Boris and Julie love line. The relationship between the images of Julie Karagina and Marya Bolkonskaya. "Who is the true hero?" - the social role of the nobility, its influence on the life of society and the country

The female theme occupies an important place in the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” (1863-1869). The work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles of artistic research 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 is immersed in eternal vanity. In his portrait of the beautiful Helen, Tolstoy draws attention to the “whiteness of the shoulders,” the “gloss of the hair and diamonds,” the “very open chest and back,” and the “unchanging smile.” These details allow the artist to highlight

The inner emptiness, the 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

The bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna does not experience

A feeling of compassion, but a fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance.

Tolstoy also shows high-society beauties in “family life.” Family and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helene finds Pierre's words funny that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova with

He thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease she throws

Husband. Helen is a concentrated manifestation of deadening lack of spirituality, emptiness,

Vanity. The insignificance of the life of the “socialite” is fully consistent with the mediocrity of her death.

Excessive emancipation, according to Tolstoy, leads a woman to a misunderstanding of her own role. In the salons of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer there are political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the situation of the Russian army... Thus, high-society beauties have lost the main features that are inherent in a real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, and Natasha Rostova, those features that constitute the type of “woman in the full sense” are grouped.

At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life “as it is.” In fact, we will not find “consciously heroic” female characters in the work, similar to Turgenev’s Marianna from the novel “Nov” or Elena Stakhova from “On the Eve”. The very way of creating female images of Tolstoy and Turgenev is also different. Turgenev was a realist at the same time a romantic in the depiction of love. Let us remember the ending of the novel “The Noble Nest”: Lavretsky visits a remote monastery, where Lisa has disappeared. Moving from choir to choir, she walks past him with the gait of a nun, “... only the eyelashes of the eye turned towards him trembled a little. .. What did they both think and feel? Who will know? Who will say? There are such moments in life... You can only point to them and pass by.” spirituality lies not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other “male issues”, but exclusively in the ability to love, in devotion to the family hearth. Daughter, sister, wife, mother - these are the main positions 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, we see the patriotism of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova during the French invasion, we see the reluctance of Marya Volkonskaya to take advantage of

The patronage of the French general and the impossibility for Natasha to stay in Moscow

Under the French. 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 Volkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov - could find a 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

Resignedly, but she is unable to give up her love. And after Nikolai's marriage

Sonya, of course, continues to love him. Marya Volkonskaya with her gospel

Humility is especially close to Tolstoy. And yet it is her image that personifies triumph

Natural human needs over asceticism. The princess secretly dreams of

Marriage, about your own family, about children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is 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.

Love is the essence of Natasha Rostova's life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the uncomplaining Sonya, and her mother-countess, and her father, and Nikolai 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 is proof of this.

Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha after leaving Moscow with a convoy, which includes the wounded Bolkonsky. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha’s life of meaning, but the news of Petya’s death forces the heroine to overcome her own grief in order to keep her 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 renounces social life, “all her charms” and

He devotes himself 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 contrary to all the rules of logic.” This is the ideal of family happiness. This is Tolstoy’s ideal of “peace.”

It seems to me that Tolstoy’s thoughts about the true purpose of a woman are not outdated today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by people who devote themselves

Political, social or professional activities. But still, many of our contemporaries chose Tolstoy’s favorite heroines for themselves. And is it really so little to love and be loved?!
The famous novel by L.N. Tolstoy depicts many human destinies, different

Characters, good and bad. It is the opposition of good and evil, morality and recklessness that lies at the heart of Tolstoy’s novel. At the center of the story are the fates of the writer’s favorite heroes - Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova and Marya Volkonskaya. All of them are united by a sense of goodness and beauty, they are looking for their way in the world, striving for happiness and love.

But, of course, women have their own special purpose, given by nature itself; she is, first of all, a mother, a wife. For Tolstoy this is indisputable. The world of family is the basis of human society, and the mistress of it is a woman. The images of women in the novel are revealed and evaluated by the author with the help of his favorite technique - contrasting the internal and external images of a person.

We see the ugliness of Princess Marya, but her “beautiful, radiant eyes” illuminate this face with an amazing light. Having fallen in love with Nikolai Rostov, the princess at the moment of meeting him

She transforms in such a way that Mademoiselle Bourien almost does not recognize her: “chest, feminine notes” appear in her voice, and grace and dignity appear in her movements. “For the first time, all that pure spiritual work with which she had lived until now came out” and made the heroine’s face beautiful.

We don’t notice any particular attractiveness in Natasha Rostova’s appearance either. Eternally changeable, on the move, responding violently to everything that happens around Natasha can “loose her big mouth, becoming completely bad”, “roar like a child”, “only because Sonya was a jackal”, she can grow old and change unrecognizably from grief after Andrey's death. It is precisely this kind of life variability in Natasha that Tolstoy likes because her appearance is a reflection

The richest world of her feelings.

Unlike Tolstoy's favorite heroines - Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya, Helen is

The embodiment of external beauty and at the same time strange immobility, fossilization.

Tolstoy constantly mentions her “monotonous,” “unchanging” smile and “antique beauty of her body.” She resembles a beautiful but soulless statue. It is not for nothing that the author does not mention her eyes at all, which, on the contrary, in positive heroines always attract our attention. Helen is good in appearance, but she is the personification of immorality and depravity. For the beautiful Helen, marriage is the path to enrichment. She cheats on her husband constantly, the animal nature prevails in her nature. Pierre, her husband, is struck by her inner rudeness. Helen is childless. "I'm not such a fool as to have children,"

She utters blasphemous words. Without being divorced, she solves the problem by

Who should she marry, unable to choose one of her two suitors. Mysterious

Helen's death is due to the fact that she became entangled in her own intrigues. Such is this heroine, her attitude to the sacrament of marriage, to the responsibilities of a woman. But for Tolstoy,

This is the most important thing in assessing the heroines of a novel.

Princess Marya and Natasha become wonderful wives. Not everything is available to Natasha

Pierre's intellectual life, but with her soul she understands his actions, helps her husband in

Everyone. Princess Marya captivates Nicholas with spiritual wealth, which is not given to his simple nature. Under the influence of his wife, his unbridled temper softens, for the first time he realizes his rudeness towards men. Marya does not understand Nikolai's economic worries, she is even jealous of her husband for them. But the harmony of family life lies in the fact that husband and wife seem to complement and enrich each other and form one whole. Temporary misunderstandings and mild conflicts are resolved here through reconciliation.

Marya and Natasha are wonderful mothers, but Natasha is more concerned about the health of the children (Tolstoy shows how she takes care of her youngest son), Marya surprisingly penetrates into the child’s character and takes care of spiritual and moral education. We see that the heroines are similar in the main, most valuable qualities for the author - they are given the ability to subtly feel the mood of loved ones, to share other people's grief, they selflessly love their family. A very important quality of Natasha and Marya is naturalness, artlessness. They are not able to play a role, they do not depend on

Prying eyes may violate etiquette. At her first ball Natasha

It stands out precisely for its spontaneity and sincerity in the expression of feelings. Princess

Marya, at the decisive moment of her relationship with Nikolai Rostov, forgets what she wanted

Be aloof and polite. She sits, thinking bitterly, then cries, and Nikolai, sympathizing with her, goes beyond the scope of small talk. As always with Tolstoy,

Ultimately, everything is decided by a look that expresses feelings more freely than words: “and the distant,

The impossible suddenly became close, possible and inevitable."

In his novel "War and Peace" the writer conveys to us his love for life, which appears in all its charm and completeness. And, considering the female images of the novel, we are once again convinced of this.

In Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" a huge number of images pass before the reader. 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 - a 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.

Helen Kuragina can be called an absolute genius of social life. 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 a well-known affair 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.
A distinctive feature of Marya, like her entire family, is 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 journey from a thirteen-year-old girl to a married woman and 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 was the resigned Sonya, an orphan. The image of Sonya is not written 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, indeed, 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 of Natasha and Sonya with the Russian people. This is great praise for the heroines from their creator. For example, Sonya fits perfectly into the atmosphere of 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 the folk basis of his heroines, Tolstoy very often shows them against the backdrop of Russian nature.

Natasha's appearance, at first glance, is ugly, but her inner beauty ennobles her. 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.

IN novelL. In N. Tolstoy, female images play a significant role. It is with these that the theme of “peace” is connected in the novel, that is, society, family, happiness. The writer showed us different families: the Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, Bezukhovs, Drubetskys, Dolokhovs and others. The women in them are different, but their role is significant everywhere. The fate of the family, its way of life, and the formation of moral values depend on the character of women, on their mental makeup.

Tolstoy loves two of his heroines most of all: Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. Girls who read the novel really like the cheerful, spontaneous and unpredictable Natasha.

I like both girls. But if I had to choose one of them as a friend, I would choose Princess Marya. Maybe with Natasha it would be more fun, brighter, but with Marya I would be more interesting and more reliable.

It was not easy for her to live with her old father and her French governess. Ugly, lonely, with all the wealth of the Bolkonskys, she is deprived of much: she has no close friends, no mother. The despotic father and the coldly reserved brother, busy with work and his own problems, were not conducive to communication and the manifestation of tender feelings.

But Princess Marya built her spiritual castle, strict and pure. She is smart, truly kind and natural in every step she takes. Even her religiosity evokes respect, because for Princess Marya God is, first of all, justice, her faith is demanding of herself; She begs weakness for everyone else, never for herself.

There is no vanity, no frivolity in the actions and words of Princess Marya. Her self-esteem does not allow her to cheat, keep silent, or not stand up for a person she respects. When Julie Kuragina wrote in a letter about Pierre that he “always seemed to her an insignificant person,” the princess answered her: “I cannot share your opinion about Pierre. It seemed to me that he always had a wonderful heart, and this is the quality that I value most in people.” Princess Marya in a letter expresses her sympathy for Pierre: “So young to be burdened with such a huge fortune, how many temptations will he have to go through!”

An amazing understanding of people and the complexities of life for a young girl!

She will be able to understand Natasha who stumbled, she will be able to understand and forgive her father, she understands the situation of the peasants and orders the master’s bread to be given to them.

The death of her father freed Princess Marya from eternal fear, from constant control and guardianship. But now, surrounded by enemies, with a young nephew in her arms, she had to make decisions herself. In difficult moments, the determination and dignity of her father and brother awakened in her: “So that Prince Andrey knows that she is in the power of the French! So that she, the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, asks Mr. General Rameau to provide her with patronage and enjoy his benefits!” And her offended pride results in quick and decisive action. During this difficult period for the princess, Nikolai Rostov appears as a savior and protector. She drives away the thoughts that she would like to see him as her future husband. Self-doubt prevents her from believing that happiness has come to her too.

The inner beauty of Princess Marya, her intelligence, purity, and naturalness make us forget about her external ugliness. Nikolai Rostov also sees only her radiant, shining eyes, which by the end of the novel are filled with a radiance of happiness.

Of course, every girl should have a thirst for life, love and happiness, like Natasha Rostova. But every girl must also have Princess Marya, with her self-doubt, with her secret conviction that love will come to anyone but her, with a deeply hidden dream of happiness. Without this, she will turn into Helen Bezukhova.

Julie Karagina plays a minor role in the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".

Since there are two families in this novel - the Karagins and the Kuragins, you can very easily get confused in them. The Karagin family is Julie Karagina herself and her mother. The reader learns that they are very rich and live in Moscow. Julie is a friend of Princess Marya. She used to have brothers, but in 1811 they died on the battlefield.

The Kuragins are presented in the novel as the head of the family - Prince Vasily - and his children: Helen, Hippolyte and Anatole.

At the beginning of the book - 1805 - Julie is 20-21 years old. She is not particularly attractive, she has a round red face, wet eyes and a chin that digs into her eyes. She carefully follows fashion, dressing herself only in new items. However, for a very long time in the novel she cannot get married, so in society, behind her back, she is called an “old bride.” The princess strives to get married as soon as possible, so she often goes to various theaters and balls to find at least someone of the male sex. She wants to show herself as a patriotic girl by saying something about the French.

After the death of her brothers, the girl becomes one of the richest brides in Moscow. She is very unnatural, naive and stupid. Because of the princess's wealth, Rostov's mother was ready to persuade her son to marry her, since the family was in a bad situation. Julie herself likes Rostov, but she understands perfectly well that because of the age difference there will be nothing but friendship. Nikolai does not love her and the very idea of “marriage for money” disgusts him.

And soon, his former best friend, Boris Drubetskoy, begins to court her. This happens because of money, since the girl herself is disgusting to him, he does not love her. Julie understands this perfectly, but does not show it. As a result, Boris marries her and a magnificent wedding takes place. The girl is now Princess Drubetskaya. But her husband does not intend to see her often.

Julie was also on friendly terms with Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. They were closest friends from a very young age. However, throughout their lives, their friendship began to crumble little by little. As people, they had changed since childhood, and now had virtually nothing in common in conversation. Julie seemed like a stranger to Marie. And she, in turn, did not enjoy their meetings as she had before.

This character was shown to the reader as a girl who is ready to marry anyone, and they want to marry her only for money. But in the end, she never receives love itself from her husband.

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 for children, but he considers it his great 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.

The prince's disgusting actions

In the first part, starting from 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 of high position. So, for example, everyone knows that he is on good terms 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 a secular man - 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 letter i, which is unusual for us, and meant not only peace as the absence of war, but also, to a greater extent, the universe, and there was no direct antithesis in this title) - a work in which the prince shown against the backdrop of high society receptions and in his own 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.

In the section for the question Help please!!! I urgently need something based on the image of Julie Kuragina from the novel War and Peace! given by the author Grow up the best answer is The image of Julie Karagina FROM Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". This is a typical secular young lady. Old Prince Bolkonsky, with whose daughter she corresponds, does not want Princess Marya to be like people like Julie, empty and false young ladies. Julie does not have her own opinion, she evaluates people only as they are evaluated in the world (her opinion about Pierre). Her goal is to get married, and she never hides it. Soon Sonya is jealous of Nikolai when he begins to talk animatedly with her. Subsequently, she has a chance to arrange her destiny when her two brothers die and she becomes a rich heiress. It was then that Boris Drubetskoy began to court her. Barely hiding his disgust for Julie, he proposes to her, and she, knowing full well that he cannot love her, still forces her to say the right things (Togstoy ironically notes that Karagina’s estate was worth these false words of love).
Once again we see Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, as she tries to flaunt her “patriotism” during the War of 1812. For example, her letters to Princess Marya are already different: “I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” wrote Julie, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear spoken. .. We in Moscow are all delighted through enthusiasm for our beloved emperor. My poor husband endures labor and hunger in the Jewish taverns; but the news that I have inspires me even more “Also” in the company of Julie, as in many societies in Moscow. , it was supposed to speak only in Russian, and those who made mistakes when speaking French words paid a fine in favor of the donations committee." Drubetskaya was one of the first to leave Moscow, even before the Battle of Borodino.
We don't meet with her anymore. But one more detail. Tolstoy does not describe her face in detail, saying only that it is red and covered in powder. It immediately becomes clear how he feels about his heroine.

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 of 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; The cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon... Secular society is 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 and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helene finds Pierre's words funny 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... A feeling of false patriotism forces them to speak exclusively in Russian during the period of the French invasion.

High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent in 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 positions 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 period of the French invasion are patriotic, and Marya Bolkonskaya’s reluctance to take advantage of the patronage of the French general and the inability for Natasha 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 again overcome 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 of the human personality in the image of Natasha. 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 of money at cards to 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 “It’s all nonsense, but she’s 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 a very ordinary person, with her own weaknesses. Her heart is characterized by simplicity, openness, and gullibility; she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to reason.

Secular society is 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, does Julie Karagina, who, thanks to her wealth, have a sufficient selection 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 and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helene finds Pierre's words funny 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... A feeling of false patriotism forces them to broadcast only in Russian during the French invasion. High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent in 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.