As you know, initially L.N. Tolstoy conceived a novel about a Decembrist who returns from hard labor to post-reform Russia. But the writer decided to talk about the Decembrist uprising in order to identify the reasons for this event for the fate of the homeland. However, this event also required him to turn to the origins of Decembrism - Patriotic War 1812.
The writer himself said that it was impossible for him to talk about the time of Russian victories without turning to the era of “shame and defeat” - the war of 1805-1807. This is how the novel “War and Peace” appeared. As can be seen from this story, the novel initially had one hero - Pierre Bezukhov.
Images of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov in the novel “War and Peace”
The image of Andrei Bolkonsky appeared from the scene of the death of a young officer on the Austrelitz field. So, in “War and Peace” there are two positive characters who are close to the author and in many ways interpret the events the way the author interpreted them.
Prince Andrei appears on the pages of the novel as an already established person: he is an officer, leads social life, married, but
“the life he leads is not according to him.”
This explains the reason for his desire to go to war. We know almost nothing about the hero’s childhood, but knowing his father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, we can say with confidence that Prince Andrei’s upbringing was harsh; he most likely did not know his mother’s caresses. But at the same time, from his father he inherited a great sense of duty, patriotism, loyalty this word, aversion to falsehood and lies.
We also know little about Pierre's childhood. His fate is influenced by the fact that he is the illegitimate son of a major Catherine nobleman. Pierre returns from abroad, where he was raised. His foreign upbringing instilled in him a humanistic approach to the problems of humanity. We meet the characters at Anna Pavlovna Sherer's evening. Both Pierre and Andrey stand out from everyone present at the evening:
- Andrey - because he is frankly bored, he is only fulfilling the duty of a socialite,
- and Pierre - by the fact that he naively violates established order sincerity and naturalness. Pierre doesn't know life well and doesn't understand people well.
The world of Tolstoy's heroes is the world of the patriarchal nobility. The writer is trying to understand the position of the best representatives of the noble intelligentsia.
Both Pierre and Andrey are characterized by:
- painful thoughts about the purpose of life,
- thoughts about the fate of the homeland,
- nobility, sincerity,
- awareness of the unity of one’s destiny and the destiny of the people and homeland.
The writer’s attitude to the war is expressed by Prince Andrei in a conversation with Pierre before the Battle of Borodino:
“War is the most disgusting thing in the world.”
Tolstoy leads each of the heroes on a painful path of searching for the truth. It is fundamentally important that the writer is not afraid to show the mistakes and failures of the characters.
The life path of Prince Andrei
- aversion to social life (“... this life is not for me”, author’s description: “He read everything, knew everything, had an idea about everything”)
- war of 1805-1807, dreams of glory (“I want fame, I want to be famous people, I want to be loved by them")
- Austerlitz's sky (“Yes! Everything is empty, everything is deception, except this endless sky...”)
- life in the Bald Mountains, raising a son (Live in such a way as not to do harm to others, live for yourself)
- rebirth to life: conversation with Pierre on the ferry, night in Otradnoye, oak tree ("Everyone must know me, so that my life does not go on for me alone...")
- rapprochement and breakup with Speransky - love for Natasha and breakup with her - (“I can’t forgive”)
- Patriotic War of 1812, unity with the people, injury, search for eternity, forgiveness of enemies (Kuragina) - love for (“I love you more, better than before”) - discovery of eternity.
The most important thing that the reader takes away from the fate of Andrei Bolkonsky is that knowledge of the truth requires a person to renounce individualism and selfishness, while the truth, according to Tolstoy, is forgiveness and reconciliation with life.
The paths of Andrei and Pierre constantly intersect, but it is interesting that the heroes are almost never at the same point: Pierre’s periods of rise almost always coincide with periods of decline for Prince Andrei.
The path of spiritual quest by Pierre Bezukhov
Let's look at the path of spiritual quest of Pierre Bezukhov. Marriage to Helen is Pierre's first life test. This showed not only ignorance of life and inability to withstand pressure, but also inner feeling that something unnatural happened. Duel with Dolokhov - turning point in Pierre's life: he, in turn, understands that the life he leads is not according to him
("... the main screw on which his whole life was held turned")
But Pierre’s hero sees the reason for what happened first of all. He takes the blame upon himself. At this moment, his meeting with the freemason Osip Alekseevich Bazdeev takes place. Bezukhov begins to see the meaning of life in the need to do good to people. But Pierre does not yet know life, which is why it is so easy to deceive him, just as his clerks and managers on his estates deceive him. He still cannot distinguish truth from lies. Disappointment in Freemasonry comes to the hero when he encounters representatives high society V Masonic lodge and understands that for them Freemasonry is only an opportunity to make a career and gain benefits. It is noteworthy that love for Natasha comes to Pierre when Natasha made a terrible mistake by meeting Anatole Kuragin. Love makes a person better, cleaner.
Pierre's love for Natasha, at first hopeless, revives the hero to search for the truth. battle of Borodino turns his life upside down, like the lives of many Russian people. Bezukhov wants to be a simple soldier,
“throw off all this unnecessary, devilish, all the burden of this external world.”
A naive desire to kill Napoleon, sacrifice himself, saving a girl, captivity, execution, loss of faith in life, meeting with Platon Karataev - the stages of Pierre’s spiritual formation in the novel “War and Peace” are rapidly changing. The hero learns from Plato the ability to live in any circumstances, to accept life, to feel like a part of a huge world
(“And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!”).
It is noteworthy that after captivity, Pierre acquired the ability to communicate with people and understand them, it is no longer possible to deceive him, he has an internal understanding of good and bad. The meeting with Natasha, the mutual feeling of love revives Bezukhov and gives him happiness. In the epilogue of the novel, Pierre is passionate about the ideas of radical changes in the social structure of Russia - he is a future Decembrist.
Revealing the characters of Pierre and Andrei in the novel
It should be especially noted that the images of Pierre and Andrey do not duplicate each other: before us are two different people, two different characters. The appearance in the novel is not the only one positive hero gives Tolstoy the opportunity to show that the search for the meaning of life, spiritual quests were characteristic of the best nobles of Russia.
The character of Tolstoy's heroes is revealed:
- in a clash with other characters (explanation scene between Pierre and Hélène),
- in the monologues of the heroes (the reflections of Prince Andrei on the road to Otradnoye),
- psychological state hero (“No matter what he started to think about, he returned to the same questions that he could not resolve and could not stop asking himself” - about Pierre),
- to spiritual and state of mind hero (the sky of Austerlitz, the oak tree on the road to Otradnoye).
The whole life of the writer Tolstoy was aimed at comprehending the Truth. These are his favorite heroes - Pierre and Andrey, who seem to set the reader a high standard for comprehending the meaning of life, make them painfully experience ups and downs, and comprehend life and themselves.
Did you like it? Don't hide your joy from the world - share itLeo Tolstoy’s journey to “War and Peace” was painful and long. The first title of the planned work sounded like “Decembrist”, then “All’s well that ends well”, the next one was “1805”, and only in the final version what was written becomes an epic novel about Russian society, the dialectics of the soul and the meaning of life. Comparative characteristics Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, the main characters of the story, are clear confirmation of this.
Tolstoy and his heroes
Being a humanist writer, Lev Nikolaevich in each of his works explored the human soul, its internal development, rise or fall. He considered each person as a part of the universe, he was interested in everything about it. And the writer tries to figure out what makes a person great or low, what is most important in his life, whether he can influence history.
Leading the novel's heroes through trials with money, love, and war, the author always shows people's inner experiences and the motives by which they act. It is from this point of view that the quest of Andrei Bolkonsky, who turned out to be too good to live in this world, is always considered.
The evolution of Pierre Bezukhov is the spiritual growth of the author himself; this character is very close to him, so it is to him that he marries Natasha Rostova (the most favorite image of Leo Tolstoy), whom he considered the ideal of a Russian woman.
There are more than five hundred characters in War and Peace, most of them are real historical figures. The ingenious diversity of the novel allowed Tolstoy to place them all in their places, to identify parallels (maybe not even on purpose).
Image system
If we divide all the heroes of the work into four levels: historical, social, folk and natural (metaphysical), then it is easy to find the verticals to which Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov belong. And also those who correspond to them. This can be clearly shown in the table.
Crystalline grid of War and Peace
As we see, Prince Andrei and Count Bezukhov, standing on the same rung of the social ladder, correspond at the historical and national level different people, and their elements do not coincide.
The rootlessness and groundlessness of Bolkonsky’s life, accompanied by constant aspirations for unattainable ideals, make him similar to that bottomless blue sky, which opened to him on the Field of Austerlitz.
Pierre is not like that at all. It is he and others like him - Kutuzov and Platon Karataev - who can defeat Napoleon and Dolokhov, who imagines himself a superman, and put him in his place, who knows how to fight so well. More precisely, her analysis, carried out on a metaphysical level, indicates that his element is water. And only she can extinguish any flame, even a hostile one.
Attitude to high society
Despite all the differences in nature, Prince Andrei and Pierre are Tolstoy’s favorite heroes. We meet them on the very first pages of the novel, which tell about salon life. And we immediately see the difference in their behavior, but we immediately understand that these people have deep respect and affection for each other.
At this, to use modern slang, high-society get-together, they are there for one reason - their position obliges them. But for the prince, everything here is uninteresting and understandable. Reigning in high society falsehood, vulgarity, the pursuit of money, and corruption have long since disgusted him, and he does not hide his contempt for those gathered.
The young count is new here, he reverently watches the guests and does not notice that he is treated like a second-class person, because he is an illegitimate son, and whether he will get an inheritance is still unknown. But the characterization of Pierre Bezukhov would be incomplete if it were not clarified that very little time will pass, and he, just like the prince, will begin to treat with a sense of disgust the cold secular glitter and empty chatter.
Character traits
The friendship of these people, so different neither externally nor internally, was built on trust and respect, because they felt the sincerity of these relationships, the desire to help understand themselves and people. Perhaps this shining example how opposing characters can peacefully complement each other. They are interested in being together.
A comparative description of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, as they appear at the beginning of the novel, will not be in favor of the latter. The prince has a sober, one might even say, statesmanlike mind, practical tenacity, and the ability to bring the work he has started to its logical conclusion. He is unusually reserved, collected, highly educated, intelligent, strong in character and has enormous power will.
And Pierre is a sensitive, spontaneous, broad, sincere nature. After arriving from abroad, he ends up not in the best company secular revelers and idlers. Bezukhov understands that he is doing wrong, but his gentleness of character does not allow him to break unnecessary ties. And then Kuragin appears with his sister, and it was easy for this hardened intriguer to rob the gullible Pierre by marrying him to Helen.
And yet, Prince Andrei, so correct and cold, a rationalist to the core, it was with Pierre that he was free from conventions and allowed himself to speak completely frankly. And Bezukhov, in turn, believed only him and respected Bolkonsky limitlessly.
Test of love
An amazing thing: having experience of unsuccessful marriages, both heroes fall in love with the same girl, amazing in her sincerity and spontaneity, with an irrepressible desire to live - Natasha Rostova. And now a comparative description of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, their attitude to love will not be in favor of the first.
Yes, the prince turned out to be happier, because he became Natasha’s fiancé, while the count did not even dare to admit to himself how dear this bright girl was to him. Young Rostova became a manifestation of the true feelings of Pierre and Andrei. If the first was ready to love silently all his life, because for him Natasha’s happiness was above all, and therefore he was ready to forgive her everything, then the second turned out to be an ordinary owner.
Bolkonsky could not understand and accept the poor girl’s repentance for betrayal, which, in fact, never happened. Only on your deathbed, when everything past life no longer mattered, when all ambitious thoughts were no longer needed, Prince Andrei understands what it is to love. But this feeling is most likely not for a specific person; it is not even earthly, but divine.
Trial by war
The characterization of Andrei Bolkonsky as a warrior is brilliant. This is the same type of Russian officers on whom the army and the country rest. He is moderately cautious, courageous, quickly makes decisions in extreme situations, and cares about his subordinates. No wonder Kutuzov did not want to let him go from his headquarters to the front line.
The war of 1805, incomprehensible and unfair, devastated the prince. After his injury and French captivity, when in his eyes Napoleon’s ideal collapsed and became devalued, Bolkonsky’s life was empty. But now we see a different Andrey. Here he is with his people, and he realized that the main purpose of human existence is to help other people.
For Pierre, the war turned out to be a purgatory of the soul. He stayed in Moscow to kill Napoleon, but while saving a child, he was arrested, then prepared to be shot, and then captured and retreated with the French. Full characteristics Pierre Bezukhov is impossible without It is through this man that the Count comprehends folk character, his values and priorities. Probably, it was after the meeting with Karataev that the path of Bezukhov the Decembrist began.
In search of truth
Both Andrei and Pierre, throughout the entire novel, languidly search for the meaning of life, following the paths of spiritual quest. They are either disappointed, then resurrected again for new things. A comparative description of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov shows that the tests fate has prepared for them are, in general, very similar.
Prince Andrei realized his death as a return. His mission on this earth is over - infinity and eternity lie ahead.
Instead of output
We should not forget that Tolstoy’s original plan was to write a novel about the Decembrist. In the very first drafts, the main character was already named Pierre, and his wife was Natasha. But it turned out that without an excursion into the War of 1812, nothing would be clear, and then it became obvious that we needed to start from 1805. So we got a wonderful book - “War and Peace”.
And its heroes - Pierre and Andrei Bolkonsky - stand before us as the best representatives of that time. Their love for the Motherland is active. In them, Lev Nikolaevich embodied his attitude to life: you need to live to the fullest, naturally and simply, then it will work out honestly. You can and should make mistakes, give up everything and start again. But peace is spiritual death.
Pushkin and Herzen explained the emergence of the Decembrist movement by the influence political ideas French Revolution on the best representatives of the nobility who could not come to terms with the social backwardness of Russia and serfdom. But this is not enough for the great realist Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. He decided to trace under what circumstances in the era of 1805-1824. in a man from an aristocratic environment, that conscience awakened, that understanding of duty and honor, which led him to a break with his environment. Revealing the appearance of the Decembrists in this regard was one of the tasks of War and Peace, as historical novel. Tolstoy artistically solves it in the images of two heroes, two friends who are opposites - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Count Pierre Bezukhov.
Introducing the reader to these central characters The epic takes place at an evening at Anna Scherer's. It is obvious that both Pierre and Andrei are not at ease among the vain, fidgety people: the prince was bored with this company for a long time, the count did not even have time to get tired of it - he simply did not like it.
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Let's see how Tolstoy describes both heroes. Pierre appears first. He is clumsy in words and gestures, absent-minded and clumsy. It’s not for nothing that definitions like “bear” are addressed to him. At the same time, it is clear that the author is not laughing at his “bearishness.” On the contrary, he describes his hero with great warmth, even with love, which is why you immediately feel sympathy for this fat, rustic and very sweet count. Prince Andrey is the complete opposite of Pierre. He is refined in manners, restrained and somewhat dry. But, despite such obvious differences between the heroes from each other, the writer makes them friends. Only when he sees Bezukhov in the Sherer salon among the bored faces does Prince Andrei perk up.
The fact is that Prince Bolkonsky is deeply dissatisfied with the lifestyle that he has to lead. Much in his behavior and appearance - a tired look, a grimace that spoiled him Beautiful face, the manner of squinting when looking at people - expressed his disappointment in secular society. He is unhappy to know that his wife Lisa cannot do without this idle circle of people. He said:
Living rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot escape.
Only with his friend Pierre is Andrei natural, full of friendly sympathy and heartfelt affection. Only to Pierre can he confess with all frankness and seriousness:
This life that I lead here, this life is not for me
The young count, who is just beginning social life, cannot yet deny himself revelry and other pleasures of noble life. However, after a series of lessons from such a life (for example, a hasty marriage to the beautiful Helen), he, like Prince Bolkonsky, begins to hate his surroundings.
We see that Bolkonsky and Bezukhov are men of action. Andrei and Pierre are united by a principle that Leo Tolstoy himself outlined in his youth: “To live honestly, you have to struggle, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and give up again, and start again, and give up again, and always struggle and lose. And calmness is spiritual meanness.” They are in constant search for the meaning of life. They want to get to the bottom of the essence and meaning of their existence. Having both money and position, they do not want to be content with little. Meanwhile, there are many different things in their fate. For example, while Andrei Bolkonsky is looking for glory in the war, Pierre Bezukhov is having fun with Kuragin. Bolkonsky does not think about the fate of the ordinary Russian man due to his own vanity, while Bezukhov, carried away by the ideas of Freemasonry, is trying to reorganize the life of the peasants. At the same time, both characters gain bitter experience from these events, but still experience.
Every now and then life throws new challenges at the heroes of the epic. But the most significant thing for each of them is the war. Initially seeking glory on the battlefields, Andrei Bolkonsky, after coming face to face with death, perceives the war differently. He understands that the front is not the place where you need to think about orders. He becomes simpler and closer to the people, having felt for himself that in war, in the face of death, everyone is equal. It is he who will have to convey his experience to Count Pierre, who decided to observe the Battle of Borodino.
Captivated by new thoughts about the war, shocked by what is happening on the bloody battlefield, Bezukhov from an idle observer becomes an active participant in the battle. In this battle, his friend Bolkonsky dies, having failed to realize the understanding that came to him that personal happiness lies in the happiness of other people. This idea should be implemented by Pierre Bezukhov. He, like his senior comrade, Prince Bolkonsky, becomes closer to to the common people. An important role in the development of the mature count is played by the soldier of the Absheron regiment Platon Karataev, whom Pierre meets in captivity.
Bezukhov returns from the war as a different person: matured, scorched by the wind of death, but just as kind and honest. It was as if he had absorbed all the best from his former self and the former Bolkonsky. Marriage to Natasha Rostova becomes happy ending epic, which might not have happened if not for the endless search for two such different and at the same time similar heroes- Prince Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov.
Andrei's attitude towards Pierre
Only with his friend Pierre is he simple, natural, filled with friendly sympathy and heartfelt affection. Only to Pierre can he admit with all frankness and seriousness: “This life that I lead here, this life is not for me.” He has an irresistible thirst real life. His sharp, analytical mind is attracted to her; broad requests push him to great achievements. According to Andrey, the army and participation in military campaigns open up great opportunities for him. Although he could easily stay in St. Petersburg and serve as an aide-de-camp here, he goes to where military operations are taking place. The battles of 1805 were a way out of the deadlock for Bolkonsky.
Entertainment" for the secular youth of the capital
Family customs of the House of Romanov (retelling)
Paintings of Dividing the inheritance of Count Bezukhov
Count Bezukhov bequeathed everything to his illegitimate son Pierre, who studied abroad. Three princesses tried to win the inheritance - the daughters of the count and Prince Vasily Kuragin. But through the efforts of Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, they still did not succeed. Anna Mikhailovna snatched the briefcase with the will from Prince Vasily, which was kept under the count's pillow
most accurately reveals the two-faced essence of Vasily Kuragin.
Since the count's death was inevitable, the relatives were primarily concerned about the will
Life and customs in the estate of the old Prince Balkonsky
Letters from Zhulia Karagina and Marie Balkonskaya
MARYA BOLKONSKAYA first learned about Anatoly Kuragin's upcoming matchmaking with her from Zhulya's letter to Maria
Andrey comes to Bald Mountains (why?)
So Prince Andrei comes to Bald Mountains, where he is destined to endure new shocks: the birth of a son, the torment and death of his wife. At the same time, it seemed to him that it was he who was to blame for what had happened, that something had been torn away in his soul. The change in his views that arose at Austerlitz was now combined with a mental crisis. Tolstoy's hero decides never to serve in the army again, and a little later decides to completely abandon social activities. He isolates himself from life, takes care of only his household and his son in Bogucharovo, convincing himself that this is all that is left for him. He now intends to live only for himself, “without disturbing anyone, to live until death.”
Part
Kutuzov's attitude to the army
Kutuzov appears in the novel already when the Russian army is retreating. Smolensk has been surrendered, scenes of devastation are visible everywhere. We see the commander-in-chief through the eyes of Russian soldiers, partisans, through the eyes of Andrei Bolkonsky and through the eyes of Tolstoy himself. For Kutuzov soldiers folk hero, who came to stop the retreating army and lead it to victory. “They say it’s accessible to everyone, thank God. Otherwise, there’s trouble with the sausage makers... Now, perhaps, it will be possible to speak to the Russians too. Otherwise, God knows what they did. Everyone retreated, everyone retreated,” says Vaska Denisov, one of the partisans, about Kutuzov. The soldiers believed in Kutuzov and worshiped him. He does not part with his army for a minute. Before important battles, Kutuzov is among the troops, speaking to the soldiers in their language. Kutuzov's patriotism is the patriotism of a man who believes in the power of his homeland and the fighting spirit of a soldier. This is constantly felt by his fighters. But Kutuzov is not only the greatest commander and strategist of his time, he is, first of all, a man who deeply experiences the failures of the 1812 campaign. This is how he appears before us at the beginning of his activities as a commander. “What... what have they brought us to!” “Kutuzov suddenly said in an excited voice, clearly imagining the situation in which Russia was.” And Prince Andrei, who was next to Kutuzov when these words were spoken, sees tears in the old man’s eyes. “They will eat my horse meat!” - he threatens the French, and we understand that this is not just said for the sake of a catchphrase.
Andrei Bolkonsky looks at Kutuzov just like the soldiers. He is also connected with this man by the fact that he is his father’s friend. Kutuzov was well known to Andrey before. It was to Mikhail Illarionovich that his Father sent Prince Andrei to serve, in the hope that Kutuzov would be able to save his son. But, according to Tolstoy’s philosophy, neither Kutuzov nor anyone else is capable of changing what is destined for man from above.
Tolstoy himself looks at the commander from a completely different perspective. Kutuzov, according to his ideas, cannot influence either individual people or the course of history as a whole. At the same time, this man personifies the Good that came with the goal of defeating Evil. Evil is embodied in Napoleon, whom Tolstoy considered the “executioner of nations.” Napoleon's posturing, his narcissism and arrogance - evidence false patriotism. It was Napoleon, according to Tolstoy, who was chosen by History for defeat. Kutuzov just doesn’t stop Napoleon from falling, because, as a wise man life experience a person who understands and recognizes the power of fate knows that Napoleon is doomed. Therefore, he waits for the moment until this person himself repents of what he has done and leaves? To this end, he leaves Moscow, thereby giving Napoleon the opportunity to calmly think everything over and realize the futility of further struggle.
For Kutuzov, Borodino is the battle where Good, on whose side the Russian troops are fighting, must win. Let's see how two great commanders acted in the Battle of Borodino. Napoleon is worried, if they expect victory, it is only due to personal, unfounded self-confidence. He hopes that the outcome will be decided by his actions as a strategist and commander. Kutuzov behaves completely differently. Outwardly completely calm, he does not issue any orders on the Borodino field. His participation boils down only to agreeing or disagreeing with the proposals of others. Kutuzov knows that this event will be decisive for both the Russians and the French. But if for the Russians this will be the beginning of a distant victory, then for the French it will be defeat.
The only time Kutuzov opposed himself to the will of everyone else was at the council in Fili, when he decided to leave Moscow and thereby won the war.
Thus. Tolstoy showed Kutuzov in all his greatness both as a commander and as a person. Kutuzov is not only an experienced commander, a patriot, an intelligent and sensitive person, he is a person capable of sensing and understanding the natural course of events. By combining worldly wisdom and acting according to the inevitable course of history, he won the war
Essay text:
Tolstoy's novel War and Peace introduced us to many heroes with the best human qualities, noble, purposeful, kind-hearted jealous of high moral ideals. And above all, these include Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. Each of them is a bright personality and has attractive individual character traits. But at the same time, they have a lot in common and both of them are the embodiment of one author’s ideal of a person capable of thinking deeply and, as a result, developing morally and spiritually improving, and performing truly heroic deeds.
In portraying his heroes, the author did not embellish or idealize them at all: he endowed Pierre and Andrei with contradictory traits, advantages and disadvantages. In their image he presented ordinary people capable of being both strong and weak at certain moments of their lives, but able to overcome internal struggle and independently rise above lies and everyday life, be spiritually reborn and find your calling in life. Their paths are different, but at the same time they have a lot in common. And, in particular, the similarity lies in their mental ordeals, in the struggle. Pierre has his own weaknesses of character, cowardice, excessive gullibility and ideological impossibility. Andrei Bolkonsky has pride, arrogance, ambition and illusory aspirations for glory.
Pierre Bezukhov is one of the central, most attractive heroes novel. His image, like the image of Andrei Bolkonsky, is depicted in constant dynamics. The writer emphasizes the almost childlike gullibility, kindness and sincerity of his hero’s thoughts, and at first Pierre is presented as a confused, passive, completely inactive young man. Pierre obviously does not fit into the false society of flatterers and careerists present in the Scherer salon. He behaves in a manner inappropriate for social events, and is even somewhat aggressive towards all other visitors. For this reason, Pierre’s appearance causes bewilderment among many, and his straightforward statements are outright apprehensions. In addition, Bezukhov is indifferent to money and luxury, he is selfless and, in spite of everything, acutely senses the border between innocent jokes and dangerous games that can cripple someone's life.
At turning points in life, a strong will and the most best sides Pierre's character, and then he is capable of much. Who would have thought that Pierre Bezukhov, this soft and weak-willed man, would later appear as the organizer of a secret society of independent and free people and in the future will accuse the king of inaction, sharply criticize social order, reaction and Arakcheevism and lead huge masses of people?
Like Pierre, Andrei Bolkonsky stands out from the crowd from the first lines characters novel by the fact that he feels uncomfortable in a secular environment. He feels his own important purpose, understands that he needs to demonstrate his abilities and capabilities in a worthwhile task. He appears as a cultured, educated, integral person, one of the best representatives of the noble society of that era. His love for work and desire for useful, active activity are especially striking. He is dissatisfied with the empty, idle life that most of his contemporaries lead (Anatole and Ippoli Kuragins, Boris Drubetskoy and others).
Andrey Yagoti calm family life and engaging in empty public affairs, his soul yearns for something significant, he dreams of great exploits, of his Toulon, of glory. It is for this purpose that Bolkonsky decides to go to war with Napoleon and explains to Pierre the reason for his decision in these words: The life I lead here is not for me.
But he is destined to be disappointed in his idol Napoleon, survive the death of his wife and miraculously survive after the battle, and in addition, survive true love to Natasha and come to terms with her loss. After all this, Andrei loses faith in himself, so that later he can again find meaning in life and perk up his spirit. Finding himself again at the center of military events, but no longer in search of glory and achievement, Andrei changes externally and internally. Defending his family, Bolkonsky wants to destroy the enemy of the entire Russian people and feels useful and needed.
So, freed from oppressive lies secular society and having found themselves in difficult military conditions, finding themselves among ordinary Russian soldiers, Pierre and Andrey begin to feel the taste of life, gain peace of mind. Having gone through a difficult path of mistakes and their own delusions, these two heroes find themselves, while maintaining their natural essence and not succumbing to the influence of society. Throughout the novel, Tolstoy's characters are in constant search, emotional experiences and doubts, which ultimately lead them to the true meaning of life.
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