Characteristics of a literary character in the work after the ball. The main characters in the story “After the Ball” (Tolstoy)

“After the Ball” the main characters of the story are representatives of the 19th century.

"After the Ball" main characters

Ivan Vasilievich- the story is told on his behalf, main character. A young man from a wealthy family, impressionable and enthusiastic, faced with terrible injustice, dramatically changed his life, abandoning his military career.

Varenka- the girl with whom Ivan Vasilyevich was in love. She had a thin body, but at the same time the girl had a regal appearance and always carried herself majestically. When she smiled, her eyes smiled too. She had plenty of admirers, but she only liked Ivan Vasilyevich.

"tall, slender, gsmart, in a white dress with a pink belt, white kid gloves, white satin shoes, a beaming face, gentle, sweet eyes.”

Petr Vladislavovich- Varenka's father. He held the post of military commander.

The colonel was a very handsome, stately, tall and strong man of about fifty. Affectionate, leisurely speech emphasized his aristocratic essence and aroused even more admiration. He was so sweet and kind that he endeared himself to everyone, including the main character of the story.

He was graceful in dancing and when he danced with his daughter, everyone could not take their eyes off them. He was courteous and attentive. He was wearing old boots because he was saving on himself so that his daughter could buy more new dresses.

After the ball, in the scene of the soldier’s punishment, not a single sweet, good-natured feature remained on the colonel’s face. There was nothing left of the man who was at the ball, but a new one appeared, menacing and cruel.

Transformation is gentle loving father and the good-natured colonel turned into a cruel and merciless tormentor shocked Ivan Vasilyevich so much that his feelings for Varenka quickly cooled down, “from that day on, love began to wane.”

In the story “After the Ball,” the main characters are Ivan Vasilyevich and the colonel, Varenka’s father.

The narration is conducted on behalf of the hero-narrator. This is Ivan Vasilyevich, he talks about his youth (it was in the forties, Ivan Vasilyevich was a student at a provincial university).

He remembers this period because it was then that he made important life discoveries that, as he believes, changed his destiny.

The narrator was in love with Varenka, whom he describes as a wonderful beauty: “... in her youth, eighteen years old, she was lovely: tall, slender, graceful and majestic, just majestic.”

Tolstoy includes many details in the story that make it possible to judge that the hero was really happy, was in love and perceived the world easily and lightly.

The description of the ball has great importance. The whole atmosphere of the ball creates the mood of the narrator: delight, gratitude, tenderness, endless happiness, which “grew and grew.” This mood and perception is explained by the state of love that the young man experienced.

Varenka's father is also at the ball, he is a “handsome, stately, tall and fresh old man.” He danced with his daughter, everyone admired this couple, the colonel was gentle and sweet towards his daughter. During the ball, the narrator “felt for this man<…>some kind of enthusiastic and tender feeling.”

To deepen the idea of ​​Colonel Tolstoy skillfully uses the technique of antithesis. More important for him is what happened after the ball: the punishment scene that Ivan Vasilyevich saw radically changed his ideas about life. The man in charge of the execution is Varenka’s father. He walks next to the soldier, who is being “chased to escape,” calmly and firmly.

Ivan Vasilyevich also saw how the colonel “with his strong hand in a suede glove beat a frightened, short, weak soldier in the face because he did not lower the stick strongly enough on the red back of the Tatar.”

It becomes scary how much a person has changed. What kind of colonel is the real one? Most likely, he is real in the punishment scene. And at the ball he simply played the role of a hospitable host and loving father.

Ivan Vasilyevich’s feelings are also understandable: his sublime feelings were completely destroyed by what he saw in the square.

Ivan Vasilyevich analyzes his feelings; he saw the colonel with different eyes. Maybe Varenka is completely different, but the narrator has already lost that fresh and bright feeling that he felt for her at the beginning.

The heroine of the story, daughter of Colonel B., beloved of Ivan Vasilyevich. The narrator lovingly describes Varenka, since in her youth she was his ideal. She was so beautiful that even at fifty she was considered a “remarkable beauty.”

The main character of the story, the narrator. This is a person who rejects the theory that for personal improvement you need to change conditions, and firmly believes in the power of chance. He talks about one event that changed his life.

Pyotr Vladislavich, an elderly colonel, father of Varenka B. He was a handsome, stately and fresh old man with a ruddy face, white sideburns and a curled mustache. A gentle smile, the same as Varenka’s, never left his face.

Tatar

A guilty soldier who was taken around the city and beaten with sticks. He escaped and for this he was given such a punishment. The procession was headed by a colonel, Varenka's father, who made sure that the soldiers hit him hard and accurately on his back, which was already in a very terrible state.

Soldier

One of the soldiers who beat the Tatar with sticks. One of his blows seemed blurred to the colonel, and he quickly walked up to the soldier and hit him in the face.

Provincial leader

A good-natured rich old man, chamberlain. It was he who had a ball, the morning after which changed the life of Ivan Vasilyevich.

Wife of the provincial leader

The hostess of the ball, where Ivan Vasilyevich, Varenka and her father were. Good-natured, pleasant woman.

Blacksmith

An accidental witness to the unpleasant picture of the beating of a Tatar. Together with Ivan Vasilyevich, he met soldiers led by a colonel, who led the Tatar and beat him with sticks for his escape.

Anisimov

The engineer who danced the mazurka with Varenka at the ball, and Ivan Vasilyevich cannot forgive him for this action to this day.

German girl

An episodic character, it was with her that Ivan Vasilyevich danced the mazurka, because he was late, and one engineer had already taken this dance with his love Varenka. He once courted this German girl.

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The story is narrated from the perspective of Ivan Vasilyevich, who, answering the question of what is needed for personal perfection, shares an event that changed his life.

While studying at the university, he was in love with a girl named Varenka. Once on Maslenitsa at the governor’s ball, he saw her father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, who aroused his real admiration. Ivan Vasilyevich himself danced at the ball only with Varenka, and when the hostess of the evening asked the colonel to walk in the mazurka with her daughter, he, along with the other guests, watched them enthusiastically.

After the ball, Ivan Vasilyevich could not sleep, so he decided to take a walk around the city. Somehow it happened that he ended up near Varenka’s father’s house. Not far from the house, he saw a crowd and came closer to see what was happening there. It turned out that the soldiers were chasing a deserter through the ranks. Varenka’s father watched everything that was happening, demanding that the soldiers not spare the deserter and forcefully lower their sticks onto his back. When the colonel saw Ivan Vasilyevich, he did not show that they knew each other.

This event could not get out of the narrator's head. He thought for a long time about how to react to what he saw. And it was this that influenced not only the fact that he could not enter the service, but also his feelings for Varenka, since, seeing her, he immediately remembered the scene of the punishment he saw.

The main characters of "After the Ball:"

Ivan Vasilyevich - the story is told on his behalf, the main character

Varenka is the girl with whom Ivan Vasilyevich was in love.

Petr Vladislavovich- Varenka's father (Colonel).

A brief abridged retelling of “After the Ball” was prepared by Oleg Nikov for the reader’s diary.

The story was written by L.N. Tolstoy in 1903 and published only after the writer's death in 1911. The story is based on the events that happened to his brother Sergei Nikolaevich.

The main characters of the story “After the Ball”:

Ivan Vasilievich- narrator. First of all, his sensitivity and impressionability draws attention. Even after living his life, he did not harden, did not become different. A man who knew how to tell with enthusiasm, and even forgetting about the reason why he began his story. At the beginning of the story, the hero was an attractive young student who loved to dance at balls. One day he was invited to a ball by the provincial leader. There he saw Varenka dancing with her father. He was in love with Varenka and everything that surrounded her. He admired Varenka’s father. Returning home, young Ivan Vasilyevich was so happy that he could not sleep. Then he got dressed and went outside. It was light. His legs carried him in the direction where, as he knew, Varenka lived. What he saw there amazed the impressionable soul.

Varenka B- at the time of the story, the mother of adult married daughters, a beautiful woman. In her youth, she was a tall, slender girl who carried herself gracefully and majestically. She had a gentle, kind smile and lovely eyes.

Petr Vladislavovich- Varenka’s father, Colonel. A military commander like an old campaigner of Nikolaev bearing. He was a handsome, stately elderly man with a mustache curled in the style of à la Nicolas I. He danced with his daughter, and for his age, he behaved well. It was clear that he had once been a good dancer. At the ball he was a charming man, the father of the family. He found himself in the service cruel person. On his orders, a man, a Tatar, was driven through the gauntlet for escaping. The punishment was merciless. One of the soldiers struck weakly. Either out of powerlessness, or out of pity. So the colonel beat this soldier in the face with his own hand.

Leo Tolstoy's story “After the Ball” depicts Russian reality. Beautiful, luxurious balls, which cost money collected from the unfortunate serfs, the army with its drills and, worst of all, its corporal punishment. Relationships between people, having witnessed Varenka’s father driving people through the ranks and beating soldiers, Ivan Vasilyevich cooled down in his feelings for the girl. Every time he thought about her, the menacing figure of his father stood behind her, hitting the soldier in the face.