The image of Tikhon in the play "Thunderstorm". Love for the wife, submission to the mother

One of the main characters in the play "Storm" is Kabanov Tikhon Ivanovich. He is the son of Kabaniha and at the same time the husband of Katerina. It is on the example of this character that the destructive and crippling power of the "dark kingdom" is most accurately shown, which turns man into a shadow of himself.

The image of contradictions

We can say that the image of Tikhon in the play "Storm" is full of contradictions. On the one hand, he is so obedient and respectful a son that he completely disappeared into the personality of his mother, and on the other - a man with his thoughts, opinions, desires.

Tikhon seems to like his wife Katerina, but at the same time she can not fully understand her, she can not do anything for her to protect her from bad thoughts, she can not give her emotional support.

This hero is already used to living in the "dark kingdom", but he is very happy when he gets the opportunity to leave his house on business. He rejoices that for a while he can rest from the tyranny of his mother.

What Tikhon husband

Consider from this point of view the image of Tikhon. According to the play "Thunderstorm" you can judge that, then he can not match the role of the husband in a family where the patriarchal mood reigns. Being the master, protector and support in the family is not his part. Tikhon is a weak man, he is gentle and good-natured. All that he is capable of is to rush between maternal demands and compassion for his wife. He used to be subordinate, used to being led.

Tikhon loves his wife, but not the way men like him with strong temper, but calm and apathetic. His love does not bring Catherine emotion. And this leads to the fact that she is addicted to another man. Tikhon does not evoke love for Katerina, he causes pity, which she admits to Varvara herself.

Tikhon's Triumph

But when a man breaks free from maternal care, the reader opens a completely new image of Tikhon. In the play "Storm" the author showed Tikhon soft and good-natured, but at the same time a lover to drink. We see that as soon as Tikhon gets the opportunity to leave the house for a while, he immediately takes this opportunity, and his short-term vacation does not go without alcohol. Only in this way is it capable of hammering the void inside and the heaviness of the soul. Only alcohol helps him to forget all the suffering caused him by his mother. Humiliated after maternal reproaches and instructions, the protagonist can break away on his wife. And only his sister Varvara is able to calm the situation in the house, secretly letting her brother go to visit, where he can drink.

Tikhon's attitude toward his wife's betrayal

Leaving for a while from home, Tikhon bids farewell to his wife and mother. Katerina wants to give her husband a farewell oath of allegiance. To which he reacts negatively. And Tikhon and his mother, uttering a ritual order, tell Katerina that she does not look at other people's guys, but our hero speaks this phrase arbitrarily, not even suspecting that his wife is capable of treason.

But it is the soft character of Tikhon 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, because she is no longer able to keep this secret in herself. Tikhon perceives the news non-aggressively. He objects to his mother when she gives him advice to execute Katerina, burying her alive in the ground. He loves his wife and can not show aggression towards her.

Katerina did not immediately give herself to the new feeling, she still tried in every possible way to be related to her husband, to return her love for him, to find in herself the feelings that had previously united them. At that moment, Tikhon's image in the play "Storm" seems even more spineless. He still had a chance to change everything, but due to his weakness, he could not fully understand his wife, protect her from the tortures of her mother-in-law. He could be simple-minded, but he could not become that stone wall behind which a woman needs to feel safe.

And only when Katerina herself puts her hands on himself, Tikhon, standing over her corpse, stands up against her mother. He publicly accuses her of the death of her wife, thereby inflicting a terrible blow on Kabanykh.

This is the whole characteristic of the hero. Tikhon ("Storm", Ostrovsky AN) - the image with which the author showed male kindness, but at the same time, and male weakness. As we see, this can sometimes lead to disastrous consequences.

Characterization of Tikhon in Ostrovsky's play "The Storm"

Very briefly, it can be said that this protagonist is a weak and not independent person, he is simple-minded and completely unkind, but very weak-willed. But under extreme circumstances, this man is capable of a public riot, albeit a short-term one.

The play ends tragically and ambiguously. In the finals, good does not triumph, but evil does not triumph. The collapse of the family is resolved by an external conflict, but the internal conflict that has arisen as a result of emotional struggle, remains forever in the heart of the protagonist. This emotional situation resembles a consequence of a terrible thunderstorm that brings death and destruction.

The image of Tikhon in the play "Thunderstorm" is able to attract the reader with his kindness, but at the same time push away his inactivity and spinelessness, which is why he can be called contradictory.