A detailed description of Katerina in a thunderstorm. The image of Katerina in the play "Thunderstorm

Katerina is the wife of Tikhon Kabanov and the daughter-in-law of Kabanikhi. This is the central character of the play, with the help of which Ostrovsky shows the fate of a strong, extraordinary personality in a small patriarchal town. In Katerina, since childhood, the desire for happiness is very strong, which, with growing up, develops into a desire for mutual love. Despite her religiosity, Katerina remains an earthly and lively girl, experiencing a love feeling. But how much her heart is full of love, just as much the main character feels her sinfulness. She is married, and the object of her sighs is a completely foreign, alien man. Katerina tries to find peace with the help of religion, love for her lawful husband, but her free nature turns out to be stronger. Perhaps if she had felt the support of her husband at this dramatic moment in her life, then she would have been able to cope with herself. But her husband is a weak person, whose will is subordinated to his mother - Boar. And so Tikhon drives off, and the feeling, as a result of a fierce internal struggle, takes up morality: "I should at least die, but see him."

After betraying her husband, Katerina's religiosity only intensifies. The heroine, who is essentially a simple provincial girl, turns out to be unprepared for the abyss that opens before her. Katerina feels a growing fear, it seems to her that she will definitely be punished by heaven for her sins. Finally, at the moment of a thunderstorm, she repents of her betrayal in front of everyone.

Thunderstorm is not only a love drama, but also a tragedy of a strong man who, after a misdeed, does not feel sorry for himself, but, on the contrary, deliberately gives himself up to the judgment of others without hope of forgiveness. And by committing adultery, Katerina, in fact, makes a kind of existential choice in favor of her real "I". And for this choice she had to pay with her life.

Perhaps, few works of that time, and even among the works of the author Ostrovsky himself, could cause so much heated debate than the play "Thunderstorm".

The desperate act of Katerina Kabanova, who crossed the line of life and death, causes both sympathetic understanding and sharp rejection. There is no single opinion, and there cannot be.

Characteristics of the heroine

The beloved and spoiled daughter of a merchant family, Katerina marries Tikhon, turning her world upside down. On the example of her parents and the new family, we see how different the patriarchal way of life can be: ostentatious and demonstrative (what will the neighbors say? what will the acquaintances think?), or deep and sincere, hidden from prying eyes.

The lack of a full-fledged education contributes to the fate of this woman. According to Katerina's stories, she learned her knowledge from the stories of her mother and father, as well as praying women and wanderers. Faith in people and admiration for the world created by God - these are its main features. Katerina did not know hard work, she loved to go to church, which seemed to her a fabulous temple, where angels were waiting for her.

(Kiryushina Galina Aleksandrovna as Katerina, stage of the Maly Theater)

A cloudless and happy childhood is quickly replaced by a bleak marriage. A kind, naive and very religious girl for the first time faced with undisguised hatred for the people around her. There is no place for angels and joy in the new family. Yes, and marriage itself is not at all for love. And if Katerina hopes to fall in love with Tikhon, then Kabanikha - as her mother-in-law is called by everyone around - leaves no chance for either her son or daughter-in-law. Perhaps Tikhon would have become the one who would have made Katya happy, but only under the wing of his mother he does not know such feelings as love.

Meeting with Boris gives the unfortunate woman hope that life can still change and become better. The black atmosphere of the house pushes her to rebel and try to fight for her happiness. Going on a date, she realizes that she is committing a sin. This feeling does not leave her either before or after. Firm faith in God and awareness of the depravity of the perfect deed push Katerina to confess everything to her husband and mother-in-law.

The image of the heroine in the work

(Scene from drama)

Struck, but deep down understanding his wife, Tikhon does not condemn her. Only Katerina herself does not feel better about this. Forgiving yourself is much harder. Perhaps she wanted to relieve her mental turmoil with a confession, but it just didn’t work out. She doesn't need forgiveness. The very thought of returning to the house for her becomes identical with death, only not instantaneous, but long, painful, inevitable. According to the religious canon, suicide is a mortal sin that cannot be forgiven. But this does not stop the desperate woman.

In her thoughts, Katya often imagines herself as a bird, her soul is torn to heaven. She is unbearable to live in Kalinovo. Having fallen in love with Boris, who has recently arrived in the city, she imagines how they will leave the hated city together. Love is seen as a real and so close salvation. Yes, only a mutual desire is needed to fulfill a dream ...

(Fragment from a dramatic production)

Having met Boris on the banks of the Volga, Katerina is deeply disappointed. Once upon a time, such a beautiful young man resolutely refuses to take a married woman with him, inflicting the final blow to her heart with his refusal. Katya does not want to be a stumbling block in her family anymore, to continue to drag out a bleak existence, to break her soul day after day for the sake of her mother-in-law.

And here it is - very close, you just need to take a step off the cliff into the waters of the Volga. And the storm seems to her the most that neither is an indication from above. What Katya once thought only vaguely, afraid to admit to herself in sinful thoughts, turned out to be the easiest way out. Not finding her place, support, love, she decides to take this very last step.

The main character of the work is Katerina, whose tragic fate is described by the author in the play.

Katerina appears as a writer in the form of a beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who got married early. In early childhood, Katerina lived happily with her family, surrounded by motherly love and care, being free in her movements and passion for church life. The nature of the girl is vulnerable, sensitive and emotional, capable of real, sincere feelings.

The writer characterizes Katerina as a kind, sympathetic, sincere young woman who does not know how to deceive, hypocrisy, and has a charming smile.

Once in her husband's house, Katerina is faced with rejection of her as the wife of her son by her mother-in-law, the cruel and greedy merchant Kabanikha, who turns the lives of young people into an unbearable existence.

The gambling desire of the Kabanikha to subjugate her will to all household members, which is on the verge of insanity, is completely directed to the daughter-in-law who has appeared in the house.

The son, slaughtered from childhood by the Kabanikha, tired of the tyranny of his mother, but not making attempts to change the situation in the house and constantly complaining about an unhappy life, is not able to protect Katerina from the humiliation and nit-picking of the Kabanikha.

Katerina strives to create a happy and prosperous family, she is very religious and afraid to commit a righteous sin. A passionate feeling of love flares up in Katerina's soul for another man, the nephew of the merchant Wild Boris, who reciprocates her feelings. But the woman is afraid of heavenly punishment for perfect treason and, due to her susceptibility, takes the sudden onset of bad weather in the form of a thunderstorm as a sign of God.

The girl is distinguished by inner purity and sincere honesty not only in relation to herself, but also to others. Therefore, Katerina decides to confess her feelings for Boris to her husband. Having opened up in treason, the girl learns that Boris is not ready to accept her as a wife and does not feel love for her at all.

Katerina begins to realize that Boris is for her a symbol of freedom, a dream of a happy life, and, shedding hope, the desperate girl decides to commit suicide by throwing herself from the steep bank of the river.

Revealing the image of the main character of the play, the writer depicts the inner strength of a girl who decides to commit a mortal sin for the sake of the desire for a new life, to get rid of the world of the dark kingdom towards true and true love.

Option 2

Kabanova Katerina Petrovna - the heroine from the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm".

Catherine in the play is eighteen years old. Born and raised in the city of Kalinov. Her parents loved her very much. There were a lot of interesting people in Katerina's childhood, alike. how wanderers often came to them and told different stories. She was very religious: every week her mother dressed up in beautiful dresses and took her to church. The girl loved being there.

Katerina Petrovna's character is fighting, fair, kind. Once, as a child, she was offended by something at home. Angry, she got into a boat and sailed far from home. She was married off early. Perhaps because of her character.

Tikhon, her husband, is a timid, calm man. His mother puts pressure on him all the time and tries in every possible way to offend Katerina. Because of this, the main character is forced to defend herself all the time, because her husband does not. The main character did not want to put up with the foundations of that family: humiliation, submission, insults. She is the only one who resisted this.

Married Catherine was unhappy. In the house, she normally communicated only with Tikhon's sister, Varenka, who felt sorry for her brother's wife. Katerina began to languish in this family. But one day a young man, Boris, came to their city. The girl immediately drew attention to him, so. as in her opinion he was like no one else. They began to meet when the husband went away on business and did not take his wife with him, even though she begged him. But Katerina was very religious and was afraid to die with sin in her soul. She was not afraid of death, she was only afraid to stand before God with all her sins. Katerina Petrovna confessed to her betrayal.

After that, her life became even worse: at home, constant insults, sometimes beatings, everyone turned away from her. She was ready to run away with Boris because she loved him. Boris was sent to Siberia. He also loved Katerina, but did not take him with him, because he did not want to quarrel with his uncle, on whom his inheritance depended.

At that time, women did not have the opportunity to live independently. If Katerina had run away alone, she would have been caught and severely beaten as punishment. She had only two choices: either return to her husband's house, where she would not have a place to live, or throw herself into the Volga River. She chose the second.

When her dead body was pulled out, many realized (and some already knew) that she was the only person in that area who was worthy of respect.

Composition The image and characteristics of Katerina

The theme of women's fate in a harsh society is one of the most striking themes revealed in Ostrovsky's works. "Thunderstorm" also refers to the cycle of these works. The main character of the play is a collective image.

Katerina is a girl from a decent family who married Tikhon, she loves him, but his mother always teaches her. She doesn’t even let her say goodbye to her husband when he leaves for Moscow.

Katerina is a poor, unhappy married woman, whose image is the image of many girls of that time. She understands that she will spend her whole life in this kingdom of darkness, where she is not loved, although she tries to be a good wife, where she will never become a free bird, which Barbara tells about, but she also does not understand her.

She is the only bright soul in that city. Katerina, even when she fell in love with Boris, experienced feelings of shame and considered herself guilty of it, asked her husband to take her with him, as if she felt that something bad, irreparable would happen.

But Tikhon does not listen to her, he goes on about his mother. Tikhon does not even dare to object to her, and does not stand up for her, although Katerina herself did not become silent, and answered Kabanikha that she offended her in vain.

The author also shows the honesty of the main character, when she is unable to keep her husband in deceit, in front of a terrible riot of the elements, tells him everything about them and Boris. At the same time, the author also emphasizes her bright soul, which is unable to endure the humiliation of Kabanikh, the indifference of her previously beloved husband, and the cowardice of her lover.

She knows that the only way to be released from these shackles is death. The last hope fades when Boris refuses to take her with him.

Although he has every reason to do this, if he truly loved her. But Boris is a coward. The author emphasizes the main feature of this character at the beginning, when Boris lives with his uncle and endures all the insults and humiliations, and in front of everyone, in the most crowded place, namely on the river embankment, on the main boulevard of the city.

Boris, when he says goodbye to Katerina, feels that something will happen, but he is afraid and Katerina will never see him again.

Her only way to freedom is death, and now, jumping, she feels absolutely happy, and free, now she is a bird!

Option 4

The work "Thunderstorm" by Ostrovsky occupies a special place in the writer's work due to the image of the main character.

Katerina is different from the rest of the "Dark Kingdom" people in that she includes all kindness. However, fate does not spoil her. From her words, we learn that she did not receive an education, since she did not have the opportunity for this. The heroine lived in a village in poverty. But her childhood was carefree. Her mother did not force her to work, and therefore Katerina had a lot of time to do what she liked. It is clearly seen that the girl grew up happy and romantic, loving everything around her. But most importantly, she lived in dreams, isolated from the existing world. Especially Katerina loved to visit the temple and admire the angels. Yes, you can count her as well. But sometimes a contradictory nature woke up in her soul, and she went against some actions.

When Katerina got married, she changed a lot. From a bright world, devoid of deceit and injustice, she falls into the sphere of deceit, cruelty and deceit. And the reason was not at all that her life partner was a man whom she did not even love. It's just that the girl was torn out of the bright and kind world, where she had been for a long time. And now she does not give much pleasure to go to church. A girl cannot go about her daily activities the way she did before marriage. She is always in a sad and depressed state, which prevents her from even admiring the beauties of nature. She has to endure and suffer, and the girl can no longer live with her thoughts, since reality returns her to the place where there is humiliation and insult. The girl is trying to love her husband, but all her feelings are suppressed by the Kabanikha. Because of her humility, she tries to show her feelings towards Tikhon, but he does not appreciate it. Then Katerina becomes quite lonely.

And the heroine cannot live in her husband's house, pretending. A woman has a conflict with her mother-in-law. She frightens the Boar with her sincerity and purity. Katerina did not howl in the house after her husband left, as Kabanikha wanted. And what courage one had to have to express one's feelings to Boris. Running away from the hated house, Katerina seeks to find support from Boris, but she encounters a weak-willed and weak person. The woman remains completely alone, and she can only leave this terrible world. It seems to me that only a person with a strong character could do this. For us, Katerina embodies a simple, bright and Russian soul, which encourages us to fight against rudeness, ignorance, tyranny, which are still present.

If you had the opportunity to choose your own housing, you should stay in a spacious house. It must have a large living room so that the whole family can get together and talk at least once a week

Among all types of work with the text of the play "Thunderstorm" (Ostrovsky), the composition causes particular difficulties. This is probably because the schoolchildren do not fully understand the peculiarities of Katerina's character, the peculiarity of the time in which she lived.

Let's try together to understand the issue and, based on the text, interpret the image the way the author wanted to show it.

A.N Ostrovsky. "Thunderstorm". Characteristics of Katerina

The very beginning of the nineteenth century. The first acquaintance with Katerina helps to understand the difficult environment in which she lives. The weak-willed husband who is afraid of his mother, the tyrant Kabanikha, who loves to humiliate people, strangles and oppresses Katerina. She feels her loneliness, her defenselessness, but with great love she remembers her parental home.

The characterization of Katerina ("Thunderstorm") begins with a picture of urban customs, and continues with her memories of the house where she was loved and free, where she felt like a bird. But was it all good? After all, she was given in marriage by the decision of the family, and her parents could not help but know how weak-willed her husband was, how cruel her mother-in-law was.

However, the girl, even in the stuffy atmosphere of the house-building, managed to maintain the ability to love. He falls in love with the nephew of the merchant Wild. But Katerina's character is so strong, and she herself is so pure, that the girl is afraid to even think about cheating on her husband.

The characteristic of Katerina ("Thunderstorm") stands out as a bright spot against the background of other heroes. Weak, weak-willed, content with the fact that Tikhon will break out from under maternal control, lying by the will of circumstances Barbara - each of them struggles in his own way with unbearable and inhuman morals.

And only Katerina is fighting.

First with you. At first she does not want to hear about a meeting with Boris. Trying to "observe himself", he begs Tikhon to take her with him. Then she rebels against an inhuman society.

The characterization of Katerina ("Thunderstorm") is based on the fact that the girl is opposed to all characters. She does not secretly run to parties, as the cunning Varvara does, she is not afraid of the Kabanikha, as her son does.

The strength of Katerina's character is not that she fell in love, but that she dared to do it. And in the fact that, having failed to maintain her purity before God, she dared to accept death contrary to human and Divine laws.

The characterization of Katerina ("Thunderstorm") was created by Ostrovsky not by describing the features of her nature, but by the actions that the girl performed. Pure and honest, but infinitely lonely and infinitely loving Boris, she wanted to confess her love to the entire Kalinovsky society. He knew that she could be waiting, but she was not afraid of either the rumors or the bullying that would necessarily follow her confession.

But the tragedy of the heroine is that no one else has such a strong character. Boris abandons her, preferring an ephemeral legacy. Varvara does not understand why she confessed: she would walk herself slowly. The husband can only sob over the corpse, saying "you are happy, Katya."

The image of Katerina, created by Ostrovsky, is an excellent example of an awakening personality who is trying to break out of the sticky networks of the patriarchal way of life.

The play "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky was published in 1860. A revolutionary situation was brewing in Russia, the time was quite difficult. In the summer of 1856, the writer traveled along the Volga. In the play, he conveyed his impressions of this trip, but did not describe specific cities and people, but depicted generalized, but deeply typical pictures of life in Russia.

In general, Ostrovsky is considered a real "singer of merchant life." He is the author of numerous plays, the central theme of which was the depiction of the merchant world of the second half of the 19th century.

The drama is characterized by the fact that it is based on an insoluble conflict that leads to the death of the main character. The conflict arises between Katerina Kabanova and the "dark kingdom" of the merchant world, which is represented by Kabanikha and her entourage. Katerina commits suicide - an act that is considered to be a manifestation of cowardice and weakness of character. I would like to understand this issue in more detail.

So, Katerina Kabanova is the main character of the play "Thunderstorm", Tikhon's wife and Kabanikh's daughter-in-law. The image of Katerina is endowed with a strong character and represents a person waking up in patriarchal conditions. The origins of Katerina's character are hidden in the conditions of her life before marriage. Talking about the girlhood of the heroine, the author draws the patriarchal world in its ideal manifestation. The main thing in this world is a huge and mutual feeling of love.

In the parental house of Katerina, the same order reigned as in the house of Kabanikh. But there, Katerina occupied the position of a beloved daughter, and in the house of Kabanikh, she was a subordinate daughter-in-law. Therefore, as a girl, Katerina did not know the coercion and violence that she had to face after marriage. For her, the patriarchal harmony of family life is a moral ideal, but she does not find this harmony in her husband's house. Katerina was married very young, as her parents decided, and she meekly obeyed their will, because such is the custom. But it was submission with love and respect, and, having got into the house of her mother-in-law, Katerina was surprised to find that there was no one to respect here. After some time, a new outlook on life begins to form in her soul, a different attitude towards people and towards herself. This is manifested in her first independent choice - passionate love for Boris. Katerina is religious and the awakened strong feeling frightens her. She perceives this love as a terrible sin, resisting it in every possible way. But the heroine lacks support and inner strength. A terrible thunderstorm is growing in Katerina's soul. "Sinful" love flared up in her with incredible strength, the desire for will grew every day, but religious fear also became stronger. Katerina could no longer resist passion and cheated on her husband, and then publicly confessed her sin, not hoping for forgiveness. It was the lack of hope that pushed the heroine to an even greater sin - suicide. She could not reconcile her love for Boris with the demands of her conscience, and the thought of returning to her home prison, where Kabanikha imprisoned her, caused physical disgust. The hopelessness of this situation led Katerina to death.

The image of Katerina personifies the spiritual beauty and moral purity of a Russian woman. In one of his articles, A. N. Dobrolyubov wrote about this heroine, calling her "a ray of light in a dark kingdom." Katerina is amazingly natural, simple and sincere. The play repeatedly mentions the image of a free bird. Indeed, the heroine resembles a bird that was locked in an iron cage. She strives for freedom, because living in captivity has become simply unbearable. In my opinion, her suicide is more a protest against the "dark kingdom" and a selfless desire for freedom than a weakness of character, although there are other points of view.

Updated: 2012-08-09

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