FEMALE CHARACTERS AND THE MORAL-SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF WOMANHOOD IN LEO TOLSTOY’S WAR AND PEACE

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of female characters in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace through moral, psychological, and philosophical lenses. Tolstoy’s heroines—Natasha Rostova, Princess Maria Bolkonskaya, and Hélène Kuragin—embody distinct manifestations of womanhood that reveal the author’s moral idealism and spiritual anthropology. By integrating ethical realism with deep psychological observation, Tolstoy transforms female experience into a metaphysical exploration of conscience, faith, and redemption. The study applies hermeneutic, narratological, and psychoanalytic approaches to trace the dialectic of freedom and morality in the female consciousness. It argues that women in War and Peace function as moral and spiritual centers, contrasting the chaos of war and the vanity of aristocratic society. Their inner lives illuminate Tolstoy’s vision of moral beauty as the foundation of true freedom and human harmony.