Review of Katerina in the play Thunderstorm. The image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky (School essays). The image of a bird is an accurate reflection of the heroine’s state of mind

Using the example of the life of a single family from the fictional city of Kalinov in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, the whole essence of the outdated patriarchal structure is shown Russia XIX century. Katerina is the main character of the work. She is opposed to all the other characters in the tragedy, even from Kuligin, who also stands out among the residents of Kalinov, Katya is distinguished by her strength of protest. The description of Katerina from “The Thunderstorm”, the characteristics of other characters, the description of the life of the city - all this adds up to a revealing tragic picture, conveyed photographically accurately. The characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky is not limited only to the author’s commentary in the list characters. The playwright does not evaluate the actions of the heroine, relieving himself of the responsibilities of an all-knowing author. Thanks to this position, each perceiving subject, be it a reader or a viewer, can himself evaluate the heroine based on his own moral convictions.

Katya was married to Tikhon Kabanov, the son of a merchant's wife. It was given out, because then, according to the domostroy, marriage was more likely the will of the parents than the decision of the young people. Katya's husband is a pitiful sight. The child's irresponsibility and immaturity, bordering on idiocy, led to the fact that Tikhon is incapable of anything other than drunkenness. In Marfa Kabanova, the ideas of tyranny and hypocrisy inherent in the entire “dark kingdom” were fully embodied.

Katya strives for freedom, comparing herself to a bird. It is difficult for her to survive in conditions of stagnation and slavish worship of false idols. Katerina is truly religious, every trip to church seems like a holiday for her, and as a child, Katya more than once fancied that she heard angels singing. It happened that Katya prayed in the garden because she believed that the Lord would hear her prayers anywhere, not just in church. But in Kalinov, the Christian faith was deprived of any internal content.

Katerina's dreams allow her to briefly escape from real world. There she is free, like a bird, free to fly wherever she wants, not subject to any laws. “And what dreams I had, Varenka,” continues Katerina, “what dreams! Either the temples are golden, or the gardens are extraordinary, and everyone is singing invisible voices, and there is a smell of cypress, and the mountains and trees seem not to be the same as usual, but as if depicted in images. And it’s like I’m flying, and I’m flying through the air.” However, in lately Katerina began to have a certain mysticism. Everywhere she begins to see imminent death, and in her dreams she sees the evil one who warmly embraces her and then destroys her. These dreams were prophetic.

Katya is dreamy and tender, but along with her fragility, Katerina’s monologues from “The Thunderstorm” reveal perseverance and strength. For example, a girl decides to go out to meet Boris. She was overcome by doubts, she wanted to throw the key to the gate into the Volga, thought about the consequences, but still took an important step for herself: “Throw the key! No, not for anything in the world! He’s mine now... Whatever happens, I’ll see Boris!” Katya is disgusted with Kabanikha’s house; the girl doesn’t like Tikhon. She thought about leaving her husband and, having received a divorce, living honestly with Boris. But there was nowhere to hide from the tyranny of the mother-in-law. With her hysterics, Kabanikha turned the house into hell, stopping any opportunity for escape.

Katerina is surprisingly insightful towards herself. The girl knows about her character traits, about her decisive disposition: “I was born this way, hot! I was no more than six years old, so I did it! They offended me with something at home, and it was late in the evening, it was already dark; I ran out to the Volga, got into the boat and pushed it away from the shore. The next morning they found it, about ten miles away! Such a person will not submit to tyranny, will not be subject to dirty manipulations by Kabanikha. It’s not Katerina’s fault that she was born at a time when a wife had to unquestioningly obey her husband and was an almost powerless addition whose function was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya doesn’t have children.

The motif of freedom is repeated many times in the work. The parallel between Katerina and Varvara seems interesting. Sister Tikhon also strives to be free, but this freedom must be physical, freedom from despotism and mother’s prohibitions. At the end of the play, the girl runs away from home, finding what she dreamed of. Katerina understands freedom differently. For her, this is an opportunity to do as she wants, take responsibility for her life, and not obey stupid orders. This is freedom of the soul. Katerina, like Varvara, gains freedom. But such freedom is achievable only through suicide.

In Ostrovsky’s work “The Thunderstorm,” Katerina and the characteristics of her image were perceived differently by critics. If Dobrolyubov saw in the girl a symbol of the Russian soul, tormented by the patriarchal house-building, then Pisarev saw a weak girl who had driven herself into such a situation.

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Disregarded in her rights and married off early. Most marriages of that time were designed for benefits. If the chosen one was from a wealthy family, this could help get high rank. Marry even if not your loved one young man, and wealthy and wealthy were the order of the day. There was no such thing as divorce. Apparently, from such calculations, Katerina was married to a rich young man, a merchant’s son. Married life brought her neither happiness nor love, but, on the contrary, became the embodiment of hell, filled with the despotism of her mother-in-law and the lies of the people around her.

This image in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” is the main and at the same time the most controversial. She differs from the residents of Kalinov in her strength of character and self-esteem.

Katerina's life in her parents' house

The formation of her personality was greatly influenced by her childhood, which Katya loves to remember. Her father was a wealthy merchant, she did not feel the need, mother's love and care surrounded her from birth. Her childhood was fun and carefree.

The main features of Katerina can be called:

• kindness;
• sincerity;
• openness.

Her parents took her to church with them, and then she walked and devoted her days to her favorite job. My passion for the church began in childhood with attending church services. Later, it was in the church that Boris would pay attention to her.

When Katerina turned nineteen, she was married off. And, although everything is the same in her husband’s house: walks and work, this no longer gives Katya the same pleasure as in childhood.

The former ease is no longer there, only responsibilities remain. The feeling of her mother's support and love helped her believe in the existence of higher powers. Marriage, which separated her from her mother, deprived Katya of the main thing: love and freedom.

Essay on the topic “the image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” will be incomplete without getting to know her surroundings. This:

• husband Tikhon;
• mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova;
• husband's sister Varvara.

The person causing her suffering family life- mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna. Her cruelty, control over her household and subjugation of them to her will also applies to her daughter-in-law. The long-awaited wedding of her son did not make her happy. But Katya manages to resist her influence thanks to the strength of her character. This scares Kabanikha. Having all the power in the house, she cannot allow Katerina to influence her husband. And he reproaches his son for loving his wife more than his mother.

In conversations between Katerina Tikhon and Marfa Ignatyevna, when the latter openly provokes her daughter-in-law, Katya behaves extremely dignified and friendly, not allowing the conversation to develop into a skirmish, she answers briefly and to the point. When Katya says that she loves her like my own mother, her mother-in-law does not believe her, calling it a pretense in front of others. Nevertheless, Katya’s spirit cannot be broken. Even when communicating with her mother-in-law, she addresses her as “You,” showing that they are on the same level, while Tikhon addresses his mother exclusively as “You.”

Katerina’s husband cannot be classified as either a positive or negative character. Essentially, he is a child tired of his parent's control. However, his behavior and actions are not aimed at changing the situation; all his words end in complaints about his existence. Sister Varvara reproaches him for not being able to stand up for his wife.
When communicating with Varvara, Katya is sincere. Varvara warns her that life in this house is impossible without lies, and helps her organize a meeting with her lover.

The connection with Boris fully reveals the characterization of Katerina from the play “The Thunderstorm”. Their relationship is developing rapidly. Having arrived from Moscow, he fell in love with Katya, and the girl reciprocates his feelings. Although the status of a married woman worries him, he is unable to refuse dates with her. Katya struggles with her feelings, does not want to break the laws of Christianity, but during her husband’s departure, she goes on secret dates.

After Tikhon's arrival, on Boris's initiative, the meetings stop; he hopes to keep them a secret. But this contradicts Katerina’s principles; she cannot lie to others or herself. The beginning of a thunderstorm pushes her to talk about the betrayal; she sees this as a sign from above. Boris wants to go to Siberia, but he refuses her request to take her with him. He probably doesn’t need her, there was no love on his part.

And for Katya he was a sip fresh air. Having come to Kalinov from an alien world, he brought with him a feeling of freedom that she so lacked. The girl’s rich imagination gave him traits that Boris never had. And she fell in love, but not with a person, but with her idea of ​​him.

The break with Boris and the inability to unite with Tikhon end tragically for Katerina. The realization of the impossibility of living in this world prompts her to throw herself into the river. In order to break one of the strictest Christian prohibitions, Katerina needs to have enormous willpower, but the current circumstances leave her no choice. read our article.

Why does the critic N.A. Dobrolyubov call Katerina “ strong character”?

In the article “A Ray of Light in dark kingdom“N.A. Dobrolyubov writes that in “The Thunderstorm” the “Russian strong character” is expressed, which is striking “by its opposition to all tyrant principles.” This character is “focused and decisive, unswervingly faithful to the instinct of natural truth, full of faith in new ideals and selfless, in the sense that it is better for him to die than to live under those principles that are disgusting to him.” This is exactly how the critic saw Katerina’s character. But is this how the reader sees this image? And how does the heroine’s character manifest itself in action?

The formation of personality begins in childhood, so the author introduces into the play Katerina’s story about life in her parents’ house. The heroine’s experiences, her state of mind, the perception of the events that happened to her as a tragedy - all this would be incomprehensible without a description of life before and after marriage. To explain the changes that occurred in Katerina’s soul and her internal struggle, which arose as a result of the actions she committed, the author gives pictures of the heroine’s childhood and youth through memories painted with light colors (unlike “ dark kingdom", where she is forced to live married).

Katerina considers the atmosphere of her parents’ home very beneficial for her development and upbringing: “I lived, didn’t worry about anything, ... like a bird in the wild.” The activities of this period - needlework, gardening, visiting church, singing, conversations with wanderers - are not much different from what fills the heroine’s life in the Kabanovs’ house. But behind the fence of a merchant’s house there is no freedom of choice, warmth and sincerity in relationships between people, there is no joy and desire to sing like a bird. Everything, as in a distorting mirror, is distorted beyond recognition, and this causes dissonance in Katerina’s soul. Anger, grumpiness, eternal discontent, constant reproaches, moralizing and distrust of her mother-in-law deprived Katerina of confidence in her own rightness and purity of thoughts, causing anxiety and mental pain. She remembers with longing about the happy and calm life as a girl, about how her parents loved her. Here, in the “dark kingdom,” the joyful expectation of happiness and the bright perception of the world disappeared.

Love of life, optimism, and a feeling of purity and light in the soul were replaced by despondency, a sense of sinfulness and guilt, fear and the desire to die. This is no longer the cheerful girl that people knew her as a girl, this is a completely different Katerina. But strength of character is manifested even in the conditions of life behind the fence, since the heroine cannot meekly endure injustice and humiliation, nor accept the principles of merchant hypocrisy. When Kabanova reproaches Katerina for pretense, she objects to her mother-in-law: “Whether in front of people or without people, I’m still alone, I don’t prove anything of myself... It’s nice to endure lies!”

Nobody talked to Kabanova like that, but Katerina was used to being sincere, and wanted to remain that way in her husband’s family. After all, before her marriage, she was a cheerful and sensitive girl, she loved nature, and was kind to people. That is why N.A. Dobrolyubov had reason to call Katerina a “strong character” who “strikes us with her opposite” in relation to the characters of the merchant class depicted in the play. Indeed, the image main character is the antipode of others female characters in the play "The Thunderstorm".

Katerina is a sensitive and romantic person: sometimes it seemed to her that she was standing over an abyss and someone was pushing her there, down. She seemed to have a presentiment of her fall (sin and early death), so her soul is filled with fear. Loving another person while married is an unforgivable sin for a believer. The girl was brought up on the principles of high morality and fulfillment of Christian commandments, but she was accustomed to living “by her own will,” that is, having the opportunity to choose her actions and make decisions on her own. Therefore, she says to Varvara: “And if I get tired of it here, they won’t hold me back by any force. I’ll throw myself out the window, throw myself into the Volga.”

Boris said about Katerina that in church she prays with an angelic smile, “but her face seems to glow.” And this opinion confirms the peculiarity of Katerina’s inner world, speaks of her difference in comparison with other characters in the play. IN family of origin, where there was respect for the child’s personality, in an atmosphere of love, kindness and trust, the girl saw worthy role models. Feeling the warmth and sincerity, she got used to free life, to work without coercion. Her parents did not scold her, but rejoiced at her behavior and actions. This gave her confidence that she lived correctly and sinlessly, and God had nothing to punish her for. Her pure, immaculate soul was open to goodness and love.

In the Kabanovs’ house, as in the city of Kalinov in general, Katerina finds herself in an atmosphere of bondage, hypocrisy, and suspicion, where she is treated as a potential sinner and is accused in advance of something she never thought of doing. At first she made excuses, trying to prove to everyone her moral purity, she worried and endured, but the habit of freedom and the longing for soulfulness in relationships with people forced her to go out, break out of the “dungeon”, first into the garden, then to the Volga, then to forbidden love. And a feeling of guilt comes to Katerina, she begins to think that by crossing the boundaries of the “dark kingdom”, she also violated her own ideas about Christian morality, about morality. This means she has become different: she is a sinner worthy of God’s punishment.

For Katerina, feelings of loneliness, defenselessness, her own sinfulness and loss of interest in life turned out to be destructive. No nearby dear people that would make life worth living. Caring for elderly parents or children would bring responsibility and joy into her life, but the heroine has no children, and whether her parents were alive is unknown, the play does not say.

However, it would not be entirely correct to consider Katerina a victim of an unhappy marriage, because hundreds of women patiently accepted and endured such circumstances. It is also impossible to call her repentance to her husband, an honest confession of treason, stupidity, since Katerina could not have done it any other way, thanks to her spiritual purity. And suicide became the only way out because the man she loved, Boris, could not take her with him, leaving at the request of his uncle for Siberia. For her, returning to the Kabanovs’ house was worse than death: Katerina understood that they were looking for her, that she would not even have time to escape, and in the state in which the unfortunate woman was, the nearest path led her to the Volga.

All of the above arguments confirm the opinion of N.A. Dobrolyubov that Katerina became a victim of her own purity, although it was in purity that her spiritual strength and that inner core that the merchant Kabanova could not break. Katerina’s freedom-loving nature, her principles, which did not allow her to lie, placed the heroine much higher than all the characters in the play. In this situation, the decision to leave a world where everything was contrary to her ideals was a manifestation of strength of character. In those circumstances only strong man could have decided to protest: Katerina felt lonely, but she rebelled against the foundations of the “dark kingdom” and significantly shook this block of ignorance.

According to one version, the drama "The Thunderstorm" was written by Ostrovsky when he was impressed by a married actress, Lyuba Kositskaya. The image of Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” appeared precisely thanks to Kositskaya, and it is interesting that she later got this role on stage.

Katerina was born into a merchant family, their house was prosperous, and Katerina’s childhood was carefree and joyful. The heroine herself compared herself to a free bird, and admitted to Varvara that she did whatever she wanted until she got married. Yes, Katerina’s family was good, her upbringing was good, so the girl grew up pure and open. In the image of Katerina one can clearly see a kind, sincere, Russian soul that does not know how to deceive.

Let us continue to consider the image of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, and note that it was very difficult for the girl to live with her husband without pretense, given his family. If we remember Kabanikha, Katerina’s mother-in-law, who keeps everyone at home in fear, it becomes clear why these characters in the drama have a conflict. Of course, Kabanikha acted using methods of humiliation and intimidation, and some were able to adapt to this and come to terms with it. For example, it was easier for Varvara and Tikhon to create the impression that they were completely submissive to their mother, although outside the home both daughter and son indulged in revelry.

Features in the image of Katerina in the drama "The Thunderstorm"

What character traits did Katerina literally frighten Kabanikha? She was pure of soul, sincere and ardent, and did not tolerate hypocrisy and deception. For example, when her husband left, the mother-in-law wanted to see her daughter-in-law howling, but it was not in Katerina’s rules to pretend. If the custom is not accepted by the soul, then it is not worth following it, the girl believes.

When Katerina realized that she loved Boris, she did not hide her feelings by talking about them. Varvara, her mother-in-law, and the main character’s husband himself learned about Katerina’s love. We see depth, strength and passion in the girl's nature, and her words express these personality traits well. She talks about people and birds, why can't people fly the same way? As a result, Katerina says that she will not tolerate an unbearable and disgusting life, and as a last resort, she will decide to take the fatal step - throw herself out the window or drown herself in the river. Reflecting on these words, you can better understand the image of Katerina in Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm”.

Finally, what effort it took for the girl to tell Boris about her feelings! After all, Katerina was married woman, but the passion for freedom and the desire to be happy, as well as willpower, manifested themselves in this brave act. Ostrovsky contrasts these character traits of Katerina with the world of Kabanikha (Marfa Kabanova). How does this manifest itself? For example, Kabanikha blindly worships the traditions of old times, and this is not an impulse of the soul, but an opportunity not to lose power over others. The same can be said about the religious attitude, because for Katerina going to church is natural and pleasant, in Kabanikha it is a formality, and everyday issues worry her more than thoughts about the spiritual.

What does Katerina strive for?

An important point that must be taken into account when talking about the image of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” is that she is full of religious fear. The girl thinks that punishment for sin from the Lord and the thunderstorm, which she identifies with these concepts, are terrible and severe. All this, together with a feeling of guilt, prompts her to tell everyone about the sin she committed. Katerina decides to run away from a family that she does not accept with her heart and soul. The husband feels pity for her, but beats her, because that’s what needs to be done.

Boris, Katerina's lover, cannot help her. And although he sympathizes with her, it is clear how powerless he is and shows weakness and lack of will. Left alone, Katerina decides to throw herself off a cliff. Some attribute this action to the girl’s weakness of will, but Ostrovsky wanted to show the strength of her personality, which, again, complements the image of Katerina.

In conclusion, we can say that Katerina embodied a beautiful Russian soul - pure and bright. Her soul is opposed to tyranny, rudeness, cruelty and ignorance - qualities that are inherent in many people not only at the time the drama was written, but also today.

We hope that consideration of the image of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky turned out to be useful for you. Other articles

<…>We can trace it [ feminine energetic character] development according to Katerina’s personality.

First of all, “you are struck by the extraordinary originality of this character. There is nothing external or alien in him, but everything somehow comes out from within him; every impression is processed in it and then grows organically with it. We see this, for example, in Katerina’s simple-minded story about her childhood and life in her mother’s house. It turns out that her upbringing and young life gave her nothing; in her mother’s house it was the same as at the Kabanovs’: they went to church, sewed with gold on velvet, listened to the stories of wanderers, had dinner, walked in the garden, again talked with the praying pilgrims and prayed themselves... After listening to Katerina’s story, Varvara, her sister husband, remarks with surprise: “But it’s the same with us.” But the difference is defined by Katerina very quickly in five words: “yes, everything here seems to be from under captivity!” And further conversation shows that in all this appearance, which is so commonplace everywhere, Katerina knew how to find her own special meaning, apply it to her needs and aspirations, until Kabanikha’s heavy hand fell on her. Katerina does not at all belong to the violent character, never satisfied, who loves to destroy at all costs... On the contrary, she is primarily a creative, loving, ideal character. That is why she tries to comprehend and ennoble everything in her imagination;<…>She tries to reconcile every external dissonance with the harmony of her soul; she covers every shortcoming from the fullness of her own. internal forces. Rough, superstitious stories and senseless ravings of wanderers turn into golden, poetic dreams of the imagination, not frightening, but clear, kind. Her images are poor because the materials presented to her by reality are so monotonous; but even with these meager means her imagination works tirelessly and takes her into new world, quiet and bright. It’s not the rituals that occupy her in the church: she doesn’t even hear what they sing and read there; she has different music in her soul, different visions, for her the service ends imperceptibly, as if in one second. She looks at the trees, strangely drawn on the images, and imagines a whole country of gardens, where all the trees are like this and everything is blooming, fragrant, everything is full of heavenly singing. Otherwise, on a sunny day, she will see “such a bright pillar coming down from the dome and smoke moving in this pillar, like clouds,” and now she sees, “as if angels are flying and singing in this pillar.” Sometimes she will present herself - why shouldn’t she fly? and when she stands on the mountain, she just wants to fly: she would run like that, raise her arms, and fly. She is strange, extravagant from the point of view of others; but this is because she cannot in any way accept their views and inclinations. She takes materials from them because there is nowhere else to get them from; but she does not draw conclusions, but searches for them herself and often comes to a conclusion that is not at all what they settle on. We notice a similar attitude to external impressions in other environments, in people who, by their upbringing, are accustomed to abstract reasoning and know how to analyze their feelings. The whole difference is that with Katerina, as a direct, lively personality, everything is done according to the instinct of nature, without a clear consciousness, but with people who are theoretically developed and strong in mind main role Logic and analysis play a role. Strong minds are precisely distinguished by that inner strength that gives them the opportunity not to succumb to ready-made views and systems, but to create their own views and conclusions based on living impressions. They do not reject anything at first, but they do not stop at anything, but only take note of everything and process it in their own way. Katerina also presents us with similar results, although she does not resonate or even understand her own feelings, but is driven directly by nature. In the dry, monotonous life of his youth, in rude and superstitious concepts environment she constantly knew how to take what agreed with her natural aspirations for beauty, harmony, contentment, happiness. In the conversations of the wanderers, in the prostrations and lamentations, she saw not a dead form, but something else, to which her heart was constantly striving. Based on them, she built her ideal world, without passions, without need, without grief, the world, the whole dedicated to goodness and pleasure. But what is real good and true pleasure for a person, she could not determine for herself; This is why these sudden impulses of some unaccountable, unclear aspirations, which she recalls: “Sometimes, it used to be, early in the morning I would go to the garden, the sun was still rising, I would fall on my knees, pray and cry, and I myself don’t know, about what I pray for and what I cry about; That's how they'll find me. And what I prayed for then, what I asked for, I don’t know; I don’t need anything, I had enough of everything.” A poor girl who has not received a broad theoretical education, who does not know everything that is going on in the world, who does not even properly understand her own needs, cannot, of course, give herself an account of what she needs. While she lives with her mother, in complete freedom, without any everyday worries, while the needs and passions of an adult have not yet emerged in her, she does not even know how to distinguish her own dreams, her inner world from external impressions. Losing herself among the praying mantises in her iridescent thoughts and walking in her bright kingdom, she keeps thinking that her contentment comes precisely from these praying mantises, from the lamps lit in all corners of the house, from the lamentations heard around her; with her feelings she animates the dead environment in which she lives and merges with it inner world your soul.<…>

In a gloomy environment new family Katerina began to feel the insufficiency of her appearance, with which she had thought to be content before. Under the heavy hand of the soulless Kabanikha there is no scope for her bright visions, just as there is no freedom for her feelings. In a fit of tenderness for her husband, she wants to hug him, - the old woman shouts: “Why are you hanging around your neck, shameless one? Bow down at your feet!” She wants to stay alone and be sad quietly, as before, but her mother-in-law says: “Why aren’t you howling?” She is looking for light, air, she wants to dream and frolic, water her flowers, look at the sun, at the Volga, send her greetings to all living things - but she is kept in captivity, she is constantly suspected of unclean, depraved intentions. She still seeks refuge in religious practice, in going to church, in soul-saving conversations; but even here he no longer finds the same impressions. Killed by her daily work and eternal bondage, she can no longer dream with the same clarity of angels singing in a dusty pillar illuminated by the sun, she cannot imagine the Gardens of Eden with their undisturbed appearance and joy. Everything is gloomy, scary around her, everything emanates coldness and some kind of irresistible threat; and the faces of the saints are so stern, and the church readings are so menacing, and the stories of the wanderers are so monstrous... They are still the same in essence, they have not changed at all, but she herself has changed: she no longer has the desire to construct aerial visions, and indeed what satisfies her is the vague imagination of the bliss that she enjoyed before. She matured, other desires awoke in her, more real ones; not knowing any other career than the family, any other world than the one that has developed for her in the society of her town, she, of course, begins to recognize, of all human aspirations, the one that is most inevitable and closest to her - the desire for love and devotion . In the past, her heart was too full of dreams, she did not pay attention to the young people who looked at her, but only laughed. When she married Tikhon Kabanov, she did not love him either, she still did not understand this feeling; They told her that every girl should get married, showed Tikhon as her future husband, and she married him, remaining completely indifferent to this step. And here, too, a peculiarity of character is manifested: according to our usual concepts, she should be resisted if she has a decisive character; but she does not even think about resistance, because she does not have enough reasons for this. She has no particular desire to get married, but she also has no aversion to marriage; There is no love in her for Tikhon, but there is no love for anyone else either. She doesn’t care for now, that’s why she allows you to do whatever you want to her. In this one cannot see either powerlessness or apathy, but one can only find a lack of experience, and even too great a readiness to do everything for others, caring little about oneself. She has little knowledge and a lot of gullibility, which is why for the time being she does not show opposition to those around her and decides to endure better than to spite them.

But when she understands what she needs and wants to achieve something, she will achieve her goal at all costs: then the strength of her character will fully manifest itself, not wasted in petty antics. At first, out of the innate kindness and nobility of her soul, she will make every possible effort so as not to violate the peace and rights of others, in order to get what she wants with the greatest possible compliance with all the requirements that are imposed on her by people connected with her in some way; and if they are able to take advantage of this initial mood and decide to give her complete satisfaction, then it will be good for both her and them. But if not, she will stop at nothing: law, kinship, custom, human court, rules of prudence - everything disappears for her before the power of internal attraction; she does not spare herself and does not think about others. This was exactly the way out that presented itself to Katerina, and nothing else could have been expected given the situation in which she found herself.

Dobrolyubov N.A. "A ray of light in a dark kingdom"