Two dramas by A. N. Ostrovsky are devoted to the same problem - the position of women in Russian society. Before us are the fates of three young women: Katerina, Varvara, Larisa. Three images, three destinies.

Katerina is different in character from all actors Drama Thunderstorm. Honest, sincere and principled, she is not capable of deceit and falsehood, of resourcefulness and opportunism. Therefore, in a cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life turns out to be unbearable, impossible and ends so tragically. Katerina's protest against Kabanikha is a struggle of light, pure, human against the darkness of lies and cruelty of the "dark kingdom". No wonder Ostrovsky, who paid great attention to names and surnames, gave the heroine of "Thunderstorm" the name Ekaterina, which in Greek means "eternally pure." Katerina is a poetic nature. Unlike the rude people around her, she feels the beauty of nature and loves it. It is the beauty of nature that is natural and sincere. “I used to get up early in the morning; in the summer, so I go to the key, I wash myself, I bring some water with me and that's it, I water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers,” she says of her childhood. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty. Dreams were filled with miracles, fabulous visions. She often dreamed that she was flying like a bird. She talks about her desire to fly several times. By this, Ostrovsky emphasizes the romantic sublimity of Katerina's soul. Married early, she tries to get along with her mother-in-law, to love her husband, but no one needs sincere feelings in the Kabanovs' house. The tenderness that overwhelms her soul finds no use for itself. Deep melancholy sounds in her words about children: “If only someone’s children! Eco grief! I don’t have children: all I would do is sit with them and amuse them. I love to talk with children very much - they are angels, after all. Which loving wife and she would have been a mother in other conditions!

Katerina's sincere faith differs from Kabanikh's religiosity. For Kabanikh, religion is a gloomy force that suppresses the will of a person, and for Katerina, faith is a poetic world of fairy-tale images and supreme justice. “... Until death, I loved to go to church! For sure, it used to happen that I would go into paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over, ”she recalls.

Captivity is Katerina's main enemy. The external conditions of her life in Kalinovo seem to be no different from those of her childhood. The same motives, the same rituals, that is, the same activities, but “everything here seems to be from captivity,” says Katerina. Bondage is incompatible with the freedom-loving soul of the heroine. “And bondage is bitter, oh, how bitter,” she says in the scene with the key, and these words, these thoughts push her to the decision to see Boris. In the behavior of Katerina, as Dobrolyubov said, a “resolute, integral Russian character” appeared, which “will withstand itself, in spite of any obstacles, and when there is not enough strength, it will die, but will not betray itself.”

Barbara is the exact opposite of Katerina. She is not superstitious, she is not afraid of thunderstorms, she does not consider it necessary to strictly observe established customs. Due to her position, she cannot openly oppose her mother and therefore cunning and deceiving her. She hopes that marriage will give her the opportunity to leave this house, to escape.

* This work is not scientific work, is not a final qualifying work and is the result of processing, structuring and formatting the collected information, intended to be used as a source of material for self-preparation of educational work.

A.N. Ostrovsky searched for the main characters of his plays The Thunderstorm and The Dowry for a very long time. He went through many options, he needed a hero who would simultaneously evoke in the reader: contempt, pity, delight and sympathy. And as the saying goes, “he who seeks will always find”, here Ostrovsky found what he wanted. And it seems to me that it was not in vain that he chose the main characters so deliberately, since they really fit these roles, even if it be the main character of the story "Thunderstorm" - Katerina, even the main character of the story "Dowry" - Larisa. They are both very interesting characters, to some extent they are even very similar, but it is impossible to say that they are the same, since this is not so.

In the story "Thunderstorm" the share of the main character Katerina was not sweet to take into account. Yes, in the beginning we see a faithful wife who loves her husband, one might even say a daughter-in-law who is trying to find common language with the mother of the husband, i.e. with mother-in-law. But then, when we begin to learn more and more new things about Katerina, we begin to understand that she does not love her husband at all, she is faithful only because she knows that this is her duty. And she tries not to conflict with her mother-in-law just to make life a little easier for her, in a house where there are only scandals, and which, of course, did not pass without the presence of the grouchy mother-in-law Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova.

And now we see that only it seems that Katerina finds her happiness, falls in love. But even here she cannot be happy, since she is married and there can be no talk of anything like that. But still she goes against the rules and cheats on her husband with a young man, Boris Grigoryevich. We also see that Katerina could not live with such a sin in her soul, and publicly confessed her betrayal. Of course, almost no one understood her and treated her with disdain. Out of shame, she wants to leave with Boris, whom she loves, but he refuses her and leaves alone. And Katerina decides to commit suicide and jumps off a cliff.

As for the story "Dowry", here the main character Larisa is easier, since she is not married and is a completely free girl. But for some reason, this does not prevent her from spoiling her life, at least by the fact that she consents to marriage to someone whom she does not love a bit. And she loves her ex-fiance Paratov, who left her and left. And he returned only when Larisa was almost a married girl. And as it is not difficult to guess, of course, it spoils the life of both Larisa and her fiancé Karandyshev. Paratov deceives the naive Larisa, one might even say he simply uses her as a toy. And of course, he quits and is not at all going to marry her, as he promised her earlier. And she remains alone, unhappy and deceived. Since Larisa cheated on her fiancé, she now cannot return to him, and besides, Karandyshev himself already knows about everything and is looking for Paratov and Larisa in anger. BUT Larisa meanwhile, in despair, approaches the cliff and wants to commit suicide, but does not dare to do this, and exclaims: “It would be like someone killed me now ...” And some minutes pass and her desire comes true. More precisely, Larisa dies at the hands of her deceived fiancé Karandyshev.

And so, personally, I think that the plays "THE THUNDER" and "THE DOWN" are not so similar, or rather, they are similar only in that both main characters die tragically at the end of the plays. And so, in essence, these two plays are completely different and the fates of Katerina and Larisa are not at all similar.

Of course, if these events took place in our time, then perhaps the finals of the plays "G" and "B" would have developed quite differently.

Composition on the topic: “Two Fates, Two Tragedies” based on the works “Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky, “Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district» N. S. Leskova. Two destinies, two tragedies... Who are these sad words about? These words are about two heroines: Ekaterina Kabonova and Ekaterina Izmailova, from the works "Thunderstorm" and "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". So what is their tragedy? To do this, you need to refer to the content of the works. In both plays, the main characters are called Katerina, as mentioned above. Let's start with the first one. Katerina Ostrovsky spends all her days in a merchant's house, in merchant boredom. Childlessness makes it even stronger. Katerina herself says about this: “Oh, what a bore! At least someone's children! Eco grief! I don’t have children: I would still sit with them and amuse them ... ”.

The only thing that consoles Katerina is her memories, her dreams. She lives by them, talks about her former life: “I lived, didn’t bother about anything, like a bird in the wild. My mother did not have a soul in me, she dressed me up like a doll, she didn’t force me to work, I did what I wanted. If earlier she lived "like a bird in the wild", now it's like in a cage. It's the same with the other Katerina, the same merchant family, the same melancholy. The fate of the other Katerina is similar: the same merchant's house, boredom.

And childlessness exacerbates the situation. Katerina Leskova says almost the same words: “I, when I gave birth to a baby for myself, it would seem that I would have fun with him.” The work says about boredom like this: "Russian boredom, the boredom of a merchant's house, from which it is fun ... even to hang yourself." And one of the great people said that work feeds, clothes and saves from sin. And here this statement turned out to be true, only the opposite of it - idleness led to sin - betrayal of her husband and murders. Katerina Izmailova falls in love with Sergei, her husband's assistant. This, of course, led to the indignation of the father-in-law. Katerina solves this problem in the simplest way, she just kills him, but it's also about how she does it. She does this secretly, pouring rat poison into the mushrooms of her "beloved" father-in-law - he died "the death of a rat." But the story doesn't stop there.

Because my husband has arrived. Here Katerina, not embarrassed by anyone or anything, simply strangles her betrothed. And before that, she just mocked him, passionately kissing Sergei. By the way, the epigraph to the drama is developing here: “to sing the first song blushing.” That is, the “first song” - the first murder, “blushing to sing” - to do, embarrassed, afraid of something. But the second "song" Katerina sings very confidently. There are already two "songs" on Katerina's conscience, although this conscience has been lost somewhere. The "second opera" was followed by a third. The third was the murder of the innocent Fedya. Katerina has gone so far as to kill for nothing. After all, she killed a six-year-old boy in order not to give him part of their fortune. But would a little boy demand money? Probably no. This vice in Katerina has gone so far that she is ready to solve all problems by murder. But back to another Katerina, how are events developing there? I'll get ahead of myself and say that Katerina was a righteous person (unlike her Tessa).

One fact proves this: in her youth she went to church every day and prayed so fervently there that once angels appeared to her! To what extent do you need to believe in the existence of the latter and earnestly pray that such a thing is imagined. As I already said, Katerina lives “like a bird in a cage”, and even everywhere the remnants of the old generation are haunted - the mother-in-law. She married, like Izmailova, not for love. Yes, and her husband was not the best: everything leads to the fact that Katerina falls in love with another person - Boris Grigoryevich. She thinks about him all the time, but tries to forget him because she knows it is a sin. Katerina suffers, but cannot do anything: “Some kind of dream comes into my head. And I won't leave her anywhere. If I start thinking, I can’t gather thoughts, I can’t pray, I won’t pray in any way. And here her husband is leaving on a business trip. There is a chance to meet with Boris, but Katerina, in her morality, nevertheless stops and says: “So we’ll sit down to sew with Varvara, and we won’t see how time passes; and then Tisha will come. She hopes to forget Boris, maybe it would have happened like that, but Tikhon's sister arranged dates for her. Everything happened by itself: Katerina meets with Boris all two weeks in the absence of her husband. But how could Katerina agree to a date? This happened at the moment when Varvara gives the key to Katerina, and Katerina, probably subconsciously, guided by her strong feelings, takes it under the pretext: “they say, someone is walking there ...”. But after the latter returned, Katerina, by her righteous nature and under a combination of circumstances (thunderstorm), tells the whole truth ... Naturally, the scandal was inevitable.

Here comes the climax, when Katerina decides the "Shakespearean" question: "to be or not to be." Arguing that it is more pleasant for her to die than to come to this merchant's house again, she rushes into the Volga. And at this moment, “the cage opened and the bird flew free,” because water is a symbol of freedom. By the way, I mentioned Shakespeare, but isn't the situation in the "Mtsensk district" and the city of Kalinin similar to the situation in Shakespeare's works? Maybe not in The Thunderstorm, but in another play everything practically converges: the same love mixed with blood. But according to Shakespeare, in the end, the heroes repent, but Katerina and Sergey don’t even think about it. As if something would be the way it should be: everything happens cynically and cheerfully. Passions end only when Katerina dies herself. Moreover, he dies, killing his "rival" and enemy - Sonetka in jealousy of her lover, because she loves him so much. Even "hard labor with him blooms with happiness." But isn't this love too blind? After all, she does not even pay attention to how dryly he treats her.

And she forgets about everything, even about the child she wanted so much - she simply refuses him. And remember what she said about this: “I, now, when I gave birth to a baby, if only I would have fun with him, it seems.” The word "seems" played its role. And all because she sees nothing in life except Sergei. In my opinion, Sergei here is a "demonic tempter". After all, it was because of him that Katerina did all this. Katerina Leskova does not want to die in any way - she only wants to take revenge on Sonetka. By the way, why not Sergei? After all, in principle, he is to blame, but Katerina cannot do it because of her strong love. Katerina takes revenge on everything according to a well-oiled mechanism, only she forgot too much in her feelings and dies just like Katerina Ostrovsky in the water surface ... Death led that other Katerina to release. What led to death? Love.

It should be noted that Leskov opposed his Katerina Ostrovsky. And in the plot parallelism, the features of a Russian woman are manifested. If you collect the qualities of our heroines, you get a portrait of a real Russian woman: determination, love of freedom, righteousness, purposefulness, love, strong feelings.

1. Katerina Izmailova and Katerina Kabanova - merchant wives.
2. The image of Katerina Izmailova.
3. The image of Katerina Kabanova.
4. Similarities and differences of heroines.

A. N. Ostrovsky in his works depicted the life of the Russian merchants. Thanks to these works, we think about how tragic the life of a woman could be in the atmosphere of a patriarchal merchant environment. N. S. Leskov in his works also addressed the merchant class. And the story “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” is very interesting for us. The main character of this work is called Katerina, she is the name of the main character of Ostrovsky's play "Thunderstorm". And both of them are merchant's wives. But the similarities between Izmailova and Kabanova end there. Katerina from Leskov's story and Katerina from Ostrovsky's play differ from each other as much as possible. Leskov is rightly called a realist writer. He actually portrays real life, draws objectively human characters. But the characters of ordinary, at first glance, people turn out to be such that the reader has many questions. What a monster a man can be! These are the thoughts that arise after reading the story, main character which is Katerina Izmailova. At the beginning of the story, the reader learns that Izmailova is an ordinary merchant's wife, young, beautiful woman. Her husband is old and unattractive. Katerina is bored, her life is uneventful, monotonous. Katerina Kabanova, the heroine of Ostrovsky's play, is also bored. Her life is just as dull and monotonous.

The patriarchal merchant society does not welcome entertainment and fun. And, of course, no one thinks about how dreary and boring young women can be. Two Katerinas are trying, as best they can, to brighten up their gray existence. Salvation from wretchedness, vulgarity and dullness is love. Love, like a bright flash, illuminates the life of Katerina Kabanova. The same thing happens with Katerina Izmailova.

Young women forget about everything in the world, completely surrender to the all-consuming feeling. However, Katerina Izmailova, for the sake of her happiness, goes to villainy. She kills several people - her husband, father-in-law and even her little nephew. Izmailova strives for freedom, is ready for anything for her sake. A woman is not tormented by conscience, she does not think that she will have to pay for her atrocities either in this or in the next world. Katerina simply does not think about the consequences of her actions. Her impulsive nature is primarily capable of acting, not thinking. Katerina Kabanova is completely different. This is an impressionable, easily vulnerable nature. She recalls her childhood, which was happy, remembers the smallest details of her past. Izmailova does not remember the past, she lives only in the present.

Love for Izmailova is, first of all, a passion, for the sake of which she is able to destroy everyone who just got in her way. Kabanova is more romantic, she idealizes her lover, considers him kind, smart, good. The heroine Leskova does not think about how good her lover is. It is enough for her that he is handsome and young. She fell in love with him precisely for this, she was tired of living with an old and unattractive husband. Katerina Kabanova suffers, realizing the sinfulness of her feelings. She believes that retribution will certainly follow. Katerina feels unhappy, repents of her sin. Katerina Izmailova does not judge herself, she is driven by the instinct of self-preservation and the desire to get what she wants. Katerina Izmailova forgets about decency, duty, nobility. Of course, she has a strong and extraordinary character. But all the power of her nature is directed to evil. When she kills her husband and father-in-law, the reader's attitude towards her can no longer be good. The heroine of the story does not evoke sympathy and pity, unlike the heroine of Ostrovsky's play. Katerina Kabanova is a defenseless, naive creature. It's impossible not to fall in love with her. She is not capable of harming anyone, but she turns out to be ruthless to herself. Katerina Kabanova is merciless to herself, cursing herself for a moment of weakness. Katerina Izmailova is alien to such behavior. Even at hard labor, she did not repent. It is also significant that Izmailova is completely indifferent to her child, born from a loved one. Leskov himself says that such passionate natures, like Katerina, completely surrender to love, but the children leave them indifferent. Indifference to her child could still be forgiven, given that Katerina would never see him again. But the fact that she killed her little nephew, thinking solely about enrichment, generally deprives Ostrovsky's heroine of the right to any sympathy. The Izmailovs' nephew in no way interfered with Katerina. She decides to kill him solely for the sake of enrichment, because the boy was the direct heir of her husband. Katerina Kabanova never thought about enrichment at all. Throughout the work, Katerina Kabanova did not even think about money. This cannot be said about Katerina Izmailova.

Katerina Kabanova is very religious, Katerina Izmailova is generally devoid of faith in God. And the lack of a moral principle is largely due to this. Izmailova lives, guided solely by her desires. And they, that is, desires, frighten with their bestial simplicity. Katerina Izmailova is strong and determined. There is nothing bright in her image, this radically distinguishes her from the poetic nature of Katerina Kabanova.

Katerina Izmailova commits suicide, while she destroys another life - she takes with her into the waves the one that her lover paid attention to. And before her death, she "wants to remember the prayer and moves her lips." But she remembers not a prayer, but a vulgar and terrible song.

Two Katerinas were representatives of the merchant class. But in one united exclusively dark sides human nature, the other, on the contrary, is bright and poetic. So different people brought up in the same environment. We know about the morals of the patriarchal merchant class thanks to the works of Ostrovsky. And we can say with confidence that in the merchant environment it was not customary to treat each other with respect and attention. This means that people like Katerina Izmailova can appear in an atmosphere of cruelty, hypocrisy and hypocrisy. Cruelty breeds cruelty. Katerina Kabanova was rather an exception. In addition, we know that Katerina Kabanova's childhood was bright and joyful. What was the childhood of Izmailova, we do not know. Perhaps she did not see anything good in life, so the dark sides of nature took over her.

Of course, Katerina Kabanova and Katerina Izmailova cannot be called typical representatives of the Russian merchant class. They are rather an exception, rare and striking. And that is why the works, the main characters of which they are, continue to interest readers.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a playwright who created not just a series of wonderful plays, but the repertoire of the Russian theater for many years. Ostrovsky discovered the unknown world of merchants and clerks, judicial officials and merchants. A motley, full of drama life opened up to readers and viewers of Alexander Nikolayevich.

He explores strong, unbridled, original characters, "not burdened with education", but truthful and realistic.

A wonderful gallery of Russians has been created in Ostrovsky's plays national characters: from the egoist Lipochka Bolynova from the play “Our People - Let's Settle!”, the gentle and defenseless Katerina from “Thunderstorm” to the impetuous and reckless Larisa Ogudalova from “Dowry”. In my opinion, Ostrovsky's best plays are The Thunderstorm and The Dowry. Let's take a closer look at the characters of the heroines of these plays.

Katerina Kabanova is a controversial and peculiar nature. She is pious and at the same time rebellious.

Remembering childhood in home, Katerina understands that the hope for happiness did not come true. She perceives life in her husband's family as bondage. Hypocrisy, hypocrisy and deceit reign in this house. Barbara, who grew up in this environment, perfectly adapted to its conditions. She teaches Katerina to lie and be self-willed, while maintaining a mask of piety. Katerina outwardly accepts the lifestyle of the family, but in her heart she protests. Having fallen in love with Boris, she does not hide it from others. “If I am not afraid of sin, will I be afraid of human judgment?” she says to her beloved. Katerina perceives the thunderstorm that has broken out as a warning about the punishment of God. But as long as the heroine loves and is loved, she is not afraid of anything. Both Tikhon and Boris, each in their own way, love and pity Katerina, but they are weak-willed and dependent on Kabanikha and Diky, therefore they cannot protect, give happiness to Katerina. Realizing this, the heroine decides to die. "Yes, I'm exhausted! I don't need anything, I don't like anything! And death does not come. A true Christian, Katerina perceives suicide not as a sin, but as a liberation from torment and suffering.

“It will be easier for me. And I don't want to think about life. Live again. No, no, don't..."

Larisa Ogudalova has a completely different character. She is quite a cultured, educated girl. Larisa is alien to the world around her. She seeks to escape from this environment, where greed and the spirit of money-grubbing reign. Having fallen in love with Sergei Sergeevich Paratov, Larisa does not see a cynical and cruel nature behind a shiny shell. She loves her ideal, not the real hero. Life is more complicated than we think about it. Larisa has to give up her ideals. She is ready to marry anyone who will take her away from the house, which looks like a "gypsy camp" or a fair, where everything is bought and sold. “Thing... yes, thing... I am a thing, not a person...” - Larisa says. And now she wants to sell herself more expensive. “Every thing has its own price ... I am too, too expensive for you,” she replies to Karandyshev. Larisa was looking for love, but everyone looks at her as fun. I wanted to leave the "gypsy camp", but I could not. She is not capable of suicide, so the heroine perceives Karandyshev's shot as deliverance from a moral fall, from the hardships of life. Dying, the heroine forgives everyone: “I don’t want to interfere with anyone! Live, live everyone! .. I don’t complain about anyone, I don’t take offense at anyone ... you all good people... I love you all ... I love you all.

Such forgiveness from weak man worse than any punishment, and it was impossible to complete the play more spectacularly.

Ostrovsky once again proved that he is a real master, who knows the laws of dramaturgy very well.

Two dramas by A. N. Ostrovsky are devoted to the same problem - the position of women in Russian society. Before us are the fates of three young women: Katerina, Varvara, Larisa. Three images, three destinies.

Katerina differs in character from all the characters in the drama "Thunderstorm". Honest, sincere and principled, she is not capable of deceit and falsehood, of resourcefulness and opportunism. Therefore, in a cruel world where wild and wild boars reign, her life turns out to be unbearable, impossible and ends so tragically. Katerina's protest against Kabanikha is a struggle of light, pure, human against the darkness of lies and cruelty of the "dark kingdom". No wonder Ostrovsky, who paid great attention to names and surnames, gave the heroine of "Thunderstorm" the name Ekaterina, which in Greek means "eternally pure." Katerina is a poetic nature. Unlike the rude people around her, she feels the beauty of nature and loves it. It is the beauty of nature that is natural and sincere. “I used to get up early in the morning; in the summer, so I go to the key, I wash myself, I bring some water with me and that's it, I water all the flowers in the house. I had many, many flowers,” she says of her childhood. Her soul is constantly drawn to beauty. Dreams were filled with miracles, fabulous visions. She often dreamed that she was flying like a bird. She talks about her desire to fly several times. By this, Ostrovsky emphasizes the romantic sublimity of Katerina's soul. Married early, she tries to get along with her mother-in-law, to love her husband, but no one needs sincere feelings in the Kabanovs' house. The tenderness that overwhelms her soul finds no use for itself. Deep melancholy sounds in her words about children: “If only someone’s children! Eco grief! I don’t have children: all I would do is sit with them and amuse them. I love to talk with children very much - they are angels, after all. What a loving wife and mother she would have been under other conditions!

Katerina's sincere faith differs from Kabanikh's religiosity. For Kabanikh, religion is a gloomy force that suppresses the will of a person, and for Katerina, faith is a poetic world of fairy-tale images and supreme justice. “... I loved going to church to death! For sure, it used to happen that I would go into paradise, and I don’t see anyone, and I don’t remember the time, and I don’t hear when the service is over, ”she recalls.

Captivity is Katerina's main enemy. The external conditions of her life in Kalinovo seem to be no different from those of her childhood. The same motives, the same rituals, that is, the same activities, but “everything here seems to be from bondage,” says Katerina. Bondage is incompatible with the freedom-loving soul of the heroine. “And bondage is bitter, oh, how bitter,” she says in the scene with the key, and these words, these thoughts push her to the decision to see Boris. In the behavior of Katerina, as Dobrolyubov said, a “decisive, integral Russian character” appeared, which “will withstand itself, in spite of any obstacles, and when there is not enough strength, it will die, but will not betray itself.”

Barbara is the exact opposite of Katerina. She is not superstitious, she is not afraid of thunderstorms, she does not consider it necessary to strictly observe established customs. Due to her position, she cannot openly oppose her mother and therefore cunning and deceiving her. She hopes that marriage will give her the opportunity to leave this house, to escape.