- The personification of femininity
- First meeting with the heroine
- First love
- Features dear to the author
- Transformation of Natasha Rostova
The personification of femininity
Starting to read famous work, we understand that Natasha Rostova is Tolstoy’s favorite heroine in the novel “War and Peace”. He singles her out from all the heroes, devotes entire chapters to the girl’s life, describes her appearance, experiences, and actions with especially warm feeling. For the writer, Natasha Rostova is the personification of femininity. Her image embodies the author’s ideas about the main purpose of a woman, as a mother and wife.
The main character is not perfect. Natasha's character is complex, changeable and contradictory. Tolstoy's favorite, like every person, has its own advantages and disadvantages. But there is something so good and real in her that attracts the reader’s attention, makes her empathize, and evokes sympathy.
First meeting with the heroine
We begin our acquaintance with Tolstoy’s favorite heroine in the novel, Natasha, from a young age. During this period, the child has not yet fully formed. The writer makes it possible to trace the entire development path of his heroine. We see her as a girl of fourteen, “dark-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive”, surrounded by close and dear people.
An atmosphere of sincerity, love and mutual respect reigns in the hospitable Rostov home. Everything that happens in the soul of a child finds a response in the heart of the parents.
First love
Natasha Rostova's first ball - important milestone on her life path. Preparing for the holiday, Natasha introduces herself socialite. But having crossed the threshold of the hall, drowned in the glow of lights, dissolved in the sounds of the waltz, she forgets about her plans. The young girl does not know how to hide her emotions, this is precisely why she stands out from those present and attracts the attention of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy brings together characters dear to him. A deep, sincere feeling arises between such different Natasha and Andrei. The sudden outbreak of love makes the heroine more mature and serious. The presence of a loved one is vital for Natasha, so Bolkonsky’s strange decision to postpone the wedding becomes a great test for her. The heroine's passion for the depraved Anatol Kuragin can be explained by her naive gullibility and inexperience in relationships with a man. Natasha had her first encounter with meanness deep wound and love destroyed. It's hard to blame the girl for this frivolous act. After all, love is the basis of her being. She is constantly searching, constantly in love with someone. As a child, he became interested in Boris Drubetsky, then a singing teacher, and his brother’s heroic friend Vasily Denisov. She needs to constantly feel admiring glances on her and accept signs of attention. This is the feminine essence of the romantic Natasha.
Smart and sensible Andrei Bolkonsky failed to fully understand the amorous and vulnerable nature of his bride. The heroine will find true devoted love much later. Her happy chosen one will be the kind Pierre Bezukhov.
Features dear to the author
Natasha Rostova is Tolstoy’s favorite heroine, a deep and artistically gifted character. The writer admires her during the ball and admires her singing. Music plays a big role in a girl’s life, helps to survive the most difficult moments, and saves her from despair. Music in all its manifestations resonates in the heroine’s soul. She performs great classical works and comes into sincere delight from simple folk tunes. Study diligently ballroom dancing and, without hesitation, starts dancing to the guitar of his uncle. Natasha “knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.”
The author endows his heroine with traits that are close and dear to him. Natasha loves nature and knows how to notice the beauty and uniqueness of the world around her. moonlit night in Otradnoye is admirable. “Oh, how lovely! So I would squat down like this, grab myself under the knees... and fly. Like this!" – Natasha exclaims.
She's close to to the common people. He sincerely rejoices at Christmas and mummers, enjoys sleigh rides, and takes part in Christmas fortune-telling. She is loved and obeyed by all the servants living in the Rostovs’ house without exception.
Childlike spontaneity and sincerity distinguish Natasha Rostova from others characters novel. She lives according to the dictates of her heart. Natasha, without hesitation, claps her hands and tugs at the honorable guests at the sight of her dancing father, squeals loudly during the hunt, expressing her emotions from a successful race. She does not have much intelligence, social polish or learned manners. “She doesn’t deign to be smart. No, she’s just charming, and nothing more...” Pierre Bezukhov characterizes Natasha. And the reader, together with the author, admires this heroine.
The eccentric and frivolous Natasha Rostova is capable of strong feelings and decisive actions. Sick, she spends several days next to her suffering mother, selflessly looks after the dying Andrei Bolkonsky, saves the wounded, sacrificing her dowry. She does not think, does not reason, but simply acts as her inner voice, a feeling of compassion or love for her loved ones tells her.
Transformation of Natasha Rostova
In the epilogue of the novel, we suddenly discover a completely new Natasha Rostova. The writer deliberately deprives his heroine of external charm. There was not a shadow of her former coquetry left in her, nor the desire to seduce and charm men. Before us is a plump woman who is little concerned about taking care of her own appearance. But she is surrounded by close people: her beloved husband, children, the elderly Countess of Rostov. She does not go to balls or attend social salons. Natasha devotes all her time to her family. She is happy and calm. The former “enchantress” can be recognized by her eyes radiating light and love when she sees her beloved Pierre or her adored children. “It was this spiritual strength, this sincerity, this spiritual openness, this soul of hers, which seemed to be connected by her body, this is the soul that I loved in her...” says Pierre Bezukhov about his wife.
In an essay on the topic “Tolstoy’s favorite heroine in the novel “War and Peace,” I tried to characterize Natasha Rostova. It is she, according to the writer, who is the ideal of a woman whose happiness lies in family and children.
Tolstoy’s favorite heroine in the novel “War and Peace” Natasha Rostova - essay on the topic |
Every person has a choice in life between fidelity and betrayal. For me, betrayal is a betrayal not only in a high sense, that is, a betrayal of the homeland, but also of traditions, interests, friends, loved ones. And the term “fidelity” contradicts “treason.” Why does it happen that it betrays close person? What motivates him at this moment? Is it possible to forgive a person who betrayed you? Unfortunately, life is structured in such a way that betrayal and betrayal coexist alongside love and fidelity.
In Russian literature one can find many examples of the manifestation of these qualities. Let us remember the story of I. A. Bunin " Dark alleys"The main theme of the work is the loss of years and love. The main character Nadezhda for for many years managed to maintain her love for Nikolai Alekseevich, which cannot be said about him. He believes that the connection with Nadezhda is only a fleeting hobby of youth, so he easily forgets about the girl, that is, the hero acts vilely, committing treason.
But he simply cheated on her, he betrayed her feelings, deceived her expectations. The hero has no chance to be forgiven because he betrayed love. But Nadezhda, on the contrary, remained true to herself, her choice, and was able to maintain her love for thirty years. The author admires his heroine and admires her. Nadezhda Nikolaevna managed to preserve not only her former beauty, but also to remain true to her feelings.
In M. A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" before the main character Margarita also has a choice between fidelity and betrayal. On the one hand, the girl cheated on her husband, whom she did not love. A marriage without love could doom her to spiritual death. But if you look at it from the other side, Margarita remained faithful to her lover, giving her soul to the devil for him. Even when there was no hope of finding the Master, she remained faithful to him.
Every person has to make a choice. So what to do when this dilemma arises? I believe that you need to remain completely faithful to your choice, be ready to defend what is dear and valuable to you. And betrayal is a person’s refusal to accept those principles and guidelines that he once chose. This is inflicting a deep and emotional wound on the lover. People of weak character give and change.
Updated: 2018-01-02
Attention!
Thank you for your attention.
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefits to the project and other readers.
Useful material on the topic
Sometimes it seems to readers that Alexander Sergeevich named his novel incorrectly, Tatyana Larina is such a bright and memorable character. Although the main character remains Eugene Onegin, they sympathize more with the heroine, since she amazes with her purity, modesty, honesty and openness. The image of Tatiana in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is a woman in the author’s view. Pushkin admires his heroine and worships her. Larina appears twice in the novel: on her parents’ estate and at the St. Petersburg ball.
Modest teenage girl
The image of Tatiana in the novel “Eugene Onegin” immediately stands out for its romance and simplicity. When the younger sister Olga was frolicking and running with her friends, the eldest was sitting by the window or reading novels. Tatyana’s common name made her closer to the people; the young lady loved to listen to her nanny’s stories, believed in superstitions, told fortunes together with the courtyard girls, and read the meaning of her dreams in a dream book. She read stories about love, secretly dreaming of her chosen one.
It so happened that the embodiment of all romantic heroes was Tatiana, who changed a little after meeting a man. The girl initially fell in love with Evgeniy, she invented certain traits herself and only then truly fell in love with him. The author says that Larina had been dreaming about someone for a long time, and in Onegin she simply saw a book hero, because he had secular manners and was a traveler.
Broken dreams
To show the honesty and decency of a woman, Pushkin wrote the novel “Eugene Onegin”. Tatyana's image undergoes changes when her dreams of a future together with her beloved collapse in an instant. Larina could not express her thoughts, so she rewrote a love letter from a French novel and sent it to Onegin.
As befits an adult man, Evgeny reacted negatively to the teenage girl’s feelings, perceiving her falling in love as a nuisance. But still, he tried not to offend her, saying that he was not ready for marriage. Be that as it may, Larina felt abandoned and offended.
Transformation of the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan
The image of Tatyana in the novel “Eugene Onegin” changes radically, and at one of the balls main character meets a charming society lady. Now this is not a wild country girl, but a luxurious hostess of capital events, speaking on equal terms with socialites. Onegin is fascinated by Tatyana, after so many years he truly falls in love for the first time, but this woman already belongs to another man.
Larina’s answer to Evgeniy is like a bitter reproach. The woman reproaches him for pushing her away at one time, because then she was a simple village girl. Now that Tatyana has become a society lady, Onegin paid attention to her, but she is not intended for such womanizer heroes. The woman still loves Eugene, but does not dare commit a sin and betray her husband. The image of Tatyana in the novel “Eugene Onegin” is the embodiment of purity, modesty, beauty, femininity and honesty.
WITH a huge amount characters the reader has to encounter while studying the novel “War and Peace”. Here the author’s attitude towards the characters whose images he created is easily determined. All Tolstoy's characters have differences between them. Moreover, the author has a different attitude towards each of them. Although the classic sympathizes most of all with neither the beautiful Helene nor the meek Sonya, and even the good-natured Pierre is not his favorite. The author's preferences are on the side of Natasha Rostova. Most likely, the character of this heroine is close to Tolstoy. She became the embodiment of many qualities and character traits inherent in Lev Nikolaevich. Although great writer endowed the girl, probably without even realizing it, with character traits characteristic of him, and embodied in her image the best, in his opinion, qualities of a person.
Natasha Rostova appears before the reader while still a child - a spontaneous, full of vital energy, a girl who subtly senses beauty and truth. The author initially draws our attention to the fact that Natasha is not a beauty. On the contrary, her figure and facial features are irregular. Although the author has no desire to describe the heroine’s appearance in detail. He wants to reveal Natasha’s spiritual world. Tolstoy believes that the most important thing is to convey the spiritual connection of his heroine with the people. We are given the opportunity to observe the organic connection with folk life Rostova, her desire to sacrifice everything for the good of her own people, when Natasha helps wounded soldiers.
She spends her energy on helping. Tolstoy admires the heroine, admires her in moments of closeness with nature. Her attitude towards nature is considered a striking manifestation of Natasha’s spiritual beauty. However, the author is admired not only by noble deeds. He tends to understand a girl when she makes mistakes. Natasha decides to escape with Anatoly Kuragin not out of malice, but because of inexperience and gullibility. After realizing her mistake, the heroine remains devoted to him until the end of Bolkonsky’s life.
Updated: 2017-01-29
Attention!
Thank you for your attention.
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and click Ctrl+Enter.
By doing so, you will provide invaluable benefits to the project and other readers.
The image of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. The author's attitude towards the heroine
Tatyana Larina can be confidently called Pushkin’s favorite heroine in the novel. The author did not express a single ironic or sarcastic thought to her; it is clear that her image was created by Pushkin with great love, tenderness, sympathy and understanding.
Tatiana's character is an ideal combination of national and European cultures. She was brought up like an ordinary young lady of that time, read the same books, admired the same heroes:
She liked novels early on;
They replaced everything for her;
She fell in love with deceptions
And Richardson and Russo.
Tatiana is reading French novels, but she is more interested in the nanny’s fairy tales; She falls asleep with a book under her pillow, but she dreams of a dream filled with images from Russian folklore. When studying the development of the heroine’s character, it is very important to understand that she grew up in an environment provincial nobility, and the life of such people is simple, natural and close to the national soil. Pushkin depicts this life with more tenderness and sympathy than the life of the capital's nobles; he believes that Petersburg is an idle and artificial city, and the province preserves traditions and is close to the people. The character of Tatiana, a “Russian soul,” could only be formed in the atmosphere of the outback, far from the capital, surrounded by the most picturesque Russian landscapes:
Tatiana (Russian soul,
Without knowing why)
With its cold beauty I loved the Russian winter,
The sun is frosty on a frosty day,
And the sleigh, and the late dawn of the glow of pink snows,
And the darkness of Epiphany evenings.
In the old days they celebrated in their house these evenings<…>.
Pushkin portrays Tatyana precisely as a type of Russian woman: she is an amazingly integral person, although she herself could not understand and explain this. Tatyana is brave, Pushkin writes with great respect about her decision to write to Onegin about her feelings, and after the hero denies her love, the author unconditionally sympathizes with her. More and more often, Pushkin calls Tatyana simply Tanya; she remains Tanya for him even in the eighth chapter, when the reader sees her in the image of a brilliant society lady at a ball. Her simplicity remains with her even after she became the owner of the salon:
She was leisurely
Not cold, not talkative,
Without an insolent look for everyone,
Without pretensions to success,
Without these little antics,
No imitative ideas.
And you would truly agree,
That Nina’s marble beauty could not outshine her neighbor,
At least she was dazzling.
But Onegin does not see the old Tatiana in that brilliant lady whom he met at a social event in St. Petersburg. Here once again the difference in views between the author and the hero is emphasized. The author sees that the light did not kill the integrity of nature in Tatiana, she remained just as sweet and unspoiled, but for Onegin she is already a completely different woman. The hero writes three letters to Tatyana with repentance and confessions of the most tender feelings, but she rejects his love with truly Russian sacrifice: she cannot build her happiness on the misfortune of another person. Pushkin was very close to this idea of fidelity as the quintessence of sacrifice and love:
All the lots were equal.
I got married. You must
I ask you to leave me;
I know: in your heart there is both pride and direct honor.
I love you (why lie?),
But I was given to another;
I will be faithful to him forever.
Periodically in the novel, the points of view of the author and Tatiana merge. For example, in the seventh chapter, the reader sees Moscow simultaneously through the eyes of Tatyana and the eyes of the author: a mixture of styles, classes, diversity and diversity, but at the same time ancient history- this entire Moscow kaleidoscope appears before the reader exactly as Pushkin himself saw it:
Women flash past the booths,
Boys, benches, lanterns,
Palaces, gardens, monasteries,
Bukharians, sleighs, vegetable gardens,
Merchants, shacks, men,
Boulevards, towers, Cossacks,
Pharmacies, fashion stores,
Balconies, lions on the gates And flocks of jackdaws on crosses.
Moscow high society described ironically, in many ways reminiscent of Griboyedov’s vision secular society ancient capital, but if Griboyedov’s views coincided with Chatsky, then Pushkin’s point of view is shared not by Onegin (he is fond of the capital’s beau monde), but by Tatyana:
Tatyana wants to listen closely to conversations, to general conversation;
But everyone in the living room is occupied by such incoherent, vulgar nonsense;
Everything about them is so pale and indifferent;
They slander even boringly.
