Two Katerinas, two lives, two tragedies… These heartbreaking words about two characters from Russian literature: Katerina Kabanova from Alexander Ostrovsky The Tempest and Katerina Ismailova from Lady Macbeth of Mcensk by Nikolai Leskov. These women face the most difficult trials of their lives. They have such a difficult fate due to coincidences, but they determine their own fate with their decisions. The Katerinas represent two completely opposite origins of female characters, however their depictions are eternal and are not tied to the era. Although many literary critics hold the opinion that these two women have almost the same nature, the analysis of their behavior and temperaments will show that two Katerinas are completely different women with a similar fate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Katerina Kabanova, the protagonist of Alexander Ostrovsky's The Tempest, is a young, intelligent, kind and open-minded person. Her parents raised her in love and freedom. She marries Tihon Kabanov not for love, so she is deeply unhappy. Her mother-in-law, the ruthless and evil Kabaniha, constantly hurts the defenseless Katerina. Tihon did not even defend his wife; moreover, he often offends her. One day Katerina falls in love with the young and attractive Boris. She secretly meets him several times while her husband is out of town. Subsequently, she cheats on her husband with him. Katerina cannot lie about this, but Boris does not share her feelings and leaves the city, but does not take her with him, despite all her pleas. The woman decides to tell Tihon the truth about her adultery, but coincidentally all the citizens listen to her confession. Unable to bear the suffering, Katerina throws herself into the Volga River. Another character, Katerina Ismailova from Lady Macbeth of Mcensk by Nikolai Leskov, marries Zinoviy, who is constantly busy with work. The husband is sterile, but he and his father blame Katerina for the lack of children. All this time he lives under their pressure. Katerina soon falls in love with the young and handsome Sergey, who has been trying to attract her attention for a long time. Gradually, his passion turns into desire and obsession and the lovers spend the night together. The woman is ready to do anything for her beloved. To be happy, Katerina poisons her father-in-law, then together with Sergey kills her husband, and then strangles her underage nephew Fedya with a pillow, who could have contested her rights to the inheritance. After all, they are caught, and Sergey confesses everything, although Katerina denies everything for the sake of her beloved. She doesn't know that her beloved has betrayed her. The assassins are sent into exile in Siberia. Sergey immediately loses his interest in Katerina and begins a relationship with the new lover, Sonetka. He even ridicules his former lover's feelings. Katerina, feeling completely devastated, throws herself and Sonetka into the cold waters of the Volga, where they die. Their stories are absolutely different. However, literary critics say that the similarities in the fate of the characters are important. First, since marriage was considered one of the most important aspects of women's lives in the 19th century, and both women came from poor families, the characters are challenged to marry so as not to be a burden to their parents. That is, both Katerina Kabanova and Katerina Ismailova had a joyful childhood and did not think that anything would change after the wedding. On the contrary, things did not go as they hoped, so the women regret their previous lives. Also, Katerina lives in houses.