The hero is the main character of a literary work. Thanks to the image of the hero, a connection and dialogue is established between the author and the reader. For example, A.S. Pushkin, creating the novel “The Captain's Daughter,” sought to express his attitude to the problems of love, honor, duty and dignity of a person who found himself a participant in global historical upheavals. To do this, he introduces into the narrative characters who live and act in the world fictional by the author. By reading the novel and empathizing with the characters, evaluating their actions, we penetrate into this world and perceive the author’s position in our own way. Thus, the images of Grinev, Masha Mironova, Pugachev, Shvabrin and other heroes become for us intermediaries for understanding the novel and its artistic originality.

The hero of a literary work expresses the ideas of the time, the historical era in which it was created, a person’s attitude to the world, society and people. “The Life...” of Sergius of Radonezh was created as a role model; it reflected the best features of the Russian ascetic of the 14th century. Heroes N.M. Karamzina - the pure and sincere girl Liza and the kind-hearted but weak Erast - show the reader the importance of the inner world of a person, the understanding of which had already matured in Russian society at the end of the 18th century. The heroine of the story by I.S. Turgenev’s “Asya” affirms the value of the human personality, which does not depend on external, social circumstances.

The heroes of a literary work are divided primarily into positive ones, who evoke sympathy and a desire to imitate, and negative ones. Such, for example, are the images of Masha Mironova and Shvabrin by A.S. Pushkin, images of working peasants and cruel serf owners by A.N. Radishcheva. There are also many heroes in literary works who cannot be called only positive or only negative. Such heroes, like people in real life, are the majority - we love them or do not accept them, they are similar or not like us, they correspond or do not correspond to our ideas about the positive qualities of a person. For example, it is difficult for us to determine our attitude towards Captain Zurin from “The Captain’s Daughter”: on the one hand, he acted dishonestly and unworthily, beating the naive young man Grinev for a hundred rubles, on the other hand, he is a brave officer fighting the Pugachevites.

In addition to the term “hero,” the term “character” is often used (from Lat. persona - “personality”, “face”). This term usually refers to the character of a literary work, most often a drama. It is often used in relation to minor characters. To clarify the concept of “hero,” the terms “type” and “character” are used. A literary type is an artistic image of an individual person, which embodies the common features of a group of people, a people, humanity. For example, brother Asya from I.S. Turgenev - Gagin - represents the type of Russian idle gentleman, and Savelich in A.S. Pushkin - a type of serf, lordly slave. Literary character is such a depiction of a person in verbal art, in which the writer creates an individual, unique image. Thus, a literary type is the image of common features and qualities in a specific hero, a literary character is the isolation of an individual from a general group of people.

Introduction

Leo Tolstoy in his epic depicted more than 500 characters typical of Russian society. In War and Peace, the heroes of the novel are representatives of the upper class of Moscow and St. Petersburg, key government and military figures, soldiers, people from the common people, and peasants. The depiction of all layers of Russian society allowed Tolstoy to recreate a complete picture of Russian life in one of the turning points in the history of Russia - the era of the wars with Napoleon of 1805-1812.

In War and Peace, the characters are conventionally divided into main characters - whose fates are woven by the author into the plot narrative of all four volumes and the epilogue, and secondary - heroes who appear sporadically in the novel. Among the main characters of the novel, one can highlight the central characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov, around whose destinies the events of the novel unfold.

Characteristics of the main characters of the novel

Andrey Bolkonsky- “a very handsome young man with definite and dry features”, “short stature.” The author introduces Bolkonsky to the reader at the beginning of the novel - the hero was one of the guests at Anna Scherer's evening (where many of the main characters of Tolstoy's War and Peace were also present). According to the plot of the work, Andrei was tired of high society, he dreamed of glory, no less than the glory of Napoleon, which is why he goes to war. The episode that changed Bolkonsky’s worldview was the meeting with Bonaparte - wounded on the field of Austerlitz, Andrei realized how insignificant Bonaparte and all his glory really were. The second turning point in Bolkonsky’s life is his love for Natasha Rostova. The new feeling helped the hero return to a full life, to believe that after the death of his wife and everything he had suffered, he could continue to live fully. However, their happiness with Natasha was not destined to come true - Andrei was mortally wounded during the Battle of Borodino and soon died.

Natasha Rostova- a cheerful, kind, very emotional girl who knows how to love: “dark-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but lively.” An important feature of the image of the central character of “War and Peace” is her musical talent - a beautiful voice that even people inexperienced in music were fascinated by. The reader meets Natasha on the girl’s name day, when she turns 12 years old. Tolstoy depicts the moral maturation of the heroine: love experiences, going out into the world, Natasha’s betrayal of Prince Andrei and her worries because of this, the search for herself in religion and the turning point in the heroine’s life – the death of Bolkonsky. In the epilogue of the novel, Natasha appears to the reader completely different - before us is more the shadow of her husband, Pierre Bezukhov, and not the bright, active Rostova, who a few years ago danced Russian dances and “won” carts for the wounded from her mother.

Pierre Bezukhov- “a massive, fat young man with a cropped head and glasses.”

“Pierre was somewhat larger than the other men in the room,” he had “an intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural look that distinguished him from everyone in this living room.” Pierre is a hero who is in constant search of himself through knowledge of the world around him. Every situation in his life, every stage of life became a special life lesson for the hero. Marriage to Helen, passion for Freemasonry, love for Natasha Rostova, presence on the field of the Borodino battle (which the hero sees precisely through the eyes of Pierre), French captivity and acquaintance with Karataev completely change Pierre’s personality - a purposeful and self-confident man with own views and goals.

Other important characters

In War and Peace, Tolstoy conventionally identifies several blocks of characters - the Rostov, Bolkonsky, Kuragin families, as well as characters included in the social circle of one of these families. The Rostovs and Bolkonskys, as positive heroes, bearers of truly Russian mentality, ideas and spirituality, are contrasted with the negative characters Kuragins, who had little interest in the spiritual aspect of life, preferring to shine in society, weave intrigues and choose acquaintances according to their status and wealth. A brief description of the heroes of War and Peace will help you better understand the essence of each main character.

Graph Ilya Andreevich Rostov- a kind and generous man, for whom the most important thing in his life was family. The Count sincerely loved his wife and four children (Natasha, Vera, Nikolai and Petya), helped his wife in raising their children and did his best to maintain a warm atmosphere in the Rostov house. Ilya Andreevich cannot live without luxury, he liked to organize magnificent balls, receptions and evenings, but his wastefulness and inability to manage economic affairs ultimately led to the critical financial situation of the Rostovs.
Countess Natalya Rostova is a 45-year-old woman with oriental features, who knows how to make an impression in high society, the wife of Count Rostov, and the mother of four children. The Countess, like her husband, loved her family very much, trying to support her children and bring up the best qualities in them. Due to her excessive love for children, after Petya’s death, the woman almost goes crazy. In the countess, kindness towards loved ones was combined with prudence: wanting to improve the financial situation of the family, the woman tries with all her might to upset Nikolai’s marriage to the “unprofitable bride” Sonya.

Nikolay Rostov- “a short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face.” This is a simple-minded, open, honest and friendly young man, Natasha’s brother, the eldest son of the Rostovs. At the beginning of the novel, Nikolai appears as an admiring young man who wants military glory and recognition, but after participating first in the Battle of Shengrabe, and then in the Battle of Austerlitz and the Patriotic War, Nikolai’s illusions are dispelled and the hero understands how absurd and wrong the very idea of ​​war is. Nikolai finds personal happiness in his marriage to Marya Bolkonskaya, in whom he felt a like-minded person even at their first meeting.

Sonya Rostova- “a thin, petite brunette with a soft look, shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tint to the skin on her face,” the niece of Count Rostov. According to the plot of the novel, she is a quiet, reasonable, kind girl who knows how to love and is prone to self-sacrifice. Sonya refuses Dolokhov, because she wants to be faithful only to Nikolai, whom she sincerely loves. When the girl finds out that Nikolai is in love with Marya, she meekly lets him go, not wanting to interfere with the happiness of her loved one.

Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky- Prince, retired general chief. He is a proud, intelligent, strict man of short stature, “with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, which sometimes, as he frowned, obscured the brilliance of his intelligent and youthful sparkling eyes.” Deep down in his soul, Bolkonsky loves his children very much, but does not dare to show it (only before his death was he able to show his daughter his love). Nikolai Andreevich died from the second blow while in Bogucharovo.

Marya Bolkonskaya- a quiet, kind, meek girl, prone to self-sacrifice and sincerely loving her family. Tolstoy describes her as a heroine with “an ugly weak body and a thin face,” but “the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of everything their faces and eyes became more attractive than beauty.” The beauty of Marya’s eyes later amazed Nikolai Rostov. The girl was very pious, devoted herself entirely to caring for her father and nephew, then redirecting her love to her own family and husband.

Helen Kuragina- a bright, brilliantly beautiful woman with an “unchanging smile” and full white shoulders, who liked male company, Pierre’s first wife. Helen was not particularly intelligent, but thanks to her charm, ability to behave in society and establish the necessary connections, she set up her own salon in St. Petersburg and was personally acquainted with Napoleon. The woman died of a severe sore throat (although there were rumors in society that Helen had committed suicide).

Anatol Kuragin- Helen's brother, as handsome in appearance and noticeable in high society as his sister. Anatole lived the way he wanted, throwing away all moral principles and foundations, organizing drunkenness and brawls. Kuragin wanted to steal Natasha Rostova and marry her, although he was already married.

Fedor Dolokhov- “a man of average height, curly hair and with light eyes,” an officer of the Semenovsky regiment, one of the leaders of the partisan movement. Fedor’s personality amazingly combined selfishness, cynicism and adventurism with the ability to love and care for his loved ones. (Nikolai Rostov is very surprised that at home, with his mother and sister, Dolokhov is completely different - a loving and gentle son and brother).

Conclusion

Even a brief description of the heroes of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” allows us to see the close and inextricable relationship between the destinies of the characters. Like all events in the novel, the meetings and farewells of the characters take place according to the irrational, elusive law of historical mutual influences. It is these incomprehensible mutual influences that create the destinies of the heroes and shape their views on the world.

Work test

In the novel “War and Peace,” Leo Tolstoy conveyed the author’s vision of morals, the state of thoughts and worldview of the advanced stratum of Russian society at the beginning of the 19th century. Problems of the state arise as a result of great world events and become the concern of every conscious citizen. The main characters of the novel “War and Peace” are representatives of influential families at the emperor’s court.

Andrey Bolkonsky

The image of a Russian patriot who died in the fight against the French occupiers. He is not attracted to a quiet family life, social receptions and balls. The officer takes part in every military campaign of Alexander I. The husband of Kutuzov's niece, he becomes the adjutant of the famous general.

In the Battle of Schoenberg, he raises a soldier to attack, carrying a fallen banner, like a real hero. In the Battle of Austerlitz, Bolkonsky is wounded and captured, freed by Napoleon. In the Battle of Borodino, a shell fragment hits a brave warrior in the stomach. The ladle died in agony in the arms of his beloved girl.

Tolstoy showed a man whose life priorities are national duty, military valor and the honor of his uniform. Representatives of the Russian aristocracy have always been bearers of the moral values ​​of monarchical power.

Natasha Rostova

The young countess grew up in luxury, surrounded by parental care. A noble upbringing and excellent education could provide a girl with a profitable match and a cheerful life in high society. The war changed the carefree Natasha, who suffered the loss of dear people.

Having married Pierre Bezukhov, she became a mother of many children, finding peace in family concerns. Leo Tolstoy created a positive image of the Russian noblewoman, patriot and keeper of the hearth. The author is critical of the fact that after giving birth to four children, Natasha stopped taking care of herself. The author wants to see a woman unfading, fresh and well-groomed throughout her life.

Maria Bolkonskaya

The princess was raised by her father, Potemkin’s contemporary and friend of Kutuzov, Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky. The old general attached importance to education, especially the study of technical sciences. The girl knew geometry and algebra and spent many hours reading books.

The father was strict and biased, he tormented his daughter with lessons, this is how he demonstrated his love and care. Marya sacrificed her youth to her parent’s old age and was with him until his last days. She replaced the mother of her nephew Nikolenka, trying to surround him with parental tenderness.

Maria met her fate during the war in the person of her savior Nikolai Rostov. Their relationship developed for a long time, both did not dare to take the first step. The gentleman was younger than his lady, this embarrassed the girl. The princess had a large inheritance from the Bolkonskys, which stopped the guy. They made a good family.

Pierre Bezukhov

The young man was educated abroad and was allowed to return to Russia at the age of twenty. High society received the young man with caution, because he was the illegitimate son of a noble nobleman. However, before his death, the father asked the king to recognize Pierre as the legal heir.

In an instant, Bezukhov became a count and the owner of a huge fortune. The inexperienced, slow and gullible Pierre was used in selfish intrigues; he was quickly married to his daughter by Prince Vasily Kuragin. The hero had to go through the pain of betrayal, humiliation of his wife's lovers, a duel, Freemasonry and drunkenness.

The war cleansed the count’s soul, saved him from empty mental ordeals, and radically changed his worldview. Having gone through fire, captivity and the loss of dear people, Bezukhov found the meaning of life in family values, in the ideas of new post-war political reforms.

Illarion Mikhailovich Kutuzov

The personality of Kutuzov is a key figure in the events of 1812, because he commanded the army defending Moscow. Leo Tolstoy in the novel “Vona and Peace” presented his vision of the general’s character, his assessment of his actions and decisions.

The commander looks like a kind, fat old man who, with his experience and knowledge of conducting large battles, is trying to lead Russia out of a difficult retreat situation. The Battle of Borodino and the surrender of Moscow was a cunning military combination that led to victory over the French army.

The author described the famous Kutuzov as an ordinary person, a slave to his weaknesses, who has experience and wisdom accumulated over many years of life. The general is an example of an army commander who takes care of the soldiers, worries about their uniforms, food and sleep.

Leo Tolstoy tried, through the image of the main characters of the novel, to convey the difficult fate of representatives of high society in Russia who survived the European military storm of the early 19th century. Then a generation of Decembrists was formed, who would lay the foundation for new reforms, the result of which would be the abolition of serfdom.

The main feature that unites all the heroes is patriotism, love for the Motherland, and respect for parents.

The captain's daughter, the main characters and their characteristics (table) - briefly about each character with a description of character and literary biography. Thanks to this table, you don’t even have to read Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”; it is suitable for composing and quickly analyzing each character.

	External details	Character
Petr Andreevich Grinev	The main character. The 16-year-old son of a wealthy landowner, a former military man, a nobleman.	He has kindness, honesty, courage, a pure soul, but due to his young years, he is very inexperienced in life situations. He is principled, although he loves to show off and show off.
Masha Mironova	The captain's daughter (hence the title of the novel), beautiful, but poor. In all likelihood, a virgin.	Modest, bashful, kind and generous. Very sweet, emotional, ambitious.
Savelich, aka Arkhip Savelyev	Old serf of the Grinevs. Mentor of Peter Grinev. A shuffling old rascal.	Thrifty, thrifty, but kind and loving. Savelich is ready to give his life for Peter, but also for his junk.
Emelyan Pugachev	Chief revolutionary, Don Cossack, impostor, bandit, socialist.	Cruel, but with signs of generosity. Extremely vain. Loves honesty and sincerity in people.
	Well done officer, male, rich traitor, hunter of the Machine's cap.	A vile and low man, cowardly, short-haired, loser, cunning Pinocchio.
Captain Mironov	Masha's dad. An experienced military man, but a bit old.	Henpecked, but a brave and kind man who was not afraid of death and did not renounce the Fatherland and service.
Vasilisa Egorovna	Captain Mironov's wife, Masha's mother.	A kind but powerful woman. Economic.
Ivan Zurin	A 35-year-old officer, Grinev’s new friend, whom he met while playing billiards.	Reveler, cunning, loves to drink and party. But - an honest hussar, he did not put Grinev in his cap, but helped him.

These are the main characters of The Captain's Daughter, and there are also minor ones:

• Andrey Petrovich Grinev- Peter's father, a very strict former military man, but an easy-going comrade. He has a very strong character, but is very hot; the person is constantly busy with his own worries, so sometimes he makes mistakes and does not go into details.
• Avdotya Vasilievna- wife of the elder Grinev and mother of Peter. From a poor family, kind and humane.
• Beaupré- a perpetually drunk Frenchman who was hired to train Peter. A womanizer and a goofball. As soon as Andrei Petrovich found Beaupre in an indecent state, he drove him away with urine rags, and appointed Savelich instead.

In the main characters of The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin embodied his best qualities as a prose writer; despite the tragedy of the story, it evokes surprisingly kind feelings, and some places are permeated with light irony.

Shakespeare is a writer who wrote many beautiful works that are known throughout the world. One of such works is the play “Hamlet”, where different destinies are intertwined and social and political issues of the 16th-17th centuries are touched upon. Here the tragedy shows both betrayal and the desire to restore justice. While reading the work, the characters and I experience and feel their pain and loss.

Shakespeare Hamlet the main characters of the work

In his work “Hamlet,” Shakespeare created different heroes whose images are ambiguous. Each hero of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet is a separate world, with its own shortcomings and positive aspects. Shakespeare in the tragedy “Hamlet” created a variety of heroes in the work, where there are both positive and negative images.

Images of heroes and their characteristics

So, in the work we meet Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, who was smart, but weak-willed. Immediately after the death of her husband, she marries his killer. She does not know the feeling of maternal love, so she easily agrees to become Claudius’ accomplice. And only after she drank the poison that was intended for her son, she realized her mistake, realized how wise and fair her son was.

Ophelia, the girl who loved Hamlet until her last breath. She lived surrounded by lies and espionage, and was a toy in the hands of her father. In the end, she goes crazy because she couldn’t bear the trials that befell her.

Claudius commits fratricide in order to achieve his goals. A sneaky, cunning, hypocrite who was also smart. This character has a conscience and it also torments him, not allowing him to fully enjoy his dirty achievements.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a vivid example of what true friends should not be, because friends do not betray, but here, while characterizing the heroes of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we see that these heroes easily betray the prince by becoming spies for Claudius. They easily agree to deliver the message, which talks about the murder of Hamlet. But in the end, fate does not play into their hands, because in the end it is not Hamlet who dies, but they themselves.

Horatio, on the contrary, is a true friend to the last. He, together with Hamlet, experiences all his anxieties and doubts and asks Hamlet, after feeling the inevitable tragic end, to breathe some more in this world and tell everything about it.

In general, all the characters are bright, unforgettable, unique in their own way, and among them, of course, it is impossible not to recall in Shakespeare’s work “Hamlet” the image of the main character himself, that same Hamlet - the Danish prince. This hero is multifaceted and has an extensive image that is filled with life content. Here we see Hamlet’s hatred for Claudius, while he treats the actors wonderfully. He can be rude, as in the case of Ophelia, and he can be courteous, as in the case of Horatio. Hamlet is witty, wields a sword well, he is afraid of God's punishment, but at the same time, he blasphemes. He loves his mother, despite her attitude. Hamlet is indifferent to the throne, always remembers his father with pride, thinks and reflects a lot. He is smart, not arrogant, lives by his thoughts, is guided by his judgment. In a word, in the image of Hamlet we see the versatility of the human personality, who thought about the meaning of human existence, which is why he pronounces the well-known monologue: “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Characteristics of characters based on Shakespeare's work "HAMLET"

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