We quite often hear these antonyms in life: fidelity and betrayal. And everyone understands these words in their own way. Why? Loyalty is defined as constancy in feelings, affections, and beliefs. But rarely does anyone remember the meaning of the root word - faith. Faith is a belief in something that is unshakable in your ideas and understanding. But betrayal is nothing more than a violation of fidelity to someone or something. According to Christian ethics, adultery is a particularly serious sin. But betrayal does not have to be in the area of faith. There is such a thing as adultery, betrayal of the Motherland, betrayal of convictions. All these are variations of this comprehensive concept.
I want to address the understanding of adultery and fidelity. And in this regard, remember the works of our literature. In A.N. Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm” this problem is raised. The main character of the drama, Katerina Kabanova, cheated on her husband with a young man who came from the capital. Unusual, unlike the residents of the city of Kalinov, Boris in his particular dress seems so bright and unique to Katerina. She falls in love with him literally at first sight. His delicacy and tact do not at all fit with the darkness, lack of education, rudeness and rudeness of the local residents. However, Katerina, who has never loved anyone before, chooses Boris as her betrothed, a man sent by God. She, once taking a step towards her chosen one, decides that he is her destiny. Cheating on her husband, in her understanding, is not cheating at all. She never loved Boris, although she tried to be faithful to him. In fact, he changed it because he left her alone in this evil world. But she is tormented by the fact of the oath during the wedding ceremony. However, Tikhon does not accept Katerina’s betrayal, she is his beloved wife, the main thing is that no one knows anything. He beats his wife at the insistence of his mother. So Katerina’s betrayal becomes a symbol of her faith in God, in his blessing. She decides to commit suicide only so as not to change her convictions, her faith.
In N.A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Matryona Korchagina remains faithful to her husband in the most difficult life situations. When her husband Philip is recruited, and she remains pregnant, expecting a child, without a husband, she decides to go to the governor for help, in an effort to find protection. She was lucky: labor began, and the governor’s wife became godmother to her child. She helped in releasing her husband from conscription duty. A rare woman is capable of such self-sacrifice in the name of her beloved husband, of such fidelity to her wedding vow.
Cheating and fidelity are mutually exclusive concepts, but lately no one attaches much importance to them. No one particularly tries to be faithful, no one considers betrayal a terrible sin. The boundaries have been erased. It’s all about human morality, about how to evaluate your own and other people’s actions.
Katerina is the central character of Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”. Since its writing, the work has enjoyed enormous popularity. Performances based on the play do not leave the stage of major theaters. The main reason for such popularity is the author’s talented portrayal of Katerina’s character.
The inevitable conflict with others and the emotional drama of the main character leads to her tragic death.
In the character of Katerina, Ostrovsky portrayed a strong, independent personality held back by the chains of traditional society. The patriarchal way of life, which everyone in the city adheres to, stifles the slightest manifestations of the living soul. His main supporter is Tikhon’s mother. She raised her son in conditions of unquestioning obedience. Tikhon in his soul understands the stupidity of his mother’s instructions, but he does not have the will to resist her.
Katerina sincerely loves and pities her husband. She cannot look at his humiliation in front of his mother with indifference. But she is not able to fix anything. The stuffy atmosphere that reigns in the city gradually takes over her. Katerina unconsciously wants to break out of it.
Katerina’s emotional drama lies in the fact that in other conditions she would never have cheated on her husband. But in this “sleepy kingdom” she is too cramped, she is suffocating from such a life. In the famous monologue of the main character “Why don’t people fly” this spiritual desire is most clearly expressed. The fantastic desire to become a bird and fly “far, far away” is a passionate impulse of a tormented soul.
In reality, Katerina's liberation occurred as a result of her sudden love for Boris. The woman's decency did not allow her to speak openly about it. The rapprochement occurred with the assistance of Varvara. The affair with Boris, on the one hand, inspired Katerina and allowed her to feel real pleasure in life. On the other hand, this novel became disastrous for the main character.
The image of Katerina is extremely tragic. She cannot be considered a fallen woman who betrayed her husband for the sake of a fleeting hobby. The betrayal occurred due to the fault of an old woman who had lost her mind and her weak-willed son. The time spent without my husband flashed by in an instant. Katerina anticipates the inevitable retribution for her terrible sin. She could easily hide all this, but, being a deeply religious person, she does not even allow the thought of deception.
Katerina's mental turmoil worsens with the arrival of Tikhon. She lives as if in delirium, frightening those around her with her behavior and words. Katerina awaits divine punishment for her sinful behavior. The feeling of impending death leads her to make a terrible confession to her husband and his mother. By confessing her sin, she, as it were, cleanses her soul before death. Katerina’s suicide is a natural outcome of the work. Her spiritual drama could not be resolved any other way.
Katerina is an excellent example of a strong spiritual personality. She is not to blame for either the betrayal or her own death. Ostrovsky convincingly showed the destructive impact that outdated concepts and prejudices have on the human soul. Katerina's emotional drama is indicative of any historical era.
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What pushes a person to cheat? To answer this question, it is worth remembering what this word means.
No matter how much we judge others, each of us has our own reason for betrayal. There are moments when each of us lacks support, understanding, and we see no other choice but to commit such a “crime.”
But what is the decisive aspect at the moment of making a choice between fidelity and betrayal?
A large number of literary works contain the answer to this question, which is still relevant today, but this problem is considered most deeply in the work of art by A. N. Ostrovsky “The Thunderstorm”.
The mother-in-law “takes away” the girl from the world, in every possible way infringing on her rights to freedom of thought and speech. Katerina herself is not inferior to Kabanova, and, although not openly, she protests against her concepts of morality. She does not want to put up with the “arrogant force that rules this house. She wants to run away, to leave this world, which is so different from her childhood memories of a real home and family. “Why don’t people fly”? Here you can see Katerina’s ideal of life. She wants to live like a bird, soar in the sky,
live freely. In fact, love is the only thing in which a woman from a merchant environment, confined to the circle of family responsibilities, could show a love of freedom, which the girl could not show to Tikhon. And Katerina finds her salvation in the “embraces” of Boris, the only person who understands her. But he is also unable to help her: he lacks the determination to fight for Katerina’s love and advises her to submit to fate. In a sense, he can also be called a traitor who did not fight for his happiness. Katerina is tormented, her conscience does not give her peace, because she committed one of the most terrible sins before God - cheating on her husband. But she remains devoted to her ideal and does not admit her mistake for anything and does not give up on Kabanikha. The heroine is characterized by religious prejudices, which force her to perceive the bright human feeling of love as a mortal sin for which she paid with her life. Katerina can be blamed for her actions, calling her an unfaithful wife, but the dead way of life of the Kabanovs’ house, the situation, the tyranny under which Katerina was suffocating force her to commit treason in order to be at least a little happy. And such a life did not last long, and soon the reckoning came. The girl was true to herself to the end and, perhaps, that’s why her soul was finally freed.
In fact, anything can lead a person to such an offense. And often we mistakenly believe that the culprit of treason is the traitor himself. In my opinion, in such situations both are to blame. One way or another, people cheat out of despair, out of an unbearable desire to change something in their lives, to find something new.
And we all depend on other people’s opinions, which strive to “inject” you more painfully, to break you, to adjust to their way of life, which is different from yours, which is what Kabanikha did. In fact, she did not give life to herself or to others. Those who do not worry about complete betrayal usually have no principles or moral guidelines at all.
A. Ostrovsky’s play presents the life of the city of Kalinov, a “prefabricated city”, which is entangled in rules and orders that exist for every case. Most of A. Ostrovsky’s heroes follow the ideas of Kalinov’s closed world, even when they try to change its laws. In the images of Boris, Varvara, Kudryash, the author manages to show the fine line between fidelity and betrayal: true faith in the Domostroevsky order of the city of Kalinov has long been lost, and the patriarchal world rests on hypocritical fidelity, formal observance of the previous rules.
The writer vividly describes formalized human relationships in which no one really cares about humanity, morality, or the depth of personality. For example, when parting with your husband, love must be shown according to strict rules: do not throw yourself on your neck, but bow, and then howl on the porch, demonstrating your grief to your neighbors. Consequently, the heroes who follow Kalinov’s order betray sincerity and inner purity, while maintaining hypocritical loyalty to generally accepted laws.
Kabanikha acts as a kind of guardian of the patriarchal world in the play. The author introduces several scenes into the narrative in which Kabanikha accuses her family of not complying with the ancient way of life, which she unquestioningly follows. The heroine's faith is boundless and very strict, she sincerely puts all her strength into maintaining and upholding the rules of the city of Kalinov; at the same time, the internal content and essence of the laws are obviously lost in the ceremonial attitude of women.
In the image of the main character of the play, the question of loyalty to oneself and one’s ideas is revealed. A. Ostrovsky manages to describe the main character trait of the girl in her first phrase: “Whether in front of people or without people, I’m all alone, I don’t prove anything of myself” - one can immediately note that the heroine has an integral character, sincerity, and loyalty to her own impressions and way of perceiving the world. Katerina also retains boundless faith in Christian rules, but, unlike Kabanikha, religion is a need of a living soul, it is comprehended and deeply experienced in the girl’s soul.
A. Ostrovsky describes Katerina’s life in Kalinov as a constant attempt to adapt, to change herself to suit the rules of the family in which she found herself. For a sincerely believing heroine, prayer becomes a hateful duty. Katerina is trying to fall in love with Tikhon and build a life with him, but this is prevented by a living internal protest against formalism and everyday cruelty. Thus, the heroine remains faithful to her own feelings and views even in the conditions of a society that requires her to submit her will.
A feeling of love arises in Katerina, but not for her husband, but for another man, which is perceived as something sinful: the internal desire for freedom of feelings collides with loyalty to moral norms and Christian covenants. Katerina violates one of the main moral rules - loyalty to her husband and family, betraying her inner purity, sinlessness, and sincerity.
In the play, Katerina faces the betrayal of the men who surround her. Tikhon's soft, compassionate attitude towards his wife is perceived in the eyes of Katerina as a flaw, a betrayal of ancient orders and rules. Tikhon does not meet Katerina’s ideas about what a real husband should be: he cannot help, cannot punish, and in the departure scene he leaves Katerina alone with her sinful passion, thereby destroying all the hopes of the desperate girl to find support in her husband’s love. Another man, Boris, also leaves Katerina in the kingdom of callous and hypocritical people. But the writer depicts Katerina’s reaction to Boris’s betrayal differently than in the scene of Tikhon’s departure: she is not angry, does not scold Boris, but quietly and tenderly says goodbye to him, anticipating her approaching end and accepting internal punishment for the sin she has committed.
According to the writer, betrayal of her husband is conceived as betrayal of herself, and the understanding of sinfulness and guilt for what she has done torments Katerina. A. Ostrovsky introduces an important scene of Katerina’s confession to Tikhon and Kabanikha, which is caused by the girl’s deep mental torment and feelings of guilt. The awareness of betrayal is scary and painful for Katerina: she sees no other possibility of forgiveness and spiritual cleansing other than death. In the future, the heroine of A. Ostrovsky takes upon herself an even more serious sin from the point of view of Christianity - suicide. Thus, betrayal of her husband, which is thought of as betrayal of one’s own ideas, moral values and spiritual ideals, becomes the source of Katerina’s mental catastrophe. The writer vividly illustrates how a person who has betrayed himself and those around him loses his inner balance and calm, and experiences severe internal suffering on the path of betrayal.
One of the main characters in the play “The Thunderstorm” is Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov. He is the son of Kabanikha and at the same time the husband of Katerina. It is through the example of this character that the destructive and crippling power of the “dark kingdom” is most accurately shown, turning a person into a shadow of himself.
Image of contradictions
We can say that the image of Tikhon in the play “The Thunderstorm” is full of contradictions. On the one hand, he is such an obedient and respectful son that he completely dissolved in the personality of his mother, and on the other hand, he is a man with his own thoughts, opinions, and desires.
Tikhon seems to love his wife Katerina, but at the same time he cannot fully understand her, is not able to do anything for her to protect her from bad thoughts, and cannot provide her with emotional support.
He is already accustomed to living in the “dark kingdom,” but he is very happy when he has the opportunity to leave his home on business. He rejoices that at least for a while he will be able to rest from his mother’s tyranny.
What a husband Tikhon is
Let us consider the image of Tikhon from this point of view. From the play “The Thunderstorm” one can judge that he cannot live up to the role of a husband in a family where a patriarchal spirit reigns. Being a ruler, protector and support in the family is not his thing. Tikhon is a weak person, he is kind and good-natured. All he can do is rush between maternal demands and compassion for his wife. He was used to being subordinate, he was used to being led.
Tikhon loves his wife, but not with a strong character, but calmly and apathetically. His love does not bring emotions to Katerina. And this leads to her becoming interested in another man. Tikhon does not arouse love in Katerina, he arouses pity, which she herself admits to Varvara.
Otrada Tikhon
But when the man breaks away from his mother’s care, a completely new image of Tikhon is revealed to the reader. In the play “The Thunderstorm,” the author showed Tikhon as gentle and good-natured, but at the same time a drinker. We see that as soon as Tikhon has the opportunity to leave home for a while, he immediately takes advantage of this opportunity, and his short vacation does not pass without alcohol. This is the only way he can fill the emptiness inside himself and the heaviness in his soul. Only alcohol helps him forget all the suffering caused to him by his mother. Humiliated after his mother's reproaches and instructions, the main character can take it out on his wife. And only his sister Varvara is able to calm the situation in the house, secretly letting her brother go on a visit where he can have a drink.
Tikhon's attitude towards his wife's betrayal
Leaving home for a while, Tikhon says goodbye to his wife and mother. Katerina wants to give her husband a farewell oath of fidelity. To which he reacts negatively. Both Tikhon and his mother, pronouncing a ritual order, tell Katerina not to look at other people’s guys, but our hero says this phrase arbitrarily, not even suspecting that his wife is capable of treason.
But it is Tikhon’s soft character that is a flaw in Katerina’s eyes. And she falls in love with Boris. Later, Katerina herself tells her husband and mother-in-law about her betrayal, since she is no longer able to keep this secret to herself. Tikhon takes the news non-aggressively. He contradicts his mother when she advises him to execute Katerina by burying her alive in the ground. He loves his wife and cannot be aggressive towards her.
Katerina did not immediately surrender to the new feeling; she still tried in every possible way to become close to her husband, to return her love for him, to find in herself those feelings that previously united them. At this moment, the image of Tikhon in the play “The Thunderstorm” seems even more spineless. He still had a chance to change everything, but due to his weakness, he could not fully understand his wife or protect her from the torture of her mother-in-law. He was able to be simple-minded, but he could not become that stone wall behind which a woman needs to feel safe.
And only when Katerina lays hands on herself, Tikhon, standing over her corpse, stands up against his mother. He publicly accuses her of the death of his wife, thereby dealing Kabanikha a terrible blow.
This is the entire characteristic of the hero. Tikhon (“The Thunderstorm”, Ostrovsky A.N.) is an image with the help of which the author showed male kindness, but at the same time, male weak character. As we see, this can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences.
Characteristics of Tikhon in Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”
Very briefly, we can say that this main character is a weak and dependent person, he is simple-minded and not at all evil, but very weak-willed. But under extreme circumstances, this man is capable of public rebellion, even if it is short-lived.
The play ends tragically and ambiguous. In the finale, good does not win, but evil does not triumph either. The collapse of the family resolves the external conflict, but the internal conflict that arose as a result of emotional struggle remains in the heart of the protagonist forever. This mental situation resembles the aftermath of a terrible thunderstorm, which brings death and destruction.
The image of Tikhon in the play "The Thunderstorm" is capable of attracting the reader with his kindness, but at the same time repelling him with his inactivity and spinelessness, which is why he can be called contradictory.