The publication of “The Thunderstorm” occurred in 1860. Difficult times. The country smelled of revolution. Traveling along the Volga in 1856, the author made sketches of the future work, where he tried to depict as accurately as possible the merchant world of the second half of the 19th century. There is an insoluble conflict in the play. It was he who led to the death of the main character, who could not cope with her emotional state. The image and characterization of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm” is a portrait of a strong, extraordinary personality forced to exist in the conditions of a small patriarchal city. The girl could not forgive herself for betraying herself, giving herself up to human lynching, without even hoping to earn forgiveness. For which she paid with her life.

Katerina Kabanova is the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. Kabanikha's daughter-in-law.

Image and characteristics

After marriage, Katerina’s world collapsed. Her parents spoiled her and cherished her like a flower. The girl grew up in love and with a feeling of limitless freedom.

“Mama doted on me, dressed me up like a doll, and didn’t force me to work; I do what I want.”

As soon as she found herself in her mother-in-law's house, everything changed. The rules and laws are the same, but now from a beloved daughter, Katerina became a subordinate daughter-in-law, whom her mother-in-law hated with every fiber of her soul and did not even try to hide her attitude towards her.

When she was very young, she was given to someone else's family.

“They married you off when you were young, you didn’t have to go out with the girls; “Your heart hasn’t left yet.”

That’s how it should be, for Katerina it was normal. In those days, no one built a family out of love. If you endure it, you will fall in love. She is ready to submit, but with respect and love. In my husband's house they did not know about such concepts.

“Was I like that! I lived, didn’t worry about anything, like a bird in the wild...”

Katerina is a freedom-loving person. Decisive.

“This is how I was born, hot! I was still six years old, no more, 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!

She is not one of those who obey tyrants. She is not afraid of dirty intrigues on the part of Kabanova. For her, freedom is the most important thing. Do not follow idiotic orders, do not bend under the influence of others, but do what your heart desires.

Her soul languished in anticipation of happiness and mutual love. Tikhon, Katerina’s husband, loved her in his own way, as best he could, but his mother’s influence on him was too strong, turning him against his young wife. He preferred to drown out problems with alcohol, and escaped from conflicts in the family on long business trips.

Katerina was often left alone. They did not have children with Tikhon.

“Eco woe! I don’t have children: I would still sit with them and amuse them. I really like talking to children – they are angels.”

The girl was increasingly sad about her worthless life, praying in front of the altar.

Katerina is religious. Going to church is like a holiday. There she rested her soul. As a child, she heard angels singing. She believed that God would hear prayers everywhere. When it was not possible to go to the temple, the girl prayed in the garden.

A new round of life is associated with the arrival of Boris. She understands that passion for another man is a terrible sin, but she is unable to cope with it.

“It’s not good, it’s a terrible sin, Varenka, why do I love someone else?”

She tried to resist, but she did not have enough strength and support:

“It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, but I have nothing to hold on to.”

The feeling turned out to be too strong.

Sinful love raised a wave of internal fear for its action. The more her love for Boris grew, the more she felt sinfulness. She grabbed at the last straw, crying out to her husband with a request to take her with him, but Tikhon is a narrow-minded person and could not understand his wife’s mental suffering.

Bad dreams and an irreversible premonition of impending disaster drove Katerina crazy. She felt the reckoning approaching. With each thunderclap, it seemed to her that God was throwing arrows at her.

Tired of the internal struggle, Katerina publicly confesses to her husband that she has cheated. Even in this situation, the spineless Tikhon was ready to forgive her. Boris, having learned about her repentance, under pressure from his uncle, leaves the city, leaving his beloved to the mercy of fate. Katerina did not receive support from him. Unable to withstand the mental anguish, the girl rushes into the Volga.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updated: 2012-08-09

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

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

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

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

Kabanikha’s gambling desire to subjugate all household members to her will, which is on the verge of madness, is completely aimed at the daughter-in-law who has appeared in the house.

The son, beaten down by Kabanikha since childhood, tired of his mother’s tyranny, but making no attempt to change the situation in the house and constantly complaining about his unhappy life, is unable to protect Katerina from the humiliation and nagging of Kabanikha.

Katerina strives to create a happy and prosperous family; she is very religious and is afraid of committing a righteous sin. A passionate feeling of love for another man, the nephew of the merchant Dikiy Boris, flares up in Katerina’s soul, who reciprocates her feelings. But the woman fears heavenly punishment for committing treason and, due to her receptivity, accepts the sudden onset of bad weather in the form of a thunderstorm as a sign from God.

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

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

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

Option 2

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

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

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

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

Katerina was unhappily married. In the house, she only communicated normally with Tikhon’s sister, Varenka, who felt sorry for her brother’s wife. Katerina began to wither away in this family. But one day a young man came to their city - Boris. The girl immediately drew attention to him, right. how, in her opinion, he was unlike anyone else. They began dating when the husband went away on business and did not take his wife with him, even though she begged him. But Katerina was a very religious person and was afraid to die with sin in her soul. She was not afraid of death, she was only afraid of appearing before God with all her sins. Katerina Petrovna admitted her betrayal.

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

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

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

Essay Image and characteristics of Katerina

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

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

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

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

But Tikhon does not listen to her, he follows his mother’s lead. Tikhon does not even dare to object to her, and does not stand up for her, although Katerina herself did not remain silent, and answered Kabanikha that she was wrongfully offending her.

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

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

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

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

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

Option 4

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

Katerina differs from the rest of the people of the “Dark Kingdom” in that she includes all kindness. However, fate does not spoil her. From her words, we learn that she did not receive an education because she did not have the opportunity to do so. The heroine lived in a village in poverty. But her childhood was carefree. Her mother did not force her to work, and therefore Katerina had a lot of time for activities she liked. It is clearly visible that the girl grew up happy and romantic, loving everything around her. But most importantly, she lived in dreams, separate from the existing world. Katerina especially loved going to church and admiring the angels. Yes, she can also be counted among them. But sometimes a contradictory nature awoke in her soul, and she went against some actions.

When Katerina got married, she changed a lot. From a bright world, devoid of deception and injustice, she finds herself in the sphere of deceit, cruelty and deceit. And the reason was not at all that her life partner was a man whom she did not even love. It’s just that the girl was torn from the bright and kind world where she had been for a long time. And now she doesn’t particularly enjoy going to church. The girl cannot do everyday activities the way she did before marriage. She is always in a sad and depressed state, which prevents her from even admiring the beauty of nature. She has to endure and suffer, and the girl can no longer live with her thoughts, since reality returns her to the place where humiliation and insult exist. The girl tries to love her husband, but all her feelings are suppressed by Kabanikha. Because of her humility, she tries to show her feelings towards Tikhon, but he does not appreciate it. Then Katerina becomes completely lonely.

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

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The question of choosing a soul mate has always been problematic for young people. Now we have the right to choose a life partner ourselves; previously, the final decision in marriage was made by the parents. Naturally, parents first of all looked at the well-being of their future son-in-law and his moral character. This choice promised an excellent material and moral existence for children, but the intimate side of marriage often suffered. Spouses understand that they should treat each other favorably and respectfully, but the lack of passion does not have the best effect. There are many examples in the literature of such dissatisfaction and the search for fulfillment of one’s intimate life.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with A. Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”

This topic is not new in Russian literature. From time to time it is raised by writers. A. Ostrovsky in the play “The Thunderstorm” portrayed a unique image of the woman Katerina, who, in search of personal happiness, under the influence of Orthodox morality and the emerging love feeling, comes to a dead end.

Katerina's life story

The main character of Ostrovsky's play is Katerina Kabanova. Since childhood, she was brought up with love and affection. Her mother felt sorry for her daughter, and sometimes freed her from all work, leaving Katerina to do what she wanted. But the girl did not grow up lazy.

After the wedding with Tikhon Kabanov, the girl lives in the house of her husband’s parents. Tikhon has no father. And the mother manages all processes in the house. The mother-in-law has an authoritarian character; she suppresses all family members with her authority: her son Tikhon, her daughter Varya and her young daughter-in-law.

Katerina finds herself in a world completely unfamiliar to her - her mother-in-law often scolds her for no reason, her husband is also not distinguished by tenderness and care - sometimes he beats her. Katerina and Tikhon have no children. This fact is incredibly upsetting for the woman - she likes to babysit children.

One day the woman falls in love. She is married and understands perfectly well that her love has no right to life, but nevertheless, over time, she gives in to her desire while her husband is in another city.

Upon her husband’s return, Katerina experiences pangs of conscience and confesses her action to her mother-in-law and husband, which causes a wave of indignation. Tikhon beats her. The mother-in-law says that the woman needs to be buried in the ground. The situation in the family, already unhappy and tense, worsens to the point of impossibility. Seeing no other way out, the woman commits suicide by drowning herself in the river. On the last pages of the play we learn that Tikhon still loved his wife, and his behavior towards her was provoked by his mother’s instigation.

Appearance of Katerina Kabanova

The author does not provide a detailed description of Katerina Petrovna’s appearance. We learn about the woman’s appearance from the lips of other characters in the play - most of the characters consider her beautiful and delightful. We also know little about Katerina’s age - the fact that she is in the prime of her life allows us to define her as a young woman. Before the wedding, she was full of aspirations and glowing with happiness.

Life in her mother-in-law's house did not have the best effect on her: she noticeably withered, but was still pretty. Her girlish gaiety and cheerfulness quickly disappeared - their place was taken by despondency and sadness.

Family relationships

Katerina’s mother-in-law is a very complex person, she runs everything in the house. This applies not only to household chores, but also to all relationships within the family. The woman finds it difficult to cope with her emotions - she is jealous of her son for Katerina, she wants Tikhon to pay attention not to his wife, but to her, his mother. Jealousy eats up the mother-in-law and does not give her the opportunity to enjoy life - she is always dissatisfied with something, constantly finding fault with everyone, especially with her young daughter-in-law. She doesn’t even try to hide this fact - those around her make fun of old Kabanikha, saying that she tortured everyone in the house.

Katerina respects old Kabanikha, despite the fact that she literally does not give her a pass with her nagging. The same cannot be said about other family members.

Katerina’s husband, Tikhon, also loves his mother. His mother's authoritarianism and despotism broke him, as did his wife. He is torn by feelings of love for his mother and wife. Tikhon does not try to somehow resolve the difficult situation in his family and finds solace in drinking and carousing. Kabanikha’s youngest daughter and Tikhon’s sister, Varvara, is more pragmatic, she understands that you cannot break through a wall with your forehead, in this case it is necessary to act with cunning and intelligence. Her respect for her mother is ostentatious; she says what her mother wants to hear, but in reality she does everything her own way. Unable to bear life at home, Varvara runs away.

Despite the dissimilarity of the girls, Varvara and Katerina become friends. They support each other in difficult situations. Varvara incites Katerina to secret meetings with Boris, helps the lovers organize dates for the lovers. Varvara does not mean anything bad in these actions - the girl herself often resorts to such dates - this is her way of not going crazy, she wants to bring at least a piece of happiness into Katerina’s life, but the result is the opposite.

Katerina also has a difficult relationship with her husband. This is primarily due to Tikhon’s spinelessness. He does not know how to defend his position, even if his mother’s wishes clearly contradict his intentions. Her husband has no opinion of his own - he is a “mama’s boy”, unquestioningly fulfilling the will of his parent. He often, at his mother’s instigation, scolds his young wife and sometimes beats her. Naturally, such behavior does not bring joy and harmony to the relationship between spouses.

Katerina's dissatisfaction is growing day by day. She feels unhappy. Understanding that the nitpicking addressed to her is far-fetched still does not allow her to live a full life.

From time to time, intentions arise in Katerina’s thoughts to change something in her life, but she cannot find a way out of the situation - the thought of suicide visits Katerina Petrovna more and more often.

Character Traits

Katerina has a meek and kind disposition. She doesn't know how to stand up for herself. Katerina Petrovna is a soft, romantic girl. She loves to indulge in dreams and fantasies.

She has an inquisitive mind. She is interested in the most unusual things, for example, why people cannot fly. Because of this, others consider her a little strange.

Katerina is patient and non-conflict by nature. She forgives the unfair and cruel attitude of her husband and mother-in-law towards her.

In general, those around, if you don’t take into account Tikhon and Kabanikha, have a good opinion of Katerina, they think that she is a sweet and lovely girl.

The desire for freedom

Katerina Petrovna has a unique concept of freedom. At a time when most people understand freedom as a physical state in which they are free to carry out those actions and actions that they prefer, Katerina prefers moral freedom, devoid of psychological pressure, allowing them to control their own destiny.

Katerina Kabanova is not so decisive as to put her mother-in-law in her place, but her desire for freedom does not allow her to live by the rules within which she finds herself - the idea of ​​death as a way to gain freedom appears in the text several times before Katerina’s romantic relationship with Boris . The publication of information about Katerina's betrayal of her husband and the further reaction of her relatives, in particular her mother-in-law, become just a catalyst for her suicidal tendencies.

Katerina's religiosity

The issue of religiosity and the influence of religion on people's lives has always been quite controversial. This trend is especially clearly questionable in times of active scientific and technological revolution and progress.

In relation to Katerina Kabanova, this trend does not work. A woman, not finding joy in ordinary, worldly life, is imbued with special love and reverence for religion. Her attachment to the church is also strengthened by the fact that her mother-in-law is religious. While old Kabanikha’s religiosity is only ostentatious (in fact, she does not adhere to the basic canons and postulates of the church that regulate relationships between people), Katerina’s religiosity is true. She firmly believes in the commandments of God and always tries to observe the laws of existence.

While praying and being in church, Katerina experiences special pleasure and relief. At such moments she looks like an angel.

However, the desire to experience happiness and true love takes precedence over religious vision. Knowing that adultery is a terrible sin, a woman still succumbs to temptation. For happiness lasting ten days, she pays with another, most terrible sin in the eyes of a believing Christian - suicide.

Katerina Petrovna realizes the gravity of her act, but the concept that her life will never change forces her to ignore this prohibition. It should be noted that the thought of such an end to her life’s journey had already arisen, but, despite the hardships of her life, it was not carried out. Perhaps the fact that pressure from her mother-in-law was painful for her played here, but the concept that it had no basis stopped the girl. After her family finds out about the betrayal - the reproaches against her become justified - she really tarnished her reputation and the reputation of the family. Another reason for this outcome of events could be the fact that Boris refuses the woman and does not take her with him. Katerina must somehow solve the current situation herself and she doesn’t see a better option than throwing herself into the river.

Katerina and Boris

Before Boris appeared in the fictional city of Kalinov, finding personal, intimate happiness was not relevant for Katerina. She did not try to make up for the lack of love from her husband on the side.

The image of Boris awakens in Katerina a faded feeling of passionate love. A woman realizes the severity of a love relationship with another man, and therefore languishes with the feeling that has arisen, but does not accept any prerequisites to turn her dreams into reality.

Varvara convinces Katerina that Kabanova needs to meet alone with her lover. The brother’s sister knows very well that the feelings of young people are mutual, in addition, the coolness of the relationship between Tikhon and Katerina is not new to her, therefore she regards her act as an opportunity to show her sweet and kind daughter-in-law what true love is.

Katerina cannot make up her mind for a long time, but the water wears away the stone, the woman agrees to the meeting. Finding herself captive of her desires, strengthened by a kindred feeling on the part of Boris, the woman cannot deny herself further meetings. The absence of her husband plays into her hands - for 10 days she lived as if in paradise. Boris loves her more than life itself, he is affectionate and gentle with her. With him, Katerina feels like a real woman. She thinks she has finally found happiness. Everything changes with Tikhon's arrival. Nobody knows about the secret meetings, but Katerina is tormented, she is seriously afraid of punishment from God, her psychological state reaches its apogee and she admits to committing a sin.

After this event, the woman’s life turns into hell - the already falling reproaches from her mother-in-law become unbearable, her husband beats her.

The woman still has hope for a successful outcome of the event - she believes that Boris will not leave her in trouble. However, her lover is in no hurry to help her - he is afraid of angering his uncle and being left without his inheritance, so he refuses to take Katerina with him to Siberia.

For a woman, this becomes a new blow, she is no longer able to survive it - death becomes her only way out.

Thus, Katerina Kabanova is the owner of the kindest and gentlest qualities of the human soul. A woman is especially sensitive to the feelings of other people. Her inability to give a sharp rebuff becomes the reason for constant ridicule and reproaches from her mother-in-law and husband, which further drives her into a dead end situation. Death in her case becomes an opportunity to find happiness and freedom. Awareness of this fact evokes the saddest feelings among readers.

A. N. Ostrovsky in each of his plays created and showed multifaceted characters whose lives are interesting to watch. One of the playwright’s works tells about a girl who committed suicide, unable to withstand the pressure of circumstances. The development of Katerina’s character in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm,” as well as her emotional experiences, are the main driving forces of the plot.

In the list of characters, Ostrovsky designates Katerina as the wife of Tikhon Kabanov. As the plot develops, the reader gradually reveals the image of Katya, realizing that this character’s function as a wife is not exhausted. The character of Katerina in the drama “The Thunderstorm” can be called strong. Despite the unhealthy situation in the family, Katya managed to maintain purity and firmness. She refuses to accept the rules of the game, living by her own. For example, Tikhon obeys his mother in everything. In one of the first dialogues, Kabanov convinces his mother that he does not have his own opinion. But soon the topic of conversation changes - and now Kabanikha, as if casually, accuses Katerina of the fact that Tikhon loves her more. Until this moment, Katerina did not participate in the conversation, but now she is offended by her mother-in-law’s words. The girl addresses Kabanikha on a personal level, which can be regarded as hidden disrespect, as well as a kind of equality. Katerina puts herself on an equal footing with her, denying the family hierarchy. Katya politely expresses her dissatisfaction with the slander, emphasizing that in public she is the same as at home, and she has no need to pretend. This line actually speaks of Katya as a strong person. As the story progresses, we learn that Kabanikha’s tyranny extends only to the family, and in society the old woman talks about preserving family order and proper upbringing, covering up her cruelty with words about benefactor. The author shows that Katerina, firstly, is aware of her mother-in-law’s behavior; secondly, I disagree with this; and thirdly, he openly declares to Kabanikha, to whom even his own son cannot object, about his views. However, Kabanikha does not give up trying to humiliate her daughter-in-law, forcing her to kneel in front of her husband.

Sometimes a girl remembers how she lived before. Katerina's childhood was quite carefree. The girl went to church with her mother, sang songs, walked, and according to Katya, she didn’t have everything she could have. Katya compares herself before marriage to a free bird: she was left to her own devices, she was in charge of her life. And now Katya often compares herself to a bird. “Why don’t people fly like birds? - she says to Varvara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.”

But such a bird cannot fly away. Once in a cage with thick bars, Katerina gradually suffocates in captivity. A freedom-loving person like Katya cannot exist within the rigid confines of the kingdom of lies and hypocrisy. Everything in Katya seems to breathe with feelings and love for the most unique thing - for life itself. Once in the Kabanov family, the girl is deprived of this inner feeling. Her life is similar to life before marriage: the same songs, the same trips to church. But now, in such a hypocritical environment, Katya feels false.

It’s surprising that with such inner strength, Katya does not oppose herself to others. She is “a martyr, a captive, deprived of the opportunity to grow and develop,” but she does not consider herself such. She tries to pass through the “millstone of hostility and malicious envy” with dignity, without losing or vulgarizing her essence.

Katya can easily be called brave. Indeed, the girl tried to fight the feelings that flared up in her for Boris, but still decided to meet with him. Katya takes responsibility for her destiny and decisions. In a sense, during her secret meetings with Boris, Katya gains freedom. She is not afraid of “neither sin nor human judgment.” Finally, a girl can do as her heart tells her.

But with Tikhon’s return, their meetings stop. Katya’s desire to talk about her relationship with Dikiy’s nephew does not please Boris. He hopes that the girl will remain silent, dragging her into the net of the “dark kingdom” from which Katya was so desperately trying to escape. One of the critics of the drama, Melnikov-Pechersky, surprisingly aptly described Katerina: “a young woman, having fallen under the yoke of this old woman, experiences thousands of moral torments and at the same time realizes that God has put an ardent heart in her, that passions are raging in her young chest , are not at all compatible with the seclusion of married women, which prevails in the environment where Katerina found herself.”

Neither the confession of treason nor the conversation with Boris met Katerina’s hopes. For her, the difference and discrepancy between the real world and ideas about the future turned out to be fatal. The decision to rush into the Volga was not spontaneous - Katya had long felt her approaching death. She was afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, seeing in it retribution for sins and bad thoughts. Katerina's frank confession becomes like a desperate communion, a desire to be honest to the end. It is noteworthy that between the events of the confession of treason - the conversation with Boris - the suicide, some time passes. And all these days the girl endures insults and curses from her mother-in-law, who wants to bury her in the ground alive.

You cannot condemn the heroine or talk about the weakness of Katerina’s character in “The Thunderstorm”. Nevertheless, even having committed such a sin, Katya remains as pure and innocent as in the first acts of the play.

A discussion about the strength or weakness of Katerina’s character can be useful for 10th grade students when writing an essay on the topic “The Character of Katerina in the play “The Thunderstorm”.”

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