Characteristics of minor characters thunderstorm. A.N. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm": description, characters, analysis of the work. Main characters

The events in A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” unfold on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. The work provides a list of characters and their brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not many main characters in Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm”.

Katerina, girl, main character plays. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house-building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in “The Thunderstorm”. Indeed, Katya’s strength of character does not appear outwardly. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems as if she is easy to break. But this is not true at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikha’s attacks. She resists, and does not ignore them, like Varvara. The conflict is more likely internal character. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya might influence her son, after which Tikhon will stop obeying his mother’s will.

Katya wants to fly and often compares herself to a bird. She is literally suffocating in " dark kingdom» Kalinova. Falling in love with a newcomer young man, Katya created for herself perfect image love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Ostrovsky in “The Thunderstorm” makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is contrasted with the image of Marfa Ignatievna. A woman who keeps her entire family in fear and tension does not command respect. Kabanikha is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took over the “reins of power” after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that in her marriage Kabanikha was not distinguished by submissiveness. Katya, her daughter-in-law, got the most from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikha. Despite the fact that over so many years she has learned to be cunning and lie, the reader still sympathizes with her. Varvara good girl. Surprisingly, deception and cunning do not make her like other residents of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Varvara is not afraid of her mother’s anger, since she is not an authority for her.

Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, unnoticeable. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikha. His rebellion ultimately proves to be the most significant. After all, it is the words, and not Varvara’s escape, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of tour guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about its morals, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His assessments of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself kind person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of a perpetu mobile, of a lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams are not destined to come true.

The Wild One has a clerk, Kudryash. This character is interesting because he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks about him. At the same time, Kudryash, just like Dikoy, tries to find benefit in everything. He can be described as a simple person.

Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to establish relations with Dikiy, because only in this case will he be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya, honest and fair. In the last scenes this is refuted: Boris is unable to decide to take a serious step, to take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.

One of the heroes of “The Thunderstorm” is a wanderer and a maid. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and lack of education is truly amazing. Their judgments are absurd and their horizons are very narrow. Women judge morality and ethics according to some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now full of carnivals and games, but through the streets there is an indo roar and groan. Why, Mother Marfa Ignatievna, they started harnessing a fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed” - this is how Feklusha speaks about progress and reforms, and the woman calls a car a “fiery serpent”. The concept of progress and culture is alien to such people, because it is convenient for them to live in an invented limited world of calm and regularity.

This article gives brief description heroes of the play “The Thunderstorm”, for a deeper understanding we recommend that you read the thematic articles about each character in “The Thunderstorm” on our website.

Work test

The play "The Thunderstorm" by the famous Russian writer XIX century by Alexander Ostrovsky, was written in 1859 on the wave of social upsurge on the eve of social reforms. She became one of best works author, opening the eyes of the whole world to the morals and moral values of the merchant class of that time. It was first published in the journal “Library for Reading” in 1860 and, due to the novelty of its subject matter (descriptions of the struggle of new progressive ideas and aspirations with old, conservative foundations), immediately after publication it caused a wide public response. It became the topic for writing a large number of critical articles of that time (“A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” by Dobrolyubov, “Motives of Russian Drama” by Pisarev, critic Apollon Grigoriev).

History of writing

Inspired by the beauty of the Volga region and its endless expanses during a trip with his family to Kostroma in 1848, Ostrovsky began writing the play in July 1859, three months later he finished it and sent it to the St. Petersburg censorship court.

Having worked for several years in the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court, he knew well what the merchant class was like in Zamoskvorechye (the historical district of the capital, on the right bank of the Moscow River), more than once having encountered in his service what was going on behind the high fences of the merchant choirs , namely with cruelty, tyranny, ignorance and various superstitions, illegal transactions and scams, tears and suffering of others. The basis for the plot of the play was tragic fate daughters-in-law in the wealthy merchant family of the Klykovs, which happened in reality: a young woman rushed into the Volga and drowned, unable to withstand oppression from her domineering mother-in-law, tired of her husband’s spinelessness and secret passion for a postal employee. Many believed that it was the stories from the life of the Kostroma merchants that became the prototype for the plot of the play written by Ostrovsky.

In November 1859, the play was performed on the stage of Maly academic theater in Moscow, in December of the same year in Alexandrinsky drama theater in St. Petersburg.

Analysis of the work

Storyline

At the center of the events described in the play is the wealthy merchant family of the Kabanovs, living in the fictional Volga city of Kalinov, a kind of peculiar and closed little world, symbolizing the general structure of the entire patriarchal Russian state. The Kabanov family consists of a powerful and cruel tyrant woman, and essentially the head of the family, a wealthy merchant and widow Marfa Ignatievna, her son, Tikhon Ivanovich, weak-willed and spineless against the backdrop of the difficult disposition of his mother, daughter Varvara, who learned by deception and cunning to resist her mother’s despotism , as well as Katerina’s daughter-in-law. A young woman, who grew up in a family where she was loved and pitied, suffers in the house of her unloved husband from his lack of will and the claims of her mother-in-law, having essentially lost her will and becoming a victim of the cruelty and tyranny of Kabanikha, left to the mercy of fate by her rag husband.

Out of hopelessness and despair, Katerina seeks consolation in her love for Boris Dikiy, who also loves her, but is afraid to disobey his uncle, the rich merchant Savel Prokofich Dikiy, because he depends on him financial situation him and his sisters. He secretly meets with Katerina, but at the last moment he betrays her and runs away, then, at the direction of his uncle, he leaves for Siberia.

Katerina, having been brought up in obedience and submission to her husband, tormented by her own sin, confesses everything to her husband in the presence of his mother. She makes her daughter-in-law’s life completely unbearable, and Katerina, suffering from unhappy love, reproaches of conscience and cruel persecution of the tyrant and despot Kabanikha, decides to end her torment, the only way in which she sees salvation is suicide. She throws herself off a cliff into the Volga and dies tragically.

Main characters

All the characters in the play are divided into two opposing camps, some (Kabanikha, her son and daughter, the merchant Dikoy and his nephew Boris, the maids Feklusha and Glasha) are representatives of the old, patriarchal way of life, others (Katerina, self-taught mechanic Kuligin) - the new, progressive.

A young woman, Katerina, the wife of Tikhon Kabanov, is the central character of the play. She was brought up in strict patriarchal rules, in accordance with the laws of the ancient Russian Domostroy: a wife must submit to her husband in everything, respect him, and fulfill all his demands. At first, Katerina tried with all her might to love her husband, to become a submissive and good wife for him, but due to his complete spinelessness and weakness of character, she can only feel pity for him.

Outwardly, she looks weak and silent, but in the depths of her soul there is enough willpower and perseverance to resist the tyranny of her mother-in-law, who is afraid that her daughter-in-law might change her son Tikhon and he will stop submitting to his mother’s will. Katerina is cramped and stuffy in the dark kingdom of life in Kalinov, she literally suffocates there and in her dreams she flies like a bird away from this terrible place for her.

Boris

Having fallen in love with a visiting young man, Boris, the nephew of a rich merchant and businessman, she creates in her head an image of an ideal lover and a real man, which is not at all true, breaks her heart and leads to a tragic ending.

In the play, the character of Katerina opposes not a specific person, her mother-in-law, but the entire patriarchal structure that existed at that time.

Kabanikha

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha), like the tyrant merchant Dikoy, who tortures and insults his relatives, does not pay wages and deceives his workers, are prominent representatives old, bourgeois way of life. They are distinguished by stupidity and ignorance, unjustified cruelty, rudeness and rudeness, complete rejection of any progressive changes in the ossified patriarchal way of life.

Tikhon

(Tikhon, in the illustration near Kabanikha - Marfa Ignatievna)

Tikhon Kabanov is characterized throughout the play as a quiet and weak-willed person, under the complete influence of his oppressive mother. Distinguished by his gentle character, he makes no attempts to protect his wife from her mother’s attacks.

At the end of the play, he finally breaks down and the author shows his rebellion against tyranny and despotism; it is his phrase at the end of the play that leads readers to a certain conclusion about the depth and tragedy of the current situation.

Features of compositional construction

(Fragment from a dramatic production)

The work begins with a description of the city on the Volga Kalinov, the image of which is a collective image of all Russian cities of that time. The landscape of the Volga expanses depicted in the play contrasts with the musty, dull and gloomy atmosphere of life in this city, which is emphasized by the dead isolation of the life of its inhabitants, their underdevelopment, dullness and wild lack of education. The author described the general state of city life as if before a thunderstorm, when the old, dilapidated way of life will be shaken, and new and progressive trends, like a gust of furious thunderstorm wind, will sweep away the outdated rules and prejudices that prevent people from living normally. The period of life of the residents of the city of Kalinov described in the play is precisely in a state when outwardly everything looks calm, but this is only the calm before the coming storm.

The genre of the play can be interpreted as a social drama, as well as a tragedy. The first is characterized by the use of a thorough description of living conditions, the maximum transfer of its “density,” as well as the alignment of characters. Readers' attention should be distributed among all participants in the production. The interpretation of the play as a tragedy presupposes its more deep meaning and thoroughness. If you see Katerina’s death as a consequence of her conflict with her mother-in-law, then she looks like a victim of a family conflict, and the entire unfolding action in the play seems petty and insignificant for a real tragedy. But if we consider the death of the main character as a conflict of a new, progressive time with a fading, old era, then her act is best interpreted in the heroic key characteristic of a tragic narrative.

The talented playwright Alexander Ostrovsky, from a social and everyday drama about the life of the merchant class, gradually creates a real tragedy, in which, with the help of a love-domestic conflict, he showed the onset of an epochal turning point taking place in the consciousness of the people. Ordinary people They become aware of their awakening sense of self-worth, begin to have a new attitude towards the world around them, want to decide their own destinies and fearlessly express their will. This nascent desire comes into irreconcilable contradiction with the real patriarchal way of life. Katerina's fate acquires a social historical meaning, expressing the state national consciousness at the turning point of two eras.

Alexander Ostrovsky, who noticed in time the doom of the decaying patriarchal foundations, wrote the play “The Thunderstorm” and opened the eyes of the entire Russian public to what was happening. He depicted the destruction of a familiar, outdated way of life, with the help of the ambiguous and figurative concept of a thunderstorm, which, gradually growing, will sweep away everything from its path and open the way to a new, better life.

The action of the play "The Thunderstorm" takes place in the fictional town of Kalinov, which is a collective image of all provincial towns of that time.
There are not so many main characters in the play “The Thunderstorm”; each one needs to be discussed separately.

Katerina is a young woman, married without love, “to someone else’s side,” God-fearing and pious. IN parental home Katerina grew up in love and care, prayed and enjoyed life. Marriage for her turned out to be a difficult test, which her meek soul resists. But, despite outward timidity and humility, passions boil in Katerina’s soul when she falls in love with someone else’s man.

Tikhon is Katerina’s husband, a kind and gentle man, he loves his wife, feels sorry for her, but, like everyone else at home, he obeys his mother. He does not dare to go against the will of “mama” throughout the play, just as he does not dare to openly tell his wife about his love, since his mother forbids this, so as not to spoil his wife.

Kabanikha is the widow of the landowner Kabanov, mother of Tikhon, mother-in-law of Katerina. A despotic woman, in whose power the whole house is, no one dares to take a step without her knowledge, fearing a curse. According to one of the characters in the play, Kudryash, Kabanikha is “a hypocrite, he gives to the poor and eats his family.” It is she who shows Tikhon and Katerina how to build their family life in the best traditions of Domostroy.

Varvara is Tikhon’s sister, an unmarried girl. Unlike his brother, he obeys his mother only for appearances; she herself secretly goes on dates at night, inciting Katerina to do the same. Her principle is that you can sin if no one sees, otherwise you will spend your whole life next to your mother.

Landowner Dikoy is an episodic character, but personifies the image of a “tyrant”, i.e. a person in power who is confident that money gives him the right to do whatever his heart desires.

Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, who came in the hope of getting his share of the inheritance, falls in love with Katerina, but cowardly runs away, abandoning the woman he seduced.

In addition, Kudryash, Dikiy’s clerk, takes part. Kuligin is a self-taught inventor, constantly trying to introduce something new into the life of a sleepy town, but is forced to ask Dikiy for money for inventions. The same, in turn, being a representative of the “fathers”, is confident in the uselessness of Kuligin’s undertakings.

All the names and surnames in the play are “talking”; they tell about the character of their “owners” better than any actions.

She herself vividly shows the confrontation between the “old people” and the “young people”. The first actively resist all kinds of innovations, complaining that young people have forgotten the orders of their ancestors and do not want to live “as they should.” The latter, in turn, are trying to free themselves from the oppression of parental orders, they understand that life moves forward and changes.

But not everyone decides to go against their parents’ will, some for fear of losing their inheritance. Some people are used to obeying their parents in everything.

Against the backdrop of blossoming tyranny and Domostroev’s covenants, the forbidden love of Katerina and Boris blossoms. The young people are drawn to each other, but Katerina is married, and Boris depends on his uncle for everything.

The difficult atmosphere of the city of Kalinov, the pressure of an evil mother-in-law, and the onset of a thunderstorm force Katerina, tormented by remorse for cheating on her husband, to confess everything publicly. Kabanikha is rejoicing - she turned out to be right when she advised Tikhon to keep his wife “strict.” Tikhon is afraid of his mother, but her advice to beat his wife so that she knows is unthinkable for him.

The explanation of Boris and Katerina further aggravates the situation of the unfortunate woman. Now she has to live away from her beloved, with a husband who knows about her betrayal, with his mother, who will now definitely harass her daughter-in-law. Katerina’s fear of God leads her to the idea that there is no point in living anymore, the woman throws herself off a cliff into the river.

Only after losing his beloved woman does Tikhon realize how much she meant to him. Now he will have to live his whole life with the understanding that his callousness and submission to his tyrant mother led to such an ending. Last words the plays become Tikhon's words spoken over the body dead wife: “Good for you, Katya! But why in the world did I stay to live and suffer!”

Brief description

Boris Dikoy and Tikhon Kabanov are the two characters who are most closely associated with the main character, Katerina: Tikhon is her husband, and Boris becomes her lover. They can be called antipodes, which stand out sharply against each other. And, in my opinion, preference in their comparison should be given to Boris, as a more active, interesting and pleasant character for the reader, while Tikhon evokes some compassion - raised by a strict mother, he, in fact, cannot make his own decisions and defend his opinion. In order to substantiate my point of view, below I will consider each character separately and try to analyze their characters and actions.

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BORIS AND TIKHON
Boris Dikoy and Tikhon Kabanov are the two characters who are most closely associated with the main character, Katerina: Tikhon is her husband, and Boris becomes her lover. They can be called antipodes, which stand out sharply against each other. And, in my opinion, preference in their comparison should be given to Boris, as a more active, interesting and pleasant character for the reader, while Tikhon evokes some compassion - raised by a strict mother, he, in fact, cannot make his own decisions and defend his opinion. In order to substantiate my point of view, below I will consider each character separately and try to analyze their characters and actions.

To begin with, let's look at Boris Grigorievich Dikiy. Boris came to the city of Kalinov not on his own whim - out of necessity. His grandmother, Anfisa Mikhailovna, disliked his father after he married a noble woman, and after her death she left her entire inheritance to her second son, Savel Prokofievich Diky. And Boris would not have cared about this inheritance if his parents had not died of cholera, leaving him and his sister orphans. Savel Prokofievich Dikoy had to pay part of Anfisa Mikhailovna’s inheritance to Boris and his sister, but on the condition that they would be respectful to him. Therefore, throughout the entire play, Boris tries in every possible way to serve his uncle, not paying attention to all the reproaches, discontent and abuse, and then leaves for Siberia to serve. From this we can conclude that Boris not only thinks about his future, but also cares about his sister, who is in an even less advantageous position than himself. This is expressed in his words, which he once said to Kuligin: “If I were alone, it would be fine! I would give up everything and leave. Otherwise, I feel sorry for my sister. (...) It’s scary to imagine what life was like for her here.”

Boris spent his entire childhood in Moscow, where he received a good education and manners. This also adds positive features to his image. He is modest and, perhaps, even somewhat timid - if Katerina had not responded to his feelings, if not for the complicity of Varvara and Kudryash, he would never have crossed the boundaries of what is permitted. His actions are driven by love, perhaps the first, a feeling that even the most reasonable and sensible people are unable to resist. Some timidity, but sincerity, his tender words to Katerina make Boris a touching and romantic character, full of charm that cannot leave girls’ hearts indifferent.

As a person from metropolitan society, from secular Moscow, Boris has a hard time in Kalinov. He does not understand local customs; it seems to him that this provincial town he is a stranger. Boris does not fit into local society. The hero himself says the following words about this: “... it’s difficult for me here, without a habit! Everyone looks at me wildly, as if I’m superfluous here, as if I’m disturbing them. I don’t know the customs here. I understand that this is all ours , Russian, native, but still I can’t get used to it.” Boris is overcome by heavy thoughts about his future fate. Youth, the desire to live desperately rebel against the prospect of staying in Kalinov: “And I, apparently, will ruin my youth in this slum. I’m really dead.”

So, we can say that Boris in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is a romantic, positive character, and his rash actions can be justified by love, which makes young blood boil and do completely reckless things, forgetting about how they look in the eyes of society.

Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov can be considered as a more passive character, unable to make his own decisions. He is strongly influenced by his domineering mother, Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, he is “under her thumb.” Tikhon strives for freedom, however, it seems to me, he himself does not know what exactly he wants from it. So, having broken free, the hero acts as follows: “... and as soon as I left, I went on a spree. I’m very glad that I broke free. And I drank all the way, and in Moscow I drank everything, so a lot, What the hell! So that I could take a break for a whole year. I didn’t even remember about the house.” In his desire to escape “from captivity,” Tikhon closes his eyes to other people’s feelings, including the feelings and experiences of his own wife, Katerina: “..and with this kind of captivity you will escape from whatever beautiful wife you want! Just think: no matter what I am, I’m still a man; I’ll live like this all my life, as you can see, so I’ll run away from my wife, and I know that for two weeks there won’t be any thunderstorms over me, there won’t be any shackles on my legs. So what do I care about my wife?" I believe that this is Tikhon’s main mistake - he did not listen to Katerina, did not take her with him, and did not even take a terrible oath from her, as she herself asked in anticipation of trouble. The events that happened next were partly his fault.

Returning to the fact that Tikhon is not able to make his own decisions, we can give the following example. After Katerina confesses to her sin, he cannot decide what to do - listen to his mother again, who calls her daughter-in-law cunning and tells everyone not to believe her, or show leniency towards his beloved wife. Katerina herself speaks about it this way: “Sometimes he’s affectionate, sometimes he’s angry, but he drinks everything.” Also, in my opinion, an attempt to get away from problems with the help of alcohol also indicates Tikhon’s weak character.

We can say that Tikhon Kabanov is a weak character as a person who evokes sympathy. It is difficult to say whether he really loved his wife, Katerina, but it is safe to assume that with his character, another life partner, more similar to his mother, was better suited to him. Brought up in strictness, without his own opinion, Tikhon needs outside control, guidance and support.

So, on the one hand, we have Boris Grigorievich Wild, a romantic, young, self-confident hero. On the other hand, there is Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, a weak-willed, soft-bodied, unhappy character. Both characters are, of course, clearly expressed - Ostrovsky in his play managed to convey the full depth of these images, making you worry about each of them. But if we compare them with each other, Boris attracts more attention, he arouses sympathy and interest in the reader, while one wants to feel sorry for Kabanov.

However, each reader himself chooses which of these characters to give his preference. After all, as popular wisdom says, there are no comrades according to taste.

VARVARA
Varvara Kabanova is the daughter of Kabanikha, sister of Tikhon. We can say that life in Kabanikha’s house morally crippled the girl. She also does not want to live according to the patriarchal laws that her mother preaches. But despite strong character, V. does not dare to openly protest against them. Her principle is “Do what you want, as long as it’s safe and covered.”
This heroine easily adapts to the laws of the “dark kingdom” and easily deceives everyone around her. This became habitual for her. V. claims that it is impossible to live otherwise: their whole house rests on deception. “And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.”
V. was cunning while she could. When they began to lock her up, she ran away from the house, inflicting a crushing blow on Kabanikha.
KULIGIN

Kuligin is a character who partially performs the functions of an exponent of the author’s point of view and therefore is sometimes classified as a reasoning hero, which, however, seems incorrect, since in general this hero is certainly distant from the author, he is depicted as quite detached, as an unusual person, even somewhat outlandish. The list of characters says about him: “a tradesman, a self-taught watchmaker, looking for a perpetuum mobile.” The hero's surname transparently hints at a real person - I. P. Kulibin (1755-1818), whose biography was published in the journal of the historian M. P. Pogodin "Moskvityanin", where Ostrovsky collaborated.
Like Katerina, K. is a poetic and dreamy nature (for example, it is he who admires the beauty of the Trans-Volga landscape and complains that the Kalinov people are indifferent to him). He appears singing “Among the Flat Valley...”, a folk song of literary origin (to the words of A.F. Merzlyakov). This immediately emphasizes the difference between K. and other characters associated with folklore culture; he is also a bookish person, albeit with a rather archaic bookishness: He tells Boris that he writes poetry “in the old-fashioned way... He’s read a lot of Lomonosov, Derzhavin... Lomonosov was a sage, an explorer of nature...” Even the characterization of Lomonosov testifies to K.’s reading in old books: not a “scientist”, but a “sage”, “an explorer of nature.” “You are an antique, a chemist,” Kudryash tells him. “A self-taught mechanic,” corrects K. K.’s technical ideas are also a clear anachronism. The sundial that he dreams of installing on Kalinovsky Boulevard comes from antiquity. Lightning rod - a technical discovery of the 18th century. If K. writes in the spirit of the classics of the 18th century, then his oral stories are sustained in even earlier stylistic traditions and are reminiscent of ancient moralizing stories and apocrypha (“and they will begin, sir, a trial and a case, and there will be no end to the torment. They are suing and suing here, and they will go to the province, and there they are waiting for them, and splashing their hands with joy” - the picture of judicial red tape, vividly described by K., recalls stories about the torment of sinners and the joy of demons). All these features of the hero, of course, were given by the author in order to show his deep connection with the world of Kalinov: he is, of course, different from the Kalinovites, we can say that he is a “new” person, but only his novelty has developed here, inside this world , giving birth not only to its passionate and poetic dreamers, like Katerina, but also to its “rationalist” dreamers, its own special, home-grown scientists and humanists. The main business of K.’s life is the dream of inventing the “perpetu mobile” and receiving a million for it from the British. He intends to spend this million on the Kalinovsky society - “jobs must be given to the philistines.” Listening to this story, Boris, who received a modern education at the Commercial Academy, remarks: “It’s a pity to disappoint him! What a good man! He dreams for himself and is happy.” However, he is hardly right. K. is truly a good person: kind, selfless, delicate and meek. But he is hardly happy: his dream constantly forces him to beg for money for his inventions, conceived for the benefit of society, and it does not even occur to society that there could be any benefit from them, for them K. - a harmless eccentric, something like a city holy fool. And the main of the possible “patrons of the arts,” Dikoy, attacks the inventor with abuse, once again confirming both the general opinion and Kabanikha’s own admission that he is not able to part with the money. Kuligin's passion for creativity remains unquenched; he feels sorry for his fellow countrymen, seeing their vices as the result of ignorance and poverty, but cannot help them in anything. So, the advice he gives (forgive Katerina, but never remember her sin) is obviously impossible to implement in the Kabanovs’ house, and K. hardly understands this. The advice is good, humane, because it is based on humane considerations, but it does not take into account the real participants in the drama, their characters and beliefs. With all my hard work, creative beginning In his personality, K. is a contemplative nature, devoid of any pressure. This is probably the only reason why the Kalinovites put up with him, despite the fact that he differs from them in everything. It seems that for the same reason it turned out to be possible to trust him author's assessment Katerina's actions. “Here is your Katerina. Do what you want with her! Her body is here, take it; but the soul is now not yours: it is now before the Judge, who is more merciful than you!”
KATERINA
But the most extensive subject for discussion is Katerina - the “Russian strong character”, for whom truth and a deep sense of duty are above all. First, let's turn to the childhood years of the main character, which we learn about from her monologues. As we see, in this carefree time, Katerina was primarily surrounded by beauty and harmony, she “lived like a bird in the wild” among, mother's love and fragrant nature. The young girl went to wash herself, listened to the stories of the wanderers, then sat down to do some work, and so the whole day passed. She has not yet known the bitter life in “imprisonment,” but everything is ahead of her, life in the “dark kingdom” is ahead. From Katerina's words we learn about her childhood and adolescence. The girl did not receive a good education. She lived with her mother in the village. Katerina's childhood was joyful and cloudless. Her mother “doted on her” and did not force her to do housework. Katya lived freely: she got up early, washed herself with spring water, climbed flowers, went to church with her mother, then sat down to do some work and listened to wanderers and praying mantises, of which there were many in their house. Katerina had magical dreams in which she flew under the clouds. And how strongly it contrasts with such a quiet one, happy life the act of a six-year-old girl, when Katya, offended by something, ran away from home 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 devout and passionately loving. She loved everything and everyone around her: nature, the sun, the church, her home with wanderers, the beggars whom she helped. But the most important thing about Katya is that she lived in her dreams, apart from the rest of the world. From 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. That’s why the girl saw angels in the sky, and for her the church was not an oppressive and oppressive force, but a place where everything is light, where you can dream. We can say that Katerina was naive and kind, brought up in a completely religious spirit. But if she encountered something on her way... contradicted her ideals, she turned into a rebellious and stubborn nature and defended herself from that stranger, stranger, who boldly disturbed her soul. This was the case with the boat. After marriage, Katya's life changed a lot. From a free, joyful, sublime world in which she felt united with nature, the girl found herself in a life full of deception, cruelty and desolation. The point is not even that Katerina did not marry Tikhon of her own free will: she did not love anyone at all and she did not 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 visiting church; she cannot do her usual activities. Sad, anxious thoughts do not allow her to calmly admire nature. Katya can only endure as long as she can and dream, but she can no longer live with her thoughts, because cruel reality returns her to earth, to where there is humiliation and suffering. Katerina is trying to find her happiness in her love for Tikhon: “I will love my husband. Tisha, my darling, I won’t exchange you for anyone.” But sincere manifestations of this love are stopped by Kabanikha: “Why are you hanging around your neck, shameless one? You’re not saying goodbye to your lover.” Katerina has a strong sense of external humility and duty, which is why she forces herself to love her unloved husband. Tikhon himself, because of his mother’s tyranny, cannot truly love his wife, although he probably wants to. And when he, leaving for a while, leaves Katya to walk around to his heart's content, the girl (already a woman) becomes completely lonely. Why did Katerina fall in love with Boris? After all, he did not exhibit his masculine qualities, like Paratov, and did not even talk to her. Probably the reason was that she lacked something pure in the stuffy atmosphere of Kabanikha’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 and basic rights. It was a rebellion against submission to fate, against lawlessness. Katerina knew that she was committing a sin, but she also knew that it was still impossible to live any longer. She sacrificed the purity of her conscience to freedom and Boris. In my opinion, when taking this step, Katya already felt the approaching end and probably thought: “It’s now or never.” She wanted to be satisfied with love, knowing that there would be no other opportunity. On the first date, Katerina told Boris: “You ruined me.” Boris is the reason for the disgrace of her soul, and for Katya this is tantamount to death. Sin hangs like a heavy stone on her heart. Katerina is terribly 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 to a stranger- sin. Katya cannot live any longer 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 Kabanikha. Such an act seems very strange and naive in our time. “I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything” - that’s Katerina. Tikhon forgave his wife, but did she forgive herself? Being very religious. Katya fears God, but her God lives in her, God is her conscience. The girl is tormented by two questions: how will she return home and look into the eyes of the husband 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, whether I go home or go to the grave, it doesn’t matter. Is it better to live in the grave again? No, no, it’s not good.” Haunted by her sin, Katerina leaves this life to save her soul. Dobrolyubov defined Katerina’s character as “decisive, integral, 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, if not a Russian person, is capable of loving so much, capable of sacrificing so much, so seemingly obediently enduring all hardships, while remaining himself, free, not a slave. Although Katerina’s life has changed, she has not lost her poetic nature: she is still fascinated by nature, she sees bliss in harmony with it. She wants to fly high, high, touch the blue sky and from there, from above, send a big hello to everyone. The poetic nature of the heroine requires a different life than the one she has. Katerina is eager for “freedom,” but not for the freedom of her flesh, but for the freedom of her soul. Therefore, she is building a different world, her own in which there is no lie, lawlessness, injustice, or cruelty. In this world, unlike reality, everything is perfect: angels live here, “innocent voices sing, there is a smell of cypress, and the mountains and trees seem not the same as usual, but as if they were depicted in images.” But despite this, she still has to return to real world, full of egoists and tyrants. And among them she tries to find a kindred spirit. Katerina, in a crowd of “empty” faces, is looking for someone who could understand her, look into her soul and accept her as she is, and not as they want to make her. The heroine searches and cannot find anyone. Her eyes are “cut” by the darkness and wretchedness of this “kingdom”, her mind has to come to terms, but her heart believes and waits for the only one who will help her survive and fight for the truth in this world of lies and deceit. Katerina meets Boris, and her clouded heart says that this is the one she has been looking for for so long. But is this true? No, Boris is far from ideal; he cannot give Katerina what she asks for, namely: understanding and protection. She cannot feel with Boris “like behind a stone wall.” And the justice of this is confirmed by Boris’s vile act, full of cowardice and indecisiveness: he leaves Katerina alone, throwing her “to the wolves.” These “wolves” are scary, but they cannot frighten Katerina’s “Russian soul”. And her soul is truly Russian. And what unites Katerina with the people is not only communication, but also involvement in Christianity. Katerina believes in God so much that she prays in her room every evening. She likes to go to church, look at icons, listen to the ringing of the bell. She, like the Russian people, loves freedom. And it is precisely this love of freedom that does not allow her to come to terms with the current situation. Our heroine is not used to lying, and therefore she talks about her love for Boris to her husband. But instead of understanding, Katerina is met only with direct reproach. Now nothing holds her back in this world: Boris turned out to be different from what Katerina “pictured” him for herself, and life in Kabanikha’s house has become even more unbearable. The poor, innocent “bird imprisoned in a cage” could not withstand the captivity - Katerina committed suicide. The girl still managed to “take off”, she stepped from the high bank into the Volga, “spread her wings” and boldly went to the bottom. By her action, Katerina resists the “dark kingdom.” But Dobrolyubov calls her a “ray” in him, not only because her tragic death revealed all the horror of the “dark kingdom” and showed the inevitability of death for those who cannot come to terms with oppression, but also because Katerina’s death will not pass and will not may pass without a trace for " cruel morals" After all, anger at these tyrants is already brewing. Kuligin - and he reproached Kabanikha for the lack of mercy, even the resigned executor of his mother’s wishes, Tikhon, publicly dared to throw the accusation of Katerina’s death in her face. Already now an ominous thunderstorm is brewing over this entire “kingdom”, capable of destroying it “to smithereens.” And this bright ray, which awakened, even for one moment, the consciousness of the destitute, unrequited people who are materially dependent on the rich, convincingly showed that there must be an end to the unbridled robbery and complacency of the Wild and the oppressive lust for power and hypocrisy of the Boars. The significance of Katerina’s image is also important today. Yes, maybe many consider Katerina an immoral, shameless cheater, but is she to blame for this?! Most likely, Tikhon is to blame, who did not pay due attention and affection to his wife, but only followed the advice of his “mama.” Katerina’s only fault is that she married such a weak-willed man. Her life was destroyed, but she tried to “build” a new one from the remains. Katerina boldly walked forward until she realized that there was nowhere else to go. But even then she took a brave step, the last step over the abyss leading to another world, perhaps a better one, and perhaps a worse one. And this courage, thirst for truth and freedom makes us bow to Katerina. Yes, she is probably not so ideal, she has her shortcomings, but her courage makes the heroine a role model worthy of praise

Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married off early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house-building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could not feel anything but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in “The Thunderstorm”. Indeed, Katya’s strength of character does not appear outwardly. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems as if she is easy to break. But this is not true at all. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikha’s attacks. She resists, and does not ignore them, like Varvara. The conflict is rather internal in nature. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya might influence her son, after which Tikhon will stop obeying his mother’s will.

Katya wants to fly and often compares herself to a bird. She is literally suffocating in Kalinov’s “dark kingdom”. Having fallen in love with a visiting young man, Katya created for herself an ideal image of love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikha. Despite the fact that over so many years she has learned to be cunning and lie, the reader still sympathizes with her. Varvara is a good girl. Surprisingly, deception and cunning do not make her like other residents of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she pleases. Varvara is not afraid of her mother’s anger, since she is not an authority for her.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of tour guide. In the first act, he seems to be taking us around Kalinov, talking about its morals, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His assessments of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself is a kind person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of a perpetu mobile, of a lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams are not destined to come true.

This article provides a brief description of the characters in the play “The Thunderstorm”; for a deeper understanding, we recommend that you read the thematic articles about each character in “The Thunderstorm” on our website.

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