Did Katerina Kabanova have a way out

The play by Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm" was released in 1860, during a period of public upsurge. The story itself, told in the play, reflects the typical conflicts of the era of the 60s: the struggle between the obsolete morality of petty tyrants and their unrequited victims and the new morality of people in whose soul a sense of human dignity awakens. A special place among the characters of the play is occupied by the image of Katerina. According to Dobrolyubov, from him "breathes on us with a new life, which opens up to us in her very death."

Katerina is a poetic and dreamy nature. Remembering her childhood and girlish years, she herself tells Varvara about how the world of her feelings and moods was formed. She lived happily and easily in her parents' house, but she did not receive an education. Stories of wanderers and praying women replaced books for her. Impressive by nature, Katerina eagerly listened to their every word, taking everything on faith. This is how most women were educated in the 19th century. Today the wanderers have replaced the TV. Katerina speaks in a language that only a poetically inclined and gifted woman could speak in the merchant environment of that time. It contains elements of poetic folk speech, and the influence of church and book literature, as well as church services, which Katerina loved to attend "until death". She is distinguished by a special soft lyricism, emotionality and sincerity, which correspond to the general character of Katerina. The play repeatedly repeats an image that helps to understand the main thing in Katerina's character - the image of a bird. In folk poetry, the bird is a symbol of will. Hence the constant epithet "free bird". “I lived, I didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild,” Katerina recalls about how she lived before her marriage, “... Why don’t people fly like birds? she says to Barbara. “You know, sometimes I feel like I’m a bird.” But the free bird got into an iron cage. And she struggles and yearns in captivity.

The nature is dreamy, impressionable, with a predominantly “loving, ideal” character, according to Dobrolyubov’s definition, Katerina at the same time has an ardent and passionate soul. Katerina suffers only for the time being. “And if I get cold here,” she says, “they won’t hold me back by any force. I'll throw myself out the window, I'll throw myself into the Volga. I don’t want to live here, so I won’t, even if you cut me!” Among the victims of the "dark kingdom" Katerina stands out for her open character, courage, and directness. “Deceive - I don’t know how; I can’t hide anything, ”she answers Varvara, who says that you won’t live in their house without deceit. And such an impressionable, poetically minded and at the same time resolute woman finds herself in the Kabanova family, in a musty atmosphere of hypocrisy and importunate, petty guardianship, from which it breathes deathly cold and callousness. Naturally, the conflict between this atmosphere of the "dark kingdom" and the bright spiritual world of Katerina ended tragically.

I would like to ask the question: “Could it have been different?” The tragedy of Katerina's situation was further complicated by the fact that she was given in marriage to a man whom she did not know and could not love, no matter how hard she tried to be a faithful and loving wife. Katerina's attempts to find a response in her husband's heart are shattered by Tikhon's slavish humiliation and narrow-mindedness and the rudeness of his interests. Tikhon thinks only about how to run to the Wild for a drink, a spree. He, like Katerina, wants to escape from the house, but, unlike his wife, this sometimes succeeds. It is easy to understand with what force her feelings flare up when she meets a person who is not like everyone around her. Katerina loves differently than the women around her. She is ready for anything for a loved one, transgressing even those concepts of sin and virtue that were sacred to her. Katerina's religiosity is not Kabanikh's hypocrisy, but a deep sincere conviction. “Ah, Varya,” she complains, “I have a sin on my mind! How much I, poor thing, wept, no matter what I did to myself! I can't get away from this sin. Nowhere to go. After all, this is not good, because this is a terrible sin, Varenka, that I love another. The catastrophe comes precisely because Katerina cannot and does not want to hide her sin.

In the fourth act of the drama in the scene of repentance comes the denouement. A terrible thunderstorm, which she perceives as a “thunderstorm of the Lord”, “a terrible lady with her curses and an ancient picture on a dilapidated wall depicting a“ fiery Gehenna ”- all this almost drives Katerina crazy. She publicly, on the city boulevard, repents before her husband. If the drama ended with this scene, the invincibility of the foundations of the "dark kingdom" would be shown. This would give Kabanikha the right to triumph: “Where does it lead!” But the drama ends with Katerina's suicide, which should be taken as her moral victory over the "dark forces", which she did not want to submit to. By this, she showed her desperate, albeit powerless protest against the "dark kingdom". Today you can ask the question: “Why did she do it?” After all, she could leave home, like Varvara, which would have annoyed Kabanikha even more. But Katerina was ready to do it. She was not afraid of distant Siberia, where her beloved Boris Grigorievich was sent. But he was too weak, he did not have enough character to escape from the power of the Kabanovs and the Wilds. He is the only one among all who truly understands Katerina, but he is unable to help her: he does not have the determination to fight for his love. The path to a free life for Katerina is closed, and she does not want to go home, because "what is home, what is in the grave."

She sees no other way than suicide. Yes, it would probably be difficult to find a way out in the conditions of the mores that reigned in society in the middle of the 19th century. After all, another heroine of Russian literature later comes to the same decision - Anna Karenina. Dobrolyubov called Katerina "a ray of light in a dark kingdom," which for a moment illuminated its deep darkness.

In 1864, A. I. Herzen wrote about The Thunderstorm: “In this drama, the author penetrated into the deepest recesses<…>Russian life and threw a sudden ray of light into the unknown soul of a Russian woman who is suffocating in the grip of the inexorable and semi-savage life of the patriarchal family.

The image of Katerina rightly belongs to the best images of women not only in the work of Ostrovsky, which today is acquiring a new significance, but also in all Russian fiction.

Was there another way for Katerina?

The play "Thunderstorm", which was written by Ostrovsky in 1859, is one of the author's most popular. Such success of the work is not at all surprising. In the drama, a completely new female image was described, which was distinguished by strength and depth. The heroine seemed to personify a protest against the stuffy and musty world, where the patriarchal way of life reigned, according to the laws of which practically all of Russia of that time lived. In fact, Katerina's actions can hardly be called a conscious protest. It's all about the dark

kingdom ”(as the world of Dobrolyubov called it) considers any movement of the soul as a challenge. The forces turned out to be unequal, and in the end it all ended in the suicide of the main character. But death in the play was the beginning of Katerina's immortality. The play, like 150 years, evokes a lively response from readers, and one of the most discussed questions is whether Katerina had a different path?
­ ­
If we analyze the situation in which the heroine finds herself, then we can consider several ways out of it at once.
­­­­ ­
The path that Katerina herself dreamed about is connected with her beloved - Boris. For her, such a way out of the situation would be just a fairy tale. But a bad prince came out of Boris, and this fairy tale did not come true - her chosen one turned out to be too weak and selfish. He leaves for Siberia without her, which finally broke Katerina.
­
Another option is to get away from Tikhon. This path seems quite natural to modern people, but in those days getting a divorce was accompanied by a lot of bureaucratic costs, and Katerina would have to endure all possible humiliations. This process would take a very long time. In addition, by this act, she would have completely dishonored her own name and would have taken a great sin on her soul, since then marriages were really made before God.
­­ ­
For her salvation could be a religious path. She would become a nun and devote herself and her whole life to God, with whom all the happy moments of childhood were connected. But a married woman would never be taken into a monastery. If they knew that she was married, they would definitely return their spouse.

The fourth option is the way in which everything would remain as it was. She would also live with Tikhon and her mother-in-law, listening to everyday insults and reproaches from the latter. But in this case, the freedom-loving and sensitive Katerina would simply go crazy soon, especially in the absence of the support of her weak-willed husband.

So, having considered all possible options, we can conclude that Katerina's death was natural, and she was the only possible way out for the girl.But this decision speaks, rather, not about weakness, but about the strength of her personality. She did not seek compromises with the outside world and with her conscience, but acted as her heart prompted.

Other works on this topic:

1. Who is to blame for the death of Catherine? A. N. Ostrovsky is not only a brilliant playwright, but also a true innovator in the field of writing plays. Nobody before him...
2. The tragic fate of Katerina A. N. Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" was written in a difficult time for Russia. In the second half of the 19th century, the country was on the verge of abolishing...
3. Was Katerina's death accidental? Could it have been avoided? And, finally, was there a different path for the heroine? There is no single answer to all these questions. Was...
4. The scene of Katerina's farewell to Tikhon plays an important role in the plot of the work. The main characters in the episode are Kabanov and Katerina. I really don't want the last one...
5. Is Katerina's death a protest? Is it true that the strongest protest is brewing in the weakest and most patient individuals? Indeed, Katerina is a complex character in which...
6. In Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" there is a conflict between the old and the new way of life, which formed the basis of the work. This conflict took place between old principles and modern ones...
7. In the play "Thunderstorm" A. N. Ostrovsky creates a completely new female image, a simple, deep character. We are talking about Katerina, the main character of the drama "Thunderstorm". From previously created...

The drama "Thunderstorm", written in 1859, at the time of public upsurge on the eve of the peasant reorganization, as if crowned the first period of Ostrovsky's creative activity, a cycle of his plays about the "dark kingdom". This play was extremely popular. The drama was staged on the stages of almost all theaters in Russia: from large metropolitan theaters to theaters in small, lost towns. And it is not surprising, because Ostrovsky in the play showed a new heroine, symbolizing a protest against the old way of life, symbolizing the sprouts of a new life. This is exactly how the play was received by the public. Even the censors perceived "Thunderstorm" exactly as a public play, since they demanded that Ostrovsky remove Kabanikha by no means: it seemed to them that Kabanikha was a parody of the tsar, "Nikolai Pavlovich in a skirt."

According to V. Lakshin, "Thunderstorm" struck Ostrovsky's contemporaries with its "poetic power and drama of the story about the fate of Katerina." The play was perceived as a denunciation of the merchant norms of morality and arbitrariness that prevailed in the country.
I think that no one will argue with the fact that Katerina's fate is really dramatic. She, perhaps without realizing it herself, protested against the tyranny and despotism of the society in which she lived. Her voluntary death is precisely a challenge to this tyrannical force. But could there have been another outcome?

After some reflection, one can come to the conclusion that, theoretically, Katerina Kabanova still had a selection. Let's try to analyze the possible resolutions of the play's conflict.

The first and, perhaps, the most desirable way is to leave with Boris. This is what the poor lady hopes for when she goes on her last date with her loved one. But Boris, the same "educated Tikhon", is not able to answer for his actions, is not able to take responsibility for himself. He refuses Katherine. The last hope is shattered.

The second way is to get a divorce. But at that time, in order to get a divorce, one could wait a very long time, and one had to go through all the instances, try all the humiliations. If divorce was rare in noble families (remember Anna Karenina), then for a merchant family it was simply impossible.

The third way is to go to a monastery. But a husband's wife could not be accepted into a monastery. She would have been found there anyway and returned to her husband.

The fourth and most terrible path is the path of Katerina Izmailova. Get rid of the husband and mother-in-law, kill them. But Katerina Kabanova cannot choose that very path, cannot hurt another person, cannot violate the fifth commandment "Thou shalt not kill", as she is unusually pious.

Katerina could not even exist according to the principle of Barbara: "Do whatever you want, as long as everything is sewn and covered." Katerina's nature cannot accept a lie. It was impossible to simply leave her husband and return to her parental home, she would have been found and returned, and her shame would have fallen on the whole family.

There was one more way left - to continue to exist with Tikhon, because he loved her in his own way and forgave her transgression. But could Katerina listen to the daily prodding and reproaches of her mother-in-law? Yes, and that's not the point. With Boris, Katerina experienced true love, knew the charm of being close to her loved one, the joy of being in his arms. And is it really possible after this to exist with an unloved husband, who is under the heel of the Kabanikh, a husband who, moreover, is not able to defend his wife from the insults of her mother? Of course not! Having fallen in love with Boris, Katerina could no longer love anyone else. Her whole nature, driven by feelings, did not even allow the thought of it. She couldn’t even think about returning to the Kabanovs’ dwelling: “I don’t care whether it’s home or to the grave. Yes, whether it’s home or to the grave! .. It’s better in the grave ... But I don’t want to think about life ... And people are disgusting to me, and housing is disgusting to me, and walls are disgusting! .. You can’t live! It’s a sin!

Thus, the only way out for Katerina was suicide. Such a decision is by no means a weakness, but a strength of her character. It is known that suicide in the Christian tradition is the greatest offense. Suicides are buried outside the fence of the church and are not buried. But this does not frighten the pious Katerina. “Won't they pray?” she exclaims. “Whoever loves will pray...” Such spiritual talent and such integrity as Katerina's, one reward is death.

Of course, Katerina is "a ray of light in the dark kingdom", but with her death it does not go out. The beam broke through a breach among the menacing clouds - the world of Wild and Boar. This gap is an ulcer in the "dark kingdom". Katerina's death serves as a mute reproach to both Boris, "blindly submitting to the will of the Wild One," and Tikhon, "a weak-willed victim of fear of his mother." Katerina makes the apathetic Tikhon startle internally, who accuses his mother of frenzy: "You ruined her! You! You!"

V. Lakshin wrote about this last scene of the drama: "This, although apparently fragile, victory over the fear of authority is the content of almost the most psychologically sharp and bold scene, worthy of crowning the whole drama."

"Thunderstorm" is one of the most famous plays by A. N. Ostrovsky. The popularity of the work is due to the fact that the author managed to create a completely new female image in Russian literature. Katerina, the main character of The Thunderstorm, is distinguished by her inner strength and depth. The girl became the personification of protest against the patriarchal system - "a ray of light in the dark kingdom." But her "light" was not enough to defeat this stuffy and musty world, so everything ends with Katerina's suicide. More than 150 years have passed since the play was written, but the question still remains whether Katerina had a different path?

In fact, Groz could present various ways out of the current situation. But did they suit Katherine? Many of modern people do not understand why the heroine did not use the simplest, in their opinion, way out - divorce. But in the society of that time, marriages were church, and it was believed that they were concluded “in heaven”, therefore divorces were very rare and were allowed, basically, only in noble families, representatives of other classes had to live with each other all their lives until death.

Katerina could try to get a divorce, but this would most likely bring nothing but humiliation. The happiest outcome is the escape of the girl with Boris. But her beloved turned out to be not a prince, but only a weak-willed egoist who left Katerina alone to deal with all the problems. Another safe way for the heroine could be a monastery. She could devote her life to serving God, as she was very religious, but married women were not taken to monasteries, so she would definitely be returned to Tikhon.

The most likely scenario is the continuation of Katerina's life with her husband. But this option would be so difficult for the girl that soon she would have committed suicide anyway. A weak husband, bullying by Kabanikh and neighbors who learned about her infidelity would gradually bring the girl to the “brink”, in addition, Katerina would not be able to live with Tikhon, remembering her betrayal and her lost love.

So, Katerina's death was, in my opinion, the only way out of the situation. The remaining options were not feasible or would have led to the death of the heroine anyway. The suicide of the girl became a pattern, she could not come to terms with the state of affairs, accept her betrayal, the betrayal of her lover. Katerina made a decision that did not require compromises with the outside world and conscience, and it seemed to her right.

Option 2

Katerina is one of the central characters in Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky's play The Thunderstorm. This is a young girl who grew up in love and reverence for God. Her childhood was carefree and happy. However, the girl was married off to Tikhon Kabanov, the son of the wayward widowed merchant wife Kabanikh, whom she was never able to love.

Katerina finds herself in the city of Kalinov. Although it stands on the beautiful Volga River, almost no one notices its beauty. "Debauchery and drunkenness" reign in the city, people are divided into the unfortunate poor and the mercenary rich, there are high fences near merchant houses, behind which merchants "tyrannize the family", seek to "rob the orphans."

The situation in the city of Kalinov with its "cruel morals", according to a resident of the city - the scientist Kuligin, the way in the Kabanov family, in which the son does not dare to argue with his tyrant mother - all this is alien to the freedom-loving Katerina. And even faith will not be able to somehow unite Katerina with the new environment, because their faith is completely different, not pure, not bright, but demonstrative and built on fear.

Out of desperation, Katerina decides to take a desperate step - she commits suicide, while knowing about the sinfulness of her act.

Was there a chance for "a ray of light in the dark kingdom," as the critic N. A. Dobrolyubov called Katerina, to remain alive, to continue to shine?

I believe that Katerina had no other choice.

Katerina needed support and support and, it would seem, she could find all this in her love, in Boris. But he could not help her, like all other residents of the city, including his friend Varvara, loving Tikhon and compassionate Kuligin. The city and its inhabitants are mired in immorality and hopelessness. And secret meetings with beloved Boris, with the last hope, are contrary to morality, and are hard for Katerina herself, not at all facilitating her fate.

Katerina commits suicide: she rushes into the Volga. I think that under all circumstances, Katerina's character, this act was the best outcome for her, because she could not continue to live "out of captivity", in sin and with an unloved husband. Suicide is the very last thing a person can do to himself, but Tikhon, after the death of his wife, says that he envies her. This fact further exacerbates the already sad picture painted by Ostrovsky.

The drama reveals the theme of one of the worst sins - suicide. However, after reading the play, the reader can internally justify the characters living in the strict framework of comprehensive control.

Some interesting essays

• Heroes of the work The photograph in which I am not Astafiev

  The main characters of the work are a boy (we will call him Vitya), his grandmother, Ekaterina Petrovna, and a teacher.

• Analysis of the story Speak Mama Speak Ekimov

  Every parent is afraid of being abandoned by their child. It is scary at some point to come to the realization that you are not needed, that you are no longer needed. In old age, parents hope for care from their children, for gratitude and love.

• The image and characteristics of Anna Snegina in Yesenin's poem "Anna Snegina"
• Composition based on the painting Portrait of A.P. Struyskoy Rokotova

  In the paintings of Rokotov, there was always a certain charisma and charm on the part of the model for the picture. It can be seen from the pictures that when writing them, the author tried to pay as much attention to the face and look as less to everything else.

• Composition Russian literature of the 20th century (Grade 9)

  The beginning of the twentieth century in Russian literature is the brightness of the "Silver Age" in the entire cultural heritage. Critical moods gave birth to literary masterpieces and discovered new names. The time of realists with a critical eye. Modernity began to develop actively

The main character of the drama is Katerina, a young woman, the daughter-in-law of Kabanikhi. Katerina is a whole person, brought up by the Volga expanse. In her character, the playwright emphasized the awakening of consciousness, a sincere deep feeling of love and independence, tenderness, love for beauty and an irresistible attraction to a harmonious and happy life. These character traits do not allow her to come to terms with despotism and lies; she organically does not tolerate those house-building orders that contradict the natural needs of man, enters into a tragic conflict with them, wages a stubborn unequal struggle, as far as she can, and, finally, dies in the waters of the Volga, unhappy, but not surrendered.

The image of Katerina is depicted realistically and embodies the essential character traits of a Russian woman on the eve of the liberation reform. The development of Katerina's character is so naturally and vividly presented that it accurately conveys to us the story of a terrible, tragic life that fell to the lot of a disenfranchised woman in old Tsarist Russia.

From childhood, Katerina is brought up in the spirit of religion and humility. She was given in marriage to Tikhon Kabanov without her consent and without love. She was too young to understand this feeling. It all happened like in a dream. She did not dare to resist her parents and decided to endure rather than cause trouble to her relatives. In the house of Kabanova, Katerina did not meet a humane attitude towards herself either from her husband or from her mother-in-law. On the contrary, she was forbidden to have her own judgment, her own feelings, and in material terms she was directly dependent on her mother-in-law. Soon she has a longing for happiness and love, a desire to find a response in the heart of a loved one.

“At night, Varya, I can’t sleep,” she says, “I keep imagining some kind of whisper: someone is talking to me so affectionately, like a dove cooing. I don’t dream anymore, Varya, as before, paradise trees, yes mountains, but it’s as if someone hugs me so warmly, hotly and leads me somewhere and I follow him, I follow.
As a child, Katerina loved to dream romantically. This romanticism was supported in her by religion and a painfully poor, monotonous life. Her imagination worked tirelessly and took her into some kind of poetic world. The harsh reality, the senseless ravings of wanderers turned into golden temples, extraordinary gardens. In the future, we see how a gloomy and sorrowful life sobers her up and leads her to a real view. Finding herself in the dungeons of the boar's house, Katerina did not put up with humiliation and was eager for light, air, she wanted to indulge in a dream, look at the Volga, admire nature, but she is kept in captivity, her aspirations are trampled on. At first, as before, she seeks an answer and support in religion, but she no longer finds consolation in it, she cannot imagine an ideal world with the same clarity.

“A dream comes into my head. I won't leave her anywhere. If I start thinking, I won’t collect my thoughts, I won’t pray, I won’t pray in any way. I babble words with my tongue, but it’s not at all the same in my mind: it’s as if the evil one is whispering in my ears.
Katerina matured, a real outlook on life was formed in her. She understands that the Kabanovs' house is the same prison; her husband is disgusted with her, because he is under the shoe of his mother and lives an animal life without any aspirations. “How can I love you,” she bluntly declares to Tikhon. And about Varvara, she will say about Tikhon: “And in the wild, he is as if bound.” At first, Katerina, being a prisoner of traditions, was afraid of new thoughts, worried about the future, tried to restrain her impulses. But the passion that gripped her turned out to be above all: she sincerely fell in love with her nephew Wild Boris and decided to leave Kabanova's house. She fell in love with Boris because he is not like the others, humane, maybe a friend who recognizes the right of human dignity to others.

The tragedy of Katerina's position is aggravated by the fact that, breaking the shackles of false morality, she could not finally defeat in herself those traditions that religion and upbringing instilled in her and which paralyzed and weakened her struggle. She was instilled with fear from childhood. Her life is filled with contradiction: either she boldly takes a new step, or cries, prays. For every thought she expects some kind of punishment, she is afraid; she thinks that the storm will kill her like a criminal. This fear is supported by those around her. Feklusha scares her with stories about the end of the world, she is horrified by a half-crazy lady threatening with a stick: "You will all burn in fire in unquenchable."

But love of freedom kindles in her hatred for the world of inertia and lies. “Who has fun in captivity? At least now I live, toil, I don’t see a gap, ”she says. And in her actions she had gone so far that she could no longer return to her former position. If you can not enjoy the sun, joy, love, then she does not want to live. When they found out about her connection with Boris and when Boris left Kalinovo, Katerina tragically experienced loneliness and came to the thought of death. Here are the words the playwright conveyed her mood in the last monologue:
“Where to now? Go home? No, I don’t want to go home, to the grave!., to the grave! It's better in the grave... There's a little grave under the tree... how nice... But I don't even want to think about life. Live again? No, no, don't... Not good.! But people are disgusting to me, and the house is disgusting to me, and the walls are disgusting.
Katerina did not want to live in slavery and preferred death to life.