Moral quest of Andrei Bolkonsky table. The paths of the ideological and moral quest of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. View the contents of the document “The moral quest of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov”

"The moral quest of Andrei Bolkonsky (based on the novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace")"

If you carefully follow how the destinies of the main characters in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” developed, then we can say with confidence: each of them experienced a significant evolution in their views on life. One example is the absolute change in the worldview of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. We first meet him at a reception with Anna Pavlovna Sherer. There, all the conversations in one way or another revolve around the personalities of Napoleon Bonaparte. Moreover, members of the circle talk about Napoleon as if he were a frequent visitor to Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s salon: they tell various funny stories about him and present him as a well-known, even close, person. Andrei Bolkonsky has a completely different perception of Napoleon’s personality, so salon conversations irritate him incredibly. For him, Napoleon is an exceptional person. Prince Andrei is afraid of his genius, which may “prove stronger than all the courage of the Russian troops,” and at the same time fears “shame for his hero.” With all his being, Bolkonsky rushes in pursuit of the ideal associated with the victorious career of Napoleon. As soon as Prince Andrei learns that the Russian army is in dire straits, he decides that it is he who is destined by fate to save it and that “here is the Toulon that will lead him out of the ranks of unknown officers and will open the first path to glory for him.” . However, fate decreed differently. She gave him the opportunity to see his idol, but at the same time showed him the insignificance of his search for earthly glory. Looking at the high Austerlitz sky, the wounded Prince Andrei says to himself: “Yes, I knew nothing, nothing until now.” And when Napoleon approaches him - Napoleon Bonaparte himself, his recent idol - who, mistaking him for a murdered man, utters the pompous phrase: “What a wonderful death!”, for Bolkonsky this praise is like the buzzing of a fly. Napoleon seems small and insignificant to him in comparison with what was revealed to his consciousness at these moments. Overcoming the “Napoleonic” ideal is one of the stages in the evolution of Andrei Bolkonsky’s personality. However, when a person loses old ideals and does not gain new ones, an emptiness forms in his soul. So Prince Andrei, after Napoleon was overthrown from the pedestal and abandoned his previous dreams of glory, began a painful search for the meaning of life. He frightens Pierre Bezukhov with his gloomy thoughts caused precisely by the absence of this meaning. Prince Andrei no longer wants to serve in the army: “After Austerlitz!.. No, I humbly thank you, I promised myself that I will not serve in the active Russian army.” He does not approve of Pierre's ideas about the liberation of the peasants, believing that this will not benefit them. Having stopped living for fame, Prince Andrei tries to live for himself. But such a philosophy only fills his soul with confusion. Prince Andrei's mood is acutely felt at the moment when, on the way to Otradnoye, he sees a huge old oak tree. This oak “did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun.” Bolkonsky seems to be trying to attribute to the oak the thoughts that overcome him: “Spring, love and happiness!.. And how can you not get tired of the same stupid, senseless deception!” This moment seems to be the highest, critical point of Prince Andrei’s mental torment. But fate again gives him a surprise - a small episode that radically changes his whole life. This is the first meeting with Natasha Rostova in Otradnoye. Not so much a meeting as just an overheard conversation between her and a friend, a light touch to her inner world. This contributed to the fact that “in his soul suddenly arose ... an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes, contradictory to his whole life.” Returning home the next day, Prince Andrei again saw the oak tree that had made such a gloomy impression on him the day before. Bolkonsky did not immediately recognize him: “The old oak tree, completely transformed, spread out like a tent of lush, dark greenery, was thrilled, slightly swaying in the rays of the evening sun.” At that moment, Prince Andrei realized that life was not over, and he needed to make sure that it flowed not for him alone, but reflected on everyone. He had an urgent need to take an active part in life. This was followed by Prince Andrei’s fascination with the personality of Speransky. He met Speransky at the moment when the latter's fame reached its apogee. It was a kind of “double” of Napoleon - not only in terms of the strength of the impression it made, but even in appearance and character traits. However, the memory of Austerlitz did not allow Prince Andrei to create another idol for himself, despite all the admiration that Speransky aroused in him. Thus, Prince Andrei finally overcame the influence of Napoleon’s personality. When the War of 1812 began, Bolkonsky seemed to have forgotten that he no longer wanted to serve in the Russian army. He went to war this time not in search of glory, but with the sole desire to share the fate of his people. Not a shadow of his former arrogance remained in him, he changed his attitude towards the peasants, and they paid him with love and trust, calling him “our prince.” After the Battle of Borodino, the mortally wounded Prince Andrei is taken to the hospital and there he suddenly recognizes one of the wounded as Anatoly Kuragin. In the plot of the novel, their meeting is no less important than Bolkonsky’s meeting with Napoleon on the Field of Austerlitz, since these are links of the same chain - the spiritual renewal of the hero, who comprehends the meaning of life. In the camp hospital, Anatolya’s shattered leg is cut off, and Bolkonsky at this time is tormented not so much by a physical wound as by a spiritual one. The contrast that arises from the comparison of the physical and the spiritual very accurately characterizes both Anatole and Prince Andrei. Anatole, in fact, is already dead as a person, but Bolkonsky retained his spirituality. He plunged into memories “from the world of childhood, pure and loving.” At that moment, the experiences of a child and a dying person were combined in his mind. And in such a connection, Bolkonsky felt an ideal state of mind. It was a moment. But at that moment, by exerting physical and spiritual strength, the hero brought together all the best qualities of his nature. He remembered Natasha at the ball in 1810, since it was at that time that, perhaps, for the first time he felt within himself with extraordinary clarity the power of “natural” life. And now his love for Natasha forced him to color everything around him with this living feeling and forgive Anatoly Kuragin. The dying Bolkonsky demonstrates the victory of the natural principle in him. Death for Prince Andrei in his new state is devoid of horror and tragedy, since the transition “there” is as natural as the arrival of a person from non-existence into the world. Following the scene in the hospital is a description of the results of the Battle of Borodino. The triumph of the spirit of Prince Bolkonsky and the triumph of the spirit of the Russian people echo each other. “People's thought” is thus organically embodied in the image of Prince Andrei. It is no coincidence that Pierre compares Bolkonsky with Platon Karataev. Before his death, Prince Andrei comes precisely to the Karataev worldview. The only difference is that for Prince Andrey this understanding of life and death was not given by nature, but became the result of hard work of thought. However, Tolstoy is closer to those heroes for whom this philosophy is natural, that is, it lives in them by itself and they do not even think about it. This is, for example, Natasha, who lives by the principle: “You live and live.” The internal unity of Bolkonsky and Karataev is emphasized by the characteristic coincidence of the attitudes of those around them towards the death of both. Pierre took Karataev's death as a due, natural event, and Natasha and Princess Marya reacted to the death of Prince Andrei in exactly the same way. An aristocrat, a nobleman, Prince Bolkonsky passed away in the same way as the peasant Platon Karataev. This was a huge moral victory for Prince Andrei, for he objectively, according to Tolstoy, came closer to the faith, the bearers of which were Platon Karataev and thousands, millions of Russian people. Pierre Bezukhov compares Bolkonsky and Karataev as two people he equally loved, who “both lived and both died.” This reasoning for Pierre is full of deep meaning. Bolkonsky and Karataev are children of the great Mother Nature. Their life and death are a logical link of nature, which gave them life and into the bosom of which they, like thousands of others like them, had to return. which is completely inaccessible to Nikolai, although he is older and more experienced: “She almost quarreled with her brother over Dolokhov. She insisted that he was an evil person, that in the duel with Bezukhov Pierre was right, and Dolokhov was to blame, that he was unpleasant and unnatural.” Natasha does not know how to explain or prove logically, because she understands people not with her mind, but with her heart. And her heart always tells her correctly. It is interesting that Natashg, unlike Sonya, does not at all seek to sacrifice herself, she does not even set herself the goal of helping people, making them happy.

She simply lives and with her sensitivity and understanding, one way or another helps everyone around her. Natasha gives people the warmth of her soul, infecting them with that irrepressible thirst for life that overwhelms her. There are many examples of this. When Nikolai returned home after losing at cards, Natasha “instantly noticed her brother’s condition... but she herself was so happy at that moment... that she... deliberately deceived herself” and continued to sing. And yet, without knowing it, Natasha sang for her brother and thereby helped him. Listening to her singing, Nikolai realized: “All this, and misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all this is nonsense... but here it is real...” Prince Andrei went to Count Rostov in Otradnoe “cheerfully and preoccupied,” thinking that love and happiness are “a stupid, meaningless deception.” The very thought of being reborn to a new life, love, activity was unpleasant to him. However, when he saw a “strangely thin”, black-eyed girl running away from his stroller with a cheerful laugh, he was hurt by the fact that this girl “didn’t know and didn’t want to know about his existence.” Natasha’s night conversation with Sonya, accidentally overheard by Prince Andrei, had such an effect on him that “an unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes, contradictory to his whole life, suddenly arose in his soul.” Only Natasha could evoke such feelings in people, only she could make them dream of “flying into the sky,” as she herself dreamed. Princess Marya is different. Growing up in the village, raised by a stern and sometimes cruel father, she did not know the joys of life that Natasha fully enjoyed. For the old Prince Bolkonsky, there were “only two virtues: activity and intelligence.” He considered order to be the main condition for activity, and this “order in his way of life was brought to the utmost degree of precision.” Princess Marya did not have a mother to whom she could run at night to chat and kiss her “on the darling”, as Natasha did. There was a father whom she, of course, loved, but was so afraid that even “red spots shimmered across her face.” When you read about how she studies mathematics with her father, your heart is filled with such pity for this girl that you just want to protect her from her tyrant father. It becomes clear why “the princess’s vision was blurred, she saw nothing, heard nothing... and was only thinking about how she could quickly leave the office and understand the problem in her own open space.” She corresponds with Julie Karagina, sincerely believing that this is her friend. It is not surprising that the smart, subtle Princess Marya believes in the friendship of the false and narrow-minded Julie. After all, she no longer has friends, and partly she invented a friend for herself. Their letters are similar only at first glance, but they are like day and night: Julie’s artificial and contrived suffering has nothing in common with the completely sincere, bright and pure thoughts of Princess Marya. Deprived of all joy, lonely, locked in a village with a stupid Frenchwoman and an oppressive, albeit loving father, Princess Marya tries to console poor, suffering Julie. She herself finds solace only in religion. Princess Marya's faith evokes respect, because for her it is, first of all, demanding of herself. She is ready to forgive everyone’s weaknesses, but not herself. Tolstoy loves the princess and, apparently, that is why he is merciless towards her. He puts her through many tests, as if in order to check whether she will withstand it, whether she will not lose her sincerity and spiritual purity. But Princess Marya, who seems so weak and defenseless, is in fact so strong in spirit that she can withstand all the hardships sent to her by fate.

Ways to find a place in life by Pierre Bezukhov

Tolstoy's books are a documentary presentation of all the quests undertaken by a strong personality in order to find a place and business for himself in the history of Russia. AM. Gorky's novel “War and Peace” is a brilliant work that has become the greatest achievement of Russian literature.

L.N. Tolstoy captures and unites into a single whole the most important questions of the era: about the paths of development of Russia, about the fate of the people, about their role in history. We are shown outstanding personalities, great historical events that at the beginning of the 19th century deeply affected the souls of many millions of people, the entire Russian people, and were the center of events in this period of time, which later went down in history. Tolstoy's favorite hero is Pierre Bezukhov. The image of this hero was conceived and written as the image of the future Decembrist. While not a supporter of an uprising against the tsarist autocracy, the author, however, has great sympathy for the noble revolutionaries. Like Bolkonsky, Pierre is an honest, noble, highly educated nobleman, a comprehensively developed and intelligent person. Bezukhov is a spontaneous nature, capable of acutely feeling and easily excited. He is characterized by thoughts and doubts in search of the “meaning of life.” His path is complicated and winding. Tolstoy is very close to the quest of his hero, because for a long time he himself could not understand the meaning of life, often searching for it in vain and in vain. Pierre Bezukhov is “a massive, fat young man with a cropped head and glasses... This fat young man was the illegitimate son of the famous Catherine nobleman, Count Bezukhov, who was dying in Moscow. 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.” This is how L.N. Tolstoy described his hero. But despite Pierre's appearance, Tolstoy endowed him with magnificent human qualities and character. True, Pierre, even in his early youth, having just arrived in St. Petersburg, has a poor understanding of people. He accepts hypocrisy and lies as truth, and sympathizes with false suffering. And therefore, only when faced with the cruelty of this society does he seek salvation in religion. At this critical moment, Bezukhov falls into the hands of Bazdeev. This “preacher” deftly places before the gullible Count the networks of a religious-mystical society that called for moral self-improvement of people and united them on the basis of brotherly love. Pierre understood Freemasonry as “the teaching of equality, brotherhood and love,” and this helps him direct his efforts to improve the lives of serfs. But this good-natured and open person is deceived here too. Rich, prosperous peasants and the manager profit from the count's goods. This means that being a “good landowner” and a “benefactor” under the conditions of the serfdom system is a complete utopia. Masonic activity does not satisfy Pierre, his economic “transformations” fail. We know that the Patriotic War of 1812, especially the Battle of Borodino, played a huge role in the life of Pierre Bezukhov. The events of 1812 bring the young count out of a state of mental emptiness and disappointment. Bezukhov participates in the preparation of the militia. But he fails again, as in the period of Freemasonry, because he takes up the matter too ardently, with a passionate desire to benefit the Motherland. His bold speech addressed to the Moscow nobility aroused general discontent. However, overwhelmed by patriotic feelings, Pierre, with his own money, equips a thousand militia, and he himself remains in Moscow to kill Napoleon, or die, or stop the misfortune of the Motherland, which, in Pierre’s opinion, originated from Napoleon alone. An important stage in Pierre's quest is his visit to the Borodino field at the time of the famous battle. He realized here that history is created by the most powerful force in the world - the people. Bezukhov approvingly perceives the wise words of the unknown soldier: “They want to attack with all the people, one word - Moscow. They want to do one end.” The sight of the “animated and sweaty” militia men, “with loud talk and laughter” working in the field, “affected Pierre more than anything that he had seen and heard so far about the solemnity and significance of the present moment.” An even closer rapprochement between Count Bezukhov and ordinary people takes place in Moscow, in a prisoner of war barracks. There he meets a soldier, a former peasant, Platon Karataev, who, according to the author, is a part of the masses. Pierre understood the meaning of life, which for him consisted in the fact that if there is life, then you cannot look for only bad sides in it, but you need to see a lot of good things and take all the good things from life. From Karataev, Pierre gains “peasant wisdom”, in communication with men “he finds that calmness and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly strived before.” If earlier Bezukhov withdrawn into himself, now he is interested in the world around him, critically evaluates the phenomena of life. Pierre has gained confidence and strength of character, which he has been striving to find in himself all this time. Pierre Bezukhov belongs to that best part of Russian society that draws forward along an unexplored path to an amazing future and touches the hearts of Pierre, as a leading man of his time, characterizes his personality: his desire for the best, his intransigence with a society that often stifled and humiliated him, the novel “. War and Peace” is the intertwining of the destinies of many people. The main idea of ​​this novel is universal unity. It is important, relevant, topical, imbued with the patriotism and heroism of the Russian people.

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The path of ideological and moral quest of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
The presentation was prepared by Gleb Sokolov, a student of class 10 “B” of MOBU “Lyceum N9” Teacher: Pukhalskaya Larisa Vladimirovna

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Social life of Andrei Bolkonsky
At the beginning of the novel, Andrei Bolkonsky is 27 years old (in 1805): Andrei Bolkonsky is a rich and noble prince. He moves in high society. But he doesn’t like social life: “... this life that I lead here, this life is not for me!...” Andrei Bolkonsky is married to Lisa Bolkonskaya (Meinen) - Kutuzov’s niece. Liza is expecting a child: "... the young prince Andrei Bolkonsky, the husband of the little princess..." "... recently married Lise Meinen..." Andrei occupies a brilliant position in society, but he is bored with life "... here he is uncle's adjutant, the most brilliant position..." (Lisa Bolkonskaya's uncle - General Kutuzov) "... Everyone knows him so much, appreciates him so much<...>He is so accepted everywhere..."
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Andrei Bolkonsky in the war of 1805-1807.
Andrei goes to war with Napoleon (1805-1807) to escape from an empty social life: “... Now I’m going to war, to the greatest war that has ever happened, I know nothing and I’m no good for anything... “At the front, Andrei serves as Kutuzov’s adjutant (assistant): “... General Kutuzov wants me to be his adjutant...” (Bolkonsky about himself) In the Battle of Austerlitz, Bolkonsky is wounded (volume 1 part 3 chapter XIX). He ends up in a hospital with the French. The French leave him in the care of local residents. At this time, Andrei's family knows nothing about him. Everyone considers him killed: “... To the general regret of mine and the entire army, it is still unknown whether he is alive or not. I flatter myself and you with the hope that your son is alive...” (Kutuzov)
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DEATH of Lisa Bolkonskaya
Unexpectedly for everyone, Andrei Bolkonsky returns to Russia to his father’s estate - Bald Mountains: “... the face and figure of Prince Andrei appeared in a fur coat with a collar sprinkled with snow. Yes, it was him, but pale and thin and with a changed, strangely softened, but with an alarming expression on his face..." Andrei ends up right at the birth of his wife, Liza Bolkonskaya. That same night, Lisa dies in childbirth (volume 2, part 1, chapter IX): “...He entered his wife’s room. She lay dead in the same position in which he saw her five minutes ago...” At Andrey’s the newborn son Nikolenka remains: “...they baptized the young Prince Nikolai Andreich...” (Prince Nikolai Andreevich - that is, little Nikolenka)
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Andrei Bolkonsky and the commission for drafting laws
After Austerlitz and the death of his wife, Andrei Bolkonsky decides not to serve at the front: “... Prince Andrei, after the Austerlitz campaign, firmly decided never to serve in military service again; and when the war began and everyone had to serve, he, in order to get rid of active service, accepted a position under the command of his father to collect the militia..." Andrei goes to St. Petersburg. Here he meets Speransky and Arakcheev - prominent figures of that time: "...Prince Andrei, as a person close to Speransky and participating in the work of the legislative commission, could give correct information about the meeting of tomorrow..." Bolkonsky becomes a member of the commission for drawing up laws (volume 2 part 3 chapter VI): "... A week later, Prince Andrei was a member of the commission for drawing up the military regulations and, which he did not expect, the head of the department of the commission for drawing up laws. At the request of Speransky, he took the first part of the civil code being compiled and, with the help of Code Napoleon and Justiniani,456 he worked on compiling a department: Rights of persons...” Eventually Andrei loses interest in legislative work. He wants to go back to the village to manage the farm:
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Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova
Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova One day at a ball, Andrei meets young Natasha Rostova. The characters fall in love with each other. Andrei Bolkonsky wooes Natasha, and she agrees with him (volume 2 part 3 chapter XXIII): “...Go, go to him. He asks for your hand,” said the countess...” Andrei Bolkonsky’s strict father opposes this marriage . He asks his son to postpone the marriage for one year: “... I ask you, postpone the matter for a year, go abroad, get treatment...” At the request of his father, Andrei Bolkonsky leaves Natasha and goes abroad “... Then my father appointed me the term is a year, and now six months, half, have passed from the appointed period, and I remain more firm than ever in my decision..." "... his solitude in Bogucharovo, and then in Switzerland and Rome was filled.. " While Andrey is abroad, Natasha falls in love with Anatoly Kuragin. Andrey does not forgive Natasha's betrayal. Their engagement is broken: “...I said that a fallen woman must be forgiven, but I didn’t say that I could forgive. I can’t...”
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Andrey Bolkonsky and oak
“Yes, he’s right, this oak tree is right a thousand times,” thought Prince Andrei. “Let others, young people, succumb to this deception again, but we know: our life is over!” It was already the beginning of June when Prince Andrei, returning home, again drove into that birch grove in which this old, gnarled oak had struck him so strangely and memorably. “Here in this forest there was this oak tree that we agreed with. Where is he? - thought Prince Andrei, looking at the left side of the road. Without knowing it, he admired the oak tree he was looking for, but now he did not recognize it. “No, life is not over at thirty-one,” Prince Andrei suddenly finally and irrevocably decided. - Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary that everyone knows it: both Pierre and this girl who wanted to fly into the sky. It is necessary that my life does not go on for me alone, that it is reflected on everyone and that they all live with me.”
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Andrei Bolkonsky in service in Turkey
To forget Natasha, Bolkonsky goes to serve in Turkey (volume 3 part 1 chapter VIII): “... in St. Petersburg, Prince Andrei met Kutuzov, his former general, always disposed towards him, and Kutuzov invited him to go with him to the Moldavian army , where the old general was appointed commander-in-chief, Prince Andrei, having received the appointment to be at the headquarters of the main apartment, left for Turkey ... "
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In 1812, Bolkonsky asks Kutuzov to transfer him to the Western Army in order to participate in the war with Napoleon: “...Prince Andrei, as a regimental commander, walking through the unbandaged wounded, was carried...” “...On August 10th, the regiment, which Prince Andrei commanded, passed along the high road, past the avenue leading to Bald Mountains..." Andrei turns out to be an excellent regiment commander: "...Prince Andrei commanded the regiment, and the structure of the regiment, the welfare of its people, the need to receive and give orders occupied him..." "...He was completely devoted to the affairs of his regiment, he was caring about his people and officers and affectionate with them. In the regiment they called him our prince, they were proud of him and loved him...” In the Battle of Borodino, Andrei. Bolkonsky is seriously wounded (volume 3, part 2, chapter XXXVI): “...And the excruciating pain inside the abdomen made Prince Andrei lose consciousness...”
Andrei Bolkonsky and the Patriotic War of 1812
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Meeting with Natasha after Borodin
The wounded Andrei Bolkonsky accidentally ends up in Moscow in the Rostovs' house: "...That night another wounded man was transported through Povarskaya..." "... This wounded man was Prince Andrei Bolkonsky..." The Rostovs take Andrei along with other wounded out of Moscow. Natasha finds out that Andrei is riding in one of the Rostovs' carts. Natasha takes care of and cares for the wounded Andrei: “... during all the rest and overnight stays, Natasha did not leave the wounded Bolkonsky...” During this period, Natasha and Andrei become closer again. Andrei confesses to Natasha that he loves her more than anything in the world: “...Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything in the world...”
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Andrei Bolkonsky feels like he is dying. He loses interest in life: “...I don’t know why, but you will see what he has become...” Andrei Bolkonsky dies a few weeks after being wounded (volume 4 part 1 chapter XVI): “...Prince Andrei was alive for more than a month after the Battle of Borodino and only recently died in Yaroslavl, in the Rostov house..." Andrei is left with a 7-year-old son, Nikolenka: "... the princess did not ask and only briefly, quietly glancing at the seven-year-old Nikolushka..." This was the life story of Andrei Bolkonsky in Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”: the hero’s life path in quotes, the path of Andrei Bolkonsky’s quest, the main stages of his biography, military career, relationships with women, etc.
Death of Andrei Bolkonsky
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Thank you for your attention

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May 07 2016

If you carefully follow how the destinies of the main characters of L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” developed, then we can say with confidence: each of them experienced a significant evolution of their views on. One example is the absolute change in the worldview of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. We first meet him at a reception with Anna Pavlovna Sherer. There, all the conversations in one way or another revolve around the personalities of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Moreover, members of the circle talk about Napoleon as if he were a frequent visitor to Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s salon: they tell various funny stories about him and present him as a well-known, even close, person. Andrei Bolkonsky has a completely different perception of Napoleon’s personality, so salon conversations irritate him incredibly. For him, Napoleon is exceptional. Prince Andrei is afraid of his genius, which may “prove stronger than all the courage of the Russian troops,” and at the same time fears “shame for his hero.”

With all his being, Bolkonsky rushes in pursuit of the ideal associated with the victorious career of Napoleon. As soon as Prince Andrei learns that the Russian army is in dire straits, he decides that it is he who is destined by fate to save it and that “here is the Toulon that will lead him out of the ranks of unknown officers and will open the first path to glory for him.” . However, fate decreed differently.

She gave him the opportunity to see his idol, but at the same time showed him the insignificance of his search for earthly glory. Looking at the high Austerlitz sky, the wounded Prince Andrei says to himself: “Yes, I knew nothing, nothing until now.” And when Napoleon approaches him - Napoleon Bonaparte himself, his recent idol - who, mistaking him for a murdered man, utters the pompous phrase: “What a wonderful death!”, for Bolkonsky this praise is like the buzzing of a fly. Napoleon seems small and insignificant to him in comparison with what was revealed to his consciousness at these moments.

Overcoming the “Napoleonic” ideal is one of the stages in the evolution of Andrei Bolkonsky’s personality. However, when he loses old ideals and does not gain new ones, an emptiness forms in his soul. So Prince Andrei, after Napoleon was overthrown from the pedestal and abandoned his previous dreams of glory, began a painful search for the meaning of life.

Lesson Plan #21
in the subject "Russian Literature"
Theme of the program: L.N. Tolstoy.
Lesson topic: The path of ideological and moral quest of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.
Lesson type: combined lesson.
Lesson objectives:
Educational: trace how the character of Tolstoy’s favorite hero is formed; identify the author’s attitude towards the hero and determine your view of the hero and his actions; look into the complex world of his emotional experiences.
Developmental: provide conditions for developing the ability to analyze literary texts, highlight the main thing, prove and disprove, determine and explain the reason, compare, build analogies, systematize, select material on the topic of the lesson.
Educational: create conditions for raising a good reader who can see the depth of a literary text, so that the perception of real literature causes aesthetic pleasure.
help students trace how the hero’s character is formed; develop skills
analyze a literary text, highlight the main points, compare; bring up
moral qualities.
Material and technical equipment of the lesson: portrait of Leo Tolstoy, text of the novel “War and Peace”.
During the classes
Organizational part:
1.1. duty officer's report;
1.2. checking students' readiness for the lesson.
2. Target setting and motivation, stimulation of student activity:
2.1. topic and objectives of the lesson;
2.2. The teacher draws attention to the relevance and significance of the material being studied.
Formation of theoretical knowledge.
3.1. Teacher's word.
Bolkonsky family.
The first time we encounter the Bolkonsky family in its entirety is at the end of the first part of the first volume, when everyone in the Bald Mountains is awaiting the arrival of Prince Andrei and his wife.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky attracts both Tolstoy and the reader with his originality. “An old man with keen, intelligent eyes,” “with the brilliance of smart and young eyes,” “inspiring a feeling of respect and even fear,” “he was harsh and invariably demanding.” A friend of Kutuzov, he received general-in-chief in his youth. And disgraced, he never ceased to be interested in politics. His energetic mind demanded an outlet. Nikolai Andreevich, honoring only two human virtues: “activity and intelligence,” “was constantly busy either writing his memoirs, or calculations from higher mathematics, or turning snuff boxes on a machine, or working in the garden and observing buildings...”. “He raised his daughter himself.” It is not for nothing that Andrei has an urgent need to communicate with his father, whose intelligence he values, whose analytical abilities he never ceases to be amazed at: “How could this old man, sitting alone in the village for many years, know and discuss all military and military issues in such detail and with such subtlety? political circumstances of Europe in recent years." Proud and adamant, the prince asks his son: “to hand over notes...to the sovereign after...my death.” And for the Academy he prepared a prize for the one who would write the history of “Suvorov’s wars.” Nikolai Andreevich sees his son’s experiences with his heart and helps him in a difficult conversation about the wife he is leaving and his unborn child. And the year appointed by the old prince to test the feelings of Andrei and Natasha is also an attempt to protect his son’s feelings as much as possible from accidents and troubles: “There was a son whom it was a pity to give to the girl.”
The old prince was involved in the upbringing and education of children himself, without trusting or entrusting this to anyone. One can call him a despot, observing how he treats his daughter, but this is explained by his phrase: “And I don’t want you to be like our stupid young ladies.” He considers idleness and superstition to be the source of human vices. And the main condition for activity is order. The father, proud of his son’s intelligence, knows that between Marya and Andrei there is not only complete mutual understanding, but also sincere friendship, based on unity of views, thoughts... He understands how rich the spiritual world of his children is. In many ways, Andrei Bolkonsky repeats the life of his father, making the old prince proud of his son.
3.2. Conversation
The search for Andrei Bolkonsky.
At first, Prince Andrei strives to find the meaning and content of life in military activity, glory and heroic deeds:
1. military service. Vol.1, part 1, chapter 5 Why does Prince Andrei go to war? (Andrei Bolkonsky goes to war to break the “charmed” circle of “drawing room gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance” in order to achieve his Toulon, in which he saw the meaning of life. A military feat that will take him out of the ranks of unknown officers and reveal to him the first the path to glory - this was Prince Andrei’s initial idea of ​​​​the nature of the feat).
2. A sharp conversation with Zherkov about the duty and honor of a Russian officer. Volume 1, part 2, chapter 3 Why was Prince Andrei outraged by Zherkov’s act? (“We are either officers who serve our king and fatherland and rejoice at the common success or are sad about the common failure, or we are lackeys who do not care about the master’s business”).
3. Prince Andrei's dreams of glory and feat. T 1, part 2. chapter 12; T 1, h. 3, ch. 12 What dreams excite Prince Andrei? Why does he want to accomplish the feat?
Having found an idol in Napoleon, Prince Andrei isolates himself from other people. His dream of the hero's glory corresponds to the spirit of Russian culture of that time, when the hero certainly thinks of himself on a pedestal. Prince Andrei wants to earn fame through a feat, a real deed. Such determination can fill your entire life. Suvorov said: “The bad soldier is the one who does not dream of being a general,” that is, everyone should strive to achieve perfection in their work. Prince Andrei wants to advance in life in order to show his strength, and he also thinks about honors. The vanity inherent in secular society also hurts him. Despite the fact that Prince Andrei thinks about fame, he is sympathetic to the reader, since he wants to achieve fame honestly. Dreams of fame reveal his disgust for a meaningless and empty life. He is looking for the meaning of life.
He is very young. Daydreaming is typical of young people. When a person matures and finds his calling, all vain things recede. The wiser a person is, the less vanity there is in his dream.
The feat accomplished at Austerlitz by Prince Andrei is his finest hour. His dream came true, as Napoleon once did on the Toulon Bridge, Prince Andrey with a banner in his hands led the soldiers behind him. This. of course, a glorious feat worthy of the family honor of the Bolkonskys, the honor of a Russian officer. But for Tolstoy, the inner essence, the very type of feat, is important. After all, Napoleon also has unconditional personal courage, and he is able to go ahead of the army. This inner essence of Bolkonsky’s feat is the reason that this feat is not poeticized in the novel. This, of course, cannot be understood as a condemnation of the military valor of Andrei Bolkonsky. No, his feat adds another touch to his portrait of a knight, an impeccable soldier, a real man with high and strict categories of life, towering above the entire frame of high-ranking careerists surrounding him.
4. Bravery and courage shown by Prince Andrei in the battles of Shengraben and Austerlitz. T 1. part 2, ch. 20, 21
Remember what thoughts Prince Andrei came to after Austerlitz? (Disappointment in the desire for glory, for feat, the collapse of the Napoleonic cult - this is the result of his search at the end of volume II).
Why did the accomplished feat bring disappointment to Prince Andrei? What conclusions does he draw about the feat and the heroes?
Participation in the Battle of Shengraben makes Prince Andrei look at things differently. With calm courage he is in the most dangerous areas of the battle. But a meeting with Tushin before the battle and at his battery, and then after the battle in Bagration’s hut made him see real heroism and military feat in a different light. Tushin, to whom they owe the success of the day, not only did not demand “glory and human love” for himself, but did not even know how to stand up for himself in the face of the unfair accusation of his superiors, and his feat generally remained unrewarded. He had not yet given up his idea of ​​​​a feat, but everything he had experienced that day made him think.
Little by little, Tolstoy is preparing the revolution in the soul of Prince Andrei that took place on the Field of Austerlitz. During military operations, lofty dreams collided with the reality and everyday life of war.
Austerlitz became an era of shame and disappointment not only for all of Russia, but also for individual heroes. With a feeling of great disappointment in Napoleon, who was previously his hero, the wounded Prince Andrei lies on the battlefield. Napoleon appeared to him as a small, insignificant man, “with an indifferent, limited look and happy at the misfortune of others.” True, the wound brought Prince Andrei not only disappointment in the futility and insignificance of exploits in the name of personal glory, but also the discovery of a new world, a new meaning of life. The immeasurably high, eternal sky, the blue infinity, opened a new system of thoughts in him, and he would like people to “help him and return him to life, which seemed so beautiful to him, because he understood it so differently now.”
And in this image of the sky, which accompanies the prince in Tolstoy’s novel, being, as it were, his leitmotif, there is greatness, ideality, there is infinity of aspiration, and there is detachment, coldness. Heaven is absolute, eternal, fair, Prince Andrei seeks justice and perfection in life. But they must be directly given in the phenomena of life, not hidden behind the relative and random. Life should not be confused, it should demonstrate coincidence, triumph, the unity of law and form, ideal and reality - this is Prince Andrei’s requirement for it. For him we never cross the gap - the perfection and imperfection of the real, “heaven” and the earthly reality of human relations. He sees the sky, looking beyond human life. This gap is the tragic theme of the image of Andrei Bolkonsky.
Before us is Tolstoy’s characteristic image of nature: it personifies the highest moral principles, the best that exists in people’s lives. The writer reproduces not so much the visual image of the sky, but the impression, the structure of thoughts that it evokes. The picture of nature is included in the internal monologue of Prince Andrei: “How quiet, calm and solemn, not at all like how I ran..., not like how we ran, screamed and fought; It’s not at all like how the Frenchman and the artilleryman pulled the banner from each other with embittered and frightened faces - not at all like how the clouds crawl across this high, endless sky. How come I haven’t seen this high sky before? And how happy I am that I finally recognized him. Yes! Everything is empty, everything is deception, except this endless sky.” These thoughts of Prince Andrei reflect the overall result - a feeling of disappointment in life as a result of realizing his mistakes. This is how life opened up for Prince Andrei in a new way. He understood the vanity of his ambitious dreams, realized that there was something much more significant and eternal in life than the war and glory of Napoleon. This something is the natural life of nature and man. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for Prince Andrei a symbol of a new, high understanding of life, the “endless and bright horizons” that have opened up before him. This symbol runs through his entire life.
5. The mood of Prince Andrei during a period of deep mental crisis.
Returning home, Prince Andrei finds his wife near death. Her face reflected suffering and a silent reproach to her husband: why did you leave me at the moment when I was needed most? Disappointment in military service and the death of his wife plunge Prince Andrei into a deep mental crisis. He decided to devote all his time to raising his son and improving the farm.
T 2.part 3. Chapter 1 What does Prince Andrey do at home?
Disappointment in the desire for glory, for feat, the collapse of the Napoleonic cult - this is the result of serving in the army. Further events - the appearance of a child, the death of his wife - shocked Prince Andrei. Disappointed in his previous aspirations and ideals, having experienced grief and repentance, he comes to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself and his loved ones, is the only thing left for him.
When Prince Andrei, strangely softened, returned home, with unusually kind words, ready for peace, grief fell upon him - the death of his wife. And the fact that he felt guilty before her aggravated his crisis, forced him to withdraw, to withdraw into himself. His experiences made him a skeptic. Pierre, who visited him at Bogucharova’s, was struck by his “extinct, dead look.” “Live for yourself, avoiding only these two evils (remorse and illness). - that’s all my wisdom now.” - Prince Andrei says to Pierre. In the dispute between Prince Andrei and Pierre, one important idea is heard: moral self-improvement at that time was the ideal of financially secure people who did not understand what the hardness of work and the hardness of life meant.
6. Gradual awakening of the hero from a moral crisis. What helped Prince Andrei cope with his mental crisis? How did he decide to realize his potential?
Tolstoy shows how slowly his hero returns to life, to people, to new quests. The first milestone on this path of rebirth is meeting Pierre and talking with him on the ferry. In the heat of an argument with a friend, Bolkonsky speaks unfair words and expresses extreme judgments. But for himself he draws the right conclusion. “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe” - these words of Pierre sank deeply into the soul of Prince Andrei. His extinguished gaze came to life and became “radiant, childlike, gentle.” Right now, “for the first time after Austerlitz, he saw that high, eternal sky that he had seen while lying on the Field of Austerlitz, and something that had long fallen asleep, something better that was in him, suddenly woke up joyfully and youthfully in his soul ... The meeting with Pierre was for Prince Andrei the era from which, although outwardly the same, but in the inner world, his new life began.” The first thing he did for the people was transformations in the village, which eased the lot of his peasants.
Nature revived Prince Andrei to life, made him live, renewed him, he understood the meaning of life, its purpose. Prince Andrey's train of thought changes the greatness, eternity and infinity of nature. For Tolstoy, one of the signs of a real person is the ability to feel and love nature. For all the positive heroes of the novel, their “sky” always opens, which almost always opens up to them at times of crisis, at turning points in life, when nature helps a person get out of a dead end. Nature helps a person find his place in life, to live a common life. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy believes: “The purest joy is the joy of nature.” The writer talks about nature, spiritualizing it, endowing it with human traits. Looking at the oak tree, Prince Andrei sees not branches, not bark, not growths on it, but hands and fingers, old sores. At the first meeting, the oak tree appears to him as a living creature, “an old, angry and contemptuous freak”, who is endowed with the ability to think, persist, frown and despise the cheerful family of “smiling birches”. Prince Andrei attributes his thoughts and feelings to the oak and, thinking about it, uses the pronouns “we”, “our”... The vital forces that the oak revived awoke in Bolkonsky’s soul. He acutely feels the joy of being, sees the opportunity to benefit people, the possibility of happiness and love. And he decides: “... it is necessary for everyone to know me, so that my life does not go on for me alone... so that it is reflected on everyone and so that they all live with me.”
7. An outstanding mind, a broad-minded statesman. The imprint of the labor education given by the father. Desire for useful social activities. Participation in the legislative activities of M.M. Speransky and disappointment in it. Volume 2, part 3, chapter 18 Why did Prince Andrei become disillusioned with public service?
Ambitious dreams arise again. Prince Andrei intends to take part in the transformations that were being planned in the highest spheres at that time. During the St. Petersburg period of Bolkonsky's life, Tolstoy draws real historical figures with whom Prince Andrei encounters - these are Arakcheev and Speransky. Prince Andrei was engaged in drawing up new military projects and was the head of the department of the commission for drafting laws, working on the “rights of persons” department, but he soon saw that this work was idle. Having started his social work with passion, he became disillusioned with his social activities because he did not see its deep meaning. Prince Andrei was also disappointed in Speransky himself. A passionate desire “to find in another the living ideal of the perfection to which he strived” attracted him to this figure, but then he saw that he did not at all correspond to his ideal. Only those activities satisfy the hero in which he will find a combination of interests for himself and for others... In the meantime, he is mistaken, forever struggling, because “peace is spiritual meanness.” His searches, disappointments and hopes reflected an important facet of “real life” according to Tolstoy.
8. Relationship between Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. Vol. 2, part 3. chapters 16, 19, 22 What attracted Prince Andrei, sophisticated in communication, to Natasha Rostova?
The charm of love is created by its moral purity. Prince Andrei was attracted to Natasha by her poetry, her fullness of life, and spontaneity. The desire for happiness inherent in her awakens the strength of other people. Her singing gives Prince Andrei pleasure; he is amazed by Natasha’s sensitivity, ability to guess someone else’s mood, and understand everything perfectly. And Natasha fell in love with Prince Andrei, feeling his inner strength and nobility. The words of Prince Andrei: “The whole world is divided for me into two halves: one is she, and there is all happiness, hope, light; the other half is everything where she is not there, everything is dull and dark there...” and Natasha’s: “... but this has never happened to me” - they convince of the strength and seriousness of their feelings.
Love occupies an important place in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky, helping to understand and love life, to find one’s place in it. A real feeling is only one that is free from calculations, deep and sincere. “Life, all life with all its joys” opened up before Prince Andrei. It seems to him that in love he has found true happiness.
Why didn’t the hero find his happiness? Firstly, the world is destroyed by war; it does not provide the opportunity to live calmly and brightly. Secondly, the author leads the hero to an internal crisis because Andrei Bolkonsky does not have internal unity with the people, he has his own goals aimed at himself.
Natasha seems to bring the prince closer to earthly life, but Tolstoy immediately makes the reader feel that they are not meant for each other, that simple happiness is not for Bolkonsky. The happiness turned out to be short-lived, and the brighter it was, the more tragic he felt about the break with Natasha. It seems to him now, “as if that endless, receding vault of the sky that had previously stood in front of him suddenly turned into a low, definite, oppressive vault, in which everything was clear, but there was nothing eternal and mysterious.” Life seems cruel, unnecessary, and absurd to him.
9. Prince Andrei’s break with secular society and rapprochement with the people during the Patriotic War of 1812. Vol. 3, part 2. Ch. 5, 25 Why did the soldiers love their commander? How does Prince Andrei’s attitude towards the war change?
The year 1812 would be a turning point in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky. During the Patriotic War, the prince will feel and understand the legitimacy of the existence of the interests of other people. This understanding will manifest itself in his vision of the reasons for success in war, which, as he believes, are determined not by the number of troops and their location, not by the number of guns, but by the feeling that will be in every soldier. This is how Andrei Bolkonsky’s ideas about the driving forces of history change.
The events of 1812 were the most significant era in Bolkonsky’s life. His personal grief receded into the background before the national disasters. Defending his homeland from the enemy becomes the highest goal of his life, and Prince Andrei returns to the army. “He was entirely devoted to the affairs of his regiment, he was caring for his people and officers and affectionate with them. In the regiment they called him our prince, they were proud of him and loved him.” He no longer strives to get into the higher spheres, where, as he previously thought, the fate of his homeland is decided, and remains among the simple and most needed people in the war - soldiers and officers of the active army. Dreams of personal glory no longer excite him.
To live, helping and sympathizing with people, to understand them, to merge your life with their simple and natural life - this is the new ideal that awakened in the soul of Prince Andrei in the days of severe trials for his homeland. In his conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, the unity of thoughts of Bolkonsky and the fighting people is especially clearly felt. Expressing his attitude to the events, he says: “And Timokhin and the entire Army think the same.” The life of Prince Andrei ends with his unity with the people, with those who are fighting for their native land.
10. Prince Andrei’s state of mind after being wounded near Borodino. Why was Prince Andrei unable to avoid being wounded? How did near death change the hero?
Tolstoy the artist invariably follows the high truth of art. The death of Prince Andrey - an amazing event in itself - is described simply and artlessly. Not a single false note, not a single artistically unjustified word or gesture, in everything there was utmost tact and a sense of proportion. For Prince Andrei, death is a new, final stage of spiritual development. He accepts it simply and wisely. His calmness is conveyed to those close to him: “They both saw how he descended deeper and deeper, slowly and calmly, from them somewhere, and they both knew that this was how it should be and that it was good.” Death is a mystery. And the writer puts on a shroud of silence over this event.
11. Andrei Bolkonsky is the best representative of the advanced part of the noble society of the early 19th century. In the epilogue of the novel, a lot of space is devoted to Nikolenka Bolkonsky, in whom the soul of his father, thirsting for truth, continues to live. This is a charming image of a child, full of bright dreams, passionately striving for truth and goodness. Getting to know Nikolenka, it’s as if we are meeting Prince Andrei again, with the best that was in him and that was inherited by his son.
Thus, finishing “War and Peace,” the writer returns to the image of Andrei Bolkonsky, as if introducing him to the activities that await his son. "Father! Father! Yes, I will do something that would make even him happy...” Nikolenka dreams.
Analysis of the group’s work during the lesson:
4.1.summing up the lesson
The life path of Andrei Bolkonsky testifies to the search for overcoming personal and social discord, the desire for a reasonable and harmonious life. Lovingly drawing characters close to him, Tolstoy reveals their inner life, the dialectic of their soul, since the writer is primarily interested in the path of human spiritual development, the path leading to a moral ideal. On the pages of the novel, an internal monologue constantly sounds, that is, the flow of the hero’s innermost thoughts and feelings, most often contradictory and always complex, is reproduced.
The spiritual beauty of Tolstoy's favorite heroes is manifested in this continuous internal struggle of thoughts and feelings, in the tireless search for the meaning of life, in dreams of activities useful for the whole people. Their life path is a path of passionate quest leading to truth and goodness.
So, summing up our work, let’s see what the life path of Andrei Bolkonsky was like:
Contempt for society _ army _ Battle of Shengraben _ Austerlitz, injury _ Bald Mountains, crisis _ trip to Otradnoye, overcoming _ Petersburg, service with Speransky _ acquaintance with Natasha _ break in relations _ army _ injury _ death.
4.2. marking.
Homework
Image of Pierre Bezukhov.

In the novel "War and Peace" Lev. Nikolayevich Tolstoy talks about the paths of development of Russia, about the destinies of the people, their role in history, about the relationship between the people and the nobility, about the role of the individual in history. The writer reveals in the novel the significance of the Patriotic War of 1812 and helps to understand the features of the Russian national character. Tolstoy's favorite heroes are looking for answers to questions posed by time; they are striving to find a worthy place in life. These heroes include Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. We first meet him in Anna Scherer's salon. His handsome face “with certain dry Features” is overshadowed by an expression of boredom and dissatisfaction. Tolstoy explains this by saying that “everyone in the living room not only knew each other, but was already so tired of him that he found it very boring to look at them and listen to them.” The prince seems cold and inaccessible to those around him. In a conversation with Scherer, he sharply expresses his hostility to the way of thinking and to the moral standards of court society. Andrey says: “This life is not for me.” He thirsts for activity, dreams of accomplishing a feat in the name of people.

Possessing not only a brilliant mind and education, but also a strong will. Andrei Bolkonsky completely changes his life - he enters service at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief. We see that this person has already formed a clear outlook on life. He knows what to strive for - “his Toulon”. He needs fame and power. Napoleon became his idol, and Prince Andrei wants to follow him in everything. The feat accomplished by Andrei Bolkonsky during the Battle of Austerlitz, when he led soldiers into battle with a banner in his hands, was noticed by those around him and even by Napoleon himself. But having performed this heroic act, Andrei does not experience happiness.

This moment in his life can be called a turning point, because Prince Andrei evaluates everything that is happening in a new way. As he lay there, seriously wounded, the endless sky opened up before his eyes. We can say that he saw it for the first time, and with it, that simple truth of life, which lies in a person’s love for home, family, and nature.

Bolkonsky is deeply disappointed in Napoleon, who seemed to him an ordinary little forty-year-old man in a gray frock coat. The thought that this person brings misfortune to other people finally “sobers up” Andrei Bolkonsky. He no longer believes that the outcome of a battle can depend on the actions of one person, on plans and dispositions. After Austerlitz, his idea of ​​not only heroism, but also the meaning of life changes completely.

Therefore, he returns to his family, but a new shock awaits him there - the death of his wife Lisa, to whom he had lost interest at one time and now wanted to make amends. Andrey is trying to live a quiet life, taking care of his son, improving the lives of his

serfs. He made three hundred people free cultivators, and replaced the rest with quitrent. These humane measures tell us about the progressive views of the prince. But the transformations cannot completely occupy his mind and heart, and Andrei Bolkonsky is still depressed.

Changes in Andrei's difficult mental state come with the arrival of Pierre, who tries to instill in his friend faith in the existence of goodness, truth and happiness. In Andrei's disputes with Pierre, we notice that the prince is critical of himself. He understands that “living for oneself” means that “at thirty-one, life is over.”

Andrei Bolkonsky experiences a real, emotional uplift when he meets Natasha Rostova. Communication with her opens up a new side of life for him: love, beauty, poetry. But he is not destined to be happy with Natasha. Continuing to feel that he cannot “simply exist,” Andrei goes to St. Petersburg. There he takes part in the work of the Speransky commission. And again, the eternal search, reflections on life lead him to the conclusion that the commission is pointless. Andrei Bolkonsky abandons his career as a government official.

Separation turned out to be too difficult a test for Natasha. The story with Anatoly Kuragin destroys the possible happiness of Andrei Bolkonsky with her. The proud prince cannot forgive Natasha for her mistake. And she feels remorse, believes that she is unworthy of such a noble, ideal person. The break with Natasha again leads the hero to a deep crisis.

When Napoleon enters Russia and begins to rapidly advance, Andrei Bolkonsky, who hated the war after Austerlitz, joins the active army, refusing safe work at the emperor’s headquarters. Prince Andrei becomes an ordinary regimental commander. The soldiers love him and call him “our prince.” Andrey no longer dreams of fame and feat. He is simply defending his country. Now we notice in him the same “hidden warmth of patriotism” as in the soldiers.

The views of Andrei Bolkonsky, formed over years of painful searches for his place in life, are revealed in a conversation with Pierre before the battle. Prince Andrei realized that the outcome of the battle depended not on the genius of the commanders, but on the “spirit of the army”, its confidence in victory. At the moment of his mortal wound, Andrei experiences a tremendous thirst for life. He wonders why he is so sorry to part with her. The firm and cold character of Andrei Bolkonsky did not allow him to fully experience simple human happiness. The Battle of Borodino can be called the culmination in the life of Prince Andrei. His dying sufferings helped him understand the meaning of Christian love: “Compassion, love for brothers, for those who love, love for those who hate us, love for enemies - yes, that love that God preached on earth... and which I did not understand.”

Thus, Tolstoy leads his hero to death in the name of the lives of others, in the name of the future of Russia, but spiritually, he leads him to the comprehension of eternal moral values. The image of Andrei Bolkonsky reflected the best features of a nobleman-patriot: intelligence, education, honesty, conscientiousness, ardent love for the Motherland.