Captivity turned out to be the penultimate stage of his quest for Pierre. In one of his letters, Tolstoy claimed that "the idea of ​​the limits of freedom and dependence" was central to the novel. The pictures of the execution of "arsonists" are also devoted to the proof of this idea.

Episode Analysis

• - Who are the participants in this scene and how does Tolstoy portray them? (The participants in this scene are the French, the arsonists and the crowd. The "large crowd of the people" consisted of Russians, Germans, Italians, French and stood in a semicircle. French troops settled down "two fronts", the arsonists were placed "according to a certain order").
• - Why did the French try to put an end to the execution as soon as possible? ("... everyone was in a hurry - and they were in a hurry not in the way they are in a hurry to do a job understandable to everyone, but in the way they are in a hurry to complete the necessary, but unpleasant and incomprehensible matter").
• - How did those sentenced to death behave, how did they feel? (“The guards, having approached the pole, stopped and ... silently looked around them, as a downed beast looks at a suitable hunter.” “The factory could not go. suddenly fell silent ..., waiting for the bandage along with others and, like a shot animal, looked around him ... ". Let's pay attention to the nature of the repeated comparisons).
• - The fraternal bond between people is broken: some people have turned into "killed animals", and others? (In "hunters").
• - How do these "hunters" feel? ("There was smoke, and the French with pale faces and trembling hands were doing something by the pit." "One old mustachioed Frenchman was shaking his lower jaw...").
• - Why? What did everyone, without exception, understand, both those who executed and those who were executed? ("Everyone, obviously, undoubtedly knew that they were criminals who should have covered up the traces of their crime as soon as possible").
• - What question torments Pierre? ("But who does it in the end? They all suffer just like me. Who? Who?").

So it wasn't them, but someone else, or rather something else, that created this whole nightmare. Man is a sliver that is carried along by the flow of history.

How did this thought affect Pierre? ("From the moment Pierre saw this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do this, it was as if the spring on which everything rested was pulled out in his soul ... and everything fell into a heap of senseless rubbish").

But at this moment it is absolutely necessary in the development of Pierre. To accept new faith, it was necessary to disbelieve in the old beliefs, to abandon faith in human freedom. The whole scene of the execution, even more terrible than the scene of the Battle of Borodino (remember the description of burying the factory), was intended to show both Pierre and readers how man is powerless to change the inevitable fatal order established by someone other than him.

And right here...

Who does Pierre meet in captivity? (with a soldier, former peasant Platon Karataev).

We come to the ideological center of the novel. In Platon Karataev - the ultimate expression of Tolstoy's thoughts about boundaries of freedom and dependence. We must carefully read everything that is said about Platon Karataev. novel scene tolstoy

• - What is Pierre's first impression of Platon Karataev? (“Pierre felt something pleasant, soothing and round…”).
• - What had such an effect on Pierre that interested in this person? ("Round" movements, smell, Plato's busyness, completeness, coherence of movements).
• - What is the manner of Karataev's speech? (His language is folk).

Let's analyze together one of Platon Karataev's remarks (" -Eh, falcon, don't grieve, - he said with that softly melodious caress with which old Russian women speak. - Do not grieve, my friend: endure an hour, but live a century!"). What features of speech did you pay attention to? (colloquial; saturation with proverbs and sayings; manner of communication).

Work on options:

I option: vernacular, elements of folklore (“bude”, “important potatoes”, “hospital”, “self-sem”, “the yard is full of stomachs”, etc.).

Option II: proverbs and sayings (“To endure an hour, but to live a century”, “Ged is a court, it’s not true”, “The worm is worse than cabbage, but before that you disappear”, “Not by our mind, but by God’s judgment”, etc.). We will talk about the meaning of these sayings, but now we will only note the presence of these proverbs as a feature of Karataev's speech.

Option III: the manner of communicating with the interlocutor ("... he said with a tender, melodious affection ...", with a "restrained smile of affection", "he was upset that Pierre did not have parents").

He listened with equal interest and readiness to others and talked about himself. He immediately began to ask Pierre about life. For the first time (!) someone became interested not in the captive Bezukhov, but in the man Bezukhov. In Plato's voice - caress.

Describe the appearance of Karataev. (“When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato ... was round, his head was completely round, his back, chest, shoulders, even his arms, which he wore like always going to hug something, were round; a pleasant smile and big brown gentle eyes were round).

Once Natasha said about Pierre that he "quadrangular". Pierre is attracted by this "roundness" of Karataev. And Pierre himself must, as it were, "cut corners" in their attitude to life and also become "round", like Karataev.

What is the meaning of Karataev's story about how he got into the soldiers?

Everything will be done as it should, and everything will be for the best. He got into the soldiers illegally, but it turned out that a large brother's family benefited from this. Karataev expresses Tolstoy thought about the fact that the truth is in the rejection of one's "I" and in complete submission to fate. All Karataev's proverbs come down to this belief in the inevitability of doing what is destined, and this inevitable is the best.

• -"Yes, the worm is worse than cabbage, but before that you yourself disappear"- these are his thoughts about the war with the French. The French invasion is eating into Russia like a worm in a cabbage. But Karataev is sure that the worm disappears before the cabbage. This is the belief in the inevitability of God's judgment. Immediately in response to Pierre's request to clarify what this means, Plato answers "not with our mind, but with God's judgment."
• - In this saying - the basis of Karataevshchina: how less people thinks the better. The mind cannot influence the course of life. Everything will be done according to God's will.

If this philosophy is true (quietism), then you can not suffer from the fact that there is so much evil in the world. You just have to give up the idea of ​​changing anything in the world.

Tolstoy tries to prove it, but life refutes this philosophy.

• - How did this Karataev philosophy influence Pierre? (Pierre "felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations).
• - In what did Pierre find happiness now? (Happiness is now in the absence of suffering, the satisfaction of needs and "as a result, the freedom to choose occupations" ... "Satisfaction of needs - good food, cleanliness, freedom - now that he was deprived of all this, seemed to Pierre perfect happiness ...").

The thought that tries to lift a person above his immediate needs only brings confusion and uncertainty into the soul of a person. A person is not called to do more than that which concerns him personally. (To Pierre "... the thought did not come either about Russia, or about the war, or about politics, or about Napoleon"). A person must determine the boundaries of his freedom, says Tolstoy. And he wants to show that the freedom of man is not outside him, but in himself.

How does Pierre respond to the sentry's rude demand not to leave the ranks of the prisoners? ("And he spoke aloud to himself: - The soldier did not let me in. They caught me, locked me up. They keep me in captivity. Who am I? Me? Me - my immortal soul!").

Feeling inner freedom, becoming indifferent to the external flow of life. Pierre is in an extraordinary happy mood, the mood of a man who finally discovered the truth.

Surprisingly, it is in captivity that Pierre acquires peace of mind, which he had been looking for so long and unsuccessfully. It was here that he understood and realized with all his being that a person was created for happiness, and this happiness must be sought not somewhere, but in oneself. Realizing what the meaning of life is, Pierre was inwardly freed. Wherever he did not look for this meaning of life ... He was a philanthropist, a freemason, led a secular life, drank wine, heroized and sacrificed himself, was in love, thought, but did not come to any conclusion. And only the people's truth, the people's ability to live, which Platon Karataev revealed to the hero, helped him understand what the meaning of life is.

In the image of Karataev, the main thing is loyalty to oneself. He has his only spiritual truth and does not change it under any circumstances. For some time, Pierre also follows this principle.

Giving a characteristic state of mind Bezukhov during this period, Tolstoy inspired his hero with the idea of ​​the inner happiness of a person, which consists in complete spiritual freedom. Each person should be calm and peaceful, regardless of external circumstances. Such is the philosophy of Karataev. But, returning from captivity, Pierre still changes his view of the world. This philosophy influenced him, but by nature the hero cannot be calm, he needs a constant search. And in the epilogue of the novel, we see that Bezukhov chose his own path in life. He argues with Nikolai Rostov about the moral renewal of society, and we understand that this problem is very important to him. According to Pierre, active virtue can lead the country to new level development. But for this honest people should unite.

Pierre is happily married to Natasha, but he does not leave the public interest. Bezukhov is a member of a secret society. He is outraged by the situation in the country, theft, Arakcheevism. Pierre opposes all violence. He believes in the people and their strength. And Bezukhov considers moral self-improvement the only way to save Russia. According to the hero, every person should be capable of a selfless act and noble spiritual impulses, devotion in love, true patriotism. So was Pierre Bezukhov himself. He wanted every member of society to become more just and humane, natural and sincere, to strive for self-improvement.

Tolstoy believed that it was impossible to be calm, because. tranquility is a spiritual meanness. To be happy, you must constantly fight, make mistakes, fall, get up and fight again. Only in continuous movement is there life.

This part held Tolstoy's attention for a long time during the creation of an early edition of the novel. Much is told about Pierre: how his appearance changed, how Davout interrogated him (close to the completed text), what horror the execution of arsonists caused in Pierre. But almost nothing was known about the people who surrounded him in captivity. Only an old official, a five-year-old boy whom Pierre saved, and a neighbor soldier who taught Pierre to tie someone else's gray pantaloons with a rope around his ankles are mentioned. The captured soldier still does not stand out in any particular way and does not play a role in Pierre's life. Much later, he will be transformed into Platon Karataev, and in the early edition, Karataev's theme is barely outlined. It is described in detail how Ponchini's "secret friend" came to the booth to Pierre; outlined them barefoot yes. After a conversation with the Frenchman, Pierre “thought for a long time about Natasha, about how in the future he would devote his whole life to her, how happy he would be with her presence, and how little he knew how to appreciate life before.”

The scene of the interrogation and execution of the "arsonists" was close to the final text from the very beginning, not only in content, but also in text. The subject of the most intense work remained a deep upheaval in Pierre's mind, which took place after the "criminal murder" that he saw. The manuscripts say how long, and most importantly, Tolstoy worked excitedly on this.

On the same day, Pierre met and became close to fellow captives - soldiers, serfs and convicts, and in this rapprochement he found "interest, calmness and pleasure that he had not yet experienced." He enjoyed "a dinner of pickles," "warmly when he lay down next to an old soldier," "a clear day and the view of the sun and the Sparrow Hills seen from the booth's door." Pierre's "moral pleasures" are analyzed in even more detail: his soul is now "clear and pure", and those thoughts and feelings that previously seemed important to him were as if "washed away". He realized that "for the happiness of life, you only need to live without deprivation, suffering, without participation in the evil that people do, and without the spectacle of this suffering."

Tolstoy was looking for a long time how to start Pierre's acquaintance with Karataev, and, most importantly, how to accurately determine the impression that this acquaintance made on Pierre. At first, the scene in the booth was built differently than in the final version: the action did not develop in chronological order. Before telling about the situation and the people among whom Pierre found himself, the author reported on Pierre’s state in the “new partnership of prisoners”: he “felt for the first time that all those conditional barriers - birth, upbringing, moral habits, which until then alienated him from his comrades, were destroyed. And the most important thing that the author led Pierre to was also known in advance: “Before, Pierre tried to get closer to the people, but now he didn’t think about him with might and main; rapprochement from this became of itself and brought Pierre new pleasures that he had not experienced until now.

The execution of the "arsonists" was the strongest impetus for a change in Pierre's worldview. "He was executed, it seemed that he an old man, which Pierre tried so vainly to overcome in himself through Masonic exercises. It was now inhabited by "a new, different person."

The main idea in working on this part (when Tolstoy began preparing the volume for publication two years later) is to connect the impressions of Borodin and the impressions of captivity, to show how “in these four weeks of captivity, deprivation, humiliation, suffering and, most importantly, fear, Pierre experienced more than in his whole life, ”and how all the testers were reflected in his attitude to life, giving that calmness and self-satisfaction, to which he had vainly sought before. For a long time in his life he searched with different sides this calmness, agreement with oneself, that which so struck him in the soldiers in the battle of Borodino. He looked for it in philanthropy, in freemasonry, in scattering secular life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice in the typesetting manuscript added: “in romantic love to Natasha, ”he sought this by thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him. And he, without thinking about it, received this peace and this agreement with himself only through physical and moral suffering, after a terrible half hour, which he spent with imaginary arsonists on the Maiden's Field. With this introduction, the story of Pierre now began.

Tolstoy tried to reveal what was meant by the concept of "before": "during the battle and after in Moscow during the exit of the people beyond the Trekhgornaya Zastava", but immediately refused to interpret it - it is already clear what this "before" meant.

Having revealed his idea with an introduction, Tolstoy said that “out of 23 people of the most diverse characters and ranks: officers, soldiers, officials, who later presented themselves to Pierre in a fog, the non-commissioned officer of the Tomsk regiment, taken by the French in the hospital, remained forever in his memory, with whom he became especially close. This non-commissioned officer was called Platon Karataev. In Pierre's memoirs, he "remained the personification of everything Russian, kind, happy and round." Then an external portrait of Karataev is drawn and his spiritual appearance is defined as the ideal of the folk worldly wisdom. He was, writes Tolstoy, "like a living vessel, filled with the purest folk wisdom." The sayings with which Karataev’s speech was saturated from the first version were also “ for the most part sayings of that set of deep worldly wisdom by which the people live. Pierre “did not tell his life to anyone with such pleasure and details,

Pierre Bezukhov is one of Tolstoy's favorite characters. Pierre's life is a path of discovery and disappointment, a path of crisis and in many ways dramatic. Pierre is an emotional person. He is distinguished by a mind prone to dreamy philosophizing, distraction, weakness of will, lack of initiative, and exceptional kindness. The main feature of the hero is the search for calm, harmony with himself, the search for a life that would be in harmony with the needs of the heart and would bring moral satisfaction.

We first meet Pierre in Scherer's living room. The writer draws our attention to the appearance of the newcomer: a massive, fat young man with an intelligent and at the same time timid, observant and natural look that distinguished him from everyone in this living room. This is exactly how Pierre is depicted in Boklevsky's drawing: the illustrator emphasizes the same features in the portrait of the hero as Tolstoy. And if we recall the works of Shmarinov, then they convey more the state of mind of Pierre at one time or another: the illustrations of this artist help to understand the character more deeply, to catch him more clearly spiritual growth. A permanent portrait feature is the massive, fat figure of Pierre Bezukhov, which, depending on the circumstances, can be either clumsy or strong; can express both confusion, and anger, and kindness, and fury. In other words, Tolstoy's constant artistic detail each time acquires new, additional shades. What smile does Pierre have? Not the same as others. With him, on the contrary, when a smile came, his serious face suddenly disappeared and another appeared - childish, kind. In Pierre, there is a constant struggle between the spiritual and the sensual, the inner, moral essence of the hero contradicts the way of his life.

On the one hand, it is full of noble, freedom-loving thoughts, the origins of which date back to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Pierre is an admirer of Rousseau, Montesquieu, who fascinated him with the ideas of universal equality and the re-education of man. On the other hand, Pierre participates in banquets in the company of Anatole Kuragin, and here that riotous lordly beginning is manifested in him, the embodiment of which was once his father, Catherine's nobleman, Count Bezukhov. The sensual first prevails over the spiritual: he marries Helen, a stranger to him. This is one of milestones in the life of a hero. But Pierre is becoming more and more aware that real family he does not have that his wife is an immoral woman. Dissatisfaction grows in him, but not with others, but with himself. This is exactly what happens with real moral people. For their disorder, they consider it possible to execute only themselves. The explosion occurs at a dinner in honor of Bagration.

Pierre challenges Dolokhov, who insulted him, to a duel. But during the duel, seeing an enemy wounded by him lying on the snow, Pierre clutched his head and, turning back, went into the forest, walking entirely through the snow and aloud saying incomprehensible words: “Stupid ... stupid! Death... a lie...” he repeated, grimacing. Stupid and false - this again applies only to himself. After everything that happened to him, especially after the duel, Pierre seems meaningless to his whole life. He is going through a spiritual crisis: this is a strong dissatisfaction with himself and the desire to change his life associated with this, to build it on new, good principles.

Having broken with his wife, Pierre, on the way to Petersburg, in Torzhok, waiting for horses at the station, asks himself difficult (eternal) questions: What is bad? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? What power controls everything? Here he meets the freemason Bazdeev. At the moment of spiritual discord that Pierre was experiencing, Bazdeev seemed to him just the person he needed. Pierre is offered the path of moral improvement, and he accepts this path, because what he needs most now is to improve his life and himself. In moral purification for Pierre, as well as for Tolstoy in certain period, was the truth of Freemasonry, and, carried away by it, at first he did not notice what was a lie. Pierre shares his new ideas about life with Andrei Bolkonsky. Pierre is trying to transform the order of Freemasons, draws up a project in which he calls for activity, practical help to his neighbor, for the spread moral ideas in the name of the good of mankind all over the world ... However, the Masons resolutely reject Pierre's project, and he is finally convinced of the solidity of his suspicions that many of them were looking for a means of expanding their secular ties in Freemasonry, that Masons - these worthless people- they were not interested in the problems of goodness, love, truth, the good of mankind, but in uniforms and crosses, which they achieved in life.

A new spiritual upsurge is experienced by Pierre in connection with the popular patriotic upsurge during Patriotic War 1812. Not being a military man, he takes part in the Battle of Borodino. The landscape of the Borodino field before the start of the battle (bright sun, fog, distant forests, golden fields and copses, smoke from shots) correlates with Pierre's mood and thoughts, causing him some kind of elation, a sense of the beauty of the spectacle, the grandeur of what is happening. Through his eyes, Tolstoy conveys his understanding of the decisive in folk, historical life events.

Shocked by the behavior of the soldiers, Pierre himself shows courage and readiness for self-sacrifice. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the naivety of the hero - his decision to kill Napoleon. In one of the illustrations, Shmarinov conveys this trait well: Pierre is depicted dressed in a folk dress, which makes him awkward, gloomy and concentrated. On the way, approaching the main apartment of the French, he commits noble deeds: saves a girl from a burning house, stands up for civilians who were robbed by French marauders. With regard to Pierre ordinary people and to nature, the author's moral and aesthetic criterion of the beautiful in man is once again manifested: Tolstoy finds it in a merger with the people and nature.

Decisive for Pierre is his meeting with a soldier, a former peasant Platon Karataev, who, according to Tolstoy, personifies the masses. This meeting meant for the hero familiarization with the people, folk wisdom, even closer rapprochement with ordinary people. In captivity, Pierre finds this calmness and self-satisfaction, to which he had vainly sought before. Here he learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness lies in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs ... Introduction to people's truth, To folk skill living helps Pierre's inner liberation, always looking for a solution to the question of the meaning of life: he looked for this in philanthropy, in freemasonry, in scattered secular life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha; he sought it by way of thought, and all these searches and attempts, all deceived him. And finally, with the help of Karataev, this issue is resolved. The most essential thing in Karataev is loyalty and immutability. Loyalty to yourself, your only and constant spiritual truth. Pierre follows this for a while.

In characterizing the state of mind of the hero at this time, Tolstoy develops his ideas about the inner happiness of a person, which consists in complete spiritual freedom, peace and tranquility, independent of external circumstances. However, having experienced the influence of Karataev's philosophy, Pierre, having returned from captivity, did not become a Karataev, non-resistance. By the very nature of his character, he was incapable of accepting life without seeking. Having learned the truth of Karataev, Pierre in the epilogue of the novel already underway in their own way. His dispute with Nikolai Rostov proves that Bezukhov faces the problem of the moral renewal of society. Active virtue, according to Pierre, can lead the country out of the crisis. It is necessary to unite honest people.

Happy family life(married to Natasha Rostova) does not take Pierre away from public interests. He becomes a member of a secret society. Pierre speaks with indignation about the reaction that has come in Russia, about Arakcheevism, theft. At the same time, he understands the strength of the people and believes in them. With all this, the hero strongly opposes violence. In other words, for Pierre, the path of moral self-improvement remains decisive in the reorganization of society. Intense intellectual search, the ability to selfless deeds, high spiritual impulses, nobility and devotion in love (relationship with Natasha), true patriotism, the desire to make society more just and humane, truthfulness and naturalness, the desire for self-improvement make Pierre one of the best people his time.

I would like to finish the essay with the words of Tolstoy, which explain a lot in the fate of the writer and his favorite heroes: in order to live honestly, one must tear, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit, and start again and quit again, and forever fight and lose. And peace is a spiritual meanness.

To the question THE MAIN PROBLEM RAISED IN THE EPISODE OF PIERRE BEZUKHOV'S CAPTIVITY "WAR AND PEACE" asked by the author Eurovision the best answer is Pierre experiences great spiritual uplift in connection with the popular patriotic movement during the Patriotic War of 1812. Not being a military man, he takes part in the Battle of Borodino. The landscape of the Borodino field before the start of the battle (bright sun, fog, distant forests, golden fields and copses, smoke from shots) correlates with Pierre's mood and thoughts, causing him some kind of elation, a sense of the beauty of the spectacle, the grandeur of what is happening. Through his eyes, Tolstoy conveyed his understanding of the decisive events in the national, historical life.
Shocked by the behavior of the soldiers, Pierre himself shows courage and readiness for self-sacrifice. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the naivety of the hero: his decision to beat Napoleon. On the way, approaching the main apartment of the French, Pierre does noble deeds: he saves a girl from a burning house, stands up for civilians who were robbed by French marauders. In Pierre's attitude to ordinary people and to nature, the author's moral and aesthetic criterion of beauty in man once again manifested itself. Tolstoy saw him in fusion with the people and nature.
Decisive for Pierre is his meeting with a soldier, a former peasant Platon Karataev, who, according to Tolstoy, personifies the masses. This meeting meant for the hero familiarization with the people, folk wisdom, even closer rapprochement with ordinary people.
In captivity, Pierre finds peace and contentment with himself, to which he had vainly sought before. Here he learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness lies in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs ... Initiation to the people's truth, to the people's ability to live helps Pierre's inner liberation, always looking for solutions the question of the meaning of life: he sought this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the dispersion of secular life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha; he sought it by way of thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him. And finally, with the help of Karataev, this issue is resolved.
The most essential thing in Karataev is loyalty to oneself, one's only and constant spiritual truth. For a while, Pierre follows this. In characterizing the state of mind of the hero at this time, Tolstoy developed his ideas about the inner happiness of a person, which consists in complete spiritual freedom, tranquility and peace, independent of external circumstances. However, having experienced the influence of Karataev's philosophy, Pierre, having returned from captivity, did not become a Karataev, non-resistance. By the very nature of his character, he was incapable of accepting life without seeking. Having learned the truth of Karataev, Pierre in the epilogue of the novel is already going his own way. His dispute with Nikolai Rostov proves that Bezukhov faces the problem of the moral renewal of society. Active virtue, according to Pierre, can lead the country out of the crisis. It is necessary to unite honest people.
A happy family life in marriage with Natasha Rostova does not take Pierre away from public interests. He becomes a member of a secret society. Pierre speaks with indignation about the reaction that has come in Russia, about Arakcheevism, theft. At the same time, he understands the strength of the people and believes in them. With all this, the hero strongly opposes violence. In other words, for Pierre, the path of moral self-improvement remains decisive in the reorganization of society. Intense intellectual search, the ability to selfless deeds, high spiritual impulses, nobility and devotion in love, true patriotism, the desire to make society more just and humane, truthfulness and naturalness, the desire for self-improvement make Pierre one of the best people of his time.
Lina
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Answer from Yotas Stepanov[master]
First, Pierre defends ideas french revolution, admires Napoleon, wants to either “create a republic in Russia, or be Napoleon himself ...” Having not yet found the meaning of life, Pierre rushes about, and because of his naivety, gullibility, and inability to understand people, he makes mistakes. One of these mistakes was his marriage to Helen Kuragina. By this thoughtless act, Pierre deprives himself of any hope of happiness. He realizes that he does not have a real family. Pierre grows dissatisfied with himself. He disagrees with his wife, gives her a significant share of his fortune, after which he seeks to find application for his strengths and abilities in other areas of life.
Having broken with his wife, Pierre, on the way to Petersburg, waiting for horses at the station in Torzhok, asks himself difficult questions: “What is wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live, and what am I ... "The search for truth and the meaning of life leads him to the Masons. He passionately desires "to regenerate the vicious human race." In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of “equality, brotherhood and love”, it gives the hero the belief that there should be a kingdom of goodness and truth in the world, and the highest happiness of a person is to strive to achieve them. Therefore, Pierre Bezukhov begins to search for opportunities to translate fair and humane ideas into a concrete case.
First of all, he decides to alleviate the fate of the serfs. He sympathizes with them and makes sure that the punishments are only exhortations, and not corporal, so that the peasants are not burdened with overwork, and hospitals, shelters and schools are established in each estate. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: "And only now, when I ... try ... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life." This conclusion helps Pierre to find real way in his further searches. But soon disappointment sets in in Freemasonry, since Pierre's republican ideas were not shared by his "brothers", and besides, Pierre sees that hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and careerism exist among Freemasons. All this leads Pierre to a break with the Masons and to the fact that he finds himself in a dead end in life and plunges into a state of hopeless longing and despair.
"For what? For what? What is going on in the world? ”- these questions did not cease to disturb Bezukhov. This never ending inner work prepared his spiritual revival during the Patriotic War of 1812. Not being a military man, like Andrei Bolkonsky, wanting to share the fate of the country, to express his love for the fatherland, Pierre takes part in the battle of Borodino. He forms a regiment at his own expense, takes it to support, and himself remains in Moscow to kill Napoleon as the main culprit of national disasters. And it is here that we see how Pierre's kindness is fully revealed. He cannot see numerous human dramas, while remaining a passive witness, and therefore, not thinking about his own safety, he protects a woman, stands up for a madman, saves a child from a burning house. There is a collapse of Pierre's faith in the just structure of the world, in man and God.
As a result of communication with Platon Karataev, Pierre finds “that calmness and contentment with himself, to which he vainly aspired before”, he “... learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, that a person was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs…” Pierre Bezukhov was always looking for an answer to the question: “What is the meaning of life? "He was looking for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the distraction of secular life, in wine, in the heroic deed of self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha. He was looking for this by thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him. The hero naturally comes to the ideas of the Decembrists, enters into secret society in order to fight against everything that interferes with life, humiliates the honor and dignity of a person.
At the end of the novel, we see