Characteristics of Katerina from the work The Thunderstorm. The image of Katerina in the play by A.N.
Ostrovsky embodied in the image of Katerina a typical representative of that time, more precisely the 19th century. A time when a woman did not yet have rights, when there was no such thing as divorce. Marriages were concluded not by the consent of the couple themselves (as happens in the modern world) but by matchmaking, that is, at the request of the parents. Marriages were rarely successful, women had almost no rights and were most often the “victims” of marriage.
The main character of Ostrovsky’s work “The Thunderstorm” found herself in a similar situation.
What was the character's family, upbringing and education like? One of the reasons for Katerina’s problems is that the family she ended up in (she became Tikhon’s wife) was the opposite of her own family. For example, they had different morals, principles, and traditions. Katrina’s family was distinguished by their meek morals and good nature; in the Kabanov family, everything is absolutely the opposite. Katerina received her education at home, like all women at that time, who did not have the right to study on an equal basis with men. Consequently, she had a good upbringing (modest, she was religious).
Portrait of a hero (external features, psychological, internal portrait) There is no description of Katerina’s appearance in the work, so Ostrovsky invites the reader to independently come up with the appearance of the heroine. So, for example, I see her as a blue-eyed, dark-haired and slender girl with kind eyes. This is exactly how, in my opinion, the darkness’s appearance would reflect the heroine’s inner world. The play says that she is very beautiful, this is done so that everyone will like her (a person can figure it out in his head, but everyone has different tastes, so the author wanted Katerina to be beautiful for everyone) Many characters admire her face. The girl is childishly vulnerable, naive, open, sweet, good-natured, very sensitive.
Character traits (how character traits are manifested) She is kind, manifested in the fact that after living in Kabanikha’s house she did not become embittered, did not become callous. She tried to establish communication ties with Tikhon’s mother, but she did not want to cooperate with her. Tender, vulnerable, she tries to awaken her husband’s self-esteem and stand up for her. Unfortunately, all the heroine’s attempts are in vain. The problem is with the system itself, not just with the people.
Features of speech Katerina’s speech is melodic, musical, reminiscent of a folk song or fairy tale. Addresses all heroes with reverence, respect, and courtesy. This is how the author shows that she is close to the people.
The role of Katerina in the work (what themes and problems are presented through Katerina?) Ostrovsky considers in his work such topics as the theme of love (the relationship between Katerina and Boris), the conflict between fathers and children, the problem of the fate of a Russian woman - the main problem. The author wanted to convey the idea about the importance of equality between men and women, that it is time to move away from patriarchy and matriarchy, and to come to a partnership type of family.
Updated: 2017-12-01
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Perhaps few works of that time, and even among the works of the author Ostrovsky himself, could cause so much heated controversy than the play “The Thunderstorm”.
The desperate act of Katerina Kabanova, who crossed the line of life and death, evokes both sympathetic understanding and sharp rejection. There is no one opinion, and there cannot be.
Characteristics of the heroine
The beloved and spoiled daughter of a merchant family, Katerina marries Tikhon, turning her world upside down. Using the example of her parents and new family, we see how different the patriarchal way of life can be: ostentatious and demonstrative (what will the neighbors say? What will the acquaintances think?), or deep and sincere, hidden from prying eyes.
The lack of a full-fledged education contributes to the fate of this woman. According to Katerina’s stories, she gained her knowledge from the stories of her mother and father, as well as praying mantises and wanderers. Faith in people and admiration for the world created by God are its main features. Katerina did not know hard work; she loved to go to church, which seemed to her like a fairy-tale temple where angels were waiting for her.
(Kiryushina Galina Aleksandrovna as Katerina, stage of the Maly Theater)
A cloudless and happy childhood quickly gives way to a joyless marriage. A kind, naive and very religious girl for the first time encountered undisguised hatred for the people around her. There is no longer room for angels and joy in the new family. And marriage itself is not at all for love. And if Katerina hopes to fall in love with Tikhon, then Kabanikha - as everyone around her calls her mother-in-law - leaves no chance for either her son or her daughter-in-law. Perhaps Tikhon would be the one who would make Katya happy, but only under the wing of his mother he does not know such feelings as love.
A meeting with Boris gives the unhappy woman hope that life can still change and become better. The dark atmosphere at home pushes her to rebel and try to fight for her happiness. Going on a date, she realizes that she is committing a sin. This feeling does not leave her either before or after. Firm faith in God and awareness of the depravity of the committed act push Katerina to confess everything to her husband and mother-in-law.
The image of the heroine in the work
(Scene from drama)
Amazed, but deep down understanding his wife, Tikhon does not condemn her. But this doesn’t make it any easier for Katerina herself. Forgiving yourself is much more difficult. Perhaps she wanted to ease her mental turmoil with a confession, but it didn’t work out. She doesn't need forgiveness. The very thought of returning to the house for her becomes identical to death, only not instantaneous, but long, painful, inevitable. According to the religious canon, suicide is a mortal sin that cannot be forgiven. But this does not stop the desperate woman.
In her thoughts, Katya often imagines herself as a bird, her soul yearns for heaven. Living in Kalinov is unbearable for her. Having fallen in love with Boris, who has recently arrived in the city, she imagines how they will leave the hated city together. Love is seen as real and such a close salvation. But to make a dream come true, you need a mutual desire...
(Fragment from a dramatic production)
Having met Boris on the banks of the Volga, Katerina experiences severe disappointment. Once such a wonderful young man resolutely refuses to take a married woman with him, dealing her the final blow to the heart with his refusal. Katya no longer wants to be a stumbling block in her family, to continue to drag out a joyless existence, to break her soul day after day to please her mother-in-law.
And the exit is here - very close, you just need to take a step off the cliff into the waters of the Volga. And the thunderstorm seems to her like nothing more than an indication from above. What Katya had once only vaguely thought about, afraid to admit to herself sinful thoughts, turned out to be the simplest way out. Not finding her place, support, love, she decides to take this very last step.
The story told by Ostrovsky is sad and tragic at the same time. The play depicts the fictional town of Kalinov and its inhabitants. The city of Kalinov, like its population, serves as a kind of symbol of typical provincial towns and villages in Russia in the 60s of the 19th century.
At the center of the play is the merchant family of Kabanikha and Dikiy. Dikoy was cruel and the richest man in the city. An ignorant tyrant who could not live a day without swearing, and who believed that money gave him every right to mock weaker and defenseless people.
Kabanikha, who established order in the town, adhered to traditional patriarchal customs, was beneficent in public, but extremely cruel to her family. Kabanikha is a fan of house-building.
Her son Tikhon was calm and kind. Daughter Varvara is a lively girl who knows how to hide her feelings, her motto is: “Do what you want, but keep it hidden.” Feklusha in the service of Kabanikha.
Local - Kulibin, who accurately and vividly characterizes the local residents and mercilessly criticizes the cruel morals of the inhabitants. Next comes Dikiy’s nephew Boris, who came to his uncle from Moscow because he promised him part of the inheritance if he was respectful to him.
But the main place in the play is occupied by Tikhon’s wife, Katerina. It is her image that has attracted attention since the creation of the play.
Katerina was from a completely different world. Her family was the complete opposite of her husband's family. She loved to dream, loved freedom, justice, and, having found herself in the Kabanikha family, it was as if she found herself in a dungeon, where she always had to silently obey her mother-in-law’s orders and indulge all her whims.
Outwardly, Katerina is calm, balanced, follows almost all of Kabanikha’s instructions, but inside she has a growing and growing protest against cruelty, tyranny and injustice.
Katerina’s protest reached its finale when Tikhon left on business, and she agreed to marry Boris, whom she liked and was not like the rest of the inhabitants of Kalinov. In some ways he was akin to her.
Varvara, Kabanikha’s daughter, arranges a date between Katerina and Boris. Katerina agrees, but then, tormented by remorse, falls to her knees in front of her puzzled husband and confesses everything to him.
It is impossible to describe the contempt and indignation that fell on Katerina’s head after her confession. Unable to resist him, Katerina rushed into the Volga. Sad, tragic ending.
A ray of light in a dark kingdom
It would seem that what prevented Katerina from leading a calm, carefree life in a wealthy merchant family. Her character got in the way. Outwardly, Katerina seemed like a soft and friendly girl.
But in fact, this is a strong and decisive nature: being quite young, she, having quarreled with her parents, got into the boat and pushed off from the shore; they found her only the next day, ten miles from home.
Katerina's character is characterized by sincerity and strength of feelings. “Why don’t people fly like birds!” - she exclaimed dreamily.
The heroine lived in a completely different world, invented by her, and did not want to live in the world in which Kabanikha lived with her household. “I don’t want to live like this and I won’t! I’ll throw myself into the Volga!” - she often said.
Katerina was a stranger to everyone, and fate had nothing in store for her except oppression and insults in the world of wild boars. The great Russian critic Belinsky called her “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.”
Katerina’s character is also striking in its inconsistency, strength, energy and diversity. Throwing herself into the Volga was, in her opinion, the only salvation from that suffocating, unbearable, intolerable sanctimonious atmosphere in which she had to live.
This undoubtedly brave act was her highest protest against cruelty, bigotry and injustice. Katerina sacrificed in the name of her ideal the most precious thing she had - her life.
The play “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky was published in 1860. A revolutionary situation was brewing in Russia; the times were quite difficult. In the summer of 1856, the writer traveled along the Volga. In the play, he conveyed his impressions of this trip, but did not describe specific cities and people, but depicted generalized, but deeply typical pictures of life in Rus'.
In general, Ostrovsky is considered a real “singer of merchant life.” He is the author of numerous plays, the central theme of which was the depiction of the merchant world of the second half of the 19th century.
The drama is characterized by the fact that it is based on an insoluble conflict that leads to the death of the main character. A conflict arises between Katerina Kabanova and the “dark kingdom” of the merchant world, which is represented by Kabanikha and her entourage. Katerina commits suicide - an act that is considered to be a manifestation of cowardice and weakness of character. I would like to understand this issue in more detail.
So, Katerina Kabanova is the main character of the play “The Thunderstorm”, Tikhon’s wife and Kabanikha’s daughter-in-law. The image of Katerina is endowed with a strong character and represents a personality awakening in patriarchal conditions. The origins of Katerina's character are hidden in the conditions of her life before marriage. Talking about the heroine's girlhood, the author depicts the patriarchal world in its ideal manifestation. The main thing in this world is a huge and mutual feeling of love.
In Katerina’s parental home, the same rules reigned as in Kabanikha’s house. But there Katerina occupied the position of a beloved daughter, and in Kabanikha’s house she occupied the position of a subordinate daughter-in-law. Therefore, as a girl, Katerina did not know the coercion and violence that she encountered after marriage. For her, patriarchal harmony of family life is a moral ideal, but in her husband’s house she does not find this harmony. Katerina was married off at a very young age, that’s what her parents decided, and she obediently submitted to their will, because that’s the custom. But it was submission with love and respect, and when she got to her mother-in-law’s house, Katerina was surprised to discover that there was no one to respect here. After some time, a new outlook on life begins to form in her soul, a different attitude towards people and towards herself. This is manifested in her first independent choice - passionate love for Boris. Katerina is religious and the awakened strong feeling frightens her. She perceives this love as a terrible sin, resisting it in every possible way. But the heroine lacks support and inner strength. A terrible storm is growing in Katerina’s soul. “Sinful” love flared up in her with incredible strength, the desire for freedom grew every day, but religious fear also became stronger. Katerina could no longer resist passion and cheated on her husband, and then publicly confessed to her sin, not hoping for forgiveness. It was the lack of hope that pushed the heroine to an even greater sin - suicide. She could not reconcile her love for Boris with the demands of her conscience, and the thought of returning to the home prison where Kabanikha imprisoned her caused physical disgust. The hopelessness of this situation led Katerina to death.
The image of Katerina personifies the spiritual beauty and moral purity of a Russian woman. In one of his articles, A. N. Dobrolyubov wrote about this heroine, calling her “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” Katerina is amazingly natural, simple and sincere. The play repeatedly mentions the image of a free bird. Indeed, the heroine resembles a bird locked in an iron cage. She strives for freedom, because living in captivity has become simply unbearable. In my opinion, her suicide is more of a protest against the “dark kingdom” and a selfless desire for freedom than a weakness of character, although there are other points of view.
Updated: 2012-08-09
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Disregarded in her rights and married off early. Most marriages of that time were designed for benefits. If the chosen one was from a wealthy family, this could help to obtain a high rank. Marrying, although not a beloved young man, but a wealthy and wealthy man, was in the order of things. There was no such thing as divorce. Apparently, from such calculations, Katerina was married to a rich young man, a merchant’s son. Married life brought her neither happiness nor love, but, on the contrary, became the embodiment of hell, filled with the despotism of her mother-in-law and the lies of the people around her.
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This image in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the main and at the same time the most controversial. She differs from the residents of Kalinov in her strength of character and self-esteem.
Katerina's life in her parents' house
The formation of her personality was greatly influenced by her childhood, which Katya loves to remember. Her father was a wealthy merchant, she did not feel any need, maternal love and care surrounded her from birth. Her childhood was fun and carefree.
The main features of Katerina can be called:
- kindness;
- sincerity;
- openness.
Her parents took her to church with them, and then she walked and devoted her days to her favorite job. My passion for the church began in childhood with attending church services. Later, it was in the church that Boris would pay attention to her.
When Katerina turned nineteen, she was married off. And although everything is the same in her husband’s house: walks and work, this no longer gives Katya the same pleasure as in childhood.
The former ease is no longer there, only responsibilities remain. The feeling of her mother's support and love helped her believe in the existence of higher powers. Marriage, which separated her from her mother, deprived Katya of the main thing: love and freedom.
Essay on the topic “the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” will be incomplete without getting to know her surroundings. This:
- husband Tikhon;
- mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova;
- husband's sister Varvara.
The person who causes her suffering in her family life is her mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna. Her cruelty, control over her household and subjugation of them to her will also applies to her daughter-in-law. The long-awaited wedding of her son did not make her happy. But Katya manages to resist her influence thanks to the strength of her character. This scares Kabanikha. Possessing all the power in the house, she cannot allow Katerina to influence her husband. And he reproaches his son for loving his wife more than his mother.
In conversations between Katerina Tikhon and Marfa Ignatievna, when the latter openly provokes her daughter-in-law, Katya behaves extremely dignified and friendly, not allowing the conversation to develop into a skirmish, she answers briefly and to the point. When Katya says that she loves her like her own mother, her mother-in-law does not believe her, calling it a pretense in front of others. Nevertheless, Katya’s spirit cannot be broken. Even when communicating with her mother-in-law, she addresses her as “You,” showing that they are on the same level, while Tikhon addresses his mother exclusively as “You.”
Katerina’s husband cannot be classified as either a positive or negative character. Essentially, he is a child tired of his parent's control. However, his behavior and actions are not aimed at changing the situation; all his words end in complaints about his existence. Sister Varvara reproaches him for not being able to stand up for his wife.
When communicating with Varvara, Katya is sincere. Varvara warns her that life in this house is impossible without lies, and helps her organize a meeting with her lover.
The connection with Boris fully reveals the characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm”. Their relationship is developing rapidly. Having arrived from Moscow, he fell in love with Katya, and the girl reciprocates his feelings. Although the status of a married woman worries him, he is unable to refuse dates with her. Katya struggles with her feelings, does not want to break the laws of Christianity, but during her husband’s departure, she goes on secret dates.
After Tikhon's arrival, on Boris's initiative, the meetings stop; he hopes to keep them a secret. But this contradicts Katerina’s principles; she cannot lie to others or herself. The beginning of a thunderstorm pushes her to talk about the betrayal; she sees this as a sign from above. Boris wants to go to Siberia, but he refuses her request to take her with him. He probably doesn’t need her, there was no love on his part.
And for Katya he was a breath of fresh air. Having come to Kalinov from an alien world, he brought with him a feeling of freedom that she so lacked. The girl’s rich imagination gave him traits that Boris never had. And she fell in love, but not with a person, but with her idea of him.
The break with Boris and the inability to unite with Tikhon end tragically for Katerina. The realization of the impossibility of living in this world prompts her to throw herself into the river. In order to break one of the strictest Christian prohibitions, Katerina needs to have enormous willpower, but the current circumstances leave her no choice. read our article.
