Hadji Murad: Analysis of Major Characters
"Hadji Murad: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex personalities and motivations of key figures in Leo Tolstoy's narrative set against the backdrop of the Caucasian Wars. Central to the story is Hadji Murad, a Turkish Caucasian warrior whose heroic yet tragic path unfolds as he seeks freedom for his loved ones from the clutches of the Chechen leader Shamil. Described as a devout and fearless character, Hadji Murad's choices are shaped by his loyalty and desperation.
Shamil, as the formidable antagonist, embodies the struggle against Russian expansion, presenting a calculated and charismatic challenge to Hadji Murad. The narrative also features Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, a Russian commander whose complex interplay with Hadji Murad illustrates the nuances of loyalty and power during this turbulent time. Supporting characters like Marya Dmitrievna and Captain Butler add layers of human experience and conflict, highlighting both personal and political dimensions.
The interplay between these characters encapsulates themes of faith, betrayal, and the harsh realities of warfare, providing a rich landscape for exploring moral and ethical dilemmas. The tragic fate awaiting Hadji Murad serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of loyalty in times of conflict. This exploration of character dynamics invites readers to engage deeply with the text's broader themes and historical context.
Hadji Murad: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Leo Tolstoy
First published: Khadzi-Murat, 1911 (English translation, 1911)
Genre: Novella
Locale: The Caucasus Mountains
Plot: Historical realism
Time: November, 1851, through April, 1852
Hadji Murad (KHAH-jih MEW-rahn), a Turkish Caucasian warrior-leader, formerly a Russian-appointed governor of Avaria and more recently the insurgent Shamil's chief representative there. With widely separated black eyes, a shaven head, a slender frame, muscular arms and small, sunburned hands, and a limp as a result of a fall over a precipice during an escape from Akhmet Khan, the turbaned Hadji Murad cuts an impressive figure astride a horse. Intimidating when serious and disarming when smiling, Hadji Murad is fearless, uncomplicated, devoutly religious, and instinctively optimistic. The narrative revolves around his decision to join forces with the Russians in an effort to defeat Shamil, who holds his aged mother, two wives, and six children captive. The politically naïve Hadji Murad, caught between the Russians and their Caucasian foes, appears doomed from the outset to a tragic end.
Shamil (shah-MIHL), the spiritual and military leader (imam) of the Chechen Caucasian Turks. A tall, slender, powerful, plainly clad, and charismatic figure, Shamil is dedicated to an ascetic Muslim faith and to the defeat of the “infidel” Russian foreigners. Russia's most formidable regional foe of the day, Shamil is a calculating, realistic leader who, though he regrets Hadji Murad's defection, realizes that victory is impossible without his former associate's death. His threat to kill or blind Hadji Murad's son Yusuf succeeds in drawing Hadji Murad into a fatal rescue attempt.
Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov (seh-MYO-nohvihch voh-ROH-tsov), the aging, aristocratic Russian commander in chief at Tiflis. Vorontsov's ambition, wealth, connections, abilities, and kindness toward inferiors have brought him great success. Still agile and mentally alert at more than seventy years of age, although readily susceptible to flattery, he is the only sirdar (commander) to whom Hadji Murad is willing to surrender himself. Vorontsov does not act on Hadji Murad's request for an exchange of prisoners of war for the latter's family members in Shamil's custody, nor does he believe the latter's declaration of loyalty to the czar. He treats Hadji Murad well nevertheless and allows him to move about the region in an effort to find a way to secure his family's release.
Prince Semen Mikhailovich Vorontsov (seh-MYON mih-KHAH-ih-loh-vihch), the Russian commander of the Kurinsky regiment stationed at Vozdvighensk and the commander in chief's son. A fair-haired and long-faced colonel with a beautiful wife, Vorontsov has the good fortune to be the person whom Hadji Murad contacts to arrange for his reception by the Russians.
Marya Dmitrievna (dmih-TRIH-ehv-nah), the housekeeper and mistress of Major Petgrov Ivan Matveyevich. The daughter of a hospital assistant, she is thirty years old, fair-haired, freckle-faced, and full-figured, with a radiant smile. Hadji Murad likes her simplicity of manner and gives her a gift after leaving Major Matveyevich's custody. When Kamenov shows Hadji Murad's head to her, the major, and Captain Butler, Dmitrievna calls everyone around her butchers.
Princess Maria Vasilyevna Vorontsova (vah-SIH-lyehvnah voh-RON-tsoh-vah), the wife of the younger Prince Vorontsov. A well-known, big-eyed, dark-browed beauty and flirt from St. Petersburg, with a Junoesque figure, she has a six-year-old son by her first husband. The Vorontsovs think they are living in Spartan conditions at the front, whereas others have never seen such a luxurious lifestyle at the Vozdizhensk fort.
Captain Butler, the commander of the Fifth Company, a tall, good-looking young man recently transferred from the Guards in St. Petersburg because of the debts caused by his compulsive gambling there. Butler loves the mountains and life at the front. Party to emperor Nicholas' command in January, 1852, that raids be carried out in Chechnya, he meets Hadji Murad. They come to like each other. At a farewell dinner for General Koslovsky, Butler drinks to excess and subsequently at Captain Poltoratsky's gambles himself back into debt. He makes unpleasant advances to Marya Dmitrievna. He takes part in the devastating raid on the village of Mahket and is with Marya when Kamenov shows Hadji Murad's head.
Nicholas I, the czar of Russia. Cold, lackluster, intimidating eyes look out from the czar's long white face with its tremendous sloping forehead. He has fatty cheeks, side-whiskers, and a mustache, and he wears a wig to cover the bald crown of his head. A large man with a protruding stomach, he is haughty, wrathful, and full of thoughts of his own greatness. He takes pleasure in being relentlessly cruel. He assumes that all of his policies end up making sense merely because they emanated from him. He gives free rein to Prince Vorontsov in the latter's dealings with Hadji Murad.
Captain Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov (tahrih-YEH-loh-vihch LOH-rihs-MEH-lih-kov), the aide-de-camp to the elder Prince Vorontsov. Because he speaks the “Tartar” tongue (the Turkic language of northern Caucasus), Loris-Melikov is assigned to Hadji Murad during the latter's stay at Tiflis and there records Hadji Murad's life story, which includes Hadji Murad's assassination of Shamil's predecessor Hamzad and his falling out with Shamil.
Yusuf (YEW-sewf), Hadji Murad's eighteen-year-old son. Confined in a dungeon at Shamil's stronghold at Vedeno, this broad-shouldered young man, who is taller than his father, is a ploy in Shamil's plan to kill Hadji Murad. Although he craves freedom and the easy life that were once his as an overlord's son, and although he admires Shamil, Yusuf attempts suicide when he learns that Shamil is using him to get to his father.
Sado (SAH-doh), a Chechen villager who is a steadfast friend to Hadji Murad. He shelters the latter in his hut in Mahket despite Shamil's prohibition of support for the renegade leader. He sends his brother Bata on Hadji Murad's behalf to pass along the latter's message to the Russians that he wishes to join them against Shamil. The Russians destroy Sado's hut and kill his young son, but he begins rebuilding his life thereafter. Sado, Peter Avdeev, and Eldar exemplify the author's sympathy for and faith in the nobility of the Russian peasantry (as opposed to the author's disdain for the false heroics of the pampered educated elite).
Peter Avdeev (av-DEH-ehv), a Russian soldier fatally wounded in an exchange of fire with Chechen Turks who had been pursuing Hadji Murad after his escape from Sado's hut. He is an excellent worker and farmhand. Avdeev had volunteered for military service in place of his indolent older brother Akim because Akim was married, with four children. Poltoratsky had ordered the exchange of fire only as a diversion. Avdeev's peasant family back home mourns his death.
Eldar, one of Hadji Murad's four closest followers. A sturdy-limbed, heavy-chested, shaven-headed, handsome young man, Eldar is unquestioningly loyal to his leader and, along with the cheerful Khan Mahoma, the equally dedicated Hanefi, and the virulently anti-Russian Gamzalo, dies at the hands of the Russians with Hadji Murad.