Female characters in the novel War and Peace - essay. Essay on the topic “female images in the novel l.n.

War and Peace is one of those books that cannot be forgotten. Its very name contains all of human life. And “War and Peace” is a model of the structure of the world, the universe, which is why the symbol of this world appears in Part IV of the novel (Pierre Bezukhov’s dream) - a globe. “This globe was a living, oscillating ball, without dimensions.” Its entire surface consisted of drops tightly compressed together. The drops moved and moved, now merging, now separating. Each tried to spread out, to capture the largest space, but the others, shrinking, sometimes destroyed each other, sometimes merged into one. “This is life,” said the old teacher who once taught Pierre geography. “How simple and clear this is,” thought Pierre, “how I couldn’t have known this before.”

“How simple and clear it all is,” we repeat, rereading our favorite pages of the novel. And these pages, like drops on the surface of a globe, connecting with others, form part of a single whole. So, episode by episode, we move towards the infinite and eternal, which is human life. But the writer Tolstoy would not have been a philosopher Tolstoy if he had not shown us the polar sides of existence: life in which form predominates, and life that contains the fullness of content. It is from these Tolstoy ideas about life that we will consider female images, in which the author highlights their special purpose - to be a wife and mother.

For Tolstoy, the world of family is the basis of human society, where a woman plays a unifying role. If a man is characterized by an intense intellectual and spiritual search, then a woman, having a more subtle intuition, lives by feelings and emotions.

The clear contrast between good and evil in the novel was naturally reflected in the system of female images. The contrast of internal and external images as a favorite technique of the writer is indicative of such heroines as Helen Kuragina, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya.

Helen is the embodiment of external beauty and internal emptiness, fossilization. Tolstoy constantly mentions her “monotonous”, “unchanging” smile and “antique beauty of her body”; she resembles a beautiful soulless statue. Helen Scherer enters the salon “noisily wearing her sick white robe, decorated with ivy and moss,” as a symbol of soullessness and coldness. It is not for nothing that the author does not mention her eyes, while Natasha’s “brilliant”, “shining” eyes and Marya’s “radiant” eyes always attract our attention.

Helen personifies immorality and depravity. The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not know any moral standards, living according to the inexorable law of fulfilling their insignificant desires. Helen marries only for her own enrichment. She constantly cheats on her husband, since the animal nature prevails in her nature. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy leaves Helen childless. “I’m not such a fool as to have children,” she says blasphemous words. Helene, in front of the whole society, is busy organizing her personal life while still being Pierre’s wife, and her mysterious death is due to the fact that she got entangled in her own intrigues.

Such is Helen Kuragina with her disdainful attitude towards the sacrament of marriage, towards the duties of a wife. It is not difficult to guess that Tolstoy embodied the worst feminine qualities in her and contrasted her with the images of Natasha and Marya.

One cannot help but say about Sonya. The peaks of Marya’s spiritual life and the “peaks of feeling” of Natasha are inaccessible to her. She is too down to earth, too immersed in everyday life. She is also given joyful moments of life, but these are only moments. Sonya cannot compare with Tolstoy’s favorite heroines, but this is rather her misfortune than her fault, the author tells us. She is a “barren flower,” but perhaps the life of a poor relative and the feeling of constant dependence did not allow her to blossom in her soul.

One of the main characters in the novel is Natasha Rostova. Tolstoy draws Natasha in development, he traces Natasha’s life in different years, and, naturally, over the years her feelings, her perception of life change.

We first meet Natasha when this little thirteen-year-old girl, “black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive,” runs into the living room and runs into her mother. And with her image the theme of “living life” enters the novel. What Tolstoy always appreciated in Natasha was the fullness of life, the desire to live interestingly, fully and, most importantly, every minute. Overflowing with optimism, she strives to keep up with everything: to console Sonya, childishly declare her love for Boris, argue about the type of ice cream, sing the romance “The Key” with Nikolai, and dance with Pierre. Tolstoy writes that “the essence of her life is love.” It combines the most valuable qualities of a person: love, poetry, life. Of course, we don’t believe her when she “in all seriousness” tells Boris: “Forever... Until my death.” “And, taking him by the arm, with a happy face she quietly walked next to him into the sofa.”

All of Natasha’s actions are determined by the demands of her nature, and not by rational choice, therefore she is not just a participant in a certain private life, for she belongs not to one family circle, but to the world of a general movement. And perhaps Tolstoy had this in mind when he spoke about the historical characters in the novel: “Only unconscious activity bears fruit, and the person playing a role in a historical event never understands its significance. If he tries to understand it, he is struck by its futility.” She, without trying to understand his role, thereby already defines it for herself and for others. “The whole world is divided for me into two halves: one is she, and there everything is - happiness, hope, light; the other half is everything where she is not, there is all despondency and darkness,” Prince Andrei will say four years later. But while she is sitting at the birthday table, she looks at Boris with a childish look of love. “This same look of hers sometimes turned to Pierre, and under the gaze of this funny, lively girl he wanted to laugh, not knowing why.” This is how Natasha reveals herself in unconscious movement, and we see her naturalness, that quality that will constitute an unchanging property of her life.

Natasha Rostova's first ball became the place of her meeting with Andrei Bolkonsky, which led to a clash of their life positions, which had a huge impact on both of them.

During the ball, she is not interested in either the sovereign or all the important persons to whom Peronskaya points out; she does not pay attention to court intrigues. She is waiting for joy and happiness. Tolstoy clearly distinguishes her from everyone present at the ball, contrasting her with secular society. Enthusiastic, transfixed with excitement, Natasha is described by L. Tolstoy with love and tenderness. His ironic remarks about the adjutant-manager asking everyone to step aside “somewhere else,” about “some lady,” about the vulgar fuss around the rich bride present us with a petty and false world, while Natasha among all of them is shown as the only natural being. Tolstoy contrasts the lively, ebullient, always unexpected Natasha with the cold Helen, a secular woman who lives according to established rules and never commits rash acts. “Natasha’s bare neck and arms were thin and ugly in comparison with Helen’s shoulders. Her shoulders were thin, her breasts were vague, her arms were thin; but Helen already had a varnish on her from all the thousands of glances sliding over her body,” and this makes it seem vulgar. This impression is strengthened when we remember that Helen is soulless and empty, that in her body, as if carved from marble, lives a stone soul, greedy, without a single movement of feeling. Here Tolstoy’s attitude towards secular society is revealed, Natasha’s exclusivity is once again emphasized.

What did the meeting with Andrei Bolkonsky give to Natasha? As a truly natural being, although she did not think about it, she strove to create a family and could find happiness only in the family. The meeting with Prince Andrei and his proposal created the conditions for achieving her ideal. As she prepared to start a family, she was happy. However, happiness was not destined to last long. Prince Andrei strove for Natasha, but did not understand her, he did not have a natural instinct, so he postponed the wedding, not understanding that Natasha should love constantly, that she should be happy every minute. He himself provoked her betrayal.

Portrait characteristics make it possible to expose the main qualities of her character. Natasha is cheerful, natural, spontaneous. The older she gets, the faster she turns from a girl into a girl, the more she wants to be admired, to be loved, to be the center of attention. Natasha loves herself and believes that everyone should love her, she says about herself: “What a charm this Natasha is.” And everyone really admires her, loves her. Natasha is like a ray of light in a boring and gray secular society.

Emphasizing Natasha’s ugliness, Tolstoy asserts: it’s not a matter of external beauty. The riches of her inner nature are important: talent, the ability to understand, to come to the rescue, sensitivity, subtle intuition. Everyone loves Natasha, everyone wishes her well, because Natasha herself does only good to everyone. Natasha lives not with her mind, but with her heart. The heart rarely deceives. And although Pierre says that Natasha “doesn’t deign to be smart,” she was always smart and understood people. When Nikolenka, having lost almost the Rostovs’ entire fortune, comes home, Natasha, without realizing it, sings only for her brother. And Nikolai, listening to her voice, forgets about everything about his loss, about the difficult conversation with his father that awaits him, he only listens to the wonderful sound of her voice and thinks: “What is this?.. What happened to her? How is she singing these days?.. Well, Natasha, well, my dear! Well, mother." And Nikolai is not the only one who is enchanted by her voice. After all, Natasha’s voice had extraordinary merits. “In her voice there was that virginity, pristineness, that ignorance of one’s own strengths and that still undeveloped velvet, which were so combined with the shortcomings of the art of singing that it seemed that it was impossible to change anything in this voice without spoiling it.”

Natasha understands Denisov very well, who proposed to her. She desires him and understands that “he didn’t mean to say it, but he accidentally said it.” Natasha has an art that is not given to everyone. She knows how to be compassionate. When Sonya roared, Natasha, not knowing the reason for her friend’s tears, “opened her big mouth and became completely bad, roared like a child... and only because Sonya was crying.” Natasha’s sensitivity and subtle intuition “didn’t work” only once. Natasha, so smart and insightful, did not understand Anatoly Kuragin and Helen and paid dearly for the mistake.

Natasha is the embodiment of love, love is the essence of her character.

Natasha is a patriot. Without thinking, she gives all the carts to the wounded, leaving things behind, and does not imagine that she could do anything differently in this situation.

The Russian people are close to Natasha. She loves folk songs, traditions, music. From all this we can conclude that the passionate, lively, loving, patriotic Natasha is capable of feats. Tolstoy makes it clear to us that Natasha will follow the Decembrist Pierre to Siberia. Isn't this a feat?

We meet Princess Marya Bolkonskaya from the first pages of the novel. Ugly and rich. Yes, she was ugly, and even very bad-looking, but this was in the opinion of strangers, distant people who hardly knew her. All those few who loved her and were loved by her knew and caught her beautiful and radiant gaze. Princess Marya herself did not know all his charm and strength. This gaze itself illuminated everything around with the light of warm love and tenderness. Prince Andrei often caught this look on himself, Julie recalled in her letters the meek, calm look of Princess Marya, which, according to Julie, was missing from her, and Nikolai Rostov fell in love with the princess precisely for this look. But when she thought about herself, the sparkle in Marya’s eyes dimmed and went somewhere deep into her soul. Her eyes became the same: sad and, most importantly, frightened, making her ugly, sickly face even uglier.

Marya Bolkonskaya, daughter of General-in-Chief Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, lived constantly on the Bald Mountains estate. She had no friends or girlfriends. Only Julie Karagina wrote to her, thereby bringing joy and variety to the dull, monotonous life of the princess. The father himself raised his daughter: he gave her algebra and geometry lessons. But what did these lessons give her? How could she understand anything, feeling the gaze and breath of her father above her, whom she feared and loved more than anything in the world. The princess respected him and was in awe of him and of everything his hands had done. The main consolation and, perhaps, teacher was religion: in prayer she found peace, help, and a solution to all problems. All the complex laws of human activity were concentrated for Princess Marya in one simple rule - a lesson in love and self-affirmation. She lives like this: she loves her father, brother, daughter-in-law, her companion, the Frenchwoman Mademoiselle Burien. But sometimes Princess Marya catches herself thinking about earthly love, about earthly passion. The princess is afraid of these thoughts like fire, but they arise, arise because she is a person and, be that as it may, a sinful person, like everyone else.

And so Prince Vasily comes to Bald Mountains with his son Anatoly to woo. Probably, in her secret thoughts, Princess Marya had long been waiting for just such a future husband: handsome, noble, kind.

Old Prince Bolkonsky invites his daughter to decide her own fate. And, probably, she would have made a fatal mistake by agreeing to the marriage if she had not accidentally seen Anatole hugging Mademoiselle Burien. Princess Marya refuses Anatoly Kuragin, refuses because she decides to live only for her father and her nephew.

The princess does not accept Natasha Rostova when she and her father come to meet the Bolkonskys. She treats Natasha with some internal hostility. She probably loves her brother too much, values ​​his freedom, is afraid that some completely sensitive woman might lead him away, take him away, win his love. And the terrible word “stepmother”? This alone already inspires hostility and disgust.

Princess Marya in Moscow asks Pierre Bezukhov about Natasha Rostova. “Who is this girl and how do you find her?” She asks to tell “the whole truth.” Pierre feels "Princess Marya's ill will towards her future daughter-in-law." She really wants “Pierre to disapprove of Prince Andrei’s choice.”

Pierre doesn't know how to answer this question. “I absolutely don’t know what kind of girl this is, I just can’t analyze her. She’s charming,” says Pierre.

But this answer did not satisfy Princess Marya.

“Is she smart? - asked the princess.

Pierre thought about it.

“I think not,” he said, “but yes.” She doesn’t deign to be smart.”

“Princess Marya again shook her head disapprovingly,” notes Tolstoy.

All Tolstoy's heroes fall in love. Princess Marya Bolkonskaya falls in love with Nikolai Rostov. Having fallen in love with Rostov, the princess transforms during a meeting with him so that Mademoiselle Bourrienne almost does not recognize her: “chest, feminine notes” appear in her voice, and grace and dignity appear in her movements. “For the first time, all that pure spiritual inner work that she had lived until now came out” and made the heroine’s face beautiful. Finding herself in a difficult situation, she accidentally meets Nikolai Rostov, and he helps her cope with the intractable peasants and leave Bald Mountains. Princess Marya loves Nikolai not at all the way Sonya loved him, who constantly needed to do something and sacrifice something. And not like Natasha, who needed her loved one to just be there, smile, rejoice and speak loving words to her. Princess Marya loves quietly, calmly, happily. And this happiness is increased by the consciousness that she finally fell in love, and fell in love with a kind, noble, honest man.

And Nikolai sees and understands all this. Fate more and more often pushes them towards each other. A meeting in Voronezh, an unexpected letter from Sonya, releasing Nikolai from all obligations and promises made by Sonya: what is this if not the dictates of fate?

In the fall of 1814, Nikolai Rostov married Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. Now she has what she dreamed of: a family, a beloved husband, children.

But Princess Marya did not change: she was still the same, only now Countess Marya Rostova. She tried to understand Nikolai in everything, she wanted, really wanted to love Sonya but could not. She loved her children very much. And she was very upset when she realized that something was missing in her feelings for her nephew. She still lived for others, trying to love them all with the highest, Divine love. Sometimes Nikolai, looking at his wife, was horrified by the thought of what would happen to him and his children if Countess Marya died. He loved her more than life itself, and they were happy.

Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova become wonderful wives. Not everything in Pierre’s intellectual life is accessible to Natasha, but in her soul she understands his actions and strives to help her husband in everything. Princess Marya captivates Nicholas with spiritual wealth, which is not given to his simple nature. Under the influence of his wife, his unbridled temper softens, for the first time he realizes his rudeness towards men. Harmony in family life, as we see, is achieved where husband and wife seem to complement and enrich each other, forming a single whole. In the Rostov and Bezukhov families, mutual misunderstandings and inevitable conflicts are resolved through reconciliation. Love reigns here.

Marya and Natasha are wonderful mothers. However, Natasha is more concerned about the health of the children, and Marya penetrates into the child’s character and takes care of his spiritual and moral education.

Tolstoy endows the heroines with the most valuable qualities, in his opinion - the ability to subtly feel the mood of loved ones, share other people's grief, and selflessly love their family.

A very important quality of Natasha and Marya is naturalness, artlessness. They are not able to play a predetermined role, do not depend on the opinions of strangers, and do not live according to the laws of the world. At her first big ball, Natasha stands out precisely because of her sincerity in expressing her feelings. Princess Marya, at the decisive moment of her relationship with Nikolai Rostov, forgets that she wanted to remain aloof and polite, and their conversation goes beyond the scope of small talk: “the distant, impossible suddenly became close, possible and inevitable.”

Despite the similarity of their best moral qualities, Natasha and Marya are, in essence, completely different, almost opposite natures. Natasha lives excitedly, seizes every moment, she does not have enough words to express the fullness of her feelings, the heroine enjoys dancing, hunting, and singing. She is highly endowed with love for people, openness of soul, and talent for communication.

Marya also lives by love, but there is a lot of meekness, humility, and self-sacrifice in her. She often rushes in thoughts from earthly life to other spheres. “The soul of Countess Marya,” writes Tolstoy in the epilogue, “strove for the infinite, eternal and perfect, and therefore could never be at peace.”

Leo Tolstoy saw the ideal of a woman, and most importantly, a wife, in Princess Marya. Princess Marya does not live for herself: she wants to make and does make her husband and children happy. But she herself is happy, her happiness consists in love for her neighbors, their joy and well-being, which, however, should be the happiness of every woman.

Tolstoy resolved the issue of a woman’s place in society in his own way: a woman’s place in the family. Natasha has created a good, strong family; there is no doubt that good children will grow up in her family, who will become full-fledged members of society.

In Tolstoy's work, the world appears multifaceted; here there is a place for the most diverse, sometimes opposing characters. The writer conveys to us his love for life, which appears in all its charm and completeness. And looking at the female characters in the novel, we are once again convinced of this.

“How simple and clear it all is,” we are once again convinced, turning our gaze to the globe, where there are no longer drops destroying each other, but they have all merged together, making up one big and bright world, as at the very beginning - in the Rostov house . And in this world remain Natasha and Pierre, Nikolai and Princess Marya with the little Prince Bolkonsky, and “it is necessary to join hand in hand with as many people as possible to resist the general catastrophe.

Literature

1. Newspaper “Literature” No. 41, p. 4, 1996

2. Newspaper “Literature” No. 12, pp. 2, 7, 11, 1999

3. Newspaper “Literature” No. 1, p. 4, 2002

4. E. G. Babaev “Leo Tolstoy and Russian journalism of his era.”

5. “The best exam essays.”

6. 380 best school essays.”

A short essay-discussion on literature on the topic: “War and Peace” - female characters: Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, Helen Kuragina. My favorite hero of the novel "War and Peace". The beauty of the soul in Tolstoy's novel.

L. N. Tolstoy created one of the most large-scale and universal works in Russian literature, touching on almost all the “eternal” problems in literature: good and evil, love and hate, honor and baseness. The writer showed the whole picture of life, in all its contrasts (this is already clear from the title). In his epic novel, L.N. Tolstoy created a whole gallery of images. In total, there are 550 heroes in War and Peace, each with individual traits. The main characters are drawn with special care, their joys and sorrows are experienced by the readers as if they were their own. Therefore, it is interesting to analyze Tolstoy’s approach to revealing female images - a complex and incomprehensible skill.

Natasha Rostova is one of the main heroines of the epic. As a child, she was a thin, black-eyed, lively girl with a big mouth. By nature, although she is spoiled, she is honest, open and brave: “Well, you see, if I kept her strictly, I forbade her... God knows what they would do on the sly (the Countess meant, they would kiss), and now I know her every word. She herself will come running in the evening and tell me everything. Maybe I’m spoiling her, but really, this seems better...” The heroine’s home life is cloudless and unclouded by anything, which is why it seems to Natasha that the whole world is at her feet. She carries these thoughts to herself in her early youth: “Natasha walked in her purple silk dress with black lace the way women know how to walk - the calmer and more majestic the more painful and ashamed she was in her soul. She knew and was not mistaken that she was good.” Natasha has good taste, a talent for singing and dancing, but her most important quality is sensitivity, which is why she is able to understand with her heart what she does not understand with her mind.

Natasha Rostova

Her calmness ended with her childhood. At her first ball, the heroine saw Andrei Bolkonsky and fell in love. Or rather, it seemed so to her. Natasha herself could not understand her feelings, and prematurely committed herself to an engagement with Andrei. But it was not love, which is why Anatol Kuragin almost seduced the inexperienced girl. Bolkonsky could not forgive this, so he broke off all relations with the bride. This plunged Natasha into a deep mental crisis. And tragedy - the Patriotic War of 1812 - helped her pull herself together, become closer to real life, and not to dreams, and get rid of selfishness. The heroine met Andrei again, but he was already on his deathbed, and she selflessly looked after him, their love turned into a kindred, Christian, universal love. But losses were not limited to Bolkonsky; Natasha lost both her brother Petya and her house in the Moscow fire. The heroine endured everything steadfastly, and fate gave her happiness in her family: she finally found true love where she was not looking, with a person who was always there, with Pierre Bezukhov. Natasha was created for the family: “She grew plump and wider, so that it was difficult to recognize in this strong mother the former thin, active Natasha. Her facial features were defined and had an expression of calm softness and clarity. In her face there was not, as before, that incessantly burning fire of revival that made up her charm. Now only her face and body were often visible, but her soul was not visible at all. One strong, beautiful and fertile female was visible.” Her energy was finally directed in the right direction, the heroine found harmony.

Marya Bolkonskaya is the complete opposite of Natasha, but evokes no less positive emotions from the author. The heroine’s appearance is far from charming, only her eyes were good: “Ugly, weak body and thin face. The eyes, always sad, now looked at themselves in the mirror especially hopelessly<…>The princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her entire face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.” The girl also did not have secular talents, but her main gift was a deeply loving, pure soul. Marya is ready to take care of everyone, to feel sorry for everyone, but in the face of the harshness of life, in situations where humility and patience will not help, she is lost. The heroine is ready to renounce herself for the benefit of others: she selflessly raises her nephew Nikolenka and takes care of her extravagant father. The Patriotic War of 1812 changed her life: she was left completely alone, without protection, but she was also able to endure it, and still became stronger. A tragedy like war gave her the opportunity to find happiness in the person of Nikolai Rostov. Finally, Marya is loved and loves the way she needs it. She deserves it, because she has never done harm to anyone, something that even Natasha cannot boast of.

In contrast to the “favorite” heroines, whom the author led to happiness and harmony, it is worth paying attention to Helen Kuragina (Bezukhova). She expresses the whole world: luxurious, but deceitful and empty. Outwardly, the heroine is impeccable: dark eyes, blond hair, a radiant, calm smile, “extraordinary, antique beauty of the body.” She is aware of her beauty, emphasizes it with revealing outfits, uses it as a means of influence (this is how she seduced Pierre and married him, although she did not love him for a second). But there is nothing behind this beauty. Helen knows how to seem and not be. To seem dignified while being simply an immoral and soulless woman. Appearing smart and erudite in all matters, being limited and fixated on secular pleasures. Seeming graceful and airy, while being mean and vulgar (she tried to push Natasha into the arms of her brother, with whom, according to rumors, she herself had a relationship). Helen is unpleasant to the author, so he cannot lead her to happiness. She cheats on her husband, leaves him, renounces the Orthodox faith, divorces Pierre, and then dies from an unknown illness: “Countess Elena Bezukhova died suddenly from this terrible disease, which was so pleasant to reprimand. Officially, in large societies, everyone said that Countess Bezukhova died from a terrible attack of angine pectorale (chest sore throat).”

L.N. Tolstoy depicts the ideal of a woman in his novel. This ideal should combine the features of Marya and Natasha and exclude even a hint of Helen. First of all, the author considers spirituality and sensitivity to be the main qualities in a person. Such a woman will definitely come to happiness, despite all the trials. To forget about the soul, to seem and not to be - all this leads to the abyss, to where Helen found herself.

Female images in the novel "War and Peace"

In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy draws, masterfully and convincingly, several types of female characters and destinies. Impetuous and romantic Natasha, who becomes a “fertile female” in the epilogue of the novel; beautiful, depraved and stupid Helen Kuragina, who embodied all the advantages and disadvantages of metropolitan society; Princess Drubetskaya is a mother hen; the young “little princess” Liza Bolkonskaya is a gentle and mournful angel of the story and, finally, Princess Marya, the sister of Prince Andrei. All heroines have their own destiny, their own aspirations, their own world. Their lives are surprisingly intertwined, and in different life situations and problems they behave differently. Many of these well-developed characters had prototypes. Reading a novel, you involuntarily live life with its characters.

The novel contains a huge number of beautiful images of women from the early 19th century, some of which I would like to consider in more detail.

Marya Bolkonskaya

"right"> "right">The beauty of the soul gives charm "right">even a plain body "right">G. Lessing

It is believed that the prototype of Princess Marya was Tolstoy's mother. The writer did not remember his mother, even her portraits were not preserved, and he created her spiritual appearance in his imagination.

Princess Marya lives constantly on the Bald Mountains estate with her father, an illustrious nobleman of Catherine’s, exiled under Paul and who has not gone anywhere since then. Her father, Nikolai Andreevich, is not a pleasant person: he is often grumpy and rude, scolds the princess as a fool, throws notebooks and, to top it all off, is a pedant. But he loves his daughter in his own way and wishes her well. Old Prince Bolkonsky strives to give his daughter a serious education, giving her lessons himself.

And here is the portrait of the princess: “The mirror reflected an ugly, weak body and a thin face.” Tolstoy does not tell us the details of Princess Marya's appearance. An interesting point - Princess Marya “always looked prettier when she cried.” We know about her that she seemed “bad” to society dandies. She also seemed ugly to herself when she looked at herself in the mirror. Anatoly Kuragin, who immediately noted the merits of Natasha Rostova’s eyes, shoulders and hair, was not attracted to Princess Marya in any way. She does not go to balls because she lives alone in the village, she is burdened by the company of her empty and stupid French companion, she is mortally afraid of her strict father, but she is not offended by anyone.

Oddly enough, the main ideas about war and peace are expressed in Tolstoy’s book by a woman - Princess Marya. She writes in a letter to Julie that war is a sign that people have forgotten God. This is at the beginning of the work, even before 1812 and all its horrors. In fact, her brother, Andrei Bolkonsky, a professional military man who laughed at his sister and called her a “crybaby,” will come to the same thought after many brutal battles, after he saw death face to face, after captivity, after severe wounds. "

Princess Marya predicts to Prince Andrei that he will understand that there is “happiness in forgiving.” And he, having seen the East and the West, experienced happiness and sorrow, drew up laws for Russia and the disposition of battles, philosophized with Kutuzov, Speransky and other best minds, read a lot of books and was familiar with all the great ideas of the century - he will understand that she was right his younger sister, who spent her life in the outback, did not communicate with anyone, was in awe of her father and learned complex scales and cried over geometry problems. He really forgives his mortal enemy - Anatole. Did the princess convert her brother to her faith? It's hard to say. He is immeasurably superior to her in his insight and ability to understand people and events. Prince Andrei predicts the fate of Napoleon, Speransky, the outcome of battles and peace treaties, which more than once caused the amazement of critics who reproached Tolstoy for anachronism, for deviations from loyalty to the era, for “modernizing” Bolkonsky, etc. But this is a separate topic. But the fate of Prince Andrei himself was predicted by his sister. She knew that he did not die at Austerlitz, and she prayed for him as if he were alive (which probably saved him). She also realized that every minute counted when, without having any information about her brother, she set out on a difficult journey from Voronezh to Yaroslavl through the forests, in which detachments of the French had already met. She knew that he was going to his death, and predicted that he would forgive his worst enemy before his death. And the author, mind you, is always on her side. Even in the scene of Bogucharov’s rebellion, she is right, the timid princess who has never managed the estate, and not the men who assume

that they would be better off under Napoleon's rule.

It can be said that the princess herself almost made a fatal mistake in Anatole. But this mistake is of a different kind than Natasha’s mistake. Natasha is driven by vanity, sensuality - whatever. Princess Marya is driven by Duty and Faith. So she can't be wrong. She accepts fate as a test that God sends her. No matter what happens, she will bear her cross, and not cry and not try to poison herself, like Natasha Rostova. Natasha wants to be happy. Princess Marya wants to be submissive to God. She does not think about herself and never cries from “pain or resentment,” but only from “sadness or pity.” After all, you cannot hurt an angel, you cannot deceive or offend him. You can only accept his prediction, the message he brings, and pray to him for salvation.

Marya Bolkonskaya is certainly smart, but she does not flaunt her “learning”, so it is interesting and easy to communicate with her. Unfortunately, not everyone can understand and appreciate this. Anatol Kuragin, as a typical representative of secular society, cannot, and, most likely, simply does not want to discern this truly rare beauty of a soul. He sees only the plain appearance, not noticing everything else.

Despite their different characters, views, aspirations and dreams, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are strong friends at the end of the novel. Although both of them had an unpleasant first impression of each other. Natasha sees Prince Bolkonsky's sister as an obstacle to her marriage, subtly feeling the negative attitude of the Bolkonsky family towards her person. Marya, for her part, sees a typical representative of secular society, young, beautiful, having enormous success with men. It seems to me that Marya is even a little jealous of Natasha.

But the girls are brought together by a terrible grief - the death of Andrei Bolkonsky. He meant a lot to his sister and ex-fiancee, and the feelings that the girls experienced during the prince’s death throes were understandable and similar for both.

The family of Marya Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov is a happy union. Marya creates an atmosphere of spirituality in the family and has an ennobling effect on Nikolai, who feels the sublimity and high morality of the world in which his wife lives. In my opinion, it could not be otherwise. This quiet and meek girl, a real angel, definitely deserves all the happiness that Tolstoy awarded her at the end of the novel.

Natasha Rostova

Natasha Rostova is the central female character in the novel “War and Peace” and, perhaps, the author’s favorite. This image arose in the writer when the initial idea for a story about the Decembrist who returned to Russia and his wife, who endured with him all the hardships of exile, arose. The prototype of Natasha is considered to be the writer's sister-in-law Tatyana Andreevna Bers, married to Kuzminskaya, who had musicality and a beautiful voice. The second prototype is the wife of the writer, who admitted that “he took Tanya, mixed it with Sonya, and it turned out to be Natasha.”

According to this characterization of the heroine, she “does not deign to be smart.” This remark reveals the main distinguishing feature of Natasha's image - her emotionality and intuitive sensitivity; It is not for nothing that she is unusually musical, has a voice of rare beauty, is responsive and spontaneous. At the same time, her character has inner strength and an unbending moral core, which makes her similar to the best and most popular heroines of Russian classical literature.

Tolstoy presents us with the evolution of his heroine over the fifteen-year period of her life, from 1805 to 1820, and over more than one and a half thousand pages of the novel. It’s all here: the sum of ideas about a woman’s place in society and the family, and thoughts about the female ideal, and the disinterested romantic love of the creator for his creation.

We first meet her when the girl runs into the room, happiness and joy on her face. This creature cannot understand how others can be sad if she is happy. She doesn't try to restrain herself. All her actions are dictated by feelings and desires. Of course, she's a little spoiled. It already contains something characteristic of that time and for secular young ladies. It is no coincidence that Natasha thinks that she already loves Boris Drubetsky, that she will wait until she turns sixteen and she can marry him. This imaginary love is just fun for Natasha.
But little Rostova is not like other children, not like her in her sincerity and lack of falsehood. These qualities, characteristic of all Rostovs, with the exception of Vera, are especially clearly manifested when compared with Boris Drubetsky and Julie Karagina. Natasha knows French, but she does not act like a Frenchwoman, like many girls from noble families of that time. She is Russian, she has purely Russian features, she even knows how to dance Russian dances.

Natalya Ilyinichna is the daughter of the well-known Moscow hospitable, good-natured, bankrupt rich Counts of Rostov, whose family traits receive from Denisov the definition of “Rostov breed”. Natasha appears in the novel as perhaps the most prominent representative of this breed, thanks not only to her emotionality, but also to many other qualities that are important for understanding the philosophy of the novel. Rostova, as it were, unconsciously embodies that true understanding of life, participation in the national spiritual principle, the achievement of which is given to the main characters - Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky - only as a result of the most complex moral quests.

Natasha appears on the pages of the novel at thirteen years old. Half child, half girl. Everything about her is important to Tolstoy: the fact that she is ugly, the way she laughs, the things she says, and the fact that she has black eyes and her hair hangs back in black curls. This is the ugly duckling ready to turn into a swan. As the plot develops, Rostova turns into a girl attractive with her liveliness and charm, sensitively reacting to everything that happens. Most often, it is Natasha who gives the most accurate characteristics of other characters in the novel. She is capable of self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, high spiritual impulses (burns her hand with a hot ruler to prove her love and friendship to Sonya; actually decides the fate of the wounded, giving carts to take them out of burning Moscow; saves her mother from insanity after Petya’s death; selflessly cares for the dying Prince Andrei).The atmosphere of happiness, universal love, play and gaiety in the Moscow house of the Rostovs is replaced by the idyllic landscapes of the estate in Otradnoye. Landscapes and Christmas games, fortune telling. She even looks, and, I think, not by chance, similar to Tatyana Larina. The same openness to love and happiness, the same biological, unconscious connection with Russian national traditions and principles. And how Natasha dances after the hunt! “Clean business, march,” the uncle is surprised. It seems that the author is no less surprised: “Where, how, when did this countess, raised by a French emigrant, suck into herself from that Russian air that she breathed, this spirit... But the spirit and techniques were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her."

At the same time, Natasha can be very selfish, which is dictated not by reason, but rather by an instinctive desire for happiness and fullness of life. Having become the bride of Andrei Bolkonsky, she cannot stand the year-long test and becomes interested in Anatoly Kuragin, ready in her passion for the most reckless actions. After a chance meeting in Mytishchi with the wounded Prince Andrei, realizing her guilt and having the opportunity to atone for it, Rostova is again revived to life; and after Bolkonsky’s death (already in the epilogue of the novel) she becomes the wife of Pierre Bezukhov, who is close to her in spirit and truly loved by her. In the epilogue N.R. Tolstoy is presented as a wife and mother, completely immersed in her family concerns and responsibilities, sharing her husband’s interests and understanding him.

During the War of 1812, Natasha behaves confidently and courageously. At the same time, she does not evaluate 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 head of the family. Natasha has been caring for the seriously wounded Bolkonsky for a long time. This is very difficult and dirty work. What Pierre Bezukhov saw in her immediately, when she was still a girl, a child - a tall, pure, beautiful soul, Tolstoy reveals to us gradually, step by step. Natasha is with Prince Andrei until the very end. The author's ideas about the human foundations of morality are concentrated around it. Tolstoy endows her with extraordinary ethical power. Losing loved ones, property, experiencing equally all the hardships that befell the country and the people, she does not experience a spiritual breakdown. When Prince Andrei awakens “from life,” Natasha awakens to life. Tolstoy writes about the feeling of “reverent tenderness” that gripped her soul. It, remaining forever, became a semantic component of Natasha’s further existence. In the epilogue, the author depicts what, in his opinion, is true female happiness. “Natasha got married in the early spring of 1813, and in 1820 she already had three daughters and one son, whom she wanted and now fed herself.” Nothing in this strong, broad mother reminds me of the old Natasha. Tolstoy calls her “a strong, beautiful and fertile female.” All Natasha’s thoughts are around her husband and family. And she thinks in a special way, not with her mind, “but with her whole being, that is, with her flesh.” Pierre speaks beautifully about her intellectual abilities, saying that she “does not deign to be smart,” because she is much higher and more complex than the concepts of intelligence and stupidity. It is like a part of nature, part of that natural incomprehensible process in which all people, land, air, countries and peoples are involved. It is not surprising that such a state of life does not seem primitive or naive to either the heroes or the author. Family is mutual and voluntary slavery. “In her house, Natasha put herself on the foot of her husband’s slave.” She only loves and is loved. And in this the true positive content of life is hidden for her.

War and Peace is Tolstoy's only novel with a classic happy ending. The state in which he leaves Nikolai Rostov, Princess Marya, Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha is the best that he could come up with and give them. It has its basis in Tolstoy’s moral philosophy, in his unique but very serious ideas about the role and place of women in the world and society.

Socialite ladies

(Helen Bezukhova, Princess Drubetskaya, A.P. Sherer)

Each person has his own advantages and disadvantages, some of which we sometimes don’t even notice, we simply don’t pay attention to them. Rarely is the balance of good and bad balanced; most often from each other we hear about someone: good, evil; beautiful, ugly; bad, good; smart, stupid. What makes us pronounce certain adjectives that characterize a person? Of course, the predominance of some qualities over others: evil over good, beauty over ugliness. At the same time, we consider both the inner world of the individual and the external appearance. And it happens that beauty is able to hide evil, and goodness manages to make ugliness invisible. When we see a person for the first time, we don’t think about his soul at all, we notice only his external attractiveness, but often the state of his soul is opposite to his external appearance: under a snow-white shell there is a rotten egg. L. N. Tolstoy convincingly showed us this deception using the example of ladies of high society in his novel

Helen Kuragina is the soul of society, she is admired, praised, people fall in love with her, but only... and because of her attractive outer shell. She knows what she is like and that's what she takes advantage of. And why not?.. Helen always pays great attention to her appearance. The writer emphasizes that the heroine wants to remain beautiful in appearance for as long as possible in order to hide the ugliness of her soul. No matter how mean and base it was, Helen forced Pierre to utter words of love. She decided for him that he loved her as soon as Bezukhov turned out to be rich. Having set a goal for herself, Kuragina coldly achieves it through deception, which makes us feel the cold and danger in the ocean of her soul, despite the superficial charm and sparkle. Even when, after her husband’s duel with Dolokhov and the break with Pierre, Helen understands what she has done (although this was part of her plans) in the name of achieving her goal, she still accepts it as inevitable, at least she is convinced that she did the right thing and In no case is she guilty of anything: these, they say, are the laws of life. Moreover, the money did not leave her - only her husband left. Helen knows the value of her beauty, but does not know how monstrous she is in nature, because the worst thing is when a person does not know that he is sick and does not take medicine.

“Elena Vasilievna, who has never loved anything except her body, and one of the stupidest women in the world,” thought Pierre, “seems to people to be the height of intelligence and sophistication, and they bow before her.” One cannot but agree with Bezukhov. A dispute may arise just because of her intelligence, but if you carefully study her entire strategy for achieving a goal, then you won’t even notice much intelligence, rather, insight, calculation, and everyday experience. When Helen sought wealth, she got it through a successful marriage. This is the simplest, most common way for a woman to get rich, which does not require intelligence. Well, when she desired freedom, then again the easiest way was found - to arouse jealousy in her husband, who in the end is ready to give everything so that she disappears forever, while Helen does not lose money, and also does not lose her position in society. Cynicism and calculation are the main qualities of the heroine, allowing her to achieve her goals.

People fell in love with Helen, but no one loved her. She is like a beautiful statue made of white marble, which they look at and admire, but no one considers her alive, no one is ready to love her, because what she is made of is stone, cold and hard, there is no soul there, but This means there is no response and warmth.

Among the characters Tolstoy disliked, one can single out Anna Pavlovna Sherer. On the very first pages of the novel, the reader gets acquainted with Anna Pavlovna’s salon and with herself. Her most characteristic feature is the constancy of deeds, words, internal and external gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, a constant awareness of her dear shortcomings, from which she wants, cannot and does not find it necessary to correct herself.” Behind this characteristic is the author's irony.

Anna Pavlovna is a maid of honor and close associate of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the hostess of a fashionable high-society “political” salon in St. Petersburg, with a description of the evening in which Tolstoy begins his novel. Anna Pavlovna is 40 years old, she has “obsolete facial features,” expressing a combination of sadness, devotion and respect every time the empress is mentioned. The heroine is dexterous, tactful, influential at court, and prone to intrigue. Her attitude towards any person or event is always dictated by the latest political, court or secular considerations; she is close to the Kuragin family and is friendly with Prince Vasily. Scherer is constantly “full of animation and impulse,” “being an enthusiast has become her social position,” and in her salon, in addition to discussing the latest court and political news, she always “treats” guests to some new product or celebrity, and in 1812 her the circle demonstrates salon patriotism in the St. Petersburg world.

It is known that for Tolstoy, a woman is, first of all, a mother, the keeper of the family hearth. The high society lady, the owner of the salon, Anna Pavlovna, has no children and no husband. She is a "barren flower". This is the most terrible punishment that Tolstoy could come up with for her.

Another lady of high society is Princess Drubetskaya. We first see her in the A.P. salon. Scherer, asking for her son, Boris. We then watch her ask Countess Rostova for money. The scene in which Drubetskaya and Prince Vasily snatch Bezukhov’s briefcase from each other complements the image of the princess. This is an absolutely unprincipled woman, the main thing for her in life is money and position in society. For their sake, she is ready to go to any humiliation.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” begins with a description of high society gathered in the salon of the maid of honor Anna Pavlovna Scherer. This is “the highest nobility of St. Petersburg, people very different in age and character, but the same in the society in which they all lived...”. Everything here is false and for show: smiles, phrases, feelings. These people talk about their homeland, patriotism, politics, but are essentially not interested in these concepts. They only care about personal well-being, career, peace of mind. Tolstoy tears away the veils of external splendor and refined manners from these people, and their spiritual squalor and moral baseness appear before the reader. There is neither simplicity, nor goodness, nor truth in their behavior, in their relationships. Everything is unnatural, hypocritical in the salon of A.P. Scherer. Everything alive, be it a thought or a feeling, a sincere impulse or a topical wit, extinguishes in a soulless environment. That is why the naturalness and openness in Pierre’s behavior frightened Scherer so much. Here they are accustomed to “decently pulled masks”, to a masquerade. Tolstoy especially hated lies and falsehood in relationships between people. With what irony he talks about Prince Vasily, when he simply robs Pierre, appropriating income from his estates! And all this under the guise of kindness and care for the young man, whom he cannot leave to the mercy of fate. Helen Kuragina, who became Countess Bezukhova, is also deceitful and depraved. Even the beauty and youth of representatives of high society take on a repulsive character, because this beauty is not warmed by the soul. Julie Kuragina, who has finally become Drubetskaya, and people like her lie, playing at patriotism.

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Women in the novel

Many female characters in Tolstov’s novel “War and Peace” have prototypes in the author’s real life. This is, for example, Maria Bolkonskaya (Rostova), Tolstoy based her image on his mother, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya. Rostova Natalya Sr. is very similar to Lev Nikolaevich’s grandmother, Pelageya Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Natasha Rostova (Bezukhova) even has two prototypes: the writer’s wife, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya and her sister, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya. Apparently, this is why Tolstoy creates these characters with such warmth and tenderness.

It is amazing how accurately he conveys the feelings and thoughts of people in the novel. The author subtly feels the psychology of a thirteen-year-old girl, Natasha Rostova, with her broken doll, and understands the grief of an adult woman, Countess Natalia Rostova, who lost her youngest son. Tolstoy seems to show their life and thoughts in such a way that the reader seems to see the world through the eyes of the heroes of the novel.

Despite the fact that the writer talks about the war, the female theme in the novel “War and Peace” fills the work with life and a variety of human relationships. The novel is full of contrasts, the author constantly contrasts good and evil, cynicism and generosity with each other.

Moreover, if negative characters remain constant in their pretense and inhumanity, then positive characters make mistakes, are tormented by pangs of conscience, rejoice and suffer, growing and developing spiritually and morally.

Rostov

Natasha Rostova is one of the main figures in the novel; one feels that Tolstoy treats her with special tenderness and love. Throughout the entire work, Natasha is constantly changing. We see her first as a little lively girl, then as a funny and romantic girl, and in the end - she is already an adult mature woman, the wise, beloved and loving wife of Pierre Bezukhov.

She makes mistakes, sometimes she is mistaken, but at the same time, her inner instinct and nobility help her understand people and feel their state of mind.

Natasha is full of life and charm, so even with a very modest appearance, as Tolstoy describes, she attracts people with her joyful and pure inner world.

The eldest Natalya Rostova, the mother of a large family, a kind and wise woman, seems very strict at first glance. But when Natasha pokes her nose into her skirts, the mother “fakely angrily” glares at the girl and everyone understands how much she loves her children.

Knowing that her friend is in a difficult financial situation, the Countess, embarrassed, gives her money. “Annette, for God’s sake, don’t refuse me,” the countess suddenly said, blushing, which was so strange considering her middle-aged, thin and important face, taking money out from under her scarf.”

With all the external freedom that she provides to the children, Countess Rostova is ready to go to great lengths for their well-being in the future. She drives Boris away from his youngest daughter, prevents the marriage of his son Nikolai with the dowry Sonya, but at the same time it is completely clear that she does all this only out of love for her children. And maternal love is the most selfless and brightest of all feelings.

Natasha’s older sister, Vera, stands a little apart, beautiful and cold. Tolstoy writes: “a smile did not grace Vera’s face, as usually happens; on the contrary, her face became unnatural and therefore unpleasant.”

She is annoyed by her younger brothers and sister, they interfere with her, her main concern is herself. Selfish and self-absorbed, Vera is not like her relatives; she does not know how to love sincerely and unselfishly, like them.

Fortunately for her, Colonel Berg, whom she married, was very suited to her character, and they made a wonderful couple.

Marya Bolkonskaya

Locked in a village with an old and oppressive father, Marya Bolkonskaya appears before the reader as an ugly, sad girl who is afraid of her father. She is smart, but not self-confident, especially since the old prince constantly emphasizes her ugliness.

At the same time, Tolstoy says about her: “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her entire face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty . But the princess had never seen a good expression in her eyes, the expression they took on in those moments when she was not thinking about herself. Like all people, her face took on a tense, unnatural, bad expression as soon as she looked in the mirror.” And after this description, I want to take a closer look at Marya, watch her, understand what is going on in the soul of this timid girl.

In fact, Princess Marya is a strong personality with her own established outlook on life. This is clearly visible when she and her father do not want to accept Natasha, but after her brother’s death she still forgives and understands her.

Marya, like many girls, dreams of love and family happiness, she is ready to marry Anatol Kuragin and refuses marriage only for the sake of sympathy for Mademoiselle Burien. The nobility of her soul saves her from the vile and vile handsome man.

Fortunately, Marya meets Nikolai Rostov and falls in love with him. It is difficult to immediately say for whom this marriage becomes a great salvation. After all, he saves Marya from loneliness, and the Rostov family from ruin.

Although this is not so important, the main thing is that Marya and Nikolai love each other and are happy together.

Other women in the novel

In the novel “War and Peace,” female characters are depicted not only in beautiful and rainbow colors. Tolstoy also portrays very unpleasant characters. He always indirectly defines his attitude towards the characters in the story, but never speaks about it directly.

So, finding himself at the beginning of the novel in Anna Pavlovna Sherer’s living room, the reader understands how false she is with her smiles and ostentatious hospitality. Scherer “... is full of animation and impulses,” because “being an enthusiast has become her social position...”.

The flirtatious and stupid Princess Bolkonskaya does not understand Prince Andrei and is even afraid of him: “Suddenly the angry squirrel expression of the princess’s beautiful face was replaced by an attractive expression of fear that arouses compassion; She glanced from under her beautiful eyes at her husband, and on her face appeared that timid and confessing expression that appears on a dog quickly but weakly waving its lowered tail.” She does not want to change, develop, and does not see how the prince is bored with her frivolous tone, her unwillingness to think about what she says and what she does.

Helen Kuragina, a cynical, narcissistic beauty, deceitful and inhuman. Without hesitation, for the sake of entertainment, she helps her brother seduce Natasha Rostova, destroying not only Natasha’s life, but also Prince Bolkonsky’s. For all her external beauty, Helen is ugly and soulless internally.

Repentance, pangs of conscience - all this is not about her. She will always find an excuse for herself, and the more immoral she appears to us.

Conclusion

Reading the novel “War and Peace,” we plunge into the world of joys and sorrows together with the characters, are proud of their successes, and empathize with their grief. Tolstoy managed to convey all those subtle psychological nuances of human relationships that make up our lives.

Concluding the essay on the topic “Female images in the novel “War and Peace,” I would like to once again draw attention to how accurately and with what understanding of psychology the female portraits in the novel are written. With what awe, love and respect Tolstoy treats some female characters. And how mercilessly and clearly he shows the immorality and falsehood of others.

Work test

In Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" a huge number of images pass before the reader. All of them are excellently depicted by the author, lively and interesting. Tolstoy himself divided his heroes into positive and negative, and not just into secondary and main ones. Thus, positivity was emphasized by the dynamic nature of the character, while staticity and hypocrisy indicated that the hero was far from perfect.
In the novel, several images of women appear before us. And they are also divided by Tolstoy into two groups.

The first includes female images that lead a false, artificial life. All their aspirations are aimed at achieving one single goal - a high position in society. These include Anna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina and other representatives of high society.

The second group includes those who lead a true, real, natural lifestyle. Tolstoy emphasizes the evolution of these heroes. These include Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, Sonya, Vera.

Helen Kuragina can be called an absolute genius of social life. She was as beautiful as a statue. And just as soulless. But in fashion salons, no one cares about your soul. The most important thing is how you turn your head, how gracefully you smile when greeting and what an impeccable French pronunciation you have. But Helen is not just soulless, she is vicious. Princess Kuragina marries not Pierre Bezukhov, but his inheritance.
Helen was a master at luring men by appealing to their baser instincts. So, Pierre feels something bad, dirty in his feelings for Helen. She offers herself to anyone who is able to provide her with a rich life full of secular pleasures: “Yes, I am a woman who can belong to anyone, including you.”
Helen cheated on Pierre, she had a well-known affair with Dolokhov. And Count Bezukhov was forced to fight a duel in defense of his honor. The passion that clouded his eyes quickly passed, and Pierre realized what a monster he was living with. Of course, the divorce turned out to be good for him.

It is important to note that in the characteristics of Tolstoy’s favorite heroes, their eyes occupy a special place. Eyes are the mirror of the soul. Helen doesn't have it. As a result, we learn that the life of this heroine ends sadly. She dies of illness. Thus, Tolstoy pronounces sentence on Helen Kuragina.

Tolstoy's favorite heroines in the novel are Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya.

Marya Bolkonskaya is not famous for her beauty. She looks like a frightened animal because she is very afraid of her father, the old Prince Bolkonsky. She is characterized by “a sad, frightened expression that rarely left her and made her ugly, painful face even more ugly...”. Only one feature shows us her inner beauty: “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often... these eyes became more attractive than beauty.”
Marya devoted her life to her father, being his irreplaceable support and support. She has a very deep connection with the whole family, with her father and brother. This connection manifests itself in moments of emotional turmoil.
A distinctive feature of Marya, like her entire family, is high spirituality and great inner strength. After the death of her father, surrounded by French troops, the grief-stricken princess nevertheless proudly rejects the French general’s offer of patronage and leaves Bogucharovo. In the absence of men in an extreme situation, she manages the estate alone and does it wonderfully. At the end of the novel, this heroine gets married and becomes a happy wife and mother.

The most charming image of the novel is that of Natasha Rostova. The work shows her spiritual journey from a thirteen-year-old girl to a married woman and mother of many children.
From the very beginning, Natasha was characterized by cheerfulness, energy, sensitivity, and a subtle perception of goodness and beauty. She grew up in the morally pure atmosphere of the Rostov family. Her best friend was the resigned Sonya, an orphan. The image of Sonya is not drawn out so carefully, but in some scenes (explanation of the heroine and Nikolai Rostov), ​​the reader is struck by the pure and noble soul of this girl. Only Natasha notices that “something is missing” in Sonya... She really does not have the liveliness and fire characteristic of Rostova, but the tenderness and meekness so beloved by the author excuses everything.

The author emphasizes the deep connection of Natasha and Sonya with the Russian people. This is great praise for the heroines from their creator. For example, Sonya fits perfectly into the atmosphere of Christmas fortune-telling and caroling. Natasha “knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya’s father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.” Emphasizing the folk basis of his heroines, Tolstoy very often shows them against the backdrop of Russian nature.

Natasha's appearance, at first glance, is ugly, but her inner beauty ennobles her. Natasha always remains herself, never pretends, unlike her secular acquaintances. The expression of Natasha's eyes is very diverse, as are the manifestations of her soul. They are “shining”, “curious”, “provocative and somewhat mocking”, “desperately animated”, “stopped”, “pleading”, “frightened” and so on.

The essence of Natasha's life is love. She, despite all the hardships, carries it in her heart and finally becomes the embodied ideal of Tolstoy. Natasha turns into a mother who completely devotes herself to her children and husband. There are no interests in her life other than family ones. So she became truly happy.

All the heroines of the novel, to one degree or another, represent the worldview of the author himself. Natasha, for example, is a favorite heroine because she fully meets Tolstoy’s own needs for a woman. And Helen is “killed” by the author for not being able to appreciate the warmth of the hearth.