The great Russian writers of the 19th century, creating positive female images, have always focused not on the perfect facial features or the beauty of the figure, but on the richness of the inner world of their heroines, which spiritualizes their appearance. Such, for example, are Pushkin's Tatyana Larina or Turgenev's Lisa Kalitina. The same artistic principle was used by L.N. Tolstoy. Women's images in the novel "War and Peace" play an important role. They not only determine the behavior of the main characters, but also have an independent meaning. As well as male images, they reveal the author's idea of beauty, good and evil. When depicting his heroines, the writer used the technique of opposition. Comparing girls who are completely different in character, upbringing, aspirations and beliefs - Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya and Helen Kuragina, Tolstoy sought to express the idea that emptiness and pretense often hide behind external beauty, and behind visible ugliness - the wealth of the inner world.
Natasha Rostova and Maria Bolkonskaya- Tolstoy's favorite heroines with opposite characters. Emotional, charming, full of life and movement, Natasha immediately stands out among the restrained, well-bred noblewomen. For the first time, she appears in the novel as a thirteen-year-old black-eyed, ugly, but lively girl who, flushed from a quick run, literally bursts into the living room, where adults are having a boring conversation. Together with Natasha, a fresh breath of life bursts into this sedate world. More than once Tolstoy emphasizes that Natasha was not beautiful. She may be beautiful, or she may be ugly - it all depends on her state of mind. In her soul, hard work does not stop for a second, which is not accessible to the prying eye.
Natasha's spiritual beauty, her love of life, her lust for life extend to those close and dear to her: Petya, Sonya, Boris, Nikolai. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky unwittingly became involved in the same world. Boris Drubetskoy, a childhood friend with whom Natasha was bound by a childhood oath, could not resist her charm. Natasha meets Boris when she is already 16 years old. “He rode with the firm intention of making it clear to her and her family that the childish relationship between him and Natasha could not be an obligation either for her or for him.” But when he saw her, he lost his head, because he also plunged into her world of joy and goodness. He forgot that he wanted to marry a rich bride, stopped going to Helen, and Natasha "seemed still in love with Boris." In any situation, she is extremely sincere and natural, there is not a shadow of pretense, hypocrisy and coquetry in her. In Natasha, according to Tolstoy, "an inner fire was constantly burning and the reflections of this fire told her appearance something better than beauty." It is no coincidence that Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov love Natasha, it is no coincidence that Vasily Denisov falls in love with her. The development of these qualities of the heroine is facilitated by the atmosphere of the Rostovs' house, full of love, respect, patience and mutual understanding.
A different atmosphere reigns in the Bolkonsky estate. The upbringing of Princess Marya was carried out by her father, a proud and self-satisfied man with a difficult character. It is worth remembering the lessons of mathematics, which he not only taught, but tormented his daughter. Princess Mary inherited his secrecy, restraint in expressing his own feelings and innate nobility. The old Prince Bolkonsky is despotic and strict with his daughter, but in his own way he loves her and wishes her well. The image of Princess Marya is particularly attractive. The author constantly reminds of her ugly face, but the reader completely forgets about it at those moments when the best part of her spiritual being is revealed. In the portrait of Marya Bolkonskaya, extremely laconic, her radiant eyes are remembered, which made the ugly face of the princess beautiful in moments of strong spiritual uplift.
Marya Bolkonskaya is the owner of a lively mind. A significant contribution to the development of her mental abilities was made by her father, who attached great importance to education. Natasha Rostova has a slightly different mindset. She does not reflect on events in the same way as Marya, seriously and deeply, but with her heart and soul she understands what is not given to understand by another person. When asked about the intellectual abilities of Natasha Rostova, Pierre perfectly answers: she “does not deign to be smart,” because she is much higher and more complex than the concepts of intelligence and stupidity. Natasha differs from the searching, intelligent and educated heroes in that she perceives life without analyzing it, but cognizes it holistically and figuratively, like an artistically gifted person. She dances superbly, evoking the delight of those around her, as the plastic language of dance helps her express her overflowing with life, the joy of merging with it. Natasha has a beautiful voice that captivates the audience not only with its beauty, sonority, but also with the strength, sincerity of the feeling with which she gives herself to singing. When Natasha sings, for her the whole world is in sounds. But if this impulse is interrupted by someone else's intrusion, for Natasha this is blasphemy, a shock. For example, after an enthusiastic younger brother ran into the room during her singing with the news of the arrival of the mummers, Natasha burst into tears and could not stop for a long time.
One of the main character traits of Natasha is amorousness. At her first adult ball in her life, when she entered the hall, she felt in love with everyone. It cannot be otherwise, because love is the essence of her life. But this concept in Tolstoy has a very broad meaning. It includes not only love for the groom or husband, but also love for parents, family, art, nature, homeland, and life itself. Natasha keenly feels the beauty and harmony of nature. The charm of the moonlit night evokes in her a feeling of delight that literally overwhelms her: “Oh, what a charm! Wake up, Sonya, - she said almost with tears in her voice. “After all, there has never, never been such a lovely night.”
In contrast to the emotional and lively Natasha, in the meek Princess Mary, humility and restraint are combined with a thirst for simple human happiness. Not being able to know the joys of life, Marya finds joy and consolation in religion and fellowship with God's people. She resignedly submits to her eccentric and despotic father, not only out of fear, but also out of a sense of duty as a daughter who does not have the moral right to judge her father. At first glance, she seems timid and downtrodden. But in her character there is hereditary Bolkon pride, an innate sense of self-worth, which manifests itself, for example, in her refusal of Anatole Kuragin's proposal. Despite the desire for quiet family happiness, which this ugly girl is deeply fraught with, she does not want to become the wife of a handsome secular man at the cost of humiliation and insult to her dignity.
Natasha Rostova is a passionate, impulsive person who cannot hide her feelings and experiences. Having fallen in love with Andrei Bolkonsky, she could not think of anything else. Separation becomes an unbearable test for her, because she lives every moment and cannot postpone happiness for some fixed period. This quality of Natasha's character pushes her to betrayal, which in turn gives rise to a deep sense of guilt and remorse in her. She judges herself too harshly, refusing joys and pleasures, because she considers herself unworthy of happiness.
Natasha is brought out of a state of painful crisis by the news of the threat of the French, who have approached Moscow. The common misfortune for the whole country makes the heroine forget about her sufferings and sorrows. As for other positive characters of the novel, for Natasha the main idea is to save Russia. In these difficult days, her love for people becomes especially strong, her desire to do everything possible to help them. This selfless love of Natasha finds its highest expression in motherhood.
But, despite the outward difference, the dissimilarity of the characters Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya have a lot in common. Both Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha are endowed by the author with a rich spiritual world, inner beauty, which Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky loved so much in Natasha and which Nikolai Rostov admires in his wife. Natasha and Marya give themselves to each of their feelings to the end, whether it be joy or sadness. Their spiritual impulses are often selfless and noble. They both think more about others, loved ones and loved ones than about themselves. For Princess Marya, all her life God remained the ideal to which her soul aspired. But Natasha, especially in difficult periods of her life (for example, after the story with Anatole Kuragin), gave herself up to a feeling of admiration for the Almighty. Both of them wanted moral purity, spiritual life, where there would be no place for resentment, anger, envy, injustice, where everything would be sublime and beautiful.
With all the dissimilarity of characters, Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova are patriots, pure and honest natures, capable of deep and strong feelings. The best features of Tolstoy's favorite heroines were especially pronounced in 1812. Natasha took to heart the disaster that befell Russia with the advent of Napoleon. She committed a truly patriotic act, forcing them to dump property from the carts and give these carts to the wounded. Count Rostov, proud of his daughter, said: "Eggs ... eggs teach a chicken." With selfless love and courage, impressing those around her, Natasha looked after Prince Andrei until the last day. The hardness of character of the modest and shy Princess Marya manifested itself with particular force these days. The French companion suggested that Princess Bolkonskaya, who found herself in a difficult situation, turn to the French for help. Princess Marya considered this proposal an insult to her patriotic feelings, stopped communicating with Mademoiselle Bourienne and left the Bogucharovo estate.
The human essence of Tolstoy's heroines is defined by the word "femininity". This is Natasha's charm, tenderness, passion, and beautiful, filled with some kind of inner light, radiant eyes of Marya Bolkonskaya. Both beloved heroines of Tolstoy find their happiness in the family, caring for her husband and children. But the writer takes them through serious trials, upheavals and spiritual crises. When they first met (when Natasha was the bride of Prince Andrei), they did not understand each other. But having passed the difficult path of disappointment and resentment, Princess Marya and Natasha became related not only in blood, but also in spirit. Fate accidentally brought them together, but both of them realized that they were close to each other, and therefore they became not just true friends, but spiritual allies with their enduring desire to do good and give others light, beauty and love.
The family life of Marya and Natasha is an ideal marriage, a strong family bond. Both heroines devote themselves to their husbands and children, giving all their mental and physical strength to raising children and creating home comfort. Both Natasha (now Bezukhova) and Marya (Rostova) are happy in family life, happy with the happiness of their children and beloved husbands. Tolstoy emphasizes the beauty of his heroines in a new quality for them - a loving wife and tender mother. Natasha Rostova in the finale of the novel is no longer a charming, thin and agile girl, but a mature strong woman, a loving wife and mother. With all her being, she is given to the care of her husband and children. All life is focused for her in the health of children, their feeding, growth, education. Their relationship with Pierre is surprisingly harmonious and pure. Natasha's spontaneity and heightened intuition perfectly complement Pierre's intelligent, searching, analyzing nature. Tolstoy writes that Natasha is not particularly versed in her husband's political activities, but she feels and knows the main thing - her good, fair basis. Another happy union is the family of Marya Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov. The selfless tender love of Princess Mary for her husband and children creates an atmosphere of spirituality in the family, ennobles Nikolai, who feels the high morality of the world in which his wife lives.
Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are contrasted in Helen Kuragina's novel. Behind the external brilliance of this heroine lies an evil and immoral creature. In front of readers, Helen consistently commits several betrayals. Like all members of the Kuragin family, she lives by the immutable law of the fulfillment of personal desires and does not recognize any moral standards. Helen marries Pierre only for the purpose of enrichment. She openly cheats on her husband, not seeing anything shameful and unnatural in this. She does not want to have children, because the family means nothing to her. The consequence of her intrigues in the world is death. The author sees no future for this heroine.
Helen's coldness and selfishness are contrasted with Natasha's naturalness and changeability. Helen, unlike Natasha, is not able to feel guilty, to condemn herself. In the image of Helen, external beauty and internal emptiness were embodied. More than once in the novel we see her “monotonous”, “unchanging smile”, more than once the author will draw our attention to the “ancient beauty of her body”. But not a word is said about Helen's eyes in the novel, although it is known that they are the mirror of the soul. But Tolstoy writes about the eyes of his beloved heroines with great love: Princess Marya has them “big, deep”, “always sad”, “more attractive than beauty”. Natasha's eyes are "lively", "beautiful", "laughing", "attentive", "kind". Both Natasha and Marya's eyes are a reflection of their inner world.
The epilogue of the novel reflects the writer's idea of the true purpose of a woman. According to Tolstoy, it is inextricably linked with the family, with the care of children. Women who find themselves outside this sphere either turn into a void, or, like Helen Kuragina, become carriers of evil. L.N. Tolstoy does not idealize family life, but shows that it is in the family that all eternal values are contained for people, without which life loses its meaning. The writer sees the highest vocation and purpose of a woman in motherhood, in the upbringing of children, for it is the woman who is the guardian of family foundations, that bright and kind beginning that leads the world to harmony and beauty.
Female images in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy paints, skillfully and convincingly, several types of female images and destinies. All heroines have their own destiny, their aspirations, their own world. Their lives are wonderfully intertwined, and in different life situations and problems they behave differently. Many of these well-designed characters had prototypes. Reading a novel, you involuntarily live life together with its characters. There are a huge number of beautiful images of women in the early 19th century in the novel, some of which I would like to consider in more detail.
The central female characters of the novel are Natasha Rostova, her older sister Vera and their cousin Sonya, Marya Bolkonskaya, Helen Kuragina, and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova.
Natasha Rostova is Tolstoy's favorite heroine. Its prototype is the writer's sister-in-law Tatyana Andreevna Bers, married Kuzminskaya, who had musicality and a beautiful voice, and his wife Sofya Tolstaya.
We first meet her at a birthday party. Before us is a cheerful, cheerful, energetic thirteen-year-old girl. But she is far from beautiful: black-eyed, with a big mouth... From the very first meeting with her, we see her naivety, childlike simplicity, and this makes her more attractive and interesting. Tolstoy portrayed in the character of Natasha the best features of a girl. One of the main features is her amorousness, because love is her life. This concept includes not only love for the groom, but also love for parents, nature, and homeland.
Watching Natasha, we notice how she changes, grows up, becomes a girl, but that her childish soul, open and ready to bestow good on the whole world, also accompanies the heroine.
During the war of 1812, Natasha behaved confidently and courageously. At the same time, she does not evaluate in any way and does not think about what she is doing. She obeys a certain "swarm" instinct of life. After the death of Petya Rostov, she is the main one in the family. Natasha has been caring for the seriously wounded Bolkonsky for a long time. This is a very difficult and dirty job. What Pierre Bezukhov saw in her immediately, when she was still a girl, a child - a high, pure, beautiful soul, Tolstoy reveals to us gradually, step by step.
Natasha is a wonderful daughter and sister, becoming a wonderful mother and wife. This is what should personify a woman, her inner beauty.
Vera Rostova is Natasha's older sister, but they are so unlike each other that we are even surprised at their relationship. She was brought up according to the then existing canons - from French teachers.
Tolstoy draws her as a beautiful, but cold, unkind woman who values the opinion of the world too much and always acts in accordance with its laws. Vera is not like the entire Rostov family.
Vera had neither radiant eyes nor a sweet smile, which means that her soul was empty. “Vera was good, she was not stupid, she studied well, she had a well-educated voice, she had a pleasant voice ...” This is how Tolstoy describes Vera, as if hinting to us that this is all we need to know about her.
Vera acutely felt that her mother did not love her very much, which is probably why she often went against everyone around her and felt like a stranger among her brothers and sisters. She did not allow herself to sit at the window and smile sweetly at her friend, as Natasha and Sonya did, which is why she scolded them.
Maybe it was not in vain that Tolstoy gave her the name Vera - the name of a woman who is closed, deep in herself, with a contradictory and complex character.
Sonya is the count's niece, and Natasha Rostova's best friend. Tolstoy condemns and dislikes this heroine, makes her lonely at the end of the novel and calls her a "barren flower".
She was prudent, silent, cautious, restrained, the highest degree of self-sacrifice was developed in her, but peaks were not accessible to her. Sonya is full of selfless and noble love for the whole family, “she was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors.” “The thought of self-sacrifice was her favorite thought.
thick female image natasha
Sonya sincerely loves Nikolai, she can be kind and selfless. It is not she herself who is to blame for their break with Nikolai, but Nikolai's parents are to blame. It is Rostov who insists that the wedding of Nikolai and Sonya be postponed to a later date. So, Sonya does not know how, like Natasha, to admire the beauty of the starry sky, but this does not mean that she does not see this beauty. Let's remember how beautiful this girl was at Christmas time with fortune telling. She was not hypocritical, she was sincere and open. This is how Nikolai saw her. With her love, Sonya could do a lot, even with a person like Dolokhov. Perhaps, with her selflessness, she would have revived and cleansed this person.
Maria Bolkonskaya is the daughter of the old Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky and Andrey's sister. The prototype of Marya is the mother of Leo Tolstoy - Volkonskaya Maria Nikolaevna.
She was a dull, unattractive, absent-minded girl who could count on marriage only because of her wealth. Marya, brought up on the example of her proud, arrogant and distrustful father, soon becomes like that herself. His secrecy, restraint in expressing his own feelings and innate nobility are inherited by his daughter. They say that the eyes are a mirror of the soul, in Marya they really are a reflection of her inner world.
Marya is waiting for love and ordinary female happiness, but she does not admit this even to herself. Her restraint and patience help her in all life's difficulties. The princess does not have such an all-consuming feeling of love for one person, so she tries to love everyone, still spends a lot of time in prayers and worldly worries.
Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. It is her image that embodies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism. The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high spiritual feeling. In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy draws pictures of the Rostovs' family happiness, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life.
Helen Kuragina is the daughter of Prince Vasily, and later the wife of Pierre Bezukhov.
Helen is the soul of society, all men admire her beauty, praise her, fall in love with her, but only ... moreover, because of the attractive outer shell. She knows what she is, she knows what she's worth, and that's what she uses.
Helen is a beauty, but she is also a monster. This secret was revealed by Pierre, however, only after he approached her, after she married him to herself. No matter how vile and low it was, she forced Pierre to utter words of love. She decided for him that he loved her. This very dramatically changed our attitude towards Helen, made us feel cold and dangerous in the ocean of her soul, despite the superficial charm, sparkle and warmth.
Her childhood is not mentioned in the novel. But from her behavior throughout the entire action, we can conclude that the upbringing given to her was not exemplary. The only thing Kuragina needs from any man is money.
“Elena Vasilievna, who never loved anything but her body, and one of the most stupid women in the world,” thought Pierre, “seems to people the height of intelligence and refinement, and they bow before her.” One cannot but agree with Pierre. A dispute may arise only because of her mind, but if you carefully study her entire strategy to achieve the goal, then you won’t particularly notice the mind, rather ingenuity, calculation, everyday experience.
Anna Pavlovna Sherer is the mistress of the famous St. Petersburg salon, which was considered good form to visit. Scherer was the maid of honor and approximate Empress Maria Feodorovna. Its characteristic sign is the constancy of deeds, words, internal and external gestures, even thoughts.
A restrained smile constantly plays on her face, although it does not go to obsolete features. She recalls how L.N. Tolstoy, spoiled children who do not quite want to improve. When they talked about the emperor, Anna Pavlovna's face "represented a deep and sincere expression of devotion and respect, combined with sadness." This “represented” is immediately associated with the game, with artificial behavior, and not natural. Despite her forty years, she is "full of animations and impulses."
A.P. Scherer was nimble, tactful, sweet, had a superficial but quick mind, a worldly sense of humor, all that is good for maintaining the popularity of the salon.
It is known that for Tolstoy a woman is, first of all, a mother, a keeper of the family hearth. The high-society lady, the mistress of the salon, Anna Pavlovna, has no children and no husband. She is a "blank flower". This is the most terrible punishment that Tolstoy could think of for her.
Maria Dmitrievna Akhrosimova - a Moscow lady known throughout the city "Not by wealth, not by honors, but by her directness of mind and frank simplicity of communication." The prototype of the heroine is A.D. Ofrosimova. Marya Dmitrievna was known in two capitals, and even the royal family.
She always speaks loudly, in Russian, she has a thick voice, a fat body, Akhrosimova holds her fifty-year-old head with gray curls high. Mary Dmitrievna is close to the Rostov family, loving Natasha more than anyone else.
I consider this woman truly patriotic, honest and disinterested.
Lisa Bolkonskaya is the little heroine of the novel, the wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Tolstoy showed us very little of her, her life is just as short. We know that their family life did not go well with Andrei, and her father-in-law considered her the same as all other women who have more flaws than virtues. Nevertheless, she is a loving and faithful wife. She sincerely loves Andrey and misses him, but dutifully endures her husband's long absence. Liza's life is short and imperceptible, but not empty, little Nikolenka remained after her.
Bibliography
- 1. L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
- 2. "L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" in Russian criticism, 1989.
- 3. http://sochinenie5ballov.ru/essay_1331.htm
- 5. http://www.kostyor.ru/student/?n=119
- 6. http://www.ronl.ru/referacy/literatura-zarubezhnaya/127955/
Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is an epic novel that spans more than one decade and tells about more than one family, and certainly not about the life of one person. There are main characters, there are less significant ones. Each of the main characters is constantly looking for himself, goes along the path of fighting with himself, doubts, makes mistakes, falls, rises and continues to search again. These are Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Nikolai Rostov and many others. They are in a state of constant search for the meaning of life, find it and lose it again. But it is especially surprising that the heroines of the novel do not seem to be concerned, they know who they are, they know how and what they are supposed to do, and there is no place for struggle in their souls, since harmony reigns there.
The life of people in Tolstoy's novel is divided into true and false, exactly the same clear distinction exists among female images. Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, Natasha Rostova, undoubtedly, live a true life, while Helen Bezukhova and Julie Karagina are representatives of a false life.
The main principle of the composition of the novel, already stated in the title, is opposition, which is also maintained in the construction of female characters. In the novel, Helen Bezukhova and Natasha Rostova are antipodes. Helen is cold and calm, Natasha, on the contrary, is very noisy, cheerful, cheerful - “gunpowder”. Tolstoy emphasizes this difference in every possible way, choosing opposite epithets to describe them: Helen - "beauty", "brilliant", Natasha - "ugly, but lively girl". Despite the outward beauty, Helen is completely empty inside. She enjoys success in society, is considered an intelligent woman - in the society that represents "false life" in the novel. Natasha, for all her angularity, ugliness, is beautiful in her soul. She is “a particularly poetic, overflowing with life ... girl”, who has the ability to feel the feelings of other people, understand them and respond wholeheartedly to other people's troubles.
Helen is a mature person, while Natasha at the beginning of the novel is "at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl." The novel shows the development of Natasha, her growing up, and Helen plays a huge role in this process. Their clash in the work, which becomes the impetus for the novel of Natasha and Anatole, is a clash of morality and spiritual baseness, humanity and inhumanity, good and evil. Under the influence of Helen, what has always been strange for Natasha becomes natural and simple. This test had a serious impact on her: without changing fundamentally, she became completely different - more serious, adult.
These two heroines live by completely different, opposite principles. Natasha Rostova openly enjoys life, she is guided not by reason, but by emotions. One has only to think about another heroine, who is always and in everything guided exclusively by the voice of reason, as soon as it blows cold. Helen stands firmly on her feet and always knows exactly what is beneficial and necessary for her.
Thanks to her character, Natasha is the soul of the Rostov family. Only she knows how to see the grief of everyone, to help, only she knows how to bring her mother back to life, while forgetting about her own grief. To set off her image, Tolstoy draws the images of two more girls, also brought up in the Rostov family: the eldest daughter of Vera and the niece of Sonya.
Vera "was good, she was not stupid, she studied well, she was well brought up." She is a kind of "mistake" of Countess Rostova: she was kept in strictness and "educated", unlike Natasha. Perhaps Natasha could have been like this if she had been brought up differently. Vera, with her cold, judicious mind, is opposed to Natasha: they are completely different, albeit “of the same last name,” as Berg says.
Another pupil of the Rostov family, niece Sonya, "resembled a beautiful, but not yet formed kitten, who would be a lovely cat." Tolstoy repeats this comparison more than once, drawing attention to something "feline" in Sona, in order to better explain to the reader both her unsuccessful love, and her further fate, and her behavior. Liveliness in it is combined with the ability to “release claws and show your feline nature” in time. Like a cat, Sonya “got accustomed not to people, but to the house in which she lives,” which explains her position in the epilogue. Having come to terms with her appointment as an "empty flower", she lives quietly in the house of the Rostovs and Bezukhovs. It seems that without Sonya, there simply could not have been other heroes, just as there must be an empty flower on strawberries.
Another opposition that is present in the novel, although not emphasized so clearly, is the comparison of Princess Marya Bolkonskaya and Julie Karagina. They are united by the position that they both occupy in society: rich, ugly girls, a profitable match for anyone. Besides, they are friends, as far as such different girls can be friends. Julie, unlike Princess Mary, lives in the capital, is well acquainted with all the rules and habits of secular society, she is an integral part of it - a part of false life.
In describing the appearance of Marya Bolkonskaya, Tolstoy draws the reader's attention to "the eyes of the princess, large, deep and radiant." In the novel, Tolstoy offers two visions of Princess Marya - through the eyes of Anatole and the eyes of Nikolai Rostov. The first one finds her ugly, bad: being a completely immoral person, he is simply unable to see the light emitted by the beautiful eyes of the princess. Rostov sees something completely different in her: he perceives the princess not as a desirable match, but as a “defenseless, heartbroken” girl, notes “meekness, nobility in her features and expression.” It is for Nikolai that Marya saves that radiant look, "which made her forget the ugliness of her face."
If A.N. Tolstoy makes the choice between Natasha and Helen through Pierre, then in the second case Nikolai Rostov is the “expressor” of the author’s position. He does not see anything in Julie, although he is well aware that she would be an advantageous match for him, nevertheless he prefers Sonya to her. Marya, on the other hand, “bewitches” him with her inner beauty, and he, despite internal doubts, nevertheless makes a choice in her favor. The depth of her spiritual world, revealed to Nicholas, makes her especially attractive to him. He involuntarily compares her with Sonya, and compares not their financial situation, but “poverty” in one and “wealth” in the other of those spiritual gifts that he himself does not have.
Princess Mary, like Natasha, lives by love, only this feeling in her is not all-consuming, like Natasha's, but timid, afraid to go outside. They are similar, both are pure, deeply moral natures, it is no coincidence that the author endows them with a similar feature - ugliness, thereby opposing Sonya, Vera and Helen. L. N. Tolstoy compares not only the characters of the heroines, but also their appearance, manner of behaving and speaking, in order to most clearly reflect the main idea of the novel - the opposition of true and false life.
In his outstanding novel "War and Peace" L.N. Tolstoy showed the life of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century. He, trying to understand the importance of a woman in society, the family, creates in the work a lot of female images that can be divided into two categories: in the first there are women of the national ideal, such as Marya Bolkonskaya, Natasha Rostova and others, and in the second - representatives of high society - Anna Scherer, Helen and Julie Kuragin.
One of the most prominent female images is the image of Natasha Rostova, in which Tolstoy realized the best qualities of a person. Nobility and modesty make her more charming than the prudent, intelligent Helen Kuragina with her secular manners. Many fragments of the novel tell how Natasha lends a helping hand to people, makes them kinder, helps them find love for life, gives advice, makes others feel happier without demanding anything in return.
So, when Nikolai Rostov comes home after losing money to Dolokhov, with a sense of hopelessness, having heard Natasha's singing, he regains the joy of life: “All this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all nonsense, and here she is for real.”
In addition to everything, Natasha is close to the perception of the incredible beauty of nature. Describing the night in Otradnoye, Tolstoy compares the mood of two sisters, Sonya and Natasha. Natasha, admiring the beauty of the night sky, exclaims: “After all, such a lovely night has never happened!” However, Sonya is not close to the state of her friend, she does not have that spark that is inherent in Natasha. Sonya is sincere, affectionate, gentle, friendly. She is too correct, does not take actions from which one could learn lessons and develop further. And unlike her, Natasha constantly makes mistakes and draws some conclusions; has feelings for Prince Andrei, something unites their souls. However, then he suddenly falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin. This suggests that Natasha is a simple person with imperfections.
Marya Bolkonskaya is the opposite of Natasha, but in some ways she is similar to her. Its main feature is self-sacrifice, which is combined in it with humility and the desire for happiness. Obedience to the orders of the father, a ban on protesting his desires - understanding his role as the daughter of Princess Mary. But if necessary, she can demonstrate a firm character. Putting self-sacrifice above all else, she destroys something truly important in herself; and yet, it was sacrificial love that allowed her to find happiness in the family. Marya truly revealed her personal qualities when the state of affairs forced her to show independence after the death of her father, and also when she became a mother and wife.
These two similar women are opposed by ladies of high society - Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Kuragina. They are similar in many ways.
With these images, L.N. Tolstoy shows that simple women living an ordinary life, such as Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, find family happiness, while secular ladies, far from moral values, are not able to achieve true happiness because of pride and devotion to false and empty ideals of the highest. society.
