Essay: Appearance of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel War and Peace

↑ General characteristics of Pierre Bezukhov

Bezukhov Pyotr Kirillovich, Pierre
- the central character of the epic novel by L.N.
Tolstoy's "War and Peace", the illegitimate son of "the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhov." Of all his children (“After all, he only has illegitimate children,” notes Countess Rostova), Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov singled out one - Pierre. The count tried to give his son a good education and hoped to provide him with a career
.
“ From the age of ten, Pierre was sent abroad with his tutor, the abbot, where he stayed until he was twenty
.”
Pierre returned to Russia in 1805, three months before the start of the novel. He found his father in serious condition when everyone expected his death. In high society they knew that, worried about the future of his son, Count Bezukhov turned to the sovereign with a request to recognize Pierre as his legal heir. Pierre himself does not think at all about what awaits him, and leads a rather frivolous and careless lifestyle.
Tolstoy introduces Pierre to readers when describing the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
This was his first appearance in the “big world” after arriving in St. Petersburg. The lady of the house "greeted him with a bow appropriate to people of the lower hierarchy in her salon." But her face “depicted anxiety and fear,” which happen “at the sight of something unusual for the place.” In Scherer's eyes, Pierre is a person who “ doesn’t know how to live
.”
He constantly violates etiquette
, not wanting to listen to empty talk, did not comply with the ritual accepted in the salon, in a word, he behaved completely naturally.

What distinguished Pierre from the rest of the evening participants was his “ smart and at the same time timid, observant and natural look.”

"
“ He knew that the entire intelligentsia of St. Petersburg was gathered here, and his eyes widened, like a child in a toy store
.”
He expected a lot from this evening and “ was still afraid of missing out on the smart conversations that he might hear
.”
Here he hoped
"
express his thoughts, as young people like to do
."
Pierre's demeanor is combined with an extraordinary appearance
.
“ Pierre was clumsy.
Fat, taller than usual, broad, with huge red hands, he, as they say, did not know how to enter a salon and even less knew how to leave it, that is, before leaving, to say something especially pleasant. Besides, he was distracted ."
All this paid off with " an expression of good nature, simplicity and modesty
."
“ His smile was not the same as other people’s... When a smile came, then suddenly, instantly, a serious and even somewhat gloomy face disappeared, and another one appeared - childish, kind, even stupid and as if asking for forgiveness
.” Andrei Bolkonsky, the only one in the Scherer salon, was sincerely happy to see him, answering his greeting with “an unexpectedly kind and pleasant smile.”

Abroad, Pierre absorbed the spirit

“
Napoleonism
”, and at Anna Scherer’s evening he openly
expressed his attitude towards Napoleon as a great man
.
Pierre passionately defended his idol, who, as it seemed to him, managed to bring the ideas of the French Revolution to life. “ Napoleon is great because he rose above the revolution, suppressed its abuses, retaining everything that was good - the equality of citizens, and freedom of speech and the press - and only because of this he acquired power
.”
Therefore, Pierre has a sharply negative attitude towards the war and perceived Russia’s actions as an attempt on the best conquests of France. “ If this were a war for freedom, I would understand, I would be the first to enter military service;
but to help England and Austria against the greatest man in the world... it is not good .”
Pierre is not a supporter of wars at all
. If people could live without them, “that would be wonderful.”

Characteristics of the hero Pierre Bezukhov with quotes in the table

↑ Pierre's youth

Gaining life experience, Pierre makes many mistakes typical of youth.
He joins the company of Anatoly Kuragin, finding pleasure in noisy drinking bouts.
This gave him a bad reputation in the world. Andrei Bolkonsky advises him in a friendly manner: “Stop going to these Kuragins and leading this life. So it doesn’t suit you: all these carousings, and hussarism, and everything...” Pierre gives Prince Andrey his word not to visit Anatole anymore, but he immediately shows spinelessness, breaking his promise. True, he consoled himself by the fact that even earlier he had given his word to Anatole to be with him. “ Finally he thought that all these honest words were such conventional things that had no definite meaning
.”

The drinking session ends with a scandalous story, which became known in Moscow, where the old Count Bezukhov lived. Marya Lvovna Karagina told about the details in the Rostovs’ house. Pierre, together with Dolokhov and Anatoly Kuragin, “ found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage with them and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on it

"
For this “riot” the young people were punished. In particular, Pierre was expelled with the police to Moscow from St. Petersburg. Thus, he could not choose a career and was returned to his father’s house in disgrace.
Meanwhile, events were developing quite quickly.
Old Count Bezukhov died. Pierre was recognized as the legitimate son of Kirill Vladimirovich and his heir, he became “ the owner of the largest fortune in Russia
.”

Opinions about him in the world were quite contradictory.

Anna Pavlovna Sherer treated him with hostility.
Marya Lvovna Karagina considers Pierre an immoral person who should not be accepted in her home. “ I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth
,” she declares to Rostov.
Julie, in a letter to Princess Marya, called him “insignificant,” while reporting a change in “the tone of the mothers who have daughter-brides, and the young ladies themselves in relation to this gentleman.” Pierre is perceived completely differently in the Rostov and Bolkonsky families. Princess Marya strongly disagrees with Julie’s opinion, which she wrote about in a letter. “ It seemed to me that he always had a wonderful heart
.”
Religious Marya had a presentiment that Pierre would have to go through many temptations and trials.
And Andrei treats him with warmth and sympathy.
“ You are dear to me, especially because you are the only living person among our entire world
,” Bolkonsky admitted after their first meeting at Scherer’s.

The story with the policeman caused old Count Rostov to laugh sincerely and good-naturedly. On the same day, Pierre received an invitation to dinner from the Rostovs. Pierre's shyness and timidity, combined with an enviable appetite (“he did not miss a single dish”) greatly amuses Natasha. She was interested and attracted to this big and fat man who came from abroad. “ You know, this fat Pierre... is so funny!

"- she said to Sonya,

Pierre has not yet learned to understand people at all.

It seems to him that everyone loves him and wishes him well.
A lot of things fell on him that he knew nothing about. And he completely trusted those who tried to guide him. Vasily Kuragin played the role of mentor best, because his instinct told him that Pierre could be useful to him. Through the efforts of Kuragin, Pierre was enrolled in the diplomatic corps and became a chamber cadet. Prince Vasily insisted that Pierre move to St. Petersburg and stay in his house. Pierre willingly accepts the prince's help, and his position in the world changes dramatically
.
From now on, in Scherer’s salon his every step was encouraged, his every word was supported. “ It seemed so natural to Pierre that everyone loved him, it would seem so unnatural if someone did not love him, that he could not help but believe in the sincerity of the people around him.
<…> He felt like the center of some important general movement; felt that something was constantly expected of him; that if he didn’t do this, he would upset many and deprive them of what they expected, but if he did this and that, everything would be fine - and he did what was required of him, but this something good still remained ahead ."

The writer's attitude towards secular society

A critical attitude towards high society in Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is manifested throughout the entire novel. In his book, the writer tries to portray a broad picture of the life of Russian society. On the pages of the work we meet representatives of different classes. Skillfully using the details of the portrait, speech characteristics, and describing actions, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy expresses his attitude towards his heroes. We understand that the author has his own preferences.

Some characters are clearly attractive and dear to him, while others cause condemnation. The writer's least favorite characters include representatives of high society. While reading the novel, we observe these people in Anna Pavlovna’s salon, in the Kuragins’ house, in Helen’s living room, in Kutuzov’s headquarters. And everywhere we see the same false masks, we hear false speeches, we become witnesses to dishonest actions.

↑ Pierre Bezukhov and Helen Kuragina

Soon Pierre falls into the net set by Vasily Kuragin and marries his daughter Helen.
An inner voice timidly tells him that this is not love (“
There is something nasty in the feeling that she aroused in me, something forbidden
”), that something “
unnatural
”, dishonest came from her.

Such a marriage could not be happy.

He brings Pierre suffering and disappointment.
Cold and immoral Helen does not love or appreciate Pierre. He soon realized that marriage was a big mistake. The breakup with his wife occurred in Moscow at a dinner in honor of Bagration. Insulted by the ridicule of his lover Helen Dolokhova, Pierre challenges the offender to a duel. Before the duel, he reflects: “... Why... this duel, this murder?
Either I kill him, or he will hit me in the head, elbow, knee. Leave here, run, bury yourself somewhere ,” came to his mind.
But precisely in those moments when such thoughts came to him, with a particularly calm and absent-minded look, which inspired respect in those looking at him, he asked: “Is it soon, is it ready?” Pierre, who had never previously held a pistol in his hand, was not only not killed by the duelist and cynic Dolokhov, but even wounded his enemy. When Helen began to reprimand her husband for what had happened, Pierre, in anger, almost killed her with a marble board, which he grabbed “with a force still unknown to him.” “ The nature of his father was reflected in him.
Pierre felt the fascination and charm of rage .” As a result, he “gave his wife power of attorney to manage all the Great Russian estates, which amounted to more than half of his fortune,” and returned to a lonely lifestyle.

Essay: The image of Bezukhov in the novel “War and Peace” (L. N. Tolstoy)

(389 words) L.N. Tolstoy in his novel “War and Peace” shows not only the epoch-making events of the Napoleonic Wars, but also describes in detail the fate of individual characters. Each of them goes their own way, radically transforming by the end of the story. But, perhaps, Tolstoy’s most beloved character is Pierre Bezukhov.

This character appears before us in the first chapter of the novel. First of all, Pierre stands out for his appearance. The obese, clumsy, socially repressed, insecure illegitimate son of the rich man Bezukhov seems completely out of place at a high-society reception. This feature is common to many of Tolstoy’s characters. The author shows how outwardly beautiful characters, like Elena and Anatoly Kuragin, turn out to be insignificant people, while the awkward Pierre demonstrates all the qualities inherent in a real person.

The second distinctive feature of this character is his desire to go beyond the surrounding reality in order to find its ins and outs, to understand the meaning of human existence. While most people are content with an empty, meaningless existence, Pierre is trying to get out of his comfort zone. For him, knowledge of himself and human existence is higher than personal wealth and social status. So, Bezukhov is ready for huge expenses in order to make the life of his peasants a little easier. Under the influence of patriotic feelings, the hero gives a huge sum to fight the French invasion. Pierre even takes part in the Battle of Borodino, while high society continues to spend its time in idle conversations. This is how, according to Tolstoy, a real personality appears. Only those who go against the vulgarity and hypocrisy of society, and do not submit to it, ultimately come to understand themselves and their place in this world.

However, the author does not at all idealize his hero. Pierre makes a huge number of mistakes. He falls into the network of secular society and leads a riotous lifestyle. The marriage to Helen ended in scandal, a duel and divorce. Immediately after this, the hero becomes infected with the ideas of the Freemasons, who never go beyond sublime words. The changes in peasant life, conceived by Bezukhov, only bring harm to these same peasants, enriching the thieving managers. The combat unit formed with his money turned out to be useless. The character's last delusion leads him to a delusional idea about the need to kill Napoleon, which turned into a complete failure. Only after captivity, the threat of death and communication with a simple soldier Platon Karataev, Pierre Bezukhov realizes the meaning of his existence and finds peace of mind. Tolstoy showed how difficult a person’s path to understanding himself is.

To some extent, the autobiographical image of Pierre Bezukhov is described by Tolstoy as an example of a man who, despite numerous mistakes and an extremely vulgar social environment, did not lose his desire for truth.

The many-wise Litrekon is glad to be useful to you, but if in this case this is not the case, then please write in the comments why this short essay-reasoning did not suit you?

Author: Mikhail Shchepin

↑ The quest of Pierre Bezukhov

As a man of great conscience, he was not inclined to place all the blame on Helen.
First of all, Pierre blames himself.
He was faced with the main questions that he constantly asked himself: “ 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 force controls everything? - he asked himself.
And there was no answer to any of these questions, except one, not a logical answer, not to these questions at all. This answer was: “ If you die, everything will end.”
You will die and you will find out everything - or you will stop asking .” But it was also scary to die.”

In a state of confusion and shock, Pierre left Moscow and at the station in Torzhok met with the freemason Bazdeev. The conversation with him was decisive for Pierre. Bazdeev showed him the path to moral improvement.

Listening to his interlocutor, Pierre “
experienced a joyful feeling of calm, renewal and return to life
.”
Bazdeev inspired him that “ the highest wisdom is not based on reason alone
.”
To know it, “ it is necessary to purify and renew your inner man, and therefore, before knowing, you need to believe and improve
.” Having heard the bitter truth about his life, that he had not helped anyone either morally or physically, Pierre asked this man to help him find spiritual harmony.

A new side of life opened up before Pierre. He completely abandoned social life, feeling the need for “brotherly and active love”, in the pursuit of perfection.

He then
underwent a rite of initiation into the Freemasons
, which caused him to have opposite feelings.
He felt joy, felt a special solemnity, and at the same time doubt arose in him (“ Wouldn’t I be ashamed to remember this?
”), since among the Masons he saw people well known to him from St. Petersburg society.
After joining the Freemasons, Pierre “ completely changed and fell behind the previous order and habits of life
.”

The duel with Dolokhov and Pierre’s break with Helen were condemned in society; Pierre himself sharply fell in his opinion, “ especially since he did not know how and did not want to curry public favor

" The mouthpiece of high society, Anna Pavlovna Sherer, began to say: “This is a crazy young man, spoiled by the depraved ideas of the century.”

At this time, Pierre tried to do good deeds.

He turned to economic concerns and decided to improve the situation of the peasants.
His intentions were to open schools, hospitals, and shelters on every estate in the Kyiv province, “where most of its peasants were located.” But his good wishes were not crowned with success - the managers quite easily deceived Pierre, staging for him pictures of the idyllic life of men who began to live worse than before after these “transformations”. “ He did not know that where the manager indicated to him in the book that at his will the quitrent was reduced by one third, the corvée duty was added by half
.” He was “delighted with his journey through the estates,” rejoicing that he was able to do “much good.”

In an elated and happy mood, Pierre visited his friend Andrei Bolkonsky, whom he had not seen since 1805. He found Andrei in a very difficult state after the collapse of his illusions in the war with Napoleon. Pierre's vivacity and energy, love of life and hopes for the future did not correspond to Bolkonsky's mental crisis. This meeting turned out to be useful for both. Andrei's mind questioned all of Bezukhov's undertakings. Pierre could not agree with the views on life that Andrei professed, but he was also afraid to argue with him, since “ he had a presentiment that Prince Andrei would, with one word, one argument, discard his entire teaching; and he was afraid... to expose his beloved shrine to the possibility of ridicule

».

Just as the Freemason brothers helped Pierre find the meaning of life, pointing him to the only possible path for him (so it seemed to him), so he now passionately wanted to help Bolkonsky find light in his soul. He explains to his friend his views on Freemasonry. “ Freemasonry is not a religious, not a ritual sect... but Freemasonry is the best, the only expression of the best, eternal sides of humanity

"
In Freemasonry he sees " the teachings of equality, brotherhood and love
".
Inspired, he convinces Andrei to join Freemasonry (“Give us yourself, let us guide you”) in order to comprehend the highest meaning of life. Knowing the atheistic views of his friend, Pierre speaks with conviction about deity, about a “higher power” (“we are now the children of the earth, and forever the children of the whole world”), about immortality, about the future life (“I feel that I not only cannot disappear, as nothing disappears in the world, but that I will always be and always have been”). “ You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe
,” Pierre says to Prince Andrei.

It was not easy for Pierre himself to improve his “inner man.” In St. Petersburg he gradually “became the head of St. Petersburg Freemasonry”

, he was almost the only one who gave huge donations to various causes, “supporting the house of the poor.”
At the same time, Pierre still led the life to which he was accustomed, “with the same amusements and debauchery.” In addition, he was embarrassed by the fact that among the Masons there were people who, in his opinion, were weak and insignificant. Pierre increasingly began to experience doubts and
dissatisfaction with his activities.
“He did not even think of doubting Freemasonry itself; he suspected that Russian Freemasonry had taken the wrong path and deviated from its source.” Therefore, Pierre decided to go abroad “to initiate himself into the highest secrets of the order
.
The Masons were awaiting his return and listened with great attention to his speech, which Pierre delivered upon his arrival in St. Petersburg. He outlined a goal for the mason brothers - to free themselves from prejudices, “ take upon themselves the education of youth
,” and overcome “disbelief and stupidity.”
To achieve this goal it is necessary “ to pursue vice and stupidity everywhere and with all our might and to patronize talents and virtue
.”
He proposed “ to establish a universal dominant form of government that would extend over the whole world
.”
The Masons greeted this speech coldly, seeing in it rather dangerous constitutional ideas. Bazdeev later explained to Pierre that “ the main duty of a true Freemason... is to improve himself
.” Pierre completely agreed with this.

The desire to eradicate evil in oneself was not just a form. Pierre decided to forgive his wife and accept her into his home (“ No one is right, no one is to blame, therefore, she is not to blame either.”

“, he thought”).
He tolerated both his wife (“she was very stupid”) and her entourage. “ In the eyes of the world, Pierre was a great gentleman, a somewhat blind and funny husband of a famous wife, a smart eccentric who did nothing, but also did not harm anyone, a nice and kind fellow.
In Pierre’s soul there was going on... a complex and difficult work of internal development , which revealed a lot to him and led him to many spiritual doubts and joys
.”
He was completely far from the bustle of high society. Natasha Rostova was struck by Pierre's behavior at the ball of Catherine's nobleman. “Pierre walked... nodding right and left as casually and good-naturedly as if he were walking through the crowd of a bazaar.” Pierre could not live such a life for long. The love of Andrei and Natasha, their engagement only emphasized the grief of Pierre’s inner loneliness. After Bazdeev’s death, he “began drinking a lot again, became close to single companies,” and after a fair remark from his wife, he left for Moscow. There he felt comfortable, “like in an old robe,” and became a favorite of Moscow society, handing out money left and right. But spiritual work never stopped in him. “ Moments of despair, melancholy and disgust for life were not found on Pierre, as before; but the same illness, which had previously expressed itself in sharp attacks, was driven inside and did not leave him for a moment.

"For what? For what? What is going on in the world? - he asked himself in bewilderment: several times a day, involuntarily beginning to ponder the meaning of the phenomena of life; but knowing from experience that there were no answers to these questions, he hastily tried to turn away from them, took up a book, or hurried to the club ... "

Pierre, with his mind and heart, was undoubtedly head and shoulders above all those who made up the so-called “select society”

.
Andrei Bolkonsky appreciated this in Pierre. It was to him that Andrei recommended that Natasha turn to him in difficult times for help and advice, when he said goodbye to her before leaving abroad. “ This is the most absent-minded and funny person, but the most golden heart
,” noted Bolkonsky.
Pierre treated Natasha Rostova with the tender devotion of a friend, admired and admired her
.
Helen's participation in the story of Natasha's seduction by Anatoly Kuragin made him furious. He almost strangled Kuragin himself, forcing him to return her letters to Natasha and leave Moscow (however, for this Pierre had to provide Anatole with money). Seeing Natasha after her failed escape with Anatole, he understood what was going on in her soul and was imbued with a feeling of true compassion and love for her. “ If I were not me... and were free, I would this minute on my knees ask for your hand and love
,” Pierre admitted in a fit of “tenderness and love.”
He took Natasha’s break with Andrei very hard and tried to soften Andrei’s heart. Pierre began to feel more and more how much Natasha meant in his life. “It was impossible to treat her more carefully and at the same time more seriously than Count Bezukhov treated her.” Pierre perceived the beginning of the War of 1812 as a catastrophe that should change everything in his life.
From the name of Napoleon, through mathematical calculations based on the digital value of the letters, he derived the number 666 - it corresponded to the “number of the beast” named in the Apocalypse.
Having fudged the result a little, he discovered the same number in his last name. “ How, by what connection he was connected with that great event that was predicted in the Apocalypse, he did not know, but he did not doubt this connection for a minute” and decided that his destiny was to put an end to the power of the beast
.

After the French took Smolensk and a threat to Moscow arose, Pierre went into the army,

to Mozhaisk to see everything for yourself and figure it out.
A peaceful man, a civilian, he was especially sensitive to everything that was happening
.
“ He now experienced a pleasant feeling of awareness that everything that constitutes people’s happiness, the comforts of life, wealth, even life itself, is nonsense that is pleasant to discard in comparison with something... With which, Pierre could not give himself an account, and he didn’t try to understand for himself for whom and why he finds it especially charming to sacrifice everything.
He was not interested in what he wanted to sacrifice for, but the sacrifice itself constituted a new joyful feeling for him .”

Fat, conspicuous, in a white hat, he found himself in the thick of the Borodino battle, on the Raevsky battery. The soldiers, who were at first perplexed at the sight of Pierre, soon “ mentally accepted

"They took him
into their family, appropriated him and gave him a nickname: “our master” they called him and laughed affectionately about him among themselves
."

In the heat and confusion of the battle, Pierre almost strangled the French officer, although they collided completely by accident, and Pierre did not feel any hatred for the enemy. The battle he witnessed made him shudder at the sight of blood and human suffering.

“No, now they will leave it, now they will be horrified by what they did!”
– thought Pierre...” At an inn not far from Moscow, Pierre spent the night and had a dream. Someone “outside him” lifted the veil over the mysteries of existence for Pierre. “ War is the most difficult task of subordinating human freedom to the laws of God,” said the voice.
– Simplicity is submission to God; you can't escape him. And they (the soldiers with whom Pierre communicated all these days) are simple. They don't talk, but they do. The spoken word is silver, and the unspoken word is golden. A person cannot own anything while he is afraid of death. And whoever is not afraid of her belongs to him everything. If there were no suffering, a person would not know his own boundaries, would not know himself. The most difficult thing (Pierre continued to think or hear in his sleep) is to be able to unite in his soul the meaning of everything. Connect everything? - Pierre said to himself. - No, don't connect. You can’t connect thoughts, but connecting all these thoughts is what you need! Yes, we need to mate, we need to mate!” “Pierre repeated to himself with inner delight, feeling that with these words, and only with these words, is expressed what he wants to express, and the whole question tormenting him is resolved.”

After the Battle of Borodino, which revealed to Pierre the full horror of war, he returned to Moscow and decided to stay in the capital, where the enemy was about to enter. The Rostovs, leaving the city, saw Pierre at the Sukharev Tower, dressed in a “coachman’s caftan.” He has the idea of ​​taking part in the “supposed—as he knew it—people’s defense of Moscow.”

.
When it became clear that this protection would not exist, he experienced an irresistible need to “put a limit to the power of the beast,” kill Napoleon and thereby “end the misfortune of Europe.” Pierre felt in himself “ a feeling of the need for sacrifice and suffering with the awareness of general misfortune
.”
“ Yes, one for all, I must commit or perish
!
- he thought. - Yes, I’ll go... and then suddenly... With a pistol or a dagger? - thought Pierre. - However, it doesn’t matter. It is not I, but the hand of Providence that will execute you... I will say (Pierre thought about the words he would utter when killing Napoleon). “Well, go ahead and execute me...” In Moscow, Pierre saved the half-crazed brother of the late Bazdeev, the French captain Rambal, from a bullet. When, in a peaceful conversation, Pierre revealed his name and origin to the captain, he was very surprised, because he mistook Pierre for a Frenchman. However, what struck Ramballe most of all was “ that Pierre was very rich, that he had two palaces in Moscow, and that he gave up everything and did not leave Moscow, but remained in the city, hiding his name and rank
.”

During the fire, Pierre refused on the streets of Moscow in a special, “ecstatic” state. He still had not given up his intention to kill Napoleon, but now “ as if Pierre’s main goal was not to carry out his intended task, but to show himself that he did not renounce his intention and was doing everything to fulfill it...

"
He was detained by the French on suspicion of looting and arson and was captured
.
He almost lost faith in life after (he himself was almost shot) he had to witness the execution of five commoners accused of setting Moscow on fire. “... In his soul, it was as if the spring on which everything was held and seemed alive had suddenly been pulled out, and everything fell into a heap of meaningless rubbish.
In him... faith in the improvement of the world, and in humanity, and in one’s soul, and in God was destroyed .”

Platon Karataev helped him come to terms with life, accept it (regardless of any circumstances)

.
With leisurely, soft, calm movements, and a gentle voice, Karataev calmed Pierre. “Don’t worry, my friend: endure for an hour, but live for a century!” - this is the life philosophy of this man, who had a strong influence on Bezukhov. After his first conversation with Karataev, Pierre begins to feel that “ the previously destroyed world was now moving in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations
.”

In captivity, Pierre noticeably relaxed. He did not suffer at all from the lack of comfort, from dirt, from the very fact of captivity. “ Pierre’s attire now consisted of a dirty, torn shirt, the only remnant of his previous dress, soldier’s trousers, tied with ropes at the ankles for warmth on Karataev’s advice, a caftan and a peasant’s hat

"
But “ the expression of the eyes was firm, calm and animatedly ready, such as Pierre’s gaze had never had before
.”
On the contrary, energy was noticed in him, “chosenness” - a consequence of the work of thought and soul. He searched for a long time in his life for “ calmness, agreement with himself
,” unsuccessfully “searched for this through thought” and found peace and harmony “only through the horror of death, through deprivation and through what he understood in Karataev.”
He came to a new understanding of happiness: “
the absence of suffering, the satisfaction of needs and, as a result, the freedom to choose activities, that is, a way of life .”

Everything that he experienced from the moment he found himself on the Borodino field (battle, the fire of Moscow, captivity) taught him the ability to “
wait and endure
.”
Pierre endured physical lack of freedom quite easily, because he felt like he was part of a huge world, which was taken prisoner and “put in a booth, fenced off with boards.” Therefore, he reasoned, his lack of freedom was just an illusion of the French. “ They are holding me captive.
Who me? Me? Me - my immortal soul! Ha, ha, ha!.. ” Pierre realized “that there is nothing terrible in the world.”
The feeling of inner freedom did not leave Pierre even after his rescue from captivity. “ The very thing that tormented him before, that which he was constantly looking for, the purpose of life, now did not exist for him.
This sought-after goal of life now, not by chance, did not exist for him, but at the present moment, but he felt that it did not and could not exist. And this lack of purpose gave him that complete, joyful consciousness of freedom, which at that time constituted his happiness. <…>
This search for a goal was only a search for God;
and suddenly he learned in his captivity, not in words, not by reasoning, but by direct feeling, what his nanny had told him for a long time: that God is here, here, everywhere. In captivity, he learned that God in Karataev is greater, infinite and incomprehensible than in the Architect of the universe recognized by the Freemasons. He experienced the feeling of a man who had found what he was looking for under his feet, while he strained his vision, looking far away from himself... Previously, the terrible question that destroyed all his mental structures was: why? did not exist for him now. Now to this question - why? a simple answer was always ready in his soul: because there is God, that God, without whose will a hair will not fall from a man’s head .”

Even the servants noticed that their master had “spent a lot.” And when he thought about the death of Andrei Bolkonsky, the most important thing for him was to know whether he had softened before his death. “So he calmed down? have you softened?" - Pierre persistently asked Princess Marya after listening to her story about her brother. Pierre himself was “terribly struck” by the death of his wife Helen (“death... without friends, without consolation”). He felt guilty “before a man who no longer exists.”

Pierre told Princess Marya in detail about his adventures, trials and spiritual quests, as a result of which he came to the main conclusion: “As long as there is life, there is happiness.”

. And Marya Bolkonskaya “saw the possibility of love and happiness between Natasha and Pierre.”

Fashion salon Scherer

In this essay on the topic “High Society in the novel “War and Peace”” we will take a closer look at some representatives of secular society. The reader is introduced to the world of the chosen ones at the beginning of the novel. The reader finds himself among the guests of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. The insincerity of the hostess's behavior immediately catches the eye. Most of all, she is concerned about maintaining external decency. She shuffles people like a deck of cards, making circles for conversation and strictly watching so that sincere feelings do not inadvertently break through, no one raises their voice or shows excessive free-thinking. Pierre's emotionality and sincere spontaneity do not fit into this kingdom of lies and pretense. The smart and insightful Prince Andrei Bolkonsky feels superfluous at this celebration of life. For the rest, the Scherer house is a comfortable place where you can show off your beauty and, pretending to be smart, show yourself like Helen Bezukhova. Try to find patrons for my son, like Anna Mikhailovna. Find suitable brides for your sons, like Prince Kuragin.

Option 2

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in his novel introduced us to Pierre Bezukhov as the son of a rich aristocrat. Appeared thanks to the union of his father, Count Bezukhov, and his mother, a bourgeois woman. The illegitimate son studied for a long time in France before his arrival in St. Petersburg, where the author introduces us to the hero. He is one of the author’s most beloved heroes and, in my opinion, in his moral and spiritual quests shows the fundamental search for truth of Tolstoy himself.

The young man was tall, plump in body, had short hair and glasses on his eyes, which in no way showed him to have an extraordinary personality. I always tried to dress according to the fashion of my time. The awkward corpulence of his body and large arms and legs made his figure enormous.

At a reception in Anna Pavlovna's salon, Scherer, finding himself for the first time in the circle of the St. Petersburg elite, felt his weakness in front of such strong and influential people. Against the background of “mechanical” people living according to a certain subordination in relations with others, Pierre stood out for his liveliness and naturalness. In his gaze one could see a kind and sensitive heart, as well as an observant attitude towards everything that was happening. Thanks to the education he received abroad, he was quite educated and smart, but at the same time he had emotional “heat” and sometimes could not restrain himself in any way. Using the example of a dispute with the abbot, Pierre shows himself precisely from that side that is so inappropriate for communication in secular society of the nineteenth century, namely frankness and naturalness.

He was not accepted in secular society and it was mutual. His fat face, openness and reluctance to act according to the rules aroused hostility among people representing the so-called “high society” of that time. But this hostility towards Pierre did not extend to everyone. His best friend Andrei Bolkonsky loved and respected him for his natural corpulent body movements, flight of thoughts and kind heart, despite his significant position in secular society. In his mind, Pierre's ardor and kindness were a ray of light in the dirty and deceitful environment in which Bolkonsky was forced to find himself.

Throughout the epic novel, Pierre's appearance underwent various changes, ranging from an increase in the obesity of his body to changes in clothes and hairstyle, but one thing remained unchanged in him: a kind heart and a sensitive mind. Despite his unattractive appearance, Pierre, in his moral “appearance” and desire to know true happiness, is one of those people from whom everyone should take an example.