The boar is very rich. This can be judged because her trading affairs go beyond Kalinov (on her behalf, Tikhon traveled to Moscow), because Dikoy respects her. But the affairs of Kabanikha are of little interest to the playwright: she has a different role in the play. If the Wild shows the brute force of tyranny, then Kabanikha is the spokesman for the ideas and principles of the "dark kingdom". She understands that some money does not give power yet, another indispensable condition is the obedience of those who do not have money. And she sees her main concern in stopping any possibility of rebelliousness. She "eats" the household in order to kill their will, any ability to resist. With Jesuit sophistication, she exhausts their souls, offends their human dignity with baseless suspicions. She skillfully uses various techniques to assert her will.
The boar can speak both benevolently and instructively (“I know, I know that my words are not to your liking, but what can you do, I’m not a stranger to you, my heart hurts about you”), and hypocritically show down (“Mother is old , stupid; well, you, young people, smart, should not exact from us fools"), and authoritatively order ("Look, remember! Kill yourself on your nose!", "Bow at your feet!"). Kabanikha tries to show his religiosity. Words: “Oh, a grave sin! How long to sin!”, “Only one sin!” - constantly accompany her speech. She supports superstitions and prejudices, strictly observes ancient customs. It is not known whether Kabanikha believes in the ridiculous tales of Feklusha and the signs of the townspeople, she herself does not say anything like that. But it resolutely suppresses all manifestations of free-thinking. She condemns Kuligin's statements against prejudices and superstitions, and she supports the superstitious prophecies of the townspeople that “this thunderstorm will not pass in vain”, and instructively tells her son: “Don't judge yourself older! They know more than you. Old people have signs of everything. An old man will not say a word to the wind. And in religion, and in ancient customs, she sees the main goal: to push a person, to keep him in eternal fear. She understands that only fear can keep people in subjection, prolong the shattered domination of petty tyrants. To the words of Tikhon, why should his wife be afraid of him, Kabanova exclaims in horror: “How, why be afraid! How, why be afraid! Yes, you're crazy, right? You will not be afraid, and even more so me. What is the order in the house will be? 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 must be afraid of the strong, according to which a person should not have his own will. As a faithful guardian of this order, she teaches her family in front of a crowd of citizens. After Katerina's confession, she loudly, triumphantly says to Tikhon: “What, son! Where will the will lead? I told you so you didn't want to listen. That's what I've been waiting for!"
As you know, in classical works and fairy tales there are several types of heroes. In this article we will talk about a pair of antagonist - protagonist. This opposition will be considered on the example of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm". The main character of this play, in other words, the protagonist, is a young girl, Katerina Kabanova. She is opposed, that is, she is an antagonist, Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova. On the example of comparisons and analysis of actions, we will give a more complete description of Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm".
To begin with, let's turn to the list of 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, it is quite difficult at the present time. Despite the fact that the nickname of the merchant's wife is indicated in brackets, the author never calls her that. The text contains replicas of Kabanova, not Kabanikha. With a similar technique, the playwright wanted to emphasize that people call a woman that among themselves, but they personally treat her with respect. That is, in fact, the inhabitants of Kalinov do not like this person, but they are afraid of him.
Initially, the reader learns about Marfa Ignatievna from the lips of Kuligin. A self-taught mechanic calls her "a hypocrite who ate all the household." Curly only confirms these words. Then a wanderer, Feklusha, appears on the stage. Her judgment about Kabanikh is just the opposite: a quote. As a result of this disagreement, there is additional interest in this character. 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.
The boar is not happy with the way her son is behaving. She teaches him to live, despite the fact that the son is already an adult and has been married for a long time. Marfa Ignatievna shows herself as a grumpy domineering woman. Her sister-in-law Katerina behaves differently. In general, it is quite interesting to trace the similarities and differences between 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 have true love for Tikhon. Katya pities her husband, but does not love him. And Kabanikha treats him like a guinea pig, as a creature on which you can vent your aggression and try manipulation methods, hiding behind maternal love. Everyone knows that for every mother the most important thing 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 accustom her son to the fact that the absence of her own point of view is quite normal. Even observing how carefully and, at some points, gently Tikhon treats Katerina, Kabanikha is constantly trying to destroy their relationship.
Many critics argued about the strength or weakness of Katerina's character, but no one doubted the strength of Kabanikh's character. This is a truly cruel person who tries to subjugate others. She would have to rule the state, otherwise she has to waste her “talents” on her family and a provincial town. Varvara, daughter of Marfa Kabanova, has chosen pretense and lies as a way of coexisting with her domineering mother. Katerina, on the contrary, strongly opposes her mother-in-law. They seemed to take two positions, truth and lies, defending them. And in their conversations that Kabanikha should not categorically accuse Katya of mistakes and various sins, the struggle between light and darkness, truth and the “dark kingdom”, of which Kabanikha is a representative, emerges through the everyday background.
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 pious, she sees the presence of God all over the world, and not just in the church building. The religiosity of Marfa Ignatievna can be called outward. For her, rituals and strict observance of the rules are important. But behind all this obsession with practical manipulation, faith itself disappears. It is also important for Kabanikha to observe and maintain old traditions, despite the fact that many of them are already outdated: “You will not be afraid, and even more so. What is the order in the house will be? 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 at least not chatter in front of her and in front of your sister, in front of the girl. The characterization of Kabanikha in Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm is impossible without mentioning her almost maniacal attention to detail. Tikhon, the son of Kabanova Sr., becomes an inveterate drunkard, the daughter of Varvara lies, walks with whomever she wants, and looks like she will run away from home, disgracing her family. But Marfa Ignatievna is worried that they enter the threshold without bowing, not as her 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 keep it alive with the help of external paraphernalia.
Katerina Kabanova was a somewhat suspicious girl: in the "prophecies" of the half-witted lady, she seemed to her own fate, and in the thunderstorm the girl saw the punishment of the Lord. The boar is too mercantile and mundane for that. She is closer to the material world, practicality and utility. Thunderstorm and thunder don’t scare Kabanova at all, she just doesn’t want to get wet. While the inhabitants of Kalinovo are talking about the raging elements, Kabanikha grumbles and expresses his dissatisfaction: “Look what kind of races he spread. There is so much to hear, nothing to say! The times have come, some teachers have appeared. If the old man thinks like that, what can you demand from the young!”, “Don’t judge yourself older! They know more than you. Old people have signs of everything. An old man will not say a word to the wind.
The image of Kabanikh in the play "Thunderstorm" can be called a kind of generalization, a conglomerate of negative human qualities. It is difficult to call her a woman, a mother, and a person in principle. Of course, she is far from the fools of the city of Foolov, but her desire to subdue and rule killed all human qualities in Marfa Ignatievna.
Artwork test
Images of the Wild Boar and Boar in the play. The play "Thunderstorm" occupies a special place in the work of Ostrovsky. In this play, the playwright most vividly described the "world of the dark kingdom", the world of tyrant merchants, the world of ignorance, arbitrariness and despotism, domestic tyranny.
The action in the play takes place in a small town on the Volga - Kalinov. Life here, at first glance, is a kind of patriarchal idyll. The whole city is immersed in greenery, beyond the Volga there is an “unusual view”, on its high banks there is a public garden, where the inhabitants of the town often stroll. Life in Kalinovo flows quietly and unhurriedly, there are no upheavals, no exceptional events. News from the big world is brought to the town by the pilgrim Feklusha, who tells Kalinovtsy fables about people with dog heads.
However, in reality, not everything is so safe in this small, abandoned world. This idyll is already destroyed by Kuligin in a conversation with Boris Grigoryevich, Dikiy's nephew: “Cruel morals, sir, in our city, cruel! In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty ... And whoever has money ... he tries to enslave the poor, so that he can make even more money on his free labors. However, there is no agreement between the rich either: they “feud with each other”, “scribble malicious slander”, “sue”, “undermine trade”. Everyone lives behind oak gates, behind strong locks. “And they don’t lock themselves up from thieves, but so that people don’t see how they eat their own home and tyrannize their family. And what tears flow behind these locks, invisible and inaudible!..
And what, sir, behind these locks is the debauchery of the dark and drunkenness! exclaims Kuligin.
One of the richest, most influential people in the city is the merchant Savel Prokofievich Wild. The main features of the Wild are rudeness, ignorance, irascibility and absurdity of character. “Look for some more scolding like Savel Prokofich is! For no reason will a person be cut off, ”Shapkin says about him. The whole life of Wild is based on "cursing". Neither cash settlements, nor trips to the market - "he does nothing without scolding." Most of all, he gets from Wild to his family and his nephew Boris, who came from Moscow.
Savel Prokofievich is stingy. “... Just give me a hint about money, I will start to inflame my whole interior,” he says to Kabanova. Boris came to his uncle hoping to receive an inheritance, but actually fell into bondage to him. Savel Prokofievich does not pay him a salary, constantly insults and scolds his nephew, reproaching him for laziness and parasitism.
He repeatedly quarrels with Dikaya and with Kuligin, a local self-taught mechanic. Kuligin is trying to find a reasonable reason for Savel Prokofievich's rudeness: "Why, sir Savel Prokofievich, would you like to offend an honest man?" To which Dikoy replies: “A report, or something, I will give you! I don't report to anyone more important than you. I want to think about you like that, I think so! For others, you are an honest person, but I think that you are a robber, - that's all ... I say that you are a robber, and the end. Well, are you going to sue, or what, will you be with me? So you know that you are a worm. If I want, I will have mercy, if I want, I will crush.
“What theoretical reasoning can stand where life is based on such principles! The absence of any law, any logic is the law and logic of this life. This is not anarchy, but something even much worse ... ”, - wrote Dobrolyubov about the tyranny of Wild.
Like most Kaliians, Savel Prokofievich is hopelessly ignorant. When Kuligin asks him for money to install a lightning rod, Dikoi declares: “The storm is sent to us as a punishment, so that we feel, and you want to defend yourself with poles and horns ...”
Wild represents the "natural type" of the petty tyrant in the play. His rudeness, rudeness, mockery of people are based, first of all, on an absurd, unbridled character, stupidity and lack of opposition from other characters. And only then already on wealth.
It is characteristic that practically no one offers Wild active resistance. However, it turns out to be not so difficult to calm him down: on the ferry he was “cursed” by an unfamiliar hussar, Kabanikha is not shy in front of them. “There are no elders above you, so you are swaggering,” Marfa Ignatyevna bluntly declares to him. It is characteristic that here she is trying to fit Wild to her vision of the world order.
Kabanikha explains the constant anger, irascibility of Diky by his greed, but Savel Prokofievich himself does not even think of denying her conclusions: “Who cares about his own good!” he exclaims.
Much more complex in the play is the image of Kabanikha. This is an exponent of the "ideology of the dark kingdom", which "created for itself a whole world of special rules and superstitious customs."
Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is a rich merchant's wife, a widow who cultivates the customs and traditions of antiquity. She is grouchy, constantly dissatisfied with others. It gets from her, first of all, at home: she “eats” her son Tikhon, reads endless moralizing to her daughter-in-law, and tries to control her daughter’s behavior.
The boar zealously defends all the laws and customs of Domostroy. A wife, in her opinion, should be afraid of her husband, be silent and submissive. Children should honor their parents, unquestioningly follow all their instructions, follow their advice, respect them. None of these requirements, according to Kabanova, is fulfilled in her family. Marfa Ignatievna is dissatisfied with the behavior of her son and daughter-in-law: “They don’t know anything, there is no order,” she argues alone. She reproaches Katerina with the fact that she does not know how to see off her husband "in the old way" - therefore, she does not love him enough. “Another good wife, after seeing her husband off, howls for an hour and a half, lies on the porch ...”, she instructs her daughter-in-law. Tikhon, according to Kabanova, is too soft in dealing with his wife, not properly respectful towards his mother. “They don’t really respect elders nowadays,” says Marfa Ignatievna, reading instructions to her son.
The boar is fanatically religious: she constantly remembers God, sin and retribution, and there are often wanderers in her house. However, the religiosity of Marfa Ignatievna is nothing but hypocrisy: “The hypocrite ... She clothes the poor, but she completely ate the household,” Kuligin remarks about her. In her faith, Marfa Ignatievna is severe and adamant, there is no place for love, mercy, forgiveness in her. So, at the end of the play, she does not even think about forgiving Katerina her sin. On the contrary, she advises Tikhon to bury his wife alive in the ground so that she is executed.
Religion, ancient rites, pharisaical complaints about their lives, playing on filial feelings - Kabanikha uses everything to assert his absolute power in the family. And she "gets her way": in the harsh, overwhelming atmosphere of domestic tyranny, Tikhon's personality is mutilated. “Tikhon himself loved his wife and would be ready to do everything for her; but the oppression under which he grew up has so disfigured him that no strong feeling, no resolute striving can develop in him. He has a conscience, there is a desire for good, but he constantly acts against himself and serves as a submissive tool of his mother, even in his relationship with his wife, ”dobrolyubov writes.
The simple-hearted, gentle Tikhon lost the integrity of his feelings, the opportunity to show the best features of his nature. Family happiness was closed to him from the very beginning: in the family where he grew up, this happiness was replaced by “Chinese ceremonies”. He cannot show his love for his wife, and not because “a wife should be afraid of her husband”, but because he simply “does not know how” to show his feelings, which have been cruelly suppressed since childhood. All this led Tikhon to a certain emotional insensitivity: he often does not understand Katerina's condition.
Depriving her son of any initiative, Kabanikha constantly suppressed his masculinity and at the same time reproached him for his lack of masculinity. Subconsciously, he seeks to make up for this "lack of masculinity" in drinking and rare "partying" "in the wild." Tikhon cannot realize himself in some business - probably, his mother does not allow him to manage affairs, considering his son unsuitable for this. Kabanova can only send her son on an assignment, but everything else is under her strict control. It turns out that Tikhon is deprived of both his own opinion and his own feelings. It is characteristic that Marfa Ignatievna herself is to some extent dissatisfied with her son's infantilism. It slips through her intonation. However, she probably does not realize the extent of her involvement in this.
The life philosophy of Varvara was also formed in the Kabanov family. Her rule is simple: “do whatever you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered.” Varvara is far from Katerina's religiosity, from her poetry, exaltation. She quickly learned to lie and dodge. We can say that Varvara, in her own way, "learned" the "Chinese ceremonies", having perceived their very essence. The heroine still retains immediacy of feelings, kindness, but her lie is nothing more than reconciliation with Kalinov's morality.
It is characteristic that in the finale of the play both Tikhon and Varvara, each in their own way, rebel against the "power of mother". Varvara runs away from home with Kudryash, while Tikhon expresses his opinion openly for the first time, reproaching his mother for the death of his wife.
Dobrolyubov noted that “some critics even wanted to see in Ostrovsky a singer of wide natures”, “they wanted to assign arbitrariness to a Russian person as a special, natural quality of his nature - under the name “breadth of nature”; trickery and cunning also wanted to be legitimized among the Russian people under the name of sharpness and cunning. In the play "Thunderstorm" Ostrovsky debunks both of these phenomena. Arbitrariness comes out for him "heavy, ugly, lawless", he sees in it nothing but tyranny. Roguery and cunning do not turn into sharpness, but vulgarity, the reverse side of tyranny.
The boar in the play "Thunderstorm" is the antagonist of the main character, Katerina. The contrast of the characters in the work is of decisive importance, revealing its meaning. The heroines are representatives of the opposite poles of the patriarchal world. If Katerina is spirituality, poetry, kindness, mercy, then Marfa Ignatievna is earthiness, love of money, pettiness.
The heroine's relationship with her family
An ignorant person, rude, superstitious, guardian of the old laws, despotic, loves to teach and keep everyone in fear - this is such a brief description of Kabanikh. This is a rich merchant's wife, widow, mother of Varvara and Tikhon, mother-in-law of Katerina. A woman comes to her family, she constantly saws, teaches, tries to keep the old order at home and gets angry when the youth does not listen to her. Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna firmly believes that order can be restored only if everyone is kept in fear.
The characteristic of Kabanikh allows the reader to understand the attitude of the Old Believers to the new world. The merchant's wife raised her children in fear, she wants to extend her power to her daughter-in-law. She constantly teaches her son, makes him punish his wife, keep her on a short leash. When Tikhon wonders why Katerina needs to be afraid of him, because she loves him, his mother yells at him. After all, if the daughter-in-law of her husband will not be afraid, then her mother-in-law and even more so.
The relationship of the merchant with others
The boar regularly goes to church, surrounds himself with hysterics, regularly gives alms to the poor. The merchant's wife talks to her godfather Wild on an equal footing. Although these two belong to the same world and support the old order, the characterization of Kabanikh shows that the woman still disdains the tyranny of the landowner. Marfa Ignatieva really keeps her family in fear, but she does this to maintain order in the house, and not because of her violent nature. In addition, the merchant's wife will never complain in public about problems in her family, as Wild does.
The last guardian of order
The image of Kabanikh is the embodiment of old belief, some medieval foundations. The merchant's wife suffers from the fact that her world is slowly collapsing. She sees that the youth does not support her, does not respect the old laws, and thinks in a new way. The woman is overwhelmed with some kind of apocalyptic expectations, she does not understand what will happen when all the old-timers die out, and there will be no one to resist everything modern. The House of the Kabanovs is almost the last stronghold where the dogmas of antiquity are revered.
The characterization of Kabanikha does not cause pity for this heroine, although at the end of the play not only Katerina, but also her mother-in-law suffered. For the merchant's wife, the public confession of her daughter-in-law, the rebellion of her son and the escape from her daughter's house were a terrible blow. But this woman did not understand that by her rejection of the modern world, she led to the death of Katerina, ruined Varvara's life and pushed Tikhon to drunkenness. No one got better from the rule of Kabanikhi. But she does not understand this, because the merchant's wife, even after so many misfortunes, continues to insist on her own.
The play "Thunderstorm" is one of the most famous in the work of Ostrovsky. A bright, social drama, the events of which take place in the 19th century in the town of Kalinovo. The female images in the play deserve special attention. They are colorful and unique. The image and characterization of Kabanikha in the play "Thunderstorm" is undoubtedly important in the work. She is the main despot and tyrant in the play. She is responsible for Katerina's death. The goal of Kabanikha is to subjugate as many people as possible in order to hang on them the customs, traditions and laws that she sacredly observes. True fear crept into her soul when she realized that a new time was approaching, a time of change that she could not resist.
Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova- she is a Kabanikha. Widow. Merchant. Mother of Barbara and Tikhon.
Image and characteristics
The surname Kabanova suits the main character very accurately, characterizing her from the first minutes. A wild animal is able to pounce on a person for no good reason, so is the Boar. Furious, ferocious. She is able to “bite to death” a person if he is not pleasing to her, which happened to Katerina, whom the widow simply died from the light. It's impossible to please her. She will always find something to complain about, no matter how hard she tries.
Kabanikha, after the death of her husband, was left with two small children in her arms. There was no time to despair. I had to take care and raise Varvara and Tikhon. Brother and sister are completely different in character and outwardly, although they were brought up the same way.
Powerful, domineering woman, keeping in fear not only the household, but the entire district.
“Mommy is painfully cool with you ...”
To subdue and rule is her credo. I am absolutely convinced that the family is built on fear and subordination of the younger to the elders. “Don’t judge yourself older! They know more than you. Old people have signs of everything.” He does not see anything abnormal in his attitude towards children.
“After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach good.”
Religious. This is not the faith of a religious fanatic who sacredly observes all fasts and God's laws. More like a tribute to tradition. She performs rituals on the machine, not really delving into the process and its meaning. She has no faith in forgiveness and mercy. For her, the main thing is the strict implementation of patriarchal orders. This is sacred.
“Well, I’ll go pray to God; Do not bother me…".
She is as demanding of others as she is of herself. What people themselves think about this and what feelings they experience is deeply indifferent to her.
Nerd. Always dissatisfied with everything. Buzzing about and without. It's hard to please her. Her own family annoys her, especially her son and daughter-in-law. That's where Kabanikha comes off in full. Sticks his nose into their lives, climbs with advice. He believes that the son, after marriage, cooled off towards his mother, turning into a rag and henpecked.
“Maybe you loved your mother while you were single. Do you care about me, you have a young wife.
Daughter-in-law is a separate issue. The behavior of the daughter-in-law is out of the ordinary. She doesn’t follow traditions, she doesn’t put her husband in anything. Completely out of hand. Old age does not respect and does not honor.
Self-confident. She is convinced that she is doing everything right. He sincerely believes that if you maintain the old order and way of life, then the house will not suffer from external chaos. The economy is managed harshly, worse than a peasant. She doesn't show emotions. In her opinion, this is redundant. At the slightest manifestation of rebellion on the part of the household, the Kabanikha stops everything in the bud. Any misconduct on their part entails punishment. She is immediately infuriated if they young people try to go against her. Strangers are dearer to her than her son and daughter-in-law.
"Prude, sir! She clothes the poor, but she eats the household completely ... ”.
He will say a good word, he will reward with alms.
Loves money. The boar is accustomed to keeping the entire household on her own. She is sure that the one who has more cash in his pocket is right. Having settled at her place, she hears their laudatory speeches addressed to her every day. Flattering grandmothers completely fooled her head. The boar does not even allow the thought that he can do something wrong. With their talk about the end of the world, the old women support Kabanikh's idea of life on earth.