The image of Marya Bolkonskaya in chapters. Characteristics of the hero Marya Bolkonskaya, War and Peace, Tolstoy. The image of the character Marya Bolkonskaya. Comparison with Natasha Rostova

Each writer or poet has his own ideal images, which he gives special preference to. There has always been an image of a woman in literature, in which each of the creators saw something different. For A.S. Pushkin, the ideal of Russian beauty was embodied in the image of Tatyana; for A.A. Blok, the central image of his poetry is the image of a sweet stranger; for N.A. Nekrasov, it is a devoted, real Russian woman. L.N. Tolstoy also has his own ideal of the feminine essence, which he revealed to us in the novel “War and Peace.” It is not difficult to guess that Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are Tolstoy’s favorite heroines. After all, in them Tolstoy embodied certain ideals of female purity, devotion, family, and the true purpose of a woman in this world.

Natasha Rostova

For L.N. Tolstoy, Natasha Rostova is, without a doubt, the most beloved heroine. Everything speaks about this: both the external description, and the internal state of the soul, and Natasha’s relationships with other characters - everything about Tolstoy is sweet about her. Natasha meets us as a twelve-year-old girl. Her childlike spontaneity, cheerful face, and smile make Tolstoy’s novel brighter and bring some kind of joy. She easily falls in love with handsome men, she likes to dance and sing. Tolstoy describes her at name days, at a ball, when meeting Nikolai Rostov, etc. She was cheerful everywhere: “jumped like a goat,” “squealed shrilly,” “laughed at every word,” “could not contain her joy,” “a happy smile lit up her face.”

Natasha is the center of attention, love, participation, understanding, kindness. She believed that all people should be happy. She was not interested in small talk about politics; at the ball she thought only about one thing: “They should know how much I want to dance, how great I am at dancing, and how much fun it will be for them to dance with me.”

Falling in love with Boris Drubetsky did not leave even a shadow of disappointment. The same cannot be said about Anatol Kuragin. Carried away by him, Natasha admitted the idea that Andrei Bolkonsky was not her love. But, seeing Kuragin’s insincerity, he understands that there was simply no love. Nevertheless, Tolstoy gives Natasha the opportunity to correct her mistake. It is she who spends Bolkonsky’s last days next to him. She takes care of the wounded Andrei, giving him all her time, all her thoughts, all her feelings.

Natasha is a true patriot of Russia. Looking out the window and seeing wounded soldiers in the yard, Natasha, without hesitation, asks her father and mother to hand over all the carts prepared for transporting their property. The Count and Countess do not contradict her, but silently, brushing away a tear, agree to help.

In comparing Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya, Tolstoy focuses on their family nature. Both Natasha and Marya maintained harmony, comfort, and love in their families. While not yet married, they already understood their purpose, they already knew that family well-being depended on them.

Marya Bolkonskaya

This heroine is described by Tolstoy with special love. The author brings Marya Bolkonskaya's attitude to religion to the fore. For her, helping people, being humble, and doing good are true life desires.

Her portrait is not so attractive: “...an ugly, weak body and a thin face. The eyes, always sad... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of all the faces, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.” “Radiant,” Tolstoy will say more than once in the novel. And the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

The severity of Marya's father's upbringing did not harden her heart; on the contrary, she loved the prince even more and took care of him until his last day. Her father's death brought an irreparable loss into her heart that only she knew. Marya loved Andrei and his little son very much. Marya’s attitude towards people was: “I only wish you were all happy as I am.” In the characteristics of Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya you can find a lot in common. They lived in different families, but eventually they would unite into one. It is probably no coincidence that Tolstoy ended his novel this way.

Family of Natasha and Marya

At the end of the novel we see Natasha, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. She is happy in her own way. “The subject that Natasha completely immersed herself in was family, that is, husband ... and children who had to be carried, given birth, fed, raised.”

Marya Bolkonskaya will become the wife of Nikolai Rostov. She will be the custodian of all the happy days of their married life. Devoting herself to her children and husband, Marya lived in complete happiness. This is precisely what Tolstoy sees as the purpose of a woman. A woman is a wife, a mother.

In my essay “Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya, Tolstoy’s Favorite Heroines,” the main idea, which Tolstoy revealed in the novel “War and Peace,” is the purpose of a woman. It is still relevant today. I think the values ​​of love and family will be important at all times.

Work test

The female image in the novel “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy is, one might say, the theme of a separate work. With its help, the author shows us his attitude to life, understanding of a woman’s happiness and her purpose. The pages of the book present many characters and destinies of representatives of the fair sex: Natasha Rostova, Maria Bolkonskaya, Lisa Bolkonskaya, Sonya, Helen Kuragina. Each of them is worthy of our attention and shows the attitude of the great writer towards this. So, let’s try to remember who embodies the female character in the novel “War and Peace”. We will pay attention to several heroines who appear on the pages of the work.

Natasha Rostova at the beginning of the novel

This female image in the novel “War and Peace” requires the greatest attention of the author; it is to Natasha that he devotes many pages of his creation. The heroine, of course, arouses the keenest interest of readers. At the beginning of the work she is a child, but a little later a young enthusiastic girl appears before us. We can see her gracefully twirling in a dance, smiling, looking at life as if it were a just-opened book, full of mysteries, miracles, and adventures. This is an amazingly kind and open young lady who loves the whole world and trusts it. Every day of her life is a real holiday, she is her parents' favorite. It seems that such an easy character will definitely give her a happy, carefree life with a loving husband.

She is fascinated by the beauty of a moonlit night, she sees something beautiful in every moment. Such enthusiasm wins the heart of Andrei Bolkonsky, who accidentally overheard a conversation between Natasha and Sonya. Natasha, of course, also falls in love with him easily, joyfully, selflessly. However, her feeling has not stood the test of time; with the same readiness she accepts the courtship of Anatoly Kuragin. Andrei cannot forgive her for this, which he confesses to his friend, Pierre Bezukhov. It is difficult to blame Natasha for infidelity, because she is so young and so wants to learn more about life. This is the young female image in the novel War and Peace.

Natasha Rostova. Trials in life

However, the girl faces many trials that greatly change her character. Who knows, maybe if Natasha had not faced life’s difficulties, she would have grown into a narcissistic egoist, thinking only about her interests and joys, unable to make her husband and children happy.

She readily undertakes to care for the dying Andrei Bolkonsky, showing herself as a completely mature, adult person.

After Andrei’s death, Natasha is very grieving and has a hard time experiencing his passing. Now we are no longer looking at a cheerful coquette, but a serious young woman who has experienced a loss.

The next blow in her life is the death of her brother Petya. She cannot indulge in grief, since her mother needs help, almost because of the loss of her son. Natasha spends day and night at her bedside, talking to her. Her gentle voice calms the countess, who has turned from a youthful woman into an old woman.

We see before us a completely different captivating female image in the novel War and Peace. Natasha Rostova is now completely different, she easily sacrifices her interests for the sake of the happiness of others. It seems as if all the warmth that her parents gave her is now poured out onto those around her.

Natasha Rostova at the end of the novel

For many, the favorite female character in the novel “War and Peace” is the image of Natasha Rostova. This heroine is loved by the author himself; it is not without reason that he pays so much attention to her. At the end of the work we see Natasha as the mother of a large family who lives by caring for loved ones. Now she does not at all resemble the young girl who was in front of us on the first pages of the work. The happiness of this woman is the well-being and health of her children and husband Pierre. Empty pastime and idleness are alien to her. She gives back with even greater force the love she received at a tender age.

Of course, Natasha is now not so graceful and beautiful, she doesn’t take very good care of herself, and wears simple clothes. This woman lives in the interests of people close to her, devoting herself entirely to her husband and children.

Surprisingly, she is absolutely happy. It is known that a person is capable only when he lives in the interests of loved ones, because loved ones are an extension of ourselves. Love for children is also love for oneself, only in a broader sense.

This is how L.N. Tolstoy described this amazing female image in the novel “War and Peace”. Natasha Rostova, it’s difficult to talk about her briefly, is the ideal woman of the writer himself. He admires her graceful youth, admires the matured heroine and makes her a happy mother and wife. Tolstoy believed that the greatest happiness for a woman is marriage and motherhood. Only then will her life be filled with meaning.

L.N. Tolstoy also shows us how different female attractiveness can be. At a young age, admiration for the world and openness to everything new certainly delight others. However, such behavior in an adult lady may seem ridiculous. Just imagine if it was not a young girl who admired the beauty of the night, but a lady of a more mature age. Most likely, she would look ridiculous. Every age has its own beauty. Caring for loved ones makes an adult woman happy, and her spiritual beauty makes others admire her.

When high school students are asked to write an essay on the topic “My favorite female character in the novel “War and Peace”,” everyone, without exception, writes about Natasha Rostova, although, if desired, of course, they could write about someone else. This once again confirms that generally accepted human values ​​have been defined in the world for a long time, and the heroine of a novel written more than a hundred years ago still evokes sympathy.

Marya Bolkonskaya

Another favorite female character of the author in the novel “War and Peace” is Marya Bolkonskaya, Andrei Bolkonsky’s sister. Unlike Natasha, she did not have the liveliness of character and attractiveness. As Tolstoy writes about Marya Nikolaevna, she was ugly: weak body, thin face. The girl meekly obeyed her father, who wanted to develop her activity and intelligence, being confident in her daughter’s absolute unpretentiousness. Her life consisted of classes in algebra and geometry.

However, the extraordinary decoration of this woman’s face were her eyes, which the author himself calls the mirror of the soul. It was they who made her face “more attractive than beauty.” Marya Nikolaevna's eyes, large and always sad, radiated kindness. This author gives them an amazing description.

The female image in the novel “War and Peace”, embodied by Marya Nikolaevna, is an absolute virtue. From the way the author writes about her, it becomes clear how much he admires such women, whose existence is sometimes unnoticed.

Andrei Bolkonsky’s sister, like Natasha, loves her family, although she was never pampered, she was brought up in strictness. Marya tolerated her father and respected him. She couldn’t even think about discussing Nikolai Andreevich’s decisions; she was in awe of everything he did.

Marya Nikolaevna is very impressionable and kind. She is saddened by her father's bad mood, she sincerely rejoices at the arrival of her fiancé, Anatoly Kuragin, in whom she sees kindness, masculinity, and generosity.

Like any good woman, Marya, of course, dreams of children. She endlessly believes in fate, in the will of the Almighty. Bolkonsky’s sister does not dare to desire anything for herself; her noble, deep nature is incapable of envy.

Marya Nikolaevna's naivety does not allow her to see human vices. She sees in everyone a reflection of her own pure soul: love, kindness, decency.
Marya is one of those who are truly happy with the happiness of others. This smart and bright woman is simply not capable of anger, envy, revenge and other base feelings.

So, the second delightful female character in the novel “War and Peace” is Marya Bolkonskaya. Perhaps Tolstoy loves her no less than Natasha Rostova, although he does not pay so much attention to her. She is like the ideal author that Natasha will come to after many years. Having neither children nor family, she finds her happiness in giving warmth to other people.

Women's happiness of Marya Bolkonskaya

Bolkonsky’s sister was not mistaken: without wanting anything for herself, she nevertheless met a man who sincerely loved her. Marya became the wife of Nikolai Rostov.

Two seemingly completely different people were perfect for each other. Each of them experienced disappointment: Marya - in Anatol Kuragin, Nikolai - in Alexander the First. Nikolai turned out to be the person who was able to increase the wealth of the Bolkonsky family, making his wife’s life happy.

Marya surrounds her husband with care and understanding: she approves of his desire to improve himself through hard work, through housekeeping and caring for the peasants.

The female character in the novel “War and Peace,” embodied by Marya Bolkonskaya, is a portrait of a real woman, accustomed to sacrificing herself for the well-being of others and being happy because of this.

Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova

Natasha Rostova, whom we see at the beginning of the work, is absolutely not like Marya: she wants happiness for herself. Andrei Bolkonsky’s sister, like her brother, puts a sense of duty, faith, and religion first.

However, the older Natasha gets, the more she resembles Princess Marya in that she wishes happiness for others. However, they are different. Natasha’s happiness can be called more down-to-earth; she lives by everyday chores and activities.

Marya is more concerned about the mental well-being of loved ones.

Sonya

The niece of Natasha Rostova's father is another female image. In the novel War and Peace, Sonya seemingly exists only to show Natasha's best qualities.

This girl, on the one hand, is very positive: she is reasonable, decent, kind, and ready to sacrifice herself. If we talk about her appearance, then she is very good. This is a slender, graceful brunette with long eyelashes and a luxurious braid.

Initially, Nikolai Rostov was in love with her, but they were unable to get married because Nikolai's parents insisted on postponing the wedding.

A girl's life is more subordinated to reason than to feelings. Tolstoy does not really like this heroine, despite all of her. He leaves her lonely.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Liza Bolkonskaya is, one might say, a supporting heroine, the wife of Prince Andrei. In the world they call her “the little princess.” She is remembered by readers thanks to her pretty upper lip with a mustache. Lisa is an attractive person, even this small flaw gives the young woman a unique charm that is unique to her. She is good, full of vitality and health. This woman easily endures her delicate position, and everyone around her has fun watching her.

It is important for Lisa to be in society; she is spoiled, even capricious. She is not inclined to think about the meaning of life, leads the usual lifestyle for a society lady, loves empty conversations in salons and at evenings, and enjoys new outfits. Bolkonsky's wife does not understand her husband, Prince Andrei, who considers it important to benefit society.

Lisa loves him superficially, as if they were just about to get married. For her, he is a background that fits into the ideas of society ladies about what a husband should be like. Lisa doesn’t understand his thoughts about the meaning of life; it seems to her that everything is simple.

It's hard for them to be together. Andrei is forced to accompany her to balls and other social events, which becomes completely unbearable for him.

This is perhaps the simplest female character in the novel War and Peace. Liza Bolkonskaya remained unchanged from the first edition of the novel. Its prototype was the wife of one of Tolstoy’s relatives, Princess Volkonskaya.

Despite the complete lack of mutual understanding between the spouses, Andrei Bolkonsky, in a conversation with Pierre, notes that she is a rare woman with whom you can be calm about your own honor.

When Andrei leaves for the war, Lisa moves into his father's house. Her superficiality is once again confirmed by the fact that she prefers to communicate with Mademoiselle Bourrienne rather than with Princess Marya.

Lisa had a presentiment that she would not be able to survive childbirth, and so it happened. She treated everyone with love and did not wish harm to anyone. Her face spoke of this even after death.

Lisa Bolkonskaya's character flaw is that she is superficial and selfish. However, this does not prevent her from being gentle, affectionate, and good-natured. She is a pleasant and cheerful conversationalist.

However, Tolstoy treats her coldly. He does not like this heroine because of her spiritual emptiness.

Helen Kuragina

The last female character in the novel “War and Peace” is Helen Kuragina. Or rather, this is the last heroine we will write about in this article.

Of all the women who appear on the pages of this grandiose novel, Helen is certainly the most beautiful and luxurious.

Behind her beautiful appearance are selfishness, vulgarity, intellectual and spiritual underdevelopment. Helen realizes the power of her beauty and uses it.

She achieves everything she wants through her own appearance. Having become accustomed to this state of affairs, this woman stopped striving for personal development.

Helene becomes the wife of Pierre Bezukhov solely because of his rich inheritance. She does not really strive to create a strong family, to give birth to children.

The War of 1812 finally puts everything in its place. For the sake of her own well-being, Helen converts to Catholicism, while her compatriots unite against the enemy. This woman, whose image can be called “dead,” really dies.

Of course, the most beautiful female character in the novel “War and Peace” is Helen. Tolstoy admires her shoulders at Natasha Rostova’s first ball, but he interrupts her life, considering such an existence meaningless.

Lisa Bolkonskaya, Helen Kuragina and Natasha Rostova

As mentioned above, the deaths of Lisa and Helen were not accidental. They both lived for themselves, were capricious, selfish.

Let's remember what Natasha Rostova was like at the beginning of the novel. Just like Liza Bolkonskaya, she admired balls and high society.

Like Helen Kuragina, she was attracted to something forbidden and inaccessible. It was for this reason that she was going to run away with Anatole.

However, Natasha’s high spirituality does not allow her to remain forever a superficial fool and plunge, like Helen, into a depraved life. The main character of the novel accepts the difficulties that befall her, helps her mother, and takes care of the terminally ill Andrei.

The deaths of Lisa and Helen symbolize that passion for social events and the desire to try the forbidden should remain in youth. Maturity requires us to be more balanced and willing to sacrifice our own interests.

Tolstoy created a whole gallery of female images. He loved some of them, others not, but for some reason he included them in his novel. It is difficult to determine what is the best female character in the novel War and Peace. Even negative and unloved heroines were invented by the author for a reason. They show us human vices, the inability to distinguish what is feigned and superficial from what is truly important. And let everyone decide for themselves what the most attractive female character in the novel “War and Peace” is.

Marya Nikolaevna Bolkonskaya is the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky. Her whole life was filled with continuous studies, because her father wanted to develop two main virtues in his daughter - activity and intelligence. The prince gave her lessons in algebra and geometry. But “the princess was as disorderly as her father was decent.” Marya Nikolaevna had an ugly, weak body and a thin face.

Her eyes, large, deep and radiant, always remained sad, but were so beautiful, “that very often, despite the ugliness of the whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.” Marya Nikolaevna loved her family and her parents' home. She respected and loved her father, even though he had a bad character.

Everything he did “aroused in her a reverence that was not subject to discussion.” The princess loved her brother, Prince Andrei, and looked at him with love and sadness in her eyes upon his arrival from St. Petersburg to the Lesnye Gory. Marya Nikolaevna was a lively person, reacting to any change in the mood of those around her.

She was upset if the prince was out of sorts, rejoiced at the arrival of her fiancé Anatole, worried and flared up, became ugly and prettier literally before our eyes. “When thinking about marriage, Princess Marya dreamed of family happiness and children, but her main, strongest dream was earthly love.” The princess was worried and was in constant doubt about this.

The main impulse of her heart were the words: “Don’t want anything for yourself, don’t search, don’t worry, don’t envy.” Masha believed in the unknown of human destiny and in the will of God for everything, “without whose will not a single hair will fall from a man’s head.” Marya Nikolaevna naively saw love, kindness and openness of soul in all people.

So Anatole, who was driven only by passion and greed, appeared to her as kind, brave, decisive, courageous and generous. The princess always sacrificed herself and was glad for the happiness of other people. “My calling is to be happy with another kind of happiness, the happiness of love and self-sacrifice...

I will be so happy when she is his wife...” - this is what she thought when she saw Anatole with another woman in the garden. This is Marya Nikolaevna Bolkonskaya - naive, kind, open-hearted, dreamy, smart and happy with the happiness of others. “War and Peace” was written in the 60s of the last century, and the final edition was created in the 70s, when there were active debates in Russian society about the further paths of development of Russia.

Representatives of different directions saw differently the solution to the problems that the country faced in the process of preparing and carrying out the great reforms of the 60s. Tolstoy could not help but reflect the writer’s views on the fundamental features of contemporary Russia, on the course of further development of Russia. In the debates that were then in full swing, special attention was paid to the issue of the people, an understanding of this category was developed, as well as an understanding of the nature and characteristics of the Russian people.

There were also disputes over whose ideas and views could have the greatest impact on the people. This was the same time when a poor student Raskolnikov in his closet came up with the “Napoleonic” theory of two categories of people. Thoughts about the uplifting influence of a strong personality on the people were in the air then.

Leo Tolstoy also expressed his understanding of this problem in the epic War and Peace. The Napoleonic principle is embodied in the novel not only in the image of its main bearer, Napoleon Bonaparte, but also in the images of a number of characters, both central and secondary. Tolstoy draws images of the emperors Napoleon and Alexander, the Moscow governor Count Rastopchin.

Between these very different images there is one most significant similarity for Tolstoy: in their attitude towards the people, these people strive to rise above them, to become higher than the people, they strive to control the popular element. Tolstoy shows the extent of this error in his novel. , who believes that he controls huge masses, directs the actions of people, is seen by the writer as a little boy pulling the strings tied inside the carriage, and imagining that he is ruling the carriage. Tolstoy refuses to recognize the will and desires of the so-called “great people” as the causes of events of enormous historical scale.

All of them, according to Tolstoy, are nothing more than labels that give only names to events. Their attitude towards the people stems from the fact that in their minds it is just a crowd, a large gathering of people unquestioningly obeying the ruler, acting one way or another only out of a desire to be noticed by their idol, to earn his approval and praise. But this is exactly how the crowd behaves, which is the Polish lancers depicted by Tolstoy in the scene of crossing the river - the lancers senselessly die under the gaze of the “great man,” while he does not even pay attention to them.

This episode is directly related to the scene of the arrival of Emperor Alexander in Moscow, which is not connected with it in terms of plot, but has something in common in terms of meaning. The appearance of the Tsar leads the crowd gathered in the Kremlin into extreme excitement; Petya Rostov rushes for a piece of biscuit, which the Tsar throws into the crowd from the balcony. It is very important that the central character in this scene turns out to be exactly one of the Rostovs, who are distinguished by the author’s natural behavior, aversion to falsehood and exalted manifestations of feelings. Petya rushes after this piece of biscuit, rolling his eyes brutally and not realizing why he is doing this.

At this moment, he completely merges with the crowd, becomes part of it, and the crowd, brought into a state of excitement, is capable of any atrocity; it can be set on an innocent victim, as Rostopchin does, killing Vereshchagin. This is how the image of a crowd appears in the novel, opposed to the concept of “people”. For Tolstoy, the people are too complex a phenomenon for it to be possible to control them in this way. Tolstoy did not consider the common people an easily controlled homogeneous mass.

Tolstoy's understanding of the people is much deeper. In the work, where “folk thought” is in the foreground, a variety of manifestations of the people’s character are depicted, embodied in such characters as Tikhon Shcherbaty, who is certainly useful in guerrilla warfare, cruel and merciless towards enemies, a natural character, but Tolstoy is unlikable; and Plata Karataev, who treated everyone around him humanely: the master Pierre Bezukhov, the French soldier, the little dog that stuck to the party of prisoners. Karataev personifies peace, tranquility, and comfort for Bezukhov. The characters of Tikhon and Karataev are contrastingly opposite, but, according to Tolstoy, both of them are a reflection of different aspects of the complex and contradictory national character.

For Tolstoy, the people are a sea, in the depths of which unknown and not always understandable forces lurk. And Tolstoy was by no means inclined to idealize this sea. In this regard, the history of the rebellion of the Bogucharovsky peasants is very characteristic.

Let us remember that the peasants rebelled precisely at the moment when the old prince had just been buried, and Andrei was not on the estate, and Princess Marya finds herself helpless and defenseless before the rebels. Tolstoy talks about underwater currents in this sea, which at some moments come to the surface. With the help of this scene, the author makes it clear the complexity and contradictoriness of people's life. So what is a people, according to Tolstoy?

What forces control it? The answers to these questions are provided by the main event of the novel - the War of 1812. It was she who was chosen by Tolstoy to show the power of the popular movement.

Forces everyone to act and do things that are impossible not to do, brings into life the Kantian “categorical imperative”. People do not act according to orders, but obeying an inner feeling, a sense of the significance of the moment. Tolstoy writes that they united in their aspirations and actions when they felt the danger looming over the entire community, called the people, over the “swarm”.

The novel shows the greatness and simplicity of the “swarm” life, when everyone does their part of the common big task, sometimes without realizing their participation in it, and a person is driven not by instinct, but precisely by the laws of social life, as Tolstoy understood them. And such a “swarm”, or world, consists not of an impersonal mass, but of individual individuals who do not lose their individuality in merging with the “swarm”. This includes the merchant Ferapontov, who burns his house so that it does not fall to the enemy, and Moscow residents who leave the capital simply because of the consideration that it is impossible to live in it under Bonaparte, even if you are not directly in any danger.

Participants in the “swarm” life are the men Karp and Vlas, who do not give the hay to the French, and that Moscow lady who left Moscow with her araps and pugs back in June for the reason that “she is not Bonaparte’s servant.” All of them are active participants in folk, “swarm” life. In contrast to the faceless crowd, the participants in the “swarm” life are spiritual people, each of whom feels that the outcome of events depends on him and that the cause of these events is all of them, and not Napoleon or Alexander. Natasha felt this unity very strongly during a prayer service on the occasion of the war, when the deacon proclaimed the words of the great litany, “Let us pray to the Lord in peace.”

And Natasha understands this “peace” precisely as “all together, without distinction of classes.” Tolstoy’s favorite heroes are able to live a common “swarm” life, all together, in peace. The world is the highest community of people. To depict the life of the world is the task of Tolstoy, who creates the “epic of the people’s life.”

And in the image of Kutuzov, Tolstoy embodies his ideas about what a person should be like, placed by Providence at the head of the masses. Kutuzov does not strive to become above the people, but feels himself a participant in people's life, he does not lead the movement of the masses, but only strives not to interfere with the accomplishment of a truly historical event, he comprehends people's life in a special way and only therefore is he able to express it. This, according to Tolstoy, is the true greatness of the individual.

Marya Bolkonskaya is one of the most complex characters in Tolstoy's novel. Its main qualities are spirituality, religiosity, the ability for self-denial, sacrificial, high love.

The heroine does not attract us with external beauty: “ugly, weak body”, “thin face”. However, the deep, radiant, large eyes of the princess, illuminating her entire face with inner light, become “more attractive than beauty.” These eyes reflect the entire intense spiritual life of Princess Marya, the richness of her inner world.

Tolstoy with great subtlety recreates the atmosphere in which the character of the heroine was formed. The Volkonskys are an old, respected family, well-known, patriarchal, with their own life values, foundations, and traditions. The key concepts that characterize people of this “breed” are order, ideality, reason, and pride.

Everything in Bald Mountains goes according to the order once established, in accordance with the regulations; the strict, stern Prince Nikolai Andreevich is invariably demanding, even harsh with children and servants. He is selfish, domineering, and sometimes intolerant in his relationship with his daughter. At the same time, the old Prince Bolkonsky is smart, insightful, hardworking, energetic, patriotic, he has his own, “age-old” concepts of honor and duty. In his soul live all the best values ​​generated by the rationalistic 18th century. Nikolai Andreevich does not tolerate idleness, idle talk, or wasting time. He is constantly busy “either writing his memoirs, now making calculations from higher mathematics, now turning snuff boxes on a machine, now working in the garden and observing the buildings that did not stop on his estate.”

Prince Bolkonsky recognizes only two human virtues - “activity and intelligence.” In accordance with this “doctrine,” he raises his daughter: Princess Marya is well educated, her father gives her lessons in algebra and geometry, and her whole life is distributed “in continuous studies.”

In this atmosphere of “correctness”, the dominant mind, the character of the heroine was formed. However, Princess Marya inherited from the Bolkonskys only family pride and fortitude, otherwise she is not too similar to her father and brother. There is no orderliness or pedantry in her life. In contrast to her father's stiffness, she is open and natural. In contrast to the harshness and intolerance of Nikolai Andreevich, she is kind and merciful, patient and condescending in her relationships with others. In a conversation with her brother, she defends Lisa, considering her a big child. She also forgives Mlle Bourienne, noticing her flirting with Anatoly Kuragin.

Princess Marya is devoid of cunning, prudence, and coquetry characteristic of secular young ladies. She is sincere and selfless. Princess Marya meekly submits to life's circumstances, seeing God's will in this. She is constantly surrounded by “God’s people” - holy fools and wanderers, and the poetic thought of “leaving family, homeland, all worries about worldly goods in order, not clinging to anything, to walk in rags, under a false name from place to place, without harming people and praying for them...”, often visits her.

However, at the same time, with her whole being, she longs for earthly happiness, and this feeling becomes stronger the more she tries to “hide it from others and even from herself.” “When thinking about marriage, Princess Marya dreamed of family happiness and children, but her main, strongest and hidden dream was earthly love.”

For the first time, the heroine has a vague hope for family happiness when Anatol Kuragin and his father come to Bald Mountains in order to woo her. Princess Marya does not know Anatole at all - he seems to her a handsome, worthy person. It seems to her that “a husband, a man” is a “strong, dominant and incomprehensibly attractive creature” who will suddenly transport her to his own, completely different, happy world.

Nikolai Andreevich notices the excitement that suddenly gripped the princess. However, Anatole’s plans are selfish and cynical: he just wants to marry a rich heiress and already dreams of “having fun” with mlle Bourienne. Smart and insightful, the old Prince Bolkonsky immediately reveals the true nature of the young Kuragin, notes his emptiness, stupidity and worthlessness. The dignity of Nikolai Andreevich and Anatole’s “ardent glances” at mlle Bourienne are deeply insulted. To top it all off, the old prince is secretly afraid to part with his daughter, life without whom is unthinkable for him. While giving Princess Marya freedom of choice, her father, however, hints to her about her fiancé’s interest in the Frenchwoman. And soon the heroine becomes personally convinced of this, noticing Anatole with mlle Bourienne.

So, the heroine’s dreams of personal happiness are not yet destined to come true. And Princess Marya submits to fate, surrendering to a sense of self-denial. This feeling becomes especially noticeable in her relationship with her father, who in old age becomes even more irritable and despotic.

Having brought the Frenchwoman closer to him, Nikolai Andreevich constantly and painfully insulted Princess Marya, but the daughter did not even make an effort on herself to forgive him. “Could he be guilty before her, and could her father, who (she still knew this) loved her, be unfair to her? And what is justice? The princess never thought about this proud word: justice. All the complex laws of humanity were concentrated for her in one simple and clear law - the law of love and self-sacrifice.”

With the firmness and fortitude of the Bolkonsky princesses. Marya fulfills her duty as a daughter. However, during her father’s illness, “forgotten personal desires and hopes” awaken in her again. She drives these thoughts away from herself, considering them an obsession, some kind of devilish temptation. However, for Tolstoy, these thoughts of the heroine are natural and therefore have the right to exist.

Here the writer “seems to be conducting a persistent argument with ascetics and hypocrites of all kinds, recalling that a person cannot help but live a sensual life. Sensuality ceases to be human if a person, in his love for it, does not love the whole world for him. Then this is Helen’s crude sensuality, the terrible sensuality of the “Kreutzer Sonata” - the alienation and hostility of life.

Tolstoy does not at all poetize the rational sacrifice of Princess Marya, contrasting with her the “spontaneity of egoism”, “the ability to live selflessly, ... joyfully surrender to natural drives, instinctive needs.” Here the writer compares Christian, sacrificial love for all people and earthly, personal love, which reveals to a person all the diversity of life. As V. Ermilov notes, “Tolstoy does not know what kind of love is true. Perhaps Christian, equal love for everyone is higher, more perfect than sinful, earthly love... however, only earthly love is living life on earth.”

For the writer, Christian love is invariably connected with the thought of death; this love, according to Tolstoy, is “not for life.” The image of PRINCESS Marya in the novel is accompanied by the same motif, which is extremely significant for Prince Andrei - the motif of sublimity, the desire for “heavenly” perfection, for an “unearthly” ideal. The inner, deep meaning of this motive is the hero’s fatal incompatibility with life.

Princess Marya in the novel finds her happiness in marriage with Nikolai Rostov, but the “tireless, eternal mental tension” does not leave her for a moment. She cares not only about coziness and comfort in the home, but, above all, about the special spiritual atmosphere in the family. Nikolai is quick-tempered and hot-tempered; during proceedings with elders and clerks, he often gives free rein to his hands. His wife helps him understand the baseness of his actions, helps him overcome his temper and rudeness, and get rid of the “old hussar habits.”

Princess Marya is a wonderful mother. Thinking about the moral and spiritual education of children, she keeps a diary, recording all the remarkable episodes of a child’s life, noting the characteristics of the children’s characters and the effectiveness of certain methods of education. Rostov admires his wife: “... the main basis of his firm, tender and proud love for his wife... is a feeling of surprise at her sincerity, at the sublime, moral world, almost inaccessible to Nikolai, in which his wife always lived.” .

Rostov itself, for all its emotionality, is devoid of great spiritual needs. His interests are family, landowner farming, hunting, reading books in winter. He condemns Pierre for his rebellious, freedom-loving sentiments. “Common sense of mediocrity” - this is the definition the writer gives to the hero.

It seems to Marya Bolkonskaya that “besides the happiness that she experienced, there was something else, unattainable in this life.” Here again the motive of death arises, associated with the image of this heroine. V. Ermilov notes that “this hidden motive also has some personal significance for Tolstoy, who associated with the image of Princess Mary some of his ideas about his mother, about her tender love for ... children, about her high spirituality, about her premature death..."

In the image of Princess Marya, Tolstoy presents us with a synthesis of the spiritual and sensual, with a clear predominance of the first. This heroine attracts us with her sincerity, nobility, moral purity and complex inner world.

Princess Maria Bolkonskaya- the heroine of L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”, daughter of Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky.

Daughter of old Prince Bolkonsky and sister of Andrei Bolkonsky. Maria is ugly, sickly, but her whole face is transformed by her beautiful eyes: “... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.”

Vasily Kuragin decides to marry his son Anatoly who leads a wild lifestyle, Maria Bolkonskaya.

In November 1805, Prince Vasily was supposed to go to an audit in four provinces. He arranged this appointment for himself in order to visit his ruined estates at the same time, and taking with him (at the location of his regiment) his son Anatoly, he and he would go to Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky in order to marry his son to the daughter of this rich man old man.

During the visit, Anatole Kuragin began to flirt with Mlle Bourienne, the princess's companion. Mlle Bourienne fell in love with a rich groom.

She [the princess] raised her eyes and, two steps away, saw Anatole, who was hugging the Frenchwoman and whispering something to her. Anatole, with a terrible expression on his beautiful face, looked back at Princess Marya and did not release Mlle Bourienne’s waist at the first second, who could not see her.

As a result, Princess Maria Bolkonskaya decides to sacrifice her own happiness and is going to arrange the marriage of Mlle Bourienne with Anatoly Kuragin. Nothing came of this venture.

Princess Maria is distinguished by her great religiosity. She often hosts all kinds of pilgrims, or as she calls them “God’s people,” wanderers. She has no close friends, she lives under the yoke of her father, whom she loves but is incredibly afraid of. The old Prince Bolkonsky had a bad character, Maria was absolutely overwhelmed by him and did not believe in her personal happiness at all. She gives all her love to her father, brother Andrei and his son, trying to replace little Nikolenka’s deceased mother.

Maria's life changes from the moment she meets Nikolai Rostov. He “saved” her from the courtyard men who did not want to let the princess out of the estate where her father died. It was Nikolai who saw all the wealth and beauty of her soul. They get married, Maria becomes a devoted wife.