Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Andrej Bolkonsky: Character Comparison - Research Paper Example

Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Andrej Bolkonsky: Character Comparison Introduction. The Russian classical literature has always fascinated the Western critics and readers alike. While the majority of works by the great Russian writers are distinctively ‘Russian’ in their ideas, contents, style, etc., still they do not cease reverberating in the souls and minds of those who experience an encounter with them. The works by Leo Tolstoy are perhaps the most vivid example of such occurrences. The enigmatic and deeply spiritual writer was extremely skeptical of both Western and traditional Russian societies, both socialism and capitalism, counterpoising to them a system of simple peasant communitarianism and Primitive Christian worldview (Berlin 29-32). While seemingly naïve, Tolstoy’s outlook enabled the author to look deeper at the roots of social malaises than any of his contemporaries could. War and Peace, the renowned masterpiece by Tolstoy, is likewise, for all its superficially historical character, dedicated to the subject of ‘eternal questions’ that, in Tolstoy’s opinion, each person should face in his/her life. While the issue of war and peace (as the novel itself is entitled) features prominently in the author’s reflections – and, fittingly enough, was made the central one in the movie serialization that we dealt with in this course, – Tolstoy did not limit the plot and the characters to the discussion of militarism/pacifism as such. For him, the other issues were at stake as well – such as the problem of sense of life itself, or that of the relationship between individual and society. The characters selected for the analysis and comparison within the framework of this paper are those of Pierre Bezukhov (played by Alexander Beyer) and Prince Andrej Bolkonsky (Alessio Boni). Both of these figures embody the different aspects of personality and experiences of the author himself; through them Tolstoy sought to express his view on the 19th century Russian aristocracy and the society at large (Holbrook 135). Therefore it is useful and necessary to compare them with each other, as well as to draw a conclusion on different rendering that the characters under consideration experienced in the literary and movie version of the plot. Andrej Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov: Two Young Rebellious Aristocrats. It is instrumental to bear in mind that Tolstoy’s characters that we are dealing with are deeply uneasy about the society they live in. Until we saw him in the film, Prince Andrej had lived through the life full of deeply-seated conflicts and disagreements with his paranoid and vindictive old father, who is both rich and at the same time treated with a mixture of ridicule and resentment by his aristocratic peers. At the same time, young Prince was brought up in the tradition of dutiful service to the Sovereign and Russia, the idea whereof is embodied by his father’s figure. Prince Andrej is enthusiastic about the prospects of fulfilling his duties at the time we see him at St.-Petersburg aristocratic salon of Anna Pavlovna. He feels disgust at platitudes and trivia of courtly and socialite existence led by the majority of Russian nobility and gentry. The prospect of war for him is just an opportunity to escape from a smothering atmosphere of aristocratic Petersburg of balls and idle chatters, finding solace instead in precarious life of a warrior. Pierre, on the contrary, is a type of somewhat detached young scholar who is just as uneasy in the environment of seductive noble women and scheming statesmen such as Prince Vasilii Kuragin. Just like young Bolkonsky, Pierre is a product of the French-style education with the deep roots in the Enlightenment, which was common among the scions of Russian nobility at that time. Nonetheless, Pierre is in rather different category than Bolkonsky, precisely because he is not a legitimate son of his family. His dubious position leads to understandable confusion among status-biased Russian nobles present at the first ball shown in the series. His only true friends are young Hussar officers, such as daredevil Dolokhov – similarly marginalized and often destitute, they express their frustration at life and social conventions that, in their opinion, limit their potentials, by indulging in heavy drinking and characteristically Russian ‘heroic’ brawls. Pierre, therefore, is regarded with contempt by the illustrious salon crowd, which at the same time views with indignation his relatively radical political positions. However, his perception in the higher circles is changed drastically, when he is legitimized by his father, an old millionaire Count, on his deathbed, becoming an heir to untold riches and landed estates. Thus Pierre is transformed from a potentially suspicious outcast to the celebrated and sought-for match-making party. The rebellions of both young nobles are ended abruptly by the tests they have to face in the course of the fulfillment of their ostensible dreams. Andrej Bolkonsky faces a grim reality of war itself. He sees the deaths and suffering of the soldiers that shed blood for the causes that are ultimately of no concern to them, he experiences his own being on the brink of an oblivion and understands, with a surprise, that even a visage of Napoleon himself, his one-time hero and the object for adoration, looking upon him from above does nothing to rekindle his previous war-like enthusiasm. Ultimately, for Bolkonsky, the rebellion that began in the adoration of war and neglect for his family ends in a desire to survive and return to home – as un-heroic as this sounds. For Pierre, the situation is both similar and different. His transformation from a semi-plebeian outcast to the desirable millions-worth heir does not have an immediate effect upon his simple bearing and nonconformist life position. Pierre is now married with one of the desired heiresses of the Russian nobility – Helene, a daughter of Prince Kuragin. However, his hopes for quiet and happy marital life are swiftly dispelled, as the dashing beauty looks disdainfully at his lack of military prowess and honor, finding solace in love affairs with young Guards officers. One of these officers happens to be Dolokhov himself. The former friends duel each other and, as Dolokhov is wounded by Pierre’s hand, Bezukhov understands the whole vanity of love and marital relations. He withdraws from the city of Moscow, where he lived with his wife, and turns to meditative and esoteric pursuits, as well as the philanthropic projects aimed at ameliorating the position of enserfed peasants in his domains. However, with the passing of time, even these pursuits cease to give him sense of meaning in life. Thus far, one may conclude that the characters of Bezukhov and Andrej Bolkonsky are both contradictory and complementary. Both are at distance and yet in the midst of social life of their Estate circles; both resent various aspects of their society, both are ultimately misunderstood by it. However, as it would later turn out, there are additional aspects to these figures that stand them apart from each other. Fathers and Sons: The Characters in Their Relation with their Elders. The problem of ‘fathers and children’ was one of the most popular issues in Russian literature of Tolstoy’s period. War and Peace is no stranger to this subject as well. In the film, just as in the book, the characters of Bezukhov and Andrej Bolkonsky have to both confront and endure the elder ‘fatherly figures’, or at least the ones that strive to be such. In case of Prince Andrej, it is his father, a despotic, yet witty former courtier of the previous reigns that has now fallen into disrepute and spends all his time far away from the courtly affairs. Old Prince Bolkonsky is proud of his son to whose character he gave some of his best features; nevertheless, at the same time, as a conservative, he looks disdainfully on some of Prince Andrej’s ideas and pursuits, viewing them as childish and irresponsible. Old Prince feels as if he were the last remnant of the illustrious epoch of Catherine the Great and Suvorov, whom he apparently counted among his friends. He looks dismissively at the statesmen and generals of the present reign, yet even more so at Napoleon Bonaparte and his glorious reputation. For Prince Bolkonsky the senior, Bonaparte is just a parvenu who may have easily been smashed if the ‘right’ methods of warfare, i.e. those of his times, had been employed. Prince Andrej is depicted both in the novel and the film as exhibiting rather controversial attitude to his father. He is simultaneously a respectful son and the skeptical innovator looking with irony upon his elder father’s conservative political inclinations. In the book, Prince Andrej’s role as one of the close confidantes of Speransky and other early Alexandrine reformers is more detailed than in the film, where there are generally only passing references to this aspect of this character’s biography. Old Prince Bolkonsky, on the contrary, is depicted as a staunch Catherinean conservative, who views everything that is born by the 19th century with bitter resentment or even open mocking. Just as all noblemen of his time, Old Prince is generally skeptical with regard to religion, endlessly mocking and teasing Prince Andrej’s sister on account of her deeply-ingrained Orthodox spirituality. There was indeed a tangible line between the Enlightenment-style philosophical skepticism, which was typical for Russian courtly aristocracy in the age of Catherine the Great, and the sometimes duplicitous religiosity that became fashionable under the reign of Paul I and especially that of his successor, Alexander I. In this regard, Prince Andrej was a true heir to his father, for in the beginning of both the novel and the film we saw him as a skeptical aristocrat that is generally indifferent to the issues of religion and spirituality. However, the experience undergone by him after the Battle of Austerlitz seemingly changed him, as the beauty of “the sky arching above him” (Wachtel 119) forced him to re-consider his previous views on religion. The sacred amulet that was handed in to him by his sister, Princess Marya, allegedly saved his life, and from now on, Prince Andrej became much more open to her ideas and suggestions. His father, on the contrary, became more distant from Prince Andrej, due to Old Prince’s cynicism and bitterness. Prince Andrej himself grows more bitter and thoughtful by the end of the series, which is the expression of his growing skepticism about the life around him. The death of his father obviously shakes him, yet does not give rise to further melancholy, as he now has a family to provide for. Pierre, on the contrary, does not encounter any obviously fatherly figures in the course of the series. His biological father, old Count Bezukhov, dies in the very beginning, leaving a newly legitimized Count with his riches and a relative freedom to act as he desired. At the same time, Prince Kuragin tries to assume the ‘fatherly’ position with respect to young and inexperienced Pierre, by using his status of a father-in-law to influence Pierre’s financial decisions. However, the inherent duplicity of Kuragin and the haughtiness and infidelity of his daughter, Pierre’s wife, eventually leave the Kuragins with no levers of influence upon Pierre, thus making Prince Vasilii bitter against Pierre. Later on, it may be said that Pierre tried to find such ‘fatherly’ figures in the characters of both officers and soldiers whom he encountered in the course of Battle of Borodino and thereafter. However, they were more ‘teachers’ than ‘fathers’ to him. In this respect, one may say that for Pierre Bezukhov, a ‘fathers and sons’ problem was never an issue determining his life and thoughts. Pierre, Prince Andrej and the Warfare. As it is the subject of war that draws immediate attention of both Tolstoy’s readers and the viewers of the mini-series, it is necessary to view how the characters perceive war and the vicissitudes of fate that are inextricably connected with it. Prince Andrej is a professional military man who, in the beginning of the story, strives hard to ‘escape’ from the banality of civil life in order to feel ‘real’ life in the fire of the battle. Austerlitz, however, brings an end to the combative spirit of Prince Andrej, as he got an opportunity to see by himself, how the cruel mills of the war destroy the innumerable lives for no apparent goal or higher purpose (Freeborn 236). While not becoming a pacifist, Prince Andrej is now far from being enthusiastic about war and its predicaments. Just as Tolstoy himself, Bolkonsky now sees the prospect of impending war as the result of human greed and irrationality, the embodiment whereof is Napoleon, his former hero, now a subject of resentment. Bolkonsky’s wounding and death in the course of the 1812 War is a testament to the idea of absurdity of war, which was the main idea that Tolstoy strove to illuminate to his readers. Unfortunately, the scope and the main thrust of the mini-series did not allow for more detailed elaboration of that idea, and this fact may be considered one of its main drawbacks. Pierre, likewise, tries to find some higher meaning in life by participating in the Battle of Borodino. He sees only the chaos of gunshots, wounds and deaths. When the French occupy Moscow, Pierre tries to give help to the Muscovites that are robbed and dispossessed by the French army soldiers. Ultimately he is arrested and accused of being a Russian military spy and wrecker. Pierre is tried by Count Davout, the relentless and merciless Marshal of Napoleon himself. Only an occasion allows Pierre to escape death and, later, captivity. He follows the march of the Russian army pursuing the remains of Napoleonic forces in the snows of the 1812 Russia and sees the sufferings and deaths of both Frenchmen and Russians around him. This once again turns him in the direction of Christian mysticism that he was previously inclined to. However, just as in the case of Prince Andrej, this plotline that was much prominent in the novel does not find an adequate expression in the mini-series. Conclusion. The characters of Prince Andrej and Pierre Bezukhov represent an attempt by Leo Tolstoy to trace the essence of transformation endured by the people confronted with the issues of war and self-reassessment. While the author managed to portray the characters of young aristocrats that try to find their place in a society they feel not at ease in, the ideas that Tolstoy tried to express in these characters are not limited to this set. The Tolstoyan characters of Prince Andrej and Bezukhov are direct expressions of the author’s own spiritual hopes and fears, the various aspects of Tolstoy’s personality, representing, respectively, the active and contemplative principles and their unity. Unfortunately – and predictably enough, - the mini-series fail to render the whole complexity of Bezukhov’s and Prince Andrej’s characters, which is easily explained given the inherent limitations of this genre of filmmaking. Prince Andrej is mainly seen as a thoughtful and brave military officer, while Bezukhov is described as an eccentric and spiritualistic young noble. Such limitations are understandable, yet it remains to be seen whether the future versions of War and Peace will be more successful as far as this aspect goes. Works Cited Berlin, Isaiah. “Tolstoy and Enlightenment.” Leo Tolstoy. Ed. Harold Bloom. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003. 29-52. Print. Freeborn, Richard. The Rise of the Russian Novel: Studies in the Russian Novel from “Eugene Onegin” to “War and Peace.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Print. Holbrook, David. Tolstoy, Women and Death: A Study of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Cranberry, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1997. Print. Wachtel, Andrew Baruch. An Obsession with History: Russian Writers Confront the Past. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990. Print. War and Peace. Dir. Robert Dornhelm. Perf. Alexander Beyer, Clémence Poésy, Alessio Boni, Violante Placido, and Scali Delpeyrat. France 2, 2007. Read More