War and peace analysis of chapters with quotes. War and Peace text analysis

PROBLEM OF GENRE. Tolstoy found it difficult to determine the genre of his main work. “This is not a novel, even less a poem, even less a historical chronicle,” he wrote in the article “A few words about the book “War and Peace”” (1868), adding that in general “in the new period of Russian literature there is not a single piece of fiction a prose work that goes a little beyond mediocrity, which would fit well into the form of a novel, poem or story.” The poem was meant, of course, to be prosaic, Gogolian, focused on ancient epics and at the same time on picaresque novel about modernity. The novel, as it developed in the West, was traditionally understood as a multi-event, with a developed plot, a narrative about what happened to one person or several people, who are given significantly more attention than others - not about their ordinary, regular life, but about more or a shorter incident with a beginning and an end, most often happy, consisting in the hero’s marriage to his beloved, less often unhappy, when the hero died. Even in the problematic Russian novel that preceded War and Peace, the hero’s “unique power” is observed and the endings are relatively traditional. In Tolstoy, like in Dostoevsky, “the unity of the central person is practically absent,” and the novel’s plot seems artificial to him: “... I just cannot and do not know how to put known boundaries on the persons I have invented - such as marriage or death, after which interest the narrative would be destroyed. I couldn’t help but imagine that the death of one person only aroused interest in other people, and marriage seemed mostly like the beginning, not the end of interest.”

“War and Peace” is, of course, not a historical chronicle, although Tolstoy pays great attention to history. It is calculated: “Episodes from history and discussions in which historical issues are developed occupy 186 chapters out of 333 chapters of the book,” while only 70 chapters are related to the line of Andrei Bolkonsky. There are especially many historical chapters in the third and fourth volumes. Thus, in the second part of the fourth volume, four out of nineteen chapters are related to Pierre Bezukhov, the rest are entirely military-historical. Philosophical, journalistic and historical discussions occupy four chapters at the beginning of the first part of the epilogue and the entire second part. However, reasoning is not a sign of a chronicle; a chronicle is, first of all, a presentation of events.

There are signs of a chronicle in “War and Peace”, but not so much historical as family. Characters are rarely represented in literature by entire families. Tolstoy talks about the families of the Bolkonskys, Bezukhovs, Rostovs, Kuragins, Drubetskys, and mentions the Dolokhov family (although outside the family this hero behaves as an individualist and an egoist). Three first families, loyal family spirit, they finally turn out to be related, which is very important, and the official relationship of Pierre, who through weakness of will married Helen, with the soulless Kuragins is liquidated by life itself. But “War and Peace” cannot be reduced to a family chronicle.

Meanwhile, Tolstoy compared his book with the Iliad, i.e. with the ancient epic. The essence of the ancient epic is “the primacy of the general over the individual.” He talks about the glorious past, about events that are not just significant, but important for large human communities and nations. An individual hero exists in him as an exponent (or antagonist) of common life.

Clear signs of the epic beginning in “War and Peace” are large volume and problem-thematic encyclopedicity. But, of course, Tolstoy’s worldview was very far from the people of the “age of heroes” and he considered the very concept of “hero” unacceptable for an artist. His characters are valuable individuals who by no means embody any extra-personal collective norms. In the 20th century “War and Peace” is often called an epic novel. This sometimes causes objections, statements that “the leading genre-forming principle of Tolstoy’s “book” should still be recognized as a “personal” thought, fundamentally not epic, but romantic,” especially “the first volumes of the work, devoted primarily to family life and personal destinies heroes, dominate not the epic, but the novel, albeit unconventional.” Of course, “War and Peace” does not literally use the principles of the ancient epic. And yet, along with the novelistic beginning, there is also the primordially opposite epic, only they do not complement each other, but turn out to be mutually permeable, creating a certain new quality, an unprecedented artistic synthesis. According to Tolstoy, a person’s individual self-affirmation is detrimental to his personality. Only in unity with others, with “common life,” can he develop and improve himself, and receive a truly worthy reward for his efforts and searches in this direction. V.A. Nedzvetsky rightly noted: “The world of the novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, for the first time in Russian prose, is built on the mutual movement and interest of individuals and people in each other.” In Tolstoy, the synthesis of the novel and epic principles is amazing. Therefore, there is still reason to call “War and Peace” a historical epic novel, bearing in mind that both components in this synthesis are radically updated and transformed.

The world of the archaic epic is closed in itself, absolute, self-sufficient, cut off from other eras, “rounded off”. Tolstoy’s personification of “everything Russian, good and round” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XIII) is Platon Karataev, a good soldier in the ranks and a typical peasant, an absolutely peaceful man in captivity. His life is harmonious in all situations. After Pierre Bezukhov, who himself was expecting death, saw the execution, “this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do it,” his faith in the improvement of the world, and in human, and into your soul and into God.” But, after talking with Plato, falling asleep next to him reassured, he “felt that the previously destroyed world was now with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations was erected in his soul” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XII). The orderliness of the world is characteristic of its epic state. But in this case, ordering occurs in one soul, which absorbs the world. This is completely out of the spirit of ancient epics.

Internally related to the epic picture of the world is the image-symbol of a water balloon that Pierre dreamed of. It has a stable solid shape and has no corners. “The idea of ​​a circle is akin to the peasant world-community with its social isolation, mutual responsibility, specific limitations (which is reflected through the influence of Karataev in limiting Pierre’s horizons to the immediate matter). At the same time, the circle is an aesthetic figure with which the idea of achieved perfection”(1, p. 245), writes one of the best researchers of “War and Peace” S.G. Bocharov. In Christian culture, the circle symbolizes the sky and at the same time the highly aspiring human spirit.

However, firstly, the ball Pierre dreams of is not only constant, but also characterized by the inescapable variability of the liquid (drops merging and separating again). The stable and the changeable appear in indissoluble unity. Secondly, the ball in “War and Peace” is a symbol not so much of the present as of an ideal, desired reality. Tolstoy's searching heroes never rest on the path that introduces them to eternal, permanent spiritual values. As S.G. Bocharov notes, in the epilogue, the conservative landowner and limited man Nikolai Rostov, and not Pierre, is close to the peasant world-community and to the land. Natasha is withdrawn into the family circle, but admires her husband, whose interests are much broader, while Pierre and 15-year-old Nikolenka Bolkonsky, the true son of his father, experience acute dissatisfaction, in their aspirations they are ready to go far beyond the boundaries of the surrounding, stable circle of life. Karataev “would not approve of Bezukhov’s new activity, but he would approve family life Pierre; Thus, in the end, the small world, the home circle, where the acquired good looks are preserved, are separated, and the big world, where again the circle opens into a line, a path, the “world of thought” and endless striving are resumed.” Pierre cannot become like Karataev, because Karataev’s world is self-sufficient and impersonal. “My name is Plato; Karataev’s nickname,” he introduces himself to Pierre, immediately including himself in the community, in this case a family one. For him, love for everyone excludes the high price of individuality. “Karataev had no attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him to, and especially... with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mongrel, he loved his comrades, the French, he loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, despite all his affectionate tenderness towards him... would not be upset for a minute at being separated from him. And Pierre began to experience the same feeling towards Karataev” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XIII). Then Pierre, like all the other prisoners, does not even try to support and save Plato, who fell ill on the way, leaves him, who will now be shot by the guards, acts as Plato himself would have acted. Karataev’s “roundness” is the momentary completeness and self-sufficiency of existence. For Pierre, with his spiritual search, in his natural environment such fullness of being is not enough.

In the epilogue, Pierre, arguing with the unreasoning, withdrawn Rostov, not only opposes Nikolai, but is also concerned about his fate, as well as the fate of Russia and humanity. “It seemed to him at that moment that he was called upon to give a new direction to the entire Russian society and the whole world,” writes Tolstoy, not without condemning “his self-righteous reasoning” (epilogue, part 1, chapter XVI). The “new direction” turns out to be inseparable from conservatism. While criticizing the government, Pierre wants to help it by creating secret society. “The society may not be secret if the government allows it. Not only is it not hostile to the government, but it is a society of true conservatives. A society of gentlemen in the full sense of the word. “We are only so that tomorrow Pugachev does not come to slaughter both my and your children,” Pierre says to Nikolai, “and so that Arakcheev does not send me to a military settlement, we are only for the end to join hands with each other, with one goal of the common good and general security” (epilogue, part 1, chapter XIV).

Their internal problems with the wife of Nikolai Rostov, who is much deeper than her husband. “The soul of Countess Marya always strived for the infinite, eternal and perfect and therefore could never be at peace” (epilogue, part 1, chapter XV). This is very Tolstoyan: eternal anxiety in the name of the absolute.

The world of the epic novel as a whole is stable and defined in its outlines, but is not closed or complete. War subjects this world to cruel trials, brings suffering and heavy losses (the best perish: Prince Andrei, who has just begun to live and loves everyone, Petya Rostov, who also loves everyone, although differently, Karataev), but trials also strengthen what is truly durable, and what is evil and the unnatural fails. “Until the twelfth year broke out,” writes S.G. Bocharov, - it could seem that intrigue, the play of interests, the Kuragin principle prevail over the deep necessity of life; but in the context of the twelfth year, the intrigue is doomed to failure, and this is shown in the most diverse facts, between which there is an internal connection - both in the fact that poor Sonya must lose and innocent tricks will not help her, and in the pitiful death of Helen, entangled in the intrigues, and in the inevitable defeat of Napoleon, his grandiose intrigue, his adventure, which he wants to impose on the world and turn into world law.” The end of the war is the restoration of the normal flow of life. Everything is being sorted out. Tolstoy's heroes pass the tests with honor, emerging from them purer and deeper than they were. Their sadness for the dead is peaceful and bright. Of course, such an understanding of life is akin to an epic one. But this is not a heroic epic in the original sense, but an idyllic one. Tolstoy accepts life as it is, despite his sharply critical attitude towards everything that separates people, makes them individualists, despite the fact that in the trials of the idyllic world there is a lot of drama and tragedy. The epilogue promises the heroes new trials, but the tone of the finale is light, because life in general is good and indestructible.

For Tolstoy there is no hierarchy of life events. Historical and personal life in his understanding are phenomena of the same order. Therefore, “everyone historical fact we need to explain it humanly...” Everything is connected to everything. The impressions of the Borodino battle leave in Pierre’s subconscious a feeling of precisely this universal connection. “The most difficult thing (Pierre continued to think or hear in his sleep) is to be able to unite in your soul the meaning of everything. Connect everything? - Pierre said to himself. - No, don't connect. You cannot connect thoughts, but connecting all these thoughts is what you need! Yes, we need to pair, we need to pair!” It turns out that at this time someone’s voice repeats several times that it is necessary, it’s time to harness (Vol. 3, Part 3, Chapter IX), i.e. keyword suggested to Pierre's subconscious by a similar word that his master says when waking up the master. Thus, in the epic novel, the global laws of existence and the subtlest movements of individual human psychology are “conjugated.”

MEANINGS OF THE WORD “PEACE”. Although in Tolstoy’s time the word “peace” was printed in the title of his book as “peace” and not “mir”, thereby meaning only the absence of war, in fact in the epic novel the meanings of this word, going back to one original one, are numerous and varied. This is the whole world (the universe), and humanity, and the national world, and the peasant community, and other forms of unification of people, and what is beyond the boundaries of this or that community - so, for Nikolai Rostov after losing 43 thousand to Dolokhov, “the whole world was divided into two uneven sections: one - our Pavlograd regiment, and the other - everything else.” Certainty is always important to him. She is in the regiment. He decided to “serve well and be a completely excellent comrade and officer, that is, a wonderful person, which seemed so difficult in the world, but so possible in the regiment” (vol. 2, part 2, chapter XV). At the beginning of the war of 1812, Natasha was deeply moved in church by the words “let us pray to the Lord in peace,” she understood this as the absence of hostility, as the unity of people of all classes. “World” can mean a way of life, a worldview, a type of perception, a state of consciousness. Princess Marya, forced to live and act independently on the eve of her father’s death, “was seized by another world of everyday, difficult and free activity, completely opposite to that moral world, in which it was previously contained and in which the best consolation was prayer” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter VIII). The wounded Prince Andrei “wanted to return to the former world of pure thought, but he could not, and delirium pulled him into its realm” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter XXXII). Princess Marya, in the words, tone, and gaze of her dying brother, “felt a terrible alienation from everything worldly for a living person” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XV). In the epilogue, Countess Marya is jealous of her husband for his economic activities, because she cannot “understand the joys and sorrows brought to him by this separate, alien world for her” (Part 1, Chapter VII). And then it says: “As in every real family, in the Lysogorsk house lived several completely different worlds, which, each maintaining its own peculiarity and making concessions to one another, merged into one harmonious whole. Every event that happened in the house was equally important - joyful or sad - for all these worlds; but each world had its own reasons, independent of others, to rejoice or be sad about some event” (Chapter XII). Thus, the range of meanings of the word “peace” in “War and Peace” is from the universe, space to the internal state of the individual hero. Tolstoy's macrocosm and microcosm are inseparable. Not only in the Lysogorsk house of Marya and Nikolai Rostov - throughout the book many and diverse worlds merge “into one harmonious whole” according to an unprecedented genre.

IDEA OF UNITY. The connection of everything with everything in “War and Peace” is not only stated and demonstrated in the most diverse forms. It is actively asserted as a moral and, in general, life ideal.

“Natasha and Nikolai, Pierre and Kutuzov, Platon Karataev and Princess Marya are sincerely disposed towards all people without exception and expect reciprocal goodwill from everyone,” writes V.E. Khalizev. For these characters, such a relationship is not even an ideal, but the norm. Prince Andrei, who is not devoid of stiffness and constantly reflective, is much more withdrawn and focused on his own. At first he thinks about his personal career and fame. But he understands fame as the love of many strangers for him. Later, Bolkonsky tries to participate in government reforms in the name of benefit for the same people unknown to him, for the whole country, now not for the sake of his career. One way or another, being together with others is extremely important for him, he thinks about this at the moment of spiritual enlightenment after visiting the Rostovs in Otradnoye, after accidentally overhearing Natasha’s enthusiastic words about a wonderful night, addressed to someone much colder and indifferent than her , Sonya (there is almost a pun here: Sonya sleeps and wants to sleep), and two “meetings” with an old oak tree, at first resistant to spring and the sun, and then transformed under fresh foliage. Not so long ago, Andrei told Pierre that he was only trying to avoid illness and remorse, i.e. directly affecting only him personally. This was the result of disappointment in life after, in return for the expected glory, he had to experience injury and captivity, and his return home coincided with the death of his wife (he loved her little, but that is why he is familiar with remorse). “No, life is not over at thirty-one,” Prince Andrei suddenly decided, finally and without fail. - Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary for everyone to know it: both Pierre and this girl who wanted to fly into the sky, it is necessary for everyone to know me, so that my life is not just for me. life, so that they don’t live like this girl, regardless of my life, so that it affects everyone and so that they all live with me!” (vol. 2, part 3, chapter III). In the foreground in this internal monologue is me, mine, but the main, summing up word is “together”.

Among the forms of unity of people, Tolstoy especially singles out two - family and national. Most of the Rostovs are, to a certain extent, a single collective image. Sonya ultimately turns out to be an alien to this family, not because she is only the niece of Count Ilya Andreich. She is loved in the family as the dearest person. But both her love for Nikolai and her sacrifice - the renunciation of her claims to marry him - are more or less forced, constructed in a mind that is limited and far from poetic simplicity. And for Vera, marriage with the calculating Berg, who is nothing like the Rostovs, becomes quite natural. In essence, the Kuragins are an imaginary family, although Prince Vasily takes care of his children, arranges a career or marriage for them in accordance with secular ideas of success, and they are in solidarity with each other in their own way: the story of the attempted seduction and abduction of Natasha Rostova by the already married Anatole is not dispensed with Helen's participation. “Oh, vile, heartless breed!” - Pierre exclaims at the sight of Anatole’s “timid and vile smile”, whom he asked to leave, offering money for the journey (vol. 2, part 5, chapter XX). The Kuragin “breed” is not at all the same as a family, Pierre knows this too well. Platon Karataev, who is married to Helen Pierre, first of all asks about his parents - the fact that Pierre does not have a mother especially upsets him - and upon hearing that he does not have “children”, again upset, he resorts to purely folk consolation: “Well, There will be young people, God willing. If only I could live in the council...” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XII). There is absolutely no “advice” at all. In Tolstoy's artistic world, such complete egoists as Helen with her debauchery or Anatole cannot and should not have children. And after Andrei Bolkonsky, a son remains, although his young wife died in childbirth and the hope for a second marriage turned into a personal disaster. The plot of “War and Peace”, which opens directly to life, ends with the dreams of young Nikolenka about the future, the dignity of which is measured by the high criteria of the past - the authority of his father who died from a wound: “Yes, I will do something with which even he would be pleased...” (epilogue, Part 1, Chapter XVI).

The exposure of the main anti-hero of “War and Peace,” Napoleon, is also carried out with the help of “family” themes. Before the Battle of Borodino, he receives a gift from the Empress - an allegorical portrait of a son playing in a bilbok (“The ball represented the globe, and the stick in the other hand represented a scepter”), “a boy born of Napoleon and the daughter of the Austrian emperor, whom for some reason everyone called the king Rome." For the sake of “history,” Napoleon, “with his greatness,” “showed, in contrast to this greatness, the simplest fatherly tenderness,” and Tolstoy sees in this only a feigned “kind of thoughtful tenderness” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXVI ).

“Family” relationships for Tolstoy are not necessarily family relationships. Natasha, dancing to the guitar of a poor landowner, “uncle,” who plays “On the pavement street...”, is spiritually close to him, as well as to everyone present, regardless of the degree of relationship. She, the countess, “raised by a French emigrant” “in silk and velvet,” “knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya’s father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person” (t 2, part 4, chapter VII). The previous hunting scene, during which Ilya Andreich Rostov, who missed the wolf, endured the emotional abuse of the hunter Danila, is also proof that the “family” atmosphere for the Rostovs sometimes overcomes very high social barriers. According to the law of “conjugation,” this branched scene turns out to be artistic preview images of the Patriotic War. “Isn’t the image of the “club of the people’s war” close to Danilin’s entire appearance? On a hunt, where he was the main figure, its success depended on him, the peasant hunter only for a moment became master over his master, who was useless in the hunt,” notes S.G. Bocharov, further using the example of the image of the Moscow commander-in-chief Count Rastopchin, revealing the weakness and uselessness of the actions of the “historical” character.

At the Raevsky battery, where Pierre ends up during the Battle of Borodino, before the start of hostilities, “one felt the same and common to everyone, like a family revival” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXXI). The soldiers immediately dubbed the stranger “our master,” just as the soldiers of Andrei Bolkonsky’s regiment dubbed their commander “our prince.” “There is a similar atmosphere at the Tushin battery during the Battle of Shengraben, as well as in the partisan detachment when Petya Rostov arrives there,” points out V.E. Khalizev. - In this regard, let us remember Natasha Rostova, who was helping the wounded in the days of leaving Moscow: she “liked these relationships with new people, outside the usual conditions of life”... the similarity between the family and similar “swarm” communities is also important: both the unity is non-hierarchical and free... The readiness of the Russian people, primarily peasants and soldiers, for a non-coercive free unity is most similar to “Rostov” nepotism.”

Tolstoy's unity does not at all mean the dissolution of individuality into the mass. The forms of unity of people approved by the writer are the opposite of a disordered and depersonalized, inhumane crowd. The crowd is shown in scenes of soldier panic, when the defeat of the allied army in the Battle of Austerlitz became obvious, the arrival of Alexander I in Moscow after the outbreak of World War II (the episode with biscuits that the tsar throws from the balcony to his subjects, literally seized with wild delight), the abandonment of Moscow by Russian troops, when Rastop-chin gives it to the residents to be torn to pieces by Vereshchagin, supposedly the culprit of what happened, etc. A crowd is chaos, most often destructive, but the unity of people is deeply beneficial. “During the Battle of Shengraben (Tushin’s battery) and the Battle of Borodino (Raevsky’s battery), as well as in the partisan detachments of Denisov and Dolokhov, everyone knew their “business, place and purpose.” The true order of a just, defensive war, according to Tolstoy, inevitably arises anew each time from unpremeditated and unplanned human actions: the will of the people in 1812 was realized independently of any military-state demands and sanctions.” In the same way, immediately after the death of the old prince Bolkonsky princess Marya did not need to make any orders: “God knows who took care of this and when, but everything happened as if by itself” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter VIII).

The popular character of the war of 1812 was clear to the soldiers. From one of them, on the way out of Mozhaisk towards Borodin, Pierre hears a tongue-tied speech: “They want to attack all the people, one word - Moscow. They want to do one end.” The author comments: “Despite the vagueness of the soldier’s words, Pierre understood everything he wanted to say...” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XX). After the battle, shocked, this purely non-military man, belonging to the secular elite, seriously thinks about the completely impossible. “To be a soldier, just a soldier! - thought Pierre, falling asleep. “Enter this common life with your whole being, penetrate into what makes them so” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter IX). Count Bezukhov, of course, will not become a soldier, but he will be captured along with the soldiers and experience all the horrors and hardships that befell them. What led to this, however, was the idea to accomplish an absolutely individual romantic feat - to stab Napoleon with a dagger, whose supporter Pierre declared himself at the beginning of the novel, when for Andrei Bolkonsky the newly-minted French emperor was an idol and a model. Dressed as a coachman and wearing glasses, Count Bezukhov wanders through French-occupied Moscow in search of a conqueror, but instead of carrying out his impossible plan, he saves a little girl from a burning house and attacks the marauders who were robbing the Armenian woman with his fists. Arrested, he passes off the rescued girl as his daughter, “not knowing how this aimless lie escaped him” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter XXXIV). Childless Pierre feels like a father, a member of some kind of super-family.

The people are the army, and the partisans, and the Smolensk merchant Ferapontov, who is ready to set fire to his own house so that the French do not get it, and the men who did not want to bring hay to the French for good money, but burned it, and Muscovites leaving their homes, hometown simply because they do not imagine themselves under the rule of the French, these are Pierre, and the Rostovs, abandoning their property and giving up carts for the wounded at Natasha’s request, and Kutuzov with his “people's feeling.” Although, as calculated, episodes involving common people, “only eight percent of the book is devoted to the topic of the people” (Tolstoy admitted that he described mainly the environment that he knew well), “these percentages will increase sharply if we consider that, from Tolstoy’s point of view, the people’s soul and spirit are no less than Plato Karataev or Tikhon Shcherbaty is expressed by Vasily Denisov, Field Marshal Kutuzov, and finally - and most importantly - by himself, the author.” At the same time, the author does not idealize ordinary people. The rebellion of Bogucharov’s men against Princess Marya before the arrival of the French troops is also shown (however, these are men who were especially restless before, and Rostov, with the young Ilyin and the savvy Lavrushka, managed to pacify them very easily). After the French left Moscow, the Cossacks, men from neighboring villages and returning residents, “finding it plundered, began to rob it too. They continued what the French were doing” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XIV). Formed by Pierre and Mamonov (a characteristic combination of a fictional character and a historical figure), militia regiments plundered Russian villages (vol. 4, part 1, chapter IV). Scout Tikhon Shcherbaty is not only “the most useful and brave man in the party,” i.e. in Denisov’s partisan detachment, but also capable of killing a captured Frenchman because he was “completely incompetent” and “rude.” When he said this, “his whole face stretched out into a shining, stupid smile,” the next murder he committed means nothing to him (that’s why it’s “embarrassing” for Petya Rostov to listen to him), he is ready, when it “goes dark,” to bring up “whatever ones you want.” , at least three” (vol. 4, part 3, chapter V, VI). Nevertheless, the people as a whole, the people as a huge family - moral guideline for Tolstoy and his favorite heroes.

The most extensive form of unity in the epic novel is humanity, people, regardless of nationality and membership in a particular community, including armies at war with each other. Even during the war of 1805, Russian and French soldiers tried to talk to each other and showed mutual interest.

In the “German” village, where the cadet Rostov stopped with his regiment, a German he met near the cowshed exclaims after his toast to the Austrians, Russians and Emperor Alexander: “And long live the whole world!” Nikolay, also in German, a little differently, picks up this exclamation. “Although there was no reason for special joy either for the German, who was cleaning out his barn, or for Rostov, who was riding with a platoon for hay, both these people looked at each other with happy delight and brotherly love, shook their heads as a sign mutual love and, smiling, they parted...” (vol. 1, part 2, chapter IV). Natural cheerfulness makes strangers, people far from each other in every sense, “brothers.” In burning Moscow, when Pierre saves a girl, he is helped by a Frenchman with a spot on his cheek, who says: “Well, it’s necessary according to humanity. All people” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter XXXIII). This is Tolstoy's translation of French words. In a literal translation, these words (“Faut etre humain. Nous sommes tous mortels, voyez-vous”) would be much less significant for the author’s idea: “You must be humane. We are all mortal, you see.” The arrested Pierre and the cruel Marshal Davout, who was interrogating him, “looked at each other for several seconds, and this look saved Pierre. In this view, apart from all the conditions of war and trial, a human relationship was established between these two people. Both of them at that moment vaguely experienced countless things and realized that they were both children of humanity, that they were brothers” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter X).

Russian soldiers willingly seat Captain Rambal and his orderly Morel, who came out to them from the forest, by their fire, feed them, and try to sing a song together with Morel, who “sat in the best place” (Vol. 4, Part 4, Chapter IX). about Henri the Fourth. The French boy drummer Vincent was loved not only by Petya Rostov, who was close to him in age; good-natured partisans thinking about spring “have already changed his name: the Cossacks - into Vesenny, and the men and soldiers - into Visenya” (vol. 4, part 3, chapter VII). Kutuzov, after the battle near Krasnoye, tells the soldiers about the ragged prisoners: “While they were strong, we did not feel sorry for ourselves, but now we can feel sorry for them. They are people too. Right, guys?” (Vol. 4, Part 3, Chapter VI). This violation of external logic is indicative: before they did not feel sorry for themselves, but now they can feel sorry for them. However, having met the bewildered glances of the soldiers, Kutuzov corrects himself, says that the uninvited French got it “rightly served,” and ends his speech with “an old man’s, good-natured curse,” met with laughter. Pity for defeated enemies, when there are many of them, in “War and Peace” is still far from “non-resistance to evil through violence” in the form in which the late Tolstoy would preach it; this pity is condescending and contemptuous. But the French themselves, fleeing Russia, “all... felt that they were pitiful and disgusting people who had done a lot of evil, for which they now had to pay” (vol. 4, part 3, chapter XVI).

On the other hand, Tolstoy has a completely negative attitude towards the state-bureaucratic elite of Russia, people of society and career. And if Pierre, who experienced the hardships of captivity and experienced a spiritual revolution, “Prince Vasily, now especially proud of receiving a new place and star, seemed... a touching, kind and pitiful old man” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XIX), then we are talking about a father who has lost two children and, out of habit, rejoices at his success in the service. This is about the same condescending pity that soldiers have for the masses of the French. People who are incapable of unity with their own kind, who are deprived of even the ability to strive for true happiness, take tinsel for life.

NATURALITY AS A NORM AND ITS DISTORTIONS. The existence of the characters condemned by Tolstoy is artificial. The same is their behavior, usually subordinate to ritual or conventional order. Everything is predetermined and marked out in Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s St. Petersburg salon (state-owned St. Petersburg and more patriarchal Moscow are contrasted in “War and Peace”), each visitor, for example, must first of all greet the old aunt, so as not to pay attention to her even once. It's like a parody of family relationships. This style of life is especially unnatural during the Patriotic War, when people of the world play at patriotism, charging fines for using the French language by inertia. In this case, it is very significant that this happens in Moscow when the enemy is approaching it, before the Battle of Borodino, when Julie Drubetskaya, getting ready to leave the city, “had a farewell party” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XVII).

“Historical” figures, for example numerous generals, speak pathetically and take solemn poses. Emperor Alexander, upon hearing the news of the surrender of Moscow, utters the French phrase: “Have they really betrayed my ancient capital without a battle?” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter III). Napoleon constantly poses. When he waits for the delegation of the “boyars” on Poklonnaya Hill, his majestic pose becomes absurd and comical. All this is infinitely far from the behavior of Tolstoy’s favorite heroes, from the behavior of not only Russian soldiers and men, but also soldiers of the Napoleonic army, when they are not subjugated by a false idea. And submission to such an idea can be not just absurd, but tragically absurd. While crossing the Viliya River, in front of Napoleon's eyes, the Polish colonel lets his subordinate lancers swim so that they demonstrate their devotion to the emperor. “They tried to swim forward to the other side and, despite the fact that there was a crossing half a mile away, they were proud that they were swimming and drowning in this river under the gaze of a man sitting on a log and not even looking at what they were doing” ( vol. 3, part 1, chapter II). Earlier, at the end of the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon drives around a field strewn with corpses and, seeing the wounded Bolkonsky, next to whom lies the pole of an already torn banner, says: “This is a beautiful death.” There cannot be a beautiful death for the bleeding Prince Andrei. “He knew that it was Napoleon - his hero, but at that moment Napoleon seemed so small to him, an insignificant person in comparison with what was happening now between his soul and this high, endless sky with clouds running across it” (vol. 1, part 3, chapter XIX). On the verge of life and death, Bolkonsky discovered naturalness in its purest form, the beauty and limitlessness of existence as such, which for him symbolizes as if seeing the sky for the first time. The writer does not condemn Bolkonsky’s beautiful, heroic act, he only shows the futility of individual feat. He does not later condemn 15-year-old Nikolenka, who sees himself and Uncle Pierre in a dream “in helmets - the kind that were drawn in Plutarch’s publication... in front of a huge army” (epilogue, part I, chapter XVI). Enthusiasm is not contraindicated in youth. But those who try to present themselves as something like Roman heroes (for example, Rostopchin), especially during a people’s war, far from the rules and official military aesthetics, Tolstoy more than once subjects to harsh and uncompromising criticism. Tolstoy's ethics is universal and therefore ahistorical. For real participants in the War of 1812, a heroic pose and imitation of the ancients were natural; they in no way excluded sincerity and genuine enthusiasm and, of course, did not determine their entire behavior.

Unnatural people in War and Peace also do not always consciously design their behavior. “False naturalness, “sincere lies” (as it is said in “War and Peace” about Napoleon), was hated by Tolstoy, perhaps even more to a greater extent, than conscious pretense... Napoleon and Speransky, Kuragin and Drubetskaya master such a cunning “methodology” of posturing that it amusingly deceives them.” Indicative is the scene of the unction of the dying old Count Bezukhov with a panorama of the faces of the contenders for his inheritance (three princesses, Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, Prince Vasily), among whom the confused, understanding and clumsy Pierre stands out. It is quite natural that Anna Mikhailovna and Princess Katish, snatching each other’s briefcase with a will in the presence of Prince Vasily with “jumping cheeks” (vol. 1, part 1, chapter XXI), already forget about all decency. So then Helen, after Pierre’s duel with Dolokhov, shows her anger and cynicism.

Even revelry - reverse side secular decency - for Anatoly Kuragin and Dolokhov, to a large extent, a game, a pose. “The restless fool” Anatole realizes his ideas of what a guards officer should be like. The gentle son and brother, the poor nobleman Dolokhov, in order to lead among the rich guards officers, becomes a particularly dashing reveler, gambler and briber. He undertakes to arrange the kidnapping of Natasha Rostova for Anatoly; he is not stopped by the story of his demotion for rioting, when Anatoly was rescued by his father, but there was no one to rescue Dolokhov. Dolokhov’s very heroism - both during a spree, when he drinks a bottle of rum on a bet in spirit, sitting on the sloping outer window sill of a tall house, and in war, when he goes on reconnaissance under the guise of a Frenchman, taking young Petya Rostov with him and risking his life like that as well as his own - demonstrative heroism, invented and entirely aimed at self-affirmation. He will not fail to remind the general of his differences during the Battle of Austerlitz, who has no time for him, since the defeat of the Russian army is inevitable. The riotous Dolokhov curries favor in the same way as the cold careerist Berg, although he is much less concerned about his career success and is ready to risk it for the sake of self-affirmation. The army environment has its own conventions, which would seem to be quite unartificial. Young Nikolai Rostov, having exposed the thief Telyanin, himself turned out to be guilty of tarnishing the honor of the regiment by not keeping silent. In his first battle, Nikolai ran away from the Frenchman, throwing a pistol at him (and received the soldier’s St. George Cross for bravery), then lost 43 thousand to Dolokhov, knowing that the family was going bankrupt, and at the estate he shouted at the manager to no avail. Over time, he becomes both a good officer and a good owner of his wife’s estate. This is normal evolution, the natural maturation of a person. Nikolai is shallow, but honest and natural, like almost all Rostovs.

Count Ilya Andreich and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova are the same in their treatment of everyone, important and unimportant, which makes them sharply different from Anna Pavlovna Sherer. Always natural, except perhaps under the stern gaze of a commanding officer, is the small, completely unmilitary-looking staff captain Tushin, first shown by Tolstoy in the sutler’s tent without boots, unsuccessfully justifying himself to the staff officer: “The soldiers say: when you are smarter, you are smarter” (vol. 1, part. 2, chapter XV). But Kutuzov, who falls asleep during the military council before the Battle of Austerlitz, and his closest assistant during the War of 1812, Konovnitsyn, singled out by the author from among other generals, are also natural. The brave Bagration, appearing at a gala dinner held in his honor at the Moscow English Club after the 1805 campaign, was embarrassed and awkward to the point of ridiculousness. “He walked, not knowing where to put his hands, shyly and awkwardly, along the parquet floor of the reception room: it was more familiar and easier for him to walk under bullets across a plowed field, as he walked in front of the Kursk regiment in Shengraben” (vol. 2, part 1, chapter III). So counts and generals can behave as naturally as soldiers, embarrassed by everything artificial and pompous. A person’s behavior depends on the person himself, on what his character is. At the same time, the simplest things in life, like Natasha’s dance in her “uncle’s” house, like the whole family atmosphere at the Rostovs, are enveloped in true poetry. “In “War and Peace”... everyday life with its stable way of life is poeticized,” notes V.E. Khalizev.

Rationalistic intervention in this way of life, attempts to improve it in a strong-willed manner turn out to be fruitless and, in any case, ineffective, like Pierre’s philanthropic measures. Masonic education, writes S.G. Bocharov, “endows Pierre with the idea of ​​a well-ordered world order, which he did not see when he was confused “in the world”.” A well-known parallel to Pierre’s charitable activities is the theoretical development of military and government reforms by Prince Andrei, when nothing repelled him in Speransky (and Pierre generally calls Bazdeev, who introduced him to Freemasonry, a “benefactor”). Both friends are disappointed in their plans and hopes. Bolkonsky, amazed new meeting with Natasha Rostova at the ball, for a long time he cannot forget Speransky’s “neat, sad laughter.” “He remembered his legislative work, how he anxiously translated articles from the Roman and French codes into Russian, and he felt ashamed of himself. Then he vividly imagined Bogucharovo, his activities in the village, his trip to Ryazan, he remembered the peasants, Drona the headman, and, adding to them the rights of persons, which he divided into paragraphs, it became surprising to him how he could engage in such an idle activity for so long. work” (vol. 2, part 3, chapter XVIII). Pierre in captivity “learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs, and that all unhappiness comes not from lack, but from excess...” ( vol. 4, part 3, chapter XII). After his release, in Oryol, “alone in a strange city, without acquaintances,” he rejoices in the satisfaction of the most simple, natural needs. “Oh, how good! How nice!” - he said to himself when they brought him a cleanly set table with fragrant broth, or when he lay down at night on a soft, clean bed, or when he remembered that his wife and the French were no more” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XII ). He is not embarrassed by the fact that Helen’s death is also “glorious,” and he puts his liberation from a painful marriage on a par with the liberation of his homeland from the conquerors. “He... didn’t make any plans now” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XIX), abandoning for the time being to the spontaneous flow of life, uncontrolled by anyone or anything.

The norm (natural behavior) allows for some deviations. “The freely open behavior of heroes and heroines close to Tolstoy often exceeds the boundaries of what is generally accepted and established... In the Rostov house, it is difficult for young people to keep animation and fun within the boundaries of decency; Natasha violates household etiquette more often than others.” This is a minor problem. However, momentary egoism can also be natural, which Tolstoy’s most beloved heroes are not alien to. The healthy flees from the sick, happiness from misfortune, the living from the dead and the dying, although not always. Natasha, with her subtle instinct, guesses about the state of her brother Nikolai when he returns home after a terrible card loss, “but she herself was so happy at that moment, she was so far from grief, sadness, reproaches that she (as often happens with young people) people) deliberately deceived herself” (vol. 2, part 1, chapter XV). At the stage, the captive Pierre was not only exhausted and unable to help the weakened Karataev - he was “too afraid for himself. He acted as if he had not seen his gaze, and hastily walked away” (vol. 4, part 3, chapter XIV). Natasha's naturalness is subjected to a cruel test when, by the will of the old Prince Bolkonsky, her wedding with Prince Andrei is postponed for a year and the groom must go abroad. “ - A whole year! - Natasha suddenly said, now only realizing that the wedding had been postponed for a year. - Why is it a year? Why is it a year?.. - This is terrible! No, this is terrible, terrible! - Natasha suddenly spoke and began to sob again. “I’ll die waiting a year: this is impossible, this is terrible” (vol. 2, part 3, chapter XXIII). Loving Natasha does not understand any conditions, and even the conventions of art are unbearable for her. After the village (with hunting, Christmastide, etc.) in her “serious mood”, “it was wild and surprising for her” to see the opera stage, “she saw only painted cardboards and strangely dressed men and women, in the bright light, moving and speaking strangely and singing; she knew what all this was supposed to represent, but it was all so pretentiously false and unnatural that she felt either ashamed of the actors or funny at them” (vol. 2, part 5, chapter IX). Here she begins to experience the physiological, i.e. physically natural, attraction to the handsome Anatole, introduced to her by his sister Helen. “They talked about the simplest things, and she felt that they were close, like she had never been with a man” (vol. 2, part 5, chapter X). Soon Natasha, in bewilderment, admits to herself that she loves two people at once - both the distant groom and, as it seems to her, so close Anatole, then agrees to run away with Anatole. This darkness, by the will of Tolstoy, befalls his most beloved heroine. She must cruelly repent, go through a terrible time for her (at this time there is also an unconscious beginning of her future love for Pierre, who helps resolve the situation and confesses his love for her to Natasha) and get out of her crisis in the days of the most difficult trials for her. country and family, when she demands to release the carts for the wounded, meets the dying Prince Andrei, becomes convinced of his love and forgiveness, endures his death and, finally, helps her mother endure a huge shock - the death of the teenager Petya. Natural self-will with such grave consequences for Natasha, Prince Andrei, Pierre, and others is one of those forms of naturalness that, of course, is not accepted by the author as an apologist for “common life,” human unity. Prince Andrei forgives Natasha before his death, but after his mortal wound, he no longer feels hostility towards Anatole, whose leg is being amputated next to him. And his father, nicknamed the “King of Prussia,” who raised Princess Mary so strictly, touchingly and tearfully asks her for forgiveness before his death. In the images of father and son Bolkonsky, aristocrat L.N. Tolstoy overcame his own severity and stiffness: his son Ilya recalled that during the period of “War and Peace” he was not like Pierre Bezukhov or Konstantin Levin from “Anna Karenina”, but like Prince Andrei and even more like the old man Bolkonsky.

Prince Andrei cannot, until he has renounced everything “worldly,” overcome his pride and aristocracy. Pierre, reminding him of his own words that a fallen woman must be forgiven, he replies: “... but I didn’t say that I can forgive. I can't". He is unable to follow “in the footsteps of this gentleman” (vol. 2, part 5, chapter XXI).

Denisov, getting to know him, is recommended: “Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known under the name Vaska” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XV). Colonel Bolkonsky under no circumstances is Andryushka. Having decided to serve only in the ranks of the active army (which is why “he lost himself forever in the court world, without asking to remain with the sovereign” - vol. 3, part 1, chapter XI), beloved by the soldiers of his regiment, he still could never would like to take a dip in the pond where they swam in the heat, and, dousing himself in the barn, shudders “from an incomprehensible disgust and horror at the sight of this huge number of bodies rinsing in the dirty pond” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter V ). He dies because he cannot allow himself, in front of the soldiers standing under fire, to fall to the ground in front of a spinning grenade, as the adjutant did - this is “shameful” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXXVI). According to Natasha, told to Princess Marya, “he is too good, he cannot, cannot live...” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter XIV). But Count Pyotr Kirillovich Bezukhov can run in horror and fall on the Borodino field, after the battle, hungry, posing as a “militia officer,” sit down next to a soldier’s fire and eat a “mush”: the soldier “handed Pierre, licking it, a wooden spoon,” and he eats a simple dish in large sips, “which seemed to him the most delicious of all the dishes that he had ever eaten” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter VIII). Then His Excellency, together with the captured soldiers, splashes barefoot through the frozen puddles under escort. So, according to Tolstoy, he can live and eventually marry his beloved Natasha.

Of course, Andrei and Pierre have a lot in common in their spiritual quests. But in the artistic system of the epic novel, which poetizes the flow of life, their fates turn out to be opposite. Bolkonsky, along with Lermontov's Pechorin, is one of the most talented characters in Russian literature and, just like him, is unhappy. An unsuccessful marriage and disappointment in social life prompt him to look for “his Toulon” in imitation of Napoleon. This leads to another disappointment, and he arrives home at the time of childbirth and the death of his wife. Having awakened over time to a new life, he tries to realize himself in serving the state and is again disappointed. Love for Natasha gives him hope for personal happiness, but he turns out to be terribly deceived and insulted: they chose an immoral nonentity, like a beautiful animal, over him. His father dies during the war, and the estate is occupied by the French. He receives a fatal wound behind Russian lines from a stray grenade and dies at 34, knowing that, having reconciled with Natasha, he will never be with her.

Pierre, the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, awkward, ugly, much less gifted than Prince Andrei, inherited the title and all of his father’s enormous fortune. In fact, he was not punished for the brawl. He married even more unsuccessfully than his older friend, but he happily separated from his wife after a duel with a bully, whom, holding a pistol in his hands for the first time, he accidentally shot and who missed in response, aiming at a fat enemy who was not covering himself with a pistol. He also experienced a number of disappointments; at first, unrequitedly, while still married, he fell in love with the “fallen” Natasha. During the Battle of Borodino he was in the thick of it and survived. He did not die in Moscow, captured by the French, although he got involved in a fight with them, armed. He could have been shot like others, but because of a casual glance, the cruel marshal took pity on him. He did not die at the stage, like the seemingly well-adapted peasant soldier Karataev. After captivity he fell ill. “Despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him and gave him medicine to drink, he still recovered” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XII). Sudden death Helen and the death of Andrei Bolkonsky made possible Pierre's marriage to Natasha, who, having experienced a lot, recognized a kindred spirit in him and fell in love with him despite the fact that the pain of her losses was still fresh. Ultimately, life itself arranged everything for the better for them, no matter how difficult the path they traveled was.

IMAGE OF WAR. For Tolstoy, war is “an event contrary to human reason and all human nature” (vol. 3, part 1, chapter I). Contemporaries disputed this opinion of the writer, citing the fact that humanity in its history was much more at war than it was at peace. But Tolstoy’s words mean that humanity, in fact, is not yet humane enough if strangers, often good-natured, who have nothing against each other, are forced by some irrational force to kill each other. In Tolstoy's descriptions of battles, as a rule, confusion reigns on the battlefield, people are not aware of their actions, and the orders of the commanders are not carried out, since they are delivered to the place when the situation there has already changed. The writer, especially persistently - in the last two volumes of the epic novel, denies the art of war, mocks military terms like “cut off the army” and even rejects the usual designations of military actions and accessories: not “fight”, but “kill people”, not banners, and sticks with pieces of material, etc. (in the first volume, where the discussion was not yet about the Patriotic War, in these cases ordinary, neutral vocabulary was used). The officer, regiment commander Andrei Bolkonsky, before the Battle of Borodino, quite in the spirit of the late Tolstoy, angrily says to Pierre: “War is not a courtesy, but the most disgusting thing in life... The purpose of war is murder, the weapons of war are espionage, treason and its encouragement, the ruin of the inhabitants , robbing them or stealing them to feed the army; deception and lies, called stratagems; the morals of the military class are lack of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, drunkenness. And despite this, this is the highest class, respected by everyone. All kings, except the Chinese, wear a military uniform, and the one who killed the most people is given a large reward... They will come together, like tomorrow, to kill each other, kill, maim tens of thousands of people, and then they will serve thanksgiving prayers for what that they beat many people (whose number is still being added), and they proclaim victory, believing that the more people are beaten, the greater the merit” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXV).

Those who are not directly involved in murder also make careers in war. People like Berg receive ranks and awards thanks to the ability to “present” their imaginary exploits. Among the officers and generals of the 1st Army and the courtiers attached to it, at the beginning of the war of 1812, Prince Andrei distinguishes nine different parties and directions. Of these, “the largest group of people, which in its sheer numbers related to others as 99 to 1, consisted of people... wanting only one thing, and the most essential: the greatest benefits and pleasures for themselves” (vol. 3, Part 1, Chapter IX). Tolstoy is critical of most famous generals, and even officers of lesser rank known from history, he deprives them of their recognized merits. Thus, the most successful actions during the Battle of Shengraben (1805) are attributed to fictional characters, the modest officers Tushin and Timokhin. The first of them, not rewarded with anything, saved from the boss’s scolding by Andrei Bolkonsky, we later see without an arm in a stinking hospital, the second, Izmail’s comrade Kutuzov (Izmail was captured in 1790), in 1812 only “due to the loss of officers” ( vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXIV) received the battalion. With a plan guerrilla warfare It is not Denis Davydov who comes to Kutuzov, but Vasily Denisov, who only partially resembles his prototype.

Tolstoy's positive heroes cannot get used to professional murder. In the case near Ostrovnaya, Nikolai Rostov, already an experienced squadron commander, and not an unfired cadet as he was at Shengraben, during his successful attack does not even kill, but only wounds and takes prisoner a Frenchman and after that, in confusion, wonders why he presented to the St. George Cross. In “War and Peace” in general, in contrast to ancient epics, the author avoids showing the direct murder of man by man. This was reflected in the personal experience of Tolstoy the officer, who was an artilleryman in besieged Sevastopol, and not an infantryman or cavalryman, and did not see his victims close (in detailed descriptions of the Shengraben, Austerlitz, Borodino battles, artillery is given Special attention), but the main thing is that he clearly hated showing people killing. In a huge work with many war scenes, the title of which begins with the word “War,” there are only two more or less detailed descriptions of face-to-face killings. This is the murder of Vereshchagin by a crowd on a Moscow street at the behest of Rastopchin and the execution, also in Moscow, of five people by the French, who are frightened and carry out the sentence without wanting to. In both cases, non-military people die and not on the battlefield. Tolstoy was able to show the war as such in all its inhumanity, without depicting any of the characters as killing their own kind: neither Andrei Bolkonsky (who is still a true hero), nor Nikolai Rostov, nor Timokhin, nor the dashing hussar Denisov, nor even the cruel Dolokhov. They talk about the murder of a Frenchman by Tikhon Shcherbaty, but it is not directly presented, we do not see exactly how it happened.

Tolstoy also avoids showing in detail mutilated corpses, streams of blood, terrible wounds, etc. In this regard, figurativeness gives way to expressiveness; the unnaturalness and inhumanity of war is affirmed through the impression it can make. About the end of the Battle of Borodino, for example, it is said: “The clouds gathered, and rain began to fall on the dead, on the wounded, on the frightened, and on the exhausted, and on the doubting people. It was as if he was saying: “Enough, enough, people. Stop it... Come to your senses. What are you doing?’” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter XXXIX).

CONCEPT OF HISTORY. Tolstoy’s work is polemical in relation to official historiography, which glorified the exploits of heroes and ignored decisive role people in events such as the Patriotic War of 1812. Its elderly participants and contemporaries found the era dear to them incorrectly depicted, devoid of an aura of majesty. But Tolstoy understood the events of more than half a century ago better than those who forgot their immediate impressions of that time and believed in myths that were presented as historical reality. The writer knew: a person is inclined to tell others what they want and expect to hear from him. Thus, the “truthful young man” Nikolai Rostov, telling Boris Drubetsky and Berg about his first (very unsuccessful) participation in battle, began “with the intention of telling everything exactly how it happened, but imperceptibly, involuntarily and inevitably for himself, he turned into a lie. If he had told the truth to these listeners, who, like himself, had heard stories about the attacks many times before... and were expecting exactly the same story - either they would not believe him, or, even worse, they would think that Rostov himself was to blame for the fact that what usually happens to storytellers of cavalry attacks did not happen to him... They were waiting for the story of how he was all on fire, not remembering himself, how he flew into a square like a storm; how he cut into it, chopped right and left; how the saber tasted the meat and how he fell exhausted, and the like. And he told them all this” (vol. 1, part 3, chapter VII), In the article “A few words about the book “War and Peace”” Tolstoy recalled how, after the loss of Sevastopol, he was instructed to summarize twenty reports into one report officers who “by order of their superiors wrote what they could not know.” From such reports, “finally, a general report is drawn up, and on this report the general opinion of the army is drawn up.” Then the participants in the events spoke not according to their impressions, but according to reports, believing that everything was exactly like that. History is written on the basis of such sources.

Tolstoy contrasted “naive, necessary military lies” with artistic penetration into the depths of things. Thus, the abandonment of Moscow to the French in 1812 was the salvation of Russia, but the participants in the historical event were far from realizing this, captured by their current marching life: “... in the army that was retreating beyond Moscow, they hardly spoke or thought about Moscow, and, looking at its conflagration, no one swore revenge on the French, but thought about the next third of the salary, about the next stop, about the Matryoshka-seller and the like...” (vol. 4, part 1, chapter IV). Tolstoy's psychological intuition allowed him to make genuine artistic and historical discoveries,

In historical figures he was interested mainly in their human, moral appearance. The portraits of these people do not pretend to be complete and are often very conditional, far from what is known about them from various sources. The Napoleon of War and Peace is, of course, precisely Tolstoy’s Napoleon, an artistic image. But the writer accurately reproduced the behavior and moral side of the personality of the French emperor. Napoleon had extraordinary abilities, and Tolstoy does not deny them, even speaking about them ironically. However, the conqueror's intentions contradict the normal course of life - and he is doomed. Tolstoy “was not interested in what Napoleon was like, and not even in what he seemed like to his contemporaries, but only in what he turned out to be in the end, as a result of all his wars and campaigns.”

In historical and philosophical digressions, Tolstoy talks about predestination and the diagonal of a parallelogram - the resultant of multidirectional forces, the actions of many people, each of whom acted according to his own will. This is a rather mechanistic concept. At the same time, “in the situation of 1812, the artist Tolstoy shows not the resultant, not the diagonal, but general direction various individual human forces." This general direction was guessed by Kutuzov with his instinct, who became the spokesman for the overall aspirations and played a huge role in the people's war even with external inaction. He himself is aware of this role, speaking about the French: “...I will have horse meat!” - “with me,” and not by predestination. Tolstoy’s denial of the art of war is a characteristic polemical extreme for him, but his highlighting of the moral factor (and not the number and location of troops, plans of commanders, etc.) is in many ways fair. In the epic novel, the depiction of the war of 1812 is comparable only to the depiction of the campaign of 1805, which took place on foreign territory in the name of unknown to the soldiers goals. In both cases, the armies were led by Napoleon and Kutuzov; at Austerlitz, the Russians and Austrians had a numerical superiority. But the results of the two wars were opposite. The War of 1812 should have ended in victory, since it was a Patriotic, people's war.

PSYCHOLOGISM. Another reproach addressed to Tolstoy was the reproach for modernizing the psychology of the characters, for attributing to people early XIX V. thoughts, feelings and experiences characteristic of the writer’s more spiritually developed contemporaries. Tolstoy's favorite heroes are truly portrayed in psychological depth. Although Nikolai Rostov is far from an intellectual, the sentimental song he sings (vol. 1, part 1, chapter XVII) seems too primitive for him. But it is a sign of historical times. In the spirit of this time, Nikolai’s letter to Sonya (vol. 3, part 1, chapter XII), Dolokhov’s thoughts about women (vol. 2, part 1, chapter X), Pierre’s Masonic diary (vol. 2, part 3, Chapter VIII, X). When the inner world of the characters is supposedly directly reproduced, this should not be taken literally. The smart and subtle Bolkonsky understands: thought, feeling and their expression do not coincide. “It was clear that Speransky could never come up with that usual thought for Prince Andrei, that it is still impossible to express everything that you think...” (vol. 2, part 3, chapter VI).

Inner speech, especially unconscious sensations and experiences, do not lend themselves to literal logical formulation. And yet, conventionally, Tolstoy does this, as if he translates the language of experiences into the language of concepts. Internal monologues and quotation marks are just such a translation, sometimes outwardly contrary to logic. Princess Marya suddenly realizes that the French will soon come to Bogucharovo and that she cannot stay: “So that Prince Andrei knows that she is in the power of the French! So that she, the daughter of Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky, asks Mr. General Rameau to provide her with protection and enjoy his benefits!” (vol. 3, part 2, chapter X). Outwardly, it is direct speech, but Princess Marya does not think of herself in the third person. Such “inner speech,” taken literally, was not characteristic not only of people at the beginning of the 19th century, but also of no one subsequently. No person could ever have time to think about his love for life, grass, earth, air, like Prince Andrei two steps away from a grenade that is about to explode. This is how the perception of everything that the eye catches, heightened on the brink of life and death, is conveyed.

Tolstoy retells in his author’s speech the delirium of Prince Andrei, describes the “world” of a mortally wounded man: “And piti-piti-piti and ti-ti, and piti-piti - boom, the fly hit... And his attention was suddenly transferred to another world of reality and delirium in which something special happened. Still in this world, everything was erected without collapsing, a building, something was still stretching, the same candle was burning with a red circle, the same sphinx shirt was lying by the door; but, besides all this, something creaked, there was a smell of fresh wind, and a new white sphinx, standing, appeared in front of the door. And in the head of this sphinx there was the pale face and sparkling eyes of the very Natasha about whom he was now thinking” (vol. 3, part 3, chapter XXXII). The chain of visions and associations closes on reality; it was indeed Natasha who entered the door, and Prince Andrei did not even suspect that she was close, very close. Retold and philosophical reflections the dying man (sometimes framed demonstratively logically), and his dying symbolic dream. Even an uncontrollable psyche appears in specific, clear images. “Tolstoy’s work is the highest point of analytical, explanatory psychologism of the 19th century,” emphasizes L.Ya. Ginsburg.

Tolstoy's psychologism applies only to heroes close and dear to the author. From the inside, even the seemingly completely intact Kutuzov is shown, to whom the truth is known in advance, but by no means Napoleon, not Kuragins. Dolokhov can reveal his experiences in words, wounded in a duel, but such a world of sounds and visions, which is open to the inner gaze and hearing of Petya Rostov on his last night at the partisan bivouac, is inaccessible, by the will of Tolstoy, to characters primarily engaged in self-affirmation.

COMPOSITION OF AN EPIC NOVEL AND ORIGINALITY OF STYLE. The main action of War and Peace (before the epilogue) spans seven and a half years. This material is distributed unevenly across the four volumes of the epic novel. The first and third-fourth volumes cover six months each; two wars, 1805 and 1812, are compositionally correlated. The second volume is the most “novelistic”. War with the French 1806-1807 is no longer covered in such detail, despite the fact that in terms of political consequences (the Peace of Tilsit) it was more important than the campaign of 1805: politics as such is less interesting to Tolstoy (although he shows the meeting of two emperors in Tilsit) than the moral meaning of this or that wars with Napoleon. It talks even briefly about the long Russian-Turkish War, in which Kutuzov brought a quick and bloodless victory, and very briefly about the war with Sweden (“Finland”), which became the next step in Berg’s career. The war with Iran, which dragged on during those years (1804-1813), is not even mentioned. The first volume clearly correlates the disparate in scale Shengraben and Battle of Austerlitz. Bagration's detachment covered the retreat of Kutuzov's army, the soldiers saved their brothers, and the detachment was not defeated; under Austerlitz there is nothing to die for, and this brings a terrible defeat to the army. The second volume describes the largely peaceful life of a number of characters over several years, which has its own difficulties.

In the last volumes, people like the Kuragins disappear one after another from the novel; in the epilogue not a word is said about Prince Vasily and his son Ippolit, Anna Pavlovna Sherer, the Drubetskys, Berg and his wife Vera (although she is in Rostov’s past), even about Dolokhov. St. Petersburg social life continues to flow even at the time of the Borodino battle, but the author now has no time to describe in detail those who live such a life. Nesvitsky, Zherkov, Telyanin turn out to be unnecessary. The death of Helen in the fourth volume is discussed briefly and summarily, in contrast to her characterization in the first volumes. After the scene on Poklonnaya Hill, Napoleon is only mentioned; in the “visual” scenes, he no longer appears as a full-fledged literary character. Partly the same thing happens with characters who did not cause the author’s rejection. For example, Bagration, one of the most significant heroes of the War of 1812, is practically not represented as a character in the third volume, he is only talked about, and not in too much detail; now he apparently seems to Tolstoy mainly as a figure of official history. In the third and Thursday volumes there is more direct depiction of the common people and actual historical episodes, criticism, analyticalism, and at the same time pathos are strengthened.

Real persons and fictional characters are drawn using the same means. They act in the same scenes and are even mentioned together in Tolstoy’s discussions. The writer willingly uses the point of view of a fictional character in his depiction historical events. The Shengraben battle was seen through the eyes of Bolkonsky, Rostov and the author himself, Borodino - through the eyes of the same Bolkonsky, but mainly Pierre (non-military, unusual person) and again the author, and the positions of the author and the hero seem to be equal here; The Tilsit meeting of the emperors is given from the points of view of Rostov and Boris Drubetsky with the presence of the author's commentary; Napoleon is seen by Prince Andrei on the Field of Austerlitz, and by the Cossack Lavrushka after the French invasion of Russia, etc.

“Conjugation” into a single whole of different thematic layers and points of view of characters corresponds to “conjugation” different forms narratives (in the broad sense of the word) - plastically representable pictures, overview reports of events, philosophical and journalistic reasoning. The latter belong only to the second half of the epic novel. Sometimes they are present in story chapters. Transitions from pictures to reasoning do not entail noticeable changes in the author’s speech. In one Tolstoy phrase they can combine, as completely related words, high and low, figurative-expressive and logical-conceptual series, for example at the end of the second volume: “...Pierre joyfully, with eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which seemed , having flown with inexpressible speed through immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line, suddenly, like an arrow pierced into the ground, it slammed into one place in the black sky of its choice and stopped, energetically raising its tail up...” The flow of life is complex, contradictory, and just as complex and sometimes the composition of “War and Peace” is naturally contradictory at all levels: from the arrangement of chapters and parts, plot episodes to the construction of one phrase. The focus on “conjugation” gives rise to a typically Tolstoyan extended and cumbersome phrase, sometimes with the same syntactic constructions, as if trying to cover all the shades of a given subject, including those that contradict one another - hence the oxymoronic epithets: out of curiosity, the Schöngraben field turns out to be “civilian” official, auditor" “with a radiant, naive and at the same time sly smile...” (vol. 1, part 2, chapter XVII), as it seems to Pierre, the comet above his head “fully corresponded to what was in him. .. softened and encouraged soul” (vol. 2, part 5, chapter XXII), etc. A branched phrase, for example, about Kutuzov, the exhaustion of his historical role after the expulsion of the French from Russia, can be set off by a short, lapidary: “And he died” (vol. 4, part 4, chapter XI).

The historical originality of the characters’ speech is ensured by the names of the realities of the time and the abundant use of the French language, moreover, a varied use: often French phrases are given as directly depicted, sometimes (with the reservation that the conversation is in French, or without it, if the French speak) them immediately replaces the Russian equivalent, and sometimes the phrase more or less conventionally combines the Russian and French parts. The author's translation is sometimes inadequate; in Russian the French phrase is given some new connotation. The speech of the common people is carefully distinguished from the speech of the nobles, but the main characters generally speak the same language, which is indistinguishable from the author’s speech. Other means are quite sufficient for individualizing characters.

Reading and re-reading Tolstoy’s novel these days, we cannot help but recognize that Tolstoy created a hymn to Russia, its people and the class of nobles to which he belonged by birth, upbringing, tastes, habits, especially in his youth.

Tolstoy, painting terrible, bloody pictures of war, clashes of political interests, events that capture human destinies in their whirlpool, constantly emphasizes that each person holds his own “universe” within himself, and in the end this “universe” is above everything else.

“Life... real life... went on, as always, independently and outside of political affinity or hostility... and all possible transformations.”

Having taken on the creation of a national epic, creating it, filling it with the roar of war, the thunder of guns, the explosion of shells, involving hundreds of people in the events, the writer sometimes casts a kind of spotlight on individual people, their private lives, letting us understand that in life, unrest , the concerns and feelings of these private individuals are the main interest and the main essence of the story. In the foreground, of course, is the noble environment, to which he himself belonged by birth and way of life, which he knew and, perhaps, loved then.

His class brothers, the nobles, especially the elite, court circles, considered him an apostate from class interests, a traitor. Among them was Pushkin’s old friend, who had once sinned with liberalism, P. A. Vyazemsky. They saw in the novel an unworthy criticism of the highest nobility, but they could not help but appreciate the pictures that were close to their hearts of noble living rooms, secular salons, the splendor of balls, social conversations, the description of their familiar and dear life. The opposite camp condemned the novel for its lack of exposure of serfdom and all social ills.

As for military specialists, they were delighted with the battle scenes. Tolstoy fills the novel with extensive multi-page discussions about the military actions of Kutuzov and Napoleon. Here he acts as a scholar-historian, argues with military strategists who, in one way or another, reflected on the war of 1812. He finally debunks Napoleon, finding the most primitive incompetence in his orders for the army, laughing at the title of genius that flatterers and French historians assigned to him . He is indignant that not only the French, but also the Russians succumb to the charm of his personality.

As a historian, he also ridicules the Russian generals who surrounded Kutuzov and pushed him into unnecessary battles with the “wounded beast.” They boasted that in the battles near Krasnoe they captured so many cannons and “some kind of stick, which was called the marshal’s baton,” from Napoleon.

Only Kutuzov understood the uselessness of these battles, which brought great losses to the Russian troops, when it was clear to everyone that the enemy was defeated, was fleeing, and only one thing was needed - not to interfere with his escape from Russia.

Tolstoy always valued naturalness and impartiality above all human qualities. His Kutuzov possessed these qualities, in which he was the complete opposite of Napoleon, who, according to Tolstoy, was constantly portrayed theatrically.

Tolstoy's Kutuzov is a sage who does not admire his own wisdom, who is not aware of this quality in himself, who understands by some kind of inner intuition what and how to do in a given situation. In this respect, he was like ordinary soldiers, like the people who, for the most part, intuitively comprehend the truth.

When, after the victory at Krasnoye, Kutuzov made a short speech to the soldiers, a simple, old-time colloquial, as if everyday “homely” speech, with obscene words, he was understood and cordially received primarily by the soldiers: “... this very feeling lay in the soul of every soldier and was expressed in a joyful, long-lasting cry.”

The spontaneity of feelings comes from nature itself, and the more natural a person is, the more directly his feelings are expressed, the nobler his actions. This view of man also reflected Tolstoy’s long-standing passion for Rousseauism. Falsehood, hypocrisy, vanity are brought up by civilization. The savage, close to nature (“natural man”, according to Rousseau’s theory), did not know these qualities.

All Tolstoy’s heroes whom he loved: Natasha, Princess Marya, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, the entire Rostov family, Platon Karataev, a man of the people, have this spontaneity of feelings, and false, hypocritical, selfish and simply vile people do not have it. Such are Prince Vasily Kuragin, his son Philip, daughter Helen.

Pictures and images drawn with life-like convincingness by Tolstoy’s truly magical pen are forever imprinted in our memory. Ask everyone who has read the novel “War and Peace” what he remembers and clearly sees in his memory. He will answer: Natasha on a moonlit night and Andrei Bolkonsky, who unwittingly overheard the girl’s enthusiastic feelings. I will meet and introduce Natasha and Bolkonsky at the ball. Natasha's Russian dance, which she learned God knows where, respectfully observed by her in the dances of the peasants. Dying Andrei Bolkonsky. The amazing and sacred act of death as something mysterious.

Since ancient times, wars have seen grandiose turns in the history of peoples. In wars, states, nations, and peoples perished or were revived. Cities, palaces and temples created with great labor were mercilessly destroyed, individuals and heroes were exalted in glory, and countless nameless warriors, the healthiest and most active part of the population, passed away. The madness of humanity! Tolstoy contrasted all the ambitions of the warlike heroes with the eternal, beautiful and peaceful sky that Prince Andrei saw.

The pictures of battles were painted by Tolstoy with irresistible authenticity. It’s as if we ourselves are participating in it, and with our hearing and vision there, on the battlefield, we hear the hot breath of heated people, screams and groans and desperate shooting.

Prince Bolkonsky, wounded and losing consciousness, felt a strange calm. Eyes are directed to the sky. All human passions, ambitious dreams, and he had been so recently overwhelmed by them, suddenly appeared in all their insignificance before this great and eternal calm of the sky. Here is already the philosophy of Tolstoy, the philosophy of life. It affects, as it were, imprints on everything that he describes, on his likes and dislikes. Everything natural in people, everything immediate in them, not burdened by hypocrisy, is beautiful. That is why the characters of Natasha Rostova, Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, and the ugly Marya Bolkonskaya with her beautiful eyes at other moments are so good.

Tolstoy returns to one idea again and again. She worries him, vanity human passions, ancient, since the time of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities and all kinds of vanity!” Prince Andrey realized this when he lay wounded on the battlefield, holding the regimental banner in his hand. “EN VOILA LA BELLE MORT,” his idol Napoleon said over him, believing him to be dead. Napoleon led the enemy army. but he was a genius of military art, great commander. Everyone recognized this, and Prince Andrei could not hide his admiration for him. But now, when he understood the value of life itself and the vanity of everything that is outside life, he saw in the brilliant commander little man, but only.

People fight, kill each other, not thinking that they are people, that they fight over insignificant things, that they give their lives for ghosts, for phantoms, and only sometimes, as if by inspiration, a vague comprehension of the truth comes to them.

Tolstoy constantly reminds the reader of the significance of some higher purposes of life, that above the futility and vanity of his everyday worries and troubles rises something eternal and universal that he cannot comprehend. The understanding of this eternal and universal came to Andrei Bolkonsky at the moment of death.

The entire novel is permeated with a humane feeling of kindness towards people. She is in Petya Rostov, she is in the countess, his mother, helping her impoverished friend, she is in the simple-minded ignorance of Count Rostov’s self-interest, in the kindness of Natasha, who insisted on freeing the carts and giving them to the wounded. She is in the kindness of Pierre Bezukhov, who is always ready to help someone. She is in the kindness of Princess Marya. It is in the kindness of Platon Karataev, in the kindness of Russian soldiers and in this expressive gesture of Kutuzov, in his speech to the soldiers.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that a person is born good, but his environment, society, and vicious civilization spoil him. This idea of ​​the Genevan philosopher was disputed by many, declaring, on the contrary, the inherent depravity of human nature.

Tolstoy agreed with his idol. He showed the pure souls of children. In “Childhood” it is Nikolenka Irteniev, here it is Petya Rostov with his childish enthusiasm, passionate desire to do something in this world, to distinguish himself, and in essence to give his life, to sacrifice himself, to give it generously, as generously he gave everything, what he had, in Denisov’s detachment.

In Petya Rostov’s behavior, in his worldview, everything is colored by a feeling of some kind of enlightened and comprehensive love for everyone and everything. His childish heart, which does not know selfishness, seems to respond to universal love for him. Such is the love and tenderness of the girl Natasha for all people in general, her spontaneity, the purity of her thoughts.

Friendship - camaraderie - this blissful feeling is also soulfully described by Tolstoy - Denisov’s friendly disposition towards Nikolai Rostov, Rostov’s reciprocal feeling towards him. Denisov, a warrior, a brave man, rude as a soldier, but an internally kind, honest and fair person, is literally devoted to the Rostov family, comprehending with his soul its noble moral foundations.

Parental love has never before been shown in literature in its aching power. Balzac dedicated his novel “Père Goriot” to her, but it sounded like a theoretical thesis that should show the ingratitude of children to their parents and the blindness of parents in their irrepressible affection for their children. Love itself remained undisclosed beyond the scope of this thesis.

It is enough to read the pages of the novel “War and Peace” about those minutes when Countess Rostova learned of Petya’s death to feel the piercing power of this maternal love and the great grief of the loss of a beloved being. We will not find this theme either in Stendhal or in Flaubert. French, English, German authors did not touch upon this topic. Whereas Tolstoy found irresistible colors for her.

Tolstoy's novel is filled with a bright and blissful feeling of human love. We are filled with pride for a person who is capable of love. How far is this from our days, when artists - writers, poets, painters, actors rush to reveal to us pictures of nightmares and horror, the dark sides of the human soul and convince us that this is the whole world and such are all of us! One involuntarily recalls the dying words of the sick Gogol: “Oh God! It’s become creepy in your world!”

A.E. In 1863, Bersom wrote a letter to his friend, Count Tolstoy, reporting on a fascinating conversation between young people about the events of 1812. Then Lev Nikolaevich decided to write a grandiose work about that heroic time. Already in October 1863, the writer wrote in one of his letters to a relative that he had never felt such creative powers in himself, new job, he says, will be unlike anything he’s done before.

Initially, the main character of the work should be the Decembrist, returning from exile in 1856. Next, Tolstoy moved the beginning of the novel to the day of the uprising in 1825, but then the artistic time moved to 1812. Apparently, the count was afraid that the novel would not be released for political reasons, since Nicholas the First tightened censorship, fearing a repeat of the riot. Since the Patriotic War directly depends on the events of 1805 - it was this period in final version became the foundation for the beginning of the book.

“Three Pores” - that’s what Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy called his work. It was planned that the first part or time would tell about the young Decembrists, participants in the war; in the second - a direct description of the Decembrist uprising; in the third - the second half of the 19th century, the sudden death of Nicholas 1, the defeat of the Russian army in the Crimean War, an amnesty for members of the opposition movement who, returning from exile, expect changes.

It should be noted that the writer rejected all the works of historians, basing many episodes of War and Peace on the memoirs of participants and witnesses of the war. Materials from newspapers and magazines also served as excellent informants. In the Rumyantsev Museum, the author read unpublished documents, letters from ladies-in-waiting and generals. Tolstoy spent several days in Borodino, and in letters to his wife he enthusiastically wrote that if God grants health, he will describe battle of Borodino in a way that no one had ever described before.

The author spent 7 years of his life creating War and Peace. There are 15 variations of the beginning of the novel; the writer repeatedly abandoned and started his book again. Tolstoy foresaw the global scope of his descriptions, wanted to create something innovative and created an epic novel worthy of representing the literature of our country on the world stage.

Themes of War and Peace

1. Family theme. It is the family that determines the upbringing, psychology, views and moral principles of a person, and therefore naturally occupies one of the central places in the novel. The forge of morals shapes the characters' characters and influences the dialectic of their souls throughout the entire narrative. The description of the Bolkonsky, Bezukhov, Rostov and Kuragin families reveals the author’s thoughts about house building and the importance he attaches to family values.
2. The theme of the people. The glory for a won war always belongs to the commander or emperor, and the people, without whom this glory would not have appeared, remain in the shadows. It is this problem that the author raises, showing the vanity of the vanity of military officials and elevating ordinary soldiers. became the topic of one of our essays.
3. Theme of war. Descriptions of military operations exist relatively separately from the novel, independently. It is here that phenomenal Russian patriotism is revealed, which became the key to victory, the boundless courage and fortitude of a soldier who goes to any length to save his homeland. The author introduces us to war scenes through the eyes of one or another hero, plunging the reader into the depths of the bloodshed taking place. Large-scale battles echo the mental anguish of the heroes. Being at the crossroads of life and death reveals the truth to them.
4. Theme of life and death. Tolstoy's characters are divided into “living” and “dead”. The first include Pierre, Andrey, Natasha, Marya, Nikolai, and the second include old Bezukhov, Helen, Prince Vasily Kuragin and his son Anatole. The “living” are constantly in motion, and not so much physical as internal, dialectical (their souls come to harmony through a series of trials), while the “dead” hide behind masks and come to tragedy and internal split. Death in “War and Peace” is presented in 3 forms: bodily or physical death, moral death, and awakening through death. Life is comparable to the burning of a candle, someone’s light is small, with flashes of bright light (Pierre), for someone it burns tirelessly (Natasha Rostova), Masha’s wavering light. There are also 2 hypostases: physical life, like that of “dead” characters, whose immorality deprives the world of the necessary harmony within, and the life of the “soul”, this is about the heroes of the first type, they will be remembered even after death.

Main characters

• Andrey Bolkonsky- a nobleman, disillusioned with the world and seeking glory. The hero is handsome, has dry features, short stature, but athletic build. Andrei dreams of being famous like Napoleon, and that’s why he goes to war. He's bored high society, even a pregnant wife does not give any consolation. Bolkonsky changes his worldview when, wounded at the battle of Austerlitz, he encountered Napoleon, who seemed like a fly to him, along with all his glory. Further, the love that flared up for Natasha Rostova also changes the views of Andrei, who finds the strength to live a full and happy life again after the death of his wife. He meets death on the Borodino field, because he does not find the strength in his heart to forgive people and not fight with them. The author shows the struggle in his soul, hinting that the prince is a man of war, he cannot get along in an atmosphere of peace. So, he forgives Natasha for betrayal only on his deathbed, and dies in harmony with himself. But finding this harmony was possible only in this way - for the last time. We wrote more about his character in the essay "".
• Natasha Rostova– a cheerful, sincere, eccentric girl. Knows how to love. He has a wonderful voice that will captivate the most picky music critics. In the work, we first see her as a 12-year-old girl, on her name day. Throughout the entire work, we observe the growing up of a young girl: first love, first ball, Anatole’s betrayal, guilt before Prince Andrei, the search for her “I”, including in religion, the death of her lover (Andrei Bolkonsky). We analyzed her character in the essay "". In the epilogue, the wife of Pierre Bezukhov, his shadow, appears before us from a cocky lover of “Russian dances”.
• Pierre Bezukhov- a plump young man who was unexpectedly bequeathed a title and a large fortune. Pierre discovers himself through what is happening around him, from each event he learns a moral and a life lesson. His wedding with Helen gives him confidence; after being disappointed in her, he finds interest in Freemasonry, and in the end he gains warm feelings for Natasha Rostova. The Battle of Borodino and capture by the French taught him not to philosophize and find happiness in helping others. These conclusions were determined by acquaintance with Platon Karataev, a poor man who, while awaiting death in a cell without normal food and clothing, looked after the “little baron” Bezukhov and found the strength to support him. We've already looked at it too.
• Graph Ilya Andreevich Rostov- a loving family man, luxury was his weakness, which led to financial problems in the family. Softness and weakness of character, inability to adapt to life make him helpless and pitiful.
• Countess Natalya Rostova- the Count's wife, has oriental flavor, knows how to present himself correctly in society, loves his own children excessively. A calculating woman: she strives to upset the wedding of Nikolai and Sonya, since she was not rich. It was her cohabitation with a weak husband that made her so strong and firm.
• NickOlai Rostov– the eldest son is kind, open, with curly hair. Wasteful and weak in spirit, like his father. He squanders his family's fortune on cards. He longed for glory, but after participating in a number of battles he understands how useless and cruel war is. He finds family well-being and spiritual harmony in his marriage to Marya Bolkonskaya.
• Sonya Rostova– the count’s niece – small, thin, with a black braid. She had a reasonable character and good disposition. She has been devoted to one man all her life, but lets her beloved Nikolai go after learning about his love for Marya. Tolstoy exalts and appreciates her humility.
• Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky- Prince, has an analytical mind, but a heavy, categorical and unfriendly character. He is too strict, therefore he does not know how to show love, although he has warm feelings for children. Dies from the second blow in Bogucharovo.
• Marya Bolkonskaya– modest, loving her family, ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her loved ones. L.N. Tolstoy especially emphasizes the beauty of her eyes and the ugliness of her face. In her image, the author shows that the charm of forms cannot replace spiritual wealth. are described in detail in the essay.
• Helen Kuragina – ex-wife Pierre - beautiful woman, socialite. She loves male company and knows how to get what she wants, although she is vicious and stupid.
• Anatol Kuragin- Helen's brother is handsome and belongs to high society. Immoral, lacking moral principles, wanted to secretly marry Natasha Rostova, although he already had a wife. Life punishes him with martyrdom on the battlefield.
• Fedor Dolokhov- officer and leader of the partisans, not tall, has light eyes. Successfully combines selfishness and care for loved ones. Vicious, passionate, but attached to his family.

Tolstoy's favorite hero

In the novel, the author's sympathy and antipathy for the characters is clearly felt. Concerning female images, the writer gives his love to Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya. Tolstoy valued the true feminine in girls - devotion to a lover, the ability to always remain blooming in the eyes of her husband, the knowledge of happy motherhood and caring. His heroines are ready for self-denial for the benefit of others.

The writer is fascinated by Natasha, the heroine finds the strength to live even after the death of Andrei, she directs love to her mother after the death of her brother Petya, seeing how hard it is for her. The heroine is reborn, realizing that life is not over as long as she has a bright feeling for her neighbor. Rostova shows patriotism, without a doubt helping the wounded.

Marya also finds happiness in helping others, in feeling needed by someone. Bolkonskaya becomes a mother for Nikolushka’s nephew, taking him under her “wing”. She worries about ordinary men who have nothing to eat, passing the problem through herself, and does not understand how the rich can not help the poor. In the final chapters of the book, Tolstoy is fascinated by his heroines, who have matured and found female happiness.

The writer’s favorite male characters were Pierre and Andrei Bolkonsky. Bezukhov first appears to the reader as a clumsy, plump, short young man who appears in Anna Scherer’s living room. Despite his ridiculous, ridiculous appearance, Pierre is smart, but the only person who accepts him for who he is is Bolkonsky. The prince is brave and stern, his courage and honor come in handy on the battlefield. Both men risk their lives to save their homeland. Both are rushing around in search of themselves.

Of course, L.N. Tolstoy brings his favorite heroes together, only in the case of Andrei and Natasha, happiness is short-lived, Bolkonsky dies young, and Natasha and Pierre find family happiness. Marya and Nikolai also found harmony in each other's company.

Genre of the work

“War and Peace” opens the genre of the epic novel in Russia. The features of any novels are successfully combined here: from family novels to memoirs. The prefix “epic” means that the events described in the novel cover a significant historical phenomenon and reveal its essence in all its diversity. Typically, a work of this genre has a lot of plot lines and characters, since the scale of the work is very large.

The epic nature of Tolstoy’s work lies in the fact that he not only invented a story about a famous historical event, but also enriched it with details gleaned from the memories of eyewitnesses. The author did a lot to ensure that the book was based on documentary sources.

The relationship between the Bolkonskys and the Rostovs was also not invented by the author: he depicted the history of his family, the merger of the Volkonsky and Tolstoy families.

Main problems

1. The problem of finding real life. Let's take Andrei Bolkonsky as an example. He dreamed of recognition and glory, and the surest way to earn authority and adoration was through military exploits. Andrei made plans to save the army with his own hands. Bolkonsky constantly saw pictures of battles and victories, but he was wounded and went home. Here, in front of Andrei’s eyes, his wife dies, completely shaking the prince’s inner world, then he realizes that there is no joy in the murders and suffering of the people. This career is not worth it. The search for oneself continues, because the original meaning of life has been lost. The problem is that it is difficult to find.
2. The problem of happiness. Take Pierre, who is torn away from the empty society of Helen and the war. He soon becomes disillusioned with a vicious woman; illusory happiness has deceived him. Bezukhov, like his friend Bolkonsky, tries to find a calling in the struggle and, like Andrei, abandons this search. Pierre was not born for the battlefield. As you can see, any attempts to find bliss and harmony result in the collapse of hopes. As a result, the hero returns to his former life and finds himself in a quiet family haven, but only by making his way through thorns did he find his star.
3. The problem of the people and the great man. The epic novel clearly expresses the idea of ​​commanders-in-chief inseparable from the people. A great man must share the opinion of his soldiers and live by the same principles and ideals. Not a single general or king would have received his glory if this glory had not been presented to him on a “platter” by the soldiers, in whom the main strength lies. But many rulers do not cherish it, but despise it, and this should not happen, because injustice hurts people painfully, even more painfully than bullets. People's War in the events of 1812 she was shown on the side of the Russians. Kutuzov protects the soldiers and sacrifices Moscow for their sake. They sense this, mobilize the peasants and launch a guerrilla struggle that finishes off the enemy and finally drives him out.
4. The problem of true and false patriotism. Of course, patriotism is revealed through images of Russian soldiers, a description of the heroism of the people in the main battles. False patriotism in the novel is represented in the person of Count Rostopchin. He distributes ridiculous pieces of paper throughout Moscow, and then saves himself from the wrath of people by sending his son Vereshchagin to certain death. We have written an article on this topic, called “”.

What is the point of the book?

The writer himself speaks about the true meaning of the epic novel in the lines about greatness. Tolstoy believes that there is no greatness where there is no simplicity of soul, good intentions and a sense of justice.

L.N. Tolstoy expressed greatness through the people. In the images of battle paintings, an ordinary soldier shows unprecedented courage, which causes pride. Even the most fearful aroused in themselves a feeling of patriotism, which, like an unknown and frantic force, brought victory to the Russian army. The writer protests against false greatness. When put on the scales (here you can find their comparative characteristics), the latter flies up: its fame is lightweight, since it has very flimsy foundations. The image of Kutuzov is “folk”; none of the commanders has ever been so close to the common people. Napoleon is only reaping the fruits of fame; it is not without reason that when Bolkonsky lies wounded on the field of Austerlitz, the author, through his eyes, shows Bonaparte like a fly in this huge world. Lev Nikolaevich asks new trend heroic character. He becomes the “people's choice”.

An open soul, patriotism and a sense of justice won not only in the War of 1812, but also in life: the heroes who were guided by moral principles and the voice of their hearts became happy.

Thought Family

L.N. Tolstoy was very sensitive to the topic of family. Thus, in his novel “War and Peace,” the writer shows that the state, like a clan, transmits values ​​and traditions from generation to generation, and good human qualities They are also sprouts from roots going back to their forefathers.

Brief description of families in the novel “War and Peace”:

1. Of course, the beloved family of L.N. Tolstoy's were the Rostovs. Their family was famous for its cordiality and hospitality. It is in this family that the author’s values ​​of true home comfort and happiness are reflected. The writer considered the purpose of a woman to be motherhood, maintaining comfort in the home, devotion and the ability to self-sacrifice. This is how all the women of the Rostov family are depicted. There are 6 people in the family: Natasha, Sonya, Vera, Nikolai and parents.
2. Another family is the Bolkonskys. Restraint of feelings, the severity of Father Nikolai Andreevich, and canonicity reign here. Women here are more like “shadows” of their husbands. Andrei Bolkonsky will inherit the best qualities, becoming worthy son her father, and Marya will learn patience and humility.
3. The Kuragin family is the best personification of the proverb “no oranges are born from aspen trees.” Helen, Anatole, Hippolyte are cynical, seek benefits in people, are stupid and not the least bit sincere in what they do and say. “A show of masks” is their lifestyle, and in this they completely took after their father, Prince Vasily. There are no friendly and warm relations in the family, which is reflected in all its members. L.N. Tolstoy especially dislikes Helen, who was incredibly beautiful on the outside, but completely empty on the inside.

People's thought

She is the central line of the novel. As we remember from what was written above, L.N. Tolstoy abandoned generally accepted historical sources, basing “War and Peace” on memoirs, notes, letters from ladies-in-waiting and generals. The writer was not interested in the course of the war as a whole. Individual personalities, fragments – that’s what the author needed. Each person had his own place and meaning in this book, like puzzle pieces that, when assembled correctly, will reveal beautiful picture- the strength of national unity.

The Patriotic War changed something inside each of the characters in the novel, each made their own small contribution to the victory. Prince Andrei believes in the Russian army and fights with dignity, Pierre wants to destroy the French ranks from their very heart - by killing Napoleon, Natasha Rostova without hesitation gives carts to crippled soldiers, Petya fights bravely in partisan detachments.

The people's will to victory is clearly felt in the scenes of the Battle of Borodino, the battle for Smolensk, and the partisan battle with the French. The latter is especially memorable for the novel, because volunteers who came from the ordinary peasant class fought in the partisan movements - the detachments of Denisov and Dolokhov personified the movement of the entire nation, when “both old and young” stood up to defend their homeland. Later they would be called the “club of the people’s war.”

The War of 1812 in Tolstoy's novel

The War of 1812, as a turning point in the lives of all the heroes of the novel War and Peace, has been mentioned several times above. It was also said that it was won by the people. Let's look at the issue from a historical perspective. L.N. Tolstoy draws 2 images: Kutuzov and Napoleon. Of course, both images are drawn through the eyes of a person from the people. It is known that the character of Bonaparte was thoroughly described in the novel only after the writer was convinced of the fair victory of the Russian army. The author did not understand the beauty of war, he was its opponent, and through the mouths of his heroes Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, he speaks of the meaninglessness of its very idea.

The Patriotic War was a national liberation war. It occupied a special place on the pages of volumes 3 and 4.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Unprecedented in the history of world literature is classic novel Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy's "War and Peace", which tells about the life of Russian society during the era of the Napoleonic wars. For many years, this grandiose work has enjoyed constant success among readers and literary researchers around the world. We offer for your information an analysis of the novel according to a plan that will be useful for 10th grade students when writing an essay in given topic, preparing for a literature lesson and the upcoming Unified State Exam.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1863-1869.

History of creation– Initially, Tolstoy planned to write a story about a Decembrist who returned home with his family from many years of exile. However, in the course of the work, the writer’s plan expanded significantly: new characters appeared, the time frame moved back. As a result, an epic novel was written, work on which took Tolstoy almost 7 years.

Subject– The central theme of the work – historical fate Russian people in the Patriotic War of 1812. The author also raised themes of love, family, life and death, debt, war.

Composition- The novel consists of 4 volumes and an epilogue, each volume corresponds to a certain time period. The composition of the novel is extremely complex and multi-layered.

Genre- An epic novel.

Direction– Realism.

History of creation

In the 50s of the 19th century, Lev Nikolaevich had the idea to write a story about the Decembrist who returned with his family from Siberia. This idea captivated the writer so much that he began to penetrate deeper and deeper into the inner world of his hero, look for the motives of certain of his actions, and get to the bottom of the truth. As a result, it became necessary to describe the hero’s entire life, starting from early youth. So the time frame of the work was shifted almost half a century ago, and the storyline took its report from 1805.

It is not surprising that such a deep dive into the life of the main character required expansion and a significant increase in the main and secondary characters.

“Three Pores” was the working title of the work. According to Tolstoy's plan, the first part or time described the life of the young Decembrists, the second - the Decembrist uprising, and the third - their amnesty and return home from many years of exile. Ultimately, Lev Nikolaevich decided to direct all his efforts to describe the first time, since even this time period required enormous effort and time from him. So, instead of an ordinary story, the writer created a monumental work, a real epic, which had no analogues in all world literature.

The history of the creation of “War and Peace,” which took Tolstoy almost 7 years, was an example of not only painstaking work on the characters’ characters and their relationships, but also complete immersion in the history of Russia. Tolstoy most carefully studied the memoirs of participants and witnesses of the Napoleonic wars, and to describe the scene of the Battle of Borodino, he spent some time in Borodino, where he personally collected reliable information.

Throughout the work on the novel, Lev Nikolaevich treated the work done with a great deal of criticism. So, in an effort to create a work worthy of attention, he wrote 15 different variations of the beginning of the novel.

Before publication, the author renamed his work. Meaning of the name“War and Peace” lies in the fact that the author, using the example of not only different characters, but also different social strata of society, wanted to show the contrast between peaceful life and how it changed during the war.

Subject

Among the many topics covered by the author in the novel, one of the most important is the historical fate of the entire Russian people during the hard times of war. Lev Nikolaevich always criticized any wars, since in the future they became the cause serious problems in society.

People, cut off from their usual activities and forced to kill their own kind, forever changed their worldview. As a result, the entire nation suffered enormous, irreparable moral damage.

Military operations became an excellent backdrop for the development of such a vital Topics like true and false patriotism. The War of 1812 was of great importance in uniting the entire nation in a common patriotic impulse - to expel the enemy from their land. Many representatives of the nobility and ordinary people agreed in this. All the heroes of the novel, one way or another, passed the test of 1812 and received a moral assessment of their actions.

Lev Nikolaevich put all his aspirations and hopes into the main idea of ​​the work - every person should live in the interests of his people, strive for true harmony, forgetting about the thirst for profit or career ambitions. Love for the homeland, good thoughts, unity with the people - this is what the work teaches.

The meaning of the novel lies in “nationality”, since it is the people who are the driving force and greatness of the nation.

Composition

Carrying out an analysis of the work in the novel “War and Peace”, it is necessary to note the complexity and multi-stage nature of it. compositional construction. Not only the novel, but even each volume and each chapter has its own climax and denouement. The book closely intertwines the main storylines, many characters and episodes are contrasted with each other.

The work consists of 4 volumes and an epilogue, and each part of the book corresponds to a certain time period.

• Volume 1(1805) - a description of the war and the main characters, filled with ambitious dreams.
• Volume 2(1806-1811) - displaying problems and complex life situations, in which each of the heroes of the novel finds himself.
• Volume 3(1812) - entirely dedicated to the War of 1812.
• Volume 4(1812-1813) - the onset of the long-awaited peace, with the arrival of which the main characters have an epiphany.
• Epilogue(18120) - a story about future fate central characters.

Main characters

Genre

Defining the genre of “War and Peace” is quite simple - it is epic novel. Its main differences from other literary genres are the large volume of the work, the scale of the events depicted and the issues considered.

In terms of genre, "War and Peace" is a very complex work, since it contains character traits historical, social, philosophical, battle novels, as well as memoirs and chronicles.

Since the novel involves many historical figures and describes real historical events, the novel is usually classified as a literary movement of realism.

The four-volume epic novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” has been known to every person since school. Someone liked this work and read it from the first volume to the last; some were horrified by the volume of the novel that needed to be mastered; and someone simply ignored the teacher’s request to read the novel. Nevertheless, “War and Peace” is a truly worthwhile and great work of Russian literature, which is still studied in school. This article is intended to help schoolchildren understand the novel, understand its meaning and main ideas. So, we present to you a condensed analysis of the novel “War and Peace”. Let's pay attention to the most important points.

When analyzing the novel “War and Peace,” three main ideas can be identified that L. N. Tolstoy reveals. This is a family thought, a national thought and a spiritual thought.

Family thought in the novel “War and Peace”

It can be conveniently seen in the way Tolstoy portrays three families in the novel - the Bolkonsky, Rostov and Kuragin families.

Bolkonsky family

Let's begin the analysis of the work "War and Peace" with the Bolkonsky family. The Bolkonsky family is the old Prince Bolkonsky and his children - Andrei and Marya. The main features of this family are following reason, severity, pride, decency, and a strong sense of patriotism. They are very restrained in expressing their feelings, only Marya sometimes openly shows them.

The old prince is a representative of the ancient aristocracy, very strict, has power both among the servants and in his family. He is very proud of his pedigree and intelligence, and wants his children to be the same. Therefore, the prince undertakes to teach his daughter geometry and algebra at a time when such knowledge was not required from ladies.

Prince Andrei is a representative of the advanced noble youth. This is a very strong-willed, persistent man of tall moral principles, he does not accept human weakness. Many trials await him in life, but he will always find the right way out thanks to his morality. His love for Natasha Rostova will change a lot in his life, which will be like a breath of fresh air for him, a symbol of real life. But Natasha’s betrayal will kill his hope for the best. However, Andrei Bolkonsky’s life will not end there; he will still find his meaning in life.

For Princess Marya, the main thing in life is self-sacrifice; she is always ready to help another, even to the detriment of herself. She is a very meek, kind, sweet-hearted and submissive girl. She is religious and dreams of simple human happiness. However, she is not so soft, she can be firm and stand her ground when her self-esteem is humiliated.

Rostov family

The Rostov family was masterfully portrayed in the novel by Leo Tolstoy. “War and Peace”, we will continue the analysis of this work with a story about this family.

The Rostov family is meaningfully opposed to the Bolkonsky family in that the main thing for the Bolkonskys is reason, and for the Rostovs it is feelings. The main features of the Rostov family are kindness, generosity, nobility, moral purity, closeness to the people, generosity, openness, hospitality, affability. In addition to her children, Sonya, the count’s niece, Boris Drubetskoy, the son of a distant relative, and Vera also live with them. In difficult times, the Rostov family sacrifices their property and helps their country survive the war. The old count, for example, donates his carts so that the wounded can be carried on them. This family is a symbol of liberation from the luxury of the material world.

The old count, father Ilya Andreevich, is a simple-minded and kind gentleman, a gullible and wasteful person loves his family and home holidays, he has a close relationship with his children, he supports them in everything.

Countess Rostova is the teacher and mentor of her children, she also has a trusting relationship with them.

Warm relationships based on family love also exist in the relationships of children. Natasha and Sonya are like best friends, in addition, Natasha loves her brother Nikolai very much and is happy when he returns home.

Nikolay R skeleton, Natasha's older brother - simple, noble, honest, sympathetic, generous Human . He is kind and romantic, just like Natasha. Forgives old friends Drubetsky their debt. However, Nikolai's interests are limited to his family and household. At the end of the novel, he creates a family with Marya Bolkonskaya, and they have a harmonious union.

Natasha Rostova, the youngest of the children, is a cheerful, lively, spontaneous girl, soul of the Rostov family, in childhood he neglects the rules of decency accepted in society. She is not beautiful in appearance, but she has a beautiful pure soul, She has many traits of a naive child. The work is structured in such a way that the closer a person is to Natasha, the purer he is spiritually. Natasha is not characterized by deep introspection and reflection on the meaning of life. She is selfish, but her selfishness is natural, unlike, for example, the selfishness of Ellen Kuragina. Natasha lives by feelings and at the end of the novel finds her happiness by starting a family with Pierre Bezukhov.

Kuragin family

We will continue our analysis of the novel “War and Peace” with a story about the Kuragin family. Kuragins - This old prince Basil and his three children: Helen, Hippolyte and Anatole. For this family, the most important thing is a good financial situation and status in society , they are related to each other only by blood.

Prince Vasily is an ambitious intriguer striving for wealth. He needs the inheritance of Kirilla Bezukhov, so he is trying with all his might to bring his daughter Helene together with Pierre.

Daughter Helen is a socialite, a “cold” beauty with impeccable manners in society, but lacking the beauty of her soul and feelings. She is only interested in social events and salons.

Prince Vasily considers both his sons fools. He was able to place Hippolytus in the service, which was enough for him. More AND Ppolit does not strive for anything. Anatole is a handsome socialite, a rake, and there is a lot of trouble with him. To calm him down, the old prince wants to marry him to the meek and rich Marya Bolkonskaya, but this marriage did not take place due to the fact that Marya did not want to part with her father and start a family with Anatole.

The family thought is one of the most important in the novel “War and Peace”. Tolstoy carefully studies the Bolkonsky, Rostov and Kuragin families, puts them in a situation of a turning point for the country and observes how they will behave. It is easy to conclude that the author sees the future of the country in the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, highly spiritual, d rich and connected with the people.

Popular thought in the novel “War and Peace”

It is impossible to imagine a complete analysis of the work “War and Peace” without considering popular thought. This is the second thought important topic in the novel "War and Peace". It reflects the depth and greatness of the Russian people. Tolstoy showed the people in his novel in such a way that they do not seem like a faceless mass, his people are reasonable, they are the ones who change and move forward history.

There are many people like Platon Karataev. This is a humble person who loves everyone equally, he accepts all the hardships that happen in his life, but is not soft and weak-willed. Platon Karataev in the novel is a symbol of folk wisdom, cultivated in Russian people since ancient times. This character significantly influenced Pierre Bezukhov and his worldview. Based on Karataev’s thoughts Pierre will then decide for himself h what is good in life and what is bad.

The power and spiritual beauty of the Russian people are shown T as well as many episodic characters. For example, Raevsky’s artillerymen are afraid of death in battle, however you can't see it from them . They are not used to talking a lot, they are used to proving their devotion to the Motherland with their deeds, so they silently protect her .

Tikhon Shcherbaty is another prominent representative of the Russian people , he expresses his anger, unnecessary, but still justified cruelty .

Kutuzov natural, close to the soldiers, to the people, that’s why we love our subordinates and ordinary people. This is a wise commander who understands that he cannot change anything, so he is only a little old A It is possible to change the course of events.

Almost every character in the novel is tested popular thought. H The more distant a person is from the people, the less chance he has for true happiness. Napoleon himself O he is in love, which cannot be approved by the soldiers, Kutuzov is like a father to his soldiers, in addition, he does not need great fame, like Napoleon, so he is appreciated and loved.

The Russian people are not ideal, and Tolstoy does not seek to present them as such. However, all the shortcomings of the Russian people are offset by their behavior in wartime, because everyone is ready to sacrifice what they can for the good of their country in order to save it. Consideration of popular thought is one of the key issues in the analysis of the novel “War and Peace”.

Spiritual thought in the novel “War and Peace”

Now let's move on to the third important question in the analysis of the work "War and Peace". This is m spirit is spiritual. Is concluded she in the spiritual development of the main characters. Harmony is achieved by those e swarms that develop do not stand still. They make mistakes, damn it at wait, change their ideas about life, but as a result they come to harmony.

So, for example, this is Andrei Bolkonsky. At the beginning of the novel, he is an educated, intelligent young man, To who sees all the vulgarity of the noble environment. He wants to escape from this atmosphere, he strives to accomplish a feat and gain fame, That's why goes to the army. On the battlefield, he sees how terrible the war is, the soldiers are fiercely trying to kill each other so that X they didn’t kill themselves, patriotism here is false. Andrei is wounded, he falls on his back and sees a clear sky above his head. A contrast is created between I kill soldiers talking to each other and clear soft skies. At this moment the prince A ndrey understands that there are more important things in life than fame and war, Napoleon ceases to be his idol. This is a turning point in the soul of Andrei Bolkonsky. Later he e wanders around h then he will live for his loved ones and himself in the family world, however, he is too active to focus only on this. Andrey reborn to life, oh he wants to help people and live for them, he finally understands the meaning of Christian love, however, the bright impulses of his soul are cut short by the death of the hero on the battlefield .

Pierre Bezukhov is also looking for the meaning of his life. At the beginning of the novel, not finding anything to do, Pierre leads a wild life l new life. At the same time, he understands that such a life is not for him, but he does not yet have the strength to leave it. He is weak-willed and overly trusting, so he easily falls into Helen Kuragina’s network. However X the marriage did not last long, Pierre realized that he had been deceived, And divorced. Having survived his grief, Pierre joined the Masonic lodge, where I found a use for it. However, seeing self-interest and dishonor in the Masonic lodge, Pierre leaves it. The battle on the Borodino field greatly changes Pierre's worldview; he sees a world of ordinary soldiers that was previously unfamiliar to him and he himself wants to become a soldier. Later, Pierre is captured, where he sees a military trial and execution of Russian soldiers. While in captivity, he meets Platon Karataev, who greatly influences Pierre's ideas about good and evil. At the end of the novel, Pierre marries Natasha, and together they find family happiness. Pierre is dissatisfied with the situation in the country, he does not like political oppression, and he believes that everything can be changed by uniting with honest people and starting to act together with them. This is how it happens spiritual development Pierre Bezukhov throughout the novel, he finally understands that the best thing for him is to fight for the happiness and well-being of the Russian people.

"War and Peace": episode analysis

In literature classes at school, when studying the novel “War and Peace,” individual episodes are very often analyzed. There are many of them; for example, we will analyze the episode of Andrei Bolkonsky’s meeting with an old oak tree.

Meeting with an oak tree symbolizes the transition Andrey Bolkonsky from the old boring and dull life to a new and joyful one.

D dec with his appearance relates to internal them state m hero. At the first meeting the oak looks it an old gloomy tree that does not harmonize with the rest of the forest. The same contrast is easy to notice in the behavior of Andrei Bolkonsky in the company of A.P. Sherer. He is not interested in small talk, boring people he has known for a long time.

When Andrey meets the oak tree for the second time, it already looks different: the oak tree seems to be full of vitality and love for the world around it, there are no sores, dried or gnarled branches left on it, it is all covered with lush young greenery. The tree was more quite strong and strong, he had high potential, just like Andrei Bolkonsky.

Andrei's potential was revealed in the battle of Austerlitz, when he saw the sky; in his meeting with Pierre, when he told him about Freemasonry, about God and eternal life; at the moment when Andrei accidentally overheard the words of Natasha, who admired the beauty of the night. All these moments revived Andrey to life, he again felt the taste of life, R hell O happiness and happiness, like an oak tree, “bloomed” mentally. These changes in the hero were also led by his disappointments - in the personality of Napoleon, in the death of Lisa, etc.

All this greatly influenced Andrei Bolkonsky and led him to a new life with different ideals and principles. He realized where he was wrong before and what he now needs to strive for. Thus, the external transformation of the oak tree in the novel symbolizes the spiritual rebirth of Andrei Bolkonsky.

"War and Peace": analysis of the epilogue

To present a full analysis of the novel “War and Peace”, you need to pay attention to its epilogue. The epilogue is an important part of the novel. It carries a great semantic load, it sums up issues that touch on questions about the family, the role of the individual in history .

The first thought expressed in the epilogue is the thought of the spirituality of the family. The author shows that the main thing in a family is kindness and love, spirituality, the desire for mutual understanding and harmony, which is achieved through the complementarity of spouses. This new family Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya, united and I the Rostov and Bolkonsky families are opposite in spirit.

Another new family is the union of Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov. Each of them remains a special person, but makes concessions to each other, as a result they form a harmonious family. In the epilogue, using the example of this family, the connection between the course of history and the relationships between individuals is traced . After the Patriotic War of 1812, a different level of communication between people arose in Russia, many class boundaries were erased, which led to the creation of new, more complex families.

The epilogue also shows how the main characters of the novel have changed and what they ultimately came to. For example, in Natasha it is difficult to recognize the former emotional, lively girl.