Hélène Kuragina
Princess Yelena "Hélène" Vasilyevna Kuragina (Russian: Елена "Эле́н" Васи́льевна Кура́гина) is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations. The surname is modelled on the Kurakin princely family; "kuraga" is the Russian word for dried apricots.
Biography
Hélène is Pierre Bezukhov's socially ambitious and sexually alluring wife,[1] who uses her sexual attractions to earn social power in high-society circles. Before her marriage to Pierre, which she undertakes purely for social and financial advantage, it is rumoured and later implied that Hélène has had an incestuous affair with her profligate brother, Anatole.
After her marriage, Hélène has an affair with the crude but fearless soldier Dolokhov, who flaunts the romance. Pierre fights Dolokhov in a duel, and in a stroke of luck wins by wounding him. But Pierre sinks into depression, losing all love for his wife and maintaining the marriage only for appearances. Hélène quickly becomes a prominent and respected member of Petersburg society. Despite her stupidity, Hélène is considered very cultured and intelligent. She frequently hosts dinner parties for high society friends, and her salon becomes extremely popular.
Late in the novel, Hélène forsakes the Russian Orthodox Church and adopts Catholicism, but as usual, her motives are purely selfish. She makes a large donation to the church, hoping it will lead the pope to annul her marriage to Pierre so she can marry a foreign prince. Soon after, Hélène falls ill due to a pregnancy and dies. (It is implied in the book that she dies from a drug overdose in an attempted abortion.)
References
See also
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