Who embodies the female image in the novel "War and Peace"?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The female image in the novel "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy is, one might say, the theme of a separate work. With its help, the author shows us his attitude to life, understanding of the happiness of a woman and her destiny. On the pages of the book there are many characters and destinies of the fair sex: Natasha Rostova, Maria Bolkonskaya, Lisa Bolkonskaya, Sonya, Helen Kuragina. Each of them is worthy of our attention and shows the attitude of the great writer to this type of women. So, let's try to remember who embodies the female image in the novel "War and Peace". We will pay attention to several heroines that are found on the pages of the work.

Natasha Rostova at the beginning of the novel

This female image in the novel "War and Peace" requires the most attention of the author, it is to Natasha that he dedicates many pages of his creation. The heroine, of course, causes the most keen interest of readers. At the beginning of the work, she is a child, but a little later, a young enthusiastic girl appears before us. We can see how she gracefully turns in dance, smiles, looks at lifelike a book just ajar, full of mysteries, wonders, adventures. This is an amazingly kind and open young lady who loves the whole world, trusts him. Every day of her life is a real holiday, she is the favorite of her parents. It seems that such an easy nature will definitely give her a happy, carefree life with a loving husband.

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

Natasha Rostova. Trials in life

However, a lot of trials fall to the share of the girl, which greatly change her character. Who knows, perhaps, if Natasha had not faced life's difficulties, she would have grown into a narcissistic egoist, thinking only about her own interests and joys, unable to make her husband and children happy.

She readily takes care of the dying Andrei Bolkonsky, showing herself as a completely mature, adult person.

After Andrey's death, Natasha grieves a lot and is very upset by his death. Now before us is not funa coquette, but a serious young woman who experienced a loss.

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

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

Natasha Rostova at the end of the novel

The favorite female image in the novel "War and Peace" is for many the image of Natasha Rostova. This heroine is also loved by the author himself, it is not without reason that he pays so much attention to her. At the end of the work, we see Natasha as the mother of a large family, who lives by taking care of her loved ones. Now she does not at all resemble the young girl who was in front of us on the first pages of the work. The happiness of this woman is the well-being and he alth of her children and her husband, Pierre. She is alien to empty pastime and idleness. She gives even more strength to the love received at a tender age.

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

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

This is how Leo Tolstoy described this amazing female image in the novel "War and Peace". Natasha Rostova, it’s hard to talk about her briefly, is the ideal woman of the writer himself. He admires her graceful youth, admires the matured heroine and makes her a happy mother and wife. Tolstoy believed that the greatest happiness for a woman is marriage and motherhood. Only then is her life meaningful.

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

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

Maria Bolkonskaya

Another favorite female character in the novel "War and Peace" is Marya Bolkonskaya, Andrei Bolkonsky's sister. Unlike Natasha, she did not have a lively character and attractiveness. As Tolstoy writes about Marya Nikolaevna, she was ugly: a weak body, a thin face. The girl resignedly obeyed her father, who wanted to develop activity and intelligence in her, being sure of the absolute unsightliness of her daughter. Her life consisted of classes in algebra and geometry.

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

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

Andrei Bolkonsky's sister, like Natasha, loves her family, although she was never spoiled, she was brought up in strictness. Marya tolerated her father's bad temper and respected him. She could not even think of discussing the decisions of Nikolai Andreevich, she was in awe of everything he did.

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

Like any kind woman, Marya, of course, dreams of family happiness and children. She endlessly believes in fate, in the will of the Almighty. Bolkonsky's sister does not dare to wish anything for herself, her noble deep nature is not capable of envy.

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

So, the second amazing female image in the novel "War and Peace" is Marya Bolkonskaya. Perhaps Tolstoy loves her no less than Natasha Rostova, although he does not pay much attention to her. She is like that ideal of the author, to which Natasha will come after many years. With no children or family, she finds her happiness in giving warmth to other people.

Women's happiness of Marya Bolkonskaya

Bolkonsky's sister was not mistaken: wanting nothing for herself, she nevertheless met a man who sincerely fell in love with her. Marya became the wife of Nikolai Rostov.

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

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

The female image in the novel "War and Peace", embodied by Marya Bolkonskaya, is a portrait of a real woman who is used to sacrificing herself for the well-being of others and being happy from this.

Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova

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

However, the older Natasha gets, the more she resembles Princess Marya in that she wishes happiness for others. However, they are different. Natasha's happiness can be called more mundane, she lives with everyday chores and deeds.

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

Both heroines are undoubtedly loved by the author of the work and are the embodiment of sacrifice - the main, according to Tolstoy, female virtue.

Sonya

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

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

Initially, Nikolai Rostov was in love with her, but they could not get married because Nikolai's parentsinsisted on postponing the wedding.

The life of a girl is more subject to the mind, not feelings. Tolstoy does not really like this heroine, despite all her positive qualities. He leaves her lonely.

The author considers her spiritually poor, while endowing her with an attractive appearance. It should be noted that Tolstoy is characterized by emphasizing spiritual we alth with the help of a not too expressive appearance.

The author considers Sonya ordinary, ordinary and perhaps not worthy of happiness.

Liza Bolkonskaya

Lisa Bolkonskaya is, one might say, the heroine of the second plan, the wife of Prince Andrei. In the world, she is called the "little princess." She is remembered by readers thanks to a pretty upper lip with a mustache. Liza is an attractive person, even this small flaw gives the young woman her own unique charm. She is good, full of vitality and he alth. This woman easily endures her delicate position, everyone around is happy to look at her.

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

Lisa loves him superficially, as if they were just about to get married. For her, he is a background that fits into the ideas of secular ladies about what should bespouse. Liza does not understand his thoughts about the meaning of life, it seems to her that everything is simple.

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

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

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

When Andrei leaves for the war, Liza settles in his father's house. Her superficiality is once again confirmed by the fact that she prefers to communicate with Mademoiselle Bourrienne, and not with Princess Mary.

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

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

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

Helen Kuragina

The last female image in the novel "War and Peace" is Helen Kuragina. Rather, this is the last heroine that we will write about in this article.

Of all the women whoappear on the pages of this grandiose novel, Helen is by far the most beautiful and luxurious.

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

Everything she wants, she achieves at the expense of her own appearance. Having become accustomed to this state of affairs, this woman stopped striving for personal development.

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

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

Certainly, the most beautiful outwardly female image in the novel "War and Peace" is Helen. Tolstoy admires her shoulders at the first ball of Natasha Rostova, but he interrupts her life, considering such an existence meaningless.

Lisa Bolkonskaya, Helen Kuragina and Natasha Rostova

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

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

Like Helen Kuraginu, she was attracted to something forbidden, inaccessible. It was for this reason that she was going to run away withAnatolem.

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

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

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