Hélène Kuragina

Hélène Kuragina
War and Peace character
Anita Ekberg as Hélène Kuragin in the 1956 film
Created by	Leo Tolstoy
Portrayed by	Anita Ekberg Irina Skobtseva Fiona Gaunt Tuppence Middleton Amber Gray
In-universe information
Nickname	Hélène
Gender	Female
Title	Princess
Family	Vasily Kuragin (father) Anatole Kuragin (brother)
Spouse	Pierre Bezukhov
Religion	Russian Orthodox (by birth) Roman Catholic (by convert)
Nationality	Russian

Princess Yelena "Hélène" Vasilyevna Kuragina (Template:Lang-ru) is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations. She is played by Anita Ekberg in the 1956 film, by Amber Gray in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and by Tuppence Middleton in the 2016 BBC miniseries.

Biography

Hélène is described as being in her early to mid-twenties, and is considered a great beauty. Within Petersburg society, she is considered very cultured and intelligent on account of her social graces, despite actually being quite vapid. Early in the novel, it is rumoured and later implied that Hélène has had an incestuous affair with her profligate brother, Anatole.

After Pierre Bezukhov is legitimized as the heir to his father's title and fortune, Hélène's father, Prince Vasily, arranges for the two of them to be married. Despite finding Pierre odd, Hélène goes through with the marriage for the sake of social and financial advantage. Pierre is at first thrilled to be married to such a beautiful woman, but he quickly sours on the match, especially after Hélène tells him she will never have children with him. Not long after they are married, Hélène has an affair with their houseguest, 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. Pierre sinks into depression, losing all love for his wife. Hélène begs him to maintain the marriage, which he does only for appearances, while she continues to engage in sexual affairs, most notably with Boris Drubetskoy. Continuing to pursue her social ambitions, she frequently hosts dinner parties for the elite, and her salon becomes extremely popular. Later, she conspires with Anatole to help him seduce Natasha Rostova, to whom Anatole is powerfully attracted.

Late in the novel, Hélène forsakes the Russian Orthodox Church and adopts Catholicism, believing a large donation to the church will lead the pope to annul her union with Pierre so she can remarry. Soon afterward, Hélène falls ill due to a pregnancy and dies; it is implied that she died from a drug overdose in an attempted abortion.

See also

• List of characters in War and Peace