War and Peace is the first part of the heroes. The main characters are war and peace
All characters can be roughly divided into the following groups:
- the Bolkonsky family;
- the Rostov family;
- the Bezukhov family;
- the Drubetskoy family;
- the Kuragin family;
- Historical figures;
- Heroes of the 2nd plan;
- Other heroes.
Characteristics of the Bolkonskys
The Bolkonsky clan originates from the princes who were related to Rurik. They are rich and well off. The father's authoritarian rule reigns in the family, and the atmosphere is tense because of this. The Bolkonskys strictly follow family traditions and customs. Relationships within the family were strained, and the house was divided into two “camps”:- The first "camp" was headed by Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky. His opinion was shared by Mademoiselle Burien and Mikhail Ivanovich, the prince's architect.
- The second group included: the daughter of Prince Marya, the son of Andrei Bolkonsky Nikolai and all the nannies and maids.
Characteristic of Andrey Bolkonsky
Andrei Bolkonsky is a wealthy heir and son of Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky. His mother is no longer alive, and there is also a sister, Marya, whom he loves very much. Andrey is the best friend of another protagonist of the novel. Andrey is a short, handsome guy. He is described as a person with a constantly bored look, walks slowly and unhurriedly, in contrast to his wife Lisa, who had a cheerful and easy character. Bolkonsky looked more like a teenager than a man - the author often mentions that Andrei has small hands, a child's neck. The hero was distinguished by an inquisitive mind, he was well-read and educated, he adopted some of his father's features - rudeness and severity towards loved ones. Andrei Bolkonsky is a liberal landowner, he loves his peasants and makes their life easier. At the time of writing the novel, Andrei Bolkonsky was 27 years old.
Characteristics of Marya Bolkonskaya
Sister of the protagonist Andrei Bolkonsky. She is young and, in the opinion of many heroes, an ugly girl, but with sad and impressive eyes. Marya is rather clumsy and had a heavy gait. Her father taught her. Through home schooling, she learned order and discipline. She knows how to play the clavichord, she loves life in the country, unlike her brother. Princess Marya Bolkonskaya was distinguished by her kind and calm character, she believed in God. When communicating with people, she assessed them for their spiritual qualities, and not for their status and position. Nikolai Bolkonsky - prince, head of the family. He was distinguished by a bad character and cruel actions in relation to household members. Prince Nikolai was an old man, with a thin face and body. Bolkonsky always dressed according to his status - he was a retired general-in-chief. The prince was more feared than respected. He was distinguished by his waywardness and a rather domineering position. But at the same time Nikolai Bolkonsky is distinguished by his diligence - he is always busy with something: either writing memoirs, or teaching mathematics to the younger generation, or his favorite hobby - making snuff boxes.
Characteristics of Liza Bolkonskaya
Andrei Bolkonsky's wife is a cheerful and cheerful girl. She did not differ in intelligence, but she made up for everything with kindness and good attitude. She was a short girl, her lips were with mustache, she always went with a high hairdo. Elizaveta Karlovna comes from the German Meinen family. The family received education and secular manners. Princess Bolkonskaya loved to gossip and chat, but at the same time she was distinguished by her observation. She loved her husband deeply, but was unhappy with him. She died after the birth of her son Nikolai.Characteristic of Nikolai Bolkonsky
Was born in 1806. After the death of his mother - Liza Bolkonskaya, he is brought up by aunt Marya. Marya Bolkonskaya gives him Russian and music lessons. At the age of 7, he sees the death of Andrei's father after being wounded. In the epilogue of the novel, Nikolai is a 15-year-old handsome young man with curly hair, very similar to his father.
Characteristics of the Rostov family
A noble noble family. The author describes the Rostov family as an ideal family - good-natured, with good relationships between relatives.Characteristics of Count Ilya Rostov
Ilya Andreevich Rostov is the head of the family, a cheerful and good-natured count. He is rich and has several villages under his command. A full physique, a gray head with bald patches, always a smooth-shaven face and blue eyes - the appearance of Ilya Andreevich. Those around him consider him stupid and funny, but the count was loved for his generosity and kindness. Sometimes this generosity turned into squandering. He loves his wife and children, spoils them and permits everything. Ilya Andreevich does not like to get into arguments, it is better for him to eat and have fun. Because of this fun, he loses all the money and ruins the family. After a series of misfortunes in the Rostov family, he falls ill and dies.
Characteristics of Countess Natalia Rostova
Ilya Andreevich's wife, 45 years old. The mother of 12 children, however, the story is only about four. Natalya Rostova had a beautiful oriental appearance, was often tired, but at the same time aroused respect from her relatives. She married the Count when she was 16 years old. Like her husband, he is not distinguished by frugality, he likes to spend money. She tries to be strict with children, but because of her kindness, she does not succeed. Countess Natalya helps others (for example, her friend Drubetskaya). By the end of the work, after experiencing deaths, it becomes like a ghost.Characteristics of Natasha Rostova
Daughter of Count Nikolai Rostov and Natalia Rostova. She was raised in affection and love, was a little spoiled, but at the same time remained a kind and sincere girl. L. Tolstoy describes little Natasha as follows: “with black eyes, a big mouth, a rather ugly, but charming and cheerful girl, with curly hair, thin legs and arms”. By the age of 16, Natasha had changed, she began to wear long dresses and dance at balls. Even more prettier already at the age of 20. She put on beautiful lace dresses, braided her hair, with an intelligent look and a sensitive attitude towards others.Important! Natasha is well versed in people, but if it comes to love relationships, she is lost (like falling in love with Kuragin).After the death of Bolkonsky, she marries Pierre Bezukhov, becomes slovenly and no longer takes care of herself, gives birth to 3 children and lives only for them.
Characteristics of Sonya Rostova
Natasha and Nikolai Rostov's second cousin. Raised in the Rostov family from birth. A beautiful and sweet girl, intelligent and educated. He helps his friend Natasha in every possible way. Likes to recite poetry in front of an audience. She is secretly in love with Nikolai Rostov, this love is not accepted by Natalia Rostova. As a result, Sonya remains unmarried.
Characteristic of Pierre Bezukhov
Another main character of the novel. A large young man, wears glasses, strong but clumsy. The author often compares Pierre to a bear. He is the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, but is his favorite. Pierre has lived and studied in Europe for over 10 years. At the age of 20 he came back to Russia. Bezukhov has a beautiful childish smile, sees only good qualities in people, because of this he was often deceived. His wife, Helen Kuragina, did this to him, deceived him and forcibly married him. He cannot find a job to his liking, he is not really fond of anything, he is often idle. When Pierre becomes the heir to the Bezukhovs' fortune, he begins to engage in farming, but even there he often fails. Only after being held captive by the French does he begin to behave differently, becomes more restrained and calculating. At the end of the novel, he marries Natasha Rostova, after which he is perceived not as a clumsy chatterbox, but as a competent and respected person.Characteristics of the Kuragin family
Another secular family in the novel. Unlike the Bolkonskys and Rostovs, they are not distinguished by nobility and kindness to people. Prince Vasily wants to give all his children profitably, and does not skimp on deception. There is complete harmony in the family between parents and children, both parties want to get benefits.
Characteristic of Vasily Kuragin
Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin - Prince of 50 years. He is married to an ugly and fat lady. Almost bald, he likes to dress up and down, courteous. He had a beautiful deep voice, he always spoke slowly. Self-confident, indifferent, likes to laugh at other people.Communicates only for their own benefit.Characteristic of Anatol Kuragin
The youngest son of Prince Vasily. Handsome, stately with big eyes and beautiful hands. He was always well and neatly dressed. He was educated in Europe, on arrival he becomes an officer. Differs in a cheerful disposition, likes to drink and to gather companies. Due to revelry and drunkenness, he is constantly in debt. For the sake of money he was ready to marry Princess Marya. Anatole is a vile person, he deceives Natasha Rostova, promising to marry her. Kuragin thinks only of himself. After the battle of Borodino, he is wounded, and he changes.
Characteristic of Helen Kuragina
Elena Vasilievna Kuragina (after marriage to Pierre, Bezukhova became), the elder sister of Anatol Kuragina and the daughter of Prince Vasily. Refined appearance, beautiful thin hands, thin neck, marbled skin - her external characteristics noted by the author. Helen was tall and impressed all men. Her outfits were often too revealing, although she was a graduate of the Smolny Institute. Helen is stupid, according to Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky, but others consider her adorable and smart. Helen Kuragina knows how to achieve her goal by any means, even if it is deception and hypocrisy. For the sake of money, she is ready for anything. Thus, all these characters are only part of the vast world of "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy. It should be understood that the secondary characters of the novel also make up a more complete picture. We should not forget about the description of historical figures such as Napoleon and Kutuzov, who also influenced the train of thought of the main characters. We also invite you to watch the video, in which for a better understanding of the content there is a clear systematization of all the heroes of the novel “War and Peace”.Leo Tolstoy in his article "A few words about the book" War and Peace "" says that the names of the characters in the epic are consonant with the names of real people, because he "felt awkward" using the names of historical figures alongside fictional ones. Tolstoy writes that he "would be very sorry" if readers thought that he was deliberately describing the characters of real people, because all the characters are fictional.
At the same time, there are two heroes in the novel, whom Tolstoy "unwittingly" gave the names of real people - Denisov and M. D. Akhrosimova. He did this because they were "characteristic faces of the time." Nevertheless, in the biographies and other characters of War and Peace, you can see similarities with the stories of real people, which probably influenced Tolstoy when he worked on the images of his characters.
Prince Andrey Bolkonsky
Nikolay Tuchkov. (wikimedia.org)
The hero's surname is consonant with the surname of the princely family of the Volkonsky, from which the writer's mother came, however, Andrei is one of those characters whose image is more fictional than borrowed from specific people. As an unattainable moral ideal, Prince Andrey, of course, could not have a definite prototype. Nevertheless, in the facts of the character's biography, you can find a lot in common, for example, with Nikolai Tuchkov. He was a lieutenant general and, like Prince Andrei, was mortally wounded in the Battle of Borodino, from which he died in Yaroslavl three weeks later.
Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya - the writer's parents
The scene of the wounding of Prince Andrey in the Battle of Austerlitz is probably borrowed from the biography of Staff Captain Fyodor (Ferdinand) Tizengauzen, Kutuzov's son-in-law. With a banner in his hands, he led the Little Russian grenadier regiment into a counterattack, was wounded, captured and died three days after the battle. Also, the act of Prince Andrey is similar to that of Prince Peter Volkonsky, who, with the banner of the Fanagoria regiment, led the brigade of grenadiers forward.
It is possible that Tolstoy gave the image of Prince Andrei the features of his brother Sergei. At least this concerns the story of the failed marriage of Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. Sergei Tolstoy was engaged to Tatyana Bers, the older sister of Sophia Tolstoy (the writer's wife). The marriage never took place, because Sergei had already lived for several years with the gypsy Maria Shishkina, whom he eventually married, and Tatyana married the lawyer A. Kuzminsky.
Natasha Rostova
Sophia Tolstaya is the writer's wife. (wikimedia.org)
We can assume that Natasha has two prototypes at once - Tatiana and Sophia Bers. In the comments to War and Peace, Tolstoy says that Natasha Rostova turned out when he "smashed Tanya and Sonya."
Tatiana Bers spent most of her childhood in the family of the writer and managed to make friends with the author of War and Peace, despite the fact that she was almost 20 years younger than him. Moreover, under the influence of Tolstoy, Kuzminskaya herself took up literary work. In her book "My life at home and in Yasnaya Polyana" she wrote: "Natasha - he said directly that I did not live with him for nothing, that he was writing me off." This can be found in the novel. The episode with Natasha's doll, which she offers to kiss Boris, is indeed copied from the real case when Tatyana invited her friend to kiss Mimi's doll. She later wrote: "My big doll Mimi got into a novel!" The appearance of Natasha Tolstoy also painted from Tatyana.
For the image of an adult Rostova - his wife and mother - the writer probably turned to Sophia. Tolstoy's wife was devoted to her husband, gave birth to 13 children, she was engaged in their upbringing, housekeeping and indeed rewrote "War and Peace" several times.
Rostov
In the drafts of the novel, the family name is first Tolstoy, then Simple, then Plokhov. The writer used archival documents to recreate the life of a kind and depict it in the life of the Rostov family. There are overlaps in names with Tolstoy's paternal relatives, as in the case of the old Count Rostov. Under this name the grandfather of the writer Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy is hiding. This man, in fact, led a rather lavish lifestyle and spent colossal sums on recreational activities. Leo Tolstoy in his memoirs wrote about him as a generous, but limited person who constantly arranged balls and receptions on the estate.
Even Tolstoy did not hide that Vasily Denisov is Denis Davydov
And yet this is not the good-natured Ilya Andreyevich Rostov from War and Peace. Count Tolstoy was the governor of Kazan and a bribe-taker known throughout Russia, although the writer recalls that his grandfather did not take bribes, and his grandmother took secretly from her husband. Ilya Tolstoy was removed from his post after auditors discovered the theft of almost 15 thousand rubles from the provincial treasury. The reason for the shortage was called "lack of knowledge in the position of the governor of the province."
Nikolai Tolstoy. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Rostov is the father of the writer Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy. There are more than enough similarities between the prototype and the hero of War and Peace. Nikolai Tolstoy at the age of 17 voluntarily joined the Cossack regiment, served in the hussars and went through all the Napoleonic wars, including the Patriotic War of 1812. It is believed that the descriptions of military scenes with the participation of Nikolai Rostov are taken by the writer from the memoirs of his father. Nikolai inherited huge debts, he had to get a job as a teacher in the Moscow military orphanage department. To remedy the situation, he married the ugly and withdrawn princess Maria Volkonskaya, who was four years older than him. The marriage was arranged by the relatives of the bride and groom. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, the marriage of convenience turned out to be very happy. Maria and Nikolai led a secluded life. Nikolai read a lot and collected a library on the estate, was engaged in farming and hunting. Tatyana Bers wrote to Sophia that Vera Rostova is very similar to Lisa Bers, Sophia's other sister.
The Bers sisters: Sophia, Tatiana and Elizabeth. (tolstoy-manuscript.ru)
Princess Marya
There is a version that the prototype of Princess Marya is the mother of Leo Tolstoy, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, by the way, she is also the full namesake of the book heroine. However, the writer's mother died when Tolstoy was less than two years old. Volkonskaya's portraits have not survived, and the writer studied her letters and diaries to create an image of her for himself.
Unlike the heroine, the writer's mother had no problems with the sciences, in particular with mathematics and geometry. She learned four foreign languages, and, judging by Volkonskaya's diaries, she had a rather warm relationship with her father, she was devoted to him. Maria lived with her father for 30 years in Yasnaya Polyana (Lysye Gory from the novel), but she never married, although she was a very enviable bride. She was a closed woman and rejected several suitors.
Dolokhov's prototype probably ate his own orangutan
Princess Volkonskaya even had a companion - Miss Hanssen, somewhat similar to Mademoiselle Buryen from the novel. After the death of her father, the daughter began to literally give away property. She gave part of the inheritance to the sister of her companion, who did not have a dowry. After that, her relatives intervened in the matter, arranging the marriage of Maria Nikolaevna with Nikolai Tolstoy. Maria Volkonskaya died eight years after the wedding, having managed to give birth to four children.
Old Prince Bolkonsky
Nikolay Volkonsky. (wikimedia.org)
Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky is an infantry general who distinguished himself in several battles and received the nickname "The Prussian King" from his colleagues. He is very similar in character to the old prince: proud, headstrong, but not cruel. He left the service after the accession of Paul I, retired to Yasnaya Polyana and took up the education of his daughter. All day he improved his economy and taught his daughter languages \u200b\u200band sciences. An important difference from the character from the book: Prince Nicholas survived the war of 1812 perfectly, and died nine years later, a little short of seventy. In Moscow, he had a house on Vozdvizhenka, 9. Now it has been rebuilt.
Ilya Rostov's prototype - Tolstoy's grandfather, who ruined his career
Sonya
The prototype of Sonya can be called Tatyana Ergolskaya - the second cousin of Nikolai Tolstoy (the writer's father), who was brought up in his father's house. In their youth, they had an affair that never ended in marriage. Not only Nikolai's parents were against the wedding, but also Ergolskaya herself. The last time she turned down a marriage proposal from her cousin was in 1836. The widowed Tolstoy asked Yergolskaya's hand to marry him and replace the mother with five children. Ergolskaya refused, but after the death of Nikolai Tolstoy she really took up the upbringing of his sons and daughter, devoting the rest of her life to them.
Leo Tolstoy appreciated his aunt and kept up a correspondence with her. She was the first to start collecting and storing the writer's papers. In his memoirs, he wrote that everyone loved Tatyana and “her whole life was love,” but she herself always loved one person - Leo Tolstoy's father.
Dolokhov
Fyodor Tolstoy-American. (wikimedia.org)
Dolokhov has several prototypes. Among them, for example, lieutenant general and partisan Ivan Dorokhov, the hero of several major campaigns, including the war of 1812. However, if we talk about character, Dolokhov has more similarities with the writer’s great-uncle Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, nicknamed “American”. He was a well-known breaker, player and lover of women in his time. Dolokhov is also compared with officer A. Figner, who commanded a partisan detachment, participated in duels and hated the French.
Tolstoy is not the only writer to include the American in his work. Fyodor Ivanovich is also considered the prototype of Zaretsky - Lensky's second from Eugene Onegin. Tolstoy got his nickname after he made a trip to America, during which he was boarded from the ship. There is a version that then he ate his own monkey, although Sergei Tolstoy wrote that this is not true.
Kuraginy
In this case, it is difficult to talk about the family, because the images of Prince Vasily, Anatole and Helen are borrowed from several people who are not related by kinship. Kuragin Sr. is undoubtedly Aleksey Borisovich Kurakin, a prominent courtier during the reign of Paul I and Alexander I, who made a brilliant career at court and made a fortune.
Alexey Borisovich Kurakin. (wikimedia.org)
He had three children, just like Prince Vasily, of whom his daughter gave him the most trouble. Alexandra Alekseevna really had a scandalous reputation, especially her divorce from her husband made a lot of noise in the world. Prince Kurakin in one of his letters even called his daughter the main burden of his old age. Sounds like a War and Peace character, doesn't it? Although Vasily Kuragin expressed himself a little differently.
On the right is Alexandra Kurakin. (wikimedia.org)
Helen's prototypes - the wife of Bagration and the mistress of a classmate of Pushkin
Anatoly Lvovich Shostak, Tatyana Bers's second cousin, who courted her when she came to St. Petersburg, should be called the prototype of Anatoly Kuragin. After that he came to Yasnaya Polyana and annoyed Leo Tolstoy. In the draft notes of War and Peace, Anatole's surname is Shimko.
As for Helene, her image was taken from several women at once. In addition to some similarities with Alexandra Kurakina, she has much in common with Ekaterina Skvaronskaya (Bagration's wife), who was known for her careless behavior not only in Russia, but also in Europe, where she left five years after the wedding. In her homeland she was called the "Wandering Princess", and in Austria she was known as the mistress of Clemens Metternich, the empire's foreign minister. From him, Ekaterina Skavronskaya gave birth - of course, out of wedlock - a daughter, Clementine. Perhaps it was the "Wandering Princess" who contributed to the entry of Austria into the anti-Napoleonic coalition.
Another woman from whom Tolstoy could borrow the features of Helene is Nadezhda Akinfova. She was born in 1840 and was very famous in Petersburg and Moscow as a woman of scandalous reputation and riotous disposition. She gained wide popularity thanks to her romance with Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, a classmate of Pushkin. By the way, he was 40 years older than Akinfova, whose husband was the chancellor's grand-nephew. Akinfova also divorced her first husband, but she married the Duke of Leuchtenberg in Europe, where they moved together. Recall that in the novel itself, Helene never divorced Pierre.
Ekaterina Skavronskaya-Bagration. (wikimedia.org)
Vasily Denisov
Denis Davydov. (wikimedia.org)
Every student knows that the prototype of Vasily Denisov was Denis Davydov, a poet and writer, lieutenant general, partisan. Tolstoy used the works of Davydov when he studied the Napoleonic Wars.
Julie Karagina
There is an opinion that Julie Karagina is Varvara Aleksandrovna Lanskaya, the wife of the Minister of Internal Affairs. She is known exclusively for the fact that she had a long correspondence with her friend Maria Volkova. From these letters, Tolstoy studied the history of the war of 1812. Moreover, they almost completely entered War and Peace under the guise of correspondence between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina.
Pierre Bezukhov
Pyotr Vyazemsky. (wikimedia.org)
Pierre has no obvious prototype, since this character has similarities both with Tolstoy himself and with many historical figures who lived during the writer's time and during the Patriotic War.
However, some similarities can be seen with Peter Vyazemsky. He also wore glasses, received a huge inheritance, and took part in the Battle of Borodino. In addition, he wrote poetry and published. Tolstoy used his notes in the work on the novel.
Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova
In Akhrosimov's novel, this is the guest whom the Rostovs are waiting for on Natasha's name day. Tolstoy writes that Marya Dmitrievna is known all over Petersburg and all of Moscow, and for her directness and rudeness she is called "le terrible dragon".
The character's similarity can be seen with Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. This is a lady from Moscow, the niece of Prince Volkonsky. Prince Vyazemsky wrote in his memoirs that she was a strong, domineering woman who was highly respected in society. The Ofrosimovs' estate was located in Chisty Lane (Khamovniki district) in Moscow. There is an opinion that Ofrosimova was also the prototype of Khlestova in Griboyedov's Woe from Wit.
Alleged portrait of N. D. Ofrosimova by F. S. Rokotov. (wikimedia.org)
Liza Bolkonskaya
Tolstoy painted the appearance of Liza Bolkonskaya with Louise Ivanovna Truson - the wife of his second cousin. This is evidenced by Sophia's signature on the back of her portrait in Yasnaya Polyana.
In this article we will introduce you the main characters of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". The 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, and yet, 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 dull, 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 awareness of ruin, which he does not immediately understand and is unable to stop. Its external appearance also has some features of similarity to the prototype. The author used this technique 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, the 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 participated 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 death the best features of the Rostovs in relations with comrades.
Countess of Rostov
Rostova is a heroine, when creating an image of which the author used as well as some circumstances of the life of L. A. Bers, mother-in-law of Lev Nikolaevich, as well as 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 a certain heroine makes reasonable and balanced decisions regarding 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 at 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 of 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 lost a large sum.
Natasha, constantly carried away, lives in an atmosphere of happiness and love. After meeting Prince Andrey, a change occurs 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 having experienced and experienced 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 a 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 ("War and Peace") would be incomplete. 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, impudent, 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. Andrey 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's imagine this hero of the work "War and Peace". Platon Karataev is a soldier who met in captivity 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, gentle man, Pierre was struck by the feeling of something calm emanating from him. This character attracts others with his 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 depicted in the work "War and Peace". Characteristics of 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 requires 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 bows to the greatness of this man. His confidence and self-satisfaction 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 heroes 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 characterization of heroes ("War and Peace"). Volume 2, for example, reflects their life 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 did 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 be compared only 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 eyes, line of shoulders, trembling of lips are read by him as a symbol of the soul. Hence - the 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 novel are two noble families - the Bolkonskys and the Rostovs. The senior prince Bolkonsky, general-in-chief of Catherine's times, a Voltairian and a clever gentleman, lives on the Lysye Gory estate with his daughter Marya, ugly and no longer young. Her father loves her passionately, but brings up her 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
The brother of Princess Marya, 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 with 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 gloomy despair. And only slowly dying from the wound received in the Borodino battle, in the face of death, he finds 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 an integral, 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 Tolstoy's most charming female characters. She enters the life of each of us as a beloved and close friend. From her lively, joyful and soulful face, a radiance emanates that illuminates 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" the person and accurately identifies 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 Andrew 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, news comes about the death of her younger brother Petit 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 duties 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 his mental disposition. 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 the atmosphere of Rousseau's ideas, he lives with feeling and is inclined to "dreamy philosophizing". He seeks "the truth", but out of 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 Freemasons seems to him insufficient, their addiction to uniforms and magnificent ceremonies revolts 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 tremendous impressions that suddenly fell on him: he sees the fire of Moscow, is captured, spends several days awaiting the death sentence, is present at the execution. And then he meets "Russian, kind, round Karataev." Joyful and bright, 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 told him long ago; 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 Masons.
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, was conceived by the author as a parallel to the "national 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 form in our minds 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 originality, but his rationalistic explanation slipped over the surface of this mystical soul.
The image of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace". Composition based on Tolstoy's novel - War and Peace. Pierre Bezukhov, by nature, by nature, is predominantly emotional. Its characteristic features are a mind prone to "dreamy philosophizing", free-thinking, absent-mindedness, weakness of will, lack of initiative. This does not mean that Prince Andrew is incapable of experiencing a deep feeling, and Pierre is a weak thinker; one and the other are complex natures. The terms "intellectual" and "emotional" in this case mean the predominant traits of the spiritual forces of these extraordinary personalities. Pierre stands out sharply from among the people in the Scherer salon, where we first get to know him. This is "a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, glasses, in light trousers in the fashion of the time, with a high frill and in a brown tailcoat." His look is "smart and at the same time timid, observant and natural." Its main feature is the search for "tranquility, harmony with oneself." Pierre's entire life path is a constant search for the meaning of life, a search for a life that would harmonize with the needs of his heart and bring him moral satisfaction. In this he is similar to Andrei Bolkonsky.
Pierre's path, like the path of Prince Andrew, this is the way to the people. Even during the period of passion for Freemasonry, he decides to devote his energies to the improvement of the peasants. He considers it necessary to release his serfs to freedom, thinks about establishing hospitals, shelters and schools in his villages. True, the cunning manager deceives Pierre and creates only the appearance of the reforms carried out. But Pierre is sincerely convinced that his peasants are now living well. His real rapprochement with the common people begins in captivity, when he meets the soldiers and Karataev. Pierre is developing a desire to simplify himself, to merge completely with the people. The lordly life, secular salons, the luxury of tomyagi do not satisfy Pierre, He painfully feels his isolation from
Images of Natasha and Princess Marie in the novel "War and Peace". But Natasha and Princess Marya also have common features... They are both patriots. Natasha did not hesitate to donate the riches of the Moscow house of the Rostovs to save the wounded. And Princess Marya abandons the estate to the mercy of fate when the French approach. When the homeland is in danger, family traits wake up in it - pride, courage, firmness. So it was in Bogucharovo, when a French companion invited her to stay on the estate and trust the mercy of a French general, the mercy of the enemies of Russia, her homeland. And “although it was all the same for Princess Marya wherever she stayed and whatever happened to her, she felt at the same time a representative of her late father and Prince Andrey. She involuntarily thought of them with thoughts and felt them with feelings. And one more feature makes Natasha and Princess Marya related. Princess Marya is getting married to Nikolai Rostov, and Tolstoy, drawing their family life, speaks of the happiness that she, like Natasha, found in the family. This is how Tolstoy decides the question of the appointment of a woman, limiting her interests to the framework of family life.
Let's remember another episode of the meeting of Nikolai Rostov with Sonya, when he, having arrived on vacation, does not know how to behave with his girlfriend. "He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya, But their eyes, meeting, said" you "to each other and kissed tenderly."
Favorite heroes of Tolstoy are people with a complex mental world... In revealing such characters, Tolstoy resorts to different methods: to direct characterization from the author, to auto-characterization of the hero, to internal dialogues and reflections, etc. Internal monologues and internal dialogues allow the author to discover such intimate thoughts and moods of the heroes, which can be conveyed in another way ( for example, using direct author's characteristics) would be difficult without violating the laws of artistic realism. Tolstoy resorts to such monologues and dialogues very often. The reflections of the wounded Prince Andrei in chapter XXXII of the third volume of the novel can serve as an example of an "internal monologue" with elements of dialogue. Here is another example of an "internal monologue" - the reflections of Natasha, childishly directly talking about herself: "What a lovely Natasha!" - She said to herself again in the words of some third collective male face. - She is good, her voice is young, and she does not bother anyone, leave only her alone ”(Chapter XXIII of the second volume).
The image of Andrei Bolkonsky. The outside world with its things and phenomena is also skillfully used by Tolstoy to characterize heroes. So, describing Natasha's mood after the unexpected departure of Andrei Bolkonsky (before the matchmaking), Tolstoy reports that Natasha completely calmed down and “put on that old dress, which was especially known to her for the cheerfulness she brought in the morning.” Tolstoy is a brilliant landscape painter. He will notice young "green sticky leaves" of birch, and shrubs greening somewhere, and "juicy, dark green oak", and moonlight that burst into the room, and the freshness of a spring night. Let us recall the wonderfully described hunting in Otradnoye. People, animals, and nature act here as indicators of the powerful force of life, its fullness. The landscape performs various functions in the novel. The most common feature of Tolstoy's landscape is the correspondence of this landscape to the mood of the hero. The disappointment, the gloomy mood of Prince Andrey after the break with Natasha colors the surrounding landscape in gloomy tones. “He looked at the strip of birches, with their motionless yellowness, greenery and white bark, shining in the sun. "To die ... to be killed, tomorrow, so that I would not be ... so that all this would be, but I would not be ..." He is tormented by terrible forebodings and painful thoughts of death. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke of bonfires - all this around was transformed for him and seemed to be something terrible and threatening. And the poetry of Natasha's nature, on the contrary, is revealed against the background of a moonlit spring night in Otradnoye. In other cases, the landscape directly affects the person, enlightening and wisdom him. Prince Andrew, wounded at Austerlitz, looks at the sky and thinks: “Yes! Everything is empty, everything is deception, except for this endless sky. " The oak, which Prince Andrey meets twice on his way, reveals to him the “meaning of life” in completely different ways: in one case it seems to Prince Andrey the personification of hopelessness, in the other - a symbol of joyful faith in happiness.
Finally, Tolstoy uses the landscape as a means of characterizing the real situation. Let us recall, for example, the heavy fog that spread like a continuous milky-white sea over the outskirts of Austerlitz. Thanks to this fog, which covered the positions of the French, the Russian and Austrian troops were put in a worse position, since they did not see the enemy and unexpectedly faced him face to face. Napoleon, standing at a height where it was completely light, could unmistakably lead the troops.
The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace". Napoleon confronts in the novel Napoleon... Tolstoy debunks this commander and an outstanding historical figure. Drawing the appearance of Napoleon, the author of the novel says that he was a "little man" with an "unpleasantly feigned smile" on his face, with "fat breasts", "round belly" and "fat spoons of short legs." Tolstoy shows Napoleon as a narcissistic and arrogant ruler of France, intoxicated by success, blinded by glory, attributing to his personality a driving role in the course of historical events. Even in small scenes, in the slightest gestures, one can feel, according to Tolstoy, Napoleon's insane pride, his acting, the conceit of a man accustomed to believing that every movement of his hand scatters happiness or sows grief among thousands of people. The servility of those around him lifted him to such a height that he really believed in his ability to change the course of history and influence the fate of peoples.
In contrast to Kutuzovwho does not attach decisive importance to his personal will, Napoleon puts himself above all, his personality, considers himself a superman. “Only what was happening in his soul was of interest to him. Everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will. " The word "I" is Napoleon's favorite word. In Napoleon, selfishness, individualism and rationality are emphasized - features that are absent in Kutuzov, the people's commander who thinks not about his own glory, but about the glory and freedom of the fatherland. Revealing the ideological content of the novel, we already Tolstoy "" noted the originality in Tolstoy's interpretation of certain themes of the novel. Thus, we have already said that Tolstoy, going against revolutionary peasant democracy, obscures in his novel the acuteness of class contradictions between the peasantry and the landowners; revealing, for example, Pierre Bezukhov's restless thoughts about the plight of serf slaves, he at the same time paints pictures of idyllic relationships between landowners and peasants in the estate and house of the Rostovs. We also noted the features of idealization in the image of Karataev, the originality of the interpretation of the role of personality in history, etc.
How can these features of the novel be explained? Their source must be sought in Tolstoy's worldview, which reflected the contradictions of his time. Tolstoy was a great artist. His novel "War and Peace" is one of the greatest masterpieces of world art, a brilliant work in which the breadth of an epic scale was combined with an amazing depth of penetration into the mental life of people. But Tolstoy lived in Russia in a transitional era, in an era of breaking the social and economic foundations of life, when the country was moving from a feudal-serf system to capitalist forms of life, violently protesting, in Lenin's words, “against any class domination,” Tolstoy, a landowner and an aristocrat , found a way out for himself in the transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. Belinsky, in his articles about Tolstoy, revealed with remarkable depth all the contradictions that were reflected in the worldview and work of Tolstoy in connection with his transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. These contradictions could not but be reflected in the artistic structure of the novel "War and Peace". Tolstoy, the great realist and Protestant, ultimately defeated Tolstoy, the religious philosopher, and created a work that has no equal in world literature. But while reading the novel, we still cannot but feel the contradictions in the worldview of its author.
The image of Kutuzov in the novel "War and Peace".In the novel, Tolstoy ridicules the cult of "great personalities" created by bourgeois historians. He correctly believes that the masses of the people decide the course of history. But his assessment of the role of the popular masses takes on a religious connotation. He comes to the recognition of fatalism, arguing that all historical events are predetermined from above. Tolstoy makes the commander Kutuzov the expresser of his views in the novel. The basis of his view is the consciousness that the creator of history, historical events is the people, and not individuals (heroes) and that all rationalistically constructed theories, no matter how good they seem, are nothing in front of the force that is the mood, the spirit of the masses.
"Long-term military experience- Tolstoy writes about Kutuzov, - he knew and with an old mind understood that it was impossible for one person to lead hundreds of thousands of people fighting death, and he knew that the fate of the battle was not decided by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not the place where the troops were stationed, not the number guns and killed people, and that elusive force, called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and led it, as far as it was in his power. " Tolstoy ascribed to Kutuzov his erroneous fatalistic view of history, according to which the outcome of historical events is predetermined in advance. Andrei Bolkonsky says about Kutuzov: “He will not invent anything, will not undertake anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will - this is the inevitable course of events - and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their meaning and, in view of this meaning, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will aimed at other ... "
Denying the role of personality in history, Tolstoy sought to make Kutuzov only a wise observer of historical events, only a passive contemplator of them. This, of course, was Tolstoy's mistake. It inevitably had to lead to a contradictory assessment of Kutuzov. And so it happened. In the novel, a commander appears, who extremely accurately evaluates the course of military events and unmistakably directs them. With the help of a well-thought-out counter-offensive plan, Kutuzov is destroying Napoleon and his army. Consequently, in a number of essential features Kutuzov is shown historically correctly in the novel: he possesses great strategic skill, thinks through the campaign plan for long nights, acts as an active figure, hiding tremendous volitional tension behind the external calmness. So the realist artist overcame the philosophy of fatalism. The bearer of the people's spirit and the people's will, Kutuzov deeply and correctly understood the course of things, in the midst of events he gave them a correct assessment, which was subsequently confirmed. So, he correctly assessed the significance of the Battle of Borodino, saying that it was a victory. As a commander, Kutuzov is superior to Napoleon. To wage a popular war, like the war of 1812, Tolstoy says, such a commander was needed. With the expulsion of the French, Kutuzov's mission was completed. The transfer of the war to Europe required a different commander in chief. “The representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed on the highest level of its glory, the Russian person, as a Russian, had nothing more to do. The representative of the people's war had no choice but death. And he died. "
Portraying Kutuzov as the people's commander, as the embodiment of people's thoughts, will and feelings. Tolstoy never falls into schematism. Kutuzov is a living person. This impression is created with us primarily because Tolstoy clearly, vividly draws us a portrait of Kutuzov - his figure, gait and gestures, facial expressions, his eyes, now glowing with a pleasant affectionate smile, now taking a mocking expression. Tolstoy gives it to us either in the perception of persons different in character and social position, or draws from himself, delving into the psychological analysis of his hero. Kutuzov's scenes and episodes depicting the commander in conversations and conversations with persons close and pleasant to him, like Bolkonsky, Denisov, Bagration, his behavior on military councils, in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino, make Kutuzov deeply human and alive. Kutuzov's speech is diverse in its lexical composition and syntactic structure. He is fluent in high society speech when he speaks or writes to the king, generals and other representatives of aristocratic society. “I say only one thing, General,” says Kutuzov with a pleasant gracefulness of expression and intonation, which made you listen attentively to every leisurely spoken word. “I only say one thing, General, that if the matter depended on my personal desire, then the will of His Majesty Emperor Franz would have been fulfilled long ago. But he is also fluent in simple folk language. “And that's what, brothers. I know it's difficult for us, but what can we do! Be patient: it's not long left ... Let's see the guests out, we'll have a rest then, ”he said to the soldiers, meeting them on the way from Krasnoye to Dobry. And in a letter to old man Bolkonsky, he discovers archaic features of the clerical style of this era: “I flatter myself and you with the hope that your son is alive, for otherwise, among the officers found on the battlefield, of whom the list was submitted to me through parliamentarians, he would was named ".
