In Ostrovsky’s play “Dowry,” as in the work “The Thunderstorm,” we see a city dominated by immorality and materialism. In “Besprilannitsa” power belongs to those who have money, and rich people like Paratov can afford everything. These rich people have no moral values.
They are only interested in personal gain and fun. If on the one hand the city is ruled by rich people who are only interested in having a fun time, then on the other hand we see a very cunning and cherry plum Ogudalova.
She cares
Only about his own well-being he stoops to the point where he blatantly lies for the sake of extra money.
In a city with a corrupt dominant society, in a city where material well-being“Godlike” people, where money, title and pedigree are placed above moral values, the “dark kingdom” undeniably dominates.
Poor Larisa becomes a victim of this “dark kingdom”. Since she is homeless, they do not want to marry her. Larisa's only fault is that she has no dowry, so she is forced to suffer. This confirms the correctness of our judgments about the materialism of the city's inhabitants.
Larisa is a meek, smart girl. She is very sweet and talented. Her “trouble” is that she has no cunning.
This is what sets her apart from society. Larisa is not particularly interested in money; she is not ruled by scarcity. They say about her that she was born to shine, but she has morality, spiritual purity. Larisa has enough pride and self-esteem to not stoop for money like Ogudalova.
She is looking only for peace of mind. Larisa is pure and simple-minded. It is difficult for her to survive in such a society.
If you compare Larisa and Katerina, then at first their fates are very similar. They both strive for harmony in their personal lives. Neither Larisa nor Katerina have happiness, no love.
They are both opposed to society, the “dark kingdom”. Both are pure and kind-hearted. Also, the heroines are brought together by the motif of the Volga River: for both of them, the river symbolizes death. Both Katerina and Larisa are overtaken by death on the river.
But unlike Larisa, Katerina commits suicide. Katerina is sinful. But based on this act, we can conclude that she is braver than Larisa.
It seems to me that this is their difference. They both protest against the “dark kingdom”. But their main difference is in the expression of this protest.
The world of merchants in Ostrovsky's play “Dowry” is shown very vividly and in detail. The uppians in the work are clean and decent. Knurov, for example, has become involved in culture: he reads French newspapers. Vozhevatov is dressed in a European suit.
These merchants pretend to be Europeans and ridicule the uncultured. They spare no money on dinner, entertainment, gifts. If we compare them with the merchants from “The Thunderstorm,” they are well-mannered and educated, but in moral terms they turn out to be no higher than the ignorant tyrant merchants.
This is revealed through their attitude towards Larisa. In “The Dowry” the merchant world has external splendor and education, but in this world there is no place for love, compassion, mercy.
Paratov is one of the main characters of the play. He is the most admired man in the city. He leads a royal lifestyle: everyone obeys and admires him. He owes his money to this attention.
Paratov is also characterized by a desire to rule and humiliate. We see the manifestation of this quality in his attitude towards Karandyshev. This combination of qualities in Paratov is not accidental.
In my opinion, the image of Paratov is a generalizing meaning of power. Power over a person. It also reflects the values of society.
If he, a rich and immoral man, rules society, then it is not difficult to guess what this society wants and what it really is like.
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There are twenty years between “The Thunderstorm” and “Dowry”. During this time, the country has changed, the writer has changed. All these changes can be traced through the example of the play “The Thunderstorm” and the drama “Dowry”.
The merchants in “The Dowry” are no longer ignorant and tyrant representatives of the “dark kingdom,” but people who pretend to be educated, read foreign newspapers, and dress in European style.
The main characters of two plays by A.N. Ostrovsky differ significantly in their social status, but are very similar in their tragic destinies. Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” is the wife of a rich but weak-willed merchant who is entirely under the influence of her despotic mother. Larisa in “The Dowry” is a beautiful unmarried girl who lost her father early and was raised by her mother, a poor woman, very energetic, who, unlike her mother-in-law Katerina, is not prone to tyranny. Kabanikha cares about the happiness of her son Tikhon, as she understands him. Kharita Ignatievna Ogudalova equally zealously cares about the happiness of her daughter Larisa, again, in her own understanding. As a result, Katerina rushes into the Volga and dies at the hands of her unsuccessful groom Larisa. In both cases, the heroines are destined to die, although their relatives and friends seemed to wish them only the best.
The main characters, Katerina and Larisa, are often compared to each other. They both strove for freedom, both received it not in this world, both were pure and bright in nature, loved the unworthy, and with all their being showed a protest against the “dark kingdom” (in my opinion, the “Dowryless” society also fits this definition) .
Katerina Kabanova lives in a small Volga town, where life is still largely patriarchal. And the action of “The Thunderstorm” takes place before the reform of 1861, which had a huge impact on the life of the Russian province. Larisa Ogudalova - resident big city, also located on the Volga, but patriarchal family relations long lost. The Volga unites the heroines; for both of them, the river symbolizes freedom and death: both Katerina and Larisa are overtaken by death on the river. But here are also differences: the city of Bryakhimov is not separated from the rest of the world, like Kalinov, it is not excluded from historical time, it is open, people come and go to it (in “The Thunderstorm” the Volga River is perceived primarily as a border, and in “Dowry” ” it becomes a means of communication with the world).
The action of “Dowry” takes place in the late 1870s, at the end of the second decade after the liberation of the peasants. Capitalism is developing rapidly. Former merchants are turning into millionaire entrepreneurs. The Ogudalov family is not rich, but thanks to the persistence of Kharita Ignatievna, they make acquaintances with influential and rich people. The mother inspires Larisa that, although she does not have a dowry, she should marry a rich groom. And Larisa has no doubt about it, hoping that both love and wealth will unite in the person of her future chosen one. The choice for Katerina had already been made long ago, marrying off the unloved, weak-willed, but rich Tikhon. Larisa is accustomed to the cheerful life of the Volga “society” - parties, music, dancing. She herself has abilities - Larisa sings well. It is simply impossible to imagine Katerina in such a situation. It is much more closely connected with nature, with popular beliefs, and is truly religious. Larisa, too, in difficult times remembers God, and, having agreed to marry the petty official Karandyshev, dreams of leaving with him to the village, away from the city temptations and her former wealthy acquaintances. However, in general, she is a person of a different era and environment than Katerina. Larisa has a more subtle psychological makeup, a more subtle sense of beauty than the heroine of “The Thunderstorm”. But this also makes her even more defenseless against any unfavorable external circumstances.
The merchants of “Groza” are just becoming the bourgeoisie, this is manifested in the fact that the patriarchal relations traditional for them are becoming obsolete, deception and hypocrisy are being established (Kabanikha, Varvara), which are so disgusting to Katerina.
Larisa is also a victim of deception and hypocrisy, but she has different life values, unthinkable for Katerina, the source of which, first of all, lies in her upbringing. Larisa received a Europeanized upbringing and education. She is looking for sublimely beautiful love, gracefully beautiful life. To do this, ultimately, she needs wealth. But there is no strength of character, no integrity of nature in her. It would seem that the educated and cultured Larisa should have expressed at least some kind of protest, unlike Katerina. But she is a weak nature in all respects. Weak not only in order to kill herself when everything collapsed and everything became hateful, but even in order to somehow resist the deeply alien norms of life that boils around her. In soul and body, Larisa herself turns out to be an expression of the deceitfulness of the surrounding life, emptiness, spiritual chill, hiding behind a spectacular external shine.
The essence of the conflict in dramas is also different. In “The Thunderstorm,” the clash occurs between tyrants and their victims. The play has very strong motifs of lack of freedom, stuffiness, suppression, and closed space. Katerina, accustomed to living “like a bird in the wild,” dreaming of flight, cannot subordinate herself to the laws of the world in which she found herself after her marriage. Her situation is truly tragic: the free expression of feeling - love for Boris - comes into conflict with her true religiosity, her inner inability to live in sin. The climax of the play is Katerina’s public recognition, which takes place amid the thunderclaps of an approaching thunderstorm.
An event that, like a thunderclap, shakes the entire city is the death of Katerina. Traditionally, it is perceived by drama viewers as a protest against the cruel laws of life, as a victory of the heroine over the force that oppresses her.
In “Dowry”, at first glance, everything is the opposite. Larisa is not sharply opposed to the heroes around her; she is admired and idolized. There is no talk of any suppression or despotism. But another motive is extremely strong in the play, which was not in “The Thunderstorm” - the motive of money. It is he who forms the conflict of the drama. Larisa is homeless, and this determines her position in the play. All the characters around her - Knurov, Vozhevatov, Paratov, Karandyshev - talk only about money, benefit, profit, buying and selling. In this world, a person’s feelings also become a subject of trade. This clash of monetary, material interests with the feelings of the heroine leads to a tragic ending.
And the heroines’ attitudes towards death are very different; Larisa’s willpower is much weaker than Katerina’s. Katerina sees death here as an opportunity to merge with the natural world and get rid of suffering, when her husband’s house became a grave for her: “Where to now? Should I go home? No, it doesn’t matter to me whether I go home or go to the grave. Yes, to home, to the grave!.. to the grave! It’s better in a grave... There’s a grave under a tree... how nice!.. The sun warms it, wets it with rain... in the spring the grass will grow on it, so soft... birds will fly to the tree, they will sing, they will bring out children, flowers will bloom: yellow, red, blue... all sorts of (thoughts) all sorts...”
Larisa, after her hopes for marriage with Paratov have finally collapsed, and Knurov openly invited her to become a rich kept woman, is thinking about throwing herself into the Volga, like Katerina. However, she does not have enough determination for this: “Larissa. Just now I looked down through the bars, my head began to spin, and I almost fell. And if you fall, they say... certain death. (Thinking.) It would be nice to rush! No, why rush!.. Stand by the bars and look down, you’ll get dizzy and fall... Yes, that’s better... unconscious, no pain... you won’t feel anything! (He approaches the bars and looks down. He bends down, grabs the bars tightly, then runs away in horror.) Oh, oh! How scary! (Almost falls, grabs the gazebo.) What dizziness! I'm falling, falling, ouch! (Sits down at the table near the gazebo.) Oh, no... (Through tears.) Parting with life is not at all as easy as I thought. So I have no strength! Here I am, how unhappy! But there are people for whom this is easy...”
Here the author’s remarks convey the confusion of the main character of “The Dowry,” her desire for suicide and her inability to accomplish it. Larisa either approaches the cliff or moves away from it. She still hopes that some force acting against her will will help her die. Larisa dreams of leaving life pure, sinless, including without the sin of suicide. And she clearly lacks the determination to take her own life. Katerina is a different matter. She realizes that she is a sinner because she cheated on her husband, even an unloved one, even for the sake of real, genuine love. Her suicide is both atonement for sin (albeit through, from the point of view of Christianity, another sin, but for Katerina this circumstance no longer matters), and reunification with the natural world - birds, trees, and liberation from the earthly grave - the home of the hated Kabanikha. Before her death, Katerina by no means forgives her mother-in-law who killed her. Larisa, in full agreement with Christian ideals, declares that she loves all those - Paratov, Knurov, Vozhevatov, Karandyshev - who, voluntarily or unwittingly, contributed to her death. Katerina’s faith is more passionate and less canonical, in some ways close to the pagan deification of the natural elements. Larisa's faith is calmer, partly bookish, although no less sincere. The heroine of “The Thunderstorm” is a more strong-willed person. She is capable of such a decisive act as suicide. The heroine of “The Dowry” does not have the will to commit suicide. An accident comes to her aid in the person of Karandyshev, who ended Larisa’s life with his shot.
Freedom and love are the main things that were in Katerina’s character. She believed in God freely, not under pressure. By her own free will, she sinned and punished herself. Moreover, suicide for a believer is an even more terrible sin, but Katerina agreed to it. Her impulse for freedom, for freedom, turned out to be stronger than the fear of torment beyond the grave, but, more likely, it was her hope in God’s mercy, for Katerina’s God is undoubtedly kindness and forgiveness incarnate.
Katerina is a truly tragic heroine. She had no thought of protesting against the world and the order in which she lived. She had no conflict with the world or with those around her. The cause of her death was the internal conflict of her heart. The world of Russian patriarchal life in Katerina itself exploded from within, because freedom began to leave it, i.e. life itself.
And Larisa, a young girl with a pure soul, who knows how to love and yearns for mutual true feelings, faces the world of businessmen, where only capital reigns. In this world, the fate of a homeless woman is doomed to tragedy. Like Katerina, Larisa belongs to women with a “warm heart”. She is also endowed with a musical, poetic soul. Larisa's world contains both a gypsy song and a Russian romance. A dreamy, artistically gifted nature, she does not notice shortcomings in people, sees others through the eyes of the heroine of a romance and often acts in accordance with the traditions of the behavior of such a heroine (the desire to catch up with a departed loved one, love and separation, temptation by love, escaping from an engagement). Larisa seems to hover above the world of ordinary people; it is not for nothing that her name is translated from Greek as seagull.
The shipowner, rich gentleman Sergei Sergeevich seems to Larisa to be the ideal man. He is capable of being sincerely carried away; he is delighted with Larisa’s beauty, originality, and artistic gift. But his spiritual impulses are short-lived; business calculations always take over: “I... have nothing cherished; If I find a profit, I’ll sell everything, anything.” True to this rule, Paratov does this with both the Lastochka steamship and Larisa. For the sake of momentary bliss, he persuades Larisa to go beyond the Volga, from where there are two roads for her: either “rejoice”, or “Mom, look for me in the Volga.” Paratov has no intention of exchanging his millionth bride for Larisa Dmitrievna. At the end of the play, Larisa has an epiphany. Sergei Sergeevich reminds her that “the frenzy of passion soon passes, what remains are chains and common sense,” and advises her to return to her fiance. But for Larisa this is impossible: “If I don’t love my husband, I must at least respect him; But how can I respect a person who indifferently endures ridicule and all kinds of insults!” The heroine of the play tries to throw herself into the Volga, but she does not have the strength to carry out this intention. Desperate, she decides to throw down a kind of challenge both to her failed fiancé and to the whole world of self-interest and profit: “if you are a thing, then there is only one consolation - to be expensive, very expensive.” She delivers a harsh verdict on a world where women are viewed as a joke. “No one ever tried to look into my soul, I didn’t see sympathy from anyone, I didn’t hear a warm, heartfelt word... But it’s cold to live like that.”
After the shot, she declares “it’s me,” the heroine not only strives to remove the blame from Karandyshev; Larisa realized that she too was to blame for what happened. Having accepted death as a blessing, she thereby breaks out of the world of businessmen, morally rising above them, and forever separates herself from this world. By this she admits her guilt. But Katerina is even more sinful than Larisa, since she commits suicide. But this is precisely her tragedy: she understands, realizes that she has sinned, repents, and then sins again. Their main difference lies in each heroine’s understanding of her sin.
In essence, the characters of Katerina and Larisa are rather antipodes. Larisa does not have the main thing that Katerina has - integrity of character, the ability to take decisive action.
Female characters in N. Ostrovsky's plays are a collective portrait of Russian women, their destinies in the context of time and position in society. In the article we will analyze what brings Larisa Ogudalova and Katerina Kabanova, heroines from N. Ostrovsky’s plays “Dowry” and “The Thunderstorm” together. Both heroines are unhappy, their fates end tragically, and pure souls remain misunderstood and unclaimed.
Love in the destinies of heroines
Catherine had a random feeling; it illuminated her dark, joyless life, in which there was nothing worthwhile except faith in God. Katerina’s chosen one, like Paratov from “The Dowry,” is not able to become part of the future of the one who devotedly loves him. Both men are not worthy of heroines: Paratov is a liar and a scoundrel, and Boris is inactive when the fate of the woman he loves is being decided.
Unhappy love is what unites two images from different plays by the author. Larisa Ogudalova and Ekaterina Kabanova did not meet on their way a worthy person who could become equal in their moral and spiritual qualities.
Family and environment
Larisa is oppressed by her relatives, who are trying to “sell” her as profitably as possible. The heroine receives neither care nor understanding from her own mother; her views on life and marriage are the reason why Larisa is ashamed of her.
Katerina is completely alone, even her own husband, an empty, soft-bodied man, does not show care or concern for her until a tragedy happens. The homeless woman is also lonely among her surroundings, like the victim of tyranny - Katerina. A comparison of Larisa and Katerina in this aspect leads to the conclusion that the author places special emphasis on the lack of rights of women, on the dependence of a woman’s fate on her social status.
Attitude to life
Larisa Ogudalova is in a sense more free and independent, unlike Katerina. But the limitations caused by society and time put no less pressure on her. The heroines live in different time periods, but the desire for free choice, for finding oneself, for loyalty to one’s inner world is strong in both girls.
Both Catherine and Larisa are united by the hopelessness of the situation: love turned out to be not salvation, but a curse. The future has turned into a dead end, and the sensual nature has come to understand the meaninglessness of further existence. In both cases, death is salvation and, apparently, the only possible worthy way out of the situation within the framework of the heroines’ worldview.
The material from the article will be useful in preparing for the essay “Comparative characteristics of Larisa Ogudalova and Katerina Kabanova.”
Work test
G. - approaching reforms, B. - understanding the reform and destruction of Russian society.
B. is the processing of G. under new conditions. The plays take place on the Volga in fictional cities.. (G. - Kalinov, B. - Bryakhimov 2 plays have a similar ring composition 0 the beginning and end of the plays take place in common place. The author shows what is changing in these cities. In the remarks of Av. shows how not only has it changed external image town, but also its traditions. The Kabanovs' house in G. is not visible against the background of the general scenery - the action takes place on a bench, life flows in the old fashioned way, behind the house there is a ravine. In B. Larisa, seeing a gypsy outside the window, calls him - in the new life people have become more open to the world, social stratification has begun, it is not customary for wealthy people to appear poorly dressed.
The appearance of the city is also changing. In G. only taverns are shown, in B. - coffee shops, restaurants, and the embankment. But there is no presence of God in the souls of people, there are no temples. One action in G. takes place in a dilapidated church - a symbol of the spiritual poverty of the city and people - a symbol of the departing. In B. there is no church or even a hint of it, the main thing is money. In G., the movement of a play is measured from one church holiday to another. Tikhon - Katerina’s husband is leaving for the summer Kazan - big religious holiday, the fairs begin. The climax of the play also takes place on a holiday. Kabanikha demands that Katerina comply with the norms of religious morality - to mourn her husband’s departure. There is nothing like that in B., there is only money and debauchery; the norms of sin do not exist here.
The author shows how people's attitudes towards technical progress are changing. In G. they are afraid of him, in B. they use him to increase profits. The level of education in Bulgaria is also changing - merchants know foreign languages and attend exhibitions in Paris.
The image of Paratov from B. is a man of new times. He is trying to emerge from the environment of the nobility into the environment of entrepreneurs. The psychology of the nobles is changing, they previously did not communicate with merchants, now merchants are considered equal to the nobles.
Katerina (a merchant's daughter) was married to an unloved man, Tikhon, and finds herself in an atmosphere of cruelty. Her soul is yearning for freedom, so she falls in love with Boris. She talks about her desire to fly several times. With this, Ostrovsky emphasizes the romantic sublimity of Katerina’s soul. She would like to become a bird, flying wherever she wants: “ Why don't people fly!.. Why don't people fly like birds? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm a bird. When you stand on a mountain, you feel the urge to fly. That’s how I would run up, raise my arms and fly,” she says to Varvara, Tikhon’s sister, “how playful I was!” And yours has completely wilted...”
The image of Larisa from B. is externally L. She has a choice, many suitors come to her, but in reality she is homeless, in love with the rich Paratov (who dumped her). Nothing is said about her father, but you can tell from her clothes that she is from a circle of impoverished nobles. Larisa communicates with gypsies.
Katerina from G. was brought up with strict standards, but Larisa doesn’t have any standards; if she knows about them, it’s only from books. He compares her to a thing - Knurov and Vozhzhevatov play her at Orlyanka, and then she herself compares herself to a thing: “If it’s going to be a thing, it’s so expensive.”
The ideas about love in the plays are different. In G., love is on a par with pity (understanding of the love of a Russian person, a woman in particular). Katerina’s attention is attracted by a man who is different from others internally - Boris. Katerina feels sorry for both Tikhon and Boris. Larisa becomes a victim of the noble splendor and irresistibility of Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. She sees in him the “ideal of a man,” a man who cannot but be obeyed, whom one cannot but believe. Larisa was brought up on all sorts of novels, she does not know how to feel sorry for Karandyshev, she doesn’t care about him. Although he is trying to do good for her. She humiliates him and insults him. Karandyshev is a pitiful little man, ridiculous, but he also has love for L. He has it. L. This is not necessary.
K. is religious, but not fanatical. Cheating on her husband is difficult for her from a moral point of view. K. is afraid of death, but at the end of the play he is already waiting for it, goes to God, since he is more merciful. Her suicide is ritualistic. In the pagan concept, water is a cleansing force. In the water, unhappy girls find love new life- beliefs about mermaids.
L. In Act 1 there is a thought about suicide. But she cannot kill herself, however, K. perceives the shot as gratitude from fate. She says that she killed herself, no one is to blame. Another connotation of the words “it’s not my fault” is that she was guided by fiction, not reality.
Names of cities. In G. Kalinov is a fictional city, Kalina is a symbol of bitter love. In B. Bryakhimov - a real city in the Russian Middle Ages - nomads lived there.
In G. we see folk songs, folk culture. In Bulgaria - urban romances and gypsy songs.
Education - in G. Dikoy does not know Derzhavin and literature. In B. people are educated.
The role of household details is Katerina’s white scarf and Karandyshev’s pistol - he must shoot.
Female names in Ostrovsky's plays are very bizarre, but the name of the main character almost always extremely accurately characterizes her role in the plot and fate. Larisa means “seagull” in Greek, Katerina means “pure”. Larisa is a victim of Paratov’s trade pirate deals: he sells “birds” - “Swallow” (steamboat) and then Larisa - a seagull. Katerina is a victim of her purity, her religiosity, she could not bear the splitting of her soul, because she loved not her husband, and cruelly punished herself for it. Paratov is both a parade and a pirate. Also, of course, the comparison of Paratov with a “paraty” beast, that is, powerful, predatory, strong and merciless, suggests itself. His predatory behavior in the play is best characterized by this surname. There is no need to comment on the names of Dikoy and Kabanov. Wild, headstrong characters, except for the Wild One, are represented in the play by Varvara (she is a pagan, a “barbarian,” not a Christian and behaves accordingly).
conclusions
“The Thunderstorm” and “Dowry” are Ostrovsky’s best plays, which showed the reader and viewer the hitherto unknown world of the merchant class before and after the reform. The female characters created by the playwright took their rightful place in classical Russian literature.
Katerina and Larisa have different upbringings, different tempers, different ages, but they are united by the desire to love and be loved, to find understanding, in a word, to become happy. And each one goes towards this goal, overcoming the obstacles created by the foundations of society. For Katerina, money still does not matter; she is ready to follow Boris on foot, if only he agrees to take her with him. Larisa is poisoned by the glitter of gold and does not want to vegetate with her pitiful and poor husband. Katerina cannot connect with her loved one and finds a way out in death.
Larisa's situation is more complicated. She became disillusioned with her loved one and stopped believing in the existence of love and happiness. Realizing that she is surrounded by lies and deception, Larisa sees two ways out of this situation: either the search for material values, or death. And given the circumstances, she chooses the first. But the author does not want to see her as an ordinary dependent woman, and she leaves this life.
The characters of the main characters are very similar. These are natures who live by the mind of the heart, dream of happiness and love, and idealize the world. But the play “Dowry” was created in a different socio-political environment than “The Thunderstorm”. The playwright's hopes for the correction of society and the human race raise sincere doubts, which is why the endings of these plays differ significantly. If after the death of Katerina the world of the “dark kingdom” realizes its guilt, and Tikhon challenges his mother, blaming her for the death of his wife, then the murder of Larisa Ogudalova does not cause a similar resonance. The author deliberately emphasizes the indifference of others; the scene of the heroine's death is voiced by the singing of a gypsy choir.
Revealing the meaning of names and surnames in Ostrovsky's plays helps to comprehend both the plot and the main images. Although surnames and names cannot be called “speaking” in this case, since this is a feature of the plays of classicism, they are speaking in the broad - symbolic - sense of the word.
In Ostrovsky's play "Dowry", as in the work "The Thunderstorm", we see a city dominated by immorality and materialism. In "Besprilannitsa" power belongs to those who have money, and rich people like Paratov can afford everything. These rich people have no moral values. They are only interested in personal gain and fun. If on the one hand the city is ruled by rich people who are only interested in having fun, then on the other hand we see a very cunning and greedy Ogudalova. She only cares about her own well-being and stoops to the point of blatantly lying for the sake of extra money. In a city with a corrupt dominant society, in a city where material well-being “godlikes” people, where money, rank and pedigree are placed above moral values, the “dark kingdom” undeniably dominates.
Poor Larisa becomes a victim of this “dark kingdom”. Since she is homeless, they do not want to marry her. Larisa's only fault is that she has no dowry, so she is forced to suffer. This confirms the correctness of our judgments about the materialism of the city's inhabitants. Larisa is a meek, smart girl. She is very sweet and talented. Her “trouble” is that she has no cunning. This is what sets her apart from society. Larisa is not particularly interested in money; she is not ruled by greed. They say about her that she was born to shine, but she has morality, spiritual purity. Larisa has enough pride and self-esteem to not stoop for money like Ogudalova. She is looking only for peace of mind. Larisa is pure and simple-minded. It is difficult for her to survive in such a society.
If you compare Larisa and Katerina, then at first their fates are very similar. They both strive for harmony in their personal lives. Neither Larisa nor Katerina have happiness, no love. They are both opposed to society, the “dark kingdom”. Both are pure and kind-hearted. Also, the heroines are brought together by the motif of the Volga River: for both of them, the river symbolizes death. Both Katerina and Larisa are overtaken by death on the river. But unlike Larisa, Katerina commits suicide. Katerina is sinful. But based on this act, we can conclude that she is braver than Larisa. It seems to me that this is their difference. They both protest against the "dark kingdom". But their main difference is in the expression of this protest.
The world of merchants in Ostrovsky's play "Dowry" is shown very vividly and in detail. The merchants in the story are clean and decent. Knurov, for example, has become involved in culture: he reads French newspapers. Vozhevatov is dressed in a European suit. These merchants pretend to be Europeans and ridicule the uncultured. They spare no expense on dinner, entertainment, and gifts. If we compare them with the merchants from "The Thunderstorm", they are well-mannered and educated, but in moral terms they turn out to be no higher than the ignorant tyrant merchants. This is revealed through their attitude towards Larisa. In "The Dowry" the merchant world has external splendor and education, but in this world there is no place for love, compassion, mercy.
Paratov is one of the main characters of the play. He is the most highly respected person in the city. He leads a royal lifestyle: everyone obeys and admires him. He owes his money to this attention. Paratov is also characterized by a desire to rule and humiliate. We see the manifestation of this quality in his attitude towards Karandyshev. This combination of qualities in Paratov is not accidental. In my opinion, the image of Paratov is a generalizing meaning of power. Power over a person. It also reflects the values of society. If he, a rich and immoral man, rules society, then it is not difficult to guess what this society wants and what it really is like.
