Old Prince Bolkonsky. The Bolkonsky family in the novel "War and Peace": description, comparative characteristics Princess Marya and society ladies
The role of the Bolkonsky family in the work
An important role is played in the novel "War and Peace" by the Bolkonsky family. The main problems of the work of the great writer are inextricably linked with them. The text traces the history of several families. The main attention is paid to Bolkonsky, Rostov and Kuragin. The author's sympathies are on the side of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys. There is a big difference between them. The relationship between the Rostovs is sensual and emotional. Bolkonsky is guided by reason and expediency. But it is in these families that the beloved heroes of Leo Tolstoy are brought up. Members of the Bolkonsky family are prominent representatives people of "peace and light". Their fates are closely intertwined with life paths other characters in the work. They take an active part in the development storyline storytelling. Psychological problems, questions of morality, morality, family values are reflected in the depiction of these characters.
Relationship characteristics
The Bolkonskys belong to an ancient princely family and live in the Bald Mountains estate, located not far from the capital. Each of the family members is an extraordinary personality, endowed with strong character and extraordinary abilities.
Head of family
Old Prince Nikolai Andreevich, his son Andrei Nikolaevich and Princess Marya Nikolaevna are members of the Bolkonsky family in the novel War and Peace.
At the head of the family is old prince Bolkonsky. This is a man with a strong character and a well-established worldview. Successful career military, honors and respect remained for him in the distant past. On the pages of the book we see an old man who retired from military service and state affairs, retired to his estate. Despite the blows of fate, he is full of strength and energy. The day of the old man is scheduled by the minute. In his routine there is a place for both mental and physical labor. Nikolai Andreevich draws up plans for military campaigns, works in a carpentry workshop, and is engaged in arranging the estate. He is of sound mind and good physical form, does not recognize idleness for himself and makes all household members live according to his rules. It is especially difficult for the daughter, who is forced to study the natural sciences and endure the heavy temper of her father.
The proud and uncompromising nature of the old prince brings a lot of trouble to those around him, and incorruptibility, honesty and intelligence command respect.
Prince Andrey
We meet Andrei Bolkonsky in the first chapter of the work. He appears among the guests of the secular salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer and immediately attracts everyone's attention. The young man stands out against the general background not only in appearance, but also in his behavior. We understand that the people around us cause irritation and even anger in him. He dislikes false masks, lies, hypocrisy and empty talk of secular society. A sincere kind smile appears on the face of the hero only at the sight of Pierre Bezukhov. Andrei Bolkonsky is young, handsome, educated, but dissatisfied with his existence on this earth. He does not love his beautiful wife, he is dissatisfied with his career. Throughout the development of the storyline, the image of the hero is revealed to the reader in all its depth.
At the beginning of the novel, Andrei is a man who dreams of becoming like Napoleon. Therefore, he decides to leave his pregnant wife, his bored lifestyle and goes to military service. He dreams about heroic deeds, glory and national love. The high sky of Austerlitz changes his worldview and corrects his plans for life. He is constantly looking for himself. Feats and severe wounds, love and betrayal, disappointments and victories fill the life of one of Tolstoy's favorite heroes. As a result, the young prince finds true meaning life in the service of the Fatherland, the defense of their Motherland. The fate of the hero is tragic. He dies from a severe wound, never making his dream come true.
Princess Mary
The sister of Andrei Bolkonsky, Princess Marya is one of the most striking and touching images of the story. Living close to her father, she is patient and submissive. Thoughts about her husband, her family and children seem to her pipe dreams. Marya is unattractive: "an ugly weak body and a thin face", insecure and lonely. Only “large, deep, radiant” eyes were remarkable in her appearance: “She sees her destiny in serving the Lord. Deep faith gives strength, is an outlet in its difficult life situation. “I don’t want another life, and I can’t wish, because I don’t know another life,” the heroine says about herself.
The timid and gentle Princess Marya is equally kind to everyone, sincere and spiritually rich. For the sake of loved ones, the girl is ready for sacrifices and decisive actions. At the end of the novel, we see the heroine as the happy wife of Nikolai Rostov and a caring mother. Fate rewards her for devotion, love and patience.
family traits
In the novel War and Peace, the Bolkonsky house is an example of truly aristocratic foundations. Restraint reigns in the relationship, although all family members sincerely love each other. The Spartan way of existence does not allow you to show your feelings and experiences, whine, complain about life. No one is allowed to break the strict rules of conduct.
The Bolkonskys in the novel "War and Peace" personify best features fading into history of the nobility. Once the representatives of this class were the basis of the state, they devoted their lives to serving the Fatherland, like the representatives of this noble family.
Each of the Bolkonsky family has its own unique character traits. But they have something in common that unites these people. They are distinguished by family pride, honesty, patriotism, nobility, and a high intellectual level of development. Betrayal, meanness, cowardice have no place in the souls of these heroes. The characterization of the Bolkonsky family develops gradually throughout the story.
The idea of a classic
Testing the strength of family ties, the writer leads his heroes through a series of trials: love, war and social life. Representatives of the Bolkonsky family successfully cope with difficulties thanks to the support of their relatives.
As conceived by the great writer, the chapters devoted to describing the life of the Bolkonsky family play a huge role in ideological content novel "War and Peace". They are people of "light", worthy of deep respect. The image of the family way of favorite heroes helps the classics to display the “family thought”, to build their work in the genre of family chronicles.
Artwork test
Old Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is an outstanding representative of that mixture of the old Russian nobility with “Voltairianism”, which from the 18th century went into the 19th. This is one of those strong people for whom the lack of faith in God finally destroyed all obstacles to tyranny. But in his opinion, "there are only two sources of human vices: idleness and superstition", on the other hand, "there are only two virtues: activity and intelligence." But the circle of activity was closed for him and, complaining that the opportunity of social work was taken away from him, he could convince himself that he was forcibly forced to indulge in a hated vice - idleness.
With whims, he rewarded himself for his, as it seemed to him, completely involuntary idleness. full scope for whims - that was the activity for the old prince, this was his favorite virtue, while another virtue - the mind - turned into an embittered, sometimes unjust censure of everything that happened only outside the borders of his completely independent Bald Mountains. In the name of whim, says Tolstoy, the architect of the old prince was allowed to the table, for example. The prince's mind, embittered and at the same time led by a whim, led him to the conviction that all the current leaders were boys ... and that Bonaparte was an insignificant Frenchman who was successful only because there were no more Potemkins and Suvorovs ... Conquests and new orders in Europe "insignificant Frenchies” seem to the old prince to be something like a personal insult. “They offered other possessions instead of the Duchy of Oldenburg,” said Prince Nikolai Andreevich. “It’s as if I resettled the men from the Bald Mountains to Bogucharovo ... "When Prince Bolkonsky agrees to his son's entry into the army, that is, to his participation in the "puppet comedy", he agrees to this only conditionally and sees here exclusively personal service relations. “... Write how he [Kutuzov] will receive you. If it's good, serve. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky's son out of mercy, no one will serve. The same peers of the prince, who, not disdaining their connections, reached "high degrees", were not nice to him. When, at the beginning of the winter of 1811, Prince Nikolai Andreevich and his daughter moved to Moscow, there was a noticeable “weakening of enthusiasm for the reign of Emperor Alexander” in society, and thanks to this, he became the center of Moscow opposition to the government. Now, at the end of his days, a wide field of activity was opened before the old prince, or at least an opportunity appeared for what he could take for activity - a wide field for the exercise of his embittered critical mind. But it was already too late to distract him from his habitual inclination to unlimited power within his family - that is, over his daughter, who obeyed him wordlessly. He certainly needs Princess Mary, since he can take out his anger on her, he can nag her, dispose of her at his own discretion. The old prince drove away the idea of the possibility of Princess Marya marrying, knowing in advance that he would answer fairly, and justice contradicted more than a feeling, but the whole possibility of his life. Noting this feature, Tolstoy also pointed out that justice existed in the consciousness of the old prince, but the transition of this consciousness into action was hindered by intractable authority and habit to the conditions of life once established. “He could not understand that someone wanted to change life, to bring something new into it, when life was already ending for him.” That is why, with malice and hostility, he accepted his son's intention to remarry. “... I ask you to postpone the matter for a year ... ”, he resolutely declared to his son, obviously counting on the fact that within a year, perhaps, all this would be upset by itself, but at the same time he did not limit himself to one such assumption, but for reliability, he badly received his son's bride. In case, contrary to the will of his father, Prince Andrei nevertheless married, the old man had a “joke thought” and himself to surprise people with a completely unforeseen change in his life - his own marriage with m-Ile Vourieppe, daughter's companion. This joking thought pleased him more and more, and little by little even began to take on a serious connotation. “.. When the barman ... out of habit ... served coffee, starting with the princess, the prince became furious, threw a crutch at Philip and immediately made an order to give him to the soldiers ... Princess Marya asked for forgiveness ... both for herself and for Philip " . For himself in what was, as it were, an obstacle for m-lIe Bourienne, for Philip - in that he could not guess the thoughts and desires of the prince. The discord between him and his daughter, created by the prince himself, persisted stubbornly. But at the same time, as you can see, the need for justice has not died out. The old prince wanted to hear from his son that he was not the cause of this discord. Prince Andrei, on the contrary, began to justify his sister: “This Frenchwoman is to blame,” and this was tantamount to blaming her father. “And he awarded! .. awarded! - said the old man in a low voice, and, as it seemed to Prince Andrei, with embarrassment, but then he suddenly jumped up and shouted: “Out, out! So that your spirit does not bypass! Embarrassment in this case flowed from the consciousness, the cry - from the will that does not tolerate any judgment and rebuff. Consciousness, however, eventually prevailed, and the old man ceased to allow Mlle Vougieppe to come near him, and after an apology letter from his son, he completely alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. But the imperious will still had an effect, and the unfortunate Princess Mary became the subject of hairpins and sawing even more than before. During this domestic war, the war of 1812 overtook the old prince. For a long time he did not want to recognize its real meaning. Only the news of the capture of Smolensk broke the stubborn mind of the old man. He decided to stay in his estate Bald Mountains and defend himself at the head of his militia. But the terrible moral blow, so stubbornly not recognized by him, also causes a physical blow. Already in a semi-conscious state, the old man keeps asking about his son: “Where is he?” In the army, in Smolensk, they answer him. "Yes," he said clearly quietly. — Russia perished! Ruined! And he sobbed again. What appears to the prince as the death of Russia only gives him a new and strongest reason to reproach his personal enemies. A physical shock to the body - a blow - also shakes the old man's imperious will: her constantly necessary victim - Princess Marya, only here, in the very last minutes of the prince's life, ceases to be the subject of his sawing. The old man even gratefully takes advantage of her care and before his death, as it were, asks for her forgiveness.
After reading L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", readers meet with some images of heroes who are morally strong and give us life example. We see heroes who go through a difficult path to find their truth in life. Such is the image of Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel "War and Peace". The image is multifaceted, ambiguous, complex, but understandable to the reader.
Portrait of Andrei Bolkonsky
We meet Bolkonsky at the evening of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. L.N. Tolstoy gives him the following description: "... a small stature, a very handsome young man with certain dry features." We see that the presence of the prince at the evening is very passive. He came there because it was supposed to be: his wife Lisa was at the party, and he had to be next to her. But Bolkonsky is clearly bored, the author shows this in everything "... from a tired, bored look to a quiet measured step."
In the image of Bolkonsky in the novel War and Peace, Tolstoy shows an educated, intelligent, noble secular person who knows how to think rationally and be worthy of his title. Andrei loved his family very much, respected his father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, called him “You, father ...” As Tolstoy writes, “... he cheerfully endured his father’s mockery of new people and with apparent joy called his father to a conversation and listened to him.”
He was kind and caring, although he may not seem so to us.
Heroes of the novel about Andrei Bolkonsky
Liza, the wife of Prince Andrei, was somewhat afraid of her strict husband. Before leaving for the war, she told him: “... Andrey, you have changed so much, so changed ...”
Pierre Bezukhov "... considered Prince Andrei a model of all perfections ..." His attitude towards Bolkonsky was sincerely kind and gentle. Their friendship maintained its devotion to the end.
Marya Bolkonskaya, Andrei's sister, said: "You are good to everyone, Andre, but you have some kind of pride in thought." By this, she emphasized the special dignity of her brother, his nobility, intelligence, high ideals.
The old prince Bolkonsky had high hopes for his son, but he loved him like a father. “Remember one thing, if they kill you, it will hurt me, an old man ... And if I find out that you didn’t behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I will be ... ashamed!” - Father said goodbye.
Kutuzov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, treated Bolkonsky in a paternal way. He received him cordially and made him his adjutant. “I myself need good officers ...,” Kutuzov said when Andrei asked to be let go to Bagration’s detachment.
Prince Bolkonsky and the war
In a conversation with Pierre Bezukhov, Bolkonsky expressed the idea: “Living rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot get out. I'm off to war now the greatest war, which only happened, but I don’t know anything and I’m not good for anything.
But Andrei's craving for glory, for the greatest destiny, was strong, he went to "his Toulon" - here he is, the hero of Tolstoy's novel. "... we are officers who serve our king and fatherland ...", - with true patriotism Bolkonsky said.
At the request of his father, Andrei ended up at Kutuzov's headquarters. In the army, Andrei had two reputations that were very different from each other. Some "listened to him, admired him and imitated him", others "considered him a puffed up, cold and unpleasant person." But he made them love and respect themselves, some even feared him.
Bolkonsky considered Napoleon Bonaparte "a great commander." He recognized his genius and admired his talent for conducting military operations. When Bolkonsky was entrusted with the mission to report to the Austrian Emperor Franz about the successful battle near Krems, Bolkonsky was proud and glad that he was the one who was going. He felt like a hero. But when he arrived in Brunn, he learned that Vienna was occupied by the French, that there was a “Prussian alliance, a betrayal of Austria, a new triumph of Bonaparte ...” and he no longer thought about his glory. He thought about how to save the Russian army.
IN battle of austerlitz Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel "War and Peace" is at the peak of his fame. Without expecting it himself, he grabbed the thrown banner and shouting “Guys, go ahead!” ran to the enemy, the whole battalion ran after him. Andrei was wounded and fell on the field, there was only the sky above him: “... there is nothing but silence, calmness. And thank God! ..” The fate of Andrei after the battle of Austrellitsa was unknown. Kutuzov wrote to Bolkonsky's father: "Your son, in my eyes, with a banner in his hands, in front of the regiment fell a hero worthy of his father and his fatherland ... it is still unknown whether he is alive or not." But soon Andrei returned home and decided not to participate in any military operations anymore. His life acquired a visible calmness and indifference. The meeting with Natasha Rostova turned his life upside down: “Suddenly, such an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes that contradicted his whole life arose in his soul ...”
Bolkonsky and love
At the very beginning of the novel, in a conversation with Pierre Bezukhov, Bolkonsky said the phrase: “Never, never marry, my friend!” Andrei seemed to love his wife Lisa, but his judgments about women speak of his arrogance: “Egoism, vanity, stupidity, insignificance in everything - these are women when they are shown as they are. You look at them in the light, it seems that there is something, but nothing, nothing, nothing!” When he first saw Rostova, she seemed to him a joyful, eccentric girl who only knows how to run, sing, dance and have fun. But gradually a feeling of love came to him. Natasha gave him lightness, joy, a sense of life, something that Bolkonsky had long forgotten. No more longing, contempt for life, disappointment, he felt a completely different, new life. Andrey told about his love to Pierre and established himself in the idea of marrying Rostova.
Prince Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova were engaged. break up on whole year for Natasha it was torment, and for Andrey it was a test of feelings. Carried away by Anatole Kuragin, Rostova did not keep her word to Bolkonsky. But by the will of fate, Anatole and Andrei ended up together on their deathbed. Bolkonsky forgave him and Natasha. After being wounded on the Borodino field, Andrei dies. His last days Natasha spends her life with him. She takes care of him very carefully, understanding with her eyes and guessing exactly what Bolkonsky wants.
Andrei Bolkonsky and death
Bolkonsky was not afraid to die. He had experienced this feeling twice already. Lying under the Austerlitz sky, he thought that death had come to him. And now, next to Natasha, he was completely sure that he had not lived this life in vain. Final Thoughts Prince Andrei were about love, about life. He died in complete peace, because he knew and understood what love is, and what he loves: “Love? What is love?... Love prevents death. Love is life…”
But still, in the novel "War and Peace" Andrei Bolkonsky deserves special attention. That is why, after reading Tolstoy's novel, I decided to write an essay on the topic "Andrei Bolkonsky - the hero of the novel" War and Peace ". Although there are enough worthy heroes in this work, and Pierre, and Natasha, and Marya.
Artwork test
L. N. Tolstoy
"War and Peace"
autumn 1812
Father - Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky; sister - Princess Marya Bolkonskaya
Nikolay Bolkonsky.
Andrey Nikolaevich Bolkonsky- the hero of the novel by Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace". Son of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky.
Biography of the main character
Appearance: “Prince Bolkonsky was short, a very handsome young man with definite and dry features. Everything in his figure, from the tired, bored look to the quiet measured step, represented the sharpest contrast with his little, lively wife. Apparently, everyone in the drawing room was not only familiar to him, but they were already so tired that it was very boring for him to look at them and listen to them. Of all the faces that bored him, the face of his pretty wife seemed to bore him the most. With a grimace that spoiled him Beautiful face he turned away from her…”
For the first time the reader meets this hero in St. Petersburg in the living room of Anna Pavlovna Sherer with her pregnant wife Lisa. After the dinner party, he goes to his father in the village. Leaves his wife there in the care of his father and younger sister Mary. He is sent to the war of 1805 against Napoleon as Kutuzov's adjutant. Participates in the Battle of Austerlitz, in which he was wounded in the head. He ends up in the French hospital, but returns to his homeland. Upon arrival home, Andrei finds the birth of his wife Lisa.
Having given birth to a son, Nikolenka, Lisa dies. Prince Andrei blames himself for being cold with his wife, not paying her due attention. After a long depression, Bolkonsky falls in love with Natasha Rostova. He offers her a hand and a heart, but at the insistence of his father postpones their marriage for a year and goes abroad. Shortly before returning, Prince Andrei receives a letter of refusal from the bride. The reason for the refusal is Natasha's romance with Anatole Kuragin. This turn of events becomes a heavy blow for Bolkonsky. He dreams of challenging Kuragin to a duel, but he never does. To drown out the pain of disappointment in the woman he loves, Prince Andrei devotes himself entirely to the service.
Participates in the war of 1812 against Napoleon. During the Battle of Borodino, he received a shrapnel wound in the stomach. Among other seriously wounded, Bolkonsky sees Anatole, who lost his leg. When moving, the mortally wounded Prince Andrei accidentally meets the Rostov family, and they take him under their care. Natasha, not ceasing to blame herself for betraying her fiancé, and realizing that she still loves him, asks Andrey for forgiveness. Despite a temporary improvement, Prince Andrei dies in the arms of Natasha and Princess Marya.
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An excerpt characterizing Andrei Bolkonsky
"Where? Pierre asked himself. Where can you go now? Really in a club or guests? All people seemed so pathetic, so poor in comparison with the feeling of tenderness and love that he experienced; in comparison with the softened, grateful look with which she last time looked at him through tears.“Home,” said Pierre, despite ten degrees of frost, opening a bearskin coat on his wide, joyfully breathing chest.
It was cold and clear. Above the dirty, half-dark streets, above the black roofs stood a dark, starry sky. Pierre, only looking at the sky, did not feel the insulting baseness of everything earthly in comparison with the height at which his soul was. At the entrance to the Arbat Square, a huge expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre's eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded, sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from all in proximity to the earth, white light, and a long tail raised up, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that foreshadowed as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre, this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. Opposite, Pierre joyfully, with eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if, having flown immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line with inexpressible speed, suddenly, like an arrow piercing the ground, slammed here into one place it had chosen, in the black sky, and stopped, vigorously lifting her tail up, shining and playing with her white light among countless other twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his blossoming towards a new life, softened and encouraged soul.
From the end of 1811, reinforced armament and concentration of forces began. Western Europe, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (including those who transported and fed the army) moved from the West to the East, to the borders of Russia, to which, in the same way, since 1811, the forces of Russia have been concentrating. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and the war began, that is, the opposite happened human mind and all human nature an event. Millions of people have committed against each other such countless atrocities, deceptions, treason, theft, forgery and issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the chronicle of all the courts of the world and which, in this period of time, people those who committed them were not looked upon as crimes.
What produced this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians say with naive certainty that the causes of this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's firmness, diplomats' mistakes, etc.
Therefore, it was only necessary for Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, to try hard and write a more ingenious piece of paper or write to Alexander to Napoleon: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [My lord brother, I agree return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.
It is clear that such was the case for contemporaries. It is clear that it seemed to Napoleon that the intrigues of England were the cause of the war (as he said this on the island of St. Helena); it is understandable that it seemed to the members of the English Chamber that Napoleon's lust for power was the cause of the war; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that it seemed to the merchants that the cause of the war was the continental system that was ruining Europe, that it seemed to the old soldiers and generals that main reason there was a need to put them to work; to the legitimists of the time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes [good principles], and to the diplomats of the time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not cleverly hidden from Napoleon and that a memorandum was awkwardly written for No. 178. It is clear that these and countless, infinite number of reasons, the number of which depends on the countless difference of points of view, seemed to contemporaries; but for us, the descendants, who contemplate in all its volume the enormity of the event that has taken place and delve into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christians killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, the policy of England was cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.
