Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, with his pure Russian pen, gave life to a whole world of characters in the novel War and Peace. His fictional heroes, who are intertwined into entire noble families or family ties between families, present to the modern reader a real reflection of those people who lived in the times described by the author. One of the greatest books of world significance, "War and Peace", with the confidence of a professional historian, but at the same time as in a mirror, represents to the whole world that Russian spirit, those characters of secular society, those historical events that were invariably present at the end of the 18th and early XIX centuries.
And against the background of these events, the greatness of the Russian soul is shown, in all its power and diversity.
L.N. Tolstoy and the heroes of the novel "War and Peace" are experiencing the events of the past nineteenth century, but Lev Nikolayevich begins to describe the events of 1805. The coming war with the French, the decisively approaching whole world and the growing greatness of Napoleon, the confusion in Moscow secular circles and the apparent calm in St. secular society- all this can be called a kind of background against which, as brilliant artist, the author drew his characters. There are quite a lot of heroes - about 550 or 600. There are both main and central figures, and there are others or just mentioned. In total, the heroes of "War and Peace" can be divided into three groups: central, secondary and mentioned characters. Among all of them, there are both fictional heroes, as prototypes of the people who surrounded the writer at that time, and real-life historical figures. Consider the main characters novel.
Quotes from the novel "War and Peace"
- ... I often think how sometimes the happiness of life is unfairly distributed.
A person cannot own anything while he is afraid of death. And whoever is not afraid of her, everything belongs to him.
Until now, thank God, I have been a friend of my children and enjoy their full confidence, - said the countess, repeating the error of many parents who believe that their children have no secrets from them.
Everything, from napkins to silver, faience and crystal, bore that special imprint of novelty that happens in the household of young spouses.
If everyone fought only according to their convictions, there would be no war.
Being an enthusiast has become her social position, and sometimes, when she didn’t even want to, she, in order not to deceive the expectations of people who knew her, became an enthusiast.
Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not to love anyone, meant not to live this earthly life.
Never, never marry, my friend; here is my advice to you: do not marry until you tell yourself that you have done everything you could, and until you stop loving the woman you have chosen, until you see her clearly; otherwise you will make a cruel and irreparable mistake. Marry an old man, worthless ...
The central figures of the novel "War and Peace"
Rostovs - counts and countesses
Rostov Ilya Andreevich
Count, father of four children: Natasha, Vera, Nikolai and Petya. A very kind and generous person who loved life very much. His exorbitant generosity ultimately led him to extravagance. loving husband and father. A very good organizer of various balls and receptions. However, his life on a grand scale, and disinterested assistance to the wounded during the war with the French and the departure of the Russians from Moscow, dealt fatal blows to his condition. His conscience constantly tormented him because of the impending poverty of his family, but he could not help himself. After the death of his youngest son Petya, the count was broken, but, however, revived during the preparations for the wedding of Natasha and Pierre Bezukhov. It takes just a few months after the wedding of the Bezukhovs, as Count Rostov dies.
Rostova Natalya (wife of Ilya Andreevich Rostov)
The wife of Count Rostov and the mother of four children, this woman, at the age of forty-five, had oriental features. The focus of slowness and gravity in her was regarded by others as the solidity and high significance of her personality for the family. But the real reason for her manners, perhaps, lies in the exhausted and weak physical condition due to childbirth and the upbringing of four children. She loves her family and children very much, so the news of the death of Petya's youngest son almost drove her crazy. Just like Ilya Andreevich, Countess Rostova was very fond of luxury and the execution of any of her orders.
Leo Tolstoy and the heroes of the novel "War and Peace" in Countess Rostova helped to reveal the prototype of the author's grandmother - Tolstoy Pelageya Nikolaevna.
Rostov Nikolay
Son of Count Rostov Ilya Andreevich. A loving brother and son who honors his family, at the same time loves to serve in Russian army which is very significant and important for his dignity. Even in his fellow soldiers, he often saw his second family. Although he was in love with his cousin Sonya for a long time, at the end of the novel he marries Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. A very energetic young man, with curly hair and an "open expression". His patriotism and love for the Emperor of Russia never dried up. Having gone through many hardships of war, he becomes a brave and brave hussar. After the death of father Ilya Andreevich, Nikolai retires in order to improve the financial affairs of the family, pay debts and, finally, become a good husband for Marya Bolkonskaya.
It seems to Tolstoy Leo Nikolaevich as a prototype of his father.
Rostova Natasha
Daughter of the Count and Countess Rostov. A very energetic and emotional girl, who was considered ugly, but lively and attractive, she is not very smart, but intuitive, because she was able to perfectly “guess people”, their mood and some character traits. Very impetuous for nobility and self-sacrifice. She sings and dances very beautifully, which at that time was an important characterizing quality for a girl from a secular society. The most important quality of Natasha, which Leo Tolstoy, like his heroes, repeatedly emphasizes in the novel War and Peace, is closeness to the simple Russian people. Yes, and she herself absorbed the entire Russianness of culture and the strength of the spirit of the nation. Nevertheless, this girl lives in her illusion of goodness, happiness and love, which, after some time, brings Natasha into reality. It is these blows of fate and her heartfelt feelings that make Natasha Rostova an adult and give her, as a result, a mature true love to Pierre Bezukhov. The story of the rebirth of her soul deserves special respect, as Natasha began to attend church after she succumbed to the temptation of a deceitful seducer. If you are interested in the works of Tolstoy, which take a deeper look at the Christian heritage of our people, then you need to read a book about Father Sergius and how he fought temptation.
A collective prototype of the writer's daughter-in-law Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya, as well as her sister, Lev Nikolaevich's wife, Sophia Andreevna.
Rostova Vera
Daughter of the Count and Countess Rostov. She was famous for her strict disposition and inappropriate, albeit fair, remarks in society. It is not known why, but her mother did not really love her and Vera felt this keenly, apparently, therefore she often went against everyone around her. Later she became the wife of Boris Drubetskoy.
It is the prototype of Tolstoy's sister Sophia - the wife of Leo Nikolayevich, whose name was Elizabeth Bers.
Rostov Petr
Just a boy, the son of the Count and Countess of the Rostovs. Growing up Petya, the young man tried to go to war, and in such a way that his parents could not at all keep him. Escaped all the same from parental care and decided on the hussar regiment of Denisov. Petya dies in the first battle, without having time to fight. His death greatly crippled his family.
Sonya
The miniature glorious girl Sonya was the native niece of Count Rostov and lived all her life under his roof. Her long-term love for Nikolai Rostov became fatal for her, because she never managed to unite with him in marriage. In addition, the old Count Natalya Rostova was very against their marriage, because they were cousins. Sonya acts nobly, refusing Dolokhov and agreeing to love only Nikolai for life, while freeing him from his promise to marry her. For the rest of her life, she lives with the old countess in the care of Nikolai Rostov.
The prototype of this seemingly insignificant character was Lev Nikolayevich's second cousin, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Ergolskaya.
Bolkonsky - princes and princesses
Bolkonsky Nikolai Andreevich
The father of the protagonist, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. In the past, the acting General-in-Chief, in the present, the Prince, who earned himself the nickname "Prussian King" in Russian secular society. Socially active, strict like a father, tough, pedantic, but wise owner of his estate. Outwardly, he was a thin old man in a powdered white wig, thick eyebrows hanging over penetrating and intelligent eyes. He does not like to show feelings even for his beloved son and daughter. He constantly harasses his daughter Mary with nit-picking and sharp words. Sitting at his estate, Prince Nikolai is constantly on the alert for events taking place in Russia, and only before his death he loses a complete understanding of the scale of the tragedy of the Russian war with Napoleon.
The prototype of Prince Nikolai Andreevich was the writer's grandfather Volkonsky Nikolai Sergeevich.
Bolkonsky Andrey
Prince, son of Nikolai Andreevich. Ambitious, like his father, restrained in the manifestation of sensual impulses, but loves his father and sister very much. Married to the "little princess" Lisa. Made a good military career. He philosophizes a lot about life, the meaning and state of his spirit. From which it is clear that he is in some kind of constant search. After the death of his wife in Natasha, Rostova saw hope for himself, a real girl, and not a fake one like in secular society, and a certain light of future happiness, so he was in love with her. Having made an offer to Natasha, he was forced to go abroad for treatment, which served as a real test of their feelings for both. As a result, their wedding fell through. Prince Andrei went to war with Napoleon and was seriously wounded, after which he did not survive and died from a severe wound. Natasha devotedly looked after him until the end of his death.
Bolkonskaya Marya
Daughter of Prince Nikolai and sister of Andrei Bolkonsky. A very meek girl, not beautiful, but kind-hearted and very rich, like a bride. Her inspiration and devotion to religion serve as many examples of kindness and meekness. Unforgettably loves her father, who often mocked her with his ridicule, reproaches and injections. And also loves his brother, Prince Andrei. She did not immediately accept Natasha Rostova as a future daughter-in-law, because she seemed to her too frivolous for her brother Andrei. After all the hardships experienced, she marries Nikolai Rostov.
The prototype of Marya is the mother of Leo Tolstoy - Volkonskaya Maria Nikolaevna.
Bezukhovs - counts and countesses
Bezukhov Pierre (Pyotr Kirillovich)
One of the main characters who deserves close attention and the most positive assessment. This character has experienced a lot of mental trauma and pain, possessing in itself a kind and highly noble disposition. Tolstoy and the heroes of the novel "War and Peace" very often express their love and acceptance of Pierre Bezukhov as a man of very high morals, complacent and a man of a philosophical mind. Lev Nikolayevich loves his hero, Pierre, very much. As a friend of Andrei Bolkonsky, the young Count Pierre Bezukhov is very devoted and responsive. Despite the various intrigues weaving under his nose, Pierre did not become embittered and did not lose his good nature towards people. And by marrying Natalya Rostova, he finally found that grace and happiness that he so lacked in his first wife, Helen. At the end of the novel, his desire to change the political foundations in Russia can be traced, and from afar one can even guess his Decembrist moods.
Character prototypes
Most of the heroes of such a complex structure of the novel always reflect some people who one way or another met on the path of Leo Tolstoy.
The writer successfully created a whole panorama of the epic history of the events of that time and privacy secular people. In addition, the author managed to very brightly paint the psychological traits and characters of his characters so that they can learn worldly wisdom and modern man.
Leo Tolstoy in the article "A few words about the book" War and Peace "" says that the names of the characters in the epic are consonant with the names real people, because he "felt awkward" using the names of historical figures next to fictitious ones. Tolstoy writes that he "would be very sorry" if readers thought that he was deliberately describing the characters of real people, because all the characters are fictitious.
At the same time, there are two characters in the novel, to whom Tolstoy "unwittingly" gave the names of real people - Denisov and M. D. Akhrosimova. He did this because they were "characteristic faces of the time". Nevertheless, in the biographies of other characters in War and Peace, one can notice similarities with the stories of real people, which probably influenced Tolstoy when he worked on the images of his characters.
Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Nikolay Tuchkov. (wikimedia.org)
The surname of the hero is consonant with the surname of the Volkonsky princely family, from which the writer's mother came, however, Andrei is one of those characters whose image is more fictional than borrowed from specific people. How out of reach moral ideal, Prince Andrei, of course, could not have a definite prototype. Nevertheless, in the facts of the character's biography, one can find a lot in common, for example, with Nikolai Tuchkov. He was a lieutenant general and, like Prince Andrei, was mortally wounded in the Battle of Borodino, from which he died in Yaroslavl three weeks later.
Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya - the writer's parents
The scene of the wounding of Prince Andrei in the Battle of Austerlitz is probably borrowed from the biography of Staff Captain Fyodor (Ferdinand) Tizenhausen, Kutuzov's son-in-law. He, with a banner in his hands, led the Little Russian Grenadier Regiment in a counterattack, was wounded, captured and died three days after the battle. Also, the act of Prince Andrei is similar to the act of Prince Peter Volkonsky, who, with the banner of the Phanagoria regiment, led the brigade of grenadiers forward.
It is possible that Tolstoy gave the image of Prince Andrei the features of his brother Sergei. At least this applies to the story of the failed marriage of Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. Sergei Tolstoy was engaged to Tatyana Bers, the elder sister of Sophia Tolstaya (the writer's wife). The marriage never took place, because Sergei had been living with the gypsy Maria Shishkina for several years, whom he eventually married, and Tatyana married lawyer A. Kuzminsky.
Natasha Rostova
Sofya Tolstaya is the writer's wife. (wikimedia.org)
It can be assumed that Natasha has two prototypes at once - Tatyana and Sofya Bers. In the comments to War and Peace, Tolstoy says that Natasha Rostova turned out when he "reworked Tanya and Sonya."
Tatyana Bers spent most of her childhood in the writer's family and managed to make friends with the author of War and Peace, despite the fact that she was almost 20 years younger than him. Moreover, under the influence of Tolstoy, Kuzminskaya herself took up literary creativity. In her book “My Life at Home and in Yasnaya Polyana”, she wrote: “Natasha - he directly said that I didn’t live with him for nothing, that he was writing me off.” This can be found in the novel. The episode with Natasha's doll, which she offers Boris to kiss, is really written off from the real case, when Tatyana offered her friend to kiss Mimi's doll. She later wrote: "My big Mimi doll got into a novel!" The appearance of Natasha Tolstoy also wrote from Tatiana.
For the image of the adult Rostova - wife and mother - the writer probably turned to Sophia. Tolstoy's wife was devoted to her husband, gave birth to 13 children, she herself was engaged in their upbringing, housekeeping, and indeed rewrote War and Peace several times.
Rostov
In the drafts of the novel, the family's surname is first the Tolstoys, then the Simples, then the Plokhovs. The writer used archival documents to recreate the life of his family and depict it in the life of the Rostov family. There are similarities in names with Tolstoy's paternal relatives, as in the case of the old Count Rostov. This name hides the writer's grandfather Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy. This man, in fact, led a rather wasteful lifestyle and spent enormous sums on entertainment events. Leo Tolstoy in his memoirs wrote about him as generous, but limited person, who constantly arranged balls and receptions on the estate.
Even Tolstoy did not hide the fact that Vasily Denisov is Denis Davydov
And yet this is not the good-natured Ilya Andreevich Rostov from War and Peace. Count Tolstoy was the governor of Kazan and a bribe taker known throughout Russia, although the writer recalls that his grandfather did not take bribes, and his grandmother took them secretly from her husband. Ilya Tolstoy was removed from his post after the auditors discovered the theft of almost 15 thousand rubles from the provincial treasury. The reason for the shortage was called "lack of knowledge in the position of the governor of the province."
Nikolai Tolstoy. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Rostov is the father of the writer Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy. There are more than enough similarities between the prototype and the hero of War and Peace. Nikolai Tolstoy at the age of 17 voluntarily joined the Cossack regiment, served in the hussars and went through all the Napoleonic wars, including the Patriotic War of 1812. It is believed that the descriptions of military scenes with the participation of Nikolai Rostov were taken by the writer from the memoirs of his father. Nikolai inherited huge debts, he had to get a job as an educator in the Moscow military orphanage department. To remedy the situation, he married the ugly and withdrawn Princess Maria Volkonskaya, who was four years older than him. The marriage was arranged by the relatives of the bride and groom. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, the arranged marriage turned out to be very happy. Maria and Nikolai led a solitary life. Nikolai read a lot and collected a library on the estate, was engaged in farming and hunting. Tatyana Bers wrote to Sofya that Vera Rostova was very similar to Lisa Bers, Sophia's other sister.
Sisters Bers: Sophia, Tatyana and Elizabeth. (tolstoy-manuscript.ru)
Princess Mary
There is a version that the prototype of Princess Marya is the mother of Leo Tolstoy, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, by the way, also the full namesake of the book heroine. However, the writer's mother died when Tolstoy was less than two years old. There were no portraits of Volkonskaya, and the writer studied her letters and diaries in order to create her image for himself.
Unlike the heroine, the writer's mother had no problems with the sciences, in particular with mathematics and geometry. She learned four foreign languages, and, judging by Volkonskaya's diaries, she had a fairly warm relationship with her father, she was devoted to him. Maria lived for 30 years with her father in Yasnaya Polyana (Bald Mountains from the novel), but never married, although she was a very enviable bride. She was a closed woman and rejected several suitors.
Dolokhov's prototype probably ate his own orangutan
Princess Volkonskaya even had a companion - Miss Hanessen, somewhat similar to Mademoiselle Bourienne from the novel. After the death of her father, the daughter began to literally give away property. She gave part of the inheritance to her companion's sister, who had no dowry. After that, her relatives intervened in the matter, arranging the marriage of Maria Nikolaevna with Nikolai Tolstoy. Maria Volkonskaya died eight years after the wedding, having managed to give birth to four children.
Old Prince Bolkonsky
Nikolay Volkonsky. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky - an infantry general who distinguished himself in several battles and received the nickname "King of Prussia" from his colleagues. In character, he is very similar to the old prince: proud, self-willed, but not cruel. Left the service after the accession of Paul I, retired to Yasnaya Polyana and took up the education of his daughter. For days on end he improved his household and taught his daughter languages and sciences. An important difference from the character from the book: Prince Nikolai perfectly survived the war of 1812, and died nine years later, a little before reaching seventy. In Moscow, he had a house on Vozdvizhenka, 9. Now it has been rebuilt.
The prototype of Ilya Rostov is Tolstoy's grandfather, who ruined his career
Sonya
The prototype of Sonya can be called Tatyana Yergolskaya - the second cousin of Nikolai Tolstoy (the writer's father), who was brought up in his father's house. In their youth, they had an affair that never ended in marriage. Not only Nikolai's parents opposed the wedding, but Yergolskaya herself. The last time she rejected a marriage proposal from her cousin was in 1836. The widowed Tolstoy asked for the hand of Yergolskaya so that she would become his wife and replace the mother of five children. Ergolskaya refused, but after the death of Nikolai Tolstoy, she really took up the education of his sons and daughter, devoting the rest of her life to them.
Leo Tolstoy appreciated his aunt and maintained a correspondence with her. She was the first to collect and store the writer's papers. In his memoirs, he wrote that Tatyana was loved by everyone and “her whole life was love,” but she herself always loved one person - the father of Leo Tolstoy.
Dolokhov
Fedor Tolstoy is an American. (wikimedia.org)
Dolokhov has several prototypes. Among them, for example, lieutenant general and partisan Ivan Dorokhov, the hero of several major campaigns, including the war of 1812. However, if we talk about character, then Dolokhov has more similarities with the writer's cousin Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, nicknamed "The American". He was famous in his time as a breter, gambler and lover of women. Dolokhov is also compared with officer A. Figner, who commanded a partisan detachment, participated in duels and hated the French.
Tolstoy is not the only writer to include the American in his work. Fedor Ivanovich is also considered the prototype of Zaretsky, Lensky's second from Eugene Onegin. Tolstoy got his nickname after he made a trip to America, during which he was put off the ship. There is a version that then he ate his own monkey, although Sergei Tolstoy wrote that this is not true.
Kuragins
In this case, it is difficult to talk about the family, because the images of Prince Vasily, Anatole and Helen are borrowed from several people who are not related by kinship. Kuragin Sr. is undoubtedly Alexei Borisovich Kurakin, a prominent courtier during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I, who made a brilliant career at court and made a fortune.
Alexey Borisovich Kurakin. (wikimedia.org)
He had three children, exactly like those of Prince Vasily, of whom his daughter brought him the most trouble. Alexandra Alekseevna really had a scandalous reputation, especially her divorce from her husband made a lot of noise in the world. Prince Kurakin in one of his letters even called his daughter the main burden of his old age. Looks like a character from War and Peace, doesn't it? Although Vasily Kuragin spoke a little differently.
On the right is Alexandra Kurakina. (wikimedia.org)
Prototypes of Helen - the wife of Bagration and the mistress of a classmate of Pushkin
Anatoly Lvovich Shostak, the second cousin of Tatiana Bers, who courted her when she came to St. Petersburg, should be called the prototype of Anatol Kuragin. After that, he came to Yasnaya Polyana and annoyed Leo Tolstoy. In the draft notes of War and Peace, Anatole's surname is Shimko.
As for Helen, her image is taken from several women at once. In addition to some similarities with Alexandra Kurakina, she has much in common with Ekaterina Skvaronskaya (Bagration's wife), who was known for her careless behavior not only in Russia, but also in Europe, where she left five years after the wedding. At home, she was called the "Wandering Princess", and in Austria she was known as the mistress of Clemens Metternich, the empire's foreign minister. From him, Ekaterina Skavronskaya gave birth - of course, out of wedlock - a daughter, Clementine. Perhaps it was the "Wandering Princess" that contributed to the entry of Austria into the anti-Napoleonic coalition.
Another woman from whom Tolstoy could borrow Helen's traits is Nadezhda Akinfova. She was born in 1840 and was very famous in St. Petersburg and Moscow as a woman of scandalous reputation and riotous temper. She gained wide popularity thanks to an affair with Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, a classmate of Pushkin. By the way, he was 40 years older than Akinfova, whose husband was the Chancellor's great-nephew. Akinfova also divorced her first husband, but she already married the Duke of Leuchtenberg in Europe, where they moved together. Recall that in the novel itself, Helen never divorced Pierre.
Ekaterina Skavronskaya-Bagration. (wikimedia.org)
Vasily Denisov
Denis Davydov. (wikimedia.org)
Every schoolchild knows that the prototype of Vasily Denisov was Denis Davydov - a poet and writer, lieutenant general, partisan. Tolstoy used the works of Davydov when he studied the Napoleonic Wars.
Julie Karagina
There is an opinion that Julie Karagina is Varvara Alexandrovna Lanskaya, the wife of the Minister of Internal Affairs. She is known exclusively for the fact that she had a long correspondence with her friend Maria Volkova. From these letters Tolstoy studied the history of the war of 1812. Moreover, they almost completely entered War and Peace under the guise of correspondence between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina.
Pierre Bezukhov
Peter Vyazemsky. (wikimedia.org)
Pierre does not have an obvious prototype, since this character has similarities both with Tolstoy himself and with many historical figures who lived at the time of the writer and in the years Patriotic War.
However, some similarities can be seen with Peter Vyazemsky. He also wore glasses, received a huge inheritance, and participated in the Battle of Borodino. In addition, he wrote poetry, published. Tolstoy used his notes in his work on the novel.
Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova
In Akhrosimov's novel, she is the guest that the Rostovs are waiting for on Natasha's name day. Tolstoy writes that all of St. Petersburg and all of Moscow knows Marya Dmitrievna, and for her frankness and rudeness they call her "le terrible dragon."
The similarity of the character can be seen with Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. This is a lady from Moscow, the niece of Prince Volkonsky. Prince Vyazemsky wrote in his memoirs that she was a strong, powerful woman who was very respected in society. The Ofrosimovs' estate was located in Chisty lane (Khamovniki district) in Moscow. It is believed that Ofrosimova was also the prototype of Khlestova in Griboyedov's Woe from Wit.
Estimated portrait of N. D. Ofrosimova by F. S. Rokotov. (wikimedia.org)
Lisa Bolkonskaya
Tolstoy wrote the appearance of Lisa Bolkonskaya from Louise Ivanovna Truson, the wife of his second cousin. This is evidenced by Sophia's signature on the back of her portrait in Yasnaya Polyana.
Tolstoy's favorite characters in War and Peace are Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. They are united by the quality that the writer himself most valued in people. In his opinion, to be a real person, you need to “torn, fight, get confused, make mistakes, start and quit” all your life, and “peace is spiritual meanness.” That is, a person should not calm down and stop, he should search for meaning all his life and strive to find an application for his strengths, talents, mind.
In this article we will consider what are the characteristics of the main characters of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". Pay attention to why Tolstoy endowed these characters with such features and what he wanted to say to his readers.
Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace"
As we have already noted, speaking about the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, it is definitely worth discussing the image of Pierre Bezukhov. For the first time the reader sees Pierre in the aristocratic Petersburg salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. The hostess treats him somewhat condescendingly, because he is just the illegitimate son of a rich nobleman of Catherine's times, who has just returned from abroad, where he received an education.
Pierre Bezukhov differs from other guests in his spontaneity and sincerity. Drawing a psychological portrait of his protagonist, Tolstoy points out that Pierre was a fat, absent-minded person, but all this was redeemed by "an expression of good nature, simplicity and modesty." The hostess of the salon was afraid that Pierre would say something wrong, and indeed, Bezukhov passionately expresses his opinion, argues with the viscount and does not know how to follow the rules of etiquette. At the same time, he is kind and smart. The qualities of Pierre, shown in the first chapters of the novel, will be inherent in him throughout the entire story, although the hero himself will go through a difficult path of spiritual evolution. Why can Pierre Bezukhov be safely attributed to the main characters of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"? Consideration of the image of Pierre Bezukhov helps to understand this.
Pierre Bezukhov is so loved by Tolstoy because this main character novel tirelessly searches for the meaning of life, asks himself painful questions: “What is wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live, and what am I? What is life, what is death? What power governs everything?
Pierre Bezukhov goes through a difficult path of spiritual quest. He is not satisfied with the St. Petersburg revelry of golden youth. Having received an inheritance and becoming one of the richest people in Russia, the hero marries Helen, but he blames himself for the failures of family life and even his wife's infidelities, since he made an offer without feeling love.
For a time he finds meaning in Freemasonry. He is close to the idea of spiritual brothers about the need to live for the sake of others, to give to others as much as possible. Pierre Bezukhov is trying to change and improve the situation of his peasants. But disappointment soon sets in: the protagonist of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" understands that most of the Masons are trying to make acquaintances with influential people in this way. Further, the image and characteristics of Pierre Bezukhov are revealed in an interesting aspect.
The most important stage on the path of spiritual development of Pierre Bezukhov is the war of 1812 and captivity. On the Borodino field, he understands that the truth is in the universal unity of people. In captivity, the peasant philosopher Platon Karataev reveals to the main character the realization of how important it is to “live with people” and stoically accept everything that fate brings.
Pierre Bezukhov has an inquisitive mind, thoughtful and often ruthless introspection. He is a decent person, kind and a little naive. He asks himself and the world philosophical questions about the meaning of life, God, the purpose of existence, not finding an answer, he does not dismiss painful thoughts, but tries to find the right way.
In the epilogue, Pierre is happy with Natasha Rostova, but personal happiness is not enough for him. He becomes a member of a secret society preparing reforms in Russia. So, discussing who are the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, we focused on the image of Pierre Bezukhov and his characteristics. Let's move on to the next key character of the novel - Andrei Bolkonsky.
Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel "War and Peace"
The Bolkonsky family is united by common generic features: a sharp analytical mind, nobility, the highest sense of honor, an understanding of one's duty in serving the Fatherland. It is no coincidence that, seeing off his son to the war, the father, admonishing him, says: “Remember one thing, Prince Andrei: if they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man ... And if I find out that you behaved not like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be ... ashamed!" Undoubtedly, Andrei Bolkonsky is a bright character and one of the main characters in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.
During military service, Bolkonsky is guided by considerations of the common good, and not his own career. He heroically rushes forward with a banner in his hands, because it hurts him to see the flight of the Russian army on the Austerlitz field.
Andrey, like Pierre, is waiting for a difficult path of searching for the meaning of life and disappointments. At first, he dreams of the glory of Napoleon. But after the Austerlitz sky, in which the prince saw something infinitely high, beautiful and calm, the former idol seems to him small, insignificant with his vain aspirations.
Comprehends the protagonist of the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy and disappointment in love (Natasha betrays him, deciding to run away with the fool Anatoly Kuragin), in life for the sake of the family (he understands that this is not enough), in public service(Speransky's activity turns out to be a meaningless fuss that does not bring true benefit).
M. M. Blinkina
AGE OF HEROES IN THE NOVEL "WAR AND PEACE"
(Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences. A series of literature and language. - T. 57. - No. 1. - M., 1998. - S. 18-27)
1. INTRODUCTION
The main goal of this work is mathematical modeling of some aspects of plot development and establishing relationships between real and novel time, or rather, between the real and novel ages of the characters (and, in this case, the relationship will be predictable and linear).
The very concept of "age" has, of course, several aspects. Firstly, the age of a literary character is determined by the novel time, which often does not coincide with the real time. Secondly, the numerals in the designation of age, in addition to their main (actually numerical) meaning, often have a number of additional ones, that is, they carry an independent semantic load. They can, for example, contain a positive or negative assessment of the hero, reflect his individual characteristics, or bring an ironic tinge to the narrative.
Sections 2-6 describe how Leo Tolstoy changes the age characteristics of the characters in War and Peace depending on their function in the novel, how young they are, what gender they are, and also on some other individual characteristics.
Section 7 proposes a mathematical model that reflects the features of the "aging" of Tolstoy's characters.
2. AGE PARADOXES: TEXT ANALYSIS
Reading the novel by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy "War and Peace", one cannot but pay attention to some strange inconsistencies in the age characteristics of his characters. Consider, for example, the Rostov family. August 1805 is outside - and we meet Natasha for the first time: ... ran into the room thirteen girl, wrapping something in a muslin skirt...
In the same August 1805, we met all the other children from this family, in particular, with the elder sister Vera: The eldest daughter of the countess was four years older than sister and acted like a big.
Thus, in August 1805 Vere seventeen years. Now fast forward to December 1806: faith was twenty years old beautiful girl ... Natasha half-lady, half-girl...
We see that over the past year and four months, Vera has managed to grow by three years. She was seventeen, and now she is neither eighteen nor nineteen; she's twenty. Natasha's age in this fragment is given metaphorically, and not by a number, which, as it turns out, is also not without reason.
Exactly three more years will pass, and we will receive the last message about the age of these two sisters:
Natasha was sixteen years, and it was 1809, the same year until which four years ago she counted on her fingers with Boris, after she kissed him.
So, over these four years, Natasha has grown by three, as, however, was expected. Instead of seventeen or even eighteen, she is now sixteen. And there will be no more. This is the last mention of her age. And what happens to her unfortunate older sister in the meantime?
Faith was twenty four years, she traveled everywhere, and despite the fact that she was undoubtedly good and reasonable, so far no one has ever proposed to her.
As we can see, over the past three years, Vera has grown by four. If we count from the very beginning, that is, from August 1805, it turns out that in just over four years, Vera has grown by seven years. During this time period, the age difference between Natasha and Vera doubled. Vera is no longer four, but eight years older than her sister.
This was an example of how the ages of two characters change relative to each other. Now let's look at a hero who at some point in time has different ages for different characters. This hero is Boris Drubetskoy. His age is never directly stated, so let's try to calculate it indirectly. On the one hand, we know that Boris is the same age as Nikolai Rostov: Two young men, a student and an officer, friends since childhood, were one year old ...
Nicholas in January 1806 was nineteen or twenty years old:
How strange it was for the countess that her son, who was moving in her very tiny penises twenty years ago, now a courageous warrior ...
It follows that in August 1805 Boris was nineteen or twenty years old. Now let's estimate his age from Pierre's point of view. At the beginning of the novel, Pierre is twenty years old: Pierre from the age of ten was sent with the tutor-abbot abroad, where he stayed up to the age of twenty .
On the other hand, we know that Pierre left Boris fourteen year old boy and decidedly did not remember him.
Thus, Boris is four years older than Pierre and at the beginning of the novel he is twenty-four years old, that is, he is twenty-four years old for Pierre, while for Nikolai he is still only twenty.
And, finally, one more, already quite funny example: the age of Nikolenka Bolkonsky. In July 1805, his future mother appears before us: ... little princess Volkonskaya, who got married last winter and now did not go out into the world because of her pregnancy ... waddling, walked around the table with small quick steps ...
From universal human considerations, it is clear that Nikolenka should be born in the autumn of 1805: but, contrary to worldly logic, this does not happen, he is born March 19, 1806 It is clear that such a character will have problems with age until the end of his novel life. So in 1811 he will be six years old, and in 1820 - fifteen.
How can such inconsistencies be explained? Maybe the exact age of his characters is not important for Tolstoy? On the contrary, Tolstoy has a fondness for numbers and sets the ages of even the most insignificant heroes with amazing accuracy. So Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova exclaims: fifty eight years lived in the world ...: No, life is not over at thirty one, - says Prince Andrew.
Tolstoy has numbers everywhere, and the numbers are exact, fractional. Age in War and Peace is undoubtedly functional. No wonder Dolokhov, beating Nikolai in cards, decided to continue the game until this record increased to forty-three thousand. This number was chosen by him because forty-three was the sum of his years plus Sonya's. .
Thus, all the age discrepancies described above, and there are about thirty of them in the novel, are deliberate. What are they due to?
Before I begin to answer this question, I note that on average, over the course of the novel, Tolstoy makes each of his characters a year older than they should be (this is shown by calculations, which will be discussed later). Ordinarily, the hero of a classic novel will always be twenty-one years old instead of twenty-one years and eleven months, and on average, therefore, such a hero turns out to be half a year younger than his years.
However, even from the above examples it is already clear, firstly, that the author "ages" and "youngens" his characters differently, and secondly, that this does not happen randomly, but in a systemic, programmed way. How exactly?
From the very beginning, it becomes obvious that the positive and negative characters age differently, disproportionately. (“Positive and negative” is, of course, a conditional concept, however, in Tolstoy, the polarity of a character in most cases is determined almost unambiguously. The author of “War and Peace” is surprisingly frank in his likes and dislikes). As shown above, Natasha matures more slowly than expected, while Vera, on the contrary, grows faster. Boris, as a friend of Nikolai and a friend of the Rostov family, appears as a twenty-year-old; he, in the role of a secular acquaintance of Pierre and future husband of Julie Karagina, turns out to be much older at the same time. At the ages of the heroes, it is as if a certain non-strict order is set, or rather, an anti-order. There is a feeling that the heroes are "penalized" by an increase in age. Tolstoy, as it were, punishes his heroes with disproportionate aging.
There are, however, in the novel characters who grow older strictly in accordance with the years they have lived. Sonya, for example, being, in fact, neither a positive nor a negative heroine, but completely neutral and colorless, Sonya, who always studied well and remembered everything, matures exceptionally carefully. The whole mess of ages that takes place in the Rostov family does not affect her at all. In 1805 she fifteen year old girl , and in 1806 - sixteen year old girl in all the beauty of a freshly blossomed flower. It is her age that the prudent Dolokhov beats Rostov in cards, adding to his own. But Sonya is rather an exception.
In general, characters of "different polarity" grow up in different ways. Moreover, the extremely saturated space of age is divided between positive and negative characters. At the age of sixteen, Natasha and Sonya are mentioned. After the age of sixteen - Vera and Julie Karagina. No more than twenty happens to Pierre, Nikolai and Petya Rostov, Nikolenka Bolkonsky. Strictly more than twenty Boris, Dolokhov, "ambiguous" Prince Andrei.
The question is not how old the hero is, the question is exactly what age is fixed in the novel. Natasha is not supposed to be over sixteen; Marya is unacceptably old for a positive heroine, so not a word is said about her age; Helen, on the contrary, is defiantly young for a negative heroine, therefore, we do not know how old she is.
In the novel, a boundary is set, after which only negative characters already exist; border, having stepped over which, obviously positive hero simply ceases to exist in the space of age. In a perfectly symmetrical way, the negative character walks through the novel without age until he passes this boundary. Natasha loses her age at the age of sixteen. Julie Karagina, on the contrary, is gaining age, being no longer her first youth:
Julie was twenty seven years old. After the death of her brothers, she became very rich. She was completely ugly now; but I thought that she was not only just as pretty, but even more attractive now than she was before ... A man who ten years ago would have been afraid to go every day to the house where she was seventeen year old lady, so as not to compromise her and not to tie himself up, now he boldly went to her every day and talked with her not as with a young lady-bride, but as with an acquaintance who had no sex.
The problem, however, is that Julie in this novel was never seventeen years old. In 1805, when this chubby lady guest appears in the Rostovs' house, nothing is said about her age, because if then Tolstoy honestly gave her her seventeen years, then now, in 1811, she would not be twenty-seven, but only twenty-three, which, of course, is also no longer an age for a positive heroine, but still it is not yet the time for the final transition into asexual beings. In general, negative heroes, as a rule, are not supposed to have childhood and adolescence. This leads to some funny misunderstandings:
Well, Lela? - Prince Vasily turned to his daughter with that careless tone of habitual tenderness, which is assimilated by parents who caress their children from childhood, but which was only guessed by Prince Violence by imitating other parents.
Or maybe Prince Vasily is not to blame? Maybe his purely negative children had no childhood at all. And it is not for nothing that Pierre, before proposing to Helen, convinces himself that he knew her as a child. Was she even a child?
If we move from lyrics to numbers, then it turns out that in the novel there are positive characters aged 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20, as well as 40, 45, 50, 58. Negative is 17, 20, 24, 25, 27. That is, positive heroes from early youth immediately fall into respectable old age. At bad guys senile age also, of course, happens, but the fragmentation of their age in old age is less than that of positive ones. So, the positive Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova says: fifty eight years lived in the world... The negative prince Vasily evaluates himself with less accuracy: To me sixth decade, My friend...
In general, accurate calculations show that the aging coefficient in the "positive-negative" space is -2.247, i.e. other things being equal, the positive hero will be two years and three months younger than the negative one.
Let's talk now about two heroines who are emphatically ageless. These heroines are Helen and Princess Mary, which in itself is not accidental.
Helen symbolizes eternal beauty and youth in the novel. Her rightness, her strength in this inexhaustible youth. Time seems to have no power over her: Elena Vasilievna, so she at fifty beauty will be. Pierre, persuading himself to marry Helen, also cites her age as her main advantage. He remembers knowing her as a child. He says to himself: No, she's beautiful young woman! She is not stupid woman!
Helen is the eternal bride. With a living husband, she chooses with charming immediacy a new groom for herself, and one of the applicants is young, and the other is old. Ellen dies mysterious circumstances, preferring the old admirer to the young, that is: as if she herself chooses old age and death, renouncing her privilege of eternal youth, and dissolves into non-existence.
Princess Mary also has no age, and it is not possible to calculate it from the final version of the novel. Indeed, in 1811, she, old dry princess, envious of Natasha's beauty and youth. In the finale, in 1820, Marya is a happy young mother, she is expecting her fourth child, and her life, one might say, is just beginning, although at that moment she is no less than thirty-five years old, an age not very suitable for a lyrical heroine; that is why she lives without age in this novel, soaked through with figures.
It is curious that in the first edition of "War and Peace", which differs from the final version in its extreme concreteness and "last directness", the uncertainty in the images of Helen and Marya is partly removed. There, in 1805, Marya was twenty years old: the old prince himself was engaged in the education of his daughter and, in order to develop in her both main virtues, up to twenty years gave her lessons in algebra and geometry and distributed her whole life in uninterrupted studies.
And Helen also dies there, not from an excess of youth ...
4. THE FIRST COMPLETED VERSION OF THE NOVEL
The first version of "War and Peace" helps solve many of the riddles given in the final version of the novel. What is very vaguely read in the final version appears in the early version with amazing clarity for a novel narrative. The space of age here is not yet saturated with that romantic understatement that the modern reader encounters. Deliberate accuracy borders on banality. Not surprisingly, in the final version of the novel, Tolstoy renounces such meticulousness. Mentions of age becomes one and a half times less. Behind the scenes is a lot of interesting details, which would not be superfluous to mention here.
Princess Mary, as already noted, at the beginning of the novel twenty years. Age Helen is not specified, however, it is obviously limited from above by the age of her older brother. And in 1811 Anatole was 28 years. He was in full splendor of his strength and beauty.
Thus, at the beginning of the novel, Anatole is twenty-two, his friend Dolokhov is twenty-five, and Pierre is twenty. Helen no more than twenty-one. Moreover, she probably no more than nineteen because, according to the unwritten laws of that time, she should not be older than Pierre. (The fact, for example, that Julie is older than Boris is emphasized.)
So, the scene in which the socialite Helen tries to lead young Natasha Rostova astray looks completely comical, given that Natasha is twenty years old at this moment, and Helen is twenty-four, that is, they, in fact, belong to the same age group. categories.
The early version also clarifies the age for us Boris: Hélène called him mon hage and treated him like a child ... Sometimes, in rare moments, Pierr "got the idea that this patronizing friendship for an imaginary child who was 23 years old had something unnatural.
These considerations refer to the autumn of 1809, that is, at the beginning of the novel Boris is nineteen years old and his future bride Julie - twenty one years old, if you count her age back from the moment of their wedding. Initially, Julie, apparently, was assigned the role of a prettier heroine in the novel: Tall, stout, proud-looking lady with pretty daughter, rustling dresses, entered the living room.
This pretty daughter is Julie Karagina, who at first was thought to be younger and more attractive. However, in 1811, Julie Akhrosimova (as she was originally called) will already be that "sexless" creature, as we know her from the final version.
Dolokhov in the first version of the novel beats Nikolai not forty-three, but only forty-two thousand.
The ages of Natasha and Sonya are given several times. So, at the beginning of 1806, Natasha says: To me fifteenth year, my grandmother got married in my time.
In the summer of 1807, Natasha's age is mentioned twice: Natasha passed away 15 years and she is very prettier this summer.
“And you sing,” said Prince Andrei. He said these simple words looking directly into the beautiful eyes of this 15 year old girls.
Such a number of age occurrences allows us to establish that Natasha was born in the autumn of 1791. Thus, at her first ball she shines at eighteen, and by no means at sixteen.
To make Natasha younger, Tolstoy also changes Sonya's age. Thus, at the end of 1810 Sonya was already twentieth year. She had already stopped getting prettier, she did not promise anything more than what was in her, but that was enough.
In fact, Natasha is in her twentieth year at this moment, and Sonya is at least a year and a half older.
Unlike many other characters, Prince Andrei does not have an exact age in the first version of the novel. Instead of the textbook thirty-one years, he about thirty years.
Of course, the accuracy and directness of the early version of the novel cannot serve as an "official clue" to age shifts, since we have no right to believe that Natasha and Pierre of the first edition are the same characters that Natasha and Pierre are in the final version of the novel. By changing the age characteristics of the hero, the author partly changes the hero himself. Nevertheless, the early version of the novel allows us to check the accuracy of the calculations made on the final text and to make sure that these calculations are correct.
5. AGE AS A FUNCTION OF AGE (AGE STEREOTYPES)
So little time left to live
I'm already sixteen years old!
Y. Ryashentsev
The tradition of aging older characters compared to younger ones has its roots in the depths of centuries. In this sense, Tolstoy did not invent anything new. Calculations show that the coefficient of "ageing with age" in the novel is 0.097, which in human language means a year of novel aging for ten lived years, that is, a ten-year-old hero can be eleven years old, a twenty-year-old hero is twenty-two, and a fifty-year-old hero is fifty-five. The result is not surprising. It is much more interesting how Tolstoy gives the ages of his heroes, how he evaluates them on a scale of "young - old". Let's start from the very beginning.
5.1. Up to ten years
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was very fond of children.
Sometimes they would bring him a full chamber. step
there is nowhere to step, but he keeps shouting: More! More!
D. Kharms
Harms is certainly right. There are many infant characters in the novel. What they have in common is, perhaps, that they do not seem to be independent units endowed with their own problems and experiences. The age of up to ten years is, as it were, a signal that the hero will, in fact, be a small mouthpiece for the author. The children in the novel see the world surprisingly subtly and correctly, they are engaged in a systematic "defamiliarization" of the environment. They, not spoiled by the burden of civilization, are more successful than adults in solving their moral problems and, at the same time, they seem to be completely devoid of reason. Therefore, such young characters, whose number will grow to incredible limits by the end, look very artificial:
Five minutes later, little black-eyed three-year Natasha, her father's favorite, having learned from her brother that papa was sleeping in a small sofa room, unnoticed by her mother, ran to her father ... Nikolai turned around with a tender smile on his face.
- Natasha, Natasha! - I heard the frightened whisper of Countess Marya from the door, - papa wants to sleep.
- No, mother, he does not want to sleep, - little Natasha answered with persuasiveness, - he laughs.
Such an instructive little character. Here's the next one, a little older:
Only one granddaughter of Andrei, Malasha, six year old girl, to whom the most illustrious, after caressing her, gave a piece of sugar for tea, remained on the stove in a large hut ... Malasha ... otherwise understood the significance of this advice. It seemed to her that it was only a personal struggle between "grandfather" and "long-sleeved", as she called Beningsen.
Amazing insight!
The last character in age who shows signs of the same "childish-unconscious" behavior, like all the juvenile characters of Tolstoy, is the eternally sixteen-year-old Natasha Rostova:
In the middle of the stage were girls in red corsages and white skirts. They all sang something. When they finished their song, the girl in white went up to the prompter's booth, and a man in tight-fitting silk pantaloons on thick legs, with a feather and a dagger, came up to her and began to sing and shrug...
After the village, and in the serious mood in which Natasha was, all this was wild and surprising to her.
So, Natasha sees the world in the same childish, unreasonable way. Not by age, adult children look like young old people. Striving for globality, the author of "War and Peace" loses the little things, the individuality of babies, for example, the children of Lev Nikolayevich do not come individually, but in a set: At the table were the mother, the old woman Belova who lived with her, his wife, three children, governess, tutor, nephew with his tutor, Sonya, Denisov, Natasha, her three children, their governess and old man Mikhail Ivanovich, the architect of the prince, who lived in Bald Mountains in retirement.
Individuality in this enumeration relies on everyone, even the old woman Belova, whom we meet for the first and last time. Even a tutor, and a governess, and even a tutor do not merge into the general concept of "tutors". And only children, sexless and faceless, go in a crowd. Kharms had something to parody.
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy in his epic novel "War and Peace" provided a wide system of images. His world is not limited to a few noble families: real historical characters are mixed with fictional, major and minor ones. This symbiosis is sometimes so intricate and unusual that it is extremely difficult to determine which heroes perform a more or less significant function.
Representatives of eight noble families act in the novel, almost all of them occupy a central place in the narrative.
Rostov family
This family is represented by Count Ilya Andreevich, his wife Natalya, their four children together and their pupil Sonya.
The head of the family, Ilya Andreevich, is a sweet and good-natured person. He has always been provided for, therefore he does not know how to save, he is often deceived by acquaintances and relatives for selfish purposes. The count is not a selfish person, he is ready to help everyone. Over time, his attitude, reinforced by addiction to the card game, became disastrous for his entire family. Because of the father's squandering, the family has been on the verge of poverty for a long time. The count dies at the end of the novel, after the wedding of Natalia and Pierre, of natural causes.
Countess Natalya is very similar to her husband. She, like him, is alien to the concept of self-interest and the pursuit of money. She is ready to help people who find themselves in a difficult situation, she is overwhelmed with feelings of patriotism. The countess had to endure many sorrows and troubles. This state of affairs is associated not only with unexpected poverty, but also with the death of their children. Of the thirteen born, only four survived; subsequently, the war took one more - the youngest.
The Count and Countess of Rostov, like most of the characters in the novel, have their prototypes. They were the grandfather and grandmother of the writer - Ilya Andreevich and Pelageya Nikolaevna.
The eldest child of the Rostovs is called Vera. This is an unusual girl, not like all the other members of the family. She is rude and callous at heart. This attitude applies not only to strangers, but also to close relatives. The rest of the Rostov children subsequently make fun of her and even come up with a nickname for her. The prototype of Vera was Elizaveta Bers, daughter-in-law of L. Tolstoy.
The next oldest child is Nikolai. His image is drawn in the novel with love. Nicholas - noble man. He responsibly approaches any occupation. Tries to be guided by the principles of morality and honor. Nikolai is very similar to his parents - kind, sweet, purposeful. After the distress he had endured, he constantly took care not to find himself in a similar situation again. Nikolai takes part in military events, he is repeatedly awarded, but still he leaves military service after the war with Napoleon - his family needs him.
Nikolai marries Maria Bolkonskaya, they have three children - Andrei, Natasha, Mitya - and a fourth is expected.
The younger sister of Nikolai and Vera, Natalya, is the same in character and temperament as her parents. She is sincere and trusting, and this almost ruins her - Fedor Dolokhov fools the girl and persuades her to escape. These plans were not destined to come true, but Natalya's engagement with Andrei Bolkonsky was terminated, and Natalya fell into a deep depression. Subsequently, she became the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. The woman stopped watching her figure, others began to speak of her as an unpleasant woman. Tolstoy's wife, Sofya Andreevna, and her sister, Tatyana Andreevna, became the prototypes of Natalia.
The youngest child of the Rostovs was Petya. He was the same as all Rostovs: noble, honest and kind. All these qualities were enhanced by youthful maximalism. Petya was a sweet eccentric, to whom all pranks were forgiven. The fate of Petya was extremely unfavorable - he, like his brother, goes to the front and dies there very young and young.
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".
Another child, Sonya, was brought up in the Rostov family. The girl was related to the Rostovs, after the death of her parents, they took her in and treated her like their own child. Sonya was in love with Nikolai Rostov for a long time, this fact did not allow her to get married on time.
Presumably she remained alone until the end of her days. Its prototype was Leo Tolstoy's aunt, Tatyana Alexandrovna, in whose house the writer was brought up after the death of his parents.
We get to know all the Rostovs at the very beginning of the novel - they are all active throughout the story. In the "Epilogue" we learn about the further continuation of their kind.
Bezukhov family
The Bezukhov family is not represented in such a numerous form as the Rostov family. The head of the family is Kirill Vladimirovich. The name of his wife is not known. We know that she belonged to the Kuragin family, but it is not clear who exactly she was to them. Count Bezukhov has no children born in marriage - all his children are illegitimate. The eldest of them - Pierre - was officially named by his father the heir to the estate.
After such a statement by the count, the image of Pierre Bezukhov begins to appear actively in public terms. Pierre himself does not impose his society on others, but he is a prominent groom - the heir to unthinkable wealth, so they want to see him always and everywhere. Nothing is known about Pierre's mother, but this does not become a reason for indignation and ridicule. Pierre received a decent education abroad and returned to his homeland full of utopian ideas, his vision of the world is too idealistic and divorced from reality, so all the time he faces unthinkable disappointments - in social activities, personal life, family harmony. His first wife was Elena Kuragina - a whore and a flirtatious. This marriage brought a lot of suffering to Pierre. The death of his wife saved him from the unbearable - he did not have the power to leave Elena or change her, but he could not come to terms with such an attitude towards his person. The second marriage - with Natasha Rostova - became more successful. They had four children - three girls and a boy.
Princes Kuragins
The Kuragin family is stubbornly associated with greed, debauchery and deceit. The reason for this was the children of Vasily Sergeevich and Alina - Anatole and Elena.
Prince Vasily was not a bad person, he possessed a number of positive qualities, but his desire for enrichment and gentleness of character in relation to his son reduced all the positive aspects to nothing.
Like any father, Prince Vasily wanted to ensure a prosperous future for his children, one of the options was a profitable marriage. This position is not only in the best way affected the reputation of the whole family, but later played a tragic role in the lives of Elena and Anatole.
Little is known about Princess Alina. At the time of the story, she was a rather ugly woman. Her distinguishing feature was hostility to her daughter Elena on the basis of envy.
Vasily Sergeevich and Princess Alina had two sons and a daughter.
Anatole - became the cause of all the troubles of the family. He led a life of spenders and rake - debts, brawls were a natural occupation for him. Such behavior left an extremely negative imprint on the reputation of the family and its financial situation.
Anatole was seen in love with his sister Elena. The possibility of a serious relationship between brother and sister was suppressed by Prince Vasily, but, apparently, they still took place after Elena's marriage.
The daughter of the Kuragins, Elena, had incredible beauty, like her brother Anatole. She skillfully flirted and after marriage had a love affair with many men, ignoring her husband Pierre Bezukhov.
Their brother Ippolit was completely unlike them in appearance - he was extremely unpleasant in appearance. In terms of the composition of his mind, he was not much different from his brother and sister. He was too stupid - this was noted not only by those around him, but also by his father. Nevertheless, Hippolyte was not hopeless - he knew well foreign languages and worked at the embassy.
Princes Bolkonsky
The Bolkonsky family occupies far from the last place in society - they are rich and influential.
The family includes Prince Nikolai Andreevich - a man of the old school and peculiar customs. He is rather rude in dealing with his relatives, but still not devoid of sensuality and tenderness - he is kind to his grandson and daughter, in a peculiar way, but still, he loves his son, but he does not really succeed in showing the sincerity of his feelings.
Nothing is known about the prince's wife, even her name is not mentioned in the text. In the marriage of the Bolkonskys, two children were born - son Andrei and daughter Marya.
Andrei Bolkonsky is partially similar in character to his father - he is quick-tempered, proud and a little rude. He has an attractive appearance and natural charm. At the beginning of the novel, Andrei is successfully married to Lisa Meinen - the couple has a son, Nikolenka, but his mother dies on the night after giving birth.
After some time, Andrei becomes the fiancé of Natalia Rostova, but he didn’t have to get married - Anatol Kuragin translated all the plans, which earned him personal dislike and exceptional hatred on the part of Andrei.
Prince Andrei takes part in the military events of 1812, is seriously wounded on the battlefield and dies in the hospital.
Maria Bolkonskaya - Andrey's sister - is deprived of such pride and stubbornness as her brother, which allows her, not without difficulty, but still to get along with her father, who is not distinguished by an accommodating character. Kind and meek, she understands that she is not indifferent to her father, therefore she does not hold a grudge against him for nit-picking and rudeness. The girl is raising her nephew. Outwardly, Marya does not look like her brother - she is very ugly, but this does not prevent her from marrying Nikolai Rostov and living happy life.
Liza Bolkonskaya (Meinen) was the wife of Prince Andrei. She was an attractive woman. Her inner world was not inferior to her appearance - she was sweet and pleasant, she loved needlework. Unfortunately, her fate did not turn out in the best way - childbirth turned out to be too difficult for her - she dies, giving life to her son Nikolenka.
Nikolenka lost his mother early, but the boy's troubles did not stop there - at the age of 7, he also loses his father. Despite everything, he is characterized by the cheerfulness inherent in all children - he grows up as an intelligent and inquisitive boy. The image of his father becomes key for him - Nikolenka wants to live in such a way that his father can be proud of him.
Mademoiselle Bourienne also belongs to the Bolkonsky family. Despite the fact that she is only a friendly companion, her significance in the context of the family is quite significant. First of all, it consists in a pseudo friendship with Princess Mary. Often Mademoiselle acts meanly towards Mary, enjoys the favor of the girl in relation to her person.
The Karagin family
Tolstoy does not spread much about the Karagin family - the reader gets acquainted with only two representatives of this family - Marya Lvovna and her daughter Julie.
Marya Lvovna first appears before readers in the first volume of the novel, her own daughter also begins to act in the first volume of the first part of War and Peace. Julie has an extremely unpleasant appearance, she is in love with Nikolai Rostov, but the young man does not pay any attention to her. Does not save the situation and its huge wealth. Boris Drubetskoy actively draws attention to her material component, the girl understands that the young man is kind to her only because of the money, but does not show it - for her this is actually the only way not to remain an old maid.
Princes Drubetskoy
The Drubetsky family is not particularly active in the public arena, so Tolstoy avoids a detailed description of the members of the family and focuses readers' attention only on active acting characters- Anna Mikhailovna and her son Boris.
Princess Drubetskaya belongs to an old family, but now her family is going through hard times. better times- Poverty has become a constant companion of the Drubetskys. This state of affairs gave rise to a sense of prudence and self-interest in the representatives of this family. Anna Mikhailovna tries to get as much benefit as possible from her friendship with the Rostovs - she has been living with them for a long time.
Her son, Boris, was a friend of Nikolai Rostov for some time. As they grow older, their views on life values and the principles began to differ greatly, which led to a suspension in communication.
Boris more and more begins to show self-interest and the desire to get rich at any cost. He is ready to marry for money and does it successfully, taking advantage of the unenviable position of Julie Karagina
Dolokhov family
Representatives of the Dolokhov family are also not all active in society. Among all, Fedor stands out clearly. He is the son of Maria Ivanovna and best friend Anatole Kuragin. In his behavior, he also did not go far from his friend: revelry and an idle way of life are a common occurrence for him. In addition, he is famous for his love affair with Pierre Bezukhov's wife, Elena. hallmark Dolokhov from Kuragin is his attachment to his mother and sister.
Historical figures in the novel "War and Peace"
Since Tolstoy's novel takes place in the background historical events associated with the war against Napoleon in 1812, it is impossible to do without at least a partial mention of real characters.
Alexander I
The novel most actively describes the activities of Emperor Alexander I. This is not surprising, because the main events take place on the territory of the Russian Empire. In the beginning, we learn about the positive and liberal aspirations of the emperor, he is "an angel in the flesh." The peak of his popularity falls on the period of Napoleon's defeat in the war. It was at this time that the authority of Alexander reaches incredible heights. An emperor can easily make changes and improve the lives of his subjects, but he doesn't. As a result, such an attitude and inactivity become the reason for the emergence of the Decembrist movement.
Napoleon I Bonaparte
On the other side of the barricade in the events of 1812 is Napoleon. Since many Russian aristocrats were educated abroad, and the French language was everyday for them, the attitude of the nobles towards this character at the beginning of the novel was positive and bordered on admiration. Then disappointment occurs - their idol from the category of ideals becomes the main villain. With the image of Napoleon, such connotations as egocentrism, lies, pretense are actively used.
Mikhail Speransky
This character is important not only in Tolstoy's novel, but also during the real era of Emperor Alexander.
His family could not boast of antiquity and significance - he is the son of a priest, but still he managed to become the secretary of Alexander I. He is not a particularly pleasant person, but everyone notes his importance in the context of events in the country.
In addition, historical characters of lesser significance, in comparison with the emperors, act in the novel. These are the great commanders Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail Kutuzov and Pyotr Bagration. Their activity and the disclosure of the image takes place on the battlefields - Tolstoy tries to describe military unit the narrative is as realistic and captivating as possible, therefore these characters are described not only as great and unsurpassed, but also as ordinary people who are subject to doubts, mistakes and negative qualities of character.
Other characters
Among the other characters, the name of Anna Scherer should be highlighted. She is the "owner" of a secular salon - the elite of society meets here. Guests are rarely left to their own devices. Anna Mikhailovna always seeks to provide her visitors with interesting interlocutors, she often panders - this is of particular interest to her.
Of great importance in the novel is Adolf Berg, the husband of Vera Rostova. He is an ardent careerist and selfish. His temperament and attitude to family life bring him closer to his wife.
Another significant character is Platon Karataev. Despite his ignoble origin, his role in the novel is extremely important. Possession of folk wisdom and understanding of the principles of happiness gives him the opportunity to influence the formation of Pierre Bezukhov.
Thus, both fictional and real-life characters are active in the novel. Tolstoy does not burden readers with unnecessary information about the genealogy of families, he actively talks only about those representatives who are active in the framework of the novel.
