Depiction of secular society in the novel "War and Peace". Secular society in the image l
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At the same time as depicting the life and character of the common people, Tolstoy paints vivid pictures of the life and morals of the upper stratum of the nobility, who proudly called themselves “the world.” The author focuses here on the family of Prince Vasily Kuragin with his sons Ippolit Anatoly and daughter Helen.
Prince Vasily Kuragin is an “important and official” representative of the ruling elite; The fates of many people depend on him, but the only driving force behind all his actions is personal gain. “Prince Vasily did not think through his plans. He even less thought of doing evil to people in order to gain benefit. He was only a secular man... He did not say to himself, for example: “Pierre is rich, I must lure him to marry his daughter and borrow the forty thousand I need”; but a man in strength met him, and at that very moment instinct told him that this man could be useful, and Prince Vasily became close to him... flattered, became familiar, talked about what was needed... He was constantly drawn to those who who is stronger and richer than him, and he had the talent to catch the very moment when it was possible to take advantage of people.”
The purpose of his arrival for the evening with Anna Scherer was the intention to arrange for his son Hippolyte to become the first secretary in Vienna. He wants to marry his second son Anatole, who is ruining him with his carousing, to the rich bride Maria Bolkonskaya. Kuragin skillfully plays the role of a emotional person in the Bolkonskys’ house. When the theft of Count Bezukhov's will fails and Pierre becomes the heir to all his wealth, Prince Vasily, taking advantage of his impracticality and inexperience in life, marries him to his daughter. While Kutuzov is in disgrace, Kuragin speaks of him very contemptuously, but as soon as he is appointed commander-in-chief, the “crafty courtier” begins to praise him. And it is characteristic that, with the exception of one inexperienced person, this does not surprise anyone, and Prince Vasily enjoys the general respect of secular society, which fully characterizes this society.
In Prince Vasily's eldest son, Ippolit, Tolstoy emphasizes his stupidity. But she doesn't interfere to the young prince pursue a diplomatic career. Much more often than Hippolytus, his younger brother Anatole, a handsome, brilliant officer, appears on the pages of War and Peace. Already at the first meeting with him, thanks to a small touch: “Anatole stood straight, eyes open,” the absence of a higher inner life is felt in him. His spiritual and mental insignificance is manifested with sufficient clarity in a conversation with the old man Bolkonsky.
Anatole's mental limitations, depravity and baseness of nature were also reflected in his behavior with the Frenchwoman, the companion of his intended bride. But his zoological egoism and complete unscrupulousness in his attempt to kidnap Natasha Rostova stand out most clearly. At the same time, he considered himself an impeccable person. “Anatole was always pleased with his position, with himself and others. He was instinctively, with his whole being, convinced that he could not live otherwise than the way he lived, and that he had never done anything bad in his life.” Everything was permitted, and the only measure of good and bad was the pleasure (at the same time crude, base) that this or that action gave him.
The fourth member of the Kuragin family was the beautiful Helen, a stupid, but very cunning, depraved, unprincipled woman. “Where you are, there is debauchery, evil,” Pierre tells her, and these words fully express the author’s own opinion about her. Kuragins were no exception among aristocratic society. All members of this family are typical representatives of their circle, their time. Andrei Bolkonsky calls them and people like them, who make up the overwhelming majority of the so-called secular society, “court lackeys and idiots,” and points to their “selfishness, vanity, insignificance in everything.” “All the people of this party were fishing for rubles, crosses, ranks, and in this fishing they only followed the direction of the weather vane of the royal favor...”
Ruthlessly exposing this world, Tolstoy sometimes deliberately exaggerates its negative aspects, sharpens the images, and emphasizes their typicality. In this regard, the statements of Prince Vasily Kuragin about Kutuzov are especially characteristic, causing general sympathy in the Scherer salon. Before his appointment as commander-in-chief, Kutuzov, according to Prince Vasily, was “a man of the worst rules,” “decrepit and blind,” fit only for playing blind man’s buff. After the appointment of Kutuzov - “ the smartest person“, and Prince Vasily is “happy” on the occasion of the most successful choice of the commander-in-chief.
The same technique of consciously sharpening the image is applied by Tolstoy to Anatoly Kuragin (his behavior during the matchmaking with Bolkonskaya), and to Helen (the pursuit of two new husbands, a letter to Pierre, etc.), and to Hippolyte, and to Anna Pavlovna Scherer, and to others. This conscious exaggeration of satirical elements in the images of representatives of the court nobility characterizes Tolstoy's socio-political views. The complete type of careerist is given in the person of Boris Drubetsky. A descendant of a noble but impoverished family, he paves his way to wealth with great dexterity and perseverance. Having received an appointment to the guard thanks to the efforts of his nosy mother, he directs his efforts to secure profitable connections there.
In particular, he enjoys the support of Andrei Bolkonsky. When in 1812 Kutuzov began to dismiss everyone from the headquarters extra people, Boris managed to stay there. Boris also cleverly arranges his material affairs, having married Julie Kuragina, who disgusted him, but was rich. Without saying anything directly on his own behalf about Alexander 1, Tolstoy, however, with the totality of individual actions and statements of the tsar, shows his lack of understanding of the events taking place, his inability to understand people, arrogance and vanity, weakness as a public figure, especially clearly manifested during the Patriotic War. Surrounded by court flatterers and careerists, whom Tolstoy calls the “drone population,” the Russian emperor is far from understanding the true interests of Russia and does not know how to appreciate people who are truly useful to her, as was the case with Kutuzov. The presence of Alexander 1 in the active army so interferes with its actions and weakens it that Secretary of State Shishkov with a group of other statesmen “respectfully and under the pretext of the need for the sovereign to inspire the people in the capital to war, offered the sovereign to leave the army.” And indeed, with Alexander’s departure, things in the army went more successfully, especially with the appointment of Kutuzov, which was also forced on the part of the emperor.
In his coverage of the local nobility, Tolstoy depicts the Bolkonsky and Rostov families with great sympathy. Pierre Bezukhov. Sympathy for them is caused mainly by their active participation in ongoing historical events, their attraction to the Russian people, contempt for predation and careerism.
The wide hospitality, simplicity, gullibility, good-naturedness, lack of petty calculation, generosity of the Rostovs, their deep mutual affection make this family very attractive. The Rostovs lived in St. Petersburg as hospitably as in Moscow, and a variety of people came to dinner with them: neighbors of Otradny, old poor landowners with their daughters and the maid of honor Peronskaya, Pierre Bezukhov and the son of the district postmaster, who served in St. Petersburg. In the selection of guests and acquaintances there is no calculation, no selfish thought; here you can feel selfless cordiality. The life of the Rostovs in the village is even more patriarchal in nature: on Christmastide, the serfs dress up and have fun with the masters. The Rostovs are alien to any kind of prudence. And when, under difficult circumstances, Nikolai’s mother asked Nikolai what to do with the bill of exchange from the Drubetskys, now rich people, he tore up this bill, thereby arousing the admiration of the old countess. But at the same time, this lack of prudence turns into extravagance, characteristic of a significant part of the nobility, due to the habit of luxury and idleness. Both young Rostovs take part in the wars with Napoleon, their service
They carry without any shade of careerism, show great courage and are loved by the people around them. “The stupid Rostov breed,” Denisov says excitedly about the Rostovs, putting a completely different meaning into this expression. This brave man, who many times looked death in the face without fear, cries bitterly when he sees the murdered Petya. Tolstoy loves the Rostov family, and yet the great realist artist takes precedence over family legends in him (as you know, he portrayed his father in the person of Nikolai Rostov). The essence of Rostov complacency appears before us in a completely different light when we turn to a poor relative raised in their family, the orphan Sonya, “involuntarily learned by her dependent life of secrecy.” That random kindness that characterizes the Rostovs was (perhaps, except for Natasha) more external in nature and manifested itself until it cost them nothing.
All the heroes of the novel “War and Peace” (as fictional characters, so historical figures) are grouped and assessed by Tolstoy depending on the degree of their proximity or distance from the people. This single principle of characterizing and evaluating the entire set characters(and there are more than five hundred of them in the novel) allowed the writer to bring together the image of people from very different social strata and different individual destinies.
The main accusation that Tolstoy makes against the St. Petersburg secular society, which leads a “ghostly”, artificial life, is isolation from the people, especially in times of terrible trials. “War and Peace” begins with a description of an evening in Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s salon, where the capital’s nobility gathers. In itself, the comparison of the evening with a spinning workshop (“Spindles from different sides made noise evenly and incessantly”) was quite accurate and definitely expressed author's attitude to the world of falsehood and emptiness, to that artificial life, which is characterized by mechanism and deadness. The thought of old Prince Bolkonsky about European politics: “some kind of puppet comedy” - takes on a generalized meaning.
L.N. Tolstoy puts forward certain criteria with the help of which he determines the value of the human personality: a person’s attitude to his homeland, people, nature, the ability for introspection, depth of experience, moral quest. Representatives of secular society do not stand the test of humanity. The environment of the Kuragins and others like them (Adolf Berg, Boris Drubetskoy and Rostopchin with his pseudo-patriotism) is distinguished precisely by their lifelessness, puppetry, hostility towards everything truly human, natural, and finally, simply decent. Vasily Kuragin tried to rob Pierre, his son, Anatole, involved Pierre in scandalous stories, and he brought a lot of grief to Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova. Pierre had every reason to say, turning to Helen and referring not only to her alone, but to the entire secular world that she embodied: “...where you are, there is debauchery, evil...”.
The basic principle of Tolstoy's depiction negative characters- static, lack of movement, depth of experience. Their moral world is always primitive, devoid of intellectual richness and moral attractiveness; they are not given a living perception of nature (none of them are depicted outside city houses, social evenings, balls, etc.). Thus, already in “War and Peace,” that “tearing off of all and every mask” begins, which will become especially characteristic of Tolstoy’s subsequent work. Elaborated poses, unchanging smiles, and acting were common both for habitual visitors to Anna Pavlovna’s salon and for Napoleon.
The motifs of puppetry and play as signs of unnaturalness and artificiality are heard especially clearly in the episodes where we are talking about how Natasha, who has just returned from the village and has not yet had time to get used to the conventions of secular society, visits the opera house. Tolstoy describes an opera performance, seen as if through her eyes, that is, from the point of view of a natural person: “... then some other people came running and began to drag away that girl who was previously in a white dress, and now in a blue dress. They didn’t drag her away right away, but sang to her for a long time, and then they dragged her away...” It is here, in the theater,
Natasha meets Anatole and becomes infatuated with him. The atmosphere of artificiality, falsehood, when the shameful, illegal turns out to be permitted and ordinary (“Naked Helen sat next to her ...”), deprives Natasha of simple, natural human ideas, her guidelines have shifted, and what would have been impossible for her moral sense just recently, is now becoming quite acceptable.
Tolstoy does not accept a life concerned only with “ghosts, reflections”, devoid of truly human values. And it is characteristic that representatives of the secular world, hated by the author, gradually occupy less and less space in the development of the action, in the end almost completely disappearing from the pages of the novel.
Unexpectedly, Helen dies from a strange and mysterious illness; nothing is said in the epilogue about the Kuragins and Scherer, Berg and Drubetsky. Napoleon is also forgotten. Everything dark, selfish, negative goes away, goodness, light, openness and naturalness win. Heroines of the epic novel “Tolstoy’s moral sensitivity,” writes E. A. Maimin, “forces him to portray heroes - both positive and negative - in the light of his ideal. He does not like those of his heroes who lack life and a unique personality.
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Tolstoy recalled that he was inspired to write the novel “War and Peace” by “folk thought.” It was from the people that Tolstoy himself learned and advised others to do the same. Therefore, the main characters of his novel are people from the people or those who were close to ordinary people. Without denying the merits of the nobility to the people, he divides them into two categories. The first category includes those who, by their character, outlook, worldview, are close to the people or come to this through trials. The best representatives of the nobility in this regard are Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. But there are other representatives of the nobility, the so-called “secular society,” who constitute a special caste. These are people who recognize only a few values: title, power and money. Only those who have one or all of the listed values are allowed into their circle and recognized as their own. Secular society completely empty, just as its individual representatives are empty and insignificant, people without any moral or ethical principles, without life goals. They are just as empty and insignificant spiritual world. But despite this, they have great power. This is the elite that runs the country, the people who decide the destinies of their fellow citizens.
Tolstoy tries in the novel to show the entire nation and all its representatives. "War and Peace" begins with scenes depicting the highest noble society. The author shows mainly the present, but also touches on the past. Tolstoy paints the nobles of this bygone era. Count Kirill Bezukhov is one of their representatives. Bezukhov is rich and noble, he has a good estate, money, power, which he received from the kings for small services. A former favorite of Catherine, a reveler and a libertine, he devoted his entire life to pleasure. He is opposed old prince Bolkonsky is his peer. Bolkonsky is a loyal defender of the fatherland, which he served faithfully. For this, he was repeatedly in disgrace and out of favor with those in power.
“Secular society,” even with the onset of the War of 1812, changed little: “calm, luxurious, concerned only with ghosts, reflections of life, St. Petersburg life went on as before; and because of the course of this life, it was necessary to make great efforts to recognize the danger and the difficult situation in which the Russian people found themselves. There were the same exits, balls, the same French theater, the same interests of the courts, the same interests of service and intrigue...” Only the conversations changed - they began to talk more about Napoleon and patriotism.
At the top of noble society was Emperor Alexander I. Alexander I is shown exactly as most nobles imagined him. But in the appearance of the emperor, traits of duplicity, posturing and that cutesy sensuality, in which flatterers saw a manifestation of the “high soul of the king,” are already appearing. The true appearance of Alexander I is especially clearly shown in the scene of the tsar’s arrival in the army after the defeat of the invaders. The Tsar embraces Kutuzov, accompanying them with an angry hiss: “Old comedian.” Tolstoy believes that the top of the nation has become dead and is now living an “artificial life.” All the king's associates are no different from himself. The country is run by a bunch of foreigners who don't care about Russia. Ministers, generals, diplomats, staff officers and other close associates of the emperor are busy with their own enrichment and career. The same lies, the same intrigue, and opportunism reign here as everywhere else. Exactly Patriotic War 1812 showed the real essence of government officials. False patriotism they are covered up with loud words about the homeland and people. But their mediocrity and inability to govern the country are clearly visible in the novel.
In "War and Peace" all layers of Moscow noble society are represented. Tolstoy, characterizing noble society, strives to show not individual representatives, but entire families. After all, it is in the family that both the foundations of integrity and morality, as well as spiritual emptiness and idleness, are laid. One of these families is the Kuragin family. Its head, Vasily Kuragin, occupies a fairly high position in the country. He is a minister called to take care of the people. Instead, all the elder Kuragin’s concerns are directed towards himself and his own children. His son Ippolit is a diplomat who cannot speak Russian at all. For all his stupidity and insignificance, he craves power and wealth. Anatol Kuragin is no better than his brother. His only entertainment is carousing and drinking. It seems that this person is completely indifferent to everything except indulging his own whims. His friend Drubetskoy is Anatole’s constant companion and a witness to his dark deeds.
We meet these people already on the first pages of the novel, where Tolstoy describes the visitors and regulars of Anna Pavlovna Sherer’s salon. The cold and calculating rogue Vasily Kuragin, who is looking for clever moves “to the cross or to the shtetl,” and his son Anatole, whom his father himself calls “a restless fool,” and the destroyers of other people’s destinies Hippolyte and Helen are spinning around here. Helen is the first beauty of the city, but at the same time a cold and spiritually empty person. She realizes her beauty and puts it on display, allowing her to be admired. But this woman is far from being as harmless as she might seem at first glance. The author emphasizes Helen's smile - it is “unchangeable.” I would like to compare Helen herself with Helen the Beautiful, the ancient heroine, because of whom the Trojan War. Helen also brings nothing but trouble. Later, taking advantage of Pierre's gullibility, she will lure him into her network and marry him.
In Scherer's salon we see both Pierre and Andrei Bolkonsky. The author contrasts these living people dead to the highest world. We understand that Pierre has found himself in a society to which he is alien and which does not understand him at all. Only Andrey's intervention helps to avoid a scandal.
Boris Drubetskoy is another representative of the highest noble society. He is one of those who will replace the older generation. But the author portrays him as distant from the people as everyone else. Boris only cares about his career. He has a cool mind and a sober mind, he knows exactly what he needs in this life. He sets a goal and achieves it. Even during the war, Drubetskoy thinks about awards and promotion, wants to “arrange for himself the best position, especially the position of adjutant with an important person, which seemed especially tempting to him in the army.” He also makes acquaintances only those that are beneficial to him. Let us remember how the Drubetskys turned away from the Rostovs when they were ruined. This is despite the fact that the families were once friendly.
The highest nobility differs from the people even in their language. The language of the noble nobility is a Frenchized language. He is as dead as the rest of society. It preserves empty cliches, once and for all established expressions, ready-made phrases that are used in convenient cases. People have learned to hide their feelings behind common phrases.
Thus, by depicting noble society, Tolstoy shows its inactivity and inability to rule the country. The noble nobility has outlived its usefulness and must leave the stage of history. The necessity and inevitability of this was convincingly demonstrated by the Patriotic War of 1812.
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The multifaceted prose canvas created by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a true picture of the life of the Russian people in the first quarter of the 19th century. The volume of the work and the scale of the description characteristically evoke the multifaceted problems of the novel. One of the problems that is solved by L.N. Tolstoy is the study of the moral essence of secular society in the novel “War and Peace”.
Artistic technique of opposition
One of the main artistic techniques, used by the author, is a contrast. This catches your eye even before reading the epic novel, because this technique already emphasizes the title of the work. Through a parallel image based on the opposition of war and peace, Lev Nikolaevich depicts actual problems the era of the early 19th century, human vices and virtues, the values of society and the personal dramas of the heroes.
The technique of contrast affected not only the image plans, but also the images. In the novel, the author created images of war and peace. If the author depicts the war through battles, the characters of commanders, officers and soldiers, then the world personifies the image of Russian society in the first decades of the 19th century.
In describing the characteristic secular world in the novel “War and Peace,” the author does not deviate from his stylistic manner, which is characterized not only by philosophical digressions, where the author’s assessment of the events described is traced, but also Comparative characteristics phenomena, images, spiritual qualities. This is how the author depicts representatives of the two main cities of the Empire – St. Petersburg and Moscow – in a hidden contrast.
Characteristics of metropolitan society in the novel
During the historical period described in the work, St. Petersburg was the capital Russian Empire, with the pretentious society characteristic of such a high rank. St. Petersburg is a city characterized by architectural splendor combined with cold gloominess and inaccessibility. The author transfers his peculiar character to St. Petersburg society.
Social events, balls, receptions are the main events for representatives of the capital's secular society. It is there that political, cultural and secular news are discussed. However, for external beauty These events show that the representatives of the nobility do not care or care at all about these topics, nor the opinions of their interlocutors, nor the outcome of conversations and meetings. Exposing true and false beauty, essence metropolitan society is revealed in the novel already from the first price in Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s salon.
St. Petersburg high society in the novel plays familiar roles, speaks only about what is customary to talk about, and acts as expected. Using the example of the Kuragin family, who are characteristic representative metropolitan society, the author, with undisguised disappointment and irony, emphasizes the theatricality, affectation and cynicism of the social life of St. Petersburg and its representatives. Only those who are inexperienced or who have lost interest in role-playing find the approval of the author on the pages of the novel, through whose lips the author gives his assessment: “Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot escape.”
Description of Moscow social life and its representatives
For the first time, the author introduces the reader to the customs and atmosphere of the Moscow nobility at the morning reception of the Rostov family. At first glance, it may seem that the social picture of Moscow is not much different from the society of the Northern capital. However, the conversations of representatives of the nobility are no longer so generalized and empty; in them one can also hear personal opinions, disputes and discussions, which indicates the sincerity of their views, true concern for the fate of their region and the state as a whole. At social events there is a place for children's pranks and good-natured laughter, sincere amazement, simplicity and directness of thoughts and actions, trust and forgiveness.
At the same time, one should not assume that Tolstoy, who undoubtedly sympathizes with Moscow society in the novel, idealizes it. On the contrary, he emphasizes many of his qualities that do not find approval from the author, such as envy, ridicule, passion for gossip and discussion of other people's private lives. However, creating an image of the secular society of Moscow, the author identifies it with characteristic both positive and negative traits inherent in the Russian people.
The role of the image of secular society in the novel
One of the main issues that underlies the work and my essay on the topic “Secular society in the novel “War and Peace”” is the essence of the Russian people, with all its versatility, shortcomings and advantages. In the novel, Tolstoy’s goal was to show, without embellishment and flattery, the true face of society at the beginning of the 19th century, in order to depict against its background the essence of the Russian soul and the main national values, such as home, family and state.
The image of society serves not only as a force that shapes views, opinions, principles of thinking and ideals of behavior, but also as a background for the expression of outstanding personalities, thanks to whose high moral qualities and heroism the war was won, which largely affected future fate states.
Work test
When creating his grandiose novel, Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy could not help but pay attention to secular society, which in most cases consisted of nobles.
Secular society of that period of Russian development was divided into two types - St. Petersburg and Moscow. Tolstoy tries to give a separate description of the St. Petersburg meetings and the Moscow gatherings of nobles.
When Tolstoy was working on his novel, St. Petersburg was one of the coldest and most inhospitable cities. Therefore, the secular society that reigned in him could not radiate other qualities. St. Petersburg can easily be considered the intellectual center of the country. He was seriously focused on Europe.
A feature of St. Petersburg society was pretense and unnaturalness. The characters with whom the author introduces us simply play their role, take an example from other members of social gatherings and imitate the manners they see. During meetings and receptions, all those present necessarily discussed the news of the world and the country. Everyone tried to seem smart, well-read, well-mannered. However, this was just an illusion that overshadowed all the characters, without exception.
Pretense is the principle that extremely and clearly characterizes the behavior of St. Petersburg society.
Getting acquainted with Moscow society, the reader understands that the author himself sympathizes more with its representatives and members. Of course, the characters’ behavior patterns are somewhat similar to each other, however, in Moscow society we meet real, living personalities. They are endowed with natural emotions and feelings. They have the right to vote. She expresses her emotions the way she feels, and not the way others demand it.
In Moscow society, the reader often sees the presence of children. They are the ones who defuse the situation.
The Rostov family is a prominent representative of Moscow society. They are closer to the people, they are closer to the Russian traditions that existed at that time! And it seems to me that the author himself largely sympathizes with the Moscow nobility.
On the pages of the novel, Tolstoy uses such a technique as “detachment.” This can be clearly seen in the example of St. Petersburg society, whose members often used French as a conversational one! Of course, this feature for the most part was a kind of detachment from total mass population of Russia.
Observing the world around him, carefully peering at its inhabitants, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was able to reliably describe the secular society of that period of time. He masterfully conveyed its features and differences, informing and familiarizing every reader with them.
