In Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" the reader experiences huge amount images All of them are excellently depicted by the author, lively and interesting. Tolstoy himself divided his heroes into positive and negative, and not just into secondary and main ones. Thus, positivity was emphasized by the dynamic nature of the character, while staticity and hypocrisy indicated that the hero was far from perfect.
In the novel, several images of women appear before us. And they are also divided by Tolstoy into two groups.
The first includes female images that lead a false, artificial life. All their aspirations are aimed at achieving one single goal - high position in society. These include Anna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina and other representatives of high society.
The second group includes those who lead a true, real, natural lifestyle. Tolstoy emphasizes the evolution of these heroes. These include Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, Sonya, Vera.
An absolute genius social life You can call Helen Kuragina. She was as beautiful as a statue. And just as soulless. But in fashion salons, no one cares about your soul. The most important thing is how you turn your head, how gracefully you smile when greeting and what an impeccable French pronunciation you have. But Helen is not just soulless, she is vicious. Princess Kuragina marries not Pierre Bezukhov, but his inheritance.
Helen was a master at luring men by appealing to their baser instincts. So, Pierre feels something bad, dirty in his feelings for Helen. She offers herself to anyone who is able to provide her with a rich life full of secular pleasures: “Yes, I am a woman who can belong to anyone, including you.”
Helen cheated on Pierre, she had everything famous novel with Dolokhov. And Count Bezukhov was forced to fight a duel in defense of his honor. The passion that clouded his eyes quickly passed, and Pierre realized what a monster he was living with. Of course, the divorce turned out to be good for him.
It is important to note that in the characteristics of Tolstoy’s favorite heroes, their eyes occupy a special place. Eyes are the mirror of the soul. Helen doesn't have it. As a result, we learn that the life of this heroine ends sadly. She dies of illness. Thus, Tolstoy pronounces sentence on Helen Kuragina.
Tolstoy's favorite heroines in the novel are Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya.
Marya Bolkonskaya is not famous for her beauty. She looks like a frightened animal because she is very afraid of her father, the old Prince Bolkonsky. She is characterized by “a sad, frightened expression that rarely left her and made her ugly, painful face even more ugly...”. Only one feature shows us her inner beauty: “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... these eyes became more attractive than beauty.”
Marya devoted her life to her father, being his irreplaceable support and support. She has a very deep connection with the whole family, with her father and brother. This connection manifests itself in moments of emotional turmoil.
Distinctive feature Marya, like her entire family, has high spirituality and great inner strength. After the death of her father, surrounded by French troops, the princess, heartbroken, still proudly rejects the French general’s offer of patronage and leaves Bogucharovo. In the absence of men in an extreme situation, she manages the estate alone and does it wonderfully. At the end of the novel, this heroine gets married and becomes a happy wife and mother.
The most charming image of the novel is that of Natasha Rostova. The work shows her spiritual path from a thirteen year old girl to married woman, mother of many children.
From the very beginning, Natasha was characterized by cheerfulness, energy, sensitivity, and a subtle perception of goodness and beauty. She grew up in the morally pure atmosphere of the Rostov family. Her best friend there was the resigned Sonya, an orphan. The image of Sonya is not drawn out so carefully, but in some scenes (explanation of the heroine and Nikolai Rostov), the reader is struck by the pure and noble soul of this girl. Only Natasha notices that “something is missing” in Sonya... She really does not have the liveliness and fire characteristic of Rostova, but the tenderness and meekness so beloved by the author excuses everything.
The author emphasizes the deep connection between Natasha and Sonya and the Russian people. This is great praise for the heroines from their creator. For example, Sonya fits perfectly into the atmosphere Christmas fortune telling and caroling. Natasha “knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya’s father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.” Emphasizing folk basis Tolstoy very often shows his heroines against the backdrop of Russian nature.
Natasha’s appearance, at first glance, is ugly, but it ennobles her inner beauty. Natasha always remains herself, never pretends, unlike her secular acquaintances. The expression of Natasha's eyes is very diverse, as are the manifestations of her soul. They are “shining”, “curious”, “provocative and somewhat mocking”, “desperately animated”, “stopped”, “pleading”, “frightened” and so on.
The essence of Natasha's life is love. She, despite all the hardships, carries it in her heart and finally becomes the embodied ideal of Tolstoy. Natasha turns into a mother who completely devotes herself to her children and husband. There are no interests in her life other than family ones. So she became truly happy.
All the heroines of the novel, to one degree or another, represent the worldview of the author himself. Natasha, for example, is a favorite heroine because she fully meets Tolstoy’s own needs for a woman. And Helen is “killed” by the author for not being able to appreciate the warmth of the hearth.
The female theme occupies an important place in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” This work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles artistic research there are numerous types of high society beauties, hostesses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer; Cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon... Secular society immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of her shoulders, the shine of her hair and diamonds, her very open chest and back, and her frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness and insignificance of the high society lioness.
The place of genuine human feelings in luxurious living rooms is taken by monetary calculation. The marriage of Helen, who chose the rich Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of Prince Vasily’s daughter is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs.
In fact, is Julie Karagina, who, thanks to her wealth, has a sufficient choice of suitors, behave differently? or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even before the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna experiences not a feeling of compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance. Tolstoy also shows high-society beauties in family life.
Family, children don't play in their lives significant role. Helen seems funny words Pierre that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease she leaves her husband.
Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, and vanity. Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to an incorrect understanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer there are political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the situation of the Russian army... Feeling false patriotism forces them to speak exclusively Russian during the period of the French invasion.
High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent a real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, and Natasha Rostova, those traits that constitute the type of woman in the true sense are grouped. At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life as it is.
In fact, in the work there are no consciously heroic female characters like Turgenev’s Marianna from the novel “Nov” or Elena Stakhova from “On the Eve”. Need I say that Tolstoy’s favorite heroines are devoid of romantic elation? Women's spirituality lies not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other men's issues, but exclusively in the ability to love, in devotion to the family hearth. Daughter, sister, wife, mother - these are the main situations in life in which the character of Tolstoy’s favorite heroines is revealed. This conclusion may be questionable upon a superficial reading of the novel. Indeed, the actions of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova during the French invasion are patriotic, and Marya Bolkonskaya’s reluctance to take advantage of the patronage of the French general and Natasha’s inability to stay in Moscow under the French are also patriotic. However, the connection between female images and the image of war in the novel is more complex; it is not limited to the patriotism of the best Russian women.
Tolstoy shows that it took a historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel (Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov) could find their way to each other. Tolstoy's favorite heroines live with their hearts, not their minds. All of Sonya's best, cherished memories are associated with Nikolai Rostov: common childhood games and pranks, Christmastide with fortune telling and mummers, Nikolai's love impulse, the first kiss... Sonya remains faithful to her beloved, rejecting Dolokhov's proposal.
She loves uncomplainingly, but is unable to give up her love. And after Nikolai’s marriage, Sonya, of course, continues to love him. Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. And yet, it is her image that personifies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism.
The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high, spiritual feeling.
In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy paints pictures of the Rostov family happiness, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life. constitutes the essence of Natasha Rostova’s life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the uncomplaining Sonya, and the countess mother, and her father, and Nikolai, and Petya, and Boris Drubetsky. The rapprochement and then separation from Prince Andrei, who proposed to her, makes Natasha suffer internally.
An excess of life and inexperience are the source of mistakes and rash actions of the heroine (the story with Anatoly Kuragin). Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha. She leaves Moscow with a convoy, which includes the wounded Bolkonsky. Natasha is once again possessed by an exorbitant feeling of love and compassion. She is selfless to the end. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha's life of meaning. The news of Petya's death forces the heroine to overcome her own grief in order to keep the old mother from insane despair.
Natasha “thought that her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her.
Love woke up and life woke up.” After marriage, Natasha abandons social life, “all her charms” and devotes herself entirely to family life. Mutual understanding between spouses is based on the ability “to understand and communicate each other’s thoughts with extraordinary clarity and speed in a way that is contrary to all the rules of logic.”
This is the ideal of family happiness. This is Tolstoy’s ideal of “peace.” Tolstoy’s thoughts about the true purpose of a woman, it seems, are not outdated today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by women who have devoted themselves to political or social activities. But still, many of our contemporaries choose what Tolstoy’s favorite heroines chose for themselves. And is it really so little to love and be loved?
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 best features in the image of Natasha 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 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 themselves, 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.
Leo Tolstoy in his article “a few words about the book “War and Peace”” says that the surnames of the characters in the epic are consonant with the surnames real people because he "felt awkward" using names historical figures next to the fictional ones. Tolstoy writes that he “would be very sorry” if readers thought that he was intentionally describing the characters of real people, because all the characters are fictional.
At the same time, there are two characters in the novel to whom Tolstoy “unwittingly” gave the names of real people - Denisov and M.D. Akhrosimova. He did it because they were " characteristic persons of that time." Nevertheless, in the biographies of other characters in War and Peace, one can notice similarities with the stories of real people who probably influenced Tolstoy when he worked on the images of his heroes.
Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Nikolay Tuchkov. (wikimedia.org)
The hero's surname is consonant with the surname of the Volkonsky princely family, from which the writer's mother came, but Andrei is one of those characters whose image is more fictitious than borrowed from specific people. Like unattainable moral ideal, Prince Andrei, of course, could not have a specific prototype. Nevertheless, in the facts of the character’s biography one can find many similarities, for example, with Nikolai Tuchkov. He was a lieutenant general and, like Prince Andrey, received a mortal wound in the Battle of Borodino, from which he died in Yaroslavl three weeks later.
Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya are the writer’s parents
The scene of the wounding of Prince Andrei at the Battle of Austerlitz was probably borrowed from the biography of Staff Captain Fyodor (Ferdinand) Tizenhausen, Kutuzov's son-in-law. With a banner in his hands, he led the Little Russian grenadier regiment into a counterattack, was wounded, captured and died three days after the battle. Also, the act of Prince Andrei is similar to the act of Prince Pyotr Volkonsky, who led a brigade of grenadiers forward with the banner of the Phanagorian regiment.
It is possible that Tolstoy gave the image of Prince Andrei the features of his brother Sergei. At least this applies to the story of the failed marriage of Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. Sergei Tolstoy was engaged to Tatyana Bers, the older sister of Sofia Tolstoy (the writer’s wife). The marriage never took place, because Sergei had already lived for several years with the gypsy Maria Shishkina, whom he eventually married, and Tatyana married lawyer A. Kuzminsky.
Natasha Rostova
Sofya Tolstaya is the writer’s wife. (wikimedia.org)
It can be assumed that Natasha has two prototypes at once - Tatyana and Sophia Bers. In his comments to “War and Peace,” Tolstoy says that Natasha Rostova turned out when he “rewrote Tanya and Sonya.”
Tatyana Bers spent most of her childhood in the writer's family and managed to become friends with the author of War and Peace, despite the fact that she was almost 20 years younger than him. Moreover, under the influence of Tolstoy, Kuzminskaya herself took up literary creativity. In her book “My Life at Home and in Yasnaya Polyana” she wrote: “Natasha - he directly said that it was not for nothing that I was living with him, that he was writing me off.” This can be confirmed in the novel. The episode with Natasha's doll, which she offers to kiss Boris, is indeed copied from a real incident when Tatyana offered her friend to kiss Mimi's doll. She later wrote: “My big Mimi doll ended up in a novel!” Tolstoy also based Natasha’s appearance on Tatiana.
For the image of the adult Rostova - wife and mother - the writer probably turned to Sophia. Tolstoy’s wife was devoted to her husband, gave birth to 13 children, took care of their upbringing, housekeeping, and indeed rewrote “War and Peace” several times.
Rostov
In the drafts of the novel, the family's surname is first the Tolstoys, then the Prostoys, then the Plokhovs. The writer used archival documents to recreate the life of his family and depict it in the life of the Rostov family. There are coincidences in names with Tolstoy's paternal relatives, as in the case of the old Count Rostov. The writer’s grandfather, Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy, is hiding under this name. This man, in fact, led a rather wasteful lifestyle and spent colossal sums on entertainment events. Leo Tolstoy in his memoirs wrote about him as a generous but limited person who constantly organized balls and receptions on the estate.
Even Tolstoy did not hide the fact that Vasily Denisov is Denis Davydov
And yet, this is not the good-natured Ilya Andreevich Rostov from War and Peace. Count Tolstoy was the Kazan governor and a well-known bribe-taker throughout Russia, although the writer recalls that his grandfather did not take bribes, but his grandmother took them in secret from her husband. Ilya Tolstoy was removed from his post after auditors discovered the theft of almost 15 thousand rubles from the provincial treasury. The reason for the shortage was called “lack of knowledge in the position of governor of the province.”
Nikolai Tolstoy. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Rostov is the father of the writer Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy. The prototype and the hero of “War and Peace” have more than enough similarities. Nikolai Tolstoy at the age of 17 voluntarily joined the Cossack regiment, served in the hussars and went through all the Napoleonic wars, including the Patriotic War of 1812. It is believed that the descriptions of war scenes with the participation of Nikolai Rostov were taken by the writer from his father’s memoirs. Nikolai inherited huge debts; he had to get a job as a teacher in the Moscow Military Orphan Department. To rectify the situation, he married the ugly and reserved Princess Maria Volkonskaya, who was four years older than him. The marriage was arranged by the relatives of the bride and groom. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, the marriage of convenience turned out to be very happy. Maria and Nikolai led a secluded life. Nikolai read a lot and collected a library on the estate, was engaged in farming and hunting. Tatyana Bers wrote to Sophia that Vera Rostova was very similar to Lisa Bers, Sophia’s other sister.
Bers sisters: Sophia, Tatyana and Elizaveta. (tolstoy-manuscript.ru)
Princess Marya
There is a version that the prototype of Princess Marya is Leo Tolstoy’s mother Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, by the way, also the full namesake of the book heroine. However, the writer's mother died when Tolstoy was less than two years old. No portraits of Volkonskaya survived, and the writer studied her letters and diaries to create her image for himself.
Unlike the heroine, the writer’s mother had no problems with the sciences, in particular with mathematics and geometry. She learned four foreign languages, and, judging by Volkonskaya’s diaries, she had a fairly warm relationship with her father, and she was devoted to him. Maria lived for 30 years with her father in Yasnaya Polyana (Bald Mountains from the novel), but never got married, although she was a very enviable bride. She was a private woman and rejected several suitors.
Dolokhov's prototype probably ate its own orangutan
Princess Volkonskaya even had a companion - Miss Hanessen, who was somewhat similar to Mademoiselle Bourrienne from the novel. After the death of her father, the daughter began to literally give away property. She gave part of the inheritance to her companion's sister, who had no dowry. After this, her relatives intervened in the matter and arranged the marriage of Maria Nikolaevna with Nikolai Tolstoy. Maria Volkonskaya died eight years after the wedding, having given birth to four children.
Old Prince Bolkonsky
Nikolai Volkonsky. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky is an infantry general who distinguished himself in several battles and received the nickname “Prussian King” from his colleagues. His character is very similar to the old prince: proud, self-willed, but not cruel. Left service after the accession of Paul I, retired to Yasnaya Polyana and began raising his daughter. He spent all his days improving his farm and teaching his daughter languages and sciences. An important difference from the character from the book: Prince Nikolai survived the War of 1812 well, and died nine years later, just shy of seventy. In Moscow he had a house on Vozdvizhenka, 9. Now it has been rebuilt.
The prototype of Ilya Rostov is Tolstoy’s grandfather, who ruined his career
Sonya
The prototype of Sonya can be called Tatyana Ergolskaya, the second cousin of Nikolai Tolstoy (the writer’s father), who was brought up in his father’s house. In their youth they had an affair that never ended in marriage. Not only Nikolai’s parents, but also Ergolskaya herself opposed the wedding. IN last time She rejected a marriage proposal from her cousin in 1836. The widowed Tolstoy asked Ergolskaya's hand in marriage so that she could become his wife and replace the mother of his five children. Ergolskaya refused, but after the death of Nikolai Tolstoy she really began raising his sons and daughter, devoting the rest of her life to them.
Leo Tolstoy valued his aunt and maintained correspondence with her. She was the first to begin collecting and storing the writer’s papers. In his memoirs, he wrote that everyone loved Tatyana and “her whole life was love,” but she herself always loved one person - Leo Tolstoy’s father.
Dolokhov
Fyodor Tolstoy is an American. (wikimedia.org)
Dolokhov has several prototypes. Among them, for example, is Lieutenant General and partisan Ivan Dorokhov, the hero of several major campaigns, including the War of 1812. However, if we talk about character, Dolokhov has more similarities with the writer’s cousin Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, nicknamed “The American.” He was a well-known buster, gambler and lover of women in his time. Dolokhov is also compared to officer A. Figner, who commanded a partisan detachment, participated in duels and hated the French.
Tolstoy is not the only writer who placed the American in his work. Fyodor Ivanovich is also considered the prototype of Zaretsky, Lensky’s second from Eugene Onegin. Tolstoy received his nickname after he made a trip to America, during which he was thrown off a ship. There is a version that he then ate his own monkey, although Sergei Tolstoy wrote that this is not true.
Kuragins
IN in this case it is difficult to talk about the family, because the images of Prince Vasily, Anatole and Helen are borrowed from several people who are not related. Kuragin Sr. is undoubtedly Alexey Borisovich Kurakin, a prominent courtier during the reign of Paul I and Alexander I, who made a brilliant career at court and made a fortune.
Alexey Borisovich Kurakin. (wikimedia.org)
He had three children, exactly like Prince Vasily, of whom his daughter caused him the most trouble. Alexandra Alekseevna really had a scandalous reputation; her divorce from her husband made a lot of noise in the world. Prince Kurakin in one of his letters even called his daughter the main burden of his old age. Looks like a character from War and Peace, doesn't it? Although Vasily Kuragin expressed himself a little differently.
On the right is Alexandra Kurakina. (wikimedia.org)
Prototypes of Helen - Bagration's wife and mistress of Pushkin's classmate
The prototype of Anatoly Kuragin should be called Anatoly Lvovich Shostak, second cousin Tatyana Bers, who looked after her when she came to St. Petersburg. After that, he came to Yasnaya Polyana and annoyed Leo Tolstoy. In the draft notes of War and Peace, Anatole’s last name is Shimko.
As for Helen, her image was taken from several women at once. In addition to some similarities with Alexandra Kurakina, she has a lot in common with Ekaterina Skvaronskaya (Bagration’s wife), who was known for her careless behavior not only in Russia, but also in Europe, where she left five years after the wedding. In her homeland she was called the “Wandering Princess,” and in Austria she was known as the mistress of Clemens Metternich, the empire’s foreign minister. From him, Ekaterina Skavronskaya gave birth - of course, out of wedlock - a daughter, Clementina. Perhaps it was “The Wandering Princess” that contributed to Austria’s entry into the anti-Napoleonic coalition.
Another woman from whom Tolstoy could have borrowed Helen’s features is Nadezhda Akinfova. She was born in 1840 and was very famous in St. Petersburg and Moscow as a woman of scandalous reputation and wild disposition. She gained wide popularity thanks to her affair with Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, a classmate of Pushkin. He, by the way, was 40 years older than Akinfova, whose husband was the chancellor’s great-nephew. Akinfova also divorced her first husband, but already married the Duke of Leuchtenberg in Europe, where they moved together. Let us remember that in the novel itself, Helen never divorced Pierre.
Ekaterina Skavronskaya-Bagration. (wikimedia.org)
Vasily Denisov
Denis Davydov. (wikimedia.org)
Every schoolchild knows that the prototype of Vasily Denisov was Denis Davydov - poet and writer, lieutenant general, partisan. Tolstoy used Davydov's works when studying the Napoleonic wars.
Julie Karagina
There is an opinion that Julie Karagina is Varvara Aleksandrovna Lanskaya, the wife of the Minister of Internal Affairs. She is known exclusively for the fact that she conducted a long correspondence with her friend Maria Volkova. Using these letters, Tolstoy studied the history of the War of 1812. Moreover, they were almost completely included in War and Peace under the guise of correspondence between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina.
Pierre Bezukhov
Peter Vyazemsky. (wikimedia.org)
Pierre does not have an obvious prototype, since this character has similarities both with Tolstoy himself and with many historical figures who lived during the times of the writer and during the Patriotic War.
However, some similarities can be seen with Peter Vyazemsky. He also wore glasses, received a huge inheritance, and took part in the Battle of Borodino. In addition, he wrote poetry and was published. Tolstoy used his notes when working on his novel.
Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova
In the novel, Akhrosimova is the guest that the Rostovs are waiting for at Natasha’s name day. Tolstoy writes that Marya Dmitrievna is known throughout St. Petersburg and all of Moscow, and for her directness and rudeness they call her “le terrible dragon.”
The similarity of the character can be seen with Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. This is a lady from Moscow, the niece of Prince Volkonsky. Prince Vyazemsky wrote in his memoirs that she was a strong, powerful woman who was very respected in society. The Ofrosimov estate was located in Chisty Lane (Khamovniki district) in Moscow. There is an opinion that Ofrosimova was also the prototype of Khlestova in “Woe from Wit” by Griboedov.
The alleged portrait of N. D. Ofrosimova by F. S. Rokotov. (wikimedia.org)
Lisa Bolkonskaya
Tolstoy based the appearance of Liza Bolkonskaya on Louise Ivanovna Truson, the wife of his second cousin. This is evidenced by Sophia's signature on the back of her portrait in Yasnaya Polyana.
Boris did not succeed in marrying a rich bride in St. Petersburg, and he came to Moscow for the same purpose. In Moscow, Boris was indecisive between the two richest brides - Julie and Princess Marya. Although Princess Marya, despite her ugliness, seemed more attractive to him than Julie, for some reason he felt awkward courting Bolkonskaya. On her last meeting with her, on the old prince’s name day, to all attempts to talk to her about feelings, she answered him inappropriately and, obviously, did not listen to him. Julie, on the contrary, although in a special way, unique to her, willingly accepted his courtship. Julie was twenty-seven years old. After the death of her brothers, she became very rich. She was now completely ugly; but I thought that she was not only just as good, but even much more attractive now than she was before. She was supported in this delusion by the fact that, firstly, she became a very rich bride, and secondly, the older she became, the safer she was for men, the freer it was for men to treat her and, without accepting undertake no obligation to take advantage of her dinners, evenings and the lively company that gathered at her place. A man who ten years ago would have been afraid to go every day to the house where there was a seventeen-year-old young lady, so as not to compromise her and tie himself down, now went to her boldly every day and treated her not as a young lady-bride, but as a acquaintance who has no gender. The Karagins' house was the most pleasant and hospitable house in Moscow that winter. In addition to evening parties and dinners, every day a large company gathered at the Karagins’, especially men, who dined at twelve o’clock in the morning and stayed until three o’clock. There was no ball, theater, or celebration that Julie missed. Her toilets were always the most fashionable. But, despite this, Julie seemed disappointed in everything, told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, nor in love, nor in any joys of life and was only waiting for reassurance there. She adopted the tone of a girl who had suffered great disappointment, a girl as if she had lost a loved one or had been cruelly deceived by him. Although nothing like this had happened to her, she was looked at as such, and she herself even believed that she had suffered a lot in life. This melancholy, which did not prevent her from having fun, did not prevent the young people who visited her from having a pleasant time. Each guest, coming to them, paid his debt to the melancholic mood of the hostess and then engaged in small talk, and dancing, and mental games, and burime tournaments, which were in fashion with the Karagins. Only a few young people, including Boris, delved deeper into Julie’s melancholic mood, and with these young people she had longer and more private conversations about the vanity of everything worldly and to them she opened her albums, filled with sad images, sayings and poems. Julie was especially kind to Boris: she regretted his early disappointment in life, offered him those consolations of friendship that she could offer, having suffered so much in life, and opened her album to him. Boris drew two trees for her in the album and wrote: “Arbres rustiques, vos sombres rameaux secouent sur moi les ténèbres et la mélancolie.” Elsewhere he drew a picture of a tomb and wrote:La mort est secourable et la mort est tranquille
Ah! contre les douleurs il n"y a pas d"autre asile
Aliment de poison d"une âme trop sensible,
Toi, sans qui le bonheur me serait impossible,
Tendre mélancolie, ah! viens me consoler,
Viens calmer les tourments de ma sombre retraite
Et mêle une douceur secrete
A ces pleurs, que je sens couler.
“Rural trees, your dark branches shake off darkness and melancholy on me.”
Death is saving, and death is calm.
MARRIAGES BUILDED BY CALCULATION (BASED ON THE NOVEL BY L.N. TOLSTOY'S "WAR AND PEACE")
Konstantinova Anna Alexandrovna
2nd year student of group S-21 GOU SPO
"Belorechensky Medical College" Belorechensk
Maltseva Elena Alexandrovna
scientific supervisor, teacher of Russian language and literature of the highest category, Belorechensk
Every girl dreams of marriage. Someone is dreaming of a happy family life with a once and for all chosen companion, and someone finds happiness in profit. Such a marriage, concluded by mutual consent, where each party pursues material wealth instead of love, is usually called a marriage of convenience.
There is an opinion that such marriages are extremely popular right now because people have become more materialistic, but in fact this concept appeared a long time ago. For example, in ancient times, kings married their daughters to the sons of another king in order to obtain a stronger army from this union to destroy a common enemy or to make peace between kingdoms. At that time, children did not really decide anything; more often than not, their marriage was planned even before they were born. It would seem that with the advent of democracy, equal rights for men and women , marriage of convenience should have disappeared. Unfortunately no. If earlier parents were the initiators, now children calculate their fate. Their calculations when concluding a marriage are very different. Some want to raise their status and increase their well-being; others - to get the opportunity to register and improve their living conditions. Girls are afraid of being left alone, being branded as “old maids,” and “the child needs a father.”
There are other reasons to enter into a marriage of convenience: the desire to gain fame, a higher social status, marry a foreigner. In the latter case, the calculation is not material, but rather psychological. Financial condition the future spouse is important, but not paramount; In a “prudent” union, women hope to find psychological comfort and stability. According to statistics, marriages of convenience are more durable, but if other people’s money is involved, then there is no need to talk about happiness. This is a deal that benefits both. Unfortunately, Russian statistics say: more than half of marriages break up.
Marriages of convenience are not just unions entered into for the sake of money. These are weddings played after analysis and reflection, when it is not the heart that pushes down the aisle, but the mind. People who are tired of looking for an ideal soul mate and are ready to take what at least suits them, or those who did not have a good relationship with their mother in childhood, who saw the tragedy of their parental family, are prone to such enterprises. By choosing a person on whom they have little emotional dependence, they seem to insure themselves against possible pain.
If for one spouse marriage is just a calculation, and for the other it is feelings, then you will hear a well-known saying about them: “One loves, the other allows himself to be loved.” The danger of such a union is that it rests on the will and mind of one of the partners. If both people deliberately enter into an arranged marriage, then the danger lies mainly in love! If she “unexpectedly turns up” and one of the spouses decides that the marriage is not beneficial for him, then it will be almost impossible to prevent him from leaving for his lover. As life shows, unions concluded wisely, into which love and affection then came, are the most viable.
In our article we would like to compare how the calculation in building a modern family differs from the heroes of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. Having collected and systematized material about arranged marriages and families in the novel, we aimed to show young people negative aspects marriage of convenience, because marriage is a serious act that determines the fate of later life.
How was this life experience reflected in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”?
The author realized that the truth of life lies in maximum naturalness, and the main value in life is family. There are many families in the novel, but we will focus on those that are opposed to Tolstoy’s favorite families: the “mean breed of Kuragins,” the cold Bergs and the calculating Drubetsky. The officer is not very noble birth, Berg serves on the headquarters. He always ends up in right time and in in the right place, makes the necessary contacts that are beneficial to him, so he has advanced far in his career. He told everyone for so long and with such significance about how he was wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz that he still received two awards for one wound. “According to Tolstoy’s classification, he belonged to the little “Napoleons”, like the vast majority of staff workers.” Tolstoy denies him any honor. Berg has no “warmth of patriotism”, so during Patriotic War 1812 he is not with the people, but rather against them. Berg is trying to make the most of the war. When everyone was leaving Moscow before the fire and even noble, rich people abandoned their property to free the carts and transport the wounded on them, Berg bought furniture at bargain prices. His wife is a match for him - Vera, eldest daughter in the Rostov family.
The Rostovs decided to educate her according to the then existing canons: from French teachers. As a result, Vera completely falls out of the friendly, warm family where love reigned supreme. Even her mere appearance in the room made everyone feel awkward. No wonder. She was beautiful girl, who regularly attended social balls, but received her first proposal from Berg at the age of 24. There was a risk that there would be no new proposals for marriage, and the Rostovs agreed to marry an ignorant person. And here it is necessary to note Berg’s commercialism and calculation: he demanded 20 thousand rubles in cash as a dowry and another bill for 80 thousand. Berg's philistinism knew no bounds. This marriage is devoid of sincerity; they even treated their children unnaturally. “The only thing is that we don’t have children so soon.” . Children were considered a burden by Berg; they contradicted his selfish views. Vera fully supported him, adding: “Yes, I don’t want this at all.” The Berg family is an example of a certain immorality. Tolstoy really doesn’t like that in this family everything is assigned, everything is done “like people”: the same furniture is bought, the same carpets are laid, the same evening parties are held. Berg buys expensive clothes for his wife, but when he wanted to kiss her, he first decided to straighten the curled corner of the carpet. So, Berg and Vera had neither warmth, nor naturalness, nor kindness, nor any other virtues that were so important for the humanist Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
According to the Bergs, Boris Drubetskoy. The son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna was raised from childhood and lived for a long time in the Rostov family. “A tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face,” Boris has dreamed of a career since his youth, is very proud, but accepts his mother’s troubles and is lenient with her humiliations if it benefits him. A.M. Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Once in military service, Drubetskoy dreams of making a brilliant career in this area. In the world, Boris strives to make useful contacts and uses his last money to give the impression of a rich and successful person. Drubetskoy is looking for a rich bride, choosing at the same time between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina. The extremely rich and wealthy Julie attracts him more, although she is already somewhat older. But for Drubetsky, the ideal option is a pass into the world of “light.”
How much irony and sarcasm sounds from the pages of the novel when we read the declaration of love of Boris Drubetsky and Julie Karagina. Julie knows that this brilliant but poor handsome man does not love her, but demands a declaration of love according to all the rules for his wealth. And Boris, saying the right words, thinks that you can always arrange it so that you rarely see your wife. For people like the Kuragins and Drubetskys, all means are good, just to achieve success and fame and strengthen their position in society.
The Kuragin family also turns out to be far from ideal, in which there is no homely warmth or sincerity. Kuragins do not value each other. Prince Vasily notices that he does not have a “bump parental love" "My children are the burden of my existence". Moral underdevelopment, primitiveness of life interests - these are the features of this family. The main motive accompanying the description of the Kuragins is “imaginary beauty”, external shine. These heroes shamelessly interfere in the lives of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Pierre Bezukhov, cripple their destinies, personifying lies, depravity, and evil.
The head of the family, Prince Kuragin, is a typical representative of secular Petersburg. He is smart, gallant, dressed in the latest fashion, but behind all this brightness and beauty hides a completely false, unnatural, greedy, rude man. The most important thing in his life is money and position in society. For the sake of money, he is even ready to commit a crime. Let us remember the tricks he goes to in order to bring the rich but inexperienced Pierre closer to him. He successfully gets his daughter Helen married. But behind her beauty and the sparkle of diamonds there is no soul. She is empty, callous and heartless. For Helen, family happiness does not lie in the love of her husband or children, but in spending her husband’s money. As soon as Pierre starts talking about offspring, she laughs rudely in his face. Only with Natasha is Pierre truly happy, because they “made concessions to one another, merged into one harmonious whole.”
The author does not hide his disgust for the “vile breed” of the Kuragins. There is no place for good motives and aspirations in it. “The world of the Kuragins is a world of “secular rabble,” dirt and debauchery. The selfishness, selfishness and base instincts that reign there do not allow these people to be called a full-fledged family. . Their main vices are carelessness, selfishness and an insatiable thirst for money.
Tolstoy, assessing the lives of his heroes from a moral point of view, emphasized the decisive importance of the family for the formation of a person’s character, his attitude to life, to himself. If there is no moral core in the parents, then there will be none in the children.
Many of our contemporaries choose arranged marriage. The most correct calculation is one that takes into account the interests of everyone, including children. If it is based on mutual respect and even benefit, then such a marriage can turn out to be durable. Statistical data also speaks to this. According to Western psychologists, arranged marriages break up only in 5-7% of cases. At the end of the 20th century, 4.9% of Russians married for financial reasons, and now almost 60% of young women marry for convenience. But men are not averse to joining “ unequal marriage" It is no longer uncommon for a pretty young man to marry a successful, wealthy lady who is old enough to be his mother. And - imagine! - according to statistics, such marriages do not fall into the “short-term” category.
At the end of the 20th century, an interesting survey was conducted among married couples with extensive experience. 49% of Muscovites and 46% of St. Petersburg residents surveyed claimed that love was the reason for getting married. However, opinions about what exactly holds a marriage together have changed over the years. Recently, only 16% of men and 25% of women consider love to be the bonding factor of a family. Others put other priorities first: good job(33.9% of men), material wealth (31.3% of men), family well-being(30.6% women) .
The disadvantages of arranged marriages include the following: lack of love; total control of who finances the marriage; life in a “golden cage” is not excluded; in case of violation marriage contract The “offending party” risks being left with nothing.
We conducted a sociological survey among students of the Belorechensk Medical College, in which 85 people took part, 1st and 2nd year students aged from 16 to 19 years. Young people preferred marriage for financial reasons, and this once again proves that our contemporaries strive to financial stability, even at the expense of others. This is exactly what Tolstoy was afraid of when talking about the loss of moral principles. The exception was 1% of those who believe that the calculation can be noble (help to a loved one, sacrificing his future fate).
And yet our contemporaries would like to get married for love. Some out of a desire to quickly escape from parental care, others - succumbing to a bright feeling. More and more often modern people they prefer to live in a civil marriage, without burdening themselves with the burden of responsibility for the fate of another person, they build families according to convenience, without “including feelings,” with a sober head. At the same time, they do not suffer from love and inattention; they enter into marriage contracts, eliminating possible risks.
Our respondents believe in love as a bright, all-consuming feeling and do not want to build their families on the basis of commercialism. Main components happy family they consider love, mutual respect, trust. A family cannot be considered happy if there are no children in it.
So what is more important: feeling or reason? Why are there more and more people agreeing to arranged marriages? The era leaves its mark on human relations. People value predictability and convenience more, and an arranged marriage guarantees the future. Everyone will decide for themselves what kind of marriage to enter into and with whom. The strength of both marriages will become approximately the same in a few years. It all depends on how to build a relationship with your loved one. And the truth says: “Find the golden mean between your heart and mind - and be happy!”
References:
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