Ippolit Kuragin: image and characterization of personality

Ippolit Kuragin (one of the heroes of the novel "War and Peace") is the middle son of Prince Vasily, the secondary hero of the epic, which the author rarely shows us on the pages of the work. He appears for a more or less long time at the very beginning of the novel, and then occasionally flashes on his pages.

A family

So, Prince Ippolit Vasilievich Kuragin comes from a family that has a stable position in the world. His father is a respected courtier, who by all the truths and crooks seeks to consolidate the situation of his children either through marriage, or by obtaining a sufficiently high position. In the first chapter of the first part of the novel, it immediately turns out that on an evening for Anna Pavlovna Scherer, he came with one goal - to attach his son first secretary to Vienna through the Empress Mother. Secular people, they both understood each other with a half-word, and Prince Vasily was forced to "swallow" the refusal. But, discussing everything with the same Anna Pavlovna of her children, who complimented Helen, and also praised Ippolit, the prince sadly said that he had done everything for them that he could, but both sons turned out to be fools.

The first meeting with the young prince

Ippolit Kuragin in all his stupidity is exactly in the salon of Anna Pavlovna. Everything that he did or did not say is inappropriate. Taking care of the little princess Lisa Bolkonskaya, he for no reason begins to think profoundly about the meaning of the coat of arms of Conde's house. Then he was done to nothing, he tells an anecdote about a Moscow lady who had a big girl and dressed her as a lackey. At the end of the anecdote, he begins to laugh so that no one understands what his salt is, and, in general, why he is told. At the same time, all his statements Ippolit Kuragin makes extremely self-confident. People are secular and, let's say, often empty and unintelligent, can not even understand whether he has expressed a clever idea or not.

Unintentional buffoonery

Prince Hippolyte Kuragin periodically after all reflects, as he hardly understands. And sometimes he looks with a cheerful surprise, saying something, and just like the people around him, he does not understand what his words meant. In society, he is still perceived as a jester, if only because he is important about politics, not understanding anything in it exactly.

Appearance of the prince

Ippolit and Helen Kuragins are surprisingly similar and not alike. If the features of Helen's face are beautiful, like the morning, then the same traits in Hippolytus are transformed and illuminated by idiocy. The similarity of brother and sister is not accidental. Both are equally low and empty, in both of them there is no culture and wealth of the soul. Having put them side by side, Leo Tolstoy shows the two-faced Janus, so that the readers, by chance, do not at first be enchanted by the beautiful Helen. Her soul reflects on the self-confident, grumpy face of her brother. This is seen by the reader Ippolit Kuragin. His characteristic is very unflattering.

Awkwardness

This is a continuation of his stupidity. An intelligent person is always attentive to others, reacts quickly to replicas and actions. And Ippolit Kuragin is able to be confused not only with his tongue, but also with his feet, interfering with everything. While escorting Lisa Bolkonskaya, he is so awkward in helping her to throw a shawl over her shoulders, that it seems that he is hugging her. And this is absolutely unacceptable. The little princess pulled away gracefully from him, and Prince Andrew went around him like a thing. But Ippolit was not enough. He put on his outer garments and, getting tangled in the dressing gown, said goodbye on the move with the princess. Dry-unpleasant prince Andrew pushed him away.

Career

Prince Vasili managed to still put his son in the diplomatic service. And that, a nice young man fluently speaks English and French, he will be able to serve and serve, and that before he can bring benefits to the homeland, it's absolutely unnecessary. It is enough that he can tirelessly grind his tongue in a narrow, distinctive closed diplomatic world. During the war, Prince Kuragin serves as secretary to the Russian Embassy in Austria. It is not known what exactly he is doing, but he is happy with himself. He notices that accidentally thrown words are perceived as very witty. Now he uses it. Among all verbal trash, to which he is only capable, some randomly come without any backward thought are very welcome. It may very well be that he will reach the "degrees of the known." Woe from the mind of this young man is not threatened, and nothing he will not think about.

Conclusion

This is the reader Ippolit Kuragin. Characteristic in the novel, it is very monotonous, it is written in one bright brushstroke, designed to shade the whole family of Prince Vasily, in particular - Helen and the empty rake of handsome Anatole, who has a negative charm. Hippolytus is not the same charm. To him immediately the reader experiences a feeling of disgust. In the novel "War and Peace" Ippolit Kuragin is needed by the author to show what empty and worthless people light consists of, this is the highest society close to the court, how easily even stupid people adapt to it, if only they have any support at all . Such people as Hippolytus are very tenacious, as, indeed, the entire family of Prince Vasili.