QIN KEQING AND HELEN KURAGHINA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGES OF HEROINES IN THE NOVELS OF CAO XUEQIN AND LEO TOLSTOY

Song Dannuo, Isakova Irina Nikolaevnao

The article presents a comparative analysis of the female characters Qin Keqing from Cao Xueqin’s novel «Dream of the red chamber» and Helene Kuragina from Leo Tolstoy’s «War and peace», based on the “angel/demon” Model developed in feminist literary criticism. The aim of the study is to identify both universal and culturally specific features in the representation of female characters in Russian and Chinese classical literature. The application of comparative analysis methods and elements of gender criticism reveals that the images of both heroines function within the structure of the works as markers of the social and moral crises of their respective eras. The study demonstrates that in the Chinese text, the image of Qin Keqing is characterized by profound psychological ambivalence and represents an artistic reflection on the limitations of female subjectivity within a patriarchal culture. In contrast, within the Russian literary tradition, the image of Hélène Kuragina is interpreted as a bearer of moral corruption and serves as a tool for reinforcing normative gender constructs. The findings of the research expand the understanding of the typology of female archetypes in literature and highlight the potential of cross-cultural analysis in studying the mechanisms of patriarchal discourse.

Keywords:female images, patriarchal discourse, “angel/demon” Model, feminist criticism, comparative literary studies, classical literature of China and Russia.