Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" is a complex and multifaceted work, allowing for various interpretations and interpretations. Even the genre of this play is defined in different ways: it is sometimes called a drama, sometimes a folk tragedy, depending on how the conflict underlying it is understood. If we consider it as intra-family, domestic, then the reason for Katerina's drama is obvious: the wife cheated on her husband, which she herself admitted to everyone, and then, unable to endure the pangs of conscience and the reproaches of her mother-in-law, who had previously tyrannized her daughter-in-law, committed suicide. But Ostrovsky's contemporary critics refused such a simplified interpretation: too much in this play remains “behind the scenes” with this approach.
Critic Dobrolyubov in the article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" substantiated Katerina's drama from the point of view of social contradictions, which determined not only the feeling of a pre-stormy atmosphere in society on the eve of reforms, but also affected family foundations. From his point of view, the reason for Katerina's drama is that she turned out to be more sensitive and receptive to these new processes and perceived the need to overcome the inert forms and traditions of life as her personal task. She is unbearable family bondage, with which she can still put up with for the time being. But the free soul of Katerina, who fell in love in spite of all the norms and laws of the patriarchal family, is eager for freedom. The drama is aggravated by the fact that she has nowhere to wait for help: her beloved Boris is a weak and indecisive person, like her husband Tikhon, only she is capable of an effective protest against the "dark kingdom". According to the critic, Katerina's outdated religious ideas, forcing her to regard her feelings as a terrible sin, make her choose such a form of protest as suicide. In fact, the critic reproaches Katerina only for the fact that instead of actively fighting the conservative orders that have outlived their time, she sacrifices herself. But he agrees that this follows from the nature of Katerina's character, her nature, and does not require more. It is enough that it becomes clear to everyone that even in the most downtrodden part of the people a protest is brewing. Such is the conclusion of this critic about the causes of Katerina's drama.
But how does this conclusion correspond to the author's position? After all, it is not for nothing that the writer introduces into the play a whole group of symbols that allow us to understand Katerina's inner world, filled with the poetry of the church service, angelic singing, the smell of cypress and unearthly light. Katerina is a pure soul who lives for a time in the reserved world of that deep patriarchal past, when the norms and postulates of the world of wild boars and wild ones were not an external form, but the internal content of each person. That is why it is not so important for her whether, according to the rules or not, she says goodbye to her husband - the main thing is that she does it sincerely. When Katerina feels the birth of a new feeling in her soul - love for Boris - she loses her inner harmony: while continuing to sincerely believe that family relationships are holy and betrayal is a terrible sin, she simultaneously believes her feeling just as strongly and sincerely. Love for Boris is what makes up the essence of Katerina's personality, which is being born before our eyes. She is forced to fight her way not only through external obstacles, but also, which is much more difficult, overcoming internal resistance. Such a conflict cannot be resolved, even if the mother-in-law is kinder, and others treat the poor woman with great understanding. Escape with Boris would not have helped her - after all, you can’t run away from yourself! It is necessary that the whole system of life change, so that the rights of the individual to free choice, happiness and dignity become the norm - but this does not exist in the reality surrounding Katerina and will not be for a long time. So her death is natural, like the death of any tragic heroine. But the feeling of inner purification, similar to what is called catharsis, and the joy that the miracle of the birth of a personality has happened before us, makes us see in The Thunderstorm not only a drama unfolding in the depths of the “dark kingdom”, but also a “beam of light”, illuminating us with hope.
No one knows exactly where "Thunderstorm" was written - at a dacha near Moscow in Ostankino or in Zavolzhsky Shchelykovo, but it was created in just two autumn months of 1855 as a result of the writer's trips along the Volga. Dozens of critics and directors argued about this play - from Dobrolyubov and Pisarev to our great contemporaries. There was not and is not a dramatic actress who does not dream of playing Katerina. And how many essays have been written about her at school! And everyone is different. After all, each generation perceives this play in its own way, finds in it novelty, consonant with its era, no matter how far away in time the characters of "Thunderstorm" and their way of life are.
Thinking about the phenomenon of "Thunderstorm", I decided to learn more about its birth and stage fate.
And she was just shocked. After all, Ostrovsky wrote his Katerina with the pain of a wounded heart. And I like the version about the love of the great playwright and actress more than the assumption that the tragedy described in The Thunderstorm was inspired by the fate of Alexandra Klykova. Young Lyuba Kositskaya, an actress of the Maly Theater, an actress "by the grace of God", met Ostrovsky in the late forties. But at that time, not a single play by the young playwright had made its way onto the stage. And one must have great courage to choose for a benefit performance a comedy that has just been completed by an unknown author. "Don't get into your own sleigh" became a triumph both for Ostrovsky, who was known so far only in Moscow literary salons, and for the actress, who still shone in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and in Schiller's drama "Cunning and Love". There is evidence that even the emperor praised the performance. And Ostrovsky attributed this amazing success to Kositskaya's talent. Ivan Nikulin, the husband of the actress, may have guessed before her that a feeling is emerging in Ostrovsky's heart, it is stronger than a friendly one. In the autumn of 1859, Alexander Nikolaevich reads Thunderstorm to the actors of the Maly Theater in Kositskaya's apartment. The author is worried, often goes out to smoke, and the listeners, shocked by what they heard, are already talking about the distribution of roles. And they unanimously decided: Lyubov Pavlovna to be the first Katerina on the Russian stage. Agreeing with the opinion of S. A. Yuryev, writer, editor of the Russian Thought magazine, about the Volga origins of the Thunderstorm, I am sure that Ostrovsky hatched his plan, feeling the invisible presence of Kositskaya. At this time, he writes hot, passionate letters to her. To the depths of his heart, to unconsciousness, he fell in love with this woman. And then - the inevitable: he receives a decisive refusal. She refused, assuring her of tender friendship, she talked a lot about honor, duty, about Ostrovsky's small children, about the playwright's civil marriage, which obliges a lot. And much more. And only at the end she admitted: "I love another." And this other one is a young Moscow merchant who soon brought her to poverty, despair and early death. In one of her last letters, she will write to Ostrovsky that his friendship and love were the only joy in her fate. But it will be later, and then, on November 16, 1859, Lyubov Pavlovna reincarnated as a young touching Katerina, as if playing her own destiny. No, of course, her life and Katerina's life do not completely coincide, but the actress played a fate that was understandable to her and somewhat similar. On the draft manuscript of "Thunderstorms" Ostrovsky's hand made notes: ". .. reported by L.P. "Kositskaya told the writer episodes from her life, inspiring him with Katerina's words about youth, about her father's house.
It seems to me that the brightest traits in Katerina's character were associated with the confessions of Lyubov Pavlovna. So, on the stage, Katerina is Lyubov Kositskaya. She is in dialogue with her mother-in-law - Marfa Kabanova. It is impossible to understand the essence and meaning of "Thunderstorm" without delving into the conflict between Katerina and Kabanikha. After all, Ostrovsky, as it were, asks us: who won this duel? Katerina's death - Kabanova's victory or defeat? And what would she have done if there had been another daughter-in-law in Katerina's place, complaisant, able to maintain the appearance of "bla-alepia"? What does Kabanova actually want from her daughter-in-law in the house, what does she achieve? Marfa Kabanova is primarily a die-hard fan of Domostroy. But even Tikhon calls the Domostroy antiquity "shackles." And Kuligin knows about the house rules in their house. "The hypocrite, sir, clothes the poor, but completely ate up the household." But why does she eat everyone? What does she lack? Does he himself understand how painful the bondage that is brought up in this house? Who does she know in this city? Ba, yes, this is Savel Prokofievich Wild! She gives him a share of indulgence. But even from him he does not tolerate the slightest disrespect: "Well, you don’t open your throat very much! You find me cheaper!" she cuts off the brawler abruptly. And he remembers, even asks for forgiveness. This rude man is an ally for Kabanova. After all, he is one of those about whom Kuligin will say: “Cruel, sir, the customs in our city are cruel ... In philistinism, sir, you will see nothing but rudeness and naked poverty ... And whoever has money, sir, he tries to enslave the poor, so that he can make even more money for his free labors ... "Really, amazing words! Yes, even from the stage! By the way, the "Communist Manifesto" was published eleven years before the publication of "Thunderstorm". Ostrovsky hardly knew him. And under Kuligin's monologues, no doubt, his authors would have subscribed. Something was wrong in the censorship department. Surprisingly, the image of Kabanova was subjected to a special biased judgment. They saw in it a parody of ... the king! Ostrovsky spent a lot of words until he convinced the censor to sign permission to stage the play. How happy Alexander Nikolayevich was! How angry were his enemies! Even the great Shchepkin was indignant about the scene in the ravine! According to him, girls-daughters should not be allowed on the Thunderstorm. It seems to me that the main danger for the opponents of "Thunderstorm" is the image of Kabanikh. After all, all her anger, all her malice is in the name of domination over other people. She tyrannizes people, feeling that in her complacency and autocracy the end is coming. And without it, she has no reason to live. Without this, she will remain an old grumbler. But even on a city scale, she has considerable power. She rules a trading house, and Tikhon travels to Moscow on business, travels for a long time. It can be seen that Kabanikha lives in a big way. I imagined her late husband. No, he could not be like Tikhon. Rather, there was something of the Wild in him. Otherwise, from whom did Marfa Ignatievna learn to rule? Yes, her family cage is bursting at the seams, she is seriously worried, because she is unlikely to keep power in her hands. But it has its own, secret, feminine. She is jealous of Tikhon, jealous of his young wife, does not order to spoil. Behind the references to "Domostroy" in these reproaches, in my opinion, lies simply the envy of one woman towards another. Probably, the late Kabanov did not give such examples to his son. And in her youth, I think, Marfa Ignatievna was rarely caressed and cherished. And then there's Barbara. The future Varvarin's husband would not reproach his mother-in-law for insufficient rigor in raising his daughter! Therefore, everything in the house of Kabanova is based on fear. To scare and humiliate is her philosophy. But the most disgusting thing is her hypocrisy. I think she's more superstitious than pious. Too quickly she moves from thoughts about God to ordinary everyday affairs. I remember that Marfa Ignatievna goes straight from the boulevard to the chapel, and thinks about earthly things. A severe threat is a warning: "... so I can wait for you! You know, I don't like this."
But then Katerina appeared in the house. Quite unexpectedly, danger arose for Kabanikhi. And she feels it. Why? After all, Katerina does not show any disobedience at first. He doesn’t get involved in trade affairs, he doesn’t pretend to be the head of the house. Apparently, he does not interfere in household affairs. But for some reason, Kabanova is sure that the danger comes from Katerina, the danger is irreparable, mortal. Marfa Ignatievna cannot stand it, she is rude, breaks down: “You, it seems, could be silent if they don’t ask you ...”, “Yes, I didn’t want to talk about you, but so, by the way, I had to.” I want to imagine what happened before Tikhon's wedding. Undoubtedly, the daughter-in-law was chosen by Kabanikha herself. The dowry, apparently, took a considerable amount. Remember, Katerina embroidered "only on velvet with gold"? Yes, and Varvara suggests: "But we have the same thing." The same house is rich, the same family is strong. But for some reason, in difficult times, Katerina does not seek salvation from her relatives. Either no one is alive, or everything is very far away. Therefore, there is only one way out: "I will throw myself out the window, I will rush into the Volga." Nowhere does Ostrovsky indicate Katerina's age. But her dreams, unearthly dreams speak of the youth of the heroine. And Varvara remarks: “They gave you away in marriage, you didn’t have to walk in the girls: now your heart hasn’t left yet.” To which Katerina replies: "And it never leaves ... I was born so hot." Kabanova is frightened by such ardor of Katerina. I think they both feel the inevitability of a clash, an open fight. And when a domestic tragedy ends with the death of Katerina, Varvara's escape, Tikhon's rebellion, Kabanova is ready to curse not only the memory of her rebellious daughter-in-law, but also her own son: "I'll curse you if you go! It's a sin to cry about her!" Angrily, with threats, she signs in her impotence. All! End! The daughter has run away, the suicidal daughter-in-law will dig a grave somewhere on the edge of the cemetery. And the son is ready to drink his last mind to be coddled with him like a fool. What remains for Marfa Ignatievna? I think there is only one way out: a monastery, a lonely cell. And this is the verdict of the playwright Ostrovsky to the whole kingdom of boars and wild ones. But this is also the victory of the "ray of light" over the darkness of violence and inhumanity, this is the affirmation of the bright, suffering image of Katerina.
Katerina is the main character in Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm", Tikhon's wife, daughter-in-law of Kabanikhi. The main idea of the work is the conflict of this girl with the "dark kingdom", the kingdom of tyrants, despots and ignoramuses. You can find out why this conflict arose and why the end of the drama is so tragic by understanding Katerina's ideas about life. The author showed the origins of the character of the heroine. From the words of Katerina, we learn about her childhood and adolescence. Here, an ideal version of patriarchal relations and the patriarchal world in general is drawn: “I lived, didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild, what I want, it happened, I do it.” But it was a “will” that did not at all conflict with the age-old way of a closed life, the whole circle of which was limited to homework. Katya lived freely: she got up early, washed herself with spring water, went to church with her mother, then sat down to some work and listened to wanderers and praying women, who were many in their house.
This is a story about a world in which it does not occur to a person to oppose himself to the general, since he has not yet separated himself from this community. That is why there is no violence and coercion. The idyllic harmony of patriarchal family life for Katerina is an unconditional moral ideal. But it lives in an era when the very spirit of this morality has disappeared and its ossified form rests on violence and coercion. Sensitive Katerina catches this in her family life in the Kabanovs' house. After listening to a story about the life of her daughter-in-law before marriage, Varvara (Tikhon's sister) exclaims in surprise: "But we have the same thing." “Yes, everything here seems to be from bondage,” Katerina drops, and this is the main drama for her.
Katerina was given in marriage young, her family decided her fate, and she accepts this as a completely natural, common thing. She enters the Kabanov family, ready to love and honor her mother-in-law (“For me, mother, it’s all the same as my own mother, what are you ...” she says to Kabanikha), expecting in advance that her husband will be master over her, but also her support, and protection. But Tikhon is not suitable for the role of the head of a patriarchal family, and Katerina speaks of her love for him: “I feel sorry for him very much!” And in the fight against illegal love for Boris, Katerina, despite her attempts, cannot rely on Tikhon.
Katya's life has changed a lot. From a free, joyful world, she ended up in a world full of deceit and cruelty. She wants to be pure and perfect with all her heart.
Katerina no longer feels such delight from visiting church. Katerina's religious moods intensify as her mental storm grows. But it is precisely the discrepancy between her sinful inner state and what the religious precepts require that prevents her from praying as before: Katerina is too far from the sanctimonious gap between the outward performance of rituals and worldly practice. She feels fear of herself, of striving for will. Katerina can not do her usual business. Sad, disturbing thoughts do not allow her to calmly admire nature. Katya can only endure, while she is patient, and dream, but she can no longer live with her thoughts, because the cruel reality brings her back to earth, where there is humiliation and suffering.
O cruel reality brings her back to earth, where there is humiliation and suffering.
The environment in which Katerina lives requires her to lie and deceive. But Catherine is not like that. She is attracted to Boris not only by the fact that she likes him, that he is not like the others around her, but by her need for love, which has not found a response in her husband, the offended feeling of her wife, the mortal anguish of her monotonous life. It was necessary to hide, to be cunning; she didn't want to, and she didn't know how; she had to return to her dreary life, and this seemed to her bitterer than before. Sin lies on her heart like a heavy stone. Katerina is terribly afraid of the approaching thunderstorm, considering it a punishment for what she has done. Katya cannot live on with her sin, and she considers repentance to be the only way to at least partially get rid of it. She confesses everything to her husband and Kabanikh.
What is left for her? It remains for her to submit, renounce independent life and become an unquestioning servant of her mother-in-law, a meek slave of her husband. But this is not the nature of Katerina - she will not return to her former life: if she cannot enjoy her feelings, her will, then she does not want anything in life, she does not want life either. She decided to die, but she is terrified by the thought that it is a sin. She doesn't complain about anyone, she doesn't blame anyone, she just can't live anymore. At the last moment, all domestic horrors flash especially vividly in her imagination. No, she will no longer be a victim of a soulless mother-in-law and will not languish locked up with a spineless and disgusting husband. Death is her release.
Drama A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm" - the most significant work of the playwright - appeared in 1860, at a time when the foundations of serfdom were breaking down and a thunderstorm was really gathering in the stuffy Russian atmosphere.
At the heart of the work is the conflict between the young woman Katerina and the "dark kingdom", the kingdom of tyrants, despots, and ignoramuses. To understand why this conflict arose, why the end of the drama is so tragic, can only be looked into the soul of Katerina.
From the words of Katerina, we learn about her life as a girl: “I lived, I didn’t grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild.” Her mother "doted on her soul", did not force her to work on the housework, "dressed up like a doll." Life in her native house was free: the girl got up early, went to wash herself to the spring, watered the flowers with spring water, which were many in the house, went to church with her mother, and then did needlework and listened to the stories of wanderers with which the house was always full.
By nature, Katerina is a whole, passionate, dreamy nature. She sincerely accepts faith with all her heart. “And to death I loved to go to church! It’s like, it happened, I’ll enter paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over! In the service and in dreams, she often flew to heaven, soared above the clouds, communicated with angels. She used to get up in the middle of the night and pray and cry until morning. What she prayed for, what she cried about - she herself did not know. Everything that contradicted her idea of life, she simply did not notice, carried away in her dreams to heaven.
For all her piety, Katerina is naturally endowed with a strong character and love of freedom. Once, at the age of six, offended by something, she ran away to the Volga at night, got into a boat and pushed off the shore! Another important detail of her life was that she lived in her own world, fenced off from reality. Her life was pure and whole, her soul was at rest. A naive, kind, pious girl with the makings of a strong, holistic, freedom-loving personality - that's what Katerina is before marriage.
Marriage changes everything. Although Katerina, in a sense, was even lucky: although her husband is subordinate to his mother, he does not offend his wife and even protects in his own way. Why, from the very beginning of the play, do we understand that Katerina's soul suffers and rushes about?
The first thing Katerina lost when she got married was freedom. In a house that has not become her own, it is hard for her from the very need to live in a confined space, to be locked within four walls, limited only by the circle of household chores. Katerina respects herself, and Kabanikh's domostroev manners constantly hurt her sensitive soul. She does not know how not to notice them and not react to them, she does not want and cannot be silent, listening to undeserved reproaches. Defending her own dignity, Katerina speaks with her mother-in-law on "you", as with an equal to herself.
After constant communication with nature, which filled her childhood, for Katerina, a reclusive existence is unbearable, full of deceit, hypocrisy, cruelty, lack of rights, submission to someone else's will, she is stuffy and bored in her mother-in-law's house.
In addition, she was married very early, without love, she, according to Varya, did not walk up in girls, her heart "did not leave." But according to Katerina herself, it never “leaves”: “I was born too hot.” Katerina is trying to find her happiness in love for Tikhon: “I will love my husband. Tisha, my dear, I won’t exchange you for anyone. ” But to love sincerely and openly, as the soul asks, is not accepted in the “dark kingdom”: the Kabanikha pulls the daughter-in-law: “Why are you hanging around your neck, shameless? You don't say goodbye to your lover." Katerina confesses to Varvara: “Yes, everything here seems to be from captivity.”
A breath of freedom becomes for her a feeling for Boris, which flared up at first sight and became the cause of her endless mental suffering. For a pious woman, the very thoughts of love for a strange man are sinful. Hence Katerina's depression, fear, a premonition of imminent death. Outwardly, she has not yet done anything, but she has already transgressed her inner moral law and is tormented by a sense of guilt. That is why she no longer experiences the delight of going to church, cannot continue to pray, is unable to concentrate on her thoughts. Anxious thoughts that stir the soul do not allow her to admire nature. Her dreams have also changed. Instead of paradise, she sees someone who hugs her hot, hot and takes her somewhere, and she follows him. Internally, she has already sinned and is aware of her love as a “terrible sin,” and therefore she is afraid to die suddenly, without repentance, to stand before God “as ... is, with all ... sins, with all evil thoughts.”
It is hard for her at home, she wants to run away from her mother-in-law, who constantly humiliates her human dignity, out of longing she is ready to do something with herself. Struggling with her feelings, like a drowning man clutching at straws, she asks her husband not to leave her alone. But he says that he himself is tired of life in his mother's house and wants to take a walk in the wild. Katerina does not have children either, but they could brighten up her loneliness and become her support: “I don’t have children: I would sit with them and amuse them. I love talking with children very much - they are angels, after all.
So Katerina is left alone. Varya does not understand her, considers her too sophisticated, acts as a temptress, passing the key to the gate and promising to send Boris. According to her - do what you want, if only everything was sewn and covered. Once upon a time, she, like Katerina, did not know how to lie, but life taught her both lies and hypocrisy.
Why, in the struggle of motives: to see Boris or to throw away the key, the first desire “come what may, but I will see Boris!” wins? Katerina was not cunning even in front of herself, she knew that she was going to sin, but, apparently, her life became so unbearable for her that she decides: “I should at least die, but see him.” And on the first date, Katerina says to Boris: “You ruined me!”; “If I had my own will, I would not go to you. Your will is now over me, can't you see!"
Katerina cannot live with such a grave sin in her soul. That is why she is so afraid of thunderstorms. She is a manifestation of the wrath of God for her. To be killed by a thunderstorm (and she is sure that it will surely kill her) and stand before God without repentance seems impossible to her. Her own judgment on herself is unbearable for her. Her inner foundations are crushed. This is not just a “family deception” - a moral catastrophe has occurred, the moral norms that seemed to Katerina eternal have been violated. She considers repentance to be the only way to save her soul. But no one needs her public recognition, even her husband: “No, no! do not say! What you! Mother is here!”
In the view of the townsfolk, her suffering is not a tragedy at all: there are few cases when a wife takes a walk in the absence of her husband. In addition, Tikhon loves Katerina and forgives her everything. But she is not able to forgive herself, and therefore life turns into constant torment for her, one death seems to her deliverance.
Katerina would not have become Katerina, who received literary immortality, if she had everything "sewn and covered." Just as the human court is fearless for her, so no deal with her conscience is possible for her. “No, I don’t care whether I go home or go to the grave ... It’s better in the grave.”
Katerina's emotional drama ends in tragedy. This resolute, wholesome, Russian nature appointed itself such a punishment for its sin. And if you forget for a moment that the play was written a century and a half ago, then you can see that such a drama could happen not only in that distant era, it is possible at all times. Because this is a drama of a freedom-loving personality that cannot unfold in the unbearable surrounding world of violence, primarily against a person. This is a drama of a moral person in a world of immorality. In the very impossibility for a person to reconcile these contradictory principles, I see the reason for Katerina's drama.
One of the masterpieces of Russian drama is considered to be the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm", which the author himself assessed as a creative success.
The main conflict of the "Thunderstorm" is the collision of the awakening personality in the conditions of the "dark kingdom" with its dogmas, despotism and falsehood. That person was Katerina.
Her life is unthinkable without sunrises and sunsets, dewy herbs in flowering meadows, flights of birds, fluttering butterflies from flower to flower. Together with her, the beauty of the rural temple, and the expanse of the Volga, and the trans-Volga meadow expanse. A bright image of a bird that has risen to the blue expanses of heaven passes through the whole play. This is an image of a spiritualized soul that has risen to the heights of spiritual perfection. And Katerina herself dreams of becoming a bird: “Why don’t people fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you are drawn to fly. That’s how I would run up, raise my hands and fly.” It is necessary to pay special attention to how Katerina prays, “what an angelic smile she has on her face, but it seems to glow from her face”, there is something iconic in this face, from which a bright radiance emanates, her prayer is a bright holiday of the soul , these are angelic choirs in a pillar of sunlight pouring from the dome, echoing the singing of wanderers, the chirping of birds. “For sure, it used to happen that I would enter paradise and see no one, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over.”
Katerina experiences all the joy of life in the temple, in the garden, among herbs, flowers, the morning freshness of awakening nature. In the dreams of young Katerina there is an echo of the Christian legend about paradise, the divine garden, which was bequeathed to the first-born people to cultivate. They lived like the birds of the sky, and their work was the work of free and free people. They were immortal, and time had no destructive power over them: “I lived, did not grieve about anything, like a bird in the wild. Mother did not have a soul in me, dressed me up like a doll, did not force me to work; I used to do what I want... I used to get up early; if it’s summer, I’ll go to the spring, wash myself, bring water with me and that’s it, water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers. Later, at a difficult moment in her life, Katerina complains: “If I had died a little, it would be better. I would look from heaven to earth and rejoice in everything. And then it would fly ... from cornflower to cornflower, in the wind, like a butterfly.
In the boar's kingdom, where all living things wither and dry up, Katerina is overcome by longing for the lost harmony. Her love is akin to the desire to raise her hands and fly, the heroine expects too much from her. A proud, strong-willed woman, she was given in marriage to a weak, weak-willed, who is in complete submission to Tikhon's mother. Nature spiritualized, bright, dreamy, she fell into an atmosphere of lies, cruel laws, fell in love with the "wingless", dependent Boris, love for whom did not satisfy her longing. Katerina feels guilty before Tikhon and Kabanikha, and not so much before them, but before the whole world, before the kingdom of goodness. It seems to her that the whole universe is offended by her fall. Only a full-blooded and spiritual person can feel his unity with the universe in such a way and have such a high sense of responsibility before the highest truth and harmony that is contained in it. The decision to commit suicide comes to Katerina along with an inner justification, a sense of freedom and sinlessness after the moral storms she experienced. By the end of the drama, the fear of fiery hell disappears, and the heroine considers herself entitled to appear before the highest moral court. “Death by sin is terrible,” people say.
But along with spirituality, Katerina also has weaknesses. From childhood she was accustomed to daydreaming and enjoying the beauties of nature and was not accustomed to the insults that she met later in the "dark kingdom". Before her fall, she had no doubt that she would go to heaven after death, and she did not think about the terrible torments in hell. Katerina did not notice her pride, and this ruined her after she faced the difficulties of life. At first glance, it seems that she accomplished a feat, but in fact she evaded it. It seems to us that voluntarily leaving life is scary, but in fact it is many times easier than enduring the suffering and insults of people and struggling with all the difficulties of life, which is a real feat; for the Bible says, "He who endures to the end will be saved." All sins are forgiven to those who sincerely repent of them: "Repent, and you will have mercy." Only one sin is not forgiven a person - it is suicide.
The play is very close to our time, although it was written more than a century ago, because in our age with addiction to alcohol, drugs, suicides have become more frequent, and many have forgotten about the soul and love. The Lord said, "Many will pass away under the name of iniquity; the love of many will grow cold." And we see this in the spread of numerous religions and the popularity of extrasensory perception, "which come to us in sheep's clothing, but inside they are ravenous wolves." Few now take care of their souls, and more about the body, how to eat and drink more and watch something interesting on TV. This is how our boring, monotonous life goes, and only some of us really think about it, only closer to old age do we begin to understand that we have not done anything useful to anyone and have lived our lives in vain. The Apostle Paul said about the human body: “There is earth and you will return to earth”, but the soul is immortal, and you need to think about where it will go - to heaven or hell.
