The scene of Katerina's farewell to Tikhon plays an important role in the plot of the work.

The main characters in the episode are Kabanov and Katerina. The latter terribly does not want to be left without a husband for two reasons: firstly, the girl is afraid to be left alone with her mother-in-law and her tyranny; secondly, Katerina is afraid that in the absence of her husband she will do something unacceptable to her. This is proven by the oath that Tikhon never took from his wife. Kabanov feels sorry for Katerina and sincerely asks for her forgiveness, but he does not give in to persuasion not to leave or to take his wife with him, and does not even try to hide his desire to escape from his family, captivity, and his wife will only be a hindrance to him.

Kabanov also does not understand Katerina’s fear, as evidenced by many interrogative sentences at the end of the episode. Katerina’s speech, on the contrary, contains a plea expressed in exclamations.

The author's remarks indicate Kabanov's equanimity and inflexibility to requests and Katerina's ardent rejection of her husband's departure. The girl either hugs Tikhon, then falls to her knees, then cries - she is in despair. He is indifferent to his wife’s entreaties and only dreams of escaping from the house that has become hated.

Overall, this episode plays great importance in the work, as it influences key events that unfold later, such as Katerina’s meeting with Boris.

Updated: 2016-08-17

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a) Analysis of students’ written answers based on checking homework.

b) What kind of Tikhon appears before us: a lazy, stupid, rude merchant or a deeply suffering, loving person? (“I feel sorry for looking at her...”.

Teacher's word: Let us remember that the merciless “dark kingdom” rejected essentially any movements of the human heart, fettered and suppressed any manifestations of the personal principle. Even the most weak attempt to doubt that Kalinov is “ promised land“, according to Feklusha, were suppressed with merciless cruelty. Let's remember the most the last word with which the play ends: to suffer. It is pronounced by Tikhon. This alone makes us take a closer look at the son of the wealthy merchant Kabanova. Is the traditional perception of young Kabanov as “dumb and lazy” true?

Conversation with students:

– Do you think that at the beginning of the play Tikhon loves Katerina? How does he feel about her? (He regrets, strives to ease her fate, in the most tense moments he reveals an unexpected subtlety of feelings).

– Where is the climax in the play? (Scene of Katerina’s confession).

Reading act four, appearance six. Observation of Tikhon and Katerina.

– What pushes Katerina to confess? (Act four, phenomena 3 – 6).

– How does Tikhon react to Katerina’s confession? Pay attention to the stage directions. (Totally unexpected for himself and for everyone around him, he wants to hug her). Why? (Wants to protect her).

Teacher's word: So the moment of truth comes for him. It was Tikhon who was given, if not to understand, then, in any case, to feel the depth of Katerina’s experiences, the hopelessness of her situation. He was also given something more - the ability to sympathize, forgive, that mercy, which Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is completely deprived of. As paradoxical as it may sound, Tikhon begins to feel tenderness and even love for Katerina precisely at that moment when he suddenly realizes that he is losing her. Just recently, he had no doubt that nothing terrible could happen to Katerina, that she would always, in any case, be there, would belong to him... And only when the terrible truth is revealed to him, new feelings awaken in him - completely unexpectedly for him . Tikhon changes at the end of the play, but this began even before Katerina’s suicide. This is why the ending of act four is so important. A bridge stretches from it to the beginning of the fifth act, where we are talking about the events in the Kabanovs’ house after Katerina’s repentance. It becomes clear that Tikhon’s impulse to hug his guilty wife after her bitter confession was not accidental for him.

- What happens in the soul? young man who found out that he was not loved? How does he tell Kuligin about this? (Mama eats, the wife melts like wax, cries, and Tikhon himself is killed, looking at her)

Teacher's word: Think about it too we're talking about about the wife who cheated on him! Now he looks at Katerina with different eyes. Tikhon finally saw a person in her - unhappy, suffering, repentant... Rebellion was brewing in his soul. He moves towards this rebellion gradually. Not only at the end of the fifth act, but also at its beginning, he utters condemning words about his mother. And in relation to Katerina, Tikhon appears to us as loving, kind, and touching. Instead of a rude and narrow-minded merchant looking condescendingly at his young wife, a completely different person appears before us, deeply suffering and sensitive. The shackles that artificially bound him were broken human feelings and soul, and he finds it in himself to shout out his mother’s accusation in front of everyone. This is no longer just an unaccountable impulse. He finally said out loud what had been lurking in his soul for a long time. Now a bitter epiphany has come for him too; three times he throws the accusatory “you!” right into the face of his formidable mother.

c) How do we see Boris: selfish, cold, cowardly or loving person? (“And he has pity for her...”).

Teacher's word: Boris looks selfish at first glance. Couldn't he help Katerina? Even Kudryash, whom we consider not very emotional, ran away with Varvara to save her from her mother. And Boris deprived Katerina of her last hope when he did not want to take her with him. Is he the same person who pushed Katerina to death?

Conversation with students:

- Why didn’t Boris take Katerina with him? ( Church marriage indissoluble. She will not be able to become Boris's wife. Not only that, but she didn’t have any documents of her own: according to the laws of that time, the daughter entered into her father’s passport, the wife into her husband’s passport. The very first police check will lead to Katerina being detained and sent home to her place of residence. It is possible that Boris himself will be accused of kidnapping someone else’s wife. What can he do in such a situation? Take a risk? Boris understands perfectly well what hardships and dangers inevitably await Katerina.

– Let’s observe how Boris changes, compare two dates between Boris and Katerina: the first and the last (act three, scene three; act five,

third phenomenon).

Teacher's word: During the first date, Boris, despite his vows, thinks only about the pleasures that dating a young woman promises him. He doesn't even want to think about what these meetings could lead to. Upon learning that Tikhon left for two weeks, he rejoices. On last date the words seem to come from the heart, they are imbued with sadness, we see that he began to worry about Katerina. He is getting ready to leave and says that he will be exhausted on the road, thinking about her. Initially, when saying goodbye to Katerina, he tried to persuade her to endure it, and then she would endure it and fall in love. And only at the end the angry words appear: “You villains! Monsters! Oh, if only there was strength!. Glimpses of sincere feeling and the ability to experience deep feelings become noticeable in Boris. Tikhon also felt this.

– How does Tikhon feel about Boris? Keep in mind that Boris is a rival. Prove it. (He sympathizes, says that he suffers a lot, has pity for Katerina; concludes that he is a good person).

– Why can we say that Boris has changed? (He now thinks not about his pleasures, but about the fate of Katerina).

– Boris called himself a “free bird.” Is it so? (This is not true: he sits in a tight cage from which he cannot escape. Only Katerina succeeded, but at the cost of her life).

3. How we see Kuligin(“It’s better to endure it.”

Teacher's word: Katerina cannot receive any help or support from anyone. The heroine of the play, yearning for people, for the light, ultimately remains lonely and incomprehensible. This also applies to Kuligin, drawn by Ostrovsky with undisguised sympathy. In the play, their lines never intersect. Perhaps this circumstance was supposed to emphasize the isolation and loneliness of not only Katerina, but also Kuligin.

Conversation with students:

– Where do we first meet Kuligin? What does he call himself? (Self-taught mechanic).

– Oral drawing. How do you imagine it?

Teacher's word: At the same time, in literary criticism a reasonable observation has already been made that Kuligin is a product of the same Kalinovsky world. His image is clearly projected not onto the future, but onto the past. Take, for example, his purely technical ideas: the sundial he dreamed of - an invention made in ancient times, a perpetual motion machine - was carefully invented in the Middle Ages, but already in the 18th century the complete impossibility of such an invention became clear. Boris knows about this and does not want to disappoint Kuligin. And in literature, the sympathies of the self-taught mechanic are given to the past - Lomonosov, Derzhavin... Kuligin is a typical educator. He talks to the wild about the need for a lightning rod and explains its structure, and tells the townsfolk about the beneficence of a thunderstorm.

– How does Kuligin react to Dikiy’s threats?

– What feature can we identify that unites the entire group, conventionally called victims of the “dark kingdom”? (Reconciliation with unbearable oppression, submissive agreement with existing conditions. Only Tikhon at the end of the play makes an attempt at rebellion - and even then, most likely fruitless, if we recall Kabanikha’s response).

Teacher's word: Yet, not only Varvara, but also Tikhon, Boris, and even Kuligin are completely uncharacteristic of the moral maximalism that is characteristic of Katerina. They consciously or unconsciously tend to compromise, where life requires them to make a choice. And yet their characters are broken, their souls devastated. It is in this that a certain plan of the playwright is manifested: it is against their background, and not only against the background of Dikiy and Kabanikha, that the true scale of Katerina’s personality becomes most obvious. For her, principles and advice, the meaning of which ultimately boils down to the idea of ​​​​the need for concessions in life, are completely unacceptable.

– How do the characters talk about the need for concessions in life?

(« There's nothing to do, you have to submit“, Kuligin says about himself.

“But in my opinion: do what you want, as long as it’s safe and covered,”– Varvara convinces Katerina.

“Well, let her talk, and you turn a deaf ear”, Tikhon teaches his wife. “Oh, if only there was strength!”- Boris exclaims in despair.

Teacher's word: A contemporary of A.N. Ostrovsky, writer P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky, believed that a genuine “ray of light in dark kingdom"is Kuligin.

– Do you agree with the writer?

Teacher's word: Katerina cannot submit, she cannot hide anything, she does not want to let insults pass by, but she has strength. Therefore, it is she, and not any other character, who is a ray of light in the “dark kingdom.”

Composition: Ostrovsky A. N. - The Thunderstorm - "THE ORIGINALITY OF CONFLICT IN A. N. OSTROVSKY'S PLAY “THE THUNDER""

"THE ORIGINALITY OF CONFLICT IN A. N. OSTROVSKY'S PLAY “THE THUNDER""

ORIGINALITY

CONFLICT

IN THE PLAY A.N.

OSTROVSKY “THUNDERSTERM”

dramatic work the connection between

composition, conflict and genre are very

is tight, these three terms are the product

they simply cannot help but echo each other

friend, and often, after reading genre

definition in small print on

title page, we are already guessing not only

form, but sometimes also the plot, and with it the

idea, theme of the entire work,

accordingly, the conflict that gives rise to these

ideas. Sometimes the genre definition itself (in

may simply not correspond to the basics

traditions of genre division in literature.

suddenly does not fit the form or

there is much deeper here than the framework dictates

one chosen genre. If the writer

deliberately emphasizes this discrepancy

between form and content, then

researchers, critics are faced with

one mystery, the solution of which is important

to understand the conflict, and therefore

ideas of the work. A striking example is

serve Gogol's Dead Souls", Not

accidentally called a poem. to his

with the work of N.V. Gogol, as it were, lets down

summary of all previous literature,

forcing already honed to perfection

existing genres

work in a new way, and the purpose of such work

is to identify

new deep conflict.

The situation in

the play “The Thunderstorm”, the history of its creation and

similar and different

from the above observations. A.N.

Ostrovsky did not sum up, did not

synthesized new genres, nevertheless

genre definition of “Thunderstorm” as a household

social drama, given by himself, is

not entirely correct, and accordingly

one conflict lying on the surface, according to

essentially replaced by another, deeper and

complex. Genre definition A.

Ostrovsky was only a tribute

literary tradition. The conflict is here

destined to play a completely different role. If

consider “Thunderstorm” as a social

drama, then the resulting conflict

looks quite simple: it seems to be external,

social; the audience's attention is equal

distributed among the heroes, all of them,

like checkers

on the board, play almost identical roles,

necessary to create a plot outline,

they confuse and then, flashing and

by changing lanes, as in tag, they help

resolve the confusing plot. If the system

characters are laid out in this way,

that the conflict arises and is resolved as

with the help of all the characters. Here we are

we are dealing with a drama of an everyday nature, its

the conflict is simple and easy to guess. What

happens in “The Thunderstorm”? Married woman,

quite God-fearing, fell in love with another

person, secretly meets with him, cheats

to my husband. The only thing she cares about is her

relationship with mother-in-law, who is

representative of the “past century” and sacred

protects the letter of the law,

Katerina with this layout of the conflict and

such an understanding of it in the light of the genre

definition of “Thunderstorm” as a social

drama is the personification of the new

time, the “present century,” and along with

Tikhon, Varvara, Kudryash fights against

remnants of the past, against house-building,

against the very atmosphere of the stagnation of the dead

rules and orders, the personification of which

is the pre-reform Kalinov. Easily

the main antagonists are also identified -

Katerina and Kabanikha. In this spirit they understood

“The Thunderstorm” was praised by many critics and, in particular, N.A.

Dobrolyubov. Here the strong collide

personalities, two antagonists, one of them

should leave, and suddenly... This, it would seem,

the doomed person turns out to be not old

Kabanikha with her archaic

outlook on life, but young, full of strength

Katerina, surrounded by her

like-minded people. What's the matter? What

happened? The conflict between the old and the new, the “century”

present and past centuries,” it would seem

allowed, but in a somewhat strange way.

All this leads us to the idea that

the conflict in the play is much deeper, more complex and

thinner than it seems at first glance.

Of course, a skillfully constructed plot

line, confrontation between two strong

personalities - Katerina and Kabanikha have

place and give us the opportunity to observe

social conflict,

reminiscent of any current television series. But

a deeply hidden conflict is revealed here

with a slightly different reading of the play and another

genre definition, with a different interpretation

plot of “Thunderstorm”. Definition of the genre “Thunderstorms”

and understanding of conflict as social and everyday,

given by A. N. Ostrovsky is not here

only a tribute to tradition, but also, perhaps,

only possible option while.

A.I. Zhuravleva explains this phenomenon as follows:

“...the whole history of the previous

Ostrovsky was not given Russian drama

examples of such a tragedy in which the heroes

there would be private individuals, not historical ones

figures, even legendary ones.” So,

genre definition of “Thunderstorm” with another

interpretation is a tragedy, and a tragedy,

accordingly, implies a higher

stage of conflict than in drama.

The contradiction is not carried out at the level

character systems, and on more complex

level. Conflict arises primarily in

consciousness of a hero who is struggling with himself

tragedy goes back centuries, but

usually actors, starting from

ancient tragedy were historical

personality. Suffice it to remember Antigone

Sophocles, who does not know what to do,

without violating your moral, internal

moral principles (and not at all “external”,

synthesized state laws).

classicists approximate situation in “Side”

Corne la, it is resolved only by

eliminating those fighting in Rodri-go

moral doubts. This is the conflict with A.

N. Ostrovsky, he is internal, moral,

only it’s not the Tsar’s daughter who survives him, or

a noble lady, but a simple merchant's wife.

Brought up on Christian morals and

Domostroevsky principles, she was horrified

sees their collapse not only around, but also

inside yourself, in your soul. Everything is around her

collapses, “the time has begun to come for supplication,”

says the wanderer Feklusha. Consciousness of one's own

sinfulness and at the same time understanding that

that nothing is her fault and nothing is in her power

resist passion, brings it to

insoluble contradiction within

Katerina cannot help but love Tikhon - after all

thus she betrays God in her soul, but nevertheless

less terrible things happen, and Katerina is not in

the power to change anything. The conflict consists

not in the antagonism of Kabanikha and Katerina,

which at first glance seeks the right

freedom to choose feelings, conflict is inherent

in Katerina herself, who saw in such a struggle

crime against God and failed

deal with it. And it’s not Kaba-nikha who destroys

Katerina, as Tikhon exclaims in the finale,

perceiving everything that happens from the point of view

from the perspective of a person of modern times, - Katerina

ruined by one's own oppressive

the inconsistency of her feelings. But understanding

Katerina's inner experiences

inaccessible to Tikhon, like everyone else

characters of the play. They seem to move away

to the background, serve only as a background,

decoration to show character

Katerina, such as Dikoy or Lady. A

in fact, one of the main characters, Boris,

generally characterized as “belonging

more to the situation.” All the heroes seem to be

form a single whole - their unbelief, coupled with

Kuligin's progressive worldview

acts as a kind of counterweight

Katerina's fanatical faith. In the same time

Katerina's almost sectarian faith leads to

insoluble contradiction in her soul, then

the rest have long since come to terms with their

conscience. This contradiction cannot peacefully

resolve, and Katerina is unable to go

compromise with yourself.

Katerina

sharply different from all the other heroes,

nevertheless, she is very similar to Kabanikha.

Both believe fanatically, both realize the horror

Katerina's offense, but if Kabanikha

protects the old, outdated, then Katerina to

she believes the same with all her soul, and for her all these

the tests are many times more difficult than for

Kabanikha. Unable to bear the condition

uncertainty, Katerina sees a way out

repentance, but this does not bring her any relief.

Repentance no longer plays a special role,

retribution is inevitable, Katerina, like everyone else

true believers, fatalistic and does not believe in

that something can be changed. End with

tragic conflict in the soul can only

one way - to lose it, to deprive it

immortality, and Katerina makes the most

a grave sin is suicide.

Essays on literature: Katerina’s farewell to Tikhon.

Russian writers of the 19th century often wrote about the unequal position of Russian women. "You're a share! - a Russian female share! It's hardly more difficult to find!" - exclaims. Chernyshevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov and others wrote on this topic. How did you discover the tragedy? female soul And N. Ostrovsky in his plays? .. “Once upon a time there was a girl. Dreamy, kind, affectionate. She lived with her parents. She did not know the needs, since they were wealthy. They loved their daughter, allowed her to walk in nature, dream, and In which she was not forced, the girl worked as much as she wanted. The girl loved to go to church, listen to singing, she saw angels during church services, and she also loved to listen to the wanderers who often came into their house and talked about holy people and places. , about what they saw or heard. And they called this girl. And so they gave her away in marriage...” - this is how I want to start the story about the fate of this woman.

We know that out of love and affection, Katerina ended up in the Kabanikha family. This powerful woman ruled everything in the house. Her son Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, did not dare to contradict his mother in anything. And only sometimes, having escaped to Moscow, he went on a spree there. Tikhon loves Katerina in his own way and takes pity on her. But at home, the mother-in-law constantly eats it, day after day, with or without work, sawing it like a rusty saw. “She crushed me,” Katya reflects.

Her problems reach high tension in the scene of farewell to Tikhon. To the request to take her with him, to the reproaches, Tikhon replies: “... you haven’t stopped loving, but with this kind of captivity you will run away from whatever beautiful wife you want! Just think: no matter what I am, I’m still a man; “To live life like this, as you see, is how you will run away from your wife. But as I now know that there won’t be any thunderstorms over me for two weeks, these shackles are not on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?”

Katerina found herself in an environment where hypocrisy and hypocrisy are very strong. Her husband’s sister Varvara clearly speaks about this, claiming that their “whole house rests on deception.” And here is her position: “In my opinion: do whatever you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.” “Sin is not a problem, rumor is not good!” - this is how many people argue. But Katerina is not like that. She is an extremely honest person and is sincerely afraid of sinning, even in her thoughts of cheating on her husband. It is this struggle between her duty, as she understands it (and she understands it correctly: you cannot cheat on your husband), and a new feeling that breaks her fate.

What else can be said about Katerina’s nature? It is better to express it in its own words. She tells Varvara that she does not know her character. God forbid that this should happen, but if it happens that she becomes completely tired of living with Kabanikha, then no force will be able to stop her. He will throw himself out the window, throw himself into the Volga, but will not live against his will. In her struggle, Katerina does not find allies. Varvara, instead of comforting her and supporting her, pushes her towards betrayal. The boar is harassing. The husband only thinks about how to live without his mother for at least a few days. And the fatal thing happens. Katerina can no longer deceive herself.

“To whom am I pretending to be?!” - she exclaims. And he decides to go on a date with Boris. Boris is one of the best people that live in the world shown by Ostrovsky. Young, handsome, intelligent. The customs of this strange city of Kalinov are alien to him, where they made a boulevard, but do not walk along it, where the gates are locked and the dogs are let down, according to Kuligin, not because the residents are afraid of thieves, but because it is more convenient to tyranny at home. A woman who gets married is deprived of her freedom. “Here, whether she got married or whether she was buried, it doesn’t matter,” says Boris. Boris Grigorievich is the nephew of the merchant Dikiy, who is known for his scandalous and abusive character. He harasses Boris and scolds him. At the same time, he appropriated the inheritance of his nephew and niece, and he reproaches them. It is not surprising that in such an atmosphere Katerina and Boris were drawn to each other. Boris was captivated by “she has an angelic smile on her face,” and her face seems to glow.

And yet it turns out that Katerina is not a person of this world. Boris ultimately turns out to be no match for her. Why? For Katya, the most difficult thing is to overcome the discord in her soul. She is ashamed, ashamed in front of her husband, but he hates her, his caress is worse than beatings. Nowadays, such problems are solved easier: spouses divorce and again seek their happiness. Moreover, they have no children. But in Katerina’s time, divorce was unheard of. She understands that she and her husband will live “until the grave.” And therefore, for a conscientious nature, which “cannot atone for this sin, never atone for it,” which “will fall like a stone on the soul,” for a person who cannot bear the reproaches of many times more sinful people, there is only one way out - death. And Katerina decides to commit suicide.

By the way, the premonition of tragedy is manifested precisely in the scene of Katerina’s farewell to her husband. Speaking about the fact that she is dying next to Kabanikha, that there will be trouble, she begs Tikhon to take a terrible oath from her: “... so that without you I dare not, under any circumstances, speak with anyone stranger, or see, or think I didn’t dare about anyone but you.”

Alas, Katerina falls to her knees in front of this man in vain. He picks her up, but doesn’t want to hear about anything. Two weeks of freedom are more valuable to him than his wife.

A. N. Ostrovsky is very modern as truly talented artist. He never shied away from complex and painful issues of society. Ostrovsky is not just a master of drama. This is a very sensitive writer who loves his land, his people, its history. His plays attract people with their amazing moral purity and genuine humanity. In “The Thunderstorm,” according to Goncharov, “the picture of national life and morals has settled down with unprecedented artistic completeness and fidelity.” As such, the play was a passionate challenge to the despotism and ignorance that reigned in pre-reform Russia.

In Katerina's drama, main character plays by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm", an important role was played not only by her mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, but also, of course, by the two heroes of this " love triangle" - Tikhon and Boris. Tikhon Kabanov is the heroine’s husband, a merchant’s son. He married Katerina because his mother demanded it, and he believes that he himself loves Katerina, but is this true? He himself is weak-willed and completely subordinate to his mother; he does not even dare to protect his wife from the attacks of her mother-in-law. All he can advise her is to ignore her mother’s reproaches. He himself does this all his life, agreeing with his mother and dreaming at the same time of running away to his neighbor Savel Prokofyevich and having a drink with him. Happiness for Tikhon is going to Moscow for two weeks on business. In this case, Katerina is no longer interested in him, and when she asks him to take her with him, he frankly admits: “Yes, as I now know that there will be no thunderstorm over me for two weeks, there are no shackles on my legs, so until my wife should I? Katerina feels sorry for her husband, but can she love him? Seeing neither understanding nor support from him, she involuntarily begins to dream of a different love, and her dreams turn to another hero, and Boris. Is he a hero? He is different from the residents of the city of Kalinov - he is educated, he studied at the Commercial Academy, he is the only one among the townspeople who wears a European suit. But these are all external differences, but in essence Boris is also weak-willed and dependent. He depends on his uncle, the merchant Dikiy, financially; he is bound by the terms of his late grandmother’s will, and not only because of himself, but also because of his sister. If he is not respectful to his uncle, she will remain without a dowry and, like him, will not receive an inheritance. But it seems that his words: “I would give up everything and leave” are just an excuse. Boris, after all, endures humiliation and abuse from Savel Prokofyevich, without even trying to object to him or defend his dignity. He has neither will nor strength of character. He fell in love with Katerina, seeing her several times in church, and his sublime feeling does not take into account the harsh realities of the local way of life. Fearing “to ruin his youth in this slum,” he does not listen to Kudryash, who immediately warns him that love for married woman“quit annoying”: “After all, this means you want to ruin her completely” - after all, for this in these parts Katerina “will be driven into the coffin.” Boris thinks only about himself, about his happiness, and all Katerina’s emotional experiences are alien to him, just like Tikhon. If it weren’t for her husband’s indifference (“...you’re still imposing...”), Katerina would not have taken the fatal step of agreeing to meet with Boris. But Boris also thinks only about himself, brushing aside Katerina’s torment about the terrible dream she committed: “Well, why think about it, fortunately we’re good now!” For him, meetings with Katerina are a secret affair that must be hidden: “No one will know about our love. Surely I won’t regret you!” He did not understand at all that Katerina absolutely does not know how to lie, following Varvara’s example, so her behavior when her husband arrived was a complete surprise to him. He regrets everything that happened: “Who knew that we should suffer so much with you for our love! It would be better for me to run then!” But he is powerless to change anything, he cannot take Katerina with him - “I am not going of my own free will.” Thinking about everything, he first of all feels sorry for himself, cursing the “villains” and “monsters”: “Oh, if only there was strength!”

Tikhon also verbally pities Katerina: “... I love her, I’m sorry to lay a finger on her,” but he is unable to contradict his mother: he beat his wife, as she ordered, and condemns her, repeating his mother’s words: “It’s not enough to kill her for this.” " Most of all he feels sorry for himself: “I am now an unhappy man, brother!” And only after Katerina’s death did he dare to object to Marfa Ignatievna: “Mama, you ruined her, you, you...”

Both heroes, Boris and Tikhon, despite their external differences, could not become reliable protection and support for Katerina: both are selfish, weak-willed, and do not understand her anxious, restless soul. And both are to blame for its tragedy, having failed and not even wanting to prevent it.