Abstract: What do the main characters of LN Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace see as the meaning of life? All school essays on literature
IN art world Tolstoy has heroes who persistently and purposefully strive for complete harmony with the world, tirelessly searching for the meaning of life. They are not interested in selfish goals, social intrigue, empty and meaningless conversations in high society salons. They are easy to recognize among arrogant, self-satisfied faces. These, of course, include the most striking images of the novel “War and Peace” - Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. They stand out noticeably among the heroes of Russian literature of the 19th century century with its originality and intellectual richness. Completely different in character, Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov have much in common in ideological aspirations and quests.
Tolstoy said: “People are like rivers...” - emphasizing with this comparison the versatility and complexity human personality. The spiritual beauty of the writer's favorite heroes - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov - is manifested 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. Pierre and Andrey are internally close to each other and alien to the world of Kuragin and Scherer.
Tolstoy chose dialogue as a means of revealing the inner world of his characters. The disputes between Andrei and Pierre are not idle chatter or a duel of ambitions, it is a desire to understand one’s own thoughts and try to understand the thoughts of another person. Both heroes live an intense spiritual life and benefit from current impressions general meaning. Their relationship has the character of a spacious friendship. Each of them goes their own way. They do not need everyday communication and do not strive to find out as many details as possible about each other’s lives. But they sincerely respect each other and feel that the other’s truth is just as much gained through suffering as his own, that it grew out of life, that behind every argument in the dispute there is life.
The first acquaintance with Andrei Bolkonsky does not evoke much sympathy. A proud and self-satisfied young man with dry features and a tired, bored look - this is how Anna Pavlovna Sherer’s guests see him. But when we learn that the expression on his face was caused by the fact that “everyone who was in the living room was not only familiar, but was already so tired of him that it was very boring for him to look at them and listen to them,” interest in the hero arises. Further, Tolstoy reports that a brilliant and idle, empty life does not satisfy Prince Andrei and he strives with all his might to break the vicious circle in which he finds himself.
Trying to get out of the secular and family life, Andrei Bolkonsky is going to war. He dreams of glory similar to Napoleonic, dreams of accomplishing a feat. “What is fame? - says Prince Andrey. “The same love for others...” The feat he accomplished during Battle of Austerlitz When he ran ahead of everyone with a banner in his hands, he looked very impressive in appearance: even Napoleon noticed and appreciated him. But, having committed a heroic act, Andrei for some reason did not experience any delight or elation. Probably because at the moment when he fell, seriously wounded, a new high truth together with the high endless sky, spreading a blue vault above it. The desire for fame leads Andrey to deep spiritual crisis. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for him a symbol of a high understanding of life: “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.” Andrei Bolkonsky realized that the natural life of nature and man is more significant and important than the war and glory of Napoleon.
Against the backdrop of this clear sky, everything former dreams and the aspirations seemed small and insignificant to Andrei, the same as his former idol. A reassessment of values took place in his soul. What seemed beautiful and sublime to him turned out to be empty and vain. And what he had so diligently fenced himself off from - a simple and quiet family life - now seemed to him a desirable world, full of happiness and harmony. Further events - the birth of a child, the death of his wife - forced Prince Andrei to come to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself, for his family, is the only thing left for him. But Prince Andrei’s mind continued to work hard, he read a lot and reflected on eternal questions: what power controls the world and what is the meaning of life.
Andrey tried to live a simple life, quiet life, taking care of his son and improving the lives of his serfs: he made three hundred people free tillers, and replaced the rest with dues. But the state of depression, the feeling of the impossibility of happiness, indicated that all the transformations could not fully occupy his mind and heart.
Pierre Bezukhov followed different paths in life, but he was worried about the same problems as Prince Andrei. “Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? - Pierre painfully searched for answers to these questions. At the beginning of the novel, at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Pierre defends the ideas french revolution, admires Napoleon, wants either to “create a republic in Russia, or to be Napoleon himself...”. Not yet finding the meaning of life, Pierre rushes about and makes mistakes. Suffice it to recall the story with the bear, which caused a lot of noise in the world. But the biggest mistake Pierre made during this period was his marriage to the low and vicious beauty Helen Kuragina. The duel with Dolokhov opened up Pierre's A New Look to the world, he realized that it was no longer possible to live the way he was living.
His search for truth and the meaning of life leads him to the Freemasons. He passionately desires to “regenerate the vicious human race.” In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of “equality, brotherhood and love”, so, first of all, he decides to alleviate the lot of the serfs. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: “And only now, when I... try... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life.” But Pierre is still too naive to understand that all his transformations lead to nothing. Tolstoy, talking about Pierre's activities on the estate, sneers at his beloved hero.
Returning from a trip to the estates, Pierre stops by to visit Prince Andrei. Their meeting, which had great importance for both, and which largely determined their future path, took place on the Bogucharovo estate. They met at a moment when each of them thought that he had found the truth. But if Pierre’s truth was happy, he had recently become familiar with it and it filled his entire being so much that he wanted to quickly reveal it to his friend, then Prince Andrei’s truth was bitter and devastating, and he did not want to share his thoughts with anyone.
Andrei's final revival to life occurred thanks to his meeting with Natasha Rostova. Communication with her reveals to Andrey a new, previously unknown side of life - love, beauty, poetry. But it is with Natasha that he is not destined to be happy, because there is no complete mutual understanding between them. Natasha loves Andrei, but does not understand and does not know him. And she remains a mystery to him with her own, special inner world. If Natasha lives every moment, unable to wait and postpone until a certain time the moment of happiness, then Andrei is able to love from a distance, finding a special charm in anticipation of the upcoming wedding with his beloved girl. Separation turned out to be too difficult a test for Natasha, because she, unlike Andrei, was not able to think about anything other than love.
The story with Anatoly Kuragin destroyed the possible happiness of Natasha and Prince Andrei. Proud and proud Andrei could not forgive Natasha for her mistake. And she, experiencing painful remorse, considered herself unworthy of such a noble, ideal person and renounced all the joys of life. Fate separates loving people, leaving bitterness and pain of disappointment in their souls. But she will unite them before Andrei’s death, because the Patriotic War of 1812 will change a lot in their characters.
When Napoleon entered Russia and began to rapidly advance, Andrei Bolkonsky, who hated the war after being seriously wounded at Austerlitz, joined the active army, refusing a safe and promising service on the headquarters of the commander-in-chief. While commanding a regiment, the proud aristocrat Bolkonsky became close to the mass of soldiers and peasants and learned to appreciate and respect the common people. If at first Prince Andrei tried to arouse the courage of the soldiers by walking under bullets, then when he saw them in battle, he realized that he had nothing to teach them. From that moment on, he began to look at men in soldiers' greatcoats as patriotic heroes who courageously and steadfastly defended their Fatherland. So Andrei Bolkonsky came to the idea that the success of the army does not depend on the position, weapons or number of troops, but on the feeling that exists in him and in every soldier.
After the meeting in Bogucharovo, Pierre, like Prince Andrei, expected bitter disappointments, in particular in Freemasonry. Pierre's republican ideas were not shared by his “brothers.” In addition, Pierre realized that among the Masons there is hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and careerism. All this led Pierre to a break with the Freemasons and to another mental crisis. Just like for Prince Andrei, the goal of life, the ideal for Pierre became (although he himself did not yet understand and did not realize this) love for Natasha Rostova, overshadowed by the bonds of marriage with Helen. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” - these questions never ceased to bother Bezukhov.
During this period, the second meeting of Pierre and Andrey took place. This time Tolstoy chose Borodino as the place for the meeting of his heroes. Here the decisive battle for the Russian and French armies took place, and here the last meeting of the main characters of the novel took place. On this period Prince Andrei perceives his life as “badly painted pictures,” sums up its results and reflects on the same eternal questions. But the landscape against which his reflections are given (“... these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke from the fires, everything around was transformed for him and seemed something terrible and threatening”) , a sign that something poetic, eternal and incomprehensible continues to live in his devastated soul. At the same time, he continues to think and remain silent. And Pierre is eager to know, eager to listen and talk.
Pierre asks Andrey questions that have serious, not yet formalized thoughts behind them. Prince Andrei does not want to engage in conversation. Now Pierre is not only alien to him, but also unpleasant: he bears a reflection of the life that brought him a lot of suffering. And again, as in Bogucharovo, Prince Andrei begins to speak and, unnoticed by himself, gets drawn into the conversation. This is not even a conversation, but a monologue of Prince Andrei, which is pronounced unexpectedly, passionately and contains bold and unexpected thoughts. He still speaks in a maliciously mocking tone, but this is not embitterment and devastation, but the anger and pain of a patriot: “Prince Andrei, who thought that he didn’t care whether they took Moscow or not, since they took Smolensk, suddenly stopped in his speech from an unexpected spasm that grabbed him by the throat.”
Pierre listened to his friend, ashamed of his ignorance in military affairs, but at the same time he felt that the moment Russia was experiencing was something very special, and the words of his friend, a professional military man, convinced him of the truth of his feelings. Everything he saw that day, everything he thought and reflected on, “lit up for him with a new light.” The separation of Pierre and Andrey cannot be called warm and friendly. But just like last time, their conversation changed the heroes’ previous ideas about life and happiness. When Pierre left, Prince Andrei began to think about Natasha with a new feeling, “long and joyfully,” with the feeling that he understood her, who had caused him a serious insult. In a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, the unity of thoughts of Prince Andrei and the fighting people is felt. Expressing his attitude to events, he says that his thoughts are in tune with the people. The life of Prince Andrei, his search for the meaning of life ends in unity with the people fighting for native land.
After meeting Pierre, Prince Andrei moves into a new, completely new phase of life for him. It had been ripening for a long time, but took shape only after he expressed to Pierre everything that he had been thinking about for so long and painfully. But, according to the author, he could not live with this new feeling. It is symbolic that at the moment of his mortal wound, Andrei experiences a great craving for simple earthly life, but immediately thinks about why he is so sorry to part with it. This struggle between earthly passions and love for people becomes especially acute before his death. Having met Natasha and forgiven her, he feels a surge of vitality, but this reverent and warm feeling is replaced by an unearthly detachment, which is incompatible with life and means death. Having revealed in Andrei Bolkonsky many remarkable traits of a nobleman-patriot, Tolstoy cut short his path of quest with heroic death for the sake of saving his homeland. And in the novel, his friend and like-minded person Pierre Bezukhov is destined to continue this search for higher spiritual values, which remained unattainable for Prince Andrei.
For Pierre, the conversation with Andrey became initial stage his spiritual cleansing. All subsequent events: participation in the Battle of Borodino, adventures in Moscow occupied by the enemy, captivity - brought Pierre closer to the people and contributed to his moral degeneration. “Be a soldier, just a soldier!.. Enter this common life with the whole being, to be imbued with what makes them so” - such a desire took possession of Pierre after the Battle of Borodino. It was in captivity that Bezukhov came to the conviction: “Man was created for happiness.” But Pierre does not rest on this either.
In the epilogue, Tolstoy shows Bezukhov as active and intensely thinking as at the beginning of the novel. He managed to carry his naive spontaneity through time; he continues to reflect on eternal insoluble questions. But if earlier he thought about the meaning of life, now he is thinking about how to protect goodness and truth. The paths of quest lead Pierre to the secret political society fighting against serfdom and autocracy.
The disputes between Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov about the meaning of life reflect the internal struggle in the writer’s soul, which did not stop throughout his life. A person, according to the writer, must constantly reflect, search, make mistakes and search again, because “peace is spiritual meanness" This is how he himself was, and he endowed the main characters of the novel “War and Peace” with these qualities. Using the example of Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov, Tolstoy shows that no matter how different paths the best representatives of high society take in search of the meaning of life, they come to the same result: the meaning of life is in unity with their native people, in love for this people.
From his father, a participant in foreign campaigns of the times Patriotic War, L. Tolstoy inherited self-esteem, independence of judgment, pride. Having entered Kazan University, he showed extraordinary abilities in studying foreign languages, however, he quickly became disillusioned with student life. At the age of 19 he leaves the university and goes to Yasnaya Polyana, deciding to devote himself to improving the lives of his peasants. The time begins for Tolstoy to search for the purpose and meaning of life. He is either going to go to Siberia, then going to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg; then he decides to join the Horse Guards Regiment... In a painful search, Tolstoy comes to the main task of his life - literary creativity. The great writer created over 200 works, including the epic novel War and Peace. According to Turgenev, “nothing better has ever been written by anyone.” The study of human consciousness, prepared by introspection, allowed Tolstoy to portray the heroes of his novel from the point of view of a deep psychologist.
The spiritual beauty of Tolstoy's favorite heroes - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Beeukhov - is manifested 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. Pierre and Andrei internally close to each other and alien to the world of Kuragin and Scherer, they meet at different stages of life: and at the same time. happy love Prince Andrei to Natasha, both during the break with her, and on the eve of the Battle of Borodino. And every time they turn out to be the closest people to each other, although each of them goes to goodness and truth in his own way. Wanting to get out of the sphere of secular and cold family life that has bored him, Andrei Bolkonsky is going to war. He dreams of glory similar to Napoleonic, dreams of accomplishing a feat. “What is fame? - says Prince Andrey. “The same love for others...” But during the Battle of Austerlitz, the desire for glory leads him to a deep spiritual crisis and disappointment. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for Prince Andrei a symbol of a high understanding of life: “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.”
Andrei Bolkonsky realized that the nature of nature and man is more significant and important than the war and glory of Napoleon. Further events - the birth of a child, the death of his wife - forced Prince Andrei to come to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself, for his family, is the only thing left for him. But Bolkonsky’s active nature, of course, could not limit itself to this. The search for the meaning of life begins again, and the first milestone on this path is a meeting with Pierre and a conversation with him on the ferry. Bezukhov’s words: “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe,” show Prince Andrei the path to happiness. The meeting with Natasha Rostova and the spring transformation of the old oak tree help him feel the joy of being. He again finds the strength to benefit people. Prince Andrei is now trying to find the meaning and purpose of life in love, but this happiness turned out to be short-lived. The most significant milestone in Andrei's life were the events of 1812. The highest goal of his life becomes the defense of his homeland from the enemy. Dreams of personal glory no longer concern him. To live, helping and sympathizing with people - this is the new ideal that awakened in the soul of Prince Andrey during the days of severe trials for his homeland. It is in a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino that the unity of thoughts of Prince Andrei and the fighting people is felt.
Expressing his attitude to these events, he says that his thoughts are in tune with the people: “And Timokhin and the whole army think the same.” The life of Prince Andrei, his search for the meaning of life ends in unity with the people fighting for their native land.
Pierre Bezukhov followed different paths in life, but he was worried about the same problems as Prince Andrei. “Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? - Pierre, whose image was conceived by Tolstoy as the image of the future Decembrist, painfully searched for an answer to these questions. At first, Pierre defends the ideas of the French Revolution, admires Napoleon, wants either to “create a republic in Russia, or to be Napoleon himself...” Not yet finding the meaning of life, Pierre rushes about and makes mistakes, one of which is his marriage to the low and vicious beauty Helene Kuragina. His search for truth and the meaning of life leads him to the Freemasons. He passionately desires to “regenerate the vicious human race.” In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of “equality, brotherhood and love”, so first of all he decides to alleviate the lot of the serfs. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: “And only now, when I... try... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life.” This conclusion helps Pierre find the real path in his further quest. But disappointment soon sets in in Freemasonry, since Pierre’s republican ideas were not shared by his “brothers,” and besides, Pierre sees that among the Freemasons there is hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and careerism. All this leads Pierre to break with the Freemasons.
Just like for Prince Andrei, the goal of life, the ideal for Pierre becomes love for Natasha Rostova, overshadowed by marriage with Helen, whom he hates. But his life only from the outside seemed calm and serene. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” - these questions never ceased to bother Bezukhov. This ongoing inner work prepared for his spiritual revival during the Patriotic War of 1812. Great value Pierre had contact with the people on the Borodino field, and after the battle, and in Moscow occupied by the enemy, and in captivity, and a meeting there with Platon Karataev. “To be a soldier, just a soldier!.. To enter this common life with the whole being, to be imbued with what makes them so” - this is the desire that took possession of Pierre after the Battle of Borodino.
Through the images of Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov, Tolstoy shows that, no matter how different paths the best representatives of high society take in search of the meaning of life, they come to the same result: the meaning of life is unity with the native people, in love for this people - The problems raised by Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace” have universal significance. His novel, according to Gorky, “is a documentary presentation of all the quests that a strong personality undertook in the 19th century in order to find a place and business for himself in the history of Russia...”
From his father, a participant in foreign campaigns during the Patriotic War, L. N. Tolstoy inherited self-esteem, independence of judgment, and pride. Having entered Kazan University, he showed extraordinary abilities in studying foreign languages, but quickly became disillusioned with student life. At the age of 19, he leaves the university and leaves for Yasnaya Polyana, deciding to devote himself to improving the lives of his peasants. The time begins for Tolstoy to search for a purpose in life. He is either going to go to Siberia, then goes to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, then decides to join the Horse Guards Regiment. During these same years, L.N. Tolstoy was seriously involved in music, pedagogy, and philosophy.
In a painful search, he comes to the main work of his life - literary creativity. Total great writer created over 200 works, including the epic novel War and Peace. According to Turgenev, “nothing better has ever been written by anyone.” It is enough to note that the text of the novel was rewritten seven times; its composition is striking in its complexity and harmony.
The study of human consciousness, prepared by introspection, allowed Tolstoy to become a profound psychologist. In the images he created, especially in the images of the main characters of the novel, the inner life of a person is exposed - a complex contradictory process, usually hidden from prying eyes. Tolstoy, according to N. G. Chernyshevsky, reveals the “dialectic human soul", that is, "subtle phenomena... inner life, replacing one another with extreme speed.”
Tolstoy said: “People are like rivers...”, emphasizing with this comparison the versatility and complexity of the human personality. The spiritual beauty of Tolstoy’s favorite heroes - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov - is manifested 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. Pierre and Andrey are internally close to each other and alien to the world of Kuragin and Scherer.
They meet at different stages of life: both at the time of Prince Andrei’s happy love for Natasha, and during the break with her, and on the eve of the Battle of Borodino. And every time they turn out to be the closest people to each other, although each of them goes to goodness and truth in his own way. Wanting to get out of the hell of his social and family life, Andrei Bolkonsky is going to war. He dreams of glory similar to Napoleonic, dreams of accomplishing a feat. “After all, what is fame? - says Prince Andrey. “The same love for others...”
But during the Battle of Austerlitz, the desire for glory leads him to a deep spiritual crisis. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for Prince Andrei a symbol of a high understanding of life: “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.” Andrei Bolkonsky realized that the natural life of nature and man is more significant and important than the war and glory of Napoleon. Further events - the birth of a child, the death of his wife - forced Prince Andrei to come to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself, for his family, is the only thing left for him.
But Bolkonsky’s active nature, of course, could not limit itself to this. The search for the meaning of life begins again, and the first milestone on this path is a meeting with Pierre and a conversation with him on the ferry. Bezukhov’s words “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe” show Prince Andrey the path to happiness. A meeting with Natasha Rostova helps him feel the joy of life, the opportunity to benefit people. Prince Andrei is now trying to find the meaning and purpose of life in love, but this happiness turned out to be short-lived.
The most significant milestone in Andrei's life were the events of 1812. The highest goal of his life becomes the defense of his homeland from the enemy. Dreams of personal glory no longer concern him. To live by helping and sympathizing with people - this is the new ideal that awakened in the soul of Prince Andrei during the days of severe trials for the Motherland. It is in a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino that the unity of thoughts of Prince Andrei and the fighting people is felt. Expressing his attitude to events, he says that his thoughts are in tune with the people: “And Timokhin and the whole army think the same.” The life of Prince Andrei, his search for the meaning of life ends in unity with the people fighting for their native land.
Pierre Bezukhov followed different paths in life, but he was worried about the same problems as Prince Andrei. “Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? — Pierre, whose image was conceived by Tolstoy as the image of the future Decembrist, painfully searched for an answer to these questions. At first, Pierre defends the ideas of the French Revolution, admires Napoleon, wants either to “create a republic in Russia, or to be Napoleon himself...”. Not yet finding the meaning of life, Pierre rushes about and makes mistakes, one of which is his marriage to the low and vicious beauty Helen Kuragina. His search for truth and the meaning of life leads him to the Freemasons. He passionately desires to “regenerate the vicious human race.” In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of “equality, brotherhood and love,” so first of all he decides to alleviate the lot of the serfs. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: “And only now, when I... try... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life.” This conclusion helps Pierre find the real path in his further quests. But disappointment soon sets in in Freemasonry, since Pierre’s republican ideas were not shared by his “brothers” and, moreover, Pierre sees that among the Freemasons there is hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and careerism. All this leads Pierre to break with the Freemasons. Just like for Prince Andrei, love for Natasha Rostova becomes the goal of life, the ideal for Pierre.
But his life only from the outside seemed calm and serene. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” - these questions never ceased to bother Bezukhov. This ongoing inner work prepared for his spiritual rebirth during the Patriotic War of 1812. Contact with the people on the Borodino field, and after the battle, and in Moscow occupied by the enemy, and in captivity, was of great importance for Pierre. “To be a soldier, just a soldier!.. To enter into this common life with the whole being, to be imbued with what makes them so” - this is the desire that took possession of Pierre after the Battle of Borodino.
It was in captivity that Bezukhov came to the conviction: “Man was created for happiness.” But the people around Pierre suffer, and in the epilogue Tolstoy shows Pierre thinking hard about how to defend goodness and truth. The path of quest leads Bezukhov to a secret political society fighting against serfdom and autocracy.
The problems raised by Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace” have universal significance. This novel, according to Gorky, “is a documentary presentation of all the quests that a strong personality undertook in the 19th century in order to find a place and business for himself in the history of Russia.”
We meet Tolstoy's favorite heroes Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov on the first pages of the novel, in the salon of the maid of honor Anna Pavlovna Scherer, where we're talking about about the upcoming war with Napoleon. Tolstoy stated: “People are like rivers...” - emphasizing with this comparison the versatility and complexity of the human personality. The spiritual beauty of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov is manifested 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. Pierre and Andrey are internally close to each other and alien to the world of Kuragin and Scherer.
Tolstoy is full of high inspiration and optimism; when depicting Andrei and Pierre, who are close to his heart, they are “guides of the artist’s thoughts and feelings, the embodiment of his aesthetic and moral rules. They meet at different stages of life: both at the time of Prince Andrei’s happy love for Natasha, and during the break with her, and on the eve of the Battle of Borodino. And every time they turn out to be the closest people to each other, although they go their own way towards goodness and truth. Wanting to get out of the hell of his social and family life, Andrei Bolkonsky is going to war. He dreams of glory similar to Napoleonic, dreams of accomplishing a feat. “What is glory?” says Prince Andrei. “The same love for others...” But during the Battle of Austerlitz, the desire for glory leads him to a deep spiritual crisis. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for Prince Andrei a symbol of a high understanding of life: “How come I haven’t seen this high sky before? And how happy I am that I recognized it. Finally. Yes! Everything is empty, everything is a deception, except this endless sky.” Andrei Bolkonsky realized that the natural life of nature and man is more significant and important than the war and glory of Napoleon. Further events - the birth of a child, the death of his wife - forced Prince Andrei to come to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself, for his family, is the only thing left for him. But Bolkonsky’s active nature, of course, could not limit itself to this. The search for the meaning of life begins again, and the first milestone on this path is a meeting with Pierre and a conversation with him on the ferry. Bezukhov’s words - “We must live, we must love, we must believe” - show Prince Andrei the path to happiness. A meeting with Natasha Rostova helps him feel the joy of life, the opportunity to benefit people. Now Prince Andrei is trying to find the meaning and purpose of life in love, but this happiness turned out to be short-lived.
Andrei came to understand the question of what real life is, gradually, more than once changing his worldview. The most significant milestone in Andrei's life were the events of 1812. The highest goal of his life became the defense of his homeland from the enemy. Dreams of personal glory no longer concern him. To live, helping and sympathizing with people - this is the new ideal that awakened in the soul of Prince Andrey during the days of severe trials for his homeland. It is in a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino that the unity of thoughts of Prince Andrei and the fighting people is felt. Expressing his attitude to events, he says that his thoughts are in tune with the people: “And Timokhin and the whole army think the same.” The life of Prince Andrei, his search for the meaning of life ends in unity with the people fighting for their native land.
At first, Pierre Bezukhov's life consisted of entertainment, going out into society, carousing, drunkenness, with the help of all this he was distracted from the problems that worried him and forgotten. Pierre Bezukhov was worried about the same problems as Prince Andrei. "Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death?" - Pierre was painfully searching for an answer to these questions. The image of Bezukhov was conceived by Tolstoy as the image of the future Decembrist. At first, Pierre defends the ideas of the French Revolution, admires Napoleon, wants either to “create a republic in Russia, or to be Napoleon himself...” Not finding the meaning of life, Pierre rushes about and makes mistakes, one of which is his marriage to the low and vicious beauty Helen Kuragina . His search for truth and the meaning of life leads him to the Freemasons. He passionately desires to “regenerate the vicious human race.”
Virtue awoke in Bezukhov and a desire to help others appeared. In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of “equality, brotherhood and love”, so, first of all, he decides to alleviate the lot of the serfs. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: “And only now, when I... try... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life.” This conclusion helps Pierre find the real path in his further quest. But disappointment soon sets in in Freemasonry, since Pierre’s republican ideas were not shared by his “brothers,” and besides, Pierre sees that among the Freemasons there is hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and careerism. All this leads Pierre to break with the Freemasons. Just like for Prince Andrei, the goal of life, the ideal for Pierre becomes love for Natasha Rostova, overshadowed by marriage with Helen. His life seemed calm and serene only from the outside.
Real life It must contain suffering along with happy moments. Only by suffering can we understand the true price of what we have and cherish it. This is what Tolstoy’s favorite heroes understood after going through doubts: moral issues did not cease to disturb Bezukhov. This continuous internal work prepared his spiritual revival during the days of the Patriotic War of 1812. Communication with the people on the Borodino field, and after the battle, and in Moscow occupied by the enemy, and in captivity, was of great importance for Pierre. “To be a soldier, just a soldier!.. To enter this common life with the whole being, to be imbued with what makes them so,” - such a desire took possession of Pierre after the Battle of Borodino.
Prince Andrei died from wounds received in the war, went into another world and joined the divine. Pierre found happiness in the family circle and belonging to secret society. Through the images of Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov, Tolstoy shows that, no matter how different paths the best representatives of high society take in search of the meaning of life, they come to the same result: the meaning of life is in unity with their native people, in love for this people.
Having met and made friends with Platon Karataev in captivity, Bezukhov comes to the conviction: “Man was created for happiness.” But the people around Pierre are suffering, and in the epilogue Tolstoy shows Pierre thinking hard about how to defend goodness and truth, to save the people from serfdom and autocracy. Young Nikolenka Bolkonsky listens intently to his words, and we believe that he will continue the work of Andrei and Pierre.
L. N. Tolstoy is a writer of enormous
truth on a global scale, and the subject
his research has always been about people
human soul. For Tolstoy the man -
part of the universe. He is interested in what
the path the human soul travels in striving
to the high, ideal, in attempts to know
yourself. It is no coincidence that when reading Tolstoy
th we remember the term first introduced -
brought into literary use by N. G. Cher-
Nyshevsky, - “dialectics of the soul.” According to him
According to him, the writer is most interested in
the mental process itself, its forms, its
horses, dialectics of the soul...
How is this process shown in the immortal
the epic novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”?
The main problem posed in its
novel writer - the problem of human
happiness, the problem of searching for the meaning of life. His
favorite characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre
Bezukhov, Natasha and Nikolai Rostov, people
searching, tormented, suffering. For them
characterized by restlessness of the soul, desire
to be useful, needed, loved. Most
favorite and close hero to the writer - Pierre
Bezukhov. Like Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre
honest and highly educated. But if Andrey -
rationalist (his reason prevails over
feelings), then Bezukhov “nature directly
vein, capable of acutely feeling, easily
get excited." Pierre is characterized by deep
thoughts and doubts in search of the meaning of life
neither. Life path its complex and winding.
At first due to the recklessness of youth and
under the influence of the environment he
makes a lot of mistakes: he behaves recklessly
new life of a social reveler and a slacker,
allows Prince Kuragin to rob himself and
marry the frivolous beauty Helen.
Pierre shoots himself in a duel with Dolokhov,
breaks up with his wife, becomes disillusioned with life.
He hates everyone's admitted lies.
secular society, and he understands the need
the possibility of a different path.
At this critical moment Bezukhov
meets Freemason Bazdeev. This "sermon"
Nick"' Lorco sets before the gullible
graph of the network of religious and mystical society
society, which called for moral co-
improving people and uniting them in
beginnings brotherly love. Pierre understood Freemasonry
as a teaching about equality, brotherhood and love,
and this helps him direct his strength to
improving the lives of serfs. He was going to
free the peasants, establish hospitals,
shelters, schools.
The War of 1812 forces Pierre again
eager to get down to business, but his passionate
the call to help the Motherland causes general distrust
freedom of the Moscow nobility. He again
fails. However, embraced by the patriotic
with a magical feeling, Pierre, with his money, sleeps
mounts a thousand militia and remains in
Moscow to kill Napoleon. Or died-
nut, or stop the misfortunes of all Europe,
originating, according to Pierre, from one
Napoleon. This is how he arranges his strength in this moment.
ment author.
An important step on the path of Pierre's quest
is his visit to Borodino Field
during the famous battle. Here he is
realized that history is created by the most powerful
The greatest force in the world is the people. Kind of lively
and sweaty militia men, with loud voices
the thief and laughter of those working in the field,
acted on Pierre more powerfully than anything else
saw and heard. He is still talking about the solemn
the significance and significance of the present moment.”
Pierre's even closer rapprochement with pro-
real people happens after the meeting
with a soldier, a former peasant, Plato
Karataev, who, according to Tolstoy,
is part of the masses. From Kara-
Taeva Pierre is gaining peasant wisdom
ity, in communication with him “finds that calm-
vigor and self-satisfaction, to which he vainly
strived before."
The life path of Pierre Bezukhov is typical
chen for the best part of the noble youth
that time. It is from such people that
An iron cohort of Decembrists was formed.
They have many things in common with the author of the epic, who
was faithful to the oath he took in his youth:
“To live honestly, you have to rush, get confused,
struggle, make mistakes, start and quit again,
and start again and quit again, and forever
struggle and lose. And calmness - du-
wicked meanness."
Other gays are just as mentally restless.
swarms of Tolstoy's novel: Andrei Bolkonsky,
who achieves harmony with himself
only on the Borodino field, Natasha - when-
may she become a wife and mother, Nikolai -
having made a military career. The fates of heroes
novel Tolstoy confirmed his main
thought: “Man is everything... is a fluid thing-
society." In his work L. N. Tolstoy
managed to accomplish the main task - to catch
and show the moment of fluidity of life.
