Creating his grandiose novel, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy could not help but pay attention to secular society, which in most cases consisted of nobles.

secular society of that period of development of Russia was divided into two types - St. Petersburg and Moscow. Tolstoy tries to give a separate description of the St. Petersburg meetings and the Moscow meetings of the nobility.

When Tolstoy was working on the creation of his novel, Petersburg was one of the coldest and most inhospitable cities. Therefore, the secular society that reigned in it could not radiate other qualities. Petersburg can be safely considered the intellectual center of the country. He was seriously focused on Europe.

A feature of St. Petersburg society was pretense and unnaturalness. The characters with whom the author introduces us are simply playing their part, taking an example from the rest of the members of secular assemblies and imitating the manners they see. During meetings and receptions, all those present necessarily discussed the news of the world and the country. Everyone tried to seem smart, well-read, well-mannered. However, it was only an illusion that overshadowed all the characters, without exception.

Pretense is the principle that ultimately and clearly characterizes the behavior of St. Petersburg society.

Getting acquainted with the Moscow society, the reader understands that the author himself sympathizes more with its representatives and members. Of course, the behavior of the characters is somewhat similar to each other, however, in Moscow society we meet real, living personalities. They are endowed with natural emotions and feelings. They have the right to vote. They express their emotions the way they feel, and not the way others demand it.

In Moscow society, the reader often sees the presence of children. They are the ones who lighten the mood.

The Rostov family is prominent representative Moscow society. They are closer to the people, they are closer to the Russian traditions that existed at that time! And it seems to me that the author himself in many respects sympathizes with the Moscow nobility.

On the pages of the novel, Tolstoy uses such a technique as "dismissal". This can be clearly seen in the example of the St. Petersburg society, whose members often used French as a colloquial language! Of course, this feature for the most part was a kind of removal from the general mass of the Russian population.

Observing the surrounding world, carefully peering into its inhabitants, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was able to reliably describe the secular society of that period of time. He skillfully conveyed its features and differences, informing and familiarizing each reader with them.

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Simultaneously with the depiction of the life and character of the common people, Tolstoy draws vivid pictures of the life and customs of the upper stratum of the nobility, who proudly called themselves "light". The author focuses on the family of Prince Vasily Kuragin with his sons Hippolyta Anatole and daughter Helen.

Prince Vasily Kuragin is an "important and bureaucratic" representative of the ruling elite; the fate of many people depends on him, but the only driving force behind all his actions is personal gain. “Prince Vasily did not think about his plans. He even less thought to do evil to people in order to gain an advantage. He was only a secular person ... He did not say to himself, for example: “Here, Pierre is rich, I must lure him to marry his daughter and borrow the forty thousand I need”; but a man in power met him, and at that very moment instinct told him that this man could be useful, and Prince Vasily approached him ... flattered, became familiar, talked about what was needed ... He was constantly attracted to those who is stronger and richer than him, and he had the talent to catch exactly that moment when it was possible to use people.

The purpose of his arrival for the evening to Anna Scherer was the intention to arrange his son Hippolyte as the first secretary in Vienna. He wants to marry his second son Anatole, who ruins him with his revelry, to a rich bride, Maria Bolkonskaya. Kuragin skillfully plays the role of an empathetic person in the Bolkonskys' house. When the kidnapping of Count Bezukhov's will fails and Pierre becomes the heir to all his wealth, Prince Vasily, taking advantage of his impracticality and inexperience in life, marries him to his daughter. While Kutuzov is in disfavor, Kuragin speaks of him very contemptuously, but as soon as he is appointed commander in chief, the "crafty courtier" begins to extol him. And it is characteristic that, with the exception of one inexperienced person, this does not surprise anyone, and Prince Vasily enjoys the general respect of secular society, which fully characterizes this society.

In the eldest son of Prince Vasily, Ippolit, Tolstoy emphasizes his stupidity. But she does not prevent the young prince from making a diplomatic career. Much more often than Ippolit, his younger brother Anatole, a handsome brilliant officer, appears on the pages of War and Peace. Already at the first meeting with him, thanks to a small touch: “Anatole stood straight, his eyes wide open,” the absence of a higher inner life is felt in him. His spiritual and mental insignificance is manifested with sufficient clarity in a conversation with the old man Bolkonsky.

Mental limitations, depravity and baseness of Anatole's nature also affected his behavior with a Frenchwoman, a companion of his alleged bride. But his zoological selfishness and complete unscrupulousness in the attempt to kidnap Natasha Rostova stand out most clearly. At the same time, he considered himself an irreproachable person. “Anatole was always pleased with his position, himself and others. He was instinctively, with his whole being, convinced that it was impossible for him to live otherwise than the way he lived, and that he had never done anything wrong in his life. Everything was permitted, and the only measure of good and bad was the pleasure (at the same time rude, low) that this or that act gave him.

The fourth member of the Kuragin family was the beautiful Helen, a stupid, but very cunning, depraved, unprincipled woman. “Where you are, there is debauchery, evil,” Pierre tells her, and these words fully express the opinion of the author himself about her. Kuragins were no exception among aristocratic society. All members of this family are typical representatives of their circle, their time. It is them and people like them, who make up the vast majority of the so-called secular society, Andrei Bolkonsky calls "court lackeys and idiots", points to their "selfishness, vanity, insignificance in everything." “All the people of this party caught rubles, crosses, ranks, and in this fishing they only followed the direction of the weather vane of royal mercy ...”

Mercilessly exposing this world, Tolstoy sometimes consciously exaggerates its negative sides, sharpens the images, emphasizes their typicality. In this regard, the statements of Prince Vasily Kuragin about Kutuzov are especially characteristic, causing general sympathy in the Scherer salon. Prior to his appointment as commander-in-chief, Kutuzov, according to Prince Vasily, was “a man of the most bad rules”, “decrepit and blind”, suitable only for playing blind man's buff. After the appointment of Kutuzov - " smartest person", and Prince Vasily is "happy" on the occasion of the most successful choice of the commander in chief.

The same method of consciously sharpening the image is applied by Tolstoy to Anatole Kuragin (his behavior during the matchmaking with Bolkonskaya), and to Helen (the pursuit of two new husbands, a letter to Pierre, etc.), and to Ippolit, and to Anna Pavlovna Scherer, and to others. This deliberate exaggeration of satirical elements in the images of representatives of the court nobility characterizes Tolstoy's socio-political views. The finished type of careerist is given in the person of Boris Drubetskoy. A descendant of a noble but impoverished family, he with great dexterity and perseverance paves his way to wealth. Having been appointed to the guards thanks to the efforts of his sly mother, he directs his efforts to securing profitable connections there.

In particular, he enjoys the support of Andrei Bolkonsky. When in 1812 Kutuzov began to dismiss from the headquarters of all extra people, Boris managed to stay there. Just as deftly, Boris arranges his material affairs by marrying Julie Kuragina, who disgusted him, but was rich. Without saying anything directly on his own behalf about Alexander 1, Tolstoy, however, with the totality of individual actions and statements of the tsar, shows his lack of understanding of the events taking place, his inability to understand people, arrogance and vanity, weakness as a public figure, which is especially clearly manifested during the Patriotic War. Surrounded by court flatterers and careerists, whom Tolstoy calls the "drone population", the Russian emperor is far from understanding the true interests of Russia and does not know how to appreciate people who are really useful to her, as was the case with Kutuzov. The presence of Alexander 1 in the active army interferes with its actions and weakens it so much that Secretary of State Shishkov, with a group of other statesmen, “respectfully and under the pretext of the need for the sovereign to inspire the people in the capital to war, suggested that the sovereign leave the army.” And indeed, with the departure of Alexander, things in the army went more successfully, especially with the appointment of Kutuzov, which was also forced by the emperor.

In covering the local nobility with great sympathy, Tolstoy portrays the Bolkonsky and Rostov families. Pierre Bezukhov. Sympathy for them is mainly due to their active participation in ongoing historical events, their attraction to the Russian people, contempt for predation and careerism.

Broad hospitality, innocence, gullibility, good-naturedness, lack of petty prudence, the generosity of the Rostovs, their deep mutual affection make this family very attractive. The Rostovs in Petersburg lived as hospitably as in Moscow, and a variety of people came to them for dinner: the neighbors of Otradny, the old poor landowners with their daughters and the maid of honor Peronskaya, Pierre Bezukhov and the son of the county postmaster, who served in Petersburg. There is no calculation, no selfish thought in the selection of guests and acquaintances, here you can feel disinterested cordiality. The life of the Rostovs in the village is even more patriarchal in nature: the serfs at Christmas time dress up and have fun with the gentlemen. Rostov is alien to any kind of prudence. And when, under difficult circumstances, the mother asked Nikolai what to do with the bill of the Drubetskys, now rich people, he tore up this bill, thus arousing the admiration of the old countess. But at the same time, this lack of prudence turns into extravagance, characteristic of a significant part of the nobility, as a result of the habit of luxury and idleness. Both young Rostovs participate in the wars with Napoleon, their service
carry without any hint of careerism, show great courage and enjoy the love of the people around them. “Stupid Rostov breed,” Denisov says excitedly about the Rostovs, putting a completely different meaning into this expression. This brave man, who many times without fear looked into the face of death, weeps bitterly when he sees the murdered Petya. Tolstoy loves the Rostov family, and yet the great realist painter prevails in him over family legends (as is known, he portrayed his father in the person of Nikolai Rostov). The essence of Rostov complacency appears before us in a completely different light when we turn to a poor relative, an orphan Sonya, brought up in their family, "involuntarily learned by her dependent life of secrecy." That disorderly kindness that characterizes the Rostovs was (perhaps, except for Natasha) more external in nature and manifested itself until it cost them nothing.

All the heroes of the novel "War and Peace" (both fictional characters and historical figures) are grouped and evaluated by Tolstoy depending on the degree of their proximity or remoteness from the people. This single principle of characterization and evaluation of the entire set actors(and there are more than five hundred of them in the novel) allowed the writer to bring together the image of people of various social strata and various individual destinies.

The main accusation that Tolstoy makes against the St. Petersburg secular society, leading a "ghostly", artificial life, is isolation from the people, especially in a time of formidable trials. "War and Peace" begins with a description of the evening in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Sherer, where the nobility of the capital gathers. In itself, the comparison of the evening with a spinning workshop (“Spindles from different directions were evenly and incessantly noisy”) quite accurately and definitely expressed the author’s attitude to the world of falsehood and emptiness, to that artificial life, which is characterized by mechanistic, deadness. The idea of ​​the old Prince Bolkonsky about European politics: "some kind of puppet comedy" - gets a generalized meaning.

L. N. Tolstoy puts forward certain criteria by which he determines the value of the human personality: a person’s attitude to his homeland, people, nature, the ability to introspection, the depth of experiences, moral quest. Representatives of secular society do not stand the test of humanity. The environment of the Kuragins and their ilk (Adolf Berg, Boris Drubetskoy and Rostopchin with his pseudo-patriotism) is distinguished precisely by its lifelessness, puppetry, hostility to everything truly human, natural, and finally, just decent. Vasily Kuragin tried to rob Pierre, his son, Anatole, involved Pierre in scandalous stories, he also brought a lot of grief to Marya Bolkonskaya, Natasha Rostova. Pierre had every reason to say, referring to Helen and meaning not only her alone, but the whole secular world that she embodied: "... where you are, there is debauchery, evil ...".

The main principle of Tolstoy's depiction of negative characters is static, lack of movement, depth of experience. Their moral world is always primitive, devoid of intellectual wealth and moral appeal; they are not given a living perception of nature (none of them is depicted outside city houses, secular evenings, balls, etc.). So already in "War and Peace" begins that "tearing off all and sundry masks", which will become especially characteristic of Tolstoy's subsequent work. Developed poses, unchanging smiles, acting were common both for the usual visitors to Anna Pavlovna's salon and for Napoleon.

The motifs of puppetry and play as signs of unnaturalness and artificiality are especially pronounced in episodes where we are talking about how Natasha, who has just returned from the village and has not had time to get used to the conventions of secular society, visits the opera house. Tolstoy describes the opera performance, seen as if through her eyes, that is, from the point of view of a natural person: “... then some more people came running and began to drag away that girl who was previously in white, and now in a blue dress. They didn’t drag her away right away, but sang for a long time, and then they dragged her away…”. Right here in the theater

Natasha meets Anatole and becomes infatuated with him. The atmosphere of artificiality, falsehood, when the shameful, the unlawful turns out to be permissible and ordinary (“Naked Helen sat beside her ...”), deprives Natasha of simple, natural human notions, her orientation has shifted, and what quite recently would have been impossible for her moral sense is now becoming quite acceptable.

Tolstoy does not accept a life preoccupied only with "ghosts, reflections", devoid of genuine human values. And it is characteristic that the representatives of the secular world hated by the author gradually occupy less and less space in the development of the action, in the end almost completely disappearing from the pages of the novel.

Helen suddenly dies from a strange and mysterious illness, nothing is said in the epilogue about the Kuragins and Scherer, Berg and Drubetskoy. Forgotten and Napoleon. Everything dark, selfish, negative leaves, goodness, light, openness and naturalness win. The heroines of the epic novel “Tolstoy's moral sensitivity,” writes E. A. Maimin, “forces him to portray heroes, both positive and negative, in the light of his ideal. He does not like those of his heroes in whom there is no life, a unique personality.

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The multifaceted prose canvas created by Leo Tolstoy is a true picture of the life of the Russian people in the first quarter of the 19th century. The volume of the work and the scale of the description characteristically evoke the multifaceted problems of the novel. One of the problems that L.N. Tolstoy is the study of the moral essence of secular society in the novel "War and Peace".

Artistic reception of opposition

One of the main artistic techniques used by the author is a contrast. This catches the eye even before reading the epic novel, because this technique already emphasizes the title of the work. Through a parallel image based on the opposition of war and peace, Lev Nikolayevich depicts actual problems eras of the beginning of the 19th century, human vices and virtues, values ​​of society and personal dramas of heroes.

The method of opposition touched not only the plans of the image, but also the images. The author created images of war and peace in the novel. If the author portrays the war through battles, characters of generals, officers and soldiers, then the world personifies the image of Russian society in the first decades of the 19th century.

In describing the characteristic secular world in the novel "War and Peace", the author does not deviate from his stylistic manner, which is characterized not only philosophical digressions, where the author's assessment of the events described is traced, but also Comparative characteristics phenomena, images, spiritual qualities. So, in a hidden opposition, the author depicts representatives of the two main cities of the Empire - St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Characteristics of the metropolitan society in the novel

In that historical period, which is described in the work, St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire, with a pretentious society characteristic of such a high rank. St. Petersburg is a city characterized by architectural splendor combined with cold gloominess and impregnability. The author also transfers his peculiar character to Petersburg society.

Social events, balls, receptions are the main events for representatives of the secular society of the capital. It is there that political, cultural and secular news are discussed. However, for external beauty these events, it is clear that the representatives of the nobility do not care and do not care at all about either these topics, or the opinions of the interlocutors, or the outcome of conversations and meetings. The denunciation of beauty, true and false, the essence of the metropolitan society is revealed in the novel already from the first price in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Sherer.

The Petersburg high society in the novel plays the usual roles, speaks only about what it is customary to talk about, acts as it is expected. On the example of the Kuragin family, which are typical representatives of the capital's society, the author, with undisguised disappointment and irony, emphasizes the theatricality, pretense and cynicism of the social life of St. Petersburg and its representatives. Only those who are inexperienced or have lost interest in role-playing find the author’s approval on the pages of the novel, through whose mouth the author gives his assessment: “Living rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot get out.”

Description of Moscow social life and its representatives

For the first time, the author introduces the reader to the customs and atmosphere of the Moscow nobility at the morning reception of the Rostov family. At first glance, it may seem that the secular picture of Moscow is not much different from the society of the Northern capital. However, the conversations of representatives of the nobility are no longer so generalized and empty, in them one can hear personal opinions, disputes and discussions, which indicates the sincerity of views, true excitement for the fate of their region and the state as a whole. At social events there is a place for children's pranks and good-natured laughter, sincere amazement, simplicity and directness of thoughts and actions, trust and forgiveness.

At the same time, one should not assume that Tolstoy, who undoubtedly sympathizes with Moscow society in the novel, idealizes it. On the contrary, he emphasizes many of his qualities that are not approved by the author, such as envy, ridicule, passion for gossip and discussion of someone else's privacy. However, creating the image of the secular society of Moscow, the author identifies it with the characteristic, both positive and negative features inherent in the Russian people.

The role of the image of secular society in the novel

One of the main issues that underlies the work and my essay on the topic “Secular society in the novel“ War and Peace ”is the essence of the Russian people, with all its versatility, shortcomings and virtues. In the novel, Tolstoy's goal was to show, without embellishment and flattery, the true face of society at the beginning of the 19th century, in order to depict the essence of the Russian soul and main national values ​​such as home, family and state against its background.

The image of society serves not only as a force that forms views, opinions, principles of thinking and ideals of behavior, but also as a background for expressing bright personalities due to it, thanks to whose high moral qualities and heroism the war was won, which largely affected future fate states.

Artwork test

Petersburg

Moscow secular society

Thought of the People" in the novel "War and Peace".

The novel "War and Peace" was conceived as a novel about a Decembrist returning from an amnesty in 1856. But the more Tolstoy worked with archival materials, the more he realized that without telling about the uprising itself and, more deeply, about the war of 1812, one cannot write this novel. So the idea of ​​the novel was gradually transformed, and Tolstoy created a grandiose epic. This is a story about the feat of the people, about the victory of their spirit in the war of 1812. Later, speaking of his work, Tolstoy wrote that the main idea novel - "people's thought" . It lies not only and not so much in the depiction of the people themselves, their way of life, but in the fact that every positive hero of the novel ultimately connects his fate with the fate of the nation. On the pages of the novel, and especially in the second part of the epilogue, Tolstoy says that until now the whole history has been written as the history of individuals, as a rule, tyrants, monarchs, and no one has yet thought about what is the driving force of history. . According to Tolstoy, this is the so-called swarm principle, the spirit and will of not one person, but of the nation as a whole. And how strong is the spirit and will of the people, how likely are these or those historical events. Yes, victory Patriotic war Tolstoy explains that two wills clashed: the will of the French soldiers and the will of the entire Russian people. This war was fair for the Russians, they fought for their homeland, so their spirit and will to win turned out to be stronger than the spirit and will of the French, so Russia's victory over France was predetermined.
The War of 1812 became a frontier, a test for all goodies in the novel: for Prince Andrei, who feels an unusual upsurge before the battle of Borodino, faith in victory; for Pierre Bezukhov, whose all thoughts are aimed at helping the expulsion of the invaders, he even develops a plan to assassinate Napoleon; for Natasha, who gave the carts to the wounded, because it was impossible not to give them away, it was “shameful and disgusting” not to give them back; for Petya Rostov, who takes part in the hostilities of a partisan detachment and dies in a fight with the enemy; for Denisov, Dolokhov, even for Anatole Kuragin. All these people, having discarded everything personal, become a single whole, participate in the formation of the will to win. This will to win is especially evident in crowd scenes: in the scene of the surrender of Smolensk (remember the merchant Ferapontov, who, succumbing to some unknown, inner strength, orders all his goods to be distributed among the soldiers, and what cannot be endured - set on fire) in the scene of preparation for The battle of Borodino (the soldiers put on white shirts, as if preparing for the last fight) in the scene of the battle between the partisans and the French. The theme of guerrilla warfare occupies a special place in the novel. Tolstoy emphasizes that the war of 1812 was indeed a people's war, because the people themselves rose up to fight against the invaders. The detachments of the elder Vasilisa Kozhina and Denis Davydov were already active, and the heroes of the novel, Denisov and Dolokhov, are creating their own detachments. Tolstoy calls the cruel, life-and-death war "the cudgel people's war”:
“The cudgel of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone’s tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity, but with expediency, without understanding anything, rose, fell and nailed the French until the entire invasion died”.

A family thought" in the novel "War and Peace".

There are five main families involved: Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, Drubetskys and Bezukhovs. Other, less colorful families are also mentioned in the novel: Bergi, Karagins, Dolokhovs etc.

Rostovs: Count Rostov, Countess Rostov, Vera, Nikolai, Natasha, Petya, Sonya.

Bolkonsky: Nikolai Bolkonsky, Andrey, Lisa Bolkonskaya (Meinen, Andrey's wife, "little princess", Kutuzov's niece), Marya, Nikolenka, Mademoiselle Bourienne.

Kuragins: Prince Vasily, Princess Kuragina, Ellen Kuragina, Ippolit Kuragin, Anatole Kuragin.

Drubetskoy: Anna Drubetskaya, Boris Drubetskoy.

Shengraben and Austerlitz in War and Peace.

The role of the epilogue

The epilogue is the final part of the work, in which the denouement of the plot, the fate of the characters is finally clarified, the main idea of ​​the work is formulated. The epilogue is the summary of the novel. In the works of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky, the role of the epilogue is extremely large:

* the epilogue logically completes the plot of the work.

Tolstoy's philosophical position is so remote from the plot of the work that it could exist independently, as a philosophical treatise. The plot denouement (the first part of the epilogue) occupies a significantly smaller part of the epilogue. 7 years have passed since the war. Marya married Rostov, their happiness is based on Mary's constant spiritual work. Nicholas admires her mind and soul. Nikolai manages the estate well, Sonya lives with them. In Natasha, the soul was not visible, but only the face and body. The main thing for her is serving her husband and family. Pierre tells Nicholas about the latest political news, says that the sovereign does not delve into any matters, that the situation in the state is heating up, that everything is ready for a coup. Pierre assures that it is necessary to organize a society, maybe even illegal, in order to be useful. Nikolai does not agree with this, recalls that he took an oath: “Tell me now Arakcheev to go at you with a squadron and cut down - I won’t think for a second and go.” Pierre faces new challenges. Tests associated with the participation of Pierre in a political circle. (As we understand, Pierre will become a Decembrist, take part in the uprising on Senate Square.) So Tolstoy proves to us that “people are like rivers,” they change all the time, they are looking for something, they strive for something, and this desire for harmony, to truth makes them “quite good.

(Dream of Nikolenka) He and Uncle Pierre walked ahead of a huge army and joyfully approached the goal. But suddenly Uncle Nikolai appears in front of them in a formidable pose, ready to kill the first one who moved forward. Nikolenka turns around and sees that next to him is no longer Uncle Pierre, but his father, Prince Andrei, and caresses him. The boy interprets this dream in this way: “Father was with me and caressed me. He approved of me, he approved of Uncle Pierre. I know they want me to study. And I will study. But someday I will stop; and then I will. Everyone will know, everyone will love me, everyone will admire me. Yes, I will do what even he would be pleased with ... "

In the second part, Tolstoy once again tells about the historical process, about the fact that it is not the individual who makes history, but the masses of the people, guided by common interests, make it. Personality is important in history only to the extent that it understands and accepts these interests. Tolstoy asks a global problem: “What drives the world, its history?” And he gives an answer to it: "The laws of necessity." His position is fatalism. According to Tolstoy, a person is only a pawn in a complex game, the outcome of which is predetermined, and the goal of the pawn is to understand the rules of the game and follow them (and in this case to be among the righteous winners), otherwise the pawn will be punished by fate, the resistance of which is useless . A giant illustration of such a position is the picture of war, where everyone, including kings and great commanders, is powerless before fate, where the one who better understands the laws of necessity and does not oppose them wins (Kutuzov).

A broad philosophical position is presented. To confirm his position in the second part of the epilogue, he does not use the plot material of his work, but uses newly invented arguments. Of particular note is the extraordinary innovation of Tolstoy, who turned the epilogue from a small appendage or just the last chapter into an independent work, the role of which is comparable to that of the main part of War and Peace.

Philosophy of history.

The work of L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" was conceived as a story about the life of some fictional heroes from high society, but gradually it turned into an epic, including not only descriptions of real events early XIX century, but also entire chapters, the task of which is to convey to the reader the philosophical views of the author. Turning to the image of history, Tolstoy was forced to get acquainted with a variety of materials on the era of interest to him. The position of none of contemporary writer scientists could not satisfy a person who wanted to “go to the root” in everything. The author of War and Peace gradually develops his own concept of historical development; which it was necessary to state in order to open the “new truth” to people, to make the logic of the novel clearer.

One of the first problems that the writer faced was the assessment of the role of the individual and the masses in history. And if at the beginning of the creation of "War and Peace" the main attention was paid to individual heroes, then as he studied the war of the 12th year, Tolstoy became more and more convinced of the decisive role of the people. In the second part of the epilogue, the main idea that permeated the entire narrative was formulated as follows: “... the more directly people participate in the commission of an action, the less they can order and the greater their number ... the less direct participation that people take in action itself, the more they command and the fewer they are...” The idea that the actions of the masses determine history is confirmed in many episodes of the novel. Thus, the victory in the battle of Shengraben was brought to the Russian troops by the by no means successful orders of Prince Bagration, who “... only tried to pretend that everything that was done out of necessity, chance and the will of private bosses ... was done ... in accordance with his intentions ”, But the actions of the “little” captain Tushin, as well as the awareness by all of the need for this battle to save the army. At the same time, when the ordinary soldier did not see the purpose of the battle, as was the case under Austerlitz, neither the knowledge of the German command of the area, nor the thoughtful disposition, nor the presence of emperors could affect the unfavorable outcome. The defining importance of the spirit of the troops in the Battle of Borodino is especially clearly visible, when the Russians were able to prove their moral superiority over the enemy, despite the intrigues at Kutuzov's headquarters and the inconvenience of the position.

According to Tolstoy, the task of the individual is not to interfere with the natural course of history, the “swarm” life of the people. Bagration understands this, and his behavior during the Shengraben battle can serve as proof, Kutuzov knows this, feeling the moment when it is necessary to give a grandiose battle, allowing himself to make a decision to leave Moscow, seeing the point only in a war of liberation. The main difference between the "highest" and Napoleon is not in the inaction of the Russian commander, but in the old man's realization that his orders are not decisive for the course of history.

Speaking about Tolstoy's position on the role of the individual in history, we inevitably come to a description of the contradictions in the concept of the author of War and Peace.

On the one hand, one of the fundamental theses is "a person consciously lives for himself, but serves as an unconscious tool for achieving historical, social goals." According to Tolstoy, it is natural that "most of the people of that time did not pay any attention to the general course of affairs, but were guided only by the personal interests of the present." On the other hand, all the characters in the novel are divided into two groups. The first of these includes all those who are not indifferent to the fate of the Motherland, whose lives are turned upside down during the war of 1812, whose "personal interest" is directly related to the "general course of affairs." This is the old Prince Bolkonsky, gathering the militia, preparing to defend the Bald Mountains from the French, the Rostovs, giving up their carts for the wounded, Petya, Nikolai, Andrei, Pierre, who see the goal of their life in participating in the Patriotic War.

The second half includes those whose life does not change with the outbreak of war, does not depend on it in any way. These are pseudo-patriots from the St. Petersburg salon of A.P. Scherer and visitors to Helen's house, who sympathize with Napoleon and the French, Berg, who is preoccupied with buying a chiffonier when the residents of Moscow leave, Boris, who is only interested in promotion. All of them are condemned by the author precisely for indifference to the common cause. Kutuzov, who understands the deep meaning of what is happening, becomes the ideal person.

In the epic, an important place is given to discussions about the general nature of the development of life. Speaking about this part of the historical and philosophical digressions of the novel, the term "fatalism" is often used. The laws of history are not yet inaccessible to people, so the concept of fate, fate, "which replaces the entire set of unknown causes, arises.

Secular society in the novel "War and Peace".

In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy created a true and complete picture of Russian life in the first quarter of the 19th century. During this period in Russia, the main social role was played by the nobles, so a significant place in the novel is given to the description of secular society. High society at that time was represented mainly by two metropolitan societies, quite different from each other: St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Petersburg - the capital, a cold, unfriendly city, standing on a par with European cities. St. Petersburg high society is a special world with its own laws, customs, mores, the intellectual center of the country, oriented towards Europe. But the first thing that catches your eye when describing relationships in this society is unnaturalness. All representatives of high society are accustomed to playing roles imposed on them by society or taken by them voluntarily; it is not without reason that Prince Vasily is compared with an actor in the novel.

One of the main pastimes of members of high society were social receptions, where news, the situation in Europe and much more were discussed. It seemed to a new person that everything discussed was important, and all those present were very smart and thinking people, seriously interested in the subject of the conversation. In fact, there is something mechanical and indifferent in these methods, and Tolstoy compares those present in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer with a talking machine. A smart, serious, inquisitive person cannot be satisfied with such communication, and he is quickly disappointed in the world. However, the basis of secular society is made up of those who like such communication, for whom it is necessary. Such people develop a certain stereotype of behavior, which they transfer to their personal, family life. Therefore, in their relations in the family there is little cordiality, more practicality and calculation. A typical Petersburg family is the Kuragin family.
Quite different appears before us Moscow secular society , which, however, is somewhat similar to St. Petersburg. The first depiction of the Moscow world in the novel is the description of the name day in the Rostovs' house. The morning reception of guests is reminiscent of secular receptions in St. Petersburg: discussion of news, though not of a global scale, but of local ones, feigned feelings of surprise or indignation, but the impression immediately changes with the appearance of children who bring immediacy, happiness, causeless fun to the living room. At dinner, the Rostovs show all the qualities inherent in the Moscow nobility: hospitality, cordiality, nepotism. Moscow Society in many ways it resembles one big family, where everything is known to everyone, where they forgive each other for small weaknesses and can publicly scold for leprosy. Only in such a society could such a figure as Akhrosimova appear, and Natasha's trick was condescendingly assessed. Unlike St. Petersburg, the Moscow nobility is closer to the Russian people, their traditions and customs. In general, Tolstoy's sympathies seem to be on the side of the Moscow nobility, and it is not for nothing that his favorite heroes, the Rostovs, live in Moscow. And although the writer cannot approve of many traits and customs of Muscovites" (gossip, for example), he does not focus on them. In depicting secular society, Tolstoy actively uses the technique of "detachment", which allows him to look at events and heroes from an unexpected point of view. , when describing the evening at Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the writer compares the salon with a spinning workshop, illuminating the secular reception from an unexpected side and allowing the reader to penetrate into the essence of the relationship on it. who spoke mostly French at the time.