An essay on the topic “The spiritual quest of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov in Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace. The life quests of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov The life of Andrei and Pierre

Pierre Bezukhov At the beginning of the novel, we see a massive young man with an intelligent, timid and observant look. Pierre Bezukhov is emotional, gentle, easily influenced by others, he stands out among other visitors to the secular salon with his naturalness, sincerity, simplicity, liveliness. The writer shows us it in constant motion, in doubts and searches, in continuous internal development. 2

In the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. Pierre Bezukhov acts as an ardent defender of Napoleon. His thoughts are confused, his words are inaccurate, but his sympathies are obviously on the side of the French emperor, who “is great because he has risen above the revolution, suppressed its abuses, retaining all that is good - both the equality of citizens, and freedom of speech and the press - and only for this reason has he acquired power » . Pierre is ready to forgive a lot of his idol, because his essence is hidden and unclear to him. He finds excuses for Napoleon's crimes. Pierre, who dared to defend Napoleon in a circle of people who were monarchist and therefore hated the French usurper, was attacked in unison. He is rescued by Prince Andrei, ending the dispute with a conciliatory phrase: “Napoleon, as a man, is great on the Arkol bridge, in a hospital in Jaffa, where he gives a hand to the plague, but ... there are other actions that are difficult to justify.” 3

Finding yourself, your purpose and the meaning of life. Rampant life in the company of Dolokhov. Friendship with Andrei Bolkonsky. Attention to the father, relatives. Unwillingness to marry.

Duel with Dolokhov. Of course, one of the tests of Pierre is a duel with Dolokhov. The count thinks that Dolokhov and his wife Helen are lovers, and after a toast uttered by his "enemy": "To the health of beautiful women and their lovers", Bezukhov realizes that his suspicions are not in vain. Pierre challenges the offender to a duel, but he does it uncertainly, timidly, you might even think that the words: “You ... you ... scoundrel !. . I challenge you ... ”- they inadvertently escaped from him. He does not realize what this fight can lead to, and the seconds do not realize this either: Nesvitsky - Pierre's second, Nikolai Rostov - Dolokhova. 5

The state of the duelists before the duel, Pierre “looks like a man busy with some considerations that have nothing to do with the upcoming case. His haggard face is yellow. He, apparently, did not sleep at night. ” Dolokhov On the eve of the duel, he sits all night in the club, listening to gypsies and songwriters. He is confident in himself, in his abilities, goes with the firm intention of killing his opponent, but this is only an appearance, he has anxiety in his soul. 6

Despite the refusal to reconcile, the duel does not begin for a long time because of the unconsciousness of the act, which Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy characterizes as follows: “For about three minutes everything was already ready, and yet they hesitated to start. Everyone was silent." The indecision of the characters is also conveyed by the description of nature: fog and thaw. Began. Dolokhov, when they began to disperse, walked slowly, his mouth had a semblance of a smile, he is aware of his superiority and wants to show that he is not afraid of anything. Pierre, on the other hand, walks quickly, straying off the beaten track, he seems to be trying to escape, to finish everything as soon as possible. Perhaps that is why he shoots first, while at random, shuddering from a strong sound, and injures his opponent. Pierre is absolutely not ready for the role of "judge" and "executioner" at the same time, he repents of what happened, thanks God that he did not kill Dolokhov. 7

“At the word“ three ”, Pierre went forward with a quick step ... he held the pistol, stretching his right hand forward, apparently afraid that he would kill himself from this pistol. He diligently put his left hand back ... After walking six steps and straying off the path into the snow, Pierre looked at his feet, again quickly looked at Dolokhov and, pulling his finger, as he was taught, fired ... "there was no return shot. “... Dolokhov's hurried steps were heard ... With one hand he held on to his left side ...” Having fired, Dolokhov missed. Pierre does not understand anything, he is full of remorse and regret, barely holding back his sobs, clutching his head, goes back somewhere into the forest, that is, he runs away from what he has done, from his fear. Dolokhov, on the other hand, does not regret anything, does not think about himself, about his pain, but is afraid for his mother, whom he causes suffering.

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. It seems to me that 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. 9

Meeting with Bazdeev Truth for Pierre and Andrey is a path that goes through a series of crises and rebirths, consisting in a sequence of losses and gains. Pierre arrived at the station in Torzhok unhappy, not seeing the meaning of life, but left it a joyful person who had found the purpose of life. It is no coincidence that this change occurs precisely at the station. This is a kind of crossroads: Pierre chooses the path along which he will go further, asks himself difficult questions: “What is bad? What is good? What should I love, what should I hate? the meaning of life lead him to the freemason Bazdeev, who, knowing about his misfortunes, offers him help. 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. 10

First of all, he decides to alleviate the fate of the serfs. He sympathizes with them and sees to it that corporal punishment is abolished, that the peasants are not weighed down by overwork, and that hospitals, shelters and schools are established on every estate. It seems to him that he has finally found the meaning of life: “And only now, when I. . . trying. . . live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life. "This conclusion helps Pierre find the real path 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 he sees that there is hypocrisy and careerism among the Masons as well.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.

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 lunatic, saves a child from a burning house. Before his eyes, violence and arbitrariness are being committed, people accused of arson, which they did not commit, are being executed. All these terrible and painful impressions are further aggravated by the atmosphere of captivity, where Pierre's faith in the just structure of the world, in man and God, collapses. 12

“From the moment Pierre saw this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do this, it was as if in his soul that spring was suddenly pulled out, on which everything was supported and seemed to be alive, and everything fell into a heap of senseless rubbish. In him, although he did not realize himself, faith was destroyed in the improvement of the world, and in the human, and in his soul, and in God. Pierre met in the barracks for prisoners with a simple Russian soldier Platon Karataev, who helped him return to faith in life. Plato's speech is simple and uncomplicated, it cannot be compared with the clever deep reasoning of Bazdeev or Pierre himself when he expounded his faith to Bolkonsky. 13

Karataev says banal well-known things, his speech consists mainly of sayings and proverbs. But for Pierre, he was "an incomprehensible round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth." After the first meeting with Plato, Pierre "felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations."

At the end of the novel, we see a happy man who has a good family, a faithful and devoted wife who loves and is loved. Thus, it is Pierre Bezukhov who, in War and Peace, achieves spiritual harmony with the outside world and with himself. 15

Andrei Bolkonsky In the artistic world of Tolstoy there are heroes who persistently and purposefully seek the meaning of life, striving for complete harmony with the world. They are not interested in secular intrigues, selfish interests, empty talk in high-society salons. They are easily recognizable among haughty, self-satisfied faces. These, of course, include one of the most striking images of "War and Peace" - Andrei Bolkonsky. True, the first acquaintance with this hero does not cause much sympathy, because his handsome face "with definite and dry features" spoils the expression of boredom and discontent. Prince Andrei, who, in addition to intelligence and education, has a strong will, decisively changes his life, having entered the service of the headquarters of the commander in chief. Bolkonsky dreams of heroism and glory, but his desires are far from vanity, for they are caused by the desire for the victory of Russian weapons, for the common good. Possessing hereditary pride, Andrei unconsciously separates himself from the world of ordinary people. 16

The feat accomplished by him during the battle of Austerlitz, when he runs ahead of everyone with a banner in his hands, is full of external effect: even Napoleon noticed and appreciated him. But why, having committed a heroic deed, Andrei does not experience any delight and spiritual uplift? Probably because at the moment when he fell, seriously wounded, a new high truth was revealed to him along with a high endless sky that spread a blue vault over him. Against his background, all former dreams and aspirations seemed to Andrei petty and insignificant, the same as the former idol. There was a reassessment of values ​​in his soul. What seemed to him beautiful and sublime turned out to be empty and vain. And what he so diligently fenced himself off from - a simple and quiet family life - now seems to him desirable, full of happiness and harmony. “Above him there was nothing but the sky - a high sky, not clear, but still immeasurably high, with gray clouds quietly creeping over it .... “How could I not have seen this lofty sky before? And how happy I am that I finally recognized him, 17 thought Prince Andrei.

It is not known how Bolkonsky's life would have turned out with his wife. But when, “having risen from the dead,” he returned home kinder and gentler, a new blow fell upon him - the death of his wife, before whom he could not make amends. After that Andrey goes to Bogucharovo. Andrey Bolkonsky's occupations: - construction; - raising a son with his father and Princess Mary; - service for the collection of the militia under the command of the father. The discovery of the wealth of a peaceful life - without ambitious plans, in the family, at home, among loved ones. Happiness comes (incomplete - remorse in front of a wife who died in childbirth). Prince Andrey turns out to be attentive, gentle and touching in communication with his father, sister, son Nikolenka. In his soul, the natural needs of love and kindness lurk. But active, active by nature, Prince Andrei lives in a closed world. Therefore he suffers. “Extinct, dead look”, in a smile “concentration and death”. 18

Changes in Andrei's difficult state of mind begin with the arrival of Pierre, who, seeing the oppressed mood of his friend, tries to inspire him with faith in the existence of a kingdom of goodness and truth, which should exist on earth. Andrey's final resurrection to life is due to his meeting with Natasha Rostova. The description of the moonlit night and Natasha's first ball exudes poetry and charm. Communication with her opens up a new sphere of life for Andrey - love, beauty, poetry. But it is with Natasha that he is not destined to be happy, because there is no complete understanding between them. Natasha loves Andrei, but does not understand and does not know him. And she, too, remains a mystery to him with her own, special inner world. If Natasha lives every moment, unable to wait and postpone the moment of happiness until a certain time, then Andrei is able to love at a distance, finding a special charm in anticipation of the upcoming wedding with his girlfriend. The separation turned out to be too difficult a test for Natasha, because, unlike Andrei, she is not able to think about something else, to occupy herself with some kind of business. The story of Anatole Kuragin destroys the possible happiness of these heroes. Proud and proud Andrei is unable to forgive Natasha for her mistake. And she, experiencing painful remorse, considers herself unworthy of such a noble, ideal person. Fate separates loving people, leaving bitterness and pain of disappointment in their souls. 19

When Napoleon entered the borders of Russia and began to rapidly move forward, Andrei Bolkonsky, who hated the war after being seriously wounded near Austerlitz, goes to the active army, refusing to serve safely and promisingly at the headquarters of the commander in chief. Commanding a regiment, the proud aristocrat Bolkonsky draws closer to the soldier-peasant mass, learns to appreciate and respect the common people. If at first Prince Andrei tried to arouse the courage of the soldiers by walking under the bullets, then, when he saw them in battle, he realized that he had nothing to teach them. He begins to look at the peasants in soldier's overcoats as patriotic heroes who courageously and staunchly defended their Fatherland. Andrei Bolkonsky comes to the conclusion that the success of the army does not depend on the position, weapons or number of troops, but on the feeling that is in him and in every soldier. This means that he believes that the mood of the soldiers, the general morale of the troops are a decisive factor for the outcome of the battle. But still, the complete unity of Prince Andrei with the common people did not happen. No wonder Tolstoy introduces a seemingly insignificant episode about how the prince wanted to swim on a hot day, but because of his squeamish attitude towards the soldiers floundering in the pond, he was never able to fulfill his intention. Andrei himself is ashamed of his feelings, but cannot overcome him. 20

The death of Prince Andrei It is symbolic that at the moment of his mortal wound Andrei feels a great craving for a simple earthly life, but immediately thinks about why it is so sad to part with it. This struggle between earthly passions and an ideal coldish love for people is especially aggravated before his death. Having met Natasha and forgiving her, he feels a surge of vitality, but this quivering and warm feeling is replaced by some kind of unearthly detachment, which is incompatible with life and means death. Thus, revealing in Andrei Bolkonsky many remarkable features of a patriotic nobleman. Tolstoy cuts off his path of searching with a heroic death for the sake of saving the fatherland. And to continue this search for higher spiritual values, which remained unattainable for Andrei, is destined in the novel to his friend and like-minded Pierre Bezukhov. “Is this death? thought the prince, and at the same time remembered that they were looking at him. An explosion was heard, the whistle of fragments, and Prince Andrei rushed to the side and, raising his hand, fell on his chest. He was wounded in the stomach. 21

During his illness, he relentlessly thought about life and death. His spiritual path continued, he was looking for the last truth that would reconcile him with death. Tolstoy conveyed the thoughts that his hero came to shortly before his death. These are thoughts about love, about God, about eternity. They are very important, they are comforting for Prince Andrei. Prince Andrei's new and final knowledge is special knowledge and is not expressed in a word. But it is manifested by the immediate reality of the actions of the hero's life as he leaves this world. The death of Prince Andrei convinces those close to him present that he has learned the truth. But not everyone who was next to him, but only those closest to him, whose love for him allowed them to penetrate the essence of what was happening: Natasha and Princess Mary. 22

As you know, initially L.N. Tolstoy conceived a novel about a Decembrist who returns from hard labor to post-reform Russia. But the writer decided to talk about the Decembrist uprising in order to identify the reasons for this event for the fate of the motherland. However, this event also required him to turn to the origins of Decembrism - the Patriotic War of 1812.

The writer himself said that it was impossible for him to talk about the time of Russian victories without referring to the era of "shame and defeat" - the war of 1805-1807. This is how the novel "War and Peace" appeared. As can be seen from this story, the novel originally had one hero - Pierre Bezukhov.

Images of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace"

The image of Andrei Bolkonsky appeared from the scene of the death of a young officer on the Austrelitz field. So, in "War and Peace" there are two positive characters who are close to the author and in many respects comprehend the events as the author comprehended them.

Prince Andrei appears on the pages of the novel as an already established person: he is an officer, leads a secular life, is married, but

"the life he leads is not according to him."

By this he explains the reason for his desire to go to war. We know almost nothing about the hero’s childhood, but, knowing his father, the old Prince Bolkonsky, we can say with confidence that the upbringing of Prince Andrei was harsh, he most likely did not know the caresses of his mother. But at the same time, from his father, he inherited a great sense of duty, patriotism, loyalty to a given word, aversion to falsehood and lies.

We also know little about Pierre's childhood. The fact that he is the illegitimate son of a large Catherine nobleman leaves an imprint on his fate. Pierre returns from abroad, where he was brought up. Foreign education laid in him a humanistic approach to the problems of mankind. We get to know the characters at the evening of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. Both Pierre and Andrei stand out from all those present at the evening:

• Andrey - by the fact that he is frankly bored, he only fulfills the duty of a secular person,
• and Pierre - by the fact that he naively violates the established order with sincerity and naturalness. Pierre knows life poorly and has a poor understanding of people.

The world of Tolstoy's heroes is the world of the patriarchal nobility. The writer is trying to understand the position of the best representatives of the noble intelligentsia.

Both Pierre and Andrey are characterized by:

• painful thoughts about the purpose of life,
• thoughts about the fate of the motherland,
• nobility, sincerity,
• awareness of the unity of one's destiny and the destiny of the people and the motherland.

The attitude of the writer to the war is expressed by Prince Andrei in a conversation with Pierre before the Battle of Borodino:

"War is the most disgusting thing in the world."

Tolstoy leads each of the heroes on a painful search for truth. It is fundamentally important that the writer is not afraid to show the mistakes and failures of the characters.

The life path of Prince Andrei

• aversion to social life (“... this life is not for me”, the author’s characteristic: “He read everything, knew everything, had a concept about everything”)

• war of 1805-1807, dreams of glory (“I want glory, I want to be known to people, I want to be loved by them”)
• the sky of Austerlitz (“Yes! Everything is empty, everything is a lie, except for this endless sky ...”)
• life in the Bald Mountains, raising a son (Live in such a way as not to harm others, live for yourself)
• rebirth to life: a conversation with Pierre on the ferry, a night in Otradnoye, an oak (“It is necessary that everyone knows me, so that my life goes not for me alone ...”)
• rapprochement and break with Speransky - love for Natasha and break with her - (“I can’t forgive”)
• Patriotic war of 1812, unity with the people, wound, search for eternity, forgiveness of enemies (Kuragin) - love for ("I love you more, better than before") - the discovery of eternity.

The most important thing that the reader takes out of the fate of Andrei Bolkonsky is that the knowledge of truth requires a person to renounce individualism and selfishness, while truth, according to Tolstoy, lies in forgiveness and reconciliation with life.

The paths of Andrei and Pierre constantly intersect, but it is interesting that the characters are almost never at the same point: Pierre's periods of upsurge almost always coincide with Prince Andrei's periods of decline.

The path of spiritual quest of Pierre Bezukhov

Let's look at the path of Pierre Bezukhov's spiritual quest. Marrying Helen is Pierre's first life test. Here, not only ignorance of life, an inability to resist pressure, but also an inner feeling that something unnatural had happened were manifested. The duel with Dolokhov is a turning point in Pierre's life: he, in turn, understands that the life he leads is not for him

("... the main screw on which his whole life rested was curled up")

But the reason for what happened is the hero of Pierre sees first of all. He takes the blame. At this moment, his meeting with the freemason Osip Alekseevich Bazdeev takes place. Bezukhov begins to see the meaning of life in the need to do good to people. But Pierre does not yet know life, which is why it is so easy to deceive him, just as his clerks and managers on his estates deceive him. He still cannot distinguish truth from lies. Disappointment in Freemasonry comes to the hero when he encounters representatives of the high society in the Masonic lodge and realizes that for them Freemasonry is only an opportunity to make a career, to get benefits. It is noteworthy that love for Natasha comes to Pierre when Natasha made a terrible mistake when she met Anatole Kuragin. Love makes a person better, purer.

Pierre's love for Natasha, at first hopeless, revives the hero to search for the truth. The battle of Borodino turns his life upside down, like the lives of many Russian people. Bezukhov wants to be a simple soldier,

"throw off all this superfluous, diabolical, all the burden of this external world."

A naive desire to kill Napoleon, to sacrifice himself, to save a girl, captivity, execution, loss of faith in life, a meeting with Platon Karataev - the stages of Pierre's spiritual development in the novel "War and Peace" are rapidly changing. The hero learns from Plato the ability to live in any circumstances, to accept life, to feel like a particle of a vast world.

(“And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!”).

It is noteworthy that after captivity, Pierre acquired the ability to communicate with people and understand them, it is no longer possible to deceive him, he has an inherent understanding of good and bad. Meeting with Natasha, a mutual feeling of love revives Bezukhov, gives him happiness. In the epilogue of the novel, Pierre is fascinated by the ideas of radical changes in the social structure of Russia - he is a future Decembrist.

Disclosure of the characters of Pierre and Andrei in the novel

It should be especially noted that the images of Pierre and Andrei do not duplicate each other: we are facing two different people, two different characters. The appearance in the novel of not the only positive character gives Tolstoy the opportunity to show that the search for the meaning of life, spiritual quests were characteristic of the best nobles of Russia.

The character of Tolstoy's heroes is revealed:

• in a collision with other characters (the scene of the explanation of Pierre and Helen),
• in the monologues of heroes (reflections of Prince Andrei on the road to Otradnoye),
• the psychological state of the hero (“Whatever he started to think about, he returned to the same questions that he could not resolve and could not stop asking himself” - about Pierre),
• on the spiritual and mental state of the hero (the sky of Austerlitz, the oak tree on the road to Otradnoye).

The whole life of the writer Tolstoy was aimed at comprehending the Truth. Such are his favorite characters - Pierre and Andrei, who, as it were, set the reader a high bar for comprehending the meaning of life, making them painfully experience ups and downs, comprehend life and oneself.

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Each writer has his own view of his time, the choice of heroes. This is determined by the personality of the author, his worldview, his understanding of the purpose of man on earth. Therefore, there are books over which time has no power. There are heroes who will always be interesting, whose thoughts and actions will excite more than one generation of descendants.

Such for me are the characters of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. What attracts me to the characters of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov? Why do they seem so alive and close almost two centuries later? Why is Natasha Rostova perceived not as some distant countess, from a completely different life, a different upbringing, but as my age? Why every time I return to a novel, I discover something new for myself in it? Probably, because for me they are really alive, not static, because they live not only for today, strive not only for privileges, rewards, material wealth, but also do not “sleep” with their souls, reflect on their lives, intensely search for the meaning of life. The great and inimitable L. Tolstoy, who throughout his life never ceased to seek good and learn, analyze himself, his era and human life in general, teaches us, readers, to observe life and analyze our actions. Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov immediately attract attention, stand out for their sincerity, supreme decency and intelligence. Despite the fact that they are so different - the stern, arrogant Prince Andrei, who respects himself very much and therefore leaves people, and such an awkward, at first naive Pierre, whom the world does not take seriously - they are true friends. They can talk about high matters, confide the secrets of the soul to each other, protect and support in difficult times.

It would seem that each of them has their own path, their victories and defeats, but how many times their destinies intertwined, how much they are similar in different life ambitions, how much they have in common in feelings! A talented officer, Prince Andrei goes to war in order to find an application for his strength and mind, to find "his own Toulon", to become famous. He made it a rule not to interfere in other people's affairs, not to pay attention to fuss and disputes, "not to stoop." But in the headquarters corridor, the prince cuts off the presumptuous adjutant, who dared to speak insultingly about the defeated ally: “We are either officers who serve our tsar and fatherland and rejoice in our common success and grieve over our common failure, or we are lackeys who do not care about the master’s business!”

Having given the order to evacuate, Prince Andrei cannot abandon Captain Tushin's battery and remains to help them, not hiding from dust and powder smoke with his adjutant position. And during the discussion at the headquarters of the battle of Shengraben, he will come out in defense of Tushin.

Maybe it was this meeting and participation in hostilities (under the bullets of the enemy) side by side with ordinary soldiers and junior officers that helped both to fulfill the father’s order so that “there was no shame”, and to raise the banner, turning back the retreating, not only because his “finest hour” has come, but because, like Kutuzov, he feels pain for the retreat of the army. Maybe that's why Andrei Bolkonsky deliberately did not notice insulting words about the staff officers of Nikolai Rostov and authoritatively, with dignity, suggested that he calm down, because another duel would now take place - with a common enemy, where they should not feel like rivals. Similarly, Pierre, striving for self-improvement, trying to do so much for his peasants, must come to an understanding of the difference between good deeds for his own sake and dissolution in the common affairs and aspirations of many people. Therefore, he comes to the Freemasons, hoping that this is a real hearth of goodness. What's wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live and what is "I"? What is life and what is death? What power controls everything? Of course, the person who has put these questions before himself is worthy of respect, even if his searches lead first to denial, to rejection ...

Prince Andrey also experiences a spiritual crisis after a reassessment of his idol, Napoleon, and after the death of his wife. Changes in the estate (at the beginning of the 19th century, he transferred his serfs to free cultivators), raising an infant son, reading books and periodicals could fill the life of an ordinary, dozen-of-a-kind person to the brim. Bolkonsky, however, is crushed by the ceiling of limitation - he needs the expanse of a high blue sky. Like a spark, Pierre's words will flare up in a conversation on the ferry: “We must live, we must love, we must believe,” and they will ignite a new interest in life! Now he knows the criterion of the usefulness of this work and, having applied the project highly appreciated by the Speransky committee to specific people, “remembering the peasants, Drona the headman, and applying to them the rights of persons that he divided into paragraphs, it became strange to him how he could take so long doing such a wasteful job." The hope for personal happiness raises Prince Andrei as if on wings and proves that "life is not over at thirty-one." How will his credo, his yesterday’s Napoleonic “I am above everyone”, “my thoughts and efforts as a gift for everyone” change to another: “Everyone needs to know me, so that my life goes not for me alone, so that they don’t live like that like this girl, regardless of my life, so that it affects everyone and that they all live with me together! This is “everything through me”, this path from the arrogantly selfish to the selfish will give Bolkonsky a different perception of the world, teach him to see and understand the feelings of other people: and dreamy Natasha on a moonlit night, her bright personality, which he missed so much, and girls with green plums, who needed to pass unnoticed by him, and Timokhin, and all the officers and soldiers of their regiment. Maybe that's why he will not lose interest in life, plunging into the personal grief of breaking up with his beloved, when he encounters the common grief of the Motherland, with an enemy invasion.

So Pierre, who was deceived by everyone - from estate managers to his own wife - needed to feel a threat not only to his own "I", but at least to a loved one, so that he would find in himself both strength, and firmness, and real tact, and, finally, the ability to manage the situation, as in the case of Anatoly Kuragin, so that he does not blacken Natasha's reputation and does not meet with Prince Andrei, does not become a threat to the life of a friend.

When the enemy attacked the Motherland, Pierre, a civilian to the marrow of his bones, acts as a real patriot. He not only equips a whole regiment at his own expense - he himself wants to stay in Moscow to kill Napoleon. It is symbolic that, looking for the answer to the question in the Apocalypse: who will defeat Bonaparte, Pierre finds the answer - “Russian Bezukhov”, emphasizing not only his name and title, but precisely belonging to the nation, that is, feeling himself a part of the country. On the Borodino field, on the battery, Pierre, with his desire to help bring shells, is somewhat reminiscent of Prince Andrei near Shengraben.

Andrei Bolkonsky also feels himself a part of his people. In a conversation with a new person for him, he strikes with frankness, simplicity of words, closeness to ordinary soldiers. Prince Andrei refuses Kutuzov's offer to serve as his adjutant, wishing to remain in the regiment. He will learn to fight on the front lines, to appreciate the warm attitude of the soldiers towards him, their affectionate “our prince”. Once attaching great importance to military strategy and calculation, Andrei Bolkonsky indignantly discards this before the battle of Borodino: the Napoleonic comparison of regiments with chess pieces and the words of staff officers about "war in space." According to Prince Andrei, only one feeling that “is in me, in him, in every soldier” can protect a small homeland (one’s own house, estate, city) and the great Fatherland. This is a feeling of love for the Motherland and a sense of unity with the fate of the people.

Bolkonsky stands under the bullets, considering it "his duty to arouse the courage of the soldiers." He will forgive Anatoly Kuragin a personal offense when he meets him wounded, in a hospital ward on the front line. And love for Natasha, aggravated by common grief and common losses, flares up in Prince Andrei with renewed vigor. Pierre Bezukhov had to go through a great cleansing of physical and moral suffering in captivity in order to meet with Platon Karataev, immerse himself in the life of the common people and understand that “he had been looking somewhere over the heads of those around him all his life, but he had not to strain his eyes, but just look ahead. With new eyes, he will see the real path to the goal, the sphere of application of his own forces. It is painful for him, like many heroes of the Patriotic War, to look at the unrest in the Fatherland: “There is theft in the courts, in the army there is only one stick: shagistika, settlements, they torment the people, education is stifled. What is young, honestly, is ruining! Now everything that happens in his country becomes close to Pierre, and he stands up for this "young and honest", bowing to the glorious past, fighting for the purity of the present and future.

Bezukhov is one of the organizers and leaders of the Decembrist circle. He deliberately chooses a dangerous and troubled path. It is symbolic that next to him "to glory", through the swords of the reactionaries, goes, in the view of Nikolinka Bolkonsky, both the teenager himself and Prince Andrei.

I think if Pierre had remained alive, he would not hesitate to take part in a speech on Senate Square. This would be the logical result of ideological searches, spiritual self-improvement and the growth of one's own "I" into a common "we". At a new stage of development, as L. N. Tolstoy shows, their continuation, Nikolinka, takes the same path. And his cherished words sound so close and understandable for each of us: “I only ask God for one thing, that what happened to Plutarch's people be with me, and I will do the same. I will do better. Everyone will know, everyone will love me, everyone will admire me. The meaning of the spiritual quest of a real person cannot have an end.

In the artistic world of Tolstoy there are heroes who persistently and purposefully strive for complete harmony with the world, tirelessly looking for the meaning of life. They are not interested in selfish goals, secular intrigues, empty and meaningless conversations in high-society salons. They are easily recognizable among haughty, self-satisfied faces. These, of course, include the most vivid images of the novel "War and Peace" - Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. They noticeably stand out among the heroes of Russian literature of the 19th century with their originality and intellectual wealth. Completely different in character, Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov have much in common in their ideological aspirations and searches.

Tolstoy said: "People are like rivers ..." - emphasizing with this comparison the versatility and complexity of the human personality. The spiritual beauty of the writer's favorite heroes - Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov - manifests itself in the tireless search for the meaning of life, in dreams of activities useful for the whole people. Their life path is a path of passionate searches, leading to truth and goodness. Pierre and Andrei are internally close to each other and alien to the world of the Kuragins and Scherer.

Tolstoy chose dialogue as a means of revealing the inner world of heroes. The disputes between Andrei and Pierre are not empty chatter and not a duel of ambitions, this is a desire to understand their own thoughts and try to understand the thoughts of another person. Both heroes live an intense spiritual life and extract a common meaning from current impressions. Their relationship is one of broad friendship. Each of them goes their own way. They do not need everyday communication, they do not seek to find out as many details as possible about each other's lives. But they sincerely respect each other and feel that the truth of the other is just as obtained by suffering as his own, that it has grown out of life, that behind every argument of the dispute there is life.

The first acquaintance with Andrei Bolkonsky does not cause much sympathy. A proud and self-satisfied young man with dry features and a tired, bored look - this is how Anna Pavlovna Sherer's guests see him. But when we learn that the expression on his face was due to the fact that “all those who were in the living room were not only familiar, but already tired of him so much that it was very boring for him to look at them and listen to them,” interest arises in the hero. Further, Tolstoy reports that a brilliant and idle, empty life does not satisfy Prince Andrei and he strives with all his might to break the vicious circle in which he finds himself.

In an effort to get out of the social and family life that bothered him, Andrei Bolkonsky is going to war. He dreams of fame like that of Napoleon, he dreams of accomplishing a feat. “After all, what is glory? - says Prince Andrew. - The same love for others ... "The feat he accomplished during the Battle of Austerlitz, when he ran ahead of everyone with a banner in his hands, outwardly looked very impressive: even Napoleon noticed and appreciated him. But, having committed a heroic deed, Andrei for some reason did not experience any enthusiasm and spiritual uplift. Probably because at the moment when he fell, seriously wounded, a new high truth was revealed to him along with a high, endless sky that spread a blue vault over him. The desire for fame leads Andrei to a deep spiritual crisis. The sky of Austerlitz becomes for him a symbol of a high understanding of life: “How could I not have seen this high sky before? And how happy I am that I finally got to know him. Yes! Everything is empty, everything is a lie, except for this endless sky. Andrei Bolkonsky realized that the natural life of nature and man is more significant and important than the war and the glory of Napoleon.

Against the background of this clear sky, all former dreams and aspirations seemed to Andrei petty and insignificant, the same as the former idol. There was a reassessment of values ​​in his soul. What seemed to him beautiful and sublime turned out to be empty and vain. And what he so diligently fenced himself off from - a simple and quiet family life - now seemed to him a desirable world full of happiness and harmony. Further events - the birth of a child, the death of his wife - forced Prince Andrei to come to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself, for his relatives, is the only thing left for him. But the mind of Prince Andrei continued to work hard, he read a lot and pondered the eternal questions: what force controls the world and what is the meaning of life.

Andrei tried to live a simple, calm life, taking care of his son and improving the lives of his serfs: he made three hundred people free cultivators, and replaced the rest with dues. But the state of depression, the feeling of the impossibility of happiness indicated that all the transformations could not fully occupy his mind and heart.

Pierre Bezukhov followed other paths in life, but he was worried about the same problems as Prince Andrei. “Why live and what am I? What is life, what is death? - Pierre painfully searched for answers to these questions. At the beginning of the novel, at an evening at Anna Pavlovna Scherer's, Pierre defends the ideas of the 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, makes mistakes. Suffice it to recall the story of the bear, which caused a lot of noise in the world. But the biggest mistake made by Pierre during this period is his marriage to the low and vicious beauty Helen Kuragina. The duel with Dolokhov opened a new view of the world to Pierre, he realized that it was no longer possible to live the way he lives.

The search for truth and the meaning of life lead him to the Freemasons. He passionately desires "to regenerate the vicious human race." In the teachings of the Freemasons, Pierre is attracted by the ideas of "equality, brotherhood and love", therefore, first of all, he decides to alleviate the fate of the serfs. It seems to him that he has finally found the purpose and meaning of life: "And only now, when I ... try ... to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life." But Pierre is still too naive to understand that all his transformations lead to nothing. Tolstoy, talking about the activities of Pierre in the estate, ironically over his favorite hero.

Returning from a trip to the estates, Pierre calls on Prince Andrei. Their meeting, which was of great importance for both and largely determined their future path, took place at the Bogucharovo estate. They met at the moment when it seemed to each of them that he had found the truth. But if Pierre's truth was happy, he had recently joined her and she overwhelmed his whole being so much that he wanted to quickly reveal it to his friend, then the truth of Prince Andrei was bitter and devastating, and he did not want to share his thoughts with anyone.

Andrei's final rebirth to life came about through his meeting with Natasha Rostova. Communication with her opens up a new, previously unknown side of life for Andrey - love, beauty, poetry. But it is with Natasha that he is not destined to be happy, because there is no complete understanding between them. Natasha loves Andrei, but does not understand and does not know him. And she remains a mystery to him with her own, special inner world. If Natasha lives every moment, unable to wait and postpone the moment of happiness until a certain time, then Andrei is able to love at a distance, finding a special charm in anticipation of the upcoming wedding with his girlfriend. Separation proved to be too difficult a test for Natasha, because, unlike Andrei, she was not able to think about anything other than love.

The story with Anatole Kuragin destroyed the possible happiness of Natasha and Prince Andrei. Proud and proud Andrei could not forgive Natasha for her mistake. And she, experiencing painful remorse, considered herself unworthy of such a noble, ideal person and renounced all the joys of life. Fate separates loving people, leaving bitterness and pain of disappointment in their souls. But she will unite them before Andrei's death, because the Patriotic War of 1812 will change a lot in their characters.

When Napoleon entered the borders of Russia and began to rapidly move forward, Andrei Bolkonsky, who hated the war after being seriously wounded near Austerlitz, joined the army, refusing the safe and promising service at the headquarters of the commander in chief. Commanding the regiment, the proud aristocrat Bolkonsky became close to the soldier-peasant mass, learned to appreciate and respect the common people. If at first Prince Andrei tried to arouse the courage of the soldiers by walking under the bullets, then, when he saw them in battle, he realized that he had nothing to teach them. From that moment on, he began to look at the peasants in soldier's overcoats as patriotic heroes who courageously and staunchly defended their Fatherland. So Andrei Bolkonsky came to the idea that the success of the army does not depend on the position, weapons or number of troops, but on the feeling that is in him and in every soldier.

After the meeting in Bogucharovo, Pierre, like Prince Andrei, was in for bitter disappointment, in particular in Freemasonry. Pierre's republican ideas were not shared by his "brothers". In addition, Pierre realized that even among the Masons there is hypocrisy, hypocrisy, careerism. All this led Pierre to break with the Masons and to another mental crisis. Just like for Prince Andrei, the goal of life, the ideal for Pierre became (although he himself did not yet understand and did not realize this) love for Natasha Rostova, overshadowed by the bonds of marriage with Helen. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” - these questions did not cease to disturb Bezukhov.

During this period, the second meeting of Pierre and Andrei took place. This time, Tolstoy chose Borodino as the place for the meeting of his heroes. Here the decisive battle for the Russian and French armies took place, and here the last meeting of the main characters of the novel took place. At this period, Prince Andrei perceives his life as “badly painted pictures”, sums up its results and reflects on the same eternal questions. But the landscape, against which his reflections are given (“... and these birch trees with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke of bonfires, everything around was transformed for him and seemed something terrible and threatening”) , a sign that something poetic, eternal and incomprehensible continues to live in his devastated soul. At the same time, he continues to think and be silent. And Pierre is eager to know, eager to listen and speak.

Pierre asks Andrei questions, behind which are serious, not yet formalized thoughts. Prince Andrei does not want to enter into a conversation. Now Pierre is not only alien to him, but also unpleasant: he has a reflection of that life that brought him much suffering. And again, as in Bogucharovo, Prince Andrei begins to speak and imperceptibly is drawn into the conversation. This is not even a conversation, but a monologue of Prince Andrei, which is pronounced unexpectedly, passionately and contains bold and unexpected thoughts. He still speaks in a maliciously mocking tone, but this is not anger and emptiness, but the anger and pain of a patriot: speech from an unexpected spasm that seized him by the throat.

Pierre listened to his friend, ashamed of his ignorance in military affairs, but at the same time he felt that the moment Russia was experiencing was something very special, and the words of his friend, a professional military man, convinced him of the truth of his feelings. Everything that he saw that day, what he thought and pondered, "lit up for him with a new light." The parting of Pierre and Andrei cannot be called warm and friendly. But like last time, their conversation changed the characters' previous ideas about life and happiness. When Pierre left, Prince Andrei, with a new feeling, began to think about Natasha, "long and joyfully," with the feeling that he understood her, who had inflicted a serious insult on him. In a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, one can feel the unity of thoughts of Prince Andrei and the fighting people. Expressing his attitude to the events, he says that his thoughts are in tune with the people's. The life of Prince Andrei, his search for the meaning of life, ends with unity with the people fighting for their native land.

After meeting with Pierre, Prince Andrei enters a new, completely new phase of life for him. She matured for a long time, but took shape only after he told Pierre everything that he had thought about for so long and painfully. But with this new feeling, according to the author, he could not live. It is symbolic that at the moment of a mortal wound Andrey feels a great craving for a simple earthly life, but immediately thinks about why he is so sorry to part with it. This struggle between earthly passions and love for people becomes especially acute before his death. Having met Natasha and forgiving her, he feels a surge of vitality, but this quivering and warm feeling is replaced by unearthly detachment, which is incompatible with life and means death. Having revealed in Andrei Bolkonsky many remarkable features of a patriotic nobleman, Tolstoy cut off his path of search with a heroic death for the sake of saving the fatherland. And to continue this search for higher spiritual values, which remained unattainable for Prince Andrei, is destined in the novel to his friend and like-minded Pierre Bezukhov.

For Pierre, the conversation with Andrei became the initial stage of his spiritual purification. All subsequent events: participation in the Battle of Borodino, adventures in Moscow occupied by the enemy, captivity - brought Pierre closer to the people and contributed to his moral rebirth. “To be a soldier, just a soldier!.. To enter this common life with all my being, to be imbued with what makes them so” - such a desire took possession of Pierre after the Battle of Borodino. It is in captivity that Bezukhov comes to the conclusion: "Man was created for happiness." But even on this, Pierre does not calm down.

In the epilogue, Tolstoy shows Bezukhov as active and thinking hard as at the beginning of the novel. He managed to carry through time his naive spontaneity, he continues to reflect on eternal insoluble questions. But if earlier he thought about the meaning of life, now he is thinking about how to protect goodness and truth. The paths of searching lead Pierre to a secret political society fighting against serfdom and autocracy.

The disputes between Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov about the meaning of life reflect the inner struggle in the soul of the writer, which did not stop throughout his life. A person, according to the writer, must constantly think, search, make mistakes and search again, because "peace is a spiritual meanness." He himself was like that, he endowed the main characters of the novel "War and Peace" with such qualities. Using the example of Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov, Tolstoy shows that no matter how different paths the best of the representatives of high society go in search of the meaning of life, they come to the same result: the meaning of life is in unity with their native people, in love for this people.

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy loves the people he describes in various works, not for any special merits, but truly for their inner consciousness and perception of the world, for their moral qualities and foundations. So, Lev Nikolaevich refers to one of the most important attributes of the inner world of a person as a constant desire for self-improvement. Everything would seem simple, but the author is not content with just one desire for moral ideals - he is interested in the path chosen to achieve this goal.

The world famous novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a very problematic work that highlights the difficulties of the social, political and family spheres of life. Among this, the writer highlights the basis - the search for the meaning of life and simple human well-being. In the novel "War and Peace" there are two overlapping characters - Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky, who are self-improving personalities, and whom Tolstoy closely watches, noting their ups and downs.

Pierre Bezukhov in the novel initially leads a reckless social life of an idle reveler. Pierre is so subservient to someone else's will that he allows himself to be stripped to the skin and married to Helen Kuragina, who almost ruined Pierre's life, entangling him in a web of lies and falsehood.

The duel with Dolokhov leaves a deep moral shock and causes hatred for secular pathos and pretense. This state pushes Pierre to join the ranks of Freemasonry. But, after a while, he becomes disillusioned with this.

After a spiritual crisis, Pierre is again filled with patriotism and participates in the war of 1812. The turning point in Bezukhov's quest was a visit to the Battle of Borodino, and a meeting with Platon Karataev, a soldier who does not complain about anything, is kind to others and meek, introduces a new worldview of Pierre Bezukhov to the common people. The end point of Bezukhov's quest is the camp of the Decembrists, where he finds himself.

Glory is what the young Bolkonsky dreams of, and only for this he goes to the army. However, these youthful thoughts about dignity, valor, glory and other sublime quickly evaporate when he visits the Austerlitz field. Lying on the ground and bleeding, Bolkonsky realizes that glory is not the ultimate goal of existence. This disappointment is followed by another: his idol - Napoleon - "falls" in the eyes of Bolkonsky and appears to him as a petty little man.

After these incidents, Bolkonsky decides to devote his life to a child left without a mother. Andrei, being in a depressed state, will retire to his estate. However, this is tantamount to a small death for him, so Andrei again rushes into the cycle of life.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, he works with Speransky, but not for long. The war of 1812 caused fundamental changes in the life of the hero. He takes part in the battle and feels like the right person here. He is related to the people and knows that the fate of the Motherland depends on him.

A. Bolkonsky completed his spiritual quest before his death, when he stopped being afraid of her and realized that life was given for love of one's neighbor.

Both of these heroes strove for moral self-improvement, both started from scratch, and both reached the truth, which is as old as the world: "We must live, we must love, we must believe."