The transition between Volume I and Volume II is a big one. We go from the battlefield of Austerlitz straight to Nikolai’s first visit home since the war began. Volume II focuses on the characters’ ordinary lives—“their personal involvement in sickness, hard work and relaxation, their involvement in thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, enmity and passion, which went on as usual, far removed from political considerations.” This week’s discussion focused on the development of the characters in this time of peace, which actually doesn’t seem that peaceful at all! This section is filled with duels, death, and deep philosophical discourse, all of which play into the characters’ complex development.
Helene and Dolokhov—Are They Villains?
During the discussion, many people mentioned that Dolokhov has “shown himself to be more and more despicable.” His rough character seemed more ambiguously “evil” before. Messing with bears and the police, killing two Frenchman, and leading the men to death on the ice were actions passable as rough-and-tumble behavior of a young and reckless rogue wrapped up in society and war. However, his intentional and personal acts of causing people pain--provoking Pierre into a duel over seducing his wife and cheating Nikolai out of 43,000 rubles while gambling-- confirmed his side of “evilness” in everyone’s minds. His “evil” character was compared to Helene’s, though she was considered to be “one dimensional, neither endearing or terribly complex in her ‘evilness.’” Dolokhov, despite his evil disposition, also has a tender side, which is expressed in his devotion to his sickly mother and crippled sister. Helene’s “evil” traits are clearly connected with her family. She seems to be conditioned towards maliciousness perhaps by a biological determinism and her submission to societal expectations as a beautiful aristocratic woman. Dolokhov, on the other hand, is clearly capable of compassion as seen in his relationship with his mother and sister, so it seems like he chooses to do wrong to other people. This major difference convinced everyone of Dolokhov’s greater complexity when compared to Helene. Dolokhov was described as “mephistophelian” in the sense that he has great charisma, attracting the admiration of Pierre, Nikolai, and the men at the dam, yet he “destroys those who are drawn to him” (e.g. dueling with Pierre over pride/Helene, cheating Nikolai out of his money for unclear reasons, ice breaking on the dam), as someone pointed out. Another made the observation that perhaps Dolokhov’s family life represents the “fallen angel” side to him. Tolstoy makes Dolokhov’s villainy more difficult to discern.
Dolokhov also brings us back to the major themes of fate and free will. He is involved in two episodes connected to fate—his duel with Pierre and his gambling with Nikolai. Dolokhov doesn’t believe in luck or fate: during the duel, he refused to prepare a will or say goodbyes under the belief that going through the motions of preparing for death will guarantee death itself. During his card game with Nikolai, Dolokhov claims, “only fools trust to luck.” Nikolai is blinded by Dolokhov’s charisma. Although he realizes that his friend is cheating him, Nikolai refuses to believe that Dolokhov would plan his downfall. Dolokhov seems to have a strong sense of will power, which he tries to use to shape his own fate.
Many observed how Dolokhov’s character provides insight not only into Nikolai’s character, but Natasha’s as well. She instinctively dislikes Dolokhov despite his positive reception in the Rostov household. Natasha “sees right through him”—she senses his evil side. Many during the discussion claimed that she has a certain “intuitive wisdom” despite her youth.
Natasha’s Instinct, Musicality, and Infectious Aura
Someone pointed out that “Natasha seems to have all the wisdom her brother lacks” despite barely being out in society, contrasted to her brother’s broader life experience in society and war. She “is pure vitality, capable of enrapturing a room or individuals by the infectious nature of her passions, musicality, and sense of goodness.” She has a magnetic effect on others and attracts them, not necessarily through her words, but instead through an energy she possesses, especially when she sings and dances. Sara pointed out that her emotions are so strong that they can’t be put into words. Natasha has a natural ability to strongly express herself beyond words through her shrieks of joy and especially her musicality. Her singing was described as “unpolished but remarkable—from the heart and honest.” It lifts Nikolai from his bad mood when he frets over having to put his honor on the line by begging his father for more money after losing so much money to Dolokhov. A few participants took her refusal to acknowledge Nikolai’s unhappiness as either an innocent, but not necessarily negative, oblivion to other people’s suffering (i.e. Natasha being so caught up in her own happiness that she assumes others to be happy as well) or as simple selfishness. Others saw his response to be parallel to Prince Andrei’s at Austerlitz—a brush with the infinite beauty of her voice (like the infinite beauty of the sky) that lifts him from getting too caught up in the trivialities of life. No matter the interpretation, many agreed that her musicality was beyond rationality, that it was somehow transcendent, if only temporarily. Despite her tendency to put others in a good mood by simply being herself, some people described Natasha as “unstable, moody, reactive” and possessing “overblown emotions.” Some questioned the sustainability of such a personality.
Pierre Joins the Freemasons
A bit of the biological determinism slips from focus on the Kuragins to focus on Pierre. He fights a duel with Dolokhov over Helene and gets in a furious fight with her (almost knocking her out with marble!). Despite being an illegitimate child who was raised abroad, well away from his father the former Count Bezukhov, Pierre is referred to as “acting just like his father.” Once he attains his father's name, Pierre starts to get a bit of his personality as well. After a near brush with death and behaving quite differently from the “lovable bear type” we first took him to be way back in Part I, Pierre seeks spiritual rejuvenation. Thanks to the convenience of meeting Osip Bazdeyev at the train station, Pierre turns to freemasonry. A participant described Pierre as “a lost soul, searching for something to take to heart, to give him direction, purpose, attachment.” He is easily convinced to join by Bazdeyev’s unflinching conviction in the goodness of the order as well as the catchall way in which he presents freemasonry to be. Pierre becomes enraptured by Bazdeyev’s rhetoric and the seemingly perfect message of freemasonry. It appears to offer a solution to the wisdom Pierre seeks in making decisions in his life. Someone noted, “Pierre is asking the big questions about life and seems to have found a place where there might be answers.” The duel changed Pierre in such a way that it made him want to change his life. A participant made a great inference that Pierre seemed like a “Christ-like figure” during the duel. However, Pierre seems to shape shift a lot according to who is influencing him at the moment. He’s forced to become Count Bezukhov, and then Prince Vasily talks him into marrying Helene and cheats him out of his money. Pierre takes one bold stand against Dolokhov, only to regret it right after. Now he has decided to join the freemasons. He was called “a piece of clay” in the sense of being molded into something different over and over. Despite his capricious nature, he seems to be searching for wisdom. It only takes one conversation with a freemason to convince Pierre that freemasonry is the path to the wisdom he’s looking for. Pierre’s obvious volatile nature, which is sensitive to the whims of those he’s around, made many question is free will. His personality was seen to somehow “limit” his free will. Someone described him as “powerless” to whatever crossed his path and gets “sucked into the magic of freemasonry.”
The Magic of Freemasonry
Ritual, secrecy, and a bit of awkwardness fill Pierre’s initiation into freemasonry. The ritual itself was described as “dark and foreboding” but at the same time “a bit of a joke.” Pierre was led around blindfolded, mindlessly following the masons’ absurd orders. Some masons were confused, whispered back and forth, and made Pierre stand on one leg with a pant leg pulled up as they argued whether or not it was time for him to put on the sacred slipper. All this silliness made people question “whether or not all the freemasons are in it to find the meaning of life," as it greatly contradicts the deep philosophical messages of bettering self and society that Bazdeyev emphasized so eloquently. The initiation turned into something of a farce rather than being depicted as a deeply moving ceremony. Tolstoy seems to be making fun of the freemasons. These people supposedly hold the keys to the mysteries of the universe and the secrets of life but easily get caught up in frivolous and meaningless rituals. He is perhaps expressing an “overall dislike for superficiality and convention” by depicting the freemasons as such. At the same time, Tolstoy may be drawing a distinction between ritual and spirituality. Pierre was described as “too naïve and undiscerning” to question the freemasons’ stumbling around during the ceremony. Many considered Pierre’s induction into freemasonry as another step in his transition as “a work of progress” and doubt that freemasonry will be the final answer to all his questions! Pierre notices many societal bigwigs running the initiation ceremony and seems disappointed at their presence. This points to the fact that freemasonry may not turn out to be the new life free from the influence of high-society that he’s ultimately looking for. Pierre still seems like “a big child—a sweet, guileless boy” that has a long way to go before he finds the answers to his big questions about life.
We still have a few hundred pages left to see if he gets to answer those questions... keep on reading, and see you all next week!
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