Family Kuragins in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"

In this article we will talk about Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Particular attention will be paid to the Russian noble society, carefully described in the work, in particular, we will be interested in the family of the Kuragins.

The novel "War and Peace"

The novel was completed in 1869. In his work Tolstoy depicted the Russian society of the era of the war with Napoleon. That is, the novel covers the period from 1805 to 1812. The writer has long been nurturing the idea of the novel. Initially, Tolstoy intended to describe the history of the hero, the Decembrist. However, gradually the writer came to the idea that starting the work best from 1805 onwards.

The novel "War and Peace" was first published in separate chapters in 1865 by separate chapters. The family of Kuragins already appears in these passages. At the very beginning of the novel the reader gets acquainted with its members. However, let's talk in more detail about why such a large place in the novel is occupied by a description of high society and noble families.

The role of high society in the work

In the novel Tolstoy takes the place of a judge who begins the process of higher society. The writer first of all assesses not the position of man in the light, but his moral qualities. And the most important virtues for Tolstoy were truthfulness, kindness and simplicity. The author seeks to disrupt the brilliant covers of secular gloss and show the true essence of the nobility. Therefore, the reader from the first pages becomes a witness of low acts committed by noblemen. Remember even the drunken revelry of Anatol Kuragin and Pierre Bezukhov.

The family of the Kuragins among other noble families is under the gaze of Tolstoy. How does the writer see each member of this family?

General idea of the Kuragins family

Tolstoy saw in the family the basis of human society, and therefore attached so much importance to the image of the noble families in the novel. Kuragin writer presents the reader as the embodiment of immorality. All members of this family are hypocritical, self-interested, ready to commit a crime for the sake of wealth, irresponsible, selfish.

Among all the families depicted by Tolstoy, only the Kuragins are guided in their actions exclusively by personal interest. It was these people who destroyed the lives of other people: Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, Andrei Bolkonsky, and so on.

Even the family ties of the Kuragins are different. The members of this family are not related by poetic intimacy, kinship of souls and care, but by instinctive solidarity, almost a mutual bail, which is more like the relationship of animals than people.

Composition of the family Kuragins: Prince Vasily, Princess Alina (his wife), Anatole, Helen, Hippolytus.

Vasily Kuragin

Prince Vasily is the head of the family. For the first time the reader sees him in Anna Pavlovna's salon. He was dressed in a court uniform, stockings and shoes and had a "light expression on a flat face." The prince speaks in French, always on display, lazily, like an actor playing a part in an old play. The prince was a respected man among the society of the novel "War and Peace". The Kuragins' family in general was quite favorably received by other noblemen.

Prince Kuragin, with all the gracious and complacent to all, was an emperor's approximate, surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic admirers. However, beyond external prosperity, there was a continuous internal struggle between the desire to appear a moral and worthy person and real motives for his actions.

Tolstoy liked to use the method of mismatching the character's inner and outer character. It was he who used it, creating the image of Prince Vasily in the novel "War and Peace". The family of Kuragins, whose characteristic we are so interested in, is generally different from other families by this duplicity. Which clearly does not speak in her favor.

As for the count himself, his true face showed itself in the battle for the legacy of the deceased Count Bezukhov. It is here that the hero's ability to intrigue and dishonorable acts is shown.

Anatol Kuragin

Anatole is also endowed with all those qualities that the Kuragins family embodies. Characterization of this character is primarily based on the words of the author himself: "Simple and with carnal inclinations." For Anatole, life is a continuous fun, which all must be satisfied with it. This man never thought about the consequences of his actions and about the surrounding people, guided only by his desires. The thought that one should answer for one's actions, Anatoly never even thought of coming.

This character is completely free of responsibility. Anatole's selfishness is almost naive and good-natured, comes from his animal origin, which is why he is absolute. This egoism is an integral part of the hero, he is inside of him, in his feelings. Anatole is deprived of the opportunity to think about what will happen after a momentary pleasure. He lives only the present. In Anatol strongly convinced that everything around is intended only for his pleasure. He does not know the torments of conscience, regret or doubt. At the same time Kuragin is sure that he is a wonderful person. That is why there is so much freedom in his movements and appearance.

However, this freedom stems from Anatol's meaninglessness, since he sensually approaches the perception of the world, but does not realize it, does not try to comprehend it, as, for example, Pierre.

Helen Kuragina

Another character that embodies the duality that the Kuragins' family carries in themselves. Characteristics of Helen, like Anatoly, is perfectly given by Tolstoy himself. The writer describes the girl as a beautiful antique statue, which is empty inside. Behind the appearance of Helen is nothing, she is soulless, though beautiful. Not for nothing in the text constantly there are comparisons of it with marble statues.

The heroine becomes in the novel the personification of depravity and immorality. Like all Kuragins, Helen is an egoist who does not recognize moral norms, she lives according to the laws of fulfilling her desires. An excellent example of this is her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov. Helen marries only in order to improve their well-being.

After marriage, she did not change at all, continuing to follow only her baser desires. Helen begins to change her husband, while she has no desire to have children. That's why Tolstoy leaves her childless. For a writer who believes that a woman should be devoted to her husband and bring up children, Helen became the embodiment of the most unpleasant qualities that only a female representative can have.

Ippolit Kuragin

The family Kuragins in the novel "War and Peace" personifies the destructive force, which harms not only the surrounding, but also herself. Each member of the family is the bearer of a certain vice, from which, in the end, he suffers. The exception is only Hippolytus. His character harms only him, but does not destroy the life of others.

Prince Hippolytus looks very much like his sister Helen, but he is completely stupid. His face was "baffled by idiocy," and his body was weak and thin. Hippolytus is incredibly stupid, but because of the certainty with which he speaks, everyone can not understand whether he is clever or impenetrable. He often speaks out of place, inserts inappropriate remarks, does not always understand what he is talking about.

Thanks to the patronage of his father Hippolytus makes a military career, but among the officers he is known as a clown. Despite all this, the hero has success with women. Prince Vasily himself speaks of his son as a "deceased fool."

Comparison with other noble families

As noted above, noble families are of great importance for understanding the novel. And it's not for nothing that Tolstoy takes several families to describe. Thus, the main characters are members of five noble families: Bolkonskie, Rostov, Drubetskie, Kuragin and Bezukhov.

Each noble family describes different human values and sins. The family of Kuragins in this respect stands out strongly against the background of other representatives of the higher world. And not for the better. In addition, as soon as Kuraginsky egoism invades another's family, it immediately causes a crisis in it.

Family of Rostov and Kuragin

As noted above, Kuragins are low, stale, depraved and selfish people. They do not test each other with tenderness and care. And if they provide assistance, then only for selfish reasons.

Relations in this family contrast sharply with the atmosphere that reigns in the house of the Rostovs. Here, family members understand and love each other, they sincerely care for their loved ones, showing warmth and participation. So, Natasha, seeing the tears of Sonya, also begins to cry.

We can say that the family Kuragins in the novel "War and Peace" is opposed to the family of the Rostovs, in which Tolstoy saw the embodiment of family values.

Indicative and the relationship in marriage Helen and Natasha. If the first cheated on her husband and did not want to have children, the second became the personification of the feminine principle in Tolstoy's understanding. Natasha became the ideal wife and beautiful mother.

Interesting and episodes of communication between brothers and sisters. How unlike intimate friendly conversations between Nicholas and Natasha on the cold phrases of Anatole and Helen.

Family Bolkonskikh and Kuragin

These noble families are also very unlike each other.

First, let's compare the fathers of two families. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is an outstanding man, appreciating the mind and activity. If necessary, he is ready to serve his Fatherland. Nikolai Andreevich loves his children, sincerely cares for them. Prince Vasily, who thinks only of his own profit, is not at all like him, and does not worry at all about the well-being of his children. For him the main thing is money and position in society.

In addition, Bolkonsky Sr., like his son later, became disillusioned with the society that so appeals to all Kuragins. Andrew is a continuer of the affairs and views of his father, while the children of Prince Vasili go their own way. Even Mary inherits strictness in the education of children from Bolkonsky senior. A description of the family Kuragins clearly indicates the lack of any continuity in their family.

Thus, in the Bolkonsky family, despite the apparent severity of Nikolai Andreevich, love and mutual understanding, continuity and care reign. Andrei and Mary are sincerely attached to their father and respect him. The relationship between brother and sister has long been cool, until the common grief - the death of his father - has rallied them.

Kuragin is alien to all these feelings. They can not sincerely support each other in a difficult situation. Their destiny is only destruction.

Conclusion

In his novel Tolstoy wanted to show what ideal family relationships are built on. However, he needed to imagine the worst possible development of related ties. It was this variant that the Kuragins' family became, in which the worst human qualities were embodied. On the example of the fate of the Kuragins, Tolstoy shows what the moral decline and animal egoism can lead to. None of them ever found such a welcome happiness precisely because they thought only of themselves. People with such an attitude toward life, according to Tolstoy, do not deserve prosperity.