Another female image that attracted my attention in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace", is Princess Marya. This heroine is so beautiful inside that her appearance doesn't matter. Her eyes emit such light that her face loses its ugliness.

Marya sincerely believes in God, she believes that only He has the right to forgive and have mercy. She scolds herself for unkind thoughts, for disobedience to her father, and tries to see only the good in others. She is proud and grateful, like her brother, but her pride does not offend her, because kindness, an integral part of her nature, softens this sometimes unpleasant feeling for others.

In my opinion, the image of Marya Bolkonskaya is the image of a guardian angel. She protects everyone for whom she feels even the slightest responsibility. Tolstoy believes that a person like Princess Marya deserves much more than an alliance with Anatoly Kuragin, who never understood what treasure he had lost; however, he had completely different moral values.

She lives by the naive worldview of church legend, which evokes the critical attitude of Prince Andrei and does not coincide with the views of Pierre Bezukhy and Tolstoy himself. At the time of the best state of his health and spirit, that is, before the crisis of his near-death experiences, Prince Andrei did not take Mary’s religious teachings seriously. It is only out of condescension towards his sister that he considers her religiosity. Taking the cross from her on the day of his departure for the army, Andrei jokingly remarks: “If he doesn’t break his neck by two pounds, then I’ll give you pleasure.” In his heavy thoughts on the Borodino field, Andrei doubts the dogmas of the church professed by Princess Marya, feeling their unconvincingness. “My father also built in Bald Mountains and thought that this was his place, his land, his air, his men, but Napoleon came and, not knowing about his existence, like a puppy from the road, pushed him and his Bald Mountains fell apart, and all his life. And Princess Marya says that this is a test sent from above. What is the purpose of a test when there is none and there will never be one? Never again! He's gone! So who is this testing for? As for Tolstoy’s own attitude towards the heroine, the very mood of the image of Marya should be taken into account, putting her mysticism in connection with the difficult circumstances of her personal life, which in turn gives a special psychological depth to the typification of this character. The novel hints to us at the reasons for Marya's religiosity. The heroine could become like this due to the severe mental torment that befell her and instilled in her the idea of ​​suffering and self-sacrifice. Marya was ugly, she worried about it and suffered. Because of her appearance, she had to endure humiliation, the most terrible and insulting of which was the one she experienced during Anatoly Kuragin's matchmaking with her, when the groom arranged a date with her companion Burien at night.

It is no coincidence that it was after this scene that Princess Marya consciously seeks spiritual healing in religious feelings. “My calling is different,” Princess Marya thought to herself, “my calling is to be happy with a different kind of happiness, the happiness of love and self-sacrifice.”

Another reason for Marya’s internal suffering, which fed her mystical moods, was her father’s despotism, which cost her tears and moral self-flagellation. She often endured the insults of this capricious, capricious and evil-natured man. As a result, a person with the ideal of Christian morality, love and self-sacrifice was formed in her. Moreover, unlike Pierre, who saw active virtue in healing humanity from vice, Marya deliberately limits herself to personal self-improvement only, through love for people. This is how you can understand the author’s words: “What did she care about the justice or injustice of other people. She had to suffer and love herself, and that’s what she did.”

In the work “War and Peace,” the author, admiring the courage and resilience of the Russian people, extols Russian women. Princess Marya, who feels insulted at the mere thought that the French will be on her estate. Natasha, who was ready to leave home in what she was wearing, but give up all the carts for the wounded. But the author not only admires the woman. Tolstoy's attitude towards women is not clear. In the novel, he emphasizes that external beauty is not the main thing in a person. Spiritual world, inner beauty matters much more.

It is customary to describe female characters in nineteenth-century novels as “captivating.” It seems to me that this definition suits Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya, despite all its banality. How different the thin, agile, graceful Natasha and the clumsy, ugly, uninteresting Marya Bolkonskaya seem at first glance!

Princess Bolkonskaya is a dull, unattractive, absent-minded girl who can only count on marriage thanks to her wealth. And the characters of both Tolstoy’s heroines are not at all similar. Princess Marya, brought up by the example of her proud, arrogant and distrustful father, soon becomes like that herself. His secrecy, restraint in expressing his own feelings and innate nobility are inherited by his daughter.

Princess Marya meekly submits to her eccentric and despotic father, not only out of fear, but also out of a sense of duty as a daughter who has no moral right to judge her father. At first glance, she seems timid and downtrodden. But in her character there is hereditary Bolkon pride, an innate sense of self-esteem, which is manifested, for example, in her refusal of Anatoly Kuragin’s proposal. Despite the desire for quiet family happiness, which this ugly girl, she does not want to become the wife of a socially handsome man at the cost of humiliation and insult to her dignity.

With particular force, the firmness and strength of character of this modest, shy girl is revealed in the years Patriotic War 1812. When a French companion promised Princess Marya, who found herself in a difficult situation, the protection of her compatriots, she stopped communicating with her and left Bogucharovo, as her patriotic feeling was offended.

The princess is afraid of her father, she does not dare take a step without his knowledge, does not obey him, even when he is wrong. Marya, who passionately loves her father, cannot, for fear of causing an explosion of her father’s anger, even caress or kiss him. Her life, still a young and intelligent girl, is very difficult.

Princess Marya's only consolation is letters from Julie Kuragina, whom Marya knows best from her letters. In her solitude, the princess becomes close only with her companion Mademoiselle Bourienne. Forced seclusion difficult character her father and the dreamy nature of Marya herself make her devout. For Princess Bolkonskaya, God becomes everything in life: her assistant, mentor, strict judge. At times she becomes ashamed of her own earthly actions and thoughts, and she dreams of devoting herself to God, going somewhere far, far away in order to free herself from everything sinful and alien.

Marya is waiting for love and ordinary female happiness, but she does not admit this even to herself. Her restraint and patience help her in all life's difficulties. The princess does not have such an all-consuming feeling of love for one person, so she tries to love everyone, still spending a lot of time in prayer and everyday concerns.

Her soul, like Natasha’s, is endowed by the author with a rich spiritual world, inner beauty. Marya Bolkonskaya completely surrenders to every feeling, be it joy or sadness. Her spiritual impulses are often selfless and noble. She thinks more about others, close and loved ones, than about herself. For Princess Marya, all her life God remained the ideal to which her soul aspired. She wanted moral purity, a spiritual life, where there would be no place for resentment, anger, envy, injustice, where everything would be sublime and beautiful. In my opinion, the word “femininity” largely determines the human essence of Tolstoy’s heroine.

They say that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, in Marya they really are a reflection of her inner world. Marya's family life is an ideal marriage, strong family connection. She devotes herself to her husband and children, devoting all her mental and physical strength to raising children and creating home comfort. I think that Marya (now Rostova) is happy in family life, happy with the happiness of her children and beloved husband. Tolstoy emphasizes the beauty of his heroine in a new quality for her - loving wife and tender mother.

Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. It is her image that personifies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism. The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high spiritual feeling. In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy draws pictures family happiness Rostov, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life.

Each writer or poet has his own ideal images, which he gives special preference to. There has always been an image of a woman in literature, in which each of the creators saw something different. A.S. Pushkin embodied the ideal of Russian beauty in the image of Tatyana, and A.A. Blok centrally his poetry is the image of a sweet stranger, for N.A. Nekrasov it is a devoted real Russian woman. Leo Tolstoy also has his own ideal feminine essence, which he revealed to us in the novel War and Peace. It is not difficult to guess that Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are Tolstoy’s favorite heroines. After all, in them Tolstoy embodied certain ideals of female purity, devotion, family, and the true purpose of a woman in this world.

Natasha Rostova

For L.N. Tolstoy, Natasha Rostova is, without a doubt, the most beloved heroine. Everything says this: and external description, and the inner state of the soul, and Natasha’s relationships with other characters - everything about Tolstoy is sweet about her. Natasha meets us as a twelve-year-old girl. Her childlike spontaneity, cheerful face, and smile make Tolstoy’s novel brighter and bring some kind of joy. She falls in love with ease handsome men, she likes to dance and sing. Tolstoy describes her at name days, at a ball, when meeting Nikolai Rostov, etc. She was cheerful everywhere: “jumped like a goat,” “squealed shrilly,” “laughed at every word,” “could not contain her joy,” “a happy smile lit up her face.” Natasha is the center of attention, love, participation, understanding, kindness. She believed that all people should be happy. She was not interested in small talk about politics; at the ball she thought only about one thing: “They should know how much I want to dance, how great I am at dancing, and how much fun it will be for them to dance with me.”

Falling in love with Boris Drubetsky did not leave even a shadow of disappointment. The same cannot be said about Anatol Kuragin. Carried away by him, Natasha admitted the idea that Andrei Bolkonsky was not her love. But, seeing Kuragin’s insincerity, he understands that there was simply no love. Nevertheless, Tolstoy gives Natasha the opportunity to correct her mistake. It is she who spends Bolkonsky’s last days next to him. She takes care of the wounded Andrei, giving him all her time, all her thoughts, all her feelings.

Natasha is a true patriot of Russia. Looking out the window and seeing wounded soldiers in the yard, Natasha, without hesitation, asks her father and mother to hand over all the carts prepared for transporting their property. The Count and Countess do not contradict her, but silently, brushing away a tear, agree to help.

In comparing Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya, Tolstoy focuses on their family nature. Both Natasha and Marya maintained harmony, comfort, and love in their families. While not yet married, they already understood their purpose, they already knew that family well-being depended on them.

Marya Bolkonskaya

This heroine is described by Tolstoy with special love. The author brings Marya Bolkonskaya's attitude to religion to the fore. For her, helping people, being humble, and doing good are true life desires.

Her portrait is not so attractive: “...an ugly, weak body and a thin face. The eyes, always sad... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of all the faces, these eyes became more attractive than beauty.” “Radiant,” Tolstoy will say more than once in the novel. And the eyes are the mirror of the soul.

The severity of Marya's father's upbringing did not harden her heart; on the contrary, she loved the prince even more and took care of him until his last day. Her father's death brought an irreparable loss into her heart that only she knew. Marya loved Andrei and him very much little son. Marya’s attitude towards people was: “I only wish you were all happy as I am.” In the characteristics of Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya you can find a lot in common. They lived in different families, but will eventually merge into one. It is probably no coincidence that Tolstoy ended his novel this way.

Family of Natasha and Marya

At the end of the novel we see Natasha, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. She is happy in her own way. “The subject that Natasha completely immersed herself in was family, that is, husband ... and children who had to be carried, given birth, fed, raised.”

Marya Bolkonskaya will become the wife of Nikolai Rostov. She will be everyone's keeper happy days their family life. Devoting herself to her children and husband, Marya lived in complete happiness. This is precisely what Tolstoy sees as the purpose of a woman. A woman is a wife, a mother.

In my essay “Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya are Tolstoy’s favorite heroines” main idea, which is revealed by Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace,” is the purpose of a woman. It is still relevant today. I think the values ​​of love and family will be important at all times.

Work test

The female image in the novel “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy is, one might say, a theme separate work. With its help, the author shows us his attitude to life, understanding of a woman’s happiness and her purpose. The pages of the book present many characters and destinies of representatives 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 towards this. So, let's try to remember who embodies female image in the novel "War and Peace". We will pay attention to several heroines who appear on the pages of the work.

Natasha Rostova at the beginning of the novel

This female image in the novel "War and Peace" requires most attention author, he dedicates many pages of his creation to Natasha. The heroine, of course, arouses the keenest 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 her gracefully twirling in a dance, smiling, looking at life as if it were a just-opened book, full of mysteries, miracles, and adventures. This is an amazingly kind and open young lady who loves the whole world and trusts it. Every day of her life is a real holiday, she is her parents' favorite. It seems that such an easy character will definitely give her a happy, carefree life with a loving husband.

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

Natasha Rostova. Trials in life

However, the girl faces many trials that greatly change her character. Who knows, maybe if Natasha had not encountered life's difficulties, she would grow into a narcissistic egoist, thinking only about her interests and joys, unable to do happy husband and children.

She readily undertakes to care for the dying Andrei Bolkonsky, showing herself as a completely mature, adult person.

After Andrei’s death, Natasha is very grieving and has a hard time experiencing his passing. Now we are no longer looking at a cheerful coquette, but a serious young woman who has experienced a loss.

The next blow in her life is the death of her brother Petya. She cannot indulge in grief, since her mother needs help, almost because of the loss of her son. Natasha spends day and night at her bedside, talking to her. Her gentle voice calms the countess, who has turned from a youthful woman into 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 interests for the sake of the happiness of others. It seems as if all the warmth that her parents gave her is now poured out onto those around her.

Natasha Rostova at the end of the novel

For many, the favorite female character in the novel “War and Peace” is the image of Natasha Rostova. This heroine is 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 caring for loved ones. Now she doesn't resemble that one at all young girl, which was before us on the first pages of the work. The happiness of this woman is the well-being and health of her children and husband Pierre. Empty pastime and idleness are alien to her. She gives back with even greater force the love she received at a tender age.

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

Surprisingly, she is absolutely happy. It is known that a person is capable 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 oneself, only in a broader sense.

This is how L.N. Tolstoy described this amazing female image in the novel “War and Peace.” Natasha Rostova, it’s difficult 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 will her life be filled with meaning.

L.N. Tolstoy also shows us how different female attractiveness can be. At a young age, admiration for the world and openness to everything new certainly 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 more mature age. Most likely, she would look ridiculous. Every age has its own beauty. Caring for loved ones makes an adult woman happy, and her spiritual beauty makes others admire her.

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

Marya Bolkonskaya

Another favorite female character of the author in the novel “War and Peace” is Marya Bolkonskaya, Andrei Bolkonsky’s sister. Unlike Natasha, she did not have the liveliness of character and attractiveness. As Tolstoy writes about Marya Nikolaevna, she was ugly: weak body, thin face. The girl meekly obeyed her father, who wanted to develop her activity and intelligence, being confident in her daughter’s absolute unpretentiousness. Her life consisted of classes in algebra and geometry.

However, the extraordinary decoration of this woman’s face were her 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. This author gives them an amazing description.

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

Andrei Bolkonsky’s sister, like Natasha, loves her family, although she was never pampered, she was brought up in strictness. Marya tolerated her father and respected him. She couldn’t even think about discussing Nikolai Andreevich’s decisions; she was in awe of everything he did.

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

Like any good woman, Marya, of course, dreams of children. She endlessly believes in fate, in the will of the Almighty. Bolkonsky’s sister does not dare to desire anything for herself; her noble, deep nature is incapable of envy.

Marya Nikolaevna's naivety does not allow her to see human vices. She sees a reflection of herself in everyone pure soul: love, kindness, decency.
Marya is one of those who are truly 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 delightful female character in the novel “War and Peace” is Marya Bolkonskaya. Perhaps Tolstoy loves her no less than Natasha Rostova, although he does not pay so much attention to her. She is like the ideal author that Natasha will come to after many years. Having neither children nor family, she finds her happiness in giving warmth to other people.

Women's happiness of Marya Bolkonskaya

Bolkonsky’s sister was not mistaken: without wanting anything for herself, she nevertheless met a man who sincerely loved her. Marya became the wife of Nikolai Rostov.

Two, it would seem, completely different people fit each other perfectly. Each of them experienced disappointment: Marya - in Anatol Kuragin, Nikolai - in Alexander the First. Nikolai turned out to be the person who was able to increase the wealth 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 housekeeping and caring for the peasants.

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

Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova

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

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 down-to-earth; she lives by everyday chores and activities.

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

Sonya

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

This girl, on the one hand, is very positive: she is reasonable, decent, kind, and ready to sacrifice herself. If we talk about her appearance, then 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 were unable to get married because Nikolai's parents insisted on postponing the wedding.

A girl's life is more subordinated to reason than to feelings. Tolstoy does not really like this heroine, despite all of her. He leaves her lonely.

Lisa Bolkonskaya

Liza Bolkonskaya is, one might say, a supporting heroine, the wife of Prince Andrei. In the world they call her “the little princess.” She is remembered by readers thanks to her pretty upper lip with a mustache. Lisa is an attractive person, even this small flaw gives the young woman a unique charm that is unique to her. She's good, full vitality and health. This woman easily endures her delicate position, and everyone around her has fun watching her.

It is important for Lisa to be in society; she is spoiled, even capricious. She is not inclined to think about the meaning of life, leads the usual lifestyle for a society lady, loves empty conversations in salons and at evenings, and enjoys 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 her ideas society ladies about what a spouse should be like. Lisa doesn’t 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 character 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 mutual understanding between the spouses, Andrei Bolkonsky, in a conversation with Pierre, notes that she is a rare woman with whom you can be calm about your own honor.

When Andrei leaves for the war, Lisa moves into his father's house. Her superficiality is once again confirmed by the fact that she prefers to communicate with Mademoiselle Bourrienne rather than with Princess Marya.

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 wish harm to anyone. Her face spoke of this even after death.

Lisa Bolkonskaya's character flaw is that she is superficial and selfish. However, this does not prevent her from being gentle, affectionate, and 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 character in the novel “War and Peace” is Helen Kuragina. Or rather, this is the last heroine we will write about in this article.

Of all the women who appear on the pages of this grandiose novel, Helen is certainly 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.

She achieves everything she wants through her own appearance. Having become accustomed to this state of affairs, this woman stopped striving for personal development.

Helene becomes the wife of Pierre Bezukhov solely because of his rich inheritance. She doesn't really seek to create strong family, give birth to children.

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

Of course, the most beautiful female character in the novel “War and Peace” is Helen. Tolstoy admires her shoulders at Natasha Rostova’s first ball, 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 Liza Bolkonskaya, she admired balls and high society.

Like Helen Kuragina, she was attracted to something forbidden and inaccessible. It was for this reason that she was going to run away with Anatole.

However, Natasha’s high spirituality does not allow her to remain forever a superficial fool and plunge, like Helen, into a depraved life. Main character Romana accepts the difficulties that befall her, helps her mother, and takes care of the terminally ill Andrei.

The deaths of Lisa and Helen symbolize that 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 not, but for some reason he included them in his novel. It is difficult to determine what is the best female character 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 between what is feigned and superficial from what is truly important. And let everyone decide for themselves what the most attractive female character in the novel “War and Peace” is.

Bolkonskaya Marya - princess, daughter of the old Prince Bolkonsky, sister of Prince Andrei, later the wife of Nikolai Rostov. Marya “has an ugly, weak body and a thin face... the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty."

Marya is very religious, she welcomes pilgrims and wanderers, enduring the ridicule of her father and brother. She has no friends with whom she could share her thoughts. Her life is focused on love for her father, who is often unfair to her, for her brother and his son Nikolenka (after the death of the “little princess”), for whom she, as best she can, replaces her mother.

Marya is an intelligent, meek, educated woman who does not hope for personal happiness. Because of her father’s unfair reproaches and the inability to endure it any longer, she even wanted to go on a journey. Her life changes after meeting Nikolai Rostov, who managed to guess the wealth of her soul. Having gotten married, the heroine is happy, completely sharing all her husband’s views “on duty and oath.”
Bolkonsky Nikolai Andreevich - prince, general-in-chief, dismissed from service under Paul I and exiled to the village. Father of Princess Marya and Prince Andrei. In the image of the old prince, Tolstoy restored many of the features of his maternal grandfather, Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, “an intelligent, proud and gifted man.”

Bolkonsky the father lives in the village, pedantically distributing his time, most of all not enduring idleness, stupidity, superstition and violation of the once established order; he is demanding and harsh with everyone, often tormenting his daughter with nagging, but deep down loving her. The universally revered prince “walked in the old-fashioned way, in a caftan and powder,” was short, “in a powdered wig... with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, obscuring the brilliance of his intelligent and seemingly youthful sparkling eyes.” He is very proud, smart, restrained in expressing feelings; Perhaps his main concern is the preservation of family honor and dignity. To last days life old prince retains interest in political and military events, only just before his death losing real ideas about the scale of the misfortune that happened to Russia. It was he who instilled feelings of pride, duty, patriotism and scrupulous honesty in his son Andrei.

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