What are the last thoughts of old Prince Bolkonsky? Bolkonsky family

When reading the novel, readers meet on the pages of its heroes who serve life examples morality and evoke sympathy. They've already been through a hard time life path, serving the homeland, raising children. This is exactly how Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is described. The image of a retired general exiled to the village of Bald Mountains does not itself relate to central characters works. He is the father of its two main characters: Masha and Andrei Bolkonsky. But, nevertheless, his image is remembered for its bright uniqueness.

He, like most of Tolstoy's characters, has real prototype, Prince N.S. Volkonsky. When you read about the old prince in a novel, you notice that the author himself treats his hero with warmth and respects him.

Characteristics

Before us appears a man of difficult character, but intelligent, capable of deep feelings. The prince, even living in the village, does not know how to be bored - he knows how to take care of his time, he cannot idle. He works with his daughter Masha, works in the garden, and writes memoirs. This is a person who loves order.

("Old Prince N.A. Bolkonsky", artist A.V. Nikolaev, 1960)

The prince is strict and stern; he values ​​family honor above all else. These traits are especially pronounced in his behavior, as well as in his relationships with children. “If they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man... And if I find out that you did not behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be... ashamed!” - he says to his eldest son when he goes to the front. Nikolai does not give his son any parting words, does not hug him, only looks at him silently, and then angrily shouts for him to leave. By your behavior old prince covers deep feeling love for him. After his son left, he locked himself in his office and cried for a long time, as evidenced by the blowing of his nose and sighs that were heard even outside the door.

The image of the hero in the work

(Anatoly Ktorov as Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, Feature Film"War and Peace", USSR 1967)

Nikolai is distinguished by his short stature, small dry hands, intelligent, constantly sparkling eyes, and slightly frowning, hanging eyebrows. He prefers to walk in “a caftan and powder.” By character, the hero is demanding and harsh, but fair and principled, proud and reserved, interested in the events that are happening around him in the world.

Bolkonsky is a patriot with a sense of duty, decent, noble. And he raises his children to be the same. The prince's family stands out sharply from other families of the aristocratic world. The Bolkonskys are hardworking and active. They are close to the people and know how to delve into problems ordinary people, understand them.

The prince is firmly convinced that the basis of life is “... only two virtues - activity and intelligence.” He brings up the same beliefs in his daughter Marya, and therefore teaches her all the sciences that he himself knows.

Nikolai Bolkonsky is represented by L.N. Fat as collective image patriots of their Fatherland, people of high morality. But he is not a representative of the outgoing generation. Andrey grew up just like his father. People like Bolkonsky will always be among the leading representatives of the people.

The time period of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is one of the most significant eras in Russian history. But this specific historical theme does not stand alone in the novel; it is raised to the level of universal human significance. "War and Peace" begins with scenes depicting the highest noble society. Tolstoy reproduces his appearance and historical development over the course of three generations. Recreating without embellishment the “beautiful beginning of Alexander’s days,” Tolstoy could not help but touch on the previous Catherine’s era. These two eras are represented by two generations of people. These are old people: Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky and Count Kirill Bezukhov and their children, who are successors to their fathers. Relationships between generations are first and foremost family relationships. After all, in the family, according to Tolstoy, the spiritual principles of the individual and moral concepts are laid. Let's look at the son and father of the Bolkonskys and their relationship with each other.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich is a representative of the patrimonial Russian aristocracy, a man of Catherine’s era. This era is becoming a thing of the past, however, causing the respect that its representative, old Bolkonsky, rightfully enjoys among the neighboring landowners. Nikolai Andreevich is certainly an extraordinary person. He belongs to the generation that at one time built a powerful Russian statehood. At court, Prince Bolkonsky occupied special place. He was a close associate of Catherine II, but achieved his position not through sycophancy, like many in his time, but through personal business qualities and talents. The very fact that under Paul he received resignation and exile indicates that he served the fatherland, and not the kings. His appearance reflected the features of a noble and wealthy maternal grandfather - a military general. A family legend is associated with the name of this man: a proud man and an atheist, he refused to marry the Tsar’s mistress, for which he was exiled first to the distant northern Trumant, and then to his estate near Tula. Both old Bolkonsky and Prince Andrei are proud of the ancient family and its services to the fatherland. Andrei Bolkonsky inherited from his father a high concept of honor, nobility, pride and independence, as well as a sharp mind and sober judgment about people. Both father and son despise upstarts and careerists such as Kuragin. Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky did not make friends in his time with such people who, for the sake of their career, were ready to sacrifice the honor and duty of a citizen and a person. Old Bolkonsky, however, appreciates and loves Count Kirill Bezukhov. Bezukhov was Catherine’s favorite; he was once known as a handsome man and enjoyed success with women. But Count Kirill’s original philosophy of enjoying life has undergone changes over the years, perhaps that’s why he has now become closer and more understandable to old Bolkonsky.
Andrei has a lot in common in appearance and views with his father, although there are also plenty of disagreements regarding the latter. The old prince went through a harsh school of life and judges people from the position of the benefit that they bring both to the fatherland and to other people. In him amazingly combines the morals of an imperious nobleman, before whom everyone at home trembles, an aristocrat proud of his pedigree, and the traits of a man of great intelligence and life experience. He raised his son and daughter in strictness and was accustomed to managing their lives. Old Bolkonsky could not understand his son’s feelings for Natasha Rostova. Not believing in the sincerity of their love, he does everything he can to prevent their relationship. Something similar happened in the case of Lisa. Marriage, according to the old Bolkonsky’s concepts, exists only to give the family a legitimate heir. Therefore, when Andrei and Lisa had friction, the father consoled his son with the fact that “they are all like that.” Andrei had a lot of sophistication, a desire for a higher ideal, perhaps that’s why he felt constant dissatisfaction with himself, which old Bolkonsky could not understand. But if he still took Andrei into account, even then listened to his opinion, then his relationship with his daughter was much more complex. Madly in love with Marya, he made exorbitant demands on her education, character, and talents. He also interferes in his daughter’s personal life, or rather completely deprives her of the right to this life. Because of his selfish motives, he does not want to marry off his daughter. And yet, at the end of his life, the old prince reconsiders his attitude towards children. He has great respect for his son’s views and looks at his daughter in a new way. If earlier Marya’s religiosity was the subject of ridicule from her father, then before his death he admits that she was right. He asks forgiveness for his crippled life from his daughter and, in absentia, from his son.
Old Bolkonsky believed in the progress and future greatness of his homeland, so he served it with all his might. Even while ill, he did not choose the position of an outside observer in the War of 1812. Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky created his own militia detachment from volunteer peasants.
Andrei’s views on the subject of glory and service to the homeland differ from his father’s. Prince Andrey is skeptical about the state and power in general. He has the same attitude towards people who are placed by fate at the highest level of power. He condemns Emperor Alexander for entrusting power to foreign generals. Prince Andrei eventually revised his views on Napoleon. If at the beginning of the novel he perceives Napoleon as the ruler of the world, now he sees in him an ordinary invader who has replaced service to his homeland with the desire for personal glory. The lofty idea of ​​serving the fatherland, which inspired his father, grows with Prince Andrei into the idea of ​​serving the world, the unity of all people, the idea of ​​universal love and the unity of man with nature. Andrey begins to understand those Christian motives, which guided his sister’s life and which he
I couldn't understand it before. Now Andrei curses the war, not dividing it into just and unjust. War is murder, and murder is incompatible with human nature. Maybe that’s why Prince Andrei dies without having time to fire a single shot.
We must remember one more similarity between both Bolkonskys. Both of them are comprehensively educated, gifted people who are close to the ideas of humanism and enlightenment. Therefore, with all their external severity, they treat their peasants humanely. The Bolkonsky peasants are prosperous; Prince Nikolai Andreevich always takes into account the needs of the peasants first. He takes care of them even when leaving the estate due to an enemy invasion. Prince Andrei adopted this attitude towards the peasants from his father. Let us remember that, having returned home after Austerlitz and taken up farming, he does a lot to improve the lives of his serfs.
At the end of the novel we see another Bolkonsky. This is Nikolinka Bolkonsky - Andrei's son. The boy hardly knew his father. When his son was little, Andrei first fought in two wars, then stayed abroad for a long time due to illness. Bolkonsky died when his son was 14 years old. But Tolstoy makes Nikolinka Bolkonsky the successor and continuer of his father’s ideas. After the death of Prince Andrei, the younger Bolkonsky has a dream in which his father comes to him, and the boy vows to live in such a way that “everyone will recognize him, everyone will love him, everyone will admire” him.
Thus, in the novel Tolstoy introduced us to several generations of Bolkonskys. First, a military general - the grandfather of old Prince Nicholas. We do not meet him on the pages of War and Peace, but he is mentioned in the novel. Then the old prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, whom Tolstoy described very fully. Representative younger generation Andrei Bolkonsky, one of Tolstoy's favorite heroes, is shown. And finally, his son Nikolinka. It is he who will have to not only preserve the traditions of the family, but also continue them.

This is how Tolstoy describes Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky. Most of all, the old prince valued in people “two virtues: activity and intelligence.” “He himself was involved in raising his daughter and, in order to develop both main virtues in her, gave her lessons in algebra and geometry and distributed her whole life in continuous studies. He himself was constantly busy either writing his memoirs,” or “calculations from higher mathematics, or turning snuff boxes on a machine, or working in the garden and observing the buildings that did not stop on his estate.” Living in the village, Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky reads a lot, he is aware of current events. Unlike the inhabitants of secular drawing rooms, he deeply worries about everything that happens in Russia, and believes that the duty of a nobleman is to serve his homeland. True love to his homeland and the consciousness of his duty to it are heard in his parting words to his son: “Remember one thing, Prince Andrei: if they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man... And if I find out that you did not behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be... ashamed!" When in 1806 the theater of military operations approached the Russian borders, Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, despite his venerable age, accepted appointment as one of the eight commanders-in-chief of the militia. “He was constantly traveling around the three provinces entrusted to him; he was pedantic in his duties, strict to the point of cruelty with his subordinates, and he himself went down to the smallest details of the matter.” In 1812, having learned about the capture of Smolensk by the French, the old Prince Bolkonsky decides to “stay in the Bald Mountains to the last extreme and defend himself.” Thoughts about his homeland, about its fate, about the defeat of the Russian army do not leave him even in his dying hours. Nikolai Andreevich was a Russian gentleman, sometimes tyranny and despotism manifested themselves in him, but at the same time he was a man of enormous moral strength, highly developed spiritually. The traits of Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky were inherited by his children - Prince Andrei and Princess Marya.The young Bolkonsky stands out sharply from the high society environment with his education and breadth of interests. Pierre Bezukhov is amazed at Prince Andrei's extraordinary memory, erudition, and his ability to learn. The empty and meaningless life of secular drawing rooms weighs heavily on Prince Andrei. “...The life I lead here, this life is not for me!” - he says to Pierre.Old Prince Bolkonsky did not want his daughter to be like secular women. He did not like idleness, he worked himself and demanded that the princess’s life be filled useful activities. My father's influence did not go unnoticed. Princess Marya is capable of deep understanding not only of her life, but also of the actions of “other people, surrounding reality. She immediately understood what kind of person Anatol Kuragin was, and resolutely refused Prince Vasily’s offer to become his son’s wife. In a letter to Julie, she condemns the war and talks about how difficult recruitment is for the people. In 1812, Princess Marya rejected Mademoiselle Bourien's offer to turn to General Rameau for help and left for Bogucharovo so as not to remain captured by the French.Princess Marya was a deeply religious person. Christian doctrine suppressed in her feelings of protest and struggle for her happiness. “All the complex laws of humanity were concentrated for her in one simple and clear law - the law of love and self-sacrifice...” Egoism is alien to her, she is capable of sacrificing her interests for the sake of others; Princess Marya is unwavering in fulfilling her duty towards her family and friends. The patience and humility that she shows towards her father is worthy of respect. She replaces the mother of little Nikolenka, the son of Prince Andrei. Having learned that her brother was seriously wounded and was in Yaroslavl, the princess, despite the difficulties of the journey to war time, goes to him with Nikolenka, considering it his duty to be close to his brother and take all measures to alleviate his suffering.Having married Nikolai Rostov, Princess Marya gives her spiritual strength to her family. She has a beneficial influence on her husband, who is quick-tempered and sometimes rude and cruel in dealing with people, great love and pays attention to raising children. Tolstoy more than once notes that Princess Marya was not distinguished by external beauty and... grace. But she captivated people with her spiritual beauty and high morality. Her dreams of love and family came true, but it seemed to her that “besides the happiness that she experienced, there was another, unattainable in this life...”, so Countess Marya did not feel completely calm; she sometimes wanted to tell her husband, “that a person will not be satisfied with just bread,” “The soul of Countess Marya always strived for the infinite, eternal and perfect and therefore could never be at peace.”

Bolkonsky family:

To draw conclusions about the Bolkonsky family from Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” you need to get to know each of its members separately, find out their character and habits. So, let's begin.

Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky

Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is the father of the Bolkonsky family, a retired general. Judging by the author's description, this is already old man, although his exact age is not specified in the novel.

Throughout the work, the hero makes an unpleasant impression, because, although he is very smart and rich, he is very stingy, and some oddities are noticeable in his behavior.

Nikolai Andreevich often takes out his anger on his daughter Marya. Prince Bolkonsky is also unpleasant because he reinforces his waywardness of character, bordering on madness, with disbelief in God. Life position The hero is visible from this quote: “He said that there are only two sources of human vices: idleness and superstition, and that there are only two virtues: activity and intelligence.” But where will a mind driven by malice and hatred lead? However, although Prince Bolkonsky seems rude, before his death he realizes the mistakes he made towards his daughter and asks for her forgiveness.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the “Image and Characteristics” of Helen Kuragina in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace.”

The hero of the novel has two children: daughter Maria and son Andrei, as well as a grandson named Nikolenka. The reader will become acquainted with their images in this article.

Andrei Bolkonsky - son of Prince Nikolai

Unlike his stern father, Andrei has positive qualities, gradually, throughout his life, turning into a mature man. At first proud and tough, over the years he becomes softer and more restrained. In addition, this character has not only willpower, but also a tendency to self-criticism.

It would not be superfluous to mention Andrei Bolkonsky’s attitude towards the peasants, of whom he replaces corvée with quitrent for some, and releases others to become “free cultivators.”

A serious reason for changes in character young man served military service. If at the beginning the hero of the novel, going to war with Napoleon, longed to gain recognition and glory, then gradually his attitude towards this issue changes.

He became disillusioned with his former idol Napoleon, and decided to return home and devote himself to his family. However, Bolkonsky is not in last time I had to go through similar trials. The year 1812 was fatal for young Andrey, because in the Battle of Borodino he was mortally wounded. Only before leaving for eternity did the hero “experience a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being.”

Maria Bolkonskaya - daughter of Nikolai

This is a very rich and noble noblewoman. The author describes her as a very ugly face, with a heavy gait, weak in body, however, with beautiful eyes in which love and sadness shone: “the eyes of the princess, large, deep and radiant (as if rays warm light sometimes they came out of them in sheaves), they were so good that very often, despite the ugliness of the whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty ... "

As for the character of Princess Maria, she was a pure, innocent girl, kind, calm and meek, moreover, smart and educated. Another quality distinguishes the girl: faith in God. She herself admits that religion alone can explain to us what a person cannot understand without its help...”

Marya Bolkonskaya is a woman who is ready to sacrifice personal happiness for the good of another. So, having learned that Mademoiselle Bourrienne (about her we'll talk below) secretly meets with Anatoly Kuragin, she decides to arrange their marriage. Naturally, nothing comes of this, however, such an act only emphasizes positive traits heroines.

Lisa Bolkonskaya, little princess

Liza Bolkonskaya was the wife of Andrei Bolkonsky, and also the niece of General Kutuzov. She has a pretty face, a very sweet, cheerful, smiling woman, however, Prince Andrei is unhappy with her, although in public he calls her beautiful. Maybe the reason lies in the fact that Lisa loves “stupid secular society", to which Bolkonsky feels antipathy, or maybe his feelings for his young wife have not awakened in him, but one thing is clear: his wife is irritating Andrei more and more.

Unfortunately, Princess Lisa never had the chance to experience the happiness of motherhood: during her first birth, to her husband’s despair, she died. Nikolenka's son was left half orphaned.

Nikolenka Bolkonsky

He was born in 1806. Unfortunately, his mother died during childbirth, so the boy “lived with his nurse and nanny Savishna on the half of the late princess, and Princess Marya most I spent days in the nursery, replacing, as best I could, the mother of my little nephew...”

Princess Marya raises the child as her own, becoming attached to him with all her soul. She herself teaches the boy music and the Russian language, and in other subjects they hire a tutor for him named Monsieur Desalles from Switzerland. The poor boy survived at the age of seven ordeal, because his father died before his eyes.

After a break in the description, you can meet Nikolenka again on the pages of the novel. Now he is already a fifteen-year-old teenager, “...A curly-haired, sickly boy, with his sparkling eyes, sat unnoticed by anyone in the corner, and, only turning his curly head on a thin neck emerging from his turn-down collars...”

Although Nikolai eventually forgets the image of his own father, but always remembers him with sadness and delight. His best friend is Pierre Bezukhov, to whom he is especially attached.

Princess Marya is still worried about her grown-up nephew, because he is very fearful and timid, still sleeps with a lamp and shies away from society.

Mademoiselle Bourrien

Mademoiselle Burien, a French orphan, who was picked up out of pity by Nikolai Bolkonsky, was the companion of Andrei Bolkonsky's wife, Lisa. She loved the little princess, slept in the same room with her, and listened when she poured out her soul. But that was the case for the time being.
More than once throughout the novel, Mademoiselle Burien showed her negative qualities. Firstly, when she began to brazenly flirt with Anatole, who, although he showed her signs of attention, was still Maria Bolkonskaya’s fiancé. Secondly, when during the war with Napoleon she went over to the side of the enemy, which aroused the wrath of the little princess, who no longer allowed her former companion to approach her.

Relationships between members of the Bolkonsky family

The complex and sometimes confusing relationships of the Bolkonsky family members occupy their special place in Leo Tolstoy’s story. The life of three generations is reflected here: the senior prince Nikolai Andreevich, his son Andrei and daughter Maria, as well as grandson Nikolenka. Each has their own character, habits, and outlook on life, but these people are united by an ardent love for the Motherland, closeness to the people, patriotism, and a sense of duty. Even Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, who at first glance seems to be a rude person, before moving on to another world, begins to ask for forgiveness from his daughter Marya, whom he put pressure on during his life.

The Bolkonsky family is characterized by activity and activity, and isn’t this character trait that became key in the creation of their images? The thoughtful reader himself will try to explore such a difficult, but interest Ask. And, of course, draw the appropriate conclusions for yourself.

The Bolkonsky family in the novel “War and Peace”: characteristics and image of the heroes

The first time we encounter the Bolkonsky family is in in full force at the end of the first part of the first volume, when everyone in Bald Mountains, on the Bolkonskys’ main estate, is awaiting the arrival of Prince Andrei and his wife. From this moment on, a lot, one might say almost everything, becomes clear about this family, about all their members. Starting with the old prince and ending with mlle Bourienne. Before we begin describing the family members, it should be said that everyone in the Bolkonsky family is special in their own way. If we draw a parallel with the Rostovs, we can immediately say: this is absolutely different people. The Rostovs are simple nobles, a good-natured father, a kind mother, a generous son, carefree children. Here everything is completely different. A dictator-father, a submissive daughter, a fearful daughter-in-law, and an independent son. This is an overview of the whole family, which gives some insight into the Bolkonskys. You can figuratively imagine the Bolkonskys as a triangle, at the top of which is their father, Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, on the other peak Andrei, and not the third, Princess Marya Bolkonskaya with Lisa, the wife of Prince Andrei. These are three fronts, three completely opposite groups (if one or two people can be called that) in the family.

Nikolai Bolkonsky

Most of all, the old prince valued “two virtues in people: activity and intelligence.” “He himself was involved in raising his daughter and, in order to develop both main virtues in her, he gave her lessons in algebra and geometry and distributed her whole life in continuous studies. He himself was constantly busy either writing his memoirs,” or “calculations from higher mathematics, either by turning snuff boxes on a machine, or by working in the garden and supervising the buildings that did not stop on his estate.” Living in the village, Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky reads a lot, he is aware of current events. Unlike the inhabitants of secular drawing rooms, he deeply worries about everything that happens in Russia, and believes that the duty of a nobleman is to serve his homeland. True love for the homeland and the consciousness of his duty to it are heard in his parting words to his son: “Remember one thing, Prince Andrei: if they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man... And if I find out that you did not behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be... ashamed!" When in 1806 the theater of military operations approached the Russian borders, Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, despite his venerable age, accepted the appointment as one of the eight commanders-in-chief of the militia. "He was constantly traveling around the three provinces entrusted to him; he was pedantic in his duties, strict to the point of cruelty with his subordinates, and he himself went down to the smallest details of the matter." In 1812, having learned about the capture of Smolensk by the French, the old Prince Bolkonsky decides to "stay in the Bald Mountains to the last extreme and defend himself." Thoughts about his homeland, about its fate, about the defeat of the Russian army, did not leave him even in his dying hours. Nikolai Andreevich was a Russian gentleman, sometimes tyranny and despotism manifested themselves in him, but at the same time he was a man of enormous moral strength, highly developed spiritually. Bolkonsky was inherited by his children - Prince Andrei and Princess Marya. The old Prince Bolkonsky did not want his daughter to be like secular women. He did not like idleness, he worked himself and demanded that the princess’s life be filled with useful activities.

Andrey Bolkonsky

IN art world Tolstoy has heroes, persistently and purposefully searching for meaning lives striving for complete harmony with the world. They are not interested in social intrigues, selfish interests, empty conversations in high society salons. They are easy to recognize among arrogant, self-satisfied faces. These, of course, include one of the most striking images of “War and Peace” - Andrei Bolkonsky. True, the first acquaintance with this hero does not evoke much sympathy, because he Beautiful face“with definite and dry features” spoils the expression of boredom and dissatisfaction. But it, as Tolstoy writes, is caused by the fact that “everyone who was in the living room was not only familiar, but was already so tired of him that he found it very boring to look at them and listen to them.” The author's extensive commentary suggests that a brilliant and idle, empty life does not satisfy the hero, who strives to break the vicious circle in which he finds himself. Prince Andrei, who, in addition to intelligence and education, has a strong will, decisively changes his life by entering service at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief. Bolkonsky dreams of heroism and glory, but his desires are far from vanity, for they are caused by the desire for the victory of Russian weapons, for the common good. Possessing hereditary pride, Andrei unconsciously separates himself from the world of ordinary people. In the hero’s soul, the gap between his lofty dreams and earthly everyday life becomes deeper and deeper. His pretty wife Lisa, who once seemed perfect to him, turned out to be an ordinary, ordinary woman. And Andrei undeservedly insults her with his disdainful attitude. And the bustling life of the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, which Bolkonsky sees as the brain of the army, also turns out to be very far from ideal. Andrei firmly believes that his thoughts about saving the army will attract attention and interest and will serve the common good. But instead of saving the army, he has to save the doctor’s wife from the demands of the transport officer. This, in general, noble deed seems too petty and insignificant to Andrei in comparison with his heroic dream. The feat he accomplished during Battle of Austerlitz When he runs ahead of everyone with a banner in his hands, he is full of external effect: even Napoleon noticed and appreciated him. But why, having committed a heroic act, does Andrei not experience any delight or elation? Probably because at the moment when he fell, seriously wounded, a new high truth together with the high endless sky, spreading a blue vault above it. Against his background, everything former dreams and the aspirations seemed small and insignificant to Andrei, the same as his former idol. A reassessment of values ​​took place in his soul. What seemed beautiful and sublime to him turned out to be empty and vain. And what he so diligently fenced himself off from was the simple and quiet family life, - now seems desirable to him, full of happiness and harmony. It is not known how Bolkonsky’s life with his wife would have turned out. But when, having risen from the dead, he returned home kinder and gentler, a new blow fell upon him - the death of his wife, to whom he was never able to make amends. Andrey is trying to live a simple life, quiet life, touchingly caring for his son, working to improve the lives of his serfs: he made three hundred people free tillers, and replaced the rest with quitrent. These humane measures, testifying to Bolkonsky’s progressive views, for some reason still do not convince of his love for the people. Too often he shows contempt for a peasant or a soldier, whom one can pity, but cannot respect. In addition, the state of depression and the feeling of the impossibility of happiness indicate that all the transformations cannot completely occupy his mind and heart. Changes in the heavy state of mind Andrei's story begins with the arrival of Pierre, who, seeing his friend's depressed mood, tries to instill in him faith in the existence of a kingdom of goodness and truth that should exist on earth. Andrei's final revival to life occurs thanks to his meeting with Natasha Rostova. The description emanates poetry and charm moonlit night and Natasha's first ball. Communication with her opens up a new sphere of life for Andrey - love, beauty, poetry. But it is with Natasha that he is not destined to be happy, because there is no complete mutual understanding between them. Natasha loves Andrei, but does not understand and does not know him. And she also remains a mystery to him with her own, special inner world. If Natasha lives every moment, unable to wait and postpone until a certain time the moment of happiness, then Andrei is able to love from a distance, finding a special charm in anticipation of the upcoming wedding with his beloved girl. The separation turned out to be too difficult a test for Natasha, because, unlike Andrei, she is not able to think about something else, to keep herself busy with something. The story with Anatoly Kuragin destroys the possible happiness of these heroes. Proud and proud Andrei is unable to forgive Natasha for her mistake. And she, experiencing painful remorse, considers herself unworthy of such a noble, ideal person. Fate separates loving people, leaving bitterness and pain of disappointment in their souls. But she will unite them before Andrei’s death, because Patriotic War 1812 will change a lot in their characters. When Napoleon entered Russia and began to rapidly advance, Andrei Bolkonsky, who hated the war after being seriously wounded at Austerlitz, joined the active army, refusing a safe and promising service at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief. Commanding a regiment, the proud aristocrat Bolkonsky becomes close to the mass of soldiers and peasants, learns to appreciate and respect the common people. If at first Prince Andrei tried to arouse the courage of the soldiers by walking under bullets, then when he saw them in battle, he realized that he had nothing to teach them. He begins to look at the men in soldiers' greatcoats as patriotic heroes who courageously and steadfastly defended their Fatherland. Andrei Bolkonsky comes to the idea that the success of the army does not depend on the position, weapons or number of troops, but on the feeling that exists in him and in every soldier. This means that he believes that the mood of the soldiers, the general morale of the troops are a decisive factor for the outcome of the battle. But still, the complete unity of Prince Andrei with common people Did not happen. It is not for nothing that Tolstoy introduces a seemingly insignificant episode about how the prince wanted to swim on a hot day, but due to his disgust towards the soldiers wallowing in the pond, he was never able to fulfill his intention. Andrei himself is ashamed of his feelings, but cannot overcome it. It is symbolic that at the moment of his mortal wound, Andrei experiences a great craving for simple earthly life, but immediately thinks about why he is so sorry to part with it. This struggle between earthly passions and ideal, cold love for people becomes especially acute before his death. Having met Natasha and forgiven her, he feels a surge of vitality, but this reverent and warm feeling is replaced by some kind of unearthly detachment, which is incompatible with life and means death. Thus, revealing in Andrei Bolkonsky many remarkable features of a patriotic nobleman. Tolstoy ends his path of quest with heroic death for the sake of saving his homeland. And in the novel, his friend and like-minded person Pierre Bezukhov is destined to continue this search for higher spiritual values, which remained unattainable for Andrei.

Maria Bolkonskaya

The princess lives permanently on the Bald Mountains estate with her father, an illustrious nobleman of Catherine’s, exiled under Paul and who has not gone anywhere since then. Her father, Nikolai Andreevich, is not a pleasant person: he is often grumpy and rude, scolds the princess as a fool, throws notebooks and, to top it all off, is a pedant. And here is the portrait of the princess: “The mirror reflected an ugly, weak body and a thin face.” And then Tolstoy seemed amazed by what he saw: “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her entire face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty*. Together with Prince Andrei, Princess Marya is shown to us in the novel as perfect, absolutely intact psychologically, physically and morally human type. At the same time, like any woman, according to Tolstoy, she lives in a constant, unconscious expectation of love and family happiness. That the eyes are the mirror of the soul, common place. But the princess’s soul is truly beautiful, kind and gentle. And it is Marya’s eyes that shine with her light. Princess Marya is smart, romantic and religious. She humbly endures her father's eccentric behavior, his mockery and ridicule, without ceasing to endlessly deeply and strongly love him. She loves the “little princess,” loves her nephew Nikolai, loves her French companion who betrayed her, loves her brother Andrei, loves, without being able to show it, Natasha, loves the vicious Anatol Kuragin. Her love is such that everyone nearby obeys its rhythms and movements and dissolves in it. Tolstoy gives Princess Marya amazing fate. He realizes for her any of the wildest romantic dreams of a provincial young lady. She experiences betrayal and the death of loved ones, she is saved from the hands of her enemies by the brave hussar Nikolinka Rostov, her future husband(how can one not remember Kozma Prutkov: “If you want to be beautiful, join the hussars”). A long languor of mutual love and courtship, and in the end - a wedding and a happy family life. Sometimes one gets the impression that the author is elegantly and cleverly parodying countless French novels that were an integral part of " women's world"and had a significant influence on the formation spiritual world Russian young lady early XIX century. Of course, this is not a direct parody. Tolstoy is too big for this. Special literary device every time he takes Princess Marya outside the plot. Every time she sensibly and logically comprehends any “romantic” or similar combination of events. (Let us remember her reaction to the adultery of Anatol Kuragin and the French woman Bourien.) Her intelligence allows her to stand with both feet on the ground. Her dreaminess, developed by novels, allows her to think of some parallel, second “romantic” reality. Her religiosity stems from her moral sense, which is kind-hearted and open to the world. Undoubtedly, its literary predecessor attracts attention in this context. This, of course, is Lizonka from " Queen of Spades"Pushkin. In some cases, the pattern of their destinies coincides down to the smallest detail. “Lizaveta Ivanovna was a domestic martyr,” writes Pushkin, “she spilled tea and received reprimands for an extra piece of sugar; she read novels aloud and was to blame for all the author's mistakes." How can one not recall the life of Princess Marya with her father in Bald Mountains and Moscow! In the image of Princess Marya there is much less literary typicality and much more of a living, tremulous soul and human attractiveness than others female characters novel. Together with the author, we, the readers, take an active part in her fate. In any case, real pleasure comes from the description of her cozy family happiness with her limited but deeply beloved husband among her children, relatives and friends.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Prince Andrei's wife. She is the darling of the whole world, an attractive young woman whom everyone calls “the little princess.” “Her pretty upper lip, with a slightly blackened mustache, was short in teeth, but the more sweetly it opened and the more sweetly it sometimes stretched out and fell onto the lower one. As is always the case with quite attractive women, her shortcomings - short lips and half-open mouth - seemed to be special, actually her beauty. Everyone had fun watching this full of health and liveliness, a pretty expectant mother who endured her situation so easily." Lisa was everyone's favorite thanks to her always liveliness and courtesy secular woman, she couldn’t imagine her life without high society. But Prince Andrei did not love his wife and felt unhappy in his marriage. Lisa does not understand her husband, his aspirations and ideals. After Andrei leaves for the war, Lisa lives in the Bald Mountains with the old Prince Bolkonsky, for whom she feels fear and hostility. Lisa has a presentiment of her imminent death and actually dies during childbirth.

Nikolenka Bolkonsky

Another Nikolai Bolkonsky - Nikolenka - will continue the ideas of his father. In "Epilogue" he is 15 years old. For six years he was left without a father. And even before the age of six, the boy spent little time with him. In the first seven years of Nikolenka’s life, his father participated in two wars, stayed abroad for a long time due to illness, devoted a lot of energy to transformative activities in the Speransky commission (of which the old prince was proud, who would probably have been upset if he had learned about Prince Andrei’s disappointment in government activities). The dying Bolkonsky leaves his son something like an old encrypted will about the “birds of the air.” He does not say these gospel words out loud, but Tolstoy says that the prince’s son understood everything, even more than a wise adult could understand life experience Human. As a “bird of heaven”, which in the Gospel is a symbol of the soul, not having “image and form”, but constituting one essence - love - Prince Andrei comes, as promised, to Nikolenka after his death. The boy dreams of the Father - love for people, and Nikolenka takes an oath to sacrifice himself (it is not for nothing that Mucius Scaevola comes to mind) at the command of the Father (Father is a word written, of course, not by chance with a capital letter).