The tragedy of Katerina in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm"Author: A. N. Ostrovsky Composition: Thunderstorm This essay has been copied 36,405 times Katerina is the main character in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm", Tikhon's wife, Kabanikh's daughter-in-law. The main idea of ​​the work is the conflict of this girl with the "dark kingdom", the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. You can find out why this conflict arose and why the end of the drama is so tragic by understanding Katerina's ideas about life. The author showed the origins of the character of the heroine. From the words of Katerina, we learn about her childhood and adolescence. Here, an ideal version of patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general is drawn: "I lived, did not grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild, what I want, it happened, I do it." But it was a “will” that did not at all conflict with the age-old way of closed life, the entire circle of which is limited. homework. Katya lived freely: she got up early, washed herself with spring water, went to church with her mother, then sat down to do some work and listened to wanderers and praying women, who were many in their house. This is a story about a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the general, since he has not yet separated himself from this community. That is why there is no violence and coercion. Idyllic harmony of the patriarchal family life for Katerina - an unconditional moral ideal. But it lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality has disappeared and its ossified form rests on violence and coercion. Sensitive Katerina catches this in her family life in the Kabanovs' house. After listening to a story about the life of her daughter-in-law before marriage, Varvara (Tikhon's sister) exclaims in surprise: "But we have the same thing." “Yes, everything here seems to be from captivity,” Katerina drops, and this is the main drama for her. Katerina was given in marriage young, her family decided her fate, and she accepts this as a completely natural, common thing. She is part of the Kabanov family, ready to love and honor her mother-in-law (“For me, mother, everything is one thing own mother what are you ... "- she says to Kabanikha), expecting in advance that her husband will be master over her, but also her support and protection. But Tikhon is not suitable for the role of the head of a patriarchal family, and Katerina speaks of her love for him: "I I feel very sorry for him!" And in the fight against illegal love for Boris, Katerina, despite her attempts, cannot rely on Tikhon. Katya's life has changed a lot. From a free, joyful world, she fell into a world full of deceit, cruelty. to be pure and blameless. Katerina no longer feels such delight from going to church. Katerina's religious moods intensify as her mental storm grows. But it is precisely the discrepancy between her sinful internal state and what religious commandments require that prevents her from praying as before : Katerina is too far from the sanctimonious gap between the external performance of rituals and everyday practice. She feels fear of herself, of the desire for will. Katerina cannot do her usual business. Grus Strong, 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. The environment in which Katerina lives requires her to lie and deceive. But Catherine is not like that. She is attracted to Boris not only by the fact that she likes him, that he is not like the others around her, but by her need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, the offended feeling of her wife, the mortal anguish of her monotonous life. It was necessary to hide, to be cunning; she didn't want to, and she didn't know how; she had to return to her dreary life, and this seemed to her bitterer than before. Sin lies on her heart like a heavy stone. Katerina is terribly afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, considering it a punishment for what she has done. Katya cannot live on with her sin, and the only way at least partially to get rid of it, she considers repentance. She confesses everything to her husband and Kabanikh. What is left for her? It remains for her to submit, renounce independent life and become an unquestioning servant of her mother-in-law, a meek slave of her husband. But this is not the nature of Katerina - she will not return to her former life: if she cannot enjoy her feelings, her will, then she does not want anything in life, she does not want life either. She decided to die, but she is terrified by the thought that it is a sin. She doesn't complain about anyone, she doesn't blame anyone, she just can't live anymore. At the last moment, all domestic horrors flash especially vividly in her imagination. No, she will no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law and will not languish locked up with a spineless and disgusting husband. Death is her release.

Letter to Katerina

Hello dear Katerina! Haven't heard from you in a long time. How are you there? What is new in your life? You probably miss home, your parents. You must definitely visit them, otherwise they are completely waiting for you. We have everything here as before: a house, a garden, a church and again a house. Do you remember how you woke up early, washed yourself with spring water and walked around the garden with flowers? You often went to church with your mother to listen to a sermon or just to pray. These were your most rosy and carefree days.

Rumors have reached us that the family in which

you got, very cruel and irreconcilable rules. They say that the mother-in-law harasses you and does not give up. Why, dear Katerina, won't your husband intercede for you? I remember he was very in love with you. Can't he really say something in response to this authoritarian woman. She will completely kill you. If this continues, I think you need to get away from them. This is not a worthy family if they laugh and cry only at the order of mother, if they hug, not loving, try to be virtuous with a black soul and go to church only to create the appearance of piety.

All sorts of things also go about your sister-in-law

rumors. They say she secretly meets Dikoy's clerk and knows no shame. But what about at home, why won't they punish her? Although, if they have such a hypocritical family, for sure, no one knows about it. You stay away from her, she will not teach you good things and will not bring you to good things. They say a certain Boris came to Kalinov, who is very good-looking, smart, well-mannered, educated. He seems to have come to his uncle to receive an inheritance, which means that he is not interested in anything other than money. So don't get too carried away by this young man. I do not think that he is capable of sincere and pure love.

Also Katya, promise to eat well and conserve strength. Your parents are worried about you. You write more, please. We all miss you and look forward to seeing you.

Your faithful friend, Anna

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Hello dear Katerina! Haven't heard from you in a long time. How are you there? What is new in your life? You probably miss home, your parents. You must definitely visit them, otherwise they are completely waiting for you. We have everything here as before: a house, a garden, a church and again a house. Do you remember how you woke up early, washed yourself with spring water and walked around the garden with flowers? You often went to church with your mother to listen to a sermon or just to pray. These were your most rosy and carefree days.

Rumors have reached us that the family you got into has very cruel and uncompromising rules. They say that the mother-in-law harasses you and does not give up. Why, dear Katerina, won't your husband intercede for you? I remember he was very in love with you. Can't he really say something in response to this authoritarian woman. She will completely kill you. If this continues, I think you need to get away from them. This is not a worthy family if they laugh and cry only at the order of mother, if they hug, not loving, try to be virtuous with a black soul and go to church only to create the appearance of piety.

There are all sorts of rumors about your sister-in-law too. They say she secretly meets Dikoy's clerk and knows no shame. But what about at home, why won't they punish her? Although, if they have such a hypocritical family, for sure, no one knows about it. You stay away from her, she will not teach you good things and will not bring you to good things. They say a certain Boris came to Kalinov, who is very good-looking, smart, well-mannered, educated. He seems to have come to his uncle to receive an inheritance, which means that he is not interested in anything other than money. So don't get too carried away by this young man. I do not think that he is capable of sincere and pure love.

Letter to Katerina

Hello dear Katerina! Haven't heard from you in a long time. How are you there? What is new in your life?

You probably miss home, your parents. You must definitely visit them, otherwise they are completely waiting for you. We have everything here as before: a house, a garden, a church and again a house. Do you remember how you woke up early, washed yourself with spring water and walked around the garden with flowers?

You often went to church with your mother to listen to a sermon or just to pray. These were your most rosy and carefree days.

Rumors have reached us that the family you got into has very cruel and uncompromising rules. They say that the mother-in-law harasses you and does not give up. Why, dear Katerina, won't your husband intercede for you?

I remember he was very in love with you. Can't he really say something in response to this authoritarian woman. She will completely kill you. If this continues, I think you need to get away from them.

This is not a worthy family if they laugh and cry only at the order of their mother, if they hug, not loving, they try to be virtuous with a black soul and

They go to church only to create the appearance of piety.

There are all sorts of rumors about your sister-in-law too. They say she secretly meets Dikoy's clerk and knows no shame. But what about at home, why won't they punish her? Although, if they have such a hypocritical family, for sure, no one knows about it.

You stay away from her, she will not teach you good things and will not bring you to good things. They say a certain Boris came to Kalinov, who is very good-looking, smart, well-mannered, educated. He seems to have come to his uncle to receive an inheritance, which means that he is not interested in anything other than money.

So don't get too carried away by this young man. I do not think that he is capable of sincere and pure love.

Also Katya, promise to eat well and conserve strength. Your parents are worried about you. You write more, please.

We all miss you and look forward to seeing you.

Your faithful friend, Anna

Kuligin's letter to Boris

Hello sir! How are you doing? What do you do? I suppose you are glad that you left your uncle? And how soon will your business be over there? And then we got bored here without you, you know.

And here we have such things going on. As soon as you left, something like this happened… Katerina rushed into the Volga! Whether it was because you left, or whether Kabanikha was completely stuck, I can’t know. What a coincidence, after all - she lived all her life near the Volga, and found her death in it.

They say after all, the thunder will not strike - the peasant will not cross himself. So Kabanikha, having lost Katerina, began to return what was not yet completely lost. She found out where Varvara and Kudryash had fled, came to them, begged them to return, so Kudryash carried her out of the house and ordered her not to return again.

The son of Kabanikh, Tikhon, after the death of Katerina, became a complete fool. Somehow, even before she died, he told me: “I’ll take the last one I have, I’ll drink my mind; let mama then nurse me like a fool!” And guess what he's doing now? Every day in the evening he comes home drunk. She all to him: “Tisha, Tisha, what are you doing?”, so he told her: “Leave me alone, mother, don’t you see, your son has come from work! Instead of lamenting, I would have brought at least something to eat! After dinner, Tikhon begins to beat her, after which she quietly sits in a corner and begins to cry. And Tikhon with a cheerful mood goes for a walk. He became such a reveler that one wonders: is this really the same quiet Tikhon? And so, imagine, every single day. How long this family will last - I'm not given to know, however, in my opinion, it began to collapse immediately after Tikhonov's wedding.

Your uncle has problems too. Recently, during a thunderstorm, lightning directly hit his house, causing the house to catch fire. Now he has to live with me. It’s just that no one else, except me, lets him in, even Kabanikha (however, she herself no longer manages the house, even if she let him in, Tikhon would beat them both), everyone is tired of him. But I asked him to deign to allocate money for the construction of lightning rods, and he: "Robber, robber", "In punishment, in punishment." So let him now think that the storm came to him as a punishment for his stinginess.

Your uncle's workers all ran away from him. They took an example from Curly (Well done, after all, the guy - not one escaped from bad life, but also took his beloved with him). So now your uncle is completely broke. Although, perhaps, there is nothing wrong with this. Let him know how ordinary people live. Now he goes around on his own, asking everyone for a loan. And he, imagine, everyone refuses in a row. Remind him of his attitude towards people. Of course, he still swears, shouts at everyone, but no one takes him seriously anymore, no one is afraid of him. They even scoff - they compose various jokes about him. Even the governor stopped recognizing Wild. Pass by without saying hello, as if they did not know each other at all. And all because of money. Big money, my dear, big problems. A person had money - everyone loved him, respected, appreciated, but there was no money, a person went bankrupt, went bankrupt - so everyone forgot about him, they don’t even want to remember. I said, sir, cruel customs in our city, very cruel.

The other day I read in the newspaper that the British had canceled their competition. Someone there decided that it was impossible to invent a “perpetuum mobile”. That this is contrary to the laws of nature. Sorry, very sorry. I thought, I’ll invent it, I’ll get a million, and I’ll equip our Kalinov in such a way that people live better with us: I’ll open a decent school, I’ll put a huge clock on the square, I’ll build a good pier and something else so that there is something for the common good ... But apparently not destiny. As our city was dying a quiet death, so it will continue to die.

Well, sir, I seem to have told you everything. If something is not clear - write, I love to answer letters, but it’s best to come yourself as soon as possible, so much has changed here ... You can’t describe it in one letter.

See you soon, hopefully!

July, the 19th day of the year 1859.

In preparing this work, materials from the site http://www.studentu.ru were used.