Introduction
The theme of love in Russian literature has always occupied one of the first places. Great poets and writers of all times turned to her. Love for the Motherland, for the mother, for the woman, for the land, for the family - the manifestation of this feeling is very different, it depends on people and circumstances. It is very clearly shown what love can be and what it is in the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. After all, it is love in the novel “War and Peace” that is the main driving force in the lives of the heroes. They love and suffer, hate and care, despise, discover truths, hope and wait - and all this is love.
The heroes of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel live full lives, their destinies are intertwined. Natasha Rostova, Andrei Bolkonsky, Helen Kuragina, Pierre Bezukhov, Marya Bolkonskaya, Nikolai Rostov, Anatol, Dolokhov and others - all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, experienced a feeling of love and went through the path of spiritual rebirth or moral decline. Therefore, today the theme of love in Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” remains relevant. Whole lives of people, different in their status, character, meaning of life and beliefs, flash before us.
The theme of love and duty in Tolstoy's works
Love and duty in Tolstoy's works
The creativity and lifestyle of L.N. Tolstoy reflected his mental turmoil, doubts, religious dogmas and personal rules. In the works, which are sometimes painfully long, there is almost no room for humor, lightness of life and elegantly careless dialogue, as in French classic novels. Each phrase is carefully verified, rewritten several times and slowly thought through. There is not a single superfluous or random detail. Descriptions of nature, the sun, trees - everything works for the author’s single, gigantic and majestic plan.
L. N. Tolstoy wrote about a lot: both about military operations and about the happiness of natural life, but every line of his works is invisibly imbued with two main themes that he tried to understand throughout his long and ambiguous life: “duty” and “love” . They were often presented as “rivals” and even “enemies.” Sometimes they walked “hand in hand” towards a great, bright and pure future.
It should be emphasized that in the understanding of L.N. Tolstoy there are “two loves”: “righteous” and “sublime” are opposed to “dirty”, “sinfully vicious”, “bodily”. This division is not categorical. The line between feelings with positive and negative connotations is not like the Great Wall of China. There are loopholes, passages, bridges and secret doors. In the “manured” beds of carnal love, worthy feelings can grow and blossom. But in most of Tolstoy’s works, as an author, he takes the position of a “moralist.” “Wrong” love never has a happy ending in his novels. It entails punishment for the character who goes beyond the limits. Social decency (which is important, although not always sincere, as in Anna Karenina) and moral principles that the author himself adhered to and which he, to the extent possible, forced those around him to adhere to.
Attentive readers who slowly savor the prose of L.N. Tolstoy will certainly notice that the descriptions of emotions in his novels are very similar, in some places even identical. Konstantin Levin in Anna Karenina and Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace experience absolutely identical feelings (in relation to their lovers): delight, admiration, admiration of every movement, sublime happiness, a feeling of divinity and sinlessness of a young being. This is at the beginning of the story. Afterwards, having undergone psychological tests that also affect pride, jealousy and causing offense, they accept the “physicality” and “earthly nature” of women. And yet they remain loving, lenient (in the best sense of the word) to the shortcomings and whims of brides (after that, wives) and, most importantly, faithful to them. When dealing with “pure” love, there can be not only no talk, but no thought of affairs, betrayals, or flirting!
Love, “bodily”, “illegal”, worried the writer throughout his many years of work. He never put an end to this topic for himself. What to do if you don't love your husband? Is it possible to break up a family, go against the foundations of secular society, give in to feelings without regard for decency? Anna dared. And she was severely punished by Tolstoy. Apart from her, the main “sinner,” unhappy and, essentially, innocent (she was just sincere and could not play and hide, like many second- and third-rate characters in the novel), almost all the young girls in “War and Peace” and in “Anna Karenina” stumbled. It was not immediately possible to see true love behind the tinsel of military uniforms, aiguillettes and ballroom candles. Due to shortsightedness, the author left the girls “without sweets.” In the end, they still went to the men they were intended for.
Despite his sympathy for the weaknesses of his heroes, L. N. Tolstoy still prefers duty to love. The family must be carefully preserved. Raise children in decency. And be sure to be faithful to your spouse. After all, it is the opportunity to have a family and live together all their lives that distinguishes people from highly developed animals.
In addition to essays on love and duty, also see:
- “Childhood”, analysis of the story by Leo Tolstoy
- “After the Ball”, analysis of the story by Leo Tolstoy
- The image of Levin in the novel "Anna Karenina"
- The image of Marya Bolkonskaya in the novel “War and Peace”, essay
- The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace"
- The image of Kutuzov in the novel “War and Peace”
- The image of Vronsky in the novel “Anna Karenina”
- Comparative characteristics of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys - essay
- The life quest of Natasha Rostova - essay
- The symbolism of the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
- Analysis of the image of Anna Karenina in Tolstoy’s novel of the same name
- Analysis of “Anna Karenina” - parallelism in the composition of the novel
- "Anna Karenina" - the history of creation
- The life quest of Pierre Bezukhov - essay
- The life quest of Andrei Bolkonsky - essay
According to the writer: Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich
Love and heroes of the novel
Helen Kuragina
The secular beauty Helen had “an undoubted and too powerful and victorious beauty.” But all this beauty was present only in her appearance. Helen's soul was empty and ugly. For her, love is money, wealth and recognition in society. Helen enjoyed great success with men. Having married Pierre Bezukhov, she continued to flirt with everyone who attracted her attention. The status of a married woman did not bother her at all; she took advantage of Pierre’s kindness and deceived him.
All members of the Kuragin family showed the same attitude of love. Prince Vasily called his children “fools” and said: “My children are a burden to my existence.” He hoped to marry his “younger prodigal son” Anatole to the daughter of the old Count Bolkonsky, Marya. Their whole life was built on profitable calculations, and human relationships were alien to them. Vulgarity, meanness, secular entertainment and pleasures - this is the life ideal of the Kuragin family.
But the author of the novel does not support such love in War and Peace. L.N. Tolstoy shows us a completely different love - real, faithful, all-forgiving. Love that has stood the test of time, the test of war. Reborn, renewed, bright love is the love of the soul.
Andrey Bolkonsky
This hero went through a difficult moral path to his true love, to understanding his own destiny. Having married Lisa, he did not have family happiness. He was not interested in society, he himself said: “... this life that I lead here, this life is not for me!” Andrei was going to war, despite the fact that his wife was pregnant. And in a conversation with Bezukhov, he said: “...what would I not give now in order not to be married!” Then the war, the sky of Austerlitz, disappointment in his idol, the death of his wife and the old oak tree... “our life is over!” The revival of his soul will occur after meeting Natasha Rostova - “... the wine of her charm went to his head: he felt revived and rejuvenated...” Dying, he forgave her for the fact that she refused to love him when she was enchanted by Anatoly Kuragin. But it was Natasha who took care of the dying Bolkonsky, it was she who sat at his head, it was she who received his last look. Wasn’t this the happiness of Andrei?
He died in the arms of his beloved woman, and his soul found peace. Just before his death, he told Natasha: “...I love you too much. More than anything else". Andrei forgave Kuragin before his death: “Love your neighbors, love your enemies. To love everything—to love God in all his manifestations.”
Natasha Rostova
Natasha Rostova meets us in the novel as a thirteen-year-old girl who loves everyone around her. In general, the Rostov family was distinguished by its special cordiality and sincere care for each other. Love and harmony reigned in this family, so Natasha could not be different. Childhood love for Boris Drubetsky, who promised to wait for her for four years, sincere joy and kind attitude towards Denisov, who proposed to her, speak of the sensuality of the heroine’s nature. Her main need in life is to love. When Natasha saw Andrei Bolkonsky, a feeling of love completely overwhelmed her. But Bolkonsky, having proposed to Natasha, left for a year. Infatuation with Anatoly Kuragin in Andrei's absence gave Natasha doubt about her love. She even planned to escape, but Anatole’s revealed deception stopped her. The spiritual emptiness left by Natasha after her relationship with Kuragin gave rise to a new feeling for Pierre Bezukhov - a feeling of gratitude, tenderness and kindness. While Natasha did not know that it would be love.
She felt guilty before Bolkonsky. While caring for the wounded Andrei, she knew that he would soon die. He and she needed her care. It was important for her that she would be there when he closed his eyes.
Natasha's despair after all the events that happened - the flight from Moscow, the death of Bolkonsky, the death of Petya - was accepted by Pierre Bezukhov. After the end of the war, Natasha married him and found true family happiness. “Natasha needed a husband... And her husband gave her a family... all her spiritual strength was directed towards serving this husband and family...”
Pierre Bezukhov
Pierre came into the novel as the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov. His attitude towards Elen Kuragina was based on trust and love, but after a while he realized that he was simply being led by the nose: “This is not love. On the contrary, there is something disgusting in the feeling that she aroused in me, something forbidden.” The difficult path of life's quest for Pierre Bezukhov began. He treated Natasha Rostova with care and tender feelings. But even in the absence of Bolkonsky, he did not dare to do anything extra. He knew that Andrei loved her, and Natasha was waiting for his return. Pierre tried to correct Rostova's situation when she became interested in Kuragin; he truly believed that Natasha was not like that. And he was not mistaken. His love survived all expectations and separation and found happiness. Having created a family with Natasha Rostova, Pierre was humanly happy: “After seven years of marriage, Pierre felt a joyful, firm consciousness that he was not a bad person, and he felt this because he was reflected in his wife.”
Marya Bolkonskaya
Tolstoy writes about Princess Marya Bolkonskaya: “...Princess Marya dreamed of family happiness and children, but her main, strongest and hidden dream was earthly love.” It was difficult to live in her father’s house; Prince Bolkonsky kept his daughter strictly. It cannot be said that he did not love her, only for him this love was expressed in activity and reason. Marya loved her father in her own way, she understood everything and said: “My calling is to be happy with another happiness, the happiness of love and self-sacrifice.” She was naive and pure and saw goodness and goodness in everyone. She even considered Anatoly Kuragin, who decided to marry her for an advantageous position, to be a kind man. But Marya found her happiness with Nikolai Rostov, for whom the path to love turned out to be thorny and confusing. This is how the Bolkonsky and Rostov families united. Nikolai and Marya did what Natasha and Andrey could not do.
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Love to motherland
The fates of the heroes and their contact are inseparable from the fate of the country. The theme of love for the homeland runs like a red thread through the life of each character. The moral quest of Andrei Bolkonsky led him to the idea that the Russian people cannot be defeated. Pierre Bezukhov went from “a young man who doesn’t know how to live” to a real man who dared to look Napoleon in the eye, save a girl in a fire, endure captivity, and sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Natasha Rostova, who gave the carts to the wounded soldiers, knew how to wait and believe in the strength of the Russian people. Petya Rostov, who died at the age of fifteen for a “just cause,” experienced true patriotism. Platon Karataev, a peasant partisan who fought for victory with his bare hands, managed to explain the simple truth of life to Bezukhov. Kutuzov, who gave all of himself “for the Russian land,” believed to the end in the strength and spirit of Russian soldiers. L.N. Tolstoy in the novel showed the power of the Russian people in the unity, faith and steadfastness of Russia.
