A lot of space is given to the description of the spiritual quest of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov in the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The multifaceted content of the work made it possible to define its genre as an epic novel. It reflects important historical events, the fates of people of different classes throughout an entire era. Along with global problems, the writer pays great attention experiences, victories and defeats of your favorite heroes. By observing their fate, the reader learns to analyze their actions, achieve their goals, and choose the right path.

The life path of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov is difficult and thorny. Their fates help convey to the reader one of the main ideas of the story. L.N. Tolstoy believes that in order to be truly honest, one must “struggle, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit and start again, and forever fight and lose.” That's what friends do. The painful quest of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov is aimed at finding the meaning of their existence.

The path to yourself Andrei Bolkonsky

Andrei Bolkonsky is rich, handsome, married to a charming woman. What makes him quit successful career and a quiet, prosperous life? Bolkonsky is trying to find his purpose.

At the beginning of the book, this is a man who dreams of fame, popular love and exploits. “I love nothing but fame, human love. Death, wounds, loss of family, I’m not afraid of anything,” he says. His ideal is the great Napoleon. To be like his idol, the proud and ambitious prince becomes a military man and performs great feats. Insight comes suddenly. The wounded Andrei Bolkonsky, seeing the high sky of Austerlitz, realizes that his goals were empty and worthless.

Having left the service and returned, Prince Andrei strives to correct his mistakes. Evil fate decides otherwise. After the death of his wife, a period of depression and despondency begins in Bolkonsky’s life. A conversation with Pierre makes him look at life differently.

Bolkonsky again strives to be useful not only to his family, but also to the Fatherland. Classes state affairs briefly captivates the hero. A meeting with Natasha Rostova opens one's eyes to Speransky's false nature. The meaning of life becomes love for Natasha. Again dreams, again plans and again disappointment. Family pride did not allow Prince Andrei to forgive the fatal mistake of his future wife. The wedding was upset, hopes for happiness were dispelled.

Bolkonsky again settles in Bogucharovo, deciding to start raising his son and arranging his estate. The Patriotic War of 1812 awakened his best qualities in the hero. Love for the Motherland and hatred of the invaders force them to return to service and devote their lives to the Fatherland.

Having found the true meaning of my existence, main character becomes a different person. There is no longer room in his soul for vanity thoughts and selfishness.

Simple happiness by Pierre Bezukhov

The path of quest of Bolkonsky and Bezukhov is described throughout the novel. The author does not immediately lead the heroes to their cherished goal. Finding happiness was not easy for Pierre either.

The young Count Bezukhov, unlike his friend, is guided in his actions by the dictates of his heart.

In the first chapters of the work we see a naive, kind, frivolous young man. Weakness and gullibility make Pierre vulnerable and force him to commit rash acts.

Pierre Bezukhov, like Andrei Bolkonsky, dreams of the future, admires Napoleon, and tries to find his path in life. Through trial and error, the hero achieves his desired goal.

One of the main delusions of the inexperienced Pierre was marrying the seductive Helen Kuragina. The deceived Pierre feels pain, resentment, and annoyance as a result of this marriage. Having lost his family, having lost hope of personal happiness, Pierre tries to find himself in Freemasonry. He sincerely believes that he active work will be useful to society. The ideas of brotherhood, equality, justice inspire young man. He is trying to bring them to life: he alleviates the lot of peasants, gives orders for the construction of free schools and hospitals. “And only now, when I... try to live for others, only now I understand all the happiness of life,” he says to a friend. But his orders remain unfulfilled, the Mason brothers turn out to be deceitful and selfish.

In the novel War and Peace, Bolkonsky and Pierre constantly have to start all over again.

The turning point for Pierre Bezukhov comes with the beginning Patriotic War. He, like Prince Bolkonsky, is inspired by patriotic ideas. He forms a regiment with his own money and is on the front line during the Battle of Borodino.

Having decided to kill Napoleon, Pierre Bezukhov commits a series of frivolous acts and is captured by the French. The months spent in captivity completely change the count's worldview. Under the influence of the simple man Platon Karataev, he understands that the meaning of human life is to satisfy simple needs. “A person should be happy,” says Pierre, who returned from captivity.

Having understood himself, Pierre Bezukhov began to better understand those around him. He unerringly chooses the right path, finds true love and family.

common goal

I would like to finish the essay on the topic “The Spiritual Quest of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov” with the words of the author: “Calmness is spiritual meanness.” The heroes dear to the writer do not know peace, they are in search of the right path in life. The desire to honestly and honorably fulfill a duty and benefit society unites Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, making them so different in character similar.

Work test

What are the similarities between Andrei Balkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”, and what are their differences?? and got the best answer

Answer from Dorota[guru]
The indicated problems of “War and Peace” were in line with Dostoevsky’s thoughts about the hero who seeks, and what is good,” “what is evil.” But the writer contrasts the “cultural type” created by Tolstoy and personifying “goodness” (in Dostoevsky’s understanding) with another “ a cultural type" striving for "pretty", but never able to achieve it. In this inability to achieve "pretentiousness" Dostoevsky sees a trait symptomatic of the era of a person whose consciousness, by historical circumstances, is doomed to defend itself in the "chaos of concepts". Interpretation of this qualitative difference Dostoevsky outlines his “cultural type” in the sketch “For the Preface” in the March 1875 draft notes for “The Teenager.” Bolkonsky, Bezukhov and Levin are considered here by Dostoevsky as heroes of “petty pride”: they are capable of being spiritually reborn under the influence of a positive example or under the impact of an exceptional situation.The tragedy of the underground excludes for Dostoevsky's hero the possibility of such a radical spiritual change.
When portraying his heroes, the author did not embellish or idealize them at all: he endowed Pierre and Andrei with contradictory traits, advantages and disadvantages. In their image he presented ordinary people, capable of being both strong and weak at certain moments of their lives, but able to overcome the internal struggle and independently rise above lies and everyday life, be spiritually reborn and find their calling in life. Their paths are different, but at the same time they have a lot in common. And, in particular, the similarity lies in their mental ordeals, in the struggle. Pierre has his own weakness of character, cowardice, excessive gullibility and ideological impossibility. Andrei Bolkonsky - with pride, arrogance, ambition and illusory aspirations for glory.
Pierre Bezukhov is one of the central, most attractive characters of the novel. His image, like the image of Andrei Bolkonsky, is depicted in constant dynamics. The writer focuses on the almost childlike gullibility, kindness and sincerity of his hero’s thoughts, and at first Pierre is presented as a confused, passive, absolutely inactive young man. Pierre obviously does not fit into the false society of flatterers and careerists present in Scherer's salon. He behaves in a manner inappropriate for social events, and is even somewhat aggressive towards all other visitors. For this reason, Pierre’s appearance causes bewilderment among many, and his straightforward statements cause outright fear. In addition, Bezukhov is indifferent to money and luxury, he is selfless and, in spite of everything, acutely senses the border between innocent jokes and dangerous games that can ruin someone's life.
Path Difference moral search in the destinies of A. Bolkonsky, P. Bezukhov and N. Rostov

Answer from Yergey Smirnov[guru]
The similarities are definitely physiological, primary and secondary sexual characteristics, and the differences in characters...

Answer from Irishka[guru]
Duel and the woman Countess Sophie Rasberglein

Answer from REPORTER[guru]
Balkonsky is sitting on the balcony, but Bolkonsky is dead.

Answer from Alexandra Bodrova[guru]
They are looking for the meaning of life, for themselves, but are disappointed in what they find. Balkonsky in military service. Pierre regrets that he married Helene and that he became a Freemason.

Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky being completely different characters novel "War and Peace", are Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy's favorite characters. The difference between the characters is visible from their first appearance on the pages of the novel in Anna Scherer’s salon. Andrei Bolkonsky, already quite rich at that time life experience, with his whole appearance he shows how tired he is of all these social gatherings. Andrey even somehow reminds the reader of Eugene Onegin. Pierre Bezukhov appears to us as a man who reveres the people who gathered in Madame Scherer's salon. The heroes have different views, characters, and behavior patterns. But, despite many differences, the heroes of the work also have a lot in common. Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov are smart people who received an excellent education. They are close to each other in spirit, since both are independent in their judgments and thoughts. Thus, Bolkonsky and Bezukhov fully confirm the ancient axiom: “Opposites complement each other.”

No wonder Andrey and Pierre very frank in their conversations, and on some topics they can only talk with each other, because they find each other understanding even if they have absolutely different worldview. Andrei Bolkonsky is a more reasonable person, he is much more rational than Pierre. Reason prevails over Andrey's feelings, and Pierre Bezukhov is more spontaneous, prone to acute feelings and experiences. Pierre loves entertainment, leads a wild lifestyle and has an easy-going mental attitude to many things. He marries the secular beauty Helen Kuragina, but soon breaks up with her, saying about his wife: “Where you are, there is debauchery and evil.” His youth is full of mistakes and disappointments. As a result, Pierre, like Andrei Bolkonsky, begins to hate secular society which is riddled with lies. Both heroes are men of action. Both Andrei and Pierre are constantly in search of the meaning of life and their place in this world. Many things happen differently in the lives of the main characters, but some moments are very similar. Andrey is looking for glory in the war, Pierre is having fun in the company of Kuragin. But both are unhappy family life. Both have beautiful outwardly wives, but their chosen ones do not satisfy the heroes with their inner world. When Andrei Bolkonsky reconsiders his views on life, having become disillusioned with the war, he returns home, but another shock awaits him - Andrei’s wife dies and the hero of the novel faces depression and disappointment in life. Big changes are taking place in the life of Pierre Bezukhov - he receives a large inheritance and becomes a welcome guest in all houses without exception, even in those where Pierre was previously treated with disdain. But, quickly becoming disillusioned, as Andrei Bolkonsky was in his time, with social life, Pierre Bezukhov finds his application in Freemasonry. During this period of his life, Pierre Bezukhov seems to have found the meaning of life.

He's trying to make life easier serfs and help other people: “When I live, at least try to live for others, I begin to understand the happiness of life.” But Freemasonry disappointed Pierre, as many members of this society betrayed common interests and directed their efforts to gain their own glory and personal gain. The War of 1812, and especially captivity and the meeting with Platon Karataev, changed Bezukhov’s life, showing him the true meaning of life, and helped the hero reassess his values. Such Pierre Bezukhov helps Andrei Bolkonsky, reviving Andrei to life together with Natasha Rostova. Andrey accepts Active participation V public life, working on Speransky’s commission, but this type of activity does not bring him satisfaction. Just like Pierre Bezukhov’s participation in the Freemason movement. Andrei is revived again by his love for Natasha Rostova, but happy life It didn’t work out with his beloved, and Andrei Bolkonsky again goes to war, where he comes to understand that the meaning of life is to help other people, that he needs to benefit others. Andrei Bolkonsky dies without being able to bring his idea to life. Understanding the need to love the people around you and appreciate life comes to Pierre Bezukhov. Andrei and Pierre are united by a principle that Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy himself outlined during his youth: “To live honestly, you have to struggle, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and give up again, and start again, and give up again, and forever fight and lose. And calmness is spiritual vulgarity.”

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

This is what the heroes of L.N.’s novel are like for me. Tolstoy "War and Peace". What attracts me to the characters of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov? Why do they seem so alive and close after almost two centuries? Why is Natasha Rostova perceived not as some distant countess, from a completely different life, from a different upbringing, but as my peer? Why is it that every time I return to a novel, I discover something new for myself in it? This is probably why for me they are truly alive, not static, because they live not only for today, they strive not only for privileges, awards, material wealth, but also do not “sleep” in soul, reflect on their lives, intensely search for the meaning of life. The great and unique L. Tolstoy, who throughout his life never stopped seeking the good and learning, analyzing himself, his era and in general human life, teaches us, readers, to observe life and analyze our actions. Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov immediately attract attention and stand out for their sincerity, highest decency and intelligence. Despite the fact that they are so different - the stern, arrogant Prince Andrei, who respects himself very much and therefore leaves people, and the awkward, initially naive Pierre, who is never taken seriously by the world - they are true friends. They can talk about lofty matters, confide in each other the secrets of the soul, protect and support in difficult times.

It would seem that each of them has their own path, their own victories and defeats, but how many times their destinies intertwined, how many similarities exist in their different life ambitions, how many similarities exist in their feelings! A talented officer, Prince Andrei goes to war to find a use for his strength and intelligence, to find “his Toulon,” and to become famous. He made it a rule not to interfere in other people’s affairs, not to pay attention to vanity and disputes, “not to give up.” But in the headquarters corridor, the prince will cut off the presumptuous adjutant who dared to speak insultingly about the defeated ally: “We are either officers who serve our tsar and fatherland and rejoice at the common success and are sad about the common failure, or we are lackeys who do not care about the master’s business!”

Having given the order to evacuate, Prince Andrei cannot abandon Captain Tushin’s battery and remains to help them, without hiding from the dust and gunpowder smoke with his adjutant position. And during the discussion at the headquarters of the Battle of Shengraben, he will speak out in defense of Tushin.

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

Prince Andrei also experiences a spiritual crisis after revaluing his idol, Napoleon, and after the death of his wife. Changes in the estate (at the beginning XIX century he transferred his serfs to free cultivators), raising an infant son, reading books and periodicals could fill the life of an ordinary, dozens of people to the brim. Bolkonsky, however, is pressed by a ceiling of limitations - he needs the space of a high blue sky. Like a spark, Pierre’s words will flare up in a conversation on the ferry: “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe,” and will ignite a new interest in life! Now he knows the criterion for the usefulness of this work and, having applied the project, highly appreciated by the Speransky committee, to specific people, “remembering the men, Drona the headman, and, having attached to them the rights of persons, which he distributed in paragraphs, it became strange to him how he could engage in such futile work for so long.” The hope for personal happiness lifts Prince Andrey as if on wings and proves that “life is not over at thirty-one.” How will his credo change, his yesterday’s Napoleonic “I am above everyone,” “my thoughts and efforts are a gift for everyone” - to something else: “Everyone must know me, so that my life does not go on for me alone, so that they do not live like this.” , like this girl, regardless of my life, so that it is reflected on everyone and so that they all live with me!” This “everything is through me,” this path from the arrogantly egoistic to the egoistic will give Bolkonsky a different perception of the world, teach him to see and understand the feelings of other people: and dreamy Natasha on a moonlit night, her bright personality, which he so missed, and the girls with green plums, who needed to pass by him unnoticed, and Timokhin, and all the officers and soldiers of his regiment. Maybe that’s why he will not lose interest in life, plunging into the personal grief of breaking up with his beloved, when he is faced with the general grief of his Motherland, with an enemy invasion.

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

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

Andrei Bolkonsky also feels like a part of his people. In a conversation with a new person, he amazes with his frankness, simplicity of words, closeness to ordinary soldiers. Prince Andrei refuses Kutuzov's offer to serve as his adjutant, wanting to remain in the regiment. He will learn to fight on the front line, to appreciate the warm attitude of the soldiers towards him, their affectionate “our prince”. Once upon a time giving great importance military strategy and calculation, Andrei Bolkonsky indignantly discards this before the Battle of Borodino: Napoleonic comparison of regiments with chess pieces and the words of staff officers about “war in space.” Protect small homeland(your house, estate, city) and the great Fatherland, according to Prince Andrei, can only be achieved by one feeling, which “is in me, in him, in every soldier.” This is a feeling of love for the Motherland and a feeling of unity with the fate of the people.

Bolkonsky stands under bullets, considering it “his duty to arouse the courage of the soldiers.” He will forgive Anatoly Kuragin a personal insult when he meets him wounded in a hospital ward on the front line. And love for Natasha, aggravated by common grief and common losses, flares up in Prince Andrei with renewed vigor. Pierre Bezukhov had to undergo a great purification through physical and moral suffering in captivity in order to meet Platon Karataev, immerse himself in the life of the common people and understand that “all his life he looked somewhere over the heads of those around him, but he had to not strain his eyes, but just look in front of you.” With new eyes he will see the real path to the goal, the scope of application own strength. It is painful for him, like many heroes of the Patriotic War, to look at the unrest in the Fatherland: “Theft is in the courts, the army is one stick: shagistika, settlements - they torture the people, education is strangled. What’s young, honestly, is ruined!” Now Pierre becomes close to everything that happens in his country, and he stands up for the defense of this “young and honest”, bowing before the glorious past, fights for the purity of the present and future.

Bezukhov is one of the organizers and leaders of the Decembrist circle. He deliberately chooses a dangerous and turbulent path. It is symbolic that, in Nikolenka Bolkonsky’s view, both the teenager himself and Prince Andrei are going “to glory” next to him, through the swords of the reactionaries.

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

In Russian literature, perhaps, there is no work that can be compared with the epic novel “War and Peace” in terms of the significance of the problems raised in it, in terms of artistic expression narratives, according to educational impact. Hundreds pass before us human images, the destinies of some come into contact with the destinies of others, but each of the heroes is an original, unique personality. Thus, throughout the entire novel, the life paths of Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky intersect. The writer introduces us to them already on the first pages - in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer. They are very different - the arrogant, ambitious prince and the gullible, weak-willed Pierre, but at the same time both are the embodiment of the author's ideal - a person striving to understand the meaning of life, to determine his place in this world, passing through moral suffering on the path of spiritual improvement. The heroes have to go through a lot in order to ultimately find harmony in their souls. First of all, they try to get rid of false beliefs and unpleasant character traits. And only after overcoming their weaknesses, having experienced many disappointments caused by clashes with cruel reality, Prince Andrei and Pierre acquire what, in their opinion, is the immutable truth, not subject to falsehood.

Tolstoy shows the reader the same phenomena through the eyes of his own different heroes. Both of them have a feeling of admiration for Napoleon. For Pierre Bezukhov, brought up on the ideas of the French Enlightenment, Napoleon was a strong, invincible “heir” french revolution, which brought the temptation of bourgeois freedom. Prince Andrei embodied in his thoughts about Bonaparte his own dreams of popular recognition, glory, and unlimited power. But both of them, faced with certain circumstances, debunked their idol. Bolkonsky realized the insignificance of both his own ambitious thoughts and the actions of the French emperor, seeing the boundless, majestic sky, which appeared to him as the highest revelation after being wounded at Austerlitz: “How quiet, calm and solemn... everything is empty, everything is deception, except this endless sky ", "...at that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a small, insignificant person in comparison with what was now happening between his soul and this... sky...". Prince Andrei realized that fame should not be main goal human activity that there are other, higher ideals. Pierre began to hate the French commander as a result of comprehending the suffering of the Russian people in the unjust war of aggression of 1812. Communication with ordinary people discovered new values ​​for Bezukhov, a different meaning of life, consisting of kindness, compassion, and service to people: “... I lived for myself and ruined my life. And only now, when I live... for others, only now I understand the happiness of life.” Through the attitude of his favorite heroes to Napoleon, the writer expresses his own thoughts about this statesman, who for Tolstoy was the embodiment of “world evil.”

It is no coincidence that the writer leads his heroes through the test of love for Natasha Rostova - the symbol inner beauty, purity and spontaneity. According to Tolstoy, Natasha is life itself. And the evolution of the heroes would have been imperfect if they had not known love for this bright girl: where “she is... there is all the happiness, hope, light; the other half is everything where she is not there, there is all despondency and darkness...” Natasha helps the heroes discover new, yet unknown depths of their souls, to know true love and forgiveness. Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov are the personification ideal hero Tolstoy, and Natasha became an ideal, but not idealized, heroine not only of the novel, but of an entire generation.

* this work is not scientific work, is not a graduation qualifying work and is the result of processing, structuring and formatting the collected information, intended for use as a source of material for independent preparation of educational work.

Comparative characteristics of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy:

“To live honestly, you have to struggle, get confused, struggle, make mistakes, start and give up again, and start again, and give up again, and always struggle and lose. And calmness is spiritual vulgarity.”

The heroes have different views, characters, and behavior patterns. But, despite many differences, the heroes of the work also have a lot in common. Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov are smart people who received an excellent education. They are close to each other in spirit, since both are independent in their judgments and thoughts. Adrey and Pierre are very frank in their conversations, and on some topics they can only talk with each other, because they find understanding in each other, even having completely different worldviews.