The Kuragin family in the novel “War and Peace” represents a special union that is based on common interests and goals. Of course, this association cannot be called a family in the full sense of the word: there is no love, no care, no sincerity in the relations between relatives.
Characteristics of the Kuragin family
The head of the family, Prince Vasily, is a hypocrite, a fraudster, a deceiver and a liar. The children adopted all the moral principles from him, therefore Helen, Hippolyte, and Anatole are also soulless and deceitful, like their father. Prince Vasily, oddly enough, is very respected in society - which emphasizes the superficial attitude of the nobility to the true essence of man. A beautiful cover, good manners, the ability to “contain oneself” - this is enough to be considered a worthy representative of aristocratic society.
Prince Vasily is the closest relative of the dying Count Bezukhov and is trying by all possible means to achieve the inheritance. When his scam to steal a briefcase containing documents goes wrong, he becomes close to Pierre. Helps him cope with the management of the inheritance, simultaneously robbing the young man. The idea of marrying a rich heir to his daughter becomes another point in Pierre Bezukhov’s plan to seize the wealth. Lovers of easy money, all family members play along in this performance, and Pierre finds himself in the position of a groom, without wanting it.
The head of the Kuragin family has a lot of necessary contacts; he is only interested in those who can be useful, at whose expense he can raise his status and improve his financial situation. In conversations about children, Vasily Sergeevich often mentions that they are a “burden”, his “cross”. Nevertheless, he is concerned about his sons’ careers, trying to arrange their destinies in such a way that they do not need anything.
Very little is known about Prince Vasily’s wife, Alina Kuragina. In her younger years, this woman shone with beauty, but with age she changed - she gained a lot of weight. Probably it was her external data that became the reason for choosing a woman for the role of Kuragin’s wife.
Helen Kuragina
The daughter of Vasily Sergeevich, Helen Kuragina, is considered the most beautiful woman in St. Petersburg, she is young, graceful, cunning and insidious. The heroine is empty and cold, she attracts everyone with her revealing outfits, appearance, and mystery, behind which there is no depth of feelings, spiritual qualities, or warmth. Marriage to Pierre becomes for Helen an opportunity to shine in secular society, change outfits, receive guests and have lovers. Her husband’s weak character leads to Helen’s permissiveness: she despises him, cheats on him and does not hide her feelings. The image of Helen in the novel is a symbol of external beauty, behind which there is no worthy content; she personifies society ladies, empty and cold. Such women do not create comfort, do not strive to have children or a family, and are not able to empathize and support their husbands. For this reason, the author removes Helen from the plot: she dies of chest sore throat at the age of 32.
Hippolyte and Anatole
Ippolit is the eldest son of the Kuragins, whose characterization received the lion's share of the author's irony and sarcasm. Tolstoy calls him a “sweet” young man, noting that he is surprisingly “foolish.” Hippolytus is not only ugly in appearance - in face and figure - his inner world is also wretched. Nature did not reward the Kuragins’ son with intelligence and eloquence; he is frankly stupid, and his facial expression betrays traits of “idiocy.” The author directly notes that both of the Kuragins’ sons, Anatol and Ippolit, are “fools.” Fortunately for his parents, Ippolit is a calm “fool,” which cannot be said about Anatole. Ippolit, thanks to his father, takes a place at the embassy as a secretary.
Anatol Kuragin, the youngest son of the Kuragin couple, is a young man of amazing beauty. His portrait appearance and dandy habits are the same empty shell as his sister’s appearance. Anatole is a lover of fights, a drunkard, a gambler and a rake. The father is trying to arrange his son's wedding with a rich bride, Princess Marya, but his love for the female sex and entertainment betrays him. Anatole is not like his father, he is more stupid than cunning. His passion is irresponsibility, debauchery and fun, changing women and wasting his life - this is what the meaning of the hero’s life is.
Our article provides a description of all members of the Kuragin family. This material will be useful in preparing for the essay “The Kuragin Family.”
Work test
The novel “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy is an epic work. Against the background of large-scale historical events, Tolstoy depicts the private life of a person, his search for the meaning and purpose of life, the search for happiness. Each hero of the novel has his own destiny, his own ups and downs, his own delusions. What is the reason for this or that human action? Is it not the upbringing received in childhood, or the family structure from which the concepts of good and evil, moral and immoral are learned? This is how the “thought of family” is woven into the fabric of the novel from its first pages.
The lives of several generations of completely different family clans pass before us: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, the Bergs, the Drubetskys... I will dwell on two of them.
On his estate in Bald Mountains lives the old prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, the head of an ancient, noble family, the father of a family with a patriarchal bias. He served Russia well, but is now in disgrace. This majestic, proud old man of widows, he has a bad character, but he is still active: he writes memoirs, works on a lathe, does mathematics with his daughter. In his opinion, “there are only two sources of human vices: idleness and superstition, and there are only two virtues: activity and intelligence.” The main condition for his activity is order, which is brought to the “last degree of precision” in his house.
The prince has wonderful children: Andrei and Marya. The prince wanted to raise them to be smart, noble, and honest. The children have grown up. The son became what his father dreamed of, and handsome at that. True, this does not make Andrey happy: he is married, but does not love his wife. And the daughter is her father's pain. Looks good to everyone, but not beautiful. If she were beautiful, they would love her, but they would woo her, of course, but they would woo her for his noble family and his money.
Nikolai Andreevich hardly realizes how much he interferes in the fate of his children. While serving the state, the old prince was a prominent figure at court. Hence his own and passed on to Andrei’s famous “Bolkon” pride, the conviction of the need to serve the Fatherland. Prince Andrei believes in his destiny for achievement and greatness. In addition, he is tired of the capital’s life, and he is tired of his wife, and he goes to war in search of “his Toulon,” that is, glory. Wounded at Austerlitz, Andrei understands the illusory nature of glory and the need for simple family happiness. But he is not given the opportunity to experience this happiness. The little princess dies during childbirth, blaming her death on “Bolkonsky” pride and the abstraction of high aspirations. The meeting with Natasha also turns into drama. Father is against his son's new marriage. In the depths of her soul, Princess Marya also opposes this. At the insistence of the old prince, the wedding is postponed for a year, and this fatally destroys the possible happiness of his son.
But could Andrei be happy with Natasha? Hardly. They were raised very differently. Natasha is so simple, open and direct in her desires and aspirations, and Andrey is so closed and selfish that a certain alienation always arises between them. The prince does not understand Natasha. This is probably why his wounded pride does not allow him to forgive her infatuation with Kuragin, in which he is also to blame.
Before his death, Andrei will meet Natasha again. Only now did he “understand her feeling, her suffering, shame, repentance” and for the first time realized the cruelty of his break with her. But Tolstoy does not give the hero the opportunity to fix anything. Previously, the guilt towards his wife was not allowed to make amends by her death, now, without knowing family happiness, Andrei himself dies.
A savage by nature, Princess Marya is forced to live as a recluse in Bald Mountains and knows no other life except patience and help to “God’s people.” The father is often painfully cruel and tactless towards his daughter. Although Marya doesn’t want anything for herself personally. More than anything in the world, she wants to be “poorer than the poorest of the poor.” It would seem that the death of the old prince frees Marya, but at the same time a strong and active fatherly character awakens in her. The upbringing of the old prince has an effect - the daughter grew up to be a strong and active woman.
Self-sacrifice was Marya’s life principle before meeting Nikolai Rostov and before Andrei’s death. The new post-war life in Bald Mountains is “inviolably correct.” Princess Marya finds family happiness only after becoming Countess Rostova. Her family is strong because it is based on the constant spiritual work of Countess Marya, whose goal is only “the moral good of the children.”
The Kuragin family is not just the opposite of the Bolkonskys. This is perhaps the very embodiment of immorality. Prince Vasily Kuragin is almost the same age as the old Prince Bolkonsky. He also wants happiness for his children, only the two old men have different understandings of happiness. A secular man, popular in the upper strata of society and accustomed to this success, usually Vasily Kuragin did not think about his plans, like all vile people, he did not burden himself with thoughts about duty, about truth, about useful things for society, he was occupied only by personal interests.
For Prince Vasily, family is only mutual support and solidarity, mutual responsibility. His son Hippolyte, a diplomat in Austria, has already been settled, and now his father is busy trying to find a home for the beautiful Helen. Having abandoned all his affairs, the prince takes care of and guides the “unlucky” Pierre: he appoints him as a chamber cadet and settles him in his house. And he, ungrateful, never proposes to his daughter. I had to take on everything again in order to unite Pierre and Helene. Now the daughter is Countess Bezukhova. Whether this marriage is moral, whether the daughter is happy or not is not so important to her father. The main thing is that it is built, shines in the light, and is rich.
Helene and Pierre do not have a family. But this doesn't bother Helen. She lies to her husband, leaves him, but, realizing at a certain moment that in the eyes of the world it is better to have a husband than to be alone, she insists on living with Pierre under the same roof - it’s more convenient for her. Helen is not capable of being tormented by the pangs of conscience or considering herself guilty; she always finds an excuse for herself in everything.
But the time will come, and while her husband is alive, she will choose one of two candidates for her hand. And she will start a divorce from her husband just at the moment when the fate of Russia will be decided on the Borodino field. In addition, she will commit betrayal - she will convert to the Catholic faith, the faith of the enemy. Helen's death is surrounded by the same lies that surrounded her whole life.
Prince Vasily's youngest son Anatol is a match for her - a dissolute handsome man, a reveler, a spendthrift and a cynic. It’s wartime, his regiment has set out, and he, without hesitation, says: “I’m listed,” without even knowing exactly where he’s listed. The beauty of the young rake seduces Princess Marya at first. The father’s stern warning (“Remember one thing: the happiness of your life depends on your decision”) and a coincidence of circumstances: Princess Marya accidentally saw how Anatole, who had come to woo her, hugged Burien, save her from marriage with an immoral man.
Not only Princess Marya, but also Natasha will be subjected to Kuragin’s onslaught. Poetic Natasha and stupid Anatole - it would seem, what do these people have in common? Anatole did not think about how his actions would affect others, nor about what could come out of this or that action. This is an egoist who thinks only about momentary pleasure, he is completely free in his behavior, feeling complete impunity. Natasha also has a sense of inner freedom. But it is of a completely different kind: this is a naive demand for immediate, now open, direct, human relations between people. But it is precisely this “anything is possible” that brings her to Anatole. Her experience helps her understand that human freedom cannot be outside of morality.
Seeing the purpose of a woman, harmony and happiness in the family, talking a lot in his novel about the nature of human beauty - external and internal, Tolstoy removes the beautiful Helen and her dazzling brother from the pages of the novel and brings to the family happiness of those heroes whose beauty is spiritual - Princess Marya and Natasha.
Family
Prince Vasily Kuragin.
For Tolstoy, the world of family is the basis of humanity
society. The Kuragin family in the novel appears as the embodiment of immorality.
Selfishness, hypocrisy, capacity for crime, dishonor for the sake of wealth,
irresponsibility for one's actions in one's personal life - these are the main distinguishing features
features of this family.
And how much destruction the Kuragins caused - Prince
Vasily, Helen, Anatole - into the life of Pierre, Rostov, Natasha, Andrei Bolkonsky!
The Kuragins are the third family unit in the novel -
deprived of generic poetry. Their family closeness and connection is unpoetic, although she
undoubtedly there is - instinctive mutual support and solidarity, a kind of
mutual guarantee of almost animal egoism. This kind of family connection is not positive,
a real family connection, but essentially a negation of it. Real families -
The Rostovs, Bolkonskys - have, of course, against the Kuragins on their side
immeasurable moral superiority; but still an invasion
Kuragin's base egoism causes a crisis in the world of these families.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize
moral standards, living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant
desires.
Prince Vasily Kuragin The head of this entire family is Prince Vasily
Kuragin. For the first time we meet Prince Vasily in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. He
was “in a courtier’s, embroidered, uniform, stockings, shoes and stars, with
bright expression of a flat face." The prince spoke
that exquisite French language, which was not only spoken, but also thought
our grandfathers, and with those quiet, patronizing intonations that
characteristic of a significant person who has grown old in high society and at court,” “said
always lazily, like an actor speaking the role of an old play.” In the eyes of secular society, the prince
Kuragin is a respected person, “close to the emperor, surrounded by a crowd
enthusiastic women, scattering social pleasantries and complacent
chuckling." In words he was a decent, sympathetic person,
but in reality there was constantly an internal struggle in him between desire
appear to be a decent person and the actual depravity of his motives.
Prince Vasily "knew that influence in the world is capital that is necessary
take care that he does not disappear, and, once realizing that if he asks for
everyone who asks him, then soon he will not be able to ask for himself, he rarely
used this influence." But at the same time, he
sometimes I felt remorse. So, in the case of Princess Drubetskaya, he
felt "something like a pang of conscience" as she reminded him
that “he owed his first steps in the service to her father.” Prince Vasily is not alien to fatherly feelings, although
they are expressed rather in the desire to “attach”
their children rather than giving them fatherly love and warmth. According to Anna Pavlovna
Scherer, people like the prince should not have children.
"…And for what
Will people like you have children? If you weren't the father, I
I couldn’t reproach you for anything.” To which the prince replied: “What
what should I do? You know, I did everything I could to raise them.
maybe father." Prince
forced Pierre to marry Helene, while pursuing his own selfish goals. At Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s proposal to “marry
the prodigal son Anatole" on Princess Maria Bolkonskaya,
Having learned that the princess is a rich heiress, he says:
"she
has a good name and is rich. All I need". At the same time, Prince Vasily
does not think at all about the fact that Princess Marya may be unhappy in her marriage
with the dissolute scamp Anatole, who looked upon his entire life as one
continuous entertainment.
Absorbed all the base, vicious traits of the prince
Vasily and his children.
Helen Kuragina
Helen is the embodiment of external beauty and internal
voids, fossils. Tolstoy constantly mentions its “monotonous”, “unchanging”
smile and “ancient beauty of the body”, she resembles a beautiful,
soulless statue. Helen Scherer enters the salon “with the noise of her white ballroom
robe, decorated with ivy and moss, and shining with the whiteness of the shoulders, the gloss of hair and
diamonds, walked away without looking at anyone, but smiling at everyone and as if kindly
giving everyone the right to admire the beauty of their figure, full shoulders, very
open, according to the fashion of that time, chest and back, and as if bringing with it shine
bala. Helen was so beautiful that not only was there not even a shadow noticeable in her
coquetry, but, on the contrary, she seemed ashamed of her undoubted and
too powerful beauty. It was as if she wanted and could not diminish
the actions of this beauty."
Helen personifies immorality and depravity.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize any moral standards,
living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant desires. Helen enters
into marriage only for their own enrichment.
She cheats on her husband because her nature is dominated by
animal origin. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy leaves Helen childless. "I
“I’m not such a fool as to have children,” she admits. More,
being Pierre's wife, Helene, in front of the whole society, is engaged in the construction
your personal life.
In addition to a luxurious bust, a rich and beautiful body,
this representative of high society had an extraordinary ability to hide
his mental and moral squalor, and all this thanks only to grace
her manners and memorization of some phrases and techniques. Shamelessness manifested itself in her
under such grandiose high-society forms that aroused in others a little
Isn't it respect?
Helen is completely devoid of patriotic feelings. At that
while the whole country rose up to fight Napoleon, and even the high society
took part in this struggle in his own way (“they didn’t speak French and
ate simple food"), in Helen’s circle, Rumyantsev, French, were refuted
rumors about the cruelty of the enemy and the war and all of Napoleon's attempts to
reconciliation."
When the threat of capture of Moscow by Napoleonic troops
became obvious, Helen went abroad. And there she shone under the imperial
yard But now the court returns to St. Petersburg.
"Helen,
Having returned with the court from Vilna to St. Petersburg, she was in
difficult situation. In St. Petersburg, Helen enjoyed a special
patronage of a nobleman who occupied one of the highest positions in the state.
In the end, Helen dies. This death is direct
a consequence of her own intrigues. „Countess Elena Bezukhova
died suddenly from... a terrible disease, which is commonly called chest
angina, but in intimate circles they talked about how the queen’s life physician
Spanish prescribed Helen small doses of some medicine to produce
known action; but like Helen, tormented by the fact that the old count
suspected her, and because the husband to whom she wrote (that unfortunate depraved
Pierre), did not answer her, suddenly took a huge dose of the medicine prescribed to her and
died in agony before help could be given.”
Ippolit Kuragin .
"...Prince Hippolyte amazed with his
extraordinary resemblance to her beautiful sister, and even more so, despite
similarity, he was amazingly bad-looking. His facial features were the same as those
sister, but with her everything was illuminated by a cheerful, self-satisfied, young
an unchanging smile and extraordinary, antique beauty of the body. My brother, on the contrary,
the same face was clouded with idiocy and invariably expressed self-confident
disgust, and the body was thin and weak. Eyes, nose, mouth - everything was shrinking like
as if in one vague, boring grimace, and arms and legs always took
unnatural position."
Hippolytus was unusually stupid. Because of self-confidence
to whom he spoke, no one could understand whether what he said was very smart or very stupid.
At the reception with Scherer, he appears to us “in
in a dark green tailcoat, in trousers the color of a frightened nymph, as he himself said, in
stockings and shoes." And such an absurdity of the outfit is not at all his
didn't bother me.
His stupidity manifested itself in the fact that he sometimes
spoke, and then understood what he said. Hippolytus often spoke and acted
inappropriately, expressed his opinions when no one needed them. He
liked to insert phrases into the conversation that were completely unrelated to the essence of the discussion
Topics.
The character of Hippolytus can serve as a living example of
that even positive idiocy is sometimes presented in the world as something having
meaning due to the gloss attached to knowledge of the French language, and that
the extraordinary property of this language to support and at the same time mask
spiritual emptiness.
Prince Vasily calls Ippolit “the deceased
a fool." Tolstoy in the novel is “sluggish and breaking.”
These are the dominant character traits of Hippolytus. Ippolit is stupid, but he is his
stupidity at least does not harm anyone, unlike his younger brother
Anatoly.
Anatol Kuragin .
Anatol Kuragin, according to Tolstoy, is “simple
and with carnal inclinations." These are the dominant features
Anatole's character. He looked upon his whole life as a continuous amusement,
which someone like that for some reason agreed to arrange for him. The author’s characterization of Anatole is as follows:
"He was not
unable to think about how his actions might affect others, nor
what could come out of such or such an act of his.”
Anatole is completely free from considerations
responsibility and consequences of what he does. His selfishness is immediate,
animal-naive and good-natured, absolute egoism, for he is not constrained by anything
Anatole inside, in consciousness, feeling. Kuragin simply lacks the ability to know
what will happen beyond that moment of his pleasure, and how will it affect his life?
other people, as others will see. All this does not exist for him at all.
He is sincerely convinced, instinctively, with his whole being, that everything around him has
Its sole purpose is entertainment and it exists for this. No looking back
people, on their opinion, on the consequences, no distant goal that would force
focus on achieving it, no remorse, no thoughts,
hesitation, doubt - Anatole, whatever he did, naturally and sincerely
considers himself an impeccable person and holds his beautiful head high: freedom is truly limitless, freedom in actions and self-awareness.
Such complete freedom was given to Anatoly
meaninglessness. A person who consciously relates to life is already subordinated, like
Pierre, the need to understand and solve, he is not free from life's difficulties, from
question: why? While Pierre is tormented by this difficult question,
Anatole lives, content with every minute, stupidly, animalistically, but easily and
funny.
Marriage to a "rich ugly heiress" -
Maria Bolkonskaya seems to him like just another amusement. "A
Why not marry if she is very rich? It never gets in the way" -
thought Anatole.
Article menu:
The problem of relationships in the family is one of the key topics that interested L.N. Tolstoy. Is it possible to achieve happiness in family life and how to do it - this literally becomes the central problem of many of Tolstoy’s works. The novel "War and Peace" was no exception. Descriptions of aristocratic families make it possible not only to recreate a picture of a typical high society, but also to learn about the relationships and principles of interaction between people of different temperaments and life positions.
Family composition, position in society
The Kuragin family is one of the most influential families in aristocratic circles. This is due to several aspects. First of all, it should be noted that this family situation was created over more than one generation. Significant influence was achieved thanks to the efforts of Prince Vasily, who had a prestigious position and influential contacts in the government elite.
The next generation attached little importance to maintaining the status of the family - they only took advantage of the achievements of their ancestors.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the heroes of the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
At the time of the story, the Kuragin family consists of Prince Vasily Sergeevich, Princess Alina and their three children: Ippolit, Anatoly and Elena.
Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin and Alina Kuragina
Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin is the head of the Kuragin family. At the beginning of the novel he is over 50 years old. He achieved significant heights in his service. Prince Vasily was an important official; he even knew the empress personally. In addition, among his acquaintances there were other officials from the top of the government apparatus. He maintains such acquaintance not based on common interests, but for the sake of self-interest - such significant connections serve as an excellent service and help resolve important issues.
Prince Vasily knows how to take advantage of people's favor, he has the talent of persuasion. In addition, he knows how to ingratiate himself. Unfortunately, this tendency only works with strangers.
In relation to his family members, his talent makes significant mistakes, and his children from time to time completely go beyond parental control.
Prince Vasily is married. Princess Alina - his wife - is practically not described by Tolstoy. It is known about her that she is a fat and not very attractive woman. They had three children in their marriage. The appearance of her daughter Elena becomes the envy of Princess Alina. This feeling is so strong that it does not allow a woman to live fully.
Ippolit Vasilievich Kuragin
The age of this son of Princess Alina and Prince Vasily is not indicated. It is known that he serves at the embassy as a secretary. Unlike other children, Hippolytus is not distinguished by his beauty and attractiveness. He has a calm temperament. The young man is reserved and polite.
Ippolit's mental abilities leave much to be desired - he is a rather stupid person, but at the same time he has a talent for learning foreign languages - Ippolit is fluent in English and French.
Anatoly Vasilyevich Kuragin
Unlike the calm Hippolytus, Anatole literally became a headache for Prince Vasily. The youngest son of the Kuragins is a lover of a luxurious and free life - drunken brawls, constant partying, losing at cards - all this caused a lot of trouble for Vasily Sergeevich.
Anatole’s exact age in the novel is also not precisely indicated - his only age marker is “young man”. Anatole is not married. Yes, given his behavior and passion for revelry and debauchery, this is not surprising.
Anatol Kuragin is used to playing with people's feelings. For example, on a whim, he upsets the engagement of Natasha Rostova and Andrei Bolkonsky. The young man does not experience any feelings of guilt or embarrassment. The thought that he not only created trouble for the girl with his actions, but also caused her psychological trauma, does not even occur to him.
His matchmaking with Marie Bolkonskaya is also not distinguished by tact. Marie was far from a beauty, marriage with her was an extremely profitable match in material terms for the Kuragins, but Anatole’s free behavior and his interest in the servants became the reason for the refusal.
Prince Vasily tried to give his children a good education. Anatole studied abroad (most likely in France), but it was all to no avail - teaching something to a person who did not want to learn became an impossible task.
Anatole wasted his life - he was not interested in the opportunity to make a fortune, nor in military service, nor in civilian life. The only thing that gave him satisfaction was drinking and the company of women.
The outcome of Anatole's life is extremely uncertain. We learn the latest news about him in the hospital where Prince Andrei Bolkonsky ended up after being wounded. It was there that he met his sworn enemy, but Anatole’s situation was extremely pitiful - after the amputation of his leg, he could not come to his senses. Presumably, Anatole died.
Elena Vasilievna Kuragina
An equally colorful character in the family is the daughter of Prince Vasily and Princess Alina, Elena. Beauty Elena had a delightful appearance. A thin figure, regular facial features, and proportional body structure have always attracted men of different ages and aroused feelings of envy among women.
Elena, like all the Kuragin children, was not distinguished by intelligence, or rather, was distinguished by its absence, but unlike her brothers, the girl was excellent at creating the illusion of his presence. A certain facial expression, a thoughtful look, helped to convince others that she was a girl of extraordinary intelligence.
Elena is very greedy for money - for the sake of wealth, she marries Pierre Bezukhov, ruining both her life and his. The suspicious Pierre was unable to stop his wife’s depraved behavior and ultimately became the cause of ridicule and ridicule from others. Elena knew how to position herself in a relationship with her husband - he believed her despite all the rumors, and even after an anonymous letter about Elena’s love affairs, he did not want to believe in her betrayal.
Elena's numerous lovers are not the only dark spot in her biography. At one time, there were rumors that Elena and Anatole were in love, and although there is no evidence of their love affair in the novel, numerous hints make it clear that, quite likely, the matter did not end with platonic love.
Elena always valued only external attractiveness in people, so it is not surprising that over time her dislike for the obese and not very handsome Pierre began to weigh on her.
The woman sees the only option as divorce, but her religion does not allow this. For this purpose, Elena becomes a Catholic, but she did not have time to fulfill her intention - the girl suddenly dies. The exact cause of her death is not known, it is assumed that Elena died due to bleeding that opened after an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy.
Thus, the Kuragin family is not distinguished by high morality or nobility. Almost all members of the family were gripped by a thirst for money and an attachment to debauchery. The Kuragins did not have a humane attitude towards others, and most of all they valued external beauty and attractiveness in people.
Family
Prince Vasily Kuragin.
For Tolstoy, the world of family is the basis of humanity
society. The Kuragin family in the novel appears as the embodiment of immorality.
Selfishness, hypocrisy, capacity for crime, dishonor for the sake of wealth,
irresponsibility for one's actions in one's personal life - these are the main distinguishing features
features of this family.
And how much destruction the Kuragins caused - Prince
Vasily, Helen, Anatole - into the life of Pierre, Rostov, Natasha, Andrei Bolkonsky!
The Kuragins are the third family unit in the novel -
deprived of generic poetry. Their family closeness and connection is unpoetic, although she
undoubtedly there is - instinctive mutual support and solidarity, a kind of
mutual guarantee of almost animal egoism. This kind of family connection is not positive,
a real family connection, but essentially a negation of it. Real families -
The Rostovs, Bolkonskys - have, of course, against the Kuragins on their side
immeasurable moral superiority; but still an invasion
Kuragin's base egoism causes a crisis in the world of these families.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize
moral standards, living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant
desires.
Prince Vasily Kuragin The head of this entire family is Prince Vasily
Kuragin. For the first time we meet Prince Vasily in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. He
was "in a courtier's, embroidered, uniform, stockings, shoes and stars, with
with a bright expression on his flat face." The prince said "on
that exquisite French language, which was not only spoken, but also thought
our grandfathers, and with those quiet, patronizing intonations that
characteristic of a significant person who has grown old in high society and at court,” “said
always lazy, like an actor speaking the role of an old play." In the eyes of secular society, the prince
Kuragin is a respected person, “close to the emperor, surrounded by a crowd
enthusiastic women, scattering social pleasantries and complacent
chuckling." In words he was a decent, sympathetic person,
but in reality there was constantly an internal struggle in him between desire
appear to be a decent person and the actual depravity of his motives.
Prince Vasily "knew that influence in the world is capital that is necessary
take care that he does not disappear, and, once realizing that if he asks for
everyone who asks him, then soon he will not be able to ask for himself, he rarely
used this influence." But at the same time, he
sometimes I felt remorse. So, in the case of Princess Drubetskaya, he
felt "something like a remorse" as she reminded him
that “he owed his first steps in the service to her father.” Prince Vasily is not alien to fatherly feelings, although
They are expressed rather in the desire to “attach”
their children rather than giving them fatherly love and warmth. According to Anna Pavlovna
Scherer, people like the prince should not have children.
"…And for what
Will people like you have children? If you weren't the father, I
I couldn’t reproach you for anything.” To which the prince replied: “What
what should I do? You know, I did everything I could to raise them.
maybe father." Prince
forced Pierre to marry Helene, while pursuing his own selfish goals. At Anna Pavlovna Sherer's proposal to "marry
the prodigal son Anatole" on Princess Maria Bolkonskaya,
Having learned that the princess is a rich heiress, he says:
"she
has a good name and is rich. Everything I need." At the same time, Prince Vasily
does not think at all about the fact that Princess Marya may be unhappy in her marriage
with the dissolute scamp Anatole, who looked upon his entire life as one
continuous entertainment.
Absorbed all the base, vicious traits of the prince
Vasily and his children.
Helen Kuragina
Helen is the embodiment of external beauty and internal
voids, fossils. Tolstoy constantly mentions its “monotonous”, “unchanging”
smile and “antique beauty of the body”, she resembles a beautiful,
soulless statue. Helen Scherer enters the salon “noisily with her white ballroom
robe, decorated with ivy and moss, and shining with the whiteness of the shoulders, the gloss of hair and
diamonds, walked away without looking at anyone, but smiling at everyone and as if kindly
giving everyone the right to admire the beauty of their figure, full shoulders, very
open, according to the fashion of that time, chest and back, and as if bringing with it shine
bala. Helen was so beautiful that not only was there not even a shadow noticeable in her
coquetry, but, on the contrary, she seemed ashamed of her undoubted and
too powerful beauty. It was as if she wanted and could not diminish
the actions of this beauty."
Helen personifies immorality and depravity.
The entire Kuragin family are individualists who do not recognize any moral standards,
living according to the unchanging law of fulfilling their insignificant desires. Helen enters
into marriage only for their own enrichment.
She cheats on her husband because her nature is dominated by
animal origin. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy leaves Helen childless. "I
“I’m not such a fool as to have children,” she admits. Also,
being Pierre's wife, Helene, in front of the whole society, is engaged in the construction
your personal life.
In addition to a luxurious bust, a rich and beautiful body,
this representative of high society had an extraordinary ability to hide
his mental and moral squalor, and all this thanks only to grace
her manners and memorization of some phrases and techniques. Shamelessness manifested itself in her
under such grandiose high-society forms that aroused in others a little
Isn't it respect?
Helen is completely devoid of patriotic feelings. At that
while the whole country rose up to fight Napoleon, and even the high society
took part in this struggle in his own way (“they didn’t speak French and
ate simple food"), in Helen's circle, Rumyantsev, French, were refuted
rumors about the cruelty of the enemy and the war and all of Napoleon's attempts to
reconciliation."
When the threat of capture of Moscow by Napoleonic troops
became obvious, Helen went abroad. And there she shone under the imperial
yard But now the court returns to St. Petersburg.
"Helen,
Having returned with the court from Vilna to St. Petersburg, she was in
difficult situation. In St. Petersburg, Helen enjoyed a special
patronage of a nobleman who occupied one of the highest positions in the state.
In the end, Helen dies. This death is direct
a consequence of her own intrigues. "Countess Elena Bezukhova
died suddenly from... a terrible disease, which is commonly called chest
angina, but in intimate circles they talked about how the queen’s life physician
Spanish prescribed Helen small doses of some medicine to produce
known action; but like Helen, tormented by the fact that the old count
suspected her, and because the husband to whom she wrote (that unfortunate depraved
Pierre), did not answer her, suddenly took a huge dose of the medicine prescribed to her and
died in agony before help could be given."
Ippolit Kuragin.
"...Prince Hippolyte amazed with his
extraordinary resemblance to her beautiful sister, and even more so, despite
similarity, he was amazingly bad-looking. His facial features were the same as those
sister, but with her everything was illuminated by a cheerful, self-satisfied, young
an unchanging smile and extraordinary, antique beauty of the body. My brother, on the contrary,
the same face was clouded with idiocy and invariably expressed self-confident
disgust, and the body was thin and weak. Eyes, nose, mouth - everything was shrinking like
as if in one vague, boring grimace, and arms and legs always took
unnatural position."
Hippolytus was unusually stupid. Because of self-confidence
to whom he spoke, no one could understand whether what he said was very smart or very stupid.
At Scherer's reception he appears to us "in
in a dark green tailcoat, in trousers the color of a frightened nymph, as he himself said, in
stockings and shoes." And such an absurdity of attire is not at all his
didn't bother me.
His stupidity manifested itself in the fact that he sometimes
spoke, and then understood what he said. Hippolytus often spoke and acted
inappropriately, expressed his opinions when no one needed them. He
liked to insert phrases into the conversation that were completely unrelated to the essence of the discussion
Topics.
The character of Hippolytus can serve as a living example of
that even positive idiocy is sometimes presented in the world as something having
meaning due to the gloss attached to knowledge of the French language, and that
the extraordinary property of this language to support and at the same time mask
spiritual emptiness.
Prince Vasily calls Ippolit "deceased
a fool." Tolstoy in the novel is "sluggish and breaking."
These are the dominant character traits of Hippolytus. Ippolit is stupid, but he is his
stupidity at least does not harm anyone, unlike his younger brother
Anatoly.
Anatol Kuragin.
Anatol Kuragin, according to Tolstoy, is “simple
and with carnal inclinations." These are the dominant traits
Anatole's character. He looked upon his whole life as a continuous amusement,
which someone like that for some reason agreed to arrange for him. The author’s characterization of Anatole is as follows:
"He was not
unable to think about how his actions might affect others, nor
what might come out of such or such an act of his.”
Anatole is completely free from considerations
responsibility and consequences of what he does. His selfishness is immediate,
animal-naive and good-natured, absolute egoism, for he is not constrained by anything
Anatole inside, in consciousness, feeling. Kuragin simply lacks the ability to know
what will happen beyond that moment of his pleasure, and how will it affect his life?
other people, as others will see. All this does not exist for him at all.
He is sincerely convinced, instinctively, with his whole being, that everything around him has
Its sole purpose is entertainment and it exists for this. No looking back
people, on their opinion, on the consequences, no distant goal that would force
focus on achieving it, no remorse, no thoughts,
hesitation, doubt - Anatole, whatever he did, naturally and sincerely
considers himself an impeccable person and holds his beautiful head high: freedom is truly limitless, freedom in actions and self-awareness.
Such complete freedom was given to Anatoly
meaninglessness. A person who consciously relates to life is already subordinated, like
Pierre, the need to understand and solve, he is not free from life's difficulties, from
question: why? While Pierre is tormented by this difficult question,
Anatole lives, content with every minute, stupidly, animalistically, but easily and
funny.
Marriage to a "rich ugly heiress" -
Maria Bolkonskaya seems to him like just another amusement. "A
Why not marry if she is very rich? It never gets in the way" -
thought Anatole.
