A Look at War and Peace: Volume Two

From my 1980 paperback.

Volume Two mostly pertains to peace though there is no shortage of drama.  It begins a few months later in the following year with Nikolai's return to Moscow on leave.  Natasha plays intermediary between him and Sonya, politely inquiring about his promise before the wars started to marry their cousin.  Natasha, being the bold one, readily agrees to check the status of the relationship for her more introverted cousin. Nikolai still loves Sonya and the two of them exchange a affectionate kiss when they meet.  

In the aftermath of the Battle of Austerlitz, the Russian army is welcomed home as heroes, despite the fact they lost the battle.  Prince Bagration is particularly showered with praise for his command at the Battle of Schöngraben and for handling the retreat from Austerlitz.  Meanwhile, Kutuzov is saddled with the blame for the defeat, though, of course, Tolstoy portrays him as the wiser of the two leaders.

Pierre is going through the first of his many transformations in the novel.  Marriage to Hélènee has changed him.  She made him grow his hair long and he is surrounded by people who show him respect only because of his inherited wealth.  Though he continues to eat and drink a lot, he is dissatisfied with his life.  Chiefly, this is because of rumors that Dolokhov, a brave Russian cavalryman who interacts with Rostov a lot in Volume One, has been having an affair with his wife.  Jealousy gets the better of him and he challenges Dolokhov to duel.  This astonishes most everyone since Pierre has no skill with arms at all and Dolokhov is experienced in battle.

In a tense episode, Pierre refuses the opportunity to apologize to Dolokhov.  Tolstoy gives literally a step by step account of the duel.  Pierre unintentionally fires first and surprisingly hits Dolokhov, who grips his left side and falls to the snow covered ground.  Pierre is saddened by what he is done a rushes toward the wounded man but Dolokhov orders him to stop.  He will still attempt his shot.  He gathers some snow into his mouth and attempts to aim.  Those assisting with the duel encourage Pierre to turn to his side so as to be a smaller target but the fat aristocrat stands broad-chested.  The unsteady shot misses him.

Pierre cannot sleep that night, wondering why he did it.  He married a woman that he doesn't really love simply because of her erotic nature and now he has (so he thinks) killed a man for it (Dolokhov survives).  He is taunted by his wife for looking so foolish as she completely denies the affair.  Enraged at her because of his inner conflict, Pierre attempts to strike Hélènee and then abruptly suggests that they part.  This is a separation, not a divorce, and Hélènee ends up with a major chuck of Pierre's assets.  He leaves Moscow for Petersburg.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrei returns to Moscow.  He has recovered from his wound but his last letter never reached his sister, Princess Maya, who feared the worst.  He is met by the cries of a baby.  At first Andrei wonders who would have brought a baby into his estate house.  Then he realizes his wife has given birth to his son, something he was not aware of until now.  Unfortunately, Andrei's wife dies during the birth leaving him a widower with a son to raise.

Dolokhov and Rostov become closer during the former's convalescence.  Dolokhov confides that he has been with many women but has never met one of “purity” that he truly desires.  Rostov is sympathetic, Nikolai happens to be Natasha's brother.  Natasha bitterly quarrels with him over the duel, stating that it was all Dolokhov's fault, that he is “wicked and unfeeling,” a fair assessment.

Dolokhov, apparently disregarding Rostov's intentions toward her (which reveals how self-centered he truly is), attempts to enter a relationship with Sonya.  She refuses him and feels a surge of liberation both in being desired and at her refusal.  This happens as Natasha readies herself for her first proper ball.  She is excited by wearing her first long gown and immediately “falls in love with everyone” in the ballroom.  Her passion for life has reached an important point for her.  She can hardly contain herself.

Rostov loses a great deal of money to Dolokhov gambling at cards.  Dolokhov smiles to himself “lucky in love, lucky in cards” and asks when he can expect his money.  He also tells Nikolai that he knows Sonya is in love with him. Rostov promises to pay tomorrow but dreads telling his father and family about his loss.  Nikolai is dealing with his is own demons.  He feels like a failure as a cavalryman, deeply regrets the loss at Austerlitz (as if he could have changed it) and now feels disgraced at losing so much money to someone he thought was his friend.

Natasha develops an “unpolished but beautiful” singing voice.  She has always sang comically as a child but now that she is going to her first balls she develops a more serious attitude toward the development of her voice.  Natasha's father thoroughly enjoys her recital before the family.  Afterwards he is approached by Nikolai, who falls weeping before his father asking forgiveness for the debt he has burdened upon the Rostov family.

In Petersburg, Pierre is haunted by his jealousy and his shooting of another man.  He is a lost soul, no longer knowing what is right and wrong.  He welcomes death as an escape from the burden of life, but he is also frightened by prospect of it.  Eventually, Pierre happens upon a wise old Freemason and the two converse about God and Pierre's lack of belief and his unhappiness.  The Mason notes Pierre's preference for logic and reason, responding that “He is not apprehended by reason, but by life.”  The conversation convinces Pierre that Freemasonry is the answer to all his existential questions.

A long passage follows detailing Pierre's conversion and the necessary steps to become inducted as a Mason.  Among other things, it details the seven virtues of Freemasonry, the last of which is “love of death,” which means that one of the benefits of belief is in life after death.  Pierre is often embarrassed and made uncomfortable at some of the questions he must answer and rituals he must perform.  

Later, Pierre realizes he isn't following two of the seven virtues, particularly love of death, which he finds elusive.  He attempts of make up for his shortcomings through his generosity toward others, particularly in public works like schools and hospitals.  The steward and others overseeing his finances are deceiving him, however, lining their own pockets with parts of the funds Pierre intended for good deeds.  Apparently, they never get caught, Tolstoy mentions them only in passing.

In traveling, Pierre visits Bald Hills, Prince Andrei's estate.  This is the first time the two have met since since the latter was wounded.  Andrei expresses the same affection toward his friend but Pierre is struck by his gaze and the worry etched upon his face.  The two enter into a discussion about evil.  Andrei is of the opinion that he knows only what is evil for himself, but he cannot know what is evil for someone else.  Pierre disagrees, of course, being a Mason.  

Andrei's outlook has become even darker than before and basically believes he can do nothing for the world but only for himself.  This is complex.  It is not out of selfishness but, rather, out of a sense of resignation about the way life is, which Pierre simply cannot accept.  Thanks to his new beliefs and his good deeds, Pierre is happier than ever but his friend is obviously more miserable and withdrawn than ever.  Ultimately, Pierre fears debating Andrei because he does not want his own newfound and cherished beliefs subjected to such ridicule.  It is noteworthy that Andrei can fully express himself only whenever he is with Pierre.

Still, through continued interaction, their debate proceeds.  They discuss the existence of God and the spiritual world within each person.  Andrei is full of doubts, Pierre offering his beliefs, Andrei finding it insufficient.  Any yet, the discussion with his friend has a small positive effect.  

“Prince Andrei sighed, and with a luminous, childlike, tender gaze looked into the flushed, rapturous face of Pierre, who still felt timid before his superior friend. “Yes, if only it were so!” he said. “Anyhow, let’s go and get in,” Prince Andrei added and, stepping off the ferry, he looked at the sky Pierre had pointed to, and for the first time since Austerlitz saw that high, eternal sky he had seen as he lay on the battlefield, and something long asleep, something that was best in him, suddenly awakened joyful and young in his soul. This feeling disappeared as soon as Prince Andrei re-entered the habitual conditions of life, but he knew that this feeling, which he did not know how to develop, lived in him. The meeting with Pierre marked an epoch for Prince Andrei, from which began what, while outwardly the same, was in his inner world a new life.” (pp. 389 – 390)

Discussion between Prince Andrei and Pierre from my kindle edition.  Page 389.

Pierre later confides to Andrei's sister, Princess Marya, that he is worried about his friend.  But Marya points out to Pierre that his friendship has a positive effect on Andrei.  At least for today he is “merry and lively; but it's your arrival that has had that effect on him: he's rarely that way.”  This makes Pierre realize the full strength of the bond between the two men.  They love each other as if they were brothers.

Rostov returns to his regiment and is comforted by this.  Here, he is untroubled by all his personal problems, his indecision about Sonya, his gambling loss to Dolokhov, his complex relationship with his father, and so on.  With the regiment, everything is orderly, expected, and he is part of a unified fellowship of soldiers.  For Nikolai, the regiment is one half of the world, and everything else in his life is the other.  Every trouble and doubt he suffers in the world dissolves in being a part of the regiment.

The regiment replenished its ranks in Russia and so missed most of the Campaign of 1807.  It did not participate in either of the two great battles of the campaign – Eylau and Friedland, both of which Tolstoy mentions only in passing.  It was later deployed as part of a detachment which captured a few French soldiers and raided some supply wagons.  It lost virtually no one due to combat but half the unit ended up in the hospital due to disease and lack of rations.  Rostov suffered from the more common aliments of war – inaction, repetition, unsanitary conditions and bad logistics.

But Rostov ends up at Tilsit, the site of Napoleon's famous meeting with Alexander on the Nieman River to conclude the peace of the campaign.  Here Napoleon and Alexander showered each other with praise, issued metals to opposing troops, and generally tried to outdo one another in being magnanimous.  Rostov has another moment of rapture when he sees the Tzar's face again. Later Rostov's battalion is chosen to participate in a great feast with the two emperors.  It is a time of great merriment, dressed in their parade uniforms, and he drinks several bottles of wine.

Pierre invests in good works for Andrei's estate and the Prince oversees this with his accustomed competence.  He remains on his country estate in semi-solitude for over two years.  He never went out in public but would accept guests.  It is during this time that Andrei experienced something approximating a Proustian moment.  There is an old oak by a road on his estate.  He passes it contemptuously on a visit to Natasha's large home.  Appraising its age, the Prince only sees that is past its prime, that it's life is almost over.  He is traveling for the first time off his own estate in a while and his inner turmoil is hurled at the world as he decides to visit Count Rostov, Nikolai and Natasha's father.

His heart is pierced but the young feminine sound of Natasha's spirited voice.  Later, unable to sleep, he opens his bedroom window and overhears Natasha begging Sonya to stay up late with her and look at the stars.  He is strangely uplifted and his burdens seem less.  He suddenly sees that a life at 31 need not be over.  When he next passes the oak:

“The old oak, quite transformed, spreading out a canopy of juicy, dark greenery, basked, barely swaying, in the rays of the evening sun. Of the gnarled fingers, the scars, the old grief and mistrust—nothing could be seen. Juicy green leaves without branches broke through the stiff, hundred-year-old bark, and it was impossible to believe that this old fellow had produced them.”  (p. 423).

Tolstoy includes everything in War and Peace  The epic and the intimate as far as humanity is concerned are intertwined in multiple, marvelous relationships.  He does not go into anything close to the level of psychological detail that Dostoevsky so splendidly does in his works.  But Tolstoy assumes a broader view, particularly in the novel's meaningful inclusion of nature as part of the narrative.  This is something Dostoevsky never did.  

Unexpectedly, Prince Andrei is appointed to the commission on military regulations.  He bases his work of the Napoleonic Code.  Meanwhile, Pierre suddenly finds himself the head of the Freemasons in Petersburg.  Though he considers it “immoral and humiliating,” he continues to eat a lot and enjoy a lot of wine.

Pierre addresses the Masonic lodge in Petersburg and what he says disappoints many of those present.  This somewhat surprises Pierre because he thought he was speaking upon sound principles.  Suddenly, he becomes aware that no two people see the same truth the same way.  This puts him in a funk and he isolates himself.  Soon he is living with his wife again, having received her forgiveness.  Hélènee is more beautiful than ever.  Even Napoleon notices her beauty during a large gathering of aristocracy.

Four years have passed since the beginning of the novel.  Natasha is now 16.  She remembers her forced kiss with Boris, a minor soldier character, who promised to marry her at the beginning of Volume One.  That did not turn out as she expected.  In fact, she is a transformed person since the story started.  Prince Andrei has only recently snapped out of his funk (because of Natasha's voice).  Pierre is beginning to doubt the Masons and living with that wild woman Hélène again.  Natasha might be the most transformed character of all to this point.  She is no longer a child.

Nevertheless, she reverts to her old child-like self when she finally meets Boris again.  She sings his favorite songs and generally /seems/ to be in love with him.  But Boris has decided that the Rostov family is not wealthy enough for him to marry Natasha.  After a short stay, her mother, the countess, asks Boris to leave.

Natasha has attended smaller balls and soirees but now she is going to her first grand ball and even more extravagant experience of music and dancing and champagne and food and conversation as the truly rich people gather for a royal evening in Moscow.  She and Sonya attend with the family and she is enraptured with it all.  The Tzar arrives. Natasha observes Pierre who is talking to Prince Andrei, who only knows Natasha's voice, not her appearance.

Pierre sees how his wife behaves in high society and it sickens him.  It is everything he detests about wealth and power, even in himself.  He is miserable again with the ostentatious  world.  Natasha walks by and chats with him briefly.  She always thinks he is funny only he doesn't seem that way now, leaving her to wonder how anyone could be displeased at all in a ball this magnificent.  The two are experiencing two extremes of the same thing, similarly to what Pierre had recently discovered after his Masonic speech in Petersburg.

Later, Prince Andrei visits the Rostovs and is greeted by Natasha.  He asks her to sing for him that afternoon and his soul is both troubled and enlightened.  He has fallen in love but doesn't realize it yet.  Tolstoy writes that he is unable to sleep that night but is not thinking of her at all, only of his inner struggle and the fact that “he felt as joyful and new in his soul as if he had gone from a stuffy room into God’s open world.” (p. 467)  For the first time in forever, Andrei feels he can make “happy plans for the future.”

There is a wonderful section where Tolstoy describes Pierre playing cards at a ball but observing Natasha sitting across form him.  Some change has come over her.  Andrei arrives and Pierre continues to play cars, comically moving around the table to get a better view.  It is a complete surprise to him as the two speak animatedly to each other.

Natasha confides to Sonya that she is frightened of how she feels when she is with him.  “What does it mean?” she frantically asks.  Pierre isolates himself again, feeling terrible after the ball.  He does not worry about his wife nor Natasha and Andrei.  He merely focuses on the great “What for?” for life itself.  His life is still without any real meaning.  Then Andrei walks into his study to tell him he is in love with Natasha.

But he is afraid to tell anyone, especially Natasha, who is only half his age. Pierre insists that Natasha loves him too.  He is angry about this but controls it fairly well.  It is another source of frustration in his life but he keeps that to himself.  Ultimately, Andrei's father only consents to the marriage if his son goes away for a year.  Only then does Andrei ask for Natasha's hand which she readily gives in spite to the disappointing delay.  They leave it that she is free to change her mind and marry whoever until he comes back to her.  I find Tolstoy to be brilliant throughout this section, tying my three favorite characters together in a splendid part of the novel.

Natasha is impatient, of course.  Prince Andrei writes to her regularly as he tours Europe.  But while in Rome, his old wound apparently reopens and delays him further.  Natasha is unhappy and fretful.  She becomes frustrated with the routine of her family and her household.  The monotony of waiting, waiting, waiting, while obsessing about her future husband does not suit her spirited personality at all.

Several commentators and critics of War and Peace go so far as to claim that Tolstoy does not know how to write female characters.  That seems absurd, especially considering he is also the author of Anna Karenina.  But I understand their frustrations pertaining to this novel.  Most of the feminine force in the narrative sits around having tea and gossiping and being overly emotional.  They decorate but do not facilitate the story.

Except of Natasha, of course.  On my reading she is a vibrant, inspiring, and fascinating character.  Hélènee is certainly a woman on her own terms as well.  I think much of this criticism is directed toward the fact that Tolstoy accurately portrays the more limited role of women in this time period.  They were almost completely objectified.  It isn't that Tolstoy doesn't know how to write female characters.  It is that they don't like the depiction of how woman mostly were during the time of the Napoleonic Wars.

Pierre becomes even more despondent when his Masonic mentor dies.  He starts drinking more heavily and returns to his former hedonistic ways.  He continues to ask “What for?  Why?  What's going on in the world?” While posing the question continuously, he never gets around to actually considering the possible answer.  Pierre is no longer searching so much as despairing.  Tolstoy does not explore nihilism in War and Peace but Pierre is close to it at this point in the novel.

Hélène introduces Natasha to her brother Anatole Kuragin.  Anatole is handsome and charismatic, basically the male version of his sister.  He falls in love with Natasha and they share passionate kisses.  He secretly proposes marriage to her.  Natasha, having endured Prince Andrei's absence for so long, is attracted to Anatole and, knowing she is free to do so, accepts the offer.  The only problem is that Anatole is unscrupulous like his sister.  He is already married (though he has abandoned his wife), which is why his proposal was not made formally and publicly.

Natasha almost immediately regrets her acceptance and becomes quite ill when she reconsiders things in the light of Andrei, who is still away.  Anatole has Dolokhov write a love letter to her for him.  The letter is as inauthentic as Anatole, of course, but filled with all the wonderful phrases and promises that pulls on Natasha's heart.  The letter sends her over the edge and she decides her love for Anatole is true.  Sonya is amazed at her change of heart and cautions her against her seemingly strong attraction.  Natasha declares she hates Sonya but then falls gravely ill.  (Like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy equates physical illness with psychological conflict.)

When Pierre returns to Moscow and becomes aware of the full extent of the situation he immediately confronts Anatole in a rage.  He declares of his wife: “Wherever you are, there are depravity and evil!”  He rips into Anatole calling him “a scoundrel and a villain” and almost bashes his head with a heavy paperweight.  He ensures that Anatole leaves Moscow.

Of course, Prince Andrei finally returns about this time and considers his original offer of marriage to be nullified by recent events.  Even though Pierre asks his friend to reconsider, that it was all just a colossal mistake, Andrei refuses.  Going to see Natasha himself, Pierre takes pity upon her and the feeling of pity wells up in his soul, giving him a strange inspiration that he has not felt in some time.  

Natasha declares her life is forever ruined but Pierre insists that she has her whole life still ahead of her.  He tells her that if he weren't already married he would ask her for her hand this very moment.  He kisses her hand affectionately and leaves.  But this act of pity causes Natasha to break down and cry “tears of gratitude and tenderness.”  The moment affects both of them.

Corresponding mention of the Great Comet at the end of Volume Two in my kindle app.  Page 602.

It is now 1812 and Tolstoy ends Volume Two with the first mention of the Great Comet (which actually appeared in 1811).  Pierre is walking at night after his meeting with Natasha when we get another wonderful passage on the sky.  “Almost in the middle of that sky, over Prechistensky Boulevard, stood the huge, bright comet of the year 1812—surrounded, strewn with stars on all sides, but different from them in its closeness to the earth, its white light and long, raised tail—that same comet which presaged, as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But for Pierre this bright star with its long, luminous tail did not arouse any frightening feeling. On the contrary, Pierre, his eyes wet with tears, gazed joyfully at this bright star, which, having flown with inexpressible speed through immeasurable space on its parabolic course, suddenly, like an arrow piercing the earth, seemed to have struck here its one chosen spot in the black sky and stopped, its tail raised energetically, its white light shining and playing among the countless other shimmering stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star answered fully to what was in his softened and encouraged soul, now blossoming into new life.” (page 602)

The comet is mentioned a few more times throughout the novel,  Its connection to both Napoleon's invasion of Russia as well as Pierre's love for Natasha is heavily implied by Tolstoy.  We are now halfway through War and Peace.