The fate of women in Russian literature. The relationship between the images of Julie Karagina and Marya Bolkonskaya The question of the liberation of a woman, her education, women's emancipation

Julie Karagina is one of the secondary characters in Leo Tolstoy's book War and Peace.

The girl comes from a noble and wealthy family. She has been friends with Marya Bolkonskaya since early childhood, but over the years they practically stopped communicating.

Julie is about twenty years old. She is still unmarried, which was very late at the time described in the literary work, so the girl longed to go down the aisle as soon as possible, in order to get to know someone, Karagina constantly visits various exhibitions, theaters and other social events. Karagina really does not want to become an "old maid" and makes every effort to turn into a married lady. She has a huge legacy that remains after the death of her parents and brothers: two luxurious mansions and land, as well as cash savings.

Julie is in love with Nikolai Rostov and would gladly marry him, because she believes that this sympathy is absolutely mutual. But the young man behaves nobly towards her and does not want to tie the knot just for the sake of the money of his potential bride, because he does not perceive her as a beloved and future wife. The girl continues to be jealous of Nikolai, but she could not achieve his location. Boris Drubetskoy, on the contrary, diligently looks after Julie in order to take possession of her fortune. He does not like her at all, but Boris makes her a marriage proposal, pursuing exclusively selfish goals, and Karagina agrees.

The girl is stupid and selfish. She pretends to be a different person, tries to seem better than she really is. Karagina even demonstrates her feigned patriotism to those around her in order to earn the approval of society and praise. Julie knows how to play the harp and often entertains the guests of her estate with various musical compositions. Karagina is constantly among the representatives of the Moscow elite and knows the rules of behavior in a secular society, but she is not an interesting conversationalist, so many make friends with her purely out of courtesy.

The girl considers herself a real beauty, but others have a different opinion. She has a round face, big eyes, and short stature. She does not spare money for outfits and is always dressed in the latest fashion.

Julie does not have her own point of view on various topics and imitates the reasoning and opinions of others. This pushes people away from her, because, for example, Julie's husband secretly hates his wife, considers her a burden and feels only irritation towards her, even her longtime friend Marya Balkonskaya stopped seeing and communicating with her, because Karagina became uninteresting to her.

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Leo Tolstoy in the article “A few words about the book “War and Peace”” says that the names of the epic characters are consonant with the names of 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. As an unattainable 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 work. 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 a 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. He left the service after the accession of Paul I, retired to Yasnaya Polyana and took up raising 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 Klemens 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 has no obvious prototype, since this character has similarities both with Tolstoy himself and with many historical figures who lived during the time of the writer and during the 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.

The female theme occupies an important place in L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" (1863-1869). The work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles of artistic research are numerous types of high-society beauties, mistresses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Sherer. The cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon...

Secular society is immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen, Tolstoy draws attention to the “whiteness of the shoulders”, “the gloss of her hair and diamonds”, “a very open chest and back”, “an unchanging smile”. These details allow the artist to highlight

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

The bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna feels

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

Tolstoy also 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 with

Thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease, she throws

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

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

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

At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life "as it is." In fact, we will not find “consciously heroic” female natures in the work, like Turgenev’s Marianne from the novel “Nov” or Elena Stakhova “from “On the Eve”. The very method of creating female images of Tolstoy and Turgenev is different. Turgenev was a realist at the same time Recall the finale of the novel “The Nest of Nobles.” Lavretsky visits a remote monastery where Liza has hidden, moving from choir to choir, she passes him with the gait of a nun, “... only the eyelashes of the eye turned to him trembled a little. .. What did they think, what did both feel? Who will know? Who will say? There are such moments in life, such feelings ... You can only point at them - and pass by." Is it necessary to say that Tolstoy's favorite heroines are devoid of romantic elation? spirituality lies not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other “male issues”, but exclusively in the ability to love, in particular food for 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, we see the patriotism of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova during the period of the French invasion, we see Marya Volkonskaya's unwillingness to take advantage of

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

With the French. However, the connection between female images and the image of war in the novel is more complex; it is not limited to the patriotism of the best Russian women. Tolstoy shows that it took the historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel - Marya Volkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov - could find 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 is not able to refuse her love. And after the marriage of Nicholas

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

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

Natural human needs over asceticism. The princess secretly dreams of

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

Love is the essence of Natasha Rostova's life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the resigned Sonya, and the mother countess, and her father, and Nikolay 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, proof of this is the story of Anatole Kuragin.

Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha after leaving Moscow with a convoy, in which the wounded Bolkonsky also finds himself. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha's life of meaning, but the news of Petya's death forces the heroine to overcome her own grief in order to keep her old mother from insane despair. Natasha “thought her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her. Love woke up, and life woke up.

After marriage, Natasha renounces social life, from “all her charms” and

Wholeheartedly devoted 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 contrary to all the rules of logic." This is the ideal of family happiness. Such is Tolstoy's ideal of "peace."

It seems to me that Tolstoy's thoughts about the true destiny of a woman have not become outdated even today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by people who have dedicated themselves to

Political, social or professional activity. But still, many of our contemporaries chose Tolstoy's favorite heroines for themselves. And is it really not enough - to love and be loved?!
The famous novel by L.N. Tolstoy depicts many human destinies, different

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

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

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

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

We do not notice any particular attractiveness in appearance with Natasha Rostova either. Eternally changeable, in motion, responding violently to everything that happens around Natasha can "dissolve her big mouth, becoming completely bad", "cry like a child", "only because Sonya is a jackal", she can grow old and unrecognizably change from grief after Andrew's death. It is this vital variability in Natasha that Tolstoy likes because her appearance is a reflection of

The richest world of her feelings.

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

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

Tolstoy constantly mentions her "monotonous", "unchanging" smile and "ancient beauty of the body". She resembles a beautiful, but soulless statue. No wonder the author does not mention her eyes at all, which, on the contrary, in positive heroines always attract our attention. Helen is good on the outside, but she is the personification of immorality and depravity. For the beautiful Helen, marriage is the way to enrichment. She cheats on her husband all the time, the animal nature prevails in her nature. Pierre - her husband - is struck by her inner rudeness. Ellen is childless. "I'm not so stupid to have children" -

She speaks blasphemous words. Not being divorced, she solves the problem, for

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

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

That is the most important thing in assessing the heroines of the novel.

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

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

Everyone. Princess Mary captivates Nicholas with spiritual wealth, which is not given to his uncomplicated nature. Under the influence of his wife, his unbridled temper softens, for the first time he realizes his rudeness towards the peasants. Marya does not understand the economic concerns of Nikolai, she is even jealous of her husband. But the harmony of family life lies in the fact that the husband and wife, as it were, complement and enrich each other, constitute one whole. Temporary misunderstanding, light conflicts are resolved here by reconciliation.

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

A prying eye can violate etiquette. At her first ball Natasha

It is distinguished precisely by immediacy, sincerity in the manifestation of feelings. Princess

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

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

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

The impossible suddenly became close, possible and inevitable.

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

Prince Vasily Kuragin is one of the most significant characters in the epic novel War and Peace. His family, soulless and rude, impudent and acting ahead when there is an opportunity to get rich, is opposed to the delicate and kind-hearted Rostov family and the intellectual Bolkonsky family. Vasily Kuragin does not live by thoughts, but rather by instincts.

When he meets an influential person, he tries to get closer to him, and this happens automatically for him.

Appearance of Prince Vasily Sergeevich

We first meet him in the salon of Anna Pavlovna, where all the intellectual and what a wretched color of St. Petersburg gathers. While no one has arrived yet, he has useful and confidential conversations with an aging forty-year-old "enthusiast". Important and official, carrying his head high, he arrived in a court uniform with stars (he managed to receive awards without doing anything useful for the country). Vasily Kuragin is bald, fragrant, sedate and, despite his sixty years, graceful.

His movements are always free and familiar. Nothing can bring him out of balance. Vasily Kuragin has grown old, having spent his whole life in the world, and brilliantly controls himself. His flat face is covered with wrinkles. All this becomes known from the first chapter of the first part of the novel.

Prince cares

He has three children whom he loves little. In the same chapter, he himself says that he does not have parental love for children, but he considers it his great task to build them well in life.

In a conversation with Anna Pavlovna, he, as if inadvertently, asks who is destined for the post of first secretary in Vienna. This is his main purpose of visiting Scherer. He needs to attach his silly son Hippolyte to a warm place. But, by the way, he agrees that Anna Pavlovna will try to marry off his dissolute son Anatole to the rich and noble Maria Bolkonskaya, who lives with her father on the estate. Vasily Kuragin received at least one benefit from this evening, because he was not used to a useless pastime for himself. In general, he knows how to use people. He is always attracted to those who are above him, and the prince has a rare gift - to catch a moment when you can and should use people.

Prince's wicked deeds

In the first part, starting from chapter XVIII, Vasily Kuragin, having arrived in Moscow, tries to take possession of Pierre's inheritance, destroying his father's will. Julie Karagina wrote about this ugly story of Maria Bolkonskaya in more or less detail in a letter. Having received nothing and having played a “nasty role,” as Julie put it, Prince Vasily Kuragin left for Petersburg embarrassed. But he didn't stay in that state for long.

He seemed to absentmindedly made an effort to bring Pierre closer to his daughter, and successfully completed this business with a wedding. Pierre's money should serve the prince's family. So it should be, according to Prince Vasily. An attempt to marry Anatole's rake to the unrequited, ugly Princess Marya also cannot be called a worthy deed: he only cares about the rich dowry that his son can receive at the same time. But his such immoral family degenerates. Hippolyte is just a fool who no one takes seriously. Ellen is dying. Anatole, having undergone a leg amputation, is not known whether he will survive or not.

The character of Kuragin

He is self-confident, empty, and in the tone of his voice, behind decency and participation, mockery always shines through. He always tries to get close to people of high position. So, for example, everyone knows that he is on good terms with Kutuzov, and they turn to him for help in order to attach his sons to adjutants. But he was used to refusing everyone, so that at the right moment, and we have already talked about this, he could use favors only for himself. Such small dashes, scattered in the text of the novel, describe a secular person - Vasily Kuragin. L. Tolstoy's characterization of him is very unflattering, and with its help the author describes the high society as a whole.

Vasily Kuragin appears before us as a great intriguer, accustomed to living with thoughts about a career, money and profit. “War and Peace” (moreover, the world in the time of Tolstoy was written through the letter i, which is unusual for us, and meant not only the world as the absence of war, but also, to a greater extent, the universe, and there was no direct antithesis in this title) - a work in which the prince shown against the backdrop of high-society receptions and at home, where there is no warmth and cordial relations. The epic novel contains monumental pictures of life and hundreds of characters, one of which is Prince Kuragin.

MARRIAGES BUILT BY CALCULATION. (ON THE BASIS OF THE NOVEL L. N. TOLSTOY "WAR AND PEACE")

Konstantinova Anna Alexandrovna

2nd year student of group С-21 GOU SPO

Belorechensk Medical College, Belorechensk

Maltseva Elena Alexandrovna

scientific adviser, teacher of Russian language and literature of the highest category, Belorechensk

Every girl dreams of marriage. Someone dreams of a happy family life with a chosen companion once and for all, while someone finds happiness in profit. Such a marriage, concluded by mutual consent, where each side pursues material wealth instead of love, is commonly called a marriage of convenience.

There is an opinion that such marriages are extremely popular right now, because people have become more mercantile, but in fact this concept appeared a long time ago. For example, in ancient times, kings married their daughters to the sons of another king in order to get a stronger army from this union to destroy a common enemy or to make peace between kingdoms. At that time, children didn’t really decide anything, more often their marriage was planned before they were born. It would seem that with the advent of democracy, equalization of the rights of men and women , marriage of convenience should have disappeared. Unfortunately no. If earlier the initiators were parents, now children calculate their own fate. Their calculations at the conclusion of marriage are very different. Some want to raise their status, increase their wealth; others - to get the opportunity to register, improve living conditions. Girls are afraid to be lonely, to be known as "old maids", and "a child needs a father."

There are other reasons to enter into a marriage of convenience: the desire to gain fame, a higher social status, to marry a foreigner. In the latter case, the calculation is not material, but rather psychological. The financial condition of the future spouse is important, but not paramount; in a “prudent” union, women hope to find psychological comfort and stability. According to statistics, marriages of convenience are more durable, but if other people's money is taken into account, then there is no need to talk about happiness. This is a deal that benefits both. Unfortunately, Russian statistics say that more than half of marriages break up.

Marriages of convenience are not only alliances made for the sake of money. These are weddings played after analysis and reflection, when it is not the heart that pushes down the aisle, but the mind. Such enterprises are either people who are tired of looking for an ideal soul mate and are ready to take what they at least suit, or those who did not have a relationship with their mother in childhood, who saw the tragedy of the parental family. By choosing a person on whom they are emotionally little dependent, they seem to insure themselves against possible pain.

If for one spouse marriage is just a calculation, and for another - feelings, then you will hear a well-known saying about them: "One loves, the second allows himself to be loved." The danger of such an alliance is that it rests on the will and mind of one of the partners. If both people deliberately enter into a marriage of convenience, then the danger lies mainly in love! If she "accidentally descends" and one of the spouses calculates that marriage is not beneficial for him, then it will be almost impossible to prevent leaving for her lover. As life shows, alliances made wisely, into which love and affection later came, are the most viable.

In our article, we would like to compare how calculation differs in the construction of a modern family and the heroes of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". Having collected and systematized material about marriages of convenience, about families in the novel, we aimed to show young people the negative aspects of marriage of convenience, because marriage is a serious act that determines the fate of later life.

How was this life experience reflected in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"?

The author realized that the truth of life is in the maximum naturalness, and the main life value is the family. There are many families in the novel, but we will focus on those that are opposed to Tolstoy's beloved families: the "mean breed of Kuragins", cold Bergs and prudent Drubetskoy. An officer of not very noble origin, Berg serves at the headquarters. He always turns out to be at the right time and in the right place, makes the necessary, profitable acquaintances for him, therefore he has advanced far in his service. He told everyone about how he was wounded in the battle of Austerlitz for so long and with such significance that he nevertheless received two awards for one wound. "According to Tolstoy's classification, he belonged to the little Napoleons, like the vast majority of staff workers." Tolstoy denies him any honor. Berg does not have any "warmth of patriotism", therefore, during the Patriotic War of 1812, he was not with the people, but rather against them. Berg is trying to get the most out of the war. When everyone left Moscow before the fire, and even noble, wealthy people abandoned their property in order to free the wagons and transport the wounded on them, Berg bought furniture at bargain prices. His wife is a match for him - Vera, the eldest daughter in the Rostov family.

The Rostovs decided to educate her according to the then existing canons: from French teachers. As a result, Vera completely falls out of the friendly, warm family, where love dominated. Even just her presence in the room made everyone uncomfortable. Not surprising. She was a beautiful girl who regularly attended social balls, but she received her first proposal from Berg at the age of 24. There was a risk that there would be no new marriage proposals, and the Rostovs agreed to marry an ignoble person. And here it is necessary to note Berg's commercialism and calculation: he demanded 20 thousand rubles in cash as a dowry and another bill for 80 thousand. Berg's philistinism knew no bounds. This marriage is devoid of sincerity, even they treated children unnaturally. “The only thing is that we don’t have children so soon.” . Children were considered by Berg as a burden, they contradicted his selfish views. Faith fully supported him, adding: “Yes, I don’t want this at all.” The Berg family is an example of some immorality. Tolstoy really dislikes that everything in this family is appointed, everything is done “like people do”: the same furniture is bought, the same carpets are laid, the same parties gather. Berg buys expensive clothes for his wife, but when he wanted to kiss her, he first decided to straighten the rolled up corner of the carpet. So, Berg and Vera had neither warmth, nor naturalness, nor kindness, nor any other virtues, so important for the humanist Leo Tolstoy.

According to Bergam, Boris Drubetskoy. The son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna was brought up from childhood and lived for a long time in the Rostov family. “A tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face,” Boris dreams of a career from his youth, is very proud, but accepts his mother’s troubles and is indulgent to her humiliations if it benefits him. A.M. Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Once in military service, Drubetskoy dreams of making a brilliant career in this area. In the light, Boris seeks to make useful contacts and uses his last money to give the impression of a rich and prosperous person. Drubetskoy is looking for a rich bride, choosing at one time between Princess Mary and Julie Karagina. The extremely rich and wealthy Julie attracts him more, although she is already somewhat older. But for Drubetskoy, it is an ideal option, a pass to the world of “light”.

How much irony and sarcasm sounds from the pages of the novel when we read Boris Drubetskoy and Julie Karagina's declaration of love. Julie knows that this brilliant but impoverished handsome man does not love her, but demands for his wealth a declaration of love in accordance with all the rules. And Boris, uttering the right words, thinks that it is always possible to arrange so that he rarely sees his wife. For people like the Kuragins and Drubetskys, all means are good, if only to achieve success and fame and strengthen their position in society.

Far from ideal is the Kuragin family, in which there is no domestic warmth, sincerity. Kuragins do not value each other. Prince Vasily notices that he does not have a "bump of parental love." "My children are the burden of my existence". Moral underdevelopment, primitiveness of vital interests - these are the features of this family. The main motive that accompanies the description of the Kuragins is “imaginary beauty”, outward brilliance. These heroes shamelessly interfere in the lives of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Pierre Bezukhov, cripple their destinies, personifying lies, debauchery, evil.

The head of the family, Prince Kuragin, is a typical representative of secular Petersburg. He is smart, gallant, dressed in the latest fashion, but behind all this brightness and beauty lies a person who is completely false, unnatural, greedy, rude. The most important thing in his life is money and position in society. For the sake of money, he is ready even for a crime. Let us recall the tricks he goes to in order to bring the rich but inexperienced Pierre closer to him. He successfully “attaches” his daughter Helen in marriage. But behind her beauty and sparkle of diamonds there is no soul. It is empty, callous and heartless. For Helen, family happiness does not consist in the love of her husband or children, but in spending her husband's money. As soon as Pierre starts talking about offspring, she laughs rudely in his face. Only with Natasha, Pierre is truly happy, because they "made concessions to one another, merged into one harmonious whole."

The author does not hide his disgust for the "vile breed" of the Kuragins. It has no place for good intentions and aspirations. “The world of the Kuragins is the world of the “secular mob”, dirt and debauchery. The selfishness, self-interest and base instincts that reign there do not allow calling these people a full-fledged family. . Their main vices are carelessness, selfishness and an irrepressible thirst for money.

Tolstoy, evaluating the life of his heroes from a moral point of view, emphasized the decisive importance of the family for the formation of a person's character, his attitude to life, to himself. If there is no moral core in the parents, then it will not be in the children either.

Many of our contemporaries choose marriage of convenience. The most correct calculation is the one that takes into account the interests of everyone, including children. If it is based on mutual respect and even benefit, then such a marriage can be lasting. This is also indicated by the statistics. According to Western psychologists, marriages of convenience break up only in 5-7% of cases. At the end of the 20th century, 4.9% of Russians married for mercenary reasons, and now almost 60% of young women marry for convenience. But men are not averse to entering into an "unequal marriage." It is no longer uncommon for a handsome young man to marry a successful non-poor lady who is fit for his mother. And - imagine! - according to statistics, such marriages do not belong to the category "short-term".

At the end of the 20th century, an interesting survey was conducted among married couples with great experience. 49% of the polled Muscovites and 46% of St. Petersburg residents claimed that the reason for marriage was love. However, opinions about what holds marriage together have changed over the years. Recently, only 16% of men and 25% of women consider love to be a family bonding factor. The rest put other priorities in the first place: a good job (33.9% of men), material wealth (31.3% of men), family well-being (30.6% of women).

The disadvantages of marriage of convenience, many include the following: lack of love; total control over who finances the marriage; life in the "golden cage" is not excluded; in case of violation of the marriage contract, the “offending party” risks being left with nothing.

We conducted a sociological survey among students of the Belorechensky Medical College, in which 85 people took part, students of the 1st and 2nd courses aged 16 to 19 years old. Young people preferred marriage for material reasons, and this once again proves that our contemporaries strive to financial stability, even at the expense of another. This is what Tolstoy feared when he spoke of the loss of moral principles. The exception was 1% of those who believe that the calculation can be noble (to help a loved one, while sacrificing their future fate).

And yet our contemporaries would like to marry (marry) for love. Some of the desire to quickly escape from parental care, others - succumbing to a bright feeling. Increasingly, modern people prefer to live in a civil marriage, without burdening themselves with the burden of responsibility for the fate of another person, they build families by calculation, not “including feelings”, with a sober head . At the same time, they do not suffer from love and inattention, they conclude marriage contracts, excluding possible risks.

Our respondents believe in love as a bright all-consuming feeling and do not want to build their families on the basis of commercialism. They consider love, mutual respect and trust to be the main components of a happy family. A family cannot be considered happy if there are no children in it.

So what is more important: feeling or reason? Why are there more and more people who agree to a marriage of convenience? The era leaves its mark on human relations. People value predictability, convenience more, and a marriage of convenience guarantees the future. Everyone will decide for himself what kind of marriage to enter into and with whom. The strength of both those and other marriages in a few years will become approximately the same. It all depends on how to build a relationship with a loved one. And the truth says: "Find the golden mean between heart and mind - and be happy!"

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