A powerful merchant's wife who is afraid of everything new - this is the image he created in the play “The Thunderstorm”. Like a real dictator, Kabanikha defends housebuilding and established habits. After all, everything new carries danger and the possibility of losing control over loved ones.
History of creation
The play "The Thunderstorm" was first published in 1860. The writer was prompted to write the work by a personal drama, which was reflected in the work. In Kabanikha, Ostrovsky embodied the characteristics of a tyrant, despot and tyrant. The writer does not specifically describe the details of the heroine’s appearance so that the reader can independently, only based on the character’s inner world, create the image of the merchant’s wife.
Ostrovsky also does not indicate the exact age of the heroine. At the same time, Kabanikha relies on her own seniority and calls on the younger generation to respect:
“Don’t judge your older self! They know more than you. Old people have signs for everything. An old man won’t say a word to the wind.”
The resulting image, as well as the work as a whole, caused fierce debate among the writer's contemporaries. But, despite different points of view, “The Thunderstorm” became the anthem of the pre-reform social upsurge.
"Storm"
Marfa Ignatievna lives in the city of Kalinov, located on the banks of the Volga. The woman’s husband died, leaving Kabanikha with her son Tikhon and daughter Varvara. In a provincial town there are unpleasant rumors about the merchant's wife. The woman is a real prude. For strangers, Marfa Ignatievna happily gives to the suffering, but the woman terrorizes her close people.
The woman tells those around her to live by outdated moral principles, which she herself violates every day. The heroine believes that children should not have their own opinions, they are obliged to honor their parents and listen to their mother unquestioningly.
Tikhon's wife gets the most. The young girl arouses hatred and jealousy in the elderly merchant's wife. Kabanikha often reproaches her son that the young man loves his young wife more than his mother. The heroine spends her time preaching morals, the hypocrisy of which is noticeable to those around her.
The conflict between the young daughter-in-law and the merchant's wife escalates with Tikhon's departure. The head of the house, who considers displays of affection a sign of weakness, orders her son to sternly reprimand his wife before leaving. A woman despises a man who sincerely loves Catherine. The merchant's wife considers her son too weak, so she suppresses the will of the young man with her own authority, turning the life of Tikhon and Katerina into hell.
As soon as Tikhon leaves Kalinov, Kabanikha watches her daughter-in-law with redoubled attention. It does not escape the woman that changes are happening to Catherine, so the moment Tikhon returns home, the merchant’s wife again presses on the young people.
Katerina and Tikhon (stills from productions) When Katerina cannot withstand the pressure and admits to treason, Kabanikha feels satisfaction. The woman turned out to be right; free will in relation to the wife does not lead to anything good. Even after the death of his daughter-in-law, Kabanikha does not soften. Marfa Ignatievna does not allow her son to go in search of his wife. And when the body is discovered, he holds Tikhon so that he does not even say goodbye to his wife.
Film adaptations
In 1933, a film adaptation of “The Thunderstorm” was released, directed by Vladimir Petrov. The role of Kabanikha was performed by Varvara Massalitinova. The film received an award at the Venice International Festival as the best film presented to the public.
In 1977, Felix Glyamshin and Boris Babochkin filmed the television play “The Thunderstorm” based on Ostrovsky’s work of the same name. The colorful film was liked by television viewers. The despotic merchant's wife was played by actress Olga Kharkova.
In 2017, directors again turned to the writer’s work. Andrey Moguchiy staged his own interpretation of “The Thunderstorm”. The teleplay combines archaism and avant-garde. The image of Kabanikha on stage was embodied by People's Artist of Russia Marina Ignatova.
- Analysis of the dialogues of the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” allows us to conclude that Kabanikha was raised in the Old Believer faith. Therefore, the woman rejects innovations, even the railway.
- In the theater, the merchant's wife is often portrayed as an elderly woman. Although the writer does not indicate the heroine's age, the character is hardly more than 40 years old.
- Ostrovsky awarded Marfa Ignatievna a telling first and last name. “Marfa means “lady,” and the surname Kabanova is common among the merchants. The woman received the nickname “Kabanikha” for her stubbornness, for which she became famous among the city residents.
Quotes
“They don’t really respect elders these days.”
“You can’t tell anyone: if they don’t dare to your face, they will stand behind your back.”
“Come on, come on, don’t be afraid! Sin! I have seen for a long time that your wife is dearer to you than your mother. Since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you.”
“Why be afraid?! Are you crazy, or what? He won’t be afraid of you, and he won’t be afraid of me either. What kind of order will there be in the house?”
“If you want to listen to your mother, then when you get there, do as I ordered you.”
The action of Ostrovsky's drama takes place in the fictitious city of Kalinov on the banks of the Volga, where a traditional way of life reigns. The city has beautiful nature, but callousness and ignorance, anger, drunkenness and debauchery reign among the inhabitants of this area. And the worst thing is that people are used to it. They had such a way of life, and if a normal person came to them, he could not stay there for a long time. As in every literary work, Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” has positive and negative characters. The negative ones, first of all, include the mother-in-law of the main character Katerina, Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, and the uncle of Boris, Katerina’s beloved man, Savel Prokofievich Dikoy.
In the play, these characters are rarely called by their patronymic names; they are more often called and. What these characters have in common is that they are both cruel and heartless people, but they are united by their love of money. People's relationships, according to their worldview, are based only on wealth. They abuse their family as they please, forcing them to live in constant fear.
Dikoy has put himself above everyone around him, but they are afraid of him and do not even try to resist this. He shows permissiveness because there is no one in Kalinin who could resist him. Dikoy is convinced of his impunity and considers himself the master of life.
Kabanikha covers up disrespectful behavior with a mask of virtue. She is a strong and powerful person, she has little interest in emotions and feelings. As a person of the old formation, Kabanova is interested in earthly affairs and interests. Its demands are unquestioning adherence to order and rank.
Dikiy, like Kabanova, can be considered representatives of a certain part of the merchant class who behaved inappropriately. Such people cannot be called pious. But it cannot be said that the Russian merchants of the 19th century were the prototype of Kabanikha and Dikiy. In the same drama, Ostrovsky shows that Boris's father was Dikiy's brother, but being brought up in the same family, he was different from the merchant Dikiy. Boris's father was married to a girl of noble origin, and he had a completely different life than his despotic brother.
Kabanova is also shown as a typical representative of the merchant class. Being the head of the family, the mother of Tikhon, Varvara and mother-in-law of Katerina, she constantly torments her closest people with her behavior. She may have loved her children in her own way, but can a normal mother behave like that? Probably not. The drama contains a description of Katerina's story about her childhood. Katerina's parents were also from the merchant class, but Katerina's mother was a sensitive, kind and sympathetic woman. She loved and cared for her daughter very much.
Ostrovsky took the plot for his play from real life, but the city was given the fictitious name Kalinov. Many Volga cities believed that the play “The Thunderstorm” was written based on events that happened in their city. Now for some reason they believe that this is the city of Kostroma.
According to I. A. Goncharov, A. N. Ostrovsky “brought a whole library of artistic works as a gift to literature, and created his own special world for the stage.” The world of Ostrovsky’s works is amazing. He created large and integral characters, knew how to emphasize comic or dramatic properties in them, and draw the reader's attention to the merits or vices of his heroes.
The heroes of the play “The Thunderstorm” deserve special attention - Savel Prokofievich Dikoy and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova.
Savel Prokofievich Dikoy is a merchant, a significant person in the city of Kalinov. The heroes of the play give him eloquent characteristics. “He belongs everywhere. He’s afraid of someone!” - Kudryash says about him. Dikoy, in fact, does not recognize anything other than his own will. He doesn't care about the thoughts and feelings of other people. It costs Savel Prokofievich nothing to scold, humiliate, or insult. With those around him, he behaves as if he had “lost his chain,” and without this he “cannot breathe.” “...You are a worm,” he says to Kulig. “If I want, I’ll have mercy, if I want, I’ll crush.”
The power of the Wild One is stronger, the weaker, more weak-willed the person. So Kudryash, for example, knows how to resist the Wild One. “...He is the word, and I am ten; he will spit and go. No, I won’t slave to him,” says Kudryash about his relationship with the merchant. Another man is Dikiy’s nephew, Boris. “He got Boris Grigoryich as a sacrifice, so he rides on it,” people around him notice. The wild one is not embarrassed by the fact that Boris is an orphan and that he has no one closer to his uncle. The merchant realizes that the fate of his nephew is in his hands, and takes advantage of this. “Driven, beaten...” Boris says sadly. The merchant is no less cruel to his workers: “With us, no one dares even say a word about a salary, he will scold you for all he knows.” The unscrupulous Dikoy makes his fortune from other people's slave labor and deception: "... I will underpay them by a penny... but I make thousands from this...". However, sometimes the Dikiy has an epiphany, and he realizes that he is going too far: “After all, I already know that I have to give, but I can’t do everything with good.”
Dikoy is a despot and tyrant in his family; “his own people cannot please him in any way,” “when he is offended by a person whom he does not dare to scold; here, stay home!”
Kabanikha, the rich Kalinovsky merchant’s wife, is not inferior to Dikiy. Kabanikha is a hypocrite, she does everything “under the guise of piety.” Outwardly she is very pious. However, as Kuligin notes, Kabanikha “gives money to the poor, but completely eats up her family.” The main object of her tyranny is her own son Tikhon. Being an adult, married man, he is completely at the mercy of his mother, has no opinion of his own, and is afraid to contradict her. Kabanikha “builds” his relationship with his wife, she guides his every action, every word. Complete obedience is all she wants to see in her son. The power-hungry Kabanikha does not notice that under her yoke a cowardly, pathetic, weak-willed, irresponsible man has grown up. Having escaped from the supervision of his mother for a while, he chokes on freedom and drinks, because he does not know how to use freedom in any other way. “...Not one step out of your will,” he repeats to his mother, and “he himself thinks about how he can escape as quickly as possible.”
Kabanikha is jealous of her son’s daughter-in-law, constantly reproaches him with Katerina, “she’ll eat him.” “I already see that I’m a hindrance to you,” she nags Tikhon. Kabanikha believes that the wife of her husband should be afraid, precisely afraid, and not love or respect. In her opinion, correct relationships are built precisely on the suppression of one person by another, on humiliation, on lack of freedom. Indicative in this regard is the scene of Katerina’s farewell to her husband, when all Tikhon’s words addressed to his wife are just a repetition of Kabanikha’s instigations.
If Tikhon, who has been crushed by her since childhood, suffers from Kabanikha, then the life of such a dreamy, poetic and integral nature as Katerina in the merchant’s house becomes unbearable. “Here, whether you got married or buried, it doesn’t matter,” Boris argues about this.
Constant pressure forces Kabanikha’s daughter, Varvara, to adapt. “Do what you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered,” she reasons.
Assessing the images of the “masters of life,” N. Dobro-lyubov shows Diky and Kabanikha as tyrants, with their “constant suspicion, scrupulousness and pickiness.” According to the critic, “The Thunderstorm” is Ostrovsky’s most decisive work” in this play “the mutual relations of tyranny and voicelessness are brought... to the most tragic consequences...”.
A. N. Ostrovsky's play “The Thunderstorm” was written in 1859. However, interest in it does not decrease even today. What makes this little work so relevant? What problems does the playwright raise in the work?
At the center of the story is a social conflict, reflecting the confrontation between old and new forces. Vivid personifications of the old world are Savel Prokofievich Dikoy and Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova.
These are typical representatives of society, which the critic Dobrolyubov rightly and aptly called the “dark kingdom.” The despotism of these people knows no bounds. They, like an octopus spreading its tentacles, strive to extend their power to those around them.
The wealthy merchant Dikoy cannot but arouse angry rejection. He has sufficient influence in Kalinov. He is known to the townspeople as a brawler and a stingy guy. Swearing became an integral part of it. Savel Prokofievich cannot live a day without moralizing speeches. He will always find an object of attack, be it relatives, nephew or employees. He is very strict towards all members of the household, does not allow anyone to breathe freely.
In his tone one can always recognize menacing notes of instructiveness.
Dikoy is obscenely greedy. He puts his own nephews in a humiliating position, not wanting to give them the inheritance bequeathed by his grandmother. In an effort to gain his own benefit, he stipulates conditions. So, Boris, in order not to anger his uncle, should behave respectfully, carry out all his instructions, and endure his tyranny. The wild one will always find something to complain about. Dejected Boris does not really believe that his uncle will fulfill his grandmother’s will.
Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is not inferior to Dikiy in ignorance and rudeness. Everyone in the house groans from her.
Kabanikha keeps everyone in complete submission.
Obedience became the norm for her son. His mother’s control turns Tikhon into a wordless shadow that has nothing to do with the concept of “man.” He cannot even protect his wife from his mother’s despotism.
Varvara Kabanikha’s daughter drove her to the point where she was forced to lie to her all the time, because she did not want to live according to the laws established by her mother.
Katerina becomes the real victim of Kabanikha’s despotism.
The mother-in-law believes that the daughter-in-law should unquestioningly obey her husband in everything. Manifestation of one's own will is unacceptable. Moreover, it is punishable! Her savagery, ignorance and despotism persistently formed in her mind the idea that the husband should “educate” his wife by beating. There should be no warm, human relations between them. Kindness to your wife is, according to Marfa Ignatievna, a manifestation of weakness. The daughter-in-law is obliged to subserviently to her husband, to serve him and his mother.
Thus, the “cruel morals” of the city of Kalinov have their inspirations, who are represented by the images of the Wild and Kabanikha.
Option 2
A.N. Ostrovsky reflects in The Thunderstorm the world of tyranny, tyranny and stupidity. And also the reality of people who do not resist this evil. The literary critic Dobrolyubov called all this “the dark kingdom.” And this concept stuck.
The play takes place in the Volga city of Kalinov. The name is fictitious. What is described in prose was the reality of all Russian cities of that time. And a populated area, fenced off from the outside world by a large river, is even more closed and conservative. Therefore, residents learn about everything from holy fools. And they believe that rulers with dog heads live somewhere, and the people are even more oppressed. This means they themselves are still living well. And we must pray for local “benefactors.”
Kalinov’s “Dark Kingdom” rests on two people: Dikiy and Kabanikha. Self-will, selfishness, unlimited rudeness, toughness, love of power are common traits of these two personalities. These are stupid and tyrannical people. They are the strength and power in this city. Even the mayor will not contradict them. Savel Prokofievich is a wealthy merchant, “whose whole life is based on swearing.” Every day he tyrannizes, humiliates, scolds someone. And if he comes across a person over whom the Wild has no power and they answer him with the same abuse, then he takes out all his anger on his family. They will not answer, the family is defenseless against him. The merchant's wife, his children and his nephew Boris, who gets the most, suffer and are afraid.
The hero is also despotic in relation to his workers. Dikoy is very greedy. He does not tolerate it at all when people talk to him about money. Even if he himself understands that he owes the person to pay or repay the debt. Rarely does a master pay what is due to men. And I'm happy with that. He even explains to the mayor what profit he has if each employee is not paid extra. And he punishes his nephew to work. And the salary will be in a year, as much as the uncle wants to give. Selfishness is his main distinguishing feature. This man only respects the rich. He cruelly humiliates everyone who is lower than him in material terms.
The boar, on the contrary, cannot be called greedy. Marfa Ignatieva is generous in public and even kind to some extent. He welcomes wanderers and praying mantises into his home. He feeds them and gives them alms. All so that these old men praise her publicly, this pleases her pride. Tikhon's mother is no less willful and selfish than Dikoy. And he also likes to assert himself by belittling the dignity of others. She shows self-will and outrages only in the family. She is kind to strangers, but she is “stuffed up with food” at home. Whereas Savel Prokofievich does not make exceptions for anyone. But Kabanova’s emotional torture is much more sophisticated. She even turned her own son into a weak-willed creature. And the worst thing is that she is confident that she is right. She is older, wiser and knows everything better. Who else will teach the youth? They have no mind of their own, they must live by the mind of their parents. This means that what she does is not tyranny and tyranny. And a manifestation of maternal love and care.
Dikoy and Kabanikha differ only in their approach to humiliating others. They understand that they are, in fact, weak and may lose power. That's why they put people in a vice. So that no one would have the thought of opposing them.
Wild and Kabanikha in the story Groz Ostrovsky
The play “The Thunderstorm” by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky shows the main characters and the clash between them, associated with their different views on the world, dissimilar ideas and values. The work proves that with the passage of time, the principles of life are constantly changing. Representatives of the “dark kingdom”, the merchant Dikoy and Kabanikha, live according to the Domostroevsky order, which dictates patriarchal norms and old traditions to the new generation, which leads to the emergence of interpersonal conflict in the work.
Kabanikha, the merchant widow Marfa Kabanova, appears to the reader as a tyrant and a bigot. Being a conservative due to his illiteracy, he does not know and does not even think that it is possible to live any differently, he actively preaches his ideals, since he believes that the eldest in the family is the boss (based on the norms of patriarchy). Kabanova understands that the patriarchal structure is collapsing, so she enforces it even more harshly, this further serves as the cause of the collapse of the family.
Kabanikha tries to hold on to the old, because of which she absolutely does not see real feelings and does not experience them, suppresses them in others. She is ashamed that Katerina openly shows feelings for her son, since she considers it unacceptable to “hang” on her husband’s neck, forcing her to bow at his feet. She speaks in an imperious tone with rude expressions, believing that she has the right to indicate because she is the eldest, the head of the house. A maximalist, she never makes concessions, does not tolerate will, believing in the customs of antiquity.
Merchant Dikoy is also a representative of the “dark kingdom”, a supporter of Kabanikha. But his image has several differences from the image of Kabanikha. The tyranny of the Wild lies in the worship of money. A stingy egoist who seeks profit in everything, when he suffers losses, he loses his temper, gets irritated, and perceives it as punishment.
A. N. Ostrovsky shows Dikoy’s lack of education in the scene of his dialogue with Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic, who proposes to install a lightning rod, but Dikoy, who believes that the thunderstorm is sent as punishment, begins to shout at Kuligin. The abuse of this hero is his kind of defense. Dikoy is used to intimidating everyone, suppressing others, the feeling of power over others brings him confidence and pleasure.
It should be noted that A. N. Ostrovsky endowed the heroes with “talking” surnames, which reveal the essence of their rude, absurd characters.
Thus, the problem of the existence of representatives of the “dark kingdom” who try to hold on to petrified forms of life finds a place in Russian classical literature, affects not only everyday life in the work, but covers other spheres of life, and develops into a larger-scale conflict.
Sample 4
The provincial town of Kalinov, where the play “The Thunderstorm” takes place, is located on the high bank of the Volga. It would seem that the life of the inhabitants of the city against the backdrop of a beautiful landscape should have flowed calmly and smoothly. But that's not true. Behind the external calm lie cruel morals. Kuligin, a self-taught mechanic, telling Boris about the difficult situation of ordinary residents of the city, says: “What are the rich doing?.. Do you think they are doing work or praying to God? No, sir! And they don’t lock themselves away from thieves, but so that people don’t see how they eat their own family and tyrannize their family!..”
Depicting the life and customs of the city, A.N. Ostrovsky denounces the masters of life in the person of the merchants Dikiy and Kabanikha.
Savel Profyich Dikoy is a despot, ignorant, rude. He demands unquestioning obedience from everyone. His family suffers: they hide from the wrath of the Wild One so as not to catch his eye. The hardest time is for Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, who depends on him financially. Dikoy holds the entire city in his hands, mocking people. He humiliates Kuligin when he asks him for money for a sundial for the city. Money is everything for Dikiy; he cannot part with it. For the sake of money, he is ready to commit deception and fraud. He underpays his employees. It is useless to complain about Dikiy; he is on friendly terms with the mayor himself. For his rudeness and swearing, the clerk Kudryash calls Diky “a shrill man.”
Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is the head of the Kabanov house, a tyrant and despot. In the house, everything always happens only according to her will. She completely controls the family and keeps the entire house in fear. Kabanikha is an ardent supporter of the old principles of life, customs and rituals. She says that Domostroy should be observed, but she herself takes from there only the most cruel norms that justify her despotism. The boar is superstitious, attends all church services, gives money to the poor, and receives strangers in her house. But this is ostentatious piety. And the worst thing is that Kabanikha does not doubt that she is right.
Kabanikha tortures and pursues her victims day after day, eroding them “like rusting iron.” Her son Tikhon grew up to be a weak-willed and spineless man. He loves his wife and tries to calm her down after her mother’s attacks, but he is unable to change anything and advises Katerina not to pay attention to her mother. Whenever possible, Tikhon tries to get out of the house and get drunk. Kabanikha brought Katerina to the grave. Varvara, Tikhon’s sister, adapted to such a life; she learned to hide the truth from her mother. But Varvara can’t stand it either and leaves home after Katerina’s death. The morals of this house are capable of destroying every person who ends up there.
The patriarchal world, of which Dikoy and Kabanikha are representatives, is strong and merciless, but it is already on the verge of collapse.
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how they eat their own family and tyrannize their families.”
As Dobrolyubov correctly noted, Ostrovsky in one of his plays depicts a truly “dark kingdom” - a world of tyranny, betrayal and stupidity. The drama takes place in the city of Kalinov, which stands on the banks of the Volga. There is a certain symbolic parallelism in the location of the city: the rapid flow of the river is contrasted with an atmosphere of stagnation, lawlessness and oppression. It seems as if the city is isolated from the outside world. Residents learn news thanks to the stories of wanderers. Moreover, this news is of very dubious and sometimes completely absurd content. The Kalinovites blindly believe the stories of crazy old people about unrighteous countries, lands that have fallen from heaven and rulers with dog heads. People are accustomed to living in fear not only of the world, but also of the rulers of the “dark kingdom.” This is their comfort zone that no one intends to leave. If, in principle, everything is clear with ordinary people, then what about the above-mentioned rulers?
In “The Thunderstorm,” Dikoy and Kabanikha represent the “dark kingdom.” They are both the masters and creators of this world. The tyranny of the Wild and Kabani knows no bounds.
In the city, power does not belong to the mayor, but to the merchants, who, thanks to their connections and profits, were able to receive the support of higher authorities. They mock the bourgeoisie and deceive ordinary people. In the text of the work, this image is embodied in Savl Prokofievich Diky, a middle-aged merchant who keeps everyone in fear, lends money at huge interest rates and deceives other merchants. In Kalinov there are legends about his cruelty. No one except Kudryashch can answer the Wild One appropriately, and the merchant actively takes advantage of this. He asserts himself through humiliation and mockery, and the feeling of impunity only increases the degree of cruelty. “Look for another scolder like ours, Savel Prokofich! He will never cut off a person,” this is what the residents themselves say about Dikiy. It is interesting that Dikoy takes out his anger only on those whom he knows, or on the residents of the city - the weak-willed and downtrodden. This is evidenced by the episode of Dikiy’s quarrel with the hussar: the hussar scolded Saul Prokofievich so much that he did not say a word, but then everyone at home “hid in attics and basements” for two weeks.
Enlightenment and new technologies simply cannot penetrate Kalinov. Residents are distrustful of all innovations. So, in one of the last appearances, Kuligin tells Diky about the benefits of a lightning rod, but he doesn’t want to listen. Dikoy is only rude to Kuligin and says that it is impossible to earn money honestly, which once again proves that he did not receive his wealth through daily efforts. A negative attitude towards change is a common feature of the Wild and Kabanikha. Marfa Ignatievna advocates for observing old traditions. It is important to her how they enter the house, how they express feelings, how they go for walks. At the same time, neither the internal content of such actions nor other problems (for example, her son’s alcoholism) bother her. Tikhon’s words that his wife’s embrace is enough for him seem unconvincing to Marfa Ignatievna: Katerina must “howl” when she says goodbye to her husband and throw herself at his feet. By the way, external ritualism and attribution are characteristic of Marfa Ignatievna’s life position as a whole. A woman treats religion in exactly the same way, forgetting that in addition to weekly trips to church, faith must come from the heart. In addition, Christianity in the minds of these people was mixed with pagan superstitions, which can be seen in the scene with the thunderstorm.
Kabanikha believes that the whole world rests on those who follow the old laws: “something will happen when the old people die, I don’t even know how the light will last.” She also convinces the merchant of this. From the dialogue between Wild and Kabanikha, one can see a certain hierarchy in their relationship. Savl Prokofievich recognizes Kabanikha’s unspoken leadership, her strength of character and intelligence. Dikoy understands that he is incapable of such manipulative hysterics as Marfa Ignatievna throws at her family every day.
The comparative characterization of the Wild and Kabanikha from the play “The Thunderstorm” is also quite interesting. Dikiy’s despotism is aimed more at the outside world - at the residents of the city, only relatives suffer from Marfa Ignatievna’s tyranny, and in society the woman maintains the image of a respectable mother and housewife. Marfa Ignatievna, like Dikiy, is not at all embarrassed by gossip and conversations, because both are confident that they are right. Neither one nor the other cares about the happiness of loved ones. Family relationships for each of these characters must be built on fear and oppression. This can be seen especially clearly in Kabanova’s behavior.
As can be seen from the examples above, Kabanikha and Dikiy have similarities and differences. But most of all, they are united by a sense of permissiveness and an unshakable confidence that this is exactly how everything should be.
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