Women's theme occupies an important place in Leo 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 are numerous types of high-society beauties, mistresses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Sherer; cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon... secular society immersed in eternal turmoil. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of the shoulders, the gloss of her hair and diamonds, a very open chest and back, and a frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness, the insignificance of the high society lioness.
The place of genuine human feelings in luxurious living rooms is occupied by monetary calculation. The marriage of Helen, who chose the wealthy Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of the daughter of Prince Vasily is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs.
Indeed, does Julie Karagina behave differently, having, thanks to her wealth, a sufficient choice of suitors; or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even in front of the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna does not feel compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance. Tolstoy shows high society beauties in family life.
Family, children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helen 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 surprising ease, she leaves her husband.
Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, vanity. Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to a misunderstanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer, political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the position of the Russian army are heard ... A sense of false patriotism makes them speak exclusively in Russian during the period of the French invasion.
High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent in real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, Natasha Rostova, those features are grouped that make up the type of woman in the true sense. At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life as it is.
In fact, there are no consciously heroic female natures in the work, like Turgenev's Marianne from the novel "Nov" or Elena Stakhova from "On the Eve". Needless to say, Tolstoy's favorite heroines are devoid of romantic elation? Women's spirituality does not lie 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 life positions in which the character of Tolstoy's favorite heroines is revealed. This conclusion may raise doubts on 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 unwillingness to take advantage of the patronage of the French general and the impossibility 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 the historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel (Maria 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 the best, cherished memories of Sonya are associated with Nikolai Rostov: common childhood games and pranks, Christmas time with fortune-telling and mummers, Nikolai's love impulse, the first kiss ... Sonya remains faithful to her beloved, rejecting Dolokhov's offer.
She loves resignedly, but she cannot refuse her love. And after the marriage of Nikolai 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 embodies 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 draws pictures of the Rostovs' family happiness, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life. is the essence of Natasha Rostova's life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the resigned Sonya, and the mother countess, and her father, and Nikolai, and Petya, and Boris Drubetskoy. Rapprochement, and then separation from Prince Andrei, who made her an offer, makes Natasha suffer internally.
An excess of life and inexperience is the source of mistakes, rash acts of the heroine (the story of Anatole Kuragin). Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha. She leaves Moscow with a convoy, in which the wounded Bolkonsky ends up. Natasha is again seized by an exorbitant feeling of love, compassion. She is selfless to the end. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha of meaning. The news of Petya's death makes the heroine overcome her own grief in order to keep her old mother from insane despair.
Natasha “thought 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 refuses secular life, from "all its charms" and wholly given to family life. Mutual understanding of the spouses is based on the ability "with unusual clarity and speed to understand and communicate each other's thoughts in a way that is contrary to all the rules of logic."
This is the ideal of family happiness. Such is Tolstoy's ideal of "peace." Tolstoy's thoughts about the true destiny of a woman, I think, have not become outdated even today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by women who have devoted themselves to politics or social activities. But still, many of our contemporaries choose what Tolstoy's favorite heroines have chosen for themselves. And is it really not enough - 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 in the image of Natasha the best features of the human personality. He did not want to portray her as smart, prudent, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made another heroine of the novel - Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good secular manners. Many episodes of the novel tell how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, find the right solutions.
For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum money into Dolokhov’s cards, returns home irritated, not feeling the joy of life, he hears Natasha’s singing and suddenly realizes that “all this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all is nonsense, but here she is real ... ". But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire themselves, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “became, smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and all those present, the fear that she would do something wrong, passed, and they were already admiring her.
Just like the people, Natasha is 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, breathe in 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. There is no such inner fire in her that Tolstoy sang in Natasha.
Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad deed and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could draw life experience and get an incentive for further development. Natasha, on the other hand, makes mistakes and draws the necessary life experience from them. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they understood each other suddenly, felt something uniting them. Nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatole Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. The explanation for this can be the fact that Natasha is the most ordinary person, with her own weaknesses. Simplicity, openness, gullibility are inherent in her heart, she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to her mind.
Essay on literature. Female images in the novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
The novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” shows the life of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century during the war of 1812. This is a time of active social activity of a variety of people. Tolstoy tries to comprehend the role of women in the life of society, in the family. To this end, he displays in his novel a large number of female images that can be divided into two large groups: the first includes women - the bearers of folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya and others, and the second group includes women of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Julie Kuragina and others.
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 in the image of Natasha the best features of the human personality. He did not want to portray her as smart, prudent, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made another heroine of the novel - Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good secular manners. Many episodes of the novel tell how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, find the right solutions. For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum of money in 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 - all nonsense, but she is real ... ".
But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire themselves, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “became, smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and all those present, the fear that she would do something wrong, passed, and they were already admiring her.
Just like the people, Natasha is 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, breathe in 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. There is no such inner fire in her that Tolstoy sang in Natasha. Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad deed and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could draw life experience and get an incentive for further development.
Natasha, on the other hand, makes mistakes and draws the necessary life experience from them. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they understood each other suddenly, felt something uniting them.
Nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatole Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. The explanation for this can be the fact that Natasha is the most ordinary person, with her own weaknesses. Simplicity, openness, gullibility are inherent in her heart, she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to her mind. But true love woke up in Natasha much later. She realized that the one whom she admired, who was dear to her, lived in her heart all this time. It was a joyful and new feeling that swallowed Natasha whole, brought her back to life. Pierre Bezukhov played an important role in this. His “childish soul” was close to Natasha, and he was the only one who brought joy and light to the Rostovs’ house when she was ill, when she was tormented by remorse, suffered, hated herself for everything that had happened. She did not see reproach or indignation in Pierre's eyes. He idolized her, and she was grateful to him for the fact that he is in the world. Despite the mistakes of youth, despite the death of a loved one, Natasha's life was amazing. She was able to experience love and hate, create a magnificent family, finding in her much-desired peace of mind.
In some ways she is similar to Natasha, but in some ways Princess Marya Bolkonskaya is opposed to her. Main principle to which her whole life is subordinated is self-sacrifice. This self-sacrifice, resignation to fate is combined in her with a thirst for simple human happiness. Submission to all the whims of her imperious father, a ban on discussing his actions and their motives - this is how Princess Mary understands her duty to her daughter. But she can show firmness of character if necessary, which is revealed when her sense of patriotism is offended. She not only leaves the family estate, despite the proposal of Mademoiselle Bourienne, but also forbids her companion to come to her when she finds out about her connections with the enemy command. But for the sake of saving another person, she can sacrifice her pride; this is evident when she asks forgiveness from Mademoiselle Bourrienne, forgiveness for herself and for the servant, who was attacked by the wrath of her father. And yet, raising her sacrifice into a principle, turning away from "living life", Princess Marya suppresses something important in herself. And yet, it was sacrificial love that led her to family happiness: when she met Nikolai in Voronezh, “for the first time, all this pure, spiritual, inner work that she had lived until now came out.” Princess Marya fully manifested herself as a person when circumstances prompted her to self-sufficiency in everyday life, which happened after the death of her father, and most importantly, when she became a wife and mother. Her diaries dedicated to children and her ennobling influence on her husband speak of the harmony and richness of the inner world of Marya Rostova.
These two, in many respects similar, women are opposed by ladies of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Julie Kuragina. These women are similar in many ways. At the beginning of the novel, the author says that Helen, “when the story made an impression, looked back at Anna Pavlovna and immediately assumed the same expression that was on the face of the maid of honor.” The most characteristic sign of Anna Pavlovna is the static nature of words, gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not go to her obsolete features, expressed, like in spoiled children, the constant consciousness of her sweet shortcoming, from which she did not wants, cannot, does not find it necessary to get rid of. Behind this characteristic lies the author's irony and dislike for the character.
Julie is the same secular lady, “the richest bride in Russia”, who received a fortune after the death of her brothers. Like Helen, who wears a mask of decency, Julie wears a mask of melancholy: “Julie seemed disappointed in everything, told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, or in love, or in any joys of life and expects peace only “there”. Even Boris, preoccupied with the search for a rich bride, feels the artificiality, the unnaturalness of her behavior.
So, women close to natural life, folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, find family happiness, having gone through a certain path of spiritual and moral quest. And women who are far from moral ideals cannot experience real happiness because of their selfishness and commitment to the empty ideals of secular society.
The epic novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” is a work grandiose not only in terms of the monumentality of the historical events described in it, deeply researched by the author and artistically processed into a single logical whole, but also in the variety of created images, both historical and fictional. In the depiction of historical characters, Tolstoy was more of a historian than a writer, he said: "Where historical figures speak and act, he did not invent and used materials." Fictional images are described artistically and at the same time are conductors of the author's thoughts. Female characters convey Tolstoy's ideas about the complexity of human nature, about the peculiarities of relationships between people, about family, marriage, motherhood, happiness.
From the point of view of the system of images, the heroes of the novel can be conditionally divided into “living” and “dead”, that is, into developing, changing over time, deeply feeling and experiencing, and - in contrast to them - frozen, not evolving, but static. In both “camps” there are women, and there are so many female images that it seems almost impossible to specify all of them in an essay; perhaps it would be wiser to dwell in more detail on the main actors and characteristic secondary characters playing significant role in the development of the plot.
The “live” heroines in the work are, first of all, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. Despite the difference in upbringing, family traditions, the atmosphere of the house, the stock of character, they eventually become close friends. Natasha, who grew up in a warm, loving, open, sincere family atmosphere, absorbed the carelessness, dashing, enthusiasm of the “Rostov breed”, wins hearts from her youth with her all-encompassing love for people and a thirst for reciprocal love. Beauty in the generally accepted sense of the word is replaced by the mobility of features, liveliness of the eyes, grace, flexibility; wonderful voice and ability to dance captivate many. Princess Mary, on the contrary, is clumsy, the ugliness of her face is only occasionally illuminated by "radiant eyes." The life without getting out in the village makes her wild and silent, communication with her is difficult. Only a sensitive and insightful person can notice purity, religiosity, even self-sacrifice hidden behind external isolation (after all, Princess Mary blames only herself for quarrels with her father, not recognizing his temper and rudeness). However, at the same time, the two heroines have much in common: a living, developing inner world, craving for high feelings, spiritual purity, and a clear conscience. Fate brings them both together with Anatole Kuragin, and only chance saves Natasha and Princess Mary from contact with him. Due to their naivety, the girls do not see Kuragin's low and selfish goals and believe in his sincerity. Due to the external difference, the relationship between the heroines is not easy at first, there is misunderstanding, even contempt, but then, knowing each other better, they become irreplaceable friends, forming an indivisible moral union, united by the best spiritual qualities of Tolstoy's favorite heroines.
In constructing a system of images, Tolstoy is far from schematism: the line between “living” and “dead” is permeable. Tolstoy wrote: "For an artist, there cannot and should not be heroes, but there must be people." Therefore, female images appear in the fabric of the work, which are difficult to definitely attribute to “alive” or “dead”. This can be considered the mother of Natasha Rostova, Countess Natalya Rostova. From the conversations of the characters, it becomes clear that in her youth she moved in the world and was a member and a welcome guest of the salons. But, having married Rostov, she changes and devotes herself to the family. Rostova as a mother is a model of cordiality, love and tact. She is a close friend and adviser of children: in touching conversations in the evenings, Natasha devotes her mother to all her secrets, secrets, experiences, seeks her advice and help. At the same time, at the time of the main action of the novel, her inner world is static, but this can be explained by a significant evolution in her youth. She becomes a mother not only for her children, but also for Sonya. Sonya gravitates toward the camp of the "dead": she does not have that seething cheerfulness that Natasha has, she is not dynamic, not impulsive. This is especially emphasized by the fact that at the beginning of the novel Sonya and Natasha are always together. Tolstoy endowed this generally good girl with an unenviable fate: falling in love with Nikolai Rostov does not bring her happiness, because for reasons of family well-being, Nikolai's mother cannot allow this marriage. Sonya is grateful to the Rostovs and focuses on her so much that she gets hung up on the role of the victim. She does not accept Dolokhov's proposals, refusing to advertise her feelings for Nikolai. She lives in hope, basically showing off and demonstrating her unrecognized love.
IN novelL. N. Tolstoy female images play a significant role. It is with them that the theme of “peace”, that is, society, family, happiness, is connected in the novel. The writer showed us different families: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, the Bezukhovs, the Drubetskys, the Dolokhovs, and others. Women in them are different, but their role is significant everywhere. The fate of the family, its way of life depend on the character of women, on their mental make-up, moral values are formed.
Most of all, Tolstoy loves two of his heroines: Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. The girls who read the novel generally 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 reliable.
It was not easy for her to live with an old father and a 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 the service and his own problems, did not dispose to communication and the manifestation of tender feelings.
But Princess Marya built her spiritual castle, strict and pure. She is smart for real kind and natural in every step she takes. Even her religiosity is respected, because God for Princess Mary is, first of all, justice, her faith is demanding of herself; to all others she asks for weaknesses, to herself - never.
In the actions and words of Princess Marya there is no vanity, no frivolity. Self-esteem does not allow her to cheat, keep silent, not stand up for the 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. I thought he always had beautiful heart, and this is the quality that I most appreciate in people. Princess Mary in a letter expresses her sympathy for Pierre: “So young to be burdened with such a huge fortune - how many temptations he will have to go through!”
An amazing understanding of people and the complexities of life for a young girl!
She will be able to understand the stumbled Natasha, she will be able to understand and forgive her father, she understands the situation of the peasants and orders them to give them the master's bread.
The death of her father freed Princess Mary from eternal fear, from constant control and guardianship. But now, surrounded by enemies, with a young nephew in her arms, she herself had to make decisions. In difficult moments, the decisiveness and dignity of her father and brother woke up in her: “So that Prince Andrei knows that she is in the power of the French! So that she, the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, asked Mr. General Ramo to protect her and enjoy his blessings! And her offended vanity results in quick and decisive activity. In this difficult period for the princess, Nikolai Rostov appears as a savior and protector. She drives away thoughts that she would like to see her future husband in him. Self-doubt prevents her from believing that happiness has come to her.
The inner beauty of Princess Marya, her mind, purity, naturalness make you 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, as in Natasha Rostova. But in every girl there should be Princess Marya, with her self-doubt, with her secret conviction that love will come to anyone, but not to her, with a deeply hidden dream of happiness. Without this, she will turn into Helen Bezukhova.
Help please!!! urgently need something in the image of Julie Kuragina from the novel War and Peace! and got the best answer
Answer from Elena Evdokimova[guru]
The image of Julie Karagina FROM Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". This is a typical secular young lady. The old Prince Bolkonsky, with whose daughter she is corresponding, does not want Princess Mary to look like Julie, empty and false young ladies. Julie does not have her own opinion, evaluates people only as they are evaluated in the world (her opinion about Pierre) Her goal is to get married, and she never hides this. Nearly Sonya is jealous of Nikolai when he starts talking to her animatedly. Subsequently, she has a chance to arrange her fate when her two brothers die and she becomes a rich heiress. It was then that Boris Drubetskoy began to look after her. Barely hiding his disgust for Julie, he proposes to her, and she, knowing full well that he cannot love her, nevertheless forces her to say the right things (Togstoy ironically remarks that Karagina's estates were worth these false words of love).
Once again we see Julie, already 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 speak ... We in Moscow are all enthusiastic through enthusiasm for our adored emperor. My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited. "Also" in Julie's society, as in many Moscow societies, it was supposed to speak only Russian, and those who made mistakes when speaking French words paid a fine in favor of the donation committee. " Drubetskaya is one of the first to leave Moscow, even before Borodino battles.
We don't see her anymore. But one more detail. Tolstoy does not describe her face in detail, saying only that it is red and sprinkled with powder. It immediately becomes clear how he relates to his heroine.
Answer from 2 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Help please!!! urgently need something in the image of Julie Kuragina from the novel War and Peace!
