Ippolit Kuragin: the image and characteristics of personality

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

Ippolit Kuragin (one of the heroes of the novel "War and Peace") is the middle son of Prince Vasily, a minor hero of the epic, whom the author rarely shows us on the pages of the work. He appears for a more or less long time at the very beginning of the novel, and then occasionally flashes on its pages.

Family

So, Prince Ippolit Vasilyevich Kuragin comes from a family that occupies a stable position in the world. His father is a respected courtier who, by hook or by crook, seeks to strengthen the position of his children either through a marriage union or by obtaining a sufficiently high position. In the first chapter of the first part of the novel, it immediately becomes clear that he came to Anna Pavlovna Scherer for the evening with one goal - to attach his son as the first secretary to Vienna through the empress mother. Secular people, they both understood each other perfectly, and Prince Vasily was forced to "swallow" the refusal. But, discussing everything with the same Anna Pavlovna of her children, who showered Helen with compliments, and also praised Ippolit, the prince said sadly that hedid everything he could for them, but the sons both turned out to be fools.

First meeting with the young prince

Ippolit Kuragin, in all his stupidity, appears to us precisely in the salon of Anna Pavlovna. Everything he does or says is out of place.

While caring for the little Princess Lisa Bolkonskaya, for no reason at all, he begins to sagely explain to her the meaning of the coat of arms of the House of Conde. Then, completely useless, he tells a joke about a Moscow lady who had a big girl and dressed her up as a footman. At the end of the joke, he himself begins to laugh so that no one understands what his point is, and, in general, why he is told. At the same time, Ippolit Kuragin makes all his statements extremely self-confidently. Secular people and, let's say, often empty and stupid, cannot even understand whether he expressed a smart idea or not.

Unintentional buffoonery

Prince Ippolit Kuragin still thinks from time to time, because he can hardly think. And sometimes he looks with cheerful surprise, having said something, and just like the people around, does not understand what his words meant.

In society, he is still perceived as a jester, if only because he talks importantly about politics, understanding absolutely nothing about it.

Prince appearance

Ippolit and Helen Kuragin are surprisingly similar and not similar. If the features of Helen's face are as beautiful as the morning, then the same features of Hippolyte are transformed and illuminated by idiocy. The resemblance between brother and sister is not accidental. Both are the samelow and empty, they both lack culture and richness of soul.

Putting them side by side, Leo Tolstoy shows the two-faced Janus, so that readers do not accidentally seduce the beautiful Helen at first. Her soul is reflected in the self-confident, peevish face of her brother. This is how the reader sees Ippolit Kuragin. His characterization is very unflattering.

Awkwardness

This is a continuation of his stupidity. A smart person is always attentive to others, quickly responds to remarks and actions. And Ippolit Kuragin is able to get confused not only with his tongue, but also with his feet, disturbing everyone. Seeing off Lisa Bolkonskaya, he so awkwardly helps her throw a shawl over her shoulders that it seems that he is hugging her. And this is completely unacceptable. The little princess gracefully moved away from him, and Prince Andrei walked around him like a thing. But Hippolyte was not enough. He put on his outer clothing and, tangled in his redingote, said goodbye to the princess as he walked. Dry-unpleasant Prince Andrei dismissed him.

Career

Prince Vasily still managed to let his son into the diplomatic service. And what, a dear young man is fluent in English and French, he will be able to serve and serve, and as for the fact that he also brings benefits to his homeland, this is completely unnecessary. It is quite enough that he can tirelessly babble his tongue in a narrow, peculiar, closed diplomatic world. During the war, Prince Kuragin served as a secretary at the Russian Embassy in Austria. At the same time, it is not known what exactly he does, but he himself is pleased with himself. He notices that the words he casually threware perceived as very witty. Now he is using it. Among all the verbal rubbish, of which he is only capable, some words that accidentally come without any ulterior motive turn out to be very useful. It may very well be that he will rise to "known degrees." Woe from wit does not threaten this young man, and he will not think about anything.

Conclusion

This is the reader Ippolit Kuragin. His characterization in the novel is very monotonous, it is written in one bright stroke, designed to set off the whole family of Prince Vasily, especially Helen and the empty rake of the handsome Anatole, who has a negative charm.

Hippolit is not distinguished by charm. The reader immediately experiences a feeling of disgust towards him. In the novel “War and Peace”, the author needs Ippolit Kuragin to show what empty and worthless people the world consists of, this is the highest society close to the court, how easily even completely stupid people adapt to it, if they only have at least some support. People like Ippolit are very tenacious, as, indeed, the whole family of Prince Vasily.