The contrast between true and false patriotism in the novel War and Peace. Literary antipodes are characters opposite to each other

Tolstoy in this novel showed and compared the two most important feelings inherent in a person. Love and hate. Levin felt love for all the people and problems surrounding him on his wedding day, and a feeling of hatred for Karenina at the moment of his near-death experiences. By contrasting these two heroes, one can see more broadly and more specifically one of the main goals of the novel, the meaning of which is to compare two types of love. A lost lady with high moral standards and beautiful appearance had one love - Anna Karenina, the second love - in a spiritually reborn gentleman, with his stubborn approach to figure everything out and the desire for happiness in life.

Anna Karenina's love was doomed from the very beginning. First, she cheated on her husband and betrayed her entire family. Secondly, all her love, despite strong passion and uncontrollable attraction, was based only on carnal need and selfishness. Anna wanted intense experiences, romance, passion, and carefreeness. Throughout Tolstoy's entire novel, Anna never once gave the concept of love, or explained the experience of this feeling. All the arguments that she came up with to denigrate her husband’s attitude towards her had no basis; she did it only because she wanted to somehow justify herself in her own eyes. After she realized that she was not receiving the attention that she so dreamed of in her relationship with her lover, her suspicious nature again began to come up with excuses for herself, accusing her lover of crimes that he did not commit. Precisely because it was not real, not pure love, or rather not love, but ordinary selfish lust, because of which her whole life was destroyed, she felt disgust and hatred. And hatred, of course, led to revenge. Revenge was death. This is the only way to get away from yourself, to escape from problems and shame. And at the same time it is revenge for neglecting her love.

We see a completely different picture in Levin’s relationship.

Let us remember the evening when Levin confessed his love to Kitty for the second time, and she reciprocated his feelings. He was filled with a feeling of delight and happiness - it was love. That evening, to somehow pass the time before next day, he went with his brother to the meeting. At the meeting, everyone was arguing about the deduction of some amounts and about laying some pipes, they were very animatedly sarcastic to each other.

Levin listened to them and clearly saw that they were not angry, but that they were all such kind, nice people, and so it all went well, sweetly between them. What was remarkable for Levin was that now they were all visible to him through and through, and by small, previously unnoticeable signs, he recognized the soul of each and clearly saw that they were all kind. In particular, they all loved him, Levin, extremely much today. This was evident from the way they spoke to him, how affectionately, lovingly even all the strangers looked at him.

The man with whom he had previously felt some kind of dissatisfaction, now seemed smart and kind to him, invited him to drink tea. And Levin couldn’t even remember what irritated him about him, and stayed with him until 2 am. Upon returning to the hotel, the hero saw a footman whom he had not even noticed before, and he also turned out to be very smart and good, and most importantly, a kind person.

He ate almost nothing and could not sleep. Although the room was fresh, the heat stifled him. “All night and morning Levin lived completely unconsciously and felt completely removed from the conditions of material life. He felt completely independent of his body: he moved without muscle effort and felt that he could do anything. He was sure that he would fly up or move the corner of the house if necessary. And what he saw then, he never saw again. Especially the children going to school, the gray pigeons that flew from the roof onto the sidewalk, and the cods sprinkled with flour, which were put out by an invisible hand, touched him. These fish, pigeons and two boys were unearthly creatures. All this together was so extraordinarily good that Levin laughed and cried with joy.”

It was not an earthly feeling, a feeling of love. This love was expressed in everything, it filled him from the inside and illuminated everything around him. This relationship was truly built correctly. Levin did not frame his future wife as a slave. He did not want to marry just to satisfy his natural desires. First of all, he wanted a family mutual love, without love he saw no point in it. He also built his relationships on complete openness and trust. And even though he was an unbeliever, he agreed to fast and go to Divine services. In principle, he wanted the same human happiness as Karenina, but everything that Levin did for this love indicates self-sacrifice. While Karenina did not sacrifice herself at all for the sake of her imaginary love. She sacrificed her family, her husband, her son, but not herself. She sacrificed everything that was built by the joint efforts of her family, that is, she destroyed everything that love should build.

It was precisely because Levin’s love was pure that it had a future, it had further development.

“Levin had been married for three months. He was happy, but not at all as he expected. At every step he found disappointment in his old dreams and new unexpected charm. Levin was happy, but, having entered family life, he saw at every step that it was not at all what he had imagined. At every step he experienced what a person would experience if he admired the smooth, happy passage of a boat on the lake, after he himself sat in this boat. He saw that it’s not enough to sit upright without swaying, you also have to think, not for a minute forgetting where to swim, that there is water under your feet and you have to row, and that it hurts unaccustomed hands, that it’s easy to just look at it, but that although doing this is very joyful, it is very difficult.”

In this passage, the writer of the novel shows us that love, even with the right beginning, has great difficulties that must be overcome with great effort. Levin, like all men, involuntarily imagined family life only as the pleasure of love, which should not be hindered by anything and from which petty worries should not distract. Jealousy, possible betrayal, cooling of the feelings of the other half, love for another person - all the depressing feelings that Karenina experienced for Vronsky were also experienced by Levin for his wife. And despite all the doubts and disappointments, Levin understood everything and moved on, trying to overcome all difficulties.

After exploring love in Levin's life, we are left with only one important point in his life - “to believe or not to believe?” - this question arose before him after all the difficulties he had experienced: Kitty’s refusal, Kitty’s mutual love, family conflicts, the death of his brother, the birth of a child. All this in his life did not pass without a trace, but it helped him somehow settle down and gain a footing in this world. It is precisely such difficult turns in his fate that lead him to faith and need for God. And he, as if raising all his thoughts from the depths of his soul, thinks about this necessary important issue- to believe or not to believe?

Antithesis is a sharp rhetorical opposition of images, states or concepts interconnected by internal meaning or general structure. in literature? Numerous examples, where opposing or sharply contrasting concepts and images are juxtaposed to enhance the impression, explain this. Moreover, the stronger the contrast, the brighter the antithesis.

A.S. Pushkin used such comparisons as “poetry - prose”, “wave - stone”, “ice - fire”. N.A. Nekrasov and S.A. Yesenin they turn into oxymorons: “poor luxury”, “sad joy”.

The role of antithesis is manifested in exact subordination, for example: “I caught up with snowstorms while I was writing about the summer”; “There was an honest conversation, but everything was muddied.”

But this does not have to be done, for example: “Okay, they sang, but they didn’t get it out,” “The praise sounds beautiful, but it’s bitter.” Here individual concepts started singing And didn't pull it out, sounds And bitter are not in a logical subordination of opposites like water and flame or light and darkness, but the concepts are taken with a certain specification, although there is no precision and logical clarity, as is often found in proverbs.

How to make the antithesis expressive?

Enhancing expressiveness is achieved in the following ways:

    The contrast can be semantic: “Having twisted everything, we got to the point.” Both words and constructions are contrasted.

    Antithetical concepts (containing opposition) can collectively express something common, for example, antithesis in literature, as seen in Derzhavin’s hero, where he calls himself both a king and a slave, portrays a contrasting

    The antithetical image often plays a supporting role in the contrasted one, which is the main one. The expressed object is characterized by only one member of the antithesis, where the second has a purely auxiliary function: “For ideal forms no content needed."

    Comparison can express the choice of alternative solutions: ““To share or not?” - thought the calculator.”

    You can use phonetic similarity, for example, “teach - get bored.”

The antithesis may contain not two, but more contrasting images, i.e. be polynomial.

Antithesis: examples from literature

Contrasts in works are used in titles, character characteristics, images and themes. What is antithesis in literature? General definition does not fully reveal its meaning. It becomes clearer and more multifaceted when analyzing famous works.

Roman L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"

The title of the work is rich in meaning, despite the fact that a simple antithesis is used. Peace is presented as the antithesis of war. In drafts, the author tries to vary this word, trying to find the best solution.

In the work, Tolstoy creates two poles: good and evil or peace and enmity. The author sharply contrasts the characters with each other, where some are the bearers of life, while others are the bearers of discord. Throughout the novel, comparisons “wrong - right”, “spontaneous - reasonable”, “natural - ostentatious” constantly appear. All this is manifested through images, for example, Natasha and Helen, Napoleon and Kutuzov. The antithesis “false - true” is manifested in the absurd situation of a duel in which Pierre Bezukhov found himself.

Roman F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"

Dostoevsky's methods are completely different, since he has slightly different views on man. His heroes combine good and evil, compassion and selfishness. The internal trial of conscience over Raskolnikov is the greatest punishment for the crime. Dostoevsky's heroes have a dispute not between personalities, but between their ideas, leading to moral tragedy. Before the crime, Raskolnikov was and after the author gives him a description of the killer.

Roman I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons"

Shift in public consciousness in the mid-19th century was reflected in the novel “Fathers and Sons”, in which main character opposed to everyone around him. The main thing here is the conflict of generations, the cause of which is attachment. Conflicts with friends are caused by differences of beliefs and uncompromisingness. Defending their ideals and defeating the enemy becomes the goal in itself of the heroes.

Some of them look funny because of their limitations. Trying to overcome it, they try to implement new ideas in order to assert themselves. Turgenev uses the technique of antithesis as At the same time, living images, their relationships are better revealed, and the plot develops.

Thus, it becomes clear what antithesis is in literature. The works of the classics clearly demonstrate this

Conclusion

To compare contrasting or opposing concepts, in order to enhance the impression, antithesis is used. Examples from literature indicate that it can be the main principle of construction of both individual parts and the whole work.

The concept of "antithesis" comes from an ancient Greek term consisting of two parts: "thesa", which means "position", and "anti" - "against". Adding them up, we get “opposite”, that is, “opposite”. Antithesis, the definition and examples of which we will present to you in this article, is a opposition of elements of composition, characters, images, words. This is an artistic device in literature that allows writers and poets who use it to characterize characters more fully, to reveal author's attitude To to different parties depicted, as well as to the characters themselves.

Condition necessary for antithesis

An essential condition necessary in order to be able to talk about such a technique as antithesis (examples of which we will give below) is subordination general concept opposites or some general point of view on them.

Such subordination does not have to be logically exact. For example, such proverbs as “Small is the spool, but dear”, “Rarely, but accurately”, are constructed antithetically, although the concepts that are opposed in them cannot be called logically subordinate, such as, for example, “beginning” and “end”, "light and darkness".

But in in this context they are considered as opposite because the words “small” and “rarely” are taken with a specification of meaning in relation to those compared with them, taken in direct meaning words "dear" and "aptly". Entering into antithesis, tropes can hide even more of its logical precision and clarity.

Verbal antithesis

Examples of the use of this technique are numerous. Verbal antithesis occurs when certain phrases or words with opposite emotional connotations or meanings are combined in one sentence or in a poetic phrase.

Let's take, for example, an excerpt from a poem by A.S. Pushkin:

"The city is lush, the city is poor

The spirit of bondage, the slender appearance...".

In the first line here, the antithesis (“poor” - “lush”) of the epithets selected for the word “city” expresses Alexander Sergeevich’s idea of ​​​​Petersburg, which is concretized in the second line by the antithesis of the corresponding epithets. Here the external appearance of the city is contrasted (in the text - “slender appearance”) and spiritual content his life (“spirit of bondage”). In another poem by the same author, verbal antitheses are used to emphasize the inconsistency with the spirit of the “poor knight” appearance. It is said about this hero that he was “pale” and “twilight” in appearance, but in spirit he was “direct” and “brave.” Such a contrast is a verbal antithesis. Examples of it are found quite often in the literature.

Antithesis expressing complex emotional states

Antithesis serves to express not only the aspects of a phenomenon and an object, as well as the author’s emotionally charged attitude towards them, but also various complex emotional states. An example can be found in A.A. Blok's poem "In the Restaurant". Lyrical hero works, he met his beloved in the restaurant “boldly” and “embarrassed,” bowing with “an arrogant gaze.”

Various verbal antitheses are often oxymorons. In other words, it is a combination of words that have opposite meanings.

Figurative antithesis

Figurative antithesis represents the contrast that exists between two in various ways. These could be characters from the work. Examples of antithesis from fiction are numerous: these are Lensky and Onegin, Molchalin and Chatsky, Stepan Kalashnikov and Kiribeevich, Pavel Petrovich and Bazarov, Napoleon and Kutuzov, etc. Also, a figurative antithesis can refer to the image of a village and a city (for example, in A.S. Pushkin’s poem “Village” ), in addition, to the disharmony of the hero’s soul and universal harmony (Lermontov, “I go out alone on the road”), the depiction of free nature and the “dungeon” monastery (Lermontov, “Mtsyri”), etc. A figurative antithesis, of which we are only examples what they brought was a favorite technique of such a master of style as Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.

Compositional antithesis

There is also such a variety of this technique as compositional antithesis. This is one of the principles by which we build literary works. Compositional antithesis is a contrast between various episodes and storylines, scenes in drama and epic, stanzas and fragments in lyric poems. Let's take as an example the novel by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Eugene Onegin".

In it, in the third and fourth chapters, the failed relationship between Onegin and Tatyana is contrasted. happy love"Lensky and Olga. In Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons" the antithesis of two conflicts (love and ideological) allows us to understand true meaning the views and beliefs of the nihilist Evgeny Bazarov, as well as the main reason why they collapsed. Other examples can be given.

Antithesis from literature, presented in lyric poems

This technique is also widely used in various lyric poems. For Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, this is, for example, “Elegy”, “Poet and the Crowd”, “Poet”, “Village” (an example of antithesis in Alexander Sergeevich’s poems - the opposition of slavery of the people and a peaceful landscape), “To Chaadaev”. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov - “Poet”, “Sail”, “Dream”, “Dispute”, “Gratitude”, “Why”, “January 1”, “Leaf”, “To the Portrait”. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov - “Reflections at the Main Entrance”, “ Railway" and others.

Antithesis is a means of expression that is often used in the Russian language and in Russian literature because of its powerful expressive capabilities. So, antithesis definition is such a technique in artistic language when one phenomenon is contrasted with another. Those who want to read about the antithesis of Wikipedia will certainly find there different examples from poems.

I would like to define the concept of “antithesis” and its meaning. She has great importance in language, because it is a technique that allows compare two opposites, for example, “black” and “white”, “good” and “evil”. The concept of this technique is defined as a means of expressiveness, which allows you to very vividly describe any object or phenomenon in poetry.

What is antithesis in literature

Antithesis is an artistic figurative and expressive means that allows you to compare one object with another based on oppositions. Usually she's like artistic medium, is very popular among many modern writers and poets. But in the classics you can find a huge number of examples. Within the antithesis can be opposed in meaning or in their properties:

  • Two characters. This most often happens in cases where positive character opposed to negative;
  • Two phenomena or objects;
  • Different qualities of the same object (looking at the object from several aspects);
  • The qualities of one object are contrasted with the qualities of another object.

Lexical meaning of trope

The technique is very popular in literature because it allows you to most clearly express the essence specific subject through opposition. Typically, such oppositions always look lively and imaginative, so poetry and prose that use antithesis are quite interesting to read. She happens to be one of the most popular And known means artistic expression literary text, be it poetry or prose.

The technique was actively used by the classics of Russian literature, and modern poets and prose writers use it no less actively. Most often, the antithesis underlies contrast between two characters in a work of art, When positive hero is opposed to negative. At the same time, their qualities are deliberately demonstrated in an exaggerated, sometimes grotesque form.

Skillful use of this artistic technique allows you to create a living, imaginative description of characters, objects or phenomena found in one or another work of art(novel, story, story, poem or fairy tale). It is often used in folklore works(fairy tales, epics, songs and other genres of oral folk art). During runtime literary analysis text, you must definitely pay attention to the presence or absence of this technique in the work.

Where can you find examples of antithesis?

Antithesis examples from literature can be found almost everywhere, in the most different genres fiction, ranging from folk art (fairy tales, epics, tales, legends and other oral folklore) to works modern poets and writers of the twenty-first century. Due to its characteristics of artistic expression, the technique is most often found in the following genres of fiction:

  • Poems;
  • Stories:
  • Fairy tales and legends (folk and author's);
  • Novels and stories. In which there are lengthy descriptions of objects, phenomena or characters.

Antithesis as an artistic device

As a means of artistic expression, it is built on the opposition of one phenomenon to another. A writer who uses antithesis in his work chooses the most character traits two characters (objects, phenomena) and tries to reveal them as fully as possible by contrasting each other. The word itself, translated from ancient Greek, also means nothing more than “opposition.”

Active and appropriate use makes the literary text more expressive, lively, interesting, helps to most fully reveal the characters of the characters, the essence of specific phenomena or objects. This is what determines the popularity of the antithesis in the Russian language and in Russian literature. However, in others European languages this is a remedy artistic imagery is also used very actively, especially in classical literature.

In order to find examples of antithesis during the analysis of a literary text, you must first examine those fragments of the text where two characters (phenomena, objects) are not considered in isolation, but are opposed to each other from different points of view. And then finding a reception will be quite easy. Sometimes the whole meaning of a work is built on this artistic device. It should also be borne in mind that the antithesis can be explicit, but maybe hidden, veiled.

Find the hidden antithesis in art literary text It’s quite simple if you read and analyze the text thoughtfully and carefully. In order to teach how to correctly use a technique in your own literary text, you need to familiarize yourself with the most striking examples from Russian classical literature. However, it is not recommended to abuse it so that it does not lose its expressiveness.

Antithesis is one of the main means of artistic expression, widely used in the Russian language and in Russian literature. The technique can easily be found in many works of Russian classics. They actively use it and modern writers. Antithesis enjoys well-deserved popularity because it helps to most clearly express the essence of individual heroes, objects or phenomena by contrasting one hero (object, phenomenon) with another. Russian literature without this artistic device is practically unthinkable.

Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” is one of the most controversial works of Russian literature. It was in this novel that not only the epoch-making problems of changing the landowner's life and the morals of Goncharov's contemporary man were reflected. “Oblomov” expresses a kind of revolutionary idea of ​​​​the formation of a new type of Russian person. This idea literally pushed the boundaries of the era, went beyond its limits.

The entire novel “Oblomov” is built on the device of antithesis. And the most important opposition was two heroes, two central figures works - Ilya Ilyich Oblomov and Andrei Stolts - characters who are often called antagonists to each other. But the confrontation and differences between the heroes will ultimately lead to some kind of compromise, a solution to a complex conflict.

Ilya Ilyich is a hero who is rarely called positive. This is a Russian gentleman, a landowner, accustomed to idleness. Oblomov proudly speaks about himself:

“I am a master. I can’t do anything.”

And he really doesn't know how to do anything. Since childhood, surrounded by servants, mothers and nannies, having grown up in the village, not knowing the difficulties of life, he was accustomed to the unhurried flow of life, to constancy - such was life in his home. It, as the author puts it, flowed “like a calm river.” And the word “deceased” was not chosen by chance: it is not just an outdated form of the word, but its double meaning. Life in Oblomovka is not only calm and measured. She is... dead, dying, fading. This is how the life of the main character turned out.

However, it is impossible to name Oblomov negative character. He is the embodiment of Russian morality, Russian mentality, an example of Russian character. Oblomov is generous, kind and soft, gentle. He is honest not only with those around him, but also with himself: he is disgusted by the hypocrisy of the St. Petersburg world, therefore Ilya Ilyich prefers laziness to empty activity. His idle lifestyle is the result of an extreme manifestation of precisely Russian quality, love for humanity. This is a real protest to secular society.

From childhood, Ilya Ilyich was surrounded by care, attention, and kindnessed by his parents and servants, who adored little Ilyusha. But this love acquired an exaggerated character, turned out to be excessive and led to the death of the hero. Since childhood, not accustomed to bothering himself (after all, there were servants in the house who were needed precisely for work), he could not bring himself to act even when it was necessary. As Goncharov accurately put it, “it all started with the inability to put on stockings, and ended with the inability to live.”

Stolz is the complete opposite of Oblomov. Even outwardly he is opposed to the main character. If Ilya Ilyich is a lush, soft man, with gentle hands, then Stolz resembles a “blooded English horse” - sharp, with sharp facial features, with fast speech. Stolz's father - active person. He taught his son to work, to achieve everything himself, so as not to be lost in life. But this man did not give him enough love - what Ilya Ilyich had in abundance.

Two people - two opposites, acute social contradiction. A successful, but dry-hearted person - and kind, sympathetic, but absolutely helpless. Goncharov finds a solution to this confrontation between activity and spirituality, a kind of compromise. And this... little Andryusha Oblomov is the son of the Russian soul Oblomov, raised and raised by the German Stoltz, accustomed to work.

The author undoubtedly assumes that the confusion of these opposites will lead to good result. Andryusha will be the one ideal person of his - and new, too - time, since he will absorb best qualities antagonist heroes.

This idea of ​​the formation of a new type of person, of course, goes beyond the boundaries of its era. Like Turgenev, who at one time predicted the emergence of the Bazarov generation, Goncharov creates the appearance of a new type of personality, which is destined to change its era - and the time that will follow it.