MARRIAGES BUILDED BY CALCULATION (BASED ON THE NOVEL BY L.N. TOLSTOY'S "WAR AND PEACE")

Konstantinova Anna Alexandrovna

2nd year student of group S-21 GOU SPO

"Belorechensky Medical College" Belorechensk

Maltseva Elena Alexandrovna

scientific supervisor, teacher of Russian language and literature of the highest category, Belorechensk

Every girl dreams of marriage. Some people dream of a happy family life with a chosen partner once and for all, while others find happiness in profit. Such a marriage, concluded by mutual consent, where each party pursues material wealth instead of love, is usually called a marriage of convenience.

There is an opinion that such marriages are extremely popular right now because people have become more materialistic, but in fact this concept appeared a long time ago. For example, in ancient times, kings married their daughters to the sons of another king in order to obtain a stronger army from this union to destroy a common enemy or to make peace between kingdoms. At that time, children did not really decide anything; more often than not, their marriage was planned even before they were born. It would seem that with the advent of democracy, equal rights for men and women , marriage of convenience should have disappeared. Unfortunately no. If earlier parents were the initiators, now children calculate their fate. Their calculations when concluding a marriage are very different. Some want to raise their status and increase their well-being; others - to get the opportunity to register and improve their living conditions. Girls are afraid of being left alone, being branded as “old maids,” and “the child needs a father.”

There are other reasons to enter into a marriage of convenience: the desire to gain fame, higher social status, to marry a foreigner. In the latter case, the calculation is not material, but rather psychological. The financial condition of the future spouse is important, but not paramount; in a “prudent” union, women hope to find psychological comfort and stability. According to statistics, marriages of convenience are more durable, but if other people’s money is involved, then there is no need to talk about happiness. This is a deal that benefits both. Unfortunately, Russian statistics say: more than half of marriages break up.

Marriages of convenience are not only unions entered into for the sake of money. These are weddings played after analysis and reflection, when it is not the heart that pushes down the aisle, but the mind. People who are tired of looking for an ideal soul mate and are ready to take what at least suits them, or those who did not have a good relationship with their mother in childhood, who saw the tragedy of their parental family, are prone to such enterprises. By choosing a person on whom they have little emotional dependence, they seem to insure themselves against possible pain.

If for one spouse marriage is just a calculation, and for the other it is feelings, then you will hear a well-known saying about them: “One loves, the other allows himself to be loved.” The danger of such a union is that it rests on the will and mind of one of the partners. If both people deliberately enter into an arranged marriage, then the danger lies mainly in love! If she “unexpectedly turns up” and one of the spouses decides that the marriage is not beneficial for him, then it will be almost impossible to prevent him from leaving for his lover. As life shows, unions concluded wisely, into which love and affection then came, are the most viable.

In our article we would like to compare how the calculation in building a modern family differs from the heroes of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. Having collected and systematized material about arranged marriages and families in the novel, our goal was to show young people the negative aspects of arranged marriages, because marriage is a serious act that determines the fate of later life.

How was this life experience reflected in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”?

The author realized that the truth of life lies in maximum naturalness, and the main value in life is family. There are many families in the novel, but we will focus on those that are opposed to Tolstoy’s favorite families: the “mean breed of Kuragins,” the cold Bergs and the calculating Drubetsky. An officer of not very noble origin, Berg serves on the headquarters. He always turns out to be at the right time and in the right place, makes the necessary contacts that are beneficial to him, and therefore has advanced far in his career. He told everyone for so long and with such significance about how he was wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz that he still received two awards for one wound. “According to Tolstoy’s classification, he belonged to the little “Napoleons”, like the vast majority of staff workers.” Tolstoy denies him any honor. Berg has no “warmth of patriotism”, so during Patriotic War 1812 he is not with the people, but rather against them. Berg is trying to make the most of the war. When everyone was leaving Moscow before the fire and even noble, rich people abandoned their property in order to free the carts and transport the wounded on them, Berg bought furniture at bargain prices. His wife matches him - Vera, the eldest daughter in the Rostov family.

The Rostovs decided to educate her according to the then existing canons: from French teachers. As a result, Vera completely falls out of the friendly, warm family where love reigned supreme. Even her mere appearance in the room made everyone feel awkward. Not surprising. She was beautiful girl, who regularly attended social balls, but received her first proposal from Berg at the age of 24. There was a risk that there would be no new proposals for marriage, and the Rostovs agreed to marry an ignorant person. And here it is necessary to note Berg’s commercialism and calculation: he demanded 20 thousand rubles in cash as a dowry and another bill for 80 thousand. Berg's philistinism knew no bounds. This marriage is devoid of sincerity; they even treated their children unnaturally. “The only thing is that we don’t have children so soon.” . Children were considered a burden by Berg; they contradicted his selfish views. Vera fully supported him, adding: “Yes, I don’t want this at all.” The Berg family is an example of a certain immorality. Tolstoy really doesn’t like that in this family everything is assigned, everything is done “like people”: the same furniture is bought, the same carpets are laid, the same evening parties are held. Berg buys expensive clothes for his wife, but when he wanted to kiss her, he first decided to straighten the curled corner of the carpet. So, Berg and Vera had neither warmth, nor naturalness, nor kindness, nor any other virtues that were so important for the humanist Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

According to the Bergs, Boris Drubetskoy. The son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna was raised from childhood and lived for a long time in the Rostov family. “A tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face,” Boris has dreamed of a career since his youth, is very proud, but accepts his mother’s troubles and is lenient with her humiliations if it benefits him. A.M. Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Once in military service, Drubetskoy dreams of making it in this area brilliant career. In the world, Boris strives to make useful contacts and uses his last money to give the impression of a rich and successful person. Drubetskoy is looking for a rich bride, choosing at the same time between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina. The extremely rich and wealthy Julie attracts him more, although she is already somewhat older. But for Drubetsky, the ideal option is a pass into the world of “light.”

How much irony and sarcasm sounds from the pages of the novel when we read the declaration of love of Boris Drubetsky and Julie Karagina. Julie knows that this brilliant but poor handsome man does not love her, but demands a declaration of love according to all the rules for his wealth. And Boris, uttering the right words, thinks that it is always possible to arrange it so that he rarely sees his wife. For people like the Kuragins and Drubetskys, all means are good, just to achieve success and fame and strengthen their position in society.

The Kuragin family also turns out to be far from ideal, in which there is no homely warmth or sincerity. Kuragins do not value each other. Prince Vasily notices that he does not have “the lump of parental love.” "My children are the burden of my existence". Moral underdevelopment, primitiveness of life interests - these are the features of this family. The main motive accompanying the description of the Kuragins is “imaginary beauty”, external shine. These heroes shamelessly interfere in the lives of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Pierre Bezukhov, cripple their destinies, personifying lies, debauchery, and evil.

The head of the family, Prince Kuragin, is a typical representative of secular Petersburg. He is smart, gallant, dressed in the latest fashion, but behind all this brightness and beauty hides a completely false, unnatural, greedy, rude man. The most important thing in his life is money and position in society. For the sake of money, he is even ready to commit a crime. Let us remember the tricks he goes to in order to bring the rich but inexperienced Pierre closer to him. He successfully gets his daughter Helen married. But behind her beauty and the sparkle of diamonds there is no soul. She is empty, callous and heartless. For Helen, family happiness does not lie in the love of her husband or children, but in spending her husband’s money. As soon as Pierre starts talking about offspring, she laughs rudely in his face. Only with Natasha is Pierre truly happy, because they “made concessions to one another, merged into one harmonious whole.”

The author does not hide his disgust for the “vile breed” of the Kuragins. There is no place for good motives and aspirations in it. “The world of the Kuragins is a world of “secular rabble,” dirt and depravity. The selfishness, selfishness and base instincts that reign there do not allow these people to be called a full-fledged family. . Their main vices are carelessness, selfishness and an insatiable thirst for money.

Tolstoy, assessing the lives of his heroes from a moral point of view, emphasized the decisive importance of the family for the formation of a person’s character, his attitude to life, to himself. If there is no moral core in the parents, then there will be none in the children.

Many of our contemporaries choose arranged marriage. The most correct calculation is one that takes into account the interests of everyone, including children. If it is based on mutual respect and even benefit, then such a marriage can turn out to be durable. Statistical data also speaks to this. According to Western psychologists, arranged marriages break up only in 5-7% of cases. At the end of the 20th century, 4.9% of Russians married for financial reasons, and now almost 60% of young women marry for convenience. But men are not averse to entering into an “unequal marriage.” It is no longer uncommon for a pretty young man to marry a successful, wealthy lady who is old enough to be his mother. And - imagine! - according to statistics, such marriages do not fall into the “short-term” category.

At the end of the 20th century, an interesting survey was conducted among married couples with extensive experience. 49% of Muscovites and 46% of St. Petersburg residents surveyed claimed that the reason for getting married was love. However, opinions about what exactly holds a marriage together have changed over the years. Recently, only 16% of men and 25% of women consider love to be the bonding factor of a family. Others put other priorities first: good job(33.9% of men), material wealth (31.3% of men), family well-being (30.6% of women).

The disadvantages of arranged marriages include the following: lack of love; total control of who finances the marriage; life in a “golden cage” is not excluded; in case of violation of the marriage contract, the “offending party” risks being left with nothing.

We conducted a sociological survey among students of the Belorechensk Medical College, in which 85 people took part, 1st and 2nd year students aged from 16 to 19 years. Young people preferred marriage for financial reasons, and this once again proves that our contemporaries strive to financial stability, even at the expense of others. This is exactly what Tolstoy was afraid of when talking about the loss of moral principles. The exception was 1% of those who believe that the calculation can be noble (to help a loved one, while sacrificing their future fate).

And yet our contemporaries would like to get married for love. Some out of a desire to quickly escape from parental care, others - succumbing to a bright feeling. More and more often modern people they prefer to live in a civil marriage, without burdening themselves with the burden of responsibility for the fate of another person, they build families according to convenience, without “including feelings,” with a sober head. At the same time, they do not suffer from love and inattention; they enter into marriage contracts, eliminating possible risks.

Our respondents believe in love as a bright, all-consuming feeling and do not want to build their families on the basis of commercialism. Main components happy family they consider love, mutual respect, trust. A family cannot be considered happy if there are no children in it.

So what is more important: feeling or reason? Why are there more and more people agreeing to arranged marriages? The era leaves its mark on human relations. People value predictability and convenience more, and a marriage of convenience guarantees the future. Everyone will decide for themselves what kind of marriage to enter into and with whom. The strength of both marriages will become approximately the same in a few years. It all depends on how to build a relationship with your loved one. And the truth says: “Find the golden mean between your heart and mind - and be happy!”

Bibliography:

  1. Enikeeva Y.S. Which calculation is the most correct? - [electronic resource] - Access mode. - URL: http://www.yana.enikeeva.ru/?p=510
  2. Roman L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in Russian criticism / Comp., intro. Art. and comment. I.N. Sukhikh. - L.: Publishing house Leningr. state University, 1989. - 407 p.
  3. Roman L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” / Historical, moral, aesthetic in the “great work of the great writer” - Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries. Reference materials. - M., “Enlightenment” 1995. - 463 p.
  4. Tolstoy L.N. Selected works in three volumes. - M., “ Fiction" 1988. - vol. 1, - 686 p.
  5. Tolstoy L.N. Selected works in three volumes. - M., “Fiction” 1988. - vol. 2, - 671 p.

Please help!!! I urgently need something based on the image of Julie Kuragina from the novel War and Peace! and got the best answer

Answer from Elena Evdokimova[guru]
The image of Julie Karagina FROM Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". This is typical socialite. Old Prince Bolkonsky, with whose daughter she corresponds, does not want Princess Marya to be like people like Julie, empty and false young ladies. Julie does not have her own opinion, she evaluates people only as they are evaluated in the world (her opinion about Pierre). Her goal is to get married, and she never hides it. Soon Sonya is jealous of Nikolai when he begins to talk animatedly with her. Subsequently, she has a chance to arrange her destiny when her two brothers die and she becomes a rich heiress. It was then that Boris Drubetskoy began to court her. Barely hiding his disgust for Julie, he proposes to her, and she, knowing full well that he cannot love her, still forces her to say the right things (Togstoy ironically notes that Karagina’s estate was worth these false words of love).
Once again we see Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, as she tries to flaunt her “patriotism” during the War of 1812. For example, her letters to Princess Marya are already different: “I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” wrote Julie, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear spoken. .. We in Moscow are all enthusiastic about our beloved emperor. My poor husband endures labor and hunger in the Jewish taverns; but the news that I have inspires me even more “Also” in the company of Julie, as in many societies in Moscow. , it was supposed to speak only in Russian, and those who made mistakes when speaking French words paid a fine in favor of the donations committee." Drubetskaya was one of the first to leave Moscow, even before the Battle of Borodino.
We don't meet with her anymore. But one more detail. Tolstoy does not describe her face in detail, saying only that it is red and covered in powder. It immediately becomes clear how he feels about his heroine.

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Help please!!! I urgently need something in the image of Julie Kuragina from the novel War and Peace!

Julie Karagina is one of minor characters books by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy entitled "War and Peace".

The girl comes from a noble and wealthy family. She has been friends with Marya Bolkonskaya since early childhood, but over the years they have practically stopped communicating.

Julie is approximately twenty years old. She is still unmarried, which at the time described in literary work, it was very late, so the girl passionately wanted to go down the aisle as quickly as possible. In order to meet someone, Karagina constantly attends various exhibitions, theaters and other social events. Karagina really doesn’t want to become an “old maid” and makes every effort to turn into a married lady. She has a huge inheritance that was left after the death of her parents and brothers: two luxurious mansions and plots of land, as well as cash savings.

Julie is in love with Nikolai Rostov and would willingly marry him, because she believes that this sympathy is absolutely mutual. But the young man behaves nobly towards her and does not want to tie the knot just for the sake of his potential bride’s money, because he does not perceive her as a lover and future wife. The girl continues to be jealous of Nikolai, but she was never able to win his favor. Boris Drubetskoy, on the contrary, diligently looks after Julie in order to take possession of her fortune. He doesn’t like her at all, but Boris proposes marriage to her, pursuing exclusively selfish goals, and Karagina agrees.

The girl is stupid and narcissistic. She pretends to be another person, tries to seem better than she really is. Karagina even demonstrates her feigned patriotism to others in order to earn public approval and praise. Julie knows how to play the harp and often entertains guests of her estate with various musical compositions. Karagina is constantly among representatives of the Moscow elite and knows the rules of behavior in secular society, but she is not an interesting conversationalist, so many are friends with her solely out of politeness.

The girl considers herself a real beauty, but others have a different opinion. She has a round face, big eyes, and short stature. She spares no expense on her outfits and is always dressed in the latest fashion.

Julie does not have her own point of view on various topics and imitates the reasoning and opinions of others. This pushes people away from her, because, for example, Julie’s husband secretly hates his wife, considers her a burden and feels only irritation towards her, even her long-time friend Marya Balkonskaya stopped seeing and communicating with her because Karagina became uninteresting to her.

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The female theme occupies an important place in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” This work is the writer's polemical response to supporters of women's emancipation. At one of the poles of artistic research there are numerous types of high-society beauties, hostesses of magnificent salons in St. Petersburg and Moscow - Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer; Cold and apathetic Vera Berg dreams of her own salon... Secular society immersed in eternal vanity. In the portrait of the beautiful Helen Tolstoy sees the whiteness of her shoulders, the shine of her hair and diamonds, her very open chest and back, and her frozen smile. Such details allow the artist to emphasize the inner emptiness and insignificance of the high society lioness.

The place of genuine human feelings in luxurious living rooms is taken by monetary calculation. The marriage of Helen, who chose the rich Pierre as her husband, is a clear confirmation of this. Tolstoy shows that the behavior of Prince Vasily’s daughter is not a deviation from the norm, but the norm of life of the society to which she belongs.

In fact, is Julie Karagina, who, thanks to her wealth, has a sufficient choice of suitors, behave differently? or Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, placing her son in the guard? Even before the bed of the dying Count Bezukhov, Pierre's father, Anna Mikhailovna experiences not a feeling of compassion, but fear that Boris will be left without an inheritance. Tolstoy also shows high-society beauties in family life.

Family and children do not play a significant role in their lives. Helen seems funny words Pierre that spouses can and should be bound by feelings of heartfelt affection and love. Countess Bezukhova thinks with disgust about the possibility of having children. With amazing ease she leaves her husband.

Helen is a concentrated manifestation of complete lack of spirituality, emptiness, and vanity. Excessive emancipation leads a woman, according to Tolstoy, to an incorrect understanding of her own role. In the salon of Helen and Anna Pavlovna Scherer there are political disputes, judgments about Napoleon, about the situation of the Russian army... Feeling false patriotism forces them to speak exclusively Russian during the period of the French invasion.

High-society beauties have largely lost the main features that are inherent a real woman. On the contrary, in the images of Sonya, Princess Marya, and Natasha Rostova, those traits that constitute the type of woman in the true sense are grouped. At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to create ideals, but takes life as it is.

In fact, in the work there are no consciously heroic female characters like Turgenev’s Marianna from the novel “Nov” or Elena Stakhova from “On the Eve”. Need I say that Tolstoy’s favorite heroines are devoid of romantic elation? Women's spirituality lies not in intellectual life, not in the passion of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Kuragina, Julie Karagina for political and other men's issues, but exclusively in the ability to love, in devotion to the family hearth. Daughter, sister, wife, mother - these are the main situations in life in which the character of Tolstoy’s favorite heroines is revealed. This conclusion may be questionable upon a superficial reading of the novel. Indeed, the actions of Princess Marya and Natasha Rostova during the French invasion are patriotic, and Marya Bolkonskaya’s reluctance to take advantage of the patronage of the French general and Natasha’s inability to stay in Moscow under the French are also patriotic. However, the connection female images the image of war in the novel is more complex; it is not limited to the patriotism of the best Russian women.

Tolstoy shows that it took a historical movement of millions of people so that the heroes of the novel (Marya Bolkonskaya and Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov) could find their way to each other. Tolstoy's favorite heroines live with their hearts, not their minds. All of Sonya's best, cherished memories are associated with Nikolai Rostov: common childhood games and pranks, Christmastide with fortune telling and mummers, Nikolai's love impulse, the first kiss... Sonya remains faithful to her beloved, rejecting Dolokhov's proposal.

She loves uncomplainingly, but is unable to give up her love. And after Nikolai’s marriage, Sonya, of course, continues to love him. Marya Bolkonskaya, with her evangelical humility, is especially close to Tolstoy. And yet, it is her image that personifies the triumph of natural human needs over asceticism.

The princess secretly dreams of marriage, of her own family, of children. Her love for Nikolai Rostov is a high, spiritual feeling.

In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy paints pictures of the Rostov family happiness, emphasizing that it was in the family that Princess Marya found the true meaning of life. constitutes the essence of Natasha Rostova’s life. Young Natasha loves everyone: the uncomplaining Sonya, and the countess mother, and her father, and Nikolai, and Petya, and Boris Drubetsky. The rapprochement and then separation from Prince Andrei, who proposed to her, makes Natasha suffer internally.

An excess of life and inexperience are the source of mistakes and rash actions of the heroine (the story with Anatoly Kuragin). Love for Prince Andrei awakens with renewed vigor in Natasha. She leaves Moscow with a convoy, which includes the wounded Bolkonsky. Natasha is again overcome by an exorbitant feeling of love and compassion. She is selfless to the end. The death of Prince Andrei deprives Natasha's life of meaning. The news of Petya's death forces the heroine to overcome her own grief in order to keep the old mother from insane despair.

Natasha “thought that her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her.

Love woke up and life woke up.” After marriage, Natasha refuses social life, from “all its charms” and gives itself entirely family life. Mutual understanding between spouses is based on the ability “to understand and communicate each other’s thoughts with extraordinary clarity and speed in a way that is contrary to all the rules of logic.”

This is the ideal of family happiness. This is Tolstoy’s ideal of “peace.” Tolstoy’s thoughts about the true purpose of a woman, it seems, are not outdated today. Of course, a significant role in today's life is played by women who have devoted themselves to political or social activities. But still, many of our contemporaries choose what Tolstoy’s favorite heroines chose for themselves. And is it really so little to love and be loved?

One of the most striking female images in the novel is the image of Natasha Rostova. Being a master of depicting human souls and characters, Tolstoy embodied the best features in the image of Natasha human personality. He did not want to portray her as smart, calculating, adapted to life and at the same time completely soulless, as he made the other heroine of the novel, Helen Kuragina. Simplicity and spirituality make Natasha more attractive than Helen with her intelligence and good social manners. Many episodes of the novel talk about how Natasha inspires people, makes them better, kinder, helps them find love for life, and find the right solutions.

For example, when Nikolai Rostov, having lost a large sum of money at cards to Dolokhov, returns home irritated, not feeling the joy of life, he hears Natasha singing and suddenly realizes that “all this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor “It’s all nonsense, but she’s real...” But Natasha not only helps people in difficult life situations, she also simply brings them joy and happiness, gives them the opportunity to admire themselves, and does this unconsciously and disinterestedly, as in the episode of the dance after the hunt, when she “stood up and smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly.” - fun, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and everyone present, the fear that she would do the wrong thing, passed, and they were already admiring her.”

Just like she is close to the people, Natasha is also close to understanding the amazing beauty of nature. When describing the night in Otradnoye, the author compares the feelings of two sisters, closest friends, Sonya and Natasha.

Natasha, whose soul is full of bright poetic feelings, asks Sonya to go to the window, peer into the extraordinary beauty of the starry sky, and inhale the smells that fill the quiet night. She exclaims: “After all, such a lovely night has never happened! “But Sonya cannot understand Natasha’s enthusiastic excitement. She does not have the inner fire that Tolstoy sang in Natasha.

Sonya is kind, sweet, honest, friendly, she does not commit a single bad act and carries her love for Nikolai through the years. She is too good and correct, she never makes mistakes from which she could learn life experience and get an incentive for further development. Natasha makes mistakes and draws from them the necessary life experience. She meets Prince Andrei, their feelings can be called a sudden unity of thoughts, they suddenly understood each other, felt something uniting them. But nevertheless, Natasha suddenly falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin, even wants to run away with him. An explanation for this can be that Natasha is a very ordinary person, with her own weaknesses. Her heart is characterized by simplicity, openness, and gullibility; she simply follows her feelings, not being able to subordinate them to reason.

These two women, who are similar in many ways, are contrasted with ladies of high society, such as Helen Kuragina, Anna Pavlovna Scherer, and Julie Kuragina. These women are similar in many ways. At the beginning of the novel, the author says that Helen, “when the story made an impression, looked back at Anna Pavlovna and immediately took on the same expression that was on the face of the maid of honor.” The most characteristic sign of Anna Pavlovna is the static nature of words, gestures, even thoughts: “The restrained smile that constantly played on Anna Pavlovna’s face, although it did not match her outdated features, expressed, like spoiled children, the constant consciousness of her dear shortcoming, from which she wants, cannot, does not find it necessary to get rid of it.” Behind this characteristic lies the author's irony and hostility towards the character.

Julie is a fellow socialite, “the richest bride in Russia,” who received a fortune after the death of her brothers. Like Helen, who wears a mask of decency, Julie wears a mask of melancholy: “Julie seemed disappointed in everything, she told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, nor in love, nor in any joys of life and expected peace only “there.” Even Boris, preoccupied with searching for a rich bride, feels the artificiality and unnaturalness of her behavior.

So, women close to natural life and folk ideals, such as Natasha Rostova and Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, find family happiness after going through a certain path of spiritual and moral quest. And women, far from moral ideals, cannot experience real happiness because of their selfishness and adherence to the empty ideals of secular society.

1.1. “I’m still the same... But there’s something different in me...”

The novel "Anna Karenina" was created in the period 1873-1877. Over time, the concept underwent great changes. The plan of the novel changed, its plot and compositions expanded and became more complex, the characters and their very names changed. Anna Karenina, as millions of readers know her, bears little resemblance to her predecessor from the original editions. From edition to edition, Tolstoy spiritually enriched his heroine and morally elevated her, making her more and more attractive. The images of her husband and Vronsky (in the first versions he bore a different surname) changed in the opposite direction, that is, their spiritual and moral level decreased.

But with all the changes made by Tolstoy to the image of Anna Karenina, and in the final text, Anna Karenina remains, in Tolstoy’s terminology, both a “lost herself” and an “innocent” woman. She had abandoned her sacred duties as a mother and wife, but she had no other choice. Tolstoy justifies the behavior of his heroine, but at the same time tragic fate it turns out to be inevitable.

In the image of Anna Karenina, the poetic motifs of “War and Peace” are developed and deepened, in particular those expressed in the image of Natasha Rostova; on the other hand, at times the harsh notes of the future “Kreutzer Sonata” are already breaking through in it.

Comparing War and Peace with Anna Karenina, Tolstoy noted that in the first novel he “loved folk thought, and in the second - family thought.” In War and Peace, the immediate and one of the main subjects of the narrative was precisely the activities of the people themselves, who selflessly defended native land, in Anna Karenina - mainly family relationships heroes, taken, however, as derivatives of general socio-historical conditions. As a result, the theme of the people in Anna Karenina received a unique form of expression: it is given mainly through spiritual and moral quest heroes.

The world of good and beauty in Anna Karenina is much more closely intertwined with the world of evil than in War and Peace. Anna appears in the novel “seeking and giving happiness.” But on her path to happiness, active forces of evil stand in the way, under the influence of which, ultimately, she dies. Anna's fate is therefore full of deep drama. The entire novel is permeated with intense drama. Tolstoy shows the feelings of a mother and a loving woman experienced by Anna as equivalent. Her love and maternal feeling - two great feelings - remain unconnected for her. She associates with Vronsky an idea of ​​herself as loving woman, with Karenin - as an impeccable mother of their son, as a once faithful wife. Anna wants to be both at the same time. In a semi-conscious state, she says, turning to Karenin: “I am still the same... But there is another one in me, I am afraid of her - she fell in love with him, and I wanted to hate you and could not forget about the one who was before. But not me. Now I’m real, all of me.” “All”, that is, both the one who was before, before meeting Vronsky, and the one she became later. But Anna was not yet destined to die. She had not yet had time to experience all the suffering that had befallen her, nor had she had time to try all the roads to happiness, for which her life-loving nature was so eager. She could not become Karenin’s faithful wife again. Even on the verge of death, she understood that it was impossible. She was also unable to endure the situation of “lies and deceit” any longer.