In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy draws many female characters. Natasha Rostova, one of the author’s favorite heroines, Marya Bolkonskaya, whom Tolstoy treats with the same warmth and sympathy, is contrasted with the beautiful, depraved and pathologically stupid Princess Helen Kuragina, who embodied all the filth of the capital’s society, Princess Drubetskaya - mother hen, young “little princess” Liza Bolkonskaya is a gentle and mournful angel. Less space is given in the novel to Vera Rostova, Sonya, a pupil of the Rostov family, and other women who play cameo role. Tolstoy's attitude towards all women is quite peculiar. Gorky noticed this when he wrote about Tolstoy: “Most of all he spoke about God, about man and woman. In my opinion, he treats a woman with irreconcilable hostility and loves to punish her - if she is not Kitty or Natasha Rostova, a woman is a limited being...” Yes, Tolstoy really loved his heroine Natasha Rostova. Her image is most fully revealed in the novel. Who is Natasha Rostova?
When Marya Bolkonskaya asked Pierre to talk about Natasha, he was at a dead end: “I absolutely don’t know what kind of girl she is. She's charming. Why, I don’t know. That's all that can be said about her." Natasha is not at all interested in intellectual life and public interests. It is impossible to even say whether she is smart, “she does not deign to be smart,” as Pierre put it in the same conversation with Princess Marya. But she surprisingly has a powerful influence on the moral development and mental life of Prince Andrei and Pierre. Doesn't exist for Natasha complex issue about the meaning of existence, which Andrei and Pierre are thinking about and trying to solve. But she solves this question, as if incidentally, by the very fact of her existence.
After meeting Natasha, Andrei's views on life change dramatically.
Natasha is always sweet and beautiful. Being close to another person, she heals and renews him, and no one can understand how she does this. Natasha, without suspecting it, determines social behavior people - such is her role in the life of Prince Andrei and Pierre. With her behavior, Natasha separates people from everything false and contributes to their unification on some common basis. Even Drubetsky is attracted by the power emanating from Natasha. Firmly at first intending to make it clear to Natasha that the relationship that once connected them, even in childhood, could not be resumed, Boris finds a completely different Natasha than he knew before. Now he can no longer help but see her, he visits Helen less often, he leaves in a fog, not knowing how this could end, and is completely confused.
Natasha sincerely loves Andrei Bolkonsky and brings him back to life. The episode with Anatoly Kuragin is nothing more than a mistake. Her pure soul could not see the falsity of this person, because she could not allow unclean thoughts in other people.
In the epilogue we see a happy Natasha. Tolstoy paints her as a loving and beloved wife and caring mother, and he himself admires this new role of hers.
Also Tolstoy’s favorite heroine is Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. The meek and gentle Princess Marya was brought up without a mother; her father, although he madly loved his daughter, made increased demands on her. Nevertheless, she always meekly endured her father’s whims and nagging, never contradicted him and did not consider the punishments unfair. Submissiveness and religiosity, which her father teased, are combined in her with a thirst for simple human happiness. Her submission is that of a daughter who has no moral right to judge her father. But at the same time, he is a strong and courageous nature with developed sense self-esteem. It was this feeling that helped her show the necessary firmness when Anatol Kuragin wooed her. Marya longs for happiness, but she cannot marry someone she doesn’t love.
Marya shows the same fortitude when her patriotic feelings are insulted. She even forbade her to let her French companion in, having learned that she was connected with the enemy command. The richness of her inner world is evidenced by her diary dedicated to her children and her ennobling influence on her husband. Tolstoy lovingly describes “ radiant eyes"that make her beautiful ugly face. Princess Marya is a deep and sincere person; she, like Natasha, is alien to pettiness, envy, falsehood, and hypocrisy. Her spiritual gentleness and inner nobility aroused sincere love in Nikolai Rostov. Marya's gentleness has a beneficial effect on their family life.
In the images of Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya, Tolstoy reflects typical features the best representatives of the noble environment of the 19th century.
If Natasha and Marya are beautiful inner beauty, then Helen Kuragina is very beautiful in appearance, but there is no sublime in her beauty, she excites disgust. Helen is selfish and therefore in all her actions she is guided only by her own whims. Helen is indeed beautiful in appearance, but mentally ugly, she is undeveloped and vulgar. Helen is well aware of her beauty and knows how it affects others. Yes, they admire her, but they admire her only as a beautiful and precious thing. She uses this for personal gain. Let us remember the episode when Helen seduces Pierre. Did she love him? Hardly. She loved his money. After all, when Pierre was just the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, few people from the society of Helen and her ilk were interested in him. Only after receiving the inheritance did he become desirable in all houses. Helen set a trap for him. She, one might say, forced him to say: “I love you.” The outcome was a foregone conclusion. She married Pierre, became rich, and therefore gained power.
Helen is also tested by the War of 1812, which reveals in her a vile and insignificant creature. She dreams of a new marriage with her husband alive, for which she even converts to Catholicism, while the whole people unites against the enemy under the banner of Orthodoxy. Helen's death is natural and inevitable. Tolstoy doesn’t even indicate the exact cause of her death; it doesn’t matter to him anymore. Helen is spiritually dead.
Vera Rostova plays a cameo role in the novel. This is Natasha's older sister, but they are so different from each other that we are even surprised at their relationship. Tolstoy paints her as a cold, unkind woman who values the opinion of the world too much and always acts in accordance with its laws. Vera is unlike the entire Rostov family.
Another woman of the Rostov family is Sonya. Tolstoy condemns and does not love this heroine, makes her lonely at the end of the novel and calls her “empty flower.” But, in my opinion, she is capable of arousing sympathy. Sonya sincerely loves Nikolai, she can be kind and selfless. It is not her fault that she breaks up with Nikolai, it is Nikolai’s parents who are to blame. It is the Rostovs who insist that the wedding of Nikolai and Sonya be postponed. Yes, Sonya does not know how, like Natasha, to admire the beauty of the starry sky, but this does not mean that she does not see this beauty. Let us remember how beautiful this girl was at Christmas time during fortune telling. She was not hypocritical or pretending, she was sincere and open. This is how Nikolai saw her. I don’t entirely agree with the author’s statement that her wings for love are clipped. With her love, Sonya could do a lot, even with a person like Dolokhov. Perhaps, with her devotion and dedication, she would revive and purify this person. After all, he knows how to love his mother.
Liza Bolkonskaya is the little heroine of the novel, the wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Tolstoy showed us very little of her, and her life was just as short. We know that her family life with Andrei did not go well, and her father-in-law considered her the same as all other women who have more shortcomings than advantages. Nevertheless, she is a loving and faithful wife. She sincerely loves Andrei and misses him, but humbly endures her husband’s long absence. Lisa's life is short and inconspicuous, but not empty, after her there was little Nikolenka.
Tolstoy's attitude towards his heroines is also shown in the epilogue. Natasha is happy with Pierre; they have three daughters and a son. Marya and Nikolai are happy too. Tolstoy generally considers the family of Nicholas and Princess Marya ideal, a model of family happiness. No wonder everyone is drawn to them and everyone gathers under the roof of the Lysogorsk estate: the Bezukhovs, and Denisov, and the old countess, and Sonya, who found the meaning of life in serving the house, and the long-orphaned Nikolenka Bolkonsky. Even the peasants of the surrounding villages ask the Rostovs to buy them and thus include them in their world.
Women's images in the novel "War and Peace"
In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy draws, masterfully and convincingly, several types of female characters and destinies. Impetuous and romantic Natasha, who becomes a “fertile female” in the epilogue of the novel; beautiful, depraved and stupid Helen Kuragina, who embodied all the advantages and disadvantages of metropolitan society; Princess Drubetskaya is a mother hen; the young “little princess” Liza Bolkonskaya is a gentle and mournful angel of the story and, finally, Princess Marya, the sister of Prince Andrei. All heroines have their own destiny, their own aspirations, their own world. Their lives are surprisingly intertwined, and in different life situations and problems they behave differently. Many of these well-developed characters had prototypes. Reading a novel, you involuntarily live life with its characters.
In the novel huge amount beautiful images of women early XIX centuries, some of them I would like to consider in more detail.
Marya Bolkonskaya
"right"> "right">The beauty of the soul gives charm "right">even a plain body "right">G. Lessing
It is believed that the prototype of Princess Marya was Tolstoy's mother. The writer did not remember his mother, even her portraits were not preserved, and he created her spiritual appearance in his imagination.
Princess Marya lives constantly on the Bald Mountains estate with her father, an illustrious nobleman of Catherine’s, exiled under Paul and who has not gone anywhere since then. Her father, Nikolai Andreevich, is not a pleasant person: he is often grumpy and rude, scolds the princess as a fool, throws notebooks and, to top it all off, is a pedant. But he loves his daughter in his own way and wishes her well. Old Prince Bolkonsky strives to give his daughter a serious education, giving her lessons himself.
And here is the portrait of the princess: “The mirror reflected an ugly, weak body and thin face" Tolstoy does not tell us the details of Princess Marya's appearance. Interesting point- Princess Marya “always looked prettier when she cried.” We know about her that she seemed “bad” to society dandies. She also seemed ugly to herself when she looked at herself in the mirror. Anatoly Kuragin, who immediately noted the merits of Natasha Rostova’s eyes, shoulders and hair, was not attracted to Princess Marya in any way. She does not go to balls because she lives alone in the village, she is burdened by the company of her empty and stupid French companion, she is mortally afraid of her strict father, but she is not offended by anyone.
Oddly enough, the main ideas about war and peace are expressed in Tolstoy’s book by a woman - Princess Marya. She writes in a letter to Julie that war is a sign that people have forgotten God. This is at the beginning of the work, even before 1812 and all its horrors. In fact, her brother, Andrei Bolkonsky, a professional military man who laughed at his sister and called her a “crybaby,” will come to the same thought after many brutal battles, after he saw death face to face, after captivity, after severe wounds. "
Princess Marya predicts to Prince Andrei that he will understand that there is “happiness in forgiving.” And he, having seen the East and the West, experienced happiness and sorrow, drew up laws for Russia and the disposition of battles, philosophized with Kutuzov, Speransky and other best minds, read a lot of books and was familiar with all the great ideas of the century - he will understand that she was right his younger sister, who spent her life in the outback, did not communicate with anyone, was in awe of her father and learned complex scales and cried over geometry problems. He really forgives his mortal enemy - Anatole. Did the princess convert her brother to her faith? It's hard to say. He is immeasurably superior to her in his insight and ability to understand people and events. Prince Andrei predicts the fate of Napoleon, Speransky, the outcome of the battles and peace treaties, which more than once caused the amazement of critics who reproached Tolstoy for anachronism, for deviations from loyalty to the era, for “modernizing” Bolkonsky, etc. But this is a separate topic. But the fate of Prince Andrei himself was predicted by his sister. She knew that he did not die at Austerlitz, and she prayed for him as if he were alive (which probably saved him). She also realized that every minute counted when, without having any information about her brother, she set out on a difficult journey from Voronezh to Yaroslavl through the forests, in which detachments of the French had already met. She knew that he was going to his death, and predicted to him that he would forgive his worst enemy. And the author, mind you, is always on her side. Even in the scene of Bogucharov’s rebellion, she is right, the timid princess who has never managed the estate, and not the men who assume
that they would be better off under Napoleon's rule.
We can say that the princess herself almost made a mistake fatally in Anatol. But this mistake is of a different kind than Natasha’s mistake. Natasha is driven by vanity, sensuality - whatever. Princess Marya is driven by Duty and Faith. So she can't be wrong. She accepts fate as a test that God sends her. No matter what happens, she will bear her cross, and not cry and not try to poison herself, like Natasha Rostova. Natasha wants to be happy. Princess Marya wants to be submissive to God. She does not think about herself and never cries from “pain or resentment,” but only from “sadness or pity.” After all, you cannot hurt an angel, you cannot deceive or offend him. You can only accept his prediction, the message he brings, and pray to him for salvation.
Marya Bolkonskaya is certainly smart, but she does not flaunt her “learning”, so it is interesting and easy to communicate with her. Unfortunately, not everyone can understand and appreciate this. Anatol Kuragin, as a typical representative of secular society, cannot, and, most likely, simply does not want to discern this truly rare beauty of a soul. He sees only the plain appearance, not noticing everything else.
Despite different characters, views, aspirations and dreams, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are strong friends at the end of the novel. Although both of them had an unpleasant first impression of each other. Natasha sees Prince Bolkonsky's sister as an obstacle to her marriage, subtly feeling the negative attitude of the Bolkonsky family towards her person. Marya, for her part, sees a typical representative of secular society, young, beautiful, having enormous success with men. It seems to me that Marya is even a little jealous of Natasha.
But the girls are brought together by a terrible grief - the death of Andrei Bolkonsky. He meant a lot to his sister and ex-fiancee, and the feelings that the girls experienced during the prince’s death throes were understandable and similar for both.
The family of Marya Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov is a happy union. Marya creates an atmosphere of spirituality in the family and has an ennobling effect on Nikolai, who feels the sublimity and high morality of the world in which his wife lives. In my opinion, it could not be otherwise. This quiet and meek girl, a real angel, definitely deserves all the happiness that Tolstoy awarded her at the end of the novel.
Natasha Rostova
Natasha Rostova is the central female character in the novel “War and Peace” and, perhaps, the author’s favorite. This image arose in the writer when the initial idea for a story about the Decembrist who returned to Russia and his wife, who endured with him all the hardships of exile, arose. The prototype of Natasha is considered to be the writer's sister-in-law Tatyana Andreevna Bers, married to Kuzminskaya, who had musicality and a beautiful voice. The second prototype is the wife of the writer, who admitted that “he took Tanya, mixed it with Sonya, and it turned out to be Natasha.”
According to this characterization of the heroine, she “does not deign to be smart.” This remark reveals the main distinguishing feature the image of Natasha - her emotionality and intuitive sensitivity; It is not for nothing that she is unusually musical, has a voice of rare beauty, is responsive and spontaneous. At the same time, her character has inner strength and an unbending moral core, which makes her similar to the best and most popular heroines of Russian classical literature.
Tolstoy presents us with the evolution of his heroine over the fifteen-year period of her life, from 1805 to 1820, and over more than one and a half thousand pages of the novel. It’s all here: the sum of ideas about a woman’s place in society and the family, and thoughts about the female ideal, and the disinterested romantic love of the creator for his creation.
We first meet her when the girl runs into the room, happiness and joy on her face. This creature cannot understand how others can be sad if she is happy. She doesn't try to restrain herself. All her actions are dictated by feelings and desires. Of course, she's a little spoiled. It already contains something characteristic of that time and for secular young ladies. It is no coincidence that Natasha thinks that she already loves Boris Drubetsky, that she will wait until she turns sixteen and she can marry him. This imaginary love is just fun for Natasha.
But little Rostova is not like other children, not like her in her sincerity and lack of falsehood. These qualities, characteristic of all Rostovs, with the exception of Vera, are especially clearly manifested when compared with Boris Drubetsky and Julie Karagina. Natasha knows French, but she does not pretend to be a Frenchwoman, like many girls of noble families of that time. She is Russian, she has purely Russian features, she even knows how to dance Russian dances.
Natalya Ilyinichna is the daughter of the well-known hospitable people in Moscow, the good-natured people, the ruined rich, the Counts of Rostov, family traits which receive the definition of “Rostov breed” from Denisov. Natasha appears in the novel as perhaps the most prominent representative of this breed, thanks not only to her emotionality, but also to many other qualities that are important for understanding the philosophy of the novel. Rostova, as it were, unconsciously embodies that true understanding life, involvement in the national spiritual principle, the achievement of which is given to the main characters - Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky - only as a result of the most complex moral quests.
Natasha appears on the pages of the novel at thirteen years old. Half child, half girl. Everything about her is important to Tolstoy: the fact that she is ugly, and the way she laughs, what she says, and the fact that she has black eyes and her hair hangs back in black curls. This is the ugly duckling ready to turn into a swan. As the plot develops, Rostova turns into a girl attractive with her liveliness and charm, sensitively reacting to everything that happens. Most often, it is Natasha who gives the most accurate characteristics of other characters in the novel. She is capable of self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, high spiritual impulses (burns her hand with a hot ruler to prove her love and friendship to Sonya; actually decides the fate of the wounded, giving carts to take them out of burning Moscow; saves her mother from insanity after Petya’s death; selflessly cares for the dying Prince Andrei).The atmosphere of happiness, universal love, play and gaiety in the Moscow house of the Rostovs is replaced by the idyllic landscapes of the estate in Otradnoye. Landscapes and Christmas games, fortune telling. She even looks, and, I think, not by chance, similar to Tatyana Larina. The same openness to love and happiness, the same biological, unconscious connection with Russian national traditions and principles. And how Natasha dances after the hunt! “Clean business, march,” the uncle is surprised. It seems that the author is no less surprised: “Where, how, when did this countess, raised by a French emigrant, suck into herself from that Russian air that she breathed, this spirit... But the spirit and techniques were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her."
At the same time, Natasha can be very selfish, which is dictated not by reason, but rather by an instinctive desire for happiness and fullness of life. Having become the bride of Andrei Bolkonsky, she cannot stand the year-long test and becomes interested in Anatoly Kuragin, ready in her passion for the most reckless actions. After a chance meeting in Mytishchi with the wounded Prince Andrei, realizing her guilt and having the opportunity to atone for it, Rostova is again revived to life; and after Bolkonsky’s death (already in the epilogue of the novel) she becomes the wife of Pierre Bezukhov, who is close to her in spirit and truly loved by her. In the epilogue N.R. Tolstoy is presented as a wife and mother, completely immersed in her family concerns and responsibilities, sharing her husband’s interests and understanding him.
During the War of 1812, Natasha behaves confidently and courageously. At the same time, she does not evaluate and does not think about what she is doing. She obeys a certain “swarm” instinct of life. After the death of Petya Rostov, she is the head of the family. Natasha has been caring for the seriously wounded Bolkonsky for a long time. This is very difficult and dirty work. What Pierre Bezukhov saw in her immediately, when she was still a girl, a child - a tall, pure, beautiful soul, Tolstoy reveals to us gradually, step by step. Natasha is with Prince Andrei until the very end. The author's ideas about the human foundations of morality are concentrated around it. Tolstoy endows her with extraordinary ethical power. Losing loved ones, property, experiencing equally all the hardships that befell the country and the people, she does not experience a spiritual breakdown. When Prince Andrei awakens “from life,” Natasha awakens to life. Tolstoy writes about the feeling of “reverent tenderness” that gripped her soul. It, remaining forever, became a semantic component of Natasha’s further existence. In the epilogue, the author depicts what, in his opinion, is true female happiness. "Natasha got married early spring 1813, and in 1820 she already had three daughters and one son, whom she wanted and now fed herself." Nothing in this strong, broad mother resembles the former Natasha. Tolstoy calls her "a strong, beautiful and fertile female" All of Natasha’s thoughts are around her husband and family. And she thinks in a special way, not with her mind, “but with her whole being, that is, with her flesh.” ", because it is much higher and more complex than the concepts of intelligence and stupidity. It is like a part of nature, part of that natural incomprehensible process in which all people, earth, air, countries and peoples are involved. It is not surprising that such a state of life does not seem primitive or neither the heroes nor the author. Family is mutual and voluntary slavery. “In her house, Natasha put herself on the foot of her husband’s slave.” She only loves and is loved.
"War and Peace" - the only novel Tolstoy, with a classic happy ending. The state in which he leaves Nikolai Rostov, Princess Marya, Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha is the best that he could come up with and give them. It has its basis in Tolstoy’s moral philosophy, in his unique, but very serious ideas about the role and place of women in the world and society.
Socialite ladies
(Helen Bezukhova, Princess Drubetskaya, A.P. Sherer)
Each person has his own strengths and weaknesses, some of which we sometimes don’t even notice, we simply don’t pay attention to them. Rarely is the balance of good and bad balanced; most often from each other we hear about someone: good, evil; beautiful, ugly; bad, good; smart, stupid. What makes us pronounce certain adjectives that characterize a person? Of course, the predominance of some qualities over others: evil over good, beauty over ugliness. At the same time, we consider both the inner world of the individual and the external appearance. And it happens that beauty is able to hide evil, and goodness manages to make ugliness invisible. When we see a person for the first time, we don’t think about his soul at all, we only notice visual appeal, but often the state of mind is opposite to the external appearance: under the snow-white shell there is a rotten egg. L. N. Tolstoy convincingly showed us this deception using the example of ladies high society in his novel
Helen Kuragina is the soul of society, she is admired, praised, people fall in love with her, but only... and because of her attractive outer shell. She knows what she is like and that's what she takes advantage of. And why not?.. Helen always pays great attention your appearance. The writer emphasizes that the heroine wants to remain beautiful in appearance for as long as possible in order to hide the ugliness of her soul. No matter how mean and base it was, Helen forced Pierre to utter words of love. She decided for him that he loved her as soon as Bezukhov turned out to be rich. Having set a goal for herself, Kuragina coldly achieves it through deception, which makes us feel the cold and danger in the ocean of her soul, despite the superficial charm and sparkle. Even when, after her husband’s duel with Dolokhov and the break with Pierre, Helen understands what she has done (although this was part of her plans) in the name of achieving her goal, she still accepts it as inevitable, at least she is convinced that she did the right thing and In no case is she guilty of anything: these, they say, are the laws of life. Moreover, the money did not leave her - only her husband left. Helen knows the value of her beauty, but does not know how monstrous she is in nature, because the worst thing is when a person does not know that he is sick and does not take medicine.
“Elena Vasilievna, who has never loved anything except her body, and one of the stupidest women in the world,” thought Pierre, “seems to people to be the height of intelligence and sophistication, and they bow before her.” One cannot but agree with Bezukhov. A dispute may arise just because of her intelligence, but if you carefully study her entire strategy for achieving a goal, then you won’t even notice much intelligence, rather, insight, calculation, and everyday experience. When Helen sought wealth, she got it through a successful marriage. This is the simplest, most common way for a woman to get rich, which does not require intelligence. Well, when she desired freedom, then again the most easy way- to cause jealousy in her husband, who in the end is ready to give everything so that she disappears forever, while Helen does not lose money, and also does not lose her position in society. Cynicism and calculation are the main qualities of the heroine, allowing her to achieve her goals.
People fell in love with Helen, but no one loved her. She is like a beautiful statue made of white marble, which they look at and admire, but no one considers her alive, no one is ready to love her, because what she is made of is stone, cold and hard, there is no soul there, but this means there is no response and warmth.
Among the characters Tolstoy disliked, one can single out Anna Pavlovna Sherer. On the very first pages of the novel, the reader gets acquainted with Anna Pavlovna’s salon and with herself. Her most characteristic feature is the constancy of deeds, words, internal and external gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, the constant consciousness of her dear shortcomings, from which she wants, cannot and does not find it necessary to correct herself.” Behind this characteristic is the author's irony.
Anna Pavlovna is a maid of honor and close associate of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the hostess of a fashionable high-society “political” salon in St. Petersburg, with a description of the evening in which Tolstoy begins his novel. Anna Pavlovna is 40 years old, she has “obsolete facial features,” expressing a combination of sadness, devotion and respect every time the empress is mentioned. The heroine is dexterous, tactful, influential at court, and prone to intrigue. Her attitude towards any person or event is always dictated by the latest political, court or secular considerations; she is close to the Kuragin family and is friendly with Prince Vasily. Scherer is constantly “full of animation and impulse”, “being an enthusiast has become her social position”, and in her salon, in addition to discussing the latest court and political news, she always “treats” guests to some new product or celebrity, and in 1812 her the circle demonstrates salon patriotism in the St. Petersburg world.
It is known that for Tolstoy, a woman is, first of all, a mother, the keeper of the family hearth. The high society lady, the owner of the salon, Anna Pavlovna, has no children and no husband. She is a "barren flower". This is the most terrible punishment that Tolstoy could come up with for her.
Another lady of high society is Princess Drubetskaya. We first see her in the A.P. salon. Scherer, asking for her son, Boris. We then watch her ask Countess Rostova for money. The scene in which Drubetskaya and Prince Vasily snatch Bezukhov’s briefcase from each other complements the image of the princess. This is an absolutely unprincipled woman, the main thing for her in life is money and position in society. For their sake, she is ready to go to any humiliation.
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” begins with a description of high society gathered in the salon of the maid of honor Anna Pavlovna Scherer. This is “the highest nobility of St. Petersburg, people very different in age and character, but the same in the society in which they all lived...”. Everything here is fake and for show: smiles, phrases, feelings. These people talk about their homeland, patriotism, politics, but are essentially not interested in these concepts. They only care about personal well-being, career, peace of mind. Tolstoy tears away the veils of external splendor and refined manners from these people, and their spiritual squalor and moral baseness appear before the reader. There is neither simplicity, nor goodness, nor truth in their behavior, in their relationships. Everything is unnatural, hypocritical in the salon of A.P. Scherer. Everything alive, be it a thought or a feeling, a sincere impulse or a topical wit, extinguishes in a soulless environment. That is why the naturalness and openness in Pierre’s behavior frightened Scherer so much. Here they are accustomed to “decently pulled masks”, to a masquerade. Tolstoy especially hated lies and falsehood in relationships between people. With what irony he talks about Prince Vasily, when he simply robs Pierre, appropriating income from his estates! And all this under the guise of kindness and care for the young man, whom he cannot leave to the mercy of fate. Helen Kuragina, who became Countess Bezukhova, is also deceitful and depraved. Even the beauty and youth of representatives of high society take on a repulsive character, because this beauty is not warmed by the soul. Julie Kuragina, who finally became Drubetskaya, and people like her lie, playing at patriotism.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that the stories are written in the first person, from “I”, and this is not accidental: firstly, this gives the works a realistic understanding of them, and secondly, Poe introduced parts of his biography into the works. All three stories...
Female images in the poetry and prose of Edgar Allan Poe
creative female image During the “happy” period, a fantastic world in which Poe’s consciousness found refuge in the years early childhood, did not break up. On the contrary, it has expanded, become more complex and richer. It included another deity - Jane Stanard...
Female images in the novels by G. Flaubert "Madame Bovary" and L.N. Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
The plot of Flaubert's novel is based on a banal collision: a wife, an unloved husband whom she deceives first with one lover, then with a second, an insidious moneylender who traps a victim in his net in order to profit from someone else's misfortune...
Female images in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment"
There has always been a special attitude towards women in Russian literature, and until a certain time the main place in it was occupied by a man - a hero, with whom the problems posed by the authors were associated. N...
Female images in Sholokhov's novel " Quiet Don"
The Russian cultural tradition has its own specifics in understanding the relationship between masculine and feminine. Firstly, in Russian theology of gender, the differentiation of male and female principles is considered as a spiritual principle. Secondly, different...
Ideal female images in medieval Rus' XI-XV centuries
The figurative system in the story by I.S. Turgenev "Spring Waters"
There are two main female characters in the story, these are two women who took a direct part in the fate of Sanin: his bride Gemma and the “fatal” beauty Marya Nikolaevna Polozova. We first learn about Gemma in one of the first scenes of the story...
Patriotism in Russian literature of the 19th century
The novel "War and Peace" in terms of genre is an epic novel, since Tolstoy shows us historical events, which cover a large period of time (the action of the novel begins in 1805 and ends in 1821, in the epilogue)...
The problem of man and society in Russian XIX literature century
Let us also remember that in 1869, from the pen of L.N. Tolstoy published one of the brilliant works of world literature - the epic novel War and Peace. In this work main character- not Pechorin, not Onegin, not Chatsky...
The Theme of Crime and Punishment in Dickens' Dombey and Son
The main character of the novel, Florence, is light, almost biblical image symbolizing spiritual purity, love that can melt even the icy heart of her father. Communication with her changes the proud, unapproachable Edith, reviving warmth and affection in her soul...
Chekhov A.P.
Two beautiful sisters live in a rich noble estate. The youngest, Zhenya (her family calls her Misyus), is a poetic person. She is spontaneous, receptive and impressionable. Reading books is her main activity. She hasn't figured out life yet...
What do we know about Leo Tolstoy's language? The fact that there are a lot of liberties in it (the language) (both in word usage and in grammar), for example: ““He’s his!” “This crowd of pronouns could be recognized,” testified K. Fedin...
Language features novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
In linguistic works devoted to the description and study of the lexical-semantic field of color terms, researchers, to one degree or another, also consider the vocabulary of light...
Plan: Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
Secondary school s/p “Pivan Village”
Abstract
Female images of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".
Completed by: Olya Rubashova
Checked:_______________
2008
1. Introduction
2. Natasha Rostova
3. Maria Bolkonskaya.
4. Conclusion
Introduction
Impossible to imagine world literature without the image of a woman. Even without being the main character of the work, she brings some special character to the narrative. Since the beginning of the world, men have admired, idolized and worshiped the fair half of humanity. A woman is always surrounded by an aura of mystery and mystery. The woman’s actions lead to confusion and bewilderment. To delve into the psychology of a woman, to understand her, is the same as resolving one of the most ancient mysteries Universe.
Russian writers always give women a special place in their works. Everyone, of course, sees her in his own way, but for everyone she will forever remain support and hope, an object of admiration. Turgenev sang the image of a persistent, honest woman, capable of making any sacrifice for the sake of love. Chernyshevsky, being a democratic revolutionary, advocated the equality of men and women, valued intelligence in a woman, saw and respected a person in her. Tolstoy's ideal is natural life - this is life in all its manifestations, with all the natural feelings inherent to man - love, hatred, friendship. And of course, such an ideal for Tolstoy is Natasha Rostova. She is natural, and this naturalness is contained in her from birth.
Many writers transferred the character traits of their beloved women to the images of the heroines of their works. I think this is why the image of a woman in Russian literature is so striking in its brightness, originality, and strength of emotional experiences.
Beloved women have always served as a source of inspiration for men. Everyone has their own ideal of women, but at all times, representatives of the stronger sex have admired women’s devotion, ability to sacrifice, and patience. A true woman will forever remain inextricably linked with her family, children, and home. And men will never cease to be surprised by women’s whims, to seek explanations for women’s actions, to fight for woman's love!
Natasha Rostova
Tolstoy showed his ideal in the image of Natasha Rostova. For him, she was the true woman.
Throughout the novel we follow how the little playful girl becomes a real woman, mother, loving wife, homemaker.
From the very beginning, Tolstoy emphasizes that there is not an ounce of falsehood in Natasha; she senses unnaturalness and lies more acutely than anyone else. With her appearance at the name day in a living room full of official ladies, she disrupts this atmosphere of pretense. All her actions are subordinated to feelings, not reason. She even sees people in her own way: Boris is black, narrow, like a mantel clock, and Pierre is quadrangular, red-brown. For her, these characteristics are enough to understand who is who.
Natasha is called "living life" in the novel. With her energy, she inspires life in those around her. With support and understanding, the heroine practically saves her mother after the death of Petrusha. Prince Andrei, who managed to say goodbye to all the joys of life, seeing Natasha, felt that all was not lost for him. And after the engagement, the whole world for Andrei seemed to be divided into two parts: one is where Natasha is, where everything is light, the other is everything else, where there is only darkness.
Natasha can be forgiven for her passion for Kuragin. This was the only time her intuition failed her! All her actions are subject to momentary impulses, which cannot always be explained. She did not understand Andrei’s desire to postpone the wedding for a year. Natasha tried to live every second, and a year for her was equal to eternity. Tolstoy gives his heroine all best qualities, moreover, she rarely evaluates her actions, most often relying on her internal moral sense.
Like all his favorite heroes, the author sees Natasha Rostova as part of the people. He emphasizes this in the scene at his uncle’s, when “the countess, raised by a French emigrant,” danced no worse than Agafya. This is a feeling of unity with the people, as well as true patriotism they are pushing Natasha to give away all the carts for the wounded when leaving Moscow, and to leave almost all her things in the city.
Even the highly spiritual Princess Marya, who at first did not love the “pagan” Natasha, understood her and accepted her for who she is. Natasha Rostova was not very smart, and that was not important to Tolstoy. “Now, when he (Pierre) told all this to Natasha, he experienced that rare pleasure that women give when listening to a man - not smart women who, while listening, try to remember what they are told, in order to enrich their mind and, on occasion, retell the same... and the pleasure that real women give, gifted with the ability to select and suck into themselves all the best that is in the manifestations of a man ."
Natasha realized herself as a wife and mother. Tolstoy emphasizes that she herself raised all her children (an impossible thing for a noblewoman), but for the author this is absolutely natural. Her family happiness came and was felt by her after experiencing several small and large love dramas. I don’t want to say that the author needed all of Natasha’s hobbies only so that after them the heroine could experience all the delights of family life. They also have another artistic function - they serve the purpose of outlining the character of the heroine, showing her inner world, age-related changes, etc. Tolstoy distinguishes between her early hobbies and her later, more serious ones. The transition from childhood falling in love to true love The heroine herself notices. She talks about this when she fell in love with Andrei Bolkonsky: “I was in love with Boris, with the teacher, with Denisov, but this is not the same at all. I feel calm and firm. I know that there are no better people than him, and I feel so calm, good now, not at all like before.” And before, it turns out, she didn’t give of great importance her affections, without reproach she admitted to herself her own frivolity. Let us remember how she contrasted herself with Sonya: “She loves someone forever, but I don’t understand this, I’ll forget now.” According to fifteen-year-old Natasha, she never wanted to get married at that time and was going to tell Boris about it when she first met him, although she considered him her fiancé. However, the change of attachments does not indicate Natasha’s inconstancy and infidelity. Everything is explained by her exceptional cheerfulness, which gives the young heroine a sweet charm. Beloved by everyone, a “sorceress” - as Vasily Denisov put it, Natasha charmed people not only with her external beauty, but with her spiritual makeup. Her face was not particularly attractive; even the flaws in it were distinguished by the author, which became more noticeable when she cried. “And Natasha, opening her big mouth and becoming completely different, began to roar like a child.” But she always remained beautiful when her girlish appearance was illuminated inner light. Tolstoy by everyone poetic means tries to convey her feeling of the joy of being. She experiences the happiness of living, peering inquisitively into the world, which surprises and pleases her more and more. Maybe this comes from the fact that she feels within herself all the potential to be loved and happy. The girl felt early that there was a lot of interesting and promising things in the world for her. After all, Tolstoy says that moments of experiencing feelings of joy were for her “a state of self-love.”
She surprised Andrei Bolkonsky with her cheerfulness: “What is she thinking about? Why is she so happy? Natasha herself valued her joyful mood. She had a special regard for an old dress that made her cheerful in the morning. Natasha's thirst for new impressions, playfulness, and a sense of delight were especially evident when she met her brother Nikolai and Vasily Denisov, who came to the Rostovs on leave. She “jumped like a goat all in one place and squealed shrilly.” She was all about it highest degree interesting and funny.
One of the sources of joy for her was the first feelings of love. She loved everything that seemed good to her. Natasha the girl’s attitude towards her loved one can be judged by how Yogel shows her well-being. “She was not in love with anyone in particular, but she was in love with everyone. The one she looked at, the minute she looked, she was in love with.” As we see, love theme does not acquire independent meaning in the novel, serving only to reveal the spiritual appearance of the heroine. Another thing is love for Andrei, Anatoly Kuragin, Pierre: it is somehow connected with the problems of family and marriage. I have already talked about this to some extent and will continue to talk about it ahead. Here it should only be noted that in the scandalous story with Anatoly Kuragin, which cost Natasha difficult experiences, the view of a woman only as an instrument of pleasure is condemned.
Maria Bolkonskaya
Another female image that attracted my attention in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace", is Princess Marya. This heroine is so beautiful inside that her appearance doesn't matter. Her eyes emit such light that her face loses its ugliness.
Marya sincerely believes in God, she believes that only He has the right to forgive and have mercy. She scolds herself for unkind thoughts, for disobedience to her father, and tries to see only the good in others. She is proud and grateful, like her brother, but her pride does not offend her, because kindness, an integral part of her nature, softens this sometimes unpleasant feeling for others.
In my opinion, the image of Marya Bolkonskaya is the image of a guardian angel. She protects everyone for whom she feels even the slightest responsibility. Tolstoy believes that a person like Princess Marya deserves much more than an alliance with Anatoly Kuragin, who never understood what treasure he had lost; however, he had completely different moral values.
She lives by the naive worldview of church legend, which evokes the critical attitude of Prince Andrei and does not coincide with the views of Pierre Bezukhy and Tolstoy himself. At the time of the best state of his health and spirit, that is, before the crisis of his near-death experiences, Prince Andrei did not take Mary’s religious teachings seriously. It is only out of condescension towards his sister that he considers her religiosity. Taking the cross from her on the day of his departure for the army, Andrei jokingly remarks: “If he doesn’t break his neck by two pounds, then I’ll give you pleasure.” In his heavy thoughts on the Borodino field, Andrei doubts the dogmas of the church professed by Princess Marya, feeling their unconvincingness. “My father also built in Bald Mountains and thought that this was his place, his land, his air, his men, but Napoleon came and, not knowing about his existence, like a puppy from the road, pushed him and his Bald Mountains fell apart, and all his life. And Princess Marya says that this is a test sent from above. What is the purpose of a test when there is none and there will never be one? Never again! He's gone! So who is this testing for? As for Tolstoy’s own attitude towards the heroine, the very mood of the image of Marya should be taken into account, putting her mysticism in connection with the difficult circumstances of her personal life, which in turn gives a special psychological depth to the typification of this character. The novel hints to us at the reasons for Marya's religiosity. The heroine could become like this due to the severe mental torment that befell her and instilled in her the idea of suffering and self-sacrifice. Marya was ugly, she worried about it and suffered. Because of her appearance, she had to endure humiliation, the most terrible and insulting of which was the one she experienced during Anatoly Kuragin's matchmaking with her, when the groom arranged a date with her companion Burien at night.
Essay on literature. Female images in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”
L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” shows the life of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century during the War of 1812. This is a time of active social activity of a wide variety of people. Tolstoy is trying to comprehend the role of women in the life of society, in the family. To this end, he writes in his novel large number female images, which can be divided into two large groups: the first includes women - bearers of folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya and others, and the second group includes women of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Julie Kuragina and others.
One of the most striking female images in the novel is the image of Natasha Rostova. Being a master of depicting human souls and characters, Tolstoy embodied the most best features human personality. He did not want to portray her as smart, calculating, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made the other heroine of the novel, Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good social manners. Many episodes of the novel talk about how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, and find the right solutions. For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum money into cards for Dolokhov, returns home irritated, not feeling the joy of life, he hears Natasha’s singing and suddenly realizes that “all this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all nonsense, but here she is real ....”
But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire herself, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “stood up and smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly.” - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and everyone present, the fear that she would do the wrong thing, passed, and they were already admiring her.”
Just like she is close to the people, Natasha is also close to understanding the amazing beauty of nature. When describing the night in Otradnoye, the author compares the feelings of two sisters, closest friends, Sonya and Natasha. Natasha, whose soul is full of bright poetic feelings, asks Sonya to go to the window, peer into the extraordinary beauty of the starry sky, and inhale the smells that fill the quiet night. She exclaims: “After all, such a lovely night has never happened!” But Sonya cannot understand Natasha’s enthusiastic excitement. She does not have the inner fire that Tolstoy sang in Natasha. Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad act and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could learn life experience and get an incentive for further development.
Natasha makes mistakes and draws from them the necessary life experience. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they suddenly understood each other, felt something uniting them.
But nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. An explanation for this can be that Natasha is the most ordinary person, with their weaknesses. Her heart is characterized by simplicity, openness, and gullibility; she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to reason. But true love woke up in Natasha much later. She realized that the one she admired, who was dear to her, lived in her heart all this time. It was a joyful and new feeling that absorbed Natasha entirely, bringing her back to life. Pierre Bezukhov played an important role in this. His “childish soul” was close to Natasha, and he was the only one who brought joy and light into the Rostov house when she felt bad, when she was tormented by remorse, suffered, and hated herself for everything that happened. She did not see reproach or indignation in Pierre's eyes. He idolized her, and she was grateful to him for being in the world. Despite the mistakes of her youth, despite the death of her loved one, Natasha’s life was amazing. She was able to experience love and hate, create a magnificent family, finding in it the much-desired peace of mind.
In some ways she is similar to Natasha, but in some ways she is opposed to Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. Main principle, to which her whole life is subordinated, is self-sacrifice. This self-sacrifice, submission to fate is combined in her with a thirst for simple human happiness. Submission to all the whims of her domineering father, a ban on discussing his actions and their motives - this is how Princess Marya understands her duty to her daughter. But she can show strength of character if necessary, which is revealed when her sense of patriotism is offended. She not only leaves the family estate, despite Mademoiselle Burien's proposal, but also forbids her to let her companion in when she learns about her connections with the enemy command. But to save another person, she can sacrifice her pride; this is evident when she asks for forgiveness from Mademoiselle Bourrienne, forgiveness for herself and for the servant on whom her father’s wrath fell. And yet, by elevating her sacrifice to a principle, turning away from “living life,” Princess Marya suppresses something important in herself. And yet, it was sacrificial love that led her to family happiness: when she met Nikolai in Voronezh, “for the first time, all this pure, spiritual, inner work with which she had lived until now came out.” Princess Marya fully revealed herself as a person when circumstances prompted her to become independent in life, which happened after the death of her father, and most importantly, when she became a wife and mother. Her diaries dedicated to children and her ennobling influence on her husband speak about the harmony and richness of Marya Rostova’s inner world.
These two women, who are similar in many ways, are contrasted with ladies of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, and Julie Kuragina. These women are similar to each other in many ways. At the beginning of the novel, the author says that Helen, “when the story made an impression, looked back at Anna Pavlovna and immediately took on the same expression that was on the maid of honor’s face.” The most characteristic sign of Anna Pavlovna is the static nature of words, gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, the constant awareness of her sweet shortcoming, from which she wants, cannot, does not find it necessary to get rid of it.” Behind this characteristic lies the author's irony and hostility towards the character.
Julie is a fellow socialite, “the richest bride in Russia,” who received a fortune after the death of her brothers. Like Helen, who wears a mask of decency, Julie wears a mask of melancholy: “Julie seemed disappointed in everything, told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, love, or any joys of life and expected peace only “there.” Even Boris, preoccupied with searching for a rich bride, feels the artificiality and unnaturalness of her behavior.
So, women close to natural life and folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, find family happiness after going through a certain path of spiritual and moral quest. And women, far from moral ideals, cannot experience true happiness because of their selfishness and adherence to the empty ideals of secular society.
L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” is a grandiose work not only in the monumentality of the historical events described in it, deeply researched by the author and artistically processed into a single logical whole, but also in the variety of created images, both historical and fictional. In depicting historical characters, Tolstoy was more of a historian than a writer; he said: “Where historical figures speak and act, he did not invent and used materials.” Fictional images are described artistically and at the same time are conductors of the author’s thoughts. Female characters convey Tolstoy's ideas about the complexity of human nature, about the peculiarities of relationships between people, about family, marriage, motherhood, happiness.
From the point of view of the system of images, the heroes of the novel can be conditionally divided into “living” and “dead”, that is, developing, changing over time, deeply feeling and experiencing and - in contrast to them - frozen, not evolving, but static. There are women in both “camps”, and there are so many female images that it seems almost impossible to mention them all in the essay; perhaps it would be wiser to dwell in more detail on the main characters and characteristic secondary characters who play a significant role in the development of the plot.
The “living” heroines in the work are, first of all, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. Despite the difference in upbringing, family traditions, atmosphere at home, character, in the end they become close friends. Natasha, who grew up in a warm, loving, open, sincere family atmosphere, having absorbed the carelessness, dashing, and enthusiasm of the “Rostov breed,” has been winning hearts since her youth with her all-encompassing love for people and her thirst for reciprocal love. Beauty in the generally accepted sense of the word is replaced by mobility of features, liveliness of the eyes, grace, flexibility; her wonderful voice and ability to dance captivate many. Princess Marya, on the contrary, is clumsy, the ugliness of her face is only occasionally illuminated by her “radiant eyes.” Life without going out in the village makes her wild and silent, communication with her is difficult. Only a sensitive and insightful person can notice the purity, religiosity, even self-sacrifice hidden behind external isolation (after all, in quarrels with her father, Princess Marya blames only herself, not recognizing his temper and rudeness). However, at the same time, the two heroines have much in common: a living, developing inner world, a craving for high feelings, spiritual purity, clear conscience. Fate pits both of them against Anatoly Kuragin, and only chance saves Natasha and Princess Marya from a connection with him. Due to their naivety, the girls do not see Kuragin’s low and selfish goals and believe in his sincerity. Due to the external difference, the relationship between the heroines is not easy at first, misunderstanding, even contempt arises, but then, having gotten to know each other better, they become irreplaceable friends, forming an indivisible moral union, united by the best spiritual qualities of Tolstoy’s favorite heroines.
In constructing a system of images, Tolstoy is far from schematism: the line between the “living” and the “dead” is permeable. Tolstoy wrote: “For an artist there cannot and should not be heroes, but there must be people.” Therefore, female images appear in the fabric of the work, which are difficult to definitely classify as “living” or “dead”. This can be considered the mother of Natasha Rostova, Countess Natalya Rostova. From the conversations of the characters, it becomes clear that in her youth she moved in society and was a member and welcome guest of salons. But, having married Rostov, she changes and devotes herself to her family. Rostova as a mother is an example of cordiality, love and tact. She is a close friend and adviser to the children: in touching conversations in the evenings, Natasha devotes her mother to all her secrets, secrets, experiences, and seeks her advice and help. At the same time, at the time of the main action of the novel, her inner world is static, but this can be explained by a significant evolution in her youth. She becomes a mother not only for her children, but also for Sonya. Sonya gravitates towards the camp of the “dead”: she does not have that seething cheerfulness that Natasha has, she is not dynamic, not impulsive. This is especially emphasized by the fact that at the beginning of the novel Sonya and Natasha are always together. Tolstoy gave this generally good girl an unenviable fate: falling in love with Nikolai Rostov does not bring her happiness, since for reasons of the well-being of the family, Nikolai’s mother cannot allow this marriage. Sonya feels gratitude to the Rostovs and focuses on her so much that she becomes fixated on the role of the victim. She does not accept Dolokhov’s proposal, refusing to advertise her feelings for Nikolai. She lives in hope, basically showing off and demonstrating her unrecognized love.
Women in the novel
Many female characters in Tolstov's novel "War and Peace" have prototypes in real life author. This is, for example, Maria Bolkonskaya (Rostova), Tolstoy based her image on his mother, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya. Rostova Natalya Sr. is very similar to Lev Nikolaevich’s grandmother, Pelageya Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Natasha Rostova (Bezukhova) even has two prototypes: the writer’s wife, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya and her sister, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya. Apparently, this is why Tolstoy creates these characters with such warmth and tenderness.
It is amazing how accurately he conveys the feelings and thoughts of people in the novel. The author subtly feels the psychology of a thirteen-year-old girl, Natasha Rostova, with her broken doll, and understands grief adult woman- Countess Natalia Rostova, who lost youngest son. Tolstoy seems to show their life and thoughts in such a way that the reader seems to see the world through the eyes of the heroes of the novel.
Despite the fact that the writer talks about the war, the female theme in the novel “War and Peace” fills the work with life and a variety of human relationships. The novel is full of contrasts, the author constantly contrasts good and evil, cynicism and generosity with each other.
Moreover, if negative characters remain constant in their pretense and inhumanity, then goodies They make mistakes, are tormented by pangs of conscience, rejoice and suffer, growing and developing spiritually and morally.
Rostov
Natasha Rostova is one of the main figures in the novel; one feels that Tolstoy treats her with special tenderness and love. Throughout the entire work, Natasha is constantly changing. We see her first as a lively little girl, then as a funny and romantic girl, and in the end - she is already an adult mature woman, wise, beloved and loving wife Pierre Bezukhov.
She makes mistakes, sometimes she is mistaken, but at the same time her inner instinct and nobility help her understand people and feel their state of mind.
Natasha is full of life and charm, so even with a very modest appearance, as Tolstoy describes, she attracts people with her joyful and pure inner world.
The eldest Natalya Rostova, the mother of a large family, a kind and wise woman, seems very strict at first glance. But when Natasha pokes her nose into her skirts, the mother “fakely angrily” glares at the girl and everyone understands how much she loves her children.
Knowing that her friend is in a difficult financial situation, the Countess, embarrassed, gives her money. “Annette, for God’s sake, don’t refuse me,” the countess suddenly said, blushing, which was so strange considering her middle-aged, thin and important person, taking money out from under the scarf.”
With all the external freedom that she provides to the children, Countess Rostova is ready to go to great lengths for their well-being in the future. She discourages Boris from his youngest daughter, prevents the marriage of his son Nikolai with the dowry Sonya, but at the same time it is completely clear that she does all this only out of love for her children. And maternal love is the most selfless and brightest of all feelings.
Natasha’s older sister, Vera, stands a little apart, beautiful and cold. Tolstoy writes: “a smile did not grace Vera’s face, as usually happens; on the contrary, her face became unnatural and therefore unpleasant.”
She is annoyed by her younger brothers and sister, they interfere with her, her main concern is herself. Selfish and self-absorbed, Vera is not like her relatives; she does not know how to love sincerely and unselfishly, like them.
Fortunately for her, Colonel Berg, whom she married, was very suited to her character, and they made a wonderful couple.
Marya Bolkonskaya
Locked in a village with an old and oppressive father, Marya Bolkonskaya appears before the reader as an ugly, sad girl who is afraid of her father. She is smart, but not self-confident, especially since the old prince constantly emphasizes her ugliness.
At the same time, Tolstoy says about her: “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her entire face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty . But the princess had never seen a good expression in her eyes, the expression they took on in those moments when she was not thinking about herself. Like all people, her face took on a tense, unnatural, bad expression as soon as she looked in the mirror.” And after this description, I want to take a closer look at Marya, watch her, understand what is going on in the soul of this timid girl.
In fact, Princess Marya is a strong personality with her own established outlook on life. This is clearly visible when she and her father do not want to accept Natasha, but after her brother’s death she still forgives and understands her.
Marya, like many girls, dreams of love and family happiness, she is ready to marry Anatol Kuragin and refuses marriage only for the sake of sympathy for Mademoiselle Burien. The nobility of her soul saves her from the vile and vile handsome man.
Fortunately, Marya meets Nikolai Rostov and falls in love with him. It is difficult to immediately say for whom this marriage becomes a great salvation. After all, he saves Marya from loneliness, and the Rostov family from ruin.
Although this is not so important, the main thing is that Marya and Nikolai love each other and are happy together.
Other women in the novel
In the novel “War and Peace,” female characters are depicted not only in beautiful and rainbow colors. Tolstoy also portrays very unpleasant characters. He always indirectly defines his attitude towards the characters in the story, but never speaks about it directly.
So, finding himself at the beginning of the novel in Anna Pavlovna Sherer’s living room, the reader understands how false she is with her smiles and ostentatious hospitality. Scherer “... is full of animation and impulses,” because “being an enthusiast has become her social position...”.
The flirtatious and stupid Princess Bolkonskaya does not understand Prince Andrei and is even afraid of him: “Suddenly the angry squirrel expression of the princess’s beautiful face was replaced by an attractive expression of fear that arouses compassion; She looked from under her beautiful eyes at her husband, and on her face appeared that timid and confessing expression that appears on a dog, quickly but weakly waving its lowered tail.” She does not want to change, develop, and does not see how the prince is bored with her frivolous tone, her unwillingness to think about what she says and what she does.
Helen Kuragina, a cynical, narcissistic beauty, deceitful and inhuman. Without hesitation, for the sake of entertainment, she helps her brother seduce Natasha Rostova, destroying not only Natasha’s life, but also Prince Bolkonsky’s. With all my external beauty Helen is ugly and soulless internally.
Repentance, pangs of conscience - all this is not about her. She will always find an excuse for herself, and the more immoral she appears to us.
Conclusion
Reading the novel “War and Peace,” we plunge into the world of joys and sorrows together with the characters, are proud of their successes, and empathize with their grief. Tolstoy managed to convey all those subtle psychological nuances of human relationships that make up our lives.
Concluding the essay on the topic “Female characters in the novel “War and Peace,” I would like to once again draw attention to how accurately and with what understanding of psychology they are written female portraits in the novel. With what awe, love and respect Tolstoy treats some female characters. And how mercilessly and clearly he shows the immorality and falsehood of others.
Work test