"War and Peace". Reading a novel

Sometimes love goes away on its own
Not touching the heart, not the mind.
That is not love, but youth fun,
No, love has the right to perish without a trace:
She comes to live forever
Until a man perishes in the ground.
Nizami
No person is able to understand what true love is until they have been married for a quarter of a century.
Mark Twain

This article is included in the "school block":

Literature, in fact, has passed by the image of family love. Andrei Platonov once remarked: "The image of a family man, artistically equivalent to Don Juan, does not exist in world literature. However, the image of a family man is more inherent and known to mankind than the image of Don Juan." This observation can be extended to folklore. Russian folk tales with a love plot, and most of them end with a wedding with an afterword: "... they lived happily ever after and died on the same day." A L.N. Tolstoy in "War and Peace" went beyond these fairy tales and revealed the secret of these longevity and happiness, describing in detail the content of daily, family love.

The famous Russian psychotherapist N.E. Osipov (1877-1934) called the works of Leo Tolstoy “psychoanalysis in artistic form” and in his works mentioned the name of the writer no less than the name of the founder of the psychoanalytic doctrine of S. Freud.

Moreover, N.E. Osipov sees in Tolstoy himself an intuitive psychoanalyst who anticipated Freud's discoveries even in the field of the treatment of mental illness. So, Tolstoy, according to N.E. Osipov, not only gave a surprisingly accurate description of Natasha Rostova's depression after the failed escape with Kuragin, but indicated the only true method of therapy. The scientist sees commonality in the methods of psychoanalysis and the artistic method of Tolstoy. N.E. Osipov considered common in Tolstoy and Freud attention to small strokes and attitude to them as having a deep meaning.

Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov are the favorite characters of L.N. Tolstoy and he describes them especially carefully, without embellishment, and sometimes even using harsh formulations, but with documentary accuracy, according to the principle "reliability is more precious than sympathy." Happy, loving families like Natasha and Pierre were, are and will be. And thanks to the "textbook of love" L.N. Tolstoy may be more.

Natasha Rostova went the usual way up the ladder of love: first she had a teenage crush on Boris, then an ardent "first love" for Andrei Bolkonsky, a passion for Anatole Kuragin, the final tragic chord with Andrei Bolkonsky. And only after she successfully passes the "courses of a young fighter" does she become "capable" of true love - the role of Mother - Wife.

Natasha - "black-eyed, with a big mouth, ugly, but lively girl", "graceful poetic imp", "capricious", "alarms everyone, and is loved by everyone", and also mobile and spontaneous, she was recklessly at the mercy of her feelings. With her temperament, a childish love for Boris Drubetskoy is inevitable. This sensual outburst caused in her an instant eclipse of reason, a complete paralysis of all other feelings. She plunged Natasha into deep experiences, and in these sufferings the soul develops. This is the first significant step from childhood to youth, and adulthood is still far away, somewhere beyond the horizon.

Natasha does not think at all about what she lives for, does not attach herself to thoughts about high ideals, or about "good heaven", or about virtue, or even about tomorrow. Natasha always does what her heart tells her, thinks little about the consequences of her actions, and therefore there is neither falsehood nor forgery. Admiring his heroine, L.N. Tolstoy singles out "simplicity, goodness and truth" in her. Her soul is developing, and can already accommodate and even requires a deeper feeling for Prince Andrei, with whom she falls in love and mutually. A stormy feeling, a declaration of love with Prince Andrei and an engagement with a year's test.

Prince Andrei in "War and Peace" falls into the trap of falling in love, as "a fish without fish and cancer." This trap is very common in socially restricted groups. Natasha Rostova may not meet his expectations and psychological characteristics at all, but she is "a person from her circle, a marriageable girl." There is a "key - lock" system. Prince Andrei wants to start a family, he has a need for love, and then Natasha appears. All further constructions of the heroes only in a favorable romantic form explain what happened to them. It seems to Natasha that already on the first visit of Prince Andrei to the Rostov estate, she fell in love with him, and him too. But this is self-deception. The true motive is the "couple waiting trap". L.N. Tolstoy was a good worldly psychologist, and therefore he allowed this couple to break up in the course of the story.
B.Yu.Shapiro, Dean of the Faculty of the MHSS, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, full member of the Academy of Pedagogical and Social Sciences, member of the European Association of Psychotherapists.

But Natasha's temperament does not tolerate such a long peace of mind, and now the demon has already beguiled her. In the absence of Prince Andrei, she meets and quickly becomes close to Anatole Kuragin. This is a tall handsome man with “beautiful big eyes”, he is not gifted with the mind, but “on the other hand, he had the ability of calmness, precious for light, and unchanging confidence.” And although Anatole does not pursue personal gain, he hunts for pleasures with an insatiable passion - and with a willingness to sacrifice any neighbor. So he does with Natasha Rostova, making her fall in love with him, preparing to take her away - and not thinking about her fate, about the fate of Andrei Bolkonsky.
“Three days,” Natasha said. - It seems to me that I have loved him for a hundred years. I feel like I've never loved anyone before him. You cannot understand this. Sonya, wait, sit down here. Natasha hugged and kissed her.
- I was told that it happens and you heard it right, but now I have only experienced this love. It's not like before. As soon as I saw him, I felt that he was my master, and I was his slave, and that I could not help but love him. Yes, slave! Whatever he tells me, I will do. You don't understand this. What am I to do? What should I do, Sonya? - said Natasha with a happy and frightened face. Natasha, being in the power of feelings, decides on a desperate step - an escape from her parents' house.

This mystical ecstatic phenomenon was subsequently called, which were the result of the fascination with the external beauty of Natasha Anatole, Pierre Helene. These bright, stormy states quickly capture the fullness of the soul, blind, deprive the mind, but they also pass quickly.

Here is how Sergei Yesenin describes such a passion for Isadora Duncan (1923): “There was passion, and great passion. This went on for a whole year. And then it's all gone and there's nothing left, there's nothing. When the passion was, I did not see anything. And now! My God, how blind I was! Where were my eyes? It's true, they're always so blind."

After a failed escape, Natasha is having a hard time with her "low, stupid and cruel" act, something already similar to adulthood. The break with Bolkonsky, his injury and subsequent death led Natasha to a deep internal crisis. She indulged in despair and sorrow, withdrew into herself. All this, the eternal throwing of maturing souls.

Grief, parting with loved ones is an inevitable part of life, no matter how great the grief it is experienced.

Pierre: a massive, fat young man with an intelligent, timid, observant and natural look. The figure of Pierre Bezukhov, depending on the circumstances, can be either clumsy or strong, can express both confusion, and anger, and kindness, and fury. And Pierre's smile is not the same as that of others: When a smile came, his serious face suddenly instantly disappeared and another appeared - childish, kind.

Pierre also goes through all the stages of growing up. He participates in revelry, and here he manifests that riotous-lordly beginning, the embodiment of which was once his father, Catherine's nobleman, Count Bezukhov. The sensual beginning prevails over the mind: out of "great love" he marries the secular beauty Helen. But Pierre quickly realizes that he does not have a real family, that his wife is a frivolous woman. Dissatisfaction grows in him, but not with others, but with himself. Participates in duels, suffers again.

Pierre's life is a path of discovery and disappointment, a path of crisis and in many ways dramatic. He is smart, loves to indulge in dreamy philosophizing, exceptionally kind and absent-minded, at the same time he is distinguished by weakness of will, lack of initiative. The main feature of the hero is the search for peace of mind, harmony with himself, the search for a life that would be in harmony with the needs of the heart and would bring moral satisfaction.

Pierre, having returned from captivity and having learned that his wife has died and he is free, hears about the Rostovs, that they are in Kostroma, but the thought of Natasha rarely visits him: “If she came, it was only as a pleasant memory of the past.” Even having met her, he does not immediately recognize Natasha in a pale and thin woman with sad eyes without a shadow of a smile, who was sitting near Princess Marya, to whom he arrived.

Again, you can see how L.N. Tolstoy, a great master of seeing the psychological picture of human relations, accurately notices the emergence of Pierre's feeling of love for Natasha, which happened even when Andrei and Natasha's love was in full swing. The joy of their happiness mixed in his soul with sadness, with shades of envy. Unlike Andrei, Pierre's kind heart forgave Natasha after the incident with Anatole Kuragin. Although he tried to despise her, he saw the exhausted, suffering Natasha, and "a feeling of pity that had never been experienced had overwhelmed Pierre's soul." And love entered his “soul that blossomed into new life.” Pierre understood Natasha because her connection with Anatole was similar to his passion for Helen.

After a quarrel with his wife, Pierre's life quest continues. He became interested in Freemasonry, then there was a war, and the unrealizable idea of ​​​​murdering Napoleon, and burning Moscow, terrible minutes of waiting for death and captivity. Having gone through suffering, traumatized, tired soul of Pierre retained the origins of love for Natasha. Both of them, after tragedies, losses, if they crave something, then not new happiness, but rather peace. She is still all in her grief, but it is natural for her to speak out in front of Pierre without hiding about the details of the last days of her love for Andrei, because she felt her soul in him. Pierre “listened to her and only felt sorry for her for the suffering that she was now experiencing while telling.” For Pierre, it is a joy and a “rare pleasure” to tell Natasha about his adventures during captivity. For Natasha, the joy is listening to him, "guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre's spiritual work." Love woke up in their hearts, and suddenly “it smelled and doused with long-forgotten happiness”, and “the forces of life” beat, and “joyful madness” took possession of them. “Love woke up, life woke up.” The power of love revived Natasha after the spiritual apathy caused by the death of Prince Andrei. She thought that her life was over, but the love for her mother that arose with renewed vigor showed her that her essence - love is still alive in her.

Natasha is twenty-one years old, Pierre is twenty-eight.

Pierre's letter to Natasha:

“Dear Natasha, on that magnificent summer evening when I met you at the emperor’s ball, I realized that all my life I wanted to have a wife as beautiful as you. I looked at you all evening, without stopping for a minute, peered into your slightest movement, tried to look into every, even the smallest, hole in your soul. I never took my eyes off your gorgeous body for a second. But alas, all my efforts to get your attention were unsuccessful. I think that all the pleas and promises on my part will be just a waste of time. For I know that I have too little status in the empire. But still I want to assure you that you are the most beautiful creature in the world.

I have never, never met such an amazing woman who has done so much for our country. And only your greatest modesty hides it.

Natasha, I love you!

Pierre Bezukhov

“From the day Pierre, leaving the Rostovs and remembering Natasha’s grateful look, looked at the comet standing in the sky and felt that something new had opened up for him, the question of the futility and madness of everything earthly, which had always tormented him, ceased to present itself. to him. This terrible question: why? for what?"

After marriage, Natasha underwent an amazing transformation, her life changes course 180 degrees. Natasha realizes her main life role, for which she was intended. This role of hers was predetermined by her family upbringing. She grew up in the morally pure atmosphere of the Rostov family, a family that L.N. Tolstoy in the novel considers it harmonious, full-fledged, where complete mutual understanding reigns and there are warm relations between parents and children. It was the family that instilled in Natasha a love for art, a craving for culture, and that folk organicity that, L.N. Tolstoy considers a truly Russian person to be an integral part of the spiritual world. It was the family that shaped Natasha as a person. At the time of the end of the novel, she and Pierre had four children.

L.N. Tolstoy expressed his attitude towards Natasha in her new life with the thoughts of the old countess, who understood with her “motherly instinct” that “all Natasha’s impulses began only with the need to have a family, to have a husband like her, not so much joking as really , shouted in Otradnoe”. Countess Rostova "was surprised at the surprise of people who did not understand Natasha, and repeated that she always knew that Natasha would be an exemplary wife and mother."

“The general opinion was that Pierre was under the shoe of his wife, and indeed it was. From the very first days of their marriage, Natasha made her demands. Pierre was surprised at this completely new view of his wife, which consists in the fact that every minute of his life belongs to her and the family; Pierre was surprised at his wife's demands, but was flattered by them and obeyed them. After reading this, everyone can compare their understanding of "under the shoe of his wife" with the way L.N. Tolstoy and explains in detail to the wives how to make the husband himself want to be under her shoe.

“Natasha in her house put herself on the foot of her husband's slave; and the whole house walked on tiptoe when Pierre was studying - reading or writing in his study. As soon as Pierre showed some passion, so that what he loved was constantly fulfilled. As soon as he expressed a desire, Natasha jumped up and ran to fulfill it. The whole house was guided only by the imaginary commands of her husband, that is, the desires of Pierre, which Natasha tried to guess. And she, it’s true, guessed what the essence of Pierre’s desires consisted of, and, having guessed it once, she already firmly held on to what she once chose. When Pierre himself already wanted to change his desire, she fought against him with his own weapons.

“Everything that was a mental, abstract business of her husband, she attributed, without understanding it, of great importance and was constantly in fear of being a hindrance in this activity of her husband.”

There is such great support and understanding in couples living in love that everyone feels protected. At the same time, no matter what everyone does, no matter what they say, everything is appropriate, everything is fine, everything is correct. This in itself gives the feeling that you are a kind person, gives a sense of your own importance. And this feeling is an important need of every person.

“Natasha, not knowing it herself, was all attention: she did not miss a word, or a fluctuation in her voice, or a look, or a twitch of a facial muscle, or Pierre’s gesture. On the fly, she caught a word that had not yet been spoken and directly brought it into her open heart, guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre’s spiritual work.

In each married couple, love is realized in different ways, but what they have in common is that the demands of the spouse do not cause irritation, but, on the contrary, a sense of satisfaction and pride, since they are perceived as a manifestation of care, their own need.

To describe his favorite L.N. Tolstoy does not spare harsh expressions. Natasha "what they call has sunk": she has ceased to care about her manners, words, clothes - about the whole external side of life. She gave up singing, abandoned all her former hobbies and activities. She gave herself completely to her family, husband, children - she almost disappeared into them, became part of them. Natasha was completely imbued with naturalness, began to live an almost natural life.

She sank, but sank to such a depth, telling about which L.N. Tolstoy never ceases to amaze. Natasha became a "beautiful and prolific female", in which "only her face and body were visible, but "I" was not visible"? Her "I" completely dissolved into "we". Natasha became not just a natural person, but a key "organ of the family", the embodiment of the eternal "wife-mother" - the coastline. In her dissolution into "we" she so merged with her husband that she began to understand him beyond words, almost telepathically. They talked, "with extraordinary clarity and speed, knowing and communicating each other's thoughts ... without the mediation of judgments, conclusions and conclusions, but in a very special way."

It was a way that was contrary to all the laws of logic - "nasty already because at the same time they spoke about completely different subjects ... Natasha was so used to talking to her husband in this way that a sure sign that something was something was wrong between her and her husband, Pierre's logical train of thought served her. When he began to prove, speak judiciously and calmly, and when she, carried away by his example, began to do the same, she knew that this would certainly lead to a quarrel.

One person is not yet a person, only in a pair does he acquire harmonious integrity.
L. Feuerbach

This state is designated as perfect harmony and is evaluated as great happiness ("one heart and one soul") and, of course, by right... for this is the true experience of the deity, which, having taken possession of a person, extinguishes and absorbs everything individual in him... man and woman become instruments of continuing life.
C.G. Jung

Before us is a striking phenomenon that has not yet been fully disclosed. By transmitting several thoughts to each other at once, in one and the same second, they do not complicate their understanding by this, but, on the contrary, make it more complete and faster. And when they speak according to the rules of logic, not about many subjects at once, but about one, this does not facilitate their understanding, but, on the contrary, disrupts it.

Pierre's love for Natasha opened up new qualities in him - a mysterious insight appeared. "He, without the slightest effort, immediately, meeting with any person, saw in him everything that was good and worthy of love." "Perhaps," he thought, "I seemed then strange and ridiculous; but then I was not as mad as I seemed. On the contrary, I was then smarter and more insightful than ever, and life because... I was happy."

And Natasha and Pierre's inner understanding of each other is based on kindred foundations. Their "deep immersion" into each other, their multi-tiered exchange of different thoughts and feelings at once is the fruit of the merging of kindred souls.

The primary one is the “kinship of souls”, this predetermines mutual understanding, interest arises from communication, spiritual comfort develops in relationships, this causes a desire to do a good deed for a partner, and this causes an even greater desire to deliver pleasantness in return. All! The chain reaction of the development of love feelings has been launched and now it will develop until the end of the century "until man perishes into the earth." Moreover, over the years, love becomes even stronger and more beneficial.

Love is not so much a feeling that leads to marriage, but the disclosure of effective light energy and other abilities in life together. Love ceases to be a separate feeling, but becomes a universal state of the soul, body, mind, behavior. As the life-giving rain moisture impregnates the parched, cracked earth, so love has permeated the lives of Natasha and Pierre, their whole way of being.

Love is a state in which a person is able to feel and experience his absolute indispensability. In love, a person can feel the meaning of his existence for the other and the meaning of the existence of the other for himself. Love helps a person to manifest itself, revealing, increasing, developing the good, positive, valuable in him. This is the highest synthesis of the meaning of human existence. Only by loving, giving myself to another and penetrating into him, I find myself, I open myself, I open both of us, I open a person.
E. Fromm.

This love - a natural state is not like either Natasha's early feelings, or Pierre's stormy feelings for Helen, then they were in love

“After seven years of marriage, Pierre felt a joyful, firm consciousness that he was not a bad person, and he felt this because he saw himself reflected in his wife. In himself he felt all good and bad mixed up and obscuring one another. But only what was truly good was reflected on his wife: everything that was not entirely good was thrown away. And this reflection took place not by logical thought, but by another - a mysterious, direct reflection.

If ordinary writers describe different sides, the intricacies of love preceding the wedding, then outstanding writers describe how love transforms, reveals the best qualities in spouses when children are already born. And the experiences, passions preceding the creation of a family are only the forerunner of the main feeling in life, so vividly and comprehensively described by L.N. Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace".

Love is a priceless gift. It's the only thing we can give and yet you keep it.
L.N. Tolstoy

We can learn a lot of interesting things about the details and details of the life of our heroes if we use the knowledge that opens

Socionic psychotypes: Natasha Rostova - sensory-ethical extrovert SEE - ESFP - Napoleon Pierre Bezukhov - intuitive-logical introvert OR - INTP - Balzac Andrey Bolkonsky - ethical-intuitive extravert EIE - ENFJ - Hamlet Without suspecting that L.N. Tolstoy chose the best dual relationship to describe the family union of his favorite heroes.

Duality is the highest reward of the creator, because only in the relations of duals is everything necessary to give them the harmony of perfection.
Psychologist O.B. Slinko

“In a word, the dual is really that very "half" about the meeting with which every socionic dreams (but a socionic cannot dream, because it is impossible to dream about what you have no idea about!). In the current dual dyad, people generally forget about, for example, what complexes are. No complexes! Duals are liberated, uninhibited, confident in their demand, in their need, in their usefulness (first of all, to the dual, and therefore to society) ”After getting acquainted with the description of duality in more detail, it becomes clear where the legend of androgynes came from, that it did not arise from mere imagination of the philosopher. This phenomenon is interesting L.N. Tolstoy also describes in the novel "Anna Karenina" about the loving spouses Levin and Kitty. Once, Konstantin Levin was late home, and Kitty, who had become nervous, met him with bitter reproaches. He was offended at her, wanted to say angry words to her, "but at that very moment he felt that ... he had accidentally hit himself." “He realized that she was not only close to him, but that he now did not know where she ended and he began.” "She was himself." Natasha's love for Pierre is not something unshakable, given once and for all, Natasha needs to renew it every day anew. Only such a contradictory, slow, at the same time smart and deeply thinking partner, like Pierre, can keep her attention for a long time. But for Natasha, these updates are not a burdensome work, a burden, it is her interest, these are the puzzles of life that she willingly solves, enjoying it, feeling the fullness of life, joy, satisfaction with herself and her spouse. Natasha helps Pierre cope with bouts of blues, he is charged with energy and optimism from her. Natasha takes over from Pierre his vision of Time, it does not need to be rushed or slowed down, as it flows, let it flow, more confidently, without far-fetched drama refers to the future. can even predict how their sexual relationship developed. Almost always, Natasha was the initiator of these relations. After all, she is a sensory (a person who is confident in her feelings) and an ethicist (confident in her feelings for another person). As an extrovert, she is proactive and impulsive in relationships, easily expresses feelings, frank and decisive. While Pierre doubts the thoughts of the choice, she does it much faster to mutual pleasure. But if Natasha married Andrei Bolkonsky, it would be extremely unsuccessful at first for her, and already as a result for him. Andrey's relationship to Natasha can be described as patronage in the absence of feedback, something that she does not need. Over time, they develop into Andrey's almost complete disregard for Natasha. Since you do not need my protection, and I cannot give you anything else, then you do not need me. Instead of love, as it develops in relations with Pierre, it turns into a hindrance, an uninteresting, primitive burden that prevents him from fully thinking, living and being himself. The most important thing that gives all the qualities of a relationship: love, problems, conflicts, alienations can be calculated before they begin, i.e. before dating. First, socionic testing is carried out, and then everything will be explained.

“Now half of young families break up in the first year of life, two-thirds - in the first five years, in 70% of families that have not yet broken up, spouses are in a tense relationship ...”

Only 1.5% of the polled Russians answered positively to the question "Are your relations with your loved one harmonious?"

“According to official statistics, we have 70 divorces for every 100 marriages. And I say that for 100 marriages, all 100% of divorces. We don't have families. It's just that people live in isolation in one territory, isolated from each other. These are the families we have that only the outer shell keeps people together. I studied families where the marriage lasted 10-15 years, and asked, asked a question of this type: “would you marry your husband now, but only everything will repeat as it was.” And vice versa. As a result, only 5% of men did not regret that they married this woman. And 9% of women. But, let's say, I agree to marry her, and my wife would not marry me now, if on a new one. So, out of 11 thousand 400 families, it turned out that there are five such families where there is a mutual choice.”

A happy life in love has a big drawback - time flies quickly. After all, it is not in vain that the saying “happy hours are not observed” was born. No matter how long the life of a happy family,

George Bush (senior) lived in love with Barbara for 75 years, died in the same year 2018, he was 94 years old, she was 92 years old.

And of course it is longer than the unlucky one, it flies by quickly. Here is such a paradox.

Another sign is “Happiness is like health, when you don’t notice it, it means you have it.”
I.Turgenev.

So it turns out that a person, no matter how hard he tries, is never able to please the body, because what the body needs can not always be obtained, and if it is to be obtained, then one must fight with others; a person can always please the soul, because the soul needs only love, and for love one does not need to fight with anyone; ...on the contrary, the more you love, the more you get closer to other people. ...and the more each person loves, the more and more he not only becomes happy and joyful, but also makes other people happy and joyful.
L. N. Tolstoy

From the point of view of the creators of the national idea, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, Slavophiles, the destruction of the very foundations of Russia's existence begins with the destruction of the traditional foundations of the "home" - the Russian Family. Such a Family as Natasha and Pierre.

Happy is he who is happy at home.
LN Tolstoy Love. E. Pushkarev

One of the main characters in the novel was Natasha Rostova. The writer pays a lot of attention to her, and this is not surprising, because Natasha's soul is in itself a whole novel, a life story, and all the most important and most important is manifested in her spiritual qualities and actions.
In the novel, the words "Natasha" and "love" are inseparable. Love is part of her soul. Love for father and mother, for Andrei and Pierre, for Nikolai and Sonya ... Each feeling is different from the other, but they are all deep and true. Let's remember the meeting between Natasha and Andrey at the ball. They understood each other suddenly, from half a glance, they felt something uniting them both. Prince Andrei grew younger next to Natasha. He became at ease and natural next to her. But from many episodes of the novel it is clear that Bolkonsky could remain himself only with very few people. “Prince Andrei ... loved to meet in the world that which did not have a common secular imprint. And that was Natasha.
But true love still won, woke up in Natasha's soul much later. She realized that the one whom she idolized, whom she admired, who was dear to her, lived in her heart all this time. That person was Pierre. His "childish soul" was close to Natasha. And he was the only one who brought joy and light to the Rostovs' house when she was ill, when she was tormented by remorse, suffered, hated herself for everything that had happened. She did not see reproach and indignation in Pierre's eyes. He idolized her, and Natasha was grateful to him only for the fact that he exists in the world and that he is her only consolation.
Natasha Rostova is the most beautiful female image in Russian literature, which is unusually real and at the same time divine. This is how a mother should be. The image of Natasha embodied the ideal of a woman for Tolstoy - a woman for whom the family is the meaning of her whole life.

LN Tolstoy shows us the young Pierre Bezukhov for the first time in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer as a clear violator of both public peace and the smooth flow of the evening in general. He is distinguished from everyone in the living room by an intelligent, observant look. It is he, and not a huge growth or a brown tailcoat, that inspires Anna Pavlovna with anxiety. Pierre is greeted with a bow referring to people of the lowest hierarchy. He is the illegitimate son of Catherine's nobleman, Count Bezukhov, and later his legitimate heir. In a short time he becomes the owner of thousands of souls and millions. And now he is a welcome guest of all the salons and houses of both capitals.
Count Leo Tolstoy, no doubt, loves Count Pierre Bezukhov very much. He makes him the most enviable groom in Russia, but at the same time, he marries a stupid and depraved creature, the brilliant St. Petersburg beauty Helen Kuragina. And at that seemingly most “romantic” moment, when Pierre “asks” Helen’s hand, he always relies on the word “seems” in his thoughts: “seems” I love, “seems” happy.
He seeks happiness in married life and does not find it. The search for truth leads him to the Masonic lodge. It seems to Pierre that in Freemasonry he found the embodiment of his ideals. The thought of perfecting the world and oneself embraces him. The ideas of brotherhood, equality and love most of all attract a young man in Freemasonry. He wants to act, to benefit people. First of all, he decides to alleviate the fate of the serfs. But hypocrisy and hypocrisy also penetrated into the milieu of Freemasonry. There is no personal happiness either. In his life there comes a period of disappointments and mistakes.
Natasha's love is Pierre's reward for all the hardships and mental anguish. She, like an angel, enters his life, illuminating it with a warm, gentle light. Finally, Pierre found his happiness in family life.
He becomes a member of a secret society. Pierre speaks with indignation about the reaction that has come in Russia, about Arakcheevism, theft. At the same time, he understands the strength of the people and believes in them. With all this, the hero strongly opposes violence. In other words, for Pierre, the path of moral self-improvement remains decisive in the reorganization of society.
Intense intellectual search, the ability to selfless deeds, high spiritual impulses, nobility and devotion in love (relationship with Natasha), true patriotism, the desire to make society more just and humane, truthfulness and naturalness, the desire for self-improvement make Pierre one of the best people of his time .
Epilogue.
Natasha and Pierre are two "poles", completely different people, separated by an abyss of worldviews. But their love became a bridge across this abyss, brought them closer and connected them.

Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov in the novel "War and Peace" (version 2)

In the epic novel "War and Peace" L. N. Tolstoy, drawing historical pictures of the life of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, pays special attention to his favorite characters, Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova, revealing their spiritual clarity and simplicity, love relationships that develop on throughout the entire work.

With Natasha Rostova, a thirteen-year-old cheerful and spontaneous girl, the young Count Bezukhov first meets in Moscow, where he is exiled for revelry and debauchery in the company of Prince Kuragin and Dolokhov. Invited to the name day of the old countess, he, who did not know parental warmth and love (illegitimate son), raised by strangers, was struck by the comfort, joyful atmosphere and hospitality of the Rostov family.

“Big, fat and meek,” Pierre is shy at first, but soon feels at ease, “looking more and more pleasantly at the guests” and at Natasha, who sits “against him” and looks at Boris Drubetskoy with loving eyes. “This very look of her sometimes turned to Pierre, and under the gaze of this funny, lively girl, he wanted to laugh himself, not knowing why.”

Natasha, with her open and trusting heart, immediately imbued with respect and sympathy for this man who came from abroad. “You know, this fat Pierre, who was sitting opposite me, is so funny!” she says to Sonya. The girl, "laughing with her eyes and blushing," trustingly approaches him, inviting him to dance, and Pierre does not refuse her, although he does not dance well.

From the first pages of the novel, L. N. Tolstoy shows the spiritual closeness of his characters, their mutual understanding: “... Pierre sat down with his lady. Natasha was completely happy ... She sat in front of everyone and talked to him like a big one.

Entangled in the flattery and insidious intrigue of Prince Vasily Kuragin, Count Pyotr Kirillovich, having married Helen, an empty and prudent secular beauty, realizing that marriage with her is unhappy, more and more reaches out with her soul and heart to Natasha, who became the bride of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who sees in Pierre "golden heart".

Bezukhov treats the charming and charming girl with tender devotion, admires and admires her. Therefore, having learned about Natasha’s betrayal of Prince Andrei, at first he cannot come to terms with this: “The sweet impression of Natasha, whom he knew from childhood, could not unite in his soul with a new idea of ​​​​her baseness, stupidity and cruelty.” But, having learned that the naive girl was seduced with the help of the depraved Helen, he becomes furious, almost strangling Anatole, forcing him to return Natasha's letters and leave Moscow. Subconsciously, Pierre does not believe in the "fall" of the young countess and believes "that it is his duty to hide the whole matter and restore Rostova's reputation."

Seeing Natasha after her failed escape with Anatole, he understands what is happening in her heart and is imbued with a feeling of true love for her: "... now he felt so sorry for her that there was no place for reproach in his soul." For Pierre, Natasha is pure and pure. In a gentle, sincere voice, he speaks to the girl, calling her “my friend”, offering his help, advice: “... if ... you just need to pour out your soul to someone ... remember me ... I am happy I will, if I am able to ... "In a fit of tenderness and compassion, he confesses to Natasha:" If I were not me ... and would be free, I would this minute on my knees ask for your hand and your love.

Filled with despair and shame, humiliated and crushed by her grief, rejected by society, Natasha in Pierre finds a true person close to her and cries "with tears of gratitude and tenderness."

These tears evoke the joy of life in the count, renew his suffering soul with the desire to act.

Having survived the horrors of the war, having lost close and dear people, the beloved heroes of Leo Tolstoy meet again with other people. Seeing Natasha’s “strict, thin and pale, aged face”, her dear, sweet and attentive eyes, Pierre feels a long-forgotten happiness that “swept and swallowed him all”. He “wanted to hide his excitement. But the more he wanted to hide him, the more clearly, more clearly, the most definite words - he told himself, and to her, and to Princess Mary that he loved her.

For the first time after the death of Prince Andrei and Petya, Natasha feels pleasure from communicating with Pierre, her “kind and sad-questioning eyes ... lit up,” and she tells him about her last meeting with Prince Andrei, seeing sincere sympathy in Pierre. And he understands that “there is now a judge over his every word, action, a court that is dearer to him than the court of all people in the world - this is Natasha”

Postponed trials even more.

They bring together the heroes of the novel, who see their happiness in simplicity, goodness and truth. Talking about his captivity, Pierre feels Natasha's attention: “... she did not miss a word, or a fluctuation in her voice, or a look, or a twitch of a facial muscle, or Pierre's gesture. On the fly, she caught a word that had not yet been spoken and directly brought it into her open heart, guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre’s spiritual work. For the first time since the sad loss of loved ones, a joyful and playful smile appears on Natasha's face.

Pierre feels the presence of Natasha with all his being and is surprised by her: “She was in the same black dress with soft folds and the same hairdo as yesterday, but she was completely different ... A cheerful, questioning gleam shone in her eyes; there was an affectionate and strangely playful expression on his face. Only now Pierre realizes that he cannot live without Natasha and says to Princess Mary: “... I have loved her alone, alone all my life and love so much that I can’t imagine life without her.”

Love transforms Bezukhov. He thinks of "incredible happiness ahead." He is seized by "joyful, unexpected madness", "the whole meaning of life ... seemed to him ... only in his love and in the possibility of her love for him." People seem to Pierre to be sweet, friendly, attentive, kind and touching, he wants to tell everyone about his joy: “All the judgments that he made for himself about people and circumstances during this period of time remained forever true for him ... love overwhelmed his heart , and he, loving people for no reason, found undoubted reasons for which it was worth loving them. ”The world became beautiful for Pierre. He rejoices at riders and carpenters, merchants and shopkeepers who look at him “with cheerful, shining faces”, admires the streets and houses.

And Natasha? In the devastated soul of the girl, “the power of life, hope for happiness” suddenly wakes up. She, for whom everything consisted in love, fell in love again and surrendered to this feeling with all the fullness and sincerity, joy and fun: “Everything: face, gait, look, voice - everything suddenly changed in her ... She spoke little about Pierre, but when Princess Mary mentioned him, a long-extinct gleam lit up in her eyes and her lips puckered up in a strange smile.

Meeting with Pierre Bezukhov after his return from captivity, his attention and love finally heal Natasha, who found her happiness in her husband and children. Love and harmony reign among the Bezukhovs, created by Natasha, the mother and wife, who always strived for one thing - “to have a family. to have a husband", "to whom she gave herself all - that is, with all her soul." She leads her house in such a way as to fulfill all the desires of Pierre: both in household chores, in raising children, and in the count's studies, and in the very spirit of the house. She not only listens to Pierre, but absorbs his thoughts and feelings. He sees himself reflected in his wife, and this pleases him, because in disputes “Pierre, to his joy and surprise, found not only in the words, but also in the actions of his wife, his very thought, against which she argued.” Not understanding husband's mind, Natasha guesses what was the most important in his activities, shares his thoughts only because Pierre is for her the most honest, most just person in the world. In the family, in Natasha's love for him, Count Bezukhov draws spiritual strength to fight evil and injustice. L. N. Tolstoy writes: “After seven years of marriage, Pierre felt a joyful, firm consciousness that he was not a bad person, and he felt this because he saw himself reflected in his wife ... And this reflection did not occur through a logical thoughts, and to others - a mysterious, direct reflection.

The novel “War and Peace” embodied L. N. Tolstoy’s thoughts about the secrets of happiness and love, about the purity of the moral feelings of the heroes of the work, their attitude to good and evil, truth and lies, to family life as one of the forms of unity between people.

Love Natasha and Pierre

At the end of the novel, we see Natasha as Pierre's wife and mother of four children. “She grew stout and fat, so it was difficult to recognize in this strong mother the former thin, mobile Natasha.” The heroine finds happiness not in visiting salons and fashionable evenings, but in the family. Pierre is also happy, who has found not just a beloved wife, but a faithful friend who takes part "in every minute of her husband's life."

What right does a person have to forget the deceased, to experience his grief, to return to the joys of life, to love again?

Princess Mary was upset when she saw how Natasha had changed when she met Pierre. “Did she really love her brother so little that she could forget him so soon,” thought Princess Marya ...”

But she too, with her sharp moral instinct, felt that "she had no right to reproach her even in her soul."

For Tolstoy, the beauty and grandeur of life is primarily in its diversity, in the interweaving of grief and joy, in the eternal human striving for happiness. That is why he loves Natasha so much that she is overflowing with the power of life and knows how to be reborn after shame, resentment, grief to new joys. This is a natural quality of a person, and one cannot condemn him, otherwise life would stop.

Natasha was revived by a new grief - the death of Petya.

After the death of Prince Andrei, she felt cut off from her family: her mother, father, Sonya, of course, sympathized with her, but they could not fully share her grief. The irreparable happened in her life; their life went on as before - this shared it with relatives.

But then the trouble fell on the family - and above all on the mother.

Natasha, completely immersed in her grief, did not immediately understand what had happened. She now avoided even Princess Mary, who, earlier than she, "was called by life" from their common "world of sadness." Princess Mary had to take care of Nikolushka, the restoration of the Bald Mountains, and the Moscow house. All this was alien to Natasha: until recently, “recognizing the possibility of the future seemed to them an insult to his memory” - to both of them, and now Princess Mary is busy arranging this very future!

Natasha endlessly repeated in her mind her last conversations with Prince Andrei - now she answered his questions differently, spoke tender words to him, which she did not have time to say. And the thought that "you can never, never correct" what was said before - this thought drove Natasha to despair.

“What misfortune do they have there, what misfortune can there be?” thought Natasha, going to her mother's call. But when she saw him, she understood. “Something terribly painfully hit her in the heart. She felt terrible pain; it seemed to her that something was breaking off in her and that she was dying. But following the pain, she felt an instant release from the prohibition of life that lay on her.

When a loved one died in front of our eyes, we still hardly force ourselves to believe that he is no more. But when we are separated from him and remember him alive, cheerful, full of strength, and the news of his death comes, it is impossible to believe, and the old countess frantically shouts the very words that mothers and wives shouted in all wars: “Not true, not true. .. He is lying... Killed!.. ha-ha-ha-ha!... not true!”

Of the four children, one Natasha is here, nearby. And the most beloved, the youngest, was killed. Only Natasha can - no, not console, not bring her mother back to life, but at least protect her from madness.

Natasha “thought her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that essence of her life- love- is still alive in it. Love woke up, and life woke up.(Italics mine. - N.D.)

In the penultimate version of the novel, Tolstoy forced Natasha to love only Pierre from childhood, everything: the childhood passion for Boris, and a short passion for Anatole, and falling in love with Prince Andrei - everything was fake.

And in the final text, Natasha loves Andrey with all the strength that she is capable of, comprehends vague thoughts for him, wants to understand what he feels, “how his wound hurts”; having entered his life, she lives by it - therefore her life ended when he was gone. But - love for the mother woke up, life woke up.

Pierre, returning from captivity and learning that his wife had died and he was free, did not immediately rush to look for Natasha. “He heard about the Rostovs that they were in Kostroma, and the thought of Natasha rarely came to him. If she came, it was only as a pleasant memory of the past.

Both of them are too pure people, so that after all the grief, all the losses and feelings of guilt that swept not only Natasha before the memory of Prince Andrei, but also Pierre before the memory of Helene, to seek new happiness after all this.

It came by chance - and Pierre did not immediately recognize Natasha in a woman with sad eyes, who was sitting near Princess Marya, to whom he arrived. “In Pierre’s soul now nothing similar happened to what happened in her in similar circumstances during his courtship with Helen.”

These were not similar circumstances! Then Pierre did not understand and did not seek to understand what he felt, what his chosen one was thinking, and even more so Helen was not interested in knowing what was happening in Pierre's soul. Now, recognizing Natasha in this pale and thin woman without a shadow of a smile, Pierre felt “that all his former freedom had disappeared. He felt that over his every word, action now there is a judge, a court, which is dearer to him than the court of all people in the world.

First love brought Pierre bitter torments of shame, because it did not have a spiritual beginning and it made him worse in her own eyes. Love for Natasha filled him with pride, because he felt a moral, spiritual judgment over himself.

Speaking of Helen's death, he glanced at Natasha and noticed "her curiosity in her face about how he would respond about his wife." He told the truth: “When two people quarrel, both are always to blame. And one's own guilt suddenly becomes terribly heavy in front of a person who is no longer there. And then such a death... without friends, without consolation. I am very, very sorry for her, - he finished and with pleasure noticed the joyful approval on Natasha's face. He told the truth, and this truth coincided with what Natasha expected from him. She will love in him that very thing that he respects in himself - Pierre does not yet know this, but he feels it, therefore he recognizes Natasha's judgment over himself with such joy.

And she is still all in her grief, not yet ready to be freed from him. But it is natural for her to tell Pierre all the details, all the secrets of the last days of her love for Andrei. Pierre "listened to her and only felt sorry for her for the suffering she was now experiencing while telling."

When Natasha left the room, Pierre "did not understand why he was suddenly left alone in the whole world."

These two people - Natasha and Pierre - are made for each other. Created by Tolstoy in his imagination, and at first he saw them as old people who had lived a long and difficult life together. Even in the first novel he conceived about a Decembrist who returned from hard labor, they were husband and wife, although they then had a different surname - the Labazovs. Returning from the historical era of the sixties to the origins of the Decembrists, Tolstoy saw them as young, Natasha as a child. But he knew, from the first pages of his novel, he knew that these two were destined for each other.

And so they met - it seemed that after Natasha's confession, it was already impossible to talk about anything else ...

“- Do you drink vodka, count? - said Princess Mary, and these words suddenly dispersed the shadows of the past.

Princess Mary, who had just heard Natasha's story of love for her brother for the first time, was as shocked as Pierre. But she is the mistress of the house, and dinner is served, and these simple everyday words suddenly bring everyone back to the fact that, "besides grief, there are joys."

For Pierre, it is a joy and a "rare pleasure" to tell Natasha all his adventures during captivity. For Natasha, the joy is listening to him, "guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre's spiritual work."

But they are both still young - the whole life ahead. Natasha is twenty-one years old, Pierre is twenty-eight. The book could begin with this meeting of theirs, but it comes to an end, because Tolstoy wanted to show how a person is formed, created. Both Natasha and Pierre went through temptations, sufferings, hardships before our eyes - both of them performed a huge spiritual work that prepared them for love.

Pierre is now a year older than Prince Andrei was at the beginning of the novel. But today's Pierre is a much more mature person than that Andrey. Prince Andrei in 1805 knew only one thing for sure: that he was dissatisfied with the life he had to lead. He did not know what to strive for, he did not know how to love. This is what Pierre now knows: “They say: misfortunes, suffering ... Yes, if now, this minute they told me: do you want to remain what you were before captivity, or first survive all this? For God's sake, once again captured and horse meat.

But Natasha, having been reborn to a new happiness, took with her the bitter experience of previous mistakes and suffering. “Hearing that he was going to Petersburg, Natasha was amazed.

To Petersburg? she repeated, as if not understanding.

In the same way, at one time she did not understand why Prince Andrei was leaving: the power of life that had awakened in her demanded immediate and complete happiness.

“- But why go to Petersburg! - Natasha suddenly said, and she herself hastily answered herself: - No, no, that's how it should be ... Yes, Marie? So it is necessary ... "

The love that united these people now, when they both have spiritual experience, will enrich them both and, perhaps, it will make them happier than if they had found each other several years ago, when Pierre had not yet passed captivity, and Natasha had not yet been deluded. , shame, grief.

The “joyful, unexpected madness” that took possession of Pierre during his stay in St. Petersburg is very similar to the state of another Tolstoy hero, Konstantin Levin, when he proposed to Kitty. In the same way, all people seem to Pierre to be beautiful, kind and happy, in the same way she appears to him as an unearthly being: “completely different, higher.”

But then, recalling this state of his all his life, Pierre "did not renounce ... these views on people and things." During this period of "happy madness" he learned to see the best in people and, "loving people for no reason, he found undoubted reasons for which it was worth loving them."

This skill will be useful to him in that difficult, long and wonderful life that he will live not uselessly and not lonely - Natasha will always be next to him now.

Pierre Bezukhov's love for Natasha

war world love bezukhov

The theme of true love and spiritual beauty is one of the main ones in the novel "War and Peace". It should be noted that almost all the heroes of the novel are subjected to the test of love. They come to true love and understanding after experiencing suffering, torment, going through many obstacles.

When Pierre met Natasha, he was amazed and attracted by her purity and naturalness. “This very look of hers sometimes turned to Pierre, and under the look of this funny, lively girl, he wanted to laugh himself, not knowing what” (volume 1). A feeling for her already timidly began to grow in his soul when Bolkonsky and Natasha fell in love with each other. The joy of their happiness was mixed in his soul with sadness. “Something very important is happening between them,” thought Pierre, and a joyful and at the same time bitter feeling made him worry ... Yes, yes, Pierre confirmed, looking at his friend with touching and sad eyes. The brighter the fate of Prince Andrei seemed to him, the darker his own seemed ”(Volume 2). Unlike Andrei, Pierre's kind heart understood and forgave Natasha after the incident with Anatole Kuragin. At first, he despised her: "The sweet impression of Natasha, whom he had known since childhood, could not unite in his soul with new ideas about her baseness, stupidity and cruelty." Although Pierre tried to despise Natasha, but when he saw her, exhausted, suffering, "a feeling of pity that had never been experienced filled Pierre's soul." Love entered his "soul that blossomed into new life." In my opinion, Pierre understood Natasha, because her connection with Anatole was similar to his passion for Helen. Pierre was captivated by Helen's external beauty, but her "mysteriousness" turned into spiritual emptiness, stupidity, debauchery. Natasha was also carried away by the external beauty of Anatole, and in communication "felt with horror that there was no barrier between him and her." But also “it never occurred to her that not only love from her or, still less, from his side, could come out of her relationship with Pierre, but even that kind of tender, self-recognizing, poetic friendship between a man and a woman, which she knew a few examples” (Volume 3).

When Natasha was ill, she “was glad only for Pierre. It was impossible to treat her more tenderly, more carefully, and at the same time more seriously than Count Bezukhov treated her. Natasha unconsciously felt this tenderness of treatment and therefore found great pleasure in his company ”(Volume 3). He was the only one who brought joy and light to the Rostovs' house when Natasha was tormented by remorse, suffered, hated herself for everything that had happened. She did not see reproach and indignation in Pierre's eyes. He idolized her. And Natasha idolized him only because he exists in the world and that he is her only consolation. He was dear to her and lived in her heart all this time. “I don’t know myself, but I wouldn’t want to do anything that you don’t like. I believe in everything. You don't know how important you are to me and how much you have done for me. Kinder, more generous, I don’t know a person better than you” (volume 3).

Pierre never said anything about his feelings for Natasha; The idea of ​​her instantly transferred him to another, bright area of ​​mental activity, in which there could be no right or wrong, to the area of ​​​​beauty and love, for which it was worth living ”(Volume 3).

Pierre retained his love for Natasha, went through many obstacles with her, and when he met Rostova, he did not recognize her. They both believed that after everything they had experienced, they would be able to feel joy, love woke up in their hearts: “suddenly it smelled and doused with long-forgotten happiness, and the forces of life were beaten, and joyful madness took possession of them.” "Woke up love, woke up life." The power of love revived Natasha after the spiritual apathy caused by the death of Prince Andrei. Natasha's love was Pierre's reward for all the hardships and mental anguish. She, like an angel, entered his life, illuminating it with warmth, gentle light. Finally, Pierre found happiness in life.

Nobody knows whether Natasha would be happy if she married Andrei or not. But I think that she will be better off with Pierre, because they love each other, respect each other. At the same time, Tolstoy does not connect them at the beginning of the novel, I think, because both Pierre and Natasha had to go through all the trials, all the torment and suffering in order to find happiness. Both Natasha and Pierre did a tremendous amount of spiritual work, they carried their love through the years, and over the years so much wealth has accumulated that their love has become even more serious and deeper. Only a sensitive and understanding person can approach happiness, because happiness is a reward for the tireless work of the soul.

The family of Natasha and Pierre is the image of an ideal family, according to Tolstoy. That family where husband and wife are one, where there is no place for conventions and unnecessary affectation, where shining eyes and a smile can say much more than long, confusing phrases. Natasha was most important to feel the soul of Pierre, to understand what worries him, to guess his desires, “she felt that those charms were now only ridiculous in the eyes of her husband, she felt that her connection with her husband was held not by those poetic feelings, but by what something different, indefinite, solid, like the connection of her own soul with her body.

After the death of Prince Andrei, Natasha Rostova and Princess Mary, united by a common grief, became even closer.

They, morally bent over and screwed up from the formidable cloud of death hanging over them, did not dare to look into the face of life. They carefully guarded their open wounds from offensive, painful touches ... Only the two of them were not insulting and did not hurt. They spoke little among themselves. If they spoke, then about the most insignificant subjects. Both equally avoided mentioning anything related to the future... But pure, complete sadness is just as impossible as pure and complete joy.

Princess Mary was the first to come out of her sad state - she had to deal with the upbringing of her nephew. Alpatych, having arrived in Moscow on business, suggested that the princess move to Moscow, to the Vzdvizhensky house. No matter how hard it was for Princess Mary to leave Natasha, she felt the need to get involved in business, and began to prepare for moving to Moscow. Natasha, left alone in her grief, withdrew into herself and began to avoid the princess. Marya invited the countess to let Natasha go with her to Moscow, and her parents gladly agreed. Natasha grew weaker every day, and they believed that a change of place would do her good. However, Natasha refused to go with the princess and asked her relatives to leave her alone. She was convinced that she should remain where Prince Andrei lived out his last days.

At the end of December, in a black woolen dress, with a carelessly tied bun, thin and pale, Natasha sat with her legs in the corner of the sofa, tensely crumpling and unraveling the ends of her belt, and looked at the corner of the door ... She looked where he had gone, to the other side of life ... But at that moment, as it seemed to her, an incomprehensible “...” was revealed to her, with a frightened expression, not occupied by her, the maid Dunyasha entered the room ... She heard Dunyasha's words about Peter Ilyich, about misfortune, but did not understand them ...

“What misfortune do they have there, what misfortune can there be? They have everything of their own old, familiar and calm, ”Natasha mentally told herself.

When she entered the hall, her father quickly left the countess's room. His face was wrinkled and wet with tears. He must have run out of that room to let loose the sobs that were choking him. Seeing Natasha, he desperately waved his hands and burst into painfully convulsive sobs that distorted his round, soft face ...

Suddenly, like an electric current, ran through Natasha's entire being. Something terribly hurt her heart. She felt terrible pain; it seemed to her that something was breaking off in her and that she was dying. But following the pain, she felt an instant release from the prohibition of life that lay on her. Seeing her father and hearing her mother's terrible, rude cry from behind the door, she instantly forgot herself and her grief. She ran up to her father, but he, waving his hand helplessly, pointed to her mother's door.

The Countess was lying on an armchair, stretching herself strangely awkwardly, and banging her head against the wall. Sonya and the girls held her hands...

Natasha did not remember how that day, night, next day, next night went. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother. Natasha's love, stubborn, patient, not as an explanation, not as a consolation, but as a call to life, every second seemed to embrace the countess from all sides. On the third night, the Countess was quiet for a few minutes, and Natasha closed her eyes, leaning her head on the arm of the chair. The bed creaked. Natasha opened her eyes. The Countess sat on the bed and spoke softly...

Natasha, he is gone, no more! - And, embracing her daughter, for the first time the countess began to cry ...

Princess Mary postponed her departure. Sonya and the count tried to replace Natasha, but they could not. They saw that she alone could keep her mother from insane despair. For three weeks Natasha lived hopelessly with her mother, slept on an armchair in her room, gave her water, fed her and talked to her without ceasing - she spoke, because her one gentle, caressing voice calmed the countess. The emotional wound of the mother could not heal. Petya's death tore off half of her life. A month after the news of Petya's death, which found her a fresh and vigorous fifty-year-old woman, she left her room half dead and not taking part in life - an old woman. But the same wound that half killed the countess, this new wound called Natasha to life...

She thought her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her. Love has awakened, and life has awakened.

A new misfortune brought Princess Mary and Natasha even closer. Postponing her departure, Princess Mary took care of Natasha for three weeks as if she were a sick child.

Once, in the middle of the day, Princess Mary, noticing that Natasha was trembling in a feverish chill, took her to her and laid her on her bed. Natasha lay down, but when Princess Mary, having lowered the blinds, wanted to go out, Natasha called her to her.

Natasha was lying in bed and in the semi-darkness of the room she examined the face of Princess Marya ...

Masha,” she said, timidly pulling her hand to her. Masha, don't think I'm stupid. Not? Masha, dove. I love you so much. Let's be really, really friends.

And Natasha, embracing, began to kiss the hands and face of Princess Marya. Princess Mary was ashamed and rejoiced at this expression of Natasha's feelings.

From that day on, that passionate and tender friendship was established between Princess Mary and Natasha, which happens only between women. They kissed incessantly, spoke tender words to each other, and spent most of their time together. If one went out, the other was restless and hurried to join her. Together they felt a greater harmony with each other than separately, each with himself. A feeling stronger than friendship was established between them: it was an exceptional feeling of the possibility of life only in the presence of each other.

Sometimes they were silent for whole hours; sometimes, already lying in their beds, they began to talk and talked until the morning. They talked mostly about the distant past. Princess Marya talked about her childhood, about her mother, about her father, about her dreams; and Natasha, who previously with calm incomprehension turned away from this life, devotion, humility, from the poetry of Christian self-sacrifice, now, feeling bound by love with Princess Marya, fell in love with Princess Marya’s past and understood the side of life she had not understood before. She did not think of applying humility and self-sacrifice to her life, because she was accustomed to seek other joys, but she understood and fell in love with another this previously incomprehensible virtue. For Princess Mary, who listened to stories about Natasha's childhood and early youth, a previously incomprehensible side of life was also revealed, faith in life, in the pleasures of life.

Natasha gradually returned to life, her spiritual wound healed.

At the end of January, Princess Marya left for Moscow, and the count insisted that Natasha go with her in order to consult with doctors about her health.

Many contemporaries and historians blamed Kutuzov for his mistakes and his defeat at Krasnoe and Berezina.

The sovereign was dissatisfied with him... Such is the fate not of the great people "..." who are not recognized by the Russian mind, but the fate of those rare, always lonely people who, comprehending the will of Providence, subordinate their personal will to it. The hatred and contempt of the crowd punish these people for the enlightenment of higher laws.

Kutuzov was opposed to going further abroad. He believed that further war was harmful and useless, that for ten Frenchmen he would not give even one Russian. It was by this that he incurred the disfavor of Alexander and most of the courtiers.

This simple, modest, and therefore truly majestic figure could not fit into that deceitful form of a European hero, supposedly controlling people, which history invented. For a lackey there can be no great person, because the lackey has his own idea of ​​greatness.

On November 5, on the first day of the Krasnensky battle, Kutuzov left Krasnoe and went to Dobroe, where at that moment his main apartment was located.

Not far from Dobry, a huge crowd of ragged, tied and wrapped captives buzzed with conversation, standing on the road ... As the commander-in-chief approached, the conversation ceased, and all eyes were fixed on Kutuzov "...", who was slowly moving along the road. One of the generals reported to Kutuzov where the guns and prisoners were taken ...

In front of the Preobrazhensky Regiment he stopped, sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Someone from the retinue waved for the soldiers holding the banners to come up and place them with flagpoles around the commander-in-chief. Kutuzov was silent for several seconds and, apparently reluctantly, obeying the necessity of his position, raised his head and began to speak. Crowds of officers surrounded him. He glanced around at the circle of officers, recognizing some of them.

Thank you all! he said, turning to the soldiers and again to the officers. In the silence that reigned around him, his slowly spoken words were clearly audible. - Thank you all for the hard and faithful service. The victory is perfect, and Russia will not forget you. Glory to you forever!

November 8 - the last day of the Krasnensky battles. Russian troops arrived at the place of lodging for the night, when it was already getting dark. Having settled down in the forest, the soldiers went about their business.

It would seem that in those almost unimaginably difficult conditions of existence in which the Russian soldiers were at that time - without warm boots, without sheepskin coats, without a roof over their heads, in snow at 18 ° below zero, without even a full amount of provisions, not always keeping up with the army - it seemed that the soldiers should have presented the saddest and most depressing sight.

On the contrary, never, in the best material conditions, did the army present a more cheerful, lively spectacle. This happened because every day everything that began to lose heart or weaken was thrown out of the army. Everything that was physically and morally weak has long been left behind: there was only one color of the army - according to the strength of spirit and body.

Two tattered figures appeared from the side of the forest.

They were two Frenchmen hiding in the forest. Speaking hoarsely in a language incomprehensible to the soldiers, they approached the fire. One was taller, wearing an officer's hat, and seemed quite weak. Approaching the fire, he wanted to sit down, but fell to the ground. Another, small, stocky, soldier tied with a handkerchief around his cheeks, was stronger. He raised his comrade and, pointing to his mouth, said something. The soldiers surrounded the French, laid out an overcoat for the sick man, and brought both porridge and vodka.

The weakened French officer was Rambal; tied with a handkerchief - his batman Morel.

The soldiers carried the weakened Rambal to the hut, and Morel was seated by the fire and fed. When the tipsy Frenchman, embracing the neck of a Russian soldier with one hand, sang a French song, the Russians, trying to imitate, began to sing along in French.

On November 29, Kutuzov entered Vilna - his good Vilna, as he said. Twice in his service, Kutuzov was governor in Vilna. In the rich surviving Vilna, in addition to the comforts of life, which he had been deprived of for so long, Kutuzov found old friends and memories. And he, suddenly turning away from all military and government concerns, plunged into an even, familiar life as much as he was given rest by the passions that boiled around him, as if everything that was happening now and about to happen in the historical world did not concern him at all .. .

In Vilna, Kutuzov, contrary to the will of the sovereign, stopped most of the troops. Kutuzov, as his close associates said, unusually sank and physically weakened during his stay in Vilna. He reluctantly took care of the affairs of the army, leaving everything to his generals and, while waiting for the sovereign, indulged in a distracted life ...

On December 11, the sovereign arrived in Vilna and drove straight up to the castle in a road sleigh. At the castle, despite the severe frost, there were about a hundred generals and staff officers in full dress uniform and an honor guard of the Semenovsky regiment.

A minute later, a fat, large figure of an old man, in full dress uniform, with all the regalia covering his chest, and his belly pulled up by a scarf, swaying, came out onto the porch. Kutuzov put on his hat along the front, took gloves in his hands and sideways, stepping down the steps with difficulty, descended from them and took in his hand a report prepared for submission to the sovereign ... The sovereign glanced at Kutuzov from head to toe, frowned for a moment, but immediately but, having overcome himself, he approached and, spreading his arms, embraced the old general. Again, according to the old, familiar impression and in relation to his sincere thought, this embrace, as usual, had an effect on Kutuzov: he sobbed ...

Left alone with the field marshal, the sovereign expressed his displeasure at the slowness of the pursuit, for the mistakes in Krasnoye and on the Berezina, and told him his thoughts on the future campaign abroad. Kutuzov did not make any objections or comments. The same submissive and senseless expression with which, seven years ago, he listened to the orders of the sovereign on the field of Austerlitz, was now established on his face.

Alexander awarded Kutuzov George of the first degree, but everyone was well aware that this procedure meant only the observance of decency, that in fact "the old man is to blame and is good for nothing." The sovereign was dissatisfied with Kutuzov also because the commander-in-chief did not understand why it was necessary to go to Europe, pointing out that it would be very difficult to recruit new troops, openly declared the plight of the population.

In this state of affairs, Kutuzov was "a hindrance and brake on the upcoming war." To eliminate clashes with the old man, the headquarters was reorganized, all Kutuzov's power was destroyed and transferred to the sovereign. Rumors spread that the field marshal's health was very bad.

The representative of the Russian people, after the enemy was destroyed, Russia was liberated and placed on the highest level of its glory, the Russian person, as a Russian, had nothing more to do. The representative of the people's war had no choice but death.

And Kutuzov died.

Pierre, after being released from captivity, came to Orel, on the third day after his arrival he fell ill and, due to illness, stayed in Orel for three months.

He became, as the doctors say, bilious fever. Despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him and gave him medicines to drink, he still recovered ...

Everything that happened to Pierre from the time of his release to his illness left almost no impression on him. He remembered only gray, gloomy, sometimes rainy, sometimes snowy weather, inner physical anguish, pain in his legs, in his side; remembered the general impression of the misfortunes and sufferings of people; he remembered the curiosity of the officers and generals who questioned him, which disturbed him, his efforts to find a carriage and horses, and, most importantly, he remembered his inability to think and feel at that time. On the day of his release, he saw the corpse of Petya Rostov. On the same day, he learned that Prince Andrei had been alive for more than a month after the Battle of Borodino and had only recently died in Yaroslavl, in the Rostovs' house. And on the same day, Denisov, who reported this news to Pierre, mentioned the death of Helen between conversations, suggesting that Pierre had known this for a long time.

While recovering, Pierre gradually got used to his former life. But in a dream he saw himself for a long time in the same conditions of captivity. Little by little, Pierre began to understand the news that he learned after being released from captivity: the death of Prince Andrei, the death of his wife, the destruction of the French.

A joyful feeling of freedom - that complete, inalienable freedom inherent in a person, the consciousness of which he first experienced at the first halt, when leaving Moscow, filled Pierre's soul during his recovery. He was surprised that this inner freedom, independent of external circumstances, was now, as it were, surrounded with excess, with luxury, by external freedom. He was alone in a strange city, without acquaintances. Nobody demanded anything from him; they didn't send him anywhere. Everything he wanted he had; The thought of his wife, which had always tormented him before, was no more, since she was no longer there ...

The very thing that he had tormented before, what he was constantly looking for, the purpose of life, now did not exist for him. It was no coincidence that this desired goal of life now did not exist for him only at the present moment, but he felt that it did not exist and could not exist. And this lack of purpose gave him that full, joyful consciousness of freedom, which at that time constituted his happiness.

He could not have a goal, because he now had faith, not faith in any rules, or words, or thoughts, but faith in a living, always felt god. Previously, he had sought it for the purposes he had set for himself. This search for a goal was only a search for God; and suddenly, in his captivity, he recognized, not by 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 Architecton of the universe recognized by the Masons. He experienced the feeling of a man who found what he was looking for under his feet, while he strained his eyes, looking far away from him. All his life he looked there somewhere, over the heads of the people around him, but he had to not strain his eyes, but only look in front of him ...

Pierre hardly changed in his outward manners. He looked exactly the same as he had before. Just as before, he was absent-minded and seemed preoccupied not with what was before his eyes, but with something of his own, special. The difference between his former and present state was that before, when he forgot what was in front of him, what was said to him, he wrinkled his forehead in pain, as if trying and could not see something far removed from him. Now he also forgot what was said to him, and what was before him; but now, with a barely perceptible, as if mocking, smile, he peered at the very thing that was in front of him, listened to what was being said to him, although he obviously saw and heard something completely different. Formerly he seemed, though a kind man, but unhappy; and therefore involuntarily people moved away from him. Now a smile of the joy of life constantly played around his mouth, and in his eyes there shone concern for people - the question is: are they happy just like he is? And people were pleased in his presence ...

Before, he talked a lot, got excited when he spoke, and listened little; now he was rarely carried away by conversation and knew how to listen in such a way that people willingly told him their most intimate secrets ...

The eldest princess, the daughter of Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, who never loved Pierre, specially came to Orel to look after him. She noticed that Pierre had changed a lot. The doctor who treated Pierre stayed with him for hours, telling stories from his practice, sharing his observations on the morals of the patients.

In the last days of Pierre's stay in Orel, an old acquaintance came to him - the freemason Count Villarsky (one of those who introduced him to the lodge in 1807). He was glad to meet Pierre, but soon noticed that Bezukhov "had lagged behind real life and fell into apathy and selfishness." Pierre, looking at Villarsky, was surprised that until recently he had been the same.

The manager who came to Pierre reported to him about the losses, noting that if he did not restore the Moscow houses that had burned down during the fire and refused to pay Helen's debts, then his income would not only not decrease, but even increase. However, having received some time later letters about his wife's debts, Pierre realized that the manager's plan was wrong, his wife's debts needed to be sorted out and, in addition, it was necessary to build in Moscow. Pierre was aware that his income would decrease significantly, but he understood that it was necessary.

Meanwhile, people from all sides were returning to Moscow destroyed by the enemy, united by a common desire to restore the capital.

At the end of January, Pierre arrived in Moscow and settled in the surviving wing. He went to Count Rostopchin, to some of his acquaintances who had returned to Moscow, and was going to go to Petersburg on the third day. Everyone celebrated the victory; everything was seething with life in the devastated and reviving capital. Everyone was glad to Pierre; everyone wanted to see him, and everyone asked him about what he had seen. Pierre felt especially friendly towards all the people he met; but involuntarily now he kept himself on guard with all people, so as not to bind himself in any way. He answered all the questions that were put to him, whether important or the most insignificant, with the same vagueness; Did they ask him where he would live? will it be built? when he is going to Petersburg and will he undertake to bring a box? - he answered: yes, maybe, I think, etc.

On the third day of his arrival, Pierre learned from the Drubetskys that Princess Marya was in Moscow, and went to her.

In the most serious mood, Pierre drove up to the house of the old prince. This house survived. Traces of destruction were visible in it, but the character of the house was the same...

A few minutes later, a waiter and Dessalles came out to Pierre. Dessalles, on behalf of the princess, told Pierre that she was very glad to see him and asked, if he would excuse her for her impudence, to go upstairs to her rooms.

In a low room, lit by a single candle, sat the princess and someone else with her, in a black dress. Pierre remembered that the princess always had companions. Who and what they are, these companions, Pierre did not know and did not remember. "This is one of the companions," he thought, glancing at the lady in the black dress.

The princess quickly stood up to meet him and held out her hand.

Yes, - she said, peering into his changed face after he kissed her hand, - that's how we meet. He often talked about you lately, too, ”she said, turning her eyes from Pierre to her companion with a shyness that struck Pierre for a moment.

I was so glad to hear about your salvation. This was the only good news we have received since a long time ago. - Again, even more restless, the princess looked back at her companion and wanted to say something; but Pierre interrupted her.

You can imagine that I knew nothing about him,” he said. - I thought he was dead. Everything I learned, I learned from others, through third parties. I only know that he ended up with the Rostovs... What a fate!

Pierre spoke quickly, animatedly. He glanced once at his companion's face, saw an attentive, affectionately curious look directed at him, and, as often happens during a conversation, for some reason he felt that this companion in a black dress was a sweet, kind, glorious creature who would not interfere his intimate conversation with Princess Marya.

But when he said the last words about the Rostovs, the confusion in the face of Princess Marya expressed itself even more strongly. She again ran her eyes from Pierre's face to the face of the lady in the black dress and said:

Don't you know?

Pierre glanced once more at the pale, thin face of his companion, with black eyes and a strange mouth. Something native, long forgotten and more than sweet looked at him from those attentive eyes.

But no, it can't be, he thought. - Is it a strict, thin and pale, aged face? It can't be her. It's just a memory of that."

But at this time Princess Marya said: "Natasha." And the face, with attentive eyes, with difficulty, with effort, like a rusty door opens, smiled, and from this open door it suddenly smelled and showered Pierre with that long-forgotten happiness, which, especially now, he did not think about. It smelled, engulfed and swallowed him all. When she smiled, there could no longer be any doubt: it was Natasha, and he loved her.

In the very first minute, Pierre involuntarily told both her and Princess Mary, and, most importantly, to himself a secret unknown to him. He blushed happily and painfully. He wanted to hide his excitement. But the more he wanted to hide him, the more clearly - more clearly than in the most definite words - he told himself, and to her, and to Princess Mary that he loved her ...

Pierre did not notice Natasha, because he did not expect to see her here, but he did not recognize her because the change that had taken place in her since he had not seen her was enormous. She lost weight and turned pale. But this was not what made her unrecognizable: it was impossible to recognize her at the first minute he entered, because on this face, in whose eyes a hidden smile of the joy of life had always shone, now, when he entered and looked at her for the first time, there was also a shadow of a smile; there were only eyes, attentive, kind, and sadly inquiring.

Pierre's embarrassment was not reflected in Natasha's embarrassment, but only with pleasure, slightly perceptibly illuminating her whole face.

Princess Mary told Pierre about the last days of her brother. Pierre's embarrassment gradually disappeared, but he felt that at the same time his freedom was disappearing.

He felt that there was now a judge over his every word, action, a court that was dearer to him than the court of all people in the world. He was speaking now, and together with his words, he understood the impression that his words made on Natasha. He didn't say anything on purpose that might please her; but whatever he said, he judged himself from her point of view...

At dinner, Princess Mary asked Pierre to tell about himself.

And I became three times richer, - said Pierre. Pierre, despite the fact that his wife's debts and the need for buildings changed his affairs, continued to tell that he had become three times richer.

What I have undoubtedly won, he said, is freedom ... - he began seriously; but changed his mind to continue, noticing that this was too selfish a subject of conversation ...

On this day, Pierre could not sleep for a long time, he thought about Natasha, about Andrey, about their love, and “he was jealous of the past, then reproached, then forgave himself for it.” From that time on, Pierre often visited Princess Mary and Natasha and postponed his departure for Petersburg. One evening, Pierre turned to Princess Mary with a request to help him talk to Natasha. He admitted that he loved her very much, but could not bring himself to ask for her hand. However, the thought that she could become his wife and that he might miss this opportunity did not give him rest.

It’s impossible to speak to her now, ”Princess Marya said after all.

But what am I to do?

Entrust it to me, - said Princess Mary. - I know...

Pierre looked into the eyes of Princess Mary.

Well, well ... - he said.

I know that she loves ... she will love you, ”Princess Marya corrected herself.

Before she had time to say these words, Pierre jumped up and, with a frightened face, grabbed Princess Mary by the hand.

Why do you think? Do you think that I can hope? You think?!

Yes, I think, - said Princess Mary, smiling. - Write to your parents. And entrust me. I'll tell her when I can. I wish it. And my heart feels that it will be.

No, it can't be! How happy I am! But it can't be... How happy I am! No, it can not be! - said Pierre, kissing the hands of Princess Mary.

You go to Petersburg; it is better. I'll write to you, she said.

To Petersburg? Drive? Okay, yes, let's go. But tomorrow I can come to you?

The next day, Pierre came to say goodbye. Natasha was less lively than in the old days; but on this day, sometimes looking into her eyes, Pierre felt that he was disappearing, that neither he nor she was anymore, but there was one feeling of happiness.

“Really? No, it can’t be,” he said to himself at her every look, gesture, word that filled his soul with joy ...

When, bidding her farewell, he took her thin, thin hand, he involuntarily held it a little longer in his.

“Is it possible that this hand, this face, these eyes, all this treasure of female charm, alien to me, will this all be forever mine, familiar, the same as I am for myself? No, It is Immpossible!.."

Farewell, Count, she said to him loudly. "I'll be waiting for you very much," she added in a whisper.

And these simple words, the look and facial expression that accompanied them, for two months, were the subject of Pierre's inexhaustible memories, explanations and happy dreams. “I will be waiting for you very much ... Yes, yes, as she said? Yes, I will be waiting for you. Ah, how happy I am! What is it, how happy I am!” Pierre said to himself...

For Pierre, it was a time of "happy madness." He had never experienced such a feeling before. The whole meaning of life now seemed to him concentrated in love. When state or political issues were discussed in his presence, or when they were offered to serve, he surprised people with strange remarks.

Natasha had a presentiment that Pierre should propose to her. When Princess Mary told her that Pierre had asked for her hand, "a joyful, and at the same time pitiful, asking for forgiveness for her joy, the expression stopped on Natasha's face." But when she learned that Pierre was going to Petersburg, she was very surprised.

To Petersburg? she repeated, as if not understanding. But, peering into the sad expression on Princess Mary's face, she guessed the reason for her sadness and suddenly burst into tears. “Marie,” she said, “teach me what to do. I'm afraid to be stupid. What you say, I will do; teach me...

You love him?

Yes, Natasha whispered.

What are you crying about? I’m happy for you,” said Princess Marya, forgiving Natasha’s joy for those tears…