Anatole Kuragin

He is the son of Prince Vasily, the brother of Helen and Hippolyte. Prince Vasily himself looks at his son as a "restless fool" who constantly needs to be rescued from various troubles. A. is very handsome, dandy, insolent. He is frankly stupid, not resourceful, but popular in society, because "he had both the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unchanging confidence." A. friend of Dolokhov, constantly participating in his revelry, looks at life as a constant stream of pleasures and pleasures. He doesn't care about other people, he's selfish. A. treats women with contempt, feeling his superiority. He was used to being liked by everyone, not experiencing anything serious in return. A. became interested in Natasha Rostova and tried to take her away. After this incident, the hero was forced to flee from Moscow and hide from Prince Andrei, who wanted to challenge the seducer of his bride to a duel. The last time they see each other is in the infirmary, after the Battle of Borodino. A. was wounded, his leg was amputated.

Andrey Bolkonsky

This is one of the main characters of the novel, the son of Prince Bolkonsky, the brother of Princess Mary. At the beginning of the novel, we see B. as an intelligent, proud, but rather arrogant person. He despises people of high society, is unhappy in marriage and does not respect his pretty wife. B. is very restrained, well educated, he has a strong will. This hero is going through a big spiritual change. First we see that his idol is Napoleon, whom he considers a great man. B. goes to war, goes to the active army. There he fights on an equal footing with all the soldiers, shows great courage, composure, and prudence. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. B. was seriously wounded in the battle of Austerlitz. This moment is extremely important, because it was then that the spiritual rebirth of the hero began. Lying motionless and seeing the calm and eternal sky of Austerlitz above him, B. understands all the pettiness and stupidity of everything that happens in the war. He realized that in fact there should be completely different values ​​​​in life than those that he had until now. All feats, glory do not matter. There is only this vast and eternal sky. In the same episode, B. sees Napoleon and understands all the insignificance of this man. B. returns home, where everyone thought he was dead. His wife dies in childbirth, but the child survives. The hero is shocked by the death of his wife and feels guilty before her. He decides not to serve anymore, settles in Bogucharovo, takes care of the household, raises his son, reads many books. During a trip to St. Petersburg, B. meets Natasha Rostova for the second time. A deep feeling awakens in him, the heroes decide to get married. B.'s father does not agree with the choice of his son, they postpone the wedding for a year, the hero goes abroad. After the betrayal of the bride, he returns to the army under the leadership of Kutuzov. During the Battle of Borodino, he was mortally wounded. By chance, he leaves Moscow in the Rostovs' train. Before his death, he forgives Natasha and understands the true meaning of love.

Anna Pavlovna Sherer

Maid of honor close to Empress Maria Feodorovna. Sh. is the mistress of a fashionable salon in St. Petersburg, the description of the evening in which the novel opens. A.P. 40 years old, she is artificial, like all high society. Her attitude to any person or event depends entirely on the latest political, court or secular considerations. She is friendly with Prince Vasily. Sh. "is full of revival and impulse", "to be an enthusiast has become her social position." In 1812, her salon displays false patriotism by eating cabbage soup and being fined for speaking French.

Bagration

This real historical person, one of the most famous Russian military leaders, the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, bears the title of prince. Tolstoy says that B. is "short, with an oriental type of hard and motionless face, dry, not yet an old man." In the novel, we mainly see him as the commander of the Shengraben battle, whom Kutuzov blessed to save the army. Just the presence of B. on the battlefield already helps the fighters. Everyone loves and respects him for his determination and courage. During the most decisive moment of the battle, B. does not give visible orders, but dismounts and goes into battle in front of the entire army. During the Battle of Austerlitz B. also showed his heroism. He alone repulsed the enemy, who was clearly twice as strong, and then, during the retreat, withdrew his column from the battlefield undisturbed. Tolstoy notes that when a dinner was given in honor of B., in his face "honor was saluted to a fighting, simple, without connections and intrigues, Russian soldier ...".

German, first the groom, and then the husband of Vera Rostova. This is a "fresh, pink Guards officer, impeccably washed, buttoned and combed." At the beginning of the work, B. is a lieutenant, and at the end of the work he becomes a colonel, from which it can be seen that B. made a good career. He is precise, calm, courteous, but very selfish and stingy. He loves and can only talk about himself and his successes. Those around him laugh at him, he is a stranger in the Rostovs' house. They do not understand his prudence, stinginess. B. makes an offer to Vera and demands the promised dowry from the old count, despite the difficult financial situation of the Rostovs. This hero is clearly unpleasant and alien to Tolstoy himself.

Boris Drubetskoy

Son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. From childhood he was brought up and lived for a long time in the house of the Rostovs, to whom he was a relative. B. and Natasha were in love with each other. Outwardly, this is "a tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face." B. from his youth dreams of a military career, allows his mother to humiliate himself in front of his superiors, if this will help him. So, Prince Vasily finds him a place in the guard. B. is going to make a brilliant career, making many useful acquaintances. After a while, he becomes Helen's lover. B. manages to be in the right place at the right time, and his career and position are established especially firmly. In 1809, he meets Natasha again and is carried away by her, even thinking of marrying her. But it would hinder his career. Therefore, B. begins to look for a rich bride. He eventually marries Julie Karagina.

Vasily Kuragin

Prince, father of Helen, Anatole and Hippolyte. This is a very famous and quite influential person in society, he occupies an important court post. The attitude towards everyone around Prince V. is condescending and patronizing. The author shows his hero "in a courtly, embroidered uniform, in stockings, shoes, with stars, with a bright expression of a flat face," with a "perfumed and shining bald head." But when he smiled, there was "something unexpectedly rude and unpleasant" in his smile. Especially Prince V. does not wish harm to anyone. He simply uses people and circumstances to carry out his plans. V. always strives to get close to people who are richer and higher in position. The hero considers himself an exemplary father, he does everything possible to arrange the future of his children. He is trying to marry his son Anatole to the rich Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. After the death of the old prince Bezukhov and Pierre receiving a huge inheritance, V. notices a rich fiancé and by cunning gives his daughter Helen to him. Prince V. is a great intriguer who knows how to live in society and make acquaintances with the right people.

Count Rostov

Rostov Ilya Andreevy - Count, father of Natasha, Nikolai, Vera and Petya. A very good-natured, generous person who loves life and is not very able to calculate his means. R. is best able to make a reception, a ball, he is a hospitable host and an exemplary family man. The count is used to living in a big way, and when the means no longer allow this, he gradually ruins his family, from which he suffers greatly. When leaving Moscow, it is R. who begins to give carts for the wounded. So he deals one of the last blows to the family budget. The death of Petit's son finally broke the count, he comes to life only when he is preparing a wedding for Natasha and Pierre. In the same year, R. dies and leaves a good memory behind.

Countess of Rostov

The wife of Count Rostov, "a woman with an oriental type of thin face, forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children ... The slowness of her movements and speech, which came from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant look that inspires respect." R. creates in his family an atmosphere of love and kindness, he cares very much about the fate of his children. The news of the death of the youngest and beloved son of Petya almost drives her crazy. She is accustomed to luxury and the fulfillment of the slightest whims, and demands this after the death of her husband.

The author describes Fyodor Dolokhov as follows: “Dolokhov was a man of medium height, curly-haired and with light, blue eyes. He was about twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was all The lines of this mouth were remarkably finely curved. In the middle, the upper lip fell energetically on the firm lower lip in a sharp wedge, and something like two smiles constantly formed in the corners, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a hard , with an impudent, intelligent look, made such an impression that it was impossible not to notice this face. This hero is not rich, but he knows how to put himself in such a way that everyone around respects and fears him. He likes to have fun, and in a rather strange and sometimes cruel way. For one case of mockery of the quarter, D. was demoted to the soldiers. But during the hostilities, he regained his rank of officer. This is a smart, brave and cold-blooded person. He is not afraid of death, is reputed to be an evil person, hides his tender love for his mother. In fact, D. does not want to know anyone except those whom he really loves. He divides people into harmful and useful, sees mostly harmful people around him and is ready to get rid of them if they suddenly stand in his way. D. was Helen's lover, he provokes Pierre to a duel, dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov at cards, and helps Anatole arrange an escape with Natasha.

Captain Tushin

This is the staff captain, the hero of the battle of Shengraben. T. - a man of small stature with a thin voice, there was something "non-military, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive" in him. This hero is shy in front of his superiors, feels guilty, small. On the eve of the battle, T. speaks of the fear of death and what awaits after it. But during the battle, the hero is transformed. He feels like "a huge, powerful man who throws cannonballs at the French with both hands." Battery T. was forgotten during the battle. During the battle, the staff captain is no longer afraid of death or injury, he becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers obey him like children. Soldiers miraculously survive thanks to the heroism of T.

Princess Mary

Daughter of the old Prince Bolkonsky and sister of Andrei Bolkonsky. M. is ugly, sickly, but her whole face is transformed by beautiful eyes: "... 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, despite the ugliness of the whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty. Princess M. is very religious. She often hosts all kinds of pilgrims, wanderers. She has no close friends, she lives under the yoke of her father, whom she loves, but is incredibly afraid of. The old prince Bolkonsky was distinguished by a bad character, M. was absolutely crammed with him and did not at all believe in her personal happiness. She gives all her love to her father, brother Andrei and his son, trying to replace the dead mother for little Nikolenka. M.'s life changes after meeting Nikolai Rostov. It was he who saw all the wealth and beauty of her soul. They marry, M. becomes a devoted wife, fully sharing all the views of her husband.

Kuragina Helen

Kuragina Helen is the daughter of Prince Vasily, and then the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. A brilliant St. Petersburg beauty with an "unchanging smile", white full shoulders, glossy hair and a beautiful figure. There was no noticeable coquetry in her, as if she was ashamed "for her undoubtedly and too strong and victorious acting beauty." E. is imperturbable, giving everyone the right to admire herself, which is why she feels, as it were, gloss from a multitude of other people's views. She knows how to be silently worthy in the world, giving the impression of a tactful and intelligent woman, which, combined with beauty, ensures her constant success. Having married Pierre Bezukhov, the heroine discovers in front of her husband not only a limited mind, coarseness of thought and vulgarity, but also cynical depravity. After breaking up with Pierre and receiving a large part of the fortune from him by proxy, she lives either in St. Petersburg or abroad, then returns to her husband. Despite the family break, the constant change of lovers, including Dolokhov and Drubetskoy, E. continues to be one of the most famous and favored by the St. Petersburg ladies. She is making very great progress in the world; living alone, she becomes the mistress of the diplomatic and political salon, gaining a reputation as an intelligent woman. Having decided to convert to Catholicism and considering the possibility of divorce and a new marriage, entangled between two very influential high-ranking lovers and patrons, E. dies in 1812.

A real historical person, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. For Tolstoy, he is the ideal of a historical figure and the ideal of a person. “He will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will, this is an inevitable course of events, and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their meaning and, in view of this meaning, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will directed to something else. K. knew that “the fate of the battle is not decided by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place on which the troops stand, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by that elusive force called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and led it as far as it was in his power." K. merges with the people, he is always modest and simple. His behavior is natural, the author constantly emphasizes his heaviness, senile weakness. K. - an exponent of folk wisdom in the novel. His strength lies in the fact that he understands and knows well what worries the people, and acts in accordance with this. K. dies when he has fulfilled his duty. The enemy has been driven out of the borders of Russia, this folk hero has nothing else to do.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Prince Andrew's wife. She is the darling of the whole world, an attractive young woman whom everyone calls the "little princess". “Her pretty, with a slightly blackened mustache, her upper lip was short in the teeth, but the sweeter it opened and the sweeter it sometimes stretched out and fell on the bottom. her special, actually her beauty. It was fun for everyone to look at this full of health and liveliness, pretty future mother, who so easily endured her situation. L. was a universal favorite due to her constant liveliness and courtesy of a secular woman, she could not imagine her life without high society. But Prince Andrei did not love his wife and felt unhappy in marriage. L. does not understand her husband, his aspirations and ideals. After Andrei left for the war, L. lives in the Bald Mountains with the old prince Bolkonsky, for whom he feels fear and hostility. L. foresees his imminent death and really dies during childbirth.

Napoleon

This is a real historical person, the French emperor. Tolstoy decided to debunk the legend of Napoleon from the standpoint of real humanism. At the beginning of the novel, this man is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov considers N. A great man. But gradually these best heroes of Tolstoy become disillusioned with their idol.

Description of work

Anatole Kuragin
He is the son of Prince Vasily, the brother of Helen and Hippolyte. Prince Vasily himself looks at his son as a "restless fool" who constantly needs to be rescued from various troubles. A. is very handsome, dandy, insolent. He is frankly stupid, not resourceful, but popular in society, because "he had both the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unchanging confidence." A. friend of Dolokhov, constantly participating in his revelry, looks at life as a constant stream of pleasures and pleasures.

Vasily Kuragin

Anatole Kuragin

Kuragina Helen

Anna Pavlovna Sherer

Boris Drubetskoy

Count Rostov

Countess of Rostov

The wife of Count Rostov, "a woman with an oriental type of thin face, forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children ... The slowness of her movements and speech, which came from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant look that inspires respect." R. creates in his family an atmosphere of love and kindness, he cares very much about the fate of his children. The news of the death of the youngest and beloved son of Petya almost drives her crazy. She is accustomed to luxury and the fulfillment of the slightest whims, and demands this after the death of her husband.

Natasha Rostova

Daughter of the Count and Countess Rostov. She is "black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive ...". Distinctive features of N. are emotionality and sensitivity. She is not very smart, but she has an amazing ability to guess people. She is capable of noble deeds, she can forget about her interests for the sake of other people. So, she calls on her family to take out the wounded on carts, leaving their property. N. takes care of her mother with all her dedication after Petya's death. N. has a very beautiful voice, she is very musical. With her singing, she is able to awaken the best in a person. Tolstoy notes N.'s closeness to the common people. This is one of her best qualities. N. lives in an atmosphere of love and happiness. Changes in her life occur after meeting with Prince Andrei. N. becomes his bride, but later becomes interested in Anatole Kuragin. After a while, N. understands the full force of his guilt before the prince, before his death he forgives her, she remains with him until his death. N. feels true love for Pierre, they understand each other perfectly, they are very good together. She becomes his wife and completely surrenders to the role of wife and mother.

Nikolay Rostov

Son of Count Rostov. "A short curly young man with an open expression." The hero is distinguished by "swiftness and enthusiasm", he is cheerful, open, friendly and emotional. N. participates in military campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812. In the battle of Shengraben, N. goes on the attack at first very bravely, but then he is wounded in the arm. This injury causes him to panic, he thinks about how he, "whom everyone loves so much," can die. This event somewhat belittles the image of the hero. After N. becomes a brave officer, a real hussar, remaining faithful to duty. N. had a long affair with Sonya, and he was going to do a noble deed by marrying a dowry against the will of his mother. But he receives a letter from Sonya in which she says that she is letting him go. After the death of his father, N. takes care of the family, resigning. She and Marya Bolkonskaya fall in love with each other and get married.

Petya Rostov

The youngest son of the Rostovs. At the beginning of the novel, we see P. as a small boy. He is a typical representative of his family, kind, cheerful, musical. He wants to imitate his older brother and go in life along the military line. In 1812 he was full of patriotic impulses and went into the army. During the war, the young man accidentally ends up with an assignment in the Denisov detachment, where he remains, wanting to take part in the real case. He accidentally dies, showing all his best qualities in relation to his comrades the day before. His death is the greatest tragedy for his family.

Pierre Bezukhov

Sonya

Dolokhov

Nikolai Bolkonsky

Andrey Bolkonsky

Son of Prince Bolkonsky, brother of Princess Marya. At the beginning of the novel, we see B. as an intelligent, proud, but rather arrogant person. He despises people of high society, is unhappy in marriage and does not respect his pretty wife. B. is very restrained, well educated, he has a strong will. This hero is going through a big spiritual change. First we see that his idol is Napoleon, whom he considers a great man. B. goes to war, goes to the active army. There he fights on an equal footing with all the soldiers, shows great courage, composure, and prudence. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. B. was seriously wounded in the battle of Austerlitz. This moment is extremely important, because it was then that the spiritual rebirth of the hero began. Lying motionless and seeing the calm and eternal sky of Austerlitz above him, B. understands all the pettiness and stupidity of everything that happens in the war. He realized that in fact there should be completely different values ​​​​in life than those that he had until now. All feats, glory do not matter. There is only this vast and eternal sky. In the same episode, B. sees Napoleon and understands all the insignificance of this man. B. returns home, where everyone thought he was dead. His wife dies in childbirth, but the child survives. The hero is shocked by the death of his wife and feels guilty before her. He decides not to serve anymore, settles in Bogucharovo, takes care of the household, raises his son, reads many books. During a trip to St. Petersburg, B. meets Natasha Rostova for the second time. A deep feeling awakens in him, the heroes decide to get married. B.'s father does not agree with the choice of his son, they postpone the wedding for a year, the hero goes abroad. After the betrayal of the bride, he returns to the army under the leadership of Kutuzov. During the Battle of Borodino, he was mortally wounded. By chance, he leaves Moscow in the Rostovs' train. Before his death, he forgives Natasha and understands the true meaning of love.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Princess Mary

Kutuzov

The image of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace". Composition based on Tolstoy's novel - War and Peace. Pierre Bezukhov, by his nature, by his warehouse, is predominantly an emotional nature. His characteristic features are a mind prone to "dreamy philosophizing", free-thinking, absent-mindedness, weakness of will, lack of initiative. This does not mean that Prince Andrei is not capable of experiencing a deep feeling, and Pierre is a weak thinker; both are complex natures. The terms "intellectual" and "emotional" mean in this case the predominant features of the spiritual forces of these outstanding personalities. Pierre stands out sharply from among the people in the Scherer salon, where we first get to know him. This is "a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, wearing glasses, in light trousers in the fashion of the time, with a high frill and in a brown tailcoat." His gaze is "intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural." Its main feature is the search for "calmness, agreement with oneself." Pierre's entire life path is an incessant search for the meaning of life, the search for a life that would be in harmony with the needs of his heart and bring him moral satisfaction. In this he is similar to Andrei Bolkonsky.

The path of Pierre, like the path of Prince Andrei is the way to the people. Even during the period of passion for Freemasonry, he decides to devote his strength to the improvement of the peasants. He considers it necessary to release his serfs to freedom, thinks about establishing hospitals, shelters and schools in his villages. True, the cunning manager deceives Pierre and creates only the appearance of reforms. But Pierre is sincerely sure that his peasants now live well. His real rapprochement with the common people begins in captivity, when he gets to know the soldiers and Karataev. Pierre has a desire to simplify, to merge completely with the people. The lordly life, secular salons, the luxury of Tomyagi do not satisfy Pierre, He painfully feels his isolation from

Images of Natasha and Princess Marie in the novel "War and Peace". But Natasha and Princess Marya also have common features.. Both are patriots. Natasha did not hesitate to sacrifice the wealth of the Moscow Rostov house for the sake of saving the wounded. And Princess Marya leaves the estate to the mercy of fate at the approach of the French. When the homeland is in danger, family traits wake up in it - pride, courage, firmness. So it was in Bogucharovo, when a French companion suggested that she stay on the estate and trust the mercy of the French general, the mercy of the enemies of Russia, her homeland. And “although for Princess Mary it didn’t matter where she stayed and whatever happened to her, she felt at the same time a representative of her late father and Prince Andrei. She involuntarily thought with their thoughts and felt with their feelings. And one more feature makes Natasha and Princess Mary related. Princess Marya marries Nikolai Rostov, and Tolstoy, drawing their family life, speaks of the happiness that she, like Natasha, found in the family. This is how Tolstoy solves the issue of the appointment of a woman, limiting her interests to the framework of family life.

Recall another episode of the meeting of Nikolai Rostov with Sonya, when he, having arrived on vacation, does not know how to behave with his girlfriend. “He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya, But their eyes, meeting, said “you” to each other and kissed tenderly.”

Tolstoy's favorite heroes are people with a complex spiritual world. In revealing such characters, Tolstoy resorts to various methods: direct characterization from the author, self-characterization of the hero, internal dialogues and reflections, etc. Internal monologues and internal dialogues allow the author to discover such innermost thoughts and moods of the characters, which can be conveyed in a different way ( for example, with the help of a direct author's description) it would be difficult without violating the laws of artistic realism. Tolstoy resorts to such monologues and dialogues very often. An example of an "internal monologue" with elements of dialogue is the reflections of the wounded Prince Andrei in chapter XXXII of the third volume of the novel. Here is another example of an “inner monologue” - Natasha’s reflections, childishly directly talking about herself: “What a charm this Natasha is!” - she said again to herself in the words of some third collective male face. - She has a good voice, is young, and she does not interfere with anyone, leave her alone ”(Chapter XXIII of the second volume).

The image of Andrei Bolkonsky. The outside world with its things and phenomena is also skillfully used by Tolstoy to characterize the characters. So, describing Natasha’s mood after the unexpected departure of Andrei Bolkonsky (before the matchmaking), Tolstoy reports that Natasha completely calmed down and “put on that old dress that she was especially aware of for the fun it delivered in the morning.” Tolstoy is a brilliant landscape painter. He will note the young “green sticky leaves” of birch, and the bushes that are greening somewhere, and the “juicy, dark greens of the oak”, and the moonlight that burst into the room, and the freshness of the spring night. Let us recall the wonderfully described hunting in Otradnoye. And people, and animals, and nature act here as indicators of the powerful force of life, its fullness. The landscape performs various functions in the novel. The most common feature of Tolstoy's landscape is the correspondence of this landscape to the hero's mood. Disappointment, the gloomy mood of Prince Andrei, after breaking up with Natasha, paints the surrounding landscape in gloomy tones. “He looked at the strip of birch trees, with their motionless yellowness, greenery and white bark, shining in the sun. "To die... to be killed, tomorrow, so that I would not be... so that all this would be, but I would not be..." He is tormented by terrible forebodings and painful thoughts about death. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke of bonfires - all this around was transformed for him and seemed to be something terrible and threatening. And the poetry of Natasha's nature, on the contrary, is revealed against the backdrop of a spring moonlit night in Otradnoye. In other cases, the landscape directly affects a person, enlightening and making him wiser. Prince Andrei, wounded at Austerlitz, looks at the sky and thinks: “Yes! Everything is empty, everything is a lie, except for this endless sky. The oak, which Prince Andrei meets twice on his way, reveals to him the “meaning of life” in completely different ways: in one case, he seems to Prince Andrei as the personification of hopelessness, in the other - a symbol of joyful faith in happiness.

Finally, Tolstoy uses the landscape as a means of characterizing the real situation. Let us recall, for example, the heavy fog that spread like a continuous milky-white sea over the outskirts of Austerlitz. Thanks to this fog, which covered the positions of the French, the Russian and Austrian troops were put in a worse position, since they did not see the enemy and suddenly came face to face with him. Napoleon, standing on a height where it was completely light, could unmistakably lead the troops.

The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace". Napoleon confronts in the novel Napoleon. Tolstoy debunks this commander and outstanding historical figure. Drawing the appearance of Napoleon, the author of the novel says that he was a “little man” with an “unpleasantly feigned smile” on his face, with “fat chest”, “round belly” and “fat spoons of short legs”. Tolstoy shows Napoleon as a narcissistic and arrogant ruler of France, intoxicated with success, blinded by glory, attributing to his personality a driving role in the course of historical events. Even in small scenes, in the smallest gestures, one can feel, according to Tolstoy, the insane pride of Napoleon, his acting, the self-importance of a person who is accustomed to believing that every movement of his hand scatters happiness or sows grief among thousands of people. The servility of those around him raised him to such a height that he really believed in his ability to change the course of history and influence the fate of peoples.

In contrast to Kutuzov, who does not attach decisive importance to his personal will, Napoleon puts himself, his personality, above all else, considers himself a superman. “Only what was going on in his soul was of interest to him. Everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will. The word "I" is Napoleon's favorite word. In Napoleon, egoism, individualism and rationality are emphasized - features that are absent from Kutuzov, the people's commander, who thinks not about his own glory, but about the glory and freedom of the fatherland. Revealing the ideological content of the novel, we have already noted Tolstoy's originality in Tolstoy's interpretation of individual themes of the novel. Thus, we have already said that Tolstoy, going against the revolutionary peasant democracy, obscures in the novel the sharpness of the class contradictions between the peasantry and the landowners; revealing, for example, Pierre Bezukhov's restless thoughts about the plight of serf slaves, he at the same time paints pictures of the idyllic relationship between landowners and peasants on the Rostov estate and house. We also noted the features of idealization in the image of Karataev, the originality of the interpretation of the role of the individual in history, etc.

How to explain these features of the novel? Their source must be sought in the worldview of Tolstoy, which reflected the contradictions of his time. Tolstoy was a great artist. His novel "War and Peace" is one of the greatest masterpieces of world art, a brilliant work in which the breadth of the epic scope was combined with an amazing depth of penetration into the spiritual life of people. But Tolstoy lived in Russia in a transitional era, in an era of breaking the social and economic foundations of life, when the country was moving from a feudal serf system to capitalist forms of life, violently protesting, in the words of Lenin, "against any class domination", Tolstoy, a landowner and an aristocrat , found a way out for himself in the transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. Belinsky, in his articles on Tolstoy, revealed with remarkable depth all the contradictions that affected Tolstoy's worldview and work in connection with his transition to the positions of the patriarchal peasantry. These contradictions could not but be reflected in the artistic structure of the novel War and Peace. Tolstoy, the great realist and Protestant, ultimately defeated Tolstoy, the religious philosopher, and created a work that has no equal in world literature. But reading the novel, we still cannot but feel the contradictions of the worldview of its author.

The image of Kutuzov in the novel "War and Peace". In the novel, Tolstoy ridicules the cult of "great personalities" created by bourgeois historians. He correctly believes that the course of history is decided by the masses of the people. But his assessment of the role of the masses takes on a religious coloring. He comes to the recognition of fatalism, arguing that all historical events are predetermined from above. Tolstoy makes commander Kutuzov the spokesman for his views in the novel. rationalistically constructed theories, no matter how good they may seem, are nothing compared to the force that is the mood, the spirit of the masses.

"Long years of military experience- Tolstoy writes about Kutuzov, - he knew and understood with an senile mind that it was impossible for one person to lead hundreds of thousands of people fighting death, and he knew that it was not the orders of the commander-in-chief, not the place on which the troops stood, not the number that decide the fate of the battle guns and dead people, and that elusive force called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and led it, as far as it was in his power. Tolstoy attributed to Kutuzov his erroneous fatalistic view of history, according to which the outcome of historical events is predetermined. Andrei Bolkonsky says about Kutuzov: “He will not invent anything, will not do anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will - this is the inevitable course of events - and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their significance and, in view of this significance, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will aimed at other..."

Denying the role of personality in history, Tolstoy sought to make Kutuzov only a wise observer of historical events, only a passive contemplator of them. This, of course, was Tolstoy's mistake. It inevitably had to lead to a controversial assessment of Kutuzov. And so it happened. The novel features a commander who extremely accurately assesses the course of military events and unmistakably directs them. With the help of a well-thought-out plan of counteroffensives, Kutuzov destroys Napoleon and his army. Consequently, in a number of essential features, Kutuzov in the novel is shown historically correctly: he has great strategic skill, thinks through the campaign plan for long nights, acts as an active figure, behind external calmness he hides enormous volitional tension. So the realist artist overcame the philosophy of fatalism. The bearer of the people's spirit and people's will, Kutuzov deeply and truly understood the course of things, in the midst of events he gave them a correct assessment, which was subsequently confirmed. So, he correctly assessed the significance of the Battle of Borodino, saying that this was a victory. As a commander, Kutuzov stands above Napoleon. For waging a people's war, which was the war of 1812, such a commander was needed, says Tolstoy. With the expulsion of the French, Kutuzov's mission was completed. The transfer of the war to Europe required a different commander-in-chief. “A representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed on the highest level of its glory, the Russian person, as a Russian, had nothing more to do. The representative of the people's war had no choice but death. And he died."

Portraying Kutuzov as the people's commander, as the embodiment of people's thoughts, will and feelings. Tolstoy nowhere falls into schematism. Kutuzov is a living person. This impression is created for us primarily because Tolstoy clearly, vividly draws a portrait of Kutuzov for us - his figure, gait and gestures, facial expressions, his eye, now glowing with a pleasant, affectionate smile, now taking on a mocking expression. Tolstoy gives us it either in the perception of persons of different character and social status, or he draws from himself, delving into the psychological analysis of his hero. Scenes and episodes depicting the commander in conversations and conversations with persons close and pleasant to him, such as Bolkonsky, Denisov, Bagration, his behavior at military councils, in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodin, make Kutuzov deeply human and alive. Kutuzov's speech is diverse in its lexical composition and syntactic structure. He is fluent in high-society speech when he speaks or writes to the king, generals and other representatives of aristocratic society. “I say only one thing, General,” says Kutuzov with a pleasant grace of expression and intonation, forcing to listen to every leisurely spoken word. “I only say one thing, General, that if the matter depended on my personal desire, then the will of His Majesty Emperor Franz would have been done long ago." But he is also fluent in simple folk language. “Here’s the thing, brethren. I know it's hard for us, but what can we do! Be patient: not long left ... Let's see the guests out, then we'll have a rest, ”he said to the soldiers, meeting them on the road from Red to Good. And in a letter to the old man Bolkonsky, he discovers the archaic features of the clerical style of this era: “I flatter myself and you with hope that your son is alive, because otherwise, among the officers found on the battlefield, about whom the list was submitted to me through parliamentarians, and he would was named.

Introduction

Leo Tolstoy in his epic portrayed more than 500 characters typical of Russian society. In "War and Peace" the heroes of the novel are representatives of the upper class of Moscow and St. Petersburg, key government and military figures, soldiers, people from the common people, and peasants. The image of all strata of Russian society allowed Tolstoy to recreate a complete picture of Russian life in one of the turning points in the history of Russia - the era of wars with Napoleon in 1805-1812.

In "War and Peace" the characters are conditionally divided into main characters - whose fates are woven by the author into the plot narrative of all four volumes and the epilogue, and secondary - heroes who appear episodically in the novel. Among the main characters of the novel, one can single out the central characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov, around whose fates the events of the novel unfold.

Characteristics of the main characters of the novel

Andrey Bolkonsky- "a very handsome young man with definite and dry features", "small stature." The author introduces the reader to Bolkonsky at the beginning of the novel - the hero was one of the guests at the evening of Anna Scherer (where many of the main characters of Tolstoy's War and Peace were also present). According to the plot of the work, Andrei was tired of high society, he dreamed of glory, no less than the glory of Napoleon, and therefore goes to war. The episode that turned Bolkonsky's worldview upside down is the meeting with Bonaparte - Andrei, wounded on the field of Austerlitz, realized how insignificant Bonaparte and all his glory really are. The second turning point in Bolkonsky's life is the love for Natasha Rostova. The new feeling helped the hero to return to a full life, to believe that after the death of his wife and everything he had endured, he could fully live on. However, their happiness with Natasha was not destined to come true - Andrei was mortally wounded during the Battle of Borodino and soon died.

Natasha Rostova- a cheerful, kind, very emotional and loving girl: "black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive." An important feature of the image of the central heroine of "War and Peace" is her musical talent - a beautiful voice that fascinated even people inexperienced in music. The reader meets Natasha on the girl's name day, when she turns 12 years old. Tolstoy depicts the moral maturation of the heroine: love experiences, going out, Natasha's betrayal of Prince Andrei and her feelings because of this, the search for herself in religion and the turning point in the life of the heroine - the death of Bolkonsky. In the epilogue of the novel, Natasha appears to the reader in a completely different way - we are more likely to see the shadow of her husband, Pierre Bezukhov, and not the bright, active Rostova, who a few years ago danced Russian dances and “won back” carts for the wounded from her mother.

Pierre Bezukhov- "a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, wearing glasses."

"Pierre was somewhat larger than the other men in the room", he had "an intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural look that distinguished him from everyone in this living room." Pierre is a hero who is in constant search for himself through the knowledge of the world around him. Each situation in his life, each life stage became a special life lesson for the hero. Marriage to Helen, passion for Freemasonry, love for Natasha Rostova, presence on the field of the Battle of Borodino (which the hero sees precisely through the eyes of Pierre), French captivity and acquaintance with Karataev completely change Pierre's personality - a purposeful and self-confident man with own views and goals.

Other important characters

In War and Peace, Tolstoy conditionally identifies several blocks of characters - the families of the Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, as well as the characters who are part of the social circle of one of these families. The Rostovs and Bolkonskys, as positive heroes, bearers of a truly Russian mentality, ideas and spirituality, are opposed to the negative characters Kuragins, who had little interest in the spiritual aspect of life, preferring to shine in society, weave intrigues and choose acquaintances according to their status and wealth. A brief description of the heroes of War and Peace will help you better understand the essence of each main character.

Graph Ilya Andreevich Rostov- a kind and generous man, for whom the most important thing in his life was his family. The count sincerely loved his wife and four children (Natasha, Vera, Nikolai and Petya), helped his wife in raising children and did his best to maintain a warm atmosphere in the Rostovs' house. Ilya Andreevich cannot live without luxury, he liked to arrange lavish balls, receptions and evenings, but his wastefulness and inability to manage economic affairs eventually led to the critical financial situation of the Rostovs.
Countess Natalya Rostova is a 45-year-old woman with oriental features, who knows how to make an impression in high society, the wife of Count Rostov, and the mother of four children. The countess, just like her husband, loved her family very much, trying to support children and bring up the best qualities in them. Due to excessive love for children, after the death of Petya, the woman almost goes crazy. In the countess, kindness to relatives was combined with prudence: wanting to improve the financial situation of the family, the woman is trying with all her might to upset Nikolai's marriage to Sonya, "not a profitable bride".

Nikolay Rostov- "a short curly young man with an open expression." This is a simple-hearted, open, honest and benevolent young man, Natasha's brother, the eldest son of the Rostovs. At the beginning of the novel, Nikolai appears as an admiring young man who wants military glory and recognition, but after participating first in the battle of Shengrabes, and then in the Battle of Austerlitz and the Patriotic War, Nikolai's illusions are dispelled and the hero realizes how absurd and wrong the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwar is. Nikolai finds personal happiness in marriage with Marya Bolkonskaya, in whom he felt a congenial person even at their first meeting.

Sonya Rostova- “a thin, petite brunette with a soft look tinted with long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tint of skin on her face”, niece of Count Rostov. According to the plot of the novel, she is a quiet, reasonable, kind girl who knows how to love and is prone to self-sacrifice. Sonya refuses Dolokhov, because she wants to be faithful only to Nikolai, whom she sincerely loves. When the girl finds out that Nikolai is in love with Marya, she meekly lets him go, not wanting to interfere with the happiness of her beloved.

Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky- Prince, retired general-ashef. This is a proud, intelligent, strict to himself and others man of short stature "with small dry hands and gray hanging eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, obscured the shine of intelligent and as if young, shining eyes." In the depths of his soul, Bolkonsky loves his children very much, but does not dare to show this (only before his death he was able to show his daughter his love). Nikolai Andreevich died from the second blow while in Bogucharovo.

Marya Bolkonskaya- a quiet, kind, meek, prone to self-sacrifice and sincerely loving her family girl. Tolstoy describes her as a heroine with "an ugly, weak body and a thin face", but "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, despite the ugliness of everything faces, these eyes became more attractive than beauty. The beauty of Marya's eyes after struck Nikolai Rostov. The girl was very pious, she devoted herself entirely to caring for her father and nephew, then redirecting her love to her own family and husband.

Helen Kuragina- a bright, brilliantly beautiful woman with a "unchanging smile" and full white shoulders, who liked male society, Pierre's first wife. Helen was not distinguished by a special mind, but thanks to her charm, her ability to keep herself in society and establish the necessary connections, she set up her own salon in St. Petersburg, and was personally acquainted with Napoleon. The woman died of a severe sore throat (although there were rumors in society that Helen had committed suicide).

Anatole Kuragin- Helen's brother, as handsome in appearance and noticeable in high society as his sister. Anatole lived the way he wanted, discarding all moral principles and foundations, arranged drunkenness and brawls. Kuragin wanted to steal Natasha Rostova and marry her, although he was already married.

Fedor Dolokhov- "a man of medium height, curly-haired and with bright eyes", an officer of the Semenov regiment, one of the leaders of the partisan movement. In Fedor's personality, selfishness, cynicism and adventurism were combined in an amazing way with the ability to love and care for their loved ones. (Nikolai Rostov is very surprised that at home, with his mother and sister, Dolokhov is completely different - a loving and gentle son and brother).

Conclusion

Even a brief description of the heroes of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" allows us to see the close and inextricable relationship between the fates of the characters. Like all events in the novel, the meetings and farewells of the characters take place according to the irrational, elusive law of historical mutual influences. It is these incomprehensible mutual influences that create the destinies of the heroes and form their views on the world.

Artwork test

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 old 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; the boundary, having stepped over which, a deliberately 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. Negative heroes also, of course, have senile age, 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 old 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. Helen dies under 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 the 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, but 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.