War and peace the life path of Pierre. Essay plan - The Quest of Pierre Bezukhov (based on the novel by L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”)

Life quests of Pierre Bezukhov

Pierre Bezukhov was illegitimate son one of richest people in Russia. In society he was perceived as an eccentric, everyone laughed at his beliefs, aspirations and statements. No one considered his opinion or took him seriously. But when Pierre received a huge inheritance, everyone began to fawn on him, he became a desired groom for many social coquettes...

While living in France, he became imbued with the ideas of Freemasonry; it seemed to Pierre that he had found like-minded people, that with their help he could change the world for the better. But soon he became disillusioned with Freemasonry, although his desire for equality among people and justice in everything was ineradicable.

Pierre Bezukhov is still very young and inexperienced, he is looking for the purpose of his life and existence in general, but, unfortunately, he comes to the conclusion that nothing can be changed in this world and falls under the bad influence of Kuragin and Dolokhov. Pierre simply begins to “waste his life”, spends his time on balls and social evenings. Kuragin marries him to Helen.

Bezukhov was inspired by passion for Helen Kuragina, the very first secular beauty, he rejoiced at the happiness of marrying her. But after some time, Pierre noticed that Helen was just a beautiful doll with an icy heart, a painted smile and a cruel, hypocritical disposition. Marriage to Helen Kuragina brought Pierre Bezukhov only pain and disappointment in the female sex.

Tired of a wild life and inaction, Pierre's soul is eager to work. He begins to carry out reforms in his lands, tries to give freedom to the serfs, but what is very unfortunate is that people do not understand him, they are so accustomed to slavery that they cannot even imagine how they can live without it. People decide that Pierre has “quirks.”

When the War of 1812 began, Pierre Bezukhov, although not a military man, went to the front to see how people fought for their Fatherland. While on the fourth bastion, Pierre saw real war, he saw how people suffer because of Napoleon. Bezukhov was struck and inspired by the patriotism, zeal and self-sacrifice of ordinary soldiers, he felt pain along with them, Pierre was filled with fierce hatred of Bonaparte, he wanted to kill him personally. Unfortunately, he failed and was captured instead.

Bezukhov spent a month in prison. There he met a simple “soldier” Platon Karataev. This acquaintance and being in captivity played a role significant role in Pierre's life quest. He finally understood and realized the truth that he had been looking for for a long time: that every person has the right to happiness and should be happy. Pierre Bezukhov saw the true price of life.

Pierre found his happiness in marriage with Natasha Rostova, she was for him not only his wife, the mother of his children and the woman he loved, she was more - she was a friend who supported him in everything.

Bezukhov, like all the Decembrists, fought for truth, for the freedom of the people, for honor; it was these goals that served as the reason for his joining their ranks.

A long path of wandering, sometimes erroneous, sometimes funny and absurd, nevertheless led Pierre Bezukhov to the truth, which he had to understand after going through difficult trials of fate. We can say that, no matter what, the end of Pierre’s life quest is good, because he achieved the goal that he initially pursued. He tried to change this world for the better. And each of us must also strive for this goal, because the house consists of small bricks, and they are made of small grains of sand, and the grains of sand are our good and fair deeds.

In addition to the essay about life quests Pierre Bezukhov also see:

• The image of Marya Bolkonskaya in the novel “War and Peace”, essay
• The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace"
• The image of Kutuzov in the novel “War and Peace”
• Comparative characteristics of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys - essay

The young hero lived and studied abroad, returning to his homeland at the age of twenty. The boy suffered from the fact that he was an illegitimate child of noble birth.

Life path Pierre Bezukhov's novel “War and Peace” is a search for the meaning of human existence, the formation of a consciously mature member of society.

Petersburg adventures

The young count's first appearance in society took place at a party by Anna Scherrer, with a description of which begins epic work Lev Tolstoy. The angular guy, who resembled a bear, was not dexterous in court etiquette, and indulged in behavior that was somewhat discourteous towards the nobles.

After ten years of strict upbringing, deprived parental love, the guy finds himself in the company of the unlucky Prince Kuragin. A wild life begins without the restrictions of tutors, prejudices and control.

Alcohol flows like a river, and children of wealthy members of the nobility hang out in noisy company. There are rarely cases of shortage of money, few people dare to complain about the hussars.

Pierre is young, the awareness of his own personality has not yet come, there is no craving for any activity. The revelry eats up time, the days seem busy and fun. But one day the company, in a drunken stupor, tied a guard to the back of a trained bear. They released the beast into the Neva and laughed, looking at the screaming law enforcement officer.

The patience of society came to an end, the instigators of hooliganism were demoted in rank, and the erring young man was sent to his father.

Fight for inheritance

Arriving in Moscow, Pierre learns that Kirill Bezukhov is ill. The old nobleman had many children, all illegitimate with no right to inheritance. Anticipating a fierce struggle for the wealth left by him after his death, the father asks Emperor Alexander I to recognize Pierre as his legitimate son and heir.

Intrigues begin related to the redistribution of capital and real estate. The influential Prince Vasily Kuragin enters the struggle for the Bezukhovs' inheritance, planning to marry the young count to his daughter.

Having lost his father, the young man becomes depressed. Loneliness makes him withdrawn; he is not happy with his wealth and the title of count, which fell unexpectedly. Demonstrating concern for the inexperienced heir, Prince Kuragin arranges for him a prestigious position in the diplomatic corps.

Falling in love and marriage

Helen was a beauty, seductive, able to make eyes. The girl knew what men liked and how to attract attention. Catch the slow one in your net young man it wasn't particularly difficult.

Pierre was inspired, the nymph seemed so fantastic to him, unattainable, secretly desired. He wanted to possess her so much that he did not have the strength to voice his feelings. Having developed passion and confusion in the gentleman’s soul, Prince Kuragin with effort organized and announced Bezukhov’s engagement to his daughter.
Their marriage was a disappointment for the man. In vain he looked for signs of female wisdom in his chosen one. They had absolutely nothing to talk about. The wife did not know anything about what her husband was interested in. On the contrary, everything that Helen wanted or dreamed of was petty, not worthy of attention.

Severance of relations and return to St. Petersburg

The connection between Countess Bezukhova and Dolokhov became known to everyone; the lovers did not hide it and spent a lot of time together. The Count challenges Dolokhov to a duel, offended by the painful situation. Having wounded his opponent, the man remained completely unharmed.

Having finally realized that he has connected his life not with a chaste, modest woman, but with a cynical and depraved woman, the count goes to the capital. Hatred tormented his heart, devastation filled his soul with pain. The collapse of hopes for a calm family life plunged Pierre into despondency; existence lost all meaning.

An unsuccessful marriage brought misfortune to the count; he turned away from his religious views, becoming a member of the Masonic society. He really wanted to be needed by someone, to turn his life into a stream of virtuous deeds, to become an impeccable member of society.

Bezukhov begins to improve the lives of the peasants, but nothing works out for him; bringing the desired order to the estates is more difficult than he thought. The estate, the count becomes the head of the St. Petersburg Masonic society.

Before the war

The reunion with Helen took place in 1809 under pressure from her father-in-law. The wife loved social life and turned men’s heads at balls. Pierre was accustomed to consider her his punishment from God and patiently bore his burden.

A couple of times, through the efforts of his wife’s lovers, he was promoted to public service. This made me feel completely disgusted and ashamed. The hero suffers, rethinks life and changes internally.

Pierre's only joy was his friendship with Natasha Rostova, but after her engagement to Prince Bolkonsky he had to give up friendly visits. Fate made a new zigzag.

Once again disappointed in his human purpose, Bezukhov leads a chaotic lifestyle. The shocks suffered radically change the appearance of the hero. He returns to Moscow, where he finds noisy companies, champagne and nightly fun to drown out his mental pain.

War changes worldview

Bezukhov volunteered to go to the front when the French army approached Moscow. The Battle of Borodino became significant date in Pierre's life. The patriot Bezukhov will never forget the sea of ​​blood, the field covered with the bodies of soldiers.

Four weeks of captivity became a turning point for the hero. Everything that previously seemed important looked insignificant in the face of enemy aggression. Now the count knew how to build his life.

Family and Children

After being released from captivity, it became known about Helen's death. Remaining a widower, Bezukhov renewed his friendship with Natasha, who was grieving over the death of Andrei Bolkonsky. This was a different Pierre, the war cleansed his soul.

In 1813, he married Natasha Rostova in the hope of finding his happiness. Three daughters and a son made up the meaning of the life of the hero, who could not calm down his craving for the common good and virtue.

Leo Tolstoy loves his hero, who in some ways resembles the author. For example, with his aversion to war, true humanism and friendly attitude to the whole world.

May 01 2015

The first time we meet Pierre Bezukhov is in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. Appearing at an evening dominated by hypocrisy and unnaturalness, clumsy and absent-minded, Pierre is strikingly different from all those present, first of all, by his sincerely good-natured expression on his face, which, as in a mirror, reflects both his reluctance to take part in conversations that do not interest him and his joy at the appearance of the prince Andrei, and delight at the sight of the beautiful Helen. Almost everyone in the salon is condescending, or rather even dismissive, towards this “bear” who “doesn’t know how to live.” I am only truly glad to meet Pierre, whom he calls the only “alive” among this society. Ignorant of the laws high society Bezukhov almost becomes a victim of the machinations of Prince Vasily and his half-sister, who do not want Pierre to be recognized as the legitimate son of the old count and are trying in every possible way to prevent this. All rights reserved and protected by law © 2001-2005 olsoch.

ru But Pierre wins with his kindness, and the count, dying, leaves an inheritance to his beloved son. After Pierre becomes the heir to a huge fortune, he cannot help but be in society. Being naive and short-sighted, he cannot resist the intrigues of Prince Vasily, who directed all his efforts to marry his daughter Helen to the rich Pierre.

The indecisive Bezukhov, only subconsciously feeling negative side relationship with Helen, does not notice how he is becoming more and more entangled in a network of circumstances, one way or another pushing him towards marriage. As a result, guided by etiquette, he is literally married to Helen, virtually without his consent. It does not describe the life of the newlyweds, letting us understand that it does not deserve attention.

Soon rumors spread in society about a love affair between Helen and Dolokhov, Pierre’s former friend. At an evening organized in honor of Bagration, Pierre was driven to fury by far from ambiguous hints about Helen’s affair on the side. He is forced to challenge Dolokhov to a duel, although he himself does not want this: “Stupid, stupid: death, lies...

“Tolstoy shows the absurdity of this duel: Bezukhov does not even want to protect himself from a bullet with his hand, and he himself seriously wounds Dolokhov, not even knowing how to shoot. Not wanting to live like this anymore, Pierre decides to break up with Helen. All these events leave a deep imprint on the worldview. He feels that “the main screw on which his whole life was held” has turned in his head.” After breaking up with the woman he married without love, who disgraced him, Pierre is in a state of acute mental crisis.

“What's wrong? What well?" - these are the questions that concern the hero.

It was during this period of searching for answers to the questions posed that he met Bazdeev, a member of the brotherhood of free masons, thanks to which he became imbued with the idea of ​​​​changing life for the better and truly believed in the possibility of this: “He wanted to believe with all his soul, and believed, and experienced a joyful feeling of calm , renewal and return to life.” The result was Bezukhov’s entry into the Freemasonic lodge. “Rebirth” Pierre began by deciding to carry out transformations in the village, but the clever manager quickly found a way not to use the money of the unlucky Pierre for its intended purpose.

Pierre himself, calmed by the appearance of activity, still led the same riotous life. Having stopped by his friend Prince Andrei in Bogucharovo, Pierre expresses to him his thoughts, imbued with faith in the need for a person to strive for virtue, and for Andrei this meeting with Bezukhov “was the era from which, although in appearance the same, but in inner world his new life" In 1808, Pierre became the head of St. Petersburg Freemasonry.

He gave his money for the construction of temples, and supported the house of the poor with his own funds. In 1809, at a ceremonial meeting of the lodge of the 2nd degree, Pierre made a speech, which was not received with enthusiasm; he was only made a “remark about his ardor.” Circumstances, as well as the “first rules of a Mason” force Pierre to make peace with his wife.

In the end, Pierre understands that for many Freemasonry is not a desire to serve the great idea of ​​virtue, but only a way to win a place in society, and, disappointed, he leaves Freemasonry. Arriving in Moscow and seeing her, Bezukhov realized that he loved her. He helped bring Anatoly Kuragin to clean water, thereby preventing the spread of rumors about the relationship between Anatole and Natasha in the light. Pierre wanted to come to the site of the upcoming battle in Borodino. After the battle, on the way back, he eats “a mess” with the soldiers, which seemed to him tastier than anything in the world, and thinks that he would like to “throw off all this unnecessary, devilish stuff” and be “just a soldier.”

This is the moment of real spiritual unity between the hero and the people. He is trying to unravel the mystery of the soldier's character. Why do soldiers calmly go to their death, without fear of being killed? “He who is not afraid of her belongs to him everything.” With such thoughts, Bezukhov returns to Moscow. At the time when the French almost reached the quarter in which Pierre lived, he was “in a state close to madness.”

Pierre had long been occupied with the thought of the predetermination of his fate, of his highest destiny to kill Napoleon; “a feeling of the need for sacrifice and suffering” lived in him. Waking up one day, he took a pistol, a dagger and left the house with the intention of finally doing what he was born for, but in fact only to prove to himself that he “does not renounce” his intention. On the street, Pierre met a woman begging to save her child.

He rushed to look for the girl, but when he found her, scrofulous, a feeling of disgust was ready to prevail over the spiritual need to be needed. But still, he takes her in his arms and, after many attempts to find her parents, gives the girl to the Armenians. Pierre is captured after standing up for Armenian woman. During the execution of prisoners, Pierre experiences a terrible feeling of the collapse of everyone life beliefs: Nothing mattered in the face of death.

After his release, Pierre was ill for a long time, but was full of joy in life. He became friends with Princess Marya, where he met Natasha, and the long-lit flame of his love flared up with new strength. In the epilogue we meet Pierre, living a calm, happy life: He has been Natasha’s husband for 7 years and the father of four children. Arguing with Nikolai, Pierre defends the ideas of the revolutionaries - the need for transformation.

Thus, we see that Tolstoy brings his hero to the beginning of the path of hardship in the struggle for the people, the path of Pyotr Lobazov, the Decembrist, who was originally supposed to be the hero of Tolstoy’s novel.

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In the novel, Pierre first appears in Anna Pavlovna Scherer's salon. “He had not served anywhere yet, he had just arrived from abroad, where he was brought up, and was for the first time in society.”

At the beginning of the epic, Pierre is a weak-willed young man, constantly in need of someone's guidance and therefore falling under different influences: now Prince Andrei, now the company of Anatoly Kuragin, now Prince Vasily. His outlook on life is not yet firmly established. Pierre returned from France, overwhelmed with ideas French Revolution. Napoleon for him is a hero, the embodiment of the French national spirit. Going to

Assembly of the nobility, he recalls the communication of the monarch with the people in 1789 and hopes that he will see something similar to what happened in France. In the epilogue, Tolstoy makes it clear that Pierre takes an active part in the secret Decembrist societies.

As a personality, Pierre has not yet formed, and therefore his intelligence is combined with “dreamy philosophizing,” and absent-mindedness, weakness of will, lack of initiative, and unsuitability for practical activities are combined with exceptional kindness.

Pierre is just beginning his life and therefore has not yet been spoiled by social conventions and prejudices, by that environment for which only dinners, gossip and, in particular, who the old Count Bezukhov will leave his inheritance are interested in.

Gradually, Pierre begins to understand the laws by which this society lives. Before his eyes there is a struggle for the mosaic briefcase of Count Bezukhov. The hero also observes a change in attitude towards himself that occurred after he received the inheritance. And yet Pierre is not characterized by a sober assessment of what is happening. He is perplexed, sincerely surprised by the changes and yet takes it for granted, without trying to find out the reasons for himself.

In Anna Pavlovna's living room, he meets Helen, a person completely opposite to him in spiritual content. Before he had time to understand the essence of Helen. With the marriage to this woman one of the important milestones in the life of a hero. “Indulging in debauchery and laziness,” Pierre increasingly realizes that family life It doesn’t turn out that his wife is absolutely immoral. He acutely feels his own degradation, dissatisfaction grows in him, but not with others, but with himself. Pierre considers it possible to blame only himself for his disorder.

As a result of an explanation with his wife and a lot of moral stress, a breakdown occurs. At a dinner in honor of Bagration, Pierre challenges Dolokhov, who insulted him, to a duel. Having never held a weapon in his hands, Pierre must take a responsible step. He wounds Dolokhov. Shooting with him, the hero defends first of all his honor, defends his own ideas about moral duty person. Seeing his wounded enemy lying in the snow, Pierre says: “Stupid... stupid! Death... lies..." He understands that the path he followed turned out to be wrong.

After everything that happened to him, especially after the duel with Dolokhov, Pierre’s whole life seems meaningless. He is plunged into a mental crisis, which manifests itself both in the hero’s dissatisfaction with himself and in the desire to change his life, to build it on new, good principles.

On the way to St. Petersburg, waiting at the station in Torzhok for horses, he asks himself difficult questions: “What’s wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live, and what is it...” Here Pierre meets the freemason Evzdeev. The hero happily accepts his teaching, because, tormented by the consciousness that he is in a spiritual dead end, he tries in vain to resolve the question of what is Good and Evil.

In the Freemasons he sees precisely those who give him the answer to painful questions and establish firm life principles that need to be followed. For Pierre, truth lies in moral cleansing. This is what a hero needs.

And Pierre tries to do good, guided by Christian ideas Freemasonry He goes to Kyiv to his estates, trying to introduce culture and education in the villages, although it turns out that his innovations are of no use. Over time, Pierre becomes disillusioned with Freemasonry, but from the “Masonic” period of his life he retains many moral concepts associated with the Christian worldview. Once again, a spiritual crisis occurs in the hero’s life.

The climax of the novel was the depiction of the Battle of Borodino. And in Bezukhov’s life it was also a decisive moment. Wanting to share the fate of the people of Russia, the hero, not being a military man, takes part in the battle. Through the eyes of this character, Tolstoy conveys his understanding of the most important in folk historical life events. It was in the battle that Pierre learned who they were. “In Pierre’s understanding, they were soldiers - those who were at the battery, and those who fed him, and those who prayed to the icon.” The hero is surprised that the soldiers, going to certain death, are still able to smile, paying attention to his hat. He sees how the soldiers are digging trenches with laughter, pushing each other, making their way to miraculous icon. Pierre begins to understand that a person cannot own anything while he is afraid of death. He who is not afraid of her owns everything. The hero realizes that there is nothing terrible in life, and sees that it is these people, ordinary soldiers, who live the true life. And at the same time, he feels that he cannot connect with them, live the way they live.

Later, after the battle, Pierre hears in a dream the voice of his mentor, a Freemason, and thanks to his preaching he learns a new truth: “It’s not all about connecting, but it’s necessary to connect.” In a dream, the benefactor says: “Simplicity is submission to God, you cannot escape him, and they are simple. They don’t say it, but they do it.” The hero accepts this truth.

Soon Pierre plans to kill Napoleon, being “in a state of irritation close to insanity.” Two are the same strong feelings are fighting in him at this moment. “The first was a feeling of the need for sacrifice and suffering with the awareness of general misfortune,” while the other was “that vague, exclusively Russian feeling contempt for everything conventional, artificial... for everything that is considered by most people to be the highest good of the world.”

Disguised as a tradesman, Pierre remains in Moscow. He wanders the streets, saves a girl from a burning house, protects a family that is being attacked by the French, and is arrested.

An important stage in the hero’s life is his meeting with Platon Karataev. This meeting marked Pierre's introduction to the people, to the people's truth. In captivity, he finds “that peace and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly strived before.” Here he learned “not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs" Introducing to the people's truth, the people's ability to live helps Pierre's internal liberation. Pierre always sought a solution to the question of the meaning of life: “He looked for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the distraction of social life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love to Natasha. He sought this through thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him.” And finally, with the help of Platon Karataev, this issue was resolved. The most essential thing in Karataev’s character is loyalty to himself, to his only and constant spiritual truth. For some time this also became an ideal for Pierre, but only for a while. Pierre, by the very essence of his character, was not able to accept life without searching. Having learned Karataev's truth, Pierre in the epilogue of the novel goes further than this truth - he goes not Karataev's, but his own way.

Pierre achieves final spiritual harmony in his marriage to Natasha Rostova. After seven years of marriage, he feels completely happy man. By the end of the 1810s, indignation was growing in Pierre, protest against social order, which is expressed in the intention to create a legal or secret society. So, moral quest The hero's journey ends with him becoming a supporter of the Decembrist movement emerging in the country.

Initially, the novel was conceived by Tolstoy as a narrative about contemporary reality. Realizing that the origins of the contemporary liberation movement lay in Decembrism, the writer changed the previous concept of the work. The writer showed in the novel that the ideas of Decembrism lay in the spiritual upsurge that the Russian people experienced during the War of 1812. So, Pierre, learning more and more new truths, does not renounce his previous convictions, but leaves from each period certain life rules that are most suitable for him, and acquires life experience. He, in his youth, obsessed with the ideas of the French Revolution, in maturity became a Decembrist revolutionary; from the Masonic rules of life, he retained faith in God and the Christian laws of life. And finally, he learns the main truth: the ability to combine the personal with the public, his beliefs with the beliefs of other people.

Pierre Bezukhov is the son of Catherine’s nobleman, but not a well-born one, but one who fell into “accident,” as they said then. Thus, in terms of his wealth and title, Pierre is a full member of the high society drawing rooms, but in spirit and habits he does not belong there, and therefore, more than anyone else, he is capable of being critical of high society and getting closer to the lower classes, appearing as a kind of connector. link At the same time, Bezukhov is illegitimate and only then formally receives the title of count. This circumstance also affects his concepts: he is more democratic. In 1805, when the novel begins, Pierre has just returned to St. Petersburg from abroad, where he was brought up with respect for the ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity, but without the horrors of terror. In high-society drawing rooms, among the costumes and concepts of the era of classicism, Pierre, with his ability to sit so as to “block everyone’s path,” seemed as if “huge and out of character for the place.” He especially made this impression with “that intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural look that distinguished him from all” high society people. With this glance Pierre takes in the life noisily rushing in front of him.

With fatal necessity, an idealist and admirer of Rousseau, in his personal life he does not protect himself from gross violation of ideals. Pierre's wife, a beauty without any ideas other than the idea of ​​her attractiveness, torments him with her hobbies, drives him into wild outbursts, into a duel with one of her admirers, to the point where he almost throws himself at her, and so that not to see her, Pierre gives her more than half of his fortune for a separate life. After this, he experiences a depressed state of mind. He is tormented by an insoluble question about the meaning of life: who is right and who is wrong in life’s conflicts, who or what controls the world? He admits that he hates his life as a well-fed, idle and dissatisfied person. At this moment, he accidentally encounters a freemason Bazdeev at the station. With pathetic frankness, they enter into a conversation, and in response to Pierre’s complaints, the Freemason insistently demands to “purify life” in order to understand its meaning.

“Look at your life, my lord. How did you spend it? In violent orgies and debauchery, receiving everything from society and giving nothing to it. You have received wealth. How did you use it? What have you done for your neighbor? Have you thought about the tens of thousands of your slaves, have you helped them physically and morally? No …. Then you got married, my lord, took on the responsibility of leading a young woman, and what did you do? You did not help her, my lord, to find the path of truth... And you say that you do not know God, and that you hate your life. There’s nothing fancy here, my sir.”
The meeting did not pass without a trace, so among the new and enthusiastic members of Freemasonry, which revived in Russia in the early years XIX century, there was also Pierre Bezukhov, who occupied a prominent place in Freemasonry. The pictures of initiation into Freemasons and Masonic customs are so interesting in Tolstoy’s novel that the author simultaneously reveals in historical sequence different stages in the cultural development of the era. Through Freemasonry, Pierre comes to the idea that the source of happiness and tenderness lies in man himself, but Pierre cannot entirely focus on contemplative service to the truth. The first sermon of his Mason mentor influenced him too much, and Pierre begins to implement his philanthropic ideas, improving the situation of the peasants. However, Pierre does not notice that the master’s benevolent mood is exploited in the most unceremonious way by the serfs, that his good intentions force the peasants to lie, that is, they bring even greater evil. In addition, in a frank dispute with Pierre, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, a noble and intelligent man, but brought up in strictly noble concepts, with a peculiar consistency proves to him that neither schools, nor hospitals, nor concerns about relief physical work the peasants will not give them happiness, since under the previous general conditions for them “the only possible happiness is animal happiness.” It is no worse for the peasants when they are even flogged and sent to Siberia: they lead the same bestial life there, and the scars on their bodies will heal. One can wish for the liberation of the peasants only in the interests of the nobility, which is dying morally, becoming rude from the fact that it has the opportunity to execute right or wrong. Pierre's objection to this remark shook the confidence in Prince Andrei's soul, but Pierre himself felt that there were weaknesses in the motivation of his views. Now he pays special attention to everything that Freemasonry gives, depriving a person of his “animal happiness.” Returning from abroad after a meeting with Western European Masonic circles, Pierre, among Russian Masons, develops the idea of ​​​​organizing Masonic forces, of attracting strong and virtuous people to the moral struggle against the “patrons of disorder” in the “whole world.” But the Masons, among whom there were many people who were not convinced and tenaciously clung to their class advantages, greeted Pierre very coldly and even hostilely this time, although until now he had enjoyed great love as the soul of society. Pierre felt the ground disappearing from under his feet, and he was overcome by the melancholy of loneliness. He even gets along with his wife for a while, withdraws from social activities, is reading Holy Bible, and then everyone who comes across starts drinking again in order to drown out the consciousness of the falsity of life. At this moment, a new meeting becomes his salvation.

Natasha Rostova, who Pierre liked for a long time, even as a teenager, returns from the village. She did not think about charity and saving the souls of the serfs. She simply, with her heart, gave herself up to the village, had fun, danced with the hay girls to the sounds of the guitar, throwing off everything that was countly and affected, and returned to Moscow in a serious, significant mood, in which any falsehood was painfully disgusting to her. She seems wild and strange theater stage with strangely dressed men and women performing some strange actions and receiving money for it. Natasha seemed even more wild and strange to herself when she allowed the courtship of Anatoly Kuragin, cheating on her fiancé, Prince Andrey. But it was already too late. And none other than Pierre, due to his well-known gentleness, should have taken upon himself the difficult responsibility of informing Natasha that Bolkonsky was abandoning her. But Pierre knows and cannot hide Kuragin’s past, which makes marriage impossible. Natasha is in despair. But at that moment when Pierre reassured her, saying that her life was still ahead, he himself felt that not everything was lost for him, and a bright point began to glow in his “softened and encouraged soul.”

The outbreak of the War of 1812 took Russia by surprise. Pierre, with his “observant and natural” look at people, feels that he is somehow “ashamed” to join the ranks of these new patriots, loudly shouting about love for their homeland. In addition, the covenants of Freemasonry did not allow him to go to war. However, Freemasonry gradually lost its power over him and, having finally broken with Masonic gentleness, Pierre decides to get to Napoleon and hit him with a dagger. None of this, of course, happened, but instead Pierre reached the point of “simplification,” as his servant put it. He was surprised by the appearance of the only civilian at the Battle of Borodino, and here he was especially struck by the simplicity of the people's thinking and feeling, simple courage without boasting before death, simple fraternal service to every neighbor without demand and even without the possibility of reward.

Pierre remains in Moscow, walking along the empty streets among the fires that have started, and here for the first time he experiences the joy of life and a keen love of life, saving some dirty, ugly child forgotten in the hustle and bustle, whom at first he was even disgusted to take into his arms. He was arrested by a French patrol among the arsonists. Tolstoy draws a vivid contrast between state of mind Pierre and his surroundings. He is ready to love all people and longs for active love - but he was locked up and his name was taken away.

Pierre had to endure the horror of waiting for execution and witnessing the execution of the people taken with him; he himself was pardoned. This was followed by a long imprisonment in Moscow, a transfer with French troops from Moscow and, finally, deliverance. In captivity, Pierre's rebirth is completed. Among the other prisoners, Platon Karataev, a remarkable type of righteous man from among the people, goes with him. Plato loves everything that's in him this moment surrounds him, and therefore his soul never ceases to emit rays of warmth and light. There are no strangers for him. His life itself had no meaning separate life, but was a particle of the whole.

In constant communication with Karataev, Pierre, who seemed to be in a state of extreme oppression, actually comprehended the highest freedom - inner freedom. His very appearance changed under the influence of the work of thought and the general conditions of captivity. He became, like everyone else, ragged, dirty, with bare, beaten feet, but his gaze became firm, calm and animated, as it had never been before. The former lordly promiscuity was replaced by “energetic composure.” Pierre only in captivity recognized the joyful justice of the thought of negative happiness, which Prince Andrei once bitterly expressed to him. He realized that the absence of suffering is happiness. Happiness lies in man himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs, and unhappiness comes not from a lack, but from an excess. Pierre almost stopped thinking about himself and his comforts. He even reached a philosophy in which everything seemed good. He laughs at the fact that he was blocked with boards in the booth - this cannot embarrass his soul. He saw how the French shot prisoners. And when Plato suffered this fate, and his dog howled over the corpse, Pierre just thought: “What a fool, what is she howling about?”