Xue Baochai and Marya Bolkonskaya: a comparative analysis of the characters of the novels of Cao Xueqin and Leo Tolstoy

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparison of the images of the characters of Xue Baochai in Cao Xueqin's novel "The Dream in the Red Chamber" and Marya Bolkonskaya in Leo Tolstoy's epic "War and Peace". In Cao Xueqin's novel, a full-fledged image of Xue Baochai was created as the "ideal woman" in relation to traditional society. In the novel by L. N. Tolstoy, among a number of female images, the essence of which is revealed through the "dialectic of the soul", Marya Bolkonskaya is a woman with a kind heart and strong religious beliefs. To date, there have been no attempts in literary studies to compare the formation of a female characters in Russian and Chinese literature. It seems possible to compare two female characters in terms of their appearance and psychological traits, the philosophical ideas of the authors, as well as to identify the problem of the influence of the historical period in which the characters live. When writing the article, the method of comparative analysis was used, this allowed to identify the common and special in literary works. Using this method, similar life paths of the characters of the novels and different ways of depicting them were revealed. The novelty of the research lies in an attempt to compare the images of the characters of two literary masterpieces describing different eras and countries. The main conclusions of the author of the article are as follows: Cao Xueqin, who was influenced by traditional Chinese ideas, created a complex and tragic image of Xue Baochai and revealed the nature of the position of a woman within the framework of feudal social relations; L. N. Tolstoy, in the process of creating the image of Mary Bolkonskaya, followed Christian ideals, endowing the character with virtues; Due to the difference of the authors' life experiences and ideological views, as well as the socio-economic conditions of their formation and development, the fates of the characters of their works also differ.