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The action of the novel covers the events of the Napoleonic War, which influenced the fate of all the heroes. Both Bolkonsky and Bezukhov were initially captivated by the personality of Napoleon; he seemed to them a great and reasonable ruler. And only when they found themselves in the thick of military events, both heroes reconsidered their views: Prince Andrei was wounded, and Pierre was captured .
Bezukhov is a person who has nothing to do with military service. Pierre met the war in Moscow, occupied by the French. All the more surprising is his decision to leave home and, having changed clothes so as not to be recognized by anyone, go to fight. An explanation for this act may be disappointment in love (failed marriage with Helen) and the subsequent loneliness and loss of meaning in life.
Finding himself at the Battle of Borodino, he, along with ordinary people, faces horror and animal fear. Realizing the depth of his misconception about Napoleon's personality, he decides to take a daring step - to kill the enemy emperor in besieged Moscow. As a man who had once held a gun in his hand, he could not finish this adventure. Although he did not become a valiant warrior on the battlefield, Pierre still acted heroically:
- saved a girl from a fire when Moscow began to burn;
- defended a woman from the attacks of drunken Frenchmen.
He and Natasha Rostova are similar in this regard. Sometimes heroism lies not only in courage on the battlefield, but also in ordinary life - standing up for the weak or, like Natasha, giving the necessary supplies to the wounded.
The meaning of imprisonment
Captured Bezukhov was sentenced to death for something he did not commit. And it was this event that became the starting point for changing the hero’s worldview. On the battlefield, he saw the real courage of the soldiers, their heroism and self-sacrifice. Death walked side by side with them, unjustly taking the lives of these people.
Pierre was shackled by fear, which he recalled in captivity: “...How terrible is fear, and how shamefully I surrendered to it!” But he also remembered how ordinary people stood firm and went into battle, not caring about their own lives. After this, Pierre wanted to get closer to them, understand them and “get imbued with what makes them like that.”
In captivity, all contradictions and differences between people disappeared, class affiliation, level of wealth, upbringing or education, whether you were Russian, Venezuelan or French, became unimportant. The prisoners have a common problem, compassion for each other and a desire to help. Pierre emerged from captivity as a strong young man, his fullness was gone, and not only physical but also moral strength came. His fears disappeared, he realized that “there is nothing terrible in the world.”
Pierre Bezukhov in captivity (based on the novel "War and Peace")
Pierre Bezukhov in captivity
(based on the novel "War and Peace")
Before we get to the question of how Pierre spent his time in captivity, we must understand how he got there.
Pierre, like Bolkonsky, had a dream to be like Napoleon, to imitate him in every possible way and to be like him. But each of them realized their mistake. So, Bolkonsky saw Napoleon when he was wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon seemed to him “an insignificant person in comparison with what was happening between his soul and this high, endless sky with clouds running across it.” Pierre hated Napoleon when he left his home, disguised and armed with a pistol, to take part in the people's defense of Moscow. Pierre recalls the Kabbalistic meaning of his name (the number 666, etc.) in connection with the name of Bonaparte and that he is destined to put a limit to the power of the “beast.” Pierre is going to kill Napoleon, even if he has to sacrifice his own life. Due to circumstances, he was unable to kill Napoleon; he was captured by the French and imprisoned for 1 month.
If we consider the psychological impulses that occurred in Pierre’s soul, then we can say that the Events of the Patriotic War allow Bezukhov to get out of that closed, insignificant sphere of established habits and everyday relationships that fettered and suppressed him. A trip to the field of the Borodino battle opens up a new world for Bezukhov, hitherto unfamiliar to him, reveals the real appearance of ordinary people. On the day of Borodin, at the Raevsky battery, Bezukhov witnesses the high heroism of the soldiers, their amazing self-control, their ability to simply and naturally perform the feat of selflessness. On the Borodino field, Pierre was unable to avoid a feeling of acute fear. “Oh, how terrible fear is, and how shamefully I surrendered to it! And they... they were firm and calm all the time until the end...” he thought. In Pierre’s concept, they were soldiers, those who were at the battery, and those who fed him, and those who prayed to the icon... “They don’t say, but they do.” Bezukhov is overcome by the desire to get closer to them, to enter “this common life with all his being, to be imbued with what makes them so.”
Remaining in Moscow during its capture by French troops, Bezukhov is faced with many unexpected phenomena, contradictory facts and processes.
Arrested by the French, Pierre experiences the tragedy of a man sentenced to death for a crime he committed; he experiences the deepest emotional shock as he watches the execution of innocent Moscow residents. And this triumph of cruelty, immorality, and inhumanity suppresses Bezukhov: “... in his soul it was as if the spring on which everything was held was suddenly pulled out...”. Just like Andrei and Bolkonsky, Pierre acutely perceived not only his own imperfection, but also the imperfection of the world.
In captivity, Pierre had to endure all the horrors of a military court and the execution of Russian soldiers. Acquaintance with Platon Karataev in captivity contributes to the formation of a new outlook on life. “... Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre’s soul as the strongest and dearest memory and personification of everything “Russian, kind and round.”
Platon Karataev is meek, submissive to fate, gentle, passive and patient. Karataev is a vivid expression of the weak-willed acceptance of good and evil. This image is Tolstoy’s first step on the path to an apology (defense, praise, justification) of the patriarchal naive peasantry, which professed the religion of “non-resistance to evil through violence.” The image of Karataev is an illustrative example of how false views can lead to creative failures even of such brilliant artists. But it would be a mistake to think that Karataev personifies the entire Russian peasantry. Plato cannot be imagined with weapons in his hands on the battlefield. If the army consisted of such soldiers, it would not have been able to defeat Napoleon. In captivity, Plato is constantly busy with something - “he knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, cooked, sewed, planed, and made boots. He was always busy, only at night he allowed himself conversations, which he loved, and songs.”
In Captivity addresses the question of heaven, which worries many in Tolstov's novel. He sees “a full month” and “endless distance.” Just as you can’t lock this month and a long distance in a barn with prisoners, you can’t lock up a human soul. Thanks to the sky, Pierre felt free and full of strength for a new life.
In captivity he will find the path to inner freedom, join the people's truth and people's morality. The meeting with Platon Karataev, the bearer of people's truth, is an era in Pierre's life. Like Bazdeev, Karataev will enter his life as a spiritual teacher. But the entire internal energy of Pierre’s personality, the entire structure of his soul is such that, joyfully accepting the offered experience of his teachers, he does not obey them, but goes, enriched, further on his own path. And this path, according to Tolstoy, is the only one possible for a truly moral person.
Of great importance in Pierre's life in captivity was the execution of prisoners.
“Before Pierre’s eyes, the first two prisoners were shot, then two more. Bezukhov notes that horror and suffering are written not only on the faces of the prisoners, but also on the faces of the French. He does not understand why “justice” is administered if both the “right” and the “guilty” suffer. Pierre is not shot. The execution has been stopped. From the moment Pierre saw this terrible murder committed by people who did not want to do it, it was as if the spring on which everything was held and seemed alive was suddenly pulled out in his soul, and everything fell into a heap of meaningless rubbish. In him, although he was not aware of it, faith and the good order of the world, both in humanity, and in his soul, and in God, had been destroyed.
In conclusion, we can say that “in captivity, Pierre learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in satisfying natural human needs, and that all unhappiness comes not from lack, but from surplus; but now, in these last three weeks of the campaign, he learned another new comforting truth - he learned that there is nothing terrible in the world.”
The role of Karataev in the fate of the hero
Just like Pierre, Platon Karataev, a simple peasant man with his own philosophy of human existence, was captured. No one else could explain to Bezukhov that the real meaning of life is in children and work, in gratitude and love. Simple words that Pierre looked at with different eyes. Happiness is not in money - this is true if you understand that many people’s problems are not due to a lack of money, but because of their excess.
The active Karataev, even in captivity, is always busy with business:
- cooking;
- constantly fixes something;
- patches torn things;
- entertains with conversations (for example, tells a friend how to take care of his health).
Bezukhov’s behavior is hardly explainable when his friend falls ill: he does not want to contact him again, does not approach him and does not support him, knowing full well what fate awaits him.
Tolstoy clearly sympathizes with this character. The image of Platon Karataev reflects the life position of the author himself: never give up, go your own way, learn, make mistakes and learn some more. Communicating with Karataev, Pierre himself begins to look at life more calmly , listen to himself, his emotions, and not to reason. In conversations with a simple man, Bezukhov calms down and understands that he is happy here and now, why worry again.
Platon Karataev and his wisdom
In captivity, Bezukhov meets a simple peasant Karataev Platon, who shares his understanding of life. This is a very important moment in the hero’s biography: life begins to take on real meaning. A simple person gives the hero more than 10 years spent abroad in luxury and serenity. Karataev teaches Pierre to understand that life is given to a person in order to accept what it gives with gratitude, love, raise children, and work. The simplest truths become a revelation for Pierre, including the fact that all problems are caused by excess, and not by lack of money.
In captivity, Karataev is constantly busy with something, he repairs things, patches up things that are torn, prepares food, and tells his aristocratic friend how to protect his health. Through a character from the common people, Tolstoy shares his life position: a person must search, make mistakes and search again, gain knowledge and go on his way, without remaining subordinate to the one who shares his knowledge. Pierre learns to live by emotions, not by reason, to listen to himself, to treat everything simply and calmly. Conversations with Karataev calm the hero’s soul, he sees his life with different eyes, understands that he is happy here and now. The author says this about Bezukhov’s accidental spiritual mentor: he was “like a living vessel, filled with the purest folk wisdom.”
Life after captivity
A month in captivity greatly changed the character of Pierre Bezukhov. He finally stopped looking for a higher meaning guiding his life, every day he lived became valuable for him, and disappointment was replaced by humility and wisdom. For the rest of his life he remembered the scene of the execution of prisoners on the first day of his captivity; he saw the reaction of the French and could not understand why such an evil was being committed. The tragedy of events, the horror of inevitability will remain with Bezukhov forever. A briefly summarized novel always includes chapters dedicated to Bezukhov, who is captured, and the meaning of his stay there.
After being released from captivity, Pierre tries to live for a long time, adhering to Karataev’s principles. Bezukhov’s brief meeting with Karataev became significant. However, his energetic nature does not allow him to simply accept the reality of life. He continues to look for himself, but he takes everything that happens much more simply.
At the end of the novel, the hero is radically different from himself, but earlier. Yes, he became a caring family man, but public interests are also of paramount importance to him, which he proves with his characteristic zeal both in the Masonic lodge and in aristocratic circles.
