Enmity between loved ones
it happens especially
irreconcilable
P. Tacitus
There is no worse retribution
for madness and delusion,
than to see as your own
children suffer because of them
W. Sumner

Play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" tells about the life of a provincial Russia XIX century. The events take place in the city of Kalinov, located on the high Volga bank. Against the backdrop of the magnificent beauty of nature and royal tranquility, a tragedy occurs that disrupts the calm life of this city. Not all is well in Kalinov. Here, behind high fences, domestic despotism reigns, and invisible tears are shed. The play centers on the life of one of the merchant families. But there are hundreds of such families in the city, and millions throughout Russia. However, life is structured in such a way that everyone observes certain laws, rules of behavior, and any deviation from them is a shame, a sin.
The main character in the Kabanov family is the mother, the rich widow Marfa Ignatievna. It is she who dictates her own rules in the family and commands the household members. It is no coincidence that her last name is Kabanova. There is something animalistic about this woman: she is uneducated, but powerful, cruel and stubborn, demanding that everyone obey her, honor the foundations of the house-building and observe its traditions. Marfa Ignatievna - Strong woman. She considers the family to be the most important thing, the basis of social order, and demands the uncomplaining obedience of her children and daughter-in-law. However, she sincerely loves her son and daughter, and her remarks speak about this: “After all, it’s out of love that your parents are strict with you, everyone thinks to teach you good.” Kabanikha is lenient towards Varvara and lets her go out with the young people, realizing how hard it will be for her to be married. But Katerina constantly reproaches her daughter-in-law, controls her every step, forces Katerina to live the way she considers right. Perhaps she is jealous of her daughter-in-law for her son, which is why she is so unkind to her. “Ever since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you,” she says, turning to Tikhon. But he is unable to object to his mother, since he is a weak-willed person, brought up in obedience, and respects his mother’s opinion. Let us pay attention to Tikhon’s remarks: “How can I, Mama, disobey you!”; “I, Mama, am not one step out of your control,” etc. However, this is only outer side his behavior. He doesn’t want to live according to the laws of house-building, he doesn’t want to make his wife his slave, a thing: “But why be afraid? It’s enough for me that she loves me.” Tikhon believes that relationships between a man and a woman in a family should be built on the principles of love and mutual understanding, and not on the subordination of one to the other. And yet he cannot disobey his domineering mother and stand up for the woman he loves. That's why Tikhon seeks solace in drunkenness. The mother, with her domineering character, suppresses the man in him, making him weak and defenseless. Tikhon is not ready to play the role of husband, protector, take care of family well-being. Therefore, in Katerina’s eyes he is a nonentity, not a husband. She doesn’t love him, but only feels sorry for him and tolerates him.
Tikhon's sister Varvara is much stronger and braver than her brother. She has adapted to life in her mother’s house, where everything is based on deception, and now lives by the principle: “Doing whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered.” Varvara meets her lover Kudryash secretly from her mother, and does not report to Kabanikha for her every step. However, it’s easier for her to live - unmarried girl is free, and therefore she is not kept under lock and key, like Katerina. Varvara tries to explain to Katerina that it is impossible to live in their house without deception. But her brother’s wife is incapable of this: “I don’t know how to deceive, I can’t hide anything.”
Katerina is a stranger in the Kabanovs’ house, everything here is “as if from under captivity” for her. IN parental home she was surrounded by love and affection, she was free: “...what I want, it happened, that’s what I do.” Her soul is like a bird, she must live in free flight. And in her mother-in-law’s house, Katerina is like a bird in a cage: she yearns in captivity, endures undeserved reproaches from her mother-in-law and the drunkenness of her unloved husband. She doesn’t even have children to give them her affection, love, attention.
Fleeing from family despotism, Katerina is looking for support in life, a person she could rely on and truly love. And therefore, Dikiy’s weak and weak-willed nephew Boris becomes in her eyes an ideal man, unlike her husband. She doesn't seem to notice his shortcomings. But Boris turned out to be a man incapable of understanding Katerina and loving her just as selflessly. After all, he throws her to the mercy of her mother-in-law. And Tikhon looks much more noble than Boris: he forgives Katerina everything because he truly loves her.
Therefore, Katerina’s suicide is a pattern. She cannot live under the yoke of Kabanikha and forgive the betrayal of Boris. This tragedy has stirred quiet life provincial town, and even the timid, weak-willed Tikhon begins to protest against his mother: “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you..."
Using the example of the Kabanov family, we see that relationships in the family cannot be built on the principle of subordination of the weak to the strong, the foundations of Domostroev are being destroyed, and the power of the autocrats is passing. And even a weak woman can challenge this to the wild world by his death. And yet I believe that suicide is not the best way out of this situation. Katerina could have acted differently. For example, go to a monastery and devote your life to serving God, because she is a very religious woman. But the heroine chooses death, and this is both her strength and her weakness.

Kabanikha is very rich. This can be judged because her trade affairs extend beyond Kalinov (on her instructions, Tikhon traveled to Moscow), and that Dikoy respects her. But the affairs of Kabanikha are of little interest to the playwright: she is assigned a different role in the play. If Dikiy shows the brute force of tyranny, then Kabanikha is the exponent of the ideas and principles of the “dark kingdom”. She understands that money alone does not give power, another indispensable condition is the obedience of those who do not have money. And she sees her main concern in suppressing any possibility of disobedience. She “eats” her family in order to kill their will, any ability to resist. With Jesuitical sophistication, she drains the soul out of them, insults them human dignity suspicions based on nothing. She skillfully uses various techniques to assert her will.

Kabanikha can speak in a friendly and instructive way (“I know, I know that you don’t like my words, but what can I do, I’m not a stranger to you, my heart aches for you”), and hypocritically become poor (“Mother is old , stupid; well, you, young people, smart, should not exact from us, fools”), and command imperiously (“Look, remember! Cut your nose!”, “Bow at your feet!”). Kabanikha is trying to show her religiosity. Words: “Oh, a grave sin! How long will it take to sin!”, “Only one sin!” - constantly accompany her speech. She supports superstitions and prejudices and strictly observes ancient customs. It is not known whether Kabanikha believes in Feklushi’s absurd fairy tales and the signs of the townspeople; she herself says nothing of the kind. But it resolutely suppresses any manifestations of free thought. She condemns Kuligin’s statements against prejudices and superstitions, and she supports the superstitious prophecies of the townspeople that “this storm will not pass in vain” and edifyingly tells her son: “Don’t judge your older self! They know more than you. Old people have signs for everything. an old man he won’t say a word to the wind.” Both in religion and ancient customs she sees main goal: to push a person, to keep him in constant fear. She understands that only fear can keep people in subjection and prolong the shaky reign of tyrants. In response to Tikhon’s words, why should his wife be afraid of him, Kabanova exclaims in horror: “Why, why be afraid! How, why be afraid! Are you crazy, or what? He won’t be afraid of you, and he won’t be afraid of me either. What kind of order will there be in the house? After all, you, tea, live with her in law. Ali, do you think the law means nothing?” She defends the law according to which the weak should fear the strong, according to which a person should not have his own will. As a faithful guardian of this order, she teaches her household in full view of the crowd of townspeople. After Katerina’s confession, she loudly and triumphantly says to Tikhon: “What, son! Where will the will lead? I spoke, but you didn’t want to listen. That’s what I’ve been waiting for!”

In Kabanikha’s son, Tikhon, we see the living embodiment of the goal that the rulers of the “dark kingdom” strive for. They would be completely calm if they could make all people just as downtrodden and weak-willed. Thanks to the efforts of “mama,” Tikhon is so saturated with fear and humility that he does not even dare to think about living with his own mind and his own will. “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live by my own will!” - he assures his mother.

But Tikhon is by nature a good person. He is kind, sympathetic, sincerely loves and pities Katerina, and is alien to any selfish aspirations. But everything human is suppressed in him by the despotism of his mother, he becomes a submissive executor of her will. However, Katerina’s tragedy forces even the submissive Tikhon to raise his voice of protest. If Tikhon’s first words in the play are: “How can I, Mama, disobey you!”, then at the end of it he desperately throws a passionate, angry accusation into his mother’s face: “You ruined her! You! You!"

The unbearable life under the yoke of Kabanikha, the longing for freedom, the desire for love and devotion - all this, which did not find a response in Tikhon, was the reason for the emergence of Katerina’s feelings for Boris. Boris is not like the other inhabitants of Kalinov. He is educated and seems to be from another world. Like Katerina, he is also oppressed, and this gives the young woman hope of finding in him a kindred spirit who can respond to her ardent feelings. But Katerina was bitterly deceived in Boris. Boris only outwardly seems better than Tikhon, but in reality he is worse than him. Like Tikhon, Boris does not have his own will and obeys without complaint.

The image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” is one of the main negative ones that forms the plot. Hence the depth of his portrayal by playwright Ostrovsky. The play itself shows how, in the depths of an outdated but still strong patriarchal society, the champions of the “dark kingdom” in the very bud stifle the barely emerging shoots of the new. At the same time, the author of the work depicts two types that support the foundations of the Old Testament society based on dogmas. This is the widowed wealthy merchant Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, as well as the wealthy merchant Savel Prokofich Dikoy. No wonder they call each other godfathers.

Merchant's wife Kabanova as an ideologist of the “dark kingdom”

It should be admitted that the image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” is gradated negative images occupies a more significant position than the character of the merchant Wild. Unlike her godfather, who oppresses those around him in the most primitive ways (with the help of swearing, almost reaching the point of beatings and humiliation), Marfa Ignatievna understands perfectly well what “old times” are and how they should be protected. Her influence on others is more subtle. Indeed, as the reader reads the drama, she sees not only scenes where she peremptorily lectures her family, but also moments where she pretends to be “old and stupid.” Moreover, the merchant Kabanova acts as an apologist in the manipulation of her neighbors double standards, hypocrisy. And in this sense, the image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” is truly classic in Russian literature.

The merchant's desire is to subjugate her neighbors

The playwright Ostrovsky managed to show at the same time, deeply and clearly for the reader, how in the merchant Kabanova, ostentatious, insincere religiosity coexists with an absolutely unchristian, immoral and selfish desire - to subjugate people to himself. Marfa Ignatievna really breaks the will and characters of her neighbors, their life aspirations, crushes real, genuine spirituality. She is opposed by the image of Katerina in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” her daughter-in-law.

Different understanding of antiquity by Kabanikha and Katerina

To be precise, Katerina is also a representative of a patriarchal society. This idea was expressed by the actor and literary critic Pisarev in response to famous article Nikolai Dobrolyubov “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom.”

However, if her mother-in-law represents the “old times”, gloomy, dogmatic, subjugating people and killing their aspirations with meaningless “don’ts” and teachings “how it should be,” then Katerina, in contrast to her, has completely different views on the “old times”.

For her, there are also centuries-old traditions, but they are expressed in completely different ways: in love for others and care for them, in a childishly enthusiastic attitude towards the world around us, in the ability to see and perceive all the good things around, in the instinctive rejection of gloomy dogmatism, in mercy . “Old time” for Katerina is colorful, romantic, poetic, joyful. Thus, Katerina and Kabanikha personalize two opposing aspects of Russian patriarchal serf society - dark and light.

Psychological pressure from Kabanikha on Katerina

The tragic image of Katerina in Ostrovsky's play "The Thunderstorm" invariably evokes the reader's sympathy and sympathy. The girl ends up in the Kabanov family by marrying Tikhon, the son of a merchant's wife. Before Katerina appeared in the house, her future mother-in-law completely imposed her will on everyone at home: her son and daughter Varvara. Moreover, if Tikhon is completely morally broken and is only able to follow the instructions of “mama,” then Varvara only pretends to agree, but always acts in her own way. However, under the influence of her mother, her personality was also deformed - the girl became insincere and double-minded.

The image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” is antagonistic to the image of Katerina throughout the entire play. It’s not for nothing that the daughter-in-law reproaches that her mother-in-law “eats her.” Kabanikha constantly insults her with far-fetched suspicions. It exhausts the soul with senseless compulsions to “bow to your husband” and “cut your nose.” Moreover, the merchant's wife appeals to quite plausible principles: maintaining order in the family; harmonious (as is customary in the Russian tradition) relationships between relatives; basics Christian faith. In fact, Marfa Ignatievna’s influence on Katerina comes down to compulsion - to blindly follow her orders. Kabanikha wants to turn her into another subject of her home “dark kingdom”.

Unmercifulness is a common trait between Kabanikha and Wild

The characterization of the image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky shows her common feature with the image of the merchant Wild, despite their obvious characteristic differences. This is unmerciful towards people. Both of them treat their neighbors and fellow citizens in a non-Christian, consumerist way.

True, Savel Prokofich does this openly, and Marfa Ignatievna resorts to mimicry, imitating Christian beliefs. When talking with her neighbors, she prefers tactics" best protection- attack”, accusing them of non-existent “sins”. She doesn’t even hear the opposite arguments from the children and daughter-in-law. “I would believe... if I hadn’t heard with my own ears... what veneration is...” Isn’t it a very convenient, almost “impenetrable” position ?

The characterization and image of Kabanikha from the play “The Thunderstorm” by A. Ostrovsky combines hypocrisy and cruelty. After all, in fact, Kabanikha, who regularly goes to church and does not spare alms to the poor, turns out to be cruel and unable to forgive Katerina, who has repented and admitted cheating on her husband. Moreover, she instructs her son Tikhon, who is deprived of his own point of view, to beat her, which he does. They motivate this, again, by tradition.

Kabanikha contributed to Katerina’s suicide

It is the image of Katerina Kabanova in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” constantly bullied by her mother-in-law, deprived of all rights and intercession, that gives tragedy to Ostrovsky’s play. None of the readers doubt that her suicide is the result of the unfavorable influence of her mother-in-law, constant humiliation, threats, and cruel treatment.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that Katerina had already previously stated that she would settle scores with her unhappy life. Marfa Ignatievna, who was well aware of everything that was going on in the house, could not help but know this. Was there any direct intent on the part of the mother-in-law to drive her daughter-in-law to suicide? Hardly. Rather, Kabanikha thought of “breaking” her, completely, as she had already done with her son. As a result, the merchant's family collapses: her daughter Varvara accuses her of directly contributing to the tragedy and leaves home. Tikhon goes on a drinking binge...

However, the hard-hearted Marfa Ignatievna does not repent even after this. For her " dark kingdom", manipulating people is more important than family, more important than morality. This conclusion can be drawn from the episode of Kabanikha’s revealed hypocrisy even in this tragic situation. The merchant's wife publicly bows and thanks the people who retrieved the body of the late Katerina from the Volga. However, then he declares that she cannot be forgiven. What could be more anti-Christian than not forgiving a dead person? This, perhaps, can only be done by a real apostate.

Instead of a conclusion

The negative character - the merchant Kabanova - is revealed gradually as the action progresses. Does the image of Katerina in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm” fully oppose him? Probably no. The girl has nothing to oppose to the suffocating atmosphere around her; she only begs for understanding. She makes a mistake. The imaginary liberation from the domestic “dark kingdom” of the Kabanovs - an affair with Boris - turns out to be a mirage. Katerina repents. It would seem that Kabanikha’s morality has won... It costs the merchant’s wife nothing to turn the girl into her ally. To do this, you just need to show mercy. However, as they say, habit is second nature. Kabanikha, “offended,” bullies the already unrequited, humiliated Katerina with redoubled force.

Daughter-in-law's suicide brings devastating consequences for the family of Marfa Ignatievna. We are now seeing a crisis in the obedient (before Katerina’s appearance) family of the merchant’s wife, which is falling apart. Kabanikha can no longer effectively defend the “old times.” From the above, the conclusion suggests itself that turn of the 19th century century way of life Russian society was changing steadily.

In fact, society even then demanded a liberation decree abolishing serfdom, allowing commoners to raise the role of education and social freedoms.

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Very often, extremely negative images appear in literature. At a time when the opinion of duality is generally expressed human soul and nature and presence and positive and negative side personalities, masters artistic word every now and then they deliberately endow their characters with only bad character traits, excluding even the slightest manifestations positive influence hero's activities.

In the play “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, one of these characters is Kabanikha.

Personality characteristics of Kabanikha

Full name The heroine is Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, but in the text she is most often called Kabanikha. Marfa Ignatyevna is a member friendly relations with Dikiy, he is also her godfather. It is worth noting that such a friendship is not surprising, because both characters are very similar in character.

Dear readers! On our website you can familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the city of Kalinov in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”.

Kabanikha is a wealthy merchant's wife. Her position in society implied a tolerant attitude towards others, but in fact her habits were not at all noble. Kabaniha has a firm and unshakable character. She is a cruel and rude woman.

Marfa Ignatievna is too conservative, she is “stuck” in the past tense and lives by the principles and foundations of the past, not realizing that changes have occurred in the world and it is no longer possible to live in the old way. She believes that a person’s wisdom is determined by his age - young people a priori cannot be smart, this is only the prerogative of old people: “Don’t judge your older self! They know more than you."

Kabanikha is sure that children must bow at the feet of their parents, and the husband must “order” his wife all the time. Marfa Ignatievna is very upset when these standards of behavior are not respected and thinks that this is a problem of bad manners younger generation: “They don’t know anything, there’s no order.”

Kabanikha is used to playing to the public - she tries to be a virtuous and noble woman in the eyes of society, although in reality she is not. Marfa Ignatievna often gives alms to the poor, but she does this not at the behest of her heart, but so that everyone thinks that she is a kind and generous woman.

Kabanikha is a very devout woman, but, apparently, her religiosity is also feigned, since in spite of everything, Kabanikha does not adhere to the laws of God and often neglects the basic rules of behavior in relation to other people.

Family and relationship with relatives

The complexity of character is manifested in full force in relation to their relatives. Her family consists of three people - a son, daughter and daughter-in-law. Kabanikha developed extremely contradictory relationships with all of them.

All the difficulties and conflicts in the family are associated with the authoritarian character of the mother, her conservatism and special love for scandals.

We invite thoughtful readers to familiarize themselves with the characterization of Katerina in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm.”

Kabanikha’s son, Tikhon, is already an adult at the time of the story; he could be completely independent, but his mother does not give him the opportunity to do this. The woman takes care of her son all the time and tries to control his every step, citing Tikhon’s incompetence. As a result

Kabanikha began not only to give advice to her son, but to literally live in his place: “he eats, he doesn’t let him pass.”

Marfa Ignatievna constantly interferes in the relationship between her son and daughter-in-law and sometimes orders her son’s wife to be beaten, because this is the order: “But I love her, I’m sorry to lay a finger on her. I beat him a little, and even that was my mother’s orders.”

Tikhon, despite his age and conviction that such rude actions towards his wife are not necessary, still unquestioningly carries out the will of his mother.

To Kabanikha’s young daughter-in-law Katerina best attitude– she is always dissatisfied with her and will always find something to reproach the young girl with. The reason for this attitude lies not in Katerina’s dishonest attitude towards Kabanikha or not in Katerina’s failure to fulfill her duties, but in Kabanikha’s habit of commanding everyone and the jealousy that arose towards her daughter-in-law.

Kabanikha cannot accept the adulthood of her son; she is offended that Tikhon gives preference to his wife rather than his mother.

Kabanikha’s daughter Varvara is not so straightforward; she has long realized that she will never be able to defend her position: her mother, who at her core was a domestic tyrant, simply could not stand anything like that and did not allow any liberties. The girl found only one way out of this situation - to deceive her mother. Varvara always said what Marfa Ignatievna wanted to hear, but acted as she wanted: “Our whole house rests on this. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.”

Such actions within the family on the part of Kabanikha become the cause of many tragedies. Her daughter Varvara runs away from home, never to appear here again - for the girl, escape became the only salvation from her mother’s domestic tyranny. Tikhon and Katerina, who did not even think about how it was possible to change their situation, but simply took a wait-and-see attitude and silently endured insults and humiliation from their mother, could not achieve success.

Katerina, having cheated on her husband in order to feel happy, under the pressure of morality and shame, admits her act, and then, but under the pressure of Kabanikha’s humiliation, commits suicide. Only after Katerina’s death did Tikhon find the strength to verbally rebuff his mother and reproach her for unlawful actions towards her loved ones: “You ruined her! You! You!". However, due to Tikhon’s soft character, it is unlikely that he will be able to defend his position to the end.

As is known, in classical works There are several types of heroes in fairy tales. This article will focus on the antagonist-protagonist pair. This opposition will be examined using the example of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”. The main character of this play, in other words, the protagonist is a young girl Katerina Kabanova. She is opposed, that is, is an antagonist, by Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. Using the example of comparisons and analysis of actions, we will give more full description Boars in the play "The Thunderstorm".

First, let's look at the list characters: Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova (Kabanikha) - an old merchant's wife, a widow. Her husband died, so the woman had to raise two children alone, manage the household and take care of business. Agree, this is quite difficult at the present time. Despite the fact that the merchant's nickname is indicated in parentheses, the author never calls her that. The text contains remarks from Kabanova, not Kabanikha. With such a technique, the playwright wanted to emphasize the fact that people call a woman this way among themselves, but they personally address her with respect. That is, in fact, the residents of Kalinov do not like this man, but they are afraid of him.

Initially, the reader learns about Marfa Ignatievna from the lips of Kuligin. The self-taught mechanic calls her “a hypocrite who has eaten up everyone at home.” Kudryash only confirms these words. Next, a wanderer, Feklusha, appears on the stage. Her judgment about Kabanikha is exactly the opposite: quote. As a result of this disagreement, additional interest in this character arises. Marfa Ignatievna appears on stage already in the first act, and the reader or viewer is given the opportunity to verify the veracity of Kuligin’s words.

Kabanikha is not happy with the way her son behaves. She teaches him to live, despite the fact that his son is already an adult and has been married for a long time. Marfa Ignatievna shows herself as a grumpy, domineering woman. Her daughter-in-law Katerina behaves differently. In general, it is quite interesting to trace the similarities and differences of these characters throughout the play.

In theory, both Kabanikha and Katerina should love Tikhon. For one he is a son, for another he is a husband. However, neither Katya nor Marfa Ignatievna approached Tikhon true love don't feed. Katya feels sorry for her husband, but does not love him. And Kabanikha treats him as a guinea pig, as a creature on whom you can take out your aggression and test methods of manipulation, while hiding behind motherly love. Everyone knows that the most important thing for every mother is the happiness of her child. But Marfa Kabanova in “The Thunderstorm” is not at all interested in Tikhon’s opinion. Through years of tyranny and dictatorship, she was able to teach her son that the lack of his own point of view is quite normal. Even observing how carefully and, in some moments, tenderly Tikhon treats Katerina, Kabanikha always tries to destroy their relationship.

Many critics argued about the strength or weakness of Katerina’s character, but no one doubted the strength of Kabanikha’s character. This is a truly cruel person who tries to subjugate those around him. She should rule the state, but she has to waste her “talents” on her family and provincial town. Varvara, the daughter of Marfa Kabanova, chose pretense and lies as a way of coexistence with her oppressive mother. Katerina, on the contrary, resolutely opposes her mother-in-law. They seemed to take two positions, truth and lie, defending them. And in their conversations that Kabanikha should not categorically blame Katya for mistakes and various sins, the struggle of light and darkness, truth and “ dark kingdom", whose representative is Kabanikha.

Katerina and Kabanikha are Orthodox Christians. But their faith is completely different. For Katerina, faith that comes from within is much more important. For her, the place of prayer is not important. The girl is devout, she sees the presence of God throughout the world, and not just in the church building. Marfa Ignatievna’s religiosity can be called external. For her, rituals and strict adherence to rules are important. But behind all this obsession with practical manipulations, faith itself disappears. Also, for Kabanikha it turns out to be important to observe and maintain old traditions, despite the fact that many of them are already outdated: “they won’t be afraid of you, and even less so of me. What kind of order will there be in the house? After all, you, tea, live with her in law. Ali, do you think the law means nothing? Yes, if you keep such stupid thoughts in your head, you would be in front of her, at least, didn’t chat in front of my sister, in front of the girl.” It is impossible to characterize Kabanikha in Ostrovsky’s “The Thunderstorm” without mentioning her almost manic attention to detail. Tikhon, the son of Kabanova Sr., is a drunkard, his daughter Varvara is lying, hanging out with whoever she wants, and is about to run away from home, disgracing the family. And Marfa Ignatievna is worried that they come to the door without bowing, not as their great-grandfathers taught. Her behavior is reminiscent of the behavior of the priestesses of a dying cult, who are trying with all their might to maintain life in it with the help of external paraphernalia.

Katerina Kabanova was a somewhat suspicious girl: in the “prophecies” of the crazy lady she imagined her own fate, and in the thunderstorm the girl saw the punishment of the Lord. Kabanikha is too mercantile and down-to-earth for this. Closer to her material world, practicality and utilitarianism. Kabanova is not at all afraid of thunder and thunder, she just doesn’t want to get wet. While the residents of Kalinov are talking about the raging elements, Kabanikha grumbles and expresses her dissatisfaction: “Look, what races he has made. There is something to listen to, nothing to say! Now the times have come, some teachers have appeared. If an old man thinks like this, what can we demand from young people!”, “Don’t judge your older self! They know more than you. Old people have signs for everything. An old man won’t say a word to the wind.”
The image of Kabanikha in the play “The Thunderstorm” can be called a kind of generalization, a conglomerate of negative human qualities. It’s hard to call her a woman, a mother, or even a person in general. Of course, she is far from the dummies of the city of Foolov, but her desire to subjugate and dominate killed all human qualities in Marfa Ignatievna.

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