How Pierre Bezukhov changes throughout the novel. The life path of Pierre Bezukhov’s spiritual quest in the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy

A person with a childish kind face and a smile, one whose image is remembered for a long time. Which of the heroes of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy's novel “War and Peace” has such traits? Of course, to Pierre Bezukhov, a positive hero, an extraordinary person who lived an interesting, difficult, but eventful life throughout the work.

First meeting with Pierre Bezukhov

For the first time, the reader of War and Peace meets Pierre Bezukhov with Anna Pavlovna Scherer. It is immediately noticeable that he is not at all like those around him, and, not fitting into the secular society riddled with falsehood, he is, as it were, a black sheep. Not surprising, because Pierre is sincere, straightforward, does not accept lies and tries to avoid them.

“...Soon after the little princess, a massive, fat young man with a cropped head, glasses, light trousers in the fashion of that time, a high frill and a brown tailcoat entered. This fat young man was the illegitimate son of the famous Catherine nobleman, Count Bezukhov, who was now dying in Moscow...” - this is how this hero’s meeting with Anna Pavlovna is described, who, upon seeing such an unwanted guest, was upset to such an extent that anxiety and fear appeared on her face.

It would seem, why? It turns out that the mistress of the house was frightened by Pierre’s observant, natural gaze, which so distinguished him from everyone present in this living room.

It is noteworthy that we meet Bezukhov precisely on the first pages of a large four-volume novel, which may indicate the importance of this hero for Lev Nikolaevich, who prepared for him a difficult but wonderful fate.

Pierre's past

From the novel, an observant reader can learn that Pierre Bezukhov, who hardly knew his father, was raised abroad from the age of ten and came to Russia as a young man, at the age of twenty.

A reckless step

Pierre Bezukhov's naivety and inexperience led him to a dead end. One day the young man was faced with the question: who to marry, and since Pierre, after the death of his father, Kirill Bezukhov, became a count and a wealthy heir, Helen Kuragina, for whom the love of money stood above all else, did not fail to take advantage of this.

Even the inner voice, when “some incomprehensible horror seized him at the mere thought of this terrible step,” could not convince the young count to change his decision. Unfortunately, only after the wedding Bezukhov realized that by tying the knot with such an insidious and selfish girl as Elena, he had committed a reckless and rash act that influenced his future fate. This difficult period of life is described by the author in dark colors.

“...He was silent... and looking completely absent-minded, he picked his nose with his finger. His face was sad and gloomy.” This marriage, not dictated by love at all, lasted for six years, when Helen not only showed her bad character, but also cheated on Pierre with Dolokhov, which prompted the hero to fight the offender in a duel. The result of the fight was the injury of the opponent. However, here too Pierre’s good feelings prevailed: when he saw that Dolokhov was wounded, he “barely holding back his sobs, ran to him.”

Thus, realizing that his wife was a depraved woman and it was now unbearable to live with her, Pierre broke off relations with Helen and left for St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, during that period the hero of the novel lost faith in God. But then Pierre, disillusioned with life, could not even imagine that behind the mountains of difficult and sometimes unbearable circumstances, in the future, real family happiness awaited him!

New plans of Pierre Bezukhov

Helping them, he regains confidence, despite “bare feet, dirty torn clothes, tangled hair...” Even Pierre’s look changes, because he knows what he lives for.

Changes in fate

Pierre gets back together with his wife, but for a short time. Then their relationship breaks down completely, and Bezukhov goes to Moscow, after which he goes to war, into the Russian army. Helen, having exchanged the Orthodox faith for the Catholic one, wants to divorce her husband, but a sudden premature death does not allow her plans to come true.

Pierre at war

The war became a severe test for the inexperienced Pierre Bezukhov. Despite the fact that he provided financial support to the regiment he created, and also planned an assassination attempt on Napoleon, whose insidious and inhumane actions disgusted Bezukhov, in this field he was unable to prove himself as a brave and courageous defender of the Motherland.

Having no shooting skills and no real knowledge of military affairs, Pierre was captured by the enemy, and this is not surprising.

Being in terrible conditions, the hero of the novel went through a harsh school of life.

But here, too, there was a chance to look at her in a new way, to reassess values, and this was facilitated by a prisoner like him, named Kartaev, who, however, unlike Count Pierre, was a simple peasant, and his actions were sharply different from those to which Bezukhov became accustomed throughout his life. Communicating with this person not of his circle, Pierre understands that he was wrong in many ways, and meaning must be sought not in high society, but in communication with nature and ordinary people.

Getting closer to happiness...

Although Pierre Bezukhov experienced a lot in his life, including the bitter consequences of an unsuccessful marriage, in his soul he really wanted to love and be loved. And secret feelings for one girl lived in his soul. Anyone familiar with the novel War and Peace knows who we are talking about. Of course, about Natasha Rostova, whom Pierre met when she was a thirteen-year-old girl.

Kindred spirits - this is how one could describe in one phrase these heroes of the novel, who, having gone through a difficult path, having experienced trials and losses, nevertheless created a strong family. Returning from captivity, Pierre married Natasha, the one who became his faithful friend, adviser, support, with whom he could share both joy and sorrow. The contrast with his past life was obvious, but Pierre needed to go through the path of trials with Helene in order to appreciate real happiness with Natalya Rostova and be grateful to the Creator for this.

Strong family ties

Pierre's life sparkled with new colors, shone with joy, gained stability and lasting peace. Having married Natalya Rostova, he realized how wonderful it was to have such a sacrificial, kind wife. They had four children - three daughters and one son - for whom Natasha became a good mother. The novel ends on such a positive note. “She felt that her connection with her husband was not held by those poetic feelings that attracted him to her, but was held by something else, vague, but firm, like the connection of her own soul with her body” - this is the exact definition given to Natalya, who was ready to take part in every minute of her husband, giving him all of herself without reserve. And it’s wonderful that Pierre, who suffered so much grief in his past life, has finally found true family happiness.

The young hero lived and studied abroad, returning to his homeland at the age of twenty. The boy suffered from the fact that he was an illegitimate child of noble birth.

The life path of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel “War and Peace” is a search for the meaning of human existence, the formation of a consciously mature member of society.

Petersburg adventures

The young count's first public appearance took place at Anna Scherrer's party, with a description of which begins Leo Tolstoy's epic work. The angular guy, who resembled a bear, was not dexterous in court etiquette, and indulged in behavior that was somewhat discourteous towards the nobles.

After ten years of strict upbringing, deprived of parental love, the guy finds himself in the company of the unlucky Prince Kuragin. A wild life begins without the restrictions of tutors, prejudices and control.

Alcohol flows like a river, and children of wealthy members of the nobility hang out in noisy company. There are rarely cases of shortage of money, few people dare to complain about the hussars.

Pierre is young, the awareness of his own personality has not yet come, there is no craving for any activity. The revelry eats up time, the days seem busy and fun. But one day the company, in a drunken stupor, tied a guard to the back of a trained bear. They released the beast into the Neva and laughed, looking at the screaming law enforcement officer.

The patience of society came to an end, the instigators of hooliganism were demoted in rank, and the erring young man was sent to his father.

Fight for inheritance

Arriving in Moscow, Pierre learns that Kirill Bezukhov is ill. The old nobleman had many children, all illegitimate with no right to inheritance. Anticipating a fierce struggle for the wealth left by him after his death, the father asks Emperor Alexander I to recognize Pierre as his legitimate son and heir.

Intrigues begin related to the redistribution of capital and real estate. The influential Prince Vasily Kuragin enters the struggle for the Bezukhovs' inheritance, planning to marry the young count to his daughter.

Having lost his father, the young man becomes depressed. Loneliness makes him withdrawn; he is not happy with his wealth and the title of count, which fell unexpectedly. Demonstrating concern for the inexperienced heir, Prince Kuragin arranges for him a prestigious position in the diplomatic corps.

Falling in love and marriage

Helen was a beauty, seductive, able to make eyes. The girl knew what men liked and how to attract attention. It was not particularly difficult to catch the sluggish young man in your net.

Pierre was inspired, the nymph seemed so fantastic to him, unattainable, secretly desired. He wanted to possess her so much that he did not have the strength to voice his feelings. Having developed passion and confusion in the gentleman’s soul, Prince Kuragin with effort organized and announced Bezukhov’s engagement to his daughter.

Their marriage was a disappointment for the man. In vain he looked for signs of female wisdom in his chosen one. They had absolutely nothing to talk about. The wife did not know anything about what her husband was interested in. On the contrary, everything that Helen wanted or dreamed of was petty, not worthy of attention.

Severance of relations and return to St. Petersburg

The connection between Countess Bezukhova and Dolokhov became known to everyone; the lovers did not hide it and spent a lot of time together. The Count challenges Dolokhov to a duel, offended by the painful situation. Having wounded his opponent, the man remained completely unharmed.

Having finally realized that he has connected his life not with a chaste, modest woman, but with a cynical and depraved woman, the count goes to the capital. Hatred tormented his heart, devastation filled his soul with pain. The collapse of hopes for a calm family life plunged Pierre into despondency; existence lost all meaning.

An unsuccessful marriage brought misfortune to the count; he turned away from his religious views, becoming a member of the Masonic society. He really wanted to be needed by someone, to turn his life into a stream of virtuous deeds, to become an impeccable member of society.

Bezukhov begins to improve the lives of the peasants, but nothing works out for him; bringing the desired order to the estates is more difficult than he thought. The estate, the count becomes the head of the St. Petersburg Masonic society.

Before the war

The reunion with Helen took place in 1809 under pressure from her father-in-law. The wife loved social life and turned men’s heads at balls. Pierre was accustomed to consider her his punishment from God and patiently bore his burden.

A couple of times, through the efforts of his wife’s lovers, he was promoted in the civil service. This made me feel completely disgusted and ashamed. The hero suffers, rethinks life and changes internally.

Pierre's only joy was his friendship with Natasha Rostova, but after her engagement to Prince Bolkonsky he had to give up friendly visits. Fate made a new zigzag.

Once again disappointed in his human purpose, Bezukhov leads a chaotic lifestyle. The shocks suffered radically change the appearance of the hero. He returns to Moscow, where he finds noisy companies, champagne and nightly fun to drown out his mental pain.

War changes worldview

Bezukhov volunteered to go to the front when the French army approached Moscow. The Battle of Borodino became a significant date in Pierre's life. The patriot Bezukhov will never forget the sea of ​​blood, the field covered with the bodies of soldiers.

Four weeks of captivity became a turning point for the hero. Everything that previously seemed important looked insignificant in the face of enemy aggression. Now the count knew how to build his life.

Family and Children

After being released from captivity, it became known about Helen's death. Remaining a widower, Bezukhov renewed his friendship with Natasha, who was grieving over the death of Andrei Bolkonsky. This was a different Pierre, the war cleansed his soul.

In 1813, he married Natasha Rostova in the hope of finding his happiness. Three daughters and a son made up the meaning of the life of the hero, who could not calm down his craving for the common good and virtue.

Leo Tolstoy loves his hero, who in some ways resembles the author. For example, with his aversion to war, true humanism and friendly attitude towards the whole world.

Pierre Bezukhov is one of the central characters in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

His appearance with soft and rounded shapes, a plump, kind face with glasses and a sincere childish smile, distinguish him from all other characters, making the image memorable and very extraordinary.

Throughout the work, he lives a difficult and interesting life, full of various events and life trials.

Characteristics of the main character

Pierre is the illegitimate son of the rich and influential Count Kirill Bezukhov, who after his death received his title and a significant inheritance. We first meet him in 1805 in the fashionable secular salon of Anna Scherer. Pierre is a young man of twenty years old, distinguished by a massive and thick figure, has a round face with glasses, and a cropped head. It is clear that the person feels confused and a little awkward; he is new here, because before that time he lived abroad for a long time, where he received an excellent education and became familiar with European progressive views on life.

His appearance, as well as his simple manner of behavior, strikingly distinguishes him from those present, bringing considerable concern to the owner of the salon; she is very frightened by the timid, but nevertheless very observant and natural look of the unusual guest. Pierre's only friend, whom he also meets here, is the young Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, they are glad to meet, because they have not seen each other for many years. They are united by kinship of souls and worship of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom they consider the greatest figure of that time.

One of the most striking character traits of Bezukhov is his kindness and simplicity. He easily succumbs to the influence of others, and Prince Vasily Kuragin is in a hurry to take advantage of this, who manages to arrange Bezukhov’s marriage with his beautiful, but absolutely spoiled and depraved Helen. Married life does not bring him happiness; his wife constantly cheats and deceives him. He is even forced to fight a duel with her lover Dolokhov, although this is absolutely contrary to his kind and gentle nature. Empty social life and its entertainment are disgusting to Bezukhov; he dreams of something higher and greater, but does not know how to change his lifestyle and fill it with meaning. Disappointed in people and in his whole life, Pierre gives up everything and leaves for Moscow.

Along the way, he joins the Freemason movement and accepts their ideals, trying to implement new projects. For example, having arrived at his estate, he decides to make life easier for the peasants and make their lives better. However, the peasants themselves resist innovation, so he quickly becomes disillusioned, and again he is consumed by hopelessness and depression.

Before the war with the French, Pierre is depressed by the approaching formidable events and their mystical harbingers. The hero's difficult moral state is complicated by his feeling of deep love for Natasha Rostova, whom he met as a 13-year-old girl in her parents' house. He was attracted by her liveliness and openness, so that looking at her he wanted to “laugh himself, without knowing why.”

(Pierre came to the Battle of Borodino more as an observer than a participant)

The philosophical and mystical ideas of Freemasonry contribute to the fact that Bezukhov decides to hide in Moscow, where Napoleon’s army is moving to kill him. He becomes an observer rather than a participant in the Battle of Borodino, is captured and there, having met a simple soldier Platon Karataev, he understands that the meaning of life must be sought in communication with his native nature and unity with his people. A man not of his circle, an ordinary peasant, reveals to him that the meaning of life and the purpose of any person is to be a reflection and part of the world. After this meeting, Pierre learned to love life in all its manifestations and see “the eternal and infinite in everything.”

Returning from captivity, Bezukhov meets Natasha Rostova, devastated and heartbroken after the death of people close to her, he consoles and supports her as his most faithful and devoted friend. Experiences and losses bring them closer, and in 1813 Rostova becomes his wife. Real family and marital happiness awaits them, Natasha turns out to be a wonderful mother and housewife, love and idyll reign in their home. Husband and wife understand and appreciate each other, and are ready to overcome any troubles and obstacles in their life path together.

The image of the main character

(Sergei Bondarchuk plays Pierre Bezukhov in his film "War and Peace", USSR 1966)

The real prototypes of Bezukhov’s image were the Decembrists who returned from exile, whose difficult fates gave the brilliant Russian writer rich material for writing the greatest epic about the events before and after 1812. In the process of working on the novel and in its early edition, the future character of the future Pierre Bezukhov was represented by various names - Arkady Bezukhy, Prince Kushev, Pyotr Medynsky, and the storyline always remained unchanged, which showed the evolution of the hero from the simplicity and naivety of adolescence, to maturity and wisdom in later years.

The image of Bezukhov throughout the novel develops in the direction of rapprochement and unity with the people, with their principles and ideological ideals. The character of each of the heroes of the novel is the embodiment of some principle: Rostov is emotional, Volkonsky is rational, Platon Karataev is intuitive, and in Bezukhov all principles are harmoniously combined into a single whole, so the heroes are close to each other and connected by kinship of souls.

The image of Pierre is very close and understandable to the author, because the combination of rational and emotional principles in life was close to him, he also cared for the fate of the people and his formation as a person took place in the struggle between the mind and feelings. And although Pierre is happy in a quiet family haven, he does not forget about his duty to society and will continue to take part in the struggle for its improvement. Bezukhov, according to the author’s plan, will become a Decembrist in the future, because after what he experienced and understood, he will never be able to live as before, now his destiny is to fight for the people and their happy life.

>Characteristics of heroes War and Peace

Characteristics of the hero Pierre Bezukhov

Pierre Bezukhov is one of the main characters of the novel "War and Peace". Pierre is the illegitimate son of the rich and influential Count Bezukhov, from whom he received the title and inheritance only after his death. The young count lived abroad until he was 20, where he received an excellent education. Arriving in St. Petersburg, he almost immediately became one of the richest young men, and was very confused, because he was not ready for such great responsibility and did not know how to manage estates and dispose of serfs. Pierre was very different in his absurdity and naturalness from people of high society, and some took advantage of his gullibility. Prince Kuragin, obsessed with the idea of ​​taking possession of Pierre's fortune, married him to his daughter Helen. Bezukhov soon realizes that he does not love his wife at all, that she is a cold, dissolute and calculating woman, and tries to break up with her. The duel with Dolokhov and the breakup with his wife lead Pierre to severe disappointment in people and life. He leaves the city and on the way meets the Mason Bazdeev, and since Pierre had a penchant for philosophical reasoning and was easily influenced by others, he joined the Masonic society to find the meaning of life and change society for the better. Because of his impracticality, he is unable to reorganize and make the lives of his peasants easier, although he tried very hard and saw his happiness in caring for others.

With the beginning of the war, Pierre changes his opinion about Napoleon, because he considered him his idol, and after the Russians leave Moscow, Bezukhov remains in the city to kill Napoleon. Pierre strives for unity with the people; he understands that social life weighs heavily on him. He helps the soldiers in the Battle of Borodino, and at the same time feels that he is needed on the battlefield. And having been captured, he enjoys the fact that he endures all the suffering together with everyone else. After meeting with Platon Karataev, Pierre begins to think that each person has his own purpose in life. By nature, Bezukhov is a very emotional person and because of this, it is difficult for him to perceive difficult reality.

Pierre Bezukhov is one of the central characters in L. N. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace.” The hero, distinguished by his kindness and compassion, as well as his dissimilarity from representatives of secular society, has gone through a difficult life path.

Position in society

Pierre Bezukhov did not look like a typical representative of secular society. This is due to the fact that by origin the hero was the illegitimate son of a famous nobleman. After the death of his father, Pierre receives countless riches, which attracted society. The hero becomes a welcome guest in every home.

Returning to Russia at the age of 20, Pierre for a long time cannot find his place, he is looking for himself on his own path in life. The hero spent a long time abroad, so he feels different from other people. Those activities that were characteristic of secular society did not interest Pierre; they only caused boredom. Therefore, the hero tries to find an activity that would be to his liking. The hero seems to want to independently find the answer to the question: “Who is Pierre Bezukhov?” The character joins the ranks of the Freemasons, observes the events of the war, and is captured. The life path of Pierre Bezukhov is complex and contradictory, but in the finale of the work he finds his happiness in family life.

External characteristics

Pierre Bezukhov is described by the author of the novel as an ugly person. The following external characteristics are present: thick, massive. Pierre is very clumsy and awkward. The hero's appearance does not at all correspond to the standards of secular society.

Personal traits

However, the hero has a very kind heart. L.N. Tolstoy emphasizes his moral qualities, affirming the idea that appearance is not capable of being a means of assessing a person as an individual. The author says that the hero has a “high, heavenly soul.”

Pierre Bezukhov has a very fine spiritual organization. He knows how to empathize and sympathize, the hero has the ability to self-sacrifice and mercy. Kindness is Pierre's most important quality. He is very gentle by nature and is never capable of harming another person.