2. The image of Katerina in the play "The Thunderstorm"

Katerina is a lonely young woman who lacks human sympathy, sympathy, and love. The need for this attracts her to Boris. She sees that outwardly he does not look like other residents of the city of Kalinov, and, not being able to find out his inner essence, considers him a man of another world. In her imagination, Boris appears to be a handsome prince who will take her away from the "dark kingdom" to fairy world that exists in her dreams.

In terms of character and interests, Katerina stands out sharply from her environment. Unfortunately, the fate of Katerina is a vivid and typical example of the fate of thousands of Russian women of that time. Katerina is a young woman, the wife of the merchant's son Tikhon Kabanov. She recently left her home and moved to her husband's house, where she lives with her mother-in-law Kabanova, who is the sovereign mistress. In the family, Katerina has no rights, she is not even free to dispose of herself. She remembers with warmth and love parental home, your girlish life. There she lived at ease, surrounded by the affection and care of her mother .. The religious upbringing that she received in the family developed in her impressionability, dreaminess, faith in the afterlife and retribution for man's sins.

Katerina found herself in completely different conditions in her husband's house .. At every step she felt dependence on her mother-in-law, endured humiliation and insults. On the part of Tikhon, she does not meet any support, much less understanding, since he himself is under the rule of Kabanikha. By her kindness, Katerina is ready to treat Kabanikha like her own mother. "But Katerina's sincere feelings are not supported by either Kabanikha or Tikhon.

Living in such an environment changed Katerina's character. Katerina's sincerity and truthfulness collide in Kabanikha's house with lies, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, rudeness. When love for Boris is born in Katerina, it seems to her a crime, and she struggles with the feeling that has washed over her. Katerina's truthfulness and sincerity make her suffer so much that she finally has to repent before her husband. Katerina's sincerity, her truthfulness are incompatible with the life of the "dark kingdom". All this was the cause of Katerina's tragedy.

". Katerina's public repentance shows the depth of her suffering, moral greatness, determination. But after repentance, her position became unbearable. Her husband does not understand her, Boris is powerless and does not go to her aid. The situation has become hopeless - Katerina is dying. Katerina's death is not to blame. One specific person. Her death is the result of the incompatibility of morality and the way of life in which she was forced to exist. The image of Katerina was of great educational value for Ostrovsky's contemporaries and for subsequent generations. He called for the fight against all forms of despotism and oppression human personality... It is an expression of the growing protest of the masses against all forms of slavery.

Katerina, sad and cheerful, compliant and obstinate, dreamy, depressed and proud. Such different states of mind are explained by the naturalness of each mental movement of this simultaneously restrained and impetuous nature, the strength of which lies in the ability to always be itself. Katerina remained true to herself, that is, she could not change the very essence of her character.

I think that the most important character trait of Katerina is honesty before herself, her husband, the world around her; it is her unwillingness to live a lie. She does not want and cannot cheat, pretend, lie, hide. This is confirmed by the scene of Katerina's confession of treason. Not a thunderstorm, not a frightening prophecy of a crazy old woman, not a fear of the fiery hell prompted the heroine to tell the truth. “The whole heart was torn! I can’t take it any longer! ” - so she began her confession. For her honest and whole nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. To live just to live is not for her. To live is to be yourself. Its most precious value is personal freedom, freedom of the soul.

With such a character, Katerina, after betraying her husband, could not remain in his house, return to a monotonous dreary life, endure constant reproaches and "moralizing" Kabanikha, lose freedom. But all patience comes to an end. It is difficult for Katerina to be where she is not understood, her human dignity is humiliated and insulted, her feelings and desires are ignored. Before her death, she says: “What is home, what is in the grave - all the same ... In the grave it is better ...” She does not want death, but life is unbearable.

Katerina is a deeply religious and God-fearing person. Since, according to the Christian religion, suicide is a great sin, then knowingly committing it, she showed not weakness, but strength of character. Her death is a challenge to the “dark force”, the desire to live in the “light kingdom” of love, joy and happiness.

The death of Katerina is the result of a collision of two historical eras. By her death, Katerina protests against despotism and tyranny, her death testifies to the approaching end of the "dark kingdom." better images Russian fiction... Katerina is a new type of people in Russian reality in the 1860s.

Katerina - central character plays by Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm". Since its inception, the work has enjoyed immense popularity. Performances based on the play never leave the stage of the largest theaters. The main reason for such popularity is the talented disclosure of Katerina's character by the author.

Inevitable conflict with others and emotional drama the main character leads to her tragic death.

In the image of Katerina Ostrovsky portrayed a strong independent person who is restrained by chains traditional society... The patriarchal way of life, which everyone in the city adheres to, stifles the slightest manifestation of a living soul. His main supporter is Tikhon's mother. She raised her son in conditions of unquestioning obedience. Tikhon in his soul understands all the stupidity of mother's instructions, but he has no will to resist her.

Katerina sincerely loves and takes pity on her husband. She cannot indifferently look at his humiliation in front of her mother. But she is not able to fix anything either. The stifling atmosphere prevailing in the city gradually takes over her. Katerina unconsciously wants to break out of her.

Soul drama Katerina lies in the fact that in other conditions she would never have cheated on her husband. But in this "sleepy kingdom" she is too cramped, she suffocates from such a life. In the famous monologue of the protagonist "Why do people not fly" this spiritual desire is most clearly expressed. The fantastic desire to become a bird and fly away "far, far" is a passionate impulse of a tortured soul.

In reality, the release of Katerina happened as a result of a sudden love for Boris. The decency of the woman did not allow her to speak openly about this. The rapprochement took place with the assistance of Barbara. An affair with Boris, on the one hand, inspired Katerina, allowed her to feel real pleasure in life. On the other hand, this novel became disastrous for the main character.

The image of Katerina is extremely tragic. She cannot be considered a fallen woman who betrayed her husband for the sake of a fleeting infatuation. The betrayal was due to the fault of an old woman who was out of her mind and her weak-willed son. The time spent without her husband flashed by like an instant. Katerina foresees the inevitable reckoning for her terrible sin. She could easily hide all this, but, being a deeply religious person, she does not even allow the thought of deception.

Katerina's mental confusion is exacerbated by the arrival of Tikhon. She lives as if in delirium, frightening others with her behavior and words. Katerina awaits divine punishment for her sinful behavior. The feeling of imminent death leads her to a terrible confession before her husband and his mother. Having confessed to sin, she, as it were, purifies her soul before death. The suicide of Katerina is a natural result of the work. Her emotional drama could not be resolved otherwise.

Katerina is a wonderful example of a strong spiritual personality. She is not to blame for either treason or her own death. Ostrovsky convincingly showed what a destructive effect outdated concepts and prejudices have on the human soul. The emotional drama of Katerina is indicative of any historical era.

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"Storm". This is a young woman who does not yet have children and lives in her mother-in-law's house, where, in addition to her husband Tikhon, Tikhon's unmarried sister, Varvara, also lives. Katerina has already for some time been in love with Boris, who lives in the house of the Dikiy, his orphaned nephew.

While her husband is nearby, she secretly dreams of Boris, but after his departure, Katerina begins to meet with a young man and enters into a love affair with him, with the complicity of her daughter-in-law, for whom Katerina's relationship is even beneficial.

The main conflict in the novel is the confrontation between Katerina and her mother-in-law, Tikhon's mother, Kabanikha. Life in the city of Kalinovo is a deep swamp that sucks in deeper and deeper. "Old concepts" prevail over everything. Whatever the “elders” do, they should get away with it, they will not tolerate free-thinking here, the “wild lordship” here feels like a fish in water.

The mother-in-law is jealous of the young attractive daughter-in-law, feeling that with the marriage of her son, her power over him rests only on constant reproaches and moral pressure. In her daughter-in-law, despite her dependent position, Kabanikha feels a strong adversary, an integral nature that does not yield to her tyrannical oppression.

Katerina does not feel proper respect for her, does not tremble and does not look into Kabanikha's mouth, catching her every word. She does not act out sadness when her husband leaves, she does not try to be useful to her mother-in-law in order to deserve a favorable nod - she is different, her nature resists pressure.

Katerina is a believing woman, and for her sin is a crime that she cannot hide. She lived in her parents' house as she wanted and did what she liked: planting flowers, praying earnestly in church, experiencing a feeling of enlightenment, listening with curiosity to the stories of the pilgrims. She was always loved, and her character developed a strong, self-willed, she did not tolerate any injustice and could not lie and maneuver.

The mother-in-law, however, will face constant unfair reproaches. She is guilty that Tikhon does not show, as before, due respect to his mother, and he does not demand it from his wife either. Kabanikha reproaches her son that he does not appreciate the suffering of his mother in his name. The power of the tyrant escapes from the hands right before our eyes.

The betrayal of her daughter-in-law, in which the impressionable Katerina confessed publicly, is Kabanikha's reason to rejoice and repeat:

“But I told you! And nobody listened to me! "

All sins and transgressions are due to the fact that, perceiving new trends, they do not listen to the elders. The world in which the eldest Kabanova lives suits her completely: power over her household and in the city, wealth, harsh moral pressure over her household. This is the life of Kabanikha, this is how her parents and their parents lived - and this did not change.

While the girl is young, she does what she wants, but after getting married, she is like dying to the world, appearing with her family only in the bazaar and in the church, and occasionally in crowded places. So Katerina, having come to her husband's house after a free and happy youth, also had to die symbolically, but could not.

The same feeling of a miracle that is about to come, the expectation of the unknown, the desire to fly in and soar, which had been with her since her free youth, did not disappear anywhere, and the explosion would still have occurred. Let not by communication with Boris, but Katerina would still have challenged the world into which she came after marriage.

It would be easier for Katerina if she loved her husband. But every day watching Tikhon ruthlessly suppressed by her mother-in-law, she lost her feelings and even the remnants of respect for him. She pitied him, from time to time encouraging, and not even very offended when Tikhon, humiliated by his mother, takes out his resentment on her.

Boris seems to her different, although because of his sister he is in the same humiliated position as Tikhon. Since Katerina glimpses him, she cannot appreciate his spiritual qualities. And when two weeks of love intoxication dissipate with the arrival of her husband, she is too busy with mental anguish and her guilt to understand that his position is no better than that of Tikhon. Boris, still clinging to the faint hope that he will get something from his grandmother's condition, is forced to leave. He does not call Katerina with him, his mental strength is not enough for this, and he leaves with tears:

"Eh, if only strength!"

Katerina has no way out. The daughter-in-law has fled, the husband is broken, the lover is leaving. She remains in the power of Kabanikha, and realizes that now she will not let the guilty daughter-in-law go down ... if she had previously scolded her for nothing. Further - this is a slow death, not a day without reproaches, a weak husband and there is no way to see Boris. And the believer Katerina prefers to all this the terrible mortal sin - suicide - as liberation from the torments of the earth.

She realizes that her impulse is terrible, but for her it is even preferable to punish her for sin than life in the same house with Kabanikha before her physical death - the spiritual one has already taken place.

A whole and freedom-loving nature will never be able to withstand pressure and mockery.

Katerina could have run, but there was no one with whom. Therefore - suicide, a quick death instead of a slow one. She nevertheless made her escape from the kingdom of the "tyrants of Russian life".

The main characters of Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorms"

The events in the drama of A. N. Ostrovsky "The Thunderstorm" unfold on the Volga coast, in the fictional city of Kalinov. The work contains a list actors and them brief characteristics, but they are still not enough to better understand the world of each character and reveal the conflict of the play as a whole. There are not so many main characters in Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm".

Katerina, a girl, the main character of the play. She is quite young, she was married early. Katya was brought up exactly according to the traditions of house building: the main qualities of a wife were respect and obedience to her husband. At first, Katya tried to love Tikhon, but she could feel nothing but pity for him. At the same time, the girl tried to support her husband, help him and not reproach him. Katerina can be called the most modest, but at the same time the most powerful character in The Storm. Indeed, outwardly, Katya's strength of character does not appear. At first glance, this girl is weak and silent, it seems as if she is easy to break. But this is not at all the case. Katerina is the only one in the family who resists Kabanikha's attacks. It is he who opposes, and does not ignore them, like Barbara. The conflict is rather internal. After all, Kabanikha is afraid that Katya might influence her son, after which Tikhon will cease to obey his mother's will.

Katya wants to fly and often compares herself to a bird. She literally suffocates in " dark kingdom"Kalinova. Falling in love with a newcomer young man, Katya has created for herself an ideal image of love and possible liberation. Unfortunately, her ideas had little to do with reality. The girl's life ended tragically.

Ostrovsky in The Thunderstorm makes not only Katerina the main character. The image of Katya is contrasted with the image of Martha Ignatievna. A woman who keeps the whole family in fear and tension does not command respect. The boar is strong and despotic. Most likely, she took the "reins" after the death of her husband. Although it is more likely that in marriage, Kabanikha did not differ in submissiveness. Katya, her daughter-in-law, got the most from her. It is Kabanikha who is indirectly responsible for the death of Katerina.

Varvara is the daughter of Kabanikha. Despite the fact that over the years she has learned resourcefulness and lies, the reader still sympathizes with her. Barbara is a good girl. Surprisingly, deception and cunning do not make her look like the rest of the inhabitants of the city. She does as she pleases and lives as she wants. Barbara is not afraid of her mother's anger, since she is not an authority for her.

Tikhon Kabanov fully lives up to his name. He is quiet, weak, inconspicuous. Tikhon cannot protect his wife from his mother, since he himself is under the strong influence of Kabanikha. His rebellion turns out to be the most significant in the end. After all, it is the words, and not the escape of Barbara, that make readers think about the whole tragedy of the situation.

The author characterizes Kuligin as a self-taught mechanic. This character is a kind of tour guide. In the first act, he seems to be leading us around Kalinov, talking about his morals, about the families that live here, about the social situation. Kuligin seems to know everything about everyone. His assessments of others are very accurate. Kuligin himself good person who is used to living by established rules. He constantly dreams of the common good, of the perpetu mobile, of the lightning rod, of honest work. Unfortunately, his dreams are not destined to come true.

Dikiy has a clerk, Kudryash. This character is interesting in that he is not afraid of the merchant and can tell him what he thinks of him. At the same time, Kudryash, just like Dikoy, tries to find benefits in everything. He can be described as a common man.

Boris comes to Kalinov on business: he urgently needs to improve relations with Dikim, because only in this case he will be able to receive the money legally bequeathed to him. However, neither Boris nor Dikoy even want to see each other. Initially, Boris seems to readers like Katya to be honest and fair. In the last scenes this is refuted: Boris is not able to decide on a serious step, to take responsibility, he simply runs away, leaving Katya alone.

One of the heroes of "The Thunderstorm" is the wanderer and the maid. Feklusha and Glasha are shown as typical inhabitants of the city of Kalinov. Their darkness and ignorance is truly striking. Their judgments are absurd, and their horizons are very narrow. Women judge morality and ethics according to some perverted, distorted concepts. “Moscow is now gulbis and merrymaking, but there is a roar through the streets, there is a groan. Why, Matushka Marfa Ignatievna, they began to harness the fiery serpent: everything, you see, for the sake of speed ”- this is how Feklusha speaks of progress and reforms, and the woman calls a car“ a fiery serpent ”. The concept of progress and culture is alien to such people, because it is convenient for them to live in an invented limited world of calmness and regularity.

Characteristics of Katerina from the play "The Thunderstorm"

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

Katya was married to Tikhon Kabanov, the merchant's wife. It was issued, because then, according to the house building, the marriage was more the will of the parents than the decision of young people. Katya's husband is a pitiful sight. The child's irresponsibility and infantilism, bordering on idiocy, led to the fact that Tikhon was not capable of anything but drunkenness. In Martha Kabanova, the ideas of petty tyranny and hypocrisy inherent in the entire "dark kingdom" were fully embodied. Katya strives for freedom, comparing herself to a bird. It is hard for her to survive in conditions of stagnation and slavish worship of false idols. Katerina is truly religious, every trip to church seems like a holiday for her, and as a child, Katya more than once fancied that she heard angelic singing. Sometimes Katya would pray in the garden because she believed that the Lord would hear her prayers anywhere, not only in church. But in Kalinov, the Christian faith lost any inner fulfillment.

Katerina's dreams allow her to escape from the real world for a short time. There she is free, like a bird, free to fly wherever she wants, not obeying any laws. “And what dreams did I have, Varenka,” continues Katerina, “what dreams! Either the temples are golden, or the gardens are extraordinary, and everyone is singing invisible voices, and the smell of cypress, and the mountains and trees seem to be not the same as usual, but as they are written on images. And if I fly, I fly through the air. " Recently, however, a certain mysticism has become inherent in Katerina. Everywhere she begins to see imminent death, and in her dreams she sees the evil one who warmly embraces her, and then destroys her. These dreams were prophetic.

Katya is dreamy and tender, but along with her fragility, in the monologues of Katerina from "The Thunderstorm" one can see firmness and strength. For example, a girl decides to go out to meet Boris. She was overcome with doubts, she wanted to throw the key from the gate into the Volga, thought about the consequences, but still took an important step for herself: “Throw the key! No, not for anything in the world! He's mine now ... Come what may, and I'll see Boris! " The house of Kabanikha is disgusted with Katya, the girl does not like Tikhon. She thought about leaving her husband and, having received a divorce, honestly live with Boris. But there was nowhere to hide from the tyranny of the mother-in-law. With her tantrums, Kabanikha turned the house into hell, cutting off any opportunity for escape.

Katerina is surprisingly discerning about herself. The girl knows about her character traits, about her decisive disposition: “This is how I was born, hot! I was still six years old, no more, so I did! They offended me with something at home, but it was towards 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, ten miles away! " Such a person will not submit to petty tyranny, will not be subject to dirty manipulations by Kabanikha. Katerina is not to blame that she was born at a time when the wife had to obey her husband unquestioningly, was an almost powerless application, the function of which was childbearing. By the way, Katya herself says that children could be her joy. But Katya has no children.

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

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

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

In the article "A ray of light in the dark kingdom" N.A. Dobrolyubov writes that in "The Thunderstorm" a "Russian strong character" is expressed, which amazes with "its opposite to all self-styled principles." This character is "focused and decisive, unswervingly faithful to the instinct of natural truth, full of faith in new ideals and selfless, in the sense that death is better for him than life under those principles that are repugnant to him." This is how the critic saw the character of Katerina. But is this the way the reader sees this image? And how does the character of the heroine manifest in action?

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

Katerina considers the atmosphere of the parental home very beneficial for her development and upbringing: “I lived, I didn’t grieve about anything ... like a bird in the wild”. The occupations of this period - handicrafts, gardening, going to church, singing, talking with wanderers - do not differ much from what fills the life of the heroine in the Kabanovs' house. But behind the fence of a merchant's house there is no freedom of choice, warmth and sincerity in relations between people, there is no joy and desire to sing like a bird. Everything, as in a crooked mirror, is distorted beyond recognition, and this causes dissonance in Katerina's soul. Anger, quarrelsomeness, eternal discontent, constant reproaches, moralizing and mistrust of her mother-in-law deprived Katerina of confidence in her own righteousness and purity of thoughts, caused anxiety and mental pain. She longingly recalls a happy and calm life as a girl, how her parents loved her. Here, in the "dark kingdom", the joyful expectation of happiness, the bright perception of the world disappeared.

The love of life, optimism, the feeling of purity and light in the soul were replaced by despondency, a sense of sinfulness and guilt, fear and a desire to die. This is no longer the cheerful girl that people knew her as a girl, this is a completely different Katerina. But the strength of character is manifested even in the conditions of life behind the fence, since the heroine cannot humbly endure injustice and humiliation, accept the principles of merchant hypocrisy. When Kabanova reproaches Katerina with pretense, she objects to her mother-in-law: "What with people, what without people, I am all alone, I am not proving anything from myself ... It is vain to endure someone who is pleased!"

So no one talked to Kabanova, but Katerina was used to being sincere, and she wanted to remain in her husband's family. After all, before marriage, she was a life-loving and sensitive girl, she loved nature, was kind to people. That is why N.A. Dobrolyubov had reason to call Katerina a "strong character" who "amazes us with its opposite" in relation to the characters of the merchant class depicted in the play. Indeed, the image of the main character is the opposite of the other female characters in the play "Thunderstorm".

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

Boris said about Katerina that in church she prays with an angelic smile, "but from her face it seems to shine." And this opinion confirms the feature inner peace Katerina, speaks of her difference in comparison with other heroes of the play. V family where there was respect for the personality of the child, in an atmosphere of love, kindness and trust, the girl saw worthy role models. Feeling warmth and sincerity, she got used to a free life, to work without compulsion. Parents did not scold her, but rejoiced, observing her behavior and actions. This gave the confidence that she lived correctly and sinlessly, and God had nothing to punish her for. Her pure, immaculate soul was open to kindness and love.

In the Kabanovs' house, as well as in the city of Kalinov in general, Katerina falls into an atmosphere of bondage, hypocrisy, suspicion, where she is treated like a potential sinner, accused in advance of what she did not even think to do. At first she made excuses, trying to prove to everyone her moral purity, worried and endured, but the habit of freedom and longing for sincerity in relationships with people make her leave, break out of the "dungeon" first into the garden, then to the Volga, then to forbidden love. And a feeling of guilt comes to Katerina, she begins to think that, having crossed the borders of the "dark kingdom", she also violated her own ideas about Christian morality, about morality. This means that she has become different: she is a sinner, worthy of God's punishment.

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

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

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