The female theme occupies an important place in Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace. This work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles of artistic research are numerous types of high-society beauties, mistresses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Sherer; cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon...
Secular society is immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of the shoulders, the gloss of her hair and diamonds, a very open chest and back, and a frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness, the insignificance of the high society lioness. The place of genuine human feelings in luxurious living rooms is occupied by monetary calculation. The marriage of Helen, who chose the wealthy Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of the daughter of Prince Vasily is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs. Indeed, does Julie Karagina behave differently, having, thanks to her wealth, a sufficient selection of suitors; or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even in front of the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna does not feel compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance.
Tolstoy shows high society beauties in family life. Family, children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helen finds Pierre's words funny that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With surprising ease, she leaves her husband. Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, vanity.
Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to a misunderstanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer, political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the position of the Russian army are heard ... A sense of false patriotism makes them broadcast only in Russian during the time of the French invasion. High-society beauties have largely 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 true sense.
At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life as it is. In fact, there are no consciously heroic female natures in the work, like Turgenev's Marianne from the novel "Nov" or Elena Stakhova from "On the Eve". Is it necessary to broadcast that Tolstoy's favorite heroines are deprived of romantic elation? Women's spirituality is contained not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other male issues, but only in the ability to love, in devotion to the family hearth. Daughter, sister, wife, mother - these are the main life situations in which the character of Tolstoy's favorite heroines is revealed. This conclusion may start to be questioned upon a superficial reading of the novel. Indeed, the actions of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova at the time of the French invasion are patriotic, and Marya Bolkonskaya's unwillingness to use the patronage of the French general and the impossibility for Natasha to stay in Moscow under the French are also patriotic. However, the connection between female images and the image of war in the novel is more complex; it is not limited to the patriotism of the best Russian women. Tolstoy shows that it took the historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel (Maria Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov) could find a way to a friend.
Tolstoy's favorite heroines live with their hearts, not their minds. All Sonya's best, cherished memories are associated with Nikolai Rostov: common childhood games and pranks, Christmas time with fortune-telling and mummers, Nikolai's love impulse, the first kiss ... Sonya remains faithful to her beloved, rejecting Dolokhov's offer. She loves resignedly, but she cannot refuse her love. And after the marriage of Nikolai Sonya, of course, continues to love him.
Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. And yet exactly her image personifies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism. The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high, spiritual feeling. In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy paints pictures of family
the happiness of the Rostovs, emphasizing by this that it was precisely 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 Nikolai, and Petya, and Boris Drubetskoy. Rapprochement, and then separation from Prince Andrei, who made her an offer, makes Natasha suffer internally. An excess of life and inexperience is the source of mistakes, rash acts of the heroine (the story of Anatole Kuragin).
Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha. She leaves Moscow with a convoy, in which the wounded Bolkonsky ends up. Natasha is still possessed by an exorbitant feeling of love and compassion. She is selfless to the end. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha of meaning. The news of the death of Petya makes the heroine overcome her misfortune 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.
Old Count Bezukhoy died. Prince Vasily did not have time to destroy his will in favor of Pierre and take all of Bezukhov's inheritance for himself. Pierre did not understand anything about the story of the will - he was thinking about something else. In this state of misunderstanding, Tolstoy leaves him and takes us to the house of another Catherine's nobleman, the last survivor, General-in-Chief Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky. We learn about the fate of Pierre in this house - from a letter written by Julie Karagina, the same guest-lady who came to the Rostovs on the name day. Julie grieves, seeing her off to war; brothers, and writes about this friend - Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, and the old prince Nikolai Andreevich, handing the letter to his daughter, warns:
- “I’ll skip two more letters, and read the third ... I’m afraid you write a lot of nonsense. I will read the third.
- Both Julie's letter and Princess Mary's answer are written in French, so without delving into the translation, we somehow slip past, but it's a pity - both girls are so clearly visible in these letters: sincerely insincere Julie, every word of which seems to be dictated by Anna Pavlovna Sherer and checked by Princess Drubetskaya, and pure, smart, natural in every word Princess Marya.
In Julie's letter there are two messages that are very important for both friends: one is about the alleged courtship of Anato-l Kuragin to Princess Marya, and the other is long, vague and gentle - about "young Nikolai Rostov", because, according to Julie, between her and Nikolai was a relationship that served as "one of the sweetest joys" of her "poor heart, which already suffered so much." And she herself believes, poor thing, what she writes! Nikolai, flattered by Julie's attention and no less flattered by Sonya's jealousy, really smiled in response to Julie's inviting smiles, and she grew up in her imagination "so poetic and so pure relationships ..." Do not rush to condemn her - there is no such girl who did not build would have castles in the air on the same shaky foundation; there is nothing bad in this - such is the property of youth.
Princess Mary does not condemn Julie: “Why do you attribute a stern look to me when you talk about your inclination towards a young man? In this regard, I am only strict with myself ... "
All the girls who read War and Peace are always in love with Natasha; Natasha Rostova lives in every young, thirsty for life, love and happiness girl. No one wants to be like Princess Mary, with her ugliness and heavy tread, with her kindness and humility, with her pity for people. But in every girl there must certainly be Princess Mary, without this she will turn into Helen. Princess Mary, with her self-doubt, with her secret conviction that love will come to anyone, but not to her, with a deeply hidden dream of love, of HIM ...
She writes that marriage is "a divine institution that must be obeyed" - she thinks so, but in the depths of her soul she dreams not of a divine institution, but of earthly love, a family, a child - and how does she know now that Nikolai Rostov, whose joining the army today mourns Julie, will become the father of her children, her beloved.
It's strange: the girls' letters are very similar to each other. It would seem that the same sublime language, the same poetic phrases. But in Julie's letter - chatter, frivolity, gossip; in the letter of Princess Marya - no vanity: spiritual purity, calmness and intelligence. Even about the war, in which both do not understand anything (only Princess Mary admits this, but Julie does not), - even about the war, Julie writes not in her own words, but in those that they say in living rooms: “God forbid that the Corsican monster, which disturbs the tranquility of Europe, was overthrown by an angel, whom the almighty ... set over us as ruler ... ”Princess Mary, with all her faith, does not remember either monsters or angels; she knows that here, in the countryside, "the echoes of the war are heard and make one feel heavy." She saw the recruitment and is shocked by the grief of mothers, wives and children; she thinks her own: “humanity has forgotten the laws of its divine savior, who taught us love and forgiveness of insults ... it places its main dignity in the art of killing each other.”
She is smart, Princess Mary. And besides, she is her father's daughter and her brother's sister. Princess Mary is mistaken in Julie, just as Pierre was mistaken in Boris, and even earlier - Andrei in his wife, and later - Natasha in Anatole ... She is young and inexperienced, she trusts people too much and does not notice the internal falsity of Julie's beautiful words, but her sense of her own dignity will not allow her to cheat, keep silent, not stand up for the person she respects.
Julie writes about Pierre: “The main news that occupies all of Moscow is the death of the old Count Bezukhov and his inheritance. Imagine, the three princesses received some little, Prince Vasily nothing, and Pierre is the heir to everything and, moreover, is recognized as a legitimate son and therefore Count Bezukhov ... I am amused by observations of the change in tone of mothers who have daughters - the bride, and the young ladies themselves in relation to this gentleman, who (in parentheses, say) always seemed to me very insignificant.
Princess Mary replies: “I cannot share your opinion about Pierre, whom I knew as a child. It seemed to me that he always had a wonderful heart, and this is the quality that I most appreciate in people. As for his inheritance and the role that Prince Vasily played in this, this is very sad for both ... I feel sorry for Prince Vasily and even more for Pierre. So young to be burdened with such a huge fortune - how many temptations he will have to go through!
Perhaps even Prince Andrei, Pierre's smart and adult friend, did not understand so clearly and with such pain what danger the wealth that fell upon Pierre was fraught with - this was understood by the lonely Princess Mary, locked in the village, because her father and brother, her loneliness and, perhaps, the painful lessons of mathematics taught her to think, and she thinks not only about herself.
So what do she and Julie have in common? Of course, nothing but childhood memories and separation, still warming up the old friendship. The fates of the friends will turn out differently, but even now it is clear to us what both of them do not understand: these two girls are strangers to each other, because Julie, like everything else in the world, like the little princess Bolkonskaya, is pleased with herself. Princess Marya knows how to judge herself, to restrain and break herself sometimes, to look in herself for the reasons for her failures - her heart is ready for all the feelings that a person can experience - and she will experience them, unlike Julie.
In Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" a huge number of images pass before the reader. All of them are excellently depicted by the author, alive and interesting. Tolstoy himself divided his heroes into positive and negative, and not only into secondary and main ones. Thus, positivity was emphasized by the dynamism of the character's character, while static and hypocrisy indicated that the hero was far from perfect.
In the novel, several images of women appear before us. And they are also divided by Tolstoy into two groups.
The first includes female images that lead a false, artificial life. All their aspirations are aimed at achieving one single goal - a high position in society. These include Anna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina and other representatives of high society.
The second group includes those who lead a true, real, natural way of life. Tolstoy emphasizes the evolution of these heroes. These include Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, Sonya, Vera.
The absolute genius of social life can be called Helen Kuragina. She was beautiful like a statue. And just as soulless. But in fashion salons, no one cares about your soul. The most important thing is how you turn your head, how gracefully you smile when you greet, and what an impeccable French accent you have. But Helen is not just soulless, she is vicious. Princess Kuragina is not marrying Pierre Bezukhov, but for his inheritance.
Helen was a master at luring men by tapping into their baser instincts. So, Pierre feels something bad, dirty in his feelings for Helen. She offers herself to anyone who is able to provide her with a rich life, full of secular pleasures: "Yes, I am a woman who can belong to anyone, and to you too."
Helen cheated on Pierre, she had a well-known affair with Dolokhov. And Count Bezukhov was forced, defending his honor, to shoot himself in a duel. The passion that clouded his eyes quickly passed, and Pierre realized what a monster he was living with. Of course, the divorce turned out to be a boon for him.
It is important to note that in the characterization of Tolstoy's favorite heroes, their eyes occupy a special place. The eyes are the mirror of the soul. Ellen doesn't have one. As a result, we learn that the life of this heroine ends sadly. She is dying of illness. Thus, Tolstoy passes judgment on Helen Kuragina.
Tolstoy's favorite heroines in the novel are Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya.
Marya Bolkonskaya is not distinguished by beauty. She has the appearance of a frightened animal due to the fact that she is very afraid of her father, the old prince Bolkonsky. She has a "sad, frightened expression that rarely left her and made her ugly, sickly face even more ugly ...". Only one feature shows us her inner beauty: “the eyes of the princess, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so good that very often ... these eyes became more attractive than beauty.”
Marya devoted her life to her father, being his indispensable support and support. She has a very deep connection with the whole family, with her father and brother. This connection is manifested in moments of spiritual upheaval.
A distinctive feature of Marya, as well as of her entire family, is high spirituality and great inner strength. After the death of her father, surrounded by French troops, the princess, heartbroken, nevertheless proudly rejects the offer of the French general for patronage and leaves Bogucharov. In the absence of men in an extreme situation, she alone manages the estate and does it wonderfully. At the end of the novel, this heroine marries and becomes a happy wife and mother.
The most charming image of the novel is the image of Natasha Rostova. The work shows her spiritual path from a thirteen-year-old girl to a married woman, a mother of many children.
From the very beginning, Natasha was characterized by cheerfulness, energy, sensitivity, a subtle perception of goodness and beauty. She grew up in the morally pure atmosphere of the Rostov family. Her best friend was the meek Sonya, an orphan. The image of Sonya is written out not so carefully, but in some scenes (the explanation of the heroine and Nikolai Rostov), the reader is struck by a pure and noble soul in this girl. Only Natasha notices that in Sonya "something is missing" ... In her, indeed, there is no liveliness and fire characteristic of Rostova, but the tenderness and meekness, so loved by the author, excuse everyone.
The author emphasizes the deep connection between Natasha and Sonya with the Russian people. This is a great praise for the heroines from their creator. For example, Sonya fits perfectly into the atmosphere of Christmas divination and caroling. Natasha "knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person." Emphasizing the folk basis of his heroines, Tolstoy very often shows them against the backdrop of Russian nature.
Natasha's appearance, at first glance, is ugly, but her inner beauty ennobles her. Natasha always remains herself, never pretends, unlike her secular acquaintances. The expression of Natasha's eyes is very diverse, as well as the manifestations of her soul. They are “radiant”, “curious”, “provocative and somewhat mocking”, “desperately animated”, “stopped”, “begging”, “scared” and so on.
The essence of Natasha's life is love. She, despite all the hardships, carries it in her heart and, finally, becomes the embodiment of Tolstoy's ideal. Natasha turns into a mother who is completely dedicated to her children and her husband. In her life there are no interests other than family. So she became truly happy.
All the heroines of the novel, to one degree or another, represent the worldview of the author himself. Natasha, for example, is a beloved heroine, because she fully meets the needs of Tolstoy himself for a woman. And Helen is "killed" by the author for not being able to appreciate the warmth of the hearth.
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 swoops down" 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 the 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 on the headquarters. He always turns out to be at the right time and in the right place, makes the necessary, profitable acquaintances, 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 there will be none in the children.
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. 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!"
Bibliography:
- Enikeeva Ya.S. What is the correct calculation. - [electronic resource] - Access mode. - URL: http://www.yana.enikeeva.ru/?p=510
- Roman L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" in Russian criticism / Comp., entry. Art. and comment. I.N. Dry. - L .: Publishing house Leningrad. state un-ta, 1989. - 407 p.
- Roman L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" / Historical, moral, aesthetic in the "great work of the great writer" - Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries. Reference materials. - M., "Enlightenment" 1995. - 463 p.
- Tolstoy L.N. Selected works in three volumes. - M., "Fiction" 1988. - v. 1, - 686 p.
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IN novelL. N. Tolstoy female images play a significant role. It is with them that the theme of “peace”, that is, society, family, happiness, is connected in the novel. The writer showed us different families: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, the Bezukhovs, the Drubetskys, the Dolokhovs, and others. Women in them are different, but their role is significant everywhere. The fate of the family, its way of life depend on the character of women, on their mental make-up, moral values are formed.
Most of all, Tolstoy loves two of his heroines: Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. The girls who read the novel generally like the cheerful, spontaneous and unpredictable Natasha.
I like both girls. But if I had to choose one of them as a friend, I would choose Princess Marya. Maybe with Natasha it would be more fun, brighter, but with Marya I would be more interesting and reliable.
It was not easy for her to live with an old father and a French governess. Ugly, lonely, with all the wealth of the Bolkonskys, she is deprived of much: she has no close friends, no mother. A despotic father and a coldly restrained brother, busy with the service and his own problems, did not dispose to communication and the manifestation of tender feelings.
But Princess Marya built her spiritual castle, strict and pure. She is smart, truly kind and natural in every step she takes. Even her religiosity is respected, because God for Princess Mary is, first of all, justice, her faith is demanding of herself; to all others she asks for weaknesses, to herself - never.
In the actions and words of Princess Marya there is no vanity, no frivolity. Self-esteem does not allow her to cheat, keep silent, not stand up for the person she respects. When Julie Kuragina wrote in a letter about Pierre that he “always seemed to her an insignificant person,” the princess answered her: “I cannot share your opinion about Pierre. It seemed to me that he always had a beautiful heart, and this is the quality that I most appreciate in people. Princess Mary in a letter expresses her sympathy for Pierre: “So young to be burdened with such a huge fortune - how many temptations he will have to go through!”
An amazing understanding of people and the complexities of life for a young girl!
She will be able to understand the stumbled Natasha, she will be able to understand and forgive her father, she understands the situation of the peasants and orders them to give them the master's bread.
The death of her father freed Princess Mary from eternal fear, from constant control and guardianship. But now, surrounded by enemies, with a young nephew in her arms, she herself had to make decisions. In difficult moments, the decisiveness and dignity of her father and brother woke up in her: “So that Prince Andrei knows that she is in the power of the French! So that she, the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, asked Mr. General Ramo to protect her and enjoy his blessings! And her offended vanity results in quick and decisive activity. In this difficult period for the princess, Nikolai Rostov appears as a savior and protector. She drives away thoughts that she would like to see her future husband in him. Self-doubt prevents her from believing that happiness has come to her.
The inner beauty of Princess Marya, her mind, purity, naturalness make you forget about her external ugliness. Nikolai Rostov also sees only her radiant, shining eyes, which by the end of the novel are filled with a radiance of happiness.
Of course, every girl should have a thirst for life, love and happiness, as in Natasha Rostova. But in every girl there should be Princess Marya, with her self-doubt, with her secret conviction that love will come to anyone, but not to her, with a deeply hidden dream of happiness. Without this, she will turn into Helen Bezukhova.
