Who is Katerina: a weak creature or a strong woman?

The play “The Thunderstorm” by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was written in 1860, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. This work showed all the conflicts that existed in the sixties of the nineteenth century: the struggle between the moribund tyranny of merchants and new people beginning to feel their human dignity.

The main character in the play is Katerina. In his famous article, critic N.A. Dobrolyubov called it “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.” In his opinion, “the decisive, integral Russian character ... appears in Ostrovsky in the female type,” since “the strongest protest is the one that finally rises from the chest of the weakest and most patient.” So let’s look at Katerina’s character in more detail.

In Katerina, Christian culture and pagan beliefs are harmoniously intertwined. This heroine is very far from the asceticism of Domostroevsky rules. “To death I loved going to church! Exactly, it happened that I would enter heaven and don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service ends,” says Katerina. What does she see during prayer? She sees singing angels in a light column descending from the dome, she feels the spirituality of earthly forces by heavenly ones. In her speech there are many repeated words associated with Christianity: temple, pray, sins, angels. Early in the morning, among the awakening nature, she prays to the morning sun, since the Slavs considered the East a country of omnipotent forces: “Or early in the morning I’ll go to the garden, the sun is still rising, I’ll fall on my knees, I pray and cry, and I myself don’t know what I’m praying for and What am I crying about?

Katerina is a dreamy, romantic and impressionable person. According to Dobrolyubov, “this is a predominantly creative, loving, ideal character.” She openly tells Varvara, the only close person in the Kabanovs’ house, about her happy and free childhood. Her parents had an easy life, but she did not receive an education. She drew information about the world from the lips of wanderers and praying mantises. Her imagination turns these superstitious tales into bright, kind fantasies.

Ostrovsky endows his heroine with poetry. It is not without reason that the word “bird” is repeated several times in the work, with which the heroine compares herself. In my opinion, Katerina is, in fact, a bird in a cage from which she cannot escape. This cage is Kabanikha's house. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you feel the urge to fly. That’s how I would run away, raise my hands and fly,” says Katerina herself.

Her freedom-loving passionate nature manifests itself even in childhood. “This is how I was born, hot! I was still six years old, no more, so I did it! They offended me with something at home, and it was late in the evening, it was already dark; I ran out to the Volga, got into the boat, and pushed it away from the shore,” Katerina says about herself.

And such a romantic, poetic, freedom-loving person ends up in the Kabanov family, in a house “where all living things wither and dry up,” in a world ruled by tyranny and hypocrisy. There is a clash between Katerina’s love of freedom and dreaminess and Kabanikha’s coldness and soullessness. “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,” says Dobrolyubov. Even her husband, who is completely under the authority of his mother, does not understand the heroine. But unlike his wife, Tikhon can occasionally escape from captivity: he can run to Savel Prokofich for a drink, and go to Moscow to see his mother. Katerina has no hope of escaping into “free air.” The strength of her character is manifested in the fact that she is ready to endure all of Kabanikha’s antics only up to a certain point. “And if I get 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, even if you cut me!” - she says to Varvara. Dobrolyubov notes on this matter: “This character will withstand itself, despite any obstacles; and when there is not enough strength, he will die, but will not betray himself.”

Katerina is a very integral, honest, direct person. The house in which Katerina lives is based on lies and deception. “It’s impossible without this; remember where you live! Our house rests on this. And I wasn’t a liar, but I learned when it became necessary,” says Varvara. Katerina is disgusted by this: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.” Therefore, she is afraid of meeting Boris, not wanting to cheat on her legal husband, albeit an unloved one. But her passion for Boris is stronger than her. This passion contains both the need for love, and the melancholy of her life in Kabanikha’s house, and the desire for freedom, space, and freedom. But Boris failed to appreciate her feelings. He is the same “weak-willed sufferer” as Tikhon, only “educated.” He must also obey Uncle Dikiy, just as Tikhon did to his mother. Katerina must return home, but she cannot return to her old life. “If she cannot enjoy her feeling, her will, quite legally and sacredly, if what she found and what is so dear to her is snatched away from her, then she doesn’t want anything in life, she doesn’t even want life,” writes Dobrolyubov.

As mentioned above, Katerina is religious. She could not hide her sin. An approaching thunderstorm, like a punishment for sins, a half-crazed lady frightening the girl with “fire hell”, dilapidated buildings - all this weighs heavily on Katerina. And she publicly repents to her husband for the sins she has committed. If the play had ended like this, then Kabanikha could have celebrated her victory: “Where the will leads!”

But the ending of the play is different. Katerina, in despair, throws herself from the high bank of the Volga. She knows that the path to a free life is closed for her, and it is impossible to return home. “What goes home, what goes to the grave,” says the heroine. “And the matter is over: she will no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law, she will no longer languish locked up with a spineless and disgusting husband. She's freed!" - states Dobrolyubov. She doesn't see any other way. It seems to me that we should perceive this act not as Katerina’s weakness, but as her moral victory over the “dark forces” to which she did not want to submit. This is her protest against the tyranny of the Kabanovsky house, against the pitiful and powerless situation married woman, against those principles of morality that killed her free, poetic essence. So I can say with confidence that Katerina is very strong man, who had the courage to challenge the entire “dark kingdom”.

The premiere of "The Thunderstorm" took place on December 2, 1859 in Alexandrinsky Theater In Petersburg. A.A. Grigoriev, who was present at the performance, recalled: “This is what the people will say!.. I thought, leaving the box into the corridor after the third act of “The Thunderstorm”, which ended with an explosion...

Play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" was published in 1860, on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. At this difficult time, the culmination of the revolutionary situation of the 60s in Russia is observed. Even then the foundations of the autocratic-serf system were crumbling, but still...

Katerina is a ray of light in dark kingdom. “There is something refreshing and encouraging in “The Thunderstorm”. This “something” is, in our opinion, the background of the play, indicated by us and revealing the instability and the near end of tyranny. Then the very character of Katerina, drawn on this ...

The play "The Thunderstorm", written by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, tells about life in the small town of Kalinov, where the tyranny of rich landowners knows no bounds. The "Dark Kingdom", personifying these landowners, has no control...

A thunderstorm is a cleansing and necessary phenomenon in nature. It brings with it freshness and coolness after the sweltering heat, life-giving moisture after dry land. It has a cleansing, renewing effect. Such a “breath of fresh air”, a new look...

The play “The Thunderstorm”, written by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky in 1859, is the only one of the series “Nights on the Volga” conceived by the writer. The main theme of the drama is the conflict in the merchant family, first of all, the despotic attitude of the representatives of the elder...

The drama “The Thunderstorm,” according to Dobrolyubov, “is Ostrovsky’s most decisive work,” in which he showed the tyranny and despotism of the merchants, the “dark kingdom.”

There's a clash in the drama main character“Russian strong character” with the cruel and inhuman mores of the old way of life. Katerina is the main character of the drama. This is a poetic, dreamy, gentle nature.

Katerina’s childhood in her parents’ house passed very quickly, and she remembers it as the best time of her life. Her life with her mother was easy and joyful. Katerina loved to care for flowers, walk alone in the garden, go to church to listen to church singing and music, and embroider on velvet with gold. At that time, girls were not given any education, and books were replaced by stories of wanderers. Even as a child, Katerina was impressionable. Under the influence of the stories of praying mantises and wanderers, her freedom-loving and romantic character was formed.

The main feature in Katerina’s character is the “image of a bird.” In folk poetry, the bird is a symbol of will. “I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild,” Katerina recalls about how she lived before her marriage. “...Why don’t people fly like birds? - she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.”

Katerina wants to love both her husband and her mother-in-law, but she does not find a response to her feelings in them. Tikhon refuses to take her with him, Kabanikha pursues her with his instructions. But Katerina endures for the time being. “And if I get really tired of it here,” she says, “no force can hold me back. I’ll throw myself out the window, I’ll throw myself into the pool...” Kabanikha is an ardent defender of the old order, realizing that the old kingdom of tyrants is coming to an end, she hates everything new, sharpens everyone, achieving her own order. Lies and pretense reign in Kabanikha's house.

Katerina is an independent, determined person. How hard it is for her when she listens to Tikhon’s orders, which he gives her under the dictation of her mother. It is here that she begins to understand the horror of her situation.

Katerina is a determined and courageous person. The only love and Katerina's joy - Boris. She will not come to terms with the reality around her. She is ready to make any sacrifice for the sake of her loved one, transgressing even those concepts of sin that are sacred to her. She truly loves. “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I’m doing!” - she says to Boris. She expects true, happy love from life.

Katerina is lonely. She finds no protection either from her husband or from her beloved Boris Grigorievich. Neither the husband nor Boris can fight for their happiness, defend their rights, love.

How sincerely and deeply she loves Boris! Katerina is not afraid of death, but Boris is too weak to help Katerina.

The path to freedom is cut off, and she cannot live among the Kabanovs. And Katerina decides to commit suicide.

The heroine's suicide is a protest against tyranny, dark forces, and the kingdom of house-building. So for the first time in the “dark kingdom” a “ray of light” flashed.

The plays of A. N. Ostrovsky are plays of genuine truth, true life.

know The drama "The Thunderstorm" was especially important.

Katerina is strong personality. She managed to awaken in her husband a feeling of love, pity, and truthfulness. Kabanov says to his mother: “You ruined her! You! You!"

The image of Katerina belongs to the best images women in Ostrovsky’s works, in all Russian literature.

In the drama “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky, the picture of false relationships and their consequences is clearly revealed. “The Thunderstorm” shows life and living Russian nature.

The main character in the drama “The Thunderstorm”, written by A. N. Ostrovsky, is Katerina. The image of Katerina is the most complex of all the images in the drama. Katerina lives in her husband's mother's house. Her life is very bad. When Katerina married Tikhon Kabanov, she did not love him; she did not yet understand this feeling. She married Tikhonka of her own free will. They showed her Tikhon, saying that every girl should get married, and she did. In Katerina’s story about her childhood and life, we see that in her mother’s house she was a beloved daughter: Katerina and her mother went to church, listened to wanderers, walked in the garden, and prayed. Varvara, listening to Katerina’s story, says that they have the same thing. Katerina sees the difference: “Yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity!”

By nature, Katerina is not like others. She does not know how to show off and boast, but she is ready to obey everything.

Katerina loves Boris. Such love, such a feeling does not coexist in the Kabanovs’ house, in a house with pretense and deception. The situation in which Katerina lives after Tikhon’s departure forces her to deceive and lead a completely different lifestyle than with her husband. Varvara says that “it’s impossible without this... the whole house rests on this.” From this remark you can understand that Varvara has been deceiving her mother for a long time, she says: “And I was not a deceiver, but I learned when it became necessary.”

Katerina comes to terms with her situation: she goes to Boris at night, deceives her mother-in-law, hiding her feelings from her. Suddenly Tikhon unexpectedly arrives. He suspects nothing, but nevertheless Katerina increasingly remembers her “sin.” And in the end she confesses everything. Varvara and Tikhon try to stop Katerina’s story, but Kabanikha pulls them back, and the poor woman has to tell everything to people.

After this incident, a few days later, Varvara disappeared. Apparently, Varya was also tired of her mother’s “tutelage”, so she decided to leave the house.

Katerina, left completely alone, commits suicide.

Katerina and Varvara are two completely different natures. The image of Katerina is contrasted not only with Varvara, but with everyone acting persons. This is a strong, strong-willed nature.

Waking up, love comes to Katerina along with a longing for freedom, a dream of the present, human life. Katerina loves differently than Varvara: secretly, as if doing Curly a favor by coming on a date.

There is something cold in the farewell of these young people: when leaving, Varvara casually kisses Kudryash, like an old acquaintance, or better yet, like a stranger. From this we can conclude that true love there is nothing between them, and that Varvara, unlike Katerina, goes to Kudryash only to take a walk, so that her youth will pass more joyfully.

Vara, unlike Katerina, goes to Kudryash only to take a walk, so that her youth passes more joyfully. But Katerina, in response to Boris’s words: “No one knows about our love...”, replies: “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I do!..” And in the name of this love, she is ready to do anything, even commit suicide.

Lesson questions:1. What are the features of the inner world
Katerina?
2. What are the origins of her nature?
3. What significance did the playwright put into
name of the drama?

Workshop

Let's listen and analyze monologues
Katerina.
Write down the traits in your notebook as the lesson progresses.
Katerina

Analysis of the monologue “Why don’t people fly?...”

What does the image symbolize?
birds?
What does Katerina dream about?
What traits of the heroine does he talk about?
this monologue?
Does Varvara understand?
Katerina? Why?

Analysis of 2 monologues

What does Katerina’s phrase say:
“How frisky I was! I'm with you
withered completely"?
Find folklore here
comparison
What does Katerina see as charm?
your girl life?
Do you agree that Varvara
says: “Yes, it’s the same with us”?
Don't you think that Katerina
Did you grow up slacker?

Analysis of 3 monologues

About what features
Katerina says this
monologue?
Why can't she now
I dream about these
amazing clean
dreams?

Conversation

Does Katerina humble herself before
your mother-in-law? Read out
examples
How do you feel about this
behavior?
What would I do in her place?
Varvara?
Can Katerina do this?
enroll? Why?

Katerina's character traits

Truly
believer
Spiritually
rich
Poetic
Clean
Dreamy and
enthusiastic
Hates
lie, true
Freedom-loving

What made Katerina like this?

Nationality
environment, in
which she
grew
Oral
folk
poetry
Church life
literature and
religiosity

Could Katerina have a loved one? Does anyone understand her?

Varvara
Boris
Tikhon and Katerina

The motive of temptation and sin

MOTIVE OF TEMPTATION AND
SIN

Conversation

What does he dream about?
Katerina?
What's sinful about
this dream?

Crazy lady

What role in the play
plays Crazy
lady?
Why doesn't Varvara
is afraid of her, and Katerina
fears?

Before sin and after sin

Act 2 phenomenon 10. What's it like
psychological state of the heroine?
Act 4 phenomenon 3. What feelings
Katerina experiences after
what was done?
Act 5 phenomenon 2. How she
is he aware of his actions? How is she
refers to Boris
Act 5, phenomenon 3. Is he guilty?
Boris in Katerina's suicide?

Katerina's conflict

death
Education nature
Spiritless
"dark
kingdom"
Dream =
sin
"Stuffy"
Fight with
yourself

Religiosity
education
“Oh, Varya, you don’t know
my character... really
if I'm here
you'll get tired of it, won't you
no way to hold me back
by force. Out the window
I'll throw myself into the Volga
I'll rush. I don't want to be here
I won’t live like that,
even if you cut me!”
Love of freedom,
determination,
inability
humble

Repentance

Homework. Fill the table

Quotes
1. “Something is wrong with me.”
some kind of miracle is happening"
2. “I’m sure I’ll live again
I’m starting, or... I don’t know.”
3. “It’s like I’m over an abyss, and
someone is pushing me there, but
I have nothing to hold on to"
4. “As if there is an evil one in my ears
whispers"
At what point is this said?
connection with what, what conclusions can be drawn
do?

One of the main conflicts in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" is the character of the main character - Katerina. A huge number of critics have their own opinion on this matter, but the most striking of them can be considered the positions of N. A. Dobrolyubov and D. I. Pisarev. In addition, they expressed their points of view about Katerina’s final, fatal act - suicide.

By herself, Katerina is a religious person. She speaks more than once about her childhood, which she calls paradise, about going to church, about services.

And, at the same time, she commits suicide, which is considered the greatest sin in Christianity.

But is this act a weakness in the character of the main character, or, conversely, a strength? To answer this question, you need to understand the girl’s character.

At the beginning of the play, Katerina appears before us as a submissive victim, as a person with a broken will. She endures bullying and reproaches from Kabanova (her fiancé's mother). Katerina herself understands her situation and notes in a conversation with Varvara that she has “completely withered here.” But, at the same time, Katerina is a person with strong character. She still tries to resist Kabanikha, unlike her husband, Tikhon. Katerina addresses her as an equal (using “you”), but her husband cannot even allow himself to say a word against his mother and her will.

And it turns out that Katerina is alone in her attitude towards this society. Only she is trying to resist Kabanova. But it is impossible to “shatter” someone else’s society alone. This position was defended in his article by N. Dobrolyubov. He believed that Katerina committed suicide not because of the weakness of her character, but rather out of despair. Most likely, any person would not be able to live in such a society and would commit suicide sooner or later.

D. Pisarev has a different point of view: he believes that suicide is always a sign of weakness of character. He wrote that “Katerina’s whole life consists of constant internal contradictions; every minute she rushes from one extreme to another; today she repents of what she did yesterday, and, meanwhile, she herself does not know what she will do tomorrow; finally, having mixed up “Everything that was at her fingertips, she cuts through the lingering knots with the most stupid means, suicide.” Although suicide is more likely not a stupid act, but the last resort of a desperate person.

Since Pisarev’s article was rather not the opinion of the critic himself, but an objection to Dobrolyubov’s review, it is impossible to adhere to a certain point of view here. Both opinions are extremes. But many will agree that Katerina’s act is a kind of protest to the foundations of the Kabanov family and other people in the play. But protest is already a sign of a certain strength of character. But this power is not fully demonstrated, otherwise the ending would have been different.