Prince Vasily Kuragin is one of the significant characters in the epic novel War and Peace. His family, soulless and rude, arrogant and acting recklessly when there is an opportunity to get rich, is contrasted with the delicate and kind-hearted Rostov family and the intellectual Bolkonsky family. Vasily Kuragin lives not by thoughts, but rather by instincts.
When he meets an influential person, he tries to get close to him, and this happens automatically for him.
Appearance of Prince Vasily Sergeevich
We first meet him in Anna Pavlovna’s salon, where all the intellectuals and what a wretched color of St. Petersburg gather for inspection. While no one has arrived yet, he has useful and confidential conversations with the aging forty-year-old “enthusiast”. Important and official, holding his head high, he arrived in a court uniform with stars (he managed to receive awards without doing anything useful for the country). Vasily Kuragin is bald, perfumed, sedate and, even despite his sixty years, graceful.
His movements are always free and familiar. Nothing can throw him out of balance. Vasily Kuragin has grown old, having spent his whole life in society, and has brilliant self-control. His flat face is covered with wrinkles. All this becomes known from the first chapter of the first part of the novel.
The Prince's concerns
He has three children whom he loves little. In the same chapter he himself says that he does not have parental love to children, but he considers it his big task to provide them with a good place in life.
In a conversation with Anna Pavlovna, he seems to inadvertently ask who is destined for the position of first secretary in Vienna. This is his main purpose for visiting Scherer. He needs to find a warm place for his stupid son Hippolyte. But, by the way, he agrees that Anna Pavlovna will try to match his dissolute son Anatole with the rich and noble Maria Bolkonskaya, who lives with her father on the estate. Vasily Kuragin received at least one benefit from this evening, since he was not used to spending time that was useless for himself. And in general, he knows how to use people. He is always attracted to those who stand above him, and the prince has a rare gift - to seize the moment when he can and should take advantage of people.
The prince's disgusting actions
In the first part, starting with chapter XVIII, Vasily Kuragin tries, having arrived in Moscow, to take possession of Pierre’s inheritance by destroying his father’s will. Julie Karagina wrote in more or less detail about this ugly story of Maria Bolkonskaya in a letter. Having received nothing and having played a “disgusting role,” as Julie put it, Prince Vasily Kuragin left for St. Petersburg, embarrassed. But he did not remain in this state for long.
He seemed to absentmindedly make efforts to bring Pierre closer to his daughter, and successfully completed this matter with a wedding. Pierre's money should serve the prince's family. This is how it should be, according to Prince Vasily. The attempt to marry the rake Anatole to the unrequited, ugly princess Marya also cannot be called a worthy act: he only cares about the rich dowry that his son might receive. But his such immoral family is degenerating. Hippolyte is just a fool whom no one takes seriously. Helen is dying. Anatole, having undergone leg amputation, is unknown whether he will survive or not.
Character of Kuragin
He is self-confident, empty, and mockery always shines through in the tone of his voice behind the decency and participation. He always tries to get close to people of high position. So, for example, everyone knows that he is in good relations with Kutuzov, and they turn to him for help in placing their sons as adjutants. But he was used to refusing everyone, so that at the right moment, and we have already talked about this, he could take advantage of the favors only for himself. These small lines, scattered throughout the text of the novel, describe a secular man - Vasily Kuragin. L. Tolstoy’s characterization of him is very unflattering, and with its help the author describes the high society as a whole.
Vasily Kuragin appears before us as a great intriguer, accustomed to living in thoughts about career, money and profit. “War and Peace” (moreover, peace in Tolstoy’s time was written through the unusual letter i and meant not only peace as the absence of war, but also, in to a greater extent, the universe, and there was no direct antithesis in this title) - a work in which the prince is shown against the background of high society receptions and in his home, where there is no warmth and cordial relationships. The epic novel contains monumental pictures of life and hundreds of characters, one of which is Prince Kuragin.
Julie Karagina is one of minor characters books by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy entitled "War and Peace".
The girl comes from a noble and wealthy family. About Us early childhood is friends with Marya Bolkonskaya, but over the years they have practically stopped communicating.
Julie is approximately twenty years old. She is still unmarried, which at the time described in literary work, it was very late, so the girl passionately wanted to go down the aisle as quickly as possible, in order to meet someone, Karagina constantly attends various exhibitions, theaters and other social events. Karagina really doesn’t want to become an “old maid” and makes every effort to turn into a married lady. She has a huge inheritance that was left after the death of her parents and brothers: two luxurious mansions and plots of land, as well as cash savings.
Julie is in love with Nikolai Rostov and would willingly marry him, because she believes that this sympathy is absolutely mutual. But the young man behaves nobly towards her and does not want to tie the knot just for the sake of his potential bride’s money, because he does not perceive her as a lover and future wife. The girl continues to be jealous of Nikolai, but she was never able to win his favor. Boris Drubetskoy, on the contrary, diligently looks after Julie in order to take possession of her fortune. He doesn’t like her at all, but Boris proposes marriage to her, pursuing exclusively selfish goals, and Karagina agrees.
The girl is stupid and narcissistic. She pretends to be another person, tries to seem better than she really is. Karagina even demonstrates her feigned patriotism to others in order to earn public approval and praise. Julie knows how to play the harp and often entertains guests of her estate with various musical compositions. Karagina is constantly among representatives of the Moscow elite and knows the rules of behavior in secular society, but she is not an interesting conversationalist, so many are friends with her solely out of politeness.
The girl considers herself a real beauty, but others have a different opinion. She has a round face big eyes, short stature. She spares no expense on her outfits and is always dressed in the latest fashion.
Julie does not have her own point of view on various topics and imitates the reasoning and opinions of others. This pushes people away from her, because, for example, Julie’s husband secretly hates his wife, considers her a burden and feels only irritation towards her, even her long-time friend Marya Balkonskaya stopped seeing and communicating with her because Karagina became uninteresting to her.
Several interesting essays
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- Essay Siege of Leningrad
What stories are not forgotten and are kept in people’s memory for a long time? I believe that a person absorbs good days, leaving only superficial sensations from them. People dissolve happiness in themselves, forgetting about place and time,
The female theme occupies an important place in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” This work is the writer’s polemical response to supporters women's emancipation. At one of the poles artistic research there are numerous types of high society beauties, hostesses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer; Cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon... Secular society immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of her shoulders, the shine of her hair and diamonds, her very open chest and back, and her frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness and insignificance of the high society lioness.
Place authentic human feelings takes money in luxurious living rooms. The marriage of Helen, who chose the rich Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of Prince Vasily’s daughter is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs.
In fact, is Julie Karagina, who, thanks to her wealth, has a sufficient choice of suitors, behave differently? or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even before the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna experiences not a feeling of compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance. Tolstoy shows high-society beauties and in family life.
Family and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helene finds Pierre’s words funny that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease she leaves her husband.
Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, and vanity. Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to an incorrect understanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer there are political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the situation of the Russian army... Feeling false patriotism forces them to speak exclusively Russian during the period of the French invasion.
High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent to a real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, and Natasha Rostova, those traits that constitute the type of woman in the true sense are grouped. At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life as it is.
In fact, in the work there are no consciously heroic female characters like Turgenev’s Marianna from the novel “Nov” or Elena Stakhova from “On the Eve”. Need I say that Tolstoy’s favorite heroines are devoid of romantic elation? Women's spirituality lies not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other men's issues, but exclusively in the ability to love, in devotion to the family hearth. Daughter, sister, wife, mother - these are the main situations in life in which the character of Tolstoy’s favorite heroines is revealed. This conclusion may be questionable upon a superficial reading of the novel. Indeed, the actions of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova during the period of the French invasion are patriotic, and Marya Bolkonskaya’s reluctance to take advantage of the patronage of the French general and the inability for Natasha to stay in Moscow under the French are also patriotic. However, the connection female images the image of war in the novel is more complex; it is not limited to the patriotism of the best Russian women.
Tolstoy shows that it took a historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel (Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov) could find their way to each other. Tolstoy's favorite heroines live with their hearts, not their minds. All of Sonya's best, cherished memories are associated with Nikolai Rostov: common childhood games and pranks, Christmastide with fortune telling and mummers, Nikolai's love impulse, the first kiss... Sonya remains faithful to her beloved, rejecting Dolokhov's proposal.
She loves uncomplainingly, but is unable to give up her love. And after Nikolai’s marriage, Sonya, of course, continues to love him. Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. And yet, it is her image that personifies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism.
The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high, spiritual feeling.
In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy paints pictures of the Rostov family happiness, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life. constitutes the essence of Natasha Rostova’s life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the uncomplaining Sonya, and the countess mother, and her father, and Nikolai, and Petya, and Boris Drubetsky. The rapprochement and then separation from Prince Andrei, who proposed to her, makes Natasha suffer internally.
An excess of life and inexperience are the source of mistakes and rash actions of the heroine (the story with Anatoly Kuragin). Love for Prince Andrey with new strength awakens in Natasha. She leaves Moscow with a convoy, which includes the wounded Bolkonsky. Natasha is again overcome by an exorbitant feeling of love and compassion. She is selfless to the end. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha's life of meaning. The news of Petya's death forces the heroine to overcome her own grief in order to keep her old mother from insane despair.
Natasha “thought that her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her.
Love woke up and life woke up.” After marriage, Natasha refuses social life, from “all its charms” and gives itself entirely family life. Mutual understanding between spouses is based on the ability “to understand and communicate each other’s thoughts with extraordinary clarity and speed in a way that is contrary to all the rules of logic.”
This is the ideal of family happiness. This is Tolstoy’s ideal of “peace.” Tolstoy’s thoughts about the true purpose of a woman, it seems, are not outdated today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by women who have devoted themselves to political or social activities. But still, many of our contemporaries choose what Tolstoy’s favorite heroines chose for themselves. And is it really so little to love and be loved?
One of the most striking female images in the novel is the image of Natasha Rostova. Being a master of depicting human souls and characters, Tolstoy embodied the best features in the image of Natasha human personality. He did not want to portray her as smart, calculating, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made the other heroine of the novel, Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good social manners. Many episodes of the novel talk about how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, and find the right solutions.
For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum money into cards for Dolokhov, returns home irritated, not feeling the joy of life, he hears Natasha singing and suddenly realizes that “all this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all nonsense, but here she is real ... " But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire themselves, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “stood up and smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly.” - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and everyone present, the fear that she would do the wrong thing, passed, and they were already admiring her.”
Just like she is close to the people, Natasha is also close to understanding the amazing beauty of nature. When describing the night in Otradnoye, the author compares the feelings of two sisters, closest friends, Sonya and Natasha.
Natasha, whose soul is full of bright poetic feelings, asks Sonya to go to the window, peer into the extraordinary beauty of the starry sky, and inhale the smells that fill the quiet night. She exclaims: “After all, such a lovely night has never happened! “But Sonya cannot understand Natasha’s enthusiastic excitement. She does not have the inner fire that Tolstoy sang in Natasha.
Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad act and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could learn life experience and get an incentive for further development. Natasha makes mistakes and draws from them the necessary life experience. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they suddenly understood each other, felt something uniting them. But nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. An explanation for this can be that Natasha is the most ordinary person, with their weaknesses. Her heart is characterized by simplicity, openness, and gullibility; she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to reason.
Essay on literature. Female images in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”
L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” shows the life of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century during the War of 1812. This is a time of active social activity of a wide variety of people. Tolstoy is trying to comprehend the role of women in the life of society, in the family. To this end, he writes in his novel large number female images, which can be divided into two large groups: the first includes women - bearers of folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya and others, and the second group includes women high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Julie Kuragina and others.
One of the most striking female images in the novel is the image of Natasha Rostova. Being a master of depicting human souls and characters, Tolstoy embodied the best features of the human personality in the image of Natasha. He did not want to portray her as smart, calculating, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made the other heroine of the novel, Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good social manners. Many episodes of the novel talk about how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, and find the right solutions. For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum of money at cards to Dolokhov, returns home irritated, not feeling the joy of life, he hears Natasha singing and suddenly realizes that “all this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - it’s all nonsense, but she’s real...”
But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire herself, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “stood up and smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly.” - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and everyone present, the fear that she would do the wrong thing, passed, and they were already admiring her.”
Just like she is close to the people, Natasha is also close to understanding the amazing beauty of nature. When describing the night in Otradnoye, the author compares the feelings of two sisters, closest friends, Sonya and Natasha. Natasha, whose soul is full of bright poetic feelings, asks Sonya to go to the window, peer into the extraordinary beauty of the starry sky, and inhale the smells that fill the quiet night. She exclaims: “After all, such a lovely night has never happened!” But Sonya cannot understand Natasha’s enthusiastic excitement. She does not have the inner fire that Tolstoy sang in Natasha. Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad act and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could learn life experience and receive an incentive for further development.
Natasha makes mistakes and draws from them the necessary life experience. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they suddenly understood each other, felt something uniting them.
But nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. An explanation for this can be that Natasha is a very ordinary person, with her own weaknesses. Her heart is characterized by simplicity, openness, and gullibility; she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to reason. But true love woke up in Natasha much later. She realized that the one she admired, who was dear to her, lived in her heart all this time. It was a joyful and new feeling that absorbed Natasha entirely, bringing her back to life. Pierre Bezukhov played an important role in this. His “childish soul” was close to Natasha, and he was the only one who brought joy and light into the Rostov house when she felt bad, when she was tormented by remorse, suffered, and hated herself for everything that happened. She did not see reproach or indignation in Pierre's eyes. He idolized her, and she was grateful to him for being in the world. Despite the mistakes of her youth, despite the death of her loved one, Natasha’s life was amazing. She was able to experience love and hate, create a magnificent family, finding in it the much-desired peace of mind.
In some ways she is similar to Natasha, but in some ways she is opposed to Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. Main principle, to which her whole life is subordinated, is self-sacrifice. This self-sacrifice, submission to fate is combined in her with a thirst for simple human happiness. Submission to all the whims of her domineering father, a ban on discussing his actions and their motives - this is how Princess Marya understands her duty to her daughter. But she can show strength of character if necessary, which is revealed when her sense of patriotism is offended. She not only leaves the family estate, despite Mademoiselle Burien's proposal, but also forbids her to let her companion in when she learns about her connections with the enemy command. But to save another person, she can sacrifice her pride; this is evident when she asks for forgiveness from Mademoiselle Burien, forgiveness for herself and for the servant on whom her father’s wrath fell. And yet, by elevating her sacrifice to a principle, turning away from “living life,” Princess Marya suppresses something important in herself. And yet, it was sacrificial love that led her to family happiness: when she met Nikolai in Voronezh, “for the first time, all this pure, spiritual, inner work with which she had lived until now came out.” Princess Marya fully revealed herself as a person when circumstances prompted her to become independent in life, which happened after the death of her father, and most importantly, when she became a wife and mother. Her diaries dedicated to children and her ennobling influence on her husband speak about the harmony and richness of Marya Rostova’s inner world.
These two women, who are similar in many ways, are contrasted with ladies of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, and Julie Kuragina. These women are similar in many ways. At the beginning of the novel, the author says that Helen, “when the story made an impression, looked back at Anna Pavlovna and immediately took on the same expression that was on the maid of honor’s face.” The most characteristic sign of Anna Pavlovna is the static nature of words, gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, the constant awareness of her sweet shortcoming, from which she wants, cannot, does not find it necessary to get rid of it.” Behind this characteristic lies the author's irony and hostility towards the character.
Julie is the same socialite, “the richest bride in Russia”, who received a fortune after the death of her brothers. Like Helen, who wears a mask of decency, Julie wears a mask of melancholy: “Julie seemed disappointed in everything, told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, love, or any joys of life and expected peace only “there.” Even Boris, preoccupied with searching for a rich bride, feels the artificiality and unnaturalness of her behavior.
So, women close to natural life and folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, find family happiness after going through a certain path of spiritual and moral quest. And women, far from moral ideals, cannot experience true happiness because of their selfishness and adherence to the empty ideals of secular society.
L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” is a grandiose work not only in terms of the monumentality of the historical events described in it, deeply researched by the author and artistically processed into a single logical whole, but also in terms of the variety of created images, both historical and fictional. In depicting historical characters, Tolstoy was more of a historian than a writer; he said: “Where historical figures speak and act, he did not invent and used materials.” Fictional images are described artistically and at the same time are conductors of the author’s thoughts. Female characters convey Tolstoy's ideas about the complexity of human nature, about the peculiarities of relationships between people, about family, marriage, motherhood, happiness.
From the point of view of the system of images, the heroes of the novel can be conditionally divided into “living” and “dead”, that is, developing, changing over time, deeply feeling and experiencing and - in contrast to them - frozen, not evolving, but static. There are women in both “camps”, and there are so many female images that it seems almost impossible to mention them all in the essay; perhaps it would be wiser to dwell in more detail on the main characters and characteristic secondary characters who play a significant role in the development of the plot.
The “living” heroines in the work are, first of all, Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. Despite the difference in upbringing, family traditions, atmosphere at home, character, in the end they become close friends. Natasha, who grew up in a warm, loving, open, sincere family atmosphere, having absorbed the carelessness, dashing, and enthusiasm of the “Rostov breed,” has been winning hearts since her youth with her all-encompassing love for people and her thirst for reciprocal love. Beauty in the generally accepted sense of the word is replaced by mobility of features, liveliness of the eyes, grace, flexibility; her wonderful voice and ability to dance captivate many. Princess Marya, on the contrary, is clumsy, the ugliness of her face is only occasionally illuminated by her “radiant eyes.” Life without going out in the village makes her wild and silent, communication with her is difficult. Only a sensitive and insightful person can notice the purity, religiosity, even self-sacrifice hidden behind external isolation (after all, in quarrels with her father, Princess Marya blames only herself, not recognizing his temper and rudeness). However, at the same time, the two heroines have much in common: a living, developing inner world, a craving for high feelings, spiritual purity, clear conscience. Fate brings them both into contact with Anatoly Kuragin, and only chance saves Natasha and Princess Marya from a connection with him. Due to their naivety, the girls do not see Kuragin’s low and selfish goals and believe in his sincerity. Due to the external difference, the relationship between the heroines is not easy at first, misunderstanding, even contempt arises, but then, having gotten to know each other better, they become irreplaceable friends, forming an indivisible moral union, united by the best spiritual qualities of Tolstoy’s favorite heroines.
In constructing a system of images, Tolstoy is far from schematism: the line between the “living” and the “dead” is permeable. Tolstoy wrote: “For an artist there cannot and should not be heroes, but there must be people.” Therefore, female images appear in the fabric of the work, which are difficult to definitely classify as “living” or “dead”. This can be considered the mother of Natasha Rostova, Countess Natalya Rostova. From the conversations of the characters, it becomes clear that in her youth she moved in society and was a member and welcome guest of salons. But, having married Rostov, she changes and devotes herself to her family. Rostova as a mother is an example of cordiality, love and tact. She - close friend and an adviser to children: in touching conversations in the evenings, Natasha devotes her mother to all her secrets, secrets, experiences, seeks her advice and help. At the same time, at the time of the main action of the novel, her inner world is static, but this can be explained by a significant evolution in her youth. She becomes a mother not only for her children, but also for Sonya. Sonya gravitates towards the camp of the “dead”: she does not have that seething cheerfulness that Natasha has, she is not dynamic, not impulsive. This is especially emphasized by the fact that at the beginning of the novel Sonya and Natasha are always together. Tolstoy gave this generally good girl an unenviable fate: falling in love with Nikolai Rostov does not bring her happiness, since for reasons of the well-being of the family, Nikolai’s mother cannot allow this marriage. Sonya feels gratitude to the Rostovs and focuses on her so much that she becomes fixated on the role of the victim. She does not accept Dolokhov’s proposal, refusing to advertise her feelings for Nikolai. She lives in hope, basically showing off and demonstrating her unrecognized love.
The female theme occupies an important place in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” This work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles of artistic research there are numerous types of high-society beauties, hostesses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer; Cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon...
Secular society is immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of her shoulders, the shine of her hair and diamonds, her very open chest and back, and her frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness and insignificance of the high society lioness. The place of genuine human feelings in luxurious living rooms is taken by monetary calculation. The marriage of Helen, who chose the rich Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of Prince Vasily’s daughter is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs. In fact, does Julie Karagina, who, thanks to her wealth, have a sufficient selection of suitors, behave differently? or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even before the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna experiences not a feeling of compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance.
Tolstoy also shows high-society beauties in family life. Family and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helene finds Pierre’s words funny that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease she leaves her husband. Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, and vanity.
Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to an incorrect understanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer there are political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the situation of the Russian army... A feeling of false patriotism forces them to broadcast only in Russian during the French invasion. High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent to a real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, and Natasha Rostova, those traits that constitute the type of woman in the true sense are grouped.
