The younger generation in the work is a thunderstorm. Composition

Youth is the most important part of society, a kind of creator of the future, a creator who passes through the prism of his own perception and his own common sense the prejudices and progressive ideas of the “old people” and, thus, determines what will be embodied in public life in a few decades, and what will die along with the last representatives older generation. Based on the state of youth, one can determine the state of the entire society, because social vices primarily affect its most sensitive and vulnerable part, which is the youth. And the worst thing is that the younger generation may lose the ability to analyze and evaluate reality and turn from a transformative judge into an accurate reflection of the older generation - then there can be no talk of any development of society. This is precisely the situation that Ostrovsky showed in the drama “The Thunderstorm,” depicting the deplorable situation of young people, who are left with the right only to agree with their elders in everything. One of the main qualities of children is curiosity, that is, the desire to learn something new, which subsequently turns into anti-conservatism, that is, the desire to introduce this new thing into life. There is no place for curiosity in the city of Kalinov, because information about the world around us gets here through wanderers like Feklushi, who fanatically convince everyone and everything that “in your city there is paradise and silence, but in other cities it’s just sodomy.” Dikoy calls Kuligin a “Tatar” for trying to explain what a thunderstorm is. In an atmosphere of universal conviction that “a thunderstorm is being sent to us as punishment,” young people believe everything: stories about people with dog heads, and Dikiy’s stories about his right to dispose of people. Having learned from childhood that one must fear elders and unquestioningly obey them, young people are deprived of the ability to critical assessment reality and is forced to accept as an unchangeable given both the Domostroev order and the right of the old people, the “aces” of this world, to power backed only by the authority of money. Education in Domostroevsky traditions, when parents literally “break the ribs” of their children, or suppress and break childish character, or forces the child to adapt and learn to use cunning to avoid punishment for crimes against imposed morality. An example of the first type of young people are Tikhon Kabanov and Boris Grigorievich. They are best characterized by Tikhon’s words: “No... their own mind. And that means live as someone else’s.” All their lives they have been under the thumb of their relatives and cannot change this situation, but can only feel sorry for themselves. They are unable to commit any significant act: Tikhon envies Katerina’s death, but he himself cannot decide to commit suicide; Boris obeys his uncle, even when he tells him to leave Katerina and go to Siberia. These people cannot truly love much: Tikhon treats Katerina as one of components of his “captivity”: “For two weeks there will be no thunderstorm over me, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?” Boris, in response to Katerina’s words that her husband left for two weeks, says: “Oh, so we’ll go for a walk! There's plenty of time." Parting with Katerina, he asks God “so that she dies quickly, so that she does not suffer for a long time!” Boris and Tikhon are puppets in the hands of the “dark kingdom”, weak-willed dolls, incapable of either action or true feeling. Kudryash stands apart from them. At first glance, it seems that Kudryash is that “revolutionary” capable of challenging the world around him, but it turns out that he, too, bears the disfiguring stamp of the “dark kingdom.” Kudryash is the type of person who has adapted to difficult living conditions; he entered into an unspoken agreement with Dikiy: Kudryash is needed by Dikoy, so Dikoy cannot do anything with Kudryash. Kudryash is satisfied with this state of affairs and does not think about the problems of society or the situation of other people. His interests are selfish, they lie in the sphere of “taking a walk and arguing with the Wild (that is, once again enjoying the feeling of his own “inviolability”),” he may even be able to love (as evidenced by his relationship with Varvara), but he cannot and does not want to fight the “dark kingdom”; his activities are similar, according to Pisarev’s definition, to “a squirrel running around in a wheel.” Varvara too: she learned to ignore Kabanikha’s abuse, learned to lie. (“And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.”) So she acquires limited freedom of action and follows the basic principle: “Do what you want, as long as it’s done well.” In Varvara’s actions there is no protest against the orders of the “dark kingdom”; she just wants to “have some fun” before the wedding. And Varvara runs away with Kudryash not out of love for him (she yawns on a date), but rather from her mother’s tyranny. These two types of people form the basis of the Kalinovsky youth. There is nothing progressive about them; whether adapted or broken, they do not even realize their powerlessness to change anything in society, their worthlessness, and do not understand the full horror of their situation. But Ostrovsky still leaves hope for the younger generation, showing the type of people who can lead society out of a deplorable situation. Katerina belongs to this type of youth. She does not break under the pressure of Domostroev’s orders, but she also cannot adapt to them. (“I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything.”) Katerina openly protests against everything that is imposed on her, she protests “at the call of nature”; protests because she is physically unable to live in " dark kingdom" But her protest does not find a response, so she can only dream of “ better world“, and when the oppression of the “dark kingdom” becomes unbearable, and besides, Boris leaves her, Katerina has no choice but to commit suicide. In the “dark kingdom” there are no conditions for the appearance of people like Bazarov or Lopukhov, and any protest of the mind will be suppressed, and the protester will either completely submit or direct his mind to search for “loopholes” in the morality of society. Here nature itself comes to the rescue, giving birth to people like Katerina. This is the only type of youth capable of surviving and maintaining their positive qualities unchanged, maintain the ability to improve society. Their protest is unconscious, it comes from the depths of the soul, but it is still a protest. Their strength is in unity, the fate of singles is the fate of Katerina. Katerina is an exception that should develop into a rule, the first “ray of light”, a harbinger of a new type of youth who, with the sole forces of her nature, will be able to destroy the “dark kingdom” and create new world. The play “The Thunderstorm” was written by A. N. Ostrovsky in 1859, when everyone Russian society was in a state of anticipation of upcoming changes. It was brewing in the country social conflict between the moribund old conservative world of the patriarchal structure and the young progressive forces born in the depths of this world. Old world The “dark kingdom” is represented in the play by the wealthy merchant Kabanova and the merchant Dikiy. Their power over those around them is still great, but they are already beginning to feel the awakening of something new, alien and hateful to them. “Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants,” writes N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article "A ray of light in a dark kingdom." Representatives younger generation in "The Thunderstorm" are Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Kudryash and Varvara. But are they all, and to what extent, capable of resisting the tyranny of tyrants? Can the clerk of Wild Curly, who himself is considered a rude man and does not want to “slave” before his owner, be able to stand up for himself? “I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me,” Kudryash boasts. But in his resistance he himself becomes like the Wild One, responding to rudeness with rudeness. As Dobrolyubov believes, “Kudryash doesn’t need anything to quarrel with Dikiy: they both need each other, and, according to Syt, there is no need for special heroism on Kudryash’s part to present his demands.”

Essay text:

The play The Thunderstorm was written by A.N. Ostrovsky in 1859, when the entire Russian society was in a state of anticipation of upcoming changes. A social conflict was brewing in the country between the moribund old conservative world of the patriarchal structure and the young progressive forces born in the depths of this world. The old world of the dark kingdom is represented in the play by the rich merchant Kabanova and the merchant Dikiy. Their power over those around them is still great, but they are already beginning to feel the awakening of something new, alien and hateful to them. Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown up, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants, writes N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article Ray of Light in the dark kingdom. Representatives of the younger generation in Groza are Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Kudryash and Varvara. But are they all, and to what extent, capable of resisting the tyrants of Iran? Can Wild Curly's clerk, who himself has a reputation for being a brute and does not want to be a slave to his master, be able to stand up for himself? “I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me,” Kudryash boasts. But in his resistance he himself becomes like the Wild One, responding to rudeness with rudeness. According to Dobrolyubov, it costs Kudryash nothing to quarrel with Dikiy: they both need each other, and, according to Syt, there is no need for special heroism on Kudryash’s part to present his demands. Kabanova's daughter, Varvara, also easily adapts to the morality of the dark kingdom. Not wanting to live in captivity, to endure the power of her mother, she easily takes the path of deception, which becomes habitual for her. She claims that it is impossible to live any other way: their whole house rests on deception. And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary, the girl makes excuses. Do what you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered, she taught Katerina. However, Varvara was cunning while she had the opportunity, and when they began to lock her up, she ran away from home and broke free from the power of Kabanikha. Kabanova's son, Tikhon, is by nature simple-minded and gentle. He loves and pities his wife in his own way, according to Dobrolyubov, he has a conscience, a desire for good, but he constantly acts against himself and serves as a submissive instrument of his mother. This weak-willed man is so exhausted by the endless reproaches, instructions and moralizing of his despotic mother that he is ready to plunge headlong into debauchery, leaving his wife in a desperate state, unable and unwilling to understand her restless soul. But crushed under the yoke of the Kabanikhas best qualities Tikhon did not die completely. The death of their wife awakens them from their sleep. Having finally freed himself from the eternal fear and trembling of his mother, Tikhon for the first time in his life dares to blame her. Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you... - he screams in despair and in response to her menacing call he repeats again: You ruined her! You! You! In the face of tragedy, a terrible understanding was born in him that life in the dark kingdom is worse than death. Throwing himself at his wife's corpse, he screams in a frenzy: Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay in the world and suffer! Of the younger generation, Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, is the weakest and most pitiful. In character he is very similar to Tikhon. Boris is essentially the same, only educated. Education took away from him the power to do dirty tricks... but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do, the critic notes. Boris is unable to protect either himself or the woman he loves. Realizing his powerlessness, he only rushes about helplessly and laments: Oh, if only these people knew what it’s like for me to say goodbye to you!.. Oh, if only I had strength! This powerless, weak-willed man becomes the subject of Katerina’s great passion, a pure, sublime, poetic nature. How different she is from other young people of Kalinov! All of them are burdened by the bondage of the patriarchal foundations of the dark kingdom, but they stand on the position of everyday compromises, they have learned to bypass the oppression of their elders, each in accordance with their character. But it is against the background of their unconscious and compromising position that the suffering Katerina looks morally high. The suddenly awakened feeling of love is perceived by her as a terrible unforgivable sin. The young woman resists her sinful passion with all her might, but finds no support in this struggle: It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there, but there’s nothing to hold on to. Alien to the slightest lie and falsehood, Katerina is incapable of deception and pretense. Let everyone know, let everyone see what I do! If I wasn’t afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid? human court? she says to Boris. Katerina does not want and cannot be cunning or pretend. This is confirmed by the scene of confession of treason. Neither the thunderstorm, nor the frightening prophecy of the mad lady, nor the fear of fiery hell prevented the heroine from telling the truth. My whole heart burst! I can't stand it anymore! This is how she began her confession. For her honest and integral nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. To live just to live not for her. To live means for her to be herself. Its most precious value is personal freedom, freedom of the soul. But after publicly repenting of her sin, Katerina could only submit to her mother-in-law and become a meek slave of her husband. This freedom-loving nature could not accept such a fate. She finds a way out of an unbearable situation in death. Katerina is a deeply religious and God-fearing person. Since according to Christian religion suicide is a great sin, then by deliberately committing it, she showed not weakness, but strength of character! Her death is a challenge dark force, the desire to live in a bright kingdom of love, joy and happiness. No matter how tragic such an outcome may be, Dobrolyubov notes that this end seems joyful to us...: it presents a terrible challenge to tyrant power... with its violent, deadening principles. According to the critic, the great popular idea of ​​liberation was embodied in the image of Katerina.

The rights to the essay “The Young Generation in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play The Thunderstorm” belong to its author. When quoting material, it is necessary to indicate a hyperlink to

Young people are the most important part of society, a kind of creator of the future, a creator who passes through the prism of their own perceptions and their own common sense the prejudices and progressive ideas of the “old people” and, thus, determines what will be embodied in public life in a few decades, and what will die together with the last representatives of the older generation. The state of the entire society can be determined by the state of youth, because social vices primarily affect its most sensitive and vulnerable part, which is the youth. And the worst thing is that the younger generation may lose the ability to analyze and evaluate reality and turn from a transformative judge into an accurate reflection of the older generation - then there can be no talk of any development of society.

This is precisely the situation that was shown in the drama "", depicting the deplorable situation of young people, who are left with the right only to agree with their elders in everything. One of the main qualities of children is curiosity, that is, the desire to learn something new, which subsequently turns into anti-conservatism, that is, the desire to introduce this new thing into life. There is no place for curiosity in the city of Kalinov, because information about the world around us gets here through wanderers like Feklushi, who fanatically convince everyone and everything that “in your city there is paradise and silence, but in other cities it’s just sodomy.” calls Kuligin a “Tatar” for trying to explain what a thunderstorm is. In an atmosphere of universal conviction that “a thunderstorm is being sent to us as punishment,” young people believe everything: stories about people with dog heads, and Dikiy’s stories about his right to dispose of people. Having learned from childhood that they must fear their elders and unquestioningly obey them, young people are deprived of the ability to critically assess reality and are forced to accept as an unchangeable given both the house-building order and the right of the old people, the “aces” of this world, to power backed only by the authority of money. Education in the Domostroevsky traditions, when parents literally “break the ribs” of their children, either suppresses and breaks the child’s character, or forces the child to adapt and learn to use cunning to avoid punishment for crimes against imposed morality.

An example of the first type of young people are Tikhon Kabanov and Boris Grigorievich. They are best characterized by Tikhon’s words: “No... their own mind. And that means live as someone else’s.” All their lives they have been under the thumb of their relatives and cannot change this situation, but can only feel sorry for themselves. They are unable to commit any significant act: Tikhon envies Katerina’s death, but he himself cannot decide to commit suicide; Boris obeys his uncle, even when he tells him to leave Katerina and go to Siberia. These people cannot truly love strongly: Tikhon treats Katerina as one of the components of his “captivity”: “For two weeks there will be no thunderstorm over me, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?” Boris, in response to Katerina’s words that her husband left for two weeks, says: “Oh, so we’ll go for a walk! There's plenty of time." Parting with Katerina, he asks God “so that she dies quickly, so that she does not suffer for a long time!” Boris and Tikhon are puppets in the hands of the “dark kingdom”, weak-willed dolls, incapable of either action or true feeling.

Kudryash stands apart from them. At first glance, it seems that Kudryash is that “revolutionary” capable of challenging the world around him, but it turns out that he, too, bears the disfiguring stamp of the “dark kingdom.” Kudryash is the type of person who has adapted to difficult living conditions; he entered into an unspoken agreement with Dikiy: Kudryash is needed by Dikoy, so Dikoy cannot do anything with Kudryash. Kudryash is satisfied with this state of affairs and does not think about the problems of society or the situation of other people. His interests are selfish, they lie in the sphere of “taking a walk and arguing with the Wild (that is, once again enjoying the feeling of his own “inviolability”),” he may even be able to love (as evidenced by his relationship with Varvara), but he cannot and does not want to fight the “dark kingdom”, his activities are similar, by definition, to “a squirrel running in a wheel.” Varvara too: she learned to ignore Kabanikha’s abuse, learned to lie. (“And I was not a liar, but I learned when it became necessary.”) So she acquires limited freedom of action and follows the basic principle: “Do whatever you want, as long as it’s done well.” In Varvara’s actions there is no protest against the orders of the “dark kingdom”; she just wants to “have some fun” before the wedding. And Varvara runs away with Kudryash not out of love for him (she yawns on a date), but rather from her mother’s tyranny. These two types of people form the basis of the Kalinovsky youth. There is nothing progressive about them; whether adapted or broken, they do not even realize their powerlessness to change anything in society, their worthlessness, and do not understand the full horror of their situation. But Ostrovsky still leaves hope for the younger generation, showing the type of people who can lead society out of a deplorable situation. Katerina belongs to this type of youth. She does not break under the pressure of Domostroev’s orders, but she also cannot adapt to them. (“I don’t know how to deceive; I can’t hide anything.”) Katerina openly protests against everything that is imposed on her, she protests “at the call of nature”; protests because she is physically unable to live in the “dark kingdom.” But her protest does not find a response, so she can only dream of a “better world,” and when the oppression of the “dark kingdom” becomes unbearable, and besides, Boris leaves her, Katerina has no choice but to commit suicide.

In the “dark kingdom” there are no conditions for the appearance of people like Lopukhov, and any protest of the mind will be suppressed, and the protester will either completely submit or direct his mind to search for “loopholes” in the morality of society. Here nature itself comes to the rescue, giving birth to people like Katerina. This is the only type of youth capable of surviving and maintaining their positive qualities unchanged, maintaining the ability to improve society. Their protest is unconscious, it comes from the depths of the soul, but it is still a protest. Their strength is in unity, the fate of singles is the fate of Katerina. Katerina is an exception that should develop into a rule, the first “ray of light”, a harbinger of a new type of youth who, with the united forces of her nature, will be able to destroy the “dark kingdom” and create a new world.

The play “The Thunderstorm” was written by A. N. Ostrovsky in 1859, when the entire Russian society was in a state of anticipation of upcoming changes. A social conflict was brewing in the country between the moribund old conservative world of the patriarchal structure and the young progressive forces born in the depths of this world.

The old world of the “dark kingdom” is represented in the play by the rich merchant woman Kabanova and the merchant Dikiy. Their power over those around them is still great, but they are already beginning to feel the awakening of something new, alien and hateful to them. “Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown, with different beginnings, and although it is far away and not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants,” writes N.A. in the article “ A ray of light in a dark kingdom."

Representatives of the younger generation in “Groza” are Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Kudryash and Varvara. But are they all, and to what extent, capable of resisting the tyranny of tyrants?

Can the clerk of Wild Curly, who himself is considered a rude man and does not want to “slave” before his owner, be able to stand up for himself? “I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me,” Kudryash boasts. But in his resistance he himself becomes like the Wild One, responding to rudeness with rudeness. As Dobrolyubov believes, “Kudryash doesn’t have to quarrel with Dikiy: they both need each other, and, according to Syt, there is no need for special heroism on Kudryash’s part to present his demands.”

The play “The Thunderstorm” was written by A.N. Ostrovsky in 1859, when the entire Russian society was in a state of anticipation of upcoming changes. A social conflict was brewing in the country between the moribund old conservative world of the patriarchal structure and the young progressive forces born in the depths of this world.

The old world of the “dark kingdom” is represented in the play by the rich merchant woman Kabanova and the merchant Dikiy. Their power over those around them is still great, but they are already beginning to feel the awakening of something new, alien and hateful to them. “Besides them, without asking them, another life has grown, with different beginnings, and although it is far away, and is not yet clearly visible, it is already giving itself a presentiment and sending bad visions to the dark tyranny of tyrants,” writes N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “A ray of light in a dark kingdom.”

Representatives of the younger generation in “Groza” are Katerina, Boris, Tikhon, Kudryash and Varvara. But are they all, and to what extent, capable of resisting the tyranny of tyrants?

Can the clerk of Wild Curly, who himself has a reputation for being a brute and does not want to “slave” before his owner, be able to stand up for himself? “I’m not afraid of him, but let him be afraid of me,” Kudryash boasts. But in his resistance he himself becomes like the Wild One, responding to rudeness with rudeness. As Dobrolyubov believes, “Kudryash doesn’t have to quarrel with Dikiy: they both need each other, and, according to Syt, there is no need for special heroism on Kudryash’s part to present his demands.”

Kabanova’s daughter, Varvara, also easily adapts to the morality of the “dark kingdom”. Not wanting to live in captivity, to endure the power of her mother, she easily takes the path of deception, which becomes habitual for her. She claims that there is no other way to live: their whole house rests on deception. “And I wasn’t a liar, but I learned when it became necessary,” the girl justifies herself. “Do what you want, as long as it’s sewn and covered,” she teaches Katerina. However, Varvara was cunning while she had the opportunity, and when they began to lock her up, she ran away from home and broke free from the power of Kabanikha.

Kabanova's son, Tikhon, is by nature simple-minded and gentle. He loves and pities his wife in his own way, according to Dobrolyubov, “he has a conscience, a desire for good, but he constantly acts against himself and serves as a submissive instrument of his mother.” This weak-willed man is so exhausted by the endless reproaches, instructions and moralizing of his despotic mother that he is ready to plunge headlong into debauchery, leaving his wife in a desperate state, unable and unwilling to understand her restless soul.

But Tikhon’s best qualities, suppressed under the yoke of Kabanikha, did not completely perish. The death of their wife awakens them from their sleep. Having finally freed himself from the eternal fear and trembling of his mother, Tikhon for the first time in his life dares to blame her. “Mama, you ruined her! You, you, you...” - he screams in despair and in response to her menacing call he repeats again: “You ruined her! You! You!" In the face of tragedy, a terrible understanding was born in him that life in the “dark kingdom” worse than death. Throwing himself at his wife’s corpse, he screams in a frenzy: “Good for you, Katya! Why did I stay in the world and suffer!”

Of the younger generation, Boris, Dikiy’s nephew, is the weakest and most pitiful. In character he is very similar to Tikhon. “Boris is essentially the same, only “educated.” Education took away from him the power to do dirty tricks... but it did not give him the strength to resist the dirty tricks that others do,” the critic notes. Boris is unable to protect either himself or the woman he loves. Realizing his powerlessness, he only rushes about helplessly and laments: “Oh, if only these people knew what it’s like for me to say goodbye to you!.. Oh, if only I had strength!”

This powerless, weak-willed man becomes the subject of Katerina’s great passion, a pure, sublime, poetic nature. How different she is from other young people of Kalinov! All of them are burdened by the bondage of the patriarchal foundations of the “dark kingdom,” but they stand on the position of everyday compromises, they have learned to bypass the oppression of their elders, each in accordance with their character. But it is precisely against the background of their unconscious and compromising position that the suffering Katerina looks morally high.

The suddenly awakened feeling of love is perceived by her as a terrible unforgivable sin. The young woman resists her “sinful” passion with all her might, but finds no support in this struggle: “It’s as if I’m standing over an abyss, and someone is pushing me there, but there’s nothing to hold on to.” Alien to the slightest lie and falsehood, Katerina is incapable of deception and pretense. “Let everyone know, let everyone see what I do! If I was not afraid of sin for you, will I be afraid of human judgment?” - she says to Boris. Katerina does not want and cannot be cunning or pretend. This is confirmed by the scene of confession of treason. Neither the thunderstorm, nor the frightening prophecy of the mad lady, nor the fear of “fiery Gehenna” prevented the heroine from telling the truth. “My whole heart was exploding! I can’t stand it anymore!” - this is how she began her confession. For her honest and integral nature, the false position in which she found herself is unbearable. Living just to live is not for her. To live means for her to be herself. Its most precious value is personal freedom, freedom of the soul. But after publicly repenting of her sin, Katerina could only submit to her mother-in-law and become a meek slave of her husband. This freedom-loving nature could not accept such a fate. She finds a way out of an unbearable situation in death.

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

No matter how tragic such an outcome may be, Dobrolyubov notes that “this end seems joyful to us...: it presents a terrible challenge to tyrant power... with its violent, deadening principles.” According to the critic, the image of Katerina embodied the “great national idea” - the idea of ​​liberation.

1. Tikhon Kabanov and Boris, nephew of Dikiy.
2. Ivan Kudryash.
3. Katerina and Varvara.

In A. N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm,” the action takes place against the backdrop of tense relationships between representatives of the older and younger generations. The tyrannical oppression of Kabanikha and Dikiy on their loved ones does not weaken at the sight of external manifestations of humility. How do representatives of the younger generation behave when they find themselves in similar conditions?

Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov is a rich merchant. He received a good inheritance from his late father and got married. It would seem that this person is quite capable of independently managing his home. But that was not the case! In fact, his mother is in charge of everything, and Tikhon listens to her orders with a doomed look: “I, it seems, is Mama, not a single step from your will.”

Tikhon performs all any significant actions at the direction of his mother: she gives him orders regarding the trip ahead for her son, and at her request, Tikhon got married.

Tikhon himself feels like a deeply unhappy person, unable to do anything to please his mother so that she would stop, at least for a little while, scolding and lecturing him. So he got married to fulfill his mother’s will, and the mother now reproaches her son: “Since I got married, I don’t see the same love from you.” However, Tikhon does not even think about expressing his indignation at his mother’s tyranny: “Yes, Mama, I don’t want to live by my own will. Where can I live by my own will!” Traditions merchant life and his own spinelessness show Tikhon another path: in order to distract himself from hateful problems, he takes to drinking every now and then. The upcoming trip is a long-awaited and desired event for Tikhon: “...For two weeks there will be no thunderstorm over me, there are no shackles on my legs, so what do I care about my wife?” This phrase clearly demonstrates Tikhon’s infantile egoism - he does not care about Katerina’s experiences. He does not know how and does not try to protect his wife from his mother’s attacks; on the contrary, he reproaches her that it is because of her that he suffers even more. However, as the play progresses, it becomes clear that Tikhon, despite all his shortcomings, sincerely loves his wife. He is willingly ready to forgive her her sin. When Katerina admits her wrongdoing, Tikhon tries to stop her: “Don’t, don’t, don’t say! What you! Mother is here! It is not so much anger as compassion that arouses Tikhon’s wife’s sin. However, Tikhon is still unable to resist his mother’s pressure. He would be glad to forgive Katerina, forget everything and start new life, but will his mother allow him to forget? “...I love her, I’m sorry to lay a finger on her. I beat him a little, and even then my mother ordered me to. I feel sorry for looking at her...”

But the main problem is that most strong love Tikhon manifests himself towards his wife not in everyday life, when Katerina needed protection and support, and in fateful moments, when nothing can be changed. And even in despair, Tikhon is not able to go against the will of his mother, who forbade him to go and pull his wife out of the river. Only after seeing the dead Katerina, Tikhon repeats in a frenzy: “Mama, you ruined her!”

We see that Tikhon's spinelessness turns into a tragedy for himself, and for his wife, and, strictly speaking, for his mother. What is the use of his obedience if everything goes to dust, and Tikhon becomes more and more accustomed to drowning his grief with wine?

Boris Grigorievich, Katerina's lover, is in a position that is no more enviable than that of her husband. Like Tikhon, Boris is well aware of this: “And I can see I’m going to waste my youth in this slum.” Like Tikhon, Boris lacks the determination to try to change his life, although it is still easier for the latter. It is clear that it is difficult for Tikhon to argue with his own mother, who raised him and who, despite her lust for power, sincerely believes that she cares about the welfare of her children. Boris lives with his uncle, hoping to someday receive a share of the inheritance bequeathed by his grandmother, however, even with a superficial examination, it becomes clear that the chances of this are very low. The condition under which the inheritance can pass into the hands of Boris and his sister is too fragile - if they are respectful to their uncle. But Dikoy is by no means a man of honor. He generally has a hard time giving people what they have earned or are owed for any product. “...Who will forbid him to say that you are disrespectful?” - Kuligin aptly remarks, reasonably believing that Boris will never receive his inheritance. It would seem that it would be better to leave and forget than to endure his uncle’s antics, which are quite consistent with his last name!

On the one hand, Boris is held back by a seemingly noble feeling - concern for his sister. But on the other hand, if the matter is hopeless, is it worth remaining practically in slavery?

Having fallen in love with Katerina, Boris is also unable to decide or undertake anything on his own. Their date was entirely arranged—one might even say set up—by Varvara. Boris's attitude towards Katerina is similar to Tikhon's: when her husband returns earlier than expected, Boris is first of all disappointed that the nightly dates are cancelled. He doesn’t think about Katerina’s experiences. But, like Tikhon, Boris sincerely loves her: only in the moments of farewell does he understand how seriously the woman took this love, how difficult the retribution for sin has become for her. Another young man in Ostrovsky’s play is Ivan Kudryash, Dikiy’s clerk. At first glance, he also depends on the tyrant merchant, since he serves him.

But Kudryash takes his employer’s scolding lightly: “...He is a word, and I am ten... No, I won’t slave to him.” Kudryash’s determination is also evident in love affairs: “I’m for mine... and I don’t even know what I’ll do! I’ll rip your throat out!” According to rumors, Kudryash and Varvara ran away together and broke with the hateful situation. Both of them turned out to be more adapted to life, more enterprising people than other representatives of their generation in Ostrovsky’s play.

Varvara, despite her youth, has a healthy assessment of people and their relationships. She feels sorry for Katerina and bluntly says that there is nothing to love Tikhon for. Varvara also guesses about Katerina’s love for Boris. But with all her participation in Katerina, Varvara does not understand her experiences, like everyone around her. Sister Tikhon is a person of action, reflection is alien to her. In accordance with her concepts, Varvara is ready to help Katerina - if possible, arrange a date for her with her loved one, which the girl does. Varvara understands that it is extremely difficult to exist in the hypocritical environment of her home without resorting to lies. The girl calmly perceives lying as a necessity, an integral part of life. Of course, this does not decorate Varvara too much, but it should be understood that she became this way under the influence of the situation.

As for Katerina, her tragedy is that she absolutely does not know how and does not want to adapt, she cannot choose one line of behavior and follow it. Katerina was unable to meekly endure the reproaches of her mother-in-law - her love for Boris, in fact, was a protest against existence in an atmosphere of tyranny and hypocrisy. However, Katerina was unable to keep her hobby a secret (at least from her mother-in-law); she did not want to pretend at home, and when possible, still go on dates with her beloved. According to Katerina herself, her love for Boris is terrible sin for which she must be punished. But, knowing this in advance, Katerina did not find the strength to resist temptation, surrendering to her love, she could not calmly take it for granted.

Thus, we see that Katerina is not able to find herself in the lifestyle available to her: neither a sedate and faithful wife, a candidate for future Kabanikha, nor an ardent lover who calmly listens to the teachings of her mother-in-law during the day - none of these paths satisfies the restless Katerina's soul. Therefore, the outcome of Ostrovsky’s drama is logical - if a person is unable to come to terms with reality, he often seeks deliverance in death.