longer has the desire to construct aerial visions, and indeed what satisfies her is the vague imagination of the bliss that she enjoyed before. She matured, other desires awoke in her, more real ones; not knowing any other career than the family, any other world than the one that has developed for her in the society of her town, she, of course, begins to recognize of all human aspirations the one that is most inevitable and closest to her - the desire for love and devotion . In the past, her heart was too full of dreams, she did not pay attention to the young people who looked at her, but only laughed. When she married Tikhon Kabanov, she did not love him either, she still did not understand this feeling; They told her that every girl should get married, showed Tikhon as her future husband, and she married him, remaining completely indifferent to this step. And here, too, a peculiarity of character is manifested: according to our usual concepts, she should be resisted if she has a decisive character; but she does not even think about resistance, because she does not have enough reasons for this. She has no particular desire to get married, but she also has no aversion to marriage; There is no love in her for Tikhon, but there is no love for anyone else either. She doesn’t care for now, that’s why she allows you to do whatever you want to her. In this one cannot see either powerlessness or apathy, but one can only find a lack of experience, and even too great a readiness to do everything for others, caring little about oneself. She has little knowledge and a lot of gullibility, which is why for the time being she does not show opposition to those around her and decides to endure better than to spite them.

But when she understands what she needs and wants to achieve something, she will achieve her goal at all costs: then the strength of her character will fully manifest itself, not wasted in petty antics. At first, out of the innate kindness and nobility of her soul, she will make every possible effort so as not to violate the peace and rights of others, in order to get what she wants with the greatest possible compliance with all the requirements that are imposed on her by people connected with her in some way; and if they are able to take advantage of this initial mood and decide to give her complete satisfaction, then it will be good for both her and them. But if not, she will stop at nothing: law, kinship, custom, human court, rules of prudence - everything disappears for her before the power of internal attraction; she does not spare herself and does not think about others. This was exactly the way out that presented itself to Katerina, and nothing else could have been expected given the situation in which she found herself.

Dobrolyubov N.A. "A ray of light in a dark kingdom"

The main character of the work is Katerina, whose tragic fate is described by the author in the play.

Katerina is presented by the writer in the image of a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who got married early. In her early childhood, Katerina lived happily with her family, surrounded by maternal love and care, being free in her movements and passion for church life. The girl’s nature is vulnerable, sensitive and emotional, capable of real, sincere feelings.

The writer characterizes Katerina as a kind, sympathetic, sincere young woman who does not know how to deceive or be a hypocrite, and has a charming smile.

Once in her husband's house, Katerina is faced with rejection of her as her son's wife by her mother-in-law, the cruel and greedy merchant Kabanikha, who turns the life of young people into an unbearable existence.

Kabanikha’s gambling desire to subjugate all household members to her will, which is on the verge of madness, is completely aimed at the daughter-in-law who has appeared in the house.

The son, beaten down by Kabanikha since childhood, tired of his mother’s tyranny, but making no attempt to change the situation in the house and constantly complaining about his unhappy life, is unable to protect Katerina from the humiliation and nagging of Kabanikha.

Katerina strives to create a happy and prosperous family; she is very religious and is afraid of committing a righteous sin. A passionate feeling of love for another man, the nephew of the merchant Dikiy Boris, flares up in Katerina’s soul, who reciprocates her feelings. But the woman fears heavenly punishment for committing treason and, due to her receptivity, accepts the sudden onset of bad weather in the form of a thunderstorm as a sign from God.

The girl is distinguished by inner purity and sincere honesty not only towards herself, but also towards others. Therefore, Katerina decides to confess her feelings for Boris to her husband. Having opened up about her betrayal, the girl finds out that Boris is not ready to accept her as a wife and does not feel love for her at all.

Katerina begins to realize that Boris is for her a symbol of freedom, a dream of a happy life, and, pouring out hope, the desperate girl decides to commit suicide by throwing herself off a steep river bank.

Revealing the image of the main character of the play, the writer depicts the inner strength of a girl who decides to commit a mortal sin for the sake of the desire for a new life, to get rid of the world of the dark kingdom towards true and true love.

Option 2

Kabanova Katerina Petrovna - the heroine from the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm".

Katerina is eighteen years old in the play. Born and raised in the city of Kalinov. Her parents loved her very much. In Katerina’s childhood there were a lot of interesting people. how wanderers often came to them and told different stories. She was very religious: every week her mother dressed her in beautiful dresses and took her to church. The girl really loved being there.

Katerina Petrovna’s character is combative, fair, and kind. Once in her childhood she was offended by something at home. Angry, she got into the boat and sailed far from home. She was married off early. Perhaps because of her character.

Tikhon, her husband, is a timid, calm man. His mother puts pressure on him all the time and tries in every possible way to hurt Katerina. Because of this, the main character is forced to defend herself all the time, because her husband does not do this. The main character did not want to put up with the foundations of that family: humiliation, submission, insults. She's the only one who stood up to it.

Katerina was unhappily married. In the house I only communicated normally with Tikhon’s sister, Varenka, who felt sorry for her brother’s wife. Katerina began to wither away in this family. But one day a young man came to their city - Boris. The girl immediately drew attention to him, right. how, in her opinion, he was unlike anyone else. They began dating when the husband went away on business and did not take his wife with him, even though she begged him. But Katerina was a very religious person and was afraid to die with sin in her soul. She was not afraid of death, she was only afraid of appearing before God with all her sins. Katerina Petrovna admitted her betrayal.

After that, her life became even worse: at home there were constant insults, sometimes beatings, everyone turned away from her. She was ready to run away with Boris because she loved him. Boris was sent to Siberia. He also loved Katerina, but did not take him with him, because he did not want to quarrel with his uncle, on whom his inheritance depended.

At that time, women did not have the opportunity to live independently. If Katerina had run away alone, she would have been caught and severely beaten as punishment. She had only two choices: either return to her husband’s house, where she would not have a place to live, or throw herself into the Volga River. She chose the latter.

When her dead body was pulled out, many realized (and some already knew) that she was the only person in that area who was worthy of respect.

Essay Image and characteristics of Katerina

The theme of women's fate in a harsh society is one of the most striking themes revealed in Ostrovsky's works. “The Thunderstorm” also belongs to the cycle of these works. The main character of the play is a collective image.

Katerina is a girl from a decent family who married Tikhon, she loves him, but his mother always lectures her. She doesn’t even let her say goodbye to her husband when he leaves for Moscow.

Katerina is a poor, unhappy married woman, whose image is the image of many girls of that time. She understands that she will spend her whole life in this kingdom of darkness, where she is not loved, although she tries to be a good wife, where she will never become a free bird, which is what she says to Varvara, but she also does not understand her.

She is the only bright soul in that city. Katerina, even when she fell in love with Boris, felt shame and considered herself to blame for this, asked her husband to take her with him, as if she felt that something bad, irreparable would happen.

But Tikhon does not listen to her, he follows his mother’s lead. Tikhon does not even dare to object to her, and does not stand up for her, although Katerina herself did not remain silent, and answered Kabanikha that she was wrongfully offending her.

The author also shows the honesty of the main character, when she is unable to keep her husband in deception, before the terrible violence of the elements, she tells him everything about her and Boris. At the same time, the author emphasizes her bright soul, which is unable to endure the humiliation of Kabanikh, the indifference of her previously beloved husband, and the cowardice of her lover.

She knows that the only way to free herself from these shackles is death. The last hope fades when Boris refuses to take her with him.

Although he has every reason to do this if he truly loved her. But Boris is a coward. The author emphasizes the main feature of this character at the beginning, when Boris lives with his uncle and endures all the insults and humiliations, in front of everyone, in the most crowded place, namely on the river embankment, on the main boulevard of the city.

Boris, when he says goodbye to Katerina, feels that something will happen, but he is a coward and Katerina will never see him again.

Her only path to freedom is death and now, jumping, she feels absolutely happy and free, now she is a bird!

Option 4

The work “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky occupies a special place in the writer’s work due to the image of the main character.

Katerina differs from the rest of the people of the “Dark Kingdom” in that she includes all kindness. However, fate does not spoil her. From her words, we learn that she did not receive an education because she did not have the opportunity to do so. The heroine lived in a village in poverty. But her childhood was carefree. Her mother did not force her to work, and therefore Katerina had a lot of time for activities she liked. It is clearly visible that the girl grew up happy and romantic, loving everything around her. But most importantly, she lived in dreams, separate from the existing world. Katerina especially loved going to church and admiring the angels. Yes, she can also be counted among them. But sometimes a contradictory nature awoke in her soul, and she went against some actions.

When Katerina got married, she changed a lot. From a bright world, devoid of deception and injustice, she falls into the sphere of deceit, cruelty and deceit. And the reason was not at all that her life partner was a man whom she did not even love. It’s just that the girl was torn from the bright and kind world where she had been for a long time. And now she doesn’t particularly enjoy going to church. The girl cannot carry out everyday activities as she did before marriage. She is always in a sad and depressed state, which prevents her from even admiring the beauty of nature. She has to endure and suffer, and the girl can no longer live with her thoughts, since reality returns her to the place where humiliation and insult exist. The girl tries to love her husband, but all her feelings are suppressed by Kabanikha. Because of her humility, she tries to show her feelings towards Tikhon, but he does not appreciate it. Then Katerina becomes completely lonely.

And the heroine cannot live in her husband’s house, pretending. A woman has a conflict with her mother-in-law. She scares Kabanikha with her sincerity and purity. Katerina did not howl in the house after her husband left, as Kabanikha wanted. And what courage it took to express your feelings to Boris. Running away from a hated house, Katerina seeks to find support from Boris, but is faced with a weak-willed and weak man. The woman is left completely alone, and all she can do is leave this terrible world. It seems to me that only a person with a strong character could do this. For us, Katerina embodies a simple, bright and Russian soul, which encourages us to fight the rudeness, ignorance, and tyranny that are still present.

2. The image of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”

Katerina is a lonely young woman who lacks human participation, sympathy, and love. The need for this draws her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he is not like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to recognize his inner essence, considers him a person from another world. In her imagination, Boris seems to be a handsome prince who will take her from the “dark kingdom” to the fairy-tale 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 son Tikhon Kabanov. She recently left her home and moved into her husband’s house, where she lives with her mother-in-law Kabanova, who is the sovereign mistress. Katerina has no rights in the family; she is not even free to control herself. With warmth and love, she remembers her parents' home and her girlhood life. There she lived at ease, surrounded by the affection and care of her mother. The religious upbringing she received in the family developed in her impressionability, daydreaming, belief in the afterlife and retribution for man's sins.

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

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

"Katerina's public repentance shows the depth of her suffering, moral greatness, and determination. But after repentance, her situation became unbearable. Her husband does not understand her, Boris is weak-willed and does not come to her aid. The situation has become hopeless - Katerina is dying. It is not Katerina's fault 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 enormous educational significance for Ostrovsky’s contemporaries and for subsequent generations. He called for a fight against all forms of despotism and oppression of the human personality. This expression of the growing protest of the masses against all types of slavery.

Katerina, sad and cheerful, compliant and obstinate, dreamy, depressed and proud. Such different mental states are explained by the naturalness of each mental movement of this simultaneously restrained and impetuous nature, the strength of which lies in the ability to always be itself. Katerina remained true to herself, that is, she could not change the very essence of her character.

I think that the most important character trait of Katerina is honesty with herself, her husband, and the world around her; it is her unwillingness to live a lie. She does not want and cannot be cunning, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene of Katerina’s confession of treason. It was not the thunderstorm, not the frightening prophecy of the crazy old woman, not the fear of hell that prompted the heroine to tell the truth. “My whole heart was exploding! I can’t stand it anymore!” - this is how she began her confession. For her honest and integral nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. Living just to live is not for her. To live means to be yourself. Its most precious value is personal freedom, freedom of the soul.

With such a character, Katerina, after betraying her husband, could not stay in his house, return to a monotonous and dreary life, endure constant reproaches and “moral teachings” from Kabanikha, or lose freedom. But all patience comes to an end. It is difficult for Katerina to be in a place where she is not understood, her human dignity is humiliated and insulted, her feelings and desires are ignored. Before her death, she says: “It’s all the same whether you go home or go to the grave... It’s better in the grave...” It’s not death that she desires, but life that is unbearable.

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

The death of Katerina is the result of a collision of two historical eras. With her death, Katerina protests against despotism and tyranny, her death indicates the approaching end of the “dark kingdom.” The image of Katerina belongs to the best images of Russian fiction. Katerina is a new type of people in Russian reality in the 60s of the 19th century.