Kuragin Anatole - son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Ippolit, officer. In contrast to the "calm fool" Ippolit, Prince Vasily looks at A. as a "restless fool" who always needs to be rescued from trouble. A. is a tall handsome man with a good-natured and "victorious look", "beautiful big" eyes and blond hair. He is dapper, arrogant, stupid, not resourceful, not eloquent in conversations, depraved, but "on the other hand, he also had the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unchanging confidence." Being a friend of Dolokhov and a participant in his revels, A. looks at his life as a constant pleasure and amusement that should have been arranged for him by someone, he does not care about his relationships with other people. A. treats women contemptuously and with a consciousness of his superiority, accustomed to being liked and not experiencing serious feelings for anyone.
After infatuation with Natasha Rostova and an attempt to take her away, A. was forced to hide from Moscow, and then from Prince Andrei, who intended to challenge the offender to a duel. Their last meeting will take place in the infirmary after the Battle of Borodino: A. is wounded, his leg will be amputated.
The image of Anatol Kuragin in the novel "War and Peace" (version 2)
The favorite heroes of Leo Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace" are compared according to the principle of contrast with the heroes-egoists, hypocrites, representing a self-satisfied, depraved world. Among them, the image of Anatole Kuragin stands out.
From the first pages of acquaintance with him, his personal characteristics are given, which slightly evolve, become more complicated throughout the novel. The choice of the name and surname of this hero is not accidental. The author was very responsible in choosing a name for each of his characters. The name Kuragin is of French origin. He spent most of his life abroad, receiving a typical European education at home. Hence his extreme egocentrism, self-confidence, irrepressible thirst for pleasure. The hero devotes his whole life to satisfying his whims, to entertainment.
Anatole used to burn life easily, without hesitation. A lot of trouble deliver his father, a subtle businessman Prince Vasily, the adventures of his son. Every year, Anatole spent considerable financial resources of the family. That is why his father secured a place for him at the headquarters. All Petersburg knew the evenings of the "golden youth" with carousing, wine, bears, in which Anatole could not help but take part. Together with Dolokhov, he was a real celebrity in the world of "the rake and reveler of St. Petersburg."
Only in chapter 3 In 4 hours of volume 1, the author gives a psychological portrait of his hero: a beautiful, self-confident look, a courteous look, a constant expression of “good-natured fun and contentment” on his face, “a beautifully perfumed head”, and a restrained valiant gait. It is not spiritual, personal qualities that come to the fore here, but external brilliance, entourage. It can be seen that Anatole took pleasure in attracting the glances of young ladies, he liked to make an impression. The main defining feature of Anatole's character is his narcissism. It is expressed in everything. The laws of morality, morality do not exist for him. He used to look at people like they were pawns. The psychological portrait of Kuragin contrasts with the image of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, in whose character the spiritual, moral principle was decisive.
In the stream of life, the fate of Anatole intersected with the life paths of Natasha, Pierre Bezukhov, Princess Marya, Andrei Bolkonsky. He took part in large-scale historical events (the Battle of Borodino). At the same time, he brought only suffering and destruction to all the people he met on his way, just like his sister, cold, cruel Helen. The matchmaking episode of Anatole Kuragin is connected with the Bolkonsky family. From Princess Marya, he needed only money, an inheritance, he treated her appearance with irony, spoke with contempt about the old prince.
His matchmaking was more like a farce. The gallant appearance of Anatole had an impact on Princess Marya. It seemed to her that in the face of this stately, strong hero she would find protection, support, and a chosen one. But behind Anatole's outward brilliance, there was emptiness, animal instincts, which the old prince unmistakably guessed in him. The hero did not stop looking at the legs of Mademoiselle Bourienne, with whom he later cheated on Princess Mary. Panache, endless love affairs became familiar to him: “He looked at his whole life as a continuous amusement that someone like that for some reason undertook to arrange for him.”
What is the secret of his corrupting charm? By nature, Anatole was not a careerist, he did not have resourcefulness or eloquence. But "he had the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unalterable confidence." On the estate of the old prince, he felt "vain pleasure, seeing his influence on three women." The feeling of sincere love, respect, tenderness for a woman is unfamiliar to Anatole. For him, every girl is an object of pleasure, a toy. At the same time, the hero was absolutely convinced that he had never done anything wrong, that "it was impossible for him to live otherwise than the way he lived." Anatole is the focus and logical development of vice. His only passion was fun and women.
Natasha Rostova also fell under the monstrous influence of Anatole at one of the turning points in her life. Separation from Prince Andrei became a difficult test for her. Confusion, inexperience of the heroine easily took advantage of Anatole. Their meeting took place in the theater box, during the performance of the opera. Tolstoy in every possible way emphasizes the artificiality, vulgarity of the atmosphere of the performance on the stage and in the life of the characters. The whole world knew the sad past of Anatole. Once, for a careless relationship on the border, a Polish landowner forced him to marry his daughter. However, Anatole soon left his wife and child, returning to his usual way of life again. He did not take his impudent eyes off Natasha for so long that the poor girl no longer felt the border of shame between them.
Anatole stops at nothing for his whim. Not realizing the catastrophic consequences and recklessness of his actions, he tries to secretly take Natasha away from Moscow and marry her. But, fortunately, his selfish plans were not destined to come true. At the same time, seeing the violated reputation of the girl, he does not feel either compassion or regret. This man's heart was so deeply hardened. Even during the decisive conversation with Pierre, the “timid mean smile” that was so characteristic of Pierre’s wife does not leave Anatole’s face. No wonder he says to Anatole: "Where you are - there is debauchery, evil." Anatole is the personification of meanness, the lies of the entire secular society, cut off from national roots, mired in endless pleasures and intrigues. And evil sooner or later destroys itself from within. There is inevitable retribution for what they have done.
The main test in the life of Anatole Kuragin is participation in the Battle of Borodino. This battle is the plot knot of the entire novel. All lines of development of heroes are pulled here. This is a kind of moment of truth, in which the character of a person facing death is tested. But, most likely, the most important thing for Anatole was not the very participation in the historically important battle, but a natural meeting with Andrei Bolkonsky. After the events that happened to Natasha, Prince Andrei hated her offender and vowed to take revenge on him. But when he saw Anatole, whose leg had just been taken away, his heart trembled. Before Bolkonsky lay not a dandy or a dandy from the capital, but an unfortunate, "suffering, exhausted man." Prince Andrei immediately remembered his childhood, the first grievances and failures. He realized that the true meaning of life lies in love and forgiveness.
As you know, ego and love are incompatible. This characteristic contains the humanistic position of the author, for whom there is no division of people according to their level of success, position in society. The main thing is what a person comes to, what spiritual discoveries he makes. Contrasting the egoism and viciousness of Anatole Kuragin with the moral core of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, the author highlights the true, enduring values of life. Anatole became a cripple even before participating in the Battle of Borodino. The worst thing is that he was morally crippled from childhood. He is accustomed not to live, but to seem. Constant fears of losing the sphere of influence on others, the lack of sincere affection ruined his soul. The life path of Anatole once again proves that passion and selfishness destroy their bearer.
The image of Anatol Kuragin in the novel "War and Peace" (version 3)
Anatole Kuragin, one of the heroes of L. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", occupies a significant place in the work. This is an interesting image that plays a very important role - it helps in revealing other images of the novel.
Anatole is the son of Prince Vasily Kuragin, an officer, brother of Ippolit and Helen. Like all members of the Kuragin family, Anatole is selfish and spoiled. All Kuragins use other people for their own purposes, to satisfy their own desires. Helen openly cheats on her husband, does not spare his pride. Helen, knowing that Natasha is the bride of Andrei Bolkonsky, without hesitation at all, first arranges dates for her brother and Natasha, and then helps Anatole to kidnap the girl. Pierre tries to explain to Anatole the wrongness of his behavior: "... in addition to your pleasure, there is happiness, peace of mind of other people, ... you ruin your whole life because you want to have fun." Prince Vasily calls his son a "restless fool" who brings him a lot of trouble: "... this Anatole costs me forty thousand a year..."
The external characterization of Anatole Kuragin is quite attractive. This is a tall, handsome man with a good-natured and "victorious look", "beautiful big" eyes and blond hair. But such a description already alarms the reader. Having become acquainted with other heroes, we pay attention to the fact that Tolstoy's most beloved heroes are ugly in appearance, but have a rich inner world. Nothing is hidden behind the external beauty of Anatole, there is emptiness. He is dapper, stupid, arrogant, depraved, "but he also had the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unchanging confidence." His life passes in continuous revelry, he lives only for his own pleasure and amusement. The hero does not care about relationships with other people: "He was not able to think about how his actions might respond to others, nor what might come out of such or such an act of his." Women cause contempt in him, he feels his superiority over them, because he is used to being liked, but at the same time he himself did not feel serious feelings for any of them.
Prince Vasily is trying to marry his son to Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. Anatole made an impression on her at first, but his narrow-mindedness, as well as depravity, saved the princess from this marriage. Kuragin sends Anatole from St. Petersburg to Moscow, hoping that there his son will take the post of adjutant to the commander-in-chief, and also try to make a good party. Only the closest people knew that Kuragin was married two years ago. When his regiment was in Poland, Anatole was forced to marry the daughter of a landowner, but "Anatole very soon left his wife and for the money that he agreed to send to his father-in-law, he reprimanded himself for the right to be reputed to be a single person."
Natasha Rostova also succumbed to the charm of the hero and was already ready to run away with him. Only after learning that Kuragin is married, she abandons her thoughts, but this story caused her a deep emotional trauma. Natasha's romance with Anatole was a blow to Andrei Bolkonsky, who wants to take revenge on the offender by challenging him to a duel. But Prince Andrei meets Kuragin only when he is seriously wounded, seeing Anatole in the same condition, whose leg was amputated. Bolkonsky forgives Kuragin, and on this we also say goodbye to this hero. He fulfilled his role in the novel, he no longer has a place among the heroes.
Anatole - attractive on the outside, completely empty inside, nevertheless plays an important role in the novel. Other heroes of the work pass through his image and receive life lessons that help them find the right path in their spiritual quest.
Anatole Kuragin - son of Prince Vasily, officer, ladies' man. Anatole always gets into some kind of unpleasant stories, from which his father always pulls him out. His favorite pastime is considered to be playing cards and reveling with his friend Dolokhov. Anatole is stupid and not talkative, but he himself is always sure of his uniqueness.
He is very handsome and dresses in fashion, which is why he is popular with women. Anatole is accustomed to what women like, therefore he treats them with contempt, realizing his superiority. He does not know how to experience strong feelings, does not know what love is. Anatole is an impudent and depraved person, he charms Natasha Rostova and wants to take her away and secretly marry her, although he himself is already married to a Polish girl and hides this from everyone. Dolokhov warns him that he can go to court for bigamy, but this does not frighten him, he just wants to get the girl he likes, although in his heart he does not have strong feelings for her, otherwise he could simply ask for her hand. The kidnapping fails and Pierre banishes him from the city.Kuragin has to hide from Andrei Bolkonsky, who wants to challenge him to a duel, because Anatole beat off his bride. Their meeting took place only in the infirmary: Andrei lay with a mortal wound, and Kuragin's leg was amputated.
That "War and Peace" is "verbose rubbish." But no matter how the great Russian writer expresses himself, his creation is a classic of the genre and is honored all over the world: even foreign filmmakers more and more often present their vision of this epic to moviegoers.
The work was loved by fans of literature because the writer showed life as it is: friendship and betrayal, love and betrayal. In addition, the author managed to scrupulously work out the characters, revealing human psychotypes. Surely there are many dishonest Anatoly Kuragins in the world who invade the lives of married ladies and indifferently break their hearts.
It was not for nothing that Leo Tolstoy turned to the topic of the war of 1812, because it was a huge shock not only for the empire, but for the entire Russian people. No matter how beautifully the filmmakers describe the battle of Borodino (when brave soldiers ride horses against the backdrop of a river, fog and an icy lake), war is always grief, pain, death and tears.
Therefore, the writer began to consider that difficult time in order to show how the character of a person changes against the backdrop of upcoming and past events. The cumbersome epic novel is not just a non-trivial plot that tells about love ups and downs and. The author brought philosophical thought to his creation.
The idea of the work did not come to Lev Nikolayevich immediately. Initially, he wanted to tell readers about the Decembrist hero, who was forced to return to his homeland in 1856 after a 30-year exile. Tolstoy wanted to start his story from 1825 in order to show readers what offense the protagonist received such a punishment for. But, when Lev Nikolaevich thought about 1812, he wanted to consider the life of not only one person, but of the entire Russian people as a whole.
The master of the pen was inspired by the idea. Tolstoy personally visited the place where the battle of Borodino took place, and also relied on the works of scientists and memoirs of contemporaries of the events described. The writer worked on the novel from 1863 to 1869 and managed to identify more than 550 characters. It is worth noting that readers also remembered anti-heroes, for example, Anatole Kuragin and his sister Helen, who are ready to do anything for personal gain.
Anatole Kuragin plays the main role in the work, because thanks to his witchcraft charms, Natasha Rostova plunged into a romantic relationship and sent a letter of refusal to Andrei Bolkonsky. But no matter how attractive the angelic appearance of this young man, whom the author described as a tall and black-browed handsome man, it is better not to climb into his soul. Natasha paid the price for her passion for this ladies' man.
It is known that Anatole was born in the family of Prince Vasily Kuragin and grew up with his brother Ippolit. Based on the behavior of this hero, we can safely judge that he did not receive proper education. The guy had a cowardly and selfish character, and also dreamed of living idle, shining in secular society. In addition, mentally, Anatole was absolutely nothing.
According to the plot, the ruddy sycophant was carried away by Natasha Rostova, who reciprocated the young man. And this is not surprising, because the father of Andrei Bolkonsky was against his relationship with Natasha and asked his son to postpone his marriage for a whole year. This was a serious blow for the girl, who gave vent to emotions.
In addition, Prince Andrei went to the front, and separation was unacceptable for the young Rostova, who was dying of boredom. Kuragin, taking advantage of the opportunity, came to the Bald Mountains and seduced Natasha with his beauty.
Perhaps the romance of the main character and Anatole would have continued if not for one fact: the lover hid the fact that he was married to a Polish girl. But this circumstance did not prevent Kuragin from thinking over a plan to escape from Rostova abroad. That night, when Anatole's scheme was to be realized, Marya Akhrosimova, with whom Natasha was visiting, learned about the impending kidnapping of the girl. At the same time, Rostova became aware that her lover had an engagement ring, so the girl tried to commit suicide with arsenic.
Anatole Kuragin, who brought sorrows and misfortunes to people's lives, was expelled from the capital on instruction. Then the reader learns that the hero went to war, where he received a leg injury. The limb was amputated after the battle. There were rumors in Moscow that the young man had died, but they were not confirmed by reliable facts.
More this unfortunate lover in the novel of Lev Nikolayevich is not mentioned.
Those who find the work of Leo Tolstoy boring should know that the book was adapted by eminent directors who managed to surprise the audience with the plot and the main characters performed by eminent cinema stars.
Thanks to feature films, this novel began to be in demand in bookstores, for example, in 2016, the inhabitants of the UK began to buy volumes of "War and Peace" after the release of the series of the same name. There are many films that tell about the ups and downs of Bolkonsky, Rostova, Bezukhov and Kuragins. Therefore, we consider only well-known film works.
"War and Peace" (1956)
The American representative of the cinematographic art King Vidor surprised the audience because he set his sights on the knowledge of the Russian soul. The director released a film based on Tolstoy's novel of the same name, inviting eminent stars to the cast who worked with professional costume designers on film sets in Italy.
The roles went to Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, and other stars, and Vittorio Gassman tried on the image of the insidious Anatole.
"War and Peace" (1967)
Soviet filmmakers did not lag behind their Hollywood counterparts and shot a big-budget film with expensive sets and costumes. Directed by .
And it is worth saying that the picture, which lasted for about six years, won the recognition of the audience: it became the leader of the Soviet box office and won the honorary award "Oscar". The roles were performed by Viktor Stanitsyn, Eduard Martsevich and Boris Zakhava. The image of Kuragin embodied.
"War and Peace" (TV series, 2007)
Austrian Robert Dornhelm presented his vision of the Russian novel, completely rewriting the plot. It is noteworthy that the filmmakers did not rely on the images created by the author of the work, so the actors do not advise the appearance of the main characters, but the series was a success with the audience.
Ken Duken, who worked on the same set with Callum Turner, reincarnated as the thief of ladies' hearts. Also included in the brilliant cast was Jesse Buckley.
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Extraordinary personalities in literature, art, and indeed, in real life, often look much more attractive than respectable and honest ones. Rogues and dandies cause a feeling of envy in the representatives of their sex and admiration and love for the opposite. At the same time, everyone can perfectly know the most unattractive sides of the character of these characters, but they still flock to them like moths to the light. Anatole Kuragin from the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a classic representative of this image.
All beautiful people have a similar description - they are all devoid of any distinctive external distinguishing features. His face has regular features. He differs from the rest of the aristocracy by his tall stature and slender figure (mostly the characters of Tolstoy's novel are of average height).
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the novel by Leo Tolstoy “War and Peace”
In the novel, Tolstoy describes him as insanely handsome with black-browed, but does not give a detailed description. “A man with a white forehead, black eyebrows and a ruddy mouth”, he has “beautiful big eyes” - this is where Anatole's description ends. We learn about his beauty from the reactions of other characters in the novel to him - and men and women freeze with awe when they see this young man. Exclamation: "How good!" often pursues the young Kuragin.
We know very little about his physique - during the war with Napoleon he was “a big, full man”, but it’s hard to say whether he was always such a physique.
Anatole Kuragin is the son of Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin, an aristocrat, minister and important official. In addition to Anatole, there are two more children in the Kuragin family - sister Elena and brother Ippolit.
Anatole received an excellent education abroad, because "the local upbringing is much better than ours," he allegedly studied in France. Like all aristocrats, Anatole prefers French in his everyday speech.
Unfortunately, his education did not become a guarantor of adaptability in life and the ability to correctly manage his capital and time.
In addition, there were rumors in society for a long time that Anatole had love with his sister Elena, Prince Vasily removed his son in order to avoid incest.
Anatole often comes to visit his sister and behaves in an inappropriate way for his brother - he kisses Elena's bare shoulders, gently hugs her: “Anatole went to her to borrow money from her and kissed her bare shoulders. She did not give him money, but she allowed him to kiss herself, ”so the question of whether Anatole had a love affair with his sister is a moot point.
Like most representatives of the aristocracy, Kuragin prefers military service. “During the stay of his regiment in Poland, one Polish poor landowner forced Anatole to marry his daughter. Anatole very soon abandoned his wife, and for the money that he agreed to send to his father-in-law, he reprimanded himself for the right to be reputed to be a bachelor.
No matter how Anatole hid the fact of his marriage, rumors about it still penetrated society. After Natalya Rostova found out about this, she realized that Kuragin was a deceiver and decided to commit suicide, despite her love and determined intentions to escape.
He participates in the military events of 1812 against the Napoleonic troops and is seriously injured - he has to amputate his leg. The further fate of the handsome Anatole is unknown, Tolstoy does not tell anything more about him, presumably that he died in the same 1812.
If Kuragin were the hero of a folk epic, then his constant epithet would be the word "stupid." In the novel, Tolstoy often uses such words as "fool", "blockhead" to convey. Neither education nor communication with different strata of society teaches the mind of a young nobleman - his actions still do not differ either in intelligence or ingenuity. He burns his life without thinking about his future. "He was not in a position to consider how his actions might respond to others, nor what might come out of such or such an act of his."
Kuragin loves to spend time in drinking and revelry: "He did not miss a single revelry at Danilov and other merry fellows of Moscow." "One thing he loved was fun and women." He enjoys the company of women, although he tries to show completely opposite feelings. “In addition, in dealing with women, Anatole had that manner that most of all inspires curiosity, fear and even love in women - a manner of contemptuous consciousness of his superiority.” This principle works as well as possible - the more detached he seems to women, the more attractive and desirable he looks in their eyes. He literally "drives" young ladies crazy.
Kuragin becomes the hero of all balls and drinking parties. After a fairly drunk share of alcohol, Anatole behaves very aggressively: “He wanted to break something. He pushed the footmen away and pulled the frame, but the frame did not give up. He broke the glass."
The fact of the presence of sober people in some way upsets Kuragin, he tries to get everyone present to drink. He is trying to gradually draw Bezukhov into his revelry, often making him drunk.
Surrounding people, not involved in the revelry and debauchery of Kuragin, directly speak of him as a "real robber", as well as his friend Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov. A distinctive feature that causes favor to Dolokhov in society is his ability to take an advantageous position, speak eloquently and clearly. Despite a much better level of knowledge, Anatole is deprived of such skills - he sometimes hardly knows how to express his thoughts, and there is nothing to say about poetic or lyrical speech. "Anatole was not resourceful, not quick and not eloquent in conversations."
Anatole used to live in a big way. An idle life requires numerous financial expenses, which Kuragin often lacks, for a full life, but this fact does not upset a young person endowed with an optimistic perception of reality. When there is not enough money for carousing and feasting, Anatole borrows money, but at the same time, not only is he in no hurry to return the borrowed money, but he is not even going to activate the return in any way. "He lived on over twenty thousand a year in money and as much in debt as creditors demanded from his father." Naturally, this state of affairs did not suit the father and became the cause of his discontent, especially since the son's appetite continued to grow inexorably. Over time, Prince Vasily ceases to hide his helplessness in the face of the current situation: “This Anatole costs me forty thousand a year,” he said, apparently unable to restrain the sad course of his thoughts. Anatole Kuragin's debts have no end in sight, this state of affairs forces the father to make a cruel verdict, the father decides to no longer pay debts instead of his son, he "pays half of his debts for the last time."
Kuragin is a person with a cheerful disposition. “He looked upon his whole life as an uninterrupted amusement.”
Kuragin is not interested in either career growth or the arrangement of his life, he prefers to live one day, wants his life to always be like a holiday.
Self-confidence and complacency are other components of his character. He suffers from high self-esteem. “In his soul, he considered himself an impeccable person, sincerely despised scoundrels and bad people, and with a clear conscience carried his head high.”
In fact, he did not go far from these very "scoundrels". It is dominated by feelings of tactlessness, meanness. He is a bastard, what else you need to look for. He takes advantage of Natalya Rostova's inexperience and naivety and incites her to escape.
In the image of Anatole Kuragin, it is difficult to find positive character traits.
Among these, perhaps, one can partially rank generosity, which becomes more of a vice than a noble feeling, because Kuragin's generosity is aimed at arranging booze and fun for himself and his friends. You won’t find Kuragin’s talents either during the day with fire: he doesn’t have musical or choreographic talents, he doesn’t differ in either the ability to talk or purposefulness. It seems that the only thing the young man has succeeded in is drunken revelry and love affairs. And the latter sometimes become a partial merit of other people. So, for example, sister Elena writes a letter to Natalya, instead of a negligent and unable to speak beautifully brother, Dolokhov comes up with a plan for Natalya and Anatole to escape.
Like most young people, Anatole Kuragin is in military service. At first he serves in the guards, then becomes an employee in the army. He is not attracted to career advancement. His father takes care of his promotions, who, thanks to his connections, was able to provide his son "with the position of adjutant to the commander in chief."
Anatole prefers to live one day, he is depressing by the thought that he needs to plan something or achieve something in life (if this is not an appreciation of a new passion).
Tolstoy says little about how Kuragin showed himself at the front. It is likely that in this way the author wanted to emphasize Kuragin's apathy and indifference to everything that had nothing to do with celebrations, drunkenness and debauchery.
Anatole sees nothing shameful in a marriage of convenience. “Why not marry if she is very rich? It never gets in the way,” says the young man. He believes that the world should not end with a spouse, there are always a lot of pretty women in society with whom you can make up for the lack of intimate life. It is this position of his that becomes the reason for the matchmaking with Princess Bolkonskaya.
Anatole and his father are heading to the Bald Mountains to woo a young girl.
For the Bolkonskys, their visit was like a bomb explosion - it brought a lot of fuss to their lives. Despite the fact that Kuragin is an extremely unpromising groom, the issue of refusing to marry has not yet been finally resolved.
Princess Marie is extremely unattractive, she is not popular in society, and therefore the girl has no suitors. She has every opportunity to remain an old maid. The Bolkonskys are aware of this, and the girl herself too. She is in no hurry to throw herself into the arms of Kuragin, but nevertheless preens and dresses up for his arrival. For Princess Marie, not spoiled by the attention of men, the meeting with Anatole was very exciting.
“His beauty struck her. Anatole put the thumb of his right hand behind the buttoned button of his uniform, with his chest arched forward, and back with his back, shaking one leg aside and slightly bowing his head in silence, he cheerfully looked at the princess, apparently not thinking about her at all.
At this time, only two thoughts were spinning in Anatole's head. The first was that the princess was unusually ugly. The second was a complete contradiction to her, but was directed not at Bolkonskaya, but at her companion, to whom Kuragin more and more begins to experience “a passionate, bestial feeling that came over him with extreme speed and prompted him to the most rude and courageous deeds” . Young Marie could not predict these thoughts, but her father was more insightful - he was dumbfounded by such behavior of a potential groom. Chance helped cut the Gordian knot. Marie witnesses an unpleasant scene. “She looked up and saw Anatole two steps away from her, who was hugging a Frenchwoman and whispering something to her.” Kuragin fails to get out of this situation. He gets rejected.
Anatole Kuragin caused the broken hearts of more than one girl. In the case of Natalya Rostova, his love pranks almost turned into a tragedy in the girl's life.
Anatole successfully uses his beauty in order to arouse a reciprocal feeling in a young girl, and he easily succeeds - the trusting Natalya sincerely believes in Kuragin's integrity.
Does Anatole love Natalya? Doubtful, probably not. For Kuragin, this is another prank and a way to harm Prince Andrei.
For the first time, young people met at the opera. Anatole became interested in a young girl and asked his sister to introduce them. Elena gladly fulfills his request. “He, almost smiling, looked straight into her eyes with such an admiring, affectionate look that it seemed strange to be so close to him, to look at him like that, to be so sure that he likes you, and not to be familiar with him.” Kuragin manages to easily win the girl's heart.
He is very handsome, and Natalia has no experience in dealing with young people of the opposite sex.
Kuragin's open intentions, his undisguised carnal desire in relation to her excites the girl's mind. It becomes a reason to experience new emotions and feelings. The excitement that Natalya experiences in relation to Kuragin frightens her and pleasantly pleases her at the same time. Rostova "felt terribly close to this man." At the time of meeting Kuragin, the girl was already engaged to Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. This engagement was not an act of violence, Natalya was not disgusted by the upcoming wedding. And the very personality of the prince was sweet and charming for a girl. The point here was the behavior of young people. Prince Andrei acts within the framework of etiquette, he does not want to embarrass Natalya with his carnal desires. He's too perfect. Anatole, on the contrary, neglects these rules, which causes interest and curiosity on the part of the girl.
Rostova perceives Anatole's feelings as reality. She does not realize that this is another deception on his part. Kuragin, spurred on by intrigue and excited, cannot stop. With the help of his sister, he writes a letter to Natalya, where he reveals to the girl his seemingly arisen feelings of love and affection, agitating her to escape. This letter reached the desired goal - Natalya refuses Bolkonsky and prepares to flee with Kuragin. Fortunately for the girl, these plans were not destined to come true. The escape failed, Natalya still has hope - she believes that love can overcome all obstacles, but this hope was not destined to come true. At a time when Rostova was exhausted from excitement, Kuragin was calmly driving around in a sleigh: “His face was ruddy and fresh, a hat with a white plume was worn on its side, revealing curled, oiled and showered with fine snow hair.” He has no remorse or shame.
Pierre Bezukhov also takes the grief of Natasha Rostova's love letter. Relatives quickly send Anatole from Moscow in order to avoid new troubles.
Over time, the girl learns that Anatole was married at all, so he could not marry her. Her feelings for Anatole are strong, at the same time she realizes that she was cruelly deceived, in desperation the girl drinks arsenic, but the desired effect cannot be achieved - she confesses to her deed, and Natalya is saved.
Naturally, the relatives themselves, both from Natalia and from Anatole, tried to stop rumors about Anatol Kuragin's act in relation to Natalya Rostova - the disclosure of such a truth would play a negative role on the reputation of both families.
Families began to wait for the reaction of Bolkonsky, who could make the information public.
Prince Andrei is overwhelmed with feelings. He feels humiliated and insulted. Due to the bad and ignoble behavior of Kuragin, Bolkonsky got into a stupid situation - Natalya Rostova refuses to marry him. Since Andrei has the most tender feelings for the girl, such a refusal becomes a heavy blow to his pride. Despite all the absurdity of what is happening, Bolkonsky understands that the situation cannot be replayed, even if Natalya herself has already realized all her mistake and wants to become Bolkonsky's wife.
“Prince Andrei left for Petersburg on business, as he told his relatives, but, in essence, in order to meet there Prince Anatole Kuragin, whom he considered it necessary to meet.” Bolkonsky wants to take revenge on Kuragin and challenge him to a duel.
Andrei is able to think sensibly even in such a situation, so he does not write letters to Anatole (this can compromise Natalya), but chases Kuragin.
This race ends in a military hospital, where Bolkonsky is brought after being wounded. Prince Andrei among the wounded sees a familiar silhouette. “In the unfortunate, sobbing, exhausted man, who had just taken away his leg, he recognized Anatol Kuragin.” Neither Bolkonsky, nor Kuragin are no longer able to settle personal scores. Yes, and this is no longer necessary - Bolkonsky lets go of resentment, he forgives Anatole.
Thus, Anatole Kuragin in the text is an absolute negative. He has almost no positive character traits. He is not distinguished by either mental abilities, or ingenuity, or valor on the battlefield. Kuragin has no purpose in life, he is accustomed to go with the flow without planning his life. First of all, he is a puppet, but not in the hands of relatives, as is often the case, but in the hands of his rowdy friends, in particular Dolokhov. It is Dolokhov who comes up with a plan to escape Kuragin and Rostova, incites Anatole to new pranks and stupidities. The personality of Anatole Kuragin brings negativity towards everyone with whom the young man comes into contact.
For Tolstoy, the world of the family is the basis of human society. The Kuragin family in the novel appears as the embodiment of immorality. Greed, hypocrisy, the ability to commit crime, dishonor for the sake of wealth, irresponsibility for one's actions in personal life - these are the main distinguishing features of this family. Among the characters of "War and Peace" Kuragins live, knowing all over the world only their personal interest and
energetically seeking him by intrigue. And how much destruction the Kuragins brought - Prince Vasily, Helen, Anatole - into the life of Pierre, the Rostovs, Natasha, Andrei Bolkonsky!
Kuragins are devoid of generic poetry. Their family closeness and connection is unpoetic, although it undoubtedly exists - instinctive mutual support and solidarity, a kind of mutual guarantee of almost animal egoism. Such a family connection is not a positive, real family connection, but, in essence, its negation. Real families - the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys - have, of course, against the Kuragins on their side an immeasurable moral superiority; but all the same, the invasion of base Kuragin 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.
Vasily Kuragin
The head of this entire family is Prince Vasily Kuragin. For the first time we meet him in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. He was "in a court, embroidered uniform, in stockings, in shoes and stars, with a bright expression of a flat face." The prince spoke in that exquisite French language, which our grandfathers not only spoke, but also thought, and with those quiet, patronizing intonations that are characteristic of an aged person in high society and at court, a significant person, "" always spoke lazily, as an actor says a role old play."
In the eyes of secular society, Prince Kuragin is a respected person, "close to the emperor, surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic women, scattering secular courtesies and chuckling complacently." In words he was a decent, sympathetic person, but in reality he constantly had an internal struggle between the desire to appear a decent person and the actual depravity of his motives.
Tolstoy's favorite technique is the opposition of the internal and external characters of the characters. The image of Prince Vasily very clearly reflects this opposition.
The episode of the struggle for the inheritance of the old Count Bezukhov most accurately reveals the two-faced essence of Vasily Kuragin.
The prince forced Pierre to marry Helen, while pursuing his own selfish goals. To Anna Pavlovna Scherer's proposal to "marry the prodigal son Anatole" to Princess Maria Bolkonskaya, having learned that the princess is a rich heiress, he says: "She has a good surname and is rich. Everything I need." At the same time, Prince Vasily does not at all think about the fact that Princess Marya may be unhappy in marriage with the dissolute varmint Anatole, who looked at his whole life as one continuous amusement.
Absorbed all the vile, vicious traits of Prince Vasily and his children.
Helen Kuragina
Helen is the embodiment of external beauty and internal emptiness, a fossil. Tolstoy constantly mentions her "monotonous", "unchanging" smile and "ancient beauty of the body", she resembles a beautiful, soulless statue.
Helen personifies immorality and depravity, marries only for the sake of her own enrichment.
She is cheating on her husband, because her nature is dominated by the animal nature. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy leaves Helen childless.
Still, being the wife of Pierre, Helen, in front of the eyes of the whole society, is arranging her personal life.
Helen Bezukhova is not a woman, she is rather an animal. Not a single novelist has yet met this type of harlot of high society, who loves nothing in life except her body. In addition to a magnificent bust, a rich and beautiful body, this representative of the big world possessed an extraordinary ability to hide her mental and moral squalor, and all this was due only to the elegance of her manners and the memorization of some phrases and techniques.
As Helen said, in the world after the duel and departure, everyone considered Pierre a naive fool. She again began to live with her husband and created her own salon.
"Being accepted into the salon of Countess Bezukhova was considered a diploma of the mind." This unspeakably surprised Pierre, who knew that Helen was very stupid. But she was so good at teaching herself that no one thought about it.
She also played a negative role in the fate of Natasha Rostova. For fun, an empty whim, Helen ruined the life of a young girl, pushing her to treason, and did not even think about it.
Helen is completely devoid of patriotic feelings. While the whole country rose up to fight against Napoleon, and even the high society took part in this struggle in their own way ("they did not speak French and ate simple food"), rumors about the cruelty of the enemy and war and all Napoleon's attempts at reconciliation were discussed. "When the threat of the capture of Moscow by Napoleon's troops became clear, Helen went abroad. And there she shone at the imperial court. But now the court returns to Petersburg. "Helen, returning with the court from Vilna to Petersburg , was in a difficult position. In St. Petersburg, Helen enjoyed the special patronage of a nobleman who occupied one of the highest positions in the state.
In Vilna, she became close to a young foreign prince.
For her own good, she betrays the most sacred - faith, accepts Catholicism. By this, as it seemed to her, she freed herself from the moral obligations given to Pierre, becoming his wife. Helen decides to link her fate with one of her two admirers. At the beginning of August, everything was completely decided, and she wrote a letter to her husband (who she thought was very fond of her) in which she informed him of her intention to marry NN and that she asked to complete all the necessary formalities for a divorce. But Pierre did not receive a letter, he was at war.
While waiting for a response from Pierre, Helen was idly passing the time. She still shone in the world, accepted the courtship of young people, despite the fact that she was already about to marry one of the most influential nobles, but, unfortunately, an old man.
In the end, Helen dies. This death is a direct consequence of her own intrigues.
Ippolit Kuragin
"... Prince Hippolyte struck with his extraordinary resemblance to his beautiful sister, and even more so because, despite the resemblance, he was strikingly ugly ... his face was hazy with idiocy and invariably expressed self-confident disgust, and his body was thin and weak. Eyes, nose, mouth - everything was compressed as if into one indefinite boring grimace, and the arms and legs always assumed an unnatural position.
Hippolyte was extraordinarily stupid. Due to the self-confidence with which he spoke, no one could understand whether what he said was very smart or very stupid.
At the reception at Scherer, he appears to us "in a dark green tailcoat, in pantaloons the color of a frightened nymph, as he himself said, in stockings and shoes." And such an absurd outfit did not bother him at all.
Despite the strangeness of his character, Prince Hippolyte was successful with women and was a ladies' man. So at the end of the evening in the living room Scherer, Ippolit, as if innocently caring for the little princess, Bolkonsky's wife, arouses the jealousy of the prince.
Father Prince Vasily calls Ippolit " a dead fool " . Tolstoy in the novel is "sluggish and breaking".
These are the dominant character traits of Hippolytus. Hippolyte is stupid, but at least he does not harm anyone with his stupidity, unlike his younger brother Anatole.
Anatole Kuragin
Anatole Kuragin, according to Tolstoy, "simple and with carnal inclinations." These are the dominant character traits of Anatole. He looked at his whole life as a continuous amusement that someone like that for some reason undertook to arrange for him.
"He was not in a position to consider how his actions might respond to others, nor what might come out of such or such an act of his." He is sincerely convinced, instinctively, with his whole being, that everything around him has the sole purpose of entertainment and exists for this. No looking back at people, their opinions, the consequences, no long-term goal that would force them to focus on achieving it, no remorse, reflection, hesitation, doubt - Anatole, no matter what he does, naturally and sincerely considers himself an impeccable person and highly bears its beautiful head: truly limitless freedom, freedom in actions and self-awareness.
Such complete freedom is given to Anatole by his senselessness. A person who consciously relates to life is already subject, like Pierre, to the need to understand and decide, he is not free from life's complexities, from the question: why? While Pierre is tormented by this difficult question, Anatole lives, content with every minute, stupid, animalistic, but easy and fun.
Marriage to the "rich ugly heiress" - Maria Bolkonskaya seems to him to be another amusement.
He and his father come to the Bald Mountains to get married.
Marya and her father feel offended by the excitement that the arrival of the prospective bridegroom has caused in them, and which they cannot overcome in themselves.
The beautiful big eyes of the fool Anatole "attract to themselves, and Princess Mary, and the little princess, and m-lle Bourienne do not remain indifferent to the beauty of Kuragin. Everyone wants to appear before him in the best light. But for Princess Mary it seems insulting that she is forced to dress up and behave inconsistently with their habits. The longer the friends picked up the outfits, the less the princess wanted to meet Anatole. She understood that now she was being put on display, that her appearance would not be able to interest anyone, and the more inappropriate the worries of her friends seemed to her So having achieved nothing, the friends left the princess alone.She not only did not change her outfit, but did not even look at herself in the mirror.
Anatole, drawing attention to the pretty m-lle Bourienne, decided that it would not be boring in the Bald Mountains either.
In a conversation with the father of Princess Mary, Anatole again proves himself to be a complete fool, a reckless rake.
Anatole seemed to Princess Marya kind, brave, resolute, courageous and generous. She was convinced of it. Thousands of dreams about a future family life arose in her imagination. Anatole thought: "Poor thing! Damn bad."
M-lle Bourienne thought that this Russian prince would take her away and marry her.
Anatole was not at all interested in the princess as a person; he needed her rich dowry.
While Princess Marya went to her father at the usual hour, Mlle Bourienne and Anatole met in the winter garden.
After a conversation with her father, the princess went to her room through the winter garden and saw Anatole passionately embracing m lle Bourienne.
When the father and Prince Vasily invited Princess Marya to give an answer, she said: "I thank you for the honor, but I will never be your son's wife."
Prince Vasily, thanks to Anatole's reckless behavior, was left with nothing.
In St. Petersburg, Anatole led the life of a riotous rake. A gambling society gathered in his house, after which there was usually a drinking bout. He leads the good-natured, trusting Pierre astray with his feigned simplicity.
Anatole also played a negative role in the fate of Natasha Rostova. His base, vicious desire to instantly have what he wants, regardless of the interests of others, led to Natasha's break with Prince Andrei, brought mental suffering to the families of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys.
Knowing that Natasha is engaged to Prince Andrei, Anatole nevertheless confesses his love to her. What could come out of this courtship, Anatole could not know, since he never knew what would come out of his every act. In a letter to Natasha, he says that either she will love him or he will die. And if Natasha says "yes", he will kidnap her and take her to the ends of the earth. Impressed by this letter, Natasha refuses Prince Andrei and agrees to escape with Kuragin. But the escape failed, Natasha's note fell into the wrong hands, and the kidnapping plan failed.
The next day, in a conversation with Natasha, Pierre revealed to her that Anatole was married, so all his promises were a lie. Then Bezukhov went to Anatole and demanded that he return Natasha's letters and leave Moscow. The next day Anatole left for Petersburg.
Having learned about Natasha's betrayal and about the role of Anatole in this, Prince Andrei was going to challenge him to a duel and searched for him for a long time throughout the army. But when he met Anatole, whose leg had just been taken away, Prince Andrei remembered everything, and enthusiastic pity for this man filled his heart. He forgave him everything.
