Abstract

The article addresses moral and aesthetic issues, which found expression in "folk tales" by Leo Tolstoy. Considerable attention is paid to religious and ethical comprehension of the concept of sin by Tolstoy and implementation of this concept in interpretation of the characters of these literary works. The author focuses on how Tolstoy illustrates these or those human vices basing on his principle of non-resistance to evil by force. This analysis is carried out from the point of view of possibility or impossibility of overcoming sins by the "folk tales" characters.