In this article we will present you the main characters of the work of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy "War and Peace". Characteristics of the heroes include the main features of the appearance and inner world. All the characters in the work are very curious. The novel "War and Peace" is very large in volume. The characteristics of the heroes are given only briefly, but meanwhile, for each of them, you can write a separate work. Let's start our analysis with a description of the Rostov family.
Ilya Andreevich Rostov
The Rostov family in the work are typical Moscow representatives of the nobility. Its head, Ilya Andreevich, is known for generosity and hospitality. This is a count, father of Petit, Vera, Nikolai and Natasha Rostov, a rich man and a Moscow gentleman. He is dumb, good-natured, loves to live. In general, speaking about the Rostov family, it should be noted that sincerity, benevolence, lively contact and ease of communication were characteristic of all its representatives.
Some episodes from the life of the writer's grandfather were used by him to create the image of Rostov. The fate of this person is burdened by the realization of ruin, which he does not immediately understand and is unable to stop. In its external appearance there are also some features of similarity with the prototype. This technique was used by the author not only in relation to Ilya Andreevich. Some internal and external features of Leo Tolstoy's relatives and friends can be discerned in other characters, which confirms the characterization of the heroes. "War and Peace" is a large-scale work with a huge number of characters.
Nikolay Rostov
Nikolai Rostov - the son of Ilya Andreevich, brother of Petya, Natasha and Vera, a hussar, an officer. At the end of the novel, he appears as the husband of Marya Bolkonskaya, princess. In the appearance of this man, one could see "enthusiasm" and "impetuosity." It reflected some of the features of the writer's father, who took part in the war of 1812. This hero is distinguished by such features as cheerfulness, openness, benevolence and self-sacrifice. Convinced that he was not a diplomat or an official, Nikolai left the university at the beginning of the novel and entered the hussar regiment. Here he takes part in the Patriotic War of 1812, in military campaigns. Nikolai receives his first baptism of fire when the crossing of the Ens takes place. In the Shengraben battle, he was wounded in the arm. Having passed the tests, this person becomes a real hussar, a brave officer.
Petya Rostov
Petya Rostov is the youngest child in the Rostov family, brother of Natasha, Nikolai and Vera. He appears at the beginning of the work as a young boy. Petya, like all Rostovs, is cheerful and kind, musical. He wants to imitate his brother and also wants to join the army. After Nikolai's departure, Petya becomes the main concern of the mother, who only realizes at that time the depth of her love for this child. During the war, he accidentally ends up in Denisov's detachment with an assignment, where he remains, since he wants to take part in the case. Petya dies by coincidence, showing before his death the best features of the Rostovs in relations with comrades.
Countess Rostov
Rostova is a heroine, in the creation of the image of which the author used as well as some circumstances of the life of L. A. Bers, the mother-in-law of Lev Nikolaevich, and also P. N. Tolstoy, the writer's paternal grandmother. The Countess is used to living in an atmosphere of kindness and love, in luxury. She is proud of the trust and friendship of her children, pampers them, worries about their fate. Despite the external weakness, even some heroine makes reasonable and balanced decisions in relation to her children. It is dictated by her love for children and her desire to marry Nikolai at any cost to a wealthy bride, as well as nagging with Sonya.
Natasha Rostova
Natasha Rostova is one of the main heroines of the work. She is the daughter of Rostov, sister of Petit, Vera and Nikolai. At the end of the novel, he becomes the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. This girl is presented as "ugly, but alive", with a large mouth, black-eyed. The prototype for this image was Tolstoy's wife, as well as her sister Bers T.A. We see this, for example, during the removal of the wounded from Moscow, as well as in the episode of nursing the mother after Petya died.
One of the main advantages of Natasha is her musicality, beautiful voice. By her singing, she can awaken all the best that is in a person. This is what saves Nikolai from despair after he has lost a large sum.
Natasha, constantly carried away, lives in an atmosphere of happiness and love. After meeting Prince Andrey, a change takes place in her fate. The insult inflicted by Bolkonsky (the old prince) pushes this heroine to become infatuated with the Kuragin and to refuse Prince Andrei. Only after feeling and experiencing a lot, she realizes her guilt before Bolkonsky. But this girl feels true love only for Pierre, whose wife she becomes at the end of the novel.
Sonya
Sonya is the pupil and niece of Count Rostov, who grew up in his family. At the beginning of the work, she is 15 years old. This girl completely fits into the Rostov family, she is unusually friendly and close with Natasha, she has been in love with Nikolai since childhood. Sonya is taciturn, restrained, careful, reasonable, she has a highly developed capacity for self-sacrifice. She attracts attention with her moral purity and beauty, but she lacks the charm and spontaneity that Natasha possesses.
Pierre Bezukhov
Pierre Bezukhov is one of the main characters in the novel. Therefore, without him, the characterization of the heroes would be incomplete ("War and Peace"). Let us briefly describe Pierre Bezukhov. He is the illegitimate son of a count, a famous nobleman, who became the heir to a huge fortune and title. The work is portrayed as a fat, massive young man, with glasses. This hero is distinguished by a timid, intelligent, natural and observant look. He was brought up abroad, appeared in Russia shortly before the start of the 1805 campaign and the death of his father. Pierre is inclined to philosophical reflections, smart, kind-hearted and gentle, compassionate towards others. He is also impractical, at times subject to passions. Andrei Bolkonsky, his closest friend, characterizes this hero as the only "living person" among all representatives of the world.
Anatol Kuragin
Anatol Kuragin - officer, brother of Ippolit and Helen, son of Prince Vasily. Unlike Hippolytus, the "calm fool", his father looks at Anatole as a "restless" fool who must always be rescued from various troubles. This hero is stupid, arrogant, dapper, not eloquent in conversations, depraved, not resourceful, but has confidence. He looks at life as a constant amusement and pleasure.
Andrey Bolkonsky
Andrei Bolkonsky is one of the main characters in the work, the prince, the brother of Princess Marya, the son of N. A. Bolkonsky. Described as a "very handsome" young man of "short stature." He is proud, smart, looking for great spiritual and intellectual content in life. Andrey is educated, restrained, practical, has a strong will. His idol at the beginning of the novel is Napoleon, whom our characterization of the heroes ("War and Peace") will also present to the readers just below. Andrei Balkonsky dreams of imitating him. After participating in the war, he lives in the village, raises his son, and takes care of the household. Then he returns to the army, dies in the battle of Borodino.
Platon Karataev
Let us also imagine this hero of the work "War and Peace". Platon Karataev is a soldier who met in captivity to Pierre Bezukhov. In the service, he is nicknamed Sokolik. Note that this character was not included in the original version of the work. Its appearance was caused by the final formulation of the image of Pierre in the philosophical concept of War and Peace.
When he first met this good-natured, affectionate person, Pierre was struck by the feeling of something calm emanating from him. This character attracts others with her calmness, kindness, confidence, and also a smile. After the death of Karataev, thanks to his wisdom, folk philosophy, expressed unconsciously in his behavior, Pierre Bezukhov understands the meaning of life.
But they are not only portrayed in the work "War and Peace". Characteristics of the heroes include real historical figures. The main ones are Kutuzov and Napoleon. Their images are described in some detail in the work "War and Peace". The characteristics of the heroes we have mentioned are below.
Kutuzov
Kutuzov in the novel, as in reality, is the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Described as a man with a plump face, disfigured by a wound, with He steps heavily, full, gray-haired. For the first time on the pages of the novel appears in an episode when a review of troops near Branau is depicted. Impress everyone with knowledge of the matter, as well as the attention that is hidden behind external absent-mindedness. Kutuzov is capable of being diplomatic, he is rather cunning. Before the Shengraben battle, he blesses Bagration with tears in his eyes. A favorite of military officers and soldiers. He believes that victory in the campaign against Napoleon takes time and patience, that it is not knowledge, not intelligence and not plans that can solve the matter, but something else that does not depend on them, that a person is not able to really influence the course of history ... Kutuzov contemplates the course of events more than intervenes in them. However, he knows how to remember everything, listen, see, not interfere with anything useful and not allow anything harmful. This is a modest, simple and therefore majestic figure.
Napoleon
Napoleon is a real historical person, the French emperor. On the eve of the main events of the novel, he is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky. Even Pierre Bezukhov admires the greatness of this man. His confidence and self-righteousness are expressed in the opinion that his presence plunges people into self-forgetfulness and delight, that everything in the world depends only on his will.
This is a brief description of the characters in the novel War and Peace. It can serve as a basis for a more detailed analysis. Referring to the work, you can supplement it if you need a detailed description of the characters. "War and Peace" (1 volume - the presentation of the main characters, subsequent - the development of characters) describes in detail each of these characters. The inner world of many of them changes over time. Therefore, Leo Tolstoy presents in dynamics the characteristics of the heroes ("War and Peace"). Volume 2, for example, reflects their lives between 1806 and 1812. The next two volumes describe further events, their reflection in the fate of the characters.
Characteristics of the heroes are of great importance for understanding such a creation by Leo Tolstoy as the work "War and Peace". Through them, the philosophy of the novel is reflected, the author's ideas and thoughts are transmitted.
), the invasion of the French into Russia, the Battle of Borodino and the capture of Moscow, the entry of the allied forces into Paris; the end of the novel is dated to 1820. The author has re-read many historical books and memoirs of his contemporaries; he understood that the task of the artist does not coincide with the task of the historian and, without striving for complete accuracy, he wanted to create the spirit of the era, the originality of its life, the picturesqueness of its style.
Lev Tolstoy. War and Peace. The main characters and themes of the novel
Of course, the historical faces of Tolstoy are somewhat modernized: they often speak and think like the author's contemporaries. But this renewal is inevitable in the historian's creative perception of the process as a continuous stream of life. Otherwise, the result is not a work of art, but a dead archeology. The author did not invent anything - he only chose what seemed to him the most revealing. “Everywhere,” writes Tolstoy, “where only in my novel historical figures speak and act, I did not invent, but used materials from which, during my work, a whole library of books was formed.”
For "family chronicles", placed in the historical framework of the Napoleonic wars, he used family memoirs, letters, diaries, unpublished notes. The complexity and richness of the "human world" depicted in the novel can only be compared with the gallery of portraits of the multivolume "Human Comedy" by Balzac. Tolstoy gives more than 70 detailed characteristics, outlines many minor faces with a few strokes - and they all live, do not merge with each other, remain in memory. One sharply grasped detail defines the figure of a person, his character and behavior. In the waiting room of the dying Count Bezukhov, one of the heirs, Prince Vasily, walks on tiptoe in confusion. "He couldn't walk on tiptoe and jumped awkwardly with his whole body." And in this bouncing, the whole nature of a dignified and imperious prince is reflected.
The external feature takes on a deep psychological and symbolic meaning in Tolstoy. He has incomparable visual acuity, brilliant observation, almost clairvoyance. By one turn of the head or the movement of the fingers, he guesses the person. Every feeling, even the most fleeting one, is immediately embodied for him in a bodily sign; Movement, posture, gesture, expression of the eyes, the line of the shoulders, trembling of the lips are read by him as a symbol of the soul. Hence - that impression of mental-bodily wholeness and completeness, which is produced by his heroes. In the art of creating living people with flesh and blood, breathing, moving, casting a shadow, Tolstoy has no equal.
Princess Marya
In the center of the action of the novel are two noble families - the Bolkonskys and the Rostovs. The senior prince Bolkonsky, general-in-chief of Catherine's times, a Voltairian and clever gentleman, lives on the Lysye Gory estate with his daughter Marya, ugly and no longer young. Her father loves her passionately, but brings her up harshly and torments her with algebra lessons. Princess Marya "with beautiful radiant eyes", with a shy smile is an image of high spiritual beauty. She resignedly carries the cross of her life, prays, accepts “God's people” and dreams of becoming a wanderer ... “All the complex laws of mankind were concentrated for her in one simple and clear law of love and self-denial, taught to her by the One Who with love suffered for humanity when Himself He is God. What did she care about the justice or injustice of others? She had to suffer and love herself, and she did it. "
And yet she sometimes worries about the hope of personal happiness; she wants to have a family, children. When this hope is fulfilled and she marries Nikolai Rostov, her soul continues to strive for the "infinite, eternal perfect."
Prince Andrey Bolkonsky
Princess Marya's brother, Prince Andrew, does not look like a sister. This is a strong, intelligent, proud and frustrated person who feels superior over others, weighed down by his chirping, frivolous wife and is looking for practically useful activity. He collaborates with Speransky in the commission for drafting laws, but soon gets tired of this abstract office work. He is seized by a thirst for glory, he goes on a campaign in 1805 and, like Napoleon, awaits his "Toulon" - exaltation, greatness, "human love." But instead of "Toulon", the Austerlitz field awaits him, on which he lies wounded and looks into the bottomless sky. Everything is empty, he thinks, everything is deception except this endless sky. Nothing, nothing but him. But even that is not even there, there is nothing but silence, reassurance. "
Andrey Bolkonsky
Returning to Russia, he settles in his estate and plunges into the "longing of life." The death of his wife, the betrayal of Natasha Rostova, who seemed to him the ideal of girlish charm and purity, plunge him into dark despair. And only slowly dying from the wound received in the Borodino battle, in the face of death, does he find that “truth of life”, which he always sought so unsuccessfully: “Love is life,” he thinks. - Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Love is God, and to die means to me, a particle of love, to return to a common and eternal source. "
Nikolay Rostov
Difficult relations connect the Bolkonsky family with the Rostov family. Nikolai Rostov is a whole, spontaneous nature, like Eroshka in Cossacks or Volodya's brother in Childhood. He lives without question or doubt, he has a "common sense of mediocrity." Straightforward, noble, brave, cheerful, he is surprisingly attractive despite his limitations. Of course, he does not understand the mystical soul of his wife Marya, but he knows how to create a happy family, raise kind and honest children.
Natasha Rostova
His sister Natasha Rostova is one of the most charming female images of Tolstoy. She enters the life of each of us as a beloved and close friend. From her lively, joyful and soulful face, a radiance emanates, illuminating everything around her. When she appears, everyone becomes cheerful, everyone starts to smile. Natasha is full of such an excess of vitality, such a "talent for life" that her whims, frivolous hobbies, selfishness of youth and thirst for "the pleasures of life" - everything seems charming.
She is constantly on the move, intoxicated with joy, inspired by feeling; she does not reason, “does not deign to be clever,” as Pierre says of her, but the clairvoyance of the heart replaces her mind. She immediately "sees" a person and aptly defines him. When her fiancé Andrei Bolkonsky leaves for the war, Natasha is carried away by the brilliant and empty Anatol Kuragin. But the break with Prince Andrey and then his death overturned her whole soul. Her noble and truthful nature cannot forgive herself for this guilt. Natasha falls into hopeless despair and wants to die. At this time, the news comes about the death of her younger brother Petya in the war. Natasha forgets about her grief and selflessly takes care of her mother - and this saves her.
“Natasha thought,” writes Tolstoy, “that her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her. Love woke up and life woke up. " Finally, she marries Pierre Bezukhov and turns into a child-loving mother and devoted wife: she refuses all the "pleasures of life" that she loved so passionately before, and gives herself up to her new, difficult responsibilities with all her heart. For Tolstoy, Natasha is life itself, instinctive, mysterious and holy in its natural wisdom.
Pierre Bezukhov
The ideological and compositional center of the novel is Count Pierre Bezukhov. All the complex and numerous lines of action coming from two "family chronicles" - the Bolkonskys and the Rostovs, are drawn to it; he clearly enjoys the author's greatest sympathy and is the closest to him in terms of spirit. Pierre belongs to people "seeking", reminds Nikolenka, Nekhlyudova, Venison, but most of all Tolstoy himself. Before us pass not only the external events of life, but also the consistent history of his spiritual development.
The path of searches of Pierre Bezukhov
Pierre was brought up in an atmosphere of Rousseau's ideas, he lives with feeling and is inclined to "dreamy philosophizing." He seeks "the truth", but due to weak will he continues to lead an empty social life, to revel, play cards, go to balls; the absurd marriage to the soulless beauty Helen Kuragina, the break with her and the duel with his former friend Dolokhov make a profound revolution in him. He's interested in freemasonry, thinks to find in him "inner peace and harmony with himself." But soon disappointment sets in: the philanthropic activity of the Masons seems to him insufficient, their addiction to uniforms and magnificent ceremonies outrages him. A moral numbness, a panic fear of life finds him.
The "tangled and terrible knot of life" strangles him. And on the Borodino field, he meets the Russian people - a new world opens up to him. The spiritual crisis was prepared by stunning impressions that suddenly befell him: he sees the fire of Moscow, is captured, spends several days awaiting the death sentence, and is present at the execution. And then he meets "Russian, kind, round Karataev." Joyful and light, he saves Pierre from spiritual death and leads him to God.
“Before, he sought God for the goals that he set for himself,” writes Tolstoy, and suddenly he learned in his captivity, not by words, not by reasoning, but by direct feeling, what the nanny had already told him for a long time; that God is here He is, here, everywhere. In captivity, he learned that God in Karataev is greater, infinite and incomprehensible than in the Architecton of the universe recognized by the Freemasons. "
Religious inspiration embraces Pierre, all questions and doubts disappear, he no longer thinks about the “meaning of life,” for the meaning has already been found: love for God and selfless service to people. The novel ends with a picture of Pierre's complete happiness, who married Natasha Rostova and became a devoted husband and loving father.
Platon Karataev
The soldier Platon Karataev, a meeting with whom in Moscow occupied by the French made a revolution in the seeker of truth, Pierre Bezukhov, is conceived by the author as a parallel to the "people's hero" Kutuzov; he, too, is a person without personality, passively giving in to events. This is how Pierre sees him, that is, the author himself, but the reader sees him differently. Not impersonality, but the extraordinary originality of his personality amazes us. His apt words, jokes and sayings, his constant activity, his bright cheerfulness of spirit and sense of beauty ("goodness"), his active love for neighbors, humility, cheerfulness and religiosity do not add up in our imagination to the image of an impersonal "part of the whole", but into the amazingly whole face of the righteous man of the people.
Platon Karataev is as much a “great Christian” as the holy fool Grisha in Childhood. Tolstoy intuitively sensed his spiritual identity, but his rationalistic explanation slipped over the surface of this mystical soul.
We have all read or heard about the novel War and Peace, but not everyone will be able to remember the characters of the novel from the first time. The main characters of the novel War and Peace- love, suffer, live life in the imagination of every reader.
Main characters War and Peace
The main characters of the novel War and Peace - Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrey Bolkonsky.
It is rather difficult to say which is the main one, since Tolstoy's characters are described as if in parallel.
The main characters are different, they have different views on life, different aspirations, but the trouble is common, the war. And Tolstoy shows in the novel not one, but many destinies. The history of each of them is unique. There is no the best, no the worst. We understand the best and the worst in comparison.
Natasha Rostova- one of the main characters with her story and troubles, Bolkonsky also one of the best characters, whose story, alas, had to have an end. He himself has exhausted his life limit.
Bezukhov a little strange, lost, uncertain, but his fate bizarrely presented him with Natasha.
The main character is the one that is closest to you.
Characteristics of the heroes War and Peace
Akhrosimova Marya Dmitrievna- a Moscow lady, known throughout the city "not for wealth, not for honors, but for her directness of mind and frank simplicity of address." Anecdotal cases were told about her, they quietly laughed at her rudeness, but they were afraid and sincerely respected. A. knew both capitals and even the royal family. The prototype of the heroine is the well-known Moscow A. D. Ofrosimova, described by S. P. Zhikharev in the "Student's Diary".
The usual way of life of the heroine consists of doing housework at home, trips to mass, visiting prison, receiving petitioners and traveling to the city on business. Four sons serve in the army, of which she is very proud; he knows how to hide his anxiety for them from strangers.
A. always speaks Russian, loudly, she has a "thick voice", a corpulent body, she holds high "her fifty-year-old head with gray beads." A. is close to the Rostov family, loving Natasha most of all. On the birthday of Natasha and the old countess, it is she who dances with Count Rostov, delighting the entire assembled society. She boldly reprimands Pierre for the incident due to which he was expelled from St. Petersburg in 1805; she rebukes the old prince Bolkonsky for the impoliteness made to Natasha during the visit; she also upsets Natasha's plan to escape with Anatole.
Bagration- one of the most famous Russian military leaders, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, prince. In the novel, he acts as a real historical person and a participant in the plot action. B. "short, with an oriental type of hard and motionless face, dry, not yet old man." In the novel, he participates mainly as the commander of the Battle of Shengraben. Before the operation, Kutuzov 'blessed him "for a great feat" of saving the army. The mere presence of the prince on the battlefield changes a lot in its course, although he does not give any visible orders, but at the decisive moment he dismounts and himself goes into the attack in front of the soldiers. He is loved and respected by everyone, it is known about him that for his courage even in Italy, Suvorov himself gave him a sword. During the battle of Austerlitz, one B. all day fought off twice the strongest enemy and, when retreating, withdrew his column from the battlefield undisturbed. That is why Moscow chose him as its hero, in honor of B., a dinner was given in an English club, in his person “due honor was given to a fighting, simple, without connections and intrigues, Russian soldier ...”.
Pierre Bezukhov- one of the main characters of the novel; at first the hero of the story about the Decembrist, from the idea of which the work arose.
P. - the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a famous Catherine's grandee, who became the heir to the title and a huge fortune, "a massive, fat young man with a shaved head, glasses", he is distinguished by an intelligent, timid, "observant and natural" look P. was brought up abroad and appeared in Russia shortly before the death of his father and the start of the campaign of 1805. He is smart, inclined to philosophical reasoning, gentle and kind-hearted, compassionate to others, kind, impractical and subject to passions. His closest friend, Andrei Bolkonsky, characterizes P. as the only "living person" among the whole world.
At the beginning of the novel, P. considers Napoleon the greatest man in the world, but gradually becomes disillusioned, reaching the point of hatred for him and a desire to kill. Having become a wealthy heir and falling under the influence of Prince Vasily and Helen, P. marries the latter. Very soon, having understood the character of his wife and realizing her depravity, he breaks with her. In search of the content and meaning of his life, P. is fond of Freemasonry, trying to find in this teaching the answers to the questions that torment him and get rid of the passions that torment him. Realizing the falsity of the Masons, the hero breaks with them, tries to reorganize the lives of his peasants, but fails because of his impracticality and credulity.
The greatest trials fell on P. before and during the war, it is not for nothing that "through his eyes" readers see the famous comet of 1812, which, according to the general belief, foreshadowed terrible misfortunes. This sign follows P.'s explanation of love to Natasha Rostova. During the war, the hero, deciding to look at the battle and not yet very clearly aware of the strength of national unity and the significance of the event, finds himself on the Borodino field. On this day, the last conversation with Prince Andrey, who understood that the truth is where "they", that is, ordinary soldiers, gives him a lot. Remaining in a burning and deserted Moscow to kill Napoleon, P. tries as best he can to deal with the misfortune that has befallen the people, but is captured and experiences terrible moments during the execution of prisoners.
Meeting with Platon Karataev reveals for P. the truth that one must love life, even suffering innocently, seeing the meaning and purpose of each person in being a part and reflection of the whole world. After meeting with Karataev P. learned to see "the eternal and infinite in everything." At the end of the war, after the death of Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha's revival to life, P. marries her. In the epilogue, he is a happy husband and father, a man who, in a dispute with Nikolai Rostov, expresses convictions that make it possible to see in him the future Decembrist.
Berg- German, "a fresh, pink Guards officer, impeccably washed, buttoned up and combed." At the beginning of the novel, a lieutenant, at the end - a colonel who has made a good career and has awards. B. is accurate, calm, courteous, selfish and stingy. The people around him laugh at him. B. could only talk about himself and his interests, the main of which was success. He could talk about this subject for hours, with visible pleasure for himself and at the same time teaching others. During the campaign in 1805, Mr .. B. - a company commander, proud of the fact that he is efficient, accurate, enjoys the confidence of his superiors and arranged his material affairs profitably. When meeting in the army, Nikolai Rostov treats him with slight contempt.
B. first the prospective and desired fiancé of Vera Rostova, and then her husband. The hero makes an offer to his future wife at a time when a refusal to him is excluded - B. correctly takes into account the material difficulties of the Rostovs, which does not prevent him from demanding from the old count a part of the promised dowry. Having reached a certain position, income, having married Vera, who meets his requirements, Colonel B. feels content and happy, even in the abandoned Moscow residents taking care of purchasing furniture.
Bolkonskaya Liza- the wife of Prince Andrei, for whom the name of the "little princess" was fixed in the world. “Her pretty, with a slightly blackened mustache, the upper lip was short across the teeth, but the lovelier it opened and the lovelier it sometimes stretched out and sank onto the lower one. As is always the case with quite attractive women, her lack - the shortness of her lips and a half-open mouth - seemed to be her special, her own beauty. It was fun for everyone to look at this pretty mother-to-be, full of health and liveliness, who so easily endured her position. "
The image of L. was formed by Tolstoy in the first edition and remained unchanged. As a prototype of the little princess, the wife of the second cousin of the writer, Princess L.I. The "little princess" enjoyed universal love because of her everlasting liveliness and courtesy of a secular woman who could not even imagine her life outside the world. In her relationship with her husband, she is distinguished by a complete lack of understanding of his aspirations and character. During disputes with her husband, her face, because of the raised lip, took on a "brutal, squirrel expression", but Prince Andrei, repenting of his marriage to L., in a conversation with Pierre and his father notes that this is one of the rare women with whom "you can be calm for your honor. "
After Bolkonsky left for the war, L. lives in Bald Hills, experiencing constant fear and antipathy towards his father-in-law and making friends not with his sister-in-law, but with Princess Mary's empty and frivolous companion, Mademoiselle Burienne. L. dies, as she had a presentiment, during childbirth, on the day of the return of Prince Andrew, who was considered killed. The expression on her face before and after her death seems to indicate that she loves everyone, does no harm to anyone and cannot understand why she is suffering. Her death leaves Prince Andrei with a feeling of irreparable guilt and sincere pity for the old prince.
Bolkonskaya Marya- princess, daughter of the old prince Bolkonsky, sister of prince Andrei, later the wife of Nikolai Rostov. M. had “an ugly weak body and a thin face ... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so good that very often, despite the ugliness of the whole face, these eyes became more attractive beauty ".
M. is very religious, accepts pilgrims and wanderers, enduring the ridicule of his father and brother. She has no friends with whom she could share her thoughts. Her life is focused on love for her father, often unfair towards her, for her brother and his son Nikolenka (after the death of the "little princess"), whom she, as best she can, replaces her mother, M. is an intelligent, meek, educated woman, not hoping for personal happiness. Because of the unfair reproaches of her father and the impossibility to endure any longer, she even wanted to go on a wandering. Her life changes after meeting with Nikolai Rostov, who managed to guess the wealth of her soul. Having married, the heroine is happy, completely sharing all her husband's views "on duty and oath."
Bolkonsky Andrey- one of the main characters of the novel, prince, son of N. A. Bolkonsky, brother of Princess Mary. "... Small in stature, a very handsome young man with definite and dry features." This is an intelligent, proud person looking for great intellectual and spiritual content in life. The sister notes in him some kind of "pride of thought", he is restrained, educated, practical and has a strong will.
By birth, B. occupies one of the most enviable places in society, but is unhappy in family life and is not satisfied with the emptiness of light. At the beginning of the novel, its hero is Napoleon. Wanting to imitate Napoleon, dreaming of "his Toulon", he leaves for the active army, where he shows courage, composure, heightened feelings of honor, duty, justice. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. Badly wounded in the battle of Austerlitz, B. realizes the futility of his dreams and the insignificance of his idol. The hero returns home, where he was considered dead, on the birthday of his son and the death of his wife. These events shock him even more, leaving a feeling of guilt in front of his deceased wife. Having decided after Austerlitz not to serve any more, B. lives in Bogucharovo, doing housework, raising his son and reading a lot. During Pierre's arrival, he confesses that he lives for himself alone, but something awakens for a moment in his soul, when he sees the sky above him for the first time after being wounded. From that time on, while maintaining the previous circumstances, "his new life began in the inner world."
Over the two years of his life in the village, B. has been doing a lot of analysis of the latest military campaigns, which prompts him, under the influence of a trip to Otradnoye and awakened vitality, to go to Petersburg, where he works under the supervision of Speransky, who directs the preparation of legislative changes.
In St. Petersburg, B.'s second meeting with Natasha takes place, a deep feeling and hope for happiness arises in the hero's soul. Having postponed the wedding for a year under the influence of his father, who did not agree with the decision of his son, B. went abroad. After the betrayal of the bride, in order to forget about it, to calm down the feelings that flooded him, he again returns to the army under the command of Kutuzov. Taking part in the Patriotic War, B. wants to be at the front, and not at the headquarters, draws closer to the soldiers and comprehends the imperious strength of the "spirit of the army" fighting for the liberation of their homeland. Before participating in the last battle of Borodino in his life, the hero meets and talks with Pierre. Having received a mortal wound, B. by chance coincidence leaves Moscow in the Rostovs' wagon train, reconciling with Natasha on the way, forgiving her and realizing before death the true meaning of the power of love that unites people.
Bolkonsky Nikolay Andreevich- Prince, general-in-chief, dismissed from service under Paul I and exiled to the village. Father of Princess Marya and Prince Andrew. In the image of the old prince, Tolstoy restored many of the features of his maternal grandfather, Prince NS Volkonsky, "an intelligent, proud and gifted person."
N. A. lives in the countryside, meticulously distributing his time, most of all not enduring idleness, stupidity, superstition and violation of the once established order; he is demanding and harsh with everyone, often harassing his daughter with nagging, deep down in his soul he loves her. The revered prince "walked in the old fashioned way, in a caftan and powder", was short, "in a powdered wig ... with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, overshadowed the brilliance of smart and like young shiny eyes." He is very proud, smart, restrained in showing feelings; almost his main concern is the preservation of family honor and dignity. Until the last days of his life, the old prince retained an interest in political and military events, only before his death he lost real ideas about the scale of the misfortune that happened to Russia. It was he who brought up feelings of pride, duty, patriotism and scrupulous honesty in his son Andrei.
Bolkonsky Nikolenka- the son of Prince Andrew and the "little princess", born on the day of the death of his mother and the return of his father, who was considered dead. He was brought up first in the house of his grandfather, then by Princess Marya. Outwardly, he looks very much like his deceased mother: he has the same upturned sponge and curly dark hair. N. grows up as an intelligent, impressionable and nervous boy. In the epilogue of the novel, he is 15 years old, he becomes a witness to the dispute between Nikolai Rostov and Pierre Bezukhov. Under this impression, N. sees a dream with which Tolstoy ends the events of the novel and in which the hero sees glory, himself, his late father and uncle Pierre at the head of a large "right-wing" army.
Denisov Vasily Dmitrievich- a combat hussar officer, gambler, gambling, noisy "little man with a red face, shiny black eyes, black tousled mustache and hair." D. is the commander and friend of Nikolai Rostov, a man for whom the honor of the regiment in which he serves is above all in life. He is brave, capable of daring and rash actions, as in the case of the seizure of food transport, participates in all campaigns, commanding a partisan detachment in 1812 that freed prisoners, including Pierre.
D.V. Davydov, the hero of the war of 1812, who is also mentioned in the novel as a historical person, served as a prototype for D. in many respects. Dolokhov Fyodor - "Semyonovsky officer, famous player and breaker." “Dolokhov was a man of average height, curly hair and light blue eyes. He was twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was all visible. The lines of this mouth were remarkably finely curved. In the middle, the upper lip energetically descended on the strong lower lip in a sharp wedge, and in the corners something like two smiles constantly formed, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a firm, impudent, intelligent look, made the impression that it was impossible not to notice this face. " The prototypes of the image of D. were RI Dorokhov, a reveler and a brave man whom Tolstoy knew in the Caucasus; a relative of the writer, known at the beginning of the 19th century. Count F. I. Tolstoy-American, who also served as the prototype for the heroes of A. S. Pushkin and A. S. Griboyedov; partisan of the Patriotic War of 1812 A. S. Figner.
D. is not rich, but he knows how to position himself in society in such a way that everyone respects and even fears him. He gets bored in everyday life and gets rid of boredom in a strange, even cruel way, doing incredible things. In 1805, for tricks with the quarter, he was expelled from St. Petersburg, demoted to the rank and file, but during the military campaign he regained his officer rank.
D. is smart, brave, cold-blooded, indifferent to death. He carefully hides from. outsiders his tender affection for his mother, confessing to Rostov that everyone considers him an evil person, but in fact he does not want to know anyone except those he loves.
Dividing all people into useful and harmful, he sees around him mostly harmful, unloved, whom he is ready to "pass over if they become on the road." D. is impudent, cruel and cunning. As Helene's lover, he provokes Pierre to a duel; coolly and dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov, taking revenge for Sonya's refusal to his proposal; helps Anatol Kuragin to prepare an escape with Natasha, Drubetskaya Boris - the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya; from childhood he was brought up and lived for a long time in the Rostov family, who through his mother is a relative, was in love with Natasha. "A tall, blond youth with regular, delicate features, a calm and handsome face." The prototypes of the hero are A. M. Kuzminsky and M. D. Polivanov.
Since his youth, D. has dreamed of a career, is very proud, but accepts his mother's troubles and condones her humiliation if it is in his favor. AM Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Once in military service, D. dreams of making a brilliant career in this area.
Taking part in the campaign in 1805, he acquires many useful acquaintances and understands the "unwritten chain of command", wishing to continue serving only in accordance with it. In 1806, A. P. Scherer "treats" them, a courier who had come from the Prussian army, to his guests. In the light of D. seeks to make useful contacts and uses the last money to give the impression of a rich and successful person. He becomes a close person in Helen's house and her lover. During the meeting of the emperors in Tilsit, D. was there, and from that time on his position was especially firmly established. In 1809, D., seeing Natasha again, is carried away by her and for some time does not know what to prefer, since marriage to Natasha would mean the end of his career. D. is looking for a rich bride, choosing at one time between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina, who eventually became his wife.
Karataev Platon- a soldier of the Absheron regiment, who met Pierre Bezukhov in captivity. Nicknamed Sokolik in the service. In the first edition of the novel, this character was not. Its appearance is, apparently, due to the development and final design of the image of Pierre and the philosophical concept of the novel.
At the first meeting with this small, affectionate and good-natured person, Pierre is struck by the feeling of something round and calm that comes from K. He attracts everyone with his calmness, confidence, kindness and smile of his round face. Once K. tells the story of an innocently convicted merchant, humbled and suffering "for his own, but for human sins." This story comes across as something very important among the prisoners. Weakened from fever, K. begins to lag behind at the transitions; French guards shoot him.
After the death of K., thanks to his wisdom and the folk philosophy of life, unconsciously expressed in all his behavior, Pierre comes to an understanding of the meaning of life.
Kuragin Anatol- the son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Ippolita, an officer. Unlike the "calm fool" Hippolytus, Prince Vasily looks at A. as a "restless fool" who must always be rescued from troubles. A. is a tall handsome man with a good-natured and "victorious look", "beautiful big" eyes and light brown hair. He is dapper, impudent, stupid, not resourceful, not eloquent in conversations, depraved, but "on the other hand, he also had the ability of calmness, precious for the world, and unchangeable confidence." Being a friend of Dolo-khov and a participant in his revelry, A. looks at his life as a constant pleasure and amusement, which should have been arranged for him by someone, he does not care about his relationships with other people. A. treats women contemptuously and with a sense of his superiority, accustomed to liking and not experiencing serious feelings for anyone.
After being carried away by Natasha Rostova and trying to take her away, A. was forced to hide from Moscow, and then from Prince Andrei, who intended to challenge the offender to a duel. Their last meeting will take place in the infirmary after the Battle of Borodino: A. is wounded, his leg is amputated.
Kuragin Vasily- Prince, father of Helene, Anatole and Hippolytus; a well-known and influential person in the Petersburg world who holds important court posts.
Prince V. treats everyone around him condescendingly and patronizingly, speaks quietly, always bending his interlocutor by the hand. He appears "in a courtier, embroidered uniform, in stockings, shoes, with the stars, with a bright expression of a flat face", with a "perfumed and radiant bald patch." When he smiles, "something unexpectedly rude and unpleasant" forms in the wrinkles of his mouth. Prince V. does not wish anyone harm, does not think over his plans in advance, but, as a secular person, uses circumstances and connections to carry out plans that naturally arise in his mind. He always strives for rapprochement with people who are richer and higher in status.
The hero considers himself an exemplary father who has done everything possible to raise children and continue to take care of their future. Having learned about Princess Marya, Prince V. takes Anatole to Bald Hills, wishing to marry him to a wealthy heiress. A relative of the old Count Bezukhov, he goes to Moscow and starts an intrigue with Princess Katish before the death of the Count in order to prevent Pierre Bezukhov from becoming an heir. Failing to succeed in this matter, he starts a new intrigue and marries Pierre and Helene.
Kuragina Helen- the daughter of Prince Vasily, and then the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. A brilliant Petersburg beauty with a "unchanging smile", full white shoulders, glossy hair and a beautiful figure. There was no noticeable coquetry in her, as if she was ashamed “for her undoubtedly and too strong and win? active beauty ”. E. is imperturbable, giving everyone the right to admire themselves, which makes her feel like a gloss from the multitude of other people's views. She knows how to be tacitly worthy in the world, giving the impression of a tactful and intelligent woman, which, combined with beauty, ensures her constant success.
Having married Pierre Bezukhov, the heroine discovers in front of her husband not only the limitedness of the mind, the coarseness of thought and vulgarity, but also cynical depravity. After breaking up with Pierre and receiving from him by proxy a large part of the fortune, she lives in Petersburg, then abroad, then returns to her husband. Despite the family break, the constant change of lovers, including Dolokhov and Drubetskoy, E. continues to be one of the most famous and kindly ladies in St. Petersburg. In the light, she is making very great strides; living alone, she becomes the mistress of the diplomatic and political salon, acquires the reputation of an intelligent woman. Having decided to convert to Catholicism and pondering the possibility of divorce and a new marriage, entangled between two very influential, high-ranking lovers and patrons, E. dies in 1812.
Kutuzov- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. A participant in real historical events described by Tolstoy, and at the same time in the plot of the work. He has a "plump, wound-disfigured face" with an aquiline nose; he is gray-haired, full, treads heavily. On the pages of the novel, K. first appears in an episode of the review under Brownau, impressing everyone with his knowledge of the matter and attention hidden behind the seeming absent-mindedness. K. knows how to be diplomatic; he is rather cunning and speaks “with grace of expression and intonation”, “with the affection of deference” of a subordinate and non-judgmental person when it is not about the security of the homeland, as before the Battle of Austerlitz. Before the Shengraben battle K., crying, blesses Bagration.
In 1812, K., contrary to the opinion of secular circles, received the dignity of a prince and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. He is the favorite of soldiers and military officers. From the beginning of his activity as commander-in-chief K. believes that to win the campaign "patience and time are needed", that the whole matter can be solved not by knowledge, not plans, not intelligence, but "something else, independent of intelligence and knowledge." ... According to Tolstoy's historical and philosophical concept, a person is not able to really influence the course of historical events. K. possesses the ability to “calmly contemplate the course of events,” but he knows how to see, listen, remember everything, not interfere with anything useful and not allow anything harmful. On the eve and during the Battle of Borodino, the commander monitors the preparations for the battle, together with all the soldiers and militias, he prays before the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk and during the battle controls the "elusive force" called the "spirit of the army." K. experiences agonizing feelings, deciding to leave Moscow, but "with all his Russian being" knows that the French will be defeated. Having directed all his forces towards the liberation of his homeland, K. dies when his role is fulfilled, and the enemy is driven out of the borders of Russia. "This simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure could not lie down in that deceitful form of the European hero, ostensibly controlling people, which history has invented."
Napoleon- the French emperor; the real historical person, deduced in the novel, the hero, with the image of which the historical and philosophical concept of L. N. Tolstoy is connected.
At the beginning of the work, N. is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky, a man whose greatness Pierre Bezukhov admires, a politician whose actions and personality are discussed in the high-society salon of A. P, Scherer. As the protagonist of the novel, he appears in the Battle of Austerlitz, after which the wounded Prince Andrei sees "a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness" on N.'s face, admiring the view of the battlefield.
The figure of N. "stout, short ... with wide, thick shoulders and involuntarily thrust forward belly and chest, had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hall have"; his face is youthful, full, with a protruding chin, short hair, and "his white plump neck protruded sharply from behind the black collar of his uniform." N.'s self-righteousness and self-confidence are expressed in the conviction that his presence plunges people into delight and self-forgetfulness, that everything in the world depends only on his will. Sometimes he is prone to outbursts of anger.
Even before the order to cross the borders of Russia, Moscow haunts the hero's imagination, and during the war he does not foresee its general course. Fighting the Borodino battle, N. acts "involuntarily and senselessly", unable to somehow influence its course, although he does nothing harmful to the cause. For the first time, during the Battle of Borodino, he experienced bewilderment and hesitation, and after him the sight of the killed and wounded "defeated that spiritual strength in which he believed his merit and greatness." According to the author, N. was destined for an inhuman role, his mind and conscience were darkened, and his actions were "too opposite to goodness and truth, too far from everything human."
Rostov Ilya Andreevich- Count, father of Natasha, Nikolai, Vera and Petya Rostov, a famous Moscow master, rich man, hospitable person. R. knows how and loves to live, good-natured, generous and dull. Many character traits and some episodes in the life of his paternal grandfather, Count I.A.Tolstoy, the writer used when creating the image of the old Count Rostov, noting in his appearance those features that are known from the portrait of his grandfather: full body, “rare gray hair on a bald head. "
R. is known in Moscow not only as a hospitable host and an excellent family man, but also as a person who knows how to arrange a ball, reception, dinner better than others, and if necessary, then put in his own money for this. He is a member and foreman of the English club since the day of its foundation. It is he who is entrusted with the trouble of arranging a dinner in honor of Bagration.
Count R.'s life is burdened only by the constant awareness of his gradual ruin, which he cannot stop, allowing the managers to rob themselves, not being able to refuse the petitioners, not being able to change the once established order of life. Most of all, he suffers from the consciousness that ruins the children, but becomes more and more entangled in business. To improve property matters, the Rostyves live for two years in the village, the count leaves the leaders, looks for a place in St. Petersburg, transporting his family there and with his habits and social circle giving the impression of a provincial there.
R. is distinguished by tender, deep love and heartfelt kindness towards his wife and children. When leaving Moscow after the Battle of Borodino, it was the old count who began to slowly give carts for the wounded, thereby inflicting one of the last blows on his fortune. Events 1812-1813 and the loss of Petya finally broke the hero's mental and physical strength. The last event, which, out of old habit, he directs, making the same active impression, is the wedding of Natasha and Pierre; in the same year, the count dies “exactly at the time when things ... got so tangled that it was impossible to imagine how it would all end,” and leaves behind a good memory.
Rostov Nikolay- son of Count Rostov, brother of Vera, Natasha and Petit, officer, hussar; at the end of the novel, the husband of Princess Marya Volkonskaya. "A short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face", in whom "swiftness and enthusiasm" were seen. The writer gave N. some features of his father, N.I.-Tolstoy, a participant in the war of 1812. The hero is distinguished in many ways by the same features of openness, gaiety, benevolence, self-sacrifice, musicality and emotionality as all Rostovs. Convinced that he was not an official or a diplomat, N. at the beginning of the novel leaves the university and enters the Pavlograd hussar regiment, in which his whole life is concentrated for a long time. He takes part in military campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812. N. takes his first baptism of fire when crossing the Ens, unable to combine in himself "the fear of death and the stretcher and love of the sun and life." In the Battle of Shengraben, he goes on the attack too bravely, but, being wounded in the arm, he gets lost and leaves the battlefield thinking about the absurdity of the death of the one "whom everyone loves so much." Having passed these tests, N. becomes a brave officer, a real hussar; he retains a sense of admiration for the sovereign and loyalty to his duty. Feeling at home in his native regiment, as in some special world where everything is simple and clear, N. is also there not free from solving complex moral problems, as, for example, in the case of officer Telyanin. In the regiment N. becomes "quite coarse" kind fellow, but remains sensitive and open to subtle feelings. In a peaceful life, he behaves like a real hussar.
His long-lasting romance with Sonya ends with N.'s noble decision to marry a homeless woman, even against the will of his mother, but he receives a letter from Sonya with the return of his freedom. In 1812, during one of his trips, N. met Princess Marya and helped her to leave Bogucharovo. Princess Marya amazes him with her meekness and spirituality. After the death of his father, N. retires, taking on all the obligations and debts of the deceased, taking care of his mother and Sonya. When meeting with Princess Volkonskaya, out of noble motives, he tries to avoid her, one of the richest brides, but their mutual feeling does not weaken and is crowned with a happy marriage.
Rostov Petya- the youngest son of Counts Rostov, brother of Vera, Nikolai, Natasha. At the beginning of the novel, P. is still a little boy, enthusiastically succumbing to the general atmosphere of life in the Rostov house. He is musical, like all Rostovs, kind and cheerful. After Nicholas entered the army, P. wanted to imitate his brother, and in 1812, carried away by his patriotic impulse and enthusiastic attitude towards the sovereign, asked for leave to join the army. "Snub-nosed Petya, with his cheerful black eyes, fresh blush and a little fluff on his cheeks," becomes after departure the main concern of the mother, who realizes only at this time the depth of her love for her youngest child. During the war, P. accidentally ends up with an assignment in Denisov's detachment, where he remains, wishing to take part in the present case. He accidentally dies, showing on the eve of his death in relations with his comrades all the best features of the "Rostov breed" inherited by him in his home.
Rostov- Countess, "a woman with an oriental type of thin face, forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children ... The slowness of her movements and speech, stemming from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant look that inspires respect." When creating the image of Countess R. Tolstoy, character traits and some circumstances of the life of his paternal grandmother P.N. Tolstoy and mother-in-law L.A. Bers were used.
R. is accustomed to living in luxury, in an atmosphere of love and kindness. She is proud of the friendship and trust of her children, pampers them, worries about their fate. Despite the seeming weakness and even lack of will, the Countess makes balanced and reasonable decisions regarding the fate of children. Her love for children is also dictated by her desire by all means to marry Nicholas to a rich bride, nagging at Sonya. The news of Petya's death almost leads her to insanity. The only subject of the countess's displeasure is the old count's inability to manage affairs and small quarrels with him over the waste of the children's fortune. At the same time, the heroine cannot understand either the position of her husband, or the position of her son, with whom she remains after the death of the count, demanding the usual luxury and the fulfillment of all her whims and desires.
Rostova Natasha- one of the main heroines of the novel, daughter of Count Rostov, sister of Nikolai, Vera and Petit; at the end of the novel, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. N. - "black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive ...". His wife and her sister T.A. Bers, married Kuzminskaya, served as her prototype for Tolstoy. According to the writer, he "took Tanya, smashed with Sonya, and it turned out Natasha." The image of the heroine took shape gradually from the very inception of the idea, when the writer, next to his hero, a former Decembrist, introduces himself to his wife.
N. is very emotional and sensitive, she intuitively guesses people, "not deigning" to be smart, sometimes selfish in manifestations of her feelings, but more often she is capable of self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, as in the case of taking the wounded out of Moscow or nursing her mother after Petya's death.
One of the defining qualities and merits of N. is her musicality and a voice of rare beauty. With her singing, she is able to influence the best in a person: it is N.'s singing that saves Nicholas from despair after the loss of 43 thousand. The old Count Rostov says about N. that she is all in him, "gunpowder", while Akhrosimova calls her "Cossack" and "potion girl".
Constantly carried away, N. lives in an atmosphere of love and happiness. A change in her fate occurs after meeting with Prince Andrew, who became her fiancé. The impatient feeling overwhelming N., the insult inflicted by the old prince Bolkonsky, push her to be infatuated with Anatoly Kuragin, to refuse Prince Andrei. Having only experienced and felt a lot, she realizes her guilt before Bolkonsky, reconciling with him and staying near the dying Prince Andrei until his death. N. feels true love only for Pierre Bezukhov, with whom he finds complete mutual understanding and whose wife he becomes, plunging into the world of family and maternal concerns.
Sonya- the niece and pupil of the old Count Rostov, who grew up in his family. The storyline of S. is based on the fate of T.A. However, the spiritual appearance of Ergolskaya is quite far from the character and inner world of the heroine. At the beginning of the novel, S. is 15 years old, she is “a slender, petite brunette with a soft gaze shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tinge of skin on her face and especially on her naked, thin, but graceful arms and neck. ... With the smoothness of movements, the softness and flexibility of small members and a somewhat cunning and restrained manner, she resembles a beautiful, but not yet formed kitten, which will be a lovely kitty. "
S. fits perfectly into the Rostov family, is unusually close and friendly with Natasha, since childhood she has been in love with Nikolai. She is restrained, silent, reasonable, careful, in her the ability to self-sacrifice is highly developed. S. attracts attention with her beauty and moral purity, but she does not have that spontaneity and inexplicably irresistible charm that is in Natasha. S.'s feeling for Nikolai is so constant and deep that she wants to "always love, and let him be free." This feeling makes her refuse the fiance, enviable in her dependent position, Dolokhov.
The content of the heroine's life completely depends on her love: she is happy, being connected by word with Nikolai Rostov, especially after Christmastide and his refusal to ask her mother to go to Moscow to marry the rich Julie Karagina. S. finally decides his fate under the influence of biased reproaches and reproaches of the old countess, not wanting to pay with ingratitude for everything that was done for her in the Rostov family, and most importantly, wishing Nikolai to be happy. She writes him a letter in which she frees him from this word, but secretly hopes that his marriage with Princess Marya will be impossible after the recovery of Prince Andrew. After the death of the old count, he remains with the countess to live in the care of retired Nikolai Rostov.
Tushin- staff captain, hero of the Shengraben battle, “a small, dirty, thin artillery officer with big, intelligent and kind eyes. There was something about this man "non-military, somewhat comic, but extremely attractive." T. is shy when meeting with his superiors, and there is always some kind of his fault. On the eve of the battle, he talks about the fear of death and the uncertainty of what awaits after it.
In battle, T. completely changes, presenting himself as the hero of a fantastic picture, a hero throwing cannonballs at the enemy, and the enemy's cannons appear to him as puffing pipes like his own. T.'s battery was forgotten during the battle, left without cover. During the battle, T. has no feelings of fear and thoughts of death and injury. He becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers listen to him like children, 'he does everything he can, and thanks to his ingenuity, he sets fire to the village of Shengraben. Andrei Bolkonsky rescues the hero from another trouble (the cannons left on the battlefield), announcing to Bagration that it is to this man that the detachment owes much of its success.
Anna Pavlovna Sherer- the maid of honor and confidant of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the hostess of the fashionable in St. Petersburg high society "political" salon, describing the evening in which Tolstoy begins his novel. AP is 40 years old, she has "obsolete facial features", every time the mention of the Empress expresses a combination of sadness, devotion and respect. The heroine is dexterous, tactful, influential at court, prone to intrigue. Her attitude to 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. AP is constantly "filled with animation and impulse", "being an enthusiast has become her social position", and in her salon, in addition to discussing the latest courtiers and political news, she always "treats" guests with some novelty or celebrity, and in 1812 her circle demonstrates salon patriotism in the light of St. Petersburg.
Chipped Tikhon- a man from Pokrovskoe near Gzhatya, sticking to Denisov's partisan detachment. He got his nickname due to the lack of one tooth. He is agile, walks on "flat, twisted legs." In detachment T. the most necessary person, no one more skillful than him can bring "the tongue" and perform any inconvenient and dirty work. T. goes to the French with pleasure, bringing trophies and prisoners, but after his injury, he begins to unnecessarily kill the French, laughingly referring to the fact that they were "inferior". For this he is not liked in the detachment.
Now you know the main characters War and Peace, as well as their brief description.
Introduction
Leo Tolstoy in his epic portrayed more than 500 characters typical for Russian society. In War and Peace, the heroes of the novel are representatives of the upper class of Moscow and St. Petersburg, key statesmen and military leaders, soldiers, people from the common people, and peasants. The depiction of all strata of Russian society allowed Tolstoy to recreate an integral picture of Russian life at one of the turning points in Russian history - the era of the wars with Napoleon in 1805-1812.
In "War and Peace" the characters are conventionally divided into main characters - whose fates are woven by the author into the plot narration of all four volumes and the epilogue, and minor ones - heroes who appear sporadically in the novel. Among the main characters of the novel, one can single out the central characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov, around whose destinies the events of the novel unfold.
Characteristics of the main characters of the novel
Andrey Bolkonsky- "a very handsome young man with definite and dry features", "small stature." The author introduces Bolkonsky to the reader at the beginning of the novel - the hero was one of the guests at Anna Scherer's evening (which was also attended by many of the main characters of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace).
According to the plot of the work, Andrei was tired of high society, he dreamed of glory, no less glory than Napoleon, and therefore goes to war. The episode that turned Bolkonsky's worldview was a meeting with Bonaparte - wounded on the field of Austerlitz, Andrei realized how insignificant Bonaparte and all his glory really were. The second turning point in Bolkonsky's life is his love for Natasha Rostova. The new feeling helped the hero return to a full life, to believe that after the death of his wife and everything he had endured, he can continue to live fully. However, their happiness with Natasha was not destined to come true - Andrei was mortally wounded during the Battle of Borodino and died soon after.
Natasha Rostova- a cheerful, kind, very emotional and loving girl: “black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive”. An important feature of the image of the central heroine of "War and Peace" is her musical talent - a wonderful voice, which fascinated even people who were inexperienced in music. The reader meets Natasha on the girl's birthday, when she turns 12 years old. Tolstoy depicts the heroine's moral maturation: love experiences, going out, Natasha's betrayal of Prince Andrei and her experiences because of this, her search for herself in religion and the turning point in the heroine's life - the death of Bolkonsky. In the epilogue of the novel, Natasha appears before the reader completely different - we are more likely to see the shadow of her husband, Pierre Bezukhov, and not the bright, active Rostova, who a few years ago danced Russian dances and "won" carts for the wounded from her mother.
Pierre Bezukhov- "a massive, fat young man with a bobbed head, glasses." "Pierre was somewhat larger than the other men in the room," he had "an intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural look, which distinguished him from everyone in this living room." Pierre is a hero who is in constant search of himself through knowledge of the world around him. Each situation in his life, each life stage became a special life lesson for the hero. Marriage to Helene, passion for Freemasonry, love for Natasha Rostova, the presence on the battlefield of Borodino (which the hero sees through Pierre's eyes), French captivity and acquaintance with Karataev completely change Pierre's personality - a purposeful and self-confident man with own views and goals.
Other important characters
In War and Peace, Tolstoy conventionally identifies several blocks of characters - the Rostov, Bolkonsky, Kuragin families, as well as characters who are part of the social circle of one of these families. The Rostovs and Bolkonskys, as positive heroes, bearers of a truly Russian mentality, ideas and spirituality, are contrasted with the negative characters of the Kuragin, who had little interest in the spiritual aspect of life, preferring to shine in society, weave intrigues and choose friends according to their status and wealth. A brief description of the heroes of "War and Peace" will help to better understand the essence of each main character.
Graph Ilya Andreevich Rostov- a kind and generous man, for whom the most important thing in his life was family. The count sincerely loved his wife and four children (Natasha, Vera, Nikolai and Petya), helped his wife in raising children and did his best to maintain a warm atmosphere in the Rostovs' house. Ilya Andreevich cannot live without luxury, he liked to arrange magnificent balls, receptions and evenings, but his wastefulness and inability to manage household affairs ultimately led to the critical financial situation of the Rostovs.
Countess Natalya Rostova is a 45-year-old woman with oriental features, who knows how to make an impression in high society, the wife of Count Rostov, and the mother of four children. The Countess, like her husband, loved her family very much, trying to support the children and bring up the best qualities in them. Due to excessive love for children, after the death of Petya, the woman almost goes crazy. In the countess, kindness to those close to her was combined with prudence: wishing to improve the financial situation of the family, the woman was trying with all her might to upset Nikolai's marriage to the “unprofitable bride” Sonya.
Nikolay Rostov- "a short, curly-haired young man with an open expression." This is an innocent, open, honest and benevolent young man, brother of Natasha, the eldest son of the Rostovs. At the beginning of the novel, Nikolai appears as an admired young man who wants military glory and recognition, but after participating first in the Battle of Shengrabesk, and then in the Battle of Austerlitz and the Patriotic War, Nikolai's illusions are dispelled and the hero realizes how absurd and wrong the very idea of war is. Nikolai finds personal happiness in marriage with Marya Bolkonskaya, in which he felt a close-minded person even at the first meeting.
Sonya Rostova- "a thin, petite brunette with a soft, shaded by long eyelashes look, a thick black braid, twice wrapped around her head, and a yellowish tint of skin on her face", the niece of Count Rostov. According to the plot of the novel, this is a quiet, reasonable, kind girl, who knows how to love and is prone to self-sacrifice. Sonya refuses Dolokhov, since she wants to be faithful only to Nikolai, whom she sincerely loves. When the girl finds out that Nikolai is in love with Marya, she resignedly lets him go, not wanting to hinder the happiness of her beloved.
Nikolay Andreevich Bolkonsky- prince, retired general-ashef. This is a proud, intelligent, stern man of short stature towards himself and others "with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, overshadowed the brilliance of intelligent and like young shiny eyes." Deep down, Bolkonsky loves his children very much, but does not dare to show it (only before his death he was able to show his love to his daughter). Nikolai Andreevich died from a second blow while in Bogucharovo.
Marya Bolkonskaya- a quiet, kind, meek girl, inclined to self-sacrifice and sincerely loving her family. Tolstoy describes her as a heroine with “an ugly weak body and a thin face,” but “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so good that very often, despite the ugliness of everything faces, these eyes became more attractive than beauty. " The beauty of Marya's eyes afterwards struck Nikolai Rostov. The girl was very devout, devoted all of herself to caring for her father and nephew, then redirecting her love to her own family and husband.
Helen Kuragina- a bright, brilliantly beautiful woman with a "unchanging smile" and full white shoulders, who liked male company, Pierre's first wife. Helene was not distinguished by a special mind, however, thanks to her charm, ability to keep herself in society and establish the necessary connections, she set up her own salon in St. Petersburg, was personally acquainted with Napoleon. The woman died of severe sore throat (although there were rumors in society that Helen had committed suicide).
Anatol Kuragin- Helen's brother, as handsome in appearance and noticeable in high society as his sister. Anatole lived the way he wanted, discarding all moral principles and foundations, arranged drunkenness and fights. Kuragin wanted to steal Natasha Rostova and marry her, although he was already married.
Fedor Dolokhov- "a man of average height, curly and with bright eyes", an officer of the Semenovsky regiment, one of the leaders of the partisan movement. Fyodor's personality surprisingly combined selfishness, cynicism and adventurism with the ability to love and care for his loved ones. (Nikolai Rostov is very surprised that at home, with his mother and sister, Dolokhov is completely different - a loving and gentle son and brother).
Conclusion
Even a brief description of the heroes of Tolstoy's War and Peace allows one to see the close and inextricable interconnection of the characters' destinies. Like all events in the novel, the characters' meetings and farewells take place according to the irrational law of historical mutual influences, elusive to the mind. It is these incomprehensible mutual influences that create the fate of the heroes and shape their views of the world.
Product test
Each book read is another life lived, especially when the plot and characters are worked out in this way. "War and Peace" is a unique epic novel, there is nothing like it in either Russian or world literature. The events described in it have taken place in St. Petersburg, Moscow, foreign estates of the nobles and in Austria for 15 years. The characters are also striking in their scale.
War and Peace is a novel that features over 600 characters. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy describes them so aptly that the few apt characteristics that the characters are awarded are enough to form an idea of them. Therefore, "War and Peace" is a whole life in all the fullness of colors, sounds and sensations. It is worth living for.
The birth of an idea and creative quest
In 1856, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy began writing a story about the life of a Decembrist who had returned from exile. The time of action was supposed to be the years 1810-1820. Gradually, the period expanded to 1825, but by this time the main character had already matured and became a family man. And in order to better understand him, the author had to return to the period of his youth. And it coincided with a glorious era for Russia.
But Tolstoy could not write about the triumph over Bonaparte France without mentioning failures and mistakes. The novel now consisted of three parts. The first (as conceived by the author) was supposed to describe the youth of the future Decembrist and his participation in the war of 1812. This is the first period of the hero's life. The second part Tolstoy wanted to devote to the Decembrist uprising. The third is the return of the hero from exile and his further life. However, Tolstoy quickly abandoned this idea: the work on the novel turned out to be too large-scale and laborious.
Initially, Tolstoy limited the duration of his work to 1805-1812 years. The epilogue, dated 1920, appeared much later. But the author was concerned not only with the plot, but also with the characters. War and Peace is not a description of the life of one hero. The central figures are several characters at once. And the main character is the people, which is much larger than the thirty-year-old Decembrist Pyotr Ivanovich Labazov, who returned from exile.
Work on the novel took Tolstoy six years, from 1863 to 1869. And this, not taking into account the six that went to the development of the idea of the Decembrist, which became its basis.
The character system in War and Peace
The main character in Tolstoy is the people. But in his understanding, he is not just a social category, but a creative force. According to Tolstoy, the people are all the best that is in the Russian nation. Moreover, it includes not only representatives of the lower classes, but also those of the nobility, who are characterized by the desire to live for the sake of others.
Tolstoy contrasts the representatives of the people with Napoleon, the Kuragin and other aristocrats - the regulars of Anna Pavlovna Sherer's salon. These are the negative characters of the novel "War and Peace". Already in describing their appearance, Tolstoy emphasizes the mechanistic nature of their existence, the lack of spirituality, the "animality" of their actions, the lifelessness of smiles, selfishness and the inability to compassion. They are incapable of change. Tolstoy does not see the possibility of their spiritual development, so they remain forever frozen, distant from the real understanding of life.
Researchers often distinguish two subgroups of "folk" characters:
- Those who are endowed with "simple consciousness." They can easily distinguish right from wrong, guided by the "mind of the heart." This subgroup includes such characters as Natasha Rostova, Kutuzov, Platon Karataev, Alpatych, officers Timokhin and Tushin, soldiers and partisans.
- Those who are "looking for themselves." Education and class barriers prevent them from connecting with the people, but they manage to overcome them. This subgroup includes such characters as Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. It is these heroes that are shown capable of development, internal changes. They are not devoid of shortcomings, they make mistakes more than once in their life searches, but they pass all tests with dignity. Sometimes Natasha Rostova is also included in this group. After all, she, too, was once carried away by Anatol, forgetting about her beloved prince Bolkonsky. The war of 1812 becomes a kind of catharsis for this entire subgroup, which makes them look at life differently and discard the class conventions that previously prevented them from living at the behest of their hearts, as the people do.
The simplest classification
Sometimes the characters in "War and Peace" are divided according to an even simpler principle - according to their ability to live for the sake of others. Such a character system is also possible. "War and Peace", like any other work, is the author's vision. Therefore, everything in the novel takes place in accordance with Lev Nikolaevich's attitude to the world. The people, in Tolstoy's understanding, are the personification of all the best that is in the Russian nation. Characters such as the Kuragin family, Napoleon, many regulars of the Scherer salon know how to live only for themselves.
Arkhangelsk and Baku
- "Burners of life", from the point of view of Tolstoy, stand farthest from the correct understanding of life. This group lives only for themselves, selfishly neglecting others.
- "Leaders". This is how Arkhangelsky and Bak call those who think they are in control of history. For example, the authors include Napoleon in this group.
- “Sages” are those who understood the true world order and were able to trust providence.
- "Ordinary people". This group, according to Arkhangelsky and Bak, includes those who know how to listen to their heart, but do not particularly strive for anywhere.
- "Truth-seekers" are Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. Throughout the novel, they are painfully searching for the truth, striving to understand what the meaning of life is.
- In a separate group, the authors of the textbook single out Natasha Rostova. They believe that she is close to both "ordinary people" and "wise men" at the same time. A girl easily comprehends life empirically and knows how to listen to the voice of her heart, but the most important thing for her is her family and children, as, according to Tolstoy, an ideal woman should be.
You can consider many more classifications of characters in "War and Peace", but they all ultimately come down to the simplest, which fully reflects the worldview of the author of the novel. After all, he saw true happiness in serving others. Therefore, the positive ("folk") heroes know how and want to do this, but the negative ones do not.
L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace": female characters
Any work is a reflection of the author's vision of life. According to Tolstoy, the highest destiny of a woman is to take care of her husband and children. It is the keeper of the hearth that the reader sees Natasha Rostova in the epilogue of the novel.
All positive female characters in War and Peace fulfill their highest destiny. The author and Maria Bolkonskaya endows the happiness of motherhood and family life. Interestingly, she is perhaps the most positive character in the novel. Princess Marya has practically no flaws. Despite her versatile education, she still finds her destiny, as befits a Tolstoy heroine, in caring for her husband and children.
A completely different fate awaits Helen Kuragina and the little princess, who did not see the joy in motherhood.
Pierre Bezukhov
This is Tolstoy's favorite character. "War and Peace" describes him as a man who by nature possesses a highly noble disposition, therefore, the people easily understand. All his mistakes are due to aristocratic conventions, instilled in him by upbringing.
Throughout the novel, Pierre experiences many mental trauma, but does not become embittered and does not become less good-natured. He is loyal and sympathetic, often forgets about himself in an effort to serve others. By marrying Natasha Rostova, Pierre found that grace and true happiness, which he lacked so much in his first marriage with the thoroughly false Helen Kuragina.
Lev Nikolaevich loves his hero very much. He describes in detail his formation and spiritual development from the very beginning to the end. Pierre's example shows that responsiveness and devotion are the main things for Tolstoy. The author rewards him with happiness with his beloved female heroine, Natasha Rostova.
From the epilogue, you can understand the future of Pierre. Having changed himself, he seeks to transform society. He does not accept the contemporary political foundations of Russia. It can be assumed that Pierre will participate in the Decembrist uprising, or at least actively support him.
Andrey Bolkonsky
For the first time, a reader meets this hero in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. He is married to Lisa - a little princess, as she is called, and will soon become a father. Andrei Bolkonsky behaves with all the regulars of Scherer extremely arrogantly. But soon the reader notices that this is only a mask. Bolkonsky understands that those around him cannot understand his spiritual quest. He talks to Pierre in a completely different way. But Bolkonsky at the beginning of the novel is not alien to the ambitious desire to achieve heights in the military field. It seems to him that he stands above aristocratic conventions, but it turns out that his eyes are just as narrowed as the rest. Andrei Bolkonsky realized too late that in vain he had given up his feelings for Natasha. But this insight comes to him only before his death.
Like other "seeking" characters in the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, Bolkonsky all his life has been trying to find an answer to the question of what is the meaning of human existence. But he realizes the highest value of the family too late.
Natasha Rostova
This is Tolstoy's favorite female character. However, the whole Rostov family is presented to the author as the ideal of the nobles living in unity with the people. Natasha cannot be called beautiful, but she is lively and attractive. The girl feels well the mood and characters of people.
According to Tolstoy, inner beauty is not combined with outer beauty. Natasha is attractive due to her character, but her main qualities are simplicity and closeness to the people. However, at the beginning of the novel, she lives in her own illusion. Disappointment in Anatola makes her an adult, contributes to the maturation of the heroine. Natasha begins attending church and ultimately finds her happiness in family life with Pierre.
Marya Bolkonskaya
The prototype of this heroine was the mother of Lev Nikolaevich. Unsurprisingly, it is almost completely flawless. She, like Natasha, is ugly, but has a very rich inner world. Like other positive characters in the novel "War and Peace", in the end she also becomes happy, becoming the keeper of the hearth in her own family.
Helen Kuragina
Tolstoy has a multifaceted characterization of his characters. War and Peace describes Helene as a cutesy woman with a fake smile. It immediately becomes clear to the reader that there is no inner content behind the external beauty. Marrying her becomes a test for Pierre and does not bring happiness.
Nikolay Rostov
The basis of any novel is the characters. War and Peace describes Nikolai Rostov as a loving brother and son, as well as a true patriot. Lev Nikolaevich saw in this hero the prototype of his father. After going through the hardships of the war, Nikolai Rostov retires to pay the debts of his family, and finds his true love in the person of Marya Bolkonskaya.
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