War and Peace Vasily Kuragin. Kuragin family

Tolstoy wrote many wonderful works, but one of the outstanding ones is War and Peace. This novel has become a classic not only of Russian, but also of world literature. It is studied in schools and universities around the world. In the novel you can meet many heroes who have their own destiny and character. One of the prominent heroes is Vasily Kuragin, and the entire Kuragin family stands out.

This character is characterized by a special predisposition or even craving for enterprise and profit. Kuragin is encountered by the reader already at the beginning of the novel. The prince confidently believes that the most important thing is his position in society, the rest is unimportant. For him, status is a kind of capital that should never be spent just like that. To achieve this or that goal, Kuragin is ready to play any role, the main thing is that it bears fruit.

Tolstoy, in his own manner, does not use a detailed description of the hero, namely his appearance. The author describes that the prince is in a uniform, in stockings and has stars on him. Kuragin speaks French very well. The hero differs from many characters in the novel in his arrogance; during communication he shows his superiority and communicates lazily. Tolstoy also notes very interesting feature Kuragin has a kind of instinct; the prince feels rich and established people. This trait will help him become who he wants and achieve his goals, because he likes to be surrounded by people who are only interested in profit.

Tolstoy presents Kuragin as a man who is ready to do anything to achieve his goal, the goal drives him, and he has plenty of energy for this. The prince calculates his every step and thinks ahead; often, it seems that Kuragin has no weaknesses, he cannot be defeated. But Kuragin has one weakness - his children. It seems to the prince that they were poorly brought up, although he claims that he spent a lot of time and effort on their upbringing, and in the end desired result didn't receive it. It is impossible to understand how such a person, with many negative qualities, could give a normal upbringing to his children. Throughout the entire novel, the hero shows nothing good other than hypocrisy and thirst for profit.

Perhaps, when Bezukhov was dying and the prince spoke to him sincerely, it would seem to many that there was still something good in Kuragin, but this is not so. Kuragin simply thought about himself, namely that he was over sixty and perhaps soon it would be his turn.

Essay about Vasily Kuragin

Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is an outstanding work that has become a classic of world literature. The novel is filled with many events and characters, of which, by the way, there are more than 500. Each hero is different in his own way and has his own character, but none of them is as outrageous as Vasily Kuragin. And this applies to the entire Kuragin family. The father worries only about his career, forgetting about conscience and moral principles.

Acquisitiveness and its craving for enterprise are fundamental to the essence and character of this hero. The prince appears in the novel at the very beginning. The hero is of the opinion that image in society is capital that cannot be wasted, so you always need to play the right role. The reader can see the character traits of the hero during his communication with Anna Pavlovna.

In his novel, Tolstoy does not try to describe the prince’s appearance in detail; the writer finds more sophisticated techniques. The author describes the hero as a man who is dressed in a uniform, stockings, and stars. The hero also spoke French quite skillfully. The hero is arrogant, he communicates with people lazily, as if reluctantly. The prince is absolutely indifferent to people who cannot help him in any way or give him a certain benefit. Tolstoy also shows the reader another interesting feature in the image of Kuragin. The hero has a certain secular instinct, namely, he is often straightforward, drawn to rich and high-ranking people. In principle, a person like Vasily has a chance to get a lot of what he wants, because he likes a society in which people communicate only for profit.

The author of the novel shows us Vasily as a purposeful person, full of energy. He is hypocritical, calculating and it seems that this person is invulnerable and has no weaknesses. His weakness is his children, whose upbringing he remains dissatisfied with. The prince is sure that he put all his efforts into raising them, but did not get the desired result. Throughout the novel, the prince shows his negative qualities like hypocrisy, cunning, deception. By the way, how could a person like Vasily raise children normally?

There is a scene in the novel in which the reader seems to think that Vasily, after all, has some positive traits. When Bezukhov was dying, Vasily spoke to him so sincerely, as if sympathizing with him. But here, too, Vasily is disingenuous, he simply thought about himself, that he was already in his sixties.

Option 3

The father of the Kuragin family is Vasily Kuragin. He is an intelligent man who feeds on rumors. What matters to him is what society says. Therefore, in any situation, a man tries to make an incredible impression on the public. He is indifferent to his own boys. He prefers not to get involved in raising children. During the entire period of development of the children’s personalities, Kuragin never showed warm feelings towards them.

Vasily is really a stingy person in his bright emotions towards the guys. It was because of this sad circumstance that Helen, Anatole and Hippolyte left the family as completely careless people. Vasily Kuragin himself loves not children, but luxury and beautiful life. For him, only respect from the people around him and thunderous fame are held in high esteem.

If Kuragin had initially paid attention to his children, everything would have been different. But the character was too fixated on his own “I”, which is why he missed the best time in the life of the family members. He has delusions of grandeur, he is greedy and vain. It is difficult to surprise him with his humanity and mercy...

In Vasily Kuragin the author captured the most terrible and disgusting features. The hero is depicted with the goal of realizing that absorbing such negative qualities is strictly prohibited! A person like him is not capable of raising his own children morally... This is the tragedy! Because the most important place in life is family! But how sad that Kuragin did not understand this...

The Kuragin family plays in Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace" special role. She is considered the antipode of the Rostov family, who are essentially friendly and sincere people. The writer deliberately introduced the Kuragin family into the work in order to teach readers. The author wanted everyone who opened this book to realize and draw the right conclusions about how to build family relationships.

The atmosphere prevailing in their house proves and clearly demonstrates the fact that in such a family there is no love, no tenderness, no mutual understanding. That’s why you can’t follow her example, otherwise the children will leave their nest as inept and useless people.

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Family
Prince Vasily Kuragin.
For Tolstoy, the world of family is the basis of humanity
society. The Kuragin family in the novel appears as the embodiment of immorality.
Selfishness, hypocrisy, capacity for crime, dishonor for the sake of wealth,
irresponsibility for one's actions in one's personal life - these are the main distinguishing features
features of this family.
And how much destruction the Kuragins caused - Prince
Vasily, Helen, Anatole - into the life of Pierre, Rostov, Natasha, Andrei Bolkonsky!
The Kuragins are the third family unit in the novel -
deprived of generic poetry. Their family closeness and connection is unpoetic, although she
undoubtedly there is - instinctive mutual support and solidarity, a kind of
mutual guarantee of almost animal egoism. This kind of family connection is not positive,
a real family connection, but essentially a negation of it. Real families -
The Rostovs, Bolkonskys - have, of course, against the Kuragins on their side
immeasurable moral superiority; but still an invasion
Kuragin's base egoism causes a crisis in the world of these families.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize
moral standards, living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant
desires.

Prince Vasily Kuragin The head of this entire family is Prince Vasily
Kuragin. For the first time we meet Prince Vasily in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. He
was "in a courtier's, embroidered, uniform, stockings, shoes and stars, with
with a bright expression on his flat face." The prince said "on
that exquisite French language, which was not only spoken, but also thought
our grandfathers, and with those quiet, patronizing intonations that
characteristic of a significant person who has grown old in high society and at court,” “said
always lazy, like an actor speaking the role of an old play." In the eyes secular society prince
Kuragin is a respected person, “close to the emperor, surrounded by a crowd
enthusiastic women, scattering social pleasantries and complacent
chuckling." In words he was a decent, sympathetic person,
but in fact it was constantly happening internal struggle between desire
appear to be a decent person and the actual depravity of his motives.
Prince Vasily "knew that influence in the world is capital that is necessary
take care that he does not disappear, and, once realizing that if he asks for
everyone who asks him, then soon he will not be able to ask for himself, he rarely
used this influence." But at the same time, he
sometimes I felt remorse. So, in the case of Princess Drubetskaya, he
felt "something like a remorse" as she reminded him
that “he owed his first steps in the service to her father.” Prince Vasily is not alien to fatherly feelings, although
They are expressed rather in the desire to “attach”
their children rather than giving them fatherly love and warmth. According to Anna Pavlovna
Scherer, people like the prince should not have children.
"...And why
Will people like you have children? If you weren't the father, I
I couldn’t reproach you for anything.” To which the prince replied: “What
what should I do? You know, I did everything I could to raise them.
maybe father." Prince
forced Pierre to marry Helene, while pursuing his own selfish goals. At Anna Pavlovna Sherer's proposal to "marry
prodigal son Anatoly" on Princess Maria Bolkonskaya,
Having learned that the princess is a rich heiress, he says:
"she
has a good name and is rich. Everything I need." At the same time, Prince Vasily
does not think at all about the fact that Princess Marya may be unhappy in her marriage
with the dissolute scoundrel Anatole, who looked upon his entire life as one
continuous entertainment.
Absorbed all the base, vicious traits of the prince
Vasily and his children.

Helen Kuragina
Helen - incarnation external beauty and internal
voids, fossils. Tolstoy constantly mentions its “monotonous”, “unchanging”
smile and “antique beauty of the body”, she resembles a beautiful,
soulless statue. Helen Scherer enters the salon “noisily with her white ballroom
robe, decorated with ivy and moss, and shining with the whiteness of the shoulders, the gloss of the hair and
diamonds, passed without looking at anyone, but smiling at everyone and as if kindly
giving everyone the right to admire the beauty of their figure, full shoulders, very
open, according to the fashion of that time, chest and back, and as if bringing with it shine
bala. Helen was so beautiful that not only was there not even a shadow noticeable in her
coquetry, but, on the contrary, she seemed ashamed of her undoubted and
too powerful beauty. It was as if she wanted and could not diminish
the actions of this beauty."
Helen personifies immorality and depravity.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize any moral standards,
living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant desires. Helen enters
into marriage only for their own enrichment.
She cheats on her husband because her nature is dominated by
animal origin. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy leaves Helen childless. "I
“I’m not such a fool as to have children,” she admits. Also,
being Pierre's wife, Helene, in front of the whole society, is engaged in the construction
your personal life.
In addition to a luxurious bust, a rich and beautiful body,
this representative big world had an extraordinary ability to hide
his mental and moral squalor, and all this thanks only to grace
her manners and memorization of certain phrases and techniques. Shamelessness manifested itself in her
under such grandiose high-society forms that aroused in others a little
Isn't it respect?
Helen is completely devoid of patriotic feelings. At that
while the whole country rose up to fight Napoleon, and even high society
took part in this struggle in his own way (“they didn’t speak French and
ate simple food"), in Helen's circle, Rumyantsev, French, were refuted
rumors about the cruelty of the enemy and the war and all of Napoleon's attempts to
reconciliation."
When the threat of capture of Moscow by Napoleonic troops
became obvious, Helen went abroad. And there she shone under the imperial
yard But now the court returns to St. Petersburg.
"Helen,
Having returned with the court from Vilna to St. Petersburg, she was in
difficult situation. In St. Petersburg, Helen enjoyed a special
patronage of a nobleman who occupied one of the highest positions in the state.
In the end, Helen dies. This death is direct
a consequence of her own intrigues. "Countess Elena Bezukhova
died suddenly from... a terrible disease, which is commonly called chest
angina, but in intimate circles they talked about how the queen’s life physician
Spanish prescribed Helen small doses of some medicine to produce
known action; but like Helen, tormented by the fact that the old count
suspected her, and because the husband to whom she wrote (that unfortunate depraved
Pierre), did not answer her, suddenly took a huge dose of the medicine prescribed to her and
died in agony before help could be given."
Ippolit Kuragin .
"...Prince Hippolyte amazed with his
extraordinary resemblance to her beautiful sister, and even more so, despite
similarity, he was amazingly bad-looking. His facial features were the same as those
sister, but with her everything was illuminated by a cheerful, self-satisfied, young,
an unchanging smile and extraordinary, antique beauty of the body. My brother, on the contrary,
the same face was clouded with idiocy and invariably expressed self-confident
disgust, and the body was thin and weak. Eyes, nose, mouth - everything was shrinking like
as if in one vague, boring grimace, and arms and legs always took
unnatural position."
Hippolytus was unusually stupid. Because of self-confidence
to whom he spoke, no one could understand whether what he said was very smart or very stupid.
At Scherer's reception he appears to us "in
in a dark green tailcoat, in trousers the color of a frightened nymph, as he himself said, in
stockings and shoes." And such an absurdity of attire is not at all his
didn't bother me.
His stupidity was manifested in the fact that he sometimes
spoke, and then understood what he said. Hippolytus often spoke and acted
inappropriately, expressed his opinions when no one needed them. He
liked to insert phrases into the conversation that were completely unrelated to the essence of the discussion
topics.
The character of Hippolytus can serve as a living example of
that even positive idiocy is sometimes presented in the world as something having
meaning due to the gloss attached to knowledge French, and that
the extraordinary property of this language to support and at the same time mask
spiritual emptiness.
Prince Vasily calls Ippolit "deceased
a fool." Tolstoy in the novel is "sluggish and breaking."
These are the dominant character traits of Hippolytus. Ippolit is stupid, but he is his
stupidity at least does not harm anyone, unlike his younger brother
Anatoly.

Anatol Kuragin .
Anatol Kuragin, according to Tolstoy, is “simple
and with carnal inclinations." These are the dominant traits
Anatole's character. He looked upon his whole life as a continuous amusement,
which someone like that for some reason agreed to arrange for him. The author’s characterization of Anatole is as follows:
"He wasn't
unable to think about how his actions might affect others, nor
what might come out of such or such an act of his.”
Anatole is completely free from considerations
responsibility and consequences of what he does. His selfishness is immediate,
animal-naive and good-natured, absolute egoism, for he is not constrained by anything
Anatole inside, in consciousness, feeling. Kuragin simply lacks the ability to know
what will happen beyond that moment of his pleasure, and how will it affect his life?
other people, as others will see. All this does not exist for him at all.
He is sincerely convinced, instinctively, with his whole being, that everything around him has
Its only purpose is entertainment and it exists for this. No looking back
people, on their opinion, on the consequences, no distant goal that would force
focus on achieving it, no remorse, no thoughts,
hesitation, doubt - Anatole, whatever he did, naturally and sincerely
considers himself an impeccable person and holds his beautiful head high: freedom is truly limitless, freedom in actions and self-awareness.
Such complete freedom was given to Anatoly
meaninglessness. A person who consciously relates to life is already subordinated, like
Pierre, the need to understand and solve, he is not free from life's difficulties, from
question: why? While Pierre is tormented by this difficult question,
Anatole lives, content with every minute, stupidly, animalistically, but easily and
funny.
Marriage to a "rich ugly heiress" -
Maria Bolkonskaya seems to him like just another amusement. "A
Why not marry if she is very rich? It never gets in the way" -
thought Anatole.

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The problem of relationships in the family is one of the key topics that interested L.N. Tolstoy. Is it possible to achieve happiness in family life and how to do it - it becomes literally central problem many of Tolstoy's works. The novel "War and Peace" was no exception. Descriptions of aristocratic families make it possible not only to recreate a picture of a typical high society, but also to learn about the relationships and principles of interaction between people of different temperaments and life positions.

Family composition, position in society

The Kuragin family is one of the most influential families in aristocratic circles. This is due to several aspects. First of all, it should be noted that this family situation was created over more than one generation. Significant influence was achieved thanks to the efforts of Prince Vasily, who had a prestigious position and influential contacts in the government elite.

The next generation attached little importance to maintaining the status of the family - they only took advantage of the achievements of their ancestors.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the heroes of the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

At the time of the story, the Kuragin family consists of Prince Vasily Sergeevich, Princess Alina and their three children: Ippolit, Anatoly and Elena.

Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin and Alina Kuragina

Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin is the head of the Kuragin family. At the beginning of the novel he is over 50 years old. He achieved significant heights in his service. Prince Vasily was an important official; he even knew the empress personally. In addition, among his acquaintances there were other officials from the top of the government apparatus. He maintains such acquaintance not based on common interests, but for the sake of self-interest - such significant connections serve an excellent service and help decide important issues.

Prince Vasily knows how to take advantage of people's favor, he has the talent of persuasion. In addition, he knows how to ingratiate himself. Unfortunately, this trend only works with strangers.

In relation to his family members, his talent makes significant mistakes, and his children from time to time completely go beyond parental control.

Prince Vasily is married. Princess Alina - his wife - is practically not described by Tolstoy. It is known about her that she is a fat and not very attractive woman. They had three children in their marriage. The appearance of her daughter Elena becomes the envy of Princess Alina. This feeling is so strong that it does not allow a woman to live fully.

Ippolit Vasilievich Kuragin

The age of this son of Princess Alina and Prince Vasily is not indicated. It is known that he serves at the embassy as a secretary. Unlike other children, Hippolytus is not distinguished by his beauty and attractiveness. He has a calm temperament. The young man is reserved and polite.

Mental abilities They wish the best for Hippolyta - he is a rather stupid person, but at the same time he has a talent for studying foreign languages– Ippolit speaks English and French well.

Anatoly Vasilyevich Kuragin

Unlike the calm Hippolytus, Anatole literally became a headache for Prince Vasily. Youngest son Kuraginykh is a lover of a luxurious and free life - drunken brawls, constant partying, losing at cards - all this caused a lot of trouble for Vasily Sergeevich.

Anatole’s exact age in the novel is also not precisely indicated - his only age marker is “young man.” Anatole is not married. Yes, given his behavior and passion for revelry and debauchery, this is not surprising.

Anatol Kuragin is used to playing with people's feelings. For example, on a whim, he upsets the engagement of Natasha Rostova and Andrei Bolkonsky. The young man does not experience any feelings of guilt or embarrassment. The thought that he not only created trouble for the girl with his actions, but also caused her psychological trauma, does not even occur to him.

His matchmaking with Marie Bolkonskaya is also not distinguished by tact. Marie was far from a beauty, marriage with her was an extremely profitable match in material terms for the Kuragins, but Anatole’s free behavior and his interest in the servants became the reason for the refusal.

Prince Vasily tried to give his children good education. Anatole studied abroad (most likely in France), but it was all to no avail - teaching something to a person who did not want to learn became an impossible task.

Anatole wasted his life - he was not interested in either the opportunity to make a fortune or military service, nor civilian. The only thing that gave him satisfaction was drinking and the company of women.

Bottom line life path Anatolya is extremely undefined. Latest news We learn about him in the hospital where Prince Andrei Bolkonsky was admitted after being wounded. It was there that he met his sworn enemy, but Anatole’s situation was extremely pitiful - after the amputation of his leg, he could not come to his senses. Presumably, Anatole died.

Elena Vasilievna Kuragina

An equally colorful character in the family is the daughter of Prince Vasily and Princess Alina, Elena. Beauty Elena had a delightful appearance. A thin figure, regular facial features, and proportional body structure have always attracted men of different ages and aroused feelings of envy among women.

Elena, like all the Kuragin children, was not distinguished by intelligence, or rather, was distinguished by its absence, but unlike her brothers, the girl was excellent at creating the illusion of his presence. A certain facial expression, a thoughtful look, helped to convince others that she was a girl of extraordinary intelligence.

Elena is very greedy for money - for the sake of wealth, she marries Pierre Bezukhov, ruining both her life and his. The suspicious Pierre was unable to stop his wife’s depraved behavior and ultimately became the cause of ridicule and ridicule from others. Elena knew how to position herself in a relationship with her husband - he believed her despite all the rumors, and even after an anonymous letter about Elena’s love affairs, he did not want to believe in her betrayal.

Elena's numerous lovers are not the only dark spot in her biography. At one time there were rumors about Elena and Anatoly being in love and, although there was evidence of them love affair not in the novel, yet numerous hints make it clear that, quite possibly, one platonic love the matter is not over.

Elena always valued in people only visual appeal, so it is not surprising that over time her dislike for the corpulent and not very handsome Pierre began to weigh on her.

The Kuragin family in the novel “War and Peace”: characteristics and image of the Kuragin family, description in quotes

Prince Vasily Kuragin is one of the significant characters in the epic novel War and Peace. His family, soulless and rude, arrogant and acting recklessly when there is an opportunity to get rich, is contrasted with the delicate and kind-hearted family of the Rostovs and intellectual family Bolkonskikh. Vasily Kuragin lives not by thoughts, but rather by instincts. He, meeting influential person, tries to get close to him, and this happens automatically for him.

Appearance of Prince Vasily Sergeevich

We first meet him in Anna Pavlovna’s salon, where all the intellectuals and what a wretched color of St. Petersburg gather for inspection. While no one has arrived yet, he has useful and confidential conversations with the aging forty-year-old “enthusiast”. Important and official, holding his head high, he arrived in a court uniform with stars (he managed to receive awards without doing anything useful for the country). Vasily Kuragin is bald, perfumed, sedate and, even despite his sixty years, graceful.
His movements are always free and familiar. Nothing can throw him out of balance. Vasily Kuragin has grown old, having spent his whole life in society, and has brilliant self-control. His flat face is covered with wrinkles. This all becomes known from the first chapter of the first part of the novel.

The Prince's concerns

He has three children whom he loves little. In the same chapter he himself says that he does not have parental love to children, but he considers it his big task to provide them with a good place in life.
In a conversation with Anna Pavlovna, he seems to inadvertently ask who is destined for the position of first secretary in Vienna. This is his main purpose for visiting Scherer. He needs to find a warm place for his stupid son Hippolyte. But, by the way, he agrees that Anna Pavlovna will try to match his dissolute son Anatole with the rich and noble Maria Bolkonskaya, who lives with her father on the estate. Vasily Kuragin received at least one benefit from this evening, since he was not used to spending time that was useless for himself. And in general, he knows how to use people. He is always attracted to those who stand above him, and the prince has a rare gift - to seize the moment when he can and should take advantage of people.

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The prince's disgusting actions

In the first part, starting with chapter XVIII, Vasily Kuragin tries, having arrived in Moscow, to take possession of Pierre’s inheritance by destroying his father’s will. Julie Karagina wrote in more or less detail about this ugly story of Maria Bolkonskaya in a letter. Having received nothing and having played a “disgusting role,” as Julie put it, Prince Vasily Kuragin left for St. Petersburg, embarrassed. But he did not remain in this state for long.
He seemed to absentmindedly make efforts to bring Pierre closer to his daughter, and successfully completed this matter with a wedding. Pierre's money should serve the prince's family. This is how it should be, according to Prince Vasily. The attempt to marry the rake Anatole to the unrequited, ugly princess Marya also cannot be called a worthy act: he only cares about the rich dowry that his son might receive. But his such immoral family is degenerating. Hippolyte is just a fool whom no one takes seriously. Helen is dying. Anatole, having undergone leg amputation, is unknown whether he will survive or not.

Kuragin's character

He is self-confident, empty, and mockery always shines through in the tone of his voice behind the decency and participation. He always tries to get close to people high position. So, for example, everyone knows that he is in good relations with Kutuzov, and they turn to him for help in placing their sons as adjutants. But he was used to refusing everyone, so that at the right moment, and we have already talked about this, he could take advantage of the favors only for himself. These small lines scattered throughout the text of the novel describe socialite- Vasily Kuragin. L. Tolstoy’s characterization of him is very unflattering, and with its help the author describes the high society as a whole.

Vasily Kuragin appears before us as a great intriguer, accustomed to living in thoughts about career, money and profit. “War and Peace” (moreover, peace in Tolstoy’s time was written through the unusual letter i and meant not only peace as the absence of war, but also, in to a greater extent, the universe, and there was no direct antithesis in this title) - a work in which the prince is shown against the backdrop of high society receptions and in his home, where there is no warmth and cordial relationships. The epic novel contains monumental pictures of life and hundreds of characters, one of which is Prince Kuragin.

He treated “especially dryly” all Muscovites “who had a claim to importance,” and “treated Count Bad with kindness” precisely because “the count was a good fool, and it was convenient to show others that the new appointment was not at all It didn’t make us proud or change us.” Although Prince Vasily was affectionate with the children of Count Plokhy, he was “firmly convinced” that his sons, raised abroad, “would not be familiar with these fosterlings and boobies.” Nevertheless, he “especially, cordially agreed to come and eat the Count’s wonderful dinner.”

The image of Prince Vasily is completed through the perception of other characters. The old Count Bezukhov, who understands the purpose of his visit, does not like him; Count Bad considers him a “clever” person; Shenshin speaks very harshly about him, calling him a “cracker” who came to Bezukhov only to “pull something out,” and “if he doesn’t pull anything out,” then “the groom will catch it for his daughter.” In the dispute about Napoleon, Prince Vasily is presented as a person “always sensitive to political events, so he lagged behind the dispute, which he considered indecent for himself, especially since at that very time “in St. Petersburg everyone was kindled with enthusiasm for France and Napoleon”; and Prince Vasily, having now received “an appointment to St. Petersburg, already called Bonaparte Emperor Napoleon and showed him high respect.”

More often than others characters Tolstoy brings out three in his early sketches: Prince Vasily, Prince Andrei and Pierre. They move from option to option, and the path that these images took convinces that Tolstoy did not immediately find portraits of them, and, of course, their characters could not yet be reflected sufficiently. However, the author immediately, without hesitation, determined for each of them a role in the work.

Tolstoy chose the second path. Having crossed out the promise to “describe some of the listeners,” he makes a note in the margins for himself: “Who is listening and how” and draws images of the guests with expressive strokes. The appearance of the daughter of Prince Vasily (in this version she appears under the name Princess Zet), as well as the impression she makes on everyone, almost completely coincides with what is known from the printed text. The image of her brother, Hippolytus, is also close to the final one, but in this edition there are more details emphasizing negative character character (in everything - in appearance, in manners, in costume).

Tolstoy intended to introduce all the guests and directly stated this: “Before conveying the story of the Viscount, which later became very widespread, I must describe some of his listeners, especially since these some, in addition to being remarkable in themselves, will be encountered by the reader in the continuation of this story.” However, the isolated description of the characters contradicted artistic principles Tolstoy. Shortly before starting work on the novel, Tolstoy condemned this manner of descriptions, accepted in literature and which had become “impossible,” “logically arranged: first descriptions of the characters, even their biographies, then a description of the terrain and environment, and then the action begins. And the strange thing is that all these descriptions, sometimes on dozens of pages, introduce the reader less to the faces than a carelessly thrown artistic trait during an action that has already begun between completely undescribed persons"

If the novel "War and Peace" in its early edition were published in its entirety, it would surprise all those who never ceased to repeat that at an early stage a family noble romance"Dickensian type". He would be surprised by the harmony of the composition, the number of characters in it, fictional and historical, the scope historical events and, most importantly, the author’s attitude to the subject. The early edition, of course, is very different from the well-known War and Peace, nevertheless it is already the ripened fruit of a clear plan.

For the first time, Prince Vasily appears at the ball. He is presented as one of those close to the emperor and called upon “to draw up a response to Emperor Napoleon.” He is depicted “in a crowd of women,” he “showered pleasantries” and chuckled with “a toothless but pleasant mouth.” The appearance of the prince, who “was like on springs,” is drawn in detail. He talks about his “family concerns.” The characteristics of both sons complement the newly created image of their father. In the following sketches, Prince Vasily is depicted in the house of Count Prostoy. He is given a repulsive appearance: an old man “in a star and a white tie with an intimate forehead and a monkey-like lower jaw.” Some information from his biography is mentioned, revealing his inner appearance: he was “in favor” with the despot Paul I, but later found himself “out of favor, a senator in Moscow,” he “lived differently from other forgotten senators,” but managed to find such a line of behavior in order to get closer to the people surrounding Alexander I, and thanks to this, he was again “summoned to St. Petersburg to a very important position.”

After the beginning of the work was determined, Tolstoy began to confidently create the plot of his novel. The first scene is court Petersburg before the war. The action begins in July 1805 at the evening of the maid of honor. Numerous notes in the margins of the manuscript, which in most cases served as sketches of later creations artistic paintings, make it possible to follow the author’s progress of thought. “The evening is in full swing. Conversations from different sides. With one about the idealistic direction of our court and the antagonism of the Empress Mother and Alexander. On the other hand, the story about Yengiensky. The third is about the court and intrigues. Everything is measured."

To follow step by step how the early edition was created means to retell its contents. And this would be too cumbersome; after all, according to Tolstoy’s own calculations, it takes up 66 printed pages. It is possible only in general outline tell how the plot developed and the composition of this huge multifaceted work was built after the author understood the main direction of the novel, and trace what the author succeeded in immediately and what required long-term creative search and work.