Analysis of dreams in war and peace. "People's Thought

Each person, with the onset of night, inevitably plunges into the power of dreams and dreams. Dreams are an integral part of our existence, the voice of our own “I”, which, at an unknown hour of the night, tries to explain what we see, feel, and experience in reality. AT literary works the dreams of heroes often anticipate the onset of turning points in the course of events.

In the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" we see that dreams are inextricably linked with the life, soul and fate of the main characters - Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. These people have an unusually rich inner world, a broad and receptive soul, and, finally, exceptional fortitude. That is probably why the dreams of these people are very vivid and figurative, and, of course, they carry a certain symbolism.

Prince Andrei is seriously wounded on the Borodino field. From the novel we see how he suffers from pain and what physical torments he has to endure. But at the same time, despite all the suffering, the soul of Andrei Bolkonsky is occupied with thoughts about the true nature of happiness: “Happiness, which is outside the material forces, outside the material external influences on a person, the happiness of one soul, the happiness of love!”. The fruit of these reflections was Andrei's dream, more like delirium. In it, he saw how “a strange airy building of thin needles or splinters was erected above his face. He felt that he had to diligently keep his balance so that the building that was being erected would not collapse; but it still collapsed and slowly rose up again.

It seems to me that the building erected before the eyes of Prince Andrei is a symbol of love that awakens and grows in his soul. This love leads to a change in Bolkonsky's worldview, to his spiritual renewal, a deeper understanding of the meaning of life and himself. However, as we see from the description of the dream, Andrei's "building" of love is built of "needles" - it is still unstable, fragile and at the same time burdensome for him. In other words, the ideals of love and happiness have not yet fully established themselves in his soul and fluctuate under the influence of the torment and suffering that he endured, and in general under the influence of the circumstances of life.

One of the important symbols of this dream is the fly that hit the building. Depicting the new "world" of Andrei Bolkonsky as wavering, L.N. Tolstoy nevertheless speaks of its inviolability: "... hitting the very area of the building erected on its face, the fly did not destroy it." Compared to the magnificent “building” of love, everything else seems unimportant, small, insignificant, like the notorious fly.

There is another key moment in Bolkonsky's dream - "the statue of the sphinx, which also crushed him." Of course, the sphinx is associated with the image of Natasha Rostova, which remains unsolved for Prince Andrei. At the same time, the sphinx personifies the incompleteness of their relationship, which internally burdened the prince, became unbearable for him.

Through images and visions, Andrei's dream affirmed in his soul the understanding of true love: "To love everything is to love God in all manifestations ... Loving with human love, one can go from love to hatred, but divine love cannot change." Under the influence of sleep, Prince Andrei realized how much he loved Natasha, felt “the cruelty of his break with her,” and from that moment on, the “sphinx” stopped crushing him.

Thus, we see that this dream symbolizes a turning point in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky.

The path of his friend Pierre Bezukhov is also a path of discovery and disappointment, a complex and dramatic path. Like Andrei Bolkonsky, in Pierre's dreams the main milestones of his path are indicated. He is more impressionable, more subtle, has a more sensitive and receptive soul than his friend. He is constantly looking for the meaning of life and the truth of life, which is reflected in his dreams.

After the Battle of Borodino, Pierre hears in a dream the voice of his Mason mentor: “Simplicity is obedience to God, you can’t get away from him. And they are simple. They don't talk, they do." By this moment, Pierre was already close to understanding who “they” were: “They were soldiers in Pierre’s concept - those who were on the battery, and those who fed him, and those who prayed to the icon.” When Bezukhov recalls his fear, he feels that he cannot connect with the soldiers and live the way they live: “But although they were kind, they did not look at Pierre, did not know him.” However, in a dream, a new truth is revealed to him: “It is not necessary to connect all this, but it is necessary to conjugate!”. To conjugate means to correlate, compare, compare oneself with those who in a dream were called the word “they”. This truth is what Pierre is striving for. From his dream we see that he discovers for himself one of the laws of being and becomes one step higher in his spiritual development.

Pierre sees his second dream after the murder of Karataev. It is obvious that it is connected with the previous dream, where the point in the spiritual search was still not set. After all, he stood before Pierre new question: "How to match everything?".

Pierre recalls Karataev's thoughts: “Life is everything. Life is God... To love life, to love God...”. In his second dream, Bezukhov sees an old geography teacher and an unusual globe - "a living, oscillating ball that has no dimensions." This globe is the personification of life, that is, God. The symbolism of this globe is deeply revealed in the words of the teacher: “God is in the middle and every drop strives ... into largest sizes reflect it and grows, merges ... goes into the depths and emerges again. Here the idea is expressed that God is the basis of everything that exists, and people are just drops that seek to reflect it. The dream helps Pierre to understand that no matter how the drop people grow and grow, they will always be only a part of the great, a part of God.

This is, in my opinion, the symbolism of dreams in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace". With its help, the author managed to reveal the images of the characters more deeply, to show their internal dynamics. It seems to me that dreams unusually enliven the novel, make it more interesting.

crystal globe

Pierre Bezukhov from the novel "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy sees a crystal globe in a dream:

“This globe was a living, oscillating ball, without dimensions. The entire surface of the sphere consisted of drops tightly compressed together. And these drops all moved, moved, and then merged from several into one, then from one they were divided into many. Each drop aspired to spread, to capture the largest space, but others, striving for the same, squeezed it, sometimes destroyed it, sometimes merged with it ... God is in the middle, and each drop seeks to expand in order to reflect him in the largest size. And it grows, and shrinks, and is destroyed on the surface, goes into the depths and emerges again.

Pierre Bezukhov

The aspiration of the drops to global merging, their readiness to contain the whole world - this is love, compassion for each other. Love as a complete understanding of all living things passed from Platon Karataev to Pierre, and from Pierre it should spread to all people. It became one of the innumerable centers of the world, that is, it became the world.

That is why Pierre laughs at the soldier guarding him with a rifle at the barn door: “He wants to lock me, my infinite soul…” This is what followed the vision of the crystal globe.

The epigraph of the novel about the need for the unity of all is not at all so banal. good people. The word "match", heard by Pierre in the second "prophetic" dream, is not accidentally combined with the word "harness". You have to harness it - you have to harness it. Everything that connects is the world; centers - drops, not striving for conjugation - this is a state of war, enmity. Enmity and alienation among people. It is enough to recall with what sarcasm Pechorin looked at the stars in order to understand what constitutes a feeling opposite to "conjugation".

Pierre Bezukhov. Museum. K.A. Fedina, Saratov

Probably not without the influence of cosmology Tolstoy built later Vladimir Solovyov his metaphysics, where the Newtonian force of attraction was called "love", and the force of repulsion became known as "enmity".

War and peace, conjugation and decay, attraction and repulsion - these are two forces, or rather, two states of one cosmic force, periodically overwhelming the souls of heroes Tolstoy. From the state of universal love (falling in love with Natasha and the whole universe, all-forgiving and all-encompassing cosmic love at the hour of Bolkonsky's death) to the same universal enmity and alienation (his break with Natasha, hatred and a call to shoot prisoners before the battle of Borodino). Such transitions are not characteristic of Pierre; he, like Natasha, is universal by nature. Fury against Anatole or Helene, the supposed assassination of Napoleon are superficial, without touching the depths of the spirit. Pierre's kindness is the natural state of his soul.

Pierre, Prince Andrei and Natasha Rostova at the ball

Pierre “saw” the crystal globe from the outside, that is, he went beyond the limits of the visible, visible space while still alive. He had a Copernican coup. Before Copernicus, people were in the center of the world, but here the universe turned inside out, the center became the periphery - many worlds around the "center of the sun". It is precisely this Copernican revolution that Tolstoy at the end of the novel:

“Since the law of Copernicus was found and proven, the mere recognition that it is not the sun that moves, but the earth, has destroyed the entire cosmography of the ancients ...

Just as for astronomy the difficulty of recognizing the movements of the earth was to renounce the immediate sense of the immobility of the earth and the same sense of the immobility of the planets, so for history the difficulty of recognizing the subjection of the individual to the laws of space, time and causes is to renounce the immediate sense of the independence of his personalities."

On a duel with Dolokhov

The ratio of unity to infinity is the ratio of Bolkonsky to the world at the moment of death. He saw everyone and could not love one. The relation of one to one is something else. This is Pierre Bezukhov. For Bolkonsky, the world fell apart into an infinite number of people, each of whom was ultimately uninteresting to Andrei. Pierre in Natasha, in Andrei, in Platon Karataev, and even in a dog shot by a soldier, saw the whole world. Everything that happened to the world happened to him. Andrei sees countless soldiers - "meat for cannons." He is full of sympathy, compassion for them, but it is not his. Pierre sees one Plato, but the whole world is in him, and this is his.

The feeling of the convergence of the two sides of a diverging angle at a single point is very well conveyed in the "Confession" Tolstoy, where he very accurately conveys the discomfort of weightlessness in his sleepy flight, feeling somehow very uncomfortable in the infinite space of the universe, suspended on some kind of harness, until a sense of the center appeared, from where these aids come. This center, penetrating everything, was seen by Pierre in a crystal globe, so that, waking up from a dream, he could feel it in the depths of his soul, as if returning from a transcendental height.

So Tolstoy explained his dream in "Confessions" also after waking up and having also moved this center from the interstellar heights to the depths of the heart. The center of the universe is reflected in every crystal drop, in every soul. This crystal reflection is love.

War is someone else's, peace is ours. Pierre's crystal globe is preceded in the novel Tolstoy globe-ball, which is played by Napoleon's heir in the portrait. A world of war with thousands of accidents, really reminiscent of a game of bilbock. Globe - ball and globe - crystal ball- two images of the world. The image of a blind man and a sighted man, gutta-percha darkness and crystal light. A world obedient to the capricious will of one, and a world of unmerged, but united wills.

Pierre goes to see the war

The artistic persuasiveness and integrity of such a cosmos does not require proof. The crystal globe lives, acts, exists as a kind of living crystal, a hologram that has absorbed the structure of the novel and the cosmos Lev Tolstoy.

"Light cobwebs - the reins of the Virgin", which connect people in prophetic dream Nikolenki, the son of Andrei Bolkonsky, will eventually unite in a single "center" of the crystal globe, somewhere out there, in space. Become a solid foundation for Tolstoy in his cosmic hovering over the abyss (a dream from "Confessions"). The tension of the "cosmic reins" - the feeling of love - is both the direction of movement and the movement itself. Tolstoy he loved such simple comparisons as an experienced horseman, a horseman and a peasant following a plow. You wrote everything correctly, he will tell Repin about his painting “Tolstoy on Plowed Field”, only they forgot to give the reins in their hands.

At the battle of Borodino, the Russian army with Napoleon

In Pierre's crystal globe, the drops and the center are correlated in this way, in Tyutchev's style: "Everything is in me, and I am in everything."

In the late period, the individual-unit was sacrificed to the "single" world. One can and should doubt the correctness of such a simplification of the world. Pierre's globe, as it were, grew dim, ceased to glow. Why do we need drops if everything is in the center? And where is the center reflected if there are no those crystal drops?

With Natasha Rostova

The space of the novel "War and Peace" is the same unique and majestic structure as the space of the "Divine Comedy" Dante and Faust Goethe. “Without the cosmology of the crystal globe, there is no romance,” says TO. Kedrov-Chelischev. This is something like a crystal casket in which the death of Koshchei is hidden. Here, everything in everything is the great principle of a synergistic double helix, diverging from the center and simultaneously converging towards it.

Pierre Reader

If a Tolstoy portrayed dreams as a transformation of external impressions (for example, the dream of Pierre Bezukhov, who perceives the words of his wake-up servant “it’s time to harness” in a dream as a solution to the philosophical problem - “match”), then Dostoevsky believed that in a dream the forgotten experiences of people emerge into spheres controlled by consciousness, and therefore through their dreams a person knows himself better. The dreams of heroes reveal them inner essence- one that their waking mind does not want to notice.

Lev Tolstoy

Sectional modern crystal globe

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At the heart of the composition "War and Peace" - narration about events and characters. According to the classification proposed by A. A. Saburov, it has several varieties. This is a historical-documentary narrative; storytelling based on fiction; a narrative that recreates the processes of the mental life of the characters, in particular epistolary(for example, Marya Bolkonskaya's correspondence with Julie Karagina) and diary(diary of Pierre Bezukhov, diary of Countess Marya Rostova). An important place in "War and Peace" is occupied by copyright descriptions and reasoning.

The main element of the composition of "War and Peace" is a stage episode, consisting of stage dialogue and copyright remarks. Stage episodes in their sequence and form narrative flow.

In "War and Peace" many storylines.

The very title of the novel defines two main storylines. The first part of the first volume is devoted mainly to the theme of the world. It serves as an exposition of the main storylines of the work. Here, pictures are drawn of the life of the social circles to which the most important heroes belong. Tolstoy depicts the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, introduces the reader to Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, shows the life of Moscow, the Rostov family, the dying Count Bezukhov, then takes the reader to Lysy Gory. The first transition from peace to war is marked by the line between the first and second parts of the first volume of the novel. In the second part of the first volume, the heroic theme of the people is outlined, which will be developed in the third and fourth volumes.

The second volume is almost entirely devoted to peace, the third volume - mainly to the war. Starting from the third volume, the themes of war and peace are constantly intertwined. The personal life of the heroes is included in the flow of events in 1812. In the fourth volume, the theme of war is on the wane, the theme of peace again begins to prevail.

Within the two main lines - war and peace - in the novel, private story lines. Let's call some of them. This is the theme Petersburg nobility, in particular, the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the circle of Prince Vasily Kuragin and Helen, the circle of Anatole Kuragin and Dolokhov. In addition, storylines related to the fates are tied here. Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, with life the Rostov family.

Separate storylines reflect the fate Natasha Rostova and Nicholas Rostov. Let's also call the storyline associated with life in the Bald Mountains, the history of the old Prince Bolkonsky, the fate of Princess Marya. In addition, we note lines of Kutuzov and Bagration, Napoleon and the French, as well as freemasonry theme.

Transition from one storyline to the other is carried out, as a rule, according to principle of antithesis. Antithesis – the most important compositional technique in War and Peace.

Importance in Tolstoy's novel acquires landscape. Landscape in Tolstoy is always an element of a large and integral picture of life.

An important place in the composition of "War and Peace" is occupied by author's digressions - historical, journalistic, philosophical. So, at the beginning of the third volume, Tolstoy considers the question of the role of the individual in history. Important role play the author's thoughts before the description of the Battle of Borodino. At the beginning of the third part of the fourth volume, a digression about the originality of guerrilla warfare is of particular interest. A significant part of the epilogue is occupied by the philosophical digressions of the author. Copyright digressions enhance the epic beginning"War and Peace".

"Dialectics of the soul" (principles and means of psychological analysis)

The term "dialectics of the soul" was introduced into Russian criticism by N. G. Chernyshevsky. In a review of Tolstoy's early works, Chernyshevsky noted that the writer was most concerned with "the mental process itself, its forms, its laws, dialectics of the soul to be expressed in a definitive term.

"Dialectics of the soul", according to Chernyshevsky, is direct depiction of the "mental process". In addition, there is also a broader understanding of the "dialectics of the soul": many researchers call it general principles and specific methods of psychological analysis in the works of Tolstoy.

Consider some general principles"dialectics of the soul" in "War and Peace".

Tolstoy portrays the inner world of man is in constant motion, in contradictory development.“People are rivers, man is a fluid substance,” he wrote. This thesis can be illustrated by the example of the spiritual quests of Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. Heroes are constantly looking for the meaning of life, their inner world is constantly changing. The depiction of the state of mind of Andrei and Pierre is an important aspect of the “dialectics of the soul”.

Let us also pay attention to Tolstoy's interest in turning points, crisis moments in a person's spiritual life. The inner world of his heroes is often revealed precisely at such moments (Pierre in Torzhok, Andrei Bolkonsky under the sky of Austerlitz).

The most important feature of Tolstoy's psychologism is close connection external events with the inner lives of the characters. Let us point out, for example, the significance of such events as the birth of a child and the death of his wife for Andrei Bolkonsky. Let us recall the role of the Patriotic War of 1812 in the spiritual life of the heroes.

We also note some specific techniques psychological analysis in Tolstoy.

The main means of depicting the internal state of the hero in Tolstoy's novel is internal monologue. Let's give examples.

After a break with his wife and a duel with Dolokhov, being in a difficult state of mind, Pierre leaves Moscow and goes to St. Petersburg. Stopping at the post station in Torzhok, the hero sadly reflects on his life: “What's wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live, and what am I? What is life, what is death? What power governs everything?

Carried away by Anatole Kuragin, Natasha is in a state of mental confusion. "My God! I died! she said to herself. How could I let this happen?

Being seriously wounded, Andrei Bolkonsky reflects on his new view of the world. “Yes, a new happiness has opened up to me, inalienable from a person,” he thought, lying in a half-dark, quiet hut and looking ahead with feverishly open, stopped eyes. “Happiness, which is outside the material forces, outside the material external influences on a person, the happiness of one soul, the happiness of love!”

Sometimes the character's internal monologue turns into "mindflow", that is a chain of memories, impressions, logically unrelated to each other. For example, Tolstoy conveys the inner state of Nikolai Rostov during his first battle on the Enns River: “There is so much happiness in me alone and in this sun, and here ... groans, suffering, fear and this ambiguity, this haste ... Here again shouting something, and again everyone ran somewhere back, and I run with them, and here it is, here it is, death, above me, around me ... A moment - and I will never see this sun, this water , this gorge.<...>“And the fear of death and a stretcher, and the love of the sun and life - everything merged into one painfully disturbing impression.” Another example is the drowsy state of Nikolai Rostov in the flanker chain on the eve of Austerlitz: “Yes, I mean, what was I thinking? - not forget. How will I speak with the sovereign? No, not that - it's tomorrow. Yes Yes! Step on a tashka ... blunt us - who? Gusarov. And the hussars and the mustaches... This hussar with the mustache was riding along Tverskaya, I also thought of him, opposite Guryev's house... Old man Guryev... Oh, glorious little Denisov! Yes, it's all bullshit..."

An important means of psychological analysis in Tolstoy is monologues and dialogues heroes. Communicating with each other, Tolstoy's heroes often share their innermost thoughts. For example, the words of Andrei Bolkonsky, addressed to Pierre, sometimes take on the character confessions. At the beginning of the novel, Andrei Bolkonsky explains to his friend why he goes to war: “For what? I dont know. So it is necessary. Besides, I'm going... I'm going because this life I'm leading here, this life, is not for me!”

Let's take another example. In a conversation with Andrey on the ferry, Pierre expresses his opinion about the meaning of life: “This is what I know, and I know for sure, that the pleasure of doing good is the only true happiness of life.”

An important means of psychological analysis are also letters heroes. Let us cite as an example the correspondence between Princess Marya Bolkonskaya and Julie Karagina. The letter of Princess Marya reveals the spiritual world of a Christian woman, her sincere faith in God and selfless love for her neighbor. On the other hand, the discussions about the newfangled mystical teachings that we find in Julie's letter seem empty and full of secular mannerisms.

An essential means of disclosure inner world the hero can also be called a diary. A vivid example is the diary that Pierre kept during the period of passion for Freemasonry. In the diary entries of the hero, we find his innermost thoughts about life and death. It reflects his emotional experiences, dreams, memories. We also note a diary Countess Marya Rostova, fragments of which are given at the end of the work.

Dream- a special means of psychological analysis in the novel "War and Peace". Of particular note Pierre's two dreams. One of them he saw in Mozhaisk after the Battle of Borodino, the other - in captivity. These dreams have a symbolic meaning.

Dream seen by Pierre in Mozhaisk, conveys a sense of belonging to the "common life", the consciousness of the need to subordinate one's freedom to the Divine will. Pierre is seized by the idea of conjugation of everything that exists in the moral being of man.

An important point in the spiritual life of Pierre becomes another dream - about the globe, seen by the hero in captivity. In this dream, Pierre comes to feel that life is God. The meaning of human existence is to love life, to love God.

We also note dream of Nikolenka Bolkonsky at the end of the novel.

An important means of psychological analysis in the novel "War and Peace" is the image discrepancies between the internal state of the hero and the external manifestation of this state.

For example, Nikolai Rostov, having lost a huge amount of money in cards to Dolokhov, cheekily informs his father about this, although in his heart he feels like the last scoundrel and then asks his father for forgiveness.

Let's take another example. After the break with Natasha, Andrei Bolkonsky talks with Pierre about politics, but in his heart he continues to experience this gap. At the same time, Pierre feels that his friend’s thoughts are about something completely different.

Tolstoy in his work, as a rule, does not give detailed psychological portraits heroes. From here - special meaning psychological detail. Usually, it's a recurring detail(Princess Marya's radiant eyes, Dolokhov's cold gaze, Helen's bare shoulders).

Often the internal state of the hero is transmitted through description of nature. For example, sky Austerlitz- a symbol of eternity, against which Andrei Bolkonsky becomes clear the vanity of his dreams of glory. Two meetings with an old oak convey Andrei's state of mind before and after his first meeting with Natasha Rostova. AT spring night in Otradnoye, the hero involuntarily overheard Natasha's conversation with Sonya, imbued with the joy of life, the optimism emanating from Natasha.

Let's draw conclusions.

Tolstoy appears in the novel "War and Peace" as a writer-psychologist. The image of the inner world of a person in constant motion, contradictory development, interest in turning points, crises in the spiritual life of a person, the close connection of external events with the inner life of the characters are the most important principles of the “dialectic of the soul”.

Tolstoy uses in his work such means of psychological analysis as internal monologue, monologue-confession, dialogue, letters, dreams, diary entries. The writer depicts the discrepancy between the internal state of the hero and the external manifestation of this state, conveys the movements of the hero's soul through descriptions of nature. An important role in the psychological characteristics of the characters is played by a recurring detail.

When preparing materials on the work of L. N. Tolstoy, fragments of the monograph by A. A. Saburov “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy were used. Problematics and Poetics. - M, 1959. In addition, the studies of such authors as S. G. Bocharov, N. K. Gudziy, L. D. Opulskaya, A. P. Skaftymov are taken into account.

The material of this section is presented in accordance with the concept of A. P. Skaftymov.

2 The issue of Tolstoy's fatalism continues to be controversial. See, for example, the studies of Ya. S. Lurie.

N. G. Chernyshevsky. Childhood and Adolescence. The writings of Count Tolstoy. Military stories of Count Tolstoy.

Tolstoy used in his novel the real diary of the freemason Ya. P. Titov - almost verbatim. In addition, there is an autobiographical moment here: as already noted, from 1847 until the end of his days, Tolstoy himself kept a diary, which became the writer's creative laboratory.

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crystal globe

Pierre Bezukhov from the novel "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy sees a crystal globe in a dream:

Pierre Bezukhov

That is why Pierre laughs at the soldier guarding him with a rifle at the barn door: “He wants to lock me up, my infinite soul ...” This is what followed the vision of the crystal globe.

The epigraph of the novel about the need for the unity of all good people is not at all so banal. The word "match", heard by Pierre in the second "prophetic" dream, is not accidentally combined with the word "harness". You have to harness it - you have to harness it. Everything that connects is the world; centers - drops, not striving for conjugation - this is a state of war, enmity. Enmity and alienation among people. It is enough to recall with what sarcasm Pechorin looked at the stars in order to understand what constitutes a feeling opposite to "conjugation".

Pierre Bezukhov. Museum. K.A. Fedina, Saratov

Pierre, Prince Andrei and Natasha Rostova at the ball

“Since the law of Copernicus was found and proven, the mere recognition that it is not the sun that moves, but the earth, has destroyed the entire cosmography of the ancients ...

Pierre in a duel with Dolokhov

War is someone else's, peace is ours. Pierre's crystal globe is preceded in the novel Tolstoy globe-ball, which is played by Napoleon's heir in the portrait. A world of war with thousands of accidents, really reminiscent of a game of bilbock. Globe - ball and globe - crystal ball - two images of the world. The image of a blind man and a sighted man, gutta-percha darkness and crystal light. A world obedient to the capricious will of one, and a world of unmerged, but united wills.

Pierre goes to watch the war

Pierre at the battle of Borodino between the Russian army and Napoleon

In Pierre's crystal globe, the drops and the center are correlated in this way, in Tyutchev's style: "Everything is in me, and I am in everything."

Pierre Reader

If a Tolstoy portrayed dreams as a transformation of external impressions (for example, the dream of Pierre Bezukhov, who perceives the words of his wake-up servant “it’s time to harness” in a dream as a solution to the philosophical problem - “match”), then Dostoevsky believed that in a dream the forgotten experiences of people emerge into spheres controlled by consciousness, and therefore through their dreams a person knows himself better. The dreams of heroes reveal their inner essence - one that their waking mind does not want to notice.

Lev Tolstoy

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1. "War and Peace" as a work of the 60s of the XIX century

The 60s of the XIX century in Russia became the period of the highest activity of the peasant masses, the rise social movement. Central theme Literature of the 60s became the theme of the people. This topic, as well as contemporary problems of Tolstoy, are considered by the writer through the prism of history. Researchers of Tolstoy's work disagree on the question of what, in fact, Tolstoy meant by the word "people" - the peasants, the nation as a whole, the merchants, the bourgeoisie, the patriotic patriarchal nobility. Of course, all these layers are included in Tolstoy's understanding of the word "people", but only when they are the bearers of morality. Everything that is immoral is excluded by Tolstoy from the concept of "people".

2. Philosophy of history, images of Kutuzov and Napoleon

Tolstoy, with his work, asserts the decisive role populace in history. In his opinion, the actions of the so-called "great people" do not have a decisive influence on the course of historical events. The question of the role of the individual in history is raised at the beginning of the third volume (Part One, Chapter One):

As applied to history, the individual acts more unconsciously than consciously;
A person is more free in his personal life than in public;
The higher a person stands on the steps of the social ladder, the more obvious is the predestination and inevitability in his fate;

Tolstoy concludes that "The Tsar is the slave of history." Tolstoy's contemporary historian Bogdanovich first of all pointed out the decisive role of Alexander the Great in the victory over Napoleon, and generally discounted the role of the people and Kutuzov. Tolstoy, on the other hand, set himself the task of debunking the role of the tsars and showing the role of the masses of the people and the popular commander Kutuzov. The writer reflects in the novel the moments of Kutuzov's inactivity. This is due to the fact that Kutuzov cannot voluntarily dispose of historical events. On the other hand, it is given to him to realize the actual course of events in the implementation of which he participates. Kutuzov cannot understand the world-historical meaning of the war of 1812, but he is aware of the significance of this event for his people, that is, he can be a conscious conductor of the course of history. Kutuzov himself is close to the people, he feels the spirit of the army and can control this great force (the main task of Kutuzov during the Battle of Borodino is to raise the spirit of the army). Napoleon is devoid of understanding of current events, he is a pawn in the hands of history. The image of Napoleon personifies extreme individualism and selfishness. The selfish Napoleon acts like a blind man. He is not great person he cannot determine moral sense events due to their own limitations. Tolstoy's innovation consisted in the fact that he introduced a moral criterion into history (a polemic with Hegel).

3. "People's thought" and the forms of its implementation

The path of ideological and moral growth leads goodies to rapprochement with the people (not a break with one's own class, but moral unity with the people). Heroes are tested patriotic war. The independence of private life from the political game of the tops emphasizes the inextricable connection of the heroes with the life of the people. The viability of each of the heroes is tested by the "thought of the people." She helps Pierre Bezukhov discover and show his best qualities; Andrei Bolkonsky is called "our prince"; Natasha Rostova takes out carts for the wounded; Marya Bolkonskaya rejects Mademoiselle Bourienne's offer to remain in Napoleon's power. Along with true nationality, Tolstoy also shows pseudo-nationality, a fake for it. This is reflected in the images of Rostopchin and Speransky (specific historical figures), who, although they try to assume the right to speak on behalf of the people, have nothing to do with it. Tolstoy did not need a large number of images from the common people (one should not confuse nationality and common people). Patriotism is a property of the soul of any Russian person, and in this respect there is no difference between Andrei Bolkonsky and any soldier of his regiment. Close to the people is Captain Tushin, whose image combines "small and great", "modest and heroic". Often the participants of the campaign are not named by name at all (for example, “drummer-singer”). Topic people's war finds its vivid expression in the image of Tikhon Shcherbaty. The image is ambiguous (the murder of the "language", the "Razin" beginning). The image of Platon Karataev is also ambiguous, in the conditions of captivity he again turned to his origins (everything “superficial, soldierly” falls off him, remains peasant). Watching him, Pierre Bezukhov realizes that living life the world is beyond all philosophizing, and that happiness is in itself. However, unlike Tikhon Shcherbaty, Karataev is hardly capable of decisive action, his good looks lead to passivity.

In scenes with Napoleon Tolstoy uses the technique satirical grotesque: Napoleon is overwhelmed with self-adoration, his thoughts are criminal, his patriotism is false (episodes with Lavrushka, awarding the soldier Lazarev with the Order of the Legion of Honor, a scene with a portrait of his son, a morning toilet in front of Borodin, waiting for the deputation of the "Moscow boyars"). An undisguised irony is also imbued with the depiction of the life of other people, also far from the people - regardless of their nationality (Alexander the First, Anna Pavlovna Sherer, the Kuragin family, Bergi, Drubetsky, etc.).

The path of heroes belonging to the aristocracy to spiritual unity with the people is depicted by Tolstoy in its inconsistency and ambiguity. The writer ironically describes the delusions and self-deception of the heroes (Pierre's trip to the southern estates, idealistic fruitless attempts at innovations; the peasants' revolt in Bogucharovo, Princess Mary's attempt to distribute the master's bread, etc.).

4. Historical and philosophical digressions

In the work, the artistic narrative proper is at times interrupted by historical and philosophical digressions, similar in style to journalism. The pathos of Tolstoy's philosophical digressions is directed against liberal-bourgeois military historians and writers. According to Tolstoy, “the world denies war” (for example, a description of the dam that Russian soldiers see during the retreat after Austerlitz - devastated and ugly, and comparing it in peacetime - immersed in greenery, neat and rebuilt). Tolstoy raises the question of the relationship between the individual and society, the leader and the masses (Pierre’s dream after Borodin: he dreams of the deceased Bazdeev (the freemason who introduced him to the lodge), who says: “War is the most difficult subordination of human freedom to the laws of God ... Nothing a person can own while he is afraid of death, and whoever is not afraid of it, everything belongs to him ... prayed for the icon. It seems to Pierre that there is no better life than to be a simple soldier and do business, and not reason like his former acquaintances, whom he also sees in a dream. Another dream is on the eve of his release from captivity, after the death of Karataev. The old teacher Geography shows Pierre a globe, which is a huge, oscillating ball. "The entire surface of the ball consisted of drops tightly compressed together. And all these drops moved, moved, and then merged from several into one, then from one were divided into many. Each drop aspired ... to capture the largest space ... “Here is life, - said the old teacher ... - God is in the middle, and each drop seeks to expand in order to reflect him in the largest sizes ... *). Tolstoy is not a fatalist historian. In his work, the question of the moral responsibility of a person - a historical figure and every person - before history is especially acute. According to Tolstoy, a person is the less free the closer he is to power, but a private person is not free either. Tolstoy emphasizes that one must be able to go broke for the sake of defending the Fatherland, as the Rostovs do, to be ready to give everything, to sacrifice everything, as Pierre Bezukhov knows how, but eminent merchants and noble nobility who came to the building of the noble assembly do not know how.

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