Each book read is another life lived, especially when the plot and characters are worked out in this way. "War and Peace" is a unique epic novel, there is nothing like it in either Russian or world literature. The events described in it have taken place in St. Petersburg, Moscow, foreign estates of the nobles and in Austria for 15 years. The characters are also striking in their scale.
War and Peace is a novel that features over 600 characters. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy describes them so aptly that the few apt characteristics that the characters are awarded are enough to form an idea of them. Therefore, "War and Peace" is a whole life in all the fullness of colors, sounds and sensations. It is worth living for.
The birth of an idea and creative quest
In 1856, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy began writing a story about the life of a Decembrist who had returned from exile. The time of action was supposed to be the years 1810-1820. Gradually, the period expanded to 1825, but by this time the main character had already matured and became a family man. And in order to better understand him, the author had to return to the period of his youth. And it coincided with a glorious era for Russia.
But Tolstoy could not write about the triumph over Bonaparte France without mentioning failures and mistakes. The novel now consisted of three parts. The first (as conceived by the author) was supposed to describe the youth of the future Decembrist and his participation in the war of 1812. This is the first period of the hero's life. The second part Tolstoy wanted to devote to the Decembrist uprising. The third is the return of the hero from exile and his further life. However, Tolstoy quickly abandoned this idea: the work on the novel turned out to be too large-scale and laborious.
Initially, Tolstoy limited the duration of his work to 1805-1812 years. The epilogue, dated 1920, appeared much later. But the author was concerned not only with the plot, but also with the characters. War and Peace is not a description of the life of one hero. The central figures are several characters at once. And the main character is the people, which is much larger than the thirty-year-old Decembrist Pyotr Ivanovich Labazov, who returned from exile.
Work on the novel took Tolstoy six years, from 1863 to 1869. And this, not taking into account the six that went to the development of the idea of the Decembrist, which became its basis.
The character system in War and Peace
The main character in Tolstoy is the people. But in his understanding, he is not just a social category, but a creative force. According to Tolstoy, the people are all the best that is in the Russian nation. Moreover, it includes not only representatives of the lower classes, but also those of the nobility, who are characterized by the desire to live for the sake of others.
Tolstoy contrasts the representatives of the people with Napoleon, the Kuragin and other aristocrats - the regulars of Anna Pavlovna Sherer's salon. These are the negative characters of the novel "War and Peace". Already in describing their appearance, Tolstoy emphasizes the mechanistic nature of their existence, the lack of spirituality, the "animality" of their actions, the lifelessness of smiles, selfishness and the inability to compassion. They are incapable of change. Tolstoy does not see the possibility of their spiritual development, so they remain forever frozen, distant from the real understanding of life.
Researchers often distinguish two subgroups of "folk" characters:
- Those who are endowed with "simple consciousness." They can easily distinguish right from wrong, guided by the "mind of the heart." This subgroup includes such characters as Natasha Rostova, Kutuzov, Platon Karataev, Alpatych, officers Timokhin and Tushin, soldiers and partisans.
- Those who are "looking for themselves." Education and class barriers prevent them from connecting with the people, but they manage to overcome them. This subgroup includes such characters as Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. It is these heroes that are shown capable of development, internal changes. They are not devoid of shortcomings, they make mistakes more than once in their life searches, but they pass all tests with dignity. Sometimes Natasha Rostova is also included in this group. After all, she, too, was once carried away by Anatol, forgetting about her beloved prince Bolkonsky. The war of 1812 becomes a kind of catharsis for this entire subgroup, which makes them look at life differently and discard the class conventions that previously prevented them from living at the behest of their hearts, as the people do.
The simplest classification
Sometimes the characters in "War and Peace" are divided according to an even simpler principle - according to their ability to live for the sake of others. Such a character system is also possible. "War and Peace", like any other work, is the author's vision. Therefore, everything in the novel takes place in accordance with Lev Nikolaevich's attitude to the world. The people, in Tolstoy's understanding, are the personification of all the best that is in the Russian nation. Characters such as the Kuragin family, Napoleon, many regulars of the Scherer salon know how to live only for themselves.
Arkhangelsk and Baku
- "Burners of life", from the point of view of Tolstoy, stand farthest from the correct understanding of life. This group lives only for themselves, selfishly neglecting others.
- "Leaders". This is how Arkhangelsky and Bak call those who think they are in control of history. For example, the authors include Napoleon in this group.
- “Sages” are those who understood the true world order and were able to trust providence.
- "Ordinary people". This group, according to Arkhangelsky and Bak, includes those who know how to listen to their heart, but do not particularly strive for anywhere.
- "Truth-seekers" are Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. Throughout the novel, they are painfully searching for the truth, striving to understand what the meaning of life is.
- In a separate group, the authors of the textbook single out Natasha Rostova. They believe that she is close to both "ordinary people" and "wise men" at the same time. A girl easily comprehends life empirically and knows how to listen to the voice of her heart, but the most important thing for her is her family and children, as, according to Tolstoy, an ideal woman should be.
You can consider many more classifications of characters in "War and Peace", but they all ultimately come down to the simplest, which fully reflects the worldview of the author of the novel. After all, he saw true happiness in serving others. Therefore, the positive ("folk") heroes know how and want to do this, but the negative ones do not.
L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace": female characters
Any work is a reflection of the author's vision of life. According to Tolstoy, the highest destiny of a woman is to take care of her husband and children. It is the keeper of the hearth that the reader sees Natasha Rostova in the epilogue of the novel.
All positive female characters in War and Peace fulfill their highest destiny. The author and Maria Bolkonskaya endows the happiness of motherhood and family life. Interestingly, she is perhaps the most positive character in the novel. Princess Marya has practically no flaws. Despite her versatile education, she still finds her destiny, as befits a Tolstoy heroine, in caring for her husband and children.
A completely different fate awaits Helen Kuragina and the little princess, who did not see the joy in motherhood.
Pierre Bezukhov
This is Tolstoy's favorite character. "War and Peace" describes him as a man who by nature possesses a highly noble disposition, therefore, the people easily understand. All his mistakes are due to aristocratic conventions, instilled in him by upbringing.
Throughout the novel, Pierre experiences many mental trauma, but does not become embittered and does not become less good-natured. He is loyal and sympathetic, often forgets about himself in an effort to serve others. By marrying Natasha Rostova, Pierre found that grace and true happiness, which he lacked so much in his first marriage with the thoroughly false Helen Kuragina.
Lev Nikolaevich loves his hero very much. He describes in detail his formation and spiritual development from the very beginning to the end. Pierre's example shows that responsiveness and devotion are the main things for Tolstoy. The author rewards him with happiness with his beloved female heroine, Natasha Rostova.
From the epilogue, you can understand the future of Pierre. Having changed himself, he seeks to transform society. He does not accept the contemporary political foundations of Russia. It can be assumed that Pierre will participate in the Decembrist uprising, or at least actively support him.
Andrey Bolkonsky
For the first time, a reader meets this hero in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. He is married to Lisa - a little princess, as she is called, and will soon become a father. Andrei Bolkonsky behaves with all the regulars of Scherer extremely arrogantly. But soon the reader notices that this is only a mask. Bolkonsky understands that those around him cannot understand his spiritual quest. He talks to Pierre in a completely different way. But Bolkonsky at the beginning of the novel is not alien to the ambitious desire to achieve heights in the military field. It seems to him that he stands above aristocratic conventions, but it turns out that his eyes are just as narrowed as the rest. Andrei Bolkonsky realized too late that in vain he had given up his feelings for Natasha. But this insight comes to him only before his death.
Like other "seeking" characters in the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, Bolkonsky all his life has been trying to find an answer to the question of what is the meaning of human existence. But he realizes the highest value of the family too late.
Natasha Rostova
This is Tolstoy's favorite female character. However, the whole Rostov family is presented to the author as the ideal of the nobles living in unity with the people. Natasha cannot be called beautiful, but she is lively and attractive. The girl feels well the mood and characters of people.
According to Tolstoy, inner beauty is not combined with outer beauty. Natasha is attractive due to her character, but her main qualities are simplicity and closeness to the people. However, at the beginning of the novel, she lives in her own illusion. Disappointment in Anatola makes her an adult, contributes to the maturation of the heroine. Natasha begins attending church and ultimately finds her happiness in family life with Pierre.
Marya Bolkonskaya
The prototype of this heroine was the mother of Lev Nikolaevich. Unsurprisingly, it is almost completely flawless. She, like Natasha, is ugly, but has a very rich inner world. Like other positive characters in the novel "War and Peace", in the end she also becomes happy, becoming the keeper of the hearth in her own family.
Helen Kuragina
Tolstoy has a multifaceted characterization of his characters. War and Peace describes Helene as a cutesy woman with a fake smile. It immediately becomes clear to the reader that there is no inner content behind the external beauty. Marrying her becomes a test for Pierre and does not bring happiness.
Nikolay Rostov
The basis of any novel is the characters. War and Peace describes Nikolai Rostov as a loving brother and son, as well as a true patriot. Lev Nikolaevich saw in this hero the prototype of his father. After going through the hardships of the war, Nikolai Rostov retires to pay the debts of his family, and finds his true love in the person of Marya Bolkonskaya.
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See also War and Peace
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Like everything in the epic "War and Peace", the character system is extremely complex and very simple at the same time.
It is difficult because the composition of the book is multifaceted, dozens of plot lines, intertwining, form its dense artistic fabric. It is simple because all the heterogeneous heroes belonging to incompatible class, cultural, property circles are clearly divided into several groups. And we find this division at all levels, in all parts of the epic.
What are these groups? And on what basis do we distinguish them? These are groups of heroes who are equally distant from the life of the people, from the spontaneous movement of history, from the truth, or equally close to them.
We have just said: Tolstoy's novel epic permeates the pervasive idea that the unknowable and objective historical process is controlled directly by God; that a person can choose the right path both in private life and in great history not with the help of a proud mind, but with the help of a sensitive heart. The one who guessed it, felt the mysterious course of history and no less mysterious laws of everyday life, he is wise and great, even if he is small in his social position. The one who boasts of his power over the nature of things, who selfishly imposes his personal interests on life, is small, even if he is great in his social position.
In accordance with this tough opposition, Tolstoy's heroes are "distributed" into several types, into several groups.
In order to understand how exactly these groups interact with each other, let's agree on the concepts that we will use when analyzing Tolstoy's multi-figure epic. These concepts are conditional, but they make it easier to understand the typology of heroes (remember what the word "typology" means, if you forgot, look at its meaning in the dictionary).
Those who, from the author's point of view, are the farthest from a correct understanding of the world order, we will agree to call the burners of life. Those who, like Napoleon, think that they are in control of history, we will call leaders. They are opposed by sages who have comprehended the main secret of life, have understood that a person must submit to the invisible will of Providence. We will call those who simply live, listening to the voice of their own heart, but not particularly striving for anywhere, we will call ordinary people. Those favorite Tolstoyan heroes! - who is painfully seeking the truth, we define as truth-seekers. And, finally, Natasha Rostova does not fit into any of these groups, and this is fundamental for Tolstoy, which we will also talk about.
So, who are they, the heroes of Tolstoy?
Burners of life. They are busy only with chatting, arranging their personal affairs, serving their petty whims, their egocentric desires. And at any cost, regardless of the fate of other people. This is the lowest of all ranks in the Tolstoy hierarchy. The heroes related to him are always of the same type; to characterize them, the narrator demonstratively uses the same detail from time to time.
The head of the capital's salon, Anna Pavlovna Sherer, appearing on the pages of War and Peace, each time with an unnatural smile moves from one circle to another and treats the guests with an interesting visitor. She is sure that she forms public opinion and influences the course of things (although she herself changes her beliefs precisely in the wake of fashion).
The diplomat Bilibin is convinced that it is they, the diplomats, who control the historical process (but in fact he is busy with idle talk); from one scene to another, Bilibin gathers the folds on his forehead and utters a pre-prepared sharp word.
Drubetskoy's mother, Anna Mikhailovna, who stubbornly promotes her son, accompanies all her conversations with a mournful smile. In Boris Drubetskoy himself, as soon as he appears on the pages of the epic, the narrator always highlights one feature: his indifferent calmness of an intelligent and proud careerist.
As soon as the narrator starts talking about the predatory Helen Kuragina, he certainly mentions her magnificent shoulders and bust. And with any appearance of the young wife of Andrei Bolkonsky, a little princess, the narrator will pay attention to her open lip with a mustache. This monotony of the narrative technique does not testify to the poverty of the artistic arsenal, but, on the contrary, to the deliberate goal set by the author. The burners themselves are monotonous and unchanging; only their views change, the being remains the same. They don't develop. And the immobility of their images, the resemblance to deathly masks, is precisely emphasized stylistically.
The only character in the epic belonging to this group who is endowed with a mobile, lively character is Fyodor Dolokhov. “The Semyonovsky officer, a well-known player and breaker,” he is distinguished by his extraordinary appearance - and this alone makes him stand out from the general row of life-makers.
Moreover: Dolokhov is languishing, bored in that whirlpool of worldly life, which sucks in the rest of the "burners". That is why he goes all out, gets into scandalous stories (the plot with the bear and the quarter in the first part, for which Dolokhov is demoted to the rank and file). In battle scenes, we become witnesses of Dolokhov's fearlessness, then we see how tenderly he treats his mother ... But his fearlessness is aimless, Dolokhov's tenderness is an exception to his own rules. And hatred and contempt for people becomes the rule.
It is fully manifested in the episode with Pierre (after becoming Helene's lover, Dolokhov provokes Bezukhov to a duel), and at the moment when Dolokhov helps Anatoly Kuragin prepare the abduction of Natasha. And especially in the scene of the card game: Fyodor brutally and dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov, vilely taking out on him his anger at Sonya, who refused Dolokhov.
Dolokhov's rebellion against the world (and this is also "peace"!) Of the burners of life turns into the fact that he himself burns out his life, lets it into a spray. And it is especially offensive to be aware of the narrator, who, by distinguishing Dolokhov from the general row, seems to give him a chance to break out of the terrible circle.
And in the center of this circle, this funnel that sucks in human souls, is the Kuragin family.
The main "generic" quality of the whole family is cold egoism. He is especially characteristic of his father, Prince Vasily, with his court identity. It is not without reason that for the first time the prince appears before the reader precisely "in a courtly, embroidered uniform, in stockings, in shoes, with the stars, with a bright expression of a flat face." Prince Vasily himself does not calculate anything, does not plan ahead, we can say that instinct works for him: when he tries to marry Anatole's son to Princess Mary, and when he tries to deprive Pierre of his inheritance, and when, having suffered an involuntary defeat along the way, imposes on Pierre his daughter Helen.
Helene, whose "unchanging smile" emphasizes the unambiguity, the one-dimensionality of this heroine, seemed to have frozen for years in the same state: a static deathly sculptural beauty. She, too, does not specifically plan anything, she also obeys an almost animal instinct: bringing her husband closer and removing him, having lovers and intending to convert to Catholicism, preparing the ground for divorce and starting two novels at once, one of which (any) must be crowned with marriage.
External beauty replaces Helen's internal content. This characteristic extends to her brother, Anatol Kuragin. A tall, handsome man with "beautiful big eyes", he is not gifted with intelligence (although not as stupid as his brother Hippolytus), but "on the other hand, he also had the ability of calmness, precious for the world, and unchangeable confidence." This confidence is akin to the instinct of profit that possesses the souls of Prince Vasily and Helen. And although Anatole does not pursue personal gain, he hunts for pleasures with the same unquenchable passion and with the same readiness to sacrifice any neighbor. This is what he does to Natasha Rostova, making her fall in love with him, preparing to take her away and not thinking about her fate, about the fate of Andrei Bolkonsky, whom Natasha is going to marry ...
Kuragins play in the vain dimension of the world the same role that Napoleon plays in the “military” dimension: they personify secular indifference to good and evil. On a whim the Kuragin draws the surrounding life into a terrible whirlpool. This family looks like a whirlpool. Having approached him at a dangerous distance, it is easy to die - only a miracle saves Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei Bolkonsky (who would certainly have challenged Anatole to a duel if not for the circumstances of the war).
Leaders. In Tolstoy's epic, the lower "category" of heroes - the burners of life - corresponds to the upper category of heroes - leaders. The way they are portrayed is the same: the narrator draws attention to a single trait of character, behavior or appearance of the character. And every time the reader meets this hero, he stubbornly, almost annoyingly points out this trait.
The burners of life belong to the "world" in the worst of its meanings, nothing in history depends on them, they revolve in the emptiness of the salon. Leaders are inextricably linked with war (again in the bad sense of the word); they are at the head of historical collisions, separated from mere mortals by an impenetrable veil of their own greatness. But if the Kuragin really draw the surrounding life into the worldly whirlpool, then the leaders of the peoples only think that they are drawing humanity into the historical whirlpool. In fact, they are only toys of chance, pitiful instruments in the invisible hands of Providence.
And here, let's stop for a second to agree on one important rule. And once and for all. In fiction, you have already met and will more than once come across images of real historical figures. In Tolstoy's epic, these are Emperor Alexander I, Napoleon, Barclay de Tolly, Russian and French generals, and the Moscow governor-general Rostopchin. But we must not, we have no right to confuse "real" historical figures with their conventional images that act in novels, stories, poems. And the emperor, and Napoleon, and Rostopchin, and especially Barclay de Tolly, and other characters of Tolstoy, depicted in War and Peace, are the same fictional characters like Pierre Bezukhov, like Natasha Rostova or Anatol Kuragin.
The outer outline of their biographies can be reproduced in a literary composition with scrupulous, scientific accuracy, but the inner content is “embedded” in them by the writer, invented in accordance with the picture of life that he creates in his work. And therefore, they are not much more similar to real historical figures than Fedor Dolokhov is to his prototype, the carousel and daredevil R. I. Dolokhov, and Vasily Denisov to the partisan poet D. V. Davydov.
Only having mastered this iron and irrevocable rule, we will be able to move on.
So, discussing the lowest category of the heroes of War and Peace, we came to the conclusion that it has its own mass (Anna Pavlovna Sherer or, for example, Berg), its own center (Kuragins) and its own periphery (Dolokhov). The highest category is organized, arranged according to the same principle.
The chief of the leaders, and therefore the most dangerous, the most deceitful of them, is Napoleon.
There are two Napoleonic characters in Tolstoy's epic. One lives in a legend about a great commander, which is retelling to each other by different characters and in which he appears either as a powerful genius or as an equally powerful villain. Not only the visitors of Anna Pavlovna Sherer's salon, but also Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, believe in this legend at different stages of their journey. At first, we see Napoleon through their eyes, imagine him in the light of their ideal of life.
And another image is a character acting on the pages of an epic and shown through the eyes of a narrator and heroes who suddenly collide with him on the battlefields. Napoleon first appears as a character in War and Peace in the chapters on the Battle of Austerlitz; first it is described by the narrator, then we see it from the point of view of Prince Andrew.
The wounded Bolkonsky, who recently idolized the leader of the peoples, notices on the face of Napoleon, bending over him, "a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness." Having just experienced a spiritual upheaval, he looks into the eyes of his former idol and thinks "about the insignificance of greatness, about the insignificance of life, which no one could understand the meaning." And "his hero himself seemed so petty to him, with this petty vanity and joy of victory, in comparison with that high, fair and kind heaven that he saw and understood."
The narrator, in both Austerlitz chapters, Tilsit and Borodino chapters, invariably emphasizes the ordinariness and comic insignificance of a person's appearance, whom the whole world adores and hates. "Plump, short" figure, "with wide, thick shoulders and involuntarily thrust forward belly and chest, had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hall have."
In the novel image of Napoleon, there is not even a trace of the power that lies in his legendary image. For Tolstoy, only one thing matters: Napoleon, who imagined himself to be the engine of history, is actually pitiful and especially worthless. Impersonal fate (or the unknowable will of Providence) made him an instrument of the historical process, and he imagined himself the creator of his victories. This refers to Napoleon the words from the historiosophical finale of the book: “For us, with the measure of good and bad given to us by Christ, there is no immeasurable. And there is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth. "
A reduced and worsened copy of Napoleon, a parody of him - the Moscow mayor Rostopchin. He fusses, fidgets, hangs posters, quarrels with Kutuzov, thinking that the fate of Muscovites, the fate of Russia depends on his decisions. Ho the narrator sternly and unswervingly explains to the reader that Moscow residents began to leave the capital not because someone called them to do this, but because they obeyed the will of Providence that they had guessed. And the fire broke out in Moscow not because Rostopchin so wanted (and even more so not against his orders), but because it could not help but burn down: sooner or later, fire inevitably breaks out in the abandoned wooden houses where the invaders settled.
Rostopchin has the same attitude to the departure of Muscovites and the Moscow fires, which Napoleon has to the victory at the Austerlitz field or to the flight of the valiant French army from Russia. The only thing that is truly in his power (as well as in the power of Napoleon) is to protect the lives of the townspeople and militias entrusted to him, or to scatter them out of whim or out of fear.
The key scene in which the narrator's attitude to the “leaders” in general and to the image of Rostopchin in particular is concentrated is the lynching execution of the merchant's son Vereshchagin (volume III, part three, chapters XXIV-XXV). In it, the ruler is revealed as a cruel and weak man, mortally afraid of an angry crowd and, out of horror in front of her, ready to shed blood without trial or investigation.
The narrator seems extremely objective, he does not show his personal attitude to the actions of the mayor, does not comment on them. But at the same time he consistently opposes the “metallic-ringing” indifference of the “leader” to the uniqueness of a separate human life. Vereshchagin is described in great detail, with obvious compassion ("bryancha with shackles ... pressing the collar of a sheepskin coat ... with a submissive gesture"). But Rostopchin does not look at his future victim - the narrator repeats several times on purpose, with pressure: "Rostopchin did not look at him."
Even the angry, gloomy crowd in the courtyard of the Rostopchinsky house does not want to rush to Vereshchagin, accused of treason. Rostopchin is forced to repeat several times, inciting her against the merchant's son: “- Beat him! .. Let the traitor perish and not shame the name of the Russian! ... Ruby! I order!". Ho and after this direct call-order, "the crowd groaned and advanced, but again stopped." She still sees a man in Vereshchagin and does not dare to rush at him: "A tall fellow, with a petrified expression on his face and with a stopped raised hand, stood next to Vereshchagin." Only after, obeying the order of the officer, the soldier "with a distorted malice hit Vereshchagin on the head with a blunt sword" and the merchant's son in a fox sheepskin coat "shortly and in surprise" cried out, "a barrier of human feeling stretched to the highest degree, which still kept the crowd , broke through instantly. " Leaders treat people not as living beings, but as instruments of their power. And therefore they are worse than the crowd, more terrible than it.
The images of Napoleon and Rostopchin stand at opposite poles of this group of heroes in War and Peace. And the main "mass" of leaders here is formed by all sorts of generals, chiefs of all stripes. All of them, as one, do not understand the inscrutable laws of history, they think that the outcome of the battle depends only on them, on their military talents or political abilities. It does not matter which army they serve in this case - French, Austrian or Russian. And the personification of all this mass of generals becomes in the epic Barclay de Tolly, a dry German in Russian service. He does not understand anything in the spirit of the people and, together with other Germans, believes in the scheme of the correct disposition.
The real Russian commander Barclay de Tolly, in contrast to the artistic image created by Tolstoy, was not a German (he came from a Scottish, and a long time ago, Russified family). And in his work, he never relied on the scheme. But this is where the line lies between the historical figure and his image, which is created by literature. In Tolstoy's picture of the world, the Germans are not real representatives of a real people, but a symbol of alienness and cold rationalism, which only interferes with understanding the natural course of things. Therefore, Barclay de Tolly, as a hero of the novel, turns into a dry "German", which he was not in reality.
And on the very edge of this group of heroes, on the border separating false leaders from sages (we'll talk about them a little below), there is the image of the Russian Tsar Alexander I. He is so isolated from the general row that at first it even seems that his image is devoid of boring unambiguity that it is complex and multi-part. Moreover, the image of Alexander I is invariably presented in an aura of admiration.
But let's ask ourselves the question: whose admiration is this, the narrator or the heroes? And then everything will immediately fall into place.
Here we see Alexander for the first time during a review of the Austrian and Russian troops (volume I, part three, chapter VIII). At first, the narrator describes him neutrally: "The handsome, young Emperor Alexander ... with his pleasant face and sonorous, quiet voice attracted all the power of attention." Then we begin to look at the tsar through the eyes of Nikolai Rostov, who is in love with him: “Nicholas clearly, down to all the details, examined the beautiful, young and happy face of the emperor, he experienced a feeling of tenderness and delight that he had never experienced before. Everything - every feature, every movement - seemed to him charming in the sovereign. " The narrator discovers the usual features in Alexander: beautiful, pleasant. And Nikolai Rostov discovers in them a completely different quality, an excellent degree: they seem to him beautiful, "lovely".
But here is Chapter XV of the same part; here the narrator and Prince Andrew, who is not in love with the sovereign, alternately look at Alexander I. This time, there is no such internal gap in emotional assessments. The sovereign meets with Kutuzov, whom he clearly dislikes (and we do not yet know how highly the narrator values Kutuzov).
It would seem that the narrator is again objective and neutral:
“An unpleasant impression, just like the remnants of fog on a clear sky, ran over the young and happy face of the emperor and disappeared ... the same enchanting combination of majesty and meekness was in his beautiful gray eyes, and on his thin lips the same possibility of various expressions and the prevailing expression complacent, innocent youth. "
Again "a young and happy face", again a charming appearance ... And yet, pay attention: the narrator lifts the veil over his own attitude to all these qualities of the king. He directly says: "on thin lips" there was "the possibility of a variety of expressions." And “the expression of a complacent, innocent youth” is only prevailing, but by no means the only one. That is, Alexander I always wears masks behind which his real face is hidden.
What is this face? It is contradictory. It contains both kindness, sincerity - and falsity, lies. But the fact of the matter is that Alexander is opposed to Napoleon; Tolstoy does not want to belittle his image, but he cannot exalt. Therefore, he resorts to the only possible way: he shows the king primarily through the eyes of heroes loyal to him and worshiping his genius. It is they, blinded by their love and devotion, who pay attention only to the best manifestations of Alexander's different faces; it is they who recognize him as a real leader.
In chapter XVIII (volume one, part three) Rostov again sees the tsar: “The sovereign was pale, his cheeks were sunken and his eyes were sunken; but the more charm, meekness was in his features. " This is a typically Rostov gaze - the gaze of an honest but superficial officer in love with his sovereign. However, now Nikolai Rostov meets the tsar far from the nobles, from the thousands of eyes fixed on him; before him - a simple suffering mortal, grievingly experiencing the defeat of the army: "Tol said something for a long time and with ardor to the emperor," and he, "apparently crying, closed his eyes with his hand and shook Tol's hand." Then we will see the tsar through the eyes of the obligingly proud Drubetskoy (volume III, part one, chapter III), enthusiastic Petya Rostov (volume III, part one, chapter XXI), Pierre Bezukhov at the moment when he was captured by general enthusiasm during the Moscow meeting of the sovereign with the deputations of the nobility and merchants (volume III, part one, chapter XXIII) ...
For the time being, the narrator with his attitude remains in a deep shadow. He only says through clenched teeth at the beginning of the third volume: “The Tsar is the slave of history,” but refrains from direct assessments of the personality of Alexander I until the end of the fourth volume, when the Tsar directly collides with Kutuzov (chapters X and XI, part four). Only here, and even then for a short while, does the narrator show his restrained disapproval. After all, we are talking about the resignation of Kutuzov, who has just won, together with the entire Russian people, a victory over Napoleon!
And the result of the "Alexander" line of the plot will be summed up only in the Epilogue, where the narrator will do his best to preserve justice in relation to the king, bring his image closer to the image of Kutuzov: the latter was necessary for the movement of peoples from west to east, and the first - for the return movement peoples from east to west.
Ordinary people. Both the burners and the leaders in the novel are opposed to "ordinary people" led by the lover of truth, the Moscow lady Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova. In their world, she plays the same role that the Petersburg lady Anna Pavlovna Sherer plays in the world of the Kuragin and Bilibins. Ordinary people did not rise above the general level of their time, their era, did not know the truth of the life of the people, but instinctively live in conditional agreement with it. Although they sometimes act incorrectly, human weaknesses are inherent in them to the full.
This discrepancy, this difference in potentials, the combination of different qualities in one person, good and not so, favorably distinguishes ordinary people both from the burners of life and from the leaders. Heroes classified in this category, as a rule, are shallow people, and yet their portraits are painted in different colors, deliberately devoid of uniqueness, uniformity.
Such is the generally hospitable Moscow family of the Rostovs, mirroring the opposite of the St. Petersburg clan of the Kuragin.
The old Count Ilya Andreevich, the father of Natasha, Nikolai, Petit, Vera, is a weak-willed person, allows managers to rob him, suffers at the thought that he is ruining children, but he cannot do anything about it. Departure for a village for two years, an attempt to move to St. Petersburg and get a job change little in the general state of affairs.
The count is not very clever, but at the same time he is fully endowed from God with heart gifts - hospitality, cordiality, love for family and children. Two scenes characterize him from this side, and both are permeated with lyricism, ecstasy of delight: a description of a dinner in a Rostov house in honor of Bagration and a description of a hunting dog.
And one more scene is extremely important for understanding the image of the old count: the departure from burning Moscow. It was he who was the first to give the reckless (from the point of view of common sense) order to let the wounded on the carts. Having removed the acquired property from the carts for the sake of Russian officers and soldiers, the Rostovs inflict the last irreparable blow on their own condition ... But not only they save several lives, but unexpectedly for themselves give Natasha a chance to make peace with Andrey.
Ilya Andreich's wife, the Countess of Rostov, is also not distinguished by a special mind - that abstract, learned mind, to which the narrator treats with obvious distrust. She is hopelessly behind modern life; and when the family is completely ruined, the countess is not even able to understand why they should abandon their own carriage and cannot send a carriage for any of her friends. Moreover, we see the injustice, sometimes the cruelty of the countess in relation to Sonya - completely innocent of the fact that she is a dowry.
And yet she, too, has a special gift of humanity, which separates her from the crowd of life-makers, brings her closer to the truth of life. It is the gift of love for one's own children; love instinctively wise, deep and selfless. The decisions that she makes in relation to children are dictated not simply by the desire to benefit and save the family from ruin (although to her too); they are aimed at making the life of the children themselves in the best possible way. And when the countess learns about the death of her beloved younger son in the war, her life, in essence, ends; barely avoiding insanity, she instantly grows old and loses active interest in what is happening around.
All the best Rostov qualities were passed on to the children, except for the dry, calculating and therefore unloved Vera. Marrying Berg, she naturally moved from the category of "ordinary people" to the number of "burners" and "Germans". And also - except for the Rostovs' pupil Sonya, who, despite all her kindness and sacrifice, turns out to be a "barren flower" and gradually, following Vera, slides from the rounded world of ordinary people into the plane of life burners.
Particularly touching is the younger, Petya, who has completely absorbed the atmosphere of the Rostov house. Like his father and mother, he is not too smart, but he is extremely sincere and sincere; this soulfulness is expressed in a special way in his musicality. Petya instantly surrenders to a heartfelt impulse; therefore, it is from his point of view that we look from the Moscow patriotic crowd at Tsar Alexander I and share his genuine youthful enthusiasm. Although we feel: the narrator does not treat the emperor as unambiguously as the young character. Petya's death from an enemy bullet is one of the most poignant and memorable episodes of the Tolstoyan epic.
Just as there is a center for the burners of life, for the leaders, so there is also for ordinary people inhabiting the pages of "War and Peace". This center is Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya, whose life lines, divided over three volumes, in the end still intersect, obeying the unwritten law of affinity.
"A short, curly-haired young man with an open expression", he is distinguished by "swiftness and enthusiasm." Nikolai, as usual, is shallow (“he had that common sense of mediocrity, which told him what was due,” the narrator says bluntly). But on the other hand, he is very emotional, impetuous, cordial, and therefore musical, like all Rostovs.
One of the key episodes of Nikolai Rostov's storyline is crossing the Ens, and then being wounded in the arm during the Battle of Shengraben. Here the hero first encounters an insoluble contradiction in his soul; he, who considered himself a fearless patriot, suddenly discovers that he is afraid of death and that the very idea of death is absurd - him, whom "everyone loves so much." This experience not only does not reduce the image of the hero, on the contrary: it is at that moment that his spiritual maturation takes place.
And yet it's not for nothing that Nikolai likes it so much in the army and is so uncomfortable in ordinary life. A regiment is a special world (another world in the middle of a war) in which everything is arranged logically, simply, unambiguously. There are subordinates, there is a commander and there is a commander of commanders - the sovereign emperor, whom it is so natural and so pleasant to adore. And civilian life all consists of endless intricacies, of human sympathies and antipathies, the clash of private interests and common goals of the estate. Coming home on vacation, Rostov either gets entangled in his relationship with Sonya, then splashes out to Dolokhov, which puts the family on the brink of a monetary catastrophe, and in fact flees from ordinary life to the regiment, like a monk to his monastery. (He does not seem to notice that the same procedures are in force in the army; when he has to solve complex moral problems in the regiment, for example, with officer Telyanin who stole a wallet, Rostov is completely lost.)
Like any hero who claims to be an independent line in the novel space and actively participate in the development of the main intrigue, Nikolai is endowed with a love story. He is a good fellow, an honest man, and therefore, having given a youthful promise to marry the dowry Sonya, he considers himself bound for the rest of his life. And no persuasion of the mother, no hints of relatives about the need to find a rich bride can shake him. Moreover, his feeling for Sonya goes through different stages, then completely fading away, then returning again, then disappearing again.
Therefore, the most dramatic moment in the fate of Nikolai comes after the meeting in Bogucharovo. Here, during the tragic events of the summer of 1812, he accidentally meets Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, one of the richest brides in Russia, whom he would dream of marrying. Rostov disinterestedly helps the Bolkonskys to get out of Bogucharov, and both of them, Nikolai and Marya, suddenly feel a mutual attraction. However, what is considered the norm among the “burners” (and the majority of “ordinary people” too) turns out to be an obstacle for them, almost insurmountable: she is rich, he is poor.
Only Sonya's refusal from the word given to her by Rostov, and the power of natural feeling, are able to overcome this obstacle; having married, Rostov and Princess Marya live in perfect harmony, as Kitty and Levin will live in Anna Karenina. However, this is the difference between honest mediocrity and an outburst of truth-seeking, that the former does not know development, does not admit doubts. As we have already noted, in the first part of the Epilogue between Nikolai Rostov, on the one hand, Pierre Bezukhov and Nikolenka Bolkonsky, on the other, an invisible conflict is brewing, the line of which stretches into the distance, beyond the plot action.
Pierre, at the cost of new moral torment, new mistakes and new searches, is drawn into another turn of the big history: he becomes a member of the early pre-Decembrist organizations. Nikolenka is completely on his side; it is easy to calculate that by the time of the uprising on Senate Square he will be a young man, most likely an officer, and with such a heightened moral sense he will be on the side of the rebels. And sincere, respectable, close-minded Nicholas, stopped once and for all in development, knows in advance that if something happens he will shoot at the opponents of the legitimate ruler, his beloved sovereign ...
Truth-seekers. This is the most important of the categories; without heroes-truth-seekers, no epic "War and Peace" would have existed at all. Only two characters, two close friends, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, have the right to claim this special title. They, too, cannot be called unconditionally positive; to create their images, the narrator uses a variety of colors, but it is precisely because of the ambiguity that they seem especially voluminous and bright.
Both of them, Prince Andrey and Count Pierre, are rich (Bolkonsky - initially, the illegitimate Bezukhov - after the sudden death of his father); smart, albeit in different ways. Bolkonsky's mind is cold and sharp; Bezukhov's mind is naive, but organic. Like many young people in the 1800s, they are in awe of Napoleon; the proud dream of a special role in world history, which means that the conviction that it is the personality that controls the course of things is equally inherent in both Bolkonsky and Bezukhov. From this common point, the narrator draws two very different plot lines, which at first diverge very far, and then reconnect, intersecting in the space of truth.
But it is here that it turns out that they become truth-seekers against their will. Neither one nor the other is going to seek the truth, they do not strive for moral perfection, and at first they are sure that the truth was revealed to them in the image of Napoleon. They are prompted to an intense search for truth by external circumstances, and perhaps by Providence itself. It's just that the spiritual qualities of Andrei and Pierre are such that each of them is able to respond to the challenge of fate, to respond to her dumb question; only because they ultimately rise above the general level.
Prince Andrew. Bolkonsky is unhappy at the beginning of the book; he does not love his sweet but empty wife; is indifferent to the unborn child, and even after his birth does not show any special paternal feelings. The family "instinct" is as alien to him as the secular "instinct"; he cannot get into the category of "ordinary" people for the same reasons that he cannot be among the "burners of life." On the other hand, he could not only break into the number of the elected "leaders", but he would very much like to. Napoleon, we repeat again and again, is a life example and a reference point for him.
Having learned from Bilibin that the Russian army (this was happening in 1805) was in a hopeless situation, Prince Andrey was almost glad of the tragic news. "... It occurred to him that it was precisely for him that he was destined to lead the Russian army out of this situation, that here he was, that Toulon, who would lead him out of the ranks of unknown officers and would open the first path to glory for him!" (volume I, part two, chapter XII).
How it ended, you already know, we analyzed the scene with the eternal sky of Austerlitz in detail. The truth is revealed to Prince Andrey herself, without any effort on his part; he does not gradually come to the conclusion that all narcissistic heroes are insignificant in the face of eternity - this conclusion appears to him immediately and in its entirety.
It would seem that Bolkonsky's storyline is exhausted already at the end of the first volume, and the author has no choice but to declare the hero dead. And here, contrary to ordinary logic, the most important thing begins - the search for truth. Having accepted the truth at once and in its entirety, Prince Andrey suddenly loses it and begins a painful, long search, returning by a side road to the feeling that once visited him on the field of Austerlitz.
Arriving home, where everyone considered him dead, Andrei learns about the birth of his son and - soon - about the death of his wife: the little princess with a short upper lip disappears from his life horizon at the very moment when he is ready to finally open his heart to her! This news shocks the hero and awakens in him a feeling of guilt before his deceased wife; leaving military service (along with a vain dream of personal greatness), Bolkonsky settled in Bogucharovo, was engaged in housekeeping, reading, and raising a son.
It would seem that he anticipates the path along which Nikolai Rostov will go at the end of the fourth volume together with Andrei's sister Princess Marya. Compare the descriptions of the economic concerns of Bolkonsky in Bogucharov and Rostov in Lysyh Gory on your own. You will be convinced of the non-coincidental similarity, you will find another plot parallel. But the difference between the “ordinary” heroes of “War and Peace” and the truth-seekers is that the former stop where the latter continue their unstoppable movement.
Bolkonsky, who has learned the truth of the eternal heaven, thinks that it is enough to give up personal pride in order to find peace of mind. But in fact, village life cannot accommodate his unspent energy. And the truth, received as a gift, not personally suffered, not acquired as a result of a long search, begins to elude him. Andrei languishes in the village, his soul seems to be drying out. Pierre, who came to Bogucharovo, was struck by the terrible change that had taken place in his friend. Only for a moment a happy feeling of belonging to the truth awakens in the prince - when, for the first time after being wounded, he pays attention to the eternal sky. And then the veil of hopelessness again obscures his life horizon.
What happened? Why does the author “doom” his hero to inexplicable torment? First of all, because the hero must independently "mature" to the truth that was revealed to him by the will of Providence. Prince Andrey has a difficult job to do, he will have to go through numerous trials before he regains a sense of unshakable truth. And from that moment on, the storyline of Prince Andrey is likened to a spiral: it goes to a new round, repeating the previous stage of his fate at a more complex level. He is destined to fall in love again, again to indulge in ambitious thoughts, again to be disappointed in both love and thoughts. And finally, come back to the truth.
The third part of the second volume opens with a symbolic description of Prince Andrey's trip to Ryazan estates. Spring is coming; upon entering the forest, he notices an old oak tree at the edge of the road.
“Probably ten times older than the birches that made up the forest, it was ten times thicker and twice the height of each birch. It was a huge oak in two girths, with broken off, long visible, bitches and with broken off bark, overgrown with old sores. With his huge clumsy, asymmetrically spread out gnarled hands and fingers, he stood between the smiling birch trees as an old, angry and contemptuous freak. Only he alone did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun. "
It is clear that Prince Andrew himself is personified in the image of this oak, whose soul does not respond to the eternal joy of a renewing life, has died and died out. But on matters of Ryazan estates, Bolkonsky must meet with Ilya Andreich Rostov - and, after spending the night in the Rostovs' house, the prince again notices the bright, almost starless spring sky. And then by chance he hears an excited conversation between Sonya and Natasha (volume II, part three, chapter II).
A feeling of love is latently awakening in Andrei's heart (although the hero himself does not yet understand this). As a character of a folk tale, he seems to be sprinkled with living water - and on the way back, already at the beginning of June, the prince again sees an oak that personifies himself, and recalls the Austerlitz sky.
Returning to St. Petersburg, Bolkonsky with renewed vigor becomes involved in social activities; he believes that he is now motivated not by personal vanity, not pride, not "Napoleonism", but a disinterested desire to serve people, to serve the Fatherland. The young energetic reformer Speransky became his new hero and idol. For Speransky, who dreams of transforming Russia, Bolkonsky is ready to follow in the same way as he was previously ready to imitate Napoleon in everything, who wanted to throw the entire Universe at his feet.
Ho Tolstoy builds the plot in such a way that the reader feels something not quite right from the very beginning; Andrei sees in Speransky a hero, and the narrator sees another leader.
The judgment about the "insignificant seminarian" who holds the fate of Russia in his hands, of course, expresses the position of the enchanted Bolkonsky, who himself does not notice how he transfers Napoleon's features to Speransky. And the mocking clarification - "as Bolkonsky thought" - comes from the narrator. "The contemptuous calmness" of Speransky is noticed by Prince Andrey, and the arrogance of the "leader" ("from an immeasurable height ...") is the narrator.
In other words, Prince Andrew repeats the mistake of his youth at a new stage in his biography; he is again blinded by a false example of someone else's pride, in which his own pride finds food. But here in the life of Bolkonsky a significant meeting takes place - he meets the very same Natasha Rostova, whose voice on a moonlit night in the Ryazan estate brought him back to life. Falling in love is inevitable; matchmaking is a foregone conclusion. But since the stern father, the old man Bolkonsky, does not agree to a quick marriage, Andrei is forced to go abroad and stop working with Speransky, which could seduce him, lead him to his old path. And the dramatic break with the bride after her failed flight with Kuragin completely pushes Prince Andrey, as it seems to him, to the sidelines of the historical process, to the outskirts of the empire. He is again under the command of Kutuzov.
But in fact, God continues to lead Bolkonsky in a special way, guided by Him alone. Having passed the temptation by the example of Napoleon, happily escaping the temptation by the example of Speransky, having again lost hope for family happiness, Prince Andrey for the third time repeats the "drawing" of his fate. Because, having fallen under the command of Kutuzov, he is imperceptibly charged with the quiet energy of the old wise commander, as before he was charged with the stormy energy of Napoleon and the cold energy of Speransky.
It is no coincidence that Tolstoy uses the folkloric principle of the threefold test of the hero: after all, unlike Napoleon and Speransky, Kutuzov is truly close to the people, makes one whole with them. Until now, Bolkonsky was aware that he was worshiping Napoleon, guessed that he was secretly imitating Speransky. And the hero does not even suspect that he follows Kutuzov's example in everything. The spiritual work of self-education takes place in him hidden, latent.
Moreover, Bolkonsky is sure that the decision to leave Kutuzov's headquarters and go to the front, to rush into the thick of the battles comes to him spontaneously, by itself. In fact, he adopts from the great commander a wise view of the purely popular character of the war, which is incompatible with the court intrigues and pride of the "leaders". If the heroic desire to take up the regimental banner on the field of Austerlitz was the "Toulon" of Prince Andrey, then the sacrificial decision to participate in the battles of the Patriotic War is, if you will, his "Borodino", comparable at a small level of individual human life with the great Battle of Borodino, morally won Kutuzov.
It was on the eve of the Battle of Borodino that Andrei met Pierre; a third (again a folklore number!) significant conversation takes place between them. The first took place in Petersburg (volume I, part one, chapter VI) - during it Andrei for the first time threw off the mask of a contemptuous secular man and frankly told a friend that he was imitating Napoleon. During the second (volume II, part two, chapter XI), held in Bogucharov, Pierre saw in front of him a man mournfully doubting the meaning of life, the existence of God, internally dead, having lost the incentive to move. This meeting with a friend became for Prince Andrey "the era from which, although in appearance and the same, but in the inner world, his new life began."
And here is the third conversation (volume III, part two, chapter XXV). Having overcome involuntary alienation, on the eve of the day when, perhaps, both of them will die, friends again openly discuss the most delicate, most important topics. They do not philosophize - there is neither time nor energy for philosophizing; but their every word, even very unfair (like Andrey's opinion about the prisoners), is weighed on special scales. And Bolkonsky's final passage sounds like a premonition of imminent death:
“Oh, my soul, lately it has become hard for me to live. I see that I have begun to understand too much. And it is not good for a person to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ... Well, not for long! he added. "
The wound on the field of Borodin compositionally repeats the scene of the injury of Andrey on the field of Austerlitz; and there, and here the hero suddenly reveals the truth. This truth is love, compassion, faith in God. (Here is another plot parallel.) But in the first volume we had a character to whom the truth appeared in spite of everything; now we see Bolkonsky, who managed to prepare himself to accept the truth at the cost of mental anguish and tossing. Pay attention: the last one Andrei sees on the Austerlitz field is the insignificant Napoleon, who seemed great to him; and the last one he sees on the Borodino field is his enemy, Anatol Kuragin, also seriously wounded ... (This is another plot parallel, allowing to show how the hero has changed during the time elapsed between the three meetings.)
Andrei has a new meeting with Natasha ahead; last date. And here, too, the folkloric principle of threefold repetition "works". For the first time, Andrei hears Natasha (without seeing her) in Otradnoye. Then he falls in love with her during the first Natasha's ball (volume II, part three, chapter XVII), explains to her and makes an offer. And here is the wounded Bolkonsky in Moscow, near the Rostovs' house, at the very moment when Natasha orders to give the carts to the wounded. The meaning of this wrap-up meeting is forgiveness and reconciliation; having forgiven Natasha, reconciled with her, Andrei finally grasped the meaning of love and therefore is ready to part with earthly life ... His death is portrayed not as an irreparable tragedy, but as a solemnly sad result of the earthly career he passed.
It is not without reason that it is here that Tolstoy carefully introduces the theme of the Gospel into the fabric of his narrative.
We are already accustomed to the fact that the heroes of Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century often pick up this main book of Christianity, which tells about the earthly life, teachings and resurrection of Jesus Christ; just remember Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. However, Dostoevsky wrote about his modernity, while Tolstoy turned to the events of the beginning of the century, when educated people from high society turned to the Gospel much less often. For the most part, they read Church Slavonic poorly; they rarely resorted to the French version; it was only after the Patriotic War that work began on translating the Gospel into living Russian. It was headed by the future Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov); the release of the Russian Gospel in 1819 influenced many writers, including Pushkin and Vyazemsky.
Prince Andrew is destined to die in 1812; nevertheless, Tolstoy committed a decisive violation of the chronology, and in his dying reflections of Bolkonsky he placed quotations from the Russian Gospel: "The birds of heaven do not sow, do not reap, but your Father feeds them ..." Why? Yes, for the simple reason that Tolstoy wants to show: the gospel wisdom entered Andrei's soul, it became part of his own reflections, he reads the Gospel as an explanation of his own life and his own death. If the writer "forced" the hero to quote the Gospel in French or even in Church Slavonic, this would immediately separate Bolkonsky's inner world from the Gospel world. (In general, in the novel, the heroes speak French the more often, the further they are from the public truth; Natasha Rostova generally utters only one remark in French over the course of four volumes!) , with the theme of the gospel.
Pierre Bezukhov. If the storyline of Prince Andrey is spiral, and each subsequent stage of his life on a new round repeats the previous stage, then Pierre's storyline - right up to the Epilogue - looks like a narrowing circle with the figure of the peasant Platon Karataev in the center.
This circle at the beginning of the epic is immensely wide, almost like Pierre himself - "a massive, fat young man with a bobbed head and glasses." Like Prince Andrey, Bezukhov does not feel like a truth-seeker; he, too, considers Napoleon a great man and is content with the widespread notion that history is ruled by great people, heroes.
We get to know Pierre at the very moment when, out of an excess of vitality, he takes part in revelry and almost robberies (the story of the quarter). Vitality is his advantage over the deathly light (Andrei says that Pierre is the only “living person”). And this is his main misfortune, since Bezukhov does not know what to apply his heroic strength to, she is aimless, there is something Nozdrev in her. Special emotional and mental needs are inherent in Pierre from the very beginning (that is why he chooses Andrei as his friend), but they are scattered, not clothed in a clear and precise form.
Pierre is distinguished by energy, sensuality, reaching passion, extreme ingenuity and myopia (literally and figuratively); all this dooms Pierre to rash steps. As soon as Bezukhov becomes the heir to a huge fortune, the "burners of life" immediately entangle him with their nets, Prince Vasily marries Pierre to Helene. Of course, family life is not set; Pierre cannot accept the rules by which high society "burners" live. And now, having parted with Helen, he for the first time consciously begins to look for an answer to his tormenting questions about the meaning of life, about the purpose of man.
“What's wrong? What well? What should I love, what should I hate? Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? What is the power that controls everything? He asked himself. And there was no answer to any of these questions, except for one, not a logical answer, not at all to these questions. This answer was: “If you die, it’s all over. If you die, you will find out everything, or you will stop asking questions. " But it was terrible to die ”(volume II, part two, chapter I).
And here on his life path he meets the old Mason-mentor Osip Alekseevich. (Masons were called members of religious and political organizations, "orders", "lodges", which set themselves the goal of moral self-improvement and intended to transform society and the state on this basis.) The metaphor of the path of life in the epic is the road along which Pierre travels; Osip Alekseevich himself approaches Bezukhov at the post station in Torzhok and starts a conversation with him about the mysterious destiny of man. From the genre shadow of the family novel, we immediately move into the space of the novel of education; Tolstoy barely perceptibly stylizes the "Masonic" chapters to resemble novels of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. So, in the scene of Pierre's acquaintance with Osip Alekseevich, a lot makes us remember about the "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by AN Radishchev.
In Masonic conversations, conversations, reading and reflections, Pierre reveals the same truth that appeared on the Austerlitz field to Prince Andrew (who, perhaps, at some point also went through the "Masonic trial"; in a conversation with Pierre Bolkonsky, he mockingly mentions gloves, which Freemasons receive before marriage for their chosen one). The meaning of life is not in a heroic deed, not in becoming a leader, like Napoleon, but in serving people, feeling involved in eternity ...
But the truth is precisely revealed, it sounds hollow, like a distant echo. And gradually, more and more painfully, Bezukhov feels the deceit of the majority of Freemasons, the discrepancy between their petty secular life and the proclaimed universal ideals. Yes, Osip Alekseevich will forever remain a moral authority for him, but Freemasonry itself eventually ceases to meet Pierre's spiritual needs. Moreover, the reconciliation with Helene, to which he went under Masonic influence, does not lead to anything good. And having made a step in the social field in the direction set by the Freemasons, starting a reform in his estates, Pierre suffers an inevitable defeat: his impracticality, credulity and lack of system doom the land experiment to failure.
Disappointed Bezukhov first turns into the good-natured shadow of his predatory wife; it seems that the maelstrom of "life-burners" is about to close over him. Then he again starts drinking, carousing, returns to the idle habits of youth and eventually moves from St. Petersburg to Moscow. You and I have repeatedly noted that in Russian literature of the 19th century St. Petersburg was associated with the European center of the bureaucratic, political, and cultural life of Russia; Moscow - with a rustic, traditionally Russian habitat of retired nobles and lordly loafers. The transformation of a Petersburg resident Pierre into a Muscovite is tantamount to his rejection of any life aspirations.
And here the tragic and cleansing events of the Patriotic War of 1812 are approaching. For Bezukhov, they have a very special, personal meaning. After all, he has long been in love with Natasha Rostova, his hopes for an alliance with whom were twice crossed out by his marriage to Helen and Natasha's promise to Prince Andrei. Only after the story with Kuragin, in overcoming the consequences of which Pierre played a huge role, did he actually confess his love to Natasha (volume II, part five, chapter XXII).
Not by chance, right after the scene of an explanation with Natasha Tolstaya through the eyes of Pierre, he shows the famous comet of 1811, which foreshadowed the beginning of the war: "It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his soul, which blossomed into a new life, softened and emboldened." The theme of the nationwide test and the theme of personal salvation merge in this episode.
Step by step, the stubborn author leads his beloved hero to the comprehension of two inextricably linked "truths": the truth of a sincere family life and the truth of national unity. Out of curiosity, Pierre went to the Borodino field just before the great battle; observing, communicating with the soldiers, he prepares his mind and his heart for the perception of the thought that Bolkonsky will express to him during their last Borodino conversation: the truth is where they are, ordinary soldiers, ordinary Russian people.
The views that Bezukhov professed at the beginning of War and Peace are overturned; before he saw in Napoleon the source of historical movement, now he sees in him the source of supra-historical evil, the embodiment of the Antichrist. And I am ready to sacrifice myself for the salvation of mankind. The reader should understand: Pierre's spiritual path has been traversed only to the middle; the hero has not yet "matured" to the point of view of the narrator, who is convinced (and convinces the reader) that it is not Napoleon at all, that the French emperor is just a toy in the hands of Providence. Ho the experiences that befell Bezukhov in French captivity, and most importantly, the acquaintance with Platon Karataev, will complete the work that has already begun in him.
During the execution of the prisoners (a scene refuting Andrey's cruel arguments during the last Borodino conversation) Pierre himself recognizes himself as an instrument in the hands of others; his life and his death do not really depend on him. And communication with a simple peasant, a "roundish" soldier of the Absheron regiment, Platon Karataev, finally reveals to him the perspective of a new philosophy of life. The purpose of a person is not to become a bright personality, separate from all other personalities, but to reflect in oneself the life of the people in its entirety, to become a part of the universe. Only then can you feel truly immortal:
“- Ha, ha, ha! - Pierre laughed. And he spoke aloud to himself: - The soldier did not let me in. Caught me, locked me up They are holding me captive. Who me? Me? Me - my immortal soul! Ha, ha, ha! .. Ha, ha, ha! .. - he laughed with tears appearing in his eyes ... Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the departing, playing stars. “And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me! ..” (volume IV, part two, chapter XIV).
It is not for nothing that these reflections of Pierre sound almost like folk poems, they emphasize, strengthen the internal, irregular rhythm:
The soldier did not let me in.
Caught me, locked me up
They are holding me captive.
Who me? Me?
The truth sounds like a folk song, and the sky, into which Pierre directs his gaze, makes the attentive reader recall the finale of the third volume, the appearance of a comet, and, most importantly, the sky of Austerlitz. But the difference between the Austerlitz scene and the experience that visited Pierre in captivity is fundamental. Andrei, as we already know, at the end of the first volume comes face to face with the truth contrary to his own intentions. He only has a long roundabout way to her. And Pierre comprehends it for the first time as a result of painful searches.
But nothing is definitive in Tolstoy's epic. Remember, we said that Pierre's storyline only seems circular, that if you look into the Epilogue, the picture will change somewhat? Now read the episode of Bezukhov's arrival from St. Petersburg and especially the scene of the conversation in the office with Nikolai Rostov, Denisov and Nikolenka Bolkonsky (chapters XIV-XVI of the first part of the Epilogue). Pierre, the same Pierre Bezukhov, who has already grasped the fullness of the truth of the whole people, who renounced personal ambitions, again speaks about the need to correct social ill-being, about the need to counteract the mistakes of the government. It is not hard to guess that he became a member of the early Decembrist societies and that a new thunderstorm began to swell on the historical horizon of Russia.
Natasha, with her feminine instinct, guesses the question that the narrator himself would clearly like to ask Pierre:
“- Do you know what I think about? - she said, - about Platon Karataev. How is he? Would he approve of you now? ..
No, I would not approve, ”said Pierre, thinking. “What he would approve of is our family life. He so wanted to see goodness, happiness, tranquility in everything, and I would proudly show him us. "
So what happens? The hero began to shy away from the truth he had acquired and suffered through suffering? And the “average”, “ordinary” person Nikolai Rostov is right when he speaks with disapproval of the plans of Pierre and his new comrades? Does this mean that Nikolai is now closer to Platon Karataev than Pierre himself?
Yes and no. Yes, because Pierre is undoubtedly deviating from the "round", familial, nationwide peaceful ideal, and is ready to join the "war." Yes, because he had already passed through the temptation of striving for the public good in his Masonic period, and through the temptation of personal ambitions - at the moment when he "counted" the number of the beast in Napoleon's name and convinced himself that it was he, Pierre, who was destined to rid mankind of this villain. No, because the entire epic "War and Peace" is permeated with a thought that Rostov is not able to comprehend: we are not free in our desires, in our choice, to participate or not to participate in historical upheavals.
Pierre is much closer than Rostov to this nerve of history; among other things, Karataev taught him by his example to submit to circumstances, to accept them as they are. Entering a secret society, Pierre moves away from the ideal and, in a sense, returns in his development a few steps back, but not because he wants it, but because he cannot deviate from the objective course of things. And, perhaps, having partially lost the truth, he cognizes it even deeper in the final of his new path.
That is why the epic ends with a global historiosophical reasoning, the meaning of which is formulated in his last phrase: "it is necessary to abandon the perceived freedom and recognize the dependence we cannot perceive."
Sages. You and I have spoken about the burners of life, about leaders, about ordinary people, about truth-seekers. But there is another category of heroes in War and Peace, opposite to the leaders. These are the sages. That is, characters who have comprehended the truth of public life and are an example for other heroes looking for the truth. These are, first of all, staff captain Tushin, Platon Karataev and Kutuzov.
Head-captain Tushin first appears in the scene of the Battle of Shengraben; we see him at first through the eyes of Prince Andrew - and this is no coincidence. If circumstances had turned out differently and Bolkonsky would have been internally ready for this meeting, she could have played in his life the same role that the meeting with Platon Karataev played in Pierre's life. However, alas, Andrei is still blinded by the dream of his own "Toulon". Having defended Tushin (volume I, part two, chapter XXI), when he guiltily keeps silent before Bagration and does not want to betray the chief, Prince Andrey does not understand that behind this silence lies not servility, but an understanding of the hidden ethics of folk life. Bolkonsky is not yet ready to meet with “his own Karataev”.
"A small stooped man", the commander of an artillery battery, Tushin from the very beginning makes a very favorable impression on the reader; external awkwardness only sets off his undoubted natural intelligence. No wonder, characterizing Tushin, Tolstoy resorts to his favorite technique, draws attention to the eyes of the hero, this is a mirror of the soul: "Silently and smiling, Tushin, stepping from bare feet to foot, looked inquiringly with big, intelligent and kind eyes ..." (Vol. I, part two, chapter XV).
But why does the author pay attention to such an insignificant figure, moreover, in the scene that immediately follows the chapter dedicated to Napoleon himself? Conjecture does not come to the reader immediately. Only when he reaches Chapter XX does the image of the captain gradually begin to grow to symbolic proportions.
"Little Tushin with a tube bitten on one side", together with his battery, is forgotten and left without cover; he practically does not notice this, because he is completely absorbed in the common cause, he feels himself an integral part of the whole people. On the eve of the battle, this awkward little man spoke of fear of death and complete uncertainty about eternal life; now he is transforming before our eyes.
The narrator shows this little man in close-up: “... His own fantastic world was established in his head, which constituted his pleasure at that moment. In his imagination, the hostile cannons were not cannons, but pipes, from which an invisible smoker blew smoke in rare puffs. " At this moment, it is not the Russian and French armies that are confronting each other; little Napoleon, who imagines himself great, and little Tushin, who has risen to true greatness, are opposed to each other. The staff captain is not afraid of death, he is only afraid of his superiors, and is immediately shy when a staff colonel appears at the battery. Then (Chapter XXI) Tushin cordially helps all the wounded (including Nikolai Rostov).
In the second volume, we will once again meet with Captain Tushin, who lost his hand in the war.
Both Tushin and another Tolstoy sage, Platon Karataev, are endowed with the same physical properties: they are small in stature, they have similar characters: they are affectionate and good-natured. Ho Tushin feels himself an integral part of the common people's life only in the midst of the war, and in peaceful circumstances he is a simple, kind, timid and very ordinary person. And Plato is always involved in this life, in any circumstances. And in war and especially in a state of peace. Because he carries peace in his soul.
Pierre meets Plato at a difficult moment in his life - in captivity, when his fate hangs in the balance and depends on many accidents. The first thing that catches his eye (and in a strange way soothes) is the roundness of Karataev, a harmonious combination of external and internal appearance. In Plato, everything is round - both movements, and the way of life that he builds around him, and even a homely smell. The narrator, with his usual persistence, repeats the words "round" and "round" just as often as in the scene on the Austerlitz field he repeated the word "sky."
Andrei Bolkonsky during the Shengraben battle was not ready to meet with "his own Karataev", the staff captain Tushin. By the time of the events in Moscow, Pierre had matured to learn a lot from Plato. And above all, a true attitude towards life. That is why Karataev "remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dear memory and the personification of everything Russian, kind and round." Indeed, even on the way back from Borodino to Moscow, Bezukhov had a dream, during which he heard a voice:
“War is the most difficult submission of human freedom to the laws of God,” said the voice. - Simplicity is obedience to God, you cannot get away from Him. And they are simple. They don't speak, but they do. The spoken word is silver, and the unspeakable is golden. A person cannot possess anything while he is afraid of death. And whoever is not afraid of her, that belongs to everything ... To connect everything? - Pierre said to himself. - No, don't connect. It is impossible to combine thoughts, but to combine all these thoughts - that's what you need! Yes, you need to pair, you need to pair! " (volume III, part three, chapter IX).
Platon Karataev is the embodiment of this dream; everything in him is precisely linked, he is not afraid of death, he thinks in proverbs that generalize the age-old folk wisdom - it is not for nothing that in his sleep Pierre hears the proverb "The spoken word is silver, and the unsaid is golden."
Can Platon Karataev be called a bright personality? No way. On the contrary: he is not a person at all, because he does not have his own special, separate from the people, spiritual needs, no aspirations and desires. For Tolstoy, he is more than a person; he is a particle of the people's soul. Karataev does not remember his own words spoken a minute ago, because he does not think in the usual sense of the word. That is, it does not line up its reasoning in a logical chain. Simply, as modern people would say, his mind is connected to the national consciousness, and Plato's judgments reproduce over personal folk wisdom.
Karataev does not have a "special" love for people - he treats all living beings equally lovingly. And to the master Pierre, and to the French soldier, who ordered Plato to sew a shirt, and to the bent-legged dog that nailed to him. Not being a person, he does not see personalities around him, everyone he meets is the same particle of a single universe, like himself. Death or separation is therefore irrelevant to him; Karataev is not upset when he learns that the person with whom he became close has suddenly disappeared - after all, nothing changes from this! The eternal life of the people continues, and in every new encounter its unchanging presence will be revealed.
The main lesson that Bezukhov draws from communication with Karataev, the main quality that he seeks to learn from his "teacher" is voluntary dependence on the eternal life of the people. Only she gives a person a real feeling of freedom. And when Karataev, having fallen ill, begins to lag behind the column of prisoners and is shot like a dog, Pierre is not too upset. The individual life of Karataev is over, but the eternal, national life, in which he is involved, continues, and there will be no end to it. That is why Tolstoy ends the storyline of Karataev with the second dream of Pierre, who saw the captive Bezukhov in the village of Shamshevo:
And suddenly Pierre introduced himself as a living, long forgotten, meek old teacher who taught Pierre geography in Switzerland ... he showed Pierre a globe. This globe was a living, vibrating ball without dimensions. The entire surface of the sphere consisted of drops tightly compressed together. And these drops all moved, moved and then merged from several into one, then from one they were divided into many. Each drop tried to spill out, to capture the largest space, but others, striving for the same, squeezed it, sometimes destroyed it, sometimes merged with it.
Here is life, - said the old teacher ...
There is God in the middle, and each drop seeks to expand in order to reflect Him to the greatest extent ... Here he, Karataev, has spilled over and disappeared ”(volume IV, part three, chapter XV).
In the metaphor of life as a "liquid vibrating ball" made up of separate drops, all the symbolic images of "War and Peace" that we talked about above are combined: the spindle, the clockwork, and the anthill; a circular movement connecting everything with everything - this is Tolstoy's idea of the people, of history, of the family. The meeting of Platon Karataev brings Pierre very close to comprehending this truth.
From the image of the captain Tushin, we went up, as if a step, to the image of Platon Karataev. Ho and from Plato in the space of the epic one more step leads upward. The image of the people's field marshal Kutuzov is raised here to an unattainable height. This old man, gray-haired, fat, treading heavily, with a disfigured face, rises above Captain Tushin and even Platon Karataev. The truth of the nationality, perceived by them instinctively, he consciously comprehended and elevated it to the principle of his life and his military leadership.
The main thing for Kutuzov (unlike all the leaders headed by Napoleon) is to deviate from a personal proud decision, to guess the right course of events and not interfere with their development according to God's will, in truth. We first meet with him in the first volume, in the scene of the review near Brenau. Before us is an absent-minded and cunning old man, an old campaigner, who is distinguished by "the affectation of piety." We immediately understand that the mask of a non-judgmental campaigner, which Kutuzov wears when approaching the ruling persons, above all the tsar, is just one of the many ways of his self-defense. After all, he cannot, must not allow the real interference of these self-righteous persons in the course of events, and therefore must kindly evade their will, without contradicting it in words. So he will evade the battle with Napoleon during the Patriotic War.
Kutuzov, as he appears in the battle scenes of the third and fourth volumes, is not a doer, but a contemplator, he is convinced that victory requires not a mind, not a scheme, but "something else, independent of mind and knowledge." And above all - "you need patience and time." The old commander has both in abundance; he is endowed with the gift of "calm contemplation of the course of events" and sees his main purpose in not doing harm. That is, to listen to all the reports, all the main considerations: support useful (that is, agree with the natural course of things), reject harmful ones.
And the main secret that Kutuzov comprehended, as he is depicted in War and Peace, is the secret of maintaining the people's spirit, the main force in the struggle against any enemy of the Fatherland.
That is why this old, weak, voluptuous person personifies Tolstoy's idea of an ideal politics, which has comprehended the main wisdom: a person cannot influence the course of historical events and must renounce the idea of freedom in favor of the idea of necessity. Tolstoy "instructs" Bolkonsky to express this idea: watching Kutuzov after his appointment as commander-in-chief, Prince Andrei reflects: “He will not have anything of his own ... He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will - this is an inevitable course of events ... And most importantly ... that he is Russian, despite the Zhanlis novel and French sayings "(volume III, part two, chapter XVI).
Without the figure of Kutuzov, Tolstoy would not have solved one of the main artistic tasks of his epic: to oppose the “deceitful form of the European hero, who supposedly controls people, which history has invented,” the “simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure” of the national hero, who will never settle into this "Deceitful form".
Natasha Rostova. If we translate the typology of the heroes of the epic into the traditional language of literary terms, then by itself an internal regularity will be revealed. The world of the ordinary and the world of lies are opposed by dramatic and epic characters. The dramatic characters of Pierre and Andrei are full of internal contradictions, they are always in motion and development; the epic characters of Karataev and Kutuzov are striking in their integrity. But in the portrait gallery created by Tolstoy in War and Peace, there is a character that does not fit into any of the listed categories. This is the lyrical character of the main heroine of the epic, Natasha Rostova.
Does she belong to the "burners"? It is impossible to even think about it. With her sincerity, with her heightened sense of justice! Does she belong to "ordinary people" like her relatives, the Rostovs? In many ways, yes; and yet it is not for nothing that both Pierre and Andrei are looking for her love, are drawn to her, singled out from the general row. At the same time, you cannot call her a truth-seeker. No matter how much we reread the scenes in which Natasha acts, we will not find anywhere a hint of a search for a moral ideal, truth, truth. And in the Epilogue, after marriage, she even loses the brightness of temperament, the spirituality of her appearance; baby diapers replaces the fact that Pierre and Andrei are given reflections on the truth and on the purpose of life.
Like the rest of the Rostovs, Natasha is not endowed with a sharp mind; when in chapter XVII of part four of the last volume, and then in the Epilogue, we see her next to the emphatically intelligent woman Marya Bolkonskaya-Rostova, this difference is especially striking. Natasha, as the narrator emphasizes, simply "did not deign to be smart." But she is endowed with something else, which for Tolstoy is more important than an abstract mind, more important than even the search for truth: the instinct of experiencing life. It is this inexplicable quality that brings the image of Natasha very close to the "wise men", first of all to Kutuzov, while in all other respects she is closer to ordinary people. It is simply impossible to "attribute" it to any one category: it does not obey any classification, breaks out of any definition.
Natasha, “black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive,” the most emotional of all the characters in the epic; that is why she is the most musical of all Rostovs. The element of music lives not only in her singing, which everyone around recognizes as wonderful, but also in the very voice of Natasha. Remember, Andrei's heart trembled for the first time when he heard Natasha's conversation with Sonya on a moonlit night, not seeing the girls talking. Natasha's singing heals brother Nicholas, who comes to despair after losing 43 thousand, which ruined the Rostov family.
From one emotional, sensitive, intuitive root, her egoism, which was fully revealed in the story with Anatol Kuragin, and her selflessness, which is manifested both in the scene with carts for the wounded in burning Moscow, and in episodes showing how she is shown caring for the dying grows Andrey, how he takes care of his mother, shocked by the news of Petya's death.
And the main gift that was given to her and which raises her above all the other heroes of the epic, even the best ones, is a special gift of happiness. They all suffer, torment, seek the truth, or, like the impersonal Platon Karataev, tenderly possess it. Only Natasha unselfishly enjoys life, feels her feverish pulse and generously shares her happiness with everyone around her. Her happiness is in her naturalness; That is why the narrator so harshly opposes the scene of Natasha Rostova's first ball to the episode of her acquaintance and falling in love with Anatol Kuragin. Please note: this acquaintance takes place in the theater (volume II, part five, chapter IX). That is, where the game reigns, pretense. This is not enough for Tolstoy; he makes the epic narrator “descend” down the steps of emotions, use sarcasm in descriptions of what is happening, and emphasize the idea of the unnaturalness of the atmosphere in which Natasha's feelings for Kuragin arise.
It is not without reason that the most famous comparison of "War and Peace" is attributed to the lyric heroine, Natasha. At the moment when Pierre, after a long separation, meets Rostov with Princess Marya, he does not recognize Natasha, - and suddenly “a face with attentive eyes with difficulty, with effort, as a rusted door opens, smiled, and from this open door suddenly it smelled and doused Pierre with forgotten happiness ... It smelled, enveloped and swallowed him all "(Volume IV, Part Four, Chapter XV).
Ho Natasha's true vocation, as Tolstoy shows in the Epilogue (and unexpectedly for many readers), was revealed only in motherhood. Having gone into children, she realizes herself in them and through them; and this is not accidental: after all, the family for Tolstoy is the same cosmos, the same integral and saving world, like the Christian faith, like the life of the people.
Tolstoy's favorite characters in War and Peace are Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. They are united by a quality that the writer himself valued most in people. In his opinion, to be a real person, you need to “torn, fight, get confused, make mistakes, start and quit” all your life, and “calmness is a spiritual meanness”. That is, a person should not calm down and stop, he should look for meaning all his life and strive to find an application for his forces, talents, and mind.
In this article we will consider what characteristics are the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy. Pay attention to why Tolstoy endowed these characters with such traits and what he wanted to say to his readers.
Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace"
As we have already noted, speaking about the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, you should definitely discuss the image of Pierre Bezukhov. For the first time, the reader sees Pierre in the aristocratic Petersburg salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. The hostess treats him somewhat downright, because he is just the illegitimate son of a rich nobleman of Catherine's times, who has just returned from abroad, where he was educated.
Pierre Bezukhov differs from the rest of the guests for his spontaneity and sincerity. Drawing a psychological portrait of his protagonist, Tolstoy points out that Pierre was a fat, absent-minded person, but all this was redeemed by "an expression of good nature, simplicity and modesty." The owner of the salon was afraid that Pierre would say something wrong, and indeed, Bezukhov fervently expresses his opinion, argues with the viscount and does not know how to observe the etiquette rules. At the same time, he is good-natured and smart. Pierre's qualities, shown in the first chapters of the novel, will be inherent in him throughout the entire narrative, although the hero himself will go through a difficult path of spiritual evolution. Why then Pierre Bezukhov can be safely attributed to the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy? Consideration of the image of Pierre Bezukhov helps to understand this.
Pierre Bezukhov is so loved by Tolstoy, because this protagonist of the novel tirelessly searches for the meaning of life, asks himself painful questions: “What's wrong? What well? What should I love, what should I hate? Why live, and what am I? What is life, what is death? What is the power that controls everything? "
Pierre Bezukhov goes through a difficult path of spiritual quest. He is not satisfied with the St. Petersburg revelry of the golden youth. Having received an inheritance and becoming one of the richest people in Russia, the hero marries Helen, but he blames himself for the failures of family life and even his wife's betrayal, since he made an offer without feeling love.
For a while, he finds meaning in Freemasonry. He is close to the idea of spiritual brothers about the need to live for the sake of others, to give to others as much as possible. Pierre Bezukhov is trying to change and improve the situation of his peasants. But soon disappointment sets in: the protagonist of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy realizes that most of the Freemasons are trying to make acquaintances with influential people in this way. Further, the image and characteristics of Pierre Bezukhov is revealed in an interesting aspect.
The most important stage on the path of Pierre Bezukhov's spiritual development is the war of 1812 and captivity. At the Borodino field, he understands that the truth is in the universal unity of people. In captivity, the peasant philosopher Platon Karataev reveals to the protagonist the realization of how important it is to “live with people” and to stoically accept everything that fate presents.
Pierre Bezukhov has an inquisitive mind, thoughtful and often ruthless introspection. He is a decent person, kind and a little naive. He asks himself and the world philosophical questions about the meaning of life, God, the purpose of existence, finding no answer, he does not brush off painful thoughts, but tries to find the right path.
In the epilogue, Pierre is happy with Natasha Rostova, but personal happiness is not enough for him. He becomes a member of a secret society preparing transformations in Russia. So, discussing who are the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, we focused on the image of Pierre Bezukhov and his characteristics. Let's move on to the next key character in the novel - Andrei Bolkonsky.
Andrei Bolkonsky in the novel "War and Peace"
The Bolkonsky family are united by common generic features: a sharp analytical mind, nobility, the highest sense of honor, an understanding of their duty in serving the Fatherland. It is no coincidence that, seeing off his son to the war, his father, admonishing him, says: “Remember one thing, Prince Andrei: if they kill you, it will hurt me, the old man ... ... ashamed!" Undoubtedly, Andrei Bolkonsky is a bright character and one of the main characters of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.
During his military service, Bolkonsky is guided by considerations of the general benefit, and not of his own career. He heroically rushes forward with a banner in his hands, because it hurts him to see the flight of the Russian army on the Austerlitz field.
Andrey, like Pierre, faces a difficult path of searching for the meaning of life and disappointments. At first, he dreams of the glory of Napoleon. But after the Austerlitz sky, in which the prince saw something infinitely high, beautiful and calm, the former idol seems to him small, insignificant with his vain aspirations.
Comprehends the protagonist of the novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy and disappointment in love (Natasha betrays him, deciding to run away with the fool Anatol Kuragin), in life for the sake of his family (he understands that this is not enough), in public service (Speransky's activities turn out to be meaningless vanity, not bringing true benefit).
We have all read or heard about the novel War and Peace, but not everyone will be able to remember the characters of the novel from the first time. The main characters of the novel War and Peace- love, suffer, live life in the imagination of every reader.
Main characters War and Peace
The main characters of the novel War and Peace - Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrey Bolkonsky.
It is rather difficult to say which is the main one, since Tolstoy's characters are described as if in parallel.
The main characters are different, they have different views on life, different aspirations, but the trouble is common, the war. And Tolstoy shows in the novel not one, but many destinies. The history of each of them is unique. There is no the best, no the worst. We understand the best and the worst in comparison.
Natasha Rostova- one of the main characters with her story and troubles, Bolkonsky also one of the best characters, whose story, alas, had to have an end. He himself has exhausted his life limit.
Bezukhov a little strange, lost, uncertain, but his fate bizarrely presented him with Natasha.
The main character is the one that is closest to you.
Characteristics of the heroes War and Peace
Akhrosimova Marya Dmitrievna- a Moscow lady, known throughout the city "not for wealth, not for honors, but for her directness of mind and frank simplicity of address." Anecdotal cases were told about her, they quietly laughed at her rudeness, but they were afraid and sincerely respected. A. knew both capitals and even the royal family. The prototype of the heroine is the well-known Moscow A. D. Ofrosimova, described by S. P. Zhikharev in the "Student's Diary".
The usual way of life of the heroine consists of doing housework at home, trips to mass, visiting prison, receiving petitioners and traveling to the city on business. Four sons serve in the army, of which she is very proud; he knows how to hide his anxiety for them from strangers.
A. always speaks Russian, loudly, she has a "thick voice", a corpulent body, she holds high "her fifty-year-old head with gray beads." A. is close to the Rostov family, loving Natasha most of all. On the birthday of Natasha and the old countess, it is she who dances with Count Rostov, delighting the entire assembled society. She boldly reprimands Pierre for the incident due to which he was expelled from St. Petersburg in 1805; she rebukes the old prince Bolkonsky for the impoliteness made to Natasha during the visit; she also upsets Natasha's plan to escape with Anatole.
Bagration- one of the most famous Russian military leaders, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, prince. In the novel, he acts as a real historical person and a participant in the plot action. B. "short, with an oriental type of hard and motionless face, dry, not yet old man." In the novel, he participates mainly as the commander of the Battle of Shengraben. Before the operation, Kutuzov 'blessed him "for a great feat" of saving the army. The mere presence of the prince on the battlefield changes a lot in its course, although he does not give any visible orders, but at the decisive moment he dismounts and himself goes into the attack in front of the soldiers. He is loved and respected by everyone, it is known about him that for his courage even in Italy, Suvorov himself gave him a sword. During the battle of Austerlitz, one B. all day fought off twice the strongest enemy and, when retreating, withdrew his column from the battlefield undisturbed. That is why Moscow chose him as its hero, in honor of B., a dinner was given in an English club, in his person “due honor was given to a fighting, simple, without connections and intrigues, Russian soldier ...”.
Pierre Bezukhov- one of the main characters of the novel; at first the hero of the story about the Decembrist, from the idea of which the work arose.
P. - the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a famous Catherine's grandee, who became the heir to the title and a huge fortune, "a massive, fat young man with a shaved head, glasses", he is distinguished by an intelligent, timid, "observant and natural" look P. was brought up abroad and appeared in Russia shortly before the death of his father and the start of the campaign of 1805. He is smart, inclined to philosophical reasoning, gentle and kind-hearted, compassionate towards others, kind, impractical and subject to passions. His closest friend, Andrei Bolkonsky, characterizes P. as the only "living person" among the whole world.
At the beginning of the novel, P. considers Napoleon the greatest man in the world, but gradually becomes disillusioned, reaching the point of hatred for him and a desire to kill. Having become a wealthy heir and falling under the influence of Prince Vasily and Helen, P. marries the latter. Very soon, having understood the character of his wife and realizing her depravity, he breaks with her. In search of the content and meaning of his life, P. is fond of Freemasonry, trying to find in this teaching the answers to the questions that torment him and get rid of the passions that torment him. Realizing the falsity of the Masons, the hero breaks with them, tries to reorganize the lives of his peasants, but fails because of his impracticality and credulity.
The greatest trials fell on P. before and during the war, it is not for nothing that "through his eyes" readers see the famous comet of 1812, which, according to the general belief, foreshadowed terrible misfortunes. This sign follows P.'s explanation of love to Natasha Rostova. During the war, the hero, deciding to look at the battle and not yet very clearly aware of the strength of national unity and the significance of the event, finds himself on the Borodino field. On this day, the last conversation with Prince Andrey, who understood that the truth is where "they", that is, ordinary soldiers, gives him a lot. Remaining in a burning and deserted Moscow to kill Napoleon, P. tries as best he can to deal with the misfortune that has befallen the people, but is captured and experiences terrible moments during the execution of prisoners.
Meeting with Platon Karataev reveals for P. the truth that one must love life, even suffering innocently, seeing the meaning and purpose of each person in being a part and reflection of the whole world. After meeting with Karataev P. learned to see "the eternal and infinite in everything." At the end of the war, after the death of Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha's revival to life, P. marries her. In the epilogue, he is a happy husband and father, a man who, in a dispute with Nikolai Rostov, expresses convictions that make it possible to see in him the future Decembrist.
Berg- German, "a fresh, pink Guards officer, impeccably washed, buttoned up and combed." At the beginning of the novel, a lieutenant, at the end - a colonel who has made a good career and has awards. B. is accurate, calm, courteous, selfish and stingy. The people around him laugh at him. B. could only talk about himself and his interests, the main of which was success. He could talk about this subject for hours, with visible pleasure for himself and at the same time teaching others. During the campaign in 1805, Mr .. B. - a company commander, proud of the fact that he is efficient, accurate, enjoys the confidence of his superiors and arranged his material affairs profitably. When meeting in the army, Nikolai Rostov treats him with slight contempt.
B. first the prospective and desired fiancé of Vera Rostova, and then her husband. The hero makes an offer to his future wife at a time when a refusal to him is excluded - B. correctly takes into account the material difficulties of the Rostovs, which does not prevent him from demanding from the old count a part of the promised dowry. Having reached a certain position, income, having married Vera, who meets his requirements, Colonel B. feels content and happy, even in the abandoned Moscow residents taking care of purchasing furniture.
Bolkonskaya Liza- the wife of Prince Andrei, for whom the name of the "little princess" was fixed in the world. “Her pretty, with a slightly blackened mustache, the upper lip was short across the teeth, but the lovelier it opened and the lovelier it sometimes stretched out and sank onto the lower one. As is always the case with quite attractive women, her lack - the shortness of her lips and a half-open mouth - seemed to be her special, her own beauty. It was fun for everyone to look at this pretty mother-to-be, full of health and liveliness, who so easily endured her position. "
The image of L. was formed by Tolstoy in the first edition and remained unchanged. As a prototype of the little princess, the wife of the second cousin of the writer, Princess L.I. The "little princess" enjoyed universal love because of her everlasting liveliness and courtesy of a secular woman who could not even imagine her life outside the world. In her relationship with her husband, she is distinguished by a complete lack of understanding of his aspirations and character. During disputes with her husband, her face, because of the raised lip, took on a "brutal, squirrel expression", but Prince Andrey, repenting of his marriage to L., in a conversation with Pierre and his father notes that this is one of the rare women with whom "you can be calm for your honor. "
After Bolkonsky left for the war, L. lived in Bald Hills, experiencing constant fear and antipathy towards his father-in-law and making friends not with his sister-in-law, but with the empty and frivolous companion of Princess Mary, Mademoiselle Burienne. L. dies, as she had a presentiment, during childbirth, on the day of the return of Prince Andrew, who was considered killed. The expression on her face before and after her death seems to indicate that she loves everyone, does no harm to anyone and cannot understand why she is suffering. Her death leaves Prince Andrei with a feeling of irreparable guilt and sincere pity for the old prince.
Bolkonskaya Marya- princess, daughter of the old prince Bolkonsky, sister of prince Andrei, later the wife of Nikolai Rostov. M. had “an ugly weak body and a thin face ... the eyes of the princess, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so good that very often, despite the ugliness of the whole face, these eyes became more attractive beauty ".
M. is very religious, accepts pilgrims and wanderers, enduring the ridicule of his father and brother. She has no friends with whom she could share her thoughts. Her life is focused on love for her father, often unfair to her, for her brother and his son Nikolenka (after the death of the "little princess"), whom she, as best she can, replaces her mother, M. is an intelligent, meek, educated woman, not hoping for personal happiness. Because of the unfair reproaches of her father and the impossibility to endure any longer, she even wanted to go on a wandering. Her life changes after meeting with Nikolai Rostov, who managed to guess the wealth of her soul. Having married, the heroine is happy, completely sharing all her husband's views "on duty and oath."
Bolkonsky Andrey- one of the main characters of the novel, prince, son of N. A. Bolkonsky, brother of Princess Mary. "... Small in stature, a very handsome young man with definite and dry features." This is an intelligent, proud person looking for great intellectual and spiritual content in life. The sister notes in him some kind of "pride of thought", he is restrained, educated, practical and has a strong will.
By birth, B. occupies one of the most enviable places in society, but is unhappy in family life and is not satisfied with the emptiness of light. At the beginning of the novel, its hero is Napoleon. Wanting to imitate Napoleon, dreaming of "his Toulon", he leaves for the active army, where he shows courage, composure, heightened feelings of honor, duty, justice. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. Badly wounded in the battle of Austerlitz, B. realizes the futility of his dreams and the insignificance of his idol. The hero returns home, where he was considered dead, on the birthday of his son and the death of his wife. These events shock him even more, leaving a feeling of guilt in front of his deceased wife. Having decided after Austerlitz not to serve any more, B. lives in Bogucharovo, doing housework, raising his son and reading a lot. During Pierre's arrival, he confesses that he lives for himself alone, but something awakens for a moment in his soul, when he sees the sky above him for the first time after being wounded. From that time on, while maintaining the previous circumstances, "his new life began in the inner world."
Over the two years of his life in the village, B. has been doing a lot of analysis of the latest military campaigns, which prompts him, under the influence of a trip to Otradnoye and awakened vitality, to go to Petersburg, where he works under the supervision of Speransky, who directs the preparation of legislative changes.
In St. Petersburg, B.'s second meeting with Natasha takes place, a deep feeling and hope for happiness arises in the hero's soul. Having postponed the wedding for a year under the influence of his father, who did not agree with the decision of his son, B. went abroad. After the betrayal of the bride, in order to forget about it, to calm down the feelings that flooded him, he again returns to the army under the command of Kutuzov. Taking part in the Patriotic War, B. wants to be at the front, and not at the headquarters, draws closer to the soldiers and comprehends the imperious strength of the "spirit of the army" fighting for the liberation of their homeland. Before participating in the last battle of Borodino in his life, the hero meets and talks with Pierre. Having received a mortal wound, B. by chance coincidence leaves Moscow in the Rostovs' wagon train, reconciling with Natasha on the way, forgiving her and realizing before death the true meaning of the power of love that unites people.
Bolkonsky Nikolay Andreevich- Prince, general-in-chief, dismissed from service under Paul I and exiled to the village. Father of Princess Marya and Prince Andrew. In the image of the old prince, Tolstoy restored many of the features of his maternal grandfather, Prince NS Volkonsky, "an intelligent, proud and gifted person."
N. A. lives in the countryside, meticulously distributing his time, most of all not enduring idleness, stupidity, superstition and violation of the once established order; he is demanding and harsh with everyone, often harassing his daughter with nagging, deep down in his soul he loves her. The revered prince "walked in the old fashioned way, in a caftan and powder", was short, "in a powdered wig ... with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, sometimes, as he frowned, overshadowed the brilliance of smart and like young shiny eyes." He is very proud, smart, restrained in showing feelings; almost his main concern is the preservation of family honor and dignity. Until the last days of his life, the old prince retained an interest in political and military events, only before his death he lost real ideas about the scale of the misfortune that happened to Russia. It was he who brought up feelings of pride, duty, patriotism and scrupulous honesty in his son Andrei.
Bolkonsky Nikolenka- the son of Prince Andrew and the "little princess", born on the day of the death of his mother and the return of his father, who was considered dead. He was brought up first in the house of his grandfather, then by Princess Marya. Outwardly, he looks very much like his deceased mother: he has the same upturned sponge and curly dark hair. N. grows up as an intelligent, impressionable and nervous boy. In the epilogue of the novel, he is 15 years old, he becomes a witness to the dispute between Nikolai Rostov and Pierre Bezukhov. Under this impression, N. sees a dream in which Tolstoy ends the events of the novel and in which the hero sees glory, himself, his late father and uncle Pierre at the head of a large "right-wing" army.
Denisov Vasily Dmitrievich- a combat hussar officer, gambler, gambling, noisy "little man with a red face, shiny black eyes, black tousled mustache and hair." D. is the commander and friend of Nikolai Rostov, a man for whom the honor of the regiment in which he serves is above all in life. He is brave, capable of daring and thoughtless actions, as in the case of the seizure of food transport, participates in all campaigns, commanding a partisan detachment in 1812 that freed prisoners, including Pierre.
D.V. Davydov, the hero of the war of 1812, who is also mentioned in the novel as a historical person, served as a prototype for D. in many respects. Dolokhov Fyodor - "Semyonovsky officer, famous player and breaker." “Dolokhov was a man of average height, curly hair and light blue eyes. He was twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was all visible. The lines of this mouth were remarkably finely curved. In the middle, the upper lip energetically descended onto the strong lower lip in a sharp wedge, and in the corners something like two smiles constantly formed, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a firm, impudent, intelligent look, made the impression that it was impossible not to notice this face. " The prototypes of the image of D. were RI Dorokhov, a reveler and a brave man whom Tolstoy knew in the Caucasus; a relative of the writer, known at the beginning of the 19th century. Count F. I. Tolstoy-American, who also served as the prototype for the heroes of A. S. Pushkin and A. S. Griboyedov; partisan of the Patriotic War of 1812 A. S. Figner.
D. is not rich, but he knows how to position himself in society in such a way that everyone respects and even fears him. He gets bored in everyday life and gets rid of boredom in a strange, even cruel way, doing incredible things. In 1805, for tricks with the quarter, he was expelled from St. Petersburg, demoted to the rank and file, but during the military campaign he regained his officer rank.
D. is smart, brave, cold-blooded, indifferent to death. He carefully hides from. outsiders his tender affection for his mother, confessing to Rostov that everyone considers him an evil person, but in fact he does not want to know anyone except those he loves.
Dividing all people into useful and harmful, he sees around him mostly harmful, unloved, whom he is ready to "pass over if they become on the road." D. is impudent, cruel and cunning. As Helene's lover, he provokes Pierre to a duel; coolly and dishonestly beats Nikolai Rostov, taking revenge for Sonya's refusal to his proposal; helps Anatol Kuragin to prepare an escape with Natasha, Drubetskaya Boris - the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya; from childhood he was brought up and lived for a long time in the Rostov family, who through his mother is a relative, was in love with Natasha. "A tall, blond youth with regular, delicate features, a calm and handsome face." The prototypes of the hero are A. M. Kuzminsky and M. D. Polivanov.
Since his youth, D. has dreamed of a career, is very proud, but accepts his mother's troubles and condones her humiliation if it is in his favor. AM Drubetskaya, through Prince Vasily, gets her son a place in the guard. Once in military service, D. dreams of making a brilliant career in this area.
Taking part in the campaign in 1805, he acquires many useful acquaintances and understands the "unwritten chain of command", wishing to continue serving only in accordance with it. In 1806, A. P. Scherer "treats" them, a courier who had come from the Prussian army, to his guests. In the light of D. seeks to make useful contacts and uses the last money to give the impression of a rich and successful person. He becomes a close person in Helen's house and her lover. During the meeting of the emperors in Tilsit, D. was there, and from that time on his position was especially firmly established. In 1809, D., seeing Natasha again, is carried away by her and for some time does not know what to prefer, since marriage to Natasha would mean the end of his career. D. is looking for a rich bride, choosing at one time between Princess Marya and Julie Karagina, who eventually became his wife.
Karataev Platon- a soldier of the Absheron regiment, who met Pierre Bezukhov in captivity. Nicknamed Sokolik in the service. In the first edition of the novel, this character was not. Its appearance is, apparently, due to the development and final design of the image of Pierre and the philosophical concept of the novel.
At the first meeting with this small, gentle and good-natured person, Pierre is struck by the feeling of something round and calm that comes from K. He attracts everyone to himself with his calmness, confidence, kindness and smile of his round face. Once K. tells the story of an innocently convicted merchant, humbled and suffering "for his own, but for human sins." This story comes across as something very important among the prisoners. Weakened from fever, K. begins to lag behind at the transitions; French guards shoot him.
After the death of K., thanks to his wisdom and the folk philosophy of life, unconsciously expressed in all his behavior, Pierre comes to an understanding of the meaning of life.
Kuragin Anatol- the son of Prince Vasily, brother of Helen and Ippolita, an officer. Unlike the "calm fool" Hippolytus, Prince Vasily looks at A. as a "restless fool" who must always be rescued from troubles. A. is a tall handsome man with a good-natured and "victorious look", "beautiful big" eyes and light brown hair. He is dapper, impudent, stupid, not resourceful, not eloquent in conversations, depraved, but "on the other hand, he also had the ability of calmness, precious for the world, and unchangeable confidence." Being a friend of Dolo-khov and a participant in his revelry, A. looks at his life as a constant pleasure and amusement, which should have been arranged for him by someone, he does not care about his relationships with other people. A. treats women contemptuously and with a sense of his superiority, accustomed to liking and not experiencing serious feelings for anyone.
After being carried away by Natasha Rostova and trying to take her away, A. was forced to hide from Moscow, and then from Prince Andrei, who intended to challenge the offender to a duel. Their last meeting will take place in the infirmary after the Battle of Borodino: A. is wounded, his leg is amputated.
Kuragin Vasily- Prince, father of Helene, Anatole and Hippolytus; a well-known and influential person in the Petersburg world who holds important court posts.
Prince V. treats everyone around him condescendingly and patronizingly, speaks quietly, always bending his interlocutor by the hand. He appears "in a courtier, embroidered uniform, in stockings, shoes, with the stars, with a bright expression of a flat face", with a "perfumed and radiant bald spot." When he smiles, "something unexpectedly rude and unpleasant" forms in the wrinkles of his mouth. Prince V. does not wish anyone harm, does not think over his plans in advance, but, as a secular person, uses circumstances and connections to carry out plans that naturally arise in his mind. He always strives for rapprochement with people who are richer and higher in status.
The hero considers himself an exemplary father who has done everything possible to raise children and continue to take care of their future. Having learned about Princess Marya, Prince V. takes Anatole to Bald Hills, wishing to marry him to a wealthy heiress. A relative of the old Count Bezukhov, he goes to Moscow and starts an intrigue with Princess Katish before the death of the Count in order to prevent Pierre Bezukhov from becoming an heir. Failing to succeed in this matter, he starts a new intrigue and marries Pierre and Helene.
Kuragina Helen- the daughter of Prince Vasily, and then the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. A brilliant Petersburg beauty with a "unchanging smile", full white shoulders, glossy hair and a beautiful figure. There was no noticeable coquetry in her, as if she was ashamed “for her undoubtedly and too strong and win? active beauty ”. E. is imperturbable, giving everyone the right to admire themselves, which makes her feel like a gloss from the multitude of other people's views. She knows how to be tacitly worthy in the world, giving the impression of a tactful and intelligent woman, which, combined with beauty, ensures her constant success.
Having married Pierre Bezukhov, the heroine discovers in front of her husband not only the limitedness of the mind, the coarseness of thought and vulgarity, but also cynical depravity. After breaking up with Pierre and receiving from him by proxy a large part of the fortune, she lives in Petersburg, then abroad, then returns to her husband. Despite the family break, the constant change of lovers, including Dolokhov and Drubetskoy, E. continues to be one of the most famous and kindly ladies in St. Petersburg. In the light, she is making very great strides; living alone, she becomes the mistress of the diplomatic and political salon, acquires the reputation of an intelligent woman. Having decided to convert to Catholicism and pondering the possibility of divorce and a new marriage, entangled between two very influential, high-ranking lovers and patrons, E. dies in 1812.
Kutuzov- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. A participant in real historical events described by Tolstoy, and at the same time in the plot of the work. He has a "plump, wound-disfigured face" with an aquiline nose; he is gray-haired, full, treads heavily. On the pages of the novel, K. first appears in an episode of the review under Brownau, impressing everyone with his knowledge of the matter and attention hidden behind the seeming absent-mindedness. K. knows how to be diplomatic; he is rather cunning and speaks “with grace of expression and intonation”, “with the affection of deference” of a subordinate and non-judgmental person when it is not about the security of the homeland, as before the Battle of Austerlitz. Before the Shengraben battle K., crying, blesses Bagration.
In 1812, K., contrary to the opinion of secular circles, received the dignity of a prince and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. He is the favorite of soldiers and military officers. From the beginning of his activity as commander-in-chief K. believes that to win the campaign "patience and time are needed", that the whole matter can be solved not by knowledge, not plans, not intelligence, but "something else, independent of intelligence and knowledge." ... According to Tolstoy's historical and philosophical concept, a person is not able to really influence the course of historical events. K. possesses the ability to “calmly contemplate the course of events,” but he knows how to see, listen, remember everything, not interfere with anything useful and not allow anything harmful. On the eve and during the Battle of Borodino, the commander monitors the preparations for the battle, together with all the soldiers and militias, he prays before the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk and during the battle controls the "elusive force" called the "spirit of the army." K. experiences agonizing feelings, deciding to leave Moscow, but "with all his Russian being" knows that the French will be defeated. Having directed all his forces towards the liberation of his homeland, K. dies when his role is fulfilled, and the enemy is driven out of the borders of Russia. "This simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure could not lie down in that deceitful form of the European hero, ostensibly controlling people, which history has invented."
Napoleon- the French emperor; the real historical person, deduced in the novel, the hero, with the image of which the historical and philosophical concept of L. N. Tolstoy is connected.
At the beginning of the work, N. is the idol of Andrei Bolkonsky, a man whose greatness Pierre Bezukhov admires, a politician whose actions and personality are discussed in the high-society salon of A. P, Scherer. As the protagonist of the novel, he appears in the Battle of Austerlitz, after which the wounded Prince Andrei sees "a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness" on N.'s face, admiring the view of the battlefield.
The figure of N. "stout, short ... with wide, thick shoulders and involuntarily thrust forward belly and chest, had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hall have"; his face is youthful, full, with a protruding chin, short hair, and "his white plump neck protruded sharply from behind the black collar of his uniform." N.'s self-righteousness and self-confidence are expressed in the conviction that his presence plunges people into delight and self-forgetfulness, that everything in the world depends only on his will. Sometimes he is prone to outbursts of anger.
Even before the order to cross the borders of Russia, Moscow haunts the hero's imagination, and during the war he does not foresee its general course. Fighting the Borodino battle, N. acts "involuntarily and senselessly", unable to somehow influence its course, although he does nothing harmful to the cause. For the first time, during the Battle of Borodino, he experienced bewilderment and hesitation, and after him the sight of the killed and wounded "defeated that spiritual strength in which he believed his merit and greatness." According to the author, N. was destined for an inhuman role, his mind and conscience were darkened, and his actions were "too opposite to goodness and truth, too far from everything human."
Rostov Ilya Andreevich- Count, father of Natasha, Nikolai, Vera and Petya Rostov, a famous Moscow master, rich man, hospitable person. R. knows how and loves to live, good-natured, generous and dull. Many character traits and some episodes in the life of his paternal grandfather, Count IA Tolstoy, the writer used when creating the image of the old Count Rostov, noting in his appearance those features that are known from the portrait of his grandfather: full body on a bald head. "
R. is known in Moscow not only as a hospitable host and an excellent family man, but also as a person who knows how to arrange a ball, reception, dinner better than others, and if necessary, then put in his own money for this. He is a member and foreman of the English club since the day of its foundation. It is he who is entrusted with the trouble of arranging a dinner in honor of Bagration.
Count R.'s life is burdened only by the constant awareness of his gradual ruin, which he cannot stop, allowing the managers to rob themselves, not being able to refuse the petitioners, not being able to change the once established order of life. Most of all, he suffers from the consciousness that ruins the children, but becomes more and more entangled in business. To improve property matters, the Rostyves live for two years in the village, the count leaves the leaders, looks for a place in St. Petersburg, transporting his family there and with his habits and social circle giving the impression of a provincial there.
R. is distinguished by tender, deep love and heartfelt kindness towards his wife and children. When leaving Moscow after the Battle of Borodino, it was the old count who began to slowly give carts for the wounded, thereby inflicting one of the last blows on his fortune. Events 1812-1813 and the loss of Petya finally broke the hero's mental and physical strength. The last event, which, out of old habit, he directs, making the same active impression, is the wedding of Natasha and Pierre; in the same year, the count dies “exactly at the time when things ... got so tangled that it was impossible to imagine how it would all end,” and leaves behind a good memory.
Rostov Nikolay- son of Count Rostov, brother of Vera, Natasha and Petit, officer, hussar; at the end of the novel, the husband of Princess Marya Volkonskaya. "A short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face", in whom "swiftness and enthusiasm" were seen. The writer gave N. some features of his father, N.I.-Tolstoy, a participant in the war of 1812. The hero is distinguished in many ways by the same features of openness, gaiety, benevolence, self-sacrifice, musicality and emotionality as all Rostovs. Convinced that he was not an official or a diplomat, N. at the beginning of the novel leaves the university and enters the Pavlograd hussar regiment, in which his whole life is concentrated for a long time. He takes part in military campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812. N. takes his first baptism of fire when crossing the Ens, unable to combine in himself "the fear of death and the stretcher and love of the sun and life." In the Battle of Shengraben, he goes on the attack too bravely, but, being wounded in the arm, he gets lost and leaves the battlefield thinking about the absurdity of the death of the one "whom everyone loves so much." Having passed these tests, N. becomes a brave officer, a real hussar; he retains a sense of admiration for the sovereign and loyalty to his duty. Feeling at home in his native regiment, as in some special world where everything is simple and clear, N. is also there not free from solving complex moral problems, as, for example, in the case of officer Telyanin. In the regiment N. becomes "quite coarse" kind fellow, but remains sensitive and open to subtle feelings. In a peaceful life, he behaves like a real hussar.
His long-lasting romance with Sonya ends with N.'s noble decision to marry a homeless woman, even against the will of his mother, but he receives a letter from Sonya with the return of his freedom. In 1812, during one of his trips, N. met Princess Marya and helped her to leave Bogucharovo. Princess Marya amazes him with her meekness and spirituality. After the death of his father, N. retires, taking on all the obligations and debts of the deceased, taking care of his mother and Sonya. When meeting with Princess Volkonskaya, out of noble motives, he tries to avoid her, one of the richest brides, but their mutual feeling does not weaken and is crowned with a happy marriage.
Rostov Petya- the youngest son of Counts Rostov, brother of Vera, Nikolai, Natasha. At the beginning of the novel, P. is still a little boy, enthusiastically succumbing to the general atmosphere of life in the Rostov house. He is musical, like all Rostovs, kind and cheerful. After Nicholas entered the army, P. wanted to imitate his brother, and in 1812, carried away by his patriotic impulse and enthusiastic attitude towards the sovereign, asked for leave to join the army. "Snub-nosed Petya, with his cheerful black eyes, fresh blush and a little fluff on his cheeks," becomes after departure the main concern of the mother, who realizes only at this time the depth of her love for her youngest child. During the war, P. accidentally ends up with an assignment in Denisov's detachment, where he remains, wishing to take part in the present case. He accidentally dies, showing on the eve of his death in relations with his comrades all the best features of the "Rostov breed" inherited by him in his home.
Rostov- Countess, "a woman with an oriental type of thin face, forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children ... The slowness of her movements and speech, stemming from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant look that inspires respect." When creating the image of Countess R. Tolstoy, character traits and some circumstances of the life of his paternal grandmother P.N. Tolstoy and mother-in-law L.A. Bers were used.
R. is accustomed to living in luxury, in an atmosphere of love and kindness. She is proud of the friendship and trust of her children, pampers them, worries about their fate. Despite the seeming weakness and even lack of will, the Countess makes balanced and reasonable decisions regarding the fate of children. Her love for children is also dictated by her desire by all means to marry Nicholas to a rich bride, nagging at Sonya. The news of Petya's death almost leads her to insanity. The only subject of the countess's displeasure is the old count's inability to manage affairs and small quarrels with him over the waste of the children's fortune. At the same time, the heroine cannot understand either the position of her husband, or the position of her son, with whom she remains after the death of the count, demanding the usual luxury and the fulfillment of all her whims and desires.
Rostova Natasha- one of the main heroines of the novel, daughter of Count Rostov, sister of Nikolai, Vera and Petit; at the end of the novel, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov. N. - "black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but alive ...". His wife and her sister T.A. Bers, married Kuzminskaya, served as her prototype for Tolstoy. According to the writer, he "took Tanya, smashed with Sonya, and it turned out Natasha." The image of the heroine took shape gradually from the very inception of the idea, when the writer, next to his hero, a former Decembrist, introduces himself to his wife.
N. is very emotional and sensitive, she intuitively guesses people, "not deigning" to be smart, sometimes selfish in manifestations of her feelings, but more often she is capable of self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, as in the case of taking the wounded out of Moscow or nursing her mother after Petya's death.
One of the defining qualities and merits of N. is her musicality and a voice of rare beauty. With her singing, she is able to influence the best in a person: it is N.'s singing that saves Nicholas from despair after the loss of 43 thousand. The old Count Rostov says about N. that she is all in him, "gunpowder", while Akhrosimova calls her "Cossack" and "potion girl".
Constantly carried away, N. lives in an atmosphere of love and happiness. A change in her fate occurs after meeting with Prince Andrew, who became her fiancé. The impatient feeling overwhelming N., the insult inflicted by the old prince Bolkonsky, push her to be infatuated with Anatoly Kuragin, to refuse Prince Andrei. Having only experienced and felt a lot, she realizes her guilt before Bolkonsky, reconciling with him and staying near the dying Prince Andrei until his death. N. feels true love only for Pierre Bezukhov, with whom he finds complete mutual understanding and whose wife he becomes, plunging into the world of family and maternal concerns.
Sonya- the niece and pupil of the old Count Rostov, who grew up in his family. The storyline of S. is based on the fate of T.A. However, the spiritual appearance of Ergolskaya is quite far from the character and inner world of the heroine. At the beginning of the novel, S. is 15 years old, she is “a slender, petite brunette with a soft gaze shaded by long eyelashes, a thick black braid that wrapped around her head twice, and a yellowish tinge of skin on her face and especially on her naked, thin, but graceful arms and neck. ... With the smoothness of movements, the softness and flexibility of small members and a somewhat cunning and restrained manner, she resembles a beautiful, but not yet formed kitten, which will be a lovely kitty. "
S. fits perfectly into the Rostov family, is unusually close and friendly with Natasha, since childhood she has been in love with Nikolai. She is restrained, silent, reasonable, careful, in her the ability to self-sacrifice is highly developed. S. attracts attention with her beauty and moral purity, but she does not have that spontaneity and inexplicably irresistible charm that is in Natasha. S.'s feeling for Nikolai is so constant and deep that she wants to "always love, and let him be free." This feeling makes her refuse the fiance, enviable in her dependent position, Dolokhov.
The content of the heroine's life completely depends on her love: she is happy, being connected by word with Nikolai Rostov, especially after Christmastide and his refusal to ask her mother to go to Moscow to marry the rich Julie Karagina. S. finally decides his fate under the influence of biased reproaches and reproaches of the old countess, not wanting to pay with ingratitude for everything that was done for her in the Rostov family, and most importantly, wishing Nikolai to be happy. She writes him a letter in which she frees him from this word, but secretly hopes that his marriage with Princess Marya will be impossible after the recovery of Prince Andrew. After the death of the old count, he remains with the countess to live in the care of retired Nikolai Rostov.
Tushin- staff captain, hero of the Shengraben battle, “a small, dirty, thin artillery officer with big, intelligent and kind eyes. There was something about this man "non-military, somewhat comic, but extremely attractive." T. is shy when meeting with his superiors, and there is always some kind of his fault. On the eve of the battle, he talks about the fear of death and the uncertainty of what awaits after it.
In battle, T. completely changes, presenting himself as the hero of a fantastic picture, a hero throwing cannonballs at the enemy, and the enemy's cannons appear to him as puffing pipes like his own. T.'s battery was forgotten during the battle, left without cover. During the battle, T. has no feelings of fear and thoughts of death and injury. He becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers listen to him like children, 'he does everything he can, and thanks to his ingenuity, he sets fire to the village of Shengraben. Andrei Bolkonsky rescues the hero from another trouble (the cannons left on the battlefield), announcing to Bagration that it is to this man that the detachment owes much of its success.
Anna Pavlovna Sherer- the maid of honor and confidant of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the hostess of the fashionable in St. Petersburg high society "political" salon, describing the evening in which Tolstoy begins his novel. AP is 40 years old, she has "obsolete facial features", every time the mention of the Empress expresses a combination of sadness, devotion and respect. The heroine is dexterous, tactful, influential at court, prone to intrigue. Her attitude to any person or event is always dictated by the latest political, court or secular considerations, she is close to the Kuragin family and is friendly with Prince Vasily. AP is constantly "full of animation and impulse", "being an enthusiast has become her social position", and in her salon, in addition to discussing the latest courtiers and political news, she always "treats" guests with some novelty or celebrity, and in 1812 her circle demonstrates salon patriotism in the light of St. Petersburg.
Chipped Tikhon- a man from Pokrovskoe near Gzhatya, sticking to Denisov's partisan detachment. He got his nickname due to the lack of one tooth. He is agile, walks on "flat, twisted legs." In detachment T. the most necessary person, no one more skillful than him can bring "the tongue" and perform any inconvenient and dirty work. T. goes to the French with pleasure, bringing trophies and prisoners, but after his injury, he begins to unnecessarily kill the French, laughingly referring to the fact that they were "inferior". For this he is not liked in the detachment.
Now you know the main characters War and Peace, as well as their brief description.
The image of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace". Composition based on the novel by Tolstoy - War and Peace. Pierre Bezukhov, by his nature, by his disposition, is predominantly an emotional person. Its characteristic features are a mind prone to "dreamy philosophizing", free-thinking, absent-mindedness, weakness of will, lack of initiative. This does not mean that Prince Andrew is incapable of experiencing a deep feeling, and Pierre is a weak thinker; one and the other are complex natures. The terms "intellectual" and "emotional" in this case mean the predominant traits of the spiritual forces of these extraordinary personalities. Pierre stands out sharply from among the people in the Scherer salon, where we first get to know him. This is "a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, glasses, in light pantaloons in the fashion of the time, with a high frill and in a brown dress coat." His look is "smart and at the same time timid, observant and natural." Its main feature is the search for "tranquility, harmony with oneself." Pierre's entire life path is an incessant search for the meaning of life, a search for a life that would be in harmony with the needs of his heart and would bring him moral satisfaction. In this he is similar to Andrei Bolkonsky.
The way of Pierre, like the way of Prince Andrew, this is the way to the people. Even during the period of passion for Freemasonry, he decides to devote his energies to the improvement of the peasants. He considers it necessary to release his serfs to freedom, thinks about establishing hospitals, shelters and schools in his villages. True, the cunning manager deceives Pierre and creates only the appearance of the reforms carried out. But Pierre is sincerely convinced that his peasants are now living well. His real rapprochement with the common people begins in captivity, when he meets the soldiers and Karataev. Pierre arises a desire to simplify himself, to merge completely with the people. The lordly life, secular salons, the luxury of tomyagi do not satisfy Pierre, He painfully feels his isolation from
Images of Natasha and Princess Marie in the novel "War and Peace". But Natasha and Princess Marya have common features.... They are both patriots. Natasha did not hesitate to donate the riches of the Moscow house of the Rostovs for the sake of saving the wounded. And Princess Marya abandons the estate to the mercy of fate when the French approach. When the homeland is in danger, family traits awaken in it - pride, courage, firmness. So it was in Bogucharovo, when a French companion invited her to stay on the estate and trust the mercy of the French general, the mercy of the enemies of Russia, her homeland. And “although it was all the same for Princess Marya wherever she stayed and whatever happened to her, she felt at the same time a representative of her late father and Prince Andrey. She involuntarily thought them with thoughts and felt them with feelings. " And one more feature makes Natasha and Princess Marya related. Princess Marya is getting married to Nikolai Rostov, and Tolstoy, drawing their family life, speaks of the happiness that she, like Natasha, found in the family. This is how Tolstoy decides the question of the appointment of a woman, limiting her interests to the framework of family life.
Let's remember another episode of the meeting of Nikolai Rostov with Sonya, when he, having arrived on vacation, does not know how to behave with his girlfriend. "He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya, But their eyes, meeting, said" you "to each other and kissed tenderly."
Favorite heroes of Tolstoy are people with a complex mental world... In revealing such characters, Tolstoy resorts to different methods: to direct characterization from the author, to auto-characterization of the hero, to internal dialogues and reflections, etc. Internal monologues and internal dialogues allow the author to discover such intimate thoughts and moods of the heroes, which can be conveyed in a different way ( for example, using direct author's characteristics) would be difficult without violating the laws of artistic realism. Tolstoy resorts to such monologues and dialogues very often. The reflections of the wounded Prince Andrey in chapter XXXII of the third volume of the novel can serve as an example of an "internal monologue" with elements of dialogue. Here is another example of an "internal monologue" - the reflections of Natasha, childishly directly talking about herself: "What a lovely Natasha!" - she said to herself again in the words of some third collective male face. - She is good, her voice is young, and she does not bother anyone, leave only her alone ”(Chapter XXIII of the second volume).
The image of Andrei Bolkonsky. The external world with its things and phenomena is also skillfully used by Tolstoy to characterize heroes. So, describing Natasha's mood after the unexpected departure of Andrei Bolkonsky (before the matchmaking), Tolstoy reports that Natasha completely calmed down and “put on that old dress that was especially known to her for the joy she brought in the morning.” Tolstoy is a brilliant landscape painter. He will notice young “green sticky leaves” of birch, and shrubs greening somewhere, and “juicy, dark green oak”, and moonlight bursting into the room, and the freshness of a spring night. Let us recall the wonderfully described hunting in Otradnoye. Both people, animals, and nature act here as indicators of the powerful force of life, its full blood. The landscape performs various functions in the novel. The most common feature of Tolstoy's landscape is the correspondence of this landscape to the mood of the hero. The disappointment, the gloomy mood of Prince Andrey after the break with Natasha colors the surrounding landscape in gloomy tones. “He looked at the strip of birches, with their motionless yellowness, greenery and white bark, shining in the sun. "To die ... to be killed, tomorrow, so that I would not be ... so that all this would be, but I would not be ..." He is tormented by terrible forebodings and painful thoughts of death. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke of bonfires - all this around was transformed for him and seemed to be something terrible and threatening. And the poetry of Natasha's nature, on the contrary, is revealed against the background of a moonlit spring night in Otradnoye. In other cases, the landscape directly affects the person, enlightening and wisdom him. Prince Andrew, wounded at Austerlitz, looks at the sky and thinks: “Yes! Everything is empty, everything is deception, except for this endless sky. " The oak, which Prince Andrey meets twice on his way, reveals to him the "meaning of life" in completely different ways: in one case it seems to Prince Andrey the personification of hopelessness, in the other - a symbol of joyful faith in happiness.
Finally, Tolstoy uses the landscape as a means of characterizing the real situation. Let us recall, for example, the heavy fog that spread like a continuous milky-white sea over the outskirts of Austerlitz. Thanks to this fog, which covered the positions of the French, the Russian and Austrian troops were put in a worse position, since they did not see the enemy and unexpectedly faced him face to face. Napoleon, standing at a height where it was completely light, could unmistakably lead the troops.
The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace". Napoleon confronts in the novel Napoleon... Tolstoy debunks this commander and an outstanding historical figure. Drawing the appearance of Napoleon, the author of the novel says that he was a "little man" with an "unpleasantly feigned smile" on his face, with "fat breasts", "round belly" and "fat spoons of short legs." Tolstoy shows Napoleon as a narcissistic and arrogant ruler of France, intoxicated with success, blinded by glory, attributing to his personality a driving role in the course of historical events. Even in small scenes, in the slightest gestures, one can feel, according to Tolstoy, Napoleon's insane pride, his acting, the conceit of a man who is accustomed to believing that every movement of his hand scatters happiness or sows grief among thousands of people. The servility of those around him lifted him to such a height that he really believed in his ability to change the course of history and influence the fate of peoples.
In contrast to Kutuzov who does not attach decisive importance to his personal will, Napoleon puts himself above all, his personality, considers himself a superman. “Only what was happening in his soul was of interest to him. Everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will. " The word "I" is Napoleon's favorite word. In Napoleon, selfishness, individualism and rationality are emphasized - features that are absent in Kutuzov, the people's commander who thinks not about his own glory, but about the glory and freedom of the fatherland. Revealing the ideological content of the novel, we already Tolstoy "" noted the originality in Tolstoy's interpretation of certain themes of the novel. Thus, we have already said that Tolstoy, going against the revolutionary peasant democracy, obscures in his novel the acuteness of the class contradictions between the peasantry and the landowners; revealing, for example, Pierre Bezukhov's restless thoughts about the plight of serfs, he at the same time paints pictures of idyllic relationships between landowners and peasants in the estate and house of the Rostovs. We also noted the features of idealization in the image of Karataev, the originality of the interpretation of the role of personality in history, etc.
How can these features of the novel be explained? Their source must be sought in Tolstoy's worldview, which reflected the contradictions of his time. Tolstoy was a great artist. His novel "War and Peace" is one of the greatest masterpieces of world art, a brilliant work in which the breadth of an epic scope was combined with an amazing depth of penetration into the mental life of people. But Tolstoy lived in Russia in a transitional era, in an era of breaking the social and economic foundations of life, when the country was moving from a feudal-serf system to capitalist forms of life, violently protesting, in Lenin's words, “against any class domination,” Tolstoy, a landowner and an aristocrat , found a way out for himself in the transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. Belinsky, in his articles about Tolstoy, revealed with remarkable depth all the contradictions that were reflected in the worldview and work of Tolstoy in connection with his transition to the position of the patriarchal peasantry. These contradictions could not but be reflected in the artistic structure of the novel "War and Peace". Tolstoy, the great realist and Protestant, ultimately defeated Tolstoy, the religious philosopher, and created a work unparalleled in world literature. But while reading the novel, we still cannot help but feel the contradictions in the worldview of its author.
The image of Kutuzov in the novel "War and Peace". In the novel, Tolstoy ridicules the cult of "great personalities" created by bourgeois historians. He correctly believes that the masses of the people decide the course of history. But his assessment of the role of the masses takes on a religious connotation. He comes to the recognition of fatalism, arguing that all historical events are predetermined from above. The expression of his views in the novel Tolstoy makes the commander Kutuzov. The basis of his view is the consciousness that the creator of history, historical events is the people, and not individuals (heroes) and that all rationalistically constructed theories, no matter how good they seem, are nothing in front of the force, which is the mood, the spirit of the masses.
"Long-term military experience, - writes Tolstoy about Kutuzov, - he knew and with his senile mind understood that it was impossible for one person to lead hundreds of thousands of people fighting death, and he knew that the fate of the battle was not decided by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not the place where the troops were stationed, not the number guns and killed people, and that elusive force, called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and directed it, as far as it was in his power. " Tolstoy also attributed to Kutuzov his erroneous fatalistic view of history, according to which the outcome of historical events was predetermined in advance. Andrei Bolkonsky says about Kutuzov: “He will not invent anything, will not undertake anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will - this is the inevitable course of events - and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their meaning and, in view of this meaning, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will aimed at other ... "
Denying the role of personality in history, Tolstoy strove to make Kutuzov only a wise observer of historical events, only a passive contemplator of them. This, of course, was Tolstoy's mistake. It inevitably had to lead to a contradictory assessment of Kutuzov. And so it happened. In the novel, a commander appears who extremely accurately evaluates the course of military events and unmistakably directs them. With the help of a well-thought-out counter-offensive plan, Kutuzov is destroying Napoleon and his army. Consequently, in a number of essential features, Kutuzov is shown historically correctly in the novel: he possesses great strategic skill, thinks through the campaign plan for long nights, acts as an active figure, hiding tremendous volitional tension behind the external calmness. So the realist artist overcame the philosophy of fatalism. The bearer of the people's spirit and the will of the people, Kutuzov deeply and correctly understood the course of things, in the midst of events he gave them a correct assessment, which was subsequently confirmed. So, he correctly assessed the significance of the Battle of Borodino, saying that it was a victory. As a commander, Kutuzov is superior to Napoleon. To wage a people's war, like the war of 1812, Tolstoy says, such a commander was needed. With the expulsion of the French, Kutuzov's mission was completed. The transfer of the war to Europe required a different commander-in-chief. “The representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed on the highest level of its glory, the Russian person, as a Russian, had nothing more to do. The representative of the people's war had no choice but death. And he died. "
Portraying Kutuzov as the people's commander, as the embodiment of people's thoughts, will and feelings. Tolstoy never falls into schematism. Kutuzov is a living person. This impression is created with us primarily because Tolstoy clearly, vividly draws us a portrait of Kutuzov - his figure, gait and gestures, facial expressions, his eyes, now glowing with a pleasant affectionate smile, now taking on a mocking expression. Tolstoy gives it to us either in the perception of persons different in character and social position, or draws from himself, delving into the psychological analysis of his hero. Kutuzov's scenes and episodes depicting the commander in conversations and conversations with people close and pleasant to him, like Bolkonsky, Denisov, Bagration, his behavior on military councils, in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino, make Kutuzov deeply human and alive. Kutuzov's speech is diverse in its lexical composition and syntactic structure. He is fluent in high society speech when he speaks or writes to the king, generals and other representatives of the aristocratic society. “I say only one thing, General,” says Kutuzov with a pleasant grace of expression and intonation that made you listen attentively to every leisurely spoken word. “I only say one thing, General, that if the matter depended on my personal desire, then the will of His Majesty Emperor Franz would have been fulfilled long ago. " But he is also fluent in simple folk language. “And that's what, brothers. I know it's difficult for us, but what can we do! Be patient: it's not long left ... Let's see the guests out, we'll rest then, ”he said to the soldiers, meeting them on the way from Krasnoye to Dobry. And in a letter to old man Bolkonsky, he discovers archaic features of the clerical style of this era: “I flatter myself and you with the hope that your son is alive, because otherwise, among the officers found on the battlefield, about whom the list was submitted to me through parliamentarians, and he would was named ".
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