Target: to synthesize and deepen knowledge about the image main character novel, to continue learning the skills of linguo-stylistic analysis of the text, to cultivate love for the Motherland, the desire to live without fear of difficulties and mistakes, to learn to love life in all its manifestations.
During the classes
Natasha is the true soul of Tolstoy.
V. V. Veresaev
Teacher's word: statement of the problem, message of the topic and form of the lesson.
Problem: what is the main thing in the image of Natasha Rostova? What, according to Tolstoy, should be the ideal of a woman?
A healthy child will be born into the world, fully satisfying the requirements of harmony in relation to truth, beauty and goodness that we carry within ourselves ...
In all ages and for all people, the child was a model of innocence, sinlessness, goodness, truth and beauty. "A man will be born perfect - there is a great word spoken by Rousseau, and this word, like a stone, will remain firm and true."
In all the characteristics and descriptions of the most diverse personalities made by Tolstoy, there are almost no common epithets, but there is an image of the actions and positions of persons, suggesting one or another formulation to the reader. The honor of discovering and generalizing the character of the hero thus belongs to the reader himself: as a result, the reader can always, if desired, see the given face in front of him, since in a certain sense it is his own creation… Today we will try to understand how each of us saw the beloved heroine of Leo Tolstoy, Natasha Rostova, and what we can note in common in our ideas about Natasha.
Unshakable faith in the light being of the human soul is one of the most characteristic features of Tolstoy. “A person is something that cannot be valued, beyond which there is nothing,” he says. With deeply serious eyes of a child, Tolstoy looks at life. And we, following Tolstoy, will not analyze the image of Natasha Rostova in literally of this word, but let's try to understand what the writer wanted to tell us through this image, since "Natasha is the true soul of Tolstoy."
The main component of "War and Peace" is a stage episode, consisting of stage dialogue (or a series of dialogues and scenes) and author's remarks, often developing into narrative digressions. Separate parts of such an episode are usually fastened together with concise reviews of events or facts from the life of the characters. The episode represents a certain plot-thematic unity and is a stage in the development of the plot - the Rostovs' name day, the death of Count Bezukhov, etc. The episode is limited by time and place and is a clearly marked moment of action. Most often it includes a number of small scenes. An episode consists of one or more chapters.
A. A. Saburov. “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy. Problematics and poetics. 1959
General questions about episode analysis:
Name the episodes through which the image of Natasha Rostova is revealed. What scenes does this episode consist of? Consider short plan episode analysis:
1. In what part of the composition (exposition, plot, development of action, climax, denouement or epilogue) is this episode located?
2. How are the images of the characters revealed and with the help of what compositional and stylistic means (landscape, interior, speech characteristics, tropes, stylistic figures, sound painting, occasionalisms, etc.).
4. What role does the episode play in revealing the theme and idea of the work?
II. Work on the analysis of episodes (in groups).
(The teacher divides the children into groups, the students from each group pull out tickets with a certain episode, 10 minutes are given for the children to orient themselves and answer the questions posed on the episode given to their group. Theatricalization and artistic reading are prepared with the students in advance at the meetings of the literary club "Danko" and is not connected with the division into groups.)
Teacher: Natasha Rostova, like a light spring breeze, appears on the pages of the novel. She breaks into the boring, prim conversation of adults, refreshes it and charges everyone with her happiness. She laughs, not knowing why, and her laughter, like the ringing of a bell, awakens everyone and introduces them, too, into some kind of irrepressible fun.
1. Episode "Natasha on a name day" (volume one, part one, ch. VII - X, XV - XVII)
(Theatricalization of the episode.)
Episode Analysis taking into account additional questions that are given to the group at the beginning of the lesson:
What scenes does this episode consist of?
Why, after dancing with Pierre, did Natasha blush and laugh at the remark of the old countess?
What do you think is the charm of the heroine and her charm?
Teacher: The next episode catches the heroes of the work when Prince Andrei is not yet familiar with Natasha, but at the first meeting she appeared as a kind fairy-tale sorceress and began the revival of the soul, his happiness.
2. The scene of the meeting between Prince Andrei and Natasha in Otradnoye (Volume II, Part III, Chapter II).
(Artistic reading of an excerpt under Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.) Episode Analysis:
The scene of the meeting between Prince Andrei and Natasha in Otradnoye had several variants. According to one of them, their feelings for each other had already arisen here. Why did the writer drop this in the final text of the scene? What discovery struck him when he met Natasha?
What exactly struck Andrei so strongly and so joyfully in Natasha’s speech, from what words in Bolkonsky’s soul “suddenly such an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes that contradicted his whole life arose ...”. Why, not seeing Natasha, Andrei clearly and vividly imagined her appearance, only listening to her, as Tolstoy says, “listening to her speaking”?
No, life is not over at thirty-one, - suddenly, finally, without fail, decided Prince Andrei. - Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary that everyone knows this: both Pierre and this girl who wanted to fly into the sky, it is necessary that everyone knows me, so that my life goes not for me alone. life, so that they do not live like this girl, regardless of my life, so that it is reflected in everyone and so that they all live with me together!
All the best moments of his life were suddenly remembered to him at the same time. And Austerlitz with the high sky, and the dead, reproachful face of his wife, and that night, and the moon—all this suddenly came to his mind.
L. N. Tolstoy. "War and Peace"
What does Andrey call Natasha in his reasoning after a night in Otradnoye, and why?
Teacher: The first ball is an unusually exciting event for Natasha, and now this excitement captures her; she thinks: how will she be received, will she be liked, and what if he will be at the ball? Shine, beauty, splendor - everything turns her head, she irresistibly wants to have fun. She is filled with happiness; she is lively and cheerful; she wants to please and she wants to dance.
3. Natasha's first ball (volume II, part III, ch. XV-XVII).
(Artistic reading of an excerpt to the music of a waltz.) Analysis of the episode:
What struck Prince Andrei in Natasha? What verb does Leo Tolstoy repeatedly characterize Andrei's attitude towards Natasha?
What did Prince Andrei think?
What struck Natasha in Pierre's face? What desire did his face make her feel?
How is our heroine revealed in this episode?
4. Episode of the hunt (volume two, part four, chapters III-VI).
Teacher:The hunting scene is given so seriously because it is equally important in the novel, which depicts high-profile events of history and many philosophical discussions.
S. Bocharov.
Describing the joyful and enthusiastic squeal of Natasha in the episode of the hunt, Tolstoy remarks: “And this screech was so strange that she should have been ashamed of this wild screech and everyone should have been surprised at it if it had been at another time.”
Episode analysis:
Why is hunting time a special time? What is its feature?
How does the state of a person hunting differ from everyday life?
What new things do we learn about Natasha, and in what way does she remain the Natasha that we knew before.
Teacher: Natasha loves, loves, giving and burning her soul, she loves and waits. While hunting near Otradnoye, Natasha, Nikolai, Sonya and Petya stopped by their uncle. Excited by the hunt, tired and happy, they rested their souls in this simple, hospitable uncle's estate. Natasha Rostova, one of Leo Tolstoy's favorite heroines, could not but embody folk thought, since this idea permeates the entire novel.
5. Episode "Natasha at Uncle's" (Volume II, Part IV, Chapter VII).
Episode Analysis:
How do the young Rostovs feel with their uncle? Why does Natasha, returning from her uncle, say: “I know that I will never be as happy, calm as now”?
What property of Natasha manifested itself in her dance?
How is this scene linked to the episode of the hunt?
Teacher: ... The writer stubbornly and a lot processed everything related to the history of Natasha's relationship with Kuragin, therefore, in a letter to P. I. Bartenev dated November 1, 1867, Tolstoy said that this was “the most difficult place and knot of the whole novel.” In the final text of War and Peace, even Natasha’s passion, which, in its own way, from a special side, might seem to cast a shadow on her, emphasizes the naturalness of her being, the immediacy of her relationship to everything around her, her involvement in people’s lives “by the world”.
6. The love story of Natasha and Anatole Kuragin (volume II, part V, ch.VIII - XVIII).
(Theatricalization of the episode.) Analysis of the episode:
Natasha's love for Anatole - an obsession, or were there reasons for their rapprochement?
How are the general laws of life, revealed by the writer in the novel, expressed in this episode?
Why did Tolstoy consider this episode a “knot” (i.e., very important in meaning in his novel)?
For Anatole, there is only one thing in the world: his pleasure, the voluptuousness of a beautiful animal, the pleasure of this moment; he is incapable of thinking about what might happen after this minute. Deciding to kidnap Natasha and run away with her abroad, he does not want and cannot think about the fact that he is already married, nor about how he will live abroad with Natasha without money. He is not able and does not want to think about any career. It is alien to any kind of calculations.
And these are the properties of Anatole - his lack of calculations, the ability of passionate sensual enthusiasm, not stopping at nothing, not knowing any “buts”, completely surrendering this moment- helped him captivate a lively, passionate, poetic and romantic girl - a naive girl; after all, the power of living life, overflowing in her, is connected with the charm of naivety. Anatole is naive and good-natured in his own way. He has a “naive, good-natured, cheerful smile.” He is an egoist, not evil, not insidious, although his egoism brings the people around him no less suffering than the cunning egoism of his sister. He is a man who obeys only his passions.
In her reckless passion for Anatole, Natasha felt exactly these sides - simplicity, good nature, sincerity, unwillingness to bring evil, the power of passion. He “turned” to this girl only with these sides of himself. She, of course, also invented many non-existent virtues in Anatole, who presented herself to her as some kind of impeccable noble knight, capable of laying down his life for love.
V. Ermilov, 1961
Natasha wants to live, to love now, without waiting, without delay. This shows the whole naturalness of her being. Even feeling something unreal, “unnatural” in Antol and Helen, in the whole atmosphere of the theater where their first meeting with Anatole takes place, Natasha cannot believe that everything she is told, everything she sees, can be skillful and artificially made.
Ya. S. Bilinkis. On the work of LN Tolstoy. 1959
A person who belonged to a morally higher world, at a moment of instability, doubts about previously immutable values, a passionate thirst for love, who does not find satisfaction for himself, is attracted, captured by the morally lower world, the world of unprincipled egoism and vulgar pleasure. The words “delusion”, “illness” are quite appropriate here: if circumstances had developed a little differently, Natasha would have come to death or genuine madness. In Natasha, sensual passion rebelled against high love. This, of course, was due to the unacceptable mistake Andrei made when he put Natasha before an exam the size of a year. She moved away from the thought that she was destroying the infinite value, assuring herself that she had never loved Andrey. But she could not completely convince herself - hence Natasha's aggressiveness, her complete inaccessibility to any reasonable word. This stroke of genius alone is enough to recognize Tolstoy as a great psychologist.
All this is connected with one of Tolstoy's cherished ideas: real love leads to truth, sensual passion mistaken for love leads to untruth.
V. Dneprov. The art of human science. 1985
Do you agree with the opinions of famous critics on the image of Natasha Rostova in this episode? Prove your point.
How do you assess Natasha's act? Do we have the right to judge her?
7. Analysis of the episode of the Rostovs' departure from Moscow ( volume III, part III, chapters XII-XVII):
Why did Natasha think when she heard the explanation of her father and mother about his order to take away the wounded?
Tolstoy in this episode speaks of Natasha's "rapturously happy" revival. Why is she experiencing this condition?
Life in the meantime real life people with their own essential interests of health, illness, work, recreation, with their own interests of thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions, went, as always, independently and outside of political proximity or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte, and outside of all possible transformations.
L. N. Tolstoy. “War and Peace”, vol. 2, part 3.
How are the episodes of the hunt, the Christmas season, the departure of the Rostovs from Moscow intertwined?
What kind of life Tolstoy called "real", and how does "not real" differ from it? How did you understand this little theoretical reasoning of the writer? Open it on the image of Natasha Rostova.
Teacher:...Sometimes they say about a person that he was too good for the world. Sensitive to the laws of life, Natasha says exactly this: “Ah, Marie, Marie, he is too good, he cannot live ... because ...” He must die - not even from a wound, not only from physical causes (just in time for the moment when this happened in him, a turning point in the struggle between life and death, the main physical dangers had already passed, and from a medical point of view, according to the doctor’s conclusion, he should not die - Tolstoy specifically emphasizes this), but according to his position, among people, for his role in Tolstoy's book.
S. Bocharov. 1978
8. An episode of the meeting between Natasha Rostova and Prince Andrei in Mytishchi (volume three, part three, ch. XXXI - XXXII) and an episode of the death of Prince Andrei (volume 4, part 1, ch. XV).
Episode analysis:
How is the meeting between Natasha and the wounded Prince Andrei motivated in the novel? Do you agree with this statement on this issue?
The meeting takes place like a miracle, which, as if someone had arranged for them; but they did it themselves.
What did the meeting with the wounded Bolkonsky mean for Natasha?
Why "by his position among people, by his role in Tolstoy's book" Prince Andrei "must die"?
How do you understand Natasha's words “he's too good” for this world?
From what new side Is the image of Natasha revealed in these episodes?
What brings Natasha back to life?
III. General analysis image of Natasha Rostova.
Pay attention to Natasha's speech. Tolstoy comments on Natasha's words in the following way: “Her words were meaningless; but they achieved the result to which she aspired. What does the author want to tell us? How do you understand the quote from the article by Maimina E. A. Prove its truth or falsity using the example of one of the episodes considered earlier.
“Natasha's language is almost always evaluative language: in terms of beauty and in terms of goodness and truth. Natasha has a highly developed moral sense - that's why her favorite words most of all contain a moral assessment of events, people, human relationships. This assessment is the most general - but always the most correct and most categorical. What does the word "beautiful" mean? The highest measure of the aesthetic and moral without any specification. In this word, the object itself is almost invisible, but the relation to the object is very visible. Natasha's speech in general conveys more of her attitude to the world than the world itself, reveals, first of all, herself, and not what is outside her. With all the differences between the words “disgusting”, “abomination” and “charm” - in Natasha's lexicon they are in the same row.
Maymin E. A. 1972
What is the property of Natasha's musicality? How do you understand the metaphor “music of life”.
What episodes reflect Natasha's closeness to nature? What does it say?
Natasha, like almost all Rostovs, is characterized by spiritual openness, clear sincerity. She, in addition, has a priceless gift that belongs only to her - a huge spiritual generosity and sensitivity. After the Battle of Borodino, Pierre, joyfully shaken, thinks in his sleep: “The most difficult thing is to be able to combine the meaning of everything in your soul.” Natasha, without noticing it and without thinking about it, knows how to do this, because she knows how to be happy herself and make others happy.
“The essence of her life is love,” the author says about Natasha. Love that does not need self-sacrifice, like Sonya's, requires tireless manifestation, satisfaction, but also gives immeasurably much, awakens the best, the present in the souls of other people.
immediate power and the joy of life, the ability not to sacrifice oneself, but naturally to give to other people - these properties of Natasha are manifested in each episode, in each new meeting and at the beginning and end of the novel. Natasha in the highest degree possesses what later Chekhov would call a special human talent - a flair for someone else's pain. Faith in life, in the pleasures of life miraculously combines with her ultimate and complete self-giving. Namely, not with fruitless self-sacrifice, but with boundless love, which contains a salutary call to life. One of the main ideas of the novel is embodied in the image of Natasha: there is no beauty, no happiness where there is no goodness, simplicity and truth. Natasha's happiness is vital and humane, because it excludes "the possibility of evil, misfortune and grief" for everyone. Her naive selfishness is not prudent, generous and wise.
L. Opulskaya. The epic novel by L. T. Tolstoy “War and Peace”.
Which of the features of the image of Natasha, named by L. Opulskaya, best suits your impressions? Explain why.
What do you think: in the epilogue, Natasha changed only externally or internally? Do you agree with the proposed answer to this question?
The image of Natasha in the epilogue did not change. Tolstoy expressed his attitude towards Natasha in her new life with the thoughts of the old countess, who, with her “motherly instinct”, understood that “all Natasha’s impulses began only with the need to have a family, to have a husband, as she, not so much joking as really, shouted in Otradnoe ". Countess Rostova “was surprised at the surprise of people who did not understand Natasha, and repeated that she always knew that Natasha would exemplary wife and mother." The author, who created Natasha and endowed her with the best qualities of a woman in his eyes, also knew this.
Natasha's mental structure and her whole life during this period embodies Tolstoy's cherished ideal: "the purpose of marriage is the family." Natasha “needed a husband. The husband was given to her. And her husband gave her a family.” Natasha felt that her connection with her husband was held not by those poetic feelings that attracted him to her, but “by something else, indefinite, but firm, like the connection of her own soul with the body.” This connection was expressed in the fact that Natasha knew "Pierre's whole soul", and Pierre saw himself as "a reflection in his wife." As they spoke, they understood each other's thoughts "with unusual clarity and speed." Natasha is shown in her cares and affection for children and, most importantly, in complete spiritual unity with her husband.
Natasha Rostova is not a primitive "female", as researchers of the novel often write about her. Natasha is a woman of an elevated soul at all stages of her life. She would not hesitate to go into exile to fetch her beloved husband. This would have happened if Tolstoy had written a planned novel about the Decembrists.
E. E. Seidenshnur. “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy. 1996
The epilogue rounds off and immediately refutes any kind of rounding off of life - of an individual person, or even more so of universal life. The action continues after the result has already been reached, the original contradiction rises again, knots are tied in place of the previously untied ones. The contradiction is not resolved by a logical conclusion, after which, as in elementary logic, there is no longer a contradiction. It remains not closed in Tolstoy's book - the contradiction of the spiritual and the simple, of conscious and immediate life, between principles and people, whom the author himself would like to see in harmony, non-contradictory unity - but this is not in his power.
The fate of the heroes of the novel, these Bolkonsky, Pierre, Natasha and Nikolai, is only a link in the endless experience of mankind, all people, both past and future, and among them that person who is reading War and Peace today.
S. Bocharov. The novel "War and Peace". 1978
IV. Final word teachers.
Teacher: In Natasha the girl, “the fire of revival is constantly burning, which is her charm.” She is overflowing with vital energy, endowed with many talents: she sings, dances, heals souls, gives friendship. In Natasha, the mother, “very rarely ignited ... now the former fire. It happened only when, as now, the husband returned, when the child was recovering ... ”“ And in those rare moments when the former fire was lit in her developed beautiful body she was even more attractive than before.”
“It was very important for Tolstoy to show through the fate of Natasha that all her talents are realized in the family. Natasha - the mother will be able to educate in her children both the love of music and the ability for the most sincere friendship and love; she will teach children the most important talent in life - the talent to love life and people, to love selflessly, sometimes forgetting about themselves; and this study will take place not in the form of notations, but in the form of daily communication of children with very kind, honest, sincere and truthful people: mother and father. And this is the real happiness of the family, because each of us dreams of the kindest and most a just person next to you. Pierre's dream came true...
Natasha Rostova illuminates others with her happiness, she loves everyone, she is so happy that she looks with equally loving eyes at Boris, and at Pierre, and at stiff guest and all the people in the world. She makes others think about life and thinks herself, she dreams and loves, cries and laughs. In Natasha, you can’t kill the main thing: inexhaustible faith in the beauty of life, in your own happiness and the ability to bring happiness to others. Natasha Rostova gives the novel an extraordinary strength and appeal. Natasha is happy and should be happy, because she has a huge power of life and love!
Literature.
- Maymin E. A. Experiments literary analysis. The book for the teacher. - M., Enlightenment, 1972
- Zolotareva I. V., Mikhailova T. I. Pourochnye developments in Russian literature. Second half of the nineteenth century. – M.: “Vako”, 2004
- Krundyshev A. A. How to work on an essay. - St. Petersburg: Enlightenment, 1992
- Russian literature of the nineteenth century. Grade 10. Workshop. Under the editorship of Yu. I. Lyssogo. - M., Enlightenment, 2000
- Russian literature. Great educational guide. For students and university students. 2nd ed. - M .: Bustard, 1999
The scene when, after the hunt, Natasha with Nikolai and Petya went to their uncle, gives new touches to Natasha's portrait, draws her from a new, unexpected side. We see her here happy, full of hope for an early meeting with Bolkonsky.
Uncle was not rich, but it was comfortable in his house, perhaps because Anisya Fyodorovna, the housekeeper, “fat, ruddy, beautiful woman about forty, with a double chin and full, ruddy lips. Friendly and affectionately looking at the guests, she brought a treat that "responded with juiciness, cleanliness, whiteness and a pleasant smile." Everything1 was very tasty, and Natasha was only sorry that Petya was sleeping, and her attempts to wake him were useless. “Natasha had so much fun in her soul, it was so good in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon.”
Natasha was delighted with the sounds of the balalaika coming from the corridor. She even went out there to hear them better; “Just as her uncle’s mushrooms, honey, and liqueurs seemed to her the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm. BUT when uncle himself played the guitar, Natasha's delight knew no bounds: “Charm, charm, uncle! More more!" And she hugged her uncle and kissed him. Her soul, longing for new experiences, absorbed all the beauty that she encountered in life.
The central place of the episode was Natasha's dance. Uncle invites her to dance, and Natasha, overwhelmed with joy, not only does not force herself to beg, as any other secular young lady would have done, but immediately “thrown off the scarf that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands in sides, made a movement with her shoulders and became-. Nikolay, looking at his sister, is a little afraid that she will do something wrong. But this fear soon passed, because Natasha, Russian in spirit, perfectly felt and knew what to do. “Where, how, when she sucked into herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant - this spirit, where did she get these tricks that pas de shale should have long been forced out? But the spirit and methods were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. Natasha's dance delights everyone who sees her, because Natasha is inextricably linked with the life of the people, she is natural and simple; like the people: "She did the same and
she did it so exactly, so quite exactly, that Anisya Fyodorovna, who immediately handed her the handkerchief necessary for her work, shed tears through laughter, looking at this thin, graceful, educated countess, so foreign to her, in silk and velvet, who knew how to understand all that that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.
Admiring his niece, the uncle says that she needs to choose a groom. And here the tone of the passage changes somewhat. After unreasonable joy, reflection sets in: “What did Nikolai’s smile mean when he said: “already chosen”? Is he reed or not happy about it? He seems to think that my Bolkonsky would not have approved, did not understand this joy of ours. No, he would understand everything. Yes. that Bolkonsky, whom Natasha created in her imagination, would have understood everything. but the point is, she doesn't really know him. “My Bolkonsky,” Natasha thinks, and draws herself not the real Prince Andrei with his exorbitant pride and isolation from people, but the ideal that she invented.
When they came for the young Rostovs, the uncle said goodbye to Natasha "with a completely new tenderness."
On the way home, Natasha is silent. Tolstoy asks the question: “What was going on in this childishly receptive soul, so greedily catching and assimilating all the most diverse impressions of life? How did it fit into her? But she was very happy."
Nikolai, who is spiritually so close to her that he guesses her thoughts, understands what she thinks about Prince Andrei. Natasha so wants him to be there, imbued with her feelings. She understands that it was the happiest day in her life: "I know that I will never be as happy, calm as now."
In this episode, we see all the charm of Natasha's soul, her childish spontaneity, naturalness, simplicity, her openness and gullibility, and it becomes scary for her, because she has yet to face deceit and betrayal, and she will never experience that spiritual uplift which brought joy not only to her, but to all the people around her.
Tasks and tests on the topic "Natasha visiting her uncle. (Analysis of an episode from Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", Volume 2, Part 4, Chapter 8.)"
- Spelling
Lessons: 5 Assignments: 7
- Syntax and punctuation - Important topics for repeating the exam in the Russian language
Tolstoy worked very carefully on the image of each of his heroes, thinking over the appearance of the character, character, and the logic of actions. The author paid especially much attention to his beloved heroine - Natasha Rostova, whose prototype was two women at once: Sofya Andreevna, the writer's wife, and her sister, Tatyana Bers, who was very friendly with Tolstoy, who confided all her secrets to him. She sang wonderfully, and A.A. Fet, fascinated by her voice, dedicated a poem to her “The night shone. The garden was full of moon ... ". Best Features these extraordinary women are reflected in the image of Natasha.
The scene when, after the hunt, Natasha with Nikolai and Petya went to their uncle, gives new touches to Natasha's portrait, draws her from a new, unexpected side. We see her here happy, full of hope for an early meeting with Bolkonsky.
Uncle was not rich, but it was comfortable in his house, perhaps because Anisya Fedorovna, the housekeeper, "a fat, ruddy, beautiful woman of about forty, with a double chin and full, ruddy lips, was engaged in the household." Friendly and affectionately looking at the guests, she brought a treat that "responded with juiciness, cleanliness, whiteness and a pleasant smile." Everything was very tasty, and Natasha was only sorry that Petya was sleeping, and her attempts to wake him up were useless. “Natasha was so cheerful in her soul, so good in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon.”
Natasha was delighted with the sounds of the balalaika coming from the corridor. She even went out there to hear them better: “Just as mushrooms, honey and uncle’s liqueurs seemed to her the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm.” But when the uncle himself played the guitar, Natasha's delight knew no bounds: “Charm, charm, uncle! More more!" And she hugged her uncle and kissed him. Her soul, longing for new experiences, absorbed all the beauty that she encountered in life.
The central place of the episode was Natasha's dance. Uncle invites her to dance, and Natasha, overwhelmed with joy, not only does not force herself to beg, as any other secular young lady would have done, but immediately “thrown off the scarf that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands in sides, made a movement with her shoulders and stood. Nikolay, looking at his sister, is a little afraid that she will do something wrong. But this fear soon passed, because Natasha, Russian in spirit, perfectly felt and knew what to do. “Where, how, when she sucked in herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant - this spirit, where did she get these techniques that pas de chale should have long been forced out? But the spirit and methods were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. Natasha’s dance delights everyone who sees her, because Natasha is inextricably linked with the life of the people, she is natural and simple, like the people: “She did the same thing and did it so precisely, so quite exactly that Anisya Fedorovna, who immediately gave her the necessary she shed tears through laughter, looking at this thin, graceful, so alien to her, brought up in silk and velvet, a countess who knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in an aunt, and in mother, and in every Russian person.
Admiring his niece, the uncle says that she needs to choose a groom. And here the tone of the passage changes somewhat. After unreasonable joy, reflection sets in: “What did Nikolai’s smile mean when he said: “already chosen”? Is he happy about it or not? He seems to think that my Bolkonsky would not have approved, did not understand this joy of ours. No, he would understand everything. Yes, that Bolkonsky, whom Natasha created in her imagination, would have understood everything, but the point is that she does not really know him. “My Bolkonsky,” Natasha thinks, and draws to herself not the real Prince Andrei with his exorbitant pride and isolation from people, but the ideal that she invented.
When they came for the young Rostovs, the uncle said goodbye to Natasha "with a completely new tenderness."
On the way home, Natasha is silent. Tolstoy asks the question: “What was going on in this childishly receptive soul, which so greedily caught and assimilated all the most diverse impressions of life? How did it fit into her? But she was very happy."
Nikolai, who is spiritually so close to her that he guesses her thoughts, understands what she thinks about Prince Andrei. Natasha so wants him to be there, imbued with her feelings. She understands that it was the happiest day in her life: "I know that I will never be as happy, calm as now."
In this episode, we see all the charm of Natasha's soul, her childish spontaneity, naturalness, simplicity, her openness and gullibility, and it becomes scary for her, because she has yet to face deceit and betrayal, and she will never experience that spiritual uplift which brought joy not only to her, but to all the people around her.
Speaking about the very concept of "episode", first of all, it should be noted that this or that completed and independent part literary work, which depicts a completed event or an important moment in the fate of the character.
The novel "War and Peace" is characterized by episodic or, in other words, theatricality. Due to this, the author achieves the completeness of the whole picture of the life of the characters, their worldview, mental and state of mind creates a broader picture of reality.
The episode of hunting in Otradnoye occupies a special place in the novel, since it shows in detail and reliably the manners of the nobles of the nineteenth century. L.N. Tolstoy draws the preparations and the hunt itself in every detail. Fans of this entertainment, according to the author, are always embraced by "an irresistible hunting feeling in which a person forgets all previous intentions, like a person in love with the presence of his mistress."
The preparations for the hunt were always meticulous and serious. L.N. Tolstoy names the exact number of dogs that were accompanied by twenty horse hunters. On the road, a distant relative, a poor neighbor of the Rostovs, was met. Immediately, the hounds "were united into one flock, and uncle and Nikolai rode side by side." Each of the characters in their own way relates to this fun. Count Ilya Andreevich was not a hunter by heart, but he knows hunting laws very well.
Tolstoy draws the whole panorama of the hunting action not from the outside, but through the eyes of the participants in this fun: “The count, forgetting to wipe the smile from his face, looked ahead of him along the lintel and, without sniffing, held a snuffbox in his hand. Following the barking of dogs, a voice was heard, fed into Danila's bass horn; the flock joined the first three dogs, and one could hear how the voices of the hounds roared with the bay, with that special howl that is a sign of the rut on the wolf ... ”The reader becomes an unwitting participant in these events.
Nikolai Rostov, who is very keen on chasing the wolf, is shown from a new perspective in this episode. Before us appears a person who subtly and sensitively perceives everything that happens. He hopefully waits for the wolf to run in his direction, the hero's state is close to despair. Nikolai prayed to God “that the wolf would come upon him; he prayed with that passionate and conscientious feeling with which people pray in minutes strong commotion depending on an insignificant cause.
In this capacity, Rostov is similar to small child, it is important for him that one of the dogs in front of his uncle clings to the wolf. “Only once in my life to hunt a seasoned wolf, I don’t want more!” he thinks.
The appearance of the wolf was completely unexpected for Rostov. Now the young man does not see anything around, he is only obsessed with his desire: “Nikolai did not close his cry, did not feel that he was jumping, did not see any dogs or a place ... he only saw a wolf.”
The hero is afraid that the uncle and his hunters will hunt down the wolf. Now they were his only rivals. When the dog Karay grabbed the victim by the throat, it was the happiest moment for Nikolai in his entire life. Rostov screamed in despair when Karai, with bristling hair, crawled out of the ravine. Each of the hunters tried to slaughter the wolf, but only Danila, who turned out to be the most courageous, managed to do this.
“With happy, exhausted faces, a living hardened wolf was loaded onto a shy and snorting horse” - the hunt ended successfully, and all its participants went to the general gathering place. The hunters gathered with their prey and stories, everyone came up to look at the wolf, which with large glassy eyes looked at this whole crowd, dogs, people surrounding him.
Hunting lures heroes to varying degrees. If the old count is not at all interested in hunting, then his son Nikolai Rostov is simply obsessed with it. The excitement of a young man is similar to the excitement of a child who really wants to get something, and if this fails, then he is ready to cry and scream. Nikolai considers it his duty to drive the hardened wolf.
Tolstoy gives a picture of the hunt in four chapters. The author draws every character, every event with amazing accuracy. Details play a special role here, this alone does not interfere with the dynamism of the plot. Tolstoy draws the manners and amusements that attract the nobility. From this episode, we will learn how people lived at that time, what they were fond of and "amused". We also see the heroes of the novel in a new environment: not in salons, secular receptions or on the battlefield, but in nature, engaged in a common cause.
The old count, who always kept a huge hunt, but now transferred all the hunting to the jurisdiction of his son, on this day, September 15, having cheered up, was about to leave himself too. An hour later, all hunting was at the porch. Nikolai, with a stern and serious look, showing that there was no time now to deal with trifles, walked past Natasha and Petya, who were telling him something. He inspected all parts of the hunt, sent a flock and hunters ahead to the race, sat on his red bottom and, whistling the dogs of his pack, set off through the threshing floor into the field leading to the Otradnensky order. The horse of the old count, a playful gelding called Viflyanka, was led by the count's stirrup; he himself had to go straight to the manhole left for him in a droshky. Fifty-four dogs were bred out of all the hounds, under which six people rode out as riders and survivors. There were eight greyhounds, besides the gentlemen, followed by more than forty greyhounds, so that with the master's packs about one hundred and thirty dogs and twenty horse hunters rode into the field. Each dog knew the owner and nickname. Each hunter knew his business, place and purpose. As soon as they went beyond the fence, everyone, without noise or conversation, evenly and calmly stretched out along the road and the field leading to the Otradnensky forest. As if on a furry carpet, horses walked across the field, occasionally splashing through the puddles when they crossed the roads. The misty sky continued to descend imperceptibly and evenly to the earth; the air was quiet, warm, soundless. From time to time one could hear the whistling of a hunter, then the snoring of a horse, then a blow with a rapnik or the squeal of a dog that was not walking in its place. When we drove off a mile away, five more riders with dogs appeared out of the fog towards the Rostov hunt. In front rode a fresh, handsome old man with a large gray mustache. - Hello, uncle! - Nikolai said when the old man drove up to him. - A clean march! .. I knew it, - my uncle spoke (he was a distant relative, a poor neighbor of the Rostovs), - I knew that you couldn’t stand it, and it’s good that you were going. Pure business march! (This was my uncle's favorite saying.) Take your order now, otherwise my Girchik reported that the Ilagins were willingly standing in Korniki; you have them - a clean march! - under the nose they will take a brood. - I'm going there. What, bring down the flocks? Nikolai asked. - Dump... The hounds were united in one flock, and uncle and Nikolai rode side by side. Natasha, wrapped in kerchiefs, from under which a lively face with shining eyes could be seen, galloped up to them, accompanied by Petya and Mikhaila the hunter, who did not lag behind her, and the bereator, who was assigned by the nanny with her. Petya laughed at something and beat and jerked his horse. Natasha deftly and confidently sat on her black Arab and with a sure hand, without effort, laid siege to him. Uncle looked disapprovingly at Petya and Natasha. He did not like to combine pampering with the serious business of hunting. “Hello, uncle, and we are going,” Petya shouted. “Hello, hello, but don’t pass the dogs,” my uncle said sternly. Nikolenka, what a lovely dog Trunil! he recognized me,” Natasha said about her beloved hound dog. “Trunil, first of all, is not a dog, but a survivor,” thought Nikolai and looked sternly at his sister, trying to let her feel the distance that should have separated them at that moment. Natasha understood this. “You, uncle, don’t think that we interfere with anyone,” said Natasha. We will stand where we are and not move. “And a good thing, countess,” said my uncle. “Just don’t fall off your horse,” he added, “otherwise it’s a pure march!” - nothing to hold on to. The island of the Otradnensky order could be seen a hundred fathoms away, and those arriving approached it. Rostov, finally deciding with his uncle where to throw the hounds, and showing Natasha a place where she should stand and where nothing could run, headed for the race over the ravine. “Well, nephew, you’re becoming a seasoned one,” said the uncle, “don’t mind, don’t iron.” "As you will," answered Rostov. - Karay, fuit! he shouted, answering this call to the words of his uncle. Karai was an old and ugly burdock male, known for that he single-handedly took a seasoned wolf. Everyone got into place. The old count, knowing his son's hunting fervor, hurried not to be late, and before the arrivals had time to drive up to the place, Ilya Andreevich, cheerful, ruddy, with trembling cheeks, on his crows, rolled through the greenery to the manhole left to him and, straightening his fur coat and putting on hunting shells, climbed onto his smooth, well-fed, meek and kind, gray-haired, like himself, Bethlyanka. The horses with the droshky were sent away. Count Ilya Andreich, although not a hunter by heart, but who knew the laws of hunting firmly, rode into the edge of the bushes from which he was standing, took apart the reins, straightened himself in the saddle and, feeling ready, looked around, smiling. Beside him stood his valet, an old but heavy rider, Semyon Chekmar. Chekmar kept three dashing, but just as fat as the owner and the horse, wolfhounds in a pack. Two dogs, smart, old, lay down without a pack. A hundred paces away in the edge of the forest stood another aspiring count, Mitka, a desperate rider and a passionate hunter. The count, according to an old habit, drank a silver glass of hunting casserole before the hunt, ate and washed down with a half bottle of his favorite Bordeaux. Ilya Andreich was a little red from the wine and the ride; his eyes, covered with moisture, especially shone, and he, wrapped in a fur coat, sitting on the saddle, looked like a child who was gathered for a walk. Thin, with retracted cheeks, Chekmar, having settled down with his affairs, glanced at the master with whom he had lived for thirty years in perfect harmony, and, understanding his pleasant mood, was waiting for a pleasant conversation. Another third person approached cautiously (it was obvious that it had already been learned) from behind the forest and stopped behind the count. The face was an old man in a gray beard, in a woman's bonnet and a high cap. It was the jester Nastasya Ivanovna. “Well, Nastasya Ivanovna,” the count said in a whisper, winking at him, “just stomp the beast, Danilo will ask you.” "I myself ... with a mustache," said Nastasya Ivanovna. — Shhhh! the count hissed and turned to Semyon. Have you seen Natalya Ilyinichna? he asked Semyon. - Where is she? "He and Pyotr Ilyich have grown from the Fireweeds," answered Semyon, smiling. - Also ladies, but they have a big hunt. “Are you surprised, Semyon, how she drives ... huh?” said the Count. - If only the man could fit! - How not to wonder? Bold, smart! "Where is Nikolasha?" Above Lyadovsky top, or what? the Count kept asking in a whisper. - That's right, sir. They already know where to be. They know the ride so subtly that Danila and I are amazed at other times, ”Semyon said, knowing how to please the master. - Drives well, doesn't it? And what about on a horse, huh? - Paint a picture! As the other day from Zavarzinsky weeds they pushed the fox. They began to jump, from a lot, passion - a horse is a thousand rubles, but there is no price for a rider! Yes, look for such a young man! “Look...” the count repeated, evidently regretting that Semyon’s speech ended so soon. "Look," he said, turning back the flaps of his fur coat and taking out a snuffbox. “The other day, they came out of mass in all their regalia, so Mikhail Sidorych ...” Semyon did not finish, hearing the rut clearly resounding in the still air with the howling of no more than two or three hounds. He bowed his head, listened, and silently threatened his master. “They ran into a brood ...” he whispered, “they took me straight to Lyadovskaya. The count, forgetting to wipe the smile from his face, looked ahead of him into the distance along the lintel and, without sniffing, held a snuffbox in his hand. Following the barking of dogs, a voice was heard over the wolf, fed into Danila's bass horn; the pack joined the first three dogs, and one could hear how the voices of the hounds roared from the bay, with that special howl that is a sign of rutting on a wolf. Those who arrived no longer squealed, but hooted, and from behind all the voices Danila's voice came out, now bassy, now piercingly thin. Danila's voice seemed to fill the whole forest, came out from behind the forest and sounded far into the field. After listening for a few seconds in silence, the count and his stirrup made sure that the hounds had split into two flocks: one, a large one, roaring especially fervently, began to move away, the other part of the flock rushed along the forest, past the count, and with this flock Danila's hooting was heard. Both of these ruts merged, shimmered, but both moved away. Semyon sighed and bent down to straighten the bundle in which the young male got entangled. The Count also sighed, and noticing the snuff-box in his hand, he opened it and took out a pinch. - Back! Semyon shouted at the male, which stepped out of the edge. The Count shuddered and dropped his snuffbox. Nastasya Ivanovna got down and began to lift her up. The count and Semyon looked at him. Suddenly, as often happens, the sound of the rut instantly approached, as if the barking mouths of dogs and the hooting of Danila were just in front of them. The count looked back and saw Mitka to the right, who was looking at the count with rolling eyes and, raising his hat, pointed him ahead, to the other side. — Take care! he shouted in such a voice that it was clear that this word had long been painfully asking him to come out. And he galloped, releasing the dogs, towards the count. The count and Semyon jumped out of the edge and to their left they saw a wolf, which, softly waddling, in a quiet hop jumped to the left of them to the very edge at which they were standing. The vicious dogs squealed and, breaking off the pack, rushed to the wolf past the legs of the horses. The wolf stopped running, clumsily, like a sick toad, turned his broad-fronted head towards the dogs and, just as softly waddling, jumped once, twice and, waving a log (tail), disappeared into the forest. At the same moment, one, another, a third hound jumped out of the opposite edge with a roar like a cry, and the whole flock rushed across the field, along the very place where the wolf crawled (ran). Following the hounds, the hazel bushes parted and Danila's brown horse, blackened with sweat, appeared. On long back Danilo, without a hat, with gray disheveled hair over a red, sweaty face, sat in her lump, rolling forward. “I will hoot, I will hoot!” he shouted. When he saw the count, lightning flashed in his eyes. - AND...! he shouted, threatening the count with his raised rapnik. - About ... whether the wolf something! .. hunters! - And as if not honoring the embarrassed, frightened count with further conversation, he, with all the anger prepared for the count, hit the brown gelding on the sunken wet sides and rushed after the hounds. The count, as if punished, stood looking around and trying with a smile to arouse in Semyon regret for his position. But Semyon was no longer there: he, in a detour through the bushes, jumped a wolf from the notch. Greyhounds also jumped over the beast from two sides. But the wolf went into the bushes, and not a single hunter intercepted.
