Pierre in captivity (Analysis of an episode from Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", vol. IV, part I, ch. XI, XII.)

Returning from captivity, Pierre for the first time experienced a feeling of incomprehension of the joys and sorrows of other people.
“On the day of his release, he saw the corpse of Petya Rostov. On the same day, he learned that Prince Andrei had been alive for more than a month after the battle of Borodino and had only recently died in Yaroslavl, in the Rostov house. And on the same day Denisov, who reported this news to Pierre , between conversations, mentioned the death of Helene, suggesting that Pierre had already known this for a long time. He felt that he could not understand the meaning of all this news. "
But for Pierre, this strange feeling was a step towards rebirth, towards that new life that in twelve years would lead him to Senate Square.
Why did he become a different person in captivity? It can be assumed that suffering cleansed his soul, but we know that his soul was pure before, and earlier he aspired to goodness and truth. What enriched his captivity? The first days in captivity, under arrest, were painful for Pierre, not so much physically as spiritually. He felt like a stranger among those arrested: "... all of them, recognizing a gentleman in Pierre, were alienated from him2. He had never been so unfree: not because he was locked in a guardhouse, but because he could not understand what was happening and "felt insignificant a chip that fell under the wheels of an unknown to him, but correctly operating machine.
At first he was interrogated by a whole commission, and he understood that "the only purpose of this meeting was to accuse him." Then he appeared before Marshal Davout, who "for Pierre was not just a French general; for Pierre Davout was a man known for his cruelty ".
Tolstoy does not portray Pierre as a proud hero; he spoke to Marshal Davout "in an unoffended, but pleading voice", told him his name, although he had hidden it until now, and, remembering Ramblai, "named his regiment and surname", in the hope that Ramblai would inquire about him. But all this could not help him. "Davout raised his eyes and looked intently at Pierre. For a few seconds they looked at each other, and this look saved Pierre ... Both of them at that moment vaguely felt countless things and realized that they were both children of humanity, that they were brothers." Perhaps Davout saw in Pierre's eyes not only fear, but also the strength of the personality, which was created by spiritual work invisible from the outside.
After the execution of the arsonists, Pierre was attached to the prisoners of war and spent four weeks in a soldier's barracks, although the French offered him to move to an officer's barracks. He "experienced almost the extreme limits of deprivation that a person can endure"; but it was in this month that he understood something very important, the most important thing for himself - for his spiritual life this month was happy. After the execution, Pierre for the first time with great strength felt that his faith in the improvement of the world had collapsed. "Before, when Pierre was found of this kind doubts - doubts these had their own guilt as a source ... But now he felt that it was not his fault that the world collapsed in his eyes ... "But only here, in captivity, Pierre realized that the world needed to be improved, and not just himself.
The strongest of all Pierre's impressions is his meeting with a captured soldier of the Apsheron regiment Platon Karataev. For Tolstoy, Karataev is the embodiment of a folk, natural way of life: round, kind person with soothing neat movements, able to do everything "he is very good, but not bad either."
Karataev does not think about anything: he lives like a bird, as inwardly free in captivity as in freedom; every evening he says: "Lay, Lord, with a pebble, raise it with a ball"; every morning: "lay down, curled up, got up, shook himself" - and nothing worries him, except for the simplest natural needs of a person, he rejoices in everything, he knows how to find the bright side in everything. His peasant warehouse, his jokes, kindness became for Pierre "the personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth." But after all, Karataev could not in any way instill in Pierre's soul the desire to improve the world. Two of Plato's favorite stories: one about how he was sent to the army for chopping someone else's forest and how it turned out well, because otherwise his younger brother would have to go, and he has five guys, and the other about an old merchant who was accused of murder and a robbery, and after many years the real killer, having met him at hard labor, took pity on the old man and confessed his guilt, but by the time the papers for release arrived, the old man had already died.
Both of these stories evoke delight and joy of Karataev, but both of them are about humility, about how a person got used to cruelty and injustice.
Having met Karataev in the most difficult days of his life, Pierre learned a lot from him. The kindness of Karataev, the ability to easily endure life's difficulties, his naturalness, truthfulness - all this attracts Pierre. But "attachment, friendship, love, as Pierre understood, Karataev did not have any"; he lived among people, in fact, alone, resigning himself to the surrounding evil - and in the end this evil killed him: French soldiers shot Karataev when he was weak and could not go along with all the prisoners. Pierre will remember Karataev for the rest of his life - as the embodiment of kindness and simplicity.
But at the same time, Pierre will overcome Karataev's humility, from the bitter days of captivity he will make his own discovery: a person can become stronger than the surrounding cruelty, he can be internally free, no matter how offended and humiliated by external circumstances.
Therefore, during the painful transition after French army when many prisoners died on the road and Pierre's fate could also be decided by a shot french soldier, he was at one of the halts, sitting alone on the cold ground, suddenly "laughed his thick, good-natured laugh so loudly that with different parties People looked around in surprise at this strange, apparently lonely laughter.
“Ha, ha, ha!” Pierre laughed. And he said aloud to himself: - The soldier did not let me in. Caught me, locked me up. I am being held captive. Whom me? .. Me - my immortal soul! Ha, ha, ha! .. ... Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the departing, playing stars. “And all this is mine. And all this is mine, and all this is me!” thought Pierre. “And they caught all this and put it in a booth fenced with boards!” He smiled and went to bed with his comrades.
Perhaps that new, spiritual life of Pierre grew out of this feeling of inner freedom, which Natasha immediately noticed: “He became some kind of clean, smooth, fresh; just like from a bath; you understand? - morally from a bath.” But outwardly, Pierre changed a lot during his captivity. “He no longer seemed fat, although he still had the same kind of largeness and strength, hereditary in their breed ... The expression of his eyes was firm, calm and animatedly ready, such as Pierre’s gaze had never had before. His former licentiousness, expressed and in the look, has now been replaced by an energetic, ready for action and rebuff-selection.
In the first days of captivity, Pierre's torments were aggravated by the fact that his comrades in the barracks shunned him: he is a gentleman! But now Pierre remained a gentleman, and his comrades in the barracks put him in the position of "almost a hero." Then, in the beginning, these people despised her. Now their respect is caused by Pierre's composure and "his strength, disregard for the comforts of life, absent-mindedness, simplicity" - all those aspects of his character that were laughed at in the world turned out to be virtues here. The story of Pierre's spiritual renewal is very important discovery Tolstoy, and after him we, reading War and Peace, make this discovery for ourselves. People from weak characters often tend to attribute all their failures to circumstances. But Pierre - in the most difficult, painful circumstances of captivity - had the strength to make a huge spiritual work, and she brought him that very feeling of inner freedom, which he could not find when he was rich, owned houses and estates, had a manager and dozens of people serving him. So it's not the circumstance, it's the mental stamina and the power of man himself. But after the moral upsurge experienced in captivity, Pierre experienced spiritual devastation and felt that he could not understand the joys and sorrows of other people. The shocks experienced by Pierre were too strong. The memory of the look of Karataev, who was sitting under a tree, is still alive in him - before he was shot, he looked at Pierre "with his kind round eyes", but Pierre did not come up: he was afraid for himself.
Then he did not allow himself to fully understand that Karataev would now be killed - having heard the shot, both he and his captive comrade did not look back and continued on their way, although "a stern expression lay on all faces." Gradually, inner work committed in captivity begins to bear fruit. The new thing that he brought from captivity was "a smile joys of life", which he now appreciated, and the fact that "in his eyes shone concern for people - the question is: are they happy just like he is?"
On the day of execution, Pierre realized: all the people who were killed before his eyes, "some knew what their life was for them ..." Now he has learned to appreciate this unique and incomprehensible life of each person - he is ready for what he dreamed of from youth: he can become a support, protector, leader of other people, because he has learned to respect them inner world no less than your own.

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. The French troops were located in "two fronts", the arsonists were placed "in 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 a 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 person who finally discovered the truth.

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. Main feature hero - the search for peace, harmony with oneself, 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 Age of Enlightenment and 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 grabbed his head and, turning back, went into the forest, walking entirely in 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 wrong? 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 dissemination of moral ideas for the good of humanity throughout the world ... However, the Masons resolutely reject Pierre's project, and he is finally convinced of the validity of his suspicions about that many of them were looking for in Freemasonry a means of expanding their secular connections, that the 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 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 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 life helps Pierre's inner liberation, who was always looking for a solution to the question of the meaning of life: he sought this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in an absent-minded secular life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love to 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 the characteristic state of mind the hero at this time, Tolstoy develops 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 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. Consolidation needed 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.

Pierre Bezukhov is looking for an answer to the question: what to do, what great and necessary practical work to apply his strength to, what to devote his life to. Pierre differs from the people of the aristocratic circle by the independence of his views. In Scherer's salon, he feels like a complete stranger. Not seeing his place in life, not knowing what to do with huge forces, Pierre leads wild life in the company of Dolokhov and Kuragin. He understands that such a life is not for him, that he must break out of this habitual cycle of life, but he does not have enough strength for this.

He cannot immediately correctly assess people and therefore often makes mistakes in them. He is sincere, trusting, weak-willed. These character traits are clearly manifested in the relationship with the depraved Helen Kuragina. Soon after the marriage, Pierre realized his mistake, realized that he had been deceived, and "processed his grief alone in himself." After breaking up with his wife, being in a state of deep crisis, he enters into Masonic Lodge. Pierre sees that it is here that he "will find a rebirth to a new life." Under the influence of Masonic ideas, Bezukhov decides to free the serfs belonging to him. This fails, but still he somehow tries to make life easier for his slaves. Doing good to people, Pierre is sure that this is the meaning of his life. However, after some time, he is also disappointed in the "brotherhood of free masons", where self-interest and dishonesty also reign.

The storm of 1812 made a sharp revolution in Pierre's worldview. The war brings him out of the insignificant environment, the established habits that bound and suppressed him. The field of the battle of Borodino opens up a new, previously unfamiliar world to Pierre ordinary people. Surrounded by soldiers, he is freed from the fear of death, he wants to become just like them. "To be a soldier, just a soldier!"

Left in Moscow, Pierre is captured. There he had to endure all the horrors of a military court, the execution of Russian soldiers. Acquaintance in captivity with Platon Karataev contributes to the formation of a new outlook on life. "... Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the strongest and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round."

It is worth saying that Platon Karataev is the favorite image of Tolstoy himself. After returning from captivity, Bezukhov changed a lot internally. Having married Natasha, Pierre feels happy. But he cares public problems. He believes that political oppression, the plight of society can be overcome by the efforts of honest people who must be connected with each other.

But the feeling of complete harmony for such an intelligent and inquisitive person as Pierre is impossible without participation in specific useful activities aimed at achieving high purpose- the very harmony that cannot exist in a country where the people are in the position of a slave. Therefore, Pierre naturally comes to Decembristism, entering into secret society in order to fight against everything that interferes with life, humiliates the honor and dignity of a person. This struggle becomes the meaning of his life, but does not make him a fanatic who, for the sake of an idea, consciously renounces the joys of life. We see at the end of the novel happy person, which one good family, faithful and devoted wife who loves and is loved. Thus, it is Pierre Bezukhov who achieves spiritual harmony with the world and himself in War and Peace. It goes all the way hard way searches for the meaning of life and finds it, becoming advanced, progressive man of his era.