Description of heroes war and peace quotes. Heroes of "War and Peace" - a brief description of the characters

Anatol Kuragin

He is the son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Hippolyte. Prince Vasily himself looks at his son as a “restless fool” who constantly needs to be rescued from various troubles. A. very handsome, dandy, impudent. He is frankly stupid, not resourceful, but popular in society because “he had both the ability of calm and unchangeable confidence, precious for the world.” A. Dolokhov’s friend, constantly participates in his revelries, looks at life as a constant flow of pleasures and pleasures. He doesn't care about other people, he is selfish. A. treats women with contempt, feeling his superiority. He was used to being liked by everyone without experiencing anything serious in return. A. became interested in Natasha Rostova and tried to take her away. After this incident, the hero was forced to flee Moscow and hide from Prince Andrei, who wanted to challenge the seducer of his bride to a duel. The last time they see each other is in the infirmary, after the Battle of Borodino. A. was wounded and his leg was amputated.

Andrey Bolkonsky

This is one of the main characters of the novel, the son of Prince Bolkonsky, the brother of Princess Marya. At the beginning of the novel we see B. as an intelligent, proud, but rather arrogant person. He despises people of high society, is unhappy in his marriage and does not respect his pretty wife. B. is very reserved, well educated, he has strong will. This hero is experiencing great spiritual changes. First we see that his idol is Napoleon, whom he considers a great man. B. ends up in a war and is sent to the active army. There he fights on an equal basis with all the soldiers, showing great courage, composure, and prudence. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. B. was seriously wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz. This moment is extremely important, because that’s when it began spiritual rebirth hero. Lying motionless and seeing the calm and eternal sky of Austerlitz above him, B. understands all the pettiness and stupidity of everything that is happening in the war. He realized that in reality there should be completely different values ​​in life than those that he had until now. All exploits and glory do not matter. There is only this vast and eternal sky. In the same episode, B. sees Napoleon and understands the insignificance of this man. B. returns home, where everyone thought he was dead. His wife dies in childbirth, but the child survives. The hero is shocked by the death of his wife and feels guilty towards her. He decides not to serve anymore, settles in Bogucharovo, takes care of the household, raising his son, and reads a lot of books. During a trip to St. Petersburg, B. meets Natasha Rostova for the second time. A deep feeling awakens in him, the heroes decide to get married. B.'s father does not agree with his son's choice, they postpone the wedding for a year, the hero goes abroad. After his fiancee betrays him, he returns to the army under the leadership of Kutuzov. During the Battle of Borodino, he was mortally wounded. By chance, he leaves Moscow in the Rostovs' convoy. Before his death, he forgives Natasha and understands the true meaning of love.

Anna Pavlovna Sherer

Maid of honor, close to Empress Maria Feodorovna. Sh. is the owner of a fashionable salon in St. Petersburg, the description of the evening in which opens the novel. A.P. 40 years old, she is artificial, like everyone else high society. Her attitude towards any person or event depends entirely on the latest political, courtly or secular considerations. She is friends with Prince Vasily. Sh. is “full of animation and impulse,” “being an enthusiast has become her social status". In 1812, her salon demonstrates false patriotism by eating cabbage soup and fining her for speaking French.

Bagration

This is real historical figure, one of the most famous Russian military leaders, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, bears the title of prince. Tolstoy says that B. "is short, with oriental type a firm and motionless face, a dry, not yet old man." In the novel we mainly see him as the commander of the Shengraben battle, whom Kutuzov blessed to save the army. Just B.’s presence on the battlefield already helps the fighters. Everyone loves and respects him for his determination and courage. During the most decisive moment of the battle, B. does not give visible orders, but dismounts and goes into battle ahead of the entire army. During the Battle of Austerlitz, B. also showed his heroism. He alone repulsed the enemy, who was clearly twice as strong, and then, during the retreat, he led his column out of the battlefield undisturbed. Tolstoy notes that when a dinner was given in honor of B., in his person “honor was given to a fighting, simple, Russian soldier without connections or intrigues...”.

German, first the groom, and then the husband of Vera Rostova. This is "a fresh, pink guards officer, immaculately washed, buttoned and combed." At the beginning of the work, B. is a lieutenant, and at the end of the work he becomes a colonel, from which one can see that B. has made a good career. He is precise, calm, courteous, but very selfish and stingy. He loves and can only talk about himself and his successes. Those around him laugh at him; he is a stranger in the Rostov house. They do not understand his prudence and stinginess. B. proposes to Vera and demands the promised dowry from the old count, despite the difficult financial situation of the Rostovs. This hero is clearly unpleasant and alien to Tolstoy himself.

Boris Drubetskoy

Son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. From childhood he was brought up and lived for a long time in the house of the Rostovs, to whom he was a relative. B. and Natasha were in love with each other. Outwardly, he is “a tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face.” Since his youth, B. has dreamed of a military career and allows his mother to humiliate herself in front of her superiors if it helps him. So, Prince Vasily finds him a place in the guard. B. is going to make a brilliant career and makes many useful contacts. After a while he becomes Helen's lover. B. manages to be in the right place at the right time, and his career and position are especially firmly established. In 1809 he meets Natasha again and becomes interested in her, even thinking about marrying her. But this would hinder his career. Therefore, B. begins to look for a rich bride. He eventually marries Julie Karagina.

Vasily Kuragin

Prince, father of Helen, Anatole and Hippolyte. This is a very famous and quite influential person in society; he occupies an important court post. Prince V.'s attitude towards everyone around him is condescending and patronizing. The author shows his hero “in a courtly, embroidered uniform, in stockings, shoes, with stars, with a bright expression on a flat face,” with a “perfumed and shining bald head.” But when he smiled, there was “something unexpectedly rude and unpleasant” in his smile. Prince V. specifically does not wish harm on anyone. He simply uses people and circumstances to carry out his plans. V. always strives to get closer to people who are richer and higher in position than him. The hero considers himself an exemplary father; he does everything possible to arrange the future of his children. He is trying to marry his son Anatole to the rich princess Marya Bolkonskaya. After the death of the old Prince Bezukhov and Pierre receiving a huge inheritance, V. notices a rich groom and cunningly marries his daughter Helene to him. Prince V. is a great intriguer who knows how to live in society and make acquaintances with the right people.

Count Rostov

Rostov Ilya Andreevi - count, father of Natasha, Nikolai, Vera and Petya. A very good-natured, generous person who loves life and does not really know how to calculate his money. R. is capable of hosting a reception or a ball better than anyone; he is a hospitable host and an exemplary family man. The count is accustomed to living in grand style, and when his means no longer allow this, he gradually ruins his family, from which he suffers greatly. When leaving Moscow, it is R. who begins to give carts for the wounded. So he deals one of the last blows to the family budget. The death of Petya's son finally broke the count; he comes to life only when he prepares a wedding for Natasha and Pierre. In the same year, R. dies and leaves behind a good memory.

Countess of Rostov

The wife of Count Rostov, “a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children... The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspires respect.” R. creates an atmosphere of love and kindness in his family and is very concerned about the fate of his children. The news of the death of her youngest and beloved son Petya almost drives her crazy. She is accustomed to luxury and fulfillment of the slightest whims, and demands this after the death of her husband.

The author describes Fyodor Dolokhov as follows: “Dolokhov was a man of average height, curly haired and with light, blue eyes. He was about twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was all visible. The lines of this mouth were remarkably thinly curved. In the middle, the upper lip fell energetically onto the strong lower lip. sharp wedge, and in the corners something like two smiles constantly formed, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a firm, insolent, intelligent look, it created such an impression that it was impossible not to notice this face." This hero is not rich, but he knows how to position himself in such a way that everyone around him respects and is afraid of him. He loves to have fun , and in a rather strange and sometimes cruel way. For one case of bullying a police officer, D. was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, but during military operations he regained his rank of officer. He is an intelligent, brave and cold-blooded man. , hides his tender love for his mother. In fact, D. does not want to know anyone except those whom he really loves. He divides people into harmful and useful, sees mostly harmful people around him and is ready to get rid of them if they suddenly stand up to each other. On his way, D. was Helen’s lover, he provokes Pierre into a duel, dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov at cards, and helps Anatole arrange an escape with Natasha.

Captain Tushin

This is the staff captain, the hero of the Battle of Shengraben. T. is a short man with a thin voice; there was something “non-military, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive” about him. This hero is shy in front of his superiors, feels guilty and small. On the eve of the battle, T. talks about the fear of death and what awaits after it. But during the battle the hero is transformed. He feels like “a huge, powerful man who throws cannonballs at the French with both hands.” Battery T. was forgotten during the battle. During the battle, the staff captain is no longer afraid of death or injury, he becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers obey him like children. The soldiers miraculously survive thanks to T.'s heroism.

Princess Marya

Daughter of old Prince Bolkonsky and sister of Andrei Bolkonsky. M. is ugly and sickly, but her whole face is transformed 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 entire face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.” Princess M. is distinguished by her great religiosity. She often hosts all kinds of pilgrims and wanderers. She has no close friends, she lives under the yoke of her father, whom she loves but is incredibly afraid of. Old Prince Bolkonsky had a bad character, M. 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 deceased mother. M.'s life changes after meeting Nikolai Rostov. It was he who saw all the wealth and beauty of her soul. They get married, M. becomes a devoted wife, completely sharing all the views of her husband.

Kuragina Elen

Kuragina Helen is the daughter of Prince Vasily, and then the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. A brilliant St. Petersburg beauty with an “unchanging smile”, white full shoulders, glossy hair and a beautiful figure. There was no noticeable coquetry in her, as if she was ashamed “of her undoubtedly and too powerfully and victoriously acting beauty.” E. is unperturbed, giving everyone the right to admire herself, which is why she feels like she has a gloss from many other people’s glances. She knows how to be silently dignified in the world, giving the impression of a tactful and intelligent woman, which, combined with beauty, ensures her constant success. Having married Pierre Bezukhov, the heroine reveals to her husband not only limited intelligence, coarseness of thought and vulgarity, but also cynical depravity. After breaking up with Pierre and receiving a large part of the fortune from him by proxy, she lives either in St. Petersburg, then abroad, or returns to her husband. Despite the family breakup, the constant change of lovers, including Dolokhov and Drubetskoy, E. continues to remain one of the most famous and favored ladies of St. Petersburg society. She is making very great progress in the world; Living alone, she becomes the mistress of a diplomatic and political salon and gains a reputation as an intelligent woman. Having decided to convert to Catholicism and considering the possibility of divorce and a new marriage, entangled between two very influential high-ranking lovers and patrons, E. dies in 1812.

A real historical figure, commander-in-chief of the Russian army. For Tolstoy, he is the ideal of a historical figure and the ideal of a person. “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 something else.” K. knew that “the fate of the battle is decided not by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place where the troops stand, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by 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." K. blends in with the people, he is always modest and simple. His behavior is natural; the author constantly emphasizes his heaviness and senile weakness. K. is the exponent of folk wisdom in the novel. His strength lies in the fact that he understands and knows well what worries the people, and acts in accordance with this. K. dies when he has fulfilled his duty. The enemy has been driven beyond the borders of Russia; this folk hero has nothing more to do.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Prince Andrei's wife. She is the darling of the whole world, an attractive young woman whom everyone calls “the little princess.” “Her pretty upper lip, with a slightly blackened mustache, was short in the teeth, but the more sweetly it opened and even more sweetly it sometimes stretched out and fell onto the lower one. As always happens with quite attractive women, her shortcoming - short lips and half-open mouth - seemed With her special, actually her beauty, everyone was happy to look at this pretty, full of health and liveliness. expectant mother, who so easily endured her position." L. was everyone's favorite thanks to her always liveliness and courtesy of a secular woman; she could not imagine her life without high society. But Prince Andrei did not love his wife and felt unhappy in his marriage. L. does not understand his husband, his aspirations and ideals. After Andrei leaves for the war, L. lives in the Bald Mountains with the old Prince Bolkonsky, for whom L. feels fear and hostility and actually dies during childbirth.

Napoleon

This is a real historical figure, the French emperor. Tolstoy decided to debunk the legend of Napoleon from the standpoint of true humanism. At the beginning of the novel, this man is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky; Pierre Bezukhov considers N. a Great Man. But gradually these best heroes of Tolstoy become disillusioned with their idol.

Job Description

Anatol Kuragin
He is the son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Hippolyte. Prince Vasily himself looks at his son as a “restless fool” who constantly needs to be rescued from various troubles. A. very handsome, dandy, impudent. He is frankly stupid, not resourceful, but popular in society because “he had both the ability of calm and unchangeable confidence, precious for the world.” A. Dolokhov’s friend, constantly participates in his revelries, looks at life as a constant flow of pleasures and pleasures.

Heroes of the novel "War and Peace"

L.N. Tolstoy based his assessment of the heroes of his book on “popular thought.” Kutuzov, Bagration, captains Tushin and Timokhin, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, Petya Rostov, Vasily Denisov, together with the people, stand up in defense of their homeland. The heroine of the novel, the wonderful “sorceress” Natasha Rostova, loves her homeland and people with all her heart. Negative characters novel: Prince Vasily Kuragin and his children Anatole, Hippolyte and Helen, careerist Boris Drubetskoy, money-grubber Berg, foreign generals in Russian service - all of them are far from the people and care only about their own personal benefits.

The novel immortalizes Moscow's unprecedented feat. Its inhabitants, unlike the inhabitants of the capitals of other countries conquered by Napoleon, did not want to submit to the conquerors and left hometown. “For the Russian people,” says Tolstoy, “there could be no question whether it would be good or bad under the rule of the French in Moscow. It was impossible to be under French rule: that was the worst thing.”

Entering Moscow, which looked like an empty beehive. Napoleon felt that the hand of a powerful enemy was raised over him and his armies. He began to persistently seek a truce and twice sent ambassadors to Kutuzov. On behalf of the people and the army, Kutuzov resolutely rejected Napoleon's proposal for peace and organized a counter-offensive of his troops, supported by partisan detachments.

Having been defeated in the Battle of Tarutino, Napoleon left Moscow. Soon the disorderly flight of his regiments began. Turning into crowds of marauders and robbers, Napoleonic troops fled back along the same road that led them to the Russian capital.

After the battle of Krasnoye, Kutuzov addressed his soldiers with a speech in which he cordially congratulated them on their victory and thanked them for their faithful service to the fatherland. In the scene near Krasny, the deepest nationality of the great commander, his love for those who saved his homeland from foreign enslavement, and his true patriotism are revealed with particular insight.

However, it should be noted that there are scenes in War and Peace where the image of Kutuzov is shown contradictorily. Tolstoy believed that the development of all events taking place in the world does not depend on the will of people, but is predetermined from above. It seemed to the writer that Kutuzov thought the same and did not consider it necessary to interfere in the development of events. But this decisively contradicts the image of Kutuzov, which was created by Tolstoy himself. The writer emphasizes that great commander knew how to understand the spirit of the army and sought to control it, that all Kutuzov’s thoughts and all his actions were aimed at one goal - to defeat the enemy.

The image of the soldier Platon Karataev, whom Pierre Bezukhov met and became friends with in captivity, is also depicted contradictorily in the novel. Karataev is characterized by such traits as gentleness, humility, willingness to forgive and forget any offense. Pierre listens with surprise and then with delight to Karataev’s stories, which always end with evangelical calls to love everyone and forgive everyone. But the same Pierre had to see the terrible end of Platon Karataev. When the French were driving a party of prisoners along a muddy autumn road, Karataev fell from weakness and could not get up. And the guards mercilessly shot him. One cannot forget this terrible scene: Karataev lies dead near a dirty forest road, and next to him sits and howls a hungry, lonely, freezing little dog, which he so recently saved from death...

Fortunately, the “Karataev” traits were unusual for the Russian people who defended their land. Reading “War and Peace”, we see that it was not the Platon Karataevs who defeated Napoleon’s army. This was done by the fearless artillerymen of the modest captain Tushin, the brave soldiers of captain Timokhin, the cavalrymen of Uvarov, and the partisans of captain Denisov. The Russian army and the Russian people defeated the enemy. And this is shown with convincing force in the novel. It is no coincidence that during the Second World War, Tolstoy’s book was a reference book for people different countries who fought against the invasion of Hitler's fascist hordes. And it will always serve as a source of patriotic inspiration for freedom-loving people.

From the epilogue that ends the novel, we learn about how its heroes lived after the end of the Patriotic War of 1812. Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova united their destinies and found their happiness. Pierre is still concerned about the future of his homeland. He became a member of a secret organization from which the Decembrists would later emerge. Young Nikolenka Bolkonsky, the son of Prince Andrei, who died from a wound received on the Borodino field, listens carefully to his hot speeches.

You can guess about the future of these people by listening to their conversation. Nikolenka asked Pierre: “Uncle Pierre... If dad were alive... would he agree with you?” And Pierre replied: “I think so...”

At the end of the novel, Tolstoy depicts Nikolenka Bolkonsky's dream. “He and Uncle Pierre walked ahead of a huge army,” Nikolenka dreamed. They were going to a difficult and glorious feat. Nikolenka’s father was with him, encouraging both him and Uncle Pierre. Waking up, Nikolenka makes a firm decision: to live in such a way as to be worthy of the memory of his father. "Father! Father! - Nikolenka thinks. “Yes, I will do something that would make even him happy.”

With this oath of Nikolenka, Tolstoy completes the storyline of the novel, as if lifting the curtain into the future, stretching threads from one era of Russian life to another, when the heroes of 1825 - the Decembrists - entered the historical arena.

Thus ends the work to which Tolstoy, by his own admission, devoted five years of “incessant and exceptional labor.”

The image of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel “War and Peace”. Essay based on Tolstoy's novel - War and Peace. Pierre Bezukhov by his character, by his make-up, is predominantly an emotional person. His characteristic features are a mind prone to “dreamy philosophizing,” free-thinking, absent-mindedness, weakness of will, and lack of initiative. This does not mean that Prince Andrei is not capable of experiencing deep feelings, and Pierre is a weak thinker; both are complex natures. The terms “intellectual” and “emotional” mean in this case the predominant features of the spiritual forces of these extraordinary individuals. Pierre stands out sharply from the crowd of people in the Scherer salon, where we first meet him. This is “a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, glasses, light trousers in the fashion of the time, a high frill and a brown tailcoat.” His look is “intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural.” His main feature is the search for “calmness, agreement with oneself.” All life path Pierre - a constant search for the meaning of life, a search for a life that would be in harmony with the needs of his heart and would bring him moral satisfaction. In this he is similar to Andrei Bolkonsky.

Pierre's path, like the path of Prince Andrei, this is the way to the people. Even during the period of his passion for Freemasonry, he decides to devote his energies to the improvement of the peasants. He considers it necessary to set his serfs free; he is thinking about establishing hospitals, orphanages and schools in his villages. True, the cunning manager deceives Pierre and only creates the appearance of reforms. But Pierre is sincerely confident 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 begins to feel the desire to become simpler, to completely merge with the people. Bar life, secular salons, the luxury of Tomyaga 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.. Both of them are patriots. Natasha did not hesitate to sacrifice the wealth of the Moscow Rostov house to save the wounded. And Princess Marya abandons the estate to the mercy of fate as the French approach. When the homeland is in danger, they wake up family traits- pride, courage, firmness. This is what happened in Bogucharovo, when her French companion invited her to stay on the estate and trust the mercy of the French general, the mercy of the enemies of Russia, her homeland. And “although it didn’t matter to Princess Marya no matter where she stayed and no matter what happened to her, at the same time she felt like a representative of her late father and Prince Andrei. She involuntarily thought with their thoughts and felt them with their feelings.” And there is one more feature that makes Natasha and Princess Marya similar. Princess Marya marries Nikolai Rostov, and Tolstoy, depicting their family life, speaks of the happiness that she, like Natasha, found in the family. This is how Tolstoy solves the question of the purpose of a woman, limiting her interests to the framework of family life.

Let us recall another episode of Nikolai Rostov’s meeting with Sonya, when he, having arrived on vacation, does not know how to behave with his beloved girl. “He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya, but their eyes, having met, said “you” to each other and kissed tenderly.”

Tolstoy's favorite heroes are people with a complex spiritual world. In revealing such characters, Tolstoy resorts to various techniques: direct characterization from the author, self-characterization of the hero, internal dialogues and reflections, etc. Internal monologues and internal dialogues allow the author to discover the innermost thoughts and moods of the characters, 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. Sample " inner monologue“The reflections of the wounded Prince Andrei in Chapter XXXII of the third volume of the novel can serve as elements of dialogue. Here is another example of an “inner monologue” - the reflections of Natasha, childishly and spontaneously reasoning about herself: “What a charm this Natasha is!” - she said again to herself in the words of some third collective male person. “She’s good, she has a voice, she’s young, and she doesn’t bother anyone, just leave 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 the heroes. Thus, 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 that she was especially known for the gaiety it brought in the morning.” Tolstoy is a brilliant landscape painter. He will note the young “green sticky leaves” of the birch, and the bush turning green somewhere, and the “juicy, dark green of the oak,” and the moonlight bursting into the room, and the freshness spring night. Let us remember the wonderfully described hunt in Otradnoye. Both people, animals, and nature appear here as indicators of the powerful force of life, its plethora. The landscape serves various functions in the novel. Most common feature Tolstoy's landscape is the correspondence of this landscape to the mood of the hero. The disappointment and gloomy mood of Prince Andrei after the break with Natasha paints the surrounding landscape in gloomy tones. “He looked at the strip of birch trees, with their motionless yellow, green and white bark, glistening in the sun. “To die... so that they would kill me, tomorrow, so that I wouldn’t exist... so that all this would happen, but I wouldn’t exist...” He is tormented by terrible premonitions and painful thoughts about death. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke from the fires - all this around was transformed for him and seemed something terrible and threatening. And the poetry of Natasha’s nature, on the contrary, is revealed against the backdrop of a spring moonlit night in Otradnoye. In other cases, the landscape directly affects a person, enlightening and making him wise. Prince Andrei, wounded at Austerlitz, looks at the sky and thinks: “Yes! Everything is empty, everything is deception, except this endless sky.” The oak tree, which Prince Andrei meets twice on his way, reveals to him the “meaning of life” in completely different ways: in one case it seems to Prince Andrei the personification of hopelessness, in the other - a symbol of joyful faith in happiness.

Finally, Tolstoy uses landscape as a means of characterizing the real situation. Let us just remember the heavy fog that spread like a continuous milky-white sea over the outskirts of Austerlitz. Thanks to this fog, which covered the French positions, the Russian and Austrian troops were put in a worse position, since they did not see the enemy and unexpectedly came face to face with him. Napoleon, standing at a height where it was completely light, could accurately lead his troops.

The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace". Napoleon confronts in the novel Napoleon. Tolstoy debunks this commander and 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”, “a round belly” and “fat spoons of short legs”. Tolstoy shows Napoleon as a narcissistic and arrogant ruler of France, intoxicated with 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, the insane pride of Napoleon, 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 raised him to such a height that he truly believed in his ability to change the course of history and influence the destinies of nations.

In contrast to Kutuzov, who does not attach decisive importance to his personal will, Napoleon puts himself, his personality above all else, and considers himself a superman. “Only what happened 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. Napoleon emphasizes selfishness, individualism and rationality - traits 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 ideological content novel, we have already noted the originality of Tolstoy's interpretation of individual themes of the novel. Thus, we have already said that Tolstoy, going against the revolutionary peasant democracy, obscures in the novel the severity of the class contradictions between the peasantry and the landowners; revealing, for example, the restless thoughts of Pierre Bezukhov about difficult situation serfs, he at the same time paints pictures of the idyllic relationships between landowners and peasants on the Rostov estate and house. We also noted the features of idealization in the image of Karataev, the originality of the interpretation of the role of the individual 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 greatest masterpieces world art, brilliant work, in which the breadth of epic scope was combined with an amazing depth of penetration into the spiritual life of people. But Tolstoy lived in Russia in a transitional era, in an era of disruption of 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 the words of Lenin, “against all class domination.” Tolstoy, landowner and 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 affected Tolstoy’s worldview and work in connection with his transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. These contradictions could not help 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 reading the novel, we still cannot help 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 course of history is decided by the masses. But the assessment of the role the 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 exponent of his views in the novel. The basis of his view is the consciousness that the creator of history and historical events is the people, and not individuals (heroes), and that all sorts of rationalistically constructed theories, no matter how good they may seem, are nothing compared to the force that is the mood, the spirit of the masses.

"Long years of military experience“, Tolstoy writes about Kutuzov, “he knew and with his senile 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 is not decided by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place where the troops stand, not by the number guns and killed people, and that elusive force called the spirit of the army, and he watched over this force and led it, as far as it was in his power.” Tolstoy also attributed to Kutuzov his erroneous fatalistic view of history, according to which the outcome of historical events was predetermined. Andrei Bolkonsky says about Kutuzov: “He won’t come up with anything, won’t do anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, won’t interfere with anything useful and won’t 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. The novel features a commander who extremely accurately assesses the course of military events and unerringly directs them. With the help of a well-thought-out plan of counter-offensives, Kutuzov destroys Napoleon and his army. Consequently, in a number of essential features, Kutuzov is shown historically correctly in the novel: he has great strategic skill, spends long nights thinking through the campaign plan, acts as an active figure, hiding enormous volitional tension behind external calm. This is how the realist artist overcame the philosophy of fatalism. Carrier folk spirit and the people's will, Kutuzov deeply and correctly understood the course of things, in the midst of events he gave them the correct assessment, which was confirmed later. Thus, he correctly assessed the significance of the Battle of Borodino, saying that it was a victory. As a commander, Kutuzov stands above Napoleon. To wage a people's war, such as the war of 1812, such a commander was needed, says Tolstoy. With the expulsion of the French, Kutuzov's mission was completed. Transferring 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 people's commander, as the embodiment people's thoughts, will and feelings. Tolstoy never falls into schematism. Kutuzov is a living person. We get this impression primarily because Tolstoy clearly, vividly paints us a portrait of Kutuzov - his figure, gait and gestures, facial expressions, his eyes, now glowing with a pleasant, affectionate smile, now taking on a mocking expression. Tolstoy gives it to us either in the perception of persons of different character and social status, or draws it from himself, delving into the psychological analysis of his hero. What makes Kutuzov deeply human and alive are scenes and episodes depicting the commander in conversations with people close and pleasant to him, such as Bolkonsky, Denisov, Bagration, his behavior at military councils, in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino. Kutuzov's speech is diverse in its lexical composition and syntactic structure. He is fluent in high society speech when speaking or writing to the tsar, generals and other representatives of aristocratic society. “I say only one thing, General,” says Kutuzov with a pleasant elegance of expressions and intonations, forcing you to 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 completed long ago." But he is also excellent at simple vernacular. “Here’s what, brothers. I know it’s difficult for us, but what can we do! Be patient: there’s not long left... We’ll see the guests out, then we’ll rest,” he told the soldiers, meeting them on the road from Krasny to Dobroye. And in a letter to the old man Bolkonsky, he reveals archaic features of the clerical style of this era: “I flatter myself and you with hope that your son is alive, for otherwise, among the officers found on the battlefield, about whom the list was submitted to me through parliamentarians, he would was named."

M. M. Blinkina

AGE OF CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL "WAR AND PEACE"

(Izvestia AN. Series of literature and language. - T. 57. - No. 1. - M., 1998. - P. 18-27)

1. INTRODUCTION

The main goal of this work is the mathematical modeling of certain aspects of plot development and the establishment of relationships between real and novel time, or more precisely, between the real and novel ages of the characters (and, in this case, the connection will be predictable and linear).

The very concept of “age” certainly has several aspects. Firstly, age literary character determined by novel time, which often does not coincide with real time. Secondly, numerals in the designation of age, in addition to their main (actually numerical) meaning, often have a number of additional meanings, that is, they carry an independent semantic load. They can, for example, contain a positive or negative assessment of the hero, reflect his individual characteristics, or introduce an ironic shade into the story.

Sections 2-6 describe how Leo Tolstoy changes the age characteristics of the characters in War and Peace depending on their function in the novel, how young they are, what gender they are, and also on some other individual characteristics.

Section 7 proposes a mathematical model that reflects the features of the “aging” of Tolstoy’s heroes.

2. AGE PARADOXES: TEXT ANALYSIS

Reading Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", one cannot help but pay attention to some strange inconsistencies in the age characteristics of his characters. Consider, for example, the Rostov family. It's August 1805 - and we meet Natasha for the first time:... ran into the room thirteen year old girl, wrapping something in her muslin skirt...

In the same August 1805, we meet all the other children from this family, in particular, the older sister Vera: The countess's eldest daughter was four years older than my sister and behaved like a big girl.

Thus, in August 1805 Vere seventeen years old. Now fast forward to December 1806: There was faith twenty years old beautiful girl... Natasha is half young lady, half girl...

We see that over the past year and four months Vera has managed to grow by three years. She was seventeen, and now she is neither eighteen nor nineteen; she's twenty at once. Natasha’s age in this fragment is given metaphorically, and not by number, which, as it turns out, is also not without reason.

More will pass exactly three years and we will get last message about the ages of these two sisters:

Natasha was sixteen years old, and it was 1809, the same year that she and Boris counted on her fingers four years ago, after she kissed him.

So, over these four years, Natasha has grown by three, as, indeed, was expected. Instead of seventeen or even eighteen, she is now sixteen. And there won't be any more. This is the last mention of her age. Meanwhile, what happens to her unfortunate older sister?

I had faith twenty four years old, she went everywhere, and, despite the fact that she was undoubtedly good and sensible, until now no one had ever proposed to her.

As we can see, over the past three years, Vera has grown by four. If we count from the very beginning, that is, from August 1805, it turns out that in just over four years Vera grew by seven years. During this time period, the age difference between Natasha and Vera doubled. Vera is now not four, but eight years older than her sister.

This was an example of how the ages of two characters change relative to each other. Now let's look at the hero who, at some point in time, different ages For different characters. This hero is Boris Drubetskoy. His age is never stated directly, so we will try to calculate it indirectly. On the one hand, we know that Boris is the same age as Nikolai Rostov: Two young men, a student and an officer, friends since childhood, were one year old ...

Nicholas was nineteen or twenty years old in January 1806:

How strange it was for the countess that her son, who was barely noticeable with his tiny limbs, was moving inside her twenty years ago, now a courageous warrior...

It follows that in August 1805 Boris was nineteen or twenty years old. Now let’s estimate his age from Pierre’s perspective. At the beginning of the novel, Pierre is twenty years old: Pierre from the age of ten was sent abroad with the tutor-abbot, where he stayed up to twenty years of age .

On the other hand, we know that Pierre left Boris fourteen year old boy and definitely didn’t remember him.

Thus, Boris is four years older than Pierre and at the beginning of the novel he is twenty-four years old, that is, he is twenty-four years old for Pierre, while for Nikolai he is still only twenty.

And finally, another, completely funny example: the age of Nikolenka Bolkonsky. In July 1805, his future mother appears before us: ... little Princess Volkonskaya, who got married last winter and now did not go out into the big world because of her pregnancy... waddled around the table with small, quick steps....

From universal human considerations, it is clear that Nikolenka should be born in the fall of 1805: but, contrary to everyday logic, this does not happen, he is born March 19, 1806 It is clear that such a character will have problems with age until the end of his novel life. So in 1811 he will be six years old, and in 1820 - fifteen.

How can such discrepancies be explained? Maybe the exact age of his characters is not important for Tolstoy? On the contrary, Tolstoy has a passion for numbers and, with amazing accuracy, sets the ages of even the most insignificant heroes. So Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova exclaims: Fifty eight years old lived in the world...: No, life is not over at thirty-one, - says Prince Andrey.

Tolstoy has numbers everywhere, and exact, fractional numbers. Age in War and Peace is undoubtedly functional. No wonder Dolokhov, beating Nikolai at cards, I decided to continue the game until this entry increased to forty-three thousand. He chose this number because forty-three was the sum of his years added up with Sonya's years .

Thus, all the age discrepancies described above, and there are about thirty of them in the novel, are intentional. What are they due to?

Before starting to answer this question, I note that on average, over the course of the novel’s time, Tolstoy makes each of his characters a year older than they should be (this is shown by calculations, which will be discussed later). Usually, the hero of a classic novel will always be twenty-one years old instead of twenty-one years and eleven months, and on average, therefore, such a hero turns out to be six months younger than his years.

However, even from the above examples it is already clear, firstly, that the author “ages” and “youngens” his heroes unequally, and secondly, that this does not happen randomly, but in a systemic, programmed way. How exactly?

From the very beginning, it becomes obvious that positive and negative characters age differently and disproportionately. (“Positive and negative” is, of course, a relative concept, but in Tolstoy, in most cases, the polarity of a character is defined almost unambiguously. The author of “War and Peace” is surprisingly frank in his likes and dislikes). As shown above, Natasha matures more slowly than expected, while Vera, on the contrary, grows up faster. Boris, as Nikolai's friend and friend of the Rostov family, appears to be twenty years old; In the role of Pierre's social acquaintance and Julie Karagina's future husband, he simultaneously turns out to be much older. The ages of the heroes seem to have been given a certain loose order, or rather, an anti-order. There is a feeling that the heroes are being “fined” by increasing their age. Tolstoy seems to punish his heroes with disproportionate aging.

There are, however, characters in the novel who grow older strictly in accordance with the years they have lived. Sonya, for example, being, in fact, neither a positive nor a negative heroine, but completely neutral and colorless, Sonya, who always studied well and remembered everything, grows up exceptionally neatly. The whole confusion of ages that takes place in the Rostov family does not affect her at all. In 1805 she fifteen year old girl , and in 1806 - sixteen year old girl in all the beauty of a newly bloomed flower. It is her age that the calculating Dolokhov wins against Rostov at cards, adding to his own. But Sonya is rather an exception.

In general, characters of “different polarities” grow up in different ways. Moreover, the extremely saturated space of age is divided between positive and negative heroes. Natasha and Sonya are mentioned under the age of sixteen. After the age of sixteen - Vera and Julie Karagina. Pierre, Nikolai and Petya Rostov, Nikolenka Bolkonsky are no more than twenty. Boris, Dolokhov, and the “ambiguous” Prince Andrei are strictly over twenty.

The question is not how old the hero is, the question is what age is recorded in the novel. Natasha is not supposed to be over sixteen; Marya is unacceptably old for a positive heroine, so not a word is said about her age; Helen, on the contrary, is defiantly young for a negative heroine, therefore, we do not know how old she is.

The novel sets a boundary after which only negative heroes exist; a boundary, having crossed which, an obviously positive hero simply ceases to exist in the space of age. In a completely symmetrical manner, the negative hero walks through the novel without age until he passes this border. Natasha loses age, reaching sixteen years old. Julie Karagina, on the contrary, is gaining age, being no longer in her first youth:

Julie was twenty seven years old. After the death of her brothers, she became very rich. She was now completely ugly; but I thought that she was not only just as good, but even much more attractive now than she was before... A man who ten years ago would have been afraid to go every day to the house where she was seventeen year old lady, in order not to compromise her and not to tie himself down, now he boldly went to her every day and communicated with her not as a young lady-bride, but as an acquaintance who does not have a gender.

The problem, however, is that Julie was never seventeen in this novel. In 1805, when this chubby young lady guest appears in the Rostovs' house, nothing is said about her age, for if Tolstoy had honestly given her seventeen years old, then now, in 1811, she would not be twenty-seven, but only twenty-three, which is also, of course, is no longer the age for a positive heroine, but still not yet the time for the final transition to asexual beings. In general, negative heroes, as a rule, are not entitled to childhood and adolescence. This leads to funny misunderstandings:

Well, what, Lelya? - Prince Vasily turned to his daughter with that careless tone of habitual tenderness, which is acquired by parents who caress their children from childhood, but which Prince Violence only guessed through imitation of other parents.

Or maybe Prince Vasily is not to blame? Perhaps his purely negative children had no childhood at all. And it’s not for nothing that Pierre, before proposing to Helene, convinces himself that he knew her as a child. Was she even a child?

If we move from the lyrics to numbers, it turns out that in the novel there are positive characters aged 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20, as well as 40, 45, 50, 58. Negative characters are 17, 20, 24, 25, 27. That is, positive heroes from early youth immediately end up in venerable old age. Negative heroes also, of course, experience senility, but the fraction of their age in their old age is less than that of positive ones. So, positive Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova says: Fifty eight years old lived in the world... The negative Prince Vasily evaluates himself with less accuracy: To me sixth decade, My friend...

In general, accurate calculations show that the aging coefficient in the “positive-negative” space is equal to -2.247, i.e. all other things being equal, the positive hero will be two years and three months younger than the negative one.

Let's now talk about two heroines who are emphatically ageless. These heroines are Helen and Princess Marya, which in itself is not accidental.

Helen symbolizes in the novel eternal beauty and youth. Her rightness, her strength in this inexhaustible youth. Time seems to have no power over her: Elena Vasilievna, that’s how it is at fifty years old she will be a beauty. Pierre, persuading himself to marry Helen, also cites her age as her main advantage. He remembers knowing her as a child. He says to himself: No, she's beautiful young woman! She's not bad woman!

Helen is the eternal bride. With a living husband, she chooses a new groom with charming spontaneity, one of the applicants being young and the other old. Helen dies under mysterious circumstances, preferring an old admirer to a young one, that is: as if she herself chooses old age and death, abandoning her privilege of eternal youth, and dissolves into oblivion.

Princess Marya also has no age, and it is not possible to calculate it from the final version of the novel. In fact, in 1811, she old dry princess, envies Natasha's beauty and youth. In the finale, in 1820, Marya is a happy young mother, she is expecting her fourth child, and her life, one might say, is just beginning, although at that moment she is no less than thirty-five years old, an age not very suitable for a lyrical heroine; That’s why she lives without age in this novel, thoroughly saturated with numbers.

It is curious that in the first edition of War and Peace, which differs from the final version in its extreme specificity and “ultimate directness,” the uncertainty in the images of Helen and Marya is partly removed. There in 1805 Marya was twenty years old: the old prince himself was engaged in raising his daughter and, in order to develop both main virtues in her, up to twenty years gave her lessons in algebra and geometry and distributed her whole life in continuous studies.

And Helen, too, dies there, not from excess of youth...

4. FIRST COMPLETED VERSION OF THE NOVEL

The first version of War and Peace helps solve many of the mysteries posed in the final version of the novel. What is very vaguely read in the final version appears in the early version with a clarity that is amazing for a novel narrative. The space of age here is not yet saturated with the romantic understatement that confronts modern reader. Deliberate precision borders on banality. It is not surprising that in the final edition of the novel Tolstoy refuses such meticulousness. Mentions of age become one and a half times less. There are a lot of interesting details behind the scenes that would be worth mentioning here.

Princess Marya, as already noted, at the beginning of the novel twenty years. Age Helen is not specified, but it is obviously limited from above by the age of her older brother. Moreover, in 1811 Anatoly was 28 years old. He was in full splendor of his strength and beauty.

Thus, at the beginning of the novel, Anatole is twenty-two years old, his friend Dolokhov is twenty-five, and Pierre is twenty. Helen no more than twenty-one. Moreover, she probably no more than nineteen, because according to the unwritten laws of that time, she should not be older than Pierre. (The fact, for example, that Julie is older than Boris is especially emphasized.)

So, the scene in which socialite Helen is trying to lead young Natasha Rostova astray; it looks completely comical, considering that Natasha at this moment is twenty years old, and Helen is twenty-four, that is, they, in fact, belong to the same family. age category.

The early version also clarifies the age Boris: Hélène called him mon hage and treated him like a child... Sometimes in rare moments Pierre thought that this patronizing friendship was for an imaginary child who was 23 years old there was something unnatural.

These considerations relate to the autumn of 1809, that is, at the beginning of the novel Boris is nineteen years old, and his future bride Julie - twenty-one years old, if you count her age back from the moment of their wedding. Initially, Julie, apparently, was assigned the role of a more sympathetic heroine in the novel: A tall, plump, proud-looking lady with pretty daughter, rustling with dresses, entered the living room.

This pretty daughter is Julie Karagina, who was initially thought to be younger and more attractive. However, in 1811, Julie Akhrosimova (that’s her original name) will already be the “asexual” creature that we know her in the final version.

In the first version of the novel, Dolokhov wins from Nikolai not forty-three, but only forty-two thousand.

The ages of Natasha and Sonya are given several times. So, at the beginning of 1806 Natasha says: To me fifteenth year, my grandmother got married in my time.

In the summer of 1807, Natasha's age is mentioned twice: Natasha has passed 15 years and she has become very prettier this summer.

“And you sing,” said Prince Andrei. He said these simple words, looking directly into the beautiful eyes of this 15 year old girls.

This number of age entries allows us to establish that Natasha was born in the fall of 1791. Thus, at her first ball she shines at eighteen, and not at all at sixteen.

To make Natasha younger, Tolstoy also changes Sonya’s age. So, at the end of 1810 Sonya was already twentieth year. She had already stopped looking prettier, she didn’t promise anything moreover what was in it, but that was enough.

In fact, Natasha is twenty years old at this moment, and Sonya is at least a year and a half older.

Unlike many other heroes, Prince Andrei does not have an exact age in the first version of the novel. Instead of the textbook thirty-one years old, he about thirty years old.

Of course, the accuracy and directness of the early version of the novel cannot serve as an “official clue” to age shifts, since we have no right to assume that Natasha and Pierre in the first edition are the same characters as Natasha and Pierre in the final version of the novel. By changing the age characteristics of the hero, the author partly changes the hero himself. Nevertheless early version the novel allows us to check the accuracy of the calculations made on the final text and make sure that these calculations are correct.

5. AGE AS A FUNCTION OF AGE (AGE STEREOTYPES)

There's only so long left to live -

I'm already sixteen years old!

Yu. Ryashentsev

The tradition of aging older characters compared to younger ones goes back centuries. In this sense, Tolstoy did not invent anything new. Calculations show that the coefficient of “aging with age” in a novel is 0.097, which, translated into human language, means a year of novel aging by ten years lived, that is, a ten-year-old hero may turn out to be eleven years old, a twenty-year-old hero twenty-two, and a fifty-year-old fifty-five. The result is not surprising. It is much more interesting how Tolstoy presents the ages of his heroes, how he evaluates them on the “young - old” scale. Let's start from the very beginning.

5.1. Up to ten years

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy loved children very much.

Sometimes they would bring him a full room. Step by step

There’s nowhere to step, but he keeps shouting: More! More!

D. Kharms

Kharms is certainly right. There are many characters of infancy in the novel. What they have in common, perhaps, is that they do not seem to be independent units, endowed with their own problems and experiences. The age of up to ten years is a signal that the hero will, in fact, be a small mouthpiece for the author. The children in the novel see the world surprisingly subtly and correctly; they engage in systematic “defamiliarization” of their surroundings. They, not spoiled by the burden of civilization, are more successful than adults in solving their moral problems and at the same time seem to be completely devoid of reason. That's why it's so young characters, the number of which will grow to incredible limits by the end, look very artificial:

Five minutes later the little black-eyed three year old Natasha, her father’s favorite, having learned from her brother that daddy was sleeping in the small sofa room, unnoticed by her mother, ran to her father... Nikolai turned around with a tender smile on his face.

- Natasha, Natasha! - the frightened whisper of Countess Marya was heard from the door, - daddy wants to sleep.

“No, mom, he doesn’t want to sleep,” little Natasha answered convincingly, “he’s laughing.”

Such an edifying little character. But the next one is a little older:

Only Andrei’s granddaughter, Malasha, six year old girl, to whom His Serene Highness, having caressed her, gave her a piece of sugar for tea, remained on the stove in the large hut... Malasha... understood the meaning of this advice differently. It seemed to her that it was only a matter of personal struggle between “grandfather” and “long-haired,” as she called Beningsen.

Amazing insight!

The last character in age to show signs of the same “childish-unconscious” behavior as all of Tolstoy’s juvenile characters is the eternally sixteen-year-old Natasha Rostova:

In the middle of the stage sat girls in red bodices and white skirts. They were all singing something. When they finished their song, the girl in white approached the prompter's booth, and a man in tight-fitting silk trousers on thick legs, with a feather and a dagger, approached her and began to sing and spread his arms...

After the village and in the serious mood in which Natasha was, all this was wild and surprising to her.

So, Natasha sees the world in the same childish, unreasonable way. It’s not because of their age that adult children look like young old people. Striving for globality, the author of “War and Peace” loses the little things, the individuality of babies, for example, Lev Nikolaevich’s children do not come individually, but as a set: At the table were her mother, the old woman Belova who lived with her, her wife, three children, governess, tutor, nephew with his tutor, Sonya, Denisov, Natasha, her three children, their governess and the old man Mikhail Ivanovich, the prince’s architect, who lived in Bald Mountains in retirement.

Individuality in this enumeration is due to everyone, even old lady Belova, whom we meet in the first and second last time. Even the tutor, and the governess, and also the tutor do not merge into the general concept of “tutors”. And only children, sexless and faceless, go en masse. Kharms had something to parody.

We have all read or heard about the novel War and Peace, but not everyone can remember the characters in the novel the first time. The main characters of the novel War and Peace— love, suffer, live life in the imagination of every reader.

Main characters of War and Peace

The main characters of the novel War and Peace are Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky.

It is quite difficult to say which is the main one, since Tolstoy’s characters are described as if in parallel.

The main characters are different, they have different views for life, different aspirations, but a common misfortune, war. And Tolstoy shows in the novel not one, but many destinies. The story of each of them is unique. There is no best, no worst. And we understand the best and the worst by comparison.

Natasha Rostova- one of the main characters with her own history and troubles, Bolkonsky also one of the best characters, whose story, alas, had to have an end. He himself has exhausted his life limit.

Bezukhov a little strange, lost, insecure, but his fate bizarrely presented him with Natasha.

The main character is the one who is closest to you.

Characteristics of the heroes War and Peace

Akhrosimova Marya Dmitrievna- a Moscow lady, known throughout the city “not for wealth, not for honors, but for directness of mind and frank simplicity of manner.” They told anecdotal stories about her, quietly laughed at her rudeness, but they were afraid and sincerely respected. A. knew both capitals and even royal family. The prototype of the heroine is A. D. Ofrosimova, known in Moscow, described by S. P. Zhikharev in “The Student’s Diary.”

The heroine’s usual way of life consists of doing housework at home, traveling to mass, visiting forts, receiving petitioners, and traveling to the city on business. Her four sons serve in the army, which she is very proud of; He knows how to hide his concern for them from strangers.

A. always speaks Russian, loudly, she has a “thick voice”, a corpulent body, she holds high “her fifty-year-old head with gray curls.” A. is close to the Rostov family, loving Natasha most of all. At the name day of Natasha and the old countess, it is she who dances with Count Rostov, delighting the entire assembled society. She boldly reprimands Pierre for the incident because of which he was expelled from St. Petersburg in 1805; she reprimands old Prince Bolkonsky for the discourtesy he made to Natasha during the visit; She also upsets Natasha’s plan to run away with Anatole.

Bagration- one of the most famous Russian military leaders, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, prince. In the novel he appears as a real historical figure and a participant in the plot action. B. “short, with an oriental type of hard and motionless face, dry, not yet an old man.” In the novel he participates mainly as the commander of the Battle of Shengraben. Before the operation, Kutuzov blessed him “for the great feat” of saving the army. The mere presence of the prince on the battlefield changes a lot in its course, although he does not give any visible orders, but at the decisive moment he dismounts and himself goes on the attack ahead of the soldiers. He is loved and respected by everyone, it is known about him that Suvorov himself gave him a sword for his courage back in Italy. During the Battle of Austerlitz, one B. spent the whole day fighting off an enemy twice as strong and, during the retreat, led his column out of the battlefield undisturbed. That is why Moscow chose him as its hero, a dinner was given in B.’s honor at an English club, in his person “due honor was given to a fighting, simple, without connections or intrigue, Russian soldier...”.

Bezukhov Pierre- one of the main characters of the novel; At first, the hero of the story about the Decembrist, from whose conception the work arose.

P. is the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a famous Catherine nobleman, who became the heir to the title and a huge fortune, “a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, wearing glasses,” he is distinguished by an intelligent, timid, “observant and natural” look. P. was brought up abroad and appeared in Russia shortly before the death of his father and the beginning of the campaign of 1805. He is intelligent, inclined to philosophical reasoning, gentle and kind-hearted, compassionate towards others, kind, impractical and subject to passions. His closest friend- Andrei Bolkonsky characterizes P. as the only “living person” among the whole world.

At the beginning of the novel, P. considers Napoleon greatest man in the world, but gradually becomes disillusioned, reaching the point of hatred towards him and the desire to kill. Having become a rich heir and falling under the influence of Prince Vasily and Helen, P. marries the latter. Very soon, having understood his wife’s character and realizing her depravity, he breaks up with her. In search of the content and meaning of his life, P. becomes interested in Freemasonry, trying to find in this teaching answers to the questions that torment him and get rid of the passions that torment him. Realizing the falsity of the Freemasons, the hero breaks with them, tries to reorganize the lives of his peasants, but fails due to his impracticality and gullibility.

The greatest trials befell P. on the eve and during the war; it is not for nothing that “through his eyes” readers see the famous comet of 1812, which, according to the general belief, foreshadowed terrible misfortunes. This sign follows P.’s declaration of love to Natasha Rostova. During the war, the hero, deciding to watch the battle and not yet very clearly realizing the strength national unity and the significance of the ongoing event falls on the Borodino field. This day gives him a lot last conversation with Prince Andrei, who realized that the truth is where “they” are, that is ordinary soldiers. Left in burning and deserted Moscow to kill Napoleon, P. tries as best he can to fight the misfortune that has befallen people, but is captured and experiences terrible moments during the execution of prisoners.

A meeting with Platon Karataev reveals to P. the truth that one must love life, even while innocently suffering, seeing the meaning and purpose of each person in being a part and reflection of the whole world. After meeting with Karataev, P. learned to see “the eternal and infinite in everything.” At the end of the war, after the death of Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha’s revival to life, P. marries her. In the epilogue, he is a happy husband and father, a man who, in a dispute with Nikolai Rostov, expresses convictions that allow him to be seen as a future Decembrist.

Berg- German, “a fresh, pink guards officer, impeccably washed, buttoned and combed.” At the beginning of the novel he is a lieutenant, at the end - a colonel who has made a good career and has awards. B. is precise, calm, courteous, selfish and stingy. Those around him laugh at him. B. could only talk about himself and his interests, the main of which was success. He could talk about this subject for hours, with visible pleasure for himself and at the same time teaching others. During the campaign of 1805, B. is a company commander, proud of the fact that he is efficient, careful, enjoys the trust of his superiors, and has arranged his material affairs favorably. When meeting him in the army, Nikolai Rostov treats him with slight contempt.

B. first the intended and desired groom of Vera Rostova, and then her husband. The hero proposes to his future wife at a time when refusal is impossible for him - B. correctly takes into account the Rostovs’ financial difficulties, which does not prevent him from demanding part of the promised dowry from the old count. Having achieved a certain position, income, having married Vera, who meets his requirements, Colonel B. feels contented and happy, even in Moscow, abandoned by the residents, taking care of purchasing furniture.

Bolkonskaya Lisa- the wife of Prince Andrei, to whom the name of “little princess” was assigned in the world. “Her pretty upper lip, with a slightly blackened mustache, was short in teeth, but the more sweetly it opened and the more sweetly it sometimes stretched out and fell onto the lower one. As is always the case with quite attractive women, her flaw—short lips and half-open mouth—seemed special to her, her actual beauty. It was fun for everyone to look at this pretty expectant mother, full of health and vivacity, who endured her situation so easily.”

The image of L. was formed by Tolstoy in the first edition and remained unchanged. The prototype of the little princess was the wife of the writer’s second cousin, Princess L.I. Volkonskaya, née Truzson, some of whose features were used by Tolstoy. The “little princess” enjoyed universal love because of her constant liveliness and courtesy of a society woman who could not imagine her life outside the world. In her relationship with her husband, she is characterized by a complete lack of understanding of his aspirations and character. During arguments with her husband, her face, because of her raised lip, took on a “brutal, squirrel expression,” however, Prince Andrei, repenting of marrying L., in a conversation with Pierre and his father, notes that this is one of the rare women with whom “you can be calm for your honor."

After Bolkonsky left for the war, L. lives in Bald Mountains, experiencing constant fear and antipathy towards his father-in-law and becoming friendly not with his sister-in-law, but with Princess Marya’s empty and frivolous companion, Mademoiselle Bourrienne. L. dies, as she had a presentiment, during childbirth, on the day of the return of Prince Andrei, who was considered killed. The expression on her face just before her death and after seems to say that she loves everyone, does no harm to anyone and cannot understand why she is suffering. Her death leaves Prince Andrei with a feeling of irreparable guilt and sincere pity for the old prince.

Bolkonskaya Marya- Princess, daughter of the old Prince Bolkonsky, sister of Prince Andrei, later the wife of Nikolai Rostov. M. “has an ugly, weak body and a thin face... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her whole face, these eyes became more attractive beauty."

M. is very religious, welcomes pilgrims and wanderers, enduring the ridicule of her father and brother. She has no friends with whom she could share her thoughts. Her life is focused on love for her father, who is often unfair to her, for her brother and his son Nikolenka (after the death of the “little princess”), for whom she, as best she can, replaces the mother. M. is an intelligent, meek, educated woman, not hoping for personal happiness. Because of her father’s unfair reproaches and the inability to endure it any longer, she even wanted to go on a journey. Her life changes after meeting Nikolai Rostov, who managed to guess the wealth of her soul. Having gotten married, the heroine is happy, completely sharing all her husband’s views “on duty and oath.”

Bolkonsky Andrey- one of the main characters of the novel, prince, son of N.A. Bolkonsky, brother of Princess Marya. “...Short stature, a very handsome young man with definite and dry features.” This is an intelligent, proud person who seeks great intellectual and spiritual content in life. His sister notes in him some kind of “pride of thought”; he is restrained, educated, practical and has a strong will.

By origin, B. occupies one of the most enviable places in society, but is unhappy in his family life and is not satisfied with the emptiness of the world. At the beginning of the novel, his hero is Napoleon. Wanting to imitate Napoleon, dreaming of “his Toulon,” he leaves for the active army, where he shows courage, composure, and a heightened sense of honor, duty, and justice. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. Seriously wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz, B. understands the futility of his dreams and the insignificance of his idol. The hero returns home, where he was considered dead, on the day of his son’s birth and the death of his wife. These events shock him even more, leaving him feeling guilty about deceased wife. Having decided not to serve anymore after Austerlitz, B. lives in Bogucharovo, doing housework, raising his son and reading a lot. During Pierre's arrival, he admits that he lives for himself alone, but something momentarily awakens in his soul when he sees the sky above him for the first time since his injury. From that time on, while maintaining the same circumstances, “his new life began in the inner world.”

During his two years of living in the village, B. has been doing a lot of analysis of the latest military campaigns, which prompts him, under the influence of a trip to Otradnoye and awakened vitality, to go to St. Petersburg, where he works under the supervision of Speransky, who is in charge of the preparation of legislative changes.

In St. Petersburg, B.’s second meeting with Natasha takes place, and a deep feeling and hope for happiness arises in the hero’s soul. Having postponed the wedding for a year under the influence of his father, who did not agree with his son’s decision, B. goes abroad. After his fiancée’s betrayal, in order to forget about it and calm down the feelings that washed over him, he returns to the army again under the command of Kutuzov. Participating in the Patriotic War, B. wants to be at the front, and not at headquarters, gets close to the soldiers and comprehends the power of the “spirit of the army” fighting for the liberation of his homeland. Before participating in the last battle of Borodino in his life, the hero meets and talks with Pierre. Having received a mortal wound, B., by a coincidence, leaves Moscow in the Rostov convoy, reconciling with Natasha along the way, forgiving her and understanding before his death the true meaning of the power of love that unites people.

Bolkonsky Nikolai Andreevich- prince, general-in-chief, dismissed from service under Paul I and exiled to the village. Father of Princess Marya and Prince Andrei. In the image of the old prince, Tolstoy restored many of the features of his maternal grandfather, Prince N. S. Volkonsky, “an intelligent, proud and gifted man.”

N.A. lives in the village, pedantically distributing his time, most of all not enduring idleness, stupidity, superstition and violation of the once established order; he is demanding and harsh with everyone, often tormenting his daughter with nagging, but deep down loving her. The universally revered prince “walked in the old-fashioned way, in a caftan and powder”, was short, “in a powdered wig... with small dry hands and gray hanging eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, obscuring the brilliance of intelligent and seemingly young sparkling eyes.” He is very proud, smart, restrained in expressing feelings; Perhaps his main concern is the preservation of family honor and dignity. Until the last days of his life, the old prince retained an interest in political and military events, only just before his death losing real ideas about the scale of the misfortune that happened to Russia. It was he who instilled feelings of pride, duty, patriotism and scrupulous honesty in his son Andrei.

Bolkonsky Nikolenka- the son of Prince Andrei and the “little princess”, born on the day of his mother’s death and the return of his father, who was considered dead. He was brought up first in his grandfather's house, then by Princess Marya. Outwardly he looks very much like his late mother: he has the same upturned lip and curly hair. dark hair. N. grows up as a smart, impressionable and nervous boy. In the epilogue of the novel, he is 15 years old, he witnesses an argument between Nikolai Rostov and Pierre Bezukhov. Under this impression, N. sees a dream with which Tolstoy completes the events of the novel and in which the hero sees glory, himself, his late father and uncle Pierre at the head of a large “right-wing” army.

Denisov Vasily Dmitrievich- combat hussar officer, gambler, gambling, noisy “little man with a red face, shiny black eyes, black tousled mustache and hair.” D. is the commander and friend of Nikolai Rostov, a man for whom the highest thing in life is the honor of the regiment in which he serves. He is brave, capable of daring and rash actions, as in the case of the seizure of food transport, participates in all campaigns, commanding a partisan detachment in 1812 that freed prisoners, including Pierre.

D.'s prototype was largely the hero of the war of 1812 D. V. Davydov, who is also mentioned in the novel as a historical figure. Dolokhov Fedor - “Semyonovsky officer, famous gambler and buster.” “Dolokhov was a man of average height, curly hair and with light blue eyes. He was about twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was completely visible. The lines of this mouth were remarkably finely curved. In the middle, the upper lip energetically dropped onto the strong lower lip like a sharp wedge, and something like two smiles constantly formed in the corners, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a firm, insolent, intelligent look, made an impression such that it was impossible not to notice this face.” The prototypes of D.'s image are R.I. Dorokhov, a reveler and a brave man whom Tolstoy knew in the Caucasus; relative of the writer, famous in early XIX V. Count F. I. Tolstoy-American, who also served as the prototype for the heroes A. S. Pushkin, A. S. Griboyedov; partisans of the Patriotic War of 1812 A. S. Figner.

D. is not rich, but he knows how to position himself in society in such a way that everyone respects and even fears him. He gets bored in the conditions of ordinary life and gets rid of boredom in a strange, even cruel way, doing incredible things. In 1805, for mischief with a police officer, he was expelled from St. Petersburg and demoted to the ranks, but during the military campaign he regained his officer rank.

D. is smart, brave, cold-blooded, indifferent to death. He carefully hides it from. outsiders his tender affection for his mother, confessing to Rostov that everyone considers him an evil person, but in fact he does not want to know anyone except those he loves.

Dividing all people into useful and harmful, he sees around him mostly harmful, unloved people whom he is ready to “run over if they get in the way.” D. is impudent, cruel and treacherous. Being Helen's lover, he provokes Pierre to a duel; coldly and dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov, taking revenge for Sonya’s refusal to his proposal; helps Anatoly Kuragin prepare an escape with Natasha, Drubetskaya Boris - the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya; Since childhood, he was brought up and lived for a long time in the Rostov family, to whom he is related through his mother, and was in love with Natasha. “A tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face.” The prototypes of the hero are A. M. Kuzminsky and M. D. Polivanov.

D. has been dreaming of a career since his youth, he is very proud, but he accepts his mother’s troubles and condones her humiliations if it benefits him. A. M. Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Having entered military service, D. dreams of making a brilliant career in this area.

While participating in the campaign of 1805, he acquired many useful acquaintances and understood the “unwritten chain of command”, wanting to continue to serve only in accordance with it. In 1806, A.P. Scherer “treats” his guests to him, who arrived from the Prussian army as a courier. In the world, D. strives to make useful contacts and uses his last money to give the impression of a rich and successful person. He becomes a close person in Helen's house and her lover. During the meeting of the emperors in Tilsit, D. is there, and from that time on his position is especially firmly established. In 1809, D., seeing Natasha again, becomes interested in her and for some time does not know what to choose, since marriage with Natasha would mean the end of his career. D. is looking for a rich bride, choosing at one time between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina, who eventually became his wife.

Karataev Platon- a soldier of the Absheronsky regiment, who met Pierre Bezukhov in captivity. Nicknamed Falcon in the service. This character was not present in the first edition of the novel. Its appearance is apparently due to the development and finalization of the image of Pierre and the philosophical concept of the novel.

When he first meets this small, affectionate and good-natured man, Pierre is struck by the feeling of something round and calm that comes from K. He attracts everyone to him with his calmness, confidence, kindness and smiling face. One day K. tells the story of an innocently convicted merchant, humbled and suffering “for his own and for other people’s sins.” This story makes an impression among the prisoners as something very important. Weakened by fever, K. begins to lag behind on crossings; The French guards shoot him.

After K.'s death, thanks to his wisdom and the folk philosophy of life unconsciously expressed in all his behavior, Pierre comes to understand the meaning of existence.

Kuragin Anatol- son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Hippolyte, officer. In contrast to the “calm fool” Ippolit, Prince Vasily looks at A. as a “restless fool” who always needs to be rescued from troubles. A. is a tall, handsome man with a good-natured and “victorious look,” “beautiful big” eyes and light brown hair. He is dapper, arrogant, stupid, not resourceful, not eloquent in conversations, depraved, but “but he also had the ability of calm and unchangeable confidence, precious for the world.” Being a friend of Dolokhov and a participant in his revelry, A. looks at his life as constant pleasure and amusement that should have been arranged for him by someone, he does not care about his relationships with other people. A. treats women with contempt and with a consciousness of his superiority, having become accustomed to being liked and not having serious feelings for anyone.

After becoming infatuated with Natasha Rostova and attempting to take her away, A. is forced to hide from Moscow, and then from Prince Andrei, who intended to challenge the offender to a duel. Their last meeting will take place in the hospital after the Battle of Borodino: A. is wounded, his leg is amputated.

Kuragin Vasily- Prince, father of Helen, Anatole and Hippolyte; a well-known and influential person in the St. Petersburg world, occupying important court positions.

Prince V. treats everyone around him condescendingly and patronizingly, speaks quietly, always bending the hand of his interlocutor. He appears “in a courtly, embroidered uniform, in stockings, shoes, with stars, with a bright expression on his flat face,” with a “perfumed and shining bald head.” When he smiles, there is “something unexpectedly rough and unpleasant” in the wrinkles of his mouth. Prince V. does not wish harm to anyone, does not think through his plans in advance, but, as a secular person, he uses circumstances and connections to carry out the plans that spontaneously arise in his mind. He always strives to get closer to people who are richer and higher in position than him.

The hero considers himself an exemplary father, who has done everything possible to raise his children and continues to care about their future. Having learned about Princess Marya, Prince V. takes Anatole to Bald Mountains, wanting to marry him to a rich heiress. A relative of the old Count Bezukhov, he goes to Moscow and, together with Princess Katish, starts an intrigue before the count’s death to prevent Pierre Bezukhov from becoming heir. Having failed in this matter, he starts a new intrigue and marries Pierre and Helene.

Kuragina Elen- daughter of Prince Vasily, and then the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. A brilliant St. Petersburg beauty with an “unchanging smile”, white full shoulders, glossy hair and a beautiful figure. There was no noticeable coquetry in her, as if she was ashamed of “for her undoubtedly and too much and win? truly effective beauty.” E. is unperturbed, giving everyone the right to admire herself, which is why she feels like she has a gloss from many other people’s glances. She knows how to be silently dignified in the world, giving the impression of a tactful and intelligent woman, which, combined with beauty, ensures her constant success.

Having married Pierre Bezukhov, the heroine reveals to her husband not only limited intelligence, coarseness of thought and vulgarity, but also cynical depravity. After breaking up with Pierre and receiving a large part of the fortune from him by proxy, she lives either in St. Petersburg, then abroad, or returns to her husband. Despite the family breakup, the constant change of lovers, including Dolokhov and Drubetskoy, E. continues to remain one of the most famous and favored ladies of the St. Petersburg society. She is making very great progress in the world; Living alone, she becomes the mistress of a diplomatic and political salon and gains a reputation as an intelligent woman. Having decided to convert to Catholicism and considering the possibility of divorce and a new marriage, entangled between two very influential, high-ranking lovers and patrons, E. dies in 1812.

Kutuzov- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. A participant in real historical events described by Tolstoy, and at the same time in the plot of the work. He has a “plump, wound-disfigured face” with an aquiline nose; he is gray-haired, plump, and walks heavily. On the pages of the novel, K. first appears in the episode of the review near Braunau, impressing everyone with his knowledge of the matter and attention hidden behind the apparent absent-mindedness. K. knows how to be diplomatic; he is quite cunning and speaks “with the grace of expressions and intonations”, “with the affectation of respect” of a subordinate and unreasoning person, when the matter does not concern the security of the homeland, as before the Battle of Austerlitz. Before the Battle of Shengraben, K., crying, blesses Bagration.

In 1812, K., contrary to the opinion of secular circles, received princely dignity and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. He is a favorite of soldiers and military officers. From the beginning of his activities as commander-in-chief, K. believes that to win a campaign “you need patience and time”, that the whole matter can be decided not by knowledge, not by plans, not by intelligence, but by “something else, independent of intelligence and knowledge” . According to Tolstoy's historical and philosophical concept, a person is not able to truly influence the course of historical events. K. has the ability to “calmly contemplate the course of events,” but he knows how to see, listen, remember, not interfere with anything useful and not allow anything harmful. On the eve and during the Battle of Borodino, the commander oversees the preparations for the battle, together with all the soldiers and militiamen prays before the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God and during the battle controls the “elusive force” called the “spirit of the army.” K. experiences painful feelings when deciding to leave Moscow, but “with all his Russian being” he knows that the French will be defeated. Having directed all his strength to liberate his homeland, K. dies when his role is fulfilled and the enemy is driven beyond the borders of Russia. “This simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure could not fit into that deceitful form of a European hero, ostensibly ruling people, which history has invented.”

Napoleon- French emperor; a real historical person depicted in the novel, a hero with whose image the historical and philosophical concept of L. N. Tolstoy is connected.

At the beginning of the work, N. is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky, a man whose greatness Pierre Bezukhov bows to, a politician whose actions and personality are discussed in the high society salon of A.P. Scherer. As the protagonist of the novel, he appears in the Battle of Austerlitz, after which the wounded Prince Andrei sees “the radiance of complacency and happiness” on N.’s face, admiring the view of the battlefield.

N.’s figure was “plump, short... with broad, thick shoulders and an involuntarily protruding belly and chest, had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hall have”; his face is youthful, full, with a protruding chin, short hair, and “his white, plump neck protruded sharply from behind the black collar of his uniform.” N.'s self-satisfaction and self-confidence are expressed in the belief that his presence plunges people into delight and self-forgetfulness, that everything in the world depends only on his will. Sometimes he is prone to outbursts of anger.

Even before the order to cross the borders of Russia, the hero’s imagination is haunted by Moscow, and during the war he does not foresee its general course. Giving Battle of Borodino, N. acts “involuntarily and senselessly”, without being able to somehow influence its course, although he does not do anything harmful to the cause. For the first time during the Battle of Borodino he experiences bewilderment and hesitation, and after it the sight of the dead and wounded “defeated the spiritual strength in which he believed his merit and greatness.” According to the author, N. was destined for an inhuman role, his mind and conscience were darkened, and his actions were “too opposite to goodness and truth, too far from everything human.”

Rostov Ilya Andreevich- Count, father of Natasha, Nikolai, Vera and Petya Rostov, famous Moscow gentleman, rich man, hospitable man. R. knows how and loves to live, is good-natured, generous and spendthrift. The writer used many character traits and some episodes from the life of his paternal grandfather, Count I. A. Tolstoy, when creating the image of the old Count Rostov, noting in his appearance those features that are known from the portrait of his grandfather: full body, "rare gray hair on a bald head."

R. is known in Moscow not only as a hospitable host and a wonderful family man, but also as a person who knows how to organize a ball, reception, dinner better than others, and if necessary, use his own money for this. He has been a member and foreman of the English club since its foundation. It is he who is entrusted with the efforts of arranging a dinner in honor of Bagration.

Count R.'s life is burdened only by the constant consciousness of his gradual ruin, which he is unable to stop, allowing the managers to rob himself, not being able to refuse petitioners, not being able to change the once established order of life. Most of all, he suffers from the consciousness that he is ruining his children, but he becomes more and more confused in his affairs. To improve their property affairs, the Rostivs live in the village for two years, the count leaves the leadership, looks for a place in St. Petersburg, transporting his family there and, with his habits and social circle, giving the impression of a provincial there.

R. is distinguished by tender deep love and heartfelt kindness towards his wife and children. When leaving Moscow after the Battle of Borodino, it was the old count who began to slowly give carts to the wounded, thereby dealing one of the last blows to his condition. Events of 1812-1813 and the loss of Petya completely broke the spiritual and physical strength hero. Latest event, which he leads out of old habit, producing the same active impression - the wedding of Natasha and Pierre; in the same year, the count dies “precisely at a time when things ... were so confused that it was impossible to imagine how it would all end,” and leaves behind a good memory.

Rostov Nikolay- son of Count Rostov, brother of Vera, Natasha and Petya, officer, hussar; at the end of the novel, the husband of Princess Marya Volkonskaya. “A short, curly-haired young man with an open expression,” in whom one could see “impetuousness and enthusiasm.” The writer gave N. some of the traits of his father, N.I. Tolstoy, a participant in the War of 1812. The hero is distinguished by many of the same traits of openness, cheerfulness, goodwill, self-sacrifice, musicality and emotionality as all the Rostovs. Confident that he is neither an official nor a diplomat, N. at the beginning of the novel leaves the university and enters the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, in which his whole life is concentrated for a long time. He takes part in military campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812. N. receives his first baptism of fire while crossing the Enns, not being able to combine in himself “the fear of death and stretchers and the love of the sun and life.” In the Battle of Shengraben, he goes on the attack too bravely, but, being wounded in the arm, he gets lost and leaves the battlefield with the thought of the absurdity of the death of the one “whom everyone loves so much.” Having passed these tests, N. becomes a brave officer, a real hussar; he retains a sense of adoration for the sovereign and loyalty to his duty. Feeling at home in his native regiment, as if in some special world where everything is simple and clear, N. finds himself there too not free from solving complex moral problems, as, for example, in the case of officer Telyanin. In the regiment N. becomes a “completely hardened” kind fellow, but remains sensitive and open to subtle feelings. In peaceful life he behaves like a real hussar.

His long-lasting romance with Sonya ends with N.’s noble decision to marry a dowry-free woman even against his mother’s will, but he receives a letter from Sonya returning his freedom. In 1812, during one of his trips, N. met Princess Marya and helped her leave Bogucharovo. Princess Marya amazes him with her meekness and spirituality. After the death of his father, N. retires, taking on all the obligations and debts of the deceased, taking care of his mother and Sonya. When he meets Princess Volkonskaya, out of noble motives, he tries to avoid her, one of the richest brides, but their mutual feeling does not weaken and is crowned with a happy marriage.

Rostov Petya- the youngest son of the counts of Rostov, brother of Vera, Nikolai, Natasha. At the beginning of the novel P. is still little boy, enthusiastically giving in general atmosphere life in a Rostov house. He is musical, like all Rostovs, kind and cheerful. After Nicholas joined the army, P. wants to imitate his brother, and in 1812, carried away by a patriotic impulse and an enthusiastic attitude towards the sovereign, he asks to join the army. “Snub-nosed Petya, with his cheerful black eyes, fresh blush and slightly fluff on his cheeks” becomes after leaving the mother’s main concern, who only at that time realizes the depth of her love for youngest child. During the war, P. accidentally ends up with an assignment in Denisov’s detachment, where he remains, wanting to take part in the real case. He accidentally dies, showing on the eve of his death in his relations with his comrades all the best traits of the “Rostov breed” that he inherited in his home.

Rostov- Countess, “a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children... The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspires respect.” When creating the image of the Countess, R. Tolstoy used the character traits and some circumstances of the life of his paternal grandmother P. N. Tolstoy and mother-in-law L. A. Bers.

R. is used to living in luxury, in an atmosphere of love and kindness. She is proud of the friendship and trust of her children, spoils them, and worries about their destinies. Despite the apparent weakness and even lack of will, the Countess makes balanced and reasonable decisions regarding the fate of the children. Her love for children is also dictated by her desire to marry Nikolai to a rich bride at any cost, and her nagging towards Sonya. The news of Petya's death almost drives her insane. The only subject of the countess's displeasure is the old count's inability to manage affairs and small quarrels with him over the waste of the children's fortune. At the same time, the heroine cannot understand either the position of her husband or the position of her son, with whom she remains after the death of the count, demanding the usual luxury and fulfillment of all her whims and desires.

Rostova Natasha- one of the main heroines of the novel, daughter of Count Rostov, sister of Nikolai, Vera and Petya; at the end of the novel, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. N. - “black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive...”. Tolstoy’s prototype was his wife and her sister T. A. Bers, formerly Kuzminskaya. According to the writer, he “took Tanya, mixed with Sonya, and it turned out to be Natasha.” The image of the heroine gradually developed from the very inception of the idea, when the writer, next to his hero, a former Decembrist, introduces himself to his wife.

N. is very emotional and sensitive, she intuitively guesses people, “not deigning” to be smart, sometimes she is selfish in the manifestations of her feelings, but more often she is capable of self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, as in the case of transporting the wounded from Moscow or nursing her mother after the death of Petya.

One of N.'s defining qualities and advantages is her musicality and rare beauty of a voice. With her singing, she is able to influence the best in a person: it is N.’s singing that saves Nikolai from despair after losing 43 thousand. The old Count Rostov says about N. that she is all about him, “gunpowder,” but Akhrosimova calls her “Cossack” and “potion girl.”

Constantly carried away, N. lives in an atmosphere of love and happiness. A change in her destiny occurs after meeting Prince Andrei, who became her fiancé. The impatient feeling that overwhelms N., the insult inflicted by the old Prince Bolkonsky, pushes her to become infatuated with Anatoly Kuragin and to refuse Prince Andrei. Only after experiencing and experiencing a lot, she realizes her guilt before Bolkonsky, reconciling with him and remaining near the dying Prince Andrei until his death. N. feels true love only for Pierre Bezukhov, with whom he finds complete understanding and whose wife he becomes, plunging into the world of family and maternal concerns.

Sonya- niece and pupil of the old Count Rostov, who grew up in his family. The storyline of S. is based on the fate of T. A. Ergolskaya, a relative, close friend and the writer’s teacher, who lived until the end of her days in Yasnaya Polyana and in many ways prompted Tolstoy to engage in literary work. However, Ergolskaya’s spiritual appearance is quite far from the character and inner world heroines. At the beginning of the novel, S. is 15 years old, she is “a thin, petite brunette with a soft look, shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tint to the skin on her face and especially on her bare, thin but graceful arms and neck . With the smoothness of her movements, the softness and flexibility of her small limbs, and her somewhat cunning and restrained manner, she resembles a beautiful, but not yet formed kitten, which will become a lovely cat.”

S. fits perfectly into the Rostov family, is unusually close and friendly with Natasha, and has been in love with Nikolai since childhood. She is restrained, silent, reasonable, cautious, and has a highly developed ability for self-sacrifice. S. attracts attention with her beauty and moral purity, but she does not have that spontaneity and inexplicably irresistible charm that Natasha has. S.’s feeling for Nikolai is so constant and deep that she wants to “love always, and let him be free.” This feeling forces her to refuse her enviable fiancé, Dolokhov, in her dependent position.

The content of the heroine's life depends entirely on her love: she is happy being connected by a word with Nikolai Rostov, especially after Christmastide and his refusal of his mother’s request to go to Moscow to marry the rich Julie Karagina. S. finally decides her fate under the influence of the biased reproaches and reproaches of the old countess, not wanting to pay with ingratitude for everything that was done for her in the Rostov family, and most importantly, wishing Nikolai happiness. She writes him a letter in which she frees him from of this word, however, he secretly hopes that his marriage to Princess Marya will be impossible after Prince Andrei’s recovery. After the death of the old count, he remains to live with the countess in the care of the retired Nikolai Rostov.

Tushin- staff captain, hero of the Battle of Shengraben, “a small, dirty, thin artillery officer with large, intelligent and kind eyes. There was something “unmilitary, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive” about this man. T. is timid when meeting with his superiors, and there is always some kind of fault. On the eve of the battle, he talks about the fear of death and the unknown of what awaits after it.

In battle, T. completely changes, imagining himself as a hero fantastic picture, a hero hurling cannonballs at the enemy, and the enemy’s guns seem to him to be the same puffing smoking pipes as his own. Battery T. was forgotten during the battle and left without cover. During the battle, T. has no feelings of fear or thoughts about death and injury. He becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers listen to him like children, but he does everything he can, and thanks to his ingenuity, he sets fire to the village of Shengraben. The hero is rescued from yet another trouble (cannons left on the battlefield) by Andrei Bolkonsky, who announces to Bagration that the detachment owes much of its success to this man.

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

Shcherbaty Tikhon- a man from Pokrovsky near Gzhat, who joined Denisov’s partisan detachment. He got his nickname due to the lack of one tooth. He is agile and walks on “flat, turned-out legs.” In the detachment T. is the most necessary person; no one can bring the “language” more dexterously than him and carry out any inconvenient and dirty work. T. goes to the French with pleasure, bringing trophies and bringing prisoners, but after he is wounded, he begins to unnecessarily kill the French, laughingly referring to the fact that they were “bad.” This is why he is not liked in the squad.

Now you know the main characters of War and Peace, as well as their brief characteristics.