Ippolit Kuragin (one of the heroes of the novel "War and Peace") is the middle son of Prince Vasily, a minor hero of the epic, whom the author infrequently 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 its pages.
A family
So, Prince Ippolit Vasilyevich Kuragin comes from a family that occupies a stable position in the world. His father is a respected courtier who, by hook or by crook, seeks to strengthen the position of his children either through marriage or by obtaining a sufficiently high position. The first chapter of the first part of the novel immediately reveals that in the evening he came to Anna Pavlovna Scherer with one purpose - to attach his first secretary to Vienna through the empress mother. Secular people, they both understood each other perfectly, and Prince Vasily was forced to "swallow" the refusal. But, discussing everything with the same Anna Pavlovna, who was pouring compliments of Helen and praising Hippolytus, the prince sadly said that he had done everything he could for them, but both sons turned out to be fools.
First meeting with the young prince
Ippolit Kuragin, in all his stupidity, appears to us precisely in the salon of Anna Pavlovna. Whatever he does or says is inappropriate.
Caring for the little princess Lisa Bolkonskaya, for no reason at all he starts to her thoughtfully explain the meaning of the coat of arms of the house of Conde. Then, for no reason, he tells a joke about a Moscow lady, who had a large girl and dressed her with a footman. At the end of the joke, he himself begins to laugh so that no one understands what his salt is, and, in general, why he was told. At the same time, Ippolit Kuragin makes all his statements extremely self-confidently. People are secular and, say, often empty and stupid, they can’t even understand whether he expressed a clever idea or not.
Inadvertent buffoonery
Prince Hippolytus Kuragin periodically still thinks, because he hardly understands. And sometimes he looks with cheerful amazement, 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 importantly discusses politics, not understanding anything at all in it.
Prince's appearance
Hippolytus and Helen Kuraginy surprisingly similar and not similar. If the features of Helene's face are beautiful, like morning, then the same features of 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.
Putting them side by side, L.N. Tolstoy shows the
two-faced Janus, so that readers by chance at first would not be seduced by the beautiful Helen. Her soul is reflected in her brother's self-confident, obese face. This is how the reader sees Ippolit Kuragin. Its characteristic is very unflattering.
Awkwardness
This is a continuation of his stupidity. A smart person is always attentive to others, quickly responding to cues and actions. And Ippolit Kuragin is able to get confused not only with his tongue, but also with his feet, disturbing everyone. Seeing off Lisa Bolkonskaya, he so embarrassingly helps her throw a shawl on her shoulders, that, it seems, he is hugging her. And this is completely unacceptable. The little princess gracefully pulled away from him, and Prince Andrei walked around him like a thing. But Hippolytus was not enough. He put on his outer clothing and, confused in a reading, said goodbye to the princess on the go. Dryly unpleasantly, Prince Andrei removed him.
Career
Prince Vasily still managed to let his son in the diplomatic service. And what, the dear young man is fluent in English and French, he will be able to serve and serve, and what if he also brings benefit to his homeland is completely unnecessary. It is enough that he can tirelessly hammer his tongue in a narrow, peculiar, closed, diplomatic world. During the war, Prince Kuragin serves as secretary at the Russian Embassy in Austria. It’s not known what exactly he does, but he is pleased with himself. He notes that the words he accidentally throws are perceived as very witty. Now he uses it. Among all the verbal rubbish to which he is only capable, some words that accidentally come up without any back thought are very useful. It may well be that he will rise to the "degrees known." This young man does not face grief from his mind, and he won’t think about anything.
Conclusion
This is the reader Ippolit Kuragin. The characterization in the novel 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 hang of handsome Anatol, who has a negative charm.
Hippolytus is no different in charm. To him, the reader immediately feels a sense of disgust. In the novel “War and Peace” Ippolit Kuragin needs the author to show what empty and worthless people the light consists of, this is the highest society close to the court, how easily even completely stupid people adapt to it, if only they have at least some support . People like Hippolytus are very tenacious, as, indeed, the whole family of Prince Vasily.