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The question of choosing a soulmate has always been problematic for young people. Now we have the right to choose a life partner (companion) ourselves, before the final decision in marriage was made by the parents. Naturally, the parents first of all looked at the well-being of the future son-in-law, his moral character. Such a choice promised a wonderful material and moral existence for children, but the intimate side of marriage often suffered. The spouses understand that they should treat each other favorably and respectfully, but the lack of passion is not the best effect. There are many examples in the literature of such dissatisfaction and the search for the realization of one's intimate life.
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the play by A. Ostrovsky “Thunderstorm”
This topic is not new in Russian literature. From time to time it is raised by writers. A. Ostrovsky in the play "Thunderstorm" portrayed the unique image of the woman Katerina, who, in search of personal happiness, under the influence of Orthodox morality and the feeling of love that has arisen, comes to a standstill.
Katerina's life story
The main character of Ostrovsky's play is Katerina Kabanova. From childhood she was brought up in love and affection. Her mother felt sorry for her daughter, and sometimes freed her from all work, leaving Katerina to do what she wanted. But the girl did not grow up lazy.
After the wedding with Tikhon Kabanov, the girl lives in the house of her husband's parents. Tikhon has no father. And the mother manages all the processes in the house. The mother-in-law has an authoritarian character, she suppresses all family members with her authority: her son Tikhon, her daughter Varya and her young daughter-in-law.
Katerina finds herself in a world completely unfamiliar to her - her mother-in-law often scolds her for no reason, her husband also does not differ in tenderness and care - sometimes he beats her. Katerina and Tikhon have no children. This fact is incredibly upsetting for a woman - she likes to babysit children.
At one point, a woman falls in love. She is married and understands perfectly well that her love has no right to life, but nevertheless, over time, she succumbs to her desire while her husband is in another city.
Upon the return of her husband, Katerina experiences pangs of conscience and confesses her act to her mother-in-law and husband, which causes a wave of indignation. Tikhon beats her. The mother-in-law says that the woman needs to be buried in the ground. The situation in the family, already unhappy and tense, escalates to the point of impossibility. Seeing no other way out, the woman commits suicide by drowning herself in the river. On the last pages of the play, we learn that Tikhon still loved his wife, and his behavior towards her was provoked by his mother.
Appearance of Katerina Kabanova
The author does not provide a detailed description of the appearance of Katerina Petrovna. We learn about the appearance of a woman from the lips of other heroes of the play - most of the characters consider her beautiful and delightful. We also know little about Katerina's age - the fact that she is in the prime of her life allows us to define her as a young woman. Before the wedding, she was full of aspirations, shone with happiness.
Life in the mother-in-law's house did not affect her in the best way: she noticeably withered, but she was still pretty. Her girlish gaiety and cheerfulness quickly disappeared - their place was taken by despondency and sadness.
Relationships in the family
Katerina's mother-in-law is a very complex person, she runs everything in the house. This applies not only to household chores, but to all relationships within the family. It is difficult for a woman to cope with her emotions - she is jealous of her son for Katerina, she wants Tikhon to pay attention not to his wife, but to her, his mother. Jealousy eats up the mother-in-law and does not give her the opportunity to enjoy life - she is always unhappy with something, constantly finds fault with everyone, especially the young daughter-in-law. She does not even try to hide this fact - those around her make fun of the old Kabanikha, they say that she tortured everyone in the house.
Katerina respects the old Kabanikha, despite the fact that she literally does not give her a pass with her nit-picking. The same cannot be said for other family members.
Katerina's husband, Tikhon, also loves his mother. The authoritarianism and despotism of his mother broke him, like his wife. He is torn by a feeling of love for his mother and wife. Tikhon does not try to somehow resolve the difficult situation in his family and finds solace in drunkenness and spree. The youngest daughter of Kabanikha and sister of Tikhon, Varvara, is more pragmatic, she understands that it is impossible to break through the wall with her forehead, in this case it is necessary to act with cunning and intelligence. Her respect for her mother is ostentatious, she says what her mother wants to hear, but in reality she does everything in her own way. Unable to bear life at home, Barbara runs away.
Despite the dissimilarity of the girls, Varvara and Katerina become friends. They support each other in difficult situations. Varvara incites Katerina to secret meetings with Boris, helps lovers organize dates for lovers. In these actions, Varvara does not mean anything bad - the girl herself often resorts to such dates - this is her way not to go crazy, she wants to bring at least a piece of happiness into Katerina's life, but the result is the opposite.
Katerina also has a difficult relationship with her husband. First of all, this is due to the spinelessness of Tikhon. He does not know how to defend his position, even if the mother's desire is clearly contrary to his intentions. Her husband does not have his own opinion - he is a "sissy", unquestioningly fulfilling the will of the parent. He often, at the instigation of his mother, scolds his young wife, sometimes beats her. Naturally, such behavior does not bring joy and harmony to the relationship of the spouses.
Katerina's discontent grows from day to day. She feels miserable. The understanding that nit-picking against her is far-fetched still does not allow her to live fully.
From time to time, in Katerina's thoughts, intentions arise to change something in her life, but she cannot find a way out of the situation - the thought of suicide visits Katerina Petrovna more and more often.
Character traits
Katerina has a meek and kind disposition. She doesn't know how to take care of herself. Katerina Petrovna is a soft, romantic girl. She loves to indulge in dreams and fantasies.
She has an inquisitive mind. She is interested in the most unusual things, for example, why people cannot fly. Because of this, people around her consider her a little strange.
Katerina is by nature patient and non-confrontational. She forgives the unfair and cruel treatment of her husband and mother-in-law.
In general, those around, if you do not take into account Tikhon and Kabanikha, have a good opinion of Katerina, they think that she is a sweet and lovely girl.
The pursuit of freedom
Katerina Petrovna has a peculiar concept of freedom. At a time when most people understand freedom as a physical state in which they are free to carry out those actions and actions that they prefer, Katerina prefers moral freedom, devoid of psychological pressure, allowing her to control her own destiny.
Katerina Kabanova is not so decisive as to put her mother-in-law in her place, but her desire for freedom does not allow her to live according to the rules within which she found herself - the idea of death as a way of gaining freedom appears in the text several times before Katerina's romantic relationship with Boris . The disclosure of information about Katerina's betrayal of her husband and the further reaction of a relative, in particular mother-in-law, become just a catalyst for her suicidal aspirations.
Religiosity of Katerina
The question of religiosity and the influence of religion on people's lives has always been quite controversial. This trend is especially open to doubt in times of active scientific and technological revolution and progress.
In relation to Katerina Kabanova, this trend does not work. A woman, not finding joy in everyday, worldly life, is imbued with a special love and reverence for religion. Strengthens her attachment to the church and the fact that her mother-in-law is religious. While the old Kabanikh's religiosity is only ostentatious (in fact, she does not adhere to the basic canons and postulates of the church that regulate people's relationships), Katerina's religiosity is true. She piously believes in the commandments of God, tries to always observe the laws of life.
During prayer, while in church, Katerina experiences special pleasure and relief. In those moments, she is like an angel.
However, the desire to experience happiness, true love takes precedence over religious vision. Knowing that adultery is a terrible sin, a woman still succumbs to temptation. For ten days of happiness, she pays with another, the most terrible sin in the eyes of a believing Christian - suicide.
Katerina Petrovna is aware of the gravity of her act, but the notion that her life will never change forces her to ignore this prohibition. It should be noted that the idea of such an end to her life path had already arisen, but, despite the hardships of her life, it was not carried out. Perhaps the fact that the pressure from the mother-in-law was painful for her played here, but the notion that it had no basis stopped the girl. After her relatives find out about the betrayal - reproaches against her become justified - she really tarnished her reputation and the reputation of the family. Another reason for this outcome of events could be the fact that Boris refuses a woman and does not take her with him. Katerina herself must somehow solve the current situation and she does not see a better option, how to throw herself into the river.
Katerina and Boris
Before Boris appeared in the fictitious city of Kalinovo, finding personal, intimate happiness for Katerina was not relevant. She did not try to make up for the lack of love from her husband on the side.
The image of Boris awakens in Katerina the extinguished feeling of passionate love. A woman is aware of the gravity of a love relationship with another man, so she languishes with the feeling that has arisen, but does not accept any prerequisites to turn her dreams into reality.
Varvara convinces Katerina that Kabanova needs to meet alone with her lover. The brother's sister is well aware that the feelings of young people are mutual, in addition, the coolness of the relationship between Tikhon and Katerina is not new to her, therefore she regards her act as an opportunity to show her sweet and kind daughter-in-law what true love is.
Katerina cannot make up her mind for a long time, but the water wears away the stone, the woman agrees to a meeting. Being captured by her desires, reinforced by a kindred feeling on the part of Boris, a woman cannot deny herself further meetings. The absence of her husband plays into her hands - for 10 days she lived like in paradise. Boris loves her more than life, he is affectionate and gentle with her. With him, Katerina feels like a real woman. She thinks she's finally found happiness. Everything changes with the arrival of Tikhon. No one knows about secret meetings, but Katerina is tormented by torment, she is seriously afraid of punishment from God, her psychological state reaches its climax and she confesses to her sin.
After this event, the life of a woman turns into hell - the already pouring reproaches in her direction from her mother-in-law become unbearable, her husband beats her.
The woman still has hope for a successful outcome of the event - she believes that Boris will not leave her in trouble. However, her lover is in no hurry to help her - he is afraid of angering his uncle and being left without his inheritance, so he refuses to take Katerina with him to Siberia.
For a woman, this becomes a new blow, she is no longer able to survive it - death becomes her only way out.
Thus, Katerina Kabanova is the owner of the kindest and most gentle qualities of the human soul. A woman is especially sensitive to the feelings of other people. Her inability to give a sharp rebuff becomes the cause of constant ridicule and reproaches from her mother-in-law and husband, which further drives her into a dead end. Death in her case becomes an opportunity to find happiness and freedom. The realization of this fact causes the saddest feelings among readers.
In Katerina's position, we see that all the "ideas" instilled in her from childhood, all the principles of the environment, rebel against her natural aspirations and actions. The terrible struggle to which the young woman is condemned takes place in every word, in every movement of the drama, and this is where all the importance of the introductory characters for which Ostrovsky is so reproached turns out. Take a good look: you see that Katerina was brought up in concepts that are the same as the concepts of the environment in which she lives, and cannot get rid of them, having no theoretical education. The stories of the wanderers and the suggestions of the family, although they were processed by her in her own way, could not help but leave an ugly trace in her soul: and indeed, we see in the play that Katerina, having lost her bright dreams and ideal, lofty aspirations, retained from her upbringing one thing a strong feeling - the fear of some dark forces, something unknown, which she could not explain to herself well, nor reject. For every thought she fears, for the simplest feeling she expects punishment for herself; it seems to her that a thunderstorm will kill her, because she is a sinner, the pictures of fiery hell on the church wall seem to her already a foreshadow of her eternal torment ... And everything around her supports and develops this fear in her: Feklushi go to Kabanikha to talk about the last times; Wild insists that a thunderstorm is sent to us as punishment, so that we feel; the mistress who has come, inspiring fear in everyone in the city, is shown several times in order to shout over Katerina in an ominous voice: “You will all burn in fire in unquenchable.” Everyone around is full of superstitious fear, and everyone around, in accordance with the concepts of Katerina herself, should look at her feelings for Boris as the greatest crime. Even the daring Curly, the esprit-fort * of this environment, and he finds that the girls can go out with the guys as much as they want - that's nothing, but the women should really be locked up. This conviction is so strong in him that, having learned about Boris's love for Katerina, he, despite his daring and some kind of outrage, says that "this business must be abandoned." Everything is against Katerina, even her own ideas about good and evil; everything must make her — to stifle her impulses and wither in the cold and gloomy formalism of family silence and obedience, without any living aspirations, without will, without love — or else learn to deceive people and conscience.<…>
The environment in which Katerina lives requires her to lie and deceive; “It’s impossible without this,” Varvara tells her, “remember where you live; Our whole house is based on this. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary. Katerina succumbs to her position, goes out to Boris at night, hides her feelings from her mother-in-law for ten days ... You might think: another woman has gone astray, learned to deceive her family and will debauchery on the sly, pretending to caress her husband and wearing the disgusting mask of a humble woman! One could not strictly blame her for this either: her situation is so difficult! But then she would have been one of the dozens of faces of the type that is already so worn out in stories that showed how "environment seizes good people." Katerina is not like that: the denouement of her love, despite the whole home environment, is visible in advance, even when she only approaches the matter. She does not engage in psychological analysis and therefore cannot express subtle observations of herself; what she says about herself, it means that she strongly makes herself known to her. And she, at the first suggestion of Varvara about her meeting with Boris, cries out: “No, no, don’t! what are you, God forbid: if I see him at least once, I will run away from home, I will not go home for anything in the world! It is not a reasonable precaution that speaks in her, it is a passion; and it’s already clear that no matter how hard she restrains herself, passion is above her, above all her prejudices and fears, above all suggestions. heard by her since childhood. In this passion lies her whole life; all the strength of her nature, all her living aspirations merge here. She is attracted to Boris not only by the fact that she likes him, that he is not like the others around her both in appearance and speech; she is attracted to him by the need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, and the offended feeling of the wife and woman, and the mortal anguish of her monotonous life, and the desire for freedom, space, hot, unrestricted freedom. She keeps dreaming about how she could “fly invisibly wherever she wanted”; otherwise such a thought comes: “if it were my will, I would now ride on the Volga, on a boat, with songs, or on a troika on a good one, embracing” ... “Not with my husband,” Varya tells her, and Katerina does not can hide her feelings and immediately opens up to her with the question: “How do you know?” It is evident that Varvara's remark explained a lot to herself: in telling her dreams so naively, she did not yet fully understand their significance. But one word is enough to give her thoughts the certainty that she herself was afraid to give them. Until now, she could still doubt whether this new feeling really contained the bliss for which she was so languidly seeking. But once she has uttered the word of mystery, she will not depart from it even in her thoughts. Fear, doubts, the thought of sin and human judgment - all this comes into her head, but no longer has power over her; this is so, formalities, to clear the conscience. In the monologue with the key (the last one in the second act), we see a woman in whose soul a decisive step has already been taken, but who only wants to “speak” herself somehow. She makes an attempt to stand somewhat aloof from herself and judge the act she has decided on as an extraneous matter; but her thoughts are all directed towards the justification of this act. “Here,” he says, “is it a long time to die ... Someone has fun in captivity ... At least now I live, toil, I don’t see a gap for myself ... my mother-in-law crushed me” ... etc. d. - all exculpatory articles. And then more easing considerations: “it’s already clear that fate wants it that way ... But what a sin in this, if I look at it once ... Yes, even if I talk about it, it’s not a problem. Or perhaps such an opportunity will never happen again in a lifetime ... ”This monologue aroused in some critics a desire to sneer at Katerina as over a shameless and submissive *; but we know no greater shamelessness than to assure that we or one of our ideal friends are not involved in such transactions with conscience ... It is not individuals who are to blame for these transactions, but those concepts that have been hammered into their heads from childhood and which so often they are contrary to the natural course of the living strivings of the soul. Until these concepts are expelled from society, until the full harmony of the ideas and needs of nature is restored in the human being, until then such transactions are inevitable. It is also good if, while doing them, one comes to what seems natural and common sense, and does not fall under the yoke of conventional instructions of artificial morality. This is what Katerina became strong for, and the stronger nature speaks in her, the calmer she looks in the face of children's nonsense, which those around her have taught her to be afraid of. Therefore, it even seems to us that the artist, who plays the role of Katerina on the St. Petersburg stage, is making a small mistake, giving the monologue we are talking about too much heat and tragedy. She obviously wants to express the struggle going on in Katerina's soul, and from this point of view she conveys the difficult monologue admirably. But it seems to us that it would be more in line with the character and position of Katerina in this case - to give her words more calm and lightness. The struggle, in fact, is already over, only a little thought remains, the old rag still covers Katerina, and she gradually throws her off her. The end of the monologue betrays her heart. “Come what may, and I will see Boris,” she concludes, and in the oblivion of premonition she exclaims: “Oh, if only the night would come sooner!”
Such love, such a feeling will not get along within the walls of a boar's house, with pretense and deceit. Katerina, although she decided on a secret meeting, but for the first time, in the delight of love, she says to Boris, who assures that no one will know anything: “Eh, no one is to blame for pitying me, she went to that herself. Don't be sorry, kill me! Let everyone know, let everyone see what I'm doing... If I'm not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?
And for sure, she is not afraid of anything, except for depriving her of the opportunity to see her chosen one, to talk with him, to enjoy these summer nights with him, these new feelings for her. Her husband arrived, and her life became unrealistic. It was necessary to hide, to be cunning; she did not want to and did not know how; she had to go back to her callous, dreary life—it seemed to her bitterer than before. Moreover, I had to be afraid every minute for myself, for my every word, especially in front of my mother-in-law; one also had to be afraid of a terrible punishment for the soul ... Such a situation was unbearable for Katerina: days and nights she kept thinking, suffering, exalted her imagination, already hot, and the end was one that she could not endure - for all people crowded in the gallery of the old church, repented of everything to her husband. His first movement was fear of what his mother would say. “Don’t, don’t say, mother is here,” he whispers, confused. But the mother has already listened and demands a full confession, at the conclusion of which she draws her moral: “What, son, where will the will lead?”
It is difficult, of course, to mock common sense more than how Kabanikha does it in his exclamation. But in the "dark kingdom" common sense means nothing: with the "criminal" they took measures that were completely opposite to him, but usual in that life: the husband, at the behest of his mother, beat his wife a little, the mother-in-law locked her up and began to eat. ..
The will and peace of the poor woman are over: before, at least they could not reproach her, at least she could feel that she was completely right in front of these people. And now, after all, one way or another, she is guilty before them, she violated her duties to them, brought grief and shame to the family; now the most cruel treatment of her already has reasons and justification. What is left for her?
<…> Less impossibility would have been another solution - to run away with Boris from the arbitrariness and violence of the household. Despite the severity of the formal law, despite the bitterness of crude tyranny, such steps are not impossible in themselves, especially for such characters as Katerina. And she does not neglect this way out, because she is not an abstract heroine who wants to die on principle. Having run away from home to see Boris, and already thinking about death, she, however, is not at all averse to escaping; having learned that Boris is going far away, to Siberia, she very simply tells him: "take me with you from here." But then a stone emerges in front of us for a minute, which keeps people in the depths of the whirlpool, which we called the “dark kingdom”. This stone is material dependence. Boris has nothing and is completely dependent on his uncle, Diky; Dikoy and the Kabanovs were arranged to send him to Kyakhta, and, of course, they would not let him take Katerina with him. That is why he answers her: “It is impossible, Katya; I’m not going of my own free will, my uncle is sending, the horses are already ready, ”and so on. Boris is not a hero, he is far from being worth Katerina, she fell in love with him more in the wilderness. He has had enough of "education" and will not be able to cope either with the old way of life, or with his heart, or with common sense - he walks around as if lost. He lives with his uncle because he and his sister must give part of the grandmother's inheritance, "if they are respectful to him." Boris is well aware that Dikoi will never recognize him as respectful and therefore will not give him anything; yes, this is not enough. Boris argues like this: “No, he will first break over us, scold us in every possible way, as his heart desires, but all the same will end up giving nothing or so, some little, and even begin to tell what he has given out of mercy, that it shouldn't be." And yet he lives with his uncle and endures his curses; why? - unknown. At the first meeting with Katerina, when she talks about what awaits her for this, Boris interrupts her with the words: “well, what to think about it, it’s good for us now.” And at the last meeting, she cries: “who knew that we would suffer so much for our love with you! I'd better run then!" In a word, this is one of those very frequent people who do not know how to do what they understand, and do not understand what they are doing. Their type has been portrayed many times in our fiction, sometimes with exaggerated compassion for them, sometimes with excessive bitterness against them. Ostrovsky gives them to us as they are, and with a special skill he draws with two or three features of their complete insignificance, although, by the way, not without a certain degree of spiritual nobility. There is nothing to talk about Boris, he, in fact, should also be attributed to the situation in which the heroine of the play finds herself. He represents one of the circumstances that makes its fatal end necessary. If it were a different person and in a different position, then there would be no need to rush into the water. But the fact of the matter is that the environment, subject to the power of the Dikikhs and Kabanovs, usually produces Tikhonov and Borisov, unable to perk up and accept their human nature, even when confronted with such characters as Katerina. We have said a few words above about Tikhon; Boris is the same in essence, only "educated". Education took away from him the power to do dirty tricks, it is true; but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do; it has not even developed in him the ability to behave in such a way as to remain alien to all the vile things that swarm around him. No, not only does he not oppose, he submits to other people's nasty things, he willy-nilly participates in them and must accept all their consequences. But he understands his situation, talks about it, and often even deceives, for the first time, truly lively and strong natures, who, judging by themselves, think that if a person thinks so, understands so, then he must do so. Looking from their point of view, such natures will not hesitate to say to “educated” sufferers who are moving away from the sad circumstances of life: “take me with you, I will follow you everywhere.” But this is where the impotence of the sufferers will turn out; it turns out that they did not foresee, and that they curse themselves, and that they would be glad, but it’s impossible, and that they have no will, and most importantly, that they have nothing in their souls and that in order to continue their existence, they must serve that but to the Wild one, whom we would like to get rid of together with us ...
There is nothing to praise or scold these people, but attention must be paid to the practical ground on which the question passes; it must be admitted that it is difficult for a person who expects an inheritance from an uncle to shake off his dependence on this uncle, and then one must give up excessive hopes in nephews who expect an inheritance. even if they were “educated” to the utmost. If we analyze the guilty here, then it will be not so much the nephews that are to blame, but the uncles, or, better, their inheritance.
Dobrolyubov N.A. "A Ray of Light in a Dark Realm"
Katerina's love for Boris temporarily expands the boundaries of the small world in which the girl still lives. Katerina experiences such a strong feeling for the first time. The girl was forced to marry an unloved man. Further life in her husband's house, constant nit-picking and humiliation from the mother-in-law kill the very possibility of love for the weak-willed and weak-willed Tikhon.
Katerina sincerely tries to love her husband. But apparently not destiny. And Katerina is a romantic and dreamy nature. The girl from childhood was very emotional. As you know, impressionable and emotional people cannot live in an atmosphere of dullness and despondency. They need to enjoy life, enjoy its manifestations, feel the beauty of life.
How does Katerina see Boris? Of course, he seems to her not at all like Tikhon and most of the people around her. Every person, falling in love, tends to idealize the object of his love, and, of course, Katerina is no exception.
What is Boris really like? At the very beginning of the work, we learn its history. Parents gave Boris and his sister an enviable upbringing. How could they think that their children would be forced to communicate with relatives known for their stupidity, hypocrisy and malice? Boris tells Kuligin about his life, and the reader clearly feels how hard it was for the young man to get used to the new way of life. Uncle mocks his nephew in every possible way. And he can do nothing to oppose him. Therein lies the tragedy of the young man. He lacks the mental strength and firmness of character to deal with the difficult circumstances in which he finds himself.
However, the young man compares favorably with the bulk of Ostrovsky's characters. He looks smarter and more educated. He is cultured and educated. But at the same time, Boris is weak, and therefore is inactive and goes with the flow. He brought misfortune even to the woman he loved.
Boris, with all his intelligence and education, cannot understand the ingenuous and simple Katerina. She tells him, “You know what? Now I suddenly want to die!” Katerina puts deep meaning into her words. She understands deep down that life as it used to be is over. Now she has crossed the line that forever separated her from her former life. And such a metamorphosis may well lead to death. But Boris answers her too simply and banally: “Why die, if we live so well?” Right now he is happy, he is confident in himself, he likes that his beloved woman is nearby. And what will happen next, he does not care.
Katerina gives everything of herself, receiving nothing in return. Katerina's trouble is that Boris turned out to be unworthy of her love. With seeming positive qualities, he is actually a small, selfish person who thinks only of himself. Katerina's love for him is just entertainment, although he tries to prove to her that he acts only by succumbing to the power of passion.
Boris submits to the will of his uncle, who sends him to Siberia. The scene of Katerina's farewell to her beloved shows how hard it is for a woman and how reserved Boris behaves at the same time.
Boris's words seem monstrous: “Well, God bless you! There is only one thing we must ask God for, that she die as soon as possible, so that she does not suffer for a long time! Goodbye!". And these words a man says about his beloved woman! He does not even try to alleviate her fate, at least console her. Boris just wants her dead. And such is Katerina's retribution for the happiness that lasted only ten days!
Wonderful and fair words were said about the play “Thunderstorm” in his letter to A.N. Ostrovsky V.P. Botkin: “You have never revealed your poetic powers as in this play ... "You took a plot that is full of poetry through and through, a plot that is impossible for someone who does not possess poetic creativity ... Katerina's love belongs to the same phenomena of a moral nature as world cataclysms in physical nature belong to.. .".
So, Katerina is in love with Boris. After reading this line, one can only sigh: “Well, all ages are submissive to love ...”, or you can think deeply, because love for Boris became a real tragedy for the heroine of “Thunderstorm”, intensifying the drama that she experienced, being in the "dark realm".
Katerina is a thin, dreamy, ethical girl. This is a man of high morals, simply stuffy, artless in relations with people. She does not know how to lie, pretend, hide her feelings. She feels deeply, therefore, once she sees Boris and falls in love with him, she can no longer do anything with herself. “Do I want to think about him? she argues. I don’t think about anything, but he just stands before my eyes. For married Katerina, faithful to her husband and pious, this love becomes a real moral torture. “It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss and someone is pushing me there, but there’s nothing for me to hold on to,” she describes her condition.
Being kind, Katerina pities her husband, whom she never loved and does not love, with whom she can never be happy. He is a weak, weak-willed person who allows himself to be humiliated in front of his wife.
Boris and Katerina cannot see each other, because the married ladies are kept in Kalinovo under seven locks. Tikhon's sister, Varvara, for whom there have long been no moral barriers, is taken to solve the problem. “And I was not a liar,” she says about herself, “but I learned when it became necessary.” It is unlikely that Katerina would have been able to master this science.
At first resisting, Katerina nevertheless accepts Varvara's services. She can no longer be in a suffocating atmosphere of hypocrisy, lack of freedom, tyranny, and she cannot overcome her love. The heroine commits a great sin - she decides to meet with Boris. Fate favors this: Kabanikha sends his son out of the house. Katerina experiences the current situation painfully, but she cannot overcome it. Several meetings with Boris illuminate her life with rays of happiness, but not for long.
Boris is dependent on his uncle, the merchant Diky. He is an orphan, and his grandmother in her will ordered that Boris receive a share of the inheritance only after coming of age and only on condition of a respectful attitude towards his uncle, which is impossible in principle. Not because Boris is not respectful of his elders, but because it is impossible to please a Wild, domineering, rude, shameless and cunning person. Nevertheless, Boris continues to live in his uncle's house, patiently enduring all insults. There is no strength in his character that would help him overcome circumstances.
Once in Kalinov, Boris, like Katerina, feels uncomfortable. “It hurts hard for me here, without a habit! he says. “Everyone looks at me somehow wildly, as if I’m superfluous here, as if I’m disturbing them.” Love becomes an unexpected misfortune for him. “Hunted, downtrodden,” he exclaims, “and then he foolishly decided to fall in love.”
Boris cannot overcome his feelings. “If I have fallen in love ...,” he says, revealing his secret to Kud-ryash, and does not finish the phrase, because everything is clear anyway. However, he cannot take the first step either. Barbara turns out to be much more agile than him. Boris accepts her service, but he does not know how to answer for what he has done. Punished by his uncle, he obediently goes to Siberia. At Katerina's request to take her with him, Boris refuses - he is wary of his uncle. Boris actually betrays Katerina by leaving her in this position.
The heroine is stronger than Boris. It is she, who does not know how to lie, who speaks publicly about her love. She challenges the "dark kingdom" by throwing herself into the abyss. Boris, of course, sympathizes with Katerina, but the only thing he can do to help her is to wish her death.
Ostrovsky showed Katerina as a woman who is "clogged down by the environment", but at the same time he endowed her with the positive qualities of a strong nature, capable of resisting despotism to the end. About Boris, the critic N. Dobrolyubov said that he was the same Tikhon, only "educated." "Education took away from him the strength to do dirty tricks ... but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do ... ".
Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" stands out from the great variety of his plays thanks to Katerina. In dramaturgy, a “live” positive hero very rarely happens. As a rule, the author has enough colors for negative characters, but the positive ones always come out primitive and schematic. Perhaps because there is so little really good in this world. Katerina, the main character in Ostrovsky's drama, is the only good thing in that dark world, the “dark realm” of philistinism that surrounds her. The desire to fly is the main dissimilarity of Katerina to those people into whose trap she fell into, thanks to her marriage. But, unfortunately, there was only one way out of the trap for her.
From the words of Katerina, we learn about her childhood and adolescence. The girl did not receive a good education. She lived with her mother in the countryside. Katerina's childhood was joyful, cloudless. Her mother “doted on her soul”, did not force her to work on the housework. Katya lived freely: she got up early, washed herself with spring water, watered flowers, went to church with her mother, then sat down to some work and listened to wanderers and praying women, who were many in their house. Katerina had magical dreams in which she flew under the clouds. And how strongly the act of a six-year-old girl contrasts with such a quiet, happy life when Katya, offended by something, ran away from her house to the Volga in the evening, got into a boat and pushed off from the shore! ..
We see that Katerina grew up as a happy, romantic, but limited girl. She was very pious and passionately loving. She loved everything and everyone around her: nature, the sun, the church, her house with wanderers, the poor she helped. But the most important thing about Katya is that she lived in her dreams, apart from the rest of the world. Of everything that existed, she chose only that which did not contradict her nature, the rest she did not want to notice and did not notice. Therefore, the girl saw angels in the sky, and the church was for her a place where everything is bright, where you can dream.
But if she met on her way something that contradicted her ideals, then a rebellious and stubborn nature manifested in her and she defended herself from that outsider, a stranger that dared to disturb her soul. This explains the case with the boat.
After marriage, Katya's life changed a lot. From the free, joyful, sublime world, in which she felt her merging with nature, the girl fell into a life full of deceit, cruelty and doom. It’s not even that Katerina married Tikhon against her will: she didn’t love anyone at all and she didn’t care who she married. The fact is that the girl was robbed of her former life, which she created for herself. Katerina no longer feels such delight from attending church, she cannot do her usual business. Sad, disturbing thoughts do not allow her to calmly admire nature. Katya can only endure while she is patient and dream, but she can no longer live with her thoughts, because the cruel reality brings her back to earth, where there is humiliation and suffering.
Katerina is trying to find her happiness in love for Tikhon: “I will love my husband. Tisha, my dear, I will not exchange you for anyone. But the sincere manifestations of this love are suppressed by Kabanikha: “Why are you hanging around your neck, shameless? You don't say goodbye to your lover." Katerina has a strong sense of outward humility and duty, which is why she forces herself to love her unloved husband. Tikhon himself, because of the tyranny of his mother, cannot truly love his wife, although he probably wants to. And when he, leaving for a while,
leaves Katya to walk freely, the woman becomes completely lonely.
Why did Katerina fall in love with Boris? After all, he did not flaunt his masculine qualities, like Paratov, he did not even talk to her. Perhaps the reason was that she lacked something pure in the stuffy atmosphere of the Kabanikh's house. And love for Boris was this pure, did not allow Katerina to completely wither away, somehow supported her. She went on a date with Boris because she felt like a person with pride, elementary rights. It was a rebellion against resignation to fate, against lawlessness. Katerina knew that she was committing a sin, but she also knew that it was still impossible to live on. She sacrificed the purity of her conscience to freedom and Boris.
In my opinion, taking this step, Katya already felt the approaching end and probably thought: “Now or never.” She wanted to be filled with love, knowing that there would be no other chance. On the first date, Katerina told Boris: “You ruined me.” Boris is the reason for the discrediting of her soul, and for Katya this is tantamount to death. Sin hangs on her heart like a heavy stone. Katerina is very afraid of the approaching thunderstorm; considering it a punishment for what she did. Katerina has been afraid of thunderstorms ever since she started thinking about Boris. For her pure soul, even the thought of loving a stranger is a sin.
Katya cannot live on with her sin, and she considers repentance to be the only way to at least partially get rid of it. She confesses everything to her husband and Kabanikh. Such an act in our time seems very strange, naive. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything” - such is Katerina. Tikhon forgave his wife, but did she forgive herself? Being very religious, Katya is afraid of God, and her God lives in her, God is her conscience. A woman is tormented by two questions: how will she return home and look into the eyes of her husband, whom she cheated on, and how will she live with a stain on her conscience. Katerina sees death as the only way out of this situation: “No, I don’t care whether I go home or go to the grave... It’s better in the grave... To live again? No, no, don't... not good."
Haunted by her sin, Katerina passes away to save her soul. Dobrolyubov defined Katerina's character as "resolute, whole, Russian." Decisive, because she decided to take the last step, to die, in order to save herself from shame and remorse. Whole, because in Katya's character everything is harmonious, one, nothing contradicts each other, because Katya is one with nature, with God. Russian, because who, no matter how Russian, is capable of loving like that, able to sacrifice like that, so seemingly submissively endure all hardships, while remaining himself, free, not a slave.